Fear or Anger

[Rovin]

i had this idea whare fear or anger had an impact of the battle.
IE your scared of the big bad dragon and might take penlites but your angry at the gnome so you may get buffs.

[Imbicatus]

Sounds like spells or Bard/Barbarian class abilities to me. Bardic music may be able to inspire fear in enemies as well as bolster allies, and Barbarians are all about anger and rage.

In general, I think a morale system for PCs is a bad idea, because I dislike taking player choice away. However, a Morale setting for any NPCs that may be fighting is a good idea, as is having some monsters such as dragons with a fearful presence aura that may affect Players.

[Nihimon]

Imbicatus wrote:

In general, I think a morale system for PCs is a bad idea, because I dislike taking player choice away.

I would love to see a game that incorporated Mood and States like Cold, Wet, Uncomfortable, etc.

[Will Cooper]

Checking the tabletop game for inspiration, I see a set of morale-type conditions; starting at shaken and progressing through frightened to panicked with increasing severity.

I could imagine certain creatures possessing an aura of fear as one of their special abilities. Effects might vary between a debuff and a crowd control depending on the circumstances.

I expect that the barbarian-inspired line will have a rage mechanic, which means that it's technically available to all characters.

@Nihimon: the tabletop system also includes progressive states of fatigue, some of which are inflicted by such sins as sleeping in your armor.

Mention of mood gives me a livejournal flashback...

Character: Khimber
Company: The Seventh Veil
Mood: Purposeful

Character: Phaestos
Company: The Seventh Veil
Mood: Melancholy

Settable moods would be cool!

[Rokolith]

Fear is the path to the Dark side!

Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to Vandalism, Vandalism leads to hiding out in abandoned home in downtown boston, squatting leads to sore knees, sores knees leads to buying a hover-round, hover-rounds lead to basketball, basketball leads to three point shots, three point shots lead to celebration, celebration leads to funny looking hats, hats lead to sitting in the time-out corner, time-out leads to twidling of thumbs, thumbs lead to being diamond league is Starcraft 2, Zerg rushes lead to being in an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous holiday in Mexico, Mexico leads to water filters, water filters lead to Alex Jones who sells them at a discount, water leads to water baloon fights, fights lead to nuclear war.

[Will Cooper]

... and nuclear war leads to red light sabers?

[Hobs the Short]

Imbicatus,

I agree about NPCs. Players might hold out in hopeless situations (the player choice you spoke of), but there should be affects in battle or caused from facing overpowering opponents that totally demoralize NPCs, resulting in their cowering, surrender, flight, etc.

[Nihimon]

Will Cooper wrote:

Mood: Purposeful

It's like you know me :)

[Mark Thomas 66]

That's aready incorporated into certain creatures and class features. Frightful presence Favored enemy Rage!

[Valandur]

Would love to see moods worked into unit combat, similar to how they did it in Warhammer Mark of Chaos the RPG. Has a lot of potential.

[Jazzlvraz]

Nihimon wrote:

I would love to see a game that incorporated Mood and States like Cold, Wet, Uncomfortable, etc.

I once ran a great game of Oblivion with a full suite of "needs" mods: sleep, food, water, warmth, light...the whole shebang. Tough as hell, but rewarding. It was very nice to rip those out for the next game, though.