Chapter 179: Illusion Magic and RPGs
Action games are difficult for now.
Dundi, one of Joy Systems’ planners, thought through several game genres he knew and considered whether they suited this project.
Dundi was a thirty-six-year-old human male. Originally, he had mainly created shooting games, but after riding the wave caused by Meta Soft, he had successfully produced several RPGs suited for Talados.
Perhaps because of that, he quickly eliminated several genres that came to mind and settled on RPGs.
In other words, rather than searching for a genre that suited the project, it was closer to trying to somehow make RPGs fit the project.
The common conclusion reached by the planners was that the illusion magic system suited board games.
Previously, although it had never been commercialized, chess had been one of the games used in the research stage, and MTC, which had recently caused a huge boom, was also a kind of board game.
Since illusions could not be directly manipulated, they needed to avoid heavily influencing the game system itself.
From that perspective, board games, which were played through physical systems, already had complete systems even without graphics, while illusion magic only handled one-time visual direction, meaning a supplementary role. That was why the planners believed the two actually worked well together.
So if I turn RPGs into board games, I need to make it so the illusion magic doesn’t directly affect the game system itself.
At first, it felt quite overwhelming.
In truth, Dundi had always considered RPGs a genre perfectly suited for computers because they contained large amounts of data and calculations.
If Dundi had started this project from a purely rational perspective, he probably would have quickly given up and examined another type of game instead.
First, I need to create the rules.
As he wondered where to begin, Dundi realized that the foundation of board games was rules.
Then he began organizing, one by one, the rules that computer programs normally handled.
It was not as difficult as expected. After all, coding those kinds of rules was originally his job.
He spent a long time pounding away at the keyboard as he wrote the rules.
For the basic setting, he used the virtual-history style commonly seen in RPGs. In Earth terms, it would be called medieval fantasy.
But while working for a long while, he suddenly realized something.
If this RPG were to become a board game, then unlike computer games, a single-player format would not suit it.
That was due to the nature of rules.
Rules only had meaning when enforced somehow. Otherwise, it became difficult for players to follow them.
Humans were fundamentally lenient toward themselves.
If someone encountered a disadvantageous situation while progressing through a game alone according to rules, very few people would honestly apply those rules to themselves.
“It was just practice this time,” or “Ah, I’ll let it slide just this once,” and so on.
And even if they decided to follow the rules properly, constantly making unfavorable judgments against themselves would likely cause emotional burnout.
Computer games could be enjoyed alone because the computer determined the results of choices.
Even in computer games, however, people used cheating tools to force easier and more favorable outcomes.
So playing a board game alone was like one person acting as defendant, lawyer, and judge all at once in a courtroom. There was no way it could function properly.
And just as excessive cheating ruined the fun of games, single-player board games would likely be the same.
No, computers merely altered result values, but in board games, the player could decide absolutely everything, making emotional detachment even more inevitable.
That was why another player was absolutely necessary as a monitor who enforced the rules.
But then another obstacle appeared.
The issue was how to include the other player.
Most other board games naturally placed players against one another, making one player the enemy of the other.
But in RPGs, opposing relationships usually meant there was a hero controlled by the player, while the opposing side naturally became monsters and villains.
And most people wanted to play heroes, not monsters or villains.
Moreover, in RPGs, monsters were supporting roles created for the protagonist’s growth. They were unsuitable as player-controlled opposing roles from the start.
“Hm...”
Fortunately, Dundi quickly found an answer to this problem.
The monitor doesn’t necessarily have to be an opponent.
A monitor enforced the rules partly to achieve victory, but fundamentally because they wanted to enjoy the game itself.
If someone destroyed the rules, the game they were enjoying would stop being fun.
Humans were lenient toward themselves but strict toward others.
Thus, Dundi judged that another player acting as an ally rather than an opponent could sufficiently fulfill the role of monitor.
The reason Dundi came up with the concept of allies was because of MUD games.
Of course, single-player RPGs also had companions, but since they were AI, it was difficult to think of them as equal players.
And Dundi himself had experience playing MUDs, so unlike solo games, he understood well the different kind of fun provided by team play.
Yeah, this is definitely much better.
Once he designed the game with team play in mind, it looked far more appealing than simply wandering through dungeons alone.
There were synergies created by different classes working together, and the increase in unpredictability and variables made gameplay itself feel more colorful.
After all, silently grinding levels alone could easily become boring.
In truth, the tedium of level grinding was already a problem computer games were trying to solve.
Even on Earth, which would be considered a distant future by this era’s standards, it did not seem completely solved.
Besides that, Dundi introduced changes in several other directions.
Even if they were both RPGs, the method of experiencing them was different.
Afterward, he created rough rules and systems, repeatedly revised them several times, and once he gained some confidence, he prepared and submitted a proposal.
“An RPG?”
Kokaton raised one eyebrow after reading Dundi’s proposal among the stack on his desk.
It was not because he disliked it. It was simply unexpected.
He also understood that using the illusion system ultimately required a board-game format.
But RPGs were fairly complex games, so he could not easily picture how one could implement them as board games.
“Oh...?!”
However, the proposal he read with half doubt and half curiosity was far more convincing than expected.
It admittedly felt somewhat messy because there were too many things packed into it, but once he imagined actually creating and playing it, it seemed good.
It really would feel like going on an adventure.
The game system itself was good, but imagining scenes being realized through illusions during key moments made it feel especially well suited.
Of course, several more proposals came in afterward, and some of them also attracted Kokaton’s interest.
But in the end, Dundi’s proposal survived to the very end and became the final development team.
Originally, they had planned to run several teams simultaneously.
However, because they also needed to develop the Player itself, limitations in time and budget forced them to proceed with only one project.
Developing magical devices was never easy.
That remained true even with the example of MTC Player already existing.
In any case, Joy Systems thus began the project tentatively titled “Board RPG.”
Far west of the Republic of Smite lay the continent of Lorasia.
Like many lands, it was inhabited by various races, but many of its nations were primarily human.
That was why when New Continent nations with large human populations, such as the Republic of Smite or the Brunyard Federation, referred to the “Old Continent,” they usually meant Lorasia.
But that did not mean it could truly be called the land of humans.
The Elven nation of Rande, which first created strategic weapons, was located on the continent of Lorasia, and the Orc Empire, regarded as the origin of Orcs, was also situated there.
“Oh, this is fun.”
An intimidating Orc wearing plain gray work clothes with no decoration sat in Pippin’s cabin enjoying Fighters Club together with him.
Unlike the Orcs of the Republic of Smite, this Orc wore rough piercings not only on his ears but also on his nose and tusks.
Pippin’s ship was currently docked at Kazabar, a port of the Orc Empire.
This Orc was someone he had met by chance in Kazabar.
He was curious by nature and surprisingly knowledgeable about the Republic of Smite.
Pippin felt goodwill toward this Orc named Tadallo because he had received considerable help from him, so he diligently satisfied his curiosity. Somehow, things had progressed to the point where he invited him into his cabin and even played games together.
For Pippin, who was not particularly sociable, it was strange enough to make him wonder how things had reached this point.
Still, he did not dislike or feel uncomfortable about it.
Tadallo was simply that decent of a guy.
In truth, despite having visited the Orc Empire many times, Pippin had always held slight prejudice toward Orcs there. Tadallo had changed that somewhat.
The Orc Empire.
Although it was called an empire, in reality it was closer to a coalition of countless warlords.
It had already been over 150 years since it had truly been an empire.
Back then, Emperor Kagal III had collapsed pathetically under the provocation of the empire of Pluta, completely shattering an authority that had already been unstable.
Afterward, warlords rose everywhere across the land, plunging it into an age of chaos.
Fortunately, Tatakao, one of the powerful warlords, blocked Pluta’s second provocation and skillfully used diplomacy and warfare to prevent foreign intervention, but he could not stop the endless civil wars.
Even now, reunification had not been achieved, and the empire remained divided, preventing proper modernization like other nations.
Thus, the Orc Empire’s image was that of a powerful yet outdated premodern nation.
And that image was not far from the truth.
But the Orc Empire had not remained in that state forever.
Though reunification still had not happened, the civil wars between warlords had nearly ceased.
And some warlords had begun pursuing large-scale reforms.
They aimed for modernization and industrialization by following the examples of other races’ nations.
And unlike before, when they blindly rejected foreign influence, they had begun increasing exchanges with outsiders.
That was why Pippin’s ship could enter this port in the first place.
“Ah... I lost.”
Tadallo manipulated the controller with extreme concentration, but as a beginner, defeating Pippin was nearly impossible.
Pippin secretly felt relieved seeing Tadallo accept defeat more calmly than expected.
Though Tadallo seemed like a decent Orc, his massive size and Pippin’s lingering prejudice toward the Orc Empire still remained.
Truthfully, Pippin had wanted to play other games rather than such an unfair matchup.
But most other games did not suit Tadallo’s tastes.
And Fighters Club happened to hit his preferences perfectly.
This was probably not unique to Tadallo.
The Orcs in the Republic of Smite and other countries were somewhat different, but the Orc Empire still retained Orcs’ traditional culture, and perhaps because of the chaotic era, they tended to be more warlike.
Afterward, the two spent a long time enjoying Fighters Club together.
Tadallo learned surprisingly quickly, and later they could exchange blows fairly evenly.
It was an enjoyable time.
But everything depended on how it ended.
In particular, Tadallo seemed reluctant not only about parting with Pippin, but also about leaving Fighters Club behind.
“You can’t play this without a computer, right?”
“Hm? Well, yeah. Ah, come to think of it, there’s also the arcade version.”
“Arcade?”
“Yeah. Machines where you put in coins to play games. The kind used in places like arcades.”
Tadallo showed great interest in hearing about arcade machines.
And until Pippin left the port, the two often met and exchanged many stories about games, including arcade machines.
Footnotes:
Translator’s Notes:
MUD (머드) — Multi-User Dungeon. A text-based multiplayer online role-playing game genre originating in the late 1970s and 1980s, considered a precursor to MMORPGs.
Board RPG — Refers to tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), where players follow rule systems manually instead of through computers.
Chess — Strategic board game originating in India around the 6th century before spreading globally; mentioned here as an early experiment for illusion magic applications.