The Story Citadel
a) A brief description of the process you used to create your adventure. Include any brainstorming notes, etc.
1. I search the Internet for the basic knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons and I looked for materials from Dungeons and Dragon, for example, basic three books, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide. After I read them I found out what I should design in my adventure game.
2. I played a standard set tabletop roleplaying board game, Wrath of Ashardalon which is a board game that comes from the Dungeons and Dragons. In this game, every basic element has already be designed, includes characters, skills, traps, monsters, maps and winning condition. This game makes me understand how to run the battle phase in a tabletop roleplaying game with the dice system.
3. I search for the commercial products which have already been published for game inspiration. And I found out the story mainly comes from the Dungeons and Dragon, Call of Cthulhu and SCP. So I decided to build my adventure from a Japanese animation because it is better for me to design something I am quite familiar with.
4. I search my mines of memories trying to find some games which also has animations or movies which means the franchise already has their own world which would be easy to learn the settings and rules of the world and transform them into my game. I get different choices, for example, Gundam, Fate and Three Kingdoms Romance.
5. I chose Fate as my world because the character in this game is all comes from historic or famous legends which would be easy for the player to become the character because the player already has a certain impression by the legends and historic knowledge.
6. I search every famous battle and characters in the animation and the game Fate GO to find the characters for my guest. I choose saber because the player shares the same hairstyle of the Altoria. I choose the lance because Trace is the same as handsome as the lancer. I choose the Iskandar because I think this character is very famous among western culture and it would be helpful for the players to guess the name according to the clues.
7. After I get the characters I begin to design the battle system and thinking about how to transfer the characters into “Roleplaying 101” system. I get the game inspiration from Fate GO. I implemented a cord pool system in this game to make the battle has more strategy. Besides, I try to use the different angle from the character set to match every behavior in the game. For example, in my game, the ability can be divided into six angles: Strength, Agility, Mana, Endurance, Charisma, and Luck. Endurance will affect the armor and Luck will provide the game more random element which makes the game more fun. And the heroes usually have better luck than normal people which is also a reference to real life.
8. After I finished the battle system I begin to work on the story. I choose a classic hero's journey story and the winning condition is to kill the final boss. During this story, the saber will meet a character who is lance lot, and in that battle, the Lancelot will only attack the saber so that makes the battle very intensive players can feel that the story is better because it is a designed story. On the other hand, I add four battles in the story, they are all different from each other, which prevent the story from becoming boring.
9. After I finished the story I put my attention on the puzzle design part. I try to implement different types of puzzles in my game and I want to make sure that the essence of every puzzle in my game is different so that player can have a better interest curve between different puzzles. I tried the item collection puzzle, the maze puzzle, the name guessing puzzle, and battle puzzle.
b) All notes, maps, illustrations, descriptions, etc. that you created for the purpose of running your adventure.
Notes:
Character settings:
Saber Artoria Pendragon
Artoria is a girl wears a blue long dress with gold hair. Combining this description and the basic clue in the clue list of the third puzzle, the player will figure out how to choose their own equipment after they finished the first puzzle and see all items in the locked room. After they divide the equipment correctly, the player will receive a picture of their character which will help them to experience the game battle. Here is the picture of Saber.
Rider Iskandar
Iskandar is a man wears a brown leather jacket with red hair. Combining this description and the basic clue in the clue list of the third puzzle, the player will figure out how to choose their own equipment after they finished the first puzzle and see all items in the locked room. After they divide the equipment correctly, the player will receive a picture of their character which will help them to experience the game battle. Here is the picture of Rider.
Lance Diarmuid Ua Duibhne
Diarmuid is a man wears green leather clothes with black hair. Combining this description and the basic clue in the clue list of the third puzzle, the player will figure out how to choose their own equipment after they finished the first puzzle and see all items in the locked room. After they divide the equipment correctly, the player will receive a picture of their character which will help them to experience the game battle. Here is the picture of Lancer.
Enemy Setting:
Berserker Lancelot
Lancelot is a berserker will appear with standing on an F22 because of his power, a knight does not die with empty hands, which also means he can control or use everything he touched and transform them into weapons. Because of the legends, Lancelot will only attack the saber and he will try to find everything he can touch in the battle scene as the weapon. So that players can try to destroy the F22 and try to stop him from getting weapons. After he dies, he will give a clue to the saber because they come from the same legends.
Caster Gilles de Rais
Gilles is a caster who is the final boss in this game. He is the reason why players are summoned. He killed many children and use the blood of the children to try to makes the Joan of Arc come bake to life. When he first appears in the first battle. He will use the magic book to keeps summoning small monsters to attack the player. If the player destroys the book the small monsters will stop move and attack. Besides, the caster will escape. The second battle happened in the sewage pipe, his mainly attack is the mental pollution. After the player kills the Gilles in this battle, he will suddenly become blood and escape to the river and transform himself into the forbidden beast.
Forbidden Beast
This is the final battle, this battle is quite different from the previous battle. The forbidden beast will not attack in this battle, he will try to move to the destination and the players have to stop this forbidden beast. Besides, this monster has three special interactions with the NP from players. First, the NP of lancer can stop the beast for one turn and it can eliminate the magic shield so that the other NP can have an effect on this beast. Second, the NP of rider can summon thousands of soldiers to attack the beast at the same time so that the beast will lose the passive skill which means this beast cannot recover HP. Last but not least, if saber uses her NP Excalibur, she can just kill the beast no matter how many HP left. On the other hand, because the armor of this beast is zero which means every attack of the players will all hit which means this battle only focus on the damage and whether players can guess the name of their character right so that they use quite powerful NP to end the game. First Scene and Second Scene:
The first scene is the map below. In this scene, I drew a top view of a church which was the first place players was summoned. In the hall, there is a man who is the godfather and will give the story a brief introduction to players if the player wants to talk with him. Here I used the indirect control to illustrate that the player will talk to the first one they saw in the world. There is a statue behind the godfather and the description of this statue is that: A statue of Athena. The northwest room will give the clue about the caster is that they all lost their children and it is hard to find them again. And there is a statue with a crown in this room which will trigger the memory of saber. The northeast room will give the clue about the caster is that they all live near the river in the city. And there is a statue with a lance in this room which will trigger the memory of lancer. The southwest room will give the clue about the caster is that they saw a stranger always carried a thick books. And there is a statue with a knot on the hand in this room which will trigger the memory of the rider. After they put items on the Athena statue, the door of the southeast room will open and they can receive their items in the room. After that, they can went to the second scene.
The second scene is a mist forest maze. Player can hear the crying sound of the kid come from the center of the forest. Besides, they can also hear the sound of water come from the north. And the forest also is a puzzle. If saber and lancer use their weapon to interact with the fog, they will unlock the NP clue for their character. After player arrived the center of the forest, they will experience the first fight with the caster. At the beginning of the battle, the kid will run into the character and suddenly turn into the monster and wind the nearest character so that the character cannot move or attack during the winding. During this battle, the caster will only keep summoning monsters through his magic books. The number of monsters is determined by a D4 every turn. After the caster lost the book, the monster will all stop move and can be killed easily. The caster will escape if he lost the magic books.
Third Scene and Fourth Scene:
Third scene is the scene below. In this scene, there are 4 warehouses in this harbor area. The northwest warehouse will have a button to control the gate of the sewage pipe. The northeast structure is a crane which can be used to attack Lancelot during the battle. After the player find the button in the warehouse and learn how to press it. The gate of sewage pipe will open and after player went out of the warehouse, the battle will triggered and Lancelot will appear on the F22. During this battle, the player have to find a way jump to the F22 or use the crane to destroy the F22 to let the Lancelot falls into ground. Besides, in this battle Lancelot will only target saber and keeps attack her. After Lancelot dies, Saber can unlock a clue. This battle puzzle requires the player to interact with the surroundings. Besides, saber can use charisma ability to unlock other clues from Lancelot.
Fourth scene is the scene in the sewage pipe which is the scene at the top of the picture. After they open the gate, they will smell the blood and after they entering the pipe, they will found out the pipe was covered by monsters cannot move and attack. However they cannot move until they clear a path for the character. Here rider can use the horse to just rush through the pipe and this behavior will trigger the NP clue. After they arrived the center of the pipe. The roof are covered by collapse of kids which are not even complete. And they will face the caster again after they entered the caster’s room. The caster will be watching a crystal orb and saber will also unlock a clue here. During the battle, or after the battle, characters can use the orb to unlock all clues. Or every time the player pass the charisma exam they will unlock the clue from the caster. After caster dies, he will become a pool of blood and escape through the sewage pipe to the river which is the fifth scene.
Fifth Scene:
The fifth scene is the final scene of this game. This scene is a river long river and the caste was transformed in the center of the river and the caster is moving towards the city because he wants to kill and pollute everyone in the city. So the players have to defeat the final forbidden beast before the forbidden beast arrived in the city. During this battle, the beast will not attack, he can only move and if the monster moves four times the game will be over.
Items:
When players open the last room they will find the equipment which belongs to them during their lifetime. They have to divide the items correctly according to the basic clue of the characters, for example, they can divide items by colors and height. Here is the list of the items.
Saber:
A long sword decorated with blue flowers.
A metal armor decorated with blue flowers.
Rider:
A black tall horse with a short sword hung on the saddle
A red cloak
A brown leather armor
Lance:
A green leather armor
A red long lance
A short yellow lance
Battle Rules:
The battle system in this game can be divided into two phases. First phases, player roll a D20 to determine whether they succeed in hitting the enemy. If they pass the exam, they choose three color cards from their card pool, a different color will have different effects. The red color card will plus 2 damage each. The green color card will add one star to the character each. The blue color card will add one NP point and 1 damage to the character each. After that, they will calculate the damage by roll a D4. The final damage will become D4+Attack+Color Effect. The player can use their active skill any time during the battle but they can only once for each active skill. If a player has 20 NP points and has known the name of the character they use the NP. If a play has a star, he/she can choose to use stars to adjust the result of D20 to make a critical hit. For example, if they get the result of 18, and he can choose to play 2 starts to make it 20 and the attack will become the critical hit. During the critical hit, the damage will become twice and the player can get twice NP point and stars.
Card pool of Saber:
Card pool of Rider:
Card pool of Lancer:
Other Settings:
There are no potions in this world. So if the character dies, the player can use the item called order to bring the character back to life. However each player only has one order. Here is the picture of orders:
c) A step-by-step narrative detailing what your players did during your adventure.
1. The game begins when three players were summoned in a church in a Japanese city. Saber choose to talk to the godfather and asks what happened. And the godfather tells them the reason why they are summoned is that they have to stop the caster who has killed many people in this city and has destroyed the order of the grail war.
2. Saber tries to open the door at the northwest room and she passes the charisma check so that the people in the room tell her that they all lost their children in recent days. And they find there is a strange statue in this room with a shiny crown.
3. After Saber passes the mana check, she feels that this crown has a strong connection with her and the mana left on the crown reminds her of her memory in her lifetime so the crown unlocks the item clue of the character and she gets the item The Star Crown.
4. The rider tries to open the southwest door and after he passes the charisma check two people open the door and tell the rider that they saw a stranger carrying a big magic book before they lost their kids.
5. Even though rider does not pass the mana check during checking the room, he passes the luck check so that he suddenly noticed a statue with the knot on the hand. And the knot also reminds him of the memory that the traits on the knot seems produced by a sword he used. This item unlocks the item clue of the character and he gets the item Gordian Knot.
6. Lancer notices that there definitely a statue carrying an item belongs to him in the northeast room, so he tries to open the door while there are only several collapses behind the door. After the mana check with a natural 20, Lancer finds out that these people died of the bites of a monster with a big mouth. The injury becomes worse because of the water with magic remains in the body.
7. After that, Lancer goes to check the statue with a lance. And when he touches the lance, he suddenly realized that his weapon is a lance and the lance also reminds him of the memory when he makes a promise with his king. This item unlocks an item memory of this character and he gets this lance whose name is Knight's Oath.
8. After they put all items on Athena's statue, the statue bursts mana and the mana unlocks the door of the southeast room. They goes to open the door, then they see many items in the room. It seems that those items are summoned because of the mana burst.
9. According to the basic clue, saber chooses the weapon and the armor which have the blue flower on them. And because of the height of the rider, the rider chooses the tall black horse with s short sword. And because of the color of the jacket and hair, the rider also picks up the red cloak and the brown leather armor. After the rider and the saber get their equipment, the lancer chooses the two lances and the green armor. After they have equipped well, the feelings comes from the weapon bring them another memory about their lifetime. So that every character unlocks a clue of the character.
10. A citizen runs into the church and shout out: " the forest outside is covered by the magic mist!" So the players decide to go out to check the mist.
11. After they arrives at the entrance of the forest, they found out they can feel the wind went through a certain position, however, it is hard to find the exact position. Besides, they can hear a crying sound comes from the center of the forest.
12. After they find out the mist can transfer anything to the start point, they begin to find a solution to pass this forest.
13. First, they just keep walking until they are transferred to the start point and they write down the direction and the ties they went through. After they finishes the first one-third maze, they find out they can use a small rock to help them to find the path. Because rider is the character has the biggest strength so that rider keeps throwing the rock to help them to get the path. However, the rider cannot pass the luck check after several times he throws the rocks. They goes in the wrong direction and they have to start the maze again. And after the saber passes the luck check, the passive skill insight feeling triggers and saber can directly find the path for the second part of the one-third maze.
14. Saber tries to use the sword to touch the mist and see what will happen. After the saber passes both the mana check and the luck check. She finds out the sword in her hand is a holy sword and the sword removes all mist away. And the saber also unlocks the NP clue in the clue list.
15. The players decide to check the crying sound and they meet an ugly male with a kid who is crying. When the man who carries a big magic book saw saber, he suddenly loses his mind and considers the saber as his dream at his lifetime. However, the saber cannot recognize the man. Change map to the battle map.
16. The kid runs into the character and asks the player to save him. The rider decides to save the kid and moves to the kid. However, when the kid touches the rider, a monster comes out from the kid's body and wind the body of the rider.
17. When saber sees this she cannot hold the anger and she rushes into the man and ask the man to surrender. However, the saber cannot pass the charisma check so her order cannot have an effect on the man. After that, the man still introduces himself to the saber and he calls himself caster. And the persuasion between saber and caster trigger a clue of the saber.
18. After the memory, the player enters the battle phase, and caster summons two small monsters before the battle.
19. Because lancer has the highest agility so he can move at first. And he tries to attack the monster which winds the rider. The attack hit and the lancer uses the red, blue and blue card to generate the biggest damage. After this attack the rider is free.
21. After the rider is rescued by the lance, the rider rides the horse toward a monster and attack the monster with the short sword. This behavior deals 4 damage to the monster.
20. Saber tries to cut the caster's hand with the magic book and after she passes the agility check and the luck check, she succeeds in cutting off the hand. Because the caster loses the book he cannot control the small monsters and he has to escape to the north side.
21. After the caster leaves, the players kill the monsters which cannot move because the book was destroyed.
22. The players follow the caster and go to the outside of the forest. After they arrived at the harbor area. Saber begins to check the southeast warehouse. After she passes the mana check, she finds out the magic traits goes from the northwest side.
23. After they check the left warehouse step by step and they all pass the mana check so that they find out the mana trait comes from the gate of the sewage pipe. After the rider pass the luck exam, even though the rider lived thousands of years ago, he understands the function of the machine anyway. Besides, the theory brings the memory of his lifetime to him so that he unlocks a clue here. After he presses the button, the gate opens and the harbor area is full of the smell of blood.
24. After they leave the warehouse and decide to enter the pipe. They meet another knight who dressed in black armors and stands on an F22. After the knight sees the saber. They enter the battle phase. Change map to the battle map.
25. The lancer tries to climb the crane however he cannot pass the agility exam so that he falls down from the crane.
26. The rider also tries to climb the crane but he decides to use the tall black horse first, and because rider passes the agility exam, he succeeds in climbing to the operation house. And after the rider passes the luck exam, he also learned the modern knowledge about how to use the crane. However he cannot pass the agility exam, so he failed using the crane to destroy the F22.
27. Saber tries to climb the wall of the warehouse to shorten the distance between the knight and herself. However, she fails the agility exam so she falls down to the ground as well.
28. The knight only attacks saber and use the shotgun on the F22 deal 5 damages to the saber. However, this attack unlocks a clue of the saber because of the strong connection between the saber and the knight.
29. Lancer's turn, in this turn lancer, climbed the crane and jump to the F22 and because of the luck check and agility check. Lancer lands on the F22 as well and attacks the airplane.
30. The rider passes the agility check so that he uses the crane attack the F22 and destroy the airplane. So the knight falls down to the ground and loses 4 HP.
31. During the saber's turn, saber attack the knight however the armor of this knight is 17, and saber cannot pass the hit check, so the sword of saber only slip over the black armor.
32. Because of the knight loses the weapons, he runs into the lantern and try to use it as the weapon. However, the saber choose to stop this action. Even though she does not pass the agility check, she still passes the luck check. So she succeeds in stopping the knight to get the weapon.
33. Lancer attack the knight and deals damage successfully.
34. Rider wants to jump down to the ground, however, he cannot pass the agility check and the luck check, so he cannot land safely which means he hurt his horse and he cannot move this round.
29. Saber finally hit the knight and deals 8 damage to the knight.
30. The knight get the rod and throw the rod to the saber, however he cannot pass the hit check, which means he fails to hit the saber.
35. After attacks from every one, the knight dies and disappear.
36. Saber wants to check are there anything the knight left can become a useful item. Even though she passes the luck check. She still cannot understand how to use the materials to build a armor or sword.
37. Rider wants to carry the big hook and iron chains with him. After he passes the strength check, he get the item, iron chain and hook.
38. After they enters the pipe, they are faced with a large amount of monsters. Lancer and saber want to kill them all, however the rider says he wants to make sure these monsters are not transformed from children. However he cannot pass the mana check so he cannot understand whether these monster are children. So they just kill the all monsters before they arrive the chamber.
39. The players are shocked by the description of the chamber where are covered by the different parts of the collapses of children and blood.
40. They want to kill the caster right so they went to the inner room and they find the caster are seeing a crystal orb. They all receive a clue from the orb.
41. After the memory part, they enter the battle phase. Change map to the battle map.
42. Lancers and riders all use their weapon to attack the caster and they both succeed in reducing the HP from the caster. However, the saber uses the sword to make the caster to surrender again. Because the saber cannot pass the charisma check. The caster uses the orb observes the memory of the saber. And the caster unlocks a clue for the saber again. After the saber hear the name of Camelot, she suddenly remembers that her name is Altoria.
43. The caster uses the mental attack to attack everyone and the saber fails to pass the mana check so he reduces the HP of the saber by 7 points. During this attack, the rider also unlocks the memory because caster has already read their life by the orb. After that, the rider also remembers that his name is Alexander the Great.
44. Because of the caster has already near the death, the lancer begins to use the orb to receive the memory instead of attacking the caster. And he unlocks every clue for the character, however he still cannot remember what his name is.
45. During the rider turn, he attacks the caster and reduces the hp of the caster to 1.
46. The saber uses the orb and throw the orb to the caster. Because the saber passes the agility exam, the orb hit the caster and the orb become pieces of glass and the caster is killed by these glasses.
47. After the death of the caster, the cast become a pool of blood and escapes into the river and transform himself to a giant forbidden beast.
48. Before the players chase the caster, they all pass a luck check so that they find a mobile phone from the children’s body in the inner room and they use the mobile phone to get the name of the lancer.
49. After that they enter the battle phase. Change map to the battle map.
50. After the first round attack, the lancer finally has the enough NP point to use the NP, so that he uses the NP and this NP stops the movement of the beast and produced a large number of damages and also remove the magic shield from the beast's body.
51. After the beast recovered from the stun, the battle keeps continuing. Players keep producing huge damages. They all used their active skill during the third turn so that they produced 37 damage on the beast. During the fourth turn, players use their stars to generate three critical attacks and after this attack, the HP of beast become 9. Besides, because of the critical attack, the saber finally has the enough NP point.
52. In the last turn, saber begins to use the NP, Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory with the background music and the description. The giant forbidden beast is eliminated by the pure holy light. The description is That sword is the embodiment of the sad, yet noble, dream of all soldiers, past, present, and future, who lie dying on the field of battle, clutched to their hearts with their last breath. She carries their will as her pride, bidding them to remain steadfast in their loyalty. Now, the undefeated king sings aloud , that name is and the saber player shouts out the name of this Noble Phantasm. Excalibur!
d) A description of the puzzle that was part of your adventure, and an analysis of how effective it was.
1. First Puzzle-Trinity Statue Combine
This puzzle inspired by Resident Evil 2. In this puzzle, three players have to fetch the items from the different room and put them on the statue of Athena to open the gate of last room to get the equipment and trigger the next story plot. There is also a puzzle which is that dungeon master will tell the players the basic clue so that they will notice that the items will belong to the certain character by special description. Which means if they get their own items correctly, they will trigger the item clue of their characters.
Analysis:
Because this puzzle is very common so that for the experienced player it seems not so effective. Even though I add the connection between certain items and players the effect are still not so good.
2. Second Puzzle-Forest Mist Maze
This puzzle is a maze puzzle which connects the first scene and the first battle. In this puzzle, the player has to be careful about what tiles they can stand on which means if they enter the mist they will be transferred to the start point. While this maze can interact with the weapon of saber and lancer, which means if they use their weapon to touch the mist, if they pass the luck exam, they can remove the whole mist through the power of their weapons. Besides, they can also unlock the NP clue in the clues list of the third puzzle by this behavior.
Analysis:
It is hard to convey a maze puzzle in tabletop roleplaying game. Because the player usually uses the sense of sight to solve maze puzzle. However, if the maze is printed the difficulty would be hard to control and there is no interaction with the DM. So the puzzle become a little boring in this game after the player begin to solve this puzzle.
3. Third Puzzle-Magic Books
During the first battle, the caster will use the magic book to continue summoning the monster so that the players have to destroy the magic book. Lancer can use the active skill eye of the mind to get a 100% hit chance and use this chance to attack the book. Because the yellow lance has the power can destroy any magic effect so that the book will be destroyed and the lancer will unlock the NP clue.
Analysis:
It is easy to hide a battle puzzle in the battle phase. However, the experienced player find out she should destroy the books first without killing the monsters. So the puzzle is solved very quickly.
4. Fourth Puzzle-Destroy airplane
During the battle with Lancelot, Lancelot will appear on an airplane which is far away from the normal attack distance. Players have to use the environment to destroy the airplane. The player can use the crane to jump on the plane or use the crane destroy the airplane.
Analysis:
It is an environment interaction puzzle, however, the experienced player rider find out he should use the crane immediately. Even though this puzzle is easy for experienced player, it is still good for the interest curve.
5. Fifth Puzzle-The Name Discernment
After the player break the first puzzle and received their weapons and items. In the process of the game, if the player trigger special event, they will receive one of the clue from the clue list, so that player can use the clue to guess who they are. After they guess the right name of their characters, they can use Noble Phantasm in the final battle. And different NP in the final battle will have the special effect.
Here is the clue list of different characters.
Artoria Pendragon
Basic Clue
Height/Weight: 154cm・42kg Source: Arthurian Legends Region: England Alignment: Lawful Good Gender: Female Due to conducting herself as a man, she is unfamiliar with favor from the opposite sex.
Clue1
At Camlann Hill, King Arthur defeated Mordred, but also sustained a wound herself and fell on her knees. Just before drawing her last breath, she gave custody of the holy sword to her last loyal retainer, Bedivere, and departed from this world. It has been said that, after death, she was carried to Avalon - the utopia, a paradise that does not exist anywhere in this world - and will save Britain again in the far away future.
Clue2
The conclusion of Arthurian Legends marks the end of the age of knights. Although King Arthur managed to repel the aliens*, she was not able to avoid the ruin of the land of Britain itself. The rebellion of Mordred - one of the Knights of the Round Table - caused the country to be split into two, and the castle of knights, Camelot, lost its light.
Clue3
Sword of Promised Victory Rank: A++ Type: Anti-Fortress Excalibur. Not a man-made weapon, but a Divine Construct forged by the planet. A Noble Phantasm that stands at the top of all holy swords. It is not the sword, but its scabbard that truly possesses an outstanding ability. However, that scabbard has been forever lost.
Clue4
A natural talent to command an army corps. In group battles, the abilities of one's own army are raised. Honest and upright, a king that swears by selfless devotion. The knights fell on their knees before such righteousness and the people found the hope to bear poverty. Her royal principles were not for the sake of a handful of warriors, but to govern the many powerless people.
Clue5
One of the ideal kings that approves a virtuous life, a virtuous livelihood for the people. A character with no faults that aided the weak and broke the strong. Calm, cool and collected; an honor student who is always serious. ...that being said, although rarely mentioned, there is something of a sore loser in her: she does not go easy in any kind of competition and gets greatly vexed upon losing.
Clue6
A legendary king of Britain. Also called the King of Knights. Artoria is a childhood name and, upon being raised as a king, she began to be called King Arthur. In an age when chivalry had lost its beauty, with a holy sword in her hands, she brought about a brief moment of peace and final prosperity to Britain. A man in historical fact, but it seems that in this world she was a cross-dressing beauty.
Iskandar
Basic Rule
Height/Weight: 212cm・130kg Source: Historical Fact Region: Macedonia Alignment: Neutral・Good Gender: Male
Clue1
The passion of the King of Conquerors, who accomplished an extraordinary great expedition based on the dearest wish of reaching the farthest sea - Okeanos, does not change regardless of which age's Holy Grail War he is summoned to. Taking no notice of even the miracle of the Holy Grail, he marches once again towards the ends of the world. Glory lies for sure at the distance.
Clue2
In the ｢Army of the King｣, the entirety of the Iskandar Army from when he was alive is summoned. The symbol of his kingship, a bond with his retainers that overcomes even time went as far as being sublimated as a Noble Phantasm. This originates from the fact how he - while alive - was not a hero that raised deeds of arms as an individual, but a hero that fought while commanding a military force.
Clue3
Army of the King Rank: EX Type: Anti-Army Ionian Hetairoi. A inherent bounded-field of summoning. The trump card of the King of Conquerors. People themselves are treasures. The distinguished services of matchless brave warriors are by themselves the proof of a king. Consecutive summoning of the personal guard he lead in his lifetime as independent Servants, trampling down on the enemy with a military force of tens of thousands. Clue4
King of Conquerors, winning without destroying. Conquering without disgracing.
That passion towards conquest was not a desire to rule under the name of territorial expansion, but the strong influence of an explorer-like aspect of pursuing an unknown world. He appointed local personnel for the ruling of conquered regions and proactively endeavored in the appeasement with the West Asian culture, building the cornerstone of Hellenic civilization.
After he inherited the Macedonian throne at the age of 20, he suppressed the Greek city-states and invaded West Asia. He acquired the status of Pharaoh of Egypt, defeated the robust Persian Kingdom and built a great empire that reached as far as the distant India.
Clue6
Iskandar is the naming for Alexander III in Persian, he is also known by the nickname of Twin-Horns King (Dhu'l Qarnayn). With the eastern expedition, his military prowess that resounded in the Islamic world derived into many heroic tales and was propagated all over Asia.
Diarmuid Ua Duibhne
Basic Clue
Height/Weight: 184cm・85kg Source: Celtic mythology, Knights of Fianna Region: Ireland Alignment: Lawful Neutral Gender: Male A knight who spent his lifetime questioning about love, loyalty and pride.
Clue1
He has no wish to entrust the Holy Grail with. To be given a second battlefield where he can fulfill his pride as a knight; to Diarmuid that is both his dearest wish and greatest blessing. Pursuing nothing but a bright military honor, free of troubles, Diarmuid participates in this holy war.
Clue2
After receiving a fatal wound from a wild boar that was the reincarnation of his younger brother by a different father, Diarmuid sought the help of Fionn, who possessed the magical power of healing). But due still holding a grudge over the matter with Grainne, Fionn decided to let him die.
Clue3
It has been said that even while at large, Diarmuid stuck to his fidelity to Fionn and did not lay a finger on Grainne. Eventually, after reconciling with Fionn, although he was allowed to openly unite with Grainne, their happiness did not last long.
Clue4
After making Grainne, a princess that was invited as a bride-candidate for his lord Fionn, fall in love with him, he ended up having to elope and run around all over Ireland as a result of being imposed a geis of "take me along and run away" by her.
Clue5
Crimson Rose of Exorcism Rank: B Type: Anti-Unit
A magic spear described as a "Noble Phantasm-slaying Noble Phantasm". Negates magical power-like effects on the target that its edge has touched. Basically, it is a Noble Phantasm that possesses an ability for rendering magical defenses powerless.
Clue6
Celt mythology. Under the command of the leader Fionn, he was a prominent Knight of the Knights of Fianna and the owner of a beautiful face. Possessing a dark mole on his cheek conferred by a fairy, it carried a magical power that made the hearts of young maidens flutter.
After player get the certain item in the different room at the first scene, the church. They will received the item related information as the clue. Here is the clue list:
Artoria Pendaragon-The Star Crown
Legend states. That there would be a divine king and that that person would be an important existence. That there would be contentment in the end, in the existence of a tomorrow. That is what the stars said. Even so, eras pass, life goes on. The king’s reign was eventually brought to ruin, too.
That crown shone on the head of one who was aware of that. They were not rewarded. The place they aimed for was no more than a far off ideal.
Iskandar-Gordian Knot
Do not be bound by anyone if you can turn it towards him.
Treasure, conscience, blame of old tradition. These are the shackles that bind my heart. Cut it off. Overturn. A folly and a mockery action turns into a feat with one flash of sword. The signs of the supremacy shown here will be a signpost to the next world.
Diarmuid Ua Duibhne-Knight’s Oath
He once swore that he would abide by the chivalric code, to be loyal to his king, and to protect his loved ones with his two spears.
Never would the thought of turning his oath into lies cross his mind. Though, when he finally realized the road he took was filled with sins, all his friends had left him, the ones who remained were close to his heart. He loved his wife deeply. When his children were born, his heart trembled with joy watching them grow. Sometimes, he would reflect on his past, and would find something lost: a knight’s pledge, having been twisted and trampled on, glistening sadly amidst dirt and sin.
Analysis
This puzzle is a very different puzzle which is very different from the other puzzles in this game or other games. This is a rule from the Fate world which means if you cannot remember the name you cannot use the most powerful Noble Phantasm. And I think this puzzle hold the whole structure of the game. Every time player finish a special task they will be rewarded a clue so that they will keeps thinking this in their mind, and the reward for this puzzle is the most powerful skill in the game.
e) An interest curve that illustrates your predictions about how your adventure will play out. Label points on the curve to correspond with events in your adventure. Create this curve before you run players through your adventure.
A: Beginning at the story background introduction;
B: Get the item and the item clue
C: Statue Puzzle
D: See the equipment
E: NPC trigger the new scene
F: Forest Maze Puzzle
G: Boring and difficult
H: Battle with caster
I: Caster escapes
J: New Scene Harbor Area
K: Explore the warehouse
L: Normal Button
M: Meet Lancelot
N: Try to pull Lancelot down from the airplane
O: Lancelot dies without loot
P: Pipe full of monsters
Q: Chamber full of bodies of dead children
R: Meet the caster again
S: Using orb to unlock the clues
T: Caster escapes
U: Lancer guesses the name and uses the NP Gae Dearg and Gae Buidhe
V: Rider guesses the name and uses the NP Ionioi Hetairoi
W: Saber guesses the name and use the NP Excalibur
f) An interest curve that illustrates how your adventure did play out. Create this after you run players through your adventure.
A: Background introduction
B: Statue Puzzle
C: Item clue
D: Finish the puzzle
E: Unlock the door of the room
F: Get equipment and new character clue
G: NPC trigger the next scene
H: Mist Forest Maze Puzzle
I: Boring and Difficult
J: Throw rocks to find the path
K: Still boring
L: Excalibur remove the all fog
M: Meet the caster and kid
N: Kid was transform into monster
O: Normal battle
P: Destroy the book to stop the monster
Q: Caster escapes and kill the monster cannot move
R: New Scene Harbor area.
S: Explore the warehouse
T: Meet the Lancelot
U: Use crane destroy the air plane of Lancelot
V: Lancelot dies without loot
W: New scene Sewage pipe
X: A tunnel full of monsters
Y: Boring to kill them one by one
Z: Arrived the chamber covered by the blood and bodies of dead children
Z1: Meet caster again
Z2: Use orb to unlock clues
Z3: Kill the caster
Z4: Caster escapes again
Z5: Rider and saber remembers the name and help lancer remember the name
Z6: Boring battle
Z7: Lancer use the NP to stop the beast and remove the shield.
Z8: Saber use the NP Excalibur to end the game.
g) Three interest curves, given to you by the players you led through your adventure.
1. Interest Curve from Trace
2. Interest Curve from Barbara Soques
3. Interest Curve from Juliann Fields
h) Your thoughts and reflections about what worked well, and what worked poorly in your adventure.
1. Worked well
1.1 Background music is very useful in role playing adventure.
I get this inspiration from the game of my teammates. When I first play a real D&D game, the background music can produce a immersive environment and makes me become the character very quickly. I think that is the reason why the music is a very essential part in a game. The BGM can help the player feel the environment, trigger the battles and also tell a emotional story with the BGM.
1.2 Ending war is very fun to play, especially with special Noble Phantasm and background music and shout out the Noble Phantasm name.
I think an immersive experience is very important for the concept of roleplaying. That is the reason why I ask the player to shout out the name of the skill. This behavior will put the player right at the position of the character which means at that time the player will become the character. Besides, using a description to help the character to enhance the Noble Phantasm is a very good reward as the name puzzle. Last, but not least, use a special BGM for this part will definitely improve the immersive experience and it is easy to convey the emotions through the music.
1.3 It is very smart to use children to get the attention of the players, especially the transform part.
I think if you want to tell a good story which will attract the attention of the players. You should use some psychology elements in the real life, for example, sympathy.
1.4 The name puzzle is very funny and different from other games.
I think the most important part of a roleplaying is to help the player to find out who he/she is which means, if player knows exactly who they are playing they can understand the story with emotions very easily. I decorate the character’s name with a puzzle so that in the whole process of the game, the player will keeps thinking who they are, what should they do, which will maintain the interest curve in a high level.
1.5 The battle system is very interesting.
I want the battle system in my game has more strategy instead of just randomness. So I add the star system to help the player to adjust the result of the dice which makes them feel they are really powerful. On the other hand, I use different card poor try to build different battle style for them not only just attack, attack and attack. Besides, in this battle system player can get the NP point at the beginning, however they cannot use the NP until they get the name of their characters, which I think combine the different features in the game and after the players finish the puzzle of name, they can get a big reward in this very essential part.
1.6 The theme of four battles are all different.
I think even though my game have 4 encounters, I try to make them all have different themes and they have achieve a good effect which means player do not feel boring during the different battles. The first theme is destroy the item. The second theme is interact with the environment. The third theme is normal attack while unlock the clue at the same time. The last theme is about produce enough damage before game end.
1.7 It is good to have the basic clue for the characters so that the players can easily understand which item belongs to them.
I think this part belong to the character setting, which means if the player can have more setting of the character they can understand how to play this character better. So that this point ask the game designer to complete the file of the character as perfect as possible. I think that is why the popular RPG all has a strong background and storyline about the player character.
1.8 It is very fun to have a description of the puzzle item in the game.
I think this part is about how many details you can put in the game. If the item in the game is not only a key to open the door but also has the certain function about telling the story, this setting will help the player to understand the game more.
1.9 It is good to have a special solution for the battle phase instead of just attack.
I think this design can help the player maintain the interest curve during the battle. This design reminds me of the Zelda, in which game player can use different items to kill the monster instead of using weapons. I think if player can finish the battle in some special way will totally make the game out of the player’s expectation which is very useful to increase the interest curve.
1.10 It is very cool that items can interact with the environment.
This design also means that if the item can interact with the environment which will make your tabletop roleplaying game like a sandbox game. And player likes being considered smart. So that when you implement more meanings to an item, it will not only make you game juicy but also will make the player feel satisfied.
1.11 It is very cool that the NPC in the game has a special relationship with the character player controls so that the encounter will benefit the interest curve.
I think NPC is also a very important element in the narrative. So that if the NPC has a strong connection with character, the narrative in game will be perfectly sensed by the players. For example, I use Lancelot to keep maintaining the interest curve of the saber player.
2. Worked poorly
2.1 It is very hard to guess the name of the lancer.
I have already prepared the clue as well as possible, however maybe I should change another character who comes from the culture the player is very familiar with. And after this change I think the name puzzle would be more interesting for everyone.
2.2 The last battle is not so intensive.
During the last battle, I think the AC check is a little boring and I want to change the center of the battle to the damage producing instead of suffering the randomness again. I want to design the last game as an enjoyable experience. However, it seems that it is not useful for experienced D&D players. I think the problem is that I try to make the process more like a reward, however player still need to do choose the color card and roll dice to determine damage instead of just using QTE system. I think the design here did not match my goal perfectly.
2.3 The forest maze are too long to enjoy.
I think it is hard to implement maze in the tabletop roleplaying game. I think I should print the map or change the map into a tree with two options at any nodes, so that it would be more easily to understand and interesting.
2.4 The battle are too easy so that the player are never in danger.
I need to consider more about the balance and the data in the battle system. For example I put all character in the same position, however this makes the game become 3 vs 1 which is not so difficult for the players to defeat the enemy.
2.5 Explore part in harbor area and in church are a little boring.
I have trouble in designing exploring part of the game. I can understand the basic mechanism that player move to here and there to collect the items, and use items to trigger the next story. However, I think I should design the process with more interaction.
2.6 Need clearer rule of battle system at the beginning and should ask the players whether they understand everything.
I think as a good dungeon master which means I have to make sure every player has already understand the whole rule of the game. And I should design more train missions for them to check whether they understand the rule clear. For example, maybe the player can have 20 stars and 20 NP points to see whether they know how to use the mechanism.
2.7 The enemy in this game really likes escaping which makes the player feel they are useless.
I think maybe this design will help you continue telling the story, however you still try to make something happens after the enemy escapes instead of just escaping without anything happened in the game design process.
2.8 There is no reward after the player finish the battle phase.
In my game the caster runs away two times and I did not prepare the reward for them, which makes the player fell depressed because they do not get the reward after they did something very intensive. I think even though the enemy escapes I can still give the players some rewards not only the clues but also some special item which can interacts with the world in the later game.
2.9 The player do not want to be forced to do something to monsters.
I think the players love the felling of freedom which means player can accept the decision to kill the monsters by themselves instead of being forced to kill monster. In this game I forced them to kill the monsters even though those monster already lost the control.
2.10 I should let the player to define and describe the kill move.
I think one of the fascinating part in the tabletop roleplaying game is that player can define how they kill the enemy as the last move. I think this process can help the player to portrait the world better which means the player and the world are interacting with each other.
3. What I learned from designers in my group.
3.1 Taking action after a countdown and every player do a ability exam at the same time would be very intensive and the interest curve could be very high.
I find out that the tabletop roleplaying game is mainly a turn based game which means even though this is a three players game, when one player is taking action, other players may feel boring and they will leave the experience for a while. So that I think if the game can add this mechanism during the low interest curve part, it will help the interest curve.
3.2 Change settings in the world during the game.
I learned this from the experienced dungeon master in my team. In my game the name of lancer is very hard to guess. So I help them a lot to let them get the name. After the game, the expert told me that I can just pretend that they are right. I think that is the biggest differences between PC games and tabletop roleplaying game which means the settings in the worlds can be changed easily for the reason to maintain a high interest curve.
3.3 Math puzzle is a good type of puzzle in the tabletop roleplaying game.
3.4 When the players find out they can reuse the item or NPCs in the world would be very immersive for them to experience the story.
I learned this feature from the game of my teammate. In the game we reuse the item in his game which is a T-shirt and I use it for the mask to resistant the fire and smoke. I think when player are considering reusing the items in the game it means the player has already become respectful for this world. And I think after player accept the setting of the world, it will be easy for them to accept the storytelling as well.
3.5 Use some settings or knowledge from the real life will makes the player feel that the world and the story is real in some certain degree.
I learned this also from the game of my teammate. I think those popular story all have some similar plot from the real life. Besides, use real life knowledge would be very useful for players to understand and experience the story well. So when a game designer designs puzzles or storylines, the designer should try to combine the real life knowledge of the world and make the game more intuitive.