posted
I'm working on a game that includes a Beast God, whom players can channel the power of. I want the god to have multiple aspects reflecting different kinds of animals. Players generally start out focusing on one particular aspect and then branching out later. Eventually you can combine elements of multiple creatures in your transformations. (Yes I realize this isn't exactly mind-blowingly original, bear with me).
I want the god to be applicable to multiple regions of the world, so naming the aspects after specific creatures ("Wolf, Bear, Eagle", "Spider") won't work. You might live in a jungle where there are no bears, but there might be some other big, tough creature that has similar properties to a bear.
So far I know I want an Aspect of the Wing and Aspect of the Prowler, which have "scout-like" and "assassin-like" abilities respectively. I know I also want an "Aspect of the Big-Ferocious-Animal," but I can't think of a generic word for that other than "Beast," which isn't quite workable because it could apply to any of the other aspects. Thesaurus.com hasn't given me any good alternatives.
I'm also going back and forth on whether to include a "spider" aspect, by which I mean an creature that values patience and planning. I'm not sure whether it really fits with the beastial theme that all the other aspects have. I considered "Vermin," which sounds kind of cool but doesn't lend itself to the same mechanics.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Might work. Problem is that the term "brute" could also be applied to plenty of non-animal creatures in the game and ideally I'd like something that clearly indicates a big ferocious animal. It may be that Beast is the only word that really conveys that, and I'll just have to call the God "Lord of the Wilds" or something instead of "Lord of Beasts."
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posted
Predator overlaps too much with prowler. Behemoth implies a requisite massiveness that goes beyond the aspect covers. (I wouldn't consider a bear, even a grizzly, to really fall in the "behemoth" category.)
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posted
Aspect of anything is way too close to hunter ability's in WoW. You could do this though, the beast god was once a creature that no one knew what it was, there were no others like it and they spited it. Out of vengeance and the want to be like them the creature began eating them whole, seeking out the strongest of a species to make thier power its own. Eventually attacking spirits and demi gods, becoming not a god of beasts but a god who is all beasts. Players could initiate a religious item, chant or maybe a tattoo linking them to a part of the beast god, piously begging it to lend them a part of its strength. You could even make up all sorts of names for the differant demi gods that the player is seeking to channel. Might even be able to mess with players and add restriction seeing as the gods powers would be a kind of active religion, such as if a player that uses bird-like powers alot is wearing even medium wieght armor then they will be refused due to straying from the virtues of the bird.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
I assume you mean the WORD aspect is like the hunter's ability. Besides the WORD itself, what Raymond is describing seems nothing like the actual hunter ability aspect which basically is enhancing one particular stat in each aspect. (Until dragonhawk, but really that doesn't change my argument.)
My grammar is not turned on for the day yet, but I'll fix it later if necessary.
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
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How about Ravenous or ravenning? Though people might get mixed up with raven-ning. Reminds me I've meant to look up hawk vs. falcon next time I was online.
But I'm still thinking Aspect of Ferocity.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
If you are emphasizing patience and planning in the spider aspect, may I recommend "trapper"?
I don't have a better one than "Brute" for the bear-like aspect... maybe "apex predator"? that sounds too science-y and not cool enough to me, though.
Posts: 3846 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Yeah, Brute is the best one so far, but it's still kind tied with the original beast in terms of unfortunate ambiguousness. There is a little oddness with having "Prowler" and "Brute" represent the whole animal but "Wing" only represent a body part, but I think I'm okay with that. "Claw" isn't specific to Prowlers or Brutes, and "Avian" doesn't have the same ring to it.
In this case, the "Aspects" are not abilities for the player, but different manifestations of the god itself. The God (placeholder name is 'Kor' although I have a feeling that's ripped off from somewhere) is the god of all wild creatures, but has different avatars depending on which type of creature it's representing at the time. Players must initially choose whether to venerate Kor, the Aspect of the Wing, or Kor, the Aspect of the Prowler, etc. Each one is treated as a separate god. You could compare it either to the Holy Trinity or possibly to how Hindu gods have different avatars.
The better WoW comparison is druids, although it sort of works in reverse. Rather than turning into a cat, and then gaining cat abilities, you start gaining cat abilities which gradually transforms you into a cat. I'm not terribly worried about originality here since it's not like WoW invented the shapeshifting druid. (I also doubt I'll ever sell my game, this is a pen and paper RPG that I play with my friends).
Regarding "Spider", out of curiosity can anyone even think of another animal that operates the way a spider does? I feel like there should be but can't think of anything. "Aspect of the Web" might work. (Trapper doesn't quite have the right ring to it)
In my game, being a "cleric" isn't as simple as worshipping a god and getting miracles. Only certain mortals have strong enough souls to act as a conduit for their god's power, and even then there's the risk you'll damage your own mind if too much power flows through. Channelers at low levels can only channel one patron at a time (patrons are usually gods but can be other things like demons or spirits). At higher levels you can attempt to channel multiple patrons, which is dangerous but lets you combine different powers. In the case of Kor, if you can channel all three aspects you can transform into a hybrid super animal.
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posted
Aspect of the Wing Aspect of the Prowler Aspect of the Brute ... Aspect of the Sly Aspect of the Swift Aspect of the Fierce Aspect of the Lithe Aspect of the Hunter Aspect of the Predator
Some might be repeats of what's been said. Just stared at my keyboard finding nice word options. Besides spiders what comes to mind are Venus fly traps and funnel traps. Seems like some types of fish/crustaceans might trap too.
Posts: 1261 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Maybe not have different aspects as different names of the god...
Like instead of "Kor, Aspect of the Wing", the "bird" side of the god, you could just call it "Kor Avis" or something.
Same with other aspects, just make up a cool sounding name in some other fantasy language. "Kor Valsek" or something... (or "Kor Garesh"... from Slash's game... heh)
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Um, if you're looking for earlier fantasy works that I'm derivative of, WoW druids seem a much smaller leap, and neither they nor this guy actually address the question at hand.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Go read Brust, then come back and thank me. And then I'll give you useful suggestions. *grin*
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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