Inscriptions. At the very rudimentary scale I want to make it so that the artifacts around the world are identifiable and as such can be more common and workable. The idea of interdimensional items and science is fantastically interesting. But on a more advanced scale I would like to use the ideas from the vehicle designer as a template for something more complex to modify the world.
So first of all the game already has basic attributes, glittering, vibrating, ect. They have potential boons and burns, I would like to have a skill, some sort of “Mystic” that allows you to read them before picking them up, then make it so that many of these items need to be carried on you or used in a specific way to be of use instead of “SUPRISE -3 strength” because every other element in the game is reversible and changeable, and I am rather fond of this. In addition to being more interesting as a mechanic it also will encourage exploration of new artifacts instead of fear.
I would like the ability to also break and with higher skill add inscriptions to things, thus allowing new uses and raising the characters potential but with significant risks. These risks would be first simply breaking your bonuses, at a higher level, activating certain trap like characteristics, further more the actually requirement to go out and find the artifacts to learn of their existance, and finally potentially devastating effects for tampering with magical objects in less then favourable ways, such as having a axe that increases blunt damage and gloves that reduce weight/encumberance breaking your arm from some mystical recoil. Noting that increasing your skill level will make your character more aware of these dangers. So those who survive and learn from the risks they take can proceed toward more dangerous ground. Knowledge is power, but knowledge also comes with costs.
I would also like to suggest the potential for adding runes to items not on your character, walls, doors, engines, whatever. From here I shall call single object additions runes, and more advanced objects as inscriptions. Just to keep myself sorted
So onto the idea of inscriptions that got me started.
So simply stated I was thinking lines and shapes create effects. Positive and negative, the goal is to make it so that being too complex will give usefull buffs but have huge negatives. I was thinking having them wrapped around a base shape depending on the item, could probably classify them into four sizes (small medium large, huge) and about seven groups (Tool, Accesory, Armour, Meele weapon, Projectile weapon, World items like funnels and traps or walls, and finally Misc items such as vehicle parts.
The reason for the groups is to give things a defined shape where you can inscribe so for say armour gloves and boots would be small, so you could make a inscription in a 4 x 4 area, while pants would be medium and be a 6 x 6 area, coats large 8 x 8 and things like power armour and XL survivor gear in the 12 x 12 range. For say projectile weapons a similar thing but instead of a simple square you would work with say a 3 x 3 square with a 2x4 barrel
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being a basic example. medium and larger guns once again having larger inscription areas.
So what to do with these areas? I have put that down to keeping it simple with first being able to simply put the Runes on the inscription and being able to read it, thus say a +blunt damage rune could simply be a shape on the tool that looks like – and a stronger one will be ------ so the larger the weapon the more potential it has.
Mostly this is to allow a counterbalance to the fact that certain weapons like daggers are the most dangerous item in the game, while heavier things though they can take enemies out in one hit really fall short for dealing with proper threats that take more than one hit.
So the penalties from this is that certain shapes will also create negative effects, such as taking the blunt example, if you had a | shape in between two – shapes --|-- it would create a negative such as reducing sharpness or speed.
I was thinking of keeping the parts to a simple set of peices - | \ / o O > ^ < v. Basic ascii art forms, would look better in a more uniform font like the game has.
So lets take the pistol shape i came up with earlier, and throw some ascii into it.
This has two fo the - - shape and two |, but since the | is at either end of the - - then it adds a penalty in addition to its buff. Throwing some numbers together, lets say - - adds +2 range, and | adds +1 damage. the - had no gain defined yet, and --| or |-- has a -1 to range. Do some Scan overs of this and you get +2 +2 range, +1 + 1 damage, -1 -1 -1 range. Netting +1 range +2 damage. The more rules implimented the more complex the system becomes, large space as stated means higher potential for bonuses but also a higher potential to have a complete net loss, in so far as some shapes say having two ^ in the same row will burst it into flames, and more of them in the same row the more it burns, on clothing that would probably be bad, on a weapon it would be good.
Then finally runes would have simply more efficient space, the runes in this scenario simply being premade sets. They would take up space, so say having a rune that was
| = |
| = |
Could give +8 blunt damage on a weapon, you couldnt change it only add elements around it.