Werewolf
RPG
Werewolf is a self-published multiplayer online role-playing game (MORG) initially set in the ancient nordic village of Laurelin. Werewolf seeks to return RPGs to their roots by fostering a community of role playing only servers. In almost all MORGs (Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, etc.) inevitably a devoted contingent of players who yearn for a true "role-playing game" attempt to role-play under these less than ideal curcumstances. Unfortunately until recently little could be done as creating a MORG has always been out of reach to all but the largest studios, until now. Traditional game publishers and studios have been unwilling to properly service this sector of their player base as to them the number of players is undoubtably too small to be worth their time and money. Werewolf seeks to fill the "true" role playing niche where the larger MORGs cannot. The gaming industry has consolidated towards ever more ambitious and expensive development efforts. Full Moon Studios seeks to take advantage of this trend by self publishing Werewolf and creating a game of, by and for role playing enthusiasts. Utilizing NeL (a MORG Engine produced by Nevrax) Ironic Entertainment will create a radically different gaming experience for role-playing enthusiasts built on proven NeL's proven technology. NeL, is already used in a production environment as the engine upon which the popular MORG "The Saga of Ryzom" was created by Nevrax. Nevrax has generously donated NeL under the terms of the GPL allowing Ironic Entertainment to build on NeL's strong foundation.
The game is set on a large island (100sq km?) in the middle of an isolated valley. The valley is surrounded on three sides by impassable mountains. Until recently there has been access to the village from the southern side via the river which runs north and south along the map. Not very long ago there was a large earthquake which cause a waterfall to form and make our village inpassable via the river. The road which is now unused is unmaintained and the forest has overgrown the road to a great extent.
http://dev.ironicentertainment.org/Werewolf Intro/Description/.images/areamap_sm.gif
There used to be a secondary access route to the village which involved a road which approaches from the west and winds through a narrow pass until it reaches the village. This route has been eliminated as well because of the wild beasts which now lurk in the forest and make the road impassable.
Laurelin is a beautiful but quaint village which is nestled in the center of a valley surrounded by lofty peaks and the immense forest the Vargskogen. Laurelin stands on a relatively large but difficult to find island. Hidden from the cares of the rest of the world by it's remote location life in Laurelin was slow and peaceful. With such an ideallic existence and ample amounts of free time the residents of Laurelin were free to hone and improve their respective crafts to levels unheard of throughout the world. There was never a shortage of raw materials or even metals flowed from the surrounding mountains in plenty. The craftsmen of Laurelin for centuries had honed their craft until they were unparalleled artisans and held without rival in the respected craft among all the lands. Soon the artisans of the village learned that the outside world would pay handsomely for the unparalleled beauty of the goods wrought by their hands. Merchants would travel great distances and brave many perils to obtain the handywork of Laurelin craftsmen as merchants knew they could always fetch a handsome for their trouble. The most famous (and popular) building in the village is "The Wolf's Den Inn and Tavern". This tavern like any other self respecting establishment has an inn attached to it as well as a small stable for traveler's horses though this goes largely unused nowadays. During the glory years of Laurelin "The Wolf's Den Tavern and Inn" was renowned for the quality of the ale on tap as well as the luxurious accommodations provided by the Inn. The Wolf's Den was frequented by the town's people for the fine ale and news/gossip they could recieve from a nice evening in teh tavern. The Wolf's Den was also visited by the rich merchants who were always about town on business. There was one other group who loved to visit The Wolf's Den and that was the aristocrats who enjoyed visiting for a taste of country life, it's unrivaled craftsmen, beautiful scenery and the hospitality of the inn and the people of the village. The inn and tavern is particularly beautifully decorated in keeping with the high expectations of it's visitors. While the tavern's business certainly isn't what it once was when rich merchants and powerful aristocrats used to frequent "The Wolf's Den" (often referred to as just "The Den" by village residents). "The Den" is still able to maintain a very respectable level of patronage by the locals looking for to chat with other villagers to discuss their misery and to drown their sadness in the bottom of a mug of ale. Through the town's misfortune "The Den's" owner the barkeep is still able to make a respectable living. "The Den" is by far the best kept up building in the whole village. Indeed ever better maintained that the Magistrate's office. When the residents of Laurelin visit "The Den" they are reminded of better times by the Inn's beautiful and unchanged appearance.
Aided by the fame of the craftspeople, Lauelin's natural beauty, and the friendly inhabitants a somewhat small but profitable tourist trade flourished. Often merchants traveling to the village would bring their families to mix business with pleasure and stay for extended visits to enjoy the quaint charms of Laurelin. Rich aristocrats would often visit for extended visits drawn by the quiet country life, the famous "Wolf's Den Inn & Tavern" or sometimes just to take a small detour to visit the village for a few days of shopping along their way to another destination. Yet lately things have taken an ill turn and all is not well in Laurelin. Nature itself seems to have turned against the sleepy little village.
A spirit of darkness and evil malice has crept into the forest and vile beasts have filled the forest even before anyone took notice. Now no one comes to Laurelin for any reason whether great or small because of the evil beasts that roam the woods and the great road into town. The road to town has been unmaintained for quite some time and the only way in and out of town has been overrun by nature. A few months ago the upstream passage into Laurelin via the river was also cut off due to an earthquake which created a new set of falls downstream from the village. At this point the town in now trapped by the mountains as there is no way out of town save by the road which is full of frightful creatures.
The once bust artisan trade that kept the town so busy has dried up and the village has begun to founder. Things seem to grow from bad to worse in the village and hope that the village will be rescued grows dimmer with every passing day. Evil creatures which now infest the forest have been seen roaming the outskirts of town.
Last night the most evil deed yet had befallen the sleepy village of Laurelin and one of Laurelin's most well beloved residents was slain. PoorErik Agnar was asleep in his own bed last night when some wild creature crept into his home and slew him as he slept. A few villagers claimed to have seen a wolflike creature of dread size running away from Erik's house. Maria Bervid even claimed to have seen the animal change back into a human form though she couldn't say who it was the wolf changed back into. Some villagers have even begun to describe visions that they have of these vile beasts. Are these visions genuine or are they only trying to cover their truth with stories of these obviously demonic visions.
Evil tales as ancient as the village itself have once again become a popular topic of conversation in town. The elders of the village tell tales of men who can change into the form of a wolf. These creatures have a seemingly insatiable bloodlust and will not stop until every living thing for miles around has been slain. How will this dread creature be stopped? The town elders have decided to hold a vote on who they should execute for these murders. Undoubtedly there will be innocents accidentally killed but it's better than waiting for the terrible beast to slaughter the whole town.
The players roam freely throughout the village. They can converse with other players and try to make alliances. At some point in the week they must stop by the Magistrate's office and cast their vote for whom they believe to be a werewolf. Seers and Werewolf do exactly the same as the villagers in the day. At some point in the day, the Magistrate will appear in the town square and announce the results of the daily vote. The player with the most votes will be summoned to the front and executed.
Player driven, political intrigue is the engine which propels Werewolf's gameplay. The conflict which drives this intrigue is the presence of werewolves amongst the village population. The werewolves are able to shape change at will into their werewolf form and thus easily blend into the village population and otherwise appear as any other villager. Werewolves pose as a regular villager practicing a trade and try to blend in to village life while keeping their horrible blood lust a secret. To counter act the power of the werewolves there are the seers which have terrible visions and can at times discern who is a werewolf and who is not. Is the man who says he is a seer really a werewolf or is he telling the truth when he accuses another of the unholy bloodlust? Does a seer risk revealing himself as a seer knowing full well that the werewolves will mark his presence and likely make the seer their next victim? This is but a taste of the possibilities which will be stoked in Werewolf.
Players are divided into a few main types: Seers (mages), werewolves, warriors, herbalists and craftsmen. All of these player types are dependent on one another for their continued existence.
Player's main goal initially in Werewolf is to simply survive the next day. After the players get a firm foothold in their new world they will be tasked with finding the roots of the curse of the village and ultimately to find a way to break the curse so the players can leave the valley. Players will be able to aquire skills through training from a local master or practicing that skill (after learning the basics). When a skill is first aquired the player isn't very good at the skill. To improve the player's chance at success of performing a skill he has trained he can either practice the skill or aquire training from a local expert. Note that if a player doesn't use a skill it begins to degrade after a period of time. The exact amount of time and level degradation depends on how advanced the skill is. More advanced skills degrade more rapidly and extensively. If a player knows skills from other skill trees and especially if the other skill trees aren't complimentary then the degradation is further accelerated.
The music in Werewolf will be dark and ominous much like the times in Laurelin. The instrumentation should be relatively simple consisting of acoustic instruments and vocals. Mostly the audio tracks will be for background music and will help denote an ominous and foreboding mood although certainly there are exceptions to this rule (like in the tavern).
Whenever a player enters the tavern the music should have a reassuring quality and not contain the dark ambiance that pervades the music in the rest of the game. The music should denote the more cheery mood in the bar and convey to the player that this is a safe place in town from the werewolves.
The music will be encoded in OGG format 192kbs 44hz (in stereo of course). There will be no official recording/sequencing program that musicians should use but the musician should provide the project with the program source file as well as a midi file and if possible any instrument banks they've used for their compositions.
Sound Effects should be as realistic sounding as possible. Sound effects should be able to be heard throughout town and to a certain extent in the depths of the forest (as Werewolves may hide out there for a time). These sound effects that should be heard everywhere is the sounding of the large ceremonial horn (for the announcement of the voting results or to inform the players of the circumstances of a new killing) as well as the blood curdling screams of victims of the dreaded werewolves.
There should be lots of sound effects that will contribute to the dark mood of Werewolf. Lots of erie and unearthly sounds can be heard whenever someone approaches the forests or strays too far on the road that leads outside of town. Players can hear the constant chatter of the river that runs through the middle of town throughout a large portion of the city.
There is already a very large library of sounds within our library of sound effects of varying quality.
