Religion 2.0? Alternative to magic in current game

Good day every1
Some thoughts (addition to people ideas above) about religion system in game
Expanding religion may be good alternative to sorcery/magic system
So players can really invest time and resources and get in return cool stuff and bonuses
In other way, religion must be more demanding according to Hyborian age lore
It should be simple interesting challenging but not overloaded

Current system may be untouched in fact, just need to add magical consumables tokens (GIFTs) with content, OATH conditions and negative trigger effects to players (PENALTY, CURSE)

Corner stones:
-Only 1 god at a time
-Each god\religion has OATH, PENALTY, GIFTs, CURSE

Manifestation of Zeal is main currency of system:
-accumulating on the altar after the rite
-spendable currency for GIFTs

How its work:

—OATH—
After picking a god player take the OATH
for ex.:
-Yog – Feast human ritual flesh every ??? (game time)
-Mitra – Do not attack first any human (player/npc), only after getting damage self-defense (enemy name/mark turns red)
-Set – Sacrifice human hearts at least every ??? (game time)
-Jhebbal Sag – Do not kill baby animals of any kind
-and etc

—PENALTY—
After breaking the OATH message appears… You upset the higher forces… and player get PENALTY (accompanied with some sound\visual effect)
for ex.:
-reduced vision/stamina/health regen/gathering rate
-increased hunger/thirst rate
-50% of movement speed
and etc

Duration of PENALTY (depends on its power) 5-20 minutes, death\logging out will not remove the counter
It must be enough to start respecting chosen way but not game breaking

—GIFT—
GIFT Tokens looks like Avatar Tokens
1-2 new GIFTs for each altar tier
Player can buy GIFT token with some numbers of Manifestation of Zeal
Player can put GIFT token to inventory/hotbar and use it immediately or later
GIFT token expires after 24h (to preventing farming and abusing)
GIFT token can’t be stacked in pack
GIFT usage accompanied with some sound\visual effect on player
Each GIFT usage duration is temporary (sec counter), or single use (for some spawn objects, like traps)

for ex.:
-Ymir T2 GIFT – Frost giant barrage (gives player pack of frost javelins* for ??? sec)
spawn reskinned model of very powerful javelins with unlimited number of throws for 30 sec
-Jhebbal Sag T3 GIFT – Child of Sag (turn player into werewolf
for ??? sec)
model of npc werewolf + claws fight mechanics
…imagine you see these things climbing your walls at night…
-Mitra T3 GIFT – Born Again (turn player into phoenix
for ??? sec)
reskinned little model of Jhebbal Sag avatar with no attack ability
…Cool way to land at some sky bases D…
-Set T3 GIFT – Eyes of serpent (once spawns a serpent guardian statue
which will shoot every foe in building zone radius)
*need fuel/ammo to work, need explosives/siege weapons to be destroyed
…BTW turrets/towers mechanics anyway would be a good addition to game (vs offline raiding)
-Derketo T1 GIFT – Generous life (player receives x2 bonus to any natural collected resources for ??? sec)
and etc

Some ideas for other T1-3 GIFTs:
night vision, increased speed, resource drop rate, health/stamina regen, magical weapons (appears in right hand), magic attacks (reusing orb mechanics), magic seals (reusing land mines mechanics), npc summons, horn of plenty (spawns golden box with big amount of random rare resources), magic cloak (invisible to npc and players)
and etc

—CURSE—
Player get CURSE immediately after switching to the other god
Player gets a CURSE after his altar is destroyed more than ??? times (not dismantled)
Player gets a CURSE after ??? penalties
Message appears… You have angered the gods and will be punished… player get CURSE (accompanied with some sound\visual effect)
death/logging out will not remove the counter

for ex.:
-Yog CURSE – Cosmic hunger (any food gives only 10% of potential, the hunger meter cannot be filled more than 20%), 60 min of real game time
-Set CURSE – Eternal suffering (player receives +50% to any types of damage, periodical short-term delusion (like walking on grease), limitation of sight), ??? min of real game time
-Jhebbal Sag CURSE – Hunted hunter (any living animals deal +100% damage to player, player attack to any living animals only 50%), ??? min of real game
-Mitra CURSE – Burden of guilt (make player move slow (like overencumbered), turn vision into black/white (lol)), ??? min of real game
and etc

Well, these are just hints how new religion\magic system can be done.
It will make game more roleplay-ish and balanced, with people who mostly stick to the chosen path in the way to receive goodies
no more mutli-worshiping cultists, and chaotic play, with Mitra clans butchering kittens and 1 lvl people or vegan Yogittes farming flowers D
Anyway, people still can worship all gods one after another and share religious goodies with clan members, so no1 loose anything
If players want to challenge gods they can still overcome the punishment (at least minimize negative effects) by clever counter measures

If players don’t want to mess with all religious stuff – good old Crom the answer

BTW Crom way must have some benefits to players…
-bonuses to stats?
-bonuses related with steel?
-unique recipes/abilities?

2 Likes

The more I read the forums, the more I think people should start their own “game making” with all these great ideas
:slight_smile:

2 Likes

No! Keep Religion as Religion.

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