Elemental Story design

Great to hear more love will be put towards The Campaign. It did bug me a little that Sins didn't have a Story (Still was an amazing game though.)

I like the concept. The theme of greed, cataclysm and redemption reminds me of the Dark Sun series. I'm curious as to who the characters/factions are and what their motivations will be.

That's good stuff . Excellent concepts so far.

There will be Fallen dragons? I can't wait to see those!

And what is this RPG that you're "starting to work on"?

I love the fact your write hundreds of pages of backstory. I have hundreds of pages of backstory too... but they're all in my head. I'm an extremely lazy creative talent, but I guess that's the Internet.

 

Frogboy has said in the past that they're not going to rely on fantasy creatures in the story (only human factions). That said, they're probably an elite caste that you can entice into your service. The question is are they going to be treated like a herd of horses, or will they have the option of becoming real citizens eventually?

I believe he was refering to things like Elves, Orcs, etc. Those kinds of fantasy creatures. Dragons will definetly be part of the game, and based off of his comments above, not only will there be dragons in the story, there will be Fallen ones as well:

So instead of looking forward to E:WOM we have the next game around the corner* too? Nice!

So we just need one more info: where's the pre-order page for those games?

 

* Although I don't expect it will be out for quite some time... 2012 maybe?

I realise that, what I was thinking of, and refering to was (roughly) humanoid, Fallen Dragons.

The posts suggests that there will be Fallen races that aren't strictly human, and with the comments about fantasy races I'm guessing that these aren't playable either. My best guess at this point would be (as I said) a recruitable quasi-dragon caste.

 

I've been very eager to hear more about the backstory of the game and the plot of the campaign.  More, please.

Fascenating stuff. Of course, the Big Question is still up in the air (can't Brad at least tell us if he knows the answer and is not telling us or is still trying to decide himself?!), but the info on the creation of the shards is a juicy tidbit. Plus fallen dragons, of course.

So od I. I've actually created an entire alternate universe (multiverse, actually) from which I pull ideas and stories for mods, games, and occasionally homework.

Fantastic! Great to see mythos is playing a big role. I love the idea of fallen dragons...world building is such good fun!

They better get them out before the end of the world in December of 2012. Otherwise it's a bad move financially. Why invest all that capitol if you won't have time to make it back before we're all killed by the polls shifting?

hehe j/k I don't seriously think the world will end in 2012. Might be nice to see some major global disasters though.

Lol. A shift in the polls. Sounds like the kind of world ending disaster one might hear on Fox News. Is American society dying out? Maybe!

Anyway, sounds like you guys have the pieces in place for a good fantasy story. Should be fun. I love corny fantasy stories. I really do.

In a way the whole setting reminds me of Darksun... the destroyed world, limited sources of magic, isolated life.  The creatures inhabiting it and the ways of drawing magic out are different, but the overall perspective feels similar.

Then again, it looks like ikros commented on that first... glad I searched the thread more carefully so I could point credit his way...

from fallen having all shapes and sizes, I would be more inclined to think that each "Faction" of the fallen has a different shape ... so there might be Fire-men fallen, Ice-men fallen, ect, each with slightly different morphologies.

That being said, there certainly could be certain fallen within each Faction that are simply "better" are bigger, scarier, or just plain look wierder. For instance, a "super fallen" of fire-men faction might have a long spiny tail and large tattered wings, or an Earth "super-fallen" could be a quadrillian (multiple armed) with poisonous spines covering his head and back.

Such "super-fallen" probably would be unable to wear armor, but would wield weapons, and would be more deformed, scary, and powerful, than anything we could imagine from our "creature creator" in the fantasy creatures thread.

That being said, if each faction of fallen is merely a different morphology (same species but look completely different), I would be highly satisfied. This considering that the Fallen would be more than capable of humanized cultures, traditions, and political systems. At least to the extent of political and social intrigue as demons are capable of, but I expect much more so (like a sophisticated empire of demon-kin with rank, file, and nobility). That being said they would still be of human origin (with dragon/demon/angel/titan/elemental thrown in) ... so they would still consist of human emotions.

Having one type of fallen being completely of draconic heritage, however, could hold very interesting possibilities. Magical resistance? Far less scientific output but far stronger/better magic (and sovereign possibly magic immune)? Isolationist? less evil (more like ancient protectors)?

There are lots of possibilities, certain. I definitely like the "all shapes and sizes" bit ... wondering how awesome it will turn out

I love turn based strategy games, but RPGs are where my true love lies. These days it seems only Bethesda and Bioware are releasing high budget/professional RPGs (well not counting mmos). While I find their concepts of roleplaying to be very lacking I am hopeful that such games will at least keep the genre alive. I am very excited to see what Stardock can do in the genre.

If GalCiv2 was a partial reaction to M003, and Elemental is a partial MoM2 I can dream about a real spiritual successor to Fallout or Arkanum or Planescape:Torment.

Though even if it is just another baulders gate I will still appreciate that it will be Stardock behind the game. I trust that I would not have to worry about paying 200$ for some barding or 500$ for the super collectors edition which would allow me to spend 250$ more for the exxtreme collectors edition downloaded content.

I can't wait to learn more about the backstory to the world. I think a strong single player campaign is a huge key to success. While I enjoy Sins and Demigod they will never have the same lasting place in my mind as GalCiv2 or Starcraft.

Yes!

I wonder what the cloth map equivalent would be for an RPG? Perhaps we could see dialog trees and help come up with more branching plot points? Sort of in the style of interactive fiction.

 

[Wasteland]

You stand in a blasted wasteland. The wind blows with a an ever present howl, kicking up bits of sand and grit. The air smells of dust with a faint hint of sulfur. The cloudless sky does nothing to dampen the harsh sunlight of midday. To the east you can see the hint of a dry river bed. Far to the Northeast a smudge of green breaks an otherwise featureless horizon.

You see a cloaked man standing here. You see a blue stone on the ground.

exits: n,e,ne

> Ask man name

 

hehe

I am glad to hear you have a developed back story and will have a campaign mode.  I am not going to comment on the story itself but on how it's conveyed to the player and the campaign.  In my opinion it doesn't matter how good the story is unless the player cares about and it is presented in a good way.  Games of this sort haven't been very good in the past at conveying a story to the player.  They are usually designed for the sandbox game and trying to add a story mode on to that hasn't been very successful in my opinion.

Some things I would like to see in the campaign personally are:

1) Choice - The campaign will have many battles and scenarios to conquer.  Give the player some choice on how they proceed on to the next scenario.  I think for your game you could have a world map with many regions.  Each region would be it's own scenario like we are playing now in the beta.  You would have the choice of picking which scenario you want to move on to next limited by what you had previously conquered.  Also each area conquered should give some lasting benefit.  In terms of story you would have some regions that are crucial for the story and are required and also have some optional scenarios.  Kind of like an rpg with it's main story and side quests.  Would love to see this.

2) Continuity - This is something that really throws things off for me.  We are always starting over from one part of the campaign to the next.  I know this is necessary to an extent but let us carryover some things.  Sovereign experience, maybe a favorite hero and some items and even a small selection of units (our honor guard) and some spells.  Heroes of Might and Magic would let you carry over your main heroes for example.  Fantasy General/Panzer General would let you carry over some units.  It makes things more interesting when the choices you made in the past have a bearing on the current situation and makes the world more alive in my opinion.

3) Variablity - Make each scenario in the campaign interesting.  Have some maps where magic is reduced and you have to rely more on troops as well as the opposite.  Have a map where you have to kill a dragon or some other extremely powerful being.  Have some where technology is fixed or slow, etc.  Not saying all should have some special mechanism but have some scenarios that do.  Also have a good mix of difficulties, map sizes, time requirements and victory conditions.  I think you have been pretty good with this in the past so I don't expect this to change.

4) Length - Make the campaign fairly long, or at least potentially fairly long.  I want the campaign to feel like an epic event.  If you can make it so it is replayable that would be great.  If you do #1 then you can make it so you have the option of making a beeline towards the ultimate goal or taking your time and conquering everything.  If you don't go with #1 then perhaps you could have a short and long version of the campaign.

5) Remind me on how I got here - Each scenario can take a long time and I often forget what's going on between missions.  Have a mechanism to remind me what the story is so far.  A journal would work or just adding some intro text that gives me a quick synopsis.

1.  What kind of RPG are we talking here?  Action-RPG? TBS-RPG?  I hope it's something classic.

2.  The RPG (which I have heard talk of before) will be part of the Elemental Universe?  Does this mean Stardock is looking to start a franchise like Might and Magic?  That'd be awesome!

3.  Hey Frogboy, since you're publishing an Elemental novel, and you reportedly have tons of backstory for GalCiv, is there any chance you might publish a GalCiv novel in the future?  That's be double awesome!

An RPG from Stardock.. That would be awesome.

I wonder if thats the angle Brad has envisaged for the long-awaited 'Society', which Stardock were planning back in late 2005? I think it would work well as an MMO-RTS-RPG. A variation on Elemental but with a persistent and more personal involvement.

If, however, it IS another new game from Stardock, then I'll be even more excited.

sounds like there is enough material there for a book! 

One request: please please please don't make The Fallen another generic stock fantasy species with generic fantasy modifiers like +1 fire resistance ect.  Please No!  Let's see more imagination.  An army of human cannibals that covert a conquored populace into ready food supply or slavers that retain a percentage of the conquored as slave labor population pool is just better than the D&D purple planar brimstone lol_whateverz orcs.

Hope you consider adding the Armageddon Clock from Civilization 4's Fall From Heaven 2 mod.  Evil civs pushed hard to advance it while Good civs constantly struggled to turn it back.  In the end it was a useful game mechanic to pace the ingame's major random events and allowed the player some limited influential control over when those events would occur. 

I just wish I as a player could seed those events myself.  For example, if my men found a dragon egg in the past then when the AC advances to 100 it would hatch ect.  Sort of seeding my opponents destruction in the past for harvest in the future.

Dark Sun was really special because that was magic that caused the forsaken land. I would LOVe to play a game where each spall cast would destroy the world. That would make epic final battles.

Great. So the main storyline question for me is:

How does one become a channeler? I mean, they can't just "appear" like that. If they are select, what makes them special? How is it that this guy became a channeler and not his brother?

 

Don't forget CD Projekt Red. The Witcher is an awesome rpg, and it looks like they're doing a 2nd version. However, when one sees the number of people they used to develop such a game, one understands that it's really expensive. Lots of art assets and animations cost a lot. Which makes developping such a game far more difficult, financially, toay than when Troika launched Arcanum.