A very important aspect of Fire Emblem/TearRing Saga that appeals me and my friends are the character relations. Who is going to marry who, why is this guy close to this girl, are they just friends or lovers, can they become lovers, are they childhood friends, etc. etc. I always found that the GBA Fire Emblem games are greatly improved from the older games by introducing the Support Conversations. I do intend to implement some kind of conversation system for characters which will be greatly inspired by it. But I always found the in-between chapters systems to be somewhat lacking.
In Fire Emblem Fates, you have “My Castle” which does not really make narrative sense. Armies very well may march for months or even years without ever being able to go back home. Restricting your story to battles from which you can always escape back home is boring (but you could very well make “My Castle” inaccessible during certain story chapters). The idea of a central Monastery in “Three House” which is a “combat school” sounds even worse to me. The monastery introduces some undercurrents of “Harry Potter” school fun time in what is supposed to be a tragic story about war and death.
I always was attracted to the idea that as the main character, you could visit camp, talk to your army men and women. In some support conversations, some characters even mention having guard or cooking duty. The Tellius games got the closest to the idea I have in mind, but in these games you visit the camp through menus. You do not get to actually visit people and places physically.
Showing is better then telling. So I intend to have “Camp” events in between chapters, in which you can move the main Character around interesting places and see who’s doing what, talking with whom, etc. Camp would be a normal tilemap place to be visited by moving you character around. There would be many places that make sense to be there in some kind of Medieval Fantasy army: a mess tent, the Commander’s quarters (where you can go to battle preparation), War Council tent, the “Stables”, the Traveling Chapel (a glorified wagon, usable after being emptied), the merchant’s quarters in the wagons, some kind of stream, lake or river nearby, the Library on Wheels (where reclusive mages and poets hang out), right next to the Armory on Wheels.
As I said before, characters in support conversations sometime mention chores: guarding, cooking, etc. Since these tasks are hard, long, annoying and not many people like to do them, there are rotations: if a character was a guard this chapter, maybe he would end up being a cook this time. Some characters would hate a task so much they don’t show up for it or run away… and maybe some responsible individual with some free time would take over. Some people may like tasks so much they get special permission to be assigned to it permanently: Silou likes horses so much she is willing to always be a stablehand. This is a good reason to trigger a conversation, where you get to learn about that girl and the army. Some tasks can only be only a select few. Read and writing used to be very rare, but such skills are necessary to be a scribe: an invaluable part. In the medieval fantasy land I imagine, a scribe/mage is an important part of an army. I imagine many mages would naturally become literate though studying magic. This may lead to mages competing over this kind of cushy and important job. The army Scribe, after all, is a member of the War Council.
This kind of camp job system really brings out the personality and individuality of the characters, their wants needs and desires, through their actions. The pious cleric would always take care of the Traveling Chapel and may even hear the confessions of the believers in the Army. Some mages would rather read books alone than talk. Unbelievers would probably mostly be mages. Some people are lazy or forgetful so never show up to their task. You, as the main char, could very well find them lazying around then remind them and see them change their behavior during camp. Maybe one knight is a very good cook so the rest of the army begs him to become the main chef. Maybe a shameless, bold and seductive mage uses her shift as a librarian as an opportunity to invite muscular guys over for sexy-fun-time in private (because no one comes to the library). The narrative opportunities are endless, and I think fit well with the narrative.
Average Bear's GameDev 