[Historical Fantasy] O P H I U C H U S

[pandamyc]

This is actually an interest check for a plot bunny that has been pestering me for a very long time honestly. It won't leave me, to the point it's actually starting to annoy me. First of all, let me introduce myself.
I'm Panda Man.
I'm a 90's Asian kid who can be as stereotypical as you can get.
I have this thing for drawing anime weeb stuff and my writing is fanfiction-y at best.
I also have no confidence in myself.
Pleasure.

My intention here is to put my idea out there and if it's really worth putting effort into something that people are willing to spend maybe a hour or two to look at. Hopefully, it is. I'll try to keep most of it low key and spoiler free. Especially with a certain aspect with the protagonist that I don't want to reveal until the approaching final climax. So I'll try to explain it as best as possible.

It's called [ O P I U C H U S ].
Why the special emphasis on the title?
Idk.
Looks cool.

According to wikipedia, the source where all your teachers loathe, "the figure represented the healer Ophiuchus, who learned the secrets of keeping death at bay after observing one serpent bringing another healing herbs. To prevent the entire human race from becoming immortal under Ophiuchus' care, Jupiter killed him with a bolt of lightning, but later placed his image in the heavens to honor his good works."

A fascinating mythological lesson which practically where this entire idea came from, is it not? Surprisingly, it's not starring a really slick doctor who nearly escaped mortality, but it's kind of close? It's more like inspired.

It's about a really secluded person who enjoyed the isolation of their home until one day, the government flips the entire table over and decides to pester them. Determined to get these unwanted people away from home, they come to the nobility in order to pull a favor and stop these unwanted guests from occupying their home.

Huh. It sounds really familar. Like... a big green ogre has experienced this before, with an amazing donkey sidekick.

Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm jesting, I'm jesting, I swear. It's not even close, this is merely the first arc that just pulls the protagonist off her butt. This is not a poorly executed Shrek movie, I assure you.

Moving on to a short snippet:

Her name was Ophelia. She enjoyed her life of isolation alone, surviving by her own skills until one day, she catches a snake. What was meant to be food, somehow changed everything (and turned her into food). So what do you do with a snake when it begs you revive the dead gods? You pretty much get yourself sued by the government, become a debt slave, then become the champion of the colliseum, and battle a cult of god slaying maniacs, that's what.

I spoil four things, pretty much describes each plot arc before the end, but it's typical. You see a magical pet that somehow puts all the burden on you to become the Savior or the mythic world, kind of thing. I just intended to have the setting inspired by Roman Culture, with a bit of Greco, Egyptian, Gaelic, and hell even Chinese tid bits here and there. Because, damn, Rome is amazing for a reason.

A bit of world building lore that the snake was talking about is that the Roman Gods, Jupiter, Pluto, Minerva, etc. are erased from existence that everyone has forgotten their magnificence and the mark they made on the world. Ophelia's job is to try to bring these immortals into existence once more. This was my biggest plot bunny here.

A little more on characters.
These guys will be your buds on your way to glory.
Ophelia:
Ophelia is a hunter-gatherer who has lived in the uninhabited mountainous terrain. Living there made it difficult to come in contact with civilization for awhile, so she has been very independent for a long time. Enslaved by the government for not paying her taxes, but ey. Stuff happens. She's very reserved, almost secretive, that not much is known by her.The Imperium doesn't even have her filed down. However, when she talks, she talks without a single word wasted.

VI (Six):
A slave, which unlike Ophelia, was loved by his owner and a frequent spectator of the Colosseum. Free to explore the Imperium on his own, he comes across Ophelia's matches and in just one glance... he wanted to become battle hardened just as she. So with the permission of his owner, he follows Ophelia around in hopes that she will teach him a thing or two. It's funny because all the slaves he's around, they all are number into the hundreds. Yet why is he the only one with a single digit? Probably the pretty boy of the group.

Eeraskad Dubshlaine:
A captured slave from the Gaelic Wars. His shape is alarming. Afterall, it's definitely not human, scales and all. But not many people seem to be bothered by it? The previous champion of the Colosseum, he has nowhere else to go. And much to his pride, he follows after the person who defeated him in the first place. I have no idea where this monster comes from.

Aristaeus Hadrian Iulius Imperial filius:
A remarkably familiar person, recognized as the son of the Imperator. Ophelia earns his favor due to her knowledge on some subjects, so he tries to take advantage of this by once offering his price on her. But alas, it was declined. He really wanted to know the history of the dead gods.

I just want a penny for your thoughts and if you'll be interested in playing it? I'm more particularly concern on you initial impression on each character and how you think I can possibly improve on it as well. Any suggestions on gameplay as well?

I'm not sure if I want a battle rpg kind of thing, but it seems appropiate. I don't really want it though. I'm probably pulling more on time based game play, where the player has to press a certain button before the time ends. Something like dance dance revolution, or if you guys are really game-oriented, I want it to be really like the action scenes in Beyond: Two Souls. But that's my own personal preferences, however.

Anyway, thank you for listening to me.

Edit: Changed the title to just Historical Fantasy. Honestly, I want to focus more on the main plot than the romance, but it's there.

[gekiganwing]

A bit of world building lore that the snake was talking about is that the Roman Gods, Jupiter, Pluto, Minerva, etc. are erased from existence that everyone has forgotten their magnificence and the mark they made on the world. Ophelia's job is to try to bring these immortals into existence once more. This was my biggest plot bunny here.

Bringing back the gods is an interesting plot. What is preventing Ophelia from achieving her goals? What obstacles and challenges will she face?

I spoil four things, pretty much describes each plot arc before the end, but it's typical. You see a magical pet that somehow puts all the burden on you to become the Savior or the mythic world, kind of thing. I just intended to have the setting inspired by Roman Culture, with a bit of Greco, Egyptian, Gaelic, and hell even Chinese tid bits here and there. Because, damn, Rome is amazing for a reason.

I appreciate that you want to design an interesting setting inspired by history and mythology. Please keep in mind that it can be difficult to create a detailed world that will also be easy for the audience to understand. Therefore, consider listening to Writing Excuses' discussion on non traditional fantasy worlds.

Any suggestions on gameplay as well? I'm not sure if I want a battle rpg kind of thing, but it seems appropiate. I don't really want it though. I'm probably pulling more on time based game play, where the player has to press a certain button before the time ends...

Be careful with the scope of your project. How much complex gameplay can you commit to designing? Make sure that you do not commit to creating more than you can handle right now. Also, think carefully about your goals. Your can focus on story, interaction, or finding a balance between the two.

I have this thing for drawing anime weeb stuff and my writing is fanfiction-y at best.
I also have no confidence in myself.

It can be difficult to find a balance between the extremes of "Taking self-confidence too far, and going right into arrogance" and "Taking self-criticism too far, and going right into negativity." I know this firsthand. Sometimes I have had a smug, superior attitude. At other times, I have struggled with having a positive attitude about my writing.

Don't worry about your hobbies and interests right now. I say this because I enjoy a number of eccentric and sometimes embarrassing things. (Off-topic: For instance, I'm currently listening to a playlist that includes "Filly of a Filly" by iBringDaLULZ, "Subarashiki Butai" from the Sakura Wars universe, and "Sons of the Revolution" by Tonio K.)

[pandamyc]

Bringing back the gods is an interesting plot. What is preventing Ophelia from achieving her goals? What obstacles and challenges will she face?

Of course, most stories entails both the protagonist, the antagonist, and the ally. The antagonist is in a similar situation to the protagonist, that I tried to make it a more deranged path that the protagonist could of become. And every person she comes with has their own baggage. For example, VI is influenced by her every decision, maybe having the perfect morals, to having a very twisted one. He may be trying to be a hero, but he's not cut out for swords and brawn like Ophy is. He's not intelligent either. And it also goes vice versa. Ophy's is also influenced by VI's actions, as he always one to impulsively chase after what he think he is own moral rights, and she can't help but follow him.
And then the antagonist is actually the head researcher for the cult. I intend to keep him a mystery, because of reasons. But he's not a dues ex machina, I assure you.

I appreciate that you want to design an interesting setting inspired by history and mythology. Please keep in mind that it can be difficult to create a detailed world that will also be easy for the audience to understand. Therefore, consider listening to Writing Excuses' discussion on non traditional fantasy worlds.

Roman history is actually pretty common knowledge to most people who have a basic highschool education. In fact, a lot of modern day traditions that we have are marked from roman times, including the calenders, western marraige rituals, etc. It really achieves that familiarity, but foreignness that I want. The most that would probably beyond most common knowledge is probably the structure of each roman government, the battle tactics and formations that were famous to the roman legion, and most likely religion. I think the most difficult thing though for perhaps people though, would be to pronouce VI's name as Six, instead of like Vee.
Albeit a lot of Roman relgion has been influenced by other cultures, it is still an entire religion on it's own. And surprisingly, there won't be a lot of religion put into it since they're pretty nonexistant. Instead of an apocalyptic world, people just simply forget.
Anyhow, thank you for the link to that podcast. This is actually a very valuable resource that I'm still listening to since your posted awhile ago. Gives me a bit of insight on how to handle non-traditional fantasy settings, as this idea actually happen to be a huge inspiration from a couple of table rpgs such as dnd.

Be careful with the scope of your project. How much complex gameplay can you commit to designing? Make sure that you do not commit to creating more than you can handle right now. Also, think carefully about your goals. Your can focus on story, interaction, or finding a balance between the two.

That's the thing though, I don't want it to be an actual "rpg" kind of game. I know how difficult it is to make from past experience, and I even hate drawing pixel art that I tried to void it like the plague. So yea, my biggest focus will always be the plot and the writing style itself. So once I'm pretty sure I am 2/3rds done with the writing aspect, I'll move on to the art.
Because Ophelia has a certain personality, her interactions are mostly decisions that go along with the premise of the story. So will her actions affect taking action vs waiting? Having too much power vs. using it responsibly? etc. They affect the ending to an entirely different path, and it's not just a 'good' or 'bad' path. It's just a different ending, a different possibility.
As for the sub-romance, I don't want entire branches dedicated to them. Sure, each one has a plot arc, maybe even more than one, but they're tools to further on the story and have the character move. The style that had probably achieve this style pretty well is Freak-Quency. Of course, I'll have it more on a visual novel approach.

Don't worry about your hobbies and interests right now. I say this because I enjoy a number of eccentric and sometimes embarrassing things.

And thank you for this. Although I often hold pessimistic views, I keep them, so I can be pleasantly surprised when things go positively, haha. It's mostly of trying to keep my smugness to a down low. Sorry for leaving you hanging on a reply for this, it's very rude of me, especially since your trying to offer your own precious advice. But I haven't touch my computer for four days due to excursions lately. Thankfully my iphone is here to help, but I had to hold. It's mostly because I couldn't read the spoiled text on an Iphone. Anyway, thank you once again, and I really appreciate the interest check into this.