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 HEY HEY JAY RAY #2: Inns
#1
HEY HEY JAY RAY!
Chapter #2: To Inn or Not To Inn:
So, you've just cleaned out the dreaded dilapidated castle, went room to room like a Canadian Sniper Team, dispatching goblins, orc, and the occasional dark band of uglies that threaten the nearby hamlet. But now? You're tired. DO you grab a tent outside, hoping for the best, or do you opt for the secure and fortified high-priced inn room? 10 gold for a night's stay? I doubt this place even has turn-down service or even a mint on the pillow...

Inns.. We love to use them in games to repair HP, SP, and maybe even fatigue states, but how do you set up your inns? Do you opt for just an inn when you can find one? Or do you offer tent-like items that offer chances of interruption? Or is it always a good night (or Knight's, depending on the game)

What I personally like is the Tent approach, but I wanted to add a special twist to it. I decided to add the tent scene as a Sleeping Event Conditional that takes two things into account. First, as some maps are definitely more dangerous than others (camping outside your own liege's walls vs camping in the 24th level of the Dresynok Labyrinth of Doom) so I declared a variable for danger level... offset by the number of members in a party, as you're less likely to be ambushed when Kazie, your slightly paranoid magic user is standing guard. This way, just like the tabletop games of lore, I can run a check each hour for a chance of ambush.

What do you think, should our players just be able to be as safe and sound as can be, or do you want their every waking night out in the wilderness to be frought with danger?

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#2
I have the same oppinion in this that I have had in the discussion about maps, really:
It depends on the game.

Also, whoever said Inns themself are always save?
I remmeber a game, where a character would sometimes dream during the night.
I remember a game, in which the party got captured in an Inn.
I remember a game in which inns would often tirgger more then just simple healing.

Gameplay design is not the skill that I have the most points in; that would be story - or characters - and that is the foundation on how I design Inns and other possible ways of rest.
I love the element of luck, and like to make use of it where I see fit. But if I can, I want the player to succed or fail based on how well they play - or based on what the plot demands. I don't want punishment to be random chance, unless that is the point of said punishment.
I love your idea with the tents and the various levels of danger, but I would probably not create it myself. Unless I can interwind it with the characters or the story in some way.
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#3
Like yamina-chan says, it all depends on your game. Tongue sticking out

However, for YOUR game, I'd say you could have both, but make inns expensive compared to Tents! That way, people can choose whether or not they want use the extra cash to be safe, instead of risking a snake bite during the night Laughing

I've seen games that make Tents more expensive than an Inn/Hotel, and I never understood that... but pricing is all up to you Very cheery

Camping in a dungeon sounds fun to me, too, but I might do that in my own game for an event Blushing + Cheery
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#4
Almost all classic styled RPGs tend to allow the player a safe night's sleep unless the actual story-arc devised by the game designer says otherwise. As you say, this could be interrupted by a dream or bandits capturing you, or whatnot... but that is all in the game's story and there's not much chance of it being varied.

But then there are games by Bethesda Softworks... The Elder Scrolls series of games. They took an approach from one of the oldest games I know: Wizardry. There, you get to choose how long you rest, but in the Elder Scrolls games, it is based on hours rather than days, and you may either loiter or actively sleep (if you have an actual mattress, or stuck in the wilderness). But herein lies the difference.... the characters (particularly the enemies) are dynamic and could run into the player and ambush him.

If you have a secure home in an Elder Scrolls game, you're likely not to be attacked (except in Morrowind where the Dark Brotherhood assassins continue to disturb your sleep). But if you're in the wilderness, you may have a good sleep... or not. Depends on the lands, the caves, or whatnot. Clean out a cave full of rats and spiders, you may have just made a new hidey hole to bunk down for the night.

And these games also sport a day/night system, not saying RPGMaker games cannot have one. Even as far back as RPGMaker 2000 systems, I have seen INN systems that work with day/night scripts as some things (nightclubs, etc) only happen at night, and taking a snooze at noon makes you wake up when the sun sets. I have one such game uploaded in Complete Projects. Winking
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#5
Sometimes, I actually kind of regret including conventional inns in my game. I would have included a pay-for-heal system had I know there was a script for that.

As a side note, I think it's rather curious that the 4 RPGs I've played recently (Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Shadow Hearts for the New World) do not feature inns at all. In the previously mentioned FF games just touching a Save Point will recover all you HP/MP, making inns obsolete. The SH games only have tents that can be used at save points or in the world map.
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