Yorkist on 29/3/2010 at 21:52
First off, let me say that I am not a fan of online role playing games. I never got into W.O.W or any of those other large digital game playing worlds. Just never tickled my fancy I guess. That said, I can't help but think the concept if applied to Thief would be amazing. Having the whole city to explore...intricately detailed. The factions: Hammers, Mechanists, Keepers, City Watch, Pagans, Guards, Mages, and of course...Thieves. While it would probably never apply to the gaming community as a whole (us Thief fans are a unique bunch) it would be a treat for the Thief community. Every day would be a new fan mission lol. Don't know if this digital fantasy was ever brought up before...
Albert on 29/3/2010 at 23:57
It probably was, but no one ever defined whether they were thinking of a D&D sort of RPG or a japanese video game sort of RPG.
Honestly, I'd play it if it were the latter, as that would be pretty fun.
D&D RPG: Hell no... :p
Jarvis on 30/3/2010 at 00:17
I think it would fail to be Thief if it were either of those options, but then it doesn't have to be either to begin with. In fact, the premise Yorkist suggests doesn't sound like an RPG at all. It sounds more like the letters MMO are more appropriate, as in "Massively Multiplayer Online". That merely implies that a lot of people can play it all at once.
The farther you keep "leveling up" away from Thief, the better. Nor would I want to see algorithms for hit percentages or damage output. Thief at its heart is a "twitch" game in that the player is responsible for the aiming and usage of their weapons and movement in their environment. That aspect shouldn't change.
Wouldn't it be neat to be able to make a character however you like in the City? Getting to choose to play a Hammerite Inquisitor, investigating and chasing down ruffians and Pagans. Or maybe you'd like to play as a Hand Brotherhood mage, seeking knowledge and power in the hidden places of the City. And so on, you get the idea.
But to make this work, I think you'd need some measure of player vs player play and some control over the character's ability. Say you make a Pagan Assassin trained in stealth, movement, and archery (or whatever the player chooses). You should be able to infiltrate Hammer temples and bump off priests. But then a Hammerite player trained in Weapons, Armor, and Prayer (Or whatever, again) might stumble upon this Pagan Assassin and take them out.
The truth is though, if this idea were to ever become real they would make it a WoW clone with auto attacks, cheesy and contrived PVP situations, and press a button to hide stealth systems.
Pagan Hammerite on 30/3/2010 at 09:20
You could just get a bow and arrow set, well with some fancy arrows like the fire, rope and gas varieties, and do some real-time Thieving.
Bakerman on 30/3/2010 at 12:59
I'd only be interested in a 'Thief' RPG if it weren't an MMO style RPG. Having an open world and non-linear plot and character progression would be great. It might be counter to the pure Thief experience, but I'd love to play something with a similar setting and vibe - Dark Mod style.
Yorkist on 30/3/2010 at 16:11
I agree with Jarvis. The concept and the game play would have to be very different from W.o.W to be fun and keep that Thief feel. Something (shocker) new that not many game companies are willing or capable of developing. Essentially more emphasis would be placed on the individual player and how he/she impacts the world and other players. While there would be a common Thief game thread...the story I think would be largely driven by the characters themselves. Turning Thief into a W.o.W. style clone with lackluster combat and story would be a disaster.
Jarvis on 31/3/2010 at 05:50
I know a lot of people in this community are opposed to multiplayer Thief games, and as such look down on ThieveryUT. I had a great time with it though. It had it's flaws, no doubt, but I still regard it as the most intellectual and engaging multiplayer experience I've ever had. Even playing as a guard was fun, as the environments were interesting and intercepting foes took forethought and planning.
I use those experiences as my base when considering an idea like this. One of the chief complaints I hear about Thievery is that "the guards know the thieves are coming, and are thus prepared. A real stealth experience is not possible". As a studier of stealth techniques in real life and video games, I deeply express how wrong that statement is, but I won't address it here. Rather I posit that in a grander world to explore with many players with their own independent goals intermixed with AI scattered about, this problem for multiplayer Thief is solved.
You could infiltrate a location against both players and AI with no one the wiser to your presence until you reveal yourself. You would feel the consequences of your actions to a greater degree, because any evidence left of your passing could attract an investigation by real people, and really put you on your toes.
The real problem with a game like this is how to populate it with characters of varied types, and keep it interesting. I would like to believe, again based on my experiences with Thievery, that a player could fully enjoy themselves in playing a completely unstealthy Hammerite while raiding a pagan village, haunted crypt, or thieves den. But that is hard to say. Interesting combat mechanics have been done before, and that gives me encouragement.
But I can already hear the moans of the Thief fans around here, and I can understand their reluctance. We are all drawn to Thief for different reasons. I believe that is an argument for the potential success of such an idea, but I can also find plenty of arguments against. To combine all the very finely honed intricacies of Thief into a massively multiplayer environment would be a feat of incredible undertaking with unknown reception by the player base at large.
But, at least, it is fun to imagine and fantasize for a moment.
Drut on 19/4/2010 at 02:36
I ve been in a role of gamemaster for 10 years now(i'm always gm'ing in my buddies group), in many game systems so I will be delighted to help creating thief RPG. It's a cool universum, gloomy and mysterious and I've seen none like this before. Also I've been playing Thief series since my childhood, and thief world is quite familiar to me. I know what's the best in thief universe and have some ideas how to convert those into the rpg plane. Someone would like to get thief universe on the tabletop? If so, i'm full on the project.
Komag on 5/9/2012 at 02:31
makes me wish I was a young teen again, with hours and hours of free time!
