skara-brae-common/docs/game/game-concept-overview.md

Skara Brae — Game Concept Overview

Source: Joplin note 9cf8a2e701654ffbbd6512cc837c7e2f, migrated 2026-10-03

Skara Brae — Fantasy Text-Based MMORPG

Inspiration

Torn City is a text-based, crime-themed MMORPG running since 2004 with over a million users. Core mechanics include:

• Crime system (mugging, drug trafficking, organized crime)
• PvP combat with experience/leveling
• Factions (clan system with wars and organized crimes)
• Companies (player-run businesses)
• Properties and housing
• Stock market and banking
• Item market / bazaar / auctions
• Education system
• Bounty system
• Rich REST API for community tools

Idle Fantasy (source) is an open-source offline idle RPG for Android with 23 skills, 20 dungeons, 170+ quests, guild rank progression, pets, and inn workers. Key inspirations: offline sessions, hireable NPC workers, pet buff system, blessing system, slayer tasks. See Idle Fantasy Inspirations for full analysis.

Skara Brae transplants Torn's proven mechanics into a dark fantasy setting inspired by The Bard's Tale I and the real neolithic settlement on Orkney, with idle RPG elements from Idle Fantasy and a RoleMaster-inspired critical hit system (see Combat System & Stat Scaling Design).

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Setting

The city of Skara Brae — an ancient, labyrinthine city of stone and sorcery. Once a thriving hub of the Old Kingdom, now a place of shadow and opportunity. Adventurers arrive seeking fortune, power, and answers to mysteries buried beneath the cobblestones.

Theme: Low-to-dark fantasy. Grimy taverns, corrupt city watch, competing guilds, ancient dungeons beneath the city, magical artifacts, political intrigue. Not high fantasy — think more The Witcher meets Thief meets Bard's Tale.

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Core Game Loops

1. Adventures (→ Torn's "Crimes")

The primary PvE activity. Players embark on adventures throughout the city and surrounding wilderness.

Torn Mechanic	Skara Brae Equivalent
Search for cash	Pick pockets in the marketplace
Sell illegal items	Fence stolen goods at the Thieves' Guild
Mug someone	Waylay travelers on the road
Burglary	Break into manors and vaults
Organized crime	Dungeon raids (guild activity)
Drug trafficking	Brew and sell potions (alchemy)

Adventures have:

• Risk/reward tiers (safe but low yield → dangerous but high yield)
• Cooldown timers (energy system)
• Skill-based success chances (your thievery skill affects pickpocketing)
• Time-of-day modifiers (nighttime gives bonuses to stealth activities)
• Day-of-week events (market day, full moon effects, festival bonuses)
• Offline continuation: Adventures continue for up to 1 hour while logged out. On return, collect accumulated rewards. Server-side tick calculates elapsed rewards.

2. Combat (PvP & PvE)

• Arena: Structured PvP duels with ranked matchmaking
• Ambush: Open-world PvP with risk/reward (infamy system)
• Dungeon bosses: PvE endgame encounters
• Combat is turn-based/text-based with strategic depth (choose actions, manage stamina/mana)
• RoleMaster-inspired critical hits: Open-ended d100 crit tables with status effects (bleed, stun, disarm, cripple). Crit damage capped by level difference but never zero. See Combat System & Stat Scaling Design.
• Exponential stat growth: BIGINT stats, tiered display (K/M/B/T). Stats only ever go up — no rebirth/prestige for now.

3. Economy

• Bazaar: Player-driven item marketplace
• Auction House: Rare items, timed auctions
• Bank of Skara Brae: Deposits, interest, loans
• Merchant Ventures: Invest in trading caravans (→ Torn's stocks) — returns depend on random events
• Crafting: Alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting — create items to sell or use (see Crafting deep dive below)
• Player shops/stalls: Set up a stall in the Market Square (→ Torn's bazaar model)

4. Guilds (→ Torn's "Factions")

See Guilds deep dive below for full details.

• Player organizations with hierarchy (Guildmaster → Officers → Members → Initiates)
• Guild Hall: Upgradable base providing bonuses to members
• Guild Wars: Territory control, raids on rival guild halls
• Guild Adventures: Cooperative dungeon raids (→ organized crimes)
• Guild treasury: Shared resources, taxation of members

5. Properties (→ Torn's "Properties")

• Dwellings: From a straw bed at an inn to a tower in the city walls
• Properties provide: rest bonuses (energy recovery), storage, crafting stations
• Rentable, sellable, upgradable

6. Education (→ Torn's "Education")

• Schools: Fighters' Academy, College of Magic, Thieves' Den, Merchants' Guild School
• Courses take real time to complete, provide permanent stat/skill bonuses
• Some adventures require specific education prerequisites

7. Quests & Storylines

• Main storyline: Uncover the mystery beneath Skara Brae (Bard's Tale-inspired Mangar threat)
• Side quests: NPC-given missions with rewards
• Dynamic events: City-wide events (plague, invasion, festival)
• Daily quests: 3-5 per day from NPCs (Madame Sylara, Captain Rennick, Guildmasters). "Complete 3 adventures" / "Craft 2 potions" / "Win 1 arena duel". Rewards: gold, XP, skill XP, occasional items.
• Weekly quests: Larger goals, better rewards
• Cumulative achievements: "Mine 10,000 ore total" → permanent bonus

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Crafting System (Deep Dive)

Gathering Professions (5)

Profession	Materials	Locations
Mining	Ore, gems, stone	Mines, Undercity, mountains
Herbalism	Herbs, fungi, reagents	Forests, swamps, gardens
Woodcutting	Timber, resin, bark	Forests, groves
Fishing	Fish, pearls, salvage	Harbor, rivers, underground lakes
Skinning	Leather, bone, sinew	Wilds, dungeons (from kills)

Crafting Professions (7)

Profession	Creates	Key Materials
Blacksmithing	Weapons, heavy armor, tools	Ore, coal, flux
Alchemy	Potions, poisons, elixirs	Herbs, reagents, solvents
Enchanting	Magical enhancements, scrolls	Rare reagents, essence
Tailoring	Cloth armor, bags, banners	Cloth, silk, magical thread
Jewelcrafting	Rings, amulets, gem cuts	Gems, precious metals
Fletching	Bows, crossbows, arrows	Wood, sinew, feathers
Cooking	Food (healing, buffs), beverages	Fish, meat, herbs, grain

Profession Mastery Levels

Novice → Apprentice → Journeyman → Expert → Master → Grandmaster

Each tier unlocks new recipes and improves crafting quality.

Crafting Quality Rolls

Every crafted item rolls for quality:

Quality	Chance (base)	Effect
Common	50%	Base stats
Fine	25%	+10% stats
Superior	15%	+25% stats
Exceptional	7%	+50% stats
Masterwork	2.5%	+100% stats
Legendary	0.5%	+200% stats + unique affix

Crafting Crits (RoleMaster-inspired)

• Small chance of exceptional result regardless of skill level (mirrors combat crit system)
• d100 roll on craft: 96+ triggers a crafting crit → quality tier upgraded by 1-2 levels
• High skill level improves base quality but crits can happen to anyone

Recipe Discovery

• Taught recipes: From education courses, guild rank rewards
• Adventure drops: Recipe scrolls found in dungeons
• Experimentation: Combine materials with a chance to discover a new recipe (消耗 materials on failure)
• Seasonal events: Limited-time recipes

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The Inn — Social Hub (Deep Dive)

The Singing Tavern is the central social hub of Skara Brae, inspired by Idle Fantasy's Inn system.

Social Features

• Chat rooms: General, trade, guild recruitment, district-specific, roleplay
• Rumors board: NPC-posted hints about adventures, dungeon openings, rare spawns, upcoming events
• Bounty board: Player-posted and NPC-posted bounties on other players
• Barter table: Direct player-to-player trading (avoid market fees) — face-to-face exchange

Minigames & Gambling

• Dice games: Roll dice against other players or the house
• Card games: Fantasy-themed card game (simplified poker variant)
• Arm wrestling: Strength-based contest (simple stat check with randomness)
• Drinking contest: Constitution-based, winner gets bragging rights + temporary charisma bonus

Rest & Recovery

• Energy/HP/Mana recovery at a rate determined by inn quality (tied to property system)
• Basic room: 1× recovery rate
• Quality room: 1.5× recovery rate
• Luxury suite: 2× recovery rate
• Members with properties can rest at home for variable rates

Carousing

• Spend gold to temporarily boost charisma (affects next N trades, conversations, or persuasion attempts)
• Duration: Until you complete N social interactions or time expires
• Risk: Overdoing it can result in "hangover" debuff (-agility for 1 hour)

Innkeeper Daily Quests

• Madame Sylara offers 3 daily quests from the inn
• Quest types: "Collect information from X NPCs", "Deliver a message", "Win X gold gambling"
• Rewards scale with difficulty

Hire Workers (Idle Fantasy-inspired)

The most distinctive feature from Idle Fantasy — hire NPCs to automate tasks:

Worker	Task	Efficiency	Cost
Mercenary	Runs adventures while offline	60% of normal rewards	Gold/hour
Apprentice	Trains a skill while offline	50% of active rate	Gold/hour
Gatherer	Collects basic materials	Low-tier materials only	Gold/hour

• Worker quality tiers: Novice → Journeyman → Expert (better rates, higher cost)
• Workers consume your energy while active
• Creates a meaningful gold sink for veteran players
• Buy provisions in bulk (food, potions, torches) for dungeon expeditions

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Pets (Deep Dive)

Acquisition

• Taming: Wild encounters in the Wilds (skill check, rare success)
• Purchase: Pet trader in the Market Square
• Breeding: Combine two pets for a chance at rare offspring with combined bonuses
• Quest rewards: Specific pets from storyline/side quests
• Rare enemy drops: Dungeon bosses and rare spawns can drop pet eggs/whistles
• Seasonal events: Limited-time pets

Pet Rarity Tiers

Common → Uncommon → Rare → Epic → Legendary → Mythic

Pet Types & Bonuses

Pet	Bonus
Wolf	+tracking, +combat XP
Raven	+scouting, +perception
Cat	+stealth, +thievery XP
Owl	+magic XP, +wisdom
Hound	+combat damage, +slayer XP
Toad	+poison resistance, +alchemy XP
Hawk	+ranged accuracy, +gathering yield

Pet Mechanics

• Active pet: One pet follows you (visible in combat), providing its passive bonus
• Pet stable: Store up to N pets (expandable via property upgrades)
• Pet aging: Pets grow over time, increasing their bonus at milestones (1 week, 1 month, 6 months)
• Pet death: Pets can be killed in PvP ambush (creates real stakes) — resurrected at Temple Row for gold
• Pet equipment: Collars, armor, trinkets — crafted or found. Enhance pet bonuses.
• Pet breeding: Combine two pets → offspring has a chance of inheriting combined bonuses or rare mutation

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Guilds (Deep Dive)

Guild Hall Upgrades

Upgrade	Effect	Build Cost
Training Grounds	+X% stat training speed for members	Gold + materials
Library	+X% education course speed	Gold + enchanted books
Vault	Shared storage for members	Gold + crafted locks
War Room	Plan raids, view territory map	Gold + cartography tools
Brewery	Member happiness → reduced quit rate, social bonuses	Gold + cooking supplies
Infirmary	Faster HP/energy recovery for members	Gold + alchemy supplies
Enchanting Lab	+X% enchanting quality for members	Gold + rare reagents

Guild Taxation

• Configurable tax rate on member earnings: 0-25%
• Tax gold flows into guild treasury
• Guildmaster and officers set the rate
• High tax → more treasury for upgrades, but member dissatisfaction

Guild Alliances

• Formal treaties between guilds: shared chat, coordinated raids, non-aggression pacts
• Alliance leaderboard
• Alliance vs. alliance wars for territory control

Guild Territories

• Control of city districts provides bonuses to all guild members in that district
• Territory gained through guild wars and maintained through activity
• District bonuses: Market Square (reduced listing fees), Harbor (trade route bonuses), etc.

Guild Rank Progression (Idle Fantasy-inspired)

• 10 rank levels per guild: Initiate → Apprentice → Journeyman → Expert → Veteran → Elite → Champion → Master → Grandmaster → Legend
• Daily guild tasks: Complete for reputation points
• Rank-up quests: Progression quests to advance in guild rank
• Cross-skill rewards: Higher ranks unlock resources from skills you don't personally train
• Guild reputation: Decayed by inactivity, increased by events, raids, member achievements

Guild Bank

• Shared treasury with withdrawal permissions by rank
• Deposit logs visible to officers+
• Withdrawal limits configurable by rank

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Blessings / Church (Idle Fantasy-inspired)

• Temple Row offers blessings from the Old Gods
• Blessing types: XP boost (up to 1.5×), Damage reduction, Gold multiplier, Crit chance increase
• Duration: Based on Wisdom stat and offering quality
• One blessing active at a time
• Offerings: Gold, rare items, bones from undead enemies
• Higher Wisdom = longer duration, stronger effect
• Adds "buff management" layer without being tedious

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Slayer Tasks (Idle Fantasy-inspired)

• Captain Rennick at City Watch HQ gives slayer tasks (lawful targets)
• The Beggar King gives underground slayer tasks (criminal targets)
• "Kill 15 skeletal warriors in the Undercity" → bonus Slayer XP + gold reward
• Slayer level unlocks tougher targets with better rewards
• Ties into the bounty system naturally

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Character System

Races

Race	Bonus	Penalty
Human	Balanced, bonus to charisma	None (jack of all trades)
Dwarf	Constitution +, Smithing +	Agility -
Elf	Magic +, Perception +	Strength -
Halfling	Agility +, Thievery +	Strength -
Orc	Strength +, Intimidation +	Intelligence -
Half-Elf	Charisma +, Magic +	Constitution -

Classes (determine starting skills and education paths)

• Warrior — Melee combat, tanking
• Rogue — Stealth, thievery, poison
• Mage — Offensive magic, enchanting
• Bard — Buffs, social skills, lore
• Cleric — Healing, protection, undead turning
• Ranger — Ranged combat, tracking, survival

Stats (BIGINT — exponential growth)

• Strength — Physical damage, carrying capacity
• Agility — Dodge, stealth, thievery
• Constitution — HP, endurance, poison resistance
• Intelligence — Magic power, crafting quality
• Wisdom — Mana, perception, healing power, blessing duration
• Charisma — Trading prices, faction relations, bardic abilities

Stats only ever go up. Display tiered: 1.2K, 4.7M, 1.2B, 3.8T. See Combat System & Stat Scaling Design.

Skills (leveled through use)

• Weapon skills (sword, axe, bow, staff, etc.)
• Thievery (lockpicking, pickpocketing, sneaking)
• Magic schools (fire, ice, illusion, necromancy, etc.)
• Crafting (alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, tailoring, jewelcrafting, fletching, cooking)
• Gathering (mining, herbalism, woodcutting, fishing, skinning)
• Social (persuasion, intimidation, bartering)
• Support (mercantile/trading, slayer/bounty hunting)

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Technology Stack

Backend — Rust

Component	Technology	Rationale
HTTP Framework	Axum	Modern, ergonomic, excellent ecosystem, tower middleware
Real-time	WebSocket via axum + tokio-tungstenite	Live combat, chat, notifications
Database	PostgreSQL + SQLx	ACID compliance, relational data fits game entities well
Cache/Sessions	Redis	Session tokens, leaderboards, rate limiting, real-time pub/sub
Auth	JWT (jsonwebtoken crate)	Stateless auth, API-friendly
Background Jobs	tokio tasks + custom scheduler	Timers for cooldowns, education courses, guild wars
Migrations	sqlx-cli or refinery	Database schema versioning
Serialization	serde + serde_json	JSON API, message passing
Game Tick Engine	Custom event loop on tokio	Time-based game events (day/night cycle, weather, offline rewards)

Frontend — Vue.js

Component	Technology	Rationale
Framework	Vue 3 + Composition API	Modern, reactive, good for complex UIs
Build Tool	Vite	Fast dev server, optimized builds
State Management	Pinia	Type-safe, modular stores for game state
Routing	Vue Router	SPA navigation
UI Framework	PrimeVue or custom dark fantasy theme	Rich component library
Real-time	WebSocket client (native)	Live updates, combat, chat
HTTP Client	Axios or fetch API	REST API calls
Mobile	PWA or Capacitor	Native-like mobile experience

Infrastructure

Component	Technology
Containerization	Docker + docker-compose
Reverse Proxy	Caddy or nginx
CI/CD	GitHub Actions
Monitoring	Prometheus + Grafana
Logging	tracing crate (Rust) → structured JSON logs

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Architecture Overview

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   Frontend (Vue 3)                │
│  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌───────┐ │
│  │ REST API │ │WebSocket│ │  State    │ │  PWA  │ │
│  │  Client  │ │ Client  │ │ (Pinia)  │ │ Shell │ │
│  └────┬─────┘ └────┬────┘ └──────────┘ └───────┘ │
└───────┼────────────┼──────────────────────────────┘
        │ HTTP/REST  │ WS
        ▼            ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                API Gateway (Axum)                 │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ │
│  │ Auth     │ │ Rate Limiter │ │ WS Handler    │ │
│  │ Middleware│ │              │ │               │ │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────────┘ └───────────────┘ │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              Game Services (Rust)                 │
│  ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
│  │ Player │ │ Combat │ │ Economy│ │  Guild    │ │
│  │Service │ │Service │ │Service │ │  Service  │ │
│  ├────────┤ ├────────┤ ├────────┤ ├───────────┤ │
│  │Adventure│ │ World  │ │ Market │ │  Chat &   │ │
│  │Service │ │Service │ │Service │ │  Social   │ │
│  ├────────┤ ├────────┤ ├────────┤ ├───────────┤ │
│  │Crafting│ │  Pet   │ │Blessing│ │  Worker   │ │
│  │Service │ │Service │ │Service │ │  Service  │ │
│  └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘ └───────────┘ │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              Game Engine Core                     │
│  ┌────────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ │
│  │ Tick/Sched │ │ Event Bus │ │ Rule Engine   │ │
│  │ (timers)   │ │ (pub/sub) │ │ (formulas)    │ │
│  └────────────┘ └───────────┘ └───────────────┘ │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              Data Layer                           │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌───────────┐  │
│  │  PostgreSQL  │  │  Redis   │  │  S3/Minio  │  │
│  │  (persistent)│  │ (cache)  │  │  (assets)  │  │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────┘  └───────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

API Design (RESTful + WebSocket)

REST Endpoints (examples)

# Authentication
POST   /api/auth/register
POST   /api/auth/login
POST   /api/auth/refresh

# Character
GET    /api/character
PUT    /api/character
GET    /api/character/stats
GET    /api/character/skills
PUT    /api/character/train/:skill

# Adventures
GET    /api/adventures/available
POST   /api/adventures/embark/:id
GET    /api/adventures/history
GET    /api/adventures/offline-rewards  # Collect offline session rewards

# Combat
POST   /api/combat/arena/challenge/:target_id
POST   /api/combat/ambush/:target_id
GET    /api/combat/arena/leaderboard

# Economy
GET    /api/market/items
POST   /api/market/list
POST   /api/market/buy/:listing_id
GET    /api/bank/balance
POST   /api/bank/deposit
POST   /api/bank/withdraw

# Crafting
GET    /api/crafting/recipes
POST   /api/crafting/craft/:recipe_id
GET    /api/crafting/professions

# Pets
GET    /api/pets
POST   /api/pets/activate/:pet_id
POST   /api/pets/breed
GET    /api/pets/stable

# Guilds
GET    /api/guild
POST   /api/guild/create
POST   /api/guild/:id/join
GET    /api/guild/:id/members
POST   /api/guild/:id/raid
GET    /api/guild/:id/rank-quests

# Properties
GET    /api/properties
POST   /api/properties/:id/buy
PUT    /api/properties/:id/upgrade

# Education
GET    /api/education/available
POST   /api/education/enroll/:course_id
GET    /api/education/progress

# Blessings
GET    /api/blessings/available
POST   /api/blessings/activate/:blessing_id
GET    /api/blessings/active

# Inn / Workers
GET    /api/inn/workers
POST   /api/inn/hire/:worker_type
POST   /api/inn/dismiss/:worker_id
GET    /api/inn/quests  # Daily innkeeper quests

# Slayer
GET    /api/slayer/task
POST   /api/slayer/claim-reward

WebSocket Channels

ws://server/ws?token=JWT

# Client → Server
{ "type": "combat:action", "data": { "action": "attack", "target": "enemy_1" } }
{ "type": "chat:message", "data": { "channel": "guild", "message": "..." } }

# Server → Client
{ "type": "combat:result", "data": { "damage": 42, "enemy_hp": 158, "crit": false } }
{ "type": "combat:crit", "data": { "roll": 147, "effect": "bleed", "duration": 5 } }
{ "type": "notification", "data": { "text": "Your adventure has completed!" } }
{ "type": "market:update", "data": { "item": "...", "price": 500 } }
{ "type": "adventure:offline_rewards", "data": { "gold": 1247, "xp": 5300, "items": [...] } }

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Monetization (Ethical F2P)

• Patron Subscription (→ Torn's donator packs): Monthly sub providing QoL benefits (extra energy, custom themes, expanded log, etc.) — no pay-to-win
• Cosmetics: Character portraits, UI themes, custom titles
• Convenience: Extra character slots, extended history logs, extra pet stable slots
• No: Pay-to-win items, selling power, loot boxes

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MVP Scope (Phase 1)

1. User registration, authentication, character creation (race + class)
2. Basic stat/skill system with training (BIGINT stats)
3. Adventure system (5-10 adventures across difficulty tiers)
4. Turn-based combat engine with crit tables
5. Basic economy: inventory, bazaar (buy/sell), bank
6. Guild creation and membership
7. REST API + basic Vue.js frontend
8. Real-time notifications via WebSocket
9. Offline adventure rewards collection
10. Basic crafting (2-3 professions)

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Future Phases

• Phase 2: PvP arena, guild wars, properties, education system, pets, blessings
• Phase 3: Full storyline/quests, dynamic world events, day/night cycle, inn workers, slayer tasks
• Phase 4: Mobile app (Capacitor), merchant ventures (stock market), advanced crafting, pet breeding
• Phase 5: Community API, mod support, tournament system

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Related Design Notes

Note	ID	Content
Combat System & Stat Scaling Design	0ef630db4e3e4d6dab18ccaefccaaa5a	RoleMaster + Torn hybrid combat, crit tables, stat scaling
Idle Fantasy Inspirations	48b3a3c76f734c8dafbbf9e8b3b5f80a	Idle RPG mechanics, offline sessions, workers, pets
Lore & World Building	867bdc9845624908a90928887a71c4c9	10 city districts, 8 key NPCs, 5-act storyline
Tech Stack & Architecture	cecd2ef2690d4d1fba3450342aa63953	Rust workspace, Vue frontend, database schema
Project Plan	d243ae57778343fca997d46b73d0ee3b	Roadmap, MVP scope, repository structure