So what's it all about?

Well we've successfully moved, but still have boxes strewn around our new house. For ages I thought I'd lost my Neverwinter disks, but recently found them hiding inside my Printer box which was a huge relief as my laptop had to be re-formatted a while back. Our son was a little unsettled at first, but he now regularly calls the place "Mummy and Daddies new house", so we are settling slowly but surely.

It's been a relief that I have this project to work on when I want to escape the drudgery of organising our house, and I'm pleased to say that as a result good progress has been made in the past week. The henchman is really beginning to shine as a character now, with numerous branches in conversations dependant on the reputation of the PC with him. I'm also close to preparing the final location of the module, although I should point out that as a castle it's a fairly large area to populate and prepare, and there's also a cutscene needed for it. So, we're a little way off yet, but there is most definately light at the end of the tunnel.

Followers of this blog should know by now that I've been priding myself on the level of detail within the module. If you're unaware of how such detail is incorporated then shame on you for not becoming a follower by clicking on the link to the left! ;) You're in luck however, for, as promised in my last post, it's about time I talked about the object of the series.

What has become apparent, as I'm sure any playtester will testify, is that "The Relbonian Chronicles" will succeed in becoming immersive. This is something I set out to do from the beginning. I didn't want to make a purely hack and slash module. I wanted to tell a story where the player becomes connected with the characters involved, to the point that they can experience being part of another world, and from different perspectives too.

The intention has always been for the Chronicles to be a series, with each module having the player roleplay a different character within the same world, thus gaining a different perspective of being a part of a whole. For those of you who fear the word "roleplay", it won't be as daunting as you might at first think. In order for the overall story to unfold the player will have to play set characters of a pre-determined class and alignment. As such, dialogue choices will not offer extreme choices, but instead feature options that fit with the character. Notice I said "Options" there. Not only are they present, but they can influence the game. None feel out of place, yet in some cases can make the game easier or harder to play. So, although the story is on a set path, the manner in which you get to the end of the path can have subtle differences. The henchman I've been taking so much pride in is a classic example of this at work, in that there are many instances of his dialogue changing dependant on their feelings toward the player.

NPCs too benefit from attention to detail. In at least 2 instances you can meet someone further on in the story in a different location. Meeting them again is not guaranteed as it will depend on the paths chosen by the player, as does the outcome of meeting them again. In some instances there are even NPCs that will feature in future chapters in larger roles, indeed, one of them is even going to be the players character in a future episode.

So, to summarise, it's a story, told in multiple parts, from the point of view of a differerent character, all of whom are connected in someway to the bigger picture... a series of events threatening the very existence of the Relbonian world.

It's getting late now, so I'm gonna have to sign off. Before I go, if there's anything you'd like to know about the module please ask here, and I will do my best to provide an answer.