Nxt
New member
This is genius, OP needs to go and redesign with the shoes asap.
[Hero Concept] Roman the Paperboy (updated 06-APR-26)
- Thread starter leiandroid
- Start date
leiandroid
Member
you and dervon have given me such amazing ideas. i LOVE your feedback and input so thank you !!
this has really made me think hard on the concept and how to develop him further in his design and kit to make him fit better into the deadlock world. i'm pretty much settled on what the spells are, but the effects are really where i can inject these ideas more solidly, clearer allied/enemy buffs/debuffs, more "cursed" effects and such.
i'm leaning more towards the tulsa star now. that way i can incorporate star and wing motifs into his design (star badges, wings on his shoes, pins, a glow coming from the tote bag, etc) to really bring home the idea of him being this employee of the month / hermes type hero. i think i can also take a shot at actually designing the bicycle to show that it's a magical bike given to him by his employers with the same motifs applied.
now i really wanna share my other hero ideas i have in the works, maybe i can get some feedback on the things i'm stuck on :'D
coooolcoffee
New member
love to hear that!! im super excited to see a refurbished/redesigned paperboy, as he was already a really solid design - and i'd love to see/hear about ur other hero ideas too!
fortheimpery
New member
Very fun concept. I think it would be fun if you could end your bicycle early by clicking 3 again and throwing the bike away as a bouncing projectile that pushes people away.
Lafttastic
New member
I think Rem having voice lines on wanting to chase the bicycle like a dog going after a mailman would be funny or the bicycle having a mechanic of flatting Rem like a loony toon
iuyhcdfs
Member
i want the bicycle hnnng
as much as it could be fun to let the bicycle grind along certain edges but it doesn't feel right thematically in my head, just riding along to "deliver newspapers" instead of calling it ganking is great
also a paper boy fits in with the era (or close enough) i love it
anyway i have a proposal lore idea: could be that paperboy got summoned into the ritual by complete mistake! he was just trying to finish his route/quota. but since it was a mistake...
the patron is concerned "your presence was not my intention... but this boon should keep you alive". one of the other heroes was meant to have been summoned and now theres just this kid, so as some kind of karma the patron is allowed to further empower paperboy without violating the ritual.
theres probably something sacred/unstable about the conditions of the ritual which is why osic has some concern over the doorman's involvement (maybe it invalidates the result? or sparks a worser maelstrom). it should be something involving "a fair fight" because who doesn't love contextualising matchmaking servers in our lore..? ahem.
the shopkeeper is absolutely puzzled and says stuff like "whats a kid like you doin' here!?... (dulled tone) ahh just gimme one of those papers" in a way that sounds like he's seen so much stuff that he's kinda defeated by the fact that in the ritual, a normal kid is the new supernatural.
as for newspaper companies i assume fairfax owns at least 2-3 of the biggest names. they cater to different audiences but tend to contain the same messages (1, be scared about life, 2, vote for this person, you'll be less scared i promise yes yes) but i don't see any space in the game or any visual novel to elaborate on this.
i'd like to think that billy actually talks quite pleasantly to exclusively paperboy, trying to teach him about the world like a new protege or something. he's just a young boy who got caught up in the system! billy hopes paperboy never reads a newspaper for the rest of his life.
when paperboy is on a killstreak? its just like when the patrons complain that rem is on a kill streak (like how are you getting trashed by a pillow?) e.g. "what has it come to that a patron shall be (escalating intensity of voice) summoned by someones morning route?!!!" when the enemy paperboy is popping off
as much as it could be fun to let the bicycle grind along certain edges but it doesn't feel right thematically in my head, just riding along to "deliver newspapers" instead of calling it ganking is great
also a paper boy fits in with the era (or close enough) i love it
anyway i have a proposal lore idea: could be that paperboy got summoned into the ritual by complete mistake! he was just trying to finish his route/quota. but since it was a mistake...
the patron is concerned "your presence was not my intention... but this boon should keep you alive". one of the other heroes was meant to have been summoned and now theres just this kid, so as some kind of karma the patron is allowed to further empower paperboy without violating the ritual.
theres probably something sacred/unstable about the conditions of the ritual which is why osic has some concern over the doorman's involvement (maybe it invalidates the result? or sparks a worser maelstrom). it should be something involving "a fair fight" because who doesn't love contextualising matchmaking servers in our lore..? ahem.
the shopkeeper is absolutely puzzled and says stuff like "whats a kid like you doin' here!?... (dulled tone) ahh just gimme one of those papers" in a way that sounds like he's seen so much stuff that he's kinda defeated by the fact that in the ritual, a normal kid is the new supernatural.
as for newspaper companies i assume fairfax owns at least 2-3 of the biggest names. they cater to different audiences but tend to contain the same messages (1, be scared about life, 2, vote for this person, you'll be less scared i promise yes yes) but i don't see any space in the game or any visual novel to elaborate on this.
i'd like to think that billy actually talks quite pleasantly to exclusively paperboy, trying to teach him about the world like a new protege or something. he's just a young boy who got caught up in the system! billy hopes paperboy never reads a newspaper for the rest of his life.
when paperboy is on a killstreak? its just like when the patrons complain that rem is on a kill streak (like how are you getting trashed by a pillow?) e.g. "what has it come to that a patron shall be (escalating intensity of voice) summoned by someones morning route?!!!" when the enemy paperboy is popping off
Honestly when it comes to it I actually like the somewhat mundane nature of Paperboy's original concept, I mean Holliday is a good example of someone who's only paranormal aspect in their backstory is the fact that some horrible creature massacred her town. McGinnis makes weapons using magical elements, Billy has a goat head and Jacob Lash is an asshole. It is perfectly 100% fine for your character to be largely mundane.
As for some ideas of my own I do like that @iuyhcdfs was saying in him possibly being a paperboy accidentally pulled into the Ritual while doing his rounds. A fun idea too is the idea of the ritual's battleground actually being his own neighborhood, possibly joining one side of the ritual or another to get back at a group that was messing with his business or something similar.
Alternatively if he had to be adapted into something more eldritch I enjoy the idea of him being somewhat similar to The Doorman as an eldritch being playing human using the paper to spread his message/corruption/ect rather than being simply in the service of one.
leiandroid
Member
thank you for your input !
yeah, the bike is the fun part ! i threw in random numbers for its speed but i imagine (if it's not too game breaking) that he would get like ridiculously fast on it the longer he rides it (perhaps even...close to zipline speed?). and to make up for the velocity he might take increased damage whilst riding ? i'm still working out the kinks.
and i really do like your idea, mainly because i don't actually envision him having a real reason for being in the ritual. he's literally just doing his job whilst an apparent ritual/eclipse is underway and all these hooligans are making his job harder. but he also doesn't back down from a challenge.
the patrons getting angry that this kid getting in the way is funny too, i like it. and the whole billy thing, that would be so cute. "good thing you can't read, kid. the news will make you cry," type shit XD
this all got me thinking...this might be TOO out of the box(?) for deadlock...but what if his bike had a passive ability which is an objective point that periodically appears on the map and he has to ride/go to it to make a "delivery" and gains a permanent speed stack on his bike instead of it being a flat rate tied to the ability?
that would really tie in the little lore that he really is just there to make deliveries and got caught up in all of this ritual business. and the patrons could say things along the lines of "your dedication to your work even in such conditions have made you so valuable," or whatever.
unrelated but related: someone was theorising on twitter that the match we play is just a reading from the fortune teller in the hideout because that's who you go to to get in queue. and the outcome is her fortune told. which would explain why some characters say things like "actually i have something else to do" when you de-select them because the outcome was not favourable. matchmaking loop explained !
leiandroid
Member
i agree ! i didn't want him to be too extraordinary. but i quite like the idea of him being the paperboy ! the cursed/supernatural aspects and the paper being some sort of cursed messaging service is fun to think about too because it opens up a lot of ideas. an eldritch paperboy would be interesting but i honestly just wanna make him a regular kid.
though, after doing a bit of research on the tulsa star, it turns out it's actually a real newspaper from oklahoma that was started by african americans and their publications were largely focused on the issues they faced at the time (1920s). it had a bloody end so i'm trying to be conscious of the design elements and the implications of making it a "cursed" newspaper and such. i would perhaps appreciate some input from americans, since i am neither black nor american
i might be putting a lot into a small asset in the game that might even be removed but the name "tulsa star" lends to good design motifs (stars, wings, badges, pins), whereas "new york oracle" could imply more supernatural stuff.
honestly there's a lot of possible directions to take him with these factors in mind. but i do want to keep him somewhat mundane and a little special.
A suggestion could be something like "The New York Specter" if you wanna go with the more eldritch theme. Another option is playing on the typical name motif of "The Daily", such as "The Daily Divination". Otherwise I'd say to look at a wikipedia lists of New York Newspapers given outside people who pay for multiple newspapers (people who can afford it and like to consider themselves well informed IE businessmen)it's unlikely for a paperboy to be doing the rounds in New York for a paper not native to the city.i agree ! i didn't want him to be too extraordinary. but i quite like the idea of him being the paperboy ! the cursed/supernatural aspects and the paper being some sort of cursed messaging service is fun to think about too because it opens up a lot of ideas. an eldritch paperboy would be interesting but i honestly just wanna make him a regular kid.
though, after doing a bit of research on the tulsa star, it turns out it's actually a real newspaper from oklahoma that was started by african americans and their publications were largely focused on the issues they faced at the time (1920s). it had a bloody end so i'm trying to be conscious of the design elements and the implications of making it a "cursed" newspaper and such. i would perhaps appreciate some input from americans, since i am neither black nor american
i might be putting a lot into a small asset in the game that might even be removed but the name "tulsa star" lends to good design motifs (stars, wings, badges, pins), whereas "new york oracle" could imply more supernatural stuff.
honestly there's a lot of possible directions to take him with these factors in mind. but i do want to keep him somewhat mundane and a little special.
coooolcoffee
New member
i think the delivery system could work really well if it was a passive, maybe his 2 and 3 would be combined and his new 3 would be about delivering papers to the (maybe specific) dead-end veils with people in them?
(ignore slork)
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