THE FUTURE OF RPGS

Introduction
   Foreword
   In the beginning…

Notes
   Note about RPG/CRPG
   Note about Fantasy
   Note about Diablo II
   (New) Note about Depth
   (New) Note about RTS combination with RPG
   Note about my intentions
   Note about where this is all going

The story side of things
   Story
   Linear vs. Interactive
   Adding a choice, "Bulletin Board Quests for the Bounty Hunter"
   Time critical events
   Adding Reason, "I want a dragon NOW! Daddy! NOW!"
   (New) A story-less RPG
   The distant future of gaming

NPC's
   NPC's
   Monsters, are they the stupid NPC's?
   NPC's again: Why should I wait for you?
   Furthering NPC's: Emotive response
   Conversing with NPC's, "click here for this quest"
   NPC speech and listening in on conversations
   NPC and monster Advancement, allowing your party to improve
   Learning 'goblinish', breaking the language barrier
   Recruiting a party or being tutored on your journey
   The uses of a bard
   Sending your party off
   (New) An NPC-less world
   (New) Multiplayer games and the NPC's responsibility

Saved Games
   "Free saves" vs. "Save Spots"
   "Learning through death sucks…" the advent of the save game
   (New) Alternatives to Death... More options regarding Saves
   (New) Playing a game, not beating a game

Health
   Why should I be able to increase my health?
   The spread of disease

Bright (or not so bright) Ideas
   SNARES!
   Running for mayor and running a town
   Combining RTS and RPG, A simple harmony
   Transportation or "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"
   Idle actions, "Eating, sleeping and relieving oneself"
   Beggars and thieves, preventing the player from leaving cash lying around
   Automating tasks: How players can implement scripting
   Dynamic game-worlds - Watching the grass grow and the search key
   The hobbit and the hole
   (New) Bartering and the abolition of gold

Inventory
   Inventory, "how come I can't stack?"
   Inventory and container objects
   Inventory space and weighting

Enemies, Armour and Weaponry
   Monsters, weapons and armour: what your enemies should do
   Does the armour fit me?
   Germs! "Eeew! Orc sweat!"
   Blatant racism and the redefinition of a race
   (New) Enemy stupidity… "Give them a tactical approach!"
   (New) Reasoning against Enemy Stupidity
   (New) The petty 'evil' minions – When they know when to quit?
   (New) Enemy Perception

Player vision
   What do you see? Hiding what is not in sight
   Player sight; adding fog, decreasing the light, or blurring
   The vision Mosaic

Systems of Magic
   Localising Magic, Tactics and Placement
   Magic herbal brew
   Magic channelling and "using the flow"
   Co-operation of casting, bringing in a helping hand
   Putting the mystery back into magic: When click casting defeats the purpose
   Chaos and Order, Gods and Prayer
   (New) Dynamic Magic Casting, "Mixing and matching Glyphs"
   (New) Moderating Magic
   (New) Candle Magic - A magic system with self-moderation
   (New) Enchantments
   (New) Magic Balancing - The contrast of colours
   (New) Magic Saturation – The devastating effects of "Total Power"
   (New) Magic Decay - Making Magic a Precious Commodity

Statistics and Murder
   Abstracting your Statistics and "Pumping Iron in the Gym"
   Murder based experience or "End Goblin Genocide"
   What's with statistics? When swordplay becomes swimming
   Skill based advancement or "Redefining the Role"
   (New) The Web of Skills
   (New) Rewarding Failure

The Character
   Choosing your character or the "Which one is better" syndrome
   Including a place for the character, "There's no place like home"
   Role-playing a non-human

Game and Game-world, Timing and Art
   Standard Time and the creation of a short-game scene
   RPG's and Character aging, and the implementation of timing in games
   When do characters sleep? More timing factors in games
   Linking eating and sleeping with energy
   Standard Timing in Games
   Games and art, or Games AS art (my rant)
   Building your game world

Death and Karma
   Characters coping with death: Reincarnation
   Characters coping with death: Possession
   Characters redeeming their wrongs through battle

Definitions of RPG
   What is an RPG? More to the point, what isn't?
   Putting the 'R' back in 'RPG' or Redefining RPG's
   More about Role-Playing as "That would never happen in real life!"

Creatures and Combat
   A new combat system: 'Come back or I'll bite your legs off!'
   Monster Generator
   Variety is the spice of life, Bio-diversity
   (New) Realistic Sword-fighting – "Aiming for the head"
   (New) Flowing fighting – Bringing in the arcade fights

Player-Killers
   Combating PKing. Playing God "…And Justice For All"
   Combating PKing. "Good and Bad Karma"

(New) The Experience
   (New) Consistency, Immersion and Reasoning
   (New) Replay-ability – The value of non-linearity
   (New) "Genre-lising" – The art of anti-categorisation
   (New) Clichés – How to start a new trend
   (New) Standardising GUIs?
   (New) Fantasy meets Sci-Fi

(New) Plot Elements and Scenarios
   (New) Dragon Dreams and Magic

(New) Religion
   (New) Religion - For the service of your God

(New) Massively-Multiplayer Online RPGs
   (New) MMORPG Flaws
   (New) MMORPGs as an online stage

(New) Systems of Technology

(New) Puzzles
   (New) Magic System Puzzle

(New) Realism
   (New) The Fight against REAL Evil
   (New) What aspect of reality should I have in my game?

(New) Non-Linear Event Handling System
   (New) The Tree View
   (New) Advancement of the idea to a NLE Web
   (New) Implementing the actual system

Implementation
   Adding in a 3^rd dimension for Isometric RPGs
   Adding THE 3^rd dimension for Isometric RPGs
   Adding unlimited maps, allowing the option to explore
   (New) Implementing the Flowing Fighting System

My Learning Experience Approach
   What am I doing to change the world?
   Now that we have a basic setup
   Be free from that which haunts your dreams
   So about the finale

Conclusion
   Epilogue
   Bibliography
   Comments and Suggestions