Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:47:46 GMT
So that whole worldbuilding thing ...Kinda fell by the wayside. I'll attempt to remedy the remaining 23 days (HAHA) into some sort of cohesive entry here. Of most interest to me are Trades (Day 11), for the simplified dungeonkeepering that you'll eventually do, Weapons (14) because well, you know, Politics/Officials (16) to shed a bit of light on why you'll find certain features in the world, Legends (26) for some sort of persistence layer, and that's probably it. I am torn between wanting to spend more time on the creative aspect of the thing and time constraints that say I better focus on the immediately game-affecting components first.
Trades.
This world is relatively high in magic and low in mechanical invention. As such, you are far more likely to encounter alchemists' workshops and supplies, rune tables and crystal cutters, imbued scrolls and dimensional portals than hacksaws, chisels and anvils. It is rumoured some far off cultures have mastered metals to rival the best enchanted steel, but since the latter is far easier to get a hold of, these weapons are mostly curios. You will find basic weapons and armor - hardly more than slabs of raw metal or strips of leather - easy to come by; from there, you'll apply magical and alchemical processes to them to make them into something more to your liking. Everyone (dungeon inhabitants and questers alike) picks up a bit of this, and you'll be able to improve your skills along the way.
Weapons.
Because of this magic-inclined world, weapons don't really tend to have a lot of variety. Everyone starts off with a set of simple items and then uses this common, easily findable (well, relatively speaking) magic to make something they like. The downside is that you won't be able to use too many more fancy items that you'll find, as they will be tailored to the user and thus unsuitable for you. Again, there will be exceptions to this rule but they will be more curious and oddities - you'll also find lots more raw blanks/crude forms in various shapes and sizes early on that you'll be able to use and commit to for evolution throughout the game.
Politics/Officials/Transportation/Warfare.
I wrote a bit about this in the overview, but the world's high magic field means that exerting control over any larger area is nearly impossible. Large amounts of warlords of various alignments and agendas eke out carefully balanced existences in areas close to their powerbases; the wilderness teems with powerful monsters of all sorts that only grudgingly give way to mighty heroes; the balance of power is maintained by the need to defend from all sides and threats. This is also why your adventure changes halfway through, as nature abhors a vacuum and once you get rid of your boss you need to assume new management immediately or face your own crushing. :) Organized warfare as such is nonexistent, as every warlord spends a significant portion of their day just dealing with whatever crisis is on their doorstep and has barely enough left for their own agenda.
Legends.
Some heroes or warlords (or their minions, natch) grow in stature with time. Their deeds are recorded where they fell (tombstones), where they rose to power (items in their keeps/lairs), or verbally (still working on this one. Random barks here and there? I'm not sure yet). I will definitely try to incorporate larger victories or simply longer-than-standard lives of players into the game in some way. I should create a legends.xml right away, now that I think about it. TODO!