School of Necromancy (WIP, Demo)

Another update!

  • +7000 words
  • System whereby you can pick what skills you want to be good at
  • Enchanting class (say hi to Ember again!)
  • Illusion class (featuring the Invisible Kid)

I spent way more time than I should have adapting randomtest to give me possible ranges of stats but it was worth it because I can test stats now knowing that 23% of playthroughs will have a stat in that range :slight_smile:

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I only just noticed this but in your change-log in the OP it says its 2016.

Also looking forward to reading the new content

Iā€™m not just an author, Iā€™m also a time traveler!

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Overall great job, but whatā€™s the diffrence between necromancy and summoning? Which one is stronger?

Great game so far but like some others, i would recommend introducing the class stats a bit smoother than decided what you will be good at (why dont you just study hard for all classes? Its not like in real life you get to choose what youā€™re good at).
But i enjoyed the demo.

Hey! Can I join into this beta? The game seems really interesting!

Ah. This story is going through quite the good quality, and I am definitely enjoying all the quirky characters. I am definitely looking forward to the alchemy classes.

You are doing this really fast! Just played it and now I got a new main ro (ember best girl) and I canā€™t wait to see all the ways we can use magic!

Lucky. I still have to wait for more character introductions to see who I consider best RO.

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Nice. I enjoyed all the classes (but summoning demons is definitely my street) I think you maybe could have done something with the lunchā€™s. like where to sit and stuff like that. And possibly in the evening with Jordan in your room like doing your homework and stuff like that. But overall I really enjoyed it.

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Necromancy is bringing life to the dead. The dead are already there, youā€™re just moving them around. Summoning is about bringing something thatā€™s not there bodily into the world. Usually thatā€™s one of the Endless (i.e. demons).

Iā€™m going to quote Rahul Dayal, Illusion teacher: ā€œThe magical community is, like any community, full of minor politics, petty rivalries, and most relevant to this discussion, pointless argumentsā€

Which of the two is stronger isnā€™t just one of those arguments, itā€™s an argument thatā€™s been going on in theory and in practice for centuries! The Dead Empire was overthrown only with the help of lots of summoned Endless, which would seem to indicate the latter are the stronger. But the current Endless War is only being stalemated due to the efforts of necromancers like the one youā€™re training to be :slight_smile:

I tried to word it along the lines of ā€œwhat do you suspect you have a natural talent forā€, e.g. the character was already good at those things and this segment only confirms that. And sure, you donā€™t get to decide how good you are at something in RL, but itā€™s pretty standard to do so in Choice games. I donā€™t plan to assign random stats anywhere other than in debugging sessions.

Yes! Click the link up top, play the game, then come back and tell me how to fix it!

Yeah, Iā€™m trying to make the characters memorable but still somewhat realistic. Jordanā€™s a shy kid with occasional brave moments, Emberā€™s a chatterbox with a huge love for her craft, Nihat seems like an introvert but how much of that is his speech impediment? Also heā€™s a natural at Illusion.

Alchemy is the day after next (working on Conjuration right now), which will be fun to write. So far the teachers have a bit of personality, and I think people will like the Alchemy teacher because heā€™s the worst. Not to say heā€™s a mean teacher, far from it, Iā€™m saying heā€™s bad at teaching.

National Novel Writing Month, whoo! Plus Iā€™m behind because it takes twice as long to write a choicescript story as it does the equivalent wordage of a normal story, so Iā€™m catching up. Pace will definitely slow come December :slight_smile:

Iā€™m focusing heavily on the classes right now because theyā€™re brand new to both the character and the player. Once Iā€™ve got them established I plan to move to the more social end of managing friends/enemies. Though you will get some of that in Summoning class (no assigned seating) and Sundays (the one day you donā€™t have anything else to do)

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Few questions

How many years are in the school?

How old will the MC be at the end of the game? e.g young adult, adult, etc. If you havenā€™t planned that yet thatā€™s ok

What happens to necromancers that show off their power/openly use or declare their talents?

Five; Iā€™ll have to double-check if I mention that. I know it in my head but I donā€™t always write these things down :slight_smile:

This specific game is planned to cover one semester at the school, so a few months older. That said, Iā€™m definitely open to writing more in this universe.

The lucky ones are ā€œexecutedā€, which is to say theyā€™re publicly killed and then later resurrected by a more circumspect necromancer. From that point on they basically live in hiding and do things like wear concealing cloaks, don ornate full-face masks and take on mysterious wizard names like ā€œSerpentā€.

The unlucky ones? Well, those pitchforks and torches arenā€™t for show.

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Remaining a poor orphan is really starting to sound better and better to my mc. :fearful:
Also in the case of resurrected necromancers like our ā€œteacherā€ are those clothes just to hide their identity and required by the empire or does resurrection leave the face and/or body horribly disfigured or something.
Lastly is the empire a (de-facto) magocracy? If so not getting paid anything nor any respect for our services really sucks.

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A little of both; many necromancers voluntarily don the clothes so they can get things done without worrying about their personal lives being compromised. Those that have been executed, well, theyā€™re not always brought back right away so thereā€™s typically some decay.

Pretty much. Magic is what defeated the Dead Empire after all, and as long as magicā€™s protecting people from the ravages of the Endless War, people will tend to forget that magic also caused both of those problems.

You do get respect, of a sort. The kind of respect a secret agent gets: You do a necessary job, one that people donā€™t want to hear the details about, and one that will only even be known at the highest level.

And there is pay. Serpentā€™s drawing two salaries right now, one for his Necromantic duties and the other as faculty. Youā€™re just not being paid yet :slight_smile:

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And now, a Thanksgiving Update!

  • +9000 words

  • Conjuration class, with the least likable character Iā€™ve written so far.

  • Alchemy class, featuring a scene in which you can screw up so bad it makes the wards go off.

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Challenge accepted!

20 exploding characters

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On the other hand, a Koala costume would work as well for that as the whole creepy robes and scary mask thing, right?
Anything that hides the face and shape of the body would.

Yikes, but then you did say in your world Necromancy also has some medical, possibly even cosmetic applications. So a better skin graft may be possible.

Not all people actually feel the warm glow of patriotism you know. A pat on the back from the chief of the secret service isnā€™t that great of a reward.

So does that mean we absolutely have to hold down another mage job as cover as well? Well there goes any illusion of free time. And, yes, if people must hold down two jobs they better get paid twice too, though with not much time to spend any of the proceeds that can become mostly symbolical as well.
Lastly I hope that the mc gets a better wand then a shovel upon graduation, as that thing is not exactly subtle to have to lug around everywhere once theyā€™re no longer a student.

True, weā€™re just a student at this point. On the other hand we are apparently conscripted even so, which seems to be unusual according to the prologue.
Also if it is anything like the real world secret agents donā€™t exactly receive generous salaries, at least compared to the level of risk involved, compared with say a world-class surgeon, which is apparently what is expected of necromancers in this world too.

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Just gave this a really good read through and absolutely loved it! My favourite class so far has to be alchemy, though Iā€™m biased because thatā€™s my characterā€™s highest skill, I had the biggest feeling of achievement after Alchemy having a tangible advanced potion to my name. Though I do feel bad I doubted myself in conjuration and didnā€™t attack, I was torn between the ā€˜do no deliberate harmā€™ and ā€˜obey everythingā€™ rule that I just hesitated. That was very clever of you. Iā€™m particularly partial to these kinds of settings as well, my last novel was set at a magic school and was a blast to write and this one looks really well thought out and intriguing. Thanks for a good read!

Hmmā€¦ its him, isnā€™t it? Harry Potter, any chance?

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