Iron Tower Studio Colony Ship Game Design Update #6

The weekend brings us another chance to peer into our role-playing future, as there is a sixth design update for Iron Tower’s forthcoming colony ship CRPG to take in. This time around, we’re treated to an overview of the game’s factions, though Vince also shares his approach to game writing and design as a whole in a post further into the update. Let’s be rebellious and quote from that:

Step one is like making a quick sketch. I start with a vague idea (generation ship focused on the factions, which hasn’t really been explored yet), give it some shape, play with it for a few weeks, make changes, flesh it out some more, play with it for weeks, make more changes, flesh it out a bit more until it starts resembling a rough setting. During this phase many different ideas are considered, tried to see if they fit, and discarded or changed/adapted. I’m talking about things like how launched the ship, how far the denizens regressed, factions, the ship’s AI playing an active role (discarded), etc. One I have all the pieces I move to step two.

Step two is like doing a puzzle. I have the pieces (factions, story elements, goals, the main quest, endings) but they don’t fit yet. So I have to figure out a way to make it all work together and form a coherent setting where everything is interconnected, has common history, goals, agendas, etc. At this point all questions should be answered including the most important one – why is the state of the world the way it is and not any other way?

Step three is writing quests and characters within the established framework.

Anyway, I have a feeling that the answers are vague so let me give you a specific example. I started playing with the idea of the CSG game 6-7 years ago. It’s kind of like building a set in your mind and slowly filling it up with factions and people. It’s not jumping ahead but a distraction that kept me from burning out. When I was stuck or needed a break, I’d switch and play with my “CSG set” as it’s a very different setting. So now I’m doing the same (playing with another setting), mainly as a mental exercise not a long term plan.

I love the 19th century’s Gothic novels like The Manuscript Found in Saragossa or Melmoth the Wanderer. Love the idea of proper magic, witches being dangerous, Lucifer as active player, corrupting souls and commanding agents, the Christian faith being a shield against darkness, which is everywhere, the Spanish Inquisition fighting the good fight, cursed places abandoned for a reason, forbidden knowledge, supernatural creatures, that sort of things. Needless to say it would make a great setting, but how do we get there?

I start with the main character, a monk, perhaps, armed with faith and potent prayers fueled by that faith but full of doubts that can be exploited. Basically, a character development fork: a man of God bringing light into darkness or an occultist who abandoned God’s light, trading it for forbidden knowledge. Both character types would communicate with powerful demons – dukes of Hell and such, but in different ways. As you can see, now we’re defining the setting, both mechanics and “lore”:

– to start with, the demons and most “magic-users” can’t be killed, they are far too powerful; you can only bargain, protect yourself, play them against each other, maybe banish from your presence to piss them off even more; thus the focus isn’t on demon slaying but surviving in a dangerous world most people are unaware of.
– you use combat (or speech/stealth) against the human minions or human enemies standing in your way, like the Inquisition if you turn to the Dark Side.
– such a setting would be perfect for relics, both Holy and Unholy.
– skills like languages (reading ancient books, communicating with demons, etc) and rituals (from exorcism to summoning), derived stats like Faith and Sanity, etc.
– magic would play a large role: prayers, words in God’s own language, signs, magic circles & pentagrams, rituals, spells and incantations. You’d acquire them from archives, NPCs, rituals, etc. Too much “hands-on” Occult knowledge would weaken your Faith and thus the power of your prayers and Holy relics, just like too much Faith would weaken your dark rituals and incantations (i.e. it will be hard to play a hybrid).

Now that we have some gameplay basics, it’s time to figure out how such a tale would start and end as these two story points would define the rest. The ending would give us both the direction and options on how to get there. The start of the game would set up the tone and introduce the first choice. Etc.