So, I came up with an idea I want to throw out there and get some feedback on. The idea is an MMO where each player is randomly assigned an elemental power from six sets when they spawn: Pyro, Aqua, Geo, Aero, Purity, Corrupt. Pretty typical, right? Upon being killed by a player, that player gains one of your elemental alignment and you lose it. Two pyros? Pyro prime 1. Pyro and Earth? Magma 1. I thought it might be fun to write about a player that gets a Null element that cancels out all magical attacks directed towards him. So shenangins ensue, and the man is the most hunted on the continent as he ambushes players, builds skills, and tries to rule the world.
Interesting, why limiting by the basic elements though? If for say you had a system like that, if you had a massive table of elements to chose from you could in theory combine elements for unique types of magic. I'm not a big fan of number levels, etc as I prefer a metric based system in my work, where affinity plays a large role. In my example say a person has a strong affinity in wind. This often means they have the ability to affect water, and to a lesser degree, lighting. In my metric, lightning is close to the fire element, and light. So if you were to say have a strong affinity in fire, you could affect lighting and light to a greater or lesser degree. If you had a system where you defeat a person you could for instance in my example, using your idea start to stack the deck in one direction or be able to gain more command over associated elements. I found that it was easier to write characters and a world where I had more freedom to maneuver. The more options you have, the more directions you can take your writing. I basically got lazy and gave myself a massive amount of freedom by describing magic in my world as having no real unified system, and it was approached and used in the way like religions work in the real world here on earth. So yes, some of my characters will use my affinity based system, and others will use magic in a completely different way. Its a fun way to write my world, but I have to admit it's pretty chaotic and hard to keep straight.
It's limited to basic elements because everything that's a higher tier is made up of different elements. As you stated, wind and fire would combine in different parts to make lightning, tornadoes, or add in some water for storms to enhance the lightning or leave it as a permanent effect on the battle field for x minutes. If you took the time to craft the perfect lightning or chain lightning, just imagine the fierce fights and massive gains you'd get from say... attacking a starter town? Raiding a weakened party? Backstabbing your group? I know there are still plenty of holes, but I like the idea of the system at large.
I think the idea of the "Skill Steal" on PvP kill is pretty neat. I also like the idea that certain drops are more rare than other. There's pyro's everywhere but fewer aqua's or something like that. But, my question would be, what theme or big idea are you trying to so with the book? What is this main character's weakness that drives him? Maybe he's pathologically lonely and just wants to make friends, but once anybody finds out what his element is, they always turn on him and try to kill him. That could be hilarious and poignant at the same time. He's always looking for somebody to party up with, finds somebody, and then after a little while, they find out his special and try to take it from him. Then, he becomes a jerk who kills everybody almost on sight. Then, some innocent person comes along and doesn't try to kill him and restores his hope.
This was the main idea I had. His end goal would be gaining everything so people just leave him the hell alone and let him play through the dungeons, missions, and what not. For the first act, he wouldn't even leave the city for fear of murder and being reset for a week without powers (or something similar). Maybe cities have unsafe areas like dark allies so the cities aren't even completely safe for the Null. Maybe make it so that the loss is random, and Null can't transfer while he has another element.
On a side note, this is the case with many MMOs. How many frost mages to arcane or shadow priests to healing? Just because everyone can get it doesn't mean that they will take it. Then look at a healer. If you PK your healer, you gain an element, but you lose the trust of that community.
It sounds unbalanced to me. The game is actively encouraging violence against it's users and in RL all such games end up with terrible ratings and backlash from the community until something is done to change it. It makes more sense if the added/lost element is just temporary which would make it an interesting game mechanics. I can totally see the villain casually stab one of his companions mid fight to get that boost if he thinks it'll help them win and there by turning his own party against him. As for null elemental it would also only make sense if it's a temporary state as a way of protecting a helpless user upon respawn. Until they're power is returned they are automatically protected from any magical attacks and nullify them within a certain radius... which might also lead to torture scenarios if non-elemental physical attacks are an option.
Layers upon layers. I like the temporary idea. That actually made it into my notes as I started planning, but the nullify ability seems interesting to be a death reward. Null until one is gained or after a set period for elemental regerenation. Maybe there are permanent ways to add from events and gifting, and loss is always temporary but grows higher based on the power difference between the two? Would that make the idea more palatable?
Makes sense. Most similar games use such things as status symbols since you can only get them by either :- A. Being a whale and dropping lots of cash on random loot boxes until one pops out (very common) B. Reward for being in the top 10 or top 3 of an event mirroring a RL event like halloween or Xmas. C. being an early backer of the game (usually just gets you aesthetic items or special insert into the game world though) Depending on your world building I'd say either a tournament (PvP based world) Dungeon event special boss (dungeon crawler) or event quest completion (MMO) would be the right place to earn high rewards. more so if they're limited in some way like a one time only or to the top 10 / first guild . Just my two cents. It all comes down to the world building in the end.
True, despite how go a world, magic system, etc is, unless your story is interesting it's not going anywhere. If it's a world based upon killing people for progress, there are plenty of good analogs and in most of them there is one motto "don't trust anyone". If your working with a desperate MC driven by outside forces on a time limit I think there is the basis. You have a desperate MC, driven by outside forces into a game only gamblers, death row convicts, etc choose. His own life is on the line if he dies too many times without gaining elements or only gets a single chance kind of like the tropes that have permadeath below level 0. In such an environment it's unlikely he will find allies, but if he does what sort of people would they be? The crazy, the desperate, the strange? All completely untrustworthy, where the MC has to weigh his group decisions based upon possible risk vs reward and have an exit strategy. Then there is the outside world. Perhaps there is a large group of gamers that try to eliminate competition, and make it difficult to band together, perhaps it's a social class system where the wealthy families work together through a web of alliances, and the peons are pitted against each other because they can't afford to take risks, etc. Family, best friends, lovers, etc would also try to find each other and team up? There is a lot of potential background other than just the magic system to consider, everything from outside politics, both sides of the world the game is in. Its one reason why I like LitRPG because you have the potential for two worlds, both the game world and the real world. It gives you a lot of power and freedom as a writer.
Hm i actually really like the concept though the Null 'element' could be achieved two ways that could be interesting in my mind. 1) There is a secondary set of 'Ultra Rare' elements that the players who get normal rolls can't normally access stuff like: Light, Dark, Hellfire, Radiance, Null, All. 2) It could be a special element you can only acquire whilst your element is removed after death, maybe a hidden statue of a lost god or something the MC stumbles upon or maybe just the monument in the center of town that no one can access because they have their elements and it replaces his element with Null. The last option on the second could be interesting as players realize "Oh WAIT there are other elements out there if i don't have mine?" and sending some players off to find specific objects they cannot yet interact with. But of course its going to be far easier to try and take the power from someone who's already unlocked it. It may also be an idea to grant minor elements from mobs to keep players also hunting them. Kill enough goblins to acquire the Pyro power temporally, but the only way to keep it is to keep killing fire elements or players for semi-perma elements. On the subject of story: This could be a very good tale of 'A good wo/man gone bad' Someone who entered looking for fun or just something to escape his/her normal life and is put into this situation which is both very stressful and a little heart breaking. If he/she decides that "frack it, i'm done with your BS" it could be interesting to see the slow corruption of gaining power and wanting to rule this digital realm. Eventually even beginning hunting down players with rare combinations for his/her own ambitions.
