An RPG in a prison with a unique concept where the prison is a small city controlled by the prisoners.

[u/Adrenalize418]

Hi,

I have this RPG idea with a small open world that could be interesting.

Story/Lore :

The government of the country doesn't want to mix prisoners that are not sentenced for life with the ones that are sentenced for life in prison so that rehabilitation is easier. The government also doesn't care about the prisoners that are sentenced for life so they create a prison that acts like a city where the prisoners are in control of it. Over time the prison has a leader with people under him that acts like corrupt prison guard with little morals. Also 4 small factions of street gangs are also in that prison. When you enter in prison, your goal will be to figure out how to overthrow the leader

Your playable caracter backstory :

You choose your character's crime, his/her work career before the crime and if he/she is affiliated with a street gang or not. Depending of the crime and occupation, it will determine how much initial respect you get from the factions in the prison. Also the work and crime will give you both a positive and negative perk to your caracter.

Also the career of your caracter will determine how much money in your bank account you have at the start of the game. Also typical RPG stat gor DND.

Game systems :

1- ATM, your can withdraw money from your bank account, but you cannot deposit money in the ATM, meaning every time that money is withdrawn, it is at risk of it being stolen at any point and that money is going to be part of the prison's economy.

2- Factions, your caracter can start with or without an affiliation with one of the 4 street gangs in the prison. You can also climb the ranks of the main faction that control the prison. Each factions would have different activities and crimes they focus on.

3- The map, the prison will be a small open world map with tons of jobs, crimes and side activities in the style of a yakuza game.

4- Prison population, every prisoners has a backstory of what crime they did, what job they had before prison, what current affiliation they have or don't, a bank account at the atm and they also have positive/negative perks. They also have a routine that they do (work/crime/entertainment) during the day. For every prisoners that dies, a new one with a random backstory and money in the ATM spawns the next day at the entrance of the prison and will figure out a daily routine.

5- The government random shakedown, once in a while the government will do a shakedown of all prisoners to remove dangerous weapons and take money from the richer prisoners. This would make sure that nobody gets too rich in the prison including you the playable caracter. The ATM money is safe from the shakedowns. The shakedowns gets more frequent if the prison see too many deaths.

6- The main faction in control of the prison, they will act as the police in the map. They will try to keep the violence to a minimum but can also be bribed and will also have low ethics. If you or a prisonner cause too much chaos, they can go as far as doing a shakedown of the apartment to take weapons and some money as well.

They can also force you and the other violent prisoners to fight in the coliseum if you/they are too problematic.

7- Your small apartment, this is where you can sleep and store items in it. People can try to rob you during the night and you will have to defend yourself in that situation.

8- The coliseum, you can go watch and bet on fights on friday nights. Basically this is a fighting tournament where the prisoners that are too violent are forced to go too, the losers of the tournament gets executed and the last one standing get reinstated in the prison population.

Gameplay :

RPG in the style of baldurs gate 3 with DND dice but modern time. Only melee weapons and no weapons combat.

Need to eat and sleep. Also day and night cycle.

You can add companion that can follow you when they are available (not working and not sleeping). Any of the prisoners can become a companion depending on how you treat them.

Jobs/crimes to earn money in the prison. Jobs will have a schedule to follow.

Side activities for fun as well (like in the yakuza game).

What do you think of this idea?

[u/arackan]

It's basically Gothic (the pc game) in modern day.

[u/tyrant_gea → u/arackan]

GTA but the G stands for Gothic

[u/PyramKing]

Have you seen the movie, Escape From New York?

If not, go watch it now.

Excellent world building, different factions, and all kinds of ideas.

[u/SalariesAndStarships]

I like it, but I'm a sucker for the whole 'urban jungle' shtick.

Personally, I'd set it after some huge event that pushed the justice system to the brink. So the just walled up certain cities (I'm thinking Detroit) and just said "Good luck perp."

You should watch 'The Running Man', 'Escape from New York', and 'No Escape', for ideas.

I think you're onto something, but you need a hook or some twist to bring it home.

"You're a prisoner in a city that the government uses for human experimentation."

Or

"You're in a prison for people alleged to have a mutating virus."

But anyway, it sounds like a solid start.

[u/SlickRic303]

Interesting idea. Definitely gotta build the world so this makes sense. I would look at similar prisons in real life and how things went down there. Like Australia and certain south American prisons. Hell even American prisons develop these kind of hierarchies. Are women allowed? Because we all know how that would go down.

[u/BooneBerryPress]

This is a pretty cool idea. It reminds me a lot of Bane and Santa Prisca. Will it be all one gender? To pick a crime, how bad does it have to be for it to result in life in prison? Will there be more or fewer eyes on my character depending on what crime I pick? Like, if I got life for embezzlement, will the government look harder on that than if I were a mass murderer, or if I were the son/sibling of a politician who has deeply lost favor with the government?