Any tips for writing a good RPG?

I don't mean programming tips, I mean story creating tip that apply to both table top and computer dungeon masters. I bought "RPG Maker VX Ace" in a bundle but can't come up with any good idea for an RPG. At first I thought about doing a Buffy or Harry Potter fan game (they're my two of my favorite fandoms and I'm not looking to publish in any way in the immediate future) but I can only think/copy ideas that would be fine as adventures but not RPGs.

I believe the stories for adventure games and RPGs are very different. In an adventure game the main character may learn stuff but does not really grow. In an RPG the main character(s) is more important than the story so without character growth there is no point in playing the game. It's a bit like the difference between a one book story and a long series (or even some trilogies).

I do not mind that in all RPGs, the speed of the character growth is unrealistic, no gamers has the time needed to play until he/she is powerful/learned enough to do a final quest that is challenging enough but not impossible to be fun after days of playing.

Make sure it has lots of boobies .

I think Licurg said it all.

That's super subjective. I could describe my perfect RPG, and the very next poster would think it sounds like hell on earth.

If you're using RPG Maker, I assume you plan to start with a JRPG style. What are your favorite RPGs? It would probably help to think about what exactly appeals to you about them.

I was just thinking a game about being a (super)boss instead of the hero could be fun for a change.
There are a few that take a darker path of the main person, but i don't this has been done before, or just have a supervillain as the hero.
Since there are already alot of RPG Maker games you have to have something different.

I don't think there really is a good way to write an RPG. What I usually do is come up with a good story first can be anything. Write it down and then when you got it fleshed out a bit then you start thinking how it could be put into an RPG. Then of course from there the story will change a bit as the game goes on but that is with anything.

So all I can really say is first come up with a story, it can be any type of story from adventure to horror. All stories work well in a RPG. Just get the story down first then from there decide how you can build a RPG around it.

Also you can make other games besides RPG's in RPG Maker, but if this is your first game then a basic RPG is probably best so you can get used to the program.

Also lots of Bewbs ^_^

I'm not sure RPG Maker VX Ace is the right tool. Roleplaying games, nowadays, are all about boob physics, and RPG Maker VX Ace's boob rendering engine is slowly getting outdated.

Lol that's true but you can do pretty amazing things besides basic RPG's in RPG maker if you know how to code a little bit. The more you know the more you can do with it.

for instance: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=177297555

and that's nothing I have seen far better.

At first I thought that by "growth" you were talking about character development (as found in stories), but when you later say "the speed of the character growth" that would seem to indicate you mean increase in character power/abilities. If so, then I have to totally disagree with you. An RPG does not require the PC (player character) to grow in power/abilities. For example, it would be perfectly valid (and I have been tempted to go this route myself) to create an RPG where the PC is a wizard that, while powerful, is well past his prime, with the effects of aging setting in rapidly. Rather than using training to improve skills, this wizard would use it to slow their decay. That could be a great RPG. Whereas most RPGs have nothing but fake urgency, in such an RPG even if the world didn't evolve in the slightest over time the urgency would be absolutely real because the PC's power would be fading as the game progressed -- the wizard has a quest that only he can do, and it will slowly become impossible if he dawdles too long. The risk of rushing into battles and other circumstances not as prepared as one would like then has to be weighed against the risk of doing the same much later with all due preparations but in a further weakened state that may bring one's quest to a ruinous end.

You can of course also have RPGs where the character experiences no change in power, or where the character himself doesn't change in power but what he commands (wealth, business, empire, whatever) changes during the course of the game. Do not allow your mind to be limited by what has become "cRPG dogma" -- feel free to be creative (though "RPG Maker" might impose some constraints on what you can do).

Perhaps not applicable for what you are going for, but...: I also disagree with the PC(s) being more important than the story -- at least in theory. From my perspective such a claim doesn't even make sense. The player/PC(s) should make the story (and be a key part of it). That story creation (and the PC's role in it) should be the major point of a good role playing game (along with various aspects of that story such as exploration and discovery, overcoming adversity and other challenges, etc.). It's only because gamers are so used to RPG stories being automated versions of badly written children's books that they are almost unceasingly forced to look elsewhere (like to the combat system and player stats) for entertainment -- the story isn't going to be the draw that it should until it is unleashed from the choking grasp of scripted choices and consequences and properly implemented as an interesting living world. Most of the RPGs I've played don't have particularly good (or compelling) stories -- that doesn't seem to be a critical part of the game for most current RPG gamers (though others may not agree with my definition of 'good' and 'compelling'). In most cases the story is nothing but a pathetic pretext for why your character/party is going through all these motions. So if you're going to make a typical cRPG that rail-roads the player through a story (as opposed to a proper sandbox type RPG that helps them make their own), you may as well start by figuring out what kinds of challenges and choices you want the player to face, and then come up with a story that rationalizes that set of challenges/choices.

You might also want to check out the Codex Workshop, and this thread that starts out "So, I've purchased a copy of RPG Maker VX Ace ... The struggle I am having is with my storyline."

Eh. Stay away from the Codex. They sound all intelligent and stuff, but they are actually just negative and superior and shit on everything.

Personally I care more about gameplay for the most part.

If you're going to be making games I have one thing to say though. Restrain yourself.

It's easy to keep adding on things as you think of them, snowballing into some big horrible blob of ideas that's impossible to actually implement. Or, try to write something profound overstep your actual talent and end up a laughingstock.

What I suggest doing is to look at games like Crimson Shroud, Vagrant Story, Dragon Quarter, Koudelka, etc.. Try writing something with a more limited scope first, a smaller scale conflict played out over a shorter period of time with a limited number of characters and locations. After you actually get something done and have some experience, you can probably try expanding the scale a bit.

As someone who has been working on an RPG pretty much full time for months now, I have to disagree. So far Codex has been my 2nd best signal/noise ratio source of ideas that I judged as 'useful' (the best being Iron Tower Studio), though that's being selective with respect to what threads I bother to fully read. Some threads have many interesting ideas (some good, some bad -- some of my best ideas are inspired by other people's bad ideas). Other threads - not so much.

(And your statement is blatantly false as there are plenty of things they praise. They're just not indiscriminate with that praise.)

I think the best way to go is to try to have a playable game as soon as possible, and keep it that way while you add stuff. The suggestion by shihonage at the Codex thread I linked is consistent with that:

1) Make the entire game's content in a linear fashion with no C&C, all the way up until the end. One path. I.E. you side with the Eastern Barbarians, ride the power structure all the way to the top and then topple the Western Villagers.
2) Start inserting C&C.

Eh. Painful memories of the Mass Effect series. After the first game, one batch of people thought that the series was going to tell the story of the universe and its fate, whereas others assumed that the series was going to be the story of Commander Shepard. I was among the former, and I think ME2 is one of the worst games ever made.

Wow, thanks a lot people.

After putting all the replies in a blender I came up with the following: My first attempt will be a linear quest involving boobies.

->TheJadedOne: I love the idea about the character loosing power/abilities instead of gaining them. And there could be so many reasons for it: old age, sickness, environmental changes, technological failures etc...

To me, exploring a compelling setting is more important than the overarching story. An exciting world is built around some large-scale curiosity or quirk, like the prison barrier in Gothic, or the caverns of Avernum (or Arx). And it is the interactions with the inhabitants that do the most to deliver a convincing world. And that interaction isn't simple chatter. It might start with a brief description of their land as you approach a lonely farmhouse, followed by anything striking about a character as you approach them (like the paleness of a long-term cave-dweller vs. the fading tan of a recent migrant from the surface). Their complaints, gossip, and requests should reflect their environment and situation in such a way that every conversation makes the world more credible. (I found the audio logs to be the greatest aspect of System Shock 2, and I often listen to them outside the game.) So define your interesting world and take care with the population. Their stories and descriptions need not be long, just fitting. Some of the NPCs foremost in my memory only have a few short lines of dialog.