1542: Rise of the Witchhunter

Hosted Games Works In Progress
102

look i undetstand that stat wise there is something going on. but translating those stats into gameplay i doesn`t feel like haveing high exo helps with the demon or makes you get a feel of or a sense of how strong it is if and when you take it in?

that might just be because it`s just the start of the game, but at this point i do not feel that any of the choices i made with char creation does anything one way or the other?

i thought at the very least there could be a comment about the money thing if you had more money then av there would be other commentary of the paying for things front.

so far all i have seen is a snide comment about the first thing you special in, that has come up 2 times now.

holding out for a longer part of the game too see if we get more of that. but so far not feeling any of the choices matter.

again this could change as soon as the story grows. so i am waiting for more and maybe i`ll have something better too say about it at that point

103

@Pilgrim I just played the demo and I gotta say,it’s a really good concept.

At first I didn’t think I would play it since I’m thought I didn’t like the theme,but it turned out awesome and interesting.Although I had a difficult time understanding the beginning,I don’t know if it’s because english is not my primary language or because I was in a hurry to read it,but just thought you should know and I’d love to play the game again when you update it.

Good luck :smiley:

104

The concept is a really interesting one. The breadth of possible backstories gives it an epic scope and feel and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it plays out!

Someone might have mentioned it before, but I’d recommend either committing to pronoun/reference consistency if you’re giving the player a female option (the game still refers to me as a man in many areas despite the fact that I chose a female option), or cut it and just write a male one.

One little nitpick for the stats (I don’t remember seeing if this was mentioned, but correct me if I’m wrong): It’d probably be better if you tailored your vice and virtue options so that if you chose, say “lust” as a sin, you couldn’t pick “chastity” as a virtue. Being able to do so feels really contradictory. Same with pride/humility and all the other opposed pairs.

105

This one has potential. The idea is unique, the stats system is pretty good, and for some reason I don’t feel like your generic, stuck-up, all-the-women-want-me, follow-the-God-blessed-rules Paladin, so that’s good.

Also, I would like a stats explanation page, just in case I forget what each stat does, since the words you use are pretty
 archaic (is this the right term?).

106

@Kaiorven

I pondered the question of these seemingly mutually exclusive virtues/vices, but I decided that they could still very well be present in the same person, it would just make your character somewhat
 schizophrenic. You can still live a chaste life while at the same time being consumed by lusty thoughts, it’s up to the player to decide whether it makes sense for their character or not.

I am very glad you liked the backstories ^^

@Jaxx
I don’t know how to make a stats explanation page yet, but that’s definetely a good point to put on the to do list.

And yeah you might call it archaic, or maybe just call it “in universe”, as I wanted to stray away from traditional RPG stats and keep it contained within the universe’s internal logic.

@Drini7
I’m glad you ended up liking it in the end. Why did you initially dislike the theme and then later on come to like it I wonder?

@redhead222
Yeah that’s a good point. It wouldn’t be wise to make too many stat dependent choices though
 yet. I’m still building the skeleton of this game, and once the foundation is solid then I can retroactively add some fun & interesting stat dependent choices.

107

@Pilgrim Well,in the beginning I didn’t think the idea of just being an exorcist would be good,but I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.Althought the first few pages were a drag,since I didn’t really understand what was going on,when it got to the part it mentioned the marks and that it let you choose your own background,I really liked it since almost no 2 playthroughs can be the same,and since thats what this is supposed to be-interactable,you get my point.

But do you really think you are going to finish it or will it get canceled halfway through maybe,or are you just doing this as a a test?Since your writing is good I don’t suppose you’re just testing your writing/coding skills.

108

it does not need too but that deep, some interesting flavor text would be nice now and again.

109

The reality of making something like this is that you have to commit to it fully for at least 3 months. I don’t know yet if I’m ready to do so, so yes there is a definitive chance I will lose interest along the way and cease work on this project, or I might develop an interest in a different conworld. We’ll see what happens :wink:

110

some two hundred witchhunters form his Holyness’ sword in the war with the Devil

Should be from and Holiness.

for the first time in perhaps a milennium

Should be millennium.

On the stat screen, my surname is displayed as my horse’s name.
And there are some weird unrelated scenes if you hit ‘next’ when it says ‘End demo’ involving a bully and class president or something?

111

This game continue? Is a good idea!

112

I kinda feel like sin is gonna benefit me and mess me up


113

I have a contract with Lucifer! You?

114

What is your sin? And you have an archdemon?

115

I sold my soul to pass through stuff and I have pride.

116

Yeah? Is the same for me but is a take down notice in dropbox.

118

keep up the great work, I can’t wait for the release!

120

A game which is influenced by Hellsing and you can play as a Hungarian? Must try :smile:
Will see how that works, and update this comment on my play/test with opinion/observations and also bugs I find, if any. Please ignore/dismiss any suggestion/observation you disagree with as I just want to help and not argue.

  • typo: His Holiness

his Holyness’ Witchhunters."

Suggesting it to be “His Holiness Pope Paul III’s Witch
” as “Holiness’s” with 3s feels wrong (unsure if actually a mistake in spelling or not).
“His Holiness” can also sometimes be replaced with “Sanctitas” as it’s the same in Latin

  • not a bug, just a suggestion:

(Occultism reflects your understanding of demonology and your grasp of
blasphemous rituals. Understanding can be a double edged sword with both
benefits and flaws)

“Understanding can be a double edged sword with both merits and demerits.”

Unsure on the 7 domains.
"Third Dominion is Hermeneutics, or Bible Studies. Literacy is the
gift of the spiritual class. It reflects knowledge of the symbolic and
the deep." - This sounds to me as Theology itself except the part about literacy, then “Dominion of Liturgy. Know the Divine Rituals of our Church” also seems as Theology itself. I may just not understand what the concept behind the skill splitting may be however.

If we consider Theology as knowledge of Christian religion, understanding of other religions and the interpretation/debate on the Bible itself then these two skills seem pretty much united except for the literacy part (in Hermeneutics) and healing part (in Liturgy).

I may just not getting the logic behind the splitting of the skills but I would probably name/form the skills this way:

  • 1 Dominium Exorcista (As per the Rituale Romanum and based on the setting for your story it is really important to have Exorcism a separate skill. Using the late Latin word for Exorcism, but unsure if correct as I had Latin ages ago) “Dominion of Liturgy” also “offers a divine defense against sinful temptations and demonic attacks” as per your description right now which just added to my confusion of understanding the skills. I would probably implement “divine rites for defense against unholy temptation and attacks” instead into Dominium Exorcista which already includes demonic possession and capture.

  • 2 Dominium Occultus (The Latin word occultus /hidden, secret/ for “knowledge of the hidden”) I would keep this like your description, allowing this skill to include Demonologia but also knowledge of non-Christian rites like burial traditions of natives.

  • 3 Dominium Theologia Rational study of divine concepts of God, nature of religious ideas, knowledge of Christian traditions & Catholic rituals, and interpretation of the Bible. (Combination of your Dominion of Liturgy & some of Hermeneutics, except Healing and the divine protection rites.)
    Enables one to argue with bishops or other exorcists on what the real meaning of parts of the Bible are, what God’s teaching really is, thus giving a chance to rescue accused witches or yourself, decide/follow different religious traditions other than Catholicism like Protestantism/Orthodoxy or even old traditions of Gnosticism/Arianism/Donatism (Neo-Donatism) - Is basically your Lawyer of Christian knowledge

  • 4 Dominium Militae (Basically your “Dominion of Warmongering/Warfare”) Knowledge and skill in worldly combat and warfare. Includes knowledge of military ranks, tactics and strategy, also logistic planning. Of course, also how to use a sword or gun. Something a knight would exceed at, like a member of the order of St. John, or a legendary Templar.

  • 5 Dominium Scientia (The part of “Dominion is Hermeneutics” that is about worldly knowledge, literacy in various languages, knowledge of cultures, local traditions, mathematics, history, geography, agriculture /as far a monk who makes wine or cheese is knowledgeable in this/, and anything else that doesn’t belong into Theologia or other skills. The “Common Knowledge & Education” skill) I would also add the medical healing here under worldly sciences.

  • 6 Dominium Maleficum (Your “Dominion of Witchhunting” is the core of it) Knowledge of a Witch Hunter. Both how to identify otherworldly and evil fiends or their followers, and also how to most efficiently fight these. The skill to recognize and track down real, evil witches and demonic acolytes, or what to do with vampires and werewolves.

(Witchhunting denotes you ability to do divine and righteous damage to otherworldly foes)

Is what your own skill says now, in case of “Dominium Maleficum” the result of the knowledge would basically be the same (know how to best damage foes)

Exorcista would handle possessed people, banishing or capturing (harder to do) demons.

Occultus would handle otherworldly knowledge, dark & forbidden secrets, but also knowledge and understanding of non-Christian rites and religions which may be considered a heresy as well in this era. (Like knowledge of old Hellenic gods and rituals, or even being able to read the Islamic Koran)

Theologia would handle any kind of knowledge related to Christianity, even that of older branches that are now considered extinct or heretical. Except already mentioned uses for it you could also properly disguise yourself as a Greek Orthodox priest with this as an example.

Maleficum would be direct training and knowledge of a Witch Hunter. A member of the Holy Order / Order of the Holy See.

Some cases could easily have uses for most of these skills.
A possessed human is easiest to identify with exorcism, but could also be found out thanks to Witch Hunter training or occult knowledge that normally a human/priest wouldn’t know of without some dark secrets known to him/her.
An otherworldly entity that is building a new cult could be identified by occultism, Witch Hunter training, or in case of a Medusa via Hellenic mythology, “common” knowledge of history (Scientia)

  • 7 Dominium Providentia (Your “Dominion of Providence”)

Latin providentia “foresight, prudence”, from pro- “ahead” and videre “to see”. The current use of the word has the sense of “knowledge of the future” or omniscience, understood as an attribute of God.

Skill is as you wrote Luck, but also I would add to it the original meaning of Providentia, thus the skill would also grant insight, a sense for danger or what route to choose at a labyrinth, and on higher level skill rank the character would be granted paranormal clairvoyance powers giving him/her visions of the future. The Seer would probably consider these direct signs and aid from God, while others may either agree with it or think the Inquisitor lost his/her marbles.

If there is also magical/divine healing and not just classic medical one (surgery, first aid, etc) I would move that part of healing under Providentia I guess, or maybe under the Witch Hunter skill if the members get a divine blessing as usually paladins do in RPG.

Reading up on Malleus Maleficarum and Donatism may give you some scene ideas for your story. (EDIT: Just noticed you already know of the M.M.)

Okay, I think I wrote quite a lot on my thoughts about the 7 skills, will open a new comment to continue my play/testing.

121

Where you can pick your virtue and sin, I picked “Lust” as weakness but I see I could also pick “Chastity” as virtue despite it. I suggest to make the opposite options greyed out.

  • typo: Hospitaller

I pledged into the Order of the Knights of Saint John, also known as the
Knights Hospitallar. Studious and pious, membership will stimulate your
grasp of liturgy.

Interesting bit of info that many of the former Templar knights joined the Hispanic orders or in some cases among aristocrats the Hungarian order of the dragon. Just in case you want some secret group of them survive in one of the other knightly orders. The order of Santiago was also granting the right to marry first to its members, so its members may easily include not just Templars but also children of Templars.

  • typo: continuing (but maybe the whole sentence needs rewriting to: “Continuing with your personal historia (using the Latin word for flavor), according to your papal registration in which city were you born?”)

“In continueing your Papal papers, in which city were you born?”

  • bug: In this age the capital of Hungary is Buda. Only in 1873 did Buda and Pest unite to form Budapest. In any case, the capital got occupied by the Ottomans in 1541. Because of this I suggest 2 Hungarian locations if possible.

I suggest this new description for Buda:

Buda, once proud capital of Hungary, Christian frontier to Islam conquered Balkans. The Catholic trade center between Ottoman Constantinople, Orthodox eastern Europe, Polish Krakow, and the rest of western Europe. The constant threat by the Ottomans in the south and previously King Matthias “Corvinus” Hunyadi’s wars with both the Muslims and Habsburgs has not weakened the warrior spirit despite the heathen occupation, the proud Hungarians wait for the moment they can liberate it again. Currently under titular rule of John II Sigismund of House Szapolyai and his regent Queen Mother Isabella Jagiellon, the Hungarian vassal King and Queen who in turn are under the “protection” of the Turkish Suleyman the Magnificent. Now capital of Ottoman Hungary.

and I suggest this as description for the second city, the capitol of the “independent” Hungary, Pozsony:

Pozsony, the Hungarian gate city to the Holy Roman Empire, capitol of “free” Western Royal Hungary, known in Latin as Posonium, German as Preßburg, and in Slovakian as Preơporok. After the fall of Buda to the Muslim hordes this multicultural city became the new capital for those Hungarians which consider the opportunistic Archduke Ferdinand I of House Habsburg the legitimate King of Hungary.

Pozsony would get the same bonus as the Swiss Bern.

Or, perhaps consider to combine a bigger and smaller stat bonus depending on location per city (not just the Hungarian ones, for all other ones as well).

If you like this idea, Buda could have a normal +2 to warfare/combat skill and a small bonus to money (due to trade center), while Pozsony could have a +2 to the language related skill (Liturgy/Dominium Scientia?) and a +1 to warfare/combat skill.

As example, if other cities would also give a major and minor stat boost then Copenhagen could give +2 to Exorcism +1 to Combat, and Piedmont could give +2 to Exorcism and +1 to language related skill

I think many would also be interested in picking a Transylvania location, during the split Kingdom of Hungary it was the core region of power for the vassal Kingdom under Ottomans.

possible additional option, Alba Iulia:

Alba Iulia, known as GyulafehĂ©rvĂĄr in Hungarian, and Weißenburg in German. True capital of the Ottoman occupied Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and also of the Principality of Transylvania since 1541. While Buda is currently under direct Turkish occupation this settlement is an important fortified city that also serves as the seat of Transylvania’s Roman Catholic diocese.

Suggested bonus under current system would be +2 to Witchhunting and +1 to Occultism
Under my revisited ones +2 to Dominium Maleficum and +1 to Dominium Occultus.

I must admit here that I consider vampirism myths and related stories to originate in Hungarian Transylvania and also in Poland and Ruthenia (Ukraine) to some level, but due to Bram Stoker and the annexation of the region by Romania after WW1 this got hijacked by the Romanians in popular culture.
Alba Iulia/GyulafehĂ©rvĂĄr, the “White Castle [of Gyula/Julius]” could easily serve as a location for vampire politics and events, or for other Hungarian myth related otherworldly experiences for the player character.

I also suggest reading up the wiki page for Religion in Hungary, as both cultures and religions were intertwined with politics during the “3 Kingdoms of Hungary” era and the Reformation.


meh, seems I wrote a lot again about suggestions and not as much about actual play/testing, but at least I didn’t get any game breaking bugs :slight_smile:

123

game’s demo is really fun, just wanted to see how everything was going

124

just finished the game and loved it :slight_smile: like the customisation and unique stats. keep up good work. only thing I don’t like is lack of physical customisation(ages, body type etc) but know others prefer that, that’s just my preference.

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