Tough World

Red Tides
Conception: pirate simulator action-strategy mmo rpg. Set in the 17th century real world, giving the
players the opportunity to change the flow of history. The goal is to create a game as realistic as it is
possible without making it too difficult with a pinch of fantasy.

Gameplay
CHARACTER CREATION

Notes:

Gender
Real name (maximum 3 parts)
Nickname (maximum 2 parts, the character will be referred by this name; can be the same as
the real name)
Origin: European, African, Asian, Middle-Eastern (choosing the origin gives a basic
appearance, does not affect the customization options)
Homeland
Full body and face customization: height, weight, skin tone, hair style, hair colour, eye colour,
sliders for facial traits and physical characteristics, basic jewellery and adornments, tattoos
(back, neck, chest, belly, arms, hands, legs, feet), voice type
Starting place: Spain, France, Holland or England

characters with African origin has the opportunity to start as slaves

starting position options for female characters: whore, shop assistant or maid.
starting position options for male characters: thieve, shop assistant, servant.
female characters get mood debuff for 5 days a month (however, it can be decreased or
completely cured with expensive remedies)
male characters get mood debuff for a day if they forget to visit at least a class 2 brothel every
5 days it is possible to change appearance in barber shops and at tattoo artists later

Stats and meters

Statistics: data about finished quests, killings and other things that can be counted.
Meters: always change, have influence on the character and the gameplay.
BOUNTY: the measure of notoriety. It is the sum of the bounties offered by each country and
alliances for the player. The larger the sum of the bounty in the area, the more likely guards will arrest
and imprison the player. If the bounty is high, the player might be sentenced to death. It is possible
that the player manages to escape from the prison though. Once sentenced to death by rope, the player
will be executed publicly. It is possible to save someone from being hanged. Both escaping and
rescuing result in increasing bounty.
MOOD+FOCUS=PERFORMANCE
Performance is actually a percentage of chance of success in hits during fight, escaping, haggling, and
pretty much everything. It has two submeters, Mood and Focus which are directly affected by the
players decisions and way of life.
Event
Drinking (from tipsy to passed
out)
Love for gold (depending on the
rank of the brothel)
Romance
Defeat
Victory
Eating good meal
Eating poor meal
Sleeping in secure place
Hot bath

MOOD buff (+) or debuff (-)

+ but may change to when the
event is over
+

FOCUS buff(+) or debuff(-)

-

+
+
+
+
+

+
+
+
+
+

ALLIANCES and FACTIONS

From a certain level one can join certain alliances. The relationship between alliances frequently
changes.
The possible alliances are the following:
- Caribbean Pirate Republic
- Corsair faction (English, Dutch, French or Spanish-Portugal)
- Pirate hunter faction (English, Dutch, French or Spanish-Portugal)

Advantages of joining an alliance:

- extra questline
- extra radiant quests
- special followers (available for a short time, costs money)
- travel, food, weapons and ammo costs less in certain towns, respectively
- notoriety points
Disadvantages:
- the members of some other alliances automatically become enemies
- a player cannot join a second faction before leaving the previous one and might need to clear his/her
name if the two factions are mortal enemies through extra quests
Not joining any alliances automatically labels the player as Lone sea-wolf. Lone sea-wolves are
potential targets and enemies of each other and of every alliance. If the player reaches the top level
without joining any factions, he/she will get the achievement Lone Wolf and a free gift. Note: it is
very difficult to reach the top level without the extra questline of an alliance, impossible without
grinding and/or teaming up with friends for group quests.
Also, there is a non-joinable alliance, the genuinely corrupt and cruel Red Pirates.

Thieves and mercenaries

Factions are much more flexible. They dont form a complex system but they rather co-exist in the
world, sometimes helping each others, competing on other days. These factions have their own
questline before and after joining. This is an excellent opportunity to earn some gold since once
becoming a member, the player can do jobs for faceless customers.

COMBAT
In TW: Red Tides, there arent any particular character classes. Instead, the never ending, thrilling
bloodshed is provided by a wide variety of blades, guns and other weapons. Almost anything can be
wielded as weapon, from broken bottles to fine Spanish rapiers. There are four skill trees waiting for
being mastered, but one must divide his skill points wisely since it is impossible to obtain every moves
and abilities of every skill tree.
Skill trees with their used weapons:

Swordsmanship (one sword of any kind OR one dagger of any kind + passive skills for better
crafting)
Dual-wielding (two swords OR two daggers OR a sword and a dagger + passive skills for
better crafting)
Knife (one combat knife and an unarmed hand, passive skills + passive skills for better
crafting)
Firearms (one pistol, two pistols or a rifle, passive skills for better crafting)
Bomber (use of vide variety of explosives, passive skills for better crafting)
Agility (concentrates on evasive moves and sneaking, can be used with every weapon)

Weapons
The effectiveness of the attack depends on the quality of the weapon. The smaller and lighter the
blade, the quicker it moves; the more expensive the gunpowder and the firearm are, the longer the
distance the shot can cover.
Many things from the world can be used as a weapon, but each of them belongs to a certain style,
depending on their size. For example, a broken bottle can be used as a knife, and a stoker is similar to
a sword.
PVP and duel
Members of opposing factions automatically engage in battle to death if one of them attacks, but
players from neutral groups and from the same alliance can fight a duel. There is a chance for yielding,
but it is up to the opponent to decide about life or death. (Hint: a certain amount of gold can be very
convincing. If one buys his own life, he will be protected from that particular player in the next 7 days
in game time.)
Death
There is a chance to make a decision about the difficulty of the game.

Hardcore: the character actually dies and doesnt respawn.

Medium: the character dies and respawns at the nearest doctor, losing a certain percentage of
the experience points which can be covered by grinding.
Easy: doesnt exist. (If someone tries to set the gameplay Easy, a window pops up: There is
no such thing as easy life on the sea.)

CRAFTING and other SKILLS

Smiting (required for creating blades and fine items such as jewelleries and instruments; one
who masters the tree becomes Blacksmith and can earn much money by selling high quality
goods)
Tailoring (required for making clothes and sails; one who masters the tree becomes Tailor
and can earn much money by selling high quality goods)
Leatherwork (required for making footwear, belts and sheathes, etc.; one who masters the
tree becomes Cobbler and can earn much money by selling high quality goods)
Cooking (everyone loves to eat good meals)
Woodworking (required for making crates, barrels, containers, even furniture; one who
masters the tree becomes Cooper and can earn much money by selling high quality goods)

Different from the crafts, these skills are rather sets of abilities and knowledge.
Humanities: reading (1st step), foreign languages, politics and philosophy
Science: reading (1st step), physics, chemistry, geography (required for making advanced
explosives and guns)

Witchcraft
In TW:RT there is no actual magic, players fight with physical weapons. However, in every larger
town there lives a fortune-teller who provides simple witchcraft services for a price:
- Lucky charm on the player (adds to the Performance meter)
- Fortifying items with luck (increases chance of special hits and provides better defence)
- Teaching poison making
The power of the charm depends on the gold offered for her service. One can do favours for certain
fortune tellers; in exchange, she offers special charms.
Other opportunity is to have items blessed by brothers and priests but this service is very rare,
expensive and cannot be done on weapons.
(Witchcraft relies on the superstitious nature of the people living in the 17th century.)

FOLLOWERS and PETS

A player can obtain a permanent follower through quests. Followers can help in fight or carry limited
number of items. They can be ordered to hide if the situation becomes dangerous.
- freed slave (if helping a group of runaways, one of them may offer service. carries items and is able
to fight after training)
- orphan (rescuing child from the streets; carries items and can be ordered to steal or beg for money)
- dog (can be bought or rescued from the street by feeding; can carry items and fight)
- parrot ( can be bought, good for nothing but pretty; larger ones can be taught to distract enemies)
- monkey ( can be bought, is able to steal small things like an apple or a satchel)

PLAYER RELATIONSHIPS
It is possible to obtain relationship achievements and bonuses.
(About basic relationship: see Alliances and Factions)

Arch Enemies: if two enemy players fight more than three duels, they become Arch Enemies.
If the players enemy gets killed in the game, it gives 0.5x Victory buff to the player. If the
player kills his Arch Enemy, it gives 2xVictory buff.
Comrades: two or more player spend X hours in a group (not for once, the hours will be
summed)
Lovers: it is possible to make a romantic relationship by giving expensive gifts to each others
after spending Y hours in a group. It is possible to have multiple lovers at the same time.
Advantages: Comrades buff and Romance buff.
Spouse: to marry someone, the couple have to find a captain who is willing to perform the
ceremony, for a price, after spending Y hours in a group. Both of them shall have a golden
ring. Advantages: 1.5x(Comrades buff + Romance buff).

Also, there is a relationship meter between the player and certain NPCs which is influenced by done
quests, chosen alliances and other things.
Lover
Friend
Comrade
Neutral
Dislike
Enemy
Arch Enemy

Brothels, taverns and inns

Brothels, taverns and inns are the places providing resting place for a price and opportunity to drink,
play cards or dice games, and spend some quality time with whores. All these activities has significant
influence on the mood and/or the focus, thus on the performance as well. Both male and female
characters are able to buy one or two whores (sometimes even barmaids and tavern wenches)
company. However, barmaids and tavern wenches give themselves only to male characters who do
some favour quests for them (it is possible that she changes her mind though). For female characters,
there is a similar opportunity to gain Romance buff: doing favours for certain officers (commodore,
captain, first mate, pilot and gunner) makes them like her and approach her.

Events

TW is designed to be living. Besides the changes in the relationships of the alliances, there are
temporary situations and opportunities called Events.
Examples:
Rising of the Red Pirates (the alliance of the Red Pirates grows in number, raids every
city, and their reign needs to be ended)
End of the Golden Age (military forces increases, making pirate life much more
difficult)

SHIPS
Ships are the main vehicles of the game and one of the most important features of TW.
From a technical point of view, there are 3 types of ships: the ones the player cannot own, the
ones that the player can take into possession and the ones the player orders from a shipwright.
Owning a ship, however, is bond to strict rules and conditions in order to avoid flooding the
oceans with ships. After obtaining a ship, one can make certain changes on it, like the colour
of the hull, the sails, the number of guns and other improvements.
Non-obtainable ships
These ships are mostly part of the main questline or belong to legendary pirates who respawn
after defeat (giving other players the chance to defeat them). There are particular events
designed to make players compete each other and to obtain one of the ships of terminated
number.
Obtainable ships
The largest group of the ships, sailed by NPCs with artificial intelligence. Can be obtained by
defeating regular, nameless pirates, corsairs, hunters, merchants and even soldiers. Can be
renamed.
A new ship
Ordering a new ship costs much gold and it takes time to make it. The player can choose the
type (every shipwright is specialised on a certain type of ships) and facilities. Every custombuilt ship can be improved later as obtainable ships.

The Crew
Once becoming a sailor, the player can join crews. On lower levels, the crew sail a preprogrammed ship with an artificial captain and officers. (On these ships, the number of
artificial sailors is equal to the minimum number of sailors required to sail the ship.)
Once reaching Stage 3, the player can become captain by...
1. having a ship made for himself or
2. obtaining a ship from other captains with a crew, then being elected captain by the others.
However, being a captain goes hand in hand with some serious responsibilities but can be
paid off if done right.
The captain has to take care of the proper crew to sail the ship.
It is the captains responsibility to pay the crew; if not being paid, NP crew members
will leave.
The captain determines the destination and whether to attack a ship or not.

STORY and QUESTS

Story Quests
Since the essence of sailor life is freedom, the game does not aim to make players go through
a strict questline. Also, the story doesnt rely on ones patriotism, heroism or calling.
Everything is driven by and towards gold.
STAGE 1
Becoming sailor; basic combat skills. Later joining crews, alliances. Raiding in Europe and
Africa. (story later)
STAGE 2
Travelling to the New World, beginning of the real career.
STAGE 3
After the end of the main story, the free game begins with lots of treasures and exploring.

Additional Quest ideas

Rescue Sandra from the brothel
Tear off wanted posters
Rescue wounded mates
Help Csar rescue his true love ... from her husband OR Bring Espinosas wife
back... from her lover
Escort the drunk Johnny Ross from the brothel
Help Calloway find the treasure to save him from the Sicilian
TREASURE MAPS
Hidden worlds and dungeons
Group quests

Mentor Characters (quest givers, trainers) (unfinished)

Calloway (Top Rank Lone Sea-Wolf)
Captain Charlotte Iron Wade Ross (Dual Wield instructor)
Jacques Ross (Top Rank French corsair)
Antonio Csar The Spanish Aiza (Swordmanship instructor)
Rodrick Redhand Russel (Fire-armed instructor, Top Rank Pirate Hunter)
Chaz (Knife master instructor)
Tiger (Unarmed combat instructor)
Feng&Yan (Bombardier instructors)

Katie Keller
Jack One-Eye
Salvatore (Musical instructor)
Tug
Buck
Adem
Domingo
Francois
Jasmine
Johnny Ross
Djinn
Razor Ben
Erik
Rolf
Philip (cook instructor)
Benito (Musical instructor)
Thomas (Top Rank English Corsair)
Alejandro Manera (card games expert)
Maurcio Adalberto Victore
Jerome
Deron
Kisha
Kobe
Lupita Santos
Julio Santos
Miguel Espinosa
Emma Russel

Chasing infamy
EXPANSION #1

Start as a rich girl/boy who is bored by the easy mode of life!

New Alliance: Indian Pirate Alliance.
New areas to discover and plunder: Oceania.

Abyss
EXPANSION PATCH #2

Adds new, hidden underwater worlds with supernatural creatures such as sirens and kraken.