I need help writing a webcomic

[Zmeoaice]

I am currently trying to make a high fantasy/comedy webcomic that homages mmorpgs, particularly Runescape and WoW (although I don't play WoW). However, I still need help deciding on which kinds of mechanics I should use.

The game focuses on a group of adventurers who fight different villains on quests. As the comic progresses the quests get harder and the villains more powerful.

I am currently using character classes, but there are other factors such as hit points, mana points, skill level, combat levels, spell/skill books ect I want there to be enough to give it a "game" feel without making it alien to gamers and non gamers alike.

Ask me any questions you'd like.

[Winterfate]

Hey there! Well, if you don't mind adding some humor to your webcomic, you could introduce those mechanics to non-gamers via in-comic tutorials (and then lampshade the fact that said tutorials tend to be dull and pedantic in most cases).

Hit Points are just a representation of how healthy/injured an entity in a game is, so just have a graphical representation (just like this comic or other similar comics do).

Mana is somewhat trickier to display at a graphical level, but you could have your magical characters emit auras when they cast spells. As their mana depletes, said aura gets weaker and weaker until it fades completely (out of mana). Then maybe show said aura come back in one strip via the use of a mana potion so the readers get what is going on.

If you feel like injecting humor into the webcomic, there are a LOT of silly things MMOs do that can be referenced:


Why does it take a fixed amount of time for two people of widely differing physical attributes to mine the same type of resource?
Why can't you access quest areas/dungeons without having the quest? (Outside of requiring a key given by the questgiver)
This one seems to be dying out in modern MMOs, but why do the older MMOs allow players to last hit a mob that is being attacked by another party and rob them of experience points? (It should be that people get credit based on their contribution to the fight)
For skills, you have to lampshade Pokemon style at least once, just for kicks (Pokemon in said game can only learn 4 skills, and it is entirely possible not to be able to attack just because you have 4 non-damage skills)
Maybe lampshade some of the most ridiculous min-maxing that happens in MMO communities. For example, I played Runes of Magic a few years ago. Most everyone on the European server (I live in Puerto Rico but played in said server because most of my forum buddies at the time were European) were rolling Priest/Mages at one point (dual-classing is a thing in RoM) because you got the blastiness of the Mage with the obscene healing-based sustain of a Priest.
Show the difficulties in getting a balanced party for a public dungeon raid (probably for a dungeon that requires more characters than your main party)


That's what I came up with, from the top of my head. This, in spite of the fact that I've played maybe 3 hours of WoW and 2 hours of Runescape. But, I did play 3 months of Runes of Magic, so that has to stand for something. :smalltongue:

Good luck with your webcomic! :D

[Theprettiestorc]

Yeah, I would say lampshade how suddenly, a new class comes, and you see nothing but that class around.

Or a race. A new race that's suddenly swarming. "Where the hell were they all hiding?!" :smalleek: