I can't believe I let so long go by without blogging! In a rather counter-productive turn of events, my lack of participation on the site is actually due to devoting the bulk of my free time to my game module. I've barely been on the internet at all, truth be told, and have a month's worth of Z2H blog posts to catch up on. :P So let's get to work:
I'm curently polishing my story bible, so I guess now is as good a time as any to go into those belated plot specific details. NOTE: I haven't yet submitted my full idea to my mentor, so by next week the concept and characters may be completely different. Enjoy it while it lasts. <3
I described it before as a "murder mystery in reverse" and that much hasn't changed. The player is cast as a young cleric at a theological institution in a rather typical high-fantasy village. This village is economically dominated by a single family- the Niefel House, manufacturers and exporters of magical goods. Recently, the young heiress to the fortune- clever inventor, Lilith Niefel- has fallen deathly ill. The player's classmate Bartholomew Lyre was sent to tend to her, and for several months was not heard from.
Now, Bartholomew was a twitchy sort to begin with. Always fidgiting and snapping, disturbingly obsessive in his religious devotion; however, if possible, those few months spent in Niefel Manor have made him even more unstable. He won't speak a word of what he saw and the head clerics are beginning to form dire suspicions. The player is sent in Bartholomew's stead to investigate Niefel Manor and assure the Church that no "Moral Trespasses" have been committed within its walls.
Is Lilith Niefel dead? Is she alive? And why the confusion in the first place? The player will find themselves examining the three people closest to Lady Niefel in life: her loving brother, Arkadius; her fiancee, Pallim Bartleby and her close friend, Maies Wilder. All three of these men have done terrible things out of love for her, but it is up to the player to determine which one is truly a "villain". Furthermore, the deeper the player delves into the mystery, the more apparent it becomes that the Niefel Family has been hoarding their dark secrets for centuries.
There are two ways to go about solving the mystery. The first is the most straightforward method: simply ask around. The town is bursting with rumours about the Niefel house's dark dealings, Lilith's love life and the bizarre psychology of her brother, Arkadius. There are several NPCs who obviously know the "whole truth" (or a version of it), though getting them to talk straight is an epic quest in itself. Aside from the half-mad Bartholomew, the player may seek out Arkadius' charming but unnerving butler, Brand or head over to the bar and talk up Lilith's old nursemaid, Maria Halfwit (so called because no one appreciates her wit half as much as she does).
The second method is to explore Niefel Manor and the grounds around it. This is the more dangerous option, but it can provide the player with more direct information in form of "flashbacks" caused by powerful magic resonance. Often, these visions are symbolic. ambigious or so emotionally wrought they lack coherent logic. Though these literal pieces of the past can be useful, they are often inexplicable and impossible to decipher without a snippet of information gleaned in town to clarify it.
It is my goal to create a mystery where it is difficult for any two given players to arrive at percisely the same conclusion. Depending on what they hear and see, how long they choose to play and which major NPC they decide to latch on to, the player will inevitiably develop a biased opinion on the situation: one player may decide that Arkadius Niefel has committed an act so henious that he deserves to die... and so they kill him, reporting to the church that the Niefel family line is corrupted beyond repair. Another player may see him as an innocent victim and blame travelling merchant Pallim Bartleby- you can't trust outsiders, after all. Another player may see the church's teachings as the problem, and another may come to view Lilith herself as the orchestrator of the chaos.
I'd say my module is like a Southern Gothic Novel. Like VC Andrews set in Forgotten Realms (not that I've read much of either. I'm hoping this is an apt metaphor). It's a little pulpy, a little cliche but I hope that through a mixture of honest emotion, dark humour and gently horrifying implications, I can craft an experience that will resonate with players. And by players, I mean the professionals who will eventually get to play this tangled little mess of love and lies.
I'm going to start blogging every two days to make up for my utterly shameful June showing. On Monday, I'm going to talk a bit about an old Sierra game and how much it sucks when your mood decor keeps getting up and killing you.
- Jenn
Comments
13:52 Sun Jun 29th, 2008
I'm liking this setting; it's dark, complex, and altogether chill-inspiring. Like Tenzil, though, I'm wondering how you play in it. I get that your player is finding NPCs and memory 'spheres' (to use the FFX term), but what are the challenges? For example, you mention that Lilith is/was a student cleric and an inventor. Did she leave behind dastardly golems or mechanical puzzles to defeat? Are there cultists from a rival theological school to face? Mind you, I love investigating background in game, and this sounds like it would be a diabolically interesting scenario to puzzle out. PS Here's the intro from one of my favorite games, Eternal Darkness. It's more Lovecraftian Gothic than Southern Gothic, but maybe it'll give you some idea of what I'm picturing. [WARNING: Extremely creepy, do not watch right before bedtime!] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH-w9diQtbw [Don't say I didn't warn you!]
18:12 Sun Jun 29th, 2008
Thank you for the concern. Since I am using Aurora Toolset, the gameplay is standard NWN stuff. For the "mystery" solving part of it, it's all dialogue trees, branching every which way and that. Talking to a random drunk in the bar may trigger an interesting tidbit from Maria, but it may also block off anything Bartholomew could ever tell you. Of course, any of the major conflicting NPCs story's will negate the others. If you decide that Brand the Butler has the most important testimony and you decide to follow his clues, you'll likely never have the option to hear Maria or Bartholomew's version of the tale. This system hasn't actually been that difficult to implement (being a newbie at all this, I imagined nightmarish plot management, naturally). As for the "memory spheres" as Susie dubbed them... well, that's the tricky part. The bulk of the combat (most of which is optional) takes place scouring the labyrinthine halls of Niefel Manor. The "memories" are triggered either by fighting the strange creatures inexplicably cooped up in its nooks and crannies (golems are a good idea- I WAS going to have a creepy "workshop" area for anyone who pursued the thread of Lilith being behind her own death) or by examining starkly out of place or unnerving objects (Arkadius has TOO many mirrors in his room, even for someone as vain as he is; why is there an empty birdcage in Lilith's otherwise sparse and prison-like sickroom?; wait, is that... a giant pile of corpses in the locked ballroom!?). I want to sort of find a balance between point-and-click-mystery adventure and something that makes you *work* for your answers in a way that's universally engaging (well, universally engaging to... fans of the NWN engine, I mean).
18:15 Sun Jun 29th, 2008
Also, thanks for the link to the Eternal Darkness opening. I've heard so much about that game, but being more of a Sony/Sega girl (I bought my first Nintendo system in 2005), I haven't actually played it. If I could re-create that kind of mind-(excuse the language)-fuckery in the NWN engine I... well, I don't know what I'd do since I'm not entirely certain it's possible. XD *youtubes more ED videos*
03:56 Mon Jun 30th, 2008
I like what I'm hearing so far. Your game certainly has an interesting world, characters and premise. I am a bit curious and/or hazy about a couple things. 1) How is this a murder mystery in reverse? From what you've explained, the story seems to develop and reveal itself normally, except through flashbacks, but that convention is normal in most forward moving (I need a better term) narratives. 2) Are there no facts to this mystery? I mean this in the sense that there seems to be no true, objective events that transpired because the solution seems to depend on the player's subjective experience. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it has lots of player agency and replay value, kinda like that Clue movie. On the other hand, if the player wants to be a detective and solve a crime, they may not like it if they find out that no matter what they deduct, it's both right and wrong. Overall though, what you seem to have here is a fairly well developed and interesting game concept that I would love to play. Keep doing what you're doing because you seem to be very much on top of things. :)
20:22 Wed Jul 2nd, 2008
Jenn, this all sounds wonderful! I'm so excited. You've got to let me play what you've got next time I'm over. Also you can show me why my doors don't go anywhere. ;_; Oh toolset, I will figure you out sooner or later....
22:02 Wed Jul 2nd, 2008
Reminds me of 7th Guest and Fallout for different reasons, and that's cool. The elements that concern me, and only because there is SO much baggage attached to the expression "high fantasy." From LOTR to Harry Potter's crew, and all the WOW and Fable in between, there are a lot of preconceptions that either can be used and appear derivative or thwart and risk alienating a desired audience. But then y'all had to go and mention Southern Gothic, and suddenly Concrete Blonde and Anne Rice spring to mind, not to mention my pal and lead writer from the Tom Clancy games, Richard Dansky, a fine Souther Gothic Horror writer of his own right. Souther Gothic, religious elite, hoodoo voodoo, and throw in a little old school pointy hat magics just to make things unpredictable, and Bob's your uncle AND second cousin. But really, I'll wait for the full notes, just getting excited about the expression is all. Looking forward to reading more! e
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Tenzil Kem
09:21 Sun Jun 29th, 2008
Jenn, it's good to hear from you! It's really hard for me to envision how your game is going to play and how much enjoyment I would get out of it. I'll say trust those who know more about game play as I have very little experience with it: their advice is sure to be far more valuable. Good luck with it!