A virtual world, without the boundaries imposed by Minecraft...
A fully working Magic System... where you can improve your pickaxe, leach the magic of your enemies, or blow up the moon.
No limitations, except your ingenuity... and maybe the Admins. But even Admins can be killed. Actually, with the possible exception of the Admin of Admins, everything can be killed. Though killing Cthulhu might take some work...
Actually, in all fairness, there are some limitations. Right now, only 20 playable races exist, though you could always play some form of local wildlife if you want.
All in an MMORPG, available for one year for the low, low price of $9.99 (plus tax). Once it is finished.
This video game provides examples of:
- Abusing the Kardashev Scale for Fun and Profit - The whole world should eventually be around type 1. However, if you count the Admins of Creation steadily creating a great deal more land, which is made of matter...
- Absurdly High Level Cap - Karma Point cap: roughly 2.1 billion. It is estimated that Admins have an effective Karma of 5 - 10 thousand.
- Always Chaotic Evil
- Played (mostly) straight with Griefers.
- Often amusingly subverted - the "Chaotic" races are usually chaotic, and usually evil, but there aren't any in-game restrictions stopping a Dragon (for instance) from agreeing to guard a town, and proceeding to keep it safe from all sorts of invasions for years.
- Apocalypse How: Assuming nobody finds any awful glitches, in the most absurdly extreme cases, Scope extends up to Multiversal, and Severity goes up to Class 5 - planets are now charred husks. Realistically, most will be Regional Class 0s. For a few examples:
- Big Good: All of the (good) Admins will probably be this upon occasion. Against Cthulhu, even the Admin of Evil will probably fight for good.
- Chaotic Evil - Theoretically, Tim, Admin of Volcanoes, is also this. Practically, he ranges from Eldritch Abomination to heroic...
- Chaotic Good - Robinton, Admin of Coding, surprisingly enough.
- Chaotic Neutral - The Admin of Chaos (who has too many names to list), obviously.
- Crapsaccharine World - Played with. Griefers play orcs (upgrade to dragons!). On the other hand, the Admins should be (on the whole), a helpful lot; might I mention the Admin of Customer Service. On the other hand, asking the Admin of Evil for help...
- Colony Drop - One of the possible side-effects of blowing up the moon. Also the effect of the meteor-summoning spell. Also... well, I'll wait for the players to invent that one.
- Did You Just Index Cthulhu? - Pretty much everything on the index is possible, except tea and romance. It is an exercise left to the players to decide which (if any) end up actually happening.
Demonic Spiders - Vitures. Poisonous Birds. Yeah, not fun. And did I mention they're a playable race!- Developers Forsight - (Hopefully) Invoked. Since I'm not planning to give the game any definite plotline, and leave it to the players... and the Admins... to create one, there's no script to be broken. As far as drops goes, my philosophy that "Everything Can Be Killed" should keep improbably won boss battles from causing problems. Yeah, no one expects The Everyman to kill Cthulhu, but a sufficiently advanced wizard... Likewise, the free-form terrain will probably ensure that players will find weird ways to beat (or destroy) dungeons, but The Admins of Creation will (hopefully) build the spells well. Of course, if they aren't, it's all Just as Planned, because Only Smart People May Pass.
- Easter Egg - Quite a few, and more being slated regularly. Try giving batteries to the marmots; Hilarity Ensues. Also, a few dozen usernames gain minor unique abilities.
- Fridge Brilliance: Veriton (the Admin of Admins) wields one weapon: the Banhammer. Where does he store it? Hammerspace!
- Some Call Me "Tim", Admin of Volcanoes. (
Which was chosen, randomly, by an eight year old non-TVTroper. Maybe the universe really does run on irony...)
- Functional Magic - Oh, yes! One of the main selling points, that you can rewrite the laws of reality according to your whim. And gain power. And try to take over the world. Really, even gravity is actually a spell...
- Gravity Master - Gravity itself is a spell, ergo spells can alter it. Locally, at least. Extremely powerful spellcasters and the Admin of Coding could potentially decree a gravity-free week or two.
- Gravity Screw - Consequently, dungeons are likely to have altered gravity rooms. Beware the spikes on the ceiling not even bothering to crush you.
- Players can use this for their own convenience. Who doesn't like killing your enemies by making them fall into the sky... and then back to the ground?
- Except the part where the enemies take that time to cast one last spell or fire one last arrow at you. But, otherwise, great idea!
- Players can use this for their own convenience. Who doesn't like killing your enemies by making them fall into the sky... and then back to the ground?
- Guide Dang It! - Every single spell. Except innate racial abilities, you have to figure out every single spell on your own, with nothing but your brains, the scientific method, and the spell-wiki.
- I Am the Noun - Usually averted with the Admins, though a few play it straight upon occasion. Played for Laughs with Robinton, Admin of Coding, declaring "I am Gravity!" In a very ''definitely'' serious voice. While hovering.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Justified, where present. The Spell-system allows you to mathematically control yourself... say, to point your two spell-blasters (one in each hand) at your two nearest enemies, fire, and repeat. Very very quickly. Admin Robinton considers this the best piece of Min-Maxing he has ever done.
- Lawful Evil - The Admin of Evil is practically this, though he's theoretically Neutral Evil.
- Lawful Good - The Admin of Customer Service is obviously this. Also, Nexari (Admin of Order) is often practically this.
- Lawful Neutral - Nexari (Admin of Order) is theoretically this; in practice he's often more like Lawful Good.
- Magic A Is Magic A - The rules are entirely internally consistent, at least ignoring updates. Not that everything makes sense, mind you... Though most things actually kind-of do.
- Magical Underpinnings of Reality - Another philosophy contributing to Developer's Foresight. Gravity is actually a spell. That could (theoretically) be broken. So are volcanoes. So are the stars. So is the new-player-protection-spell.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much - Any player can do this. Want to play a
Lawful Good Dragon? Go ahead! Want to play a killer Unicorn? Go ahead! There's a reason "Emergent Gameplay" is referenced in the title. - Neutral Evil - The Admin of Magic, though... again, "Emergent".
- Neutral Good - The Admin of Good, of course.
- Our Monsters Are Different - Vitures. The non-euclidean Cthulhu, let loose to rampage over the landscape. Possibly the Admin of Coding.
- Sealed Evil in a Can - Listing all examples goes past "spoiler" and straight into "impossible".
- Signature Move - Again, several. Players can actually develop their own, using the spell system...
- Suspiciously Specific Denial - Cthulhu does not lurk in the test dimension, seeking a way to eat the world. Nope. And the Admin of Coding was not driven out of his own test dimension by aforementioned Eldritch Abomination, as Eldritch Abominations do not exist in ''Emergent: The Middle Ages''.
- True Neutral - The Admin of Admins is this, though he's closer to good than evil.Magic is likely to end up this way, though with him, who knows.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential - Griefers play Orcs. Then upgrade through Vitures, Trolls, and Sandworms, finally arriving at Dragons. And Chaotic/Evil races get Karma points for killing other players! And then when a player discovers the Summon Cthulhu spell...
- Video Game Caring Potential - The Good/Orderly races gain or lose Karma points mainly according to how other Good/Orderly players rank them. Save a whole (grateful) country? You could be playing a fully perked Flyon overnight.
- We Help the Helpless - The Admins of Customer Service and Good. Occasionally any Admin, except possibly the Admin of Evil. And even he is likely to help out helpless villains...
