NORM: A Serial Killer RPG - Updated 02/18/2018

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N0ught

N0ught

Sergeant Knight at Arms
Old Guard
Nexus Download Link:
http://www.nexusmods.com/rpgmakervxace/mods/8

Introduction: I seem to have lost my tire iron...

A little more than two years ago I was going through a... dark period in my life. I had my heart, and possibly my mind, broken terribly - I think that love almost turned into a consuming hatred. And with no way to express how I felt at the time, I turned towards morbid entertainment, as is my wont.

She had taught me some serious lessons about pain. I will not go into those details here... on this search for sadistic video games, I happened across Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer, by Calunio. I was delighted and shocked by the blend of fictional and actual torture themes, and the detail paid to the psychological profiles of the characters was sublime. It was a very dark love story, and so really called out to me - and it sparked my interest in creating a spiritual sequel, of sorts. I knew I wanted to use an rpgmaker engine (and I settled on VX Ace), but I did not want to recreate the same game with the same themes, so I did further research...

I have been a fan of roguelike rpg games for a long time, and so I ran across this article, regarding the scandalous "serial killer roguelike hoax" via roguebasin.com:

the-serial-killer-roguelike-hoax

I felt it was truly tragic that such a project turned out to be a blatant hoax, and the fact the "developer" got on his high horse about the morality of such games was offensive to me. I am a rather gentle person by nature, and I play the most violent and disturbing games I can get my hands on - not a fan of jump-scares, mind you, but true cerebral horror. Games that stress you out a little bit (or a lot if you really get into them). So I resolved to do something about it.

I knew what my protagonist would be now, and a nebulous idea of a plot somewhere between Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, and the Evil Dead movies, with a little bit of Sling Blade thrown in (mmmhmmm...), began to form.

I wanted a clever plot that was slightly recognizable, but with twists that would make people think.

I wanted a platform for my emotional garbage, and for my disgust at the politics and religion and society of this age; at the way misery and fear are sold side-by-side with candy.

I wanted to create an homage to oldschool rpg and adventure games, but also fly in the face of those conventions.

I wanted to create a story that reaches inside the viewer, and rips out all their fears, and slaps them in the face with them...

And it had to have a killer soundtrack too. All the music is either about, made by (Cease To Exist, by Charles Manson being a shining example), lyrically implies, or is a reference to, murder in some form.

All of the visual media included is art manipulation made by me, and many of the themes are from actual serial killer and murder cases - notably, an altered newspaper article from the Jeffrey Dahmer case, and a montage of all of the over 100 photos of unidentified people, found in the home of serial killer Rodney Alcala.

There are no real serial killers in the game. The story is entirely fictional, and so are all of its characters. Especially Donald Trump...

The game includes themes from the Cthulhu Mythos, as created by H.P. Lovecraft, and several characters from that fictional universe.

The dialog, and many of the themes in the game, will offend you. This is intentional. So clearly, complaining will get you nowhere. I just thought I would point that out now. The language is filthy, and so are the hookers. Deal with it.

"Norm" is not a story about love. It is a story about survival. It is a story about what is considered "normal" - and the actual truths of the universe that send people screaming from their beds in the night. It is a story about the lies we are told. It is a story about the lies we tell ourselves. It is a story about murder, debauchery, cannibalism, fraud, extortion, torture, stockholm syndrome, drugs, war, heresy and black magic. It is a story about tedium... it is a story about entropy... and there will be no happy endings.

But there will be plenty of macaroni and cheese...


***************************************************************
SKILLS

BASIC SKILLS
02 Premeditation
02 Destroy Evidence
04 Bite Face
06 *(Class Skill Slot)
08 Suppressed Rage
10 *(Class Skill Slot)
12 Strike Nerve
14 *(Class Skill Slot)
16 Teacher's Pet
18 *(Class Skill Slot)
20 Maniacal Laughter
22 *(Class Skill Slot)
24 Catatonic Stare
26 *(Class Skill Slot)
28 Play Dead
30 *(Class Skill Slot)
32 Bipolar Disorder
34 *(Class Skill Slot)
36 Primal Chase
38 *(Class Skill Slot)
40 Bestial Howl
42 *(Class Skill Slot)
46 Patient Stalker
48 Infrared Goggles
50 The Game

CLASS SKILLS BY WEAPON TYPE
Anxiety Attack - Improvised, Beating
Sudden Snap - Chopping, Stabbing
Here's Johnny - Chopping, Crushing
Sadistic Tendencies - Torture, Crushing - ATK and DEF based
Masochistic Tendencies - Improvised, Beating
Exploit Phobias - Torture, Execution
Salt Wound - Improvised, Torture
Flailing Blows - Improvised, Stabbing
Chelsea Grin - Slashing, Torture - ATK and SAt based
Death Machine - Execution, Torture
Cut Throat - Slashing, Execution - ATK and SAt based
Drop Kick - Crushing, Beating
Pavlovian Response - Beating, Improvised
Extreme Prejudice - Crushing, Munitions
Lethal Injection - Poisons, Execution
Vicious Backhand - Beating, Crushing
Rip Clothing - Stabbing, Slashing
Gilly Suit - Munitions, Stabbing
Manchurion Candidate - Munitions, Execution - ATK and AGI based
Tactical Strike - Munitions, Poisons - ATK and AGI based
Double Tap - Munitions, Chopping - ATK and LUK based
Butterfly Knives - Stabbing, Slashing - ATK and LUK based
Field Dressing - Poisons, Slashing
Hemorrhage - Chopping, Poisons - ATK and DEF based
Tourniquet - Chopping, Poisons


***************************************************************
ITEMS

NORMAL ITEMS
Milk -$5- Recovers 500 HP.
Beer -$10- Recovers 2,500 HP. 33% chance of blindness.
Liquor -$20- Recovers all HP. 33% chance of confusion.
Cigarettes -$5- Recovers 200 SP. 50% chance to cure sleep. 33% chance of disease.
Coffee -$10- Recovers all SP. Cures sleep.
EpiPen -$380- Cures Death. Cures visual effects of drug use. 33% chance of stun.
Ipecac -$10- Cures Poisoning. Cures visual effects of drug use. 33% chance of stun.
Cannabis -$25- 50% chance to cure disease, blindness, silence, confusion, or ccfparalysis. 33% chance of sleep.
Opiates -$80- Restores all HP and SP. Causes mild hallucinations. 33% chance of paralysis.

PERMANENT ITEM BOOSTS
Performance Enhancers -$250- MHp +50
Human Heart -Free- ATK +1
Human Liver -Free- DEF +1
Human Brain -Free- AGI +1
Human Blood -Free- LUK +1
Bath Salts -$500- MSp +10
Human Eyes -Free- SAt +1
Human Tongue -Free- SDf +1


***
Feedback very welcome!
 
Thanks guys. :grin:

It is just the intro and the very beginning of the story line so far. It cuts away fairly unexpectedly back to the main menu. But I am hoping it will generate some interest as I continue to work on it.
 
Without having played it, just looking at what you put up, my impression is a bit on the try-too-hard side. The setting has potential, but i'd hope for it to be a little more subtle. I mean you seem to want to go for ambiguity in regards to what is "Norm(al)". But i would argue that to achieve this you would have to focus on writing that makes the implausible plausible, that shifts your perspective before it shatters it and that indeed makes you either question Normality or Reality. Yet looking at your plans for the future, you seem to be very combat focussed with little regard to making it believable (the sheer amount of possible classes would make such writing take years). So i think you are running the risk of creating characters that are too silly and flat for anyone to identify with and might end up with an rpg-maker-variant of postal or hatred.
 
Play it before you comment, at least. Also, I'm not sure if you noted that I made this demo without even using a tutorial, in less than a week - this concept is very new and will develop like a demented baby...

I didn't even go into a lot of detail. Think Final Fantasy 1 meets American Psycho. The Classes are really just to define the "psychological profile" of the various characters, and what weapons/accessories they would use. Everyone can use all the head, torso, and special armor pieces. I want to lend a more real-world feel to the rigidly-defined FF-style console rpg. The "enemies" are everyday people - from children, to old people, to police officers and drug addicts, to the president (yep). The three levels of potions are milk, beer, and whiskey. :lol:

In a lot of cases the items were just renamed from the basic RPG Maker list for now - I am working on it daily. The subtlety is in the story. It is cliche, and yet has a tension that is very twisty, and you will eventually be the one writing it with the choices you make. There are many psychological traps already present in the demo. It has a platform with enough variety for people to roleplay their favorite horror movie murderers.

The gameplay will be a lot like this:

1. Storyline drives the character to kill someone.
2. A murder has just been committed - there is evidence that must be destroyed or hidden. Part of the fun will be in disposing of bodies in creative ways.
3. If evidence is properly destroyed, the storyline will continue on one path; otherwise it will continue on the other.
4. There will be elements of simulation games - jobs, for instance. Hopefully I can work in a calendar, and night/day cycles.
5. Realistic locations, like workplaces, bars, streets, etc.
6. Consequences. You CAN go on a murder rampage... I will make these just fun enough to be entertaining... but they will also pretty much be creative suicide, as the national guard will eventually arrive.

All-in-all, it is a really fun way to write a story that forces the player to sympathize with the character who initially seems like the worst villain - Norm - literally like putting on mister Lecter's shoes. But as the story progresses, it is quickly discovered that this world is a lot more of a grey place than that...

***

Do you have a right to survive? Is surviving a right or a privilege? And if so, who doles out these rights or privileges to every individual? Maybe there are no rights and no wrongs, and the only justice is in surviving one more day - no matter who you are, or what you have done? Maybe you deserve to survive? Maybe nothing we do is right or wrong, even survival, and the only thing anyone deserves is to die, and life ending in death is proof of that? So wouldn't a killer then be like some sort of god of cosmic justice - simply giving everyone what they deserve? Who are you to ask that question? Who am I? Who survives?

Yes, it is schizophrenic; it is madness; it is philosophy freed from morality; scruples, free from guilt. But what is life?

This game will explore all of that, and more, and without shame.
 
N0ught said:
Play it before you comment, at least.
Click to expand...
Why? I am specifically commenting on the things you are presenting and talking about. Are they meaningless in regards to the actual game?

N0ught said:
The Classes are really just to define the "psychological profile" of the various characters, and what weapons/accessories they would use. Everyone can use all the head, torso, and special armor pieces. I want to lend a more real-world feel to the rigidly-defined FF-style console rpg. The "enemies" are everyday people - from children, to old people, to police officers and drug addicts, to the president (yep). The three levels of potions are milk, beer, and whiskey. :lol:
Click to expand...
Aside from the word psychological profile there is very little in your description that refers to character at all. You also didn't really respond to the concern of quantity vs. quality. The more profiles you go for, the less fleshed out you can make them. As for killing the president... to me it seems like trying-too hard again.

The gameplay will be a lot like this:

1. Storyline drives the character to kill someone.
2. A murder has just been committed - there is evidence that must be destroyed or hidden. Part of the fun will be in disposing of bodies in creative ways.
3. If evidence is properly destroyed, the storyline will continue on one path; otherwise it will continue on the other.
4. There will be elements of simulation games - jobs, for instance. Hopefully I can work in a calendar, and night/day cycles.
5. Realistic locations, like workplaces, bars, streets, etc.
6. Consequences. You CAN go on a murder rampage... I will make these just fun enough to be entertaining... but they will also pretty much be creative suicide, as the national guard will eventually arrive.
Click to expand...
This sounds a lot like postal and hatred with a little Hitman (which could be fun as well). How will it differ from these games (aside from the obvious rpg-maker grafix n mechanics)?

I'm not trying to put you or your project down, it's simply some input that you can take or leave. Either way, good luck with this.
 
Pharaoh X Llandy said:
What if I want to be a spree killer, rather than a serial killer? Do you cater for that, or have plans to in the future?
Click to expand...

N0ught said:
6. Consequences. You CAN go on a murder rampage... I will make these just fun enough to be entertaining... but they will also pretty much be creative suicide, as the national guard will eventually arrive.
Click to expand...
 
I may wind up eliminating Classes, and making everyone a "Human", allowing them to use any weapons they want.

Pharaoh X Llandy said:
What if I want to be a spree killer, rather than a serial killer? Do you cater for that, or have plans to in the future?
Click to expand...

This is the kind of demographic I'm interested in - "If i want to rp (insert serial killer's name or style of mass murder here) how can i do that?"

Cannibalism will be one of the methods of body disposal - so you're Jeffrey Dahmer, until you put Facepaint on - then you're John Wayne Gacy. Get it? and you'll be able to customize other characters in the party that way too.

For the sake of costuming I really like this "lack of class" - its irreverent enough to the FF1 style to be appealing - of course you are technically a "monster" and they don't really have Classes, even if some have skills/magic to mimic them.

I like the thoughts rolling around - truly all feedback is welcome. Keep it coming.
 
I just don't see the point of making any more games that you are supposed to kill anything in. That might just be me.
 
krik said:
You can tell Norm is insane because he seems to enjoy Slipknot. :razz:

Nah, but neat idea.
Click to expand...

That was self-indulgent, yes, but it was really more about the subject matter of the songs - not sure if anyone noticed, but the song that plays on the tv is the "Hungarian Suicide Song" - the original version. More people have committed suicide after listening to that song than any other reported song. I also plan to include "My Way" by Frank Sinatra - supposedly more people have been murdered after singing that song at karaoke, than any other song.


QuailLover said:
Just curious, have you read "The Anatomy of Motive"? Might be useful.
Click to expand...

I haven't. I'll give it a look. But in any case the motivation of the characters in this story is the world itself - I will be presenting a very gritty Washington DC - I might even cast Donald Trump as president. :lol:

I believe that is fairly accurate. Modern psychology tends to assume that mental illness lies in mental defect - that is a bit skewed, and made to justify experimentation on human beings. I personally see a world where very few people are crazy - but almost everyone has gone insane, jabbing at a button over and over for a pellet of grain, and hoping for heaven beyond the glass. I see a world where everyone was sold a dream - and the bumper fell off as soon as you were out of the parking lot, and your dream-mechanic informed you they don't make parts for that model anymore - and indeed they may have never existed. But that's just what everyone has to put up with, right?

Wrong. I live in the woods on alternative power. I don't participate in this grand illusion people have called "society" much. So you can consider this game a commentary on the results of people believing it is "normal" to work miserably and die miserably, just to pay the bills. To sacrifice your blood, and the blood of your children to the god called "Dollar", willingly.

Some people go live in the woods to deal with this nonsense. Others kill hookers. I'm not judging. Just making a game where people can take out their well-founded aggression towards a world and a life they incorrectly believe they have no control over.

Incidentally, I will also make it possible to live a normal life in the game... just working under an assumed identity, and paying the bills. And that will get very tedious in time. Eventually, as the player, you will likely lead your character to heinous acts, simply for entertainment - oh dear, your character seems to have snapped, due to morbid conformity.
 
N0ught said:
I believe that is fairly accurate. Modern psychology tends to assume that mental illness lies in mental defect - that is a bit skewed, and made to justify experimentation on human beings.
Click to expand...

Debate is still out on that one (as in it's a pretty complicated issue and the literature is still developing), so no, modern psychology would not assume that mental defects are the primary cause of mental illnesses (unless you're talking about a small number of mental disorders that have been shown to have a fairly high level of heritability, although even in those cases the exact mechanism is still being hotly debated).
 
Haven't uploaded another demo yet, but what I have so far, is:

* The intro scene
* A "world map" of Washington D.C. you can travel in a car
* Visible police encounters you can try to avoid (and investigators if you get a warrant on you).
* Regarding police encounters on the map: When you encounter them, they immediately use their Pullover ability - which makes it so your character cannot run away ("detained" status). Police will not attack (only guard) without a warrant being issued - every round of combat a character is detained, a warrant may be issued - thereafter all police will attack mercilessly during all combats. Basically, you want to avoid the police.
* I also have the complete second scene, which is an Urgent Care clinic - you can get healed, or kill everyone in the place. There are a few items for pickup in the hospital. Killing people leaves corpses behind.

Too many RPG games have moments like this:

halolz-dot-com-pokemon-treeintheroad-comic.jpg


Especially when a game character blocks the way it is ridiculous - I have always thought you should be able to attack them, no matter how powerful they are. In this game you will be able to - so far with a nurse, a doctor, two security guards, and two patients.

Still have not cracked a single tutorial, or anything other than experiment. RPG Maker VX Ace Lite is pretty slick. :cool:
 
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