Depends on how the content is generated. If these are just side missions, then the main content might be predetermined. But I could see both random maps & clues working - a bit like Diablo, only with monsters leaving random clues instead of dropping items.
As for the monsters themselves, no idea, maybe a randomized enemy encounter list, each with a unique backstory?
The clues are not only to find the enemy type, for example atm you need to find the scene of the original death of the creature, which will help you determine where it appears.
Since it's not a clone, what took us most of the time was just getting the game loop down to the point it was actually fun.
From that point it's a very flexible loop that can be expanded on endlessly
And regarding the background, we had this idea brewing where each enemy will have added personality traits.
So for example imagine cross referencing clues you find against say, newspaper articles.
But as we're not writers, part of the Kickstarter is to get proper one and push this onwards.
Depends on the number of uniques vs the number of encounters. If you fight the same X for Y times, it can get old. It's a tough problem. Dwarf Fortress procedurally generates werecreatures (weregiraffes, wereanteaters, werewhatever and some creatures are worse than others) but lycanthropy mechanically works the same always.
It's tricky, but we'd rather try introducing a fresh new gameplay to the somewhat stale state of games nowadays.
Once a basic game works, it can be built upon and expanded.
We're doing something sadly no triple A studio will ever try, with very limited budget so we have to prioritize things while paying the bills
And btw mad props on Krondor ... damn I played that game to the bone, but like a true noob I never managed to find the final piece of that unique sword at the end haha
I know there's some sweet source material out there to draw from, what I meant was that it would require a good amount of handcrafted content, which seems at odds with the procedural generation that's going to be a core mechanic in the game.
The procedural bit is simply to prevent the player from knowing the outcome of the investigation right away, which would break the entire game loop.
That's especially important as there's a single persistent save (ala dark souls), accountability is a must for us.