How do you make a game focus on high mobility and stealth? Are there any games that have good mechanics for mobility and stealth that aren't just handwaving?
Been playing the Assassin's Creed games lately and kinda want something where it feels like the characters are working together as silent wall climbing murder ninjas.
I've always thought that a good way of handling things would be a system where it's not binary whether you've fucked up and fallen/gotten caught, but instead you fail and that means you're in danger of failing harder if you don't take steps to undo the failure. So in a normal game a guard would find you if you fail the Stealth roll, but instead you fail your Stealth roll and now the guard is actively searching for you and making Stealth rolls instead of taking five, and maybe attracted to the sound of the noise, so now you have to hide somewhere. Stealth that's more than just the "Stealth" skill would also be good.
For mobility it's something I think about sometimes as well (like how would you make a racing rpg interesting for instance). They key to any RPG of course is clear, distinct choices. So you'd probably have different approaches to freerunning (street sprinting, rooftop jumping, back ally sneaking, wall climbing, etc) and give each of them their particular strengths and weaknesses
Connor Allen
Blades in the Dark.
Landon Anderson
Sell me on it. Got the early access PDF to share? 20$ seems an awful lot for a kickstarted PDF. The idea of playing a *crew* also seems good. I had kind of been wanting something revolutionary (for SOME REASON unrelated to world events) so leading one of those'd be fun.
Also a good idea. How to specifically do that, though? The last Chronicles of Darkness book had some really good system suggestions for making fight scenes more interesting using, essentially, environmental modifiers and working the location into your actions. Stuff like going over rooftops being risky but fast, while being on the ground means you're more likely to be spotted tailing someone...
Connor Nguyen
is good for Assassin's but still doesn't do mobility and stealth beyond 'make a roll'
Carson Thomas
>Also a good idea. How to specifically do that, though? off the top of my head:
>street sprinting when you're trying to cover ground as fast as possible, expose yourself and roll+power. If you succeed then you make it there in plenty of time, if you fail then you're either too slow, or you get caught or cornered.
>Rooftop Jumping when you're travelling by rooftop roll+agility. On a success you travel without being noticed by those below, on a fail, you cause quite a commotion among passers by. While on rooftops you're at a penalty to all awareness abilities for things going on at street level.
>Back Ally Sneaking when your tailing someone along the streets roll+subtlety. On a success you follow them to a secluded location, on a fail you are discovered by them or their allies.
>Wall Climbing When you scale walls and other tall structures, it's going to take a while and roll+agility. On a success you bypass whatever barrier was in your way, on a failure you attract attention to yourself.
Jaxson White
I wonder if an Apocalypse World type system would work...
Josiah Davis
Probably not helpful, but reminded me of the (formerely) Armored Core boardgame Kickstarter, that had a very cool way of doing vision. The base of the models had a built in led light. If the light hits your model, you are seen, if not, not.
Boardgamey as shit, but for those who want to MGS it up with minis, it could work.
Ethan Richardson
>Assassin's Creed Unity I know the franchise stopped being good at around Brotherhood but this one is just so disappointing.
>French Revolution with the Assassin's Creed backdrop >Who are the templars and who are the assassin's supporting? Are the assassin's supporting the revolution to get rid of the templar, controlled monarchy? Or are the templar's supporting the republic and are they blamed for such things as the Reign of Terror? >Nope, the entire revolution is just templars infighting. >And instead of picking a side or even sabotaging things, the assassins of Paris are more than happy to sit back and watch the templars infight
>And then there's Napoleon >You know, that guy who was kind of really super important to the revolution? >The guy who Assassin's Creed 2 implied wasn't really brilliant but just happened to find a Piece of Eden in Egypt? >Are we going to elaborate on that? >Nah, he's just going to drop by and say "Hi, I'm Napoleon! You surely remember me, right? Gosh, I sure am Napoleon!"
>Speaking of the Revolution, does it play any role in the story at all? >Nope, it's just a generic vengeance quest that just used the Revolution as window dressing >And you get to shoot Robespierre in the cheek, because that happened IRL so it kind of ties in to the Revolution, right?
Talk about a wasted setting.
Brandon Sanchez
>(for SOME REASON unrelated to world events)
Man up and do it, you liberal bitch
Sebastian Morales
>Nah, he's just going to drop by and say "Hi, I'm Napoleon! You surely remember me, right? Gosh, I sure am Napoleon!"
4e DnD skill challenge is pretty good for this. Read up on how to successfully use it.
Adam Morgan
Honestly I kind of enjoyed Unity so far, though I haven't gotten very far. I only just became a real Assassin (though it was much quicker than III. Jesus, I play as his dad for two hours, then kid him for two hours, then eight hours in and I'm finally getting my coat).
It's not even the good Revolution, though. They even have a database entry saying as much with Shaun mocking Les Mis songs. >Nope, the entire revolution is just templars infighting. >And instead of picking a side or even sabotaging things, the assassins of Paris are more than happy to sit back and watch the templars infight That actually sounds kind of good? I mean, I know AC is the franchise of missed opportunity, but that sounds like a cool concept.
Doesn't that mean that the vision is better in the dark?
I'm so far left that Liberal is an insult. I am unfortunately only one SJW cultural marxist, and cannot overthrow the government alone. They've got lots of guns! Maybe when my Soros check finally gets here...
Brody Rogers
>They even have a database entry saying as much with Shaun mocking Les Mis songs. But that's 40 years too soon.
Wyatt Jenkins
Also on the subject of wasted potential (which is what I meant to say, though missed opportunity works), maybe it's because I know fuckall about the time period, but Liberation seems like such a fucking waste.
It's fun and all, (and the one that runs best on my PC) but the story is in this weird "interesting but lackluster" place and I don't really feel like I'm getting any history. Then again the databas is barely there.
Yes, which is what I said. "This is the other revolution and I hate Do You Hear The People Sing" Shaun confirmed for BAD TASTE.
Also, that's the other good example of wasted potential: Unity's metanarrative (and Liberation's) is just that you're... playing a video game and some people hack it to tell you THE TRUTH. They both have good ideas for the implementation of a simulation of genetic memory that can be manipulated, but it's used as a vague handwave to remind you the metanarrative exists without any major narrative support (or in Unity's case, meaningless time trial collectathon content).
Luke Morgan
Fucking Ubisoft. They have a good idea (or even a mediocre one) and ruin it with their "one game per year" model.
Xavier Sullivan
Maybe their year break will mean Empire won't be lackluster. Watch_Dogs 2 surprised people.
Evan Adams
Stop being so easily influenced by the media you consume.
Gabriel Bell
The American Revolution in 3 was handled just as badly.
They basically made both sides out to be incompetent pussies. Which, I mean, that's one way to avoid accusations of jingoism I guess.
Luis Barnes
>The American Revolution in 3 was handled just as badly. I haven't played it, but in that one you actually played a role in how the war of independence played out, right? And you met important figures of the time as anything other than just windowdressing? It may still be incompetent, but to me it sounds like it was handled less incompetently than Unity handled the French Revolution. In Unity you can remove the entire revolution and the story barely changes.
Jason James
Shaun is the worst character. He exists to be a smarmy British cunt and nothing else.
Logan Walker
GURPS
Lucas Cruz
No. Also no. Shaun is the best, he just has terrible taste in musicals and everything else, but he is a grump cinnamon roll. No.
I'm barely into the game and it feels pretty clearly pro-American, aside from surface level critiques like "you shouldn't own slaves or mistreat natives".
Dylan Barnes
>I wonder if an Apocalypse World type system would work...
Kayden Cooper
well this user's idea is already more-or-less in that format
Colton Wilson
My favs were II and Brotherhood. I skipped Revelations and got III which was... okay. Black Flag was a fun pirate game until it got to the AssCreed bits. After a while I found it kind of dull though.
Caleb Bell
I haven't played Unity or Rogue or Syndicate but I've heard nothing but negative things. Also, II's Da Vinci was fantastic. Every other major historical character is shoehorned so hard into the game like "HEY I AM ME REMEMBER WHEN I DID THAT THING HAHA"
Adrian Robinson
>pro-American
Connor gets pretty fucked over by Washington, IIRC
Thomas Cook
I haven't met Washington yet except that time when I killed him because he can't take a punch.
>Every other major historical character is shoehorned so hard into the game like "HEY I AM ME REMEMBER WHEN I DID THAT THING HAHA" Let's be honest, so is DaVinci, but he's still fab.
I liked Cesare. My one problem with Brotherhood is that there wasn't enough Borgia.
