I've wanted to make a thread about some thoughts I've had about roleplaying for a while. This is more of my own rambling than anything else- not necessarily what is innately best.

In roleplaying, there's a line. At one side, we have actions and mechanics that encourage and suit immersive roleplaying, while on the other side of the line there's instead such that encourages a more storytelling-styled approach.

Some people prefer things to be more on the immersive side. I would call these styles of roleplayers "actors", as they trend towards an improv-acting style of roleplaying. They want their experiences to be given to them, and to react in the heat of the moment without being overly concerned about the bigger picture. This would usually be encouraged by more mechanics being resolved outside of the player's control, such as a game engine (whether digital or otherwise). An example would be if you lose a fight, your character is set to be knocked out, and there are mechanics that the aggressor can take that are built into the system. Or, drawing from Sigrogana Legend 1, the ability to stealth, wiretap, and otherwise spy on other players without their knowing, but also mechanics that can be used to counter such. The benefits of this style is that due to less work being done by the player, they aren't as distracted and are more able to immerse themselves/get lost in their roleplay. The downsides are that it usually requires more work from an outside source, whether it be Dev coding the game or a gamemaster (and players) having expertly mastered their tabletop system of choice (as well as having found a system that works in the first place). In addition, where the system doesn't cover often leads blindspots that need to be patched up awkwardly.

Some people instead prefer to be on the storytelling side. These roleplayers I'd instead dub "writers". They want to write and experience a good story- they do not want to leave things up to chance. If their characters don't go along the path they expected or planned out for them, it's likely they will not find the roleplay engaging. However, when they are able to plan and cooperate with their fellow roleplayers they are able to construct much more engaging experiences (as, afterall, they can be much more practiced in that regard). Some mechanics that follow this path would be allowing players to set/create scenery as they wish (as opposed to having crafted it beforehand), and having all interactions be clearly stated and expressed for those participating to view and understand. However, leaving things up to how people think what a good story makes or working without an outside mediator/ruleset can be detrimental- those who have more out-of-game will, stubbornness, or social charisma will oftentimes be more the winners in clashes, and what one person thinks is a good story can be the opposite for what another thinks makes a good story- I've seen, for example, when someone working as a guard would say "I don't want that to happen, it will make my role seem inefficient". They are playing the guard who is dutifully attending to their job, while I was playing a miscreant who would rather like to escape and commit more crimes- if my murderer is finished too early, it might be a good story for the guard for a job well done, but my criminal can't go on his spree if he's stomped immediately.

Sigrogana is a good blend of the two styles. We rely on the consent of our fellow roleplayers, which is good for a healthy environment, yet with an environment where we need to meet up with people by chance and things can happen unexpectedly from the sheer web of people we can interact with. This is a boon over forum roleplay, which due to the play-by-post nature and longer responses, are severely limited in their immersion (it's more akin to writing a story, with thoughts expressed clearly, moments mulled over for all to see). And unlike other roleplay games that are suited to more immersion (such as old Dragon Ball Z roleplay games, myself having played Finale and Phoenix) where time is tracked month by month and year by year, you need to keep up with your training, there is an afterlife system, etcetera... we do not need to dedicate the sheer amount of time that is needed for those systems. If things are too immersive, then they instead can interfere with real life, and in ghastly situations even put people in scenarios they would absolutely not give consent to.

In the end, I prefer more immersive roleplay. With the aforementioned example of the guard attempting to apprehend me, the criminal, I would prefer if both of our ideas of a story were taken into consideration and resolved by an external system, as if we both play a game (such as player combat) and see who wins, we can resolve the situation without having to flat-out concede what story we want to tell. And if I do lose- hey, they hurt me more than I hurt them, that's just the way it goes, and the roleplay can continue with my mindset set. With that being said, I absolutely see benefits to having a mix of both styles. Leaning too far into one or the other can be detrimental, so knowing what sort of situations should favor which approach and have the appropriate resolution to implement is key to satisfying roleplay.

I forget if this has been suggested before but:

Can we please have more slots appear on the title screen? Having to scroll all the way down for patreon or extra character slots is often a nuisance if you happen to DC a lot; it also makes it easy to forget if you have an extra slot on that key if you haven't played for a while.

IE:

A trait that requires 20 WIL that, on looking at someone's equipment section of their profile, lets you see how much focus they have in comparison to your own. Mind, not max FP, but just FP-to-FP comparison. It would not give exact numbers, but it would show a comparison roughly as the following:

0%: You're surprised that this is even a person in front of you. You sense absolutely nothing from them.
From 1% to 24%: Their focus is barely noticeable amidst the flow of your own.
From 25% to 49%: Their focus is much lesser than yours.
From 50% to 69%: They have a lot less focus than you do.
From 70% to 89%: They have a bit less focus than you do.
From 90% as much FP to 110%: They seem to have roughly the same amount of focus as you do.
From 111 to 130%: They have a bit more focus than you do.
From 131% to 150%: They have a lot more focus than you do.
From 151% to 200%: Their focus is much greater than yours.
From 201% to 499%: Their focus is overwhelming in comparison to yours...
For 500% and above: You can barely feel your own focus around the storm this person exudes.

It seems as if you're allowed to invest up to 80 points in any given stat, but you're allowed to invest the full 80, regardless of your base. You won't get the extra stat points for your base/this over-investment, however.



Shown is base 8 (Geladynian 7 Base Will + 1 from LE), then 72 points invested to bring it to the 80 hardcap, then another 8 points invested for no benefit.



(apparently this isn't a bug but i think it's misleading behavior and would like you to no longer be able to invest in a stat once you've hit base + investment = 80)

Not a mapping error explicitly, I'm taking a break from those. Collecting them in the background but no big threads from me for a while on that stuff, promise.
What I have decided to report, however, is more along the lines of a spriting error - that is, it appears some black pixels weren't cleared from the tileset used in terra flama and the lava lake. Specifically occurs with the right corner tiles of the roof, but you can see on each of these four there are jutting out black bits that aren't the void - because you can see the floor is still present on the tile.

I dunno, I just thought it was something to report in the same vein as the tyrant pixels.

So I've noticed a few classes have really no specialized equipment for them.

Dancer among a few others.

Since I only have ideas for the dancer class at this moment. I'll only post about those.

And I have Four items already thought up! Numerics are placeholders, including chances and cooldowns. But the general idea for the mechanic is what is meant to differentiate and make it so that it can have a rough idea of what makes it a specialist piece of equipment!

Woven Wind Ribbon:
A whip-like ribbon that echoes the wind in motion, it is a whisper and a roar billowing in the air behind it's master.
Power: 8
Attack Range: 4
Accuracy: 80%
Critical: (80%)
Durability: 40
Dance Skills have a 2xUL% chance to trigger the activation of Wind Pirouette once per 3 turns.
Rating: 10-Star

Performers Leotard:
With Form and function in mind, this leotard is the main outfit of stage performers of various arts, ranging from dance to gymnastics. It provides great flexibility for those wearing it.
Armor: 1
Magic Armor: 4
Evade: 7
Unarmored type
For each 2 Tempo this character has, they gain 1 Scaled Celerity.  Additionally for each Tempo their final evasion is increased by +1.
Rating 6-Star

Steel Soled Shoes: 
Rat-tat-ta-tat-tap-tat. A pair of Tap Dancers Shoes which give your dances more punch!
Grants all dance skills an innate 15 Blunt Damage. Subsequent hits deal 3 less blunt damage.
Rating: 5-Star

Flowing Sarong:
A flowing fabric piece worn about the hip, accentuates the abdominal movements of dancers the likes of which that befuddles or beguiles them.
When a dance applies a debuff, there is a 5+(50% Scaled Guile)% chance that Hesitation is also applied. Chance doubles against targets affected by Charm.
Rating: 7-Star

Related to this thread.

Ivy Binds effect to treat enemies as plants for your effects does not grant the 5% DR from Flower Wreathed Tunic.

I tested on Alraune to confirm the 5% dr does seem to be working (97 REDUC turns into 92.15 REDUC after putting on the tunic in the debug) (the 97 likely being the 3% dr from Heat of Battle).

Otherwise it does not change when plant tiles are put on units' tiles whilst using Ivy Binds.

Totally not just making this because I got noob-trapped (despite years of experience playing this game) into thinking the skill's secondaries synergized with one another. Totally.

Anyway. Astral Belt disappears when using its 1M ability BEFORE proc'ing its damage and airborne ability on magnetized enemies. I think it'd be a more utilized skill with decent niche benefits if it either didn't get rid of Astral Belt (and just disabled the 1M skill) or only got rid of it AFTER the effects (damage, airborne) happened.

What if there was an option.

To tell mobs to stop using basic attacks. And instead use their skills/spells

Please.Please. I'm begging.