Jack Dandy
Arcane
Congratulations man, I'm glad this is doing so well.
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KickStarter SKALD: Against the Black Priory - retro RPG inspired by Ultima
- Thread starter SkaldRPG
- Start date
Thank you so much! It honestly rocks!
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scapeit/skald-against-the-black-priory/posts/2527790
Hi!
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is now 120% funded! This is amazing!
It's therefore time to announce the first stretch goal:
90.000 NOK: Mountains of Madness
The adventure extends beyond the isle of Idra, into the icy hellscape that is the northern polar regions. Its hostile climate, cyclopean ruins and eldritch horrors will test your mettle as you sail into the eternal night of the high north!
The high north will significantly extend the game's overworld size and will add hours of gameplay intended for higher level characters. I love to dip into source-material like HP Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness", John Carpenter's "The Thing", or the brilliant TV-drama "The Terror". The motif of polar expeditions finding impossibly old things in the ice and going mad has always appealed to me (must be a Norwegian thing).
I really want to make this so let's make sure we reach that 90.000 NOK stretch-goal!
PS:
Speaking of "At the Mountains of Madness", how cool is this Tintin/Lovecraft crossover:
Cheers!
AL
That's right: I'm cranking the Lovecraft up a notch!!
Really hope we get there (only $300) to go!
Thanks for all of you cheering this project on! That really means a lot to me!
Congratulations SkaldRPG! Wishing you lots of success with the project! A proud backer here.
Thanks a lot Rhuantavan! Very cool of you to support this project! Always good to have the support of fellow retro-rpg colleagues!
V_K
Arcane
Ok, this kinda sold me on it. Will be the second game kickstarter that I backed, he-he.
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scapeit/skald-against-the-black-priory/posts/2528960
SKALD coming to Mac!
Hi there!
First of all: These are exciting days and, with things moving fast, I have a need to keep my backers up to date. I promise not to keep spamming you inbox with updates as we get further in to the campaign.
Now to the cool stuff:
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is coming to Mac!
Due to the game engine SKALD is built in I always intended for this, BUT I simply didn’t have time to do my technical due diligence before launching. Now I have, and SKALD is going to be coming to Mac!
This means that all backers will get a choice in the backer survey, choosing between a Windows and a Mac build.
There is one caveat: The ALPHA demo and BETA version will only be available on Windows for now.
Also, we now number over 200 backers!
That is all.
Carry on.
Hi guys! Quick question that some of you may shed some light on: As you might know I'm kickstarting SKALD these days. I'm looking at Google Analytics traffic data and seeing something strange: I'm getting a TON of traffic from Hungary. In fact 15% of all traffic is from Hungary making it number 2 (behind the US at 27%). With 10 million inhabitants I suspect this is BY FAR the biggest per capita contributor in traffic. Looking at the internal distribution within Hungary, 63% is coming from Budapest and the rest evenly distributed. What makes me suspicious however, is that this is not reflected in backer nationality. I have very few Hungarians and nowhere near what the traffic data should suggest. Any insights?
Is this GA data related to your web site, the kickstarter site, or where? Europe is pretty hot with old-school rpgs, so the results wouldn't come as a surprise to me... still, perhaps there was a big article/forum mention among the Hungarian rpg community, which resulted in that peak? Dunno, just guessing.
Oh I should ahve specified that it's the Kickstarter page
Yeah honestly this seems like egit traffic due to how the traffic is distributed inside of Hungary. Sad part is the conversion rate is super low since I have so few Hungarian backer so far and this makes me think I should be doing something to increase it More paprika perhaps?
Skall
Learned
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$15 -- I think that was roughly the amount -- might be too steep a price for higher conversion rates from Central/Eastern Europe. Keep in mind that you're also competing against various indie/oldschool RPGs already available at lower prices.
Or maybe Budapest is just routing a bunch of proxies to your Kickstarter!
Or maybe Budapest is just routing a bunch of proxies to your Kickstarter!
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scapeit/skald-against-the-black-priory/posts/2529421
June 7, 2019Update #5
Stretch Goal Announced: The "Captain" Class
Wow!
We just blew through stretch goal number 1 in no time!
This means we get to explore what Lovecraftian horrors lie hidden beneath the eternal ice of the high north: "Mountains of Madness" style!
It also means that it's time for another stretch goal!
105.000 NOK: The "Captain" Class
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is intended to ship with five "canonical" classes (more on that soon - I promise). If we reach 105.000 NOK I will design a sixth class: "The Captain". The Captain is a combat based class with strong leadership skills and expert maritime and navigational skills.
This should make for some interesting combat gameplay as the Captain combines his excellent swordsmanship with his keen tactical sense, allowing him to inspire and coordinate the rest of the party.
As a game with a strong maritime component, the Captain should also add plenty of opportunity for adventuring as you explore the game world by sea: Trading, smugling and daring the dangers that inhabit the black depths of the ocean.
The game will also include a recruitable NPC with the Captain class.
Finally I'm scrambling to get a short post ready about the classes and abilities of the game and I also hope to start making short video blog segments where I describe aspects of gameplay in more detail.
Have an amazing weekend!
AL
Scape-IT
zwanzig_zwoelf
Graverobber Foundation
Hi! Yeah I'm concerned that $12 might honestly be high to certain demographics :-/ I might need to look into that.
I found out where the Hungarian traffic was coming from thou: A Hungarian online newspaper printed a short piece on the game
Huzza! SKALD is now on its way towards its THIRD stretch-goal! Check out the third stretch goal here!
Also, I was in a horrible day-job meeting the other day and I wisely spent my time writing a particle system to work within the SKALD draw-pipeline! Mmmmm "exploded rat"
Also, I was in a horrible day-job meeting the other day and I wisely spent my time writing a particle system to work within the SKALD draw-pipeline! Mmmmm "exploded rat"
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scapeit/skald-against-the-black-priory/posts/2532813
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scapeit/skald-against-the-black-priory/posts/2535462
Freebie: The SKALD Demo Soundtrack
Who loves freebies? Everybody!
Backers from "Freeman" tier and up get the SKALD alpha-demo in July. This demo comes complete with it's own awesome chip-tune soundtrack by the amazing Surt Romanus!
As a courtesy to all SKALD fans, backers and supporters we're now releasing the soundtrack for free!
Check it out on Bandcamp today!
Have a great day!
AL
Scape-IT
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scapeit/skald-against-the-black-priory/posts/2535462
Stretch Goal Announced: Adler’s Helm
Hello backers!
The Kickstarter just reached its second stretch goal (105.000 NOK / 12.000 USD) and I'm now bringing you a sixth class to the game: the captain!
Even better: That means I now get to announce the third stretch goal for when we reach 120.000 NOK / 13.800 USD!
The Port of Adler's Helm
Adler's Helm is the northern-most Imperial provincial capital and the seat of Imperial power in the north. It's also the jumping-off point for the expedition to Idra and the Black Priory!
By adding Adler's Helm to the game, I finally get to make the game a three act piece: from the bleak isle of Idra, to the streets of Adler's Helm and the frozen hellscape of the high North!
So if you want to see SKALD: Against the Black Priory become the game it's meant to be, now is the time to help spread the word!
See you all in Alder's Helm!
AL
Turns out I got some media exposure at a Hungarian news site (index.hu or somesuch thing). This caused a lot of people to stream to the campaign. But oh so low conversion rates
Hi again guys!
I'm rambling about classes and stats on the SKALD devlog! Feel free to check it out!
SKALD is also on Discord so feel free to drop by if you want to hand out
Have a good one ;-)
I'm rambling about classes and stats on the SKALD devlog! Feel free to check it out!
SKALD is also on Discord so feel free to drop by if you want to hand out
Have a good one ;-)
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https://www.skaldrpg.com/2019/06/classes-and-stats/Classes and Stats
In SKALD: Against the Black Priory you create a single character and then recruit the rest of the party as you go. The game uses classes, numerical stats and feats combined with level based advancement to flesh out its characters. Creating a robust and balanced system for character development is challenging (and immensely rewarding) and I’m going to take my time getting it right.
In other words, this blog-post is a rough draft where we exploring how the character system might look for SKALD: Against the Black Priory.
Nothing wrong with some good old fashion D&D-style classes!
Design Goals and Pillars
As with any design task, it’s always a good idea to set down a few basic pillars and goals to guide the work ahead.
The primary goal for the character system might be something like:
“Character creation and development allows players to express themselves creatively whilst making interesting mechanical choices concerning their character.”
In other words: A player should be able to envision a character (within the games setting) and then create and play that character in-game.
Pillars of Eternity made a lot of interesting design-choices for character development. Some less successful in my opinion.
For design-pillars I’ve chosen these for now:
Balance: Each class should be equally playable. There should be no “dump-stats” or skills. The game should accommodate a wide range of builds and each ability should have something to offer each class.
Transparency: The player should have access (preferably in-game) to all the information required to make meaningful decisions when making, and developing, a character.
Narrative Impact: The choices the players make in character creation should matter in-game. There must be plenty of opportunities to use skills and abilities, and your class should matter in the narrative.
Scalability: The level system should have no “hard” upper level cap. That is, no upper level limit beyond which the system breaks. That’s not to say that the system won’t have a “sweet spot” level-range, within which play is particularly enjoyable. It just means that the system is not mechanically upward limited.
I would also like to refer all my readers to Josh Sawyer’s (Obsidian Entertainment) excellent video on attribute tuning in Pillars of Eternity.
Ability Scores
At the moment I’m working with five ability scores:
Strenght: Physical strength and brawn. Affects your ability to do melee damage and your skill in athletics (jumping, climbing, swimming etc.).
Agility: Speed, reflexes and finesse is determined by agility. Affects dodging, initiative, hit-chance and fine-motor skills like thievery.
Fortitude: Physical and mental toughness. Affects willpower, hit points and resistances.
Intellect: Mental faculties. Affects several skills as well as spell-casting. Might also affect how many skill-points you get and perhaps an XP-bonus.
Presence: A measure of your attention to your surroundings and your place within them. Affects your ability to interact with people and animals as well as your perception and attention to detail. Also affects leadership.
Bard’s Tale 3
There is a tendency for “physical” abilities to become overly powerful (especially at lower levels) in RPGs due to combat being prevalent, with the mental abilities becoming dump-stats for many character builds.
As a result I chose to go with five abilities as opposed to the more typical six. I find that three physical and two “mental” abilities seem more balanced whilst still allowing for a range of expression. Furthermore it’s a easier to make each ability relevant to every class with fewer abilities.
Post character creation, ability scores advance very slowly.
Classes
I want SKALD: Against the Black Priory to feature basic classes that are recognizable enough to provide a foundation upon which to build the character you want.
Beyond that I want a lot of flexibility as the game progresses with few (if any) class-exclusive skills or feats. Classes should encourage certain builds, but I like the idea of not imposing too many limitations.
The six classes in “Against the Black Priory” are as follows:
Did someone say min-max? Good thing that Charisma is set to 19!
Warrior: Soldiers, sell-swords and mercenaries. They excel at combat, dealing large amounts of damage (often to multiple targets).
Rogue: Thieves, assassins and swashbucklers. Rogues are stealthy and excel at using skills to perform tasks. In combat, rogues are more based on maneuvers than soldiers are: backstabbing, flanking, ham-stringing, disarming and all round fighting dirty.
Cleric: The holy men and women of the Empire draw upon their devotion to channel the divine power of their deity. From ascetic monks to armored battle-priests, clerics play different roles on the battlefield: Healers, support-casters or front line fighters.
Wizard: Chartered Imperial Wizards or rogue hedge-mages. Wizards harness the corrupting arcane energies of magic. A wizards magic is powerful and devastating (sometimes to friend and foe alike).
Skald: Part of an ancient, dying tradition, skalds are the wandering bards and storytellers that preserve the lore of the myriad cultures assimilated by the Empire. A life spent roaming the breath of the Empire and beyond, makes the skalds jacks of all trades. They excel at inspiring their allies in combat and bolster their party with both magic and a strong sword arm.
Captain: In “Against the Black Priory”, captains are the smugglers, pirates, merchants and officers of the Northern Isles. As expert sailors, leaders and skilled fighters, they make an invaluable addition to any group adventuring in the north!
Skills
Skills are learned and improve over time (whereas abilities are more innate).
The trick with skills is including many enough to provide granularity and range of expression whilst still having few enough that each skill gets screen time!
So many skills – some more useful than others!
I’m currently considering the following six skills:
The total score of a skill is calculated by adding up ranks in the skill with the score of one or two ability scores. Ranks are purchased as you gain levels.
- Athletics
- Diplomacy
- Lore
- Stealth
- Survival
- Thievery
Note that the game also contains secondary abilities as well. These include stats like “Base Attack”, “Dodge” and initiative. They may look a bit like skills but they cannot be improved by spending skill points. In stead, they must be improved by using feats.
Feats
Many feats are combat related but there are also other types like adventuring feats (consume less food, ability to swim, more carry capacity) or narrative feats (guild memberships, special allies, access to more equipment etc).
Whilst skills and abilities add numerical values to you character, feats allow you to break rules (in a sense). Feats are selected at certain intervals as you gain levels and allow you to customize you character by adding special talents. Think perks in Fallout.
Races and Backgrounds
Character creation in Ultima 4
At this point in development, the SKALD universe is human-centric. Demi-human do exist, but they are few and far between. As such humans will likely be the only race available in “Against the Black Priory”.
As a way of adding more definition to your character however, I intend to offer a selection of backgrounds. The backgrounds offer a small mechanical bonus and will, hopefully, tie in to the narrative as well.
More on that down the line.
That’s it for now!
It’s worth repeating that this is a work in progress and it might look very different a year from now.
As always, I would love to hear from you if you have questions or comments. Feel free to reach out on twitter or get in touch at (contact at skaldrpg dot com)! Most importantly: SKALD is on Kickstarter till July 3rd and we would love to have your support!
Have a great day!
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