Me? I cut my teeth on computer RPGs via the Commodore 64 back in the day. Sure, I had AD&D, but what about those hours where the rest of the group wanted to do things like eat, sleep, go to school and other useless crap? That's why I had all of the Ultimas, Bard's Tale, the AD&D SSI series of games, Wizardry, some really cool SSI game that I think had Darkness in it's title and had props like found map fragments and stuff but it kept on crashing on my C-64 ARRGH!
Where was I? Oh yeah, I really had fun with the Old School Style RPG computer games, so I'm kicking in to this kickstarter.
Some bits from the site:
Legendary, award-winning RPG designers and game industry veterans Brenda Brathwaite and Tom Hall are teaming up to create a classic, old-school RPG reminiscent of the true masterworks in the genre!
Brathwaite got her start on the classic Wizardry® series of role-playing games, having worked on every award-winning game in the series, before moving on to work on Dungeons & Dragons®, while Tom Hall's visionary design on Commander Keen™, Anachronox™ and DOOM™ set the standard for character development, world design and over-the-top immersion. We want to get back to our roots and create an old-school game worthy of 30 years of RPG fan devotion.
Gather your bearings and belongings, leave town, and embark on a journey in a world that seems at once welcoming and friendly... until you meet its dark side!
THE CHARACTERS
Characters: Create a group of up to 4 characters, choosing from multiple races and professions.
Skills: Balance your characters' strengths, weaknesses and skills, knowing each of them affects play.
Progression: Gain experience and gain levels to hone your characters to your exact liking.
Recruitable Characters: Hire NPCs to work with you, if you trust them, or allow them to hire you to be their guide.
Character Extensions (Stretch Goal): Wrestle with the old-school favorites from back in the paper days - alignment, age, rank and randomly-rolled temperament.
THE WORLD
Exploration: Explore a richly detailed world, home to unique, dangerous and sometimes crafty creatures who may be friend or foe.
Treasure: Loot castles, caverns and dungeons and defeat hordes of creatures in a world where your skill and cunning are key.
NPCs: At least five known NPC races call this world home. Forge alliances with them and do their bidding - or be their undoing.
Quests: Solve hundreds of quests on your way to discovering and uncovering the secrets of the world.
Multiple Endings: The smallest of intentions sometimes matters far more than you know. It is a world alive with memories.
Multiple Beginnings (Stretch Goal): The endings in one game affect the beginnings in another. Import your characters from one world to another.
Combat: Turn-based combat harkens back to the days when spells and swords hit hard and last-second healing spells saved the day.
NPC Enemies (Stretch Goal): What once was a relatively peaceful world becomes much more dangerous not only for you, but for those who live there. New NPCs come complete with an expanded game area and quests.
... AND MORE
Super Hardcore Mode (Stretch Goal) : Challenge yourself with Permadeath mode, no-save option and some optional but barely beatable bosses with the loot to prove their worth.
Pen & Paper RPG ($60 Reward Tier): Gather around a table and enjoy playing Old School RPG the seriously, really old school way.
Two Games, One Kickstarter ($1.9M Stretch Goal): Brenda and Tom make different, separate RPGs with unique worlds, quests and characters.
It's exactly the type of RPG we love to make and to play! We’ll put into the game all the passion we summoned for the award-winning RPGs we've worked on, and take you along for the ride. Even the mere mention of “old-school RPG” fills you with ideas, and we can’t wait to hear them!
You gain exclusive access to our forums where Tom and Brenda will chronicle every phase of the game’s development and invite your feedback into the game’s design.
You vote on design decisions when the team needs your input.
You receive regular video updates.
... and all the Kickstarter rewards to boot!
SSI produced both Realms of Darkness and Pools of Darkness, the latter one of the AD&D Gold Box games. There's also Darklands, but that was never on the C64.
ReplyDeleteRealms of Darkness is the one.
ReplyDeleteDamn thing constantly crashed, and in the end never loaded, but the few times it worked, it was awesome :)
Holy cow...I met both of them on different occasions back in the late 80's/early 90's during my Con days. Yay...another Kickstarter to contribute to....!
ReplyDeleteThis is the Kickstarter project I want the most, yet I'm kind of worried this won't make it. At the current pace, I don't think it will.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I certainly know her, I'm not sure Brenda Brathwaite is a household name. And I must confess, I have no idea who the other guy is, or the RPG he made.