early RPG story idea and characters

[Blademon]

I thought I'd ask this fine section about a story idea I have, I feel this can really be a great game, but I might be totally off, lol. None of the characters have names as of yet, if you have a good name for them, leave a message, I need as much opinions as possible! Here it goes.


It's Halloween day, a young 8th grader and his younger sister are getting ready to celebrate the big night by dressing up. They're currently at home, watching tv and playing video games. The hero's best friend has finally arrived, dressed as a dinosaur and they decide to leave.

Late at night, the hero's dad comes home, he's kind of a crazy scientist, he has been researching on time travel and messing with his son's watch, a gift he hopes to have complete by Christmas. He then goes to sleep. As the clock strikes midnight, very bright flashes can be seen inside the house by the kids out on Halloween. When it settles down, some figures move in the shadows, interested in the partially modified watch. They infuse energy into the watch and dissapear the same way they came.

The hero and his sister are scared and come rushing home, they don't notice anything strange expect that his dad forgot his watch on the table and takes it & puts it on. They then go into their dad's room and notice that he's sleeping peacefully, relieved, they go to their room and go to sleep.

The next morning, when the hero wakes up, he notices his dad is already gone, he just decides to get up and decides to play a bit of video games with his sister until his best friend phones him. As they're playing a particular game where you need to save the princess, he wonders how cool it would be if he could do the same thing instead of living the boring life of a teenager. His friend hasn't called when the clocks strikes 12. Alone in their house, the hero and his sister see weird colors and bright flashes when they suddently find themselves transported in the middle ages!

They look around them, they're in some sort of forest, near a small lake. He wonders how they got there when he sees his new watch still glowing a bit. The world is very strange to them and they don't know where they are. A bit in the distance, the hero notices a princess kissing frogs, intruiged, the hero gets up and tries to run in her direction. As he tries to run, he falls and loses his watch in the lake! He never was very good at sports. The watch is retrived by a frog, who then makes its way near the princess. The princess then takes it and decides to leave the lake and go home. Without their watch and in a strange world, the hero and his sister decide to follow the princess and the story begins...


This is the start, give me your OPINIONS! The story is set to include time travel, lots of humor(hopefully), very different and interesting characters and maybe even a class system.

Here's a basic overview of the playable characters I have so far:



'Name': Hero, male, 14
Traits: He's the brother of the heroin, he's adventurous but has a short attention span
Short Descriptions: likes school, friendly, has no respect for elders, wants to join the military, plays a lot with his sister

'Name': Heroin, female, 12
Traits: Hero's little sister, looks up to brother, follows brother in everything
Short Description:impatient, intelligent, enthusiastic, afraid of being alone, likes animals

'Name':Elf, male, 22
Traits: social outcast, survivalist, clumsy
Short Description: self-contious, pesimistic, peaceful, longs for acceptance, athletic.

'Name': warrior, female, 20
Traits: demon hunter, talented, mercenary
Short Description: confident, independant, not trusting of others

'Name': Time warrior, male, 29
Traits: married to time mage
Short Description: no clue  

'Name': Time mage, female, 30
Traits: married to time warrior
Short Description: no clue yet  

[MrMister]

It's 'Herione'. Heroin is a drug.

Sounds like a wacky story.

[blaze_shinigami]

I likes it. Hell, that could be real nice game there.

Figure out some names though.

[Seth Mitchell]

Need names, than just click on my signature to see the Seth MItchell the name Generator

[Meiscool-2]

NO! Not another 14 year old hero! NO~NO~NO~NO~NO@noes land!

[Syntax]

I agree with Meizcool here.
Also, having yougn characters like that doesent make the game seem as serious.
And why would 20-30 year olds hang around with 12-14 year olds... xD

[Seth Mitchell]

I dont know, ask SMB.

[Syntax]

I havent seen that guy in like... A long time.

[drenrin2120]

Idk, it seems okay. Maybe if the main characters were odler, and their father had invited them over and like, threw them into the past because he's a crazy scientific ***hole like that. THAT'D be cool.

goodluck anyways.

[Blademon]

Originally posted by Syntax
I agree with Meizcool here.
Also, having yougn characters like that doesent make the game seem as serious.
And why would 20-30 year olds hang around with 12-14 year olds... xD

Because they share a common goal, if the story is pulled well then their interaction makes the game that much better for everyone.

About the age thing. Very interesting observations. The Demon Hunter right now is 20 year old. She's supposed to be a mercenary, a very independant person, someone who has clear goals in life. I didn't want to make her 20. She would originally be maybe 28-29, she needs to convey to everyone that's she's very experienced and one of the best fighters in the kingdom. You don't do that with a 20 year old.

I made HER younger because of the whole Final Fantasy crowd, everyone wants a 17-19 year old saving the world, and yes, she has to fit with 14 year olds.

The time warriors might also be older, their marriage isn't smooth, in fact the woman wants a divorce(as soon as they take care of more urgent matters) so they have a very interesting and funny relationship. They need to be energetic, connect with the younger players(you) and the kids in the game, but their relationship/marriage needs to be at a pretty advanced stage.


As for the kid and her sister however, it was not influenced by anything of the previous sort. I have to say I took their idea from the brother and sister heroes in Grandia. They're young, but they fit the story perfectly. The 14 year old hero has the same adventurous personality, he needs to make errors, to be a kid in this strange world. He and his sister will also grow as people, and a young person has more easily observed 'flaws', not to mention it's easier to connect with the players if it's a common problem.


I might age some and keep others the same age they're now. The fact that the main hero is a 14 year old boy (and yes it might actually  be hard story-wise to make it work why all these people are sticking together ) who isn't received very well gives me a lot to think about, maybe I'll change some of the key storylines.

As for being Heroine, thank you    I'll get some names. I have a few name generators too, but maybe their names will have deeper meanings, they will get one whenever it happens.

[Moosetroop11]

Sounds cool. Crazy, but cool. The pivitol thing will be character personalities.

[ZeroKirbyX]

I believe young characters are fine if, and only if, they actually age over about 10 years in the game.

If you want a really mentally strong or mentally tired character make em toung. If their like 14 and watch their family die then get to age 25.............. they can be really strong or messed up in the head XD

[Revolution911]

Originally posted by Syntax
I agree with Meizcool here.
Also, having yougn characters like that doesent make the game seem as serious.
And why would 20-30 year olds hang around with 12-14 year olds... xD

My best friends ages:

Roxanne- 16
Nicole- 20
Rag-20

me- 14

[WarxePB]

The various plot elements (time travel, unknown worlds, young heroes) have all been done to death, yet the way it's written is... refreshing, I guess. I agree with MT that the personalities will be a huge factor in this game, so improving your skills in dialogue and roleplaying, or getting someone to help you with cutscene dialogues and such, would vastly improve the overall quality of the game.

In other words, work hard at it, and you'll reap what you sow. Good luck.


Also, what kind of systems will you be using? Battles, menues, character-related... posting some of your early ideas could help reduce the flaws later on, and give you some new ideas as well.

[Blademon]

Yeah I still have a lot to figure out, I'm pretty sure it will include a few mini-games, and it will have a special save system(really cool..) but I think the battle system will be the default. Turn based, like so many RPGs today. Can stuff be added to the DBS?

A CMS, maybe, but I think the game will be fairly straightforward(by design, making the whole better) so I won't need a "quest journal" etc, so there's less reasons for a CMS. There might be classes however.