Empire Faction Story Outline: Old Realms Mod (Summary)

Design Data & Philosophy:

Character – Custom player-made Avatar
Three Act Structure
Player builds their own story with optional engagement
Players should never be ‘locked’ into decisions or quest-chains
Average playtime early to late game = 100 hours (Based on Vanilla)
Key Features: Quests, Dialogue Chains, Player decisions, Faction politics and world events

Act 1: Early Game & Free Roam

The early stages of the game revolve around the concept of ‘optional’ secondary narrative experiences, such as side quests and world-building quests, and the setup so that the player can enter into the main storylines prepared.

Opening into a free-roam world of great size, the player’s character creation decisions dictate where they spawn in the overworld but AT NO POINT start any form of quest line – the player must personally opt into starting their own stories, as the primary focus behind the mod is to create a world for the player to build their own story.

Early narrative and dialogue interactions revolve around two themes:

Side Quests – These numerous variations of minor quest chains will have the player interacting with the world and characters of the world, including Tavern NPC’s, Lords, Companions, etc, to perform fetch quests and build up their skills

Entry stage profession quests: The player will have access to the earliest stages of a narrative quest-chain that will lead them down a select profession, such as becoming a Wizard, Witch Hunter or even Vampire. These chains will not lock the player in at any point and will take similar form to Side Quests except for heavier narrative components, access to memorable NPC’s and the first narrative player choices.

Player abilities access:

During this early stage (10-30 hours), the player will primarily focus on establishing themselves within the world, completing quests and fighting to raise their skill levels and earn money. During this stage, the narrative focus will be to draw the players into minor world events, such as unique named NPC’s hunting for the player or terrorising the map, and to give them the space to build their own story and find their path.

At this stage, players will have access to all of our custom systems, such as our own-built Magic System, Religious System and the freedom to dedicate themselves to a profession or faction.

The end goal of Act 1 is to situate the player so that he/she is ready to engage with the start of the custom narrative experience, working their way from the earliest stages of being a ‘nobody’ into an end-game character that has shaped the world around them through dialogue decisions and combat.

Act 1: Empire Story Entry Point:

NPC: The Player must interact with a character found within the capital of Stirland; this character is the entry point for the story-chain.

Player Requirements:

Minimum level 10 to access the NPC
Minimum party size of 15+
Minimum clan renown of 100+

Upon meeting these requirements, the player will access the NPC and begin the narrative quest-chain.

Outline Summary:
Stage 1: Establishing Trust

The player must foray into Sylvania, a land filled with the undead, and inspect suspicious circumstances. The player will arrive at scenes that include a pilfered graveyard and a campfire of butchered travellers and will eventually hunt down a roaming necromancer, causing havoc.

Stage 2: Building Connections

Not all is as it seems or should be; too many are used to the dark rumours of Sylvania to want to admit they exist, and so it is now up to the player to foray even deeper into the cursed lands to acquire the necessary proof that a growing threat is stirring. The player will be required to enter a crypt, inspect a location within a Sylvanian city, clear a bandit camp and finally fight a named NPC vampire leading a small force of undead

During this progression, a side-narrative opens, hinting towards something even worse on the horizon. as the player investigates matters surrounding the undead, he/she also stumbles upon a cult looking to bring about a strange unknown creature that has no relation to necromancy.

Stage 3: The Choice

Upon bringing the acquired proof to the named NPC, the player is brought to the faction leader of Stirland to present himself. Given the choice to then dedicate himself to this lord and the defence of Stirland against the undead, the player can either choose to continue the story (but is then temporarily locked into it) or delay it and join later (with no consequences for the delay).

This is the onset of the narrative build-up towards the mid-game; as such, the player will be required to meet a certain set of new requirements to continue forward. Including higher renown, party size and the status of having joined the ‘faction’ of Stirland.