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Okay so. Here's the thing. I'm planning on implementing a loot system by which after virtually every mission your character will be awarded with an item of some sort that increases their personal power but is also tailored to their specific needs.

I am aware some of you may wish to custom create items but I am a strong believer that this system doesn't make players interested in the items they receive though I may change my view on this if you can present an argument as to why custom created items for your own character may be better.

I'm bring this to you today as there are a few things I want to discuss.

First of all the point I brought up above. Would you prefer I secretly created items I thought would be good for your character to have and increase their personal power or would you prefer to create them yourselves. Furthermore would a compromise between these two be even more satisfying in your opinions and why?

Second, I'd like to talk about the kind of items you'd imagine receiving. What would you like to get for your character and would you mind the system working as slow incremental enhancements in multiple areas. For example a Squad 5 member might have Shinigami Robes with higher resistance to Kido attacks and then may later receive further modified Shinigami Robes which could also consume a small amount of the Kido as energy to be used by your Shinigami for stronger attacks.

Or in contrast would you prefer a system by which you got items that served different purposes and you had to choose which you felt best for the mission you're on. For example Fire Resistance Robes versus Robes which assist in flight.

Finally I'd like suggestions. How should special weapons be awarded? With the exception of non-Zanpakto side arms possibly with spiritual powers should there also be ways to modify the powers of the Zanpakto. For example add an extra elemental charge to it or change its' shape while in sealed form.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to any feedback we get.


NOTE: Currently the system I'm working on is designed to award improvements in literate RPing. What this means is that as your RPing ability improves by noticeable amounts between mission RPs a bonus item might be awarded or a higher quality item.

Now here's the thing. I think your idea is really smart. It wasn't the thing I was thinking of and to be honest I considered it pretty heavily for a few seconds there.

However after those few seconds are over I realised we didn't want to punish Illiterate Joe but we wanted to entice Illiterate Joe. I'm sure we can agree those are two different things.

I mean sometimes Illiterate Joe doesn't know what's going wrong and as he's constantly getting ******** over by the DM who won't give him s**t he's feeling pretty bad about the whole thing.

This is why I was talking about rewarding for progress rather than based on a ranking system at the end of missions.

I think your idea is smart though so I'm going to give it more thought and see if I can use it to entice.

I see where you're coming from and I was thinking that earlier too.

However what if Illiterate Joe always gets s**t. Like I'm pretty sure the thing that turns on a light is supposed to be the bottom of the barrel reward there. If that's all he thinks he can reach in this guild why is he going to continuously try harder and harder and refine himself as an RPer?

What if he doesn't know how to step up his game considerably enough to beat Semi-Lit Steve. What do we do if he doesn't understand why he's failing? Remember also as a crew we want to keep bad will amongst members to a minimum. How is Bob going to feel about Stacy who always gets the first pick? Is he going to feel like she's the favourite and that no-one else has a chance.

Because let's be honest. When promotions were given out did you ever feel you were given the shitty end of the stick because they simply liked the other guy better or he'd been there longer?

You tell me how we objectively judge literate RPing. To some degree we can do it but once we reach a certain level it becomes a stylistic difference between RPers. How would we get around that hurdle?

If we used your system the way it is now I know we'd have difficulties and bad will being flung about between members. This is why we need to give this way more thought and why I think it would punish RPers having difficulty rather than entice them.

EDIT: I realised I didn't write about the system I had in mind so I'm going to add a note about that in.

Done. I'll do it again if you dare look at this thread.

I've thought about characters not needing items. It's a fair point to bring up. Bottom line here I'd say. You might not want things now but in the future it might be nice to get something cool you didn't expect. Just throwing that out there to not write it off before you've seen it. That said if you've seen a loot system used poorly in a freeform RP before then talk about it a little.

The loot system as you say could be used for all those things but mostly it would be for small rewards for your character. The intent of such a system is twofold. One it's to keep people interested in constant character power growth. I feel the system whereby you get slow jumps in character growth in RPs is flawed and this would be a more fluid system. Like walking up steps as opposed to leaping up a flight of them. Second it's so you have something to remember each mission by. It's like a memento of what you accomplished.

But as you said teaching skills would be incorporated into the loot system. You may for example find unknown Kido (which is basically permission to make a custom one) or be given access to a imperfect Shikai (Like Azure Peacock)

Well. I'd veer wildly off canon. For example we were planning to use robes almost as an extra armour slot. So you could have robes which were fire resistant.

Another example of an item could be a side weapon. As it's not a Zanpakto it would be lesser but it could have extra effects or abilities your weapon simply could not.

As we've also mentioned the ability to modify the physical form of your weapon into another set form might also be a reward. This is a small ability admittedly but the versatility of being able to switch from, for example, a Katana to a trident might make a huge difference depending on opponent's being faced.

One thing we're playing with (though we're being careful to implement) could also be an elemental charge on abilities. Basically the ability to add an extra elemental hit to your attacks. Obviously this comes with its' own set of problems however and so we're thinking about how to handle it still. Don't expect it soon.

Another further example might be getting special grenades if you're a Squad ten-er. Or if you're in Squad 11 you might get a pair of sandals that allow you to run at things faster so you can hit them with your sword.

As you've suggested. Treasure Maps might be an interesting idea.

I'll add that in. Not quite sure how we're going to do it though. Since the missions are all supposed to be miniature adventures.

I agree. I dunno if you've already finalised your opinion but if your willing to put the extra time into this new system then by all means.