Kingdoms Game Mechanics and Rulebook

Alright, Kingdom of Vengeance, the fifth Kingdom, has quickly become my favorite of the bunch. Story-Wise, it's #2 only behind Kingdom of Treason and just ahead of Kingdom of Discord. But its classic Fantasy RPG Style with Hidden Game Mechanics takes the cake. Until I get up the actual Forum, I'll be posting these things here. So allow me to begin with one of the most basic mechanics.

Slotting

In Kingdom of Vengeance, you'll all have to cooperatively play and vote based on preference, making you have to exercise your mind a little. This is done mainly through the slotting mechanic. I do all the math for you but this doesn't require math.

There are a total of six slots in the combat roster. There are three in front and three in back. The front three represent the characters in the front lines with you. The back three represent the reserve NPC's. Odds are that Train and Leila will pretty much always be in that front line, being the main characters. Choose carefully what characters you Slot and in what Slots you Place Them. The reason for this isn't just to keep battles orderly by using as few characters as are effectively possible, but also because of a feature known as The Support System. A Support is a character's immediate effect on the characters in the Battle Roster Front Line. They are active the second a character is slotted and act passively. Many supports are Offensive. However, there are also Defensive supports so be alert. What characters in the line a character's support effects varies. But if a character's support says that it reaches the characters immediately next to them and they are in the front or back of the line, it will effect the character on the opposite end. Here is an example of the Slots.

Train-Leila-Bass
Belzelga-Gabby-Bell

The Next Thing I'll Talk about will be Damage. Sorry. But to make it easy, I'm going to break it down into sections. So the First category will be Damage-Types.

Damage Types

There are numerous Damage Types. Each Damage type is acquired a different way. There is Basic Damage, Add-On Damage (AOD), Damage Over Time (DOT), Critical Damage, and Counter Damage.

Basic Damage - The first hand applied damage from all attacks.

Add-On Damage - Comes in numerous forms. Usually applied by the Special Effects of an attack.

Damage Over Time - Turn Effective Damage. The Affected Target receives a set amount of damage over a certain amount of turns. Usually the result of a Spell or Attack Effect.

Critical Damage - As in all video-games, Critical Damage is a multiplier on damage already applied. However, there is a 10% chance of getting this usually.

Counter Damage - Another widely used video-game concept is damage done in retaliation.


Add-On Damage

There are also several forms of Add-On Damage. These include Striking, Crushing, Piercing(Slashing in Some Games), Mystic, Burning, Arctic, and Poison. Add-On Damage has a 30% chance of applying in the moves where they become effective. Each Add-On Damage is called Add-On not because they boost a move's power by 10%, but also because they apply a number of Debuffs and DOT effects.

Striking - Applied usually through agility focused Physical Attacks such as from Bell. Striking Damage Applies a Debuff to the target, halving their Physical Attack Power.

Crushing - Applied through heavy weapons or brute strength such as through Kokoro. Crushing Damage will randomly apply one of three effects. There will be either a Speed Reduction Debuff, cutting speed in half, a Defense Reduction Debuff. cutting Defense in half, or a Disorient Debuff that stuns the target for a turn.

Piercing(Slashing) Damage - Applied by means of Sharp Melee or Special attacks such as with most any character with a sword. Piercing Damage applies Bleed DOT.

Mystic Damage (KoV only)- Applied usually through Ego Magic such as with Rune. Mystic Damage Neutralizes Resistances until the target's next turn.

Burning Damage - Applied through fire related skills/specials and spells. Applies Burning DOT.

Arctic Damage - Applied through ice related skills/specials and spells. Applies either Ice Cage or FreezingDOT.

Poison Damage - Applied through Poison related attacks. Applies Poison DOT.


Damage Over Time (DOT)

The Damage Over Time of DOT effects function in various ways similar in nature to status effects in Pokemon such as Poison, Curse, Burn, etc. The DOT effects are Bleed, Burning, Freezing, Poison, and Pain. Many Damage Over Time effects do eventually fade, though some don't.

Poison - The Target loses 5% of their current Health each turn. (Full Battle Unless Healed)

Burning - Target loses HP at random intervals of between 5% to 20% Health each turn. (Temporary)

Freezing - Target Loses 5% of their current Health each turn with 20% chance of losing Speed and Attack Power as well. (Temporary)

Bleed - Target first loses 5% Health, then 10% from that, then 15% and it continues to leech larger multiples of 5% from current HP. (Full Battle Unless Healed)

Pain - Target loses 10% HP Each Turn. (Temporary)

Resistances & "Elements"


Resistances

The Easiest mechanic in the whole game, likely because we're so familiar to it. A resistance halves the Damage from a move of a certain "Element" (Of course this only applies if an attack HAS a type) Sound familiar? There's no "Super-Effective" but this is the "Not Very Effective" straight out of Pokemon.

"Elements"

Another Familiar Deal. While characters themselves don't have elements, their moves do. The Elements include Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Darkness, Sound, Metal, Forest, Ice, Ego (AKA Mind), Lightning, Color, Love.

Those Marked Red Are Off Limits.

Not that this doesn't really do anything aside from allow you to bypass resistances (Believe Me, you'll need them for A LOT of bosses) and let you hit harder since typed attacks do 25% or more damage than non-typed moves which are generally basic "A-Button" attacks.

Character Match-Ups

Each Character has the Element Type Match-Up which is a bonus to moves of specific types. It'd look something like that below.

Train
Fire - 15%
Water - 0%
Air - 5%
Earth - 0%
Light - 5%
Darkness - 0%
Sound - 0%
Metal - 5%
Ego - 0%
Forest - 0%

Those percentages are the boosts a character gives to attacks of a certain element. Train is obviously very good with Fire Skills and decent in Light, Air, and Metal. That isn't all, however. Hidden there is a determination of most of his moves. If a character's name is Red, they're primarily Melee and all of their melee abilities, including basic attacks, get a 5% bonus. If Blue then they are a Magic wielding character and magic gets the 5% bonus. If Purple, however, they are Melee Magic Characters such as Rune and Gabby as well as some Kingdom of Justice characters. Their Melee Magic gets a 5% bonus. Some may ask, where do bows and arrows and other projectiles go? Those are Ranged Melee and those names would be yellow, granting their Ranged Melee the 5% bonus.

Elementalizing

A fun little mechanic for melee and ranged melee/projectile characters. This is giving basic attacks an element by surrounding the weapon temporarily in it. Doing this will boost a move's power by 10% (Damage x 1.1) It won't seem like much unless you hit frequently. This can only be done to basic moves with no element and does apply to non-specials. You can also stack these buffs up to 5 times but you have to gain a few levels before getting good enough to do that. By that time, you'll be doing some impressive damage.

Mechanics I'd Forgotten To Mention...

Holds
Holds are temporary establishments that keeps a character from moving for a certain amount of turns. There are a number of types of holds and many holds have bonus effects. There is Ice Cage, Disorient, Paralysis, and Blind.

Ice Cage - A Hold That Traps The Opponent For Up To 3 Turns And Reduces Their Speed By 10% Upon Being Freed. (Caused By Ice Damage)

Disorient - Causes The Opponent To Miss A Turn With No Added Side Effect. (Usually A Result Of Crushing Damage)

Paralysis - Causes The Opponent To Miss 3 Turns With No Added Side Effect. (Usually Caused By Electrical Damage Or Some Poison Attacks)

Blind - Causes The Opponent To Miss One Turn, Cutting Their Accuracy By 25% And Their Attack Power By 5% For The Next Three Turns. (Usually Caused By Smokescreen)


Special Traits
In the same way that all characters have Supports, all characters also have Special Traits. Special Traits may be active in battle or off depending on the character. These are not things that your own OC's will have and is exclusive to NPC's because they are designed to help the players along in the game. Some characters have poor Supports but very useful Special Traits. All characters are in some way useful.

Healing
Healing occurs after or during a battle when you use a special item. It may also occur if, during the course of the RP, characters visit the In-Game Infirmary. Healing also revives defeated NPC's and OC's. If you lose to an enemy, then you will not be allowed to continue fighting. Instead you must wait for the boss' defeat. Then, you will not be allowed to battle again until your party has visited the next infirmary or travelling inn. When an NPC is defeated, the same is applied and they cannot be slotted back until the next Traveling Inn or Infirmary. If all of the OC's and NPC's are defeated by an enemy (which will hardly happen until about 2/3 through the game), then all characters, NPC and OC alike, will be sent to the closest Infirmary or Travelling Inn they've already visited.

Hitting, Missing, Blocking, Countering

This mechanic is fairly simple yet complex. In Pokemon moves have accuracy. That doesn't exist here. Here the accuracy is by character. Most characters have 100% Accuracy which can only be lowered by Debuff. There is also Evasiveness which is also by character. Evasiveness will almost always be 30% or less unless a Buff or Debuff is applied. This obviously means that, on average, moves will be landing 70% of the time. Now, a character can have a base Evasiveness percentage higher than 30% and that is rare, in fact there are only 4 NPC's with which that is the case. There are also some characters with base Evasiveness Percentages lower than 30%, another rarity as, of the NPC's, only 2 characters have this case. The actual landing of a move is determined via random number generator.

Blocking can be pulled off up to three times successfully and with no negative side effects. Afterwards, the rate of success of a block is reduced by 10% a time. The only way to refill this is to go four turns without blocking.

Countering is accomplished through meeting one attack with another attack. There are several interactions where countering may occur. Physical to Magic, Magic to Physical, Physical to Physical, and Magic to Magic. A Counter doubles the damage output done by the opposing side's move but instead of you taking the damage, they do. Your attack doesn't apply its own damage when a counter is successfully carried out. An attack will have in its listings IF and WHAT it can counter.

New Mechanic

Character Stats
Character stats do somewhat have stakes in damage but they aren't as potent as you'd think. They're scaled as percentages. All damage dealing attacks rely on stats. The power of the move used is multiplied by the Stat Percentage (which usually doesn't exceed 50%). So here's an example of the damage mechanic.

In Kingdom of Vengeance, you have Rune. She is a Melee Mage. Melee Magic scales with Potential(Luck). Say she uses her Purple Arc special move. It has a power of 90 and her Potential Stat is 40% which is rather high.

Move Damage x Stat Percentage x Match-Up(If Any) x 25%(If Move Has An Element) x 10%(If-Add-On Dmg Is Applied) x 5%(Specialty Bonus If Any)

90 x 1.4 = 126
126 x 1.15 = 144.9
144.9 x 1.24 = 181.125
181.125 x 1.1 = 199.2375
199.2375 x 1.05 = 209.199375
Round Down
209
209 - Opponent's Defense = Damage Applied (Dmg x 0.5 If The Opponent Resists)

Note: Character Stats Also Apply To Damage Done By Regular Attacks ("A-Button Attacks") Depending On That Type Of Attack.

The Stats That Affect Damage Are As Follows
Strength
Intelligence
Potential
Energy Projection
Defense
Dexterity

Strength - Close Range Special, Melee
Intelligence - Non-Damage Skills and Magics such as Stealth (Does Not Include Heals)
Potential - Melee Magic
Energy Projection - Special Magic
Dexterity - Long Range Special, Long Range Melee (Bow and Arrow)
Defense - Allows Some Damage Resistance, Applies To Damage Done With Shields

New Mechanics


These aren't actually new, it's just the first time I'm mentioning them.


Experience Points
Experience points are distributed to everyone equally. To yourself as well as to NPC's. However, you will notice that some characters level up faster than others. This is based on an EXP system used commonly in video games. There are 5 Ranks of EXP; A, B, C, D and E. A ranked characters have the lowest EXP Equilibrium and thus, Level the Fastest. B is right behind them and I'm sure you get the idea from there. What ranking I give you is based on the stat ranks you take. The Exp Ranking Also determines how many of your own special moves you can learn.

A Requires 360000 EXP: 1-4 Special Moves (6000 a Level)
B Requires 480000 EXP: 5-8 Special Moves (8000 a Level)
C Requires 617958 EXP: 9-12 Special Moves (10300 a Level)
D Requires 750000 EXP: 13-16 Special Moves (12500 a Level)
E Requires 984000 EXP: 17-20 Special Moves (16400 a Level)

Super Moves

Super Moves Are Basically Super Powerful Moves. These moves have a chance of activating if all moves in a set combo are successfully carried out. The only requirement is that the move not have a power over 300 and the combo consist of at least three "A-Button" attacks before you get into the specials. If it has a power of 300, then you may only use it once. 200-299 and you may use it twice but the second time its damage is halved. 100-199 and you may use it three times. This is how many times the move may be activates. However, all Super Moves Hit a large number of times (1 to 5, depending on Number Generator)

Special Moves
This is more about Clarification than mechanics. Every character has a varying amount of special moves between 1 and 20 depending on the character. There are more special Skills and Spells that are general and can be performed by anyone. These are acquired through a number of means such as completing certain Quests or defeating certain enemies. When acquired, they are acquired for the entire party and anyone may use them. Equipping them costs Silver, however. It costs more to teach them to yourselves than it does for NPC's so be careful with how you use them. Once they're there, you can't get rid of them. There are over 50 General Specials but you only get 15 slots. You can also retcon them to go back and change added special moves. Every character learns their last move at level 60. This means that for characters who learn only a few special moves of their own, you'll have to work to get them the general specials. Special Magics Are Logged Into The Spell Books. Special Skills Are Logged Into The Skill Books.

Stat Scales

When determining the your stats rates, I determine the actual stats. There is no hard scale on the numbers but there is a general maximum for them all. For Hard Number Stats, the Upper Limit is 100 (HP goes up to 150). Percent Stats (Except For Evasiveness which is 30%) are 50%.

Quests

Simple Enough. Each Kingdoms Game is Broken Down into Acts. Under Each Act is a list of Quests specific to that Act. These are updated regularly especially when the next Act is introduced. You can still go back and take on Quests within a previous Act, however the rewards and EXP are bound to seem less beneficial via comparison. Also on those first posts are lists of enemies located in that area that will appear in Roaming Mode from time to time (They will appear whilst Sandboxing or on a Quest at random) and specifications about them. Quests that are story progression will be listed in bolded red.

There are several types of Quests.

1 - Locate a Specific Character
2 - Defeat a Certain Enemy or Group of Enemies
3 - Locate a Specific Item (Does Include Enemy Drops)
4 - Reach a Specific Location
5 - Protect a Specific Character


Enemies are also broken down. There are two types of enemies; Monsters and Humanoid. Most enemies also have an element. With monsters, they tend to embody said Element. Humanoids either embody said element or specialize in it weapon-wise. The enemies are also specified by Strengths and Weaknesses and show the amount of EXP they're worth.

A quest rank determines how much EXP is gained through that quest's completion. There are four ranks; Lenient, Easy, Normal, and Legendary. The rank depends also on the act and quest specifications, hence the reason most quests have a level recommendation.

Here are a number of other formulas you're bound to not realize are there.

Stats

(Stat Maximum Value/Max Stat Rating Value) x Character's Stat Rating

Ex: Arina's HP, Evasiveness, Speed, Strength

HP
(150/5) x 3
30 x 3 = [90]

Evasiveness
(30%/5) x 3
6% x 3 = [18%]

Speed
(100/5) x 3
20 x 3 = [60]

Strength
(50%/5) x 3
10% x 3 = [30%]

In Case This Isn't Somewhere Else, Elves and Mages may have spell books. This means only they may use magic. The difference is that where a non-elf mage's movepool would be mostly magic, and elf who has a spellbook but isn't a mage may only learn 10 magic moves out of their twenty slots.

DEFENSE

If the defense of a character is higher than the damage supposedly received, then the defending character will receive no damage but their defense will drop 10 Points (With the excuse of "Their Attacks Are Getting...Stronger?") until you get around to damaging them.

Now for determining a character's defense. A character's Defense on their character sheet is actually their maximum defense. Here it is. The maximum value of a Defense (If it is a 5 rated stat on a character) is 100. Divide that by 5 then multiply it by your stat rating. That's the maximum you'll be able to get without a booster or buff. Once you have that, multiply it by 5% Your Defense increases at an erratic rate as you level up but it will always stop at that its peak on the table.

I'm updating the mechanics so now all of these complicated ones will only be used in Bosses and Characters. Generic Monster and Villain battles will use a different, much simpler engine.

So basic mechanic modifications. Basic attacks are not applied the extra factors. Only Special Attacks are. This is for NPC Battles and Bosses.

In general battles against standard enemies, the damage is dealt differently to and by them. It is done on a turn number basis. Monsters will have a number of times they can be hit. Basic attacks count as one hit per move displayed in the battle post. Special Attacks count as two. For Special Attacks that hit more than once, it'll just count that many times. For example. Say you are up to battle a Glator Lvl 1. This enemy is only capable of enduring 15 hits. You are allowed 5 Actions in one battle post. If you use 4 Basic Attacks and 1 Special Attack (One that isn't a Multi-Hit), then it is the equivalent of him losing 6 Hit Points.

The amount of Damage an enemy does in Standard battles is just about the same. The primary difference is that you'd still have your resistances. All Basic Attacks done by enemies are worth one hit. All special attacks are generally worth two. However, if your character resists the Special Attack's type, then it only deals 1. Monsters don't have resistances but they do have weaknesses. So a monster that is weak to a certain type will lose 4 points from one Special Attack if they're weak to it.

Please note that you still need to charge up Energy in order to conduct a Special Attack.

As far as your own taking hits should ever be concerned. You start off with an amount of hits Equal to your Defense (B) Percentage. So if you have a 30% in Defense (B), then you're capable of taking 30 hits. As you level up, this number increases by 5. A Level 1 Character with 30% in Defense (B) will, by Level 60 will be capable of taking on 325 Hits. This is particularly useful because every 10 levels, the monsters get more powerful to the point where their specials are capable of doing up to 20 hits. This is determined by monster, not by level or move. Each monster is assigned their hit counts randomly. That and as the game moves on, monster swarms will start getting much bigger. You'll have your NPC's to help but you must use them wisely.

All basic enemies have 25% Evasiveness, making them likely to be hit 75% of the time.

I will be revising the mechanic system as a whole to fit this format. The mechanics regarding fighting basic enemies will be the same as in the post above. However, the mechanics for battling PC's, NPC's, and Bosses will be changed to reflect a somewhat more complicated version of this.

These mechanics are receiving an overhaul. Not everything will change but a LOT of it will. So much, in fact, that I am creating a New Topic for it.