Raiders of the Icepeak Mountains (RPG, recruiting playtesters for latest patch, +35,000 words, total now ~180,000 words,post #172)

Game was released on 12th of November 2021. Game has been updated several times, and is currently ~180,000 words long!

The orc tribes of Icepeak Mountains are threatening human settlements. Do you have the courage and determination to defeat their clans? Try to survive deadly dungeons and level up as an adventurer.

Raiders of the Icepeak Mountains is a 180,000 word interactive gamebook by Adrao, where a combination of your choices and the roll of dice will determine your destiny. The game is text-based, with artwork allowing you the chance to actually see the exotic locations and dungeons you will visit on your journey.

You will start as a novice adventurer, either a fighter, cleric, wizard or rogue, and level up through a series of quests, either those related to the main story of the game, or other side adventures. The dungeons you will visit have some element of randomness to them, ensuring that even if you play multiple times you will still discover some new secret rooms and monsters. You will have to carefully choose between the abilities and spells at your disposal, and manage well the treasure you loot to buy a variety of objects that can help you in your quests.

ā€¢ A gamebook similar to those written in the 1980s and 1990s.
ā€¢ A dice-based RPG with Roguelike elements. No two games will be the same.
ā€¢ Detailed branching narrative system.
ā€¢ Play as male, female, or nonbinary. Choose from among several romance options.
ā€¢ Four character classes to choose from: fighter, wizard, cleric or rogue.
ā€¢ Over 30 different spells to choose from. Will you use a vampiric ray to absorb the energy of your enemies and heal yourself, or the invisibility spell to pass by them without being noticed?
ā€¢ Multiple types of melee attacks and abilities to use. Cripple your enemies with powerful blows, or adopt a defence stance.
ā€¢ Dozens of magic objects to use, from magic weapons to potions or scrolls.
ā€¢ Hordes of enemies to fight, each with their own characteristics and weak points. Will you manage to defeat orc warlords, overcome powerful elementals, and slay mighty dragons?
ā€¢ Several illustrations to enhance your experience.
ā€¢ Try several different difficulty settings. Play as a mighty invincible hero, or struggle to defeat the game on the harder modes. What is the maximum score you can reach?

70 Likes

Please let me know what you think about the game:

  • Loved the game!
  • It was just like the old Fighting Fantasy Games (which I always loved)
  • It was ok, but it became a bit repetitive.
  • I played it because it was an RPG, but it was a bit boring.
  • These types of games are not my cup of teaā€¦
  • I didnā€™t like it at all.
  • It was really boring.
  • The writing needs to be improved.
  • The story is too typical/boring.
  • The storyline is ok-ish, but I felt the dungeon was too generic
  • It was too buggy
  • It was too short
  • I donā€™t like dungeon crawl games.

0 voters

3 Likes

(reserved #2)

Damn, I died just a few scenes into the game. Guess Iā€™m not cut out for large orcs attacking meā€¦

I really enjoyed this, though, and the only reason I clicked ā€˜repetitiveā€™ was because I kept coming across corridors to the left + corridors to the right plus wooden doors. The random generation was quite interesting, and I do love a straightforward RPG dungeon.

Typos/questions

Not sure how different the text is playing as different characters (I chose human + rogue + normal difficulty), but here are the ones I noticed. (Sorry if this is nitpicky, feel free to disregard.)

#Ridiculously easy (50 ā€œcharacter pointssā€, 500 gold)

Should be ā€œpointsā€ (same typo for the other options).

Attack : This represents your general fighting expertise. You will have to spend progressively more points to increase this ability.

Not a typo, but this came up when I clicked the ā€œGame mechanic notesā€ option while spending my character points. Should this go on to explain defense, etc.?

Thunador {Storms, Thunder, Sea)

Bracket on the left.

Dagger [Dmg 0-1].

What does ā€œDmgā€ mean? (I assume itā€™s a roleplaying term :sweat_smile: I need to play more of these games.)

[Sidenote here: the game uses both spellings ā€œlizarfolkā€ and ā€œlizardfolk.ā€ Iā€™m not sure which one is correct.]

Emperor Dulac XII, father of the current emperor, had fought bitter battles against a skilled orc chieftain knows as ā€œScreaming Scarā€ Urragggh.

Should be ā€œknownā€

Oof, okay, I was replaying to try to reproduce my experience and died after two encounters because of some stones falling on my head. RIP to my very squishy rogue I guess :joy:

2 Likes

Thanks for the feedback!

Just corrected all those typos and other stuff, and added a bit more on the game mechanics section (though still not finishedā€¦ also, the description of the Gods is still not finishedā€¦). Dmg. stands for ā€œdamageā€, I have placed a note about this.

I do get the feeling myself that this needs a bit more variety, as I think otherwise a player will get bored of getting to intersections to the left and rightā€¦ basically, I think what is there now should be the ā€œskeletonā€ of the game, which I can now slowly expand and build on!

1 Like

I friggin used to love those FF games. But did they have so much customization at the beginning? Been a while since I read 'em.

Iā€™m way more interested in going straight to the ā€œcrawlingā€ than the backstory and D&D character sheet stuff :dragon_face:

Can you put in an option to use a random character builder and jump straight to the ā€œactionā€ (the attack on the wagon in the forest), at least while itā€™s still WIP?

2 Likes

the base idea seems awesome. i havenā€™t played yet (darn school!) but I will play later. bookmarked!

1 Like

I just had two quick runs up to the first fight and kept only dealing a light wound (across 8 attacks total). That didnā€™t look right as Iā€™m a meaty orc with tons of strength and a war hammer - so Iā€™ve dug around in your code.

My attacks were falling through your outcome logic. The difference between my attack and their defence is really high (29 on this ā€˜super easyā€™ run through I did to test. Though this also happened on a ā€˜normalā€™ run when I wasnā€™t trying to cheese it). The problem is that your code that fires if the difference is >12 requires that my weapon max damage is over 3 (when it is 3). So none of the fight outcomes were triggered and I get the default ā€˜minor woundā€™ outcome.

2 Likes

This dungeon system is fantastic, it makes me remember about Life of Mercenary, pretty solid so far. I canā€™t buy magic items from the shop although I have used all four classes so I think you havenā€™t finished it yet ?

1 Like

May I recommend using *stats_chart to better visualize the HP and max HP (and maybe mana)? Itā€™s usable outside of the stats screen. You canā€™t really see your max HP unless you go to the stats screen (which is useful to know when you should heal).

Also, it looks like you forgot to uncomment the saving system :wink:

2 Likes

In the bit with the orc shaman, after I kill her, it lets me keep opening that bag over and over again. Itā€™s a great way to get gold pieces, but you prob wanna fix that!

3 Likes

@Sam_Ursu Yes, there clearly wasnā€™tā€¦ Iā€™m using the ā€œAdvanced Fighting Fantasyā€ rules, with a bit of basic DnD thrown in for good measure, and some of the spells from Tokyo wizard. And ok, I have placed an option to skip a large chunk of the intro for those returning to the game, straight after the character creation is finished (to make things easierā€¦). But yes, this will be removed from the final gameā€¦

@Sinnie, thanks, well spotted! (and correctedā€¦ wow, a differential of 29ā€¦)

@Manaxaggd yes, I think you basically canā€™t afford any of them yet, unless you play on the super-easy modeā€¦ but, you should be able to buy potions, right? (the system is implemented in order to later be able to buy and sell things from merchants).

@Franzinyte good idea, implemented! (and sorry about the saving system, I will turn it on in this next update, probably in about 30 min or an hourā€¦)

@Schliemannsghost thanks, corrected that bug! (indeed, it wasnā€™t intended as a bag of infinity wealth! :wink:

Ok, Iā€™m going to add a couple of descriptions to the ā€œintersectionā€ subroutine, as this is what some people have already highlighted as being boringā€¦ in that sense, can I ask which are the parts of the game that feel the most repetitive?

4 Likes

Iā€™m almost sad you fixed the bag. I was SO rich when I came out of that dungeon!

1 Like

Sorry about thatā€¦ though I think I might have to add more instances where you can make money.

Anyway, just uploaded a new version of the game, fixing all the above, and adding an extra ā€œjunctionā€ instance (hopefully making the game feel a bit less repetitiveā€¦).

If anybody has any ideas for interesting junctions please let me know! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

If a differential of 29 is unexpected for you, then I think perhaps the berserk ability is much stronger than you are anticipating. On a die roll of 12, you get 48 attack - which blows the maximum defence of that goblin (17) out of the water, and that doesnā€™t include your attack.

And that is possible on any difficulty level.

2 Likes

Used to love a game called HeroQuest and this brought back memories! Was it possible that I got the same scenario twice in one playthrough, fighting one goblin? Was there an option to heal myself that I missed playing a human fighter? Think something like this will have potential :slight_smile:

1 Like

@Sinnie ah yes, a berseck rolling a 12ā€¦ not unexpected, though this morning (I live in Tokyo, still morning here) I was half asleep when I repliedā€¦ thinking about it now it is obvious! (though, I am often surprised that many players end up knowing my games better than meā€¦ I like to create systems, though I donā€™t often know how these systems can be pushed to the limit). Do you think that berserk is too powerful? (Iā€™m so far ok with it, I mean, a berserk killing a small goblin in one blow or two should be expected, right?)

@lisamarlin lover HeroQuest myself, and I still have many pieces from it floating around in some boxes. I guess you might have encountered the goblin guard-room twice? (basically, some parts of the game are random, and currently the number of rooms is not that big, so while it is possible that you go through the entire game not finding any repetition, it is also possible that something repeats). Regarding healing, you never bouth any healing potions, or found any in the creatures you fought/killed? (again, I would have expected people to find them, but loot is randomā€¦)

What do you all think about the difficulty of the game? (well, there are various difficulty modes, but how many people have managed to finish it? Was it hard?)

3 Likes

How many levels is the dungeon supposed to have?.. I made it up to Level 3 on Normal difficulty

1 Like

Thereā€™s only 3 levels

3 Likes

When i casted a fireball it told me i casted a ray of fireball. Think it might be a bug.

1 Like