First look at a new (but also, sort of old) OHRRPGCE project I'm working on

Our blobby heroes.

You may have seen these guys before--I've posted them in a couple places, and if you know me in person you've probably seen me draw them at least once.  They're from an OHRRPGCE game that I've been tentatively calling "the blob game" ever since 2011 or so when I first starting the earliest work on it, but now for the first time it actually has a real title: "30 Plagues."

As the presence of a title suggests, it also has a storyline now.  It's pretty basic, but what I'm going for with this is not really a long story- or character-focused game (like Okédoké was) so there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Basically, the story goes that some time in the not-too-recent past an evil sorcerer named Valnabbath unleashed thirty powerful monsters upon the world (these are the "30 Plagues" the title mentions) and caused all kinds of random destruction, wiping out civilizations and basically scaring the crap out of everyone.

Here's a few of them (there are, of course, 30 in all... but I'm not going to post all of them here. XD)

"Death Machine" Droulodos

"Plague Carrier" Kolodor

"Sky Invader" Vuumfata

"Demon Judge" Waldohrer

And then one day, out of nowhere, Valnabbath just kind of vanished, leaving his monsters behind to wreak havoc without anyone directing them like he had done before.  Eventually things calmed down a bit--the Plagues settled into certain areas and didn't travel outside their territory much, and so people relocated to avoid the territories of the Plagues and rebuilt society.  Things were at least sort of peaceful, the occasional random monster attack notwithstanding.  Years pass, and eventually the 30 Plagues seem to be stirred up by something once again, showing up in populated areas to spread chaos more and more frequently.  This, of course, leads to various random heroes forming groups to head out and track down the monsters to fight them off.  Which is where the little blob guys from the picture above come in!  Here they are again so you don't have to scroll all the way back up:

As you can probably guess by their appearance, the blobs are set up like different RPG character classes.  They are (from left to right in the above picture, top row first)...

WARRIOR: Focused on physical combat.  Lots of HP, high attack and defense, but fairly slow and has no magic capacity.  Wields axes, equips shields and helmets.  Has a Defend command which temporarily provides a defensive boost (increasing raw defensive power mostly, but also slightly increasing the chance of dodging or blocking attacks entirely.)

ARCHER: Focused on physical combat... at a distance.  Less HP and raw strength than the Warrior, but faster and  better at dodging attacks.  Wields a bow and arrows, equips hats.  Has a set of "Sniper" abilities which allow multiple arrows shot in one turn, special arrows which do more damage against certain types of enemies, and other special effects along the same lines.  Equipping a better quiver allows you to use these techniques more often, though for purposes of making the Archer less annoying to play as you'll never run out of regular arrows entirely.

BANDIT: Not as good at fighting compared to the Warrior or Archer, but faster and with slightly better defense than the Archer.  Wields swords, equips bandannas.  Has a Steal command (which, obviously, lets you steal stuff from enemies) as well as Dodge, which sends your chances of dodging incoming attacks through the roof temporarily.  Equipping loot bags will made the Bandit more likely to succeed in stealing, or effect what you end up with when stealing (you'll either get more items or more money, depending on which bags you equip.)

WIZARD:  Focused on attacking with magic, to the exclusion of almost everything else.  Very low stats (aside from magical power, which is the highest of all the blobs.)  Wields a staff, equips hats.  In addition to using magic to attack (using fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, and more) the Wizard can also use a variety of spells that weaken enemies.  Equipping a magical symbol allows them to restore their MP once per battle, while equipping a magic book provides a degree of resistance to the type of magic the book teaches.

PRIEST: Focused on healing and defensive magic.  Very low stats, though slightly better in the area of defense than the Wizard (though balanced by lower magical power and speed.)  Wields a staff, equips hats.  The Priest's magic is a bit more varied than the Wizard's, with a variety of different healing spells, some defensive and strength-boosting ones, some that weaken or disable enemies, and even a few that attack enemies (though not quite as directly as the Wizard's spells, and often not as reliable.)  Like the Wizard, they can equip books and magical symbols which provide them with some extra options.

SUMMONER: Uses magic which summons other entities to fight for them.  Stats are a little better than the Wizard or Priest, but still not enough that they can fight very well without the aid of their summoned creatures.  Wields a staff, equips hats and beads.  Unlike the Wizard and Priest, a Summoner doesn't have the option of a MP-restoring item... but instead, they have a "Barrier" command which gives them a good chance of avoiding incoming magic attacks.

NINJA: A combination Bandit and Wizard, basically.  Fast, with decent attacking power.  Wields a sword, equips headbands.  Can use some magic, including a few types nobody else can (mostly disabling/weakening types, with a few strengthening and direct attacking spells mixed in) and has a Dodge command, but doesn't have the ability to steal or to restore their MP mid-battle if they run out.

PIRATE:  A combination Bandit and Archer, with a few odd little bits mixed in.  Slower and sturdier than either of those two classes.  Wields swords, equips hats.  Has a pistol as a secondary weapon, which works similarly to a magic attack (but doesn't work very well on every enemy.)  Like the Wizard and Priest, a Pirate can equip an item (an ammo bag, in this case) that allows them to reload their pistol once mid-battle.  Equipping  better pistols is also a possibility.

PALADIN: A combination Warrior and Priest.  Less attacking power than a Warrior, less magical power than a Priest, and very slow... but with good HP and defenses.  Wields swords, equips shields and helmets.  Like the Ninja, they can use some magic (not as much as a Priest or Wizard) including a few spells that only they learn, but they don't have the ability to recharge their MP mid-battle and can't equip magic books like the magic-focused classes can.

CHEF: One of the oddballs.  Stats are decent overall (with HP being above-average and only speed being very low.)  Wields frying pans, and equips hats and aprons.  Rather than magic, Chefs fight using food, rapidly preparing various recipes in the middle of a fight in order to heal or strengthen their allies or even attack! Of course, you need the ingredients to do much of this...

BERSERKER: Another oddball.  High HP and attack power like a Warrior, and also a bit faster, but with weaker defenses.  Wields an axe, equips masks and capes.  Berserkers start out like faster but less-sturdy Warriors, but gain access to the ability to go into a rage and fight like a monster as you begin to defeat some of the 30 Plagues--a Berserker will eventually become able to imitate the abilities of 24 out of the 30.  The only downside to this is that when in a rage, you can't control what they're doing until they snap out of it...

BUFFOON: The joke class, pretty much.  Weak stats all around (though their HP and speed are above-average.)  Wields scepters, equips hats.  They can use a limited selection of magic, but unfortunately this isn't very reliable as their spells are chosen randomly at the beginning of the game... and when you try to get them to use magic, which spell you get is also random.  Their one real advantage is the ability to equip a flask of some strong alcoholic beverage, which can be used once per battle to fully restore both their HP and MP.

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Right now this one is definitely still in the "planning/setup/graphics" stage of things, but hopefully I'll have a shell of a demo set up soon so I can start testing out the battle system and see if things will work out the way I planned (or if I need to fiddle with stats and such again to get them working better, heh.)