Hey, Cactus here, I’m here with a problem of design…
I’m going to do Supports on my hack but I have the problem of do I even bother on writing them?
I’m kinda troubled, I want some funny ones, sad, etc. like a real person would do, but the problem is that they’re boring and you just don’t care in genreal.
Any tips for writing Supports without being boring or so cliche orientared?
This is a great question. Unfortunately, I am not a writer and cannot help you. I know that there’s a channel on the TDAWS Discord server that’s meant to help improve hack writing but I’m unfamiliar with any other resources. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
Then don’t bother writing them
If you don’t find them interesting at all and only want to implement the statistical bonuses, leave them empty and have it at that
No point in forcing yourself to do something you don’t even want to do in the first place
As for reference material, existing support conversations are useful to look at
Imo, you shouldn’t feel forced in the slightest to limit yourself to the very out of fashion and quite crappy way support conversations work (yes even modern ones). If you want to write them legit that’s fine, you do you, there’s other recommendations on where to get ideas in this thread posted already.
But I think if you are wanting to give your side characters some fun/interesting/whatever interactions there’s probably better, more natural ways to do it throughout your story. I’m a bit of a kaga saga fan so this recommendation is probably coming from there, but having characters just have character stuff that happens if they’re alive that happens throughout the story is imo much easier then having support conversations.
They don’t have to be generic so that they never contradict the current story.
You get to write less since characters don’t need to have 50 conversations with people they just barely have a reason to even interact with.
You actually know your players are going to see the damn conversations and actually know about the characters at all as opposed to missing out on 99% of the cast.
Of course this does mean you have a bit more pressure to make them actually good too but I think it’s a fair trade-off. And of course there’s always plenty of other ways. This is just the way I think works best, but then again kaga saga fan so.
Tl;dr Screw support convos; all my homies hate support convos
If you’re saying you think supports are boring, as people have said, you can just let them be solely mechanical benefits.
If you’re asking how to write things that are not boring, that mostly comes down to practice. Read more. Write more.
As for being cliché oriented… just don’t make them cliché oriented? Or put some kind of spin on the cliché? There is some truth in saying everything has been done at this point, but there are also more and less overused things.
Supports are a good way to inform of a character’s relationships, likes and dislikes, past and intentions for the future without having them directly involved and important in the main quest. Of course, this requires characters to have character. It means developing The Edgy Myrm Who Gets Recruited In Chapter Eight to be more than… just an edgy myrm you recruit in chapter eight. You probably won’t have as much luck if you write supports for this character because you Must Have Supports as you would if you do it because you feel there’s more to this character that you can show off. So perhaps start by thinking about who this character really is and why they’re here. And if it turns out the character has no reason to be there other than to be an edgy myrm for the player to recruit, perhaps try using a different character?
It’s generally a good idea to have a spread of support partners who have different personalities and different kinds of relationships with a character, to show them from different angles.
In case of the edgy myrm, a few things supports can go into would be why they’re so edgy, why they’re a myrm (a sword user specifically), how they got to be in chapter eight, and what they do when they’re not myrming edgily. They may or may not have surprisingly un-edgy hobbies, which they may or may not be open about. They can involve characters who are intimidated by the edge, and characters who are unimpressed. You can have characters who know the myrm from before, and characters who meet them for the first time.
But of course, just being an edgy myrm is pretty old by now. So perhaps this character is actually warm and cheerful, but putting on a front because being a cool, aloof merc makes it easier to get jobs? But maybe they’re also somewhat unhinged to allow them to maintain that personality while they kill people for a living? This is off the top of my head, but i definitely think that take has some potential for interesting conversations.
This a support I’ve written some time ago for a hack I’ve never finished:
T - Theodore
G - Gren
C:
T: Gren.
G: Yes, my lord?
T;How did my father die?
G: Well…
Interesting, that you bring it up now.
You never wanted to even hear
a word throught the past years.
T: …
Maybe I think I am ready to
handle the truth.
G: Truth?
T: The truth, that he died a coward.
That he was hiding when Bern came.
That he was a craven.
G: How can you, milord!
Your father, marquess Gaius, was
the bravest man I had ever known.
He died protecting YOU.
That is the truth.
T: He…
I…
G: Gaius died for Lycia with a sword
in his hand.
He wished for a better future.
For YOUR future.
He was a great man.
T: I …remember it diferently.
He never cared about me and…
G: You were young. Too young to understand.
We will talk later. I shall explain
you why your father was like he was.
B:
T: …
You wanted to tell me something.
G: About your father, yes.
You treat his memory so badly.
He was a bitter man, yes, but his
life wasn’t easy too.
T: And you mean?
G: There was only one thing what
made him happy in life.
When he was young he fell in love
with Madelyn of Caelin.
T: I didn’t know that he was able
to love anyone.
G: Yet he did.
I still remeber these days.
He was so happy. Just…happy
But he was rejected.
And who ultimatelly married his beloved?
A commoner! Sacean!
T: I remember many Saceans
in the court.
G: Araphen is near border.
Also, they are valuable assets in warfare.
Despite this, your father despised them.
Love is a cruel mistress.
Like a famous poet once wrote:
Slow, painful, long:
This death that takes two people to an end.
It took joy and ability to feel compasion
from Gaius. But one thing remained.
T: What?
G: His…pride.
And honor.
And that is what drived him to the
field when this day of judgement came.
Judgement by fire.
…
We will talk again soon, shall we?
T: Of course, Gren.
I need to hear how it ended.
A:
T:…
You promissed to tell me everything.
G: …
Yes.
It was a bloody day.
A day of wrath and flames
The havens rained fire.
Yet thespite this two men stood above all.
This men were: Hector, marquess Ostia
and your father, Gaius, marquess Araphen.
They showed our army that there is still hope!
That reinfocements were coming!
So we marched on the whole might of Bern!
…
…
…
Ulltimatelly, the defeat was inevitable…
He…only told me save you
form onslaught…
That is… all…
He died a hero.
Remeber this.
Always.
Your father might have been a bitter man,
but he was a just person.
Life had scarred him very badly.
…
Let me honor his memory by serving you
T: …
Thank you, Gren.
Now I understand.
World can be cruel…
G: And that is the lesson.
Your father understood this when
he marched to his death.
He is redeemed…
Thanks for the ideas, I’ll consider Jey’s support to inspire mine, and I’ll check that TDAWS Discord Chives mentioned, thanks!
Good ideas are to either:
Just to add an example to Jey saying tie into story/character growth:
In the case of a main/side character support, or side/side characters; play off their personalities and have them exhibit growth as characters. This can range from a brooding edgelord becoming more humble thanks to a more eccentric character, to a nobleman learning to accept that the lower class are just people too. There are many possibilities to explore.
One I’ve written has a character with trust issues open up to another. It involves both personal growth and ties directly to the story of a main character’s family tree.
Wow I want to see this game