Comment by Kiri

Okay but now I'm envisioning a RW visual novel and the player character is another party member and has to direct the (very uncooperative) team and there would be SO MANY WAYS TO BAD END OMG.

Reply by Shazzbaa

LOL YOU'RE NOT WRONG

at this point in the game bad endings are probably about 50% getting eaten/killed by monsters, 25% failing to rescue Jonan from his problems, and 25% getting arrested or killed by aberrant hunters

(I actually think an RW game would have to be a like... point-and-click type deal where you interact with people and solve puzzles and can switch between different characters who have slightly different pros and cons. I'm not sure I'm any good at those kinds of games tho)

Reply by Meggyc

I could see a Dragon's Lair styled Runewriters game with SO MANY negative outcomes for Jonan.

Reply by Adam

Most of the puzzles would actually revolve more around the character's handicaps. You have a person that can't hear but can speak, you have a person that can hear but can't speak, you have a person that's trapped in a cube. You have one shape-shifter that gets worse with every shape-shift. At this point, Xira is the freak of the party because he has no handicap.

It's the sort of constrained logic with over-complicated solutions that traditional point and click adventures love.

Also, you can have lots of "bad ends" in adventure games. Old ones (like King's Quest) had dozens of death scenes you could have. So it would fit the theme of "horrible ways to die". But it wouldn't be a real adventure if the change of horrible death wasn't involved.

Reply by Kiri

Xira's handicap is that if his turban comes off it's instadeath.

Reply by Adam

That's not a handicap. That's a doom. Dooms are constant, certain risk of death and/or harm that pressed on a person's entire life that can crop up at any moment. Handicaps just give obstacles in your life.