52 réponses à ce sujet

[B.A. Broska]

To be honest I have been a little underwhelmed by most modern RPGs so I have decided to give the classics a go starting with Arcanum to find out what made these games so great? Is it nostalgia or do these games do something that modern RPGs just don't do? Lets find out!

 

For starters lets introduce our hero, A dwarven mercenary with a bad attitude and an itchy trigger finger going by the name of B.A. Broska.

 

 

Starting stat allocation is 4 points into dex with one point in throwing

 

 

Current belongings. A pair of lockpicks, a throwing stick from the Down Underverse, 126 gold and a small tuxedo.

 

 

Feel free to make any suggestions, currently I plan to focus on lockpicking, firearms and the explosives tech discipline, still have not decided who my companion will be if I even have one at all, of course Dog will be accompany me but since he does not count against the follower limit I still have room for 1 companion (given my low charisma) and I am not sure who it should be.

 

I will post updates when I complete them.

 

Edit: Now on Youtube

[Dominus]

Cool. I've only played an elven mage, so it'll be neat to see how the Arcanum Universe reacts to the short stuff with high a tech focus.

[Dominus]

An old friend told me a bit about playing ranged in arcanum. Expensive, but very fun. We'll find out in the topic, it seems.

Feel free to make any suggestions.

Face the stillwater giant.

[Fast Jimmy]

I've played every race in Arcanum save half-ogre or dwarf. Subscribed - I want to see where this goes.

Also, curious how P Schuyler & Sons section plays out as a dwarf... for obvious reasons.

[A Crusty Knight Of Colour]

Subbed.

[Fast Jimmy]

That dude is like the biggest "BFF" ever.
 
You meet him once, have a conversation then 10mintutes later he's like "we're brothers in blood and battle!"
 

Well, actually, I was referring to

Spoiler

the whole thing where the Schuyler boys are using a small army of undead dwarves for their personal butlers...

...but yeah, Magnus is a bro's bro, for sure.

[B.A. Broska]

Chapter 1: Crash and Burn 

 

1st day of the 1st month, 1885

 

 

God damnit, all my stuff was in there.

 

As I search through the wreckage for my belongings and anything of use I find a dead gnome lying amid the debris. As I am searching his pockets for valuables he suddenly springs to life and grabs me by the arm.

 

 

I try to brush him off but he keeps babbling about the evil and a boy and his ring. In his final moment he hands me a ring and tells me to find the boy and that he will know what to do then dies. As I pocket the ring I hear a noise behind me.

 

DING DONG

 

"Hello, my name is Acolyte Virgil, and I would like to share with you the most amazing book!"

 

[B.A. Broska]

Great, just what I need, a Mormon

 

I try to explain that I am not interested in learning about his religion but the lad is persistent insisting that I am the re-incarnation of the "Living One" and that he needs to take me to see his mentor Elder Joachim.

 

 

It is only after the threat of violence is made that the lad finally takes the hint

 

 

After having let the Mormon down gently I decide it would be a good idea to search the wreckage for my lost belongings and anything that can be of use, I notice I still have my throwing stick with me which should be handy should I need to fend off wolves as well as some lockpicks and some gold but what I could really use right now is a gun, hopefully I will find one among the wreckage.

 

No such luck however, while I am able to find a rusty flintlock and some ammo in an abandoned cave (as well as the spirit of somebody who claims to have been cursed) in it's current state it would more than likely blow up in my hand than shoot straight, I am better off with my throwing stick for now and hopefully I can find some better weapons in a nearby town.

 

As I prepare to leave the crash site a hooded figure blocks my path

 

 

I try turning the question on him but it does not go very well and the stranger decides to attack me, after lodging my throwing stick between his eyes I search his corpse and find an amulet with the symbol of an eye in the middle of a hexagam and take it as a trophy.

 

Feeling that there is nothing more I can do here at the moment I set off for the nearest town which just so happens to be Shrouded Hills.

 

On leaving the crash site my character has reached level 3 and had 2 points spent in lock picking.

[B.A. Broska]

On the way to Shrouded Hills I encounter a house.

 

 

Noticing the blood stain on the floor and that the house in a state of disarray I decide to investigate.

 

"Looks like you had one hell of a party" I say to the wounded Half Elf Priest, he replies by telling me about 2 robbers that he cursed. Apparently the fool took pity on 2 vagabonds who then thanked him by murdering his family and stealing his sacred artifact. Being the good samaritan that I am and figuring that there would be a reward involved I offer to help the priest retrieve the artifact he had lost.

 

Noticing that I had already met the spirit of one of these bandits before I decide to head back to the crash site to interrogate the spirit about the location of his friend and the artifact, with a few well placed lies I promise if the ghost tells me where the artifact is that I will convince the priest to release him from his torment, after the spirit gives up the location of his partner I tell him the truth that I have no intention of having him released from the curse and that he is stuck there forever.

 

After a bit of searching I finally find the shack where the spirit's partner is hiding, after digging my throwing stick into the bandits skull I take the artifact from his corpse and return to the priest.

 

After returning the artifact to the priest the priest tells me that it is time for my reward, he then begins to wave his arms in the air and tell me that his reward for me is his blessing. Slightly confused by the display I ask the priest if he has a more "material" reward like perhaps gold as I am not sure how his arm waving really helps me on my journey. He replies by telling me that his blessing is more valuable than gold and it will make people respond more favorably to me in the future, it is at this point I realize that the priest has clearly lost his marbles and that it would be much kinder to re-unite him with his family.

 

 

Deciding that he no longer has any use for it I reclaim the artifact off his corpse and continue my journey hoping to get a good price for the artifact at shrouded hills.

[B.A. Broska]

An old friend told me a bit about playing ranged in arcanum. Expensive, but very fun.

 

Yeah that is what the lockpicks are for

[L. Han]

This looks interesting. It actually looks quite good, all things considered.

 

Does this play like Icewind Dale? In terms of stats, mechanics, etc.

[Fast Jimmy]

Broska, I could only give one Like for the Book of Mormon reference, so I went ahead and liked every single post on the thread so far. Well done.

[B.A. Broska]

7th day of the 1st month 1885

 

By the time I reached Shrouded Hills my character had reached level 4 and had an additional point spent in lock picking.

 

I have finally arrived in Shrouded Hills and it is currently 2:00 in the morning, everyone is asleep and perhaps I can use this opportunity to "acquire" some new gear, now to find the armoury.

 

After a moment of searching I come across a Blacksmith store.

 

 

Close enough I suppose, picking the lock to the back room I find the Blacksmith snoring away in his bed completely oblivious to the theft that is about to take place beneath his roof. Opening the lock on his storage chest I find a good supply of weapons and armour as well as a substantial ammount of gold and ammo.

 

 

Pocketing the gold I also take the hunting rifle, a set of small leather armour and a pair of gloves as well as the ammo. Unsatisfied with the take from this store I move to the store next door, a general store called Slim Pickins. The story is the same here with the halfling owner snoring obliviously to my pilfering. After taking anything that may be of use to me I decide it would be best to find an inn and rest till 8:00.

 

Unfortunately the only inn in town happened to be the Shrouded Hills Inn, on asking for a room for the week the Innkeeper had the nerve to charge me 210 gold (5 gold extra per night due to my lice problem), reluctantly I handed over the gold and headed to my room only to find 2 dead bodies in my room.

 

 

To think the nerve of charging 210 gold for a room and he could not even clear the previous tenants out, oh well I am too tired to think about it now, nothing good on the previous tenants other than the same amulets with a hexagrams as the hooded figure at the crash site was wearing and a note on the floor addressed to some guy called Virgil. Perhaps in the morning I can find a buyer for this ring and golden artifact.

 

Takings from the thefts are 1 hunting rifle, 1 small leather armour, chainmail gloves, 265 arrows, 315 bullets, 20 units of fuel, 1861 gold and various potions and salves.

[B.A. Broska]

Feeling reinvigorated after my brief nap I decide that it is time to find a buyer for this ring and idol.

 

After exploring Shrouded Hills for a bit I find a quaint little store called "Ristezze Imported Goods", surely the owner will be interested in the goods I have to sell.

 

"Greetings storekeep" I say as I walk through the door, "would you be interested in buying this fine silver ring or this golden artifact?"

 

 

Well that was uncalled for

 

 

.......................

 

 

While negotiations on price did not go exactly as planned you should always look for the silver lining in these situations, taking the key from the shop owner's corpse I decided to take a look in the back room, sure enough there was at least 1500 gold coins just ripe for the taking and checking his file cabinet I found a telegraph from P. Schuyler and Sons detailing the sale of a ring, on closer inspection of the ring handed to me by the gnome I found the same maker's mark inscribed on the band. Also in the file cabinet was a map showing the location of P. Schuyler and Sons and the city of Tarrant, perhaps I should go there and find out more about the ring and how much it is worth before selling it off, but first I think I should see if there is any work to be found in Shrouded Hills.

[B.A. Broska]

This looks interesting. It actually looks quite good, all things considered.

 

Does this play like Icewind Dale? In terms of stats, mechanics, etc.

 

Probably closer to Fallout, while there are slight attribute and skill bonuses depending on what race and background you choose there are no classes and how you build your character is completely up to you, the game also allows for a lot of freedom in how you accomplish certain things and objectives depending on how you build your character from straight up dumb muscle who bludgeons his way through everything to the smooth talking magician with high charisma and an entourage of followers to do everything for him.

[Fast Jimmy]

While negotiations on price did not go exactly as planned...

This is going to be a lot of fun.

[Cyonan]

I just started a new game myself as a charismatic/beautiful Elven mage.

 

I actually had no idea you could just leave Virgil sitting there at the crash site. I'm interested to see how things play out without him.

[Fast Jimmy]

I just started a new game myself as a charismatic/beautiful Elven mage.

I actually had no idea you could just leave Virgil sitting there at the crash site. I'm interested to see how things play out without him.

I'm tempted to fire up a play through myself now (although Lord knows I have enough distractions and half-finished projects). And it's one of the amazing things about Arcanum - while it doesn't have huge, winding paths for each choice, the amount of choices it really offers is insane.