The Golden Rose: Book One by Ana Ventura

You can definitely be merciful and choose not to kill your opponents (at least for the most part). Like @Taylor_Enean said, you can use all of the weapons in a non-lethal way - whether by stabbing/cutting non-vital body parts or simply knocking an opponent out with the blunt edge of your sword/dagger/etc.

The thing I’m having difficulty with is figuring out how someone with a bow can do this :thinking:. I have to rewatch Lord of the Rings and pay close attention to Legolas lol.

What you cannot do, however, is not specialize in at least one of the lethal weapons. Tarek would never have taken you seriously enough to join The White Company if the MC just simply walked around with a single whip strapped to their waist :laughing:

I’m thinking (if I can figure out the code) of adding side-weapons. Kinda like Zombie Exodus does. It would be things like knives, dirks and the like. I can add a whip to the list, if you would like. Tho I have seen some very brutal ways of using them as well.

@Taylor_Enean More than a conclusion? Now you have me intrigued. :crazy_face:
(Thank you for the kind words!).

@TriWop Thank you very much! :blush:

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The blunt end of an arrow? :crazy_face:

In real life, you never hit anyone with a bow unless you wish to break the bow. Better swap it to your other hand and punch them with your fist. I suppose a light gauntlet could serve this purpose?

Oh yes, more. Stand-alone sequels and spin-off and such, unless you tire of this. If you do, then on to new adventures in new worlds! :grinning:

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Shoot the arrow backward and smack the bad guys on the nose! It may not do much, but they’ll have a nasty bruise in the morning. :grin:

Yes, you’re right. Better to kick or punch something instead. The light gauntlet is actually a great idea. Maybe the archers MCs use one just in case something gets too close. But the idea of giving the player the option to smack someone with their bow only for it to snap in half is very tempting indeed.

(I’ll still rewatch LOTR tho because honestly, any excuse to do so is a good excuse).

I actually have an idea of playing while Nero was alive and witness the madness that was the Roman empire at that point, but it’s better to try and focus on finishing this first.

If only I could just teleport the ideas in my head neatly and immediately into paper T_T. But noo we have to actually put an effort in.

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Indeed, part one.

Indeed, part two.

Also, keep up the good work, indeed (part three). :relaxed:

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I love this, both the setting and the premise are very cool. It’s very well writen, too. I’m sure others have said this, But I wouldn’t have guesssed english is a second language by the game alone.

I already adore both Alessa and Hadrian. I very much enjoy snarking with Alessa and Hadrian’s very sweet.

I’m fine with the early RO interactions. It Would seem wierd for them to act like they do if they had just met the MC, but you do a good job at establishing that we’ve known and worked with these people for a decent amount of time. especiially the whole "Is it him?’ conversation. MC clearly knows about Rafael even if we don’t.

Hadrian and an aetheist MC he gets along with is going to be an interesting dynamic. Especially with Alessa there. I’m excited to see my very grounded-in-rational-thought-and-science MC deal with things when/if they get weird.

Like, you know that scene where a character tries puzzle out “special effects” while an actual ghost is trying to murder their friends? It’s kinda like that. She’s very resistant to all this ghosty nonsense, so yeah, if there are actual witches and stuff running around? That’s gonna be fun.

I mean, probably not but whatever

Clearly this man has not watched enough Indiana Jones.
I mean, I know he does ocasionally use other weapons, but still.

dum da-da daaa dum da-da… it’s stuck in my head now

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Here to pile on more praise! :smiley:

ahem.

I love this so far! The setting is really interesting and the writing is vivid and wonderful to read. (I especially love the beginning: “It was raining on on Baiae, Lunius 68 AD. And something was trying to open the door.” That definitely got me hooked.) The two characters we’ve met so far are compelling and different and I look forward to getting to know them better!

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God, it makes me so happy to read this you have no idea. That’s definitely what I was going for. There is some history between the three of you - some more between Alessa and Hadrian. So it’s good to know that I was able to convey that to at least one person. :slight_smile:

Yeah, I don’t really like when, in order to romance an RO, or even just befriend a character, you have to agree with every single thing they say or do.

Hadrian is deeply religious, and his faith is a big part of not only who he is but his view of the world. However, you don’t have to be the same way. And unless the MC does something that he finds unacceptable or outright disrespectful, he will respect you and your choices.

Ooohh you’re poor MC is not going to have the best of times then :smile: Let’s just say that a whole lot of crazy is starting to happen… I’ll keep your MC in mind and try to write in options for the disbelievers.

Tarek would be absolutely appalled by Indiana Jones.

“Are you telling me this guy has this amazing murder weapon - whatchacallit? A pistol? - that he can use, and instead he goes for a whip? F*cking idiot.”

The only Indiana Jones part Tarek would actually relate to.

giphy

@MissionControl Glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully, the next update won’t disappoint :slight_smile:

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What about Alessa? She seems the most interesting to romance for me because of how abrasive she is.
For an mc to romance her, what personality would be best suited? (Without having to bend over backwards to appease her i mean!)

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Hmm, Alessa enjoys someone who can keep up with her. Whether that is by matching her banter or seeing behind her mask. She is pragmatic and utilitarian, and lives by the rule that if it doesn’t affect her or the ones she cares about, why bother?

Someone who sees the world for what it is and not for what they want it to be - that’s the person Alessa is more drawn to.

But like Hadrian, the MC can disagree and given the proper circumstances - she’ll accept that. Even respect you more for it. You can be idealistic or superstitious. Unless you do something that goes against her most core values (and she has those, no matter how much she hides them) then you’ll get along.

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how did I not see this before ? I’ve really enjoyed the demo and the flirting with Alessa, you did a great job :smiley:

and here are the typos I managed to find


piece


I think it should be Allegiance


I believe there should be an It at the end

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@GuardsmanTheMad Thanks for the catches! (“I am glad you are in one peace” actually made me chuckle :grinning:).

Also, @Eric_knight. No lie, I’ve just spent an hour and a half watching video after video of that youtube channel lol. What have you done?


Alright, so the poll has been up for two days (thank you everyone who voted btw) and… It’s was for naught.

I’ve done some thinking and, even if I’ll have to do more writing, I want to add the spear, the battleaxe and the shield to the game. They’re fun and I wanna have fun writing the battle scenes so there it is :slight_smile: Hopefully, with six options, you guys find a style that you enjoy and fits your MC.

Sorry crossbow voters.

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Hahaha… you meant that Polish Movie about Teutonic Knights or the Medieval total war 2 ??
I think there are translation of the polish movie :-):yum:,

Based of my research , The Battle of Grunwald is the final major battle of The Teutonic Order where their power started to decline after this major defeat , almost all knights died in this battle… although the Teutonic Knights staying back at their fortress manage to withstand further onslaught even with small number because their Castle defense is one of the best :slight_smile:

By the way, i think the order staying in Jerussalem is the Templar , along with the Hospitalier … :slight_smile:

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So, I’m at an impasse. And I thought that maybe I should turn to the forum to help me out since it’s essentially why I posted here in the first place. :relaxed:

Spoilers to the demo so far.

I don’t think that, at this point, it is a big spoiler to say that both Alessa and Hadrian are possible romance options. I also want to make clear that they are both bisexual- and they’ve always been. Since the very first time I came up with the characters. However, I wanted their romance to differ depending on the MC’s gender.

In the demo, if the MC is female, Hadrian has a crush on her. If male, Alessa is the one who does. Right now, I was writing the scenes for a same-sex MC to express romantic interest in them - and also the unique scenes you get from doing so.

There will be more bisexual characters in the game (at least two more) which, apart from some flavor text, the romance plays out the same regardless of the MC gender. But for Alessa and Hadrian, I wanted it to start differently. They both have never been with someone of the same sex, so the MC would be the one to initiate it. Then, at a certain point, the romance would be the same as its straight counterpart.

But I’m wondering if this is the right way to do it. Maybe it’s unfair for players who want to romance Hadrian and Alessa with a same-sex MC the same way an opposite-sex MC would. So I pass the question onto you.

  • Keep your original plan and write parallel romance scenes for Hadrian and Alessa.
  • Make Alessa’s and Hadrian’s romance display the same way regardless of the MC gender.
  • I want to see the unique flirting scenes added to the demo first before making the decision.
0 voters

I can’t promise that what wins the poll will be what I’ll ultimately implement as I keep going back and forth with this issue, but your feedback would, of course, be an important factor to consider.


@Eric_knight I meant the youtube channel totally dedicated to the crusades. Very interesting stuff. I’ll try and watch the polish movie tomorrow - I don’t think I’ve ever seen a polish film so it should be fun!

The more I know of the Teutonic Order the more I like them. Apparently, they even formed a state of their own :scream:. These guys were big shots.

The Battle of Grunwald happened in the 1400s, right? That’s a little too advanced for the game’s timeline. So in the game, the order should be at its full might.

Yeah, you’re right. The Knights Templars’ headquarters were in the former kingdom of Jerusalem. I mixed them up. :sweat_smile:

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Haha yeah… Battle of Grunwald happened in 1410… so in this case, for your game’s timeline, The Teutonic Knights should be at the height of their power …
Here are their Headquarter timeline
Before 1291 : Acre
1291 - 1308 : Venice
1309 - 1466 : Marienburg
They later shifted to other HQ, now they formally located back to Venice , and their current Grand Master is someone called Bruno Platter :slight_smile:

So their height and more famous fortress was in Marienburg, but if your timeline is before 1309, they were in Venice…
Oh and yes… they are quite powerful in terms of Military might and Economy skill, so they form their state in the former Prussia /Germany …
Their patron is Saint Mary if you are interested :slight_smile:

And of your Alessa and Hadrian romance scene, ultimately it is up to you, depend on which one you are more familiar with… your original plan not a bad idea…

By the way, Hadrian came from England or Britonia’s Hadrian Wall?? :-):stuck_out_tongue:

EDIT: another interesting thing i found about the Teutonic Knights, seem like they “cannot” marry until 1525, when their Grand Master decided to follow Luther’s preaching after that …

So that means for your timeline … IF there is a Teutonic Knight future character, most likely he is Not going to be a romance interest…

but Hadrian is sn Ex Templar , so he isn’t restricted to such vow, i think The Templar Knights are not as strict as the Teutonic knights right ? :-):thinking:

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So the Teutonic Order was in Venice? That’s actually perfect since, sooner or later, we will definitely be traveling to Italy.

Oh my, you caught that! Yeah, Hadrian’s name came from Emperor Hadrian, who allegedly had the wall built. I almost named him “Adriano”, the Portuguese equivalent of the name, but I thought it didn’t sound very well in English.

Just because a character SHOULD not do something, doesn’t mean that they won’t :wink:

But yes, Hadrian did take the vows. Whether he considers himself tied to them or not, however, is another matter. But in the eyes of the Church and his former colleagues? He’s a man of God, therefore cannot marry.

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Yeah , Teutonic Knights moved their HQ to Venice after the fall of Acre… before moving to Marienburg of Prussia :slight_smile:

Hahaha… Hadrian’s wall is famous especially in fantasy theme story such as King Arthur :slight_smile:

Ah… i understand what you meant by shouldn’t do but would do …Lol

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So Friday was a national holiday in my country and instead of going out to enjoy the great weather we’re having, I stayed at home and wrote like a damn hermit.

Anyway, this is the result: UPDATE!

  • Added the new weapon choices.

  • Added achievements.

  • Added the option for a same-sex MC to express romantic interest in Alessa and Hadrian. Plus a few more scenes specifically for them. (note that this is only the first chapter - there will be many more scenes for both versions of the romance going forward).

  • A choice for those who don’t want to ask for no one’s help whilst falling.

  • Improved the Inventory. Added Outfit, Weapon and Special Items descriptions - it’s still ugly looking, however.

  • Fixed some typos and inconsistencies.

  • Figured out how to display text in the character relationships instead of percentages. (This took me so long :sob: I suck at coding.)

  • Added Chapter Headers.

  • I also remembered the MC can have a broken finger and an amended one (totally slipped my mind, oops). The “fight scene” was changed accordingly.

I’ll keep the poll opened since the majority of the votes said they wanted to wait until the scenes were updated. If you have any feedback to give on this issue, this would be the proper time as I’m unlikely to change it later once I go forward.

I’ve accidentally clicked on the poll and now I can’t retract my vote - please don’t pay attention to it. :sweat_smile:


And with this, unless there are any problems, Chapter One is officially D O N E. I can start working on Chapter Two :tada:

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Yay for the new weapons, scenes, and the cool relationship-describing text! :grin:

Oh, man. Hadrian’s reaction to walking in while my MC was flirting with Alessa just about broke my heart.

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Played through it for the first time. Liked the characters and the setting. Can’t wait to see more.

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‘Rafael: a bastard’ - lol :joy:

but how do I get the achievement templar’s heart? it’s about adrian, right?

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