Shadowblade is a Coldstone RPG that is still in development (duh, all Coldstone games are still in development :p). The other members of the Shadowblade team are Gaviiin and Desert Fox.
Anyway, I was bored during fifth period (Biology. It’s only cool when we get to cut dead stuff open ;).), so I wrote something up on loose-leaf paper: a little teaser for Shadowblade. I decided to fix it up a bit and post it on the Coldstone web board. While I have most of the plotline planned out (I’ve actually written it all down) any suggestions you have are still welcome.

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SHADOWBLADE
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The Prophecy, a grim vision of the world’s end, foretold ages ago by the Oracle, is slowly beginning to come true... Chaos and war have engulfed both the Mortal and Immortal Planes. If the Oracle was correct, the end is near for both the gods and mortals of Towkryn...
Talrune -- the god of valor and light, and king of the Havannus Realm -- struggles to keep his influence on the many people of Towkryn, but his sister Dulaaka -- the goddess of evil and darkness, and queen of the Underworld Realm -- continues to draw more and more souls to the dark side. It is not the way of Talrune to manipulate the mortals to do his bidding, but Dulaaka has no qualms about it.
The Order of Sorcery -- the most powerful wizard’s guild on all of Towkryn -- has split apart. Five new guilds (one for each of the magical elements) have replaced it. The five Gods of Magic (Saikor: God of Fire; Bala: Goddess of Earth; Volak: God of Wind; Althana: Goddess of Water; Sun’lak: Deity of Spirit) are at war with each other, and their followers, the magi, have declared war on each other. If efforts for peace continue to fail, magical war, the worst kind of war, will come to Towkryn.
The elves, who have been split into three factions for countless centuries, too, face the problems of war. Having been split into three factions (Tarlanesti; Pailonesti; Dernzonesti), hostilities continue to grow between the elves.
The Pailonesti, exiled from Tarlanost (the homeland of all three factions) countless centuries ago for breaking off of the Tarlanesti church, and practicing different rituals to honor Talrune, “heresy” as the other elves called it.
The Dernzonesti, commonly referred to as “drow” or “dark elves,” chose to honor Her Dark Majesty Dulaaka, as opposed to Talrune, whom they consider to be weak. The Dernzonesti Drow wish to take back their homeland, and banish the Tarlanesti to the underground hell that they were forced to live in for so many millenia. Their king, however, was cowardly and fearful of the Tarlanesti. His oldest son, the prince and next-in-line for the throne, had very different feelings about the Tarlanesti elves.
Plans were made to assassinate the current king, so his son could take the throne and so the drow could take back the homeworld. The king was blessed, however, by Dulaaka, and the blessing could only be broken with a magical artifact that had been lost ages ago in the sands of time: the Shadowblade.
The Tarlanesti and Dernzonesti factions are rather evenly matched. The Pailonesti, who, too, wish to be allowed back into the homeland of Tarlanost, will join the war. Whichever side they choose will most likely win the upcoming war, for the manpower they provide should be enough to tip the balance.
All that the Oracle foretold in the Prophecy has come true up until this point. Talrune and Dulaaka have been saving the souls of their followers in the Havannus and Underworld Realms (respectively). When the final battle between darkness and light comes, these souls will return to Towkryn and fight for their deity. No winner to this epic battle has been predicted in the Prophecy. The winner will be chosen by the decisions of one warrior: you.
The chaos that has engulfed the Planes has yet to disturb your peaceful life, but it soon will. The fate of Towkryn is in your hands. Make your decisions wisely...
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Obviously, the storyline will get way more in-depth, but, to keep as much of it as possible a surprise, and to keep my ideas safe from thieves ( :p. You know exactly who you are), I made this kinda short. Hell, I barely even explained the Shadowblade and didn’t even mention the...
Please, tell me what you think...

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(This message has been edited by skyblade (edited 12-20-2000).)

Yeah I kinda hate to be critical, but Towkryn is kinda close to the Dragonlance's Kryn. And the ending of the all the Elven countries is 'nesti' just like in Dragonlance.
It's a very good storyline, but does it mainly focus on elves? Don't get me wrong. I always roleplay elves, but what about those fools, I mean interesting people, who play dwarves and humans and those spiteful halflings and the ugly and simplistic trolls and the fat ogres and the..... yeah. I like the storyline, and I think your game will be great! Oh and don't get mad at me cuz I'm critical, it's just I HATED the "nesti" things in Dragonlance.

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Originally posted by Lorenoth:
**Yeah I kinda hate to be critical, but Towkryn is kinda close to the Dragonlance's Kryn. And the ending of the all the Elven countries is 'nesti' just like in Dragonlance.
It's a very good storyline, but does it mainly focus on elves? Don't get me wrong. I always roleplay elves, but what about those fools, I mean interesting people, who play dwarves and humans and those spiteful halflings and the ugly and simplistic trolls and the fat ogres and the..... yeah. I like the storyline, and I think your game will be great! Oh and don't get mad at me cuz I'm critical, it's just I HATED the "nesti" things in Dragonlance.
**

I did take the "nesti" from Dragonlance; I never really made the connection between Krynn and Towkryn, but, now that I think about it, I can see it. Yeah, Dragonlance did inspire me alot.

No, it will not focus mainly on the elves, more on the humans, really. The elven plotline has a lot of twists and stuff, though, so I thought they needed an intro.

Thanks for replying.

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(This message has been edited by skyblade (edited 12-20-2000).)

I know how you feel

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"Do you expect me to talk?"
"Why no Mr. Bond! I expect you to die!"

Well, would you like a fresh perspective, someone who seldom reads dungeons and dragons books and seldom plays RPGs?

I think the story is fine. Granted, it's a bit cliched. (for example: the prophecy sounds like half a dozen mythologies I read before)

One thing I hope you'll keep in mind is this question: Is the background story pertinent to the game itself? Translation: If I don't know the background story, will it make my life harder when I play the game? It's nice that you have a background story, it adds to the flavor of the game. However, I would recommend that you try to tie the story closer with the game. For example, suppose if the player has to solve a mystery. Perhaps knowing the background story will provide a few clues as to how to proceed next. By tying your story into the game, you add flavor to the game itself.

In any case, good luck and I look forward to the publication of your game.

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Originally posted by htjyang:
**Well, would you like a fresh perspective, someone who seldom reads dungeons and dragons books and seldom plays RPGs?
**

Sure.

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Originally posted by htjyang:
**I think the story is fine. Granted, it's a bit cliched. (for example: the prophecy sounds like half a dozen mythologies I read before)
**

I plan on getting a lot more in-depth with both the Oracle and the Prophecy, but, for a teaser, it seems to work.

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Originally posted by htjyang:
One thing I hope you'll keep in mind is this question: Is the background story pertinent to the game itself? Translation: If I don't know the background story, will it make my life harder when I play the game? It's nice that you have a background story, it adds to the flavor of the game. However, I would recommend that you try to tie the story closer with the game. For example, suppose if the player has to solve a mystery. Perhaps knowing the background story will provide a few clues as to how to proceed next. By tying your story into the game, you add flavor to the game itself.

I'm going to try and make it so that you don't need to know anything to play the game. Yeah, reading the background story and whatever else is in the documentation will make playing easier, but I also think that people should be able to just pick it up and play.

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Originally posted by htjyang:
**In any case, good luck and I look forward to the publication of your game.
**

Thanks.

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Alcohol is the cause (and solution to) all of life's problems.
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(This message has been edited by skyblade (edited 12-20-2000).)

Cool. I like the warring elven factions. They're kinda like the Strands from EVO.

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Heh, nothing against the name, but I used to have a program that generated random RPG names, combining standard beginnings and endings.
Shadow/Ice/Dragon/Fire + Blade/Realm/Quest/Sword etc

As for my RPG I'm still working on a name,
story is forming in my head... beginnings of plot on good kingdom vs evil kingdom base. Light and Dark halves of the land are seperated by a great rift in the earth left from an ancient wizarding war. already have a few of the conflicts/dungeons/events thought out. Elves will be included (dignified, LOTR type elves, not prancing "we build toys" type elves)... probably dwarves. Now all i have to do is decide whether i want 3d graphics or i go with OLD SKOOL 2d sprites. It'll probably depend on the selectionCS comes wtih, im not big on learning to make my own. Also, I'm going to attempt the real life situations in my game a bit more realistic that most rpg's, {you know, the parts that made no sense, like you give a guy something to eat and he gives you a hammer, or a piece of wood? Mine would be more along hte lines of you defend a shipment of lumber for a carpenter and he gives you the hammer/wood)

Oh, and skyblade, not to be picky, but you left the "of" out of your signature
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(This message has been edited by Phoen’x (edited 12-21-2000).)

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By tying your story into the game, you add flavor to the game itself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to try and make it so that you don't need to know anything to play the game. Yeah, reading the background story and whatever else is in the documentation will make playing easier, but I also think that people should be able to just pick it up and play.

I'm going to agree here, and say that the story setup dilemma has always been something that's bothered me, because a lot of people don't solve it well. Here are a few common solutions:

• You are magically transported to a new area and cannot go back to someplace you know (used by, letsee... Exile/Avernum, Cytheria, most of the Ultima games, Zelda:Majora's Mask, and probably many others)

• You have lived your entire life in a small, confined, isolated area and now must venture out into the big bad world, learning about it as you go (Fallout, Zelda:Ocarina of Time, several SquareSoft games, Phantasy Star I,II, and IV, and I'm probably missing a few)

• You have amnesia, and get wrapped up in a great quest for some odd reason (parts of Final Fantasy 3/6 come to mind)

I'll leave it to you to decide if these are cliches, but it's worth remembering that your standard quest game has been done a billion times simply because it's easily implementable into an a game story format.

One thing you may want to do is see how films get you involved in their story setup, in into their world. Even the schlockiest stuff usually has some way of getting you involved in the story, but if you want quality, Alfred Hitchcock is one of the masters. North by Northwest in particular seems it might be easily adaptable to interactive fiction format.

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--You notice that you have been turned into a pile of ashes.

(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 12-21-2000).)

I am too just beginning to piece together a plot line, I already have a one page teaser, but I'm going to add to it before I release it. Of course my game will follow the basic good versus evil...mosty...there will be some situations of conflict in which you, as the main character, can't really discern who is evil and who us good..but you must choose sides anyway. Its not really going to be the good empire versus evil empire, more like good empire+allies versus many different forces of chaos, all kind of being goaded on by one central evil character (or a few, in conjunction, im not sure).

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SaneHatter, the whole seclusion thing and isolation really works in almost any kind of RPG, mainly because it kinda represents what you, the player, are. When you play a game for the first time, you usually don't know exactly what you're doing and what's going on in the world of the game you're playing. I think that's why the game designers usually add that. An interesting way to deal with that would be to allow the player the ability to "skip" the little isolation/ tutorial thing if it wasn't important to the storyline.

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"Do you expect me to talk?"
"Why no Mr. Bond! I expect you to die!"

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SaneHatter, the whole seclusion thing and isolation really works in almost any kind of RPG, mainly because it kinda represents what you, the player, are. When you play a game for the first time, you usually don't know exactly what you're doing and what's going on in the world of the game

Yeah, I know, I'm just trying to foster some thinking on people's part. There ARE other ways of dealing with the story setup / player ignorance conundrum, it just requires some creative thinking. Of course, you're welcome to use the old standbys if you want to, and by no means am I saying that a game which uses these conventions is inherently bad because of it, in fact, I have a high opinion of most of the games I mentioned.

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--You notice that you have been turned into a pile of ashes.

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Originally posted by edgecrusher:
**Cool. I like the warring elven factions. They're kinda like the Strands from EVO.
**

That's one of the first things Gavin said to me when I first told him about the storyline. Again, that's a connection I never made, but, since I do play EVO, maybe I was kinda influenced by it. There are really few connections between the Strands and the Shadowblade elves, though.

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Originally posted by Phoen’x:
**Heh, nothing against the name, but I used to have a program that generated random RPG names, combining standard beginnings and endings.
Shadow/Ice/Dragon/Fire + Blade/Realm/Quest/Sword etc
**

I don't care if the title is unoriginal. Doom isn't that original, either.

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Originally posted by skyblade:
**I don't care if the title is unoriginal. Doom isn't that original, either.:p

**

And doom is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) games ever made...

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Originally posted by the Necromicon:
**And doom is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) games ever made...
**

My point exactly. A title needs to be catchy, but, even if it's cliche, people will still play the game.

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(This message has been edited by skyblade (edited 12-21-2000).)

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Originally posted by the Necromicon:
**And doom is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) games ever made...
**

The most popular game ever made was also (at its' release) unique... MYST. But being unique guarantees nothing. One must be creative, not just copy. Doom was creative, thus its' success, but not original.

It was either Charlie Mingus or Thelonias Monk (Jazz greats) who once defined creativity in this way:
"Anyone can play differently. Anyone can make noise. Making the complex simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."

This applies to all things, including posts to lists

Skip

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...it wasn't me...

Looks interesting to me. I like warring factions of one race...if any of you have ever read the Deathgate Cycle, it's a very interesting series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It has some warring elves, with some points that have a vague resemblance to your story. Anyway, I don't think a name matters too much, as long as it isn't called Skyblade's Brain Boogers.

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond."

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Originally posted by theGlueBubble:
Looks interesting to me. I like warring factions of one race...if any of you have ever read the Deathgate Cycle, it's a very interesting series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It has some warring elves, with some points that have a vague resemblance to your story.

I believe that this has been compared to every fantasy book I have ever read... Except, perhaps, Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey (if that's even considered fantasy)...

(quote)Originally posted by theGlueBubble:
**Anyway, I don't think a name matters too much, as long as it isn't called Skyblade's Brain Boogers.

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(This message has been edited by skyblade (edited 12-21-2000).)
**

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Originally posted by skyblade:
**I believe that this has been compared to every fantasy book I have ever read... Except, perhaps, Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey (if that's even considered fantasy)...

**

I know, it's not like you can say you have something completely original in fantasy. It's all been used...you just have to come up with an interesting and fun use of it.

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond."