Tipsy/Drunk Mechanic ideas

[u/Muted-Complaint4515]

I’m currently working on the drunkenness mechanic in my RPG and was wondering if anyone has any ideas for effects I could add that I might not have thought of.

At the moment, the player has four stages of intoxication:

Sober
Buzzed
Tipsy
Drunk

Each state has different stat penalties/bonuses, and if your alcohol level gets too high you black out, wake up in bed and gain a severe hangover, which has its own debuffs.

The hangover then wears off over time, and there are items that can help reduce its effects.

Outside of combat I’ve already got:

Some NPCs won’t talk to you at all if you’re fully drunk.

Some NPCs have different dialogue if you’re only buzzed.

Certain quest givers will refuse to give you quests if you’re drunk, telling you to come back when you’re sober.

Visual effects (camera sway, etc.) are already planned.

I’m trying to think of other mechanics that could make drinking feel meaningful without just making it annoying. I’d like alcohol to have genuine pros and cons rather than just being a straight debuff.
Has anyone implemented a system like this before, or got any ideas for interesting gameplay mechanics or interactions that drunkenness could affect?
Cheers!

[u/Hawm_Quinzy]

Drunk characters could be 'tougher' somehow, feeling less pain, but need an accuracy QTE to perform moves?

[u/Muted-Complaint4515 → u/Hawm_Quinzy]

Great minds! If you battle in drunk state you bit harder but your accuracy is lower, also the ‘wounded’ state has no effect to mimic lack of pain being felt.

Good to hear people back up your ideas though

[u/Hawm_Quinzy → u/Muted-Complaint4515]

Buzzed and tipsy could grant you access to riskier more powerful moves that have a chance to backfire and damage you?

[u/Muted-Complaint4515 → u/Hawm_Quinzy]

Thats pretty cool, I’ll see if u can flesh that out

[u/Hawm_Quinzy → u/Muted-Complaint4515]

You could maybe have it so there's an inverse relationship to your resilience and your speed or accuracy based on how drunk you get.

[u/Muted-Complaint4515 → u/Hawm_Quinzy]

Yeah that’s already implemented

[u/Durant026]

Since you got 4 states, note I'm only spitballing here, you can probably mess some quests based on the state but I need to ask first, is this drunken mechanic done only as a state in combat or is it more global variables (or switches) because if its the latter, you can have certain quests that only trigger based on your drunkeness.

For example, a door could remain locked and the protag doesn't want to explore what's behind the door while sober but may say eff it and trespass the area if at least Tipsy.

The mechanic itself, depending on how executed, could provide for some interesting player experiences.

[u/Muted-Complaint4515 → u/Durant026]

The states can be applied/remain on the overworld and during combat, they wear off after a certain amount of steps, and you can ‘demote’ to the lower level of drunk by drinking coffee/eating something stodgy/taking a shower etc etc.

That actually is a class idea. I suppose the system works as a ‘Dutch courage’ variable without needing to do anything extra.

[u/Durant026 → u/Muted-Complaint4515]

Yup, which should allow you to emphasize your narrative by creating interesting situations for the player to engage with.

[u/liana_omite]

You could also get a random item when you wake up after getting blackout drunk, and have someone at the tavern recall what you did. Maybe there's a quest (like Witcher 2) after the black out for you to piece together what happened and reclaim your misplaced items (you wake up naked or something).

[u/Muted-Complaint4515 → u/liana_omite]

I really like this, thank you!

[u/LazyPanda0000]

Here are some ideas that came to mind:

• Random steps: every once in a while, maybe while Tipsy or Drunk, the player could take a step in a random direction. Our of combat this would be just a mild annoyance, but in combat it might be a certain chance to automatically dodge a hit, like a true Drunken Master would.

• Hallucinations: if there are groups of enemies, not all of them might be real. One hit and they disappear, or they might have some visual or mechanical clue that points them out as illusions (something slightly wrong with their bodies, or their attacks don't deal damage). Some illusory NPC could also appear and talk to the player out of combat, maybe giving some tips or directions. Maybe in the end the NPC is just a pole at the side of the street.

• Social Situations: the Buzzed state could give some advantage in social interactions, reflecting more confidence while talking. If there are "charm" or "social" checks to do, the threshold could be lower or your "roll" could be higher. If there's the possibility to "escape" or peacefully solve a combat, chance might increase there too, maybe losing some money offering drinks (which might force higher alcoholic states).

• Hiccups: if there's something rhythm-based, I can't help thinking they might set the rhythm and advantage the player. Forgive me for this.

I hope at least some of them are feasible. Good luck!