Fate/Stay Night Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game Proposal






Glossary:

1. Concept/Intro
2. Format/Parameters
3. Setting
4. Character Creation
5. Servants
6. Combat
7. Reconaissance
8. Resourcing
9. Networking



	1. Concept


		While Nasu's original work is in the format of a visual novel, the system of the Holy Grail War lends itsef to a multiplayer war game with relatively little difficulty in conversion. Indeed, Nasu even went so far as to define stat and special attack parameters for the servants, despite that they were only used as rough comparison in the novel itself. Given these tools, a multiplayer game- not massively multiplayer, as the cancelled Fate/Apocrypha may have been, but limited to no more than seven players as would be appropriate for the HGW, seems highly viable. Significantly, the programming requirements to make such a game seem within reach of even amateurs, as 2D sprites and a fixed map orientation are ideal given the format, and besides a fairly detailed AI the building blocks of the game are straightforward and intuitive to implement.




	2. Format:

		Up-to-7-players, a concealed-information randomized initial state game. Players will connect to each other over a network to form playing groups, with a matchmaking server a possibility. NPCs may also fill empty player slots.



		Players:

			Up to seven, which may customize abilities through stat and skill allocation, along with feats. Each player summons one servant as a weapon with which to fight the holy grail war.

		Gameplay:

			Players will engage in combat in real-time, with the player controlled by the keyboard and the servant ordered by the mouse. Information and resource gathering are also major noncombat elements of the game.

		Winning Condition:

			If only one servant remains, the player it belongs to gains the ability to obtain the Holy Grail, which appears a day after the sixth servant was defeated. It's possible to kill that player and steal their servant in the meantime (if they have command spells remaining), in which case the player who managed to do so will also take the right to obtain it. The player that claims the Holy Grail wins the game. It is possible for the game to end without a victor.





	Setting:

		4x4x3 map of 16 distinct areas with three levels of elevation, detailing the landscape of Fuyuki City. The map is divided roughly into 'city' and 'suburb' areas, with the latter having a higher chance of generating player bases.


		Bases:

			Each player has a randomly-chosen base that represents their home out of the buildings on the map, and bases will not appear in the same area as another player's base. It's possible to change base location, but if a base location is known to a player(if they see a known player enter or leave it) they will be able to observe which new area the next base is located in if within three areas by day or two areas by night- if the new location is outside of this range, the player will still know the direction of the movement. A base can be used to recover health and mana, as well as disguise mana leaks and act as a defensive position, also giving adjacent detection to surrounding areas. The bases can be upgraded as well, but a moved base will lose all upgrades. In some special locations, bases gain unique attributes as well.


		School/University/Seminars:

			Player characters may attend these during the day, with the distinction based on character age. For every day of attendance, a character gains one skill point. Note that, however, only one of each exists, meaning that it's highly likely that player characters will run into each other in those places. Therefore, bringing a servant along may be dangerous.


		Part-time jobs/Jobs:

			During the day, players may attend these to gain money, through which they can purchase various supplies and food. Without eating, player characters will eventually die, and therefore should either attempt to generate a steady income or stockpile when given the chance. Four of these locations exist, all in the 'city'.




Event observation: Most 'events', such as the use of magic or a noble phantasm, can only be observed from same area, unless a PC has mana sensing skill (there are also events that can only be detected within half an area or are completely unobservable). Large events may be seen from an adjacent area. Massive events may be seen from 2+ areas away, but this may be reduced under certain conditions.  During the day, the range needed to observe any event decreases by 1. Diagonally-adjacent areas can observe events at a rate of half as well as directly-adjacent areas- if in the half of the square closest to the event, it can be seen in these cases.




Servant summoning: Each player will summon a servant in order determined by their character abilities. Once a class of servant is summoned, it can not be summoned by another player. It's possible for a player to designate the 'Assassin' or 'Berserker' classes when summoning, but if that servant has already been summoned they will instead receive a random servant from another class. Character abilities have a minor effect on which servant is summoned as well, and feats can be taken to increase this chance by a small amount per servant.

Servants: Players may summon one of the seven classes of servant as an ally in the game. Servants are AI-controlled, and will behave differently depending on the servant's identity. Servants require mana to survive, which is automatically provided by the player through a proportional drain: for every 10% of the master's mana drained, the servant will regain 10% of their mana, regardless as to whether the servant has a higher maximum mana or not. Each master has a maximum mana transfer rate per day that is determined by attributes. Servants consume 2% of their own mana to sustain themselves daily if left in spirit from, increasing to 4% if they spent at least two hours in physical form, and again raising to 6% if they engaged in combat with another servant that day.

Noble Phantasms: Servants each have one or more unique weapons that they can use for special attacks. These require a large amount of mana to activate, but some have innate abilities that require little to no mana at all. Once a noble phantasm is activated, other masters will be able to see the servant's stats, skills, and feats, as well as their class.


Controlling a servant: Players may give servants commands, which will be followed if they don't break the servant's personal rules- this limitation can be overcome by the Command Spell. Players each receive three uses of the command spell, which can be used to give an unrefusable command to a servant, call a servant to the player instantly from anywhere, instantly switch between physical and spiritual state, or be used to perform a single highly-strengthened attack. Once all three command spells are used, the servant dissolves its contract with the player, and may attempt to kill the player or find another master with command spells before it runs out of mana. If a player's servant is killed, it may ally with such a servant as long as he still has command spells remaining. A master without command spells may purchase extra ones from the church, but can not ally with his own former servant through this method, and may only do so once.

Servant spirit state: Servants may shift between physical and spiritual states, the former being used for combat and the latter as a form of concealment. In physical state, a servant may attack without restrictions, but is unable to attack in spiritual state. However, the latter state is invisible to the eye and may pass through non-magical solid objects, as well as being impervious to most attacks and taking minimal damage from Noble Phantasms. In physical state, it's possible for a servant to sense another servant from an adjacent area, but in spiritual state this is reduced to the same area.


Servant feeding: Servants may drain the mana of an NPC to restore their own, or even temporarily increase their maximum capacity or stats with sufficient amounts. If more than half of an NPC's mana is drained, it will become slow and sluggish, while if it's left with less than 10% it will fall into a coma until its restored. This is a local event, but if all mana is drained, the NPC will die. This doubles the mana gained from the attack and boosts the effect to observable in adjacent areas. It's generally preferable to do this in enclosed areas or against isolated NPCs, as if one notices your actions and escapes it will alert everyone in the immediate area, drawing attention towards your servant. If a servant refuses to drain any or all of a person's mana, you may reduce this reservation level by one with a command spell, forcing a servant to accept draining up to half mana in some cases and up to all mana in others.




NPCs: While servants are controlled by AI, they are also given commands by players. However, NPCs exist wholly outside of player control, and instead take actions based on their own personalities. Players are indistinguishable from NPCs unless another player finds evidence that they possess a servant or are able to use magic of some kind. NPCs will work and go to school, and occupy any bases that don't belong to players.

NPC Masters: If the number of players is less than seven, the remaining master slots will be taken by NPCs, who will fight according to their personalities. In a special case, if Caster isn't summoned and there are NPC Master slots remaining, she may form a contract with an NPC and summon a servant herself, which will default to Assassin if he is unsummoned, thereby taking up two slots between them. NPC Masters have the same abilities as a player master.

NPC detection: During the day, a large number of NPCs will go about their lives in most areas, while as the time progesses to later at night, their numbers will dwindle as they return home. NPCs that witness use of detectable magic or a materialized servant will attempt to flee and contact the authorities, and the attention may cause the church or magic association to sent magus killers or the burial agency after you. Therefore, NPCs that see magic should be killed before they can talk, or have their memory erased with the proper skill. Very late at night, almost no NPCs will be around, but an odd straggler may exist.


Gameplay Progression:

	1. Character creation.

	2. Servant summoning

	3. Start of war

	4. Scouting stage: Discover other masters

	5. Battle stage: Defeat other masters