Community Contest: Submit your ideas for Codex content in Serpent in the Staglands!

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Just no dumb, obnoxious and overdone memes and in-jokes please.

I like agris's as its a relatively subtle connection to the Codex and a homage to the Glow that still makes sense and maintains flow and atmosphere if you're entirely unfamiliar with either.

Actually this kind is the worst and the most obnoxious.

 

[curry]

How about nothing?

Finally a sensible post.

 

[MicoSelva]

I like agris's idea, but it might hard to implement, I think.

And if something else gets chosen, please don't insert transgender stuff into the game.

 

[groke]

I had made it but 5 days south of the peninsula when my galley was set upon by swarthy, lawless brigands. While Father's estate would be more than capable of meeting any demands these simple-minded Mediterraneans might make, I had little faith in the savages to uphold a gentleman's agreement, and their incessant, trilling gibberish had given me vapours, so I err'd to slip away from my would-be captors and fled the ship upon a raft I lashed together from carbonated fruit drink branded barrels and the bindings of my Fantastical Amusements publications (Father thought poorly indeed of my fledgling career, even after those industrious fellows offered patronage for my services in exchange for my continued commitment to their strange preserved fruit drink. Father would look foolish now, I chuckled, seeing these very leather straps that once held my passionate dissertations now ensured the survival of his sole heir. A waste of time indeed!)

The sea churned like the violent, turgid humours of an amorous Neptunian deity. Having been raised for cultured society, least of all this monstrous predicament I currently occupied, I'm not ashamed to say I lost my countenance.

When I came to, there was no sign of the wrathful, surging aquatic emissions, but instead a terribly unsettling rhythmic pulsing. As I collected my senses, I was overcome by a hideous baying chorus that chilled my to my core. I propped myself upon a sodden stack of vellum and immediately recoiled from the vision that surrounded me.

Dicks. Stretching out into the horizon, endlessly. A seamless purplish mass of glans becoming shaft becoming glans. The slimy expanse of fleshy protuberances billowed and warped in concert with the deep, inhuman groan. I've no recollection of how much time passed as I sat there, half-mad in terror, but eventually I must have gathered my courage and set out seeking cover, for I found myself trekking through the musky mass, a dreadful, wet smack accompanying my every footstep as the veiny mire threatened to draw me down into its murky depths. Finally I came across a glimmering golden object jutting from a scrotal fold in the distance. I doubled towards it, sinking to my hands and knees, entranced by the sight of a thing bearing no resemblance to genitalia. Tearing madly at its smooth contours, I wrested it from the meaty earth, and found it to be a brass oil lamp of some fashion. I retrieved a handkerchief and wiped the lamp's surface clean of sebum.

In an instant I felt I must surely have finally succumbed to lunacy, for a muscular, semi-opaque blue man appeared to extricate himself from the lamp's spout! As I gaped absently, the apparition spoke: "Allah bless you, my abrahamic brother! If you had not come, I may never have been freed! It is so good to have a companion after these long aeons! Someone to satisfy my curiosity! You see, before I was sealed in that lamp from which you so kindly freed me, I had engaged the inhabitants of this island in a debate. Circumstances led to my previous condition before the islandfolk could provide me an answer. If you are willing, I am most eager to put the question to you!"

I reeled in confusion, the situation was simply beyond my comprehension. The creature pressed on:
"Dick jokes vs. serious content, which is better and why? DISCUSS!!"

 

[sser]

Your party empties out of the tree line and into a glade, holding your hands up to a newfound sun. A bed of flowers glints beneath the glow and the wind turns the blades of low grass against themselves. It is a calming tune. Moving across the clearing, you come to a stream. It is barely formed, passing through the chokepoint of a beaver’s abode, its occupant long since missing if the carpet of cobwebs are any indication. The water runs over moss wimpled rocks as it snakes onward back into the forest. Looking down, you spy tiny fish undulating against the current. A thought crosses your mind just as a noise grumbles your stomach.

“Let’s rest for a quick bite,” you say, unyoking a spear from your back.

Cockeyed, you aim the spearpoint to the fish like a man thumbs the horizon when suddenly a voice calls out.

“Ho! I’m gonna keel youuu!”

The party readies its weapons, the drawing of swords and shields emanating in quick, clinky unison.

You look across the stream and see a dog burst forth from the trees. It is a scampering, black mutt. A mixed breed of half-lab and half-fence jumper. The look on its face is wily even for a dog. Not long after it shoots out of the brush does a man come after it, fists raised, his whitened beard nest to twigs and thorns. He doesn’t look like he was raised in a forest so much as abandoned there. His clothes sift about his frail frame like a suit of armor would a skeleton. You watch as the dog comes to you and rears up, its eyes trying to find sympathy in yours. The man notices you and slows down, but the fury doesn’t leave his gaze.

He points with a nub of a finger. “Kill that mutt!”

Well, this was unexpected.



1. This forest hasn’t been home to many friendly humans and the man is clearly deranged. Just look at those dog’s puppy eyes! Who could take the life from them? Kill the man and be done with it. Maybe the wild dog would make for a good party member. [Kill the stranger.]

Spoiler

You raise the aim of your spear to the man and give it a quick throw. He stumbles with the shaft of it perpendicular to his body. Blood trickles and froths. The strike was true, his heart crushed. He asks a question, but it is lost in the hum of the glade, and then he falls down. You retrieve your weapon, but when you look around, the dog is gone. The corpse of the man rolls over in rigor mortis, staring up at the sky, his glazed eyes oddly piercing. Do you feel like a hero yet?

2. You’re not gonna just kill a dog on a whim. You ask the man why you should do his dirty business for him. [Ask the man what for.]

Spoiler

“Why?” the man says. “Why? Because that is no dog, but a demon!”



1. A demon! By the gods! We must do something, and fast! [Kill the dog.]

Spoiler

Fear clutching your heart, you quickly stab the dog in the throat. It doesn’t even whimper as you drive the spear almost clear through its body. When you kick the corpse off the shaft the dog rolls over, dead. That is all. You look up to tell the man it was no demon, but he is gone. You feel like a dog assassin.

2. A demon? Come on, fool. Demons prefer the flesh of man, not the fur of beast. You tell the man to prove it. [You’re incredulous.]

Spoiler

“Well, jeez, mister,” he says. “I don’t mean an actual demon. What’re you, nuts? I just mean it been eatin’ all my bunnies and tearing up my garden. The dog is a… foul thing. Does that suit you better?



1. Ah, a bit of a misunderstanding. Good thing that didn’t get out of hand. You tell the man to build a thorny crosshatch fence over his garden and to tie bickle-berries to his bunnies, as dogs hate bickle-berries. His mouth drops open and he snaps his fingers at you as if some incandescent, glass of light had suddenly burst above his head. It makes perfect sense to him! He thanks you fervently before taking off. The dog watches him go, but then sneakily follows after him. Fists to your hips, the sun is a little bit brighter on your face. You feel accomplished. Your party members ask if we’re going to eat yet nor not. [Party is healed from fishing the stream.]

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I want an island where its inhabitants have a debilitating disease, kind of like leprosy. The island is circled by jagged rocks which prevents entry from all sides, save one, where the entrance is guarded by an order of monks who tend to the island's inhabitants by throwing them food and supplies from a distance. But they are mostly just there to ensure that no one enters or leaves. There are rumors of an insane mage at the center of the island who, upon contracting the disease himself (perhaps even creating the disease, in a failed experiment), absconded with a King (or nobleman or what have you)'s powerful artifacts and set up a base at the center of the island to search for a cure. The monks warn you that if you enter the island you will contract the disease. Thus, you will have to decide if you want to risk contracting the disease in order to try to obtain the powerful artifacts, or leave the island and go on your way. If you enter the island, your party contracts the disease after the first battle and the disease slowly eats away at your stats. Given that the monks won't let you leave the island if you've contracted the disease, your only choice at that point would be to search out the mage to find the cure......also hoping to obtain the powerful stolen artifacts in the process.

Once you fight your way to the center of the island, progressively getting weaker as you go, you finally come upon the mage, who has long since gone mad. He's stayed alive by draining the artifacts of their power slowly over the years. He uses up the remaining power in one big climactic battle with you. Upon beating him, the final artifact breaks, the mage is over come, and he spends the last moments of his life laughing at you for being foolish enough to willingly contract a deadly disease that he's spent his life trying to get rid of just in the off chance that you might find a powerful sword or wand which will give you like a 5% better chance of killing people in battle.

He then dies and your party is left wandering the island, progressively getting weaker, until you all die. The player will then be forced to either quit playing and accept this as a fitting ending, or revert to a previous save.

Hard lessons about gambling what is most dear to one just for a little bit of extra power will be learned by all!

 

[80Maxwell08]

I want an island where its inhabitants have a debilitating disease, kind of like leprosy. The island is circled by jagged rocks which prevents entry from all sides, save one, where the entrance is guarded by an order of monks who tend to the island's inhabitants by throwing them food and supplies from a distance. But they are mostly just there to ensure that no one enters or leaves. There are rumors of an insane mage at the center of the island who, upon contracting the disease himself (perhaps even creating the disease, in a failed experiment), absconded with a King (or nobleman or what have you)'s powerful artifacts and set up a base at the center of the island to search for a cure. The monks warn you that if you enter the island you will contract the disease. Thus, you will have to decide if you want to risk contracting the disease in order to try to obtain the powerful artifacts, or leave the island and go on your way. If you enter the island, your party contracts the disease after the first battle and the disease slowly eats away at your stats. Given that the monks won't let you leave the island if you've contracted the disease, your only choice at that point would be to search out the mage to find the cure......also hoping to obtain the powerful stolen artifacts in the process.

Once you fight your way to the center of the island, progressively getting weaker as you go, you finally come upon the mage, who has long since gone mad. He's stayed alive by draining the artifacts of their power slowly over the years. He uses up the remaining power in one big climactic battle with you. Upon beating him, the final artifact breaks, the mage is over come, and he spends the last moments of his life laughing at you for being foolish enough to willingly contract a deadly disease that he's spent his life trying to get rid of just in the off chance that you might find a powerful sword or wand which will give you like a 5% better chance of killing people in battle.

He then dies and your party is left wandering the island, progressively getting weaker, until you all die. The player will then be forced to either quit playing and accept this as a fitting ending, or revert to a previous save.

Hard lessons about gambling what is most dear to one just for a little bit of extra power will be learned by all!

I think that idea would be fine in an expansion or some DLC but not as part of the main game. Having a random questline that kills you and ends your playthrough probably wouldn't be the best idea.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Yeah, it's kind of tongue in cheek as I think it'd be too involved for a kickstarter bonus. I just like the idea of taking the piss out of the stupidity of RPG quests. Also, people always bitch and moan about C&C, so how about some real C&C for once?

 

[groke]

srs suggestion: do this.

 

[SCO]

I want an island where its inhabitants have a debilitating disease...

I love it. oh the butthurt would be brilliant, the rage beautiful to behold, the mods to subvert the clear intent full of rage. And it would be interesting if you could avoid combat and still steal something.

I only ask that the authors Ignore all the subhumans suggesting anus/penis/vag monsters.

This codex obsession actually reminds of the numerous ancient world hacks that poured bullshit about 'barbarian' 'tribes' over parchment. Exs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acéphale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panotii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopod_(creature)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astomi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynocephaly

 

[Ninjerk]

I'd go for an island populated by mad cavetrolls. The island would be divided into different parts. There's this one part where the upper class cavetrolls live, wearing ragged clothing and broken monocles, talking about how everything is shit now and mourn older times even though most of them are actually not very old. Then there's the slums, where the filthy trolls live. They keep fledging out plans on how to overthrow the upper class cavetrolls and ramble on how much they hate everything in modern troll society. They are lead by the self proclaimed General D. Cussion.

The player then has to choose one side to join or might remain neutral while playing those sides against each other, or something.

You'd have to have a troll that moves about the island ignoring everyone, a troll that is confined to his own small hovel where he draws bizarre and disturbing pictures in feces on the walls, and at the very top an overworked king troll whose response to any inquiries is to publicly humiliate the messenger or exile him outright.

 

[set]

The grizzled captain stands at the starboard side, his dim eyes gazing at the moon.

"I don't think ye should linger here. Though man tamed a small aclove by the strand, the wilds here will not bow to mortal steel, be it metal, or mettle."

The leader of your party steps off the ship quietly, ignoring the condescending ramblings of that old sea goer. He travels the perilous whaleroads, but he hasn't seen true danger. He doesn't know your resolve.

Instead, those commanding eyes shift swiftly, a strong voice reaching out, "Where is this aclove?"

The captain has his gloved hands clapsed behind his back. He turns, standing with an arrogant poise to his stiffly curled lips. "Duskward 'til you come abreast the gam of bones... then north. Or so I'm told. It's not very far. Stick to the path, in it you will find safety."

"I don't believe there is such a thing, good sir. But when we all return, your coffers will be made fuller. Good night," your leader broods, walking upon the delapidated pier. You follow unquestionably into the dark, not even looking over your shoulder at the docked ship, its tired crew now lounging in the alabaster sands by it.

...

Days have passed since that memory. It is hard to believe at one point you were so sure in yourself and your comrades. What terror you have faced here! No earthly reward can ever be true recompense for coming to this veritible abyss. Even in the broadest, hottest noon, the towering tall trees choke the light from the sky! An eerie silence throbs softly with whispers of movement, as if the earth itself here breathes batedly. Each minute is punctuated by a worse, more alien cry that rides your bones.

That settlement by sea was of little respite. Upon coming to the ruined palasaide your party found every man, woman and child bewitched in place, his or her body replaced with cold, porous stone. Fierce looks of horror were etched into their hardened faces, many frozen on their side, legs splayed mid-stride.

In some way, you wished you could be caught in that stony embrace now, for the sounds and sights become more wracking with each breath. Your party's mage had concluded the townsfolk had been petrified with magic, but you aren't so sure - you don't have much faith in man, but no man is behind the noises of this jungle. No magic you've ever encountered has radiated such mind-splitting resonance. A dozen infernal belltowers must be hidden away here somewhere, those wraithful melodies betraying boundless agony.

Evidence seemed to indicate the perpetrator of the petrification had staggered this way - through the machete-clawed passage to the north west. And for some time, you were sure nothing was out here but madness, but that hopeful disbelief is shattered upon a terrific sight - threes and bone commingle like clasped hands, forming a tall, snaking mound in the earth. A ghastly aura sails in the air around it, inviting your mad leader closer...

=

1. There are three distinct dungeons on the island, The Gam, The Pulpit, The Blubber Pit, there is one small village on the island, Whitehall. There may be more additional areas on the island, but the only othe rmajor areas are The Strand, which connects the ship you sailed in with Whitehall, and The Jungle, which itself can probably be broken up into many small areas, which connect to the three main dungeons. The three dungeons are sprawling and maze-like, making them tense to navigate.

2. The enemies you will face are of the necromantic, magical or animated variety. There are no natural animals that live on the island anymore. The Strand is quiet, unless you defile the anonymous graves there, which causes nasty skeletons to harass you. Defiling the graves will let you gain access to one Ashes of Sorrow. If you choose to not defile the graves, you will later be rewarded more greatly by the people of the village, if you manage to save them. Maybe, if you defile the graves, the town is now under siege by skeletons and you need to make sure you revive fighter NPCs to defend the village, or you risk having them die.

3. In Whitehall, all of the villages are initially petrified by a powerful curse. Any Ashes of Sorrow you obtain can be used to depetrify one villager. There are twelve NPCs in total, a maximum of seven ashes can be obtained in a single playthrough. One of the villagers could maybe be recruited? Saving each villager gets you an item. Some villagers also act as shop keepers or quest givers, so you might miss out on something if you save one over another. The order that you save villagers might also be an element, perhaps determining the sequence of events in the town. It'd be nice if this part were highly reactive.

4. The forest and the dungeons of the island are extremely perilious and trying, you should be forced to return to town frequently resupply and restock. It's important you resusitate people who appear to be useful - shop keepers, merchants, etc, or you willl have to over extend more often. There are lots of places to loot, and you can take advantage of the petrified residents of the village to steal to your hearts content. Maybe this would have negative consequences in the long run?

5. As you descend into The Gam, you will fight killer whale skeletons - this would be the monster race. They don't float - they flop around, headbash, and sing terrible melodies. Some of them are still partially decayed, so they have gooey flesh hanging off them.

6. As you descend into The Pulpit, you'll fight crazy tribal cultists (or just dark mages in general I guess) possessed by ancient spirits. These mages use earth/stone magic and can petrify/stun, summon golems, and revive the dead. An evil-er party might be able to speak with a more sane cultist here and obtain a dark spell or item, or trick the party into doing something that makes The Blubber Pit a harder area to beat.

7. In The Blubber Pit, you fight sperm whale skeletons that spew boiling...sp--oil. They also are humongous. The dungeon here is especially dangerous because it's slick with fatty oil which can be ignited to greatly restrict space.

8. Ashes of Sorrow are generally obtained by choosing to be selfish, being selfless and obtaining Ashes of Sorrow should also be possible, but require significant sacrifice or much greater peril/use of resources.

9. Your reward at the end of the main quest is determined by the state of the village and its opinion of your party.

10. As for why your party is on this island and doing this vague 'favor', um... no idea! McGuffin? Money? For evil-er parties, you want to rejuvenate the town so you can get information/money, I'd imagine.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Okay, it looks like everyone who wanted has already contributed so we're wrapping this up. Thanks everyone -- results to be announced sometime in the future.

 

[ALchymist]

Left this a bit late but here's one addition to Agris's idea. The island has many ores on it so metals are of low value. There is lots of gold ore available but the islanders do not find it valuable so they have not extracted it. Vegetables are difficult to grow because of the polluted soil but it is possible, with difficulty, to get a reasonable crop of potatoes (not unreasonable IRL). No matter how rich the players were when they arrived, they will need potatoes if they want to buy anything.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

The NPC is Clive Blackmoon
-He appears near the start of the game promising some great and desired item. He says that if you come back later he will have this item.
For awhile he continues to tell you to come back until a trigger in the game will change his reply to "I need 30 gold to secure this awesome, wonderful item of great incline. Give me some gold and I will have the item in 3 days"

3 days later you receive part of the item but its nothing other than cosmetic in nature. Clive Blackmoon asks for money 3 more times with a slew of promises and excuses.

-This lasts for the rest of the game.

-We could hold an additional contest for lines to be used in the "excuse" portion of dialoge- To be randomly said everytime player talks to this NPC regarding this awesome item.

 

[vazha]

That's actually is a very cool idea.

 

[set]

Only if "Clvie Blackmoon" is one of five randomly generated possible names. One of the remaining four could be "Frian Bargo". The other could be "Hodd Toward".