New Olde-Skool, Turn-based RPG in the skunk-Works!

[Growler]

Haven't played Dragon Wars or Dawn of Magic, but will try to check them out at some point.. trying to develop this game without too much influence from other similar games, tho of course still working within a well-established tradition/genre.

Hey, were ye joking about Tolkien??
If nada, then he's basically the Mother of all (modern) Fantasy/Adventure & thus D&D, fRPG.
Author of The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings (trilogy).
Did you see the Lord of the Rings movies?

Tolkien wrote about Ents as these intelligent/wise, ancient tree-creatures..a bit creaky-slow, but exceedingly strong. Pivotal creatures in the story.

I've got Vampires in my super-set list (tho didn't plan to incl them in 1st scenario--but could, eh?) Right now, their skills are either Drain or Share hit points, so the Drain would be a sort of life-stealing. Bleeding would be the obvious mechanism, so could play that up in the combat description.
Sound good?

As for how they're 'clad' -I'll leave that to my illustrator..with yer good suggestions
Btw, what say we leave the fishnets for thee hot Vampiress? 8)

[KSS]

Of courses I havers jokingses; who but foolish Hammers don't bes knowerings Tolkien ?

[Growler]

Hooo-oui.
That wuz close.. (trying to channel Will Ferrel)

Didn't know if by chance there was some French block on British writers!

Dare I ax what a foolish Hammer be?

[KSS]

Ya'll just have to find out what game I'm currently playing (big hint in my new sig)

[dragonbait]

Scenario #1

The party wakes up from a horrific nightmare of angry squirrels with big fluffy tails pelting the party in the head with giant acorns only to realize that they were not dreaming.
Deep in the underground, with no weapons, the party is virtually defenseless against the ultimately superior race of Giant Squirrels and are forced into manual labor carrying and moving vast quantities of acorns and nuts through the underground passages and into large containment units to supply the giant rodent-like creatures with enough food for the winter, while only allowing the party to feed on the measly scraps and leftover crusts of previously eaten peanut-butter sandwiches. (Because squirrels don't like the crusts).
Some of the older slaves (the ones that are still alive) tell tales of an alternate exit from this crypt of acorns; one that might possibly be even more treacherous than a life of acorns and nuts. The party is shown this cold, dusty and grimy passageway that does not lead back up above ground, but rather further and deeper into the darkness. But it may be their only escape.

[Growler]

KSS, be this religious thievery within z ballpark?

" Hammer, anvil, forge and fire, chase away The Hoofed Liar. Roof and doorway, block and beam, chase The Trickster from our dreams. "

~~~

Dragon!
Dang.. didn't think I'd told ye thee precise setup fur numero uno scenario!?
Oh.. I furgot to remove the story sheet from z super-spreadsheet eye sent ye! Curses!

Well, now z proverbial kat be out z proverbial bagginz.

Wait.. except my mastery-mystery plan wuz fur chipmonks--HA!--nada squirrels! Yay! Z secret be safe.. whew.

On a less serious note, yer amusing descript ain't terribly far from sum troof..

[chaney]

Just to sidetrack a little from you punnyness, play Dragon Wars. Every bit as fun as BT. Now get your furry arse finished with the game already!!

[Growler]

Looking forward to some DW (uh..as in Dragon Warz).

But working on slaying me own dragons rite now.
My programmer just sent code for (near-complete) 1st dev-stage!
So he's already ahead of schedule

He's a young fellow, smart, hard-working, and in process of learning or rather expanding his Java knowledge, and is really kickin' Java-RPG butt. Ye kin thank him for thee fine-arse code.

We're all Lucky to have him on-board.

Chaney, I know ye luv Growlers (& who wouldn't?), but any other particular Races or Professions yer partial to?

[dragonbait]

Nah. No storylines were included in the spreadsheet. I checked. 8)
It wasn't too hard to figure out what the plot was. All the great rpg's start out that way, or at least some variant of it. One only has to look at what you post on these boards to piece 2 + 2 together. See now based on only just a few words....

Growler
RPG
Wizardry
werdna
chipmunk
alvin

...we can now definitively determine that in Growler's rpg, the final boss will be named NIVLA

But seriously, that is great news that your programmer is making great progress.

[Growler]

Good catch
Honestly, didn't realize connection to Wizardry's beginning until later. Initially, just desperate to scale-down initial story-plans to something doable! Wuz feeling overwhelmed there for a couple months & so made little progress.

Btw, you provided a helpful nudge when you said something about not needing a big story/plot?

It'll be a fun grind
Hey, Nivla butter keep an eye out fur z evil vocal-stealin' knumpic..

Well, finally figured out a way to more easily implement mad skillz (reuse aspect)!

[dragonbait]

Yep, better to focus on making a dungeon crawler with good gameplay mechanics than to bog the game down with extensive storylines which could in turn either make the game too linear and/or reduce the replayability factor.

Features that make a good dungeon crawler....
1.) rolling dice for ability scores
2.) creating a party from a variety of races/classes
3.) having an area/town/dungeon/tower/wilderness or wherever to explore
4.) loot/weapons/armor/items to find/scavenge after battles
5.) a place where characters can level up
6.) advancing level of difficulty the further you progress into the dungeons
7.) strategic combat and use of the variety of each characters skill sets effectively
8.) uniqueness (something about the game that you won't find in any other dungeon crawler, that will have the player crawling back for more)

When we think about Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, or Tales of the Unknown, there isn't much plot, (enter dungeon....fight monsters.....retrieve amulet or key etc......try to survive........resurface........train characters) but they are highly addictive, have features 1-8, and people play and re-play them again and again.

[KSS]

To confirm your previous answer: indeed, I'm playing Burglar 3 - Lethal Darkness.

[Growler]

KSS, is B3-LD rockin' the RPG house?

Dragon, that's a great list..
1-yes, if ye mean rolling for base stats (ST, DX, etc) & a few other starter variables; skills will be determined by Race &/or Profession--which will also add bonus pts to the base stat-rolls
2-yup, aiming to have lots of choices--tho necessarily somewhat limited for starter scenario
3-erum..dungeon of scum sordid sort--affirmative! (others may have ta wait a bitter bit)
4-oh yeah, but not much fancy stuff (however, every rusty dagger or such ye can scavenge will be sought after & drooled upon)
5-have a couple ideas for this.. but def some way to level up; also plenty of weighs to..level down, shall we say, euphemistically?
6-hope no one expected things to git easier...tho ye be bleeding out every pore & sorely hoping
7-essentially yes, tho initial implementation may not be as sophisticated as we're working towards..but will be in keeping with the scenario setting
8-ye know how ye ketch a unique byrd? (ye'nique up on him)

Not to worry.. there'll be lots of bloodied knees from this dungeon crawl..

[dragonbait]

Yes. Rolling for base stats. You know what was cool? In Might and Magic II when rolling for stats you got to see an animation of dice rolling. Not suggesting that you have that in your rpg, just that it was cool.

As for #4, Yes please, no fancy stuff. In fact, I prefer that the starting party begins as poor as you can get. As in fight with your fists until you find that rusty dagger or broken staff. One thing that I always thought was totally awesome about the Bard's Tale is that (in the storyline of the first Bard's Tale), all of the powerful mages and fighters got killed off by Mangar. The only ones left were types like the local farmer who took up a pitchfork, and the petty thief down the street that once burgled something of value and has bragged about it ever since but he only got 45 gold pieces when he sold it at Garth's, and that beginner magician that figured out how to cast a measly spell or two, and finally that damned drunk that can never get his lute in tune. Yet they all banded together and took down Mangar.

Something I absolutely hated, was the storyline of the Baldur's Gate series where you are the chosen one / godchild and the fate of the world comes down to you. I hate that stuff. Give me the farmer and the drunk anyday instead.

[Growler]

The dice-rolling anime sounds cool.. wuz thinking of possibly having a simple animation along those lines, but of bones, feathers & such being tossed like B.C. dice

And yes--gonna have fisticuffs available for starting out before banged up old weapons are slowly acquired. A pitchfork will be handy--esp in the calloused hands of a farmer or peasant.

Will try to make thee lowly Minstrel at least 3 sheets to z wind, eh?
*belch*
*flute outta tune!*