Crimes

[JoelMarler]

How do you incorporate committing crimes into your game? Do you have pickpocketing? Theft? Murder? Something else? And how did you implement it?

 

[MushroomCake28]

Do you mean committing crimes? Like the party can be good/evil and commit crimes or save people?

 

[JoelMarler]

Do you mean committing crimes? Like the party can be good/evil and commit crimes or save people?

Yeah, committing crimes. I've edited the original post to clarify that now.

 

[MushroomCake28]

Well, I suppose the possibility of committing crimes also means the possibility of not committing crimes (unless your game is only about committing crimes). Then you could incorporate a good/evil level and make certain quests available if the party is good/evil enough. The way I would create that good/evil system is probably with a quest board, and quests adding or subtracting points of a variable that would act as the good/evil level.

 

[Kuro DCupu]

But... I always thought breaking into someone else's house and stealing their stuff is already a crime...?

 

[JMsoup]

Need to make sure that the rewards for being evil is sufficient as most (I think) players would go for the good route at least on first playthrough.

 

[Emanzi]

Like in real life. Crimes are usually punishable. You could use that and find a way of.punishing the player for commiting a crime. Like reducing an important variable or sending them to a prison if they get caught.

 

[L.W. Flouisa]

How do you incorporate committing crimes into your game? Do you have pickpocketing? Theft? Murder? Something else? And how did you implement it?

I don't so much want to incorporate crimes solely, but what happens when they get caught.

Particularly in an apocalyptic setting, ... they'll probably use the hangman's noose or guillotine more freely. It all depends on the genre of fiction you want your game to be really.

 

[watermark]

You could try a crime ranking system used in some RPGs or GTA series. It would work like this:

1. Player does something bad.
2. Does she get caught? (Roll random number, skill check, or if player can be seen by law enforcement etc.)
- If not, nothing happens. She gets away with the loot.
- If yes, go on to next step.
3. Escalate the crime level.
4. Execute the appropriate action according to that level. i.e. all townspeople are now hostile at level 1, guards show up at level 2, you get thrown in prison at level 3, etc.
5. Usually allow player some way to escape. Example in GTA, you can drive away in your car, and if you avoid the cops long enough or go into a spray shop, you get to decrease your crime level. Or like in stealth games if the guards can't find you after a bit things go back to normal.

Now in step 2, you can also implement a hidden long term Morality stat from Evil to Good, which changes regardless of whether you get caught. You can then use that value to influence certain future events.

 

[Eschaton]

Pickpocketing, lockpicking, and shoplifting can be evented. However, they should tie into the core gameplay mechanics (actor parameters). Parameters should factor into success or failure, how long the action takes, whether or not they're caught. There should be a degree of risk and a degree of risk mitigation, both of which should be things the player can influence.