Rise of the Argonauts Interview, Part One
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Q: Since character development is vitally important to RPG fans, what led you to create a system based on the favor and deed elements?
A: At its core, Jason's character development is centered around the concept of dedicating deeds to the gods.
Most RPGs follow a quest / experience-based model for character development, wherein the hero enters a given area, talks to every NPC, gathers a series of quests, and dutifully goes off to fulfill them. While this model is effective, it lends itself to annoying "fetch quest" patterns (A to B, then back to A), and essentially casts the player in the role of servitor to the whims of various people throughout the world, relying on the good deeds that the player is performing to reinforce a sense of heroism. While this can be effective for a while, this pattern often reveals itself to the player, hampering immersion in the experience and dampening their genuine sense of impact within the world.
Furthermore, Jason is far from a meandering hero, learning the ins and outs of morality and exploring the world at his leisure. On the contrary, he is extremely goal-oriented - he wants to find the Fleece and get back to his wife as soon as humanly possible. As such, while we will have very high-level quests to direct the player forward, we rely on deeds that the player performs as our "currency" for character development.
