KickStarter Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - a Lovecraftian Computer RPG

[Excidium II]

What is the countdown on the site counting down to?

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lol rookie mistake.

 

[agris]

It's ok; the pitch, idea and art all look interesting. This is worth keeping tabs on, especially for someone who has actually read Lovecraft. He's a racist old fuck but some of his stories were great and when I read that a companion will be

a psychic narcissistic cat from Ulthar

one can't help but feel like the developers enjoyed his stories. Hell, maybe even read a lot of them!

 

[Scrawled]

Greetings Roqua. You will be creating one main character at the beginning of the game. Some backgrounds to choose from will be Soldier, Academician, Performer, Investigator and many more... Your can obtain two more companions for your party of three. Some of these companions will have invaluable benefits to your campaign while others will turn against you and will have other less than pleasant surprises in store for your character. It will all depend on how you handle your Belief systems, quests, dialogues and actions. You can let them join or you can let them go at certain times and places in the game. These actions will also have their positive and negative consequences. Some of these npcs will be quite human, others will the otherworldly. It all depends on where you want to take the game with your strategies and roleplaying. The number of "party-available" npcs are in abundance as you can see. But you need to progress in the game to see and experience all of them. As for the portraits, there will be many many more portraits once the game hits the demo stages. There is going to be something for everyone. We will even offer adapdations and interpretations of user/backer portraits if we reach our stretch goals in the Kickstarter campaign. So you can have any portrait you wish in the game if you are the backer of the appropriate kickstarter package. Our game is not a armor heavy game. Sometimes your protection will be supplied from the most unconventional and unorthodox of items, so do not expect "combat armor mk II" style power combat elements. Think of charms, talismans, jewelry, arcane technological items, futuristic steampunk inventions. Anything and everything to get your imagination going. It's the 1920's rural U.S.A. after all and besides; "What dimension are we in right now?". Your equipment slots will be numerous, do not worry about it. Think of it as an adventure game. You will be doing some stacking for crafting certain items and inventions but you won't be arranging everyone's equipment for 2 hours before you go into a big combat. However, it certainly will not be lite or casual. There will be plenty of inventory strategy and identification/research on many items your character does not understand or does not know what it's used for. I hope your questions are answered. Thank you for your time and feedback. Keep'em comin'.

This looks awesome. One question - you stated we create characters. Does this mean we create two of the three party members or just one? Do you have to take your companions or can I create three of my own?

Lastly, I hate to sound superficial, but lately I have been into portraits and downloading portrait packs and installing them into games. A few of the portraits I see look decent, but more would be better. I doubt portrait packs will work since it seems the portraits are the pictures of the character's onscreen. I like tough looking guys with angry faces, preferably not white but not ridiculously stereotypical dark blacks with big lips and afros. Since this is Lovecraft maybe a well muscled guy in a shadows with an angry face with an ambiguous race? Tough, mean looking, not scrawny, no weird facial hair, that is the ticket. No long haired hippies either. Also, maybe a guy with a crazy, unkempt and non-groomed wild beard sounds kind of fitting.

Also, how many equipment slots will there be? Please don't go rpg-lite in the equipment slot and itemization department.

 

[Scrawled]

Thank you everyone for your valuable comments. They are spot on and we will be considering them. We will be pushing new content nearly every day from now on. Keep the feedback comin'.

 

[Xathrodox86]

Art style is ace. Fighting Cthulhu is not. I'm still in tough, as there are not enough H.P themed games.

 

[ArchAngel]

Wow this art style. I am in love.

 

[Beowulf]

While I like the art style it doesn't really look like the 20's illustrations to me, except for the portraits perhaps.

And, as already mentioned - the combat with those monsters is a no go. Perhaps fighting some fish-men, mutated rats, giant worms or whatever.
But fighting Shoggoths or something similar should be a super tough boss fight. And best it be optional.

Other than that - good idea, I will be keeping tabs on this one.

 

[xxxCatholicKillahxxx]

Those are some big promises: Magic that is not just projectile weapons ELECTRIFIED. Few combat encounters which I read as quality vs. quantity. Robust character system.

Hopefully the setting will help you through your crowdfunding campaign. I wish you the best.

 

[tormund]

Art style is ace. Fighting Cthulhu is not.

Yeah, it's not like he was once sent back to slumber with a single harpoon blow from a distressed Norseman or something, right?

 

[Ulminati]

Interesting. I'll probably pass on the kickstarter unless you have some substantial gameplay to showcase already (and the showcased gameplay is good). But I'll definitely give the game a look-see once it is close to release. Like others have said, there aren't enough Lovecraftian games for the PC yet, and those we have seldom nail the feel of the books

 

[agris]

And, as already mentioned - the combat with those monsters is a no go. Perhaps fighting some fish-men, mutated rats, giant worms or whatever. But fighting Shoggoths or something similar should be a super tough boss fight. And best it be optional.

Scrawled this is good advice. If your audience has read Lovecraft, fighting Shoggoths, the weird star-fish shit from Mountains of Madness, and mini-cthulus is a no-go. Instead it would be more consistent with his writing to fight other humans, tribal people, werewolves, the undead, fishmen, that thing from The Lurking Fear, that weird tunneling shit from The Shunned House, witches or their evil rats like from The Dreams in the Witch House.

The point is, you can't use Lovecraft's crown gems in terms of evilness for anything other than the absolute toughest, destined-to-lose fights or your atmosphere suffers.

Also in English, Academician is Academic. (edit: Professor probably fits better though. Professor is the academician's academic)

 

[thesheeep]

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lol rookie mistake.

... or is it

 

[Scrawled]

A note from our designer:

"We'd like to share some notes about the design approach of "Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones" after reading some of your rightful concerns;

There are no giant tentacle fights or ludicrous hyper boss fights or sorts in the game.

We do not endorse player in to fighting. If it happens to be the last choice, the primary goal will be escaping the battle with minimal damage after wearing out the enemy to a certain level.

Stygian embraces the design philosophy of "enduring", instead of winning. If you are alive and sane (or almost) be content.

It will be very difficult to eliminate enemies like the Star Spawn or the Dark Young but those creatures aren't so rare anymore after the Black Day which refers to the wake of the Old Ones.

In Stygian you gain combat XP according to the amount of damage you deal to the enemy entities, you do not have to eliminate them to become stronger.

Are those hard design choices? Yes. Will this withhold us from trying our best to create the tightest experience? We're working our asses off on this Thanks for your valuable feedback!"



Can Oral
Lead Designer
Cultic Games

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

These locations look a little off due to the lack of shadows.

 

[tormund]

the weird star-fish shit from Mountains of Madness, )

I wouldn't put them in the same rank. They are just another sentient race, much more advanced that us but in Mountains of Madness you see that they are every bit as capable of decline, fucking up and getting themselves killed as humans are...

 

[Scroo]

Looks very interesting. I'd love a good lovecraftian rpg

 

[janior]

My body is ready.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Woot, came here to post about this one but ninjad by developers.

Obligatory nationalism!

 

[Pope Amole II]

I guess now Styg has no choice but to name his next game "Cultic". Especially once you consider the clash of the backgrounds here.

 

[karnak]

A note from our designer:

"We'd like to share some notes about the design approach of "Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones" after reading some of your rightful concerns;

There are no giant tentacle fights or ludicrous hyper boss fights or sorts in the game.

We do not endorse player in to fighting. If it happens to be the last choice, the primary goal will be escaping the battle with minimal damage after wearing out the enemy to a certain level.

Stygian embraces the design philosophy of "enduring", instead of winning. If you are alive and sane (or almost) be content.

It will be very difficult to eliminate enemies like the Star Spawn or the Dark Young but those creatures aren't so rare anymore after the Black Day which refers to the wake of the Old Ones.

In Stygian you gain combat XP according to the amount of damage you deal to the enemy entities, you do not have to eliminate them to become stronger.

Are those hard design choices? Yes. Will this withhold us from trying our best to create the tightest experience? We're working our asses off on this Thanks for your valuable feedback!"



Can Oral
Lead Designer
Cultic Games

I think you should include some way in which the player characters could get new "powers" and abilities based on what they suffer during the game (like Darkest Dungeon).
Characters could become insane due to the chaos around them, thus getting physically stronger but also more chaotic or unable to perform other actions.
Or they could obtain magic powers, due to their meddling in ocult studies. But that same occult knowledge would transform their bodies and minds, making them less human and more "other things".

In the end, we could get an entire party of "heroes" which would be more cosmic horrors than humans. Maybe the characters could even fight against rival factions of Old Ones in order to become masters of the world.

 

[ragnor]

Nice to see an another Turkish game here! Good luck with the project. I may not be too keen on Cthulhu stuff but i love the combat screens in style of Heroes 2-3.

 

[lightbane]

Yeah, it's not like he was once sent back to slumber with a single harpoon blow from a distressed Norseman or something, right?

Indeed. Contrary to popular belief, some of Lovecraft's stories have the heroes winning, sometimes without suffering major drawbacks! In fact, even Conan killed an eldritch abomination or two, but then again he's the goddamn Conan the Cimmerian. Nevertheless, this game holds potential.

 

[cherry blossom]

Woot, came here to post about this one but ninjad by developers.

Obligatory nationalism!

So how is nationalism working out for you what with the army massacring civillians in the east and the state and the police cooperating with the islamic militants? Personally, I'd be more than a little shy to display symbols of nationalism but that's me.

 

[octavius]

I read that a companion will be

a psychic narcissistic cat from Ulthar

I like the sound of that.

 

[Riskbreaker]

I read that a companion will be

a psychic narcissistic cat from Ulthar

I like the sound of that.

Would be even better if there was a quest that involves said cat having a zoog NPC (or two) for a snack.