Venerable Knights of the Valley,
Today I have an exciting announcement to make about a new partnership with a legendary tabletop game designer who will be working on Knights of Frontier Valley. But before I go into detail here, it is important to explain the massive influence tabletop RPGs had on the game, which is what makes this partnership so important.
In the 1980s, countless hours of my lifetime went towards playing tabletop RPGs with my friends. When I wasn't playing, and I was alone in my room, I read pre-made adventure modules (or made my own) and dreamt of playing them.
We started off with playing "The Dark Eye", a German tabletop system inspired by Dungeons & Dragons™ (*). Then we switched over to D&D itself and stuck with it for years. Later we also tried other games including MERP, Midgard, Cyberpunk, and Call of Cthulu. I loved all of them, but D&D will always hold a special place in my heart.
Around the same time, video games become a bigger thing. The games people knew up to then were simple home console arcade titles like Asteroids, Pac Man, or Donkey Kong ("simple" in terms of gameplay, that is. They certainly weren't "simple" to make).
When 8-bit home computers like the Commodore 64 or the Atari 800XL appeared, much better, affordable hardware became available to many. Games could also be saved now, allowing for longer and far more complex gameplay. It was simply amazing what some developers were able to get out of those machines. Titles like Ultima IV, Alternate Reality - The Dungeon, or the Bard's Tale (just to name a few of the genre), were incredibly deep, and the fun of playing some of them holds up with modern games to this day.
When the world updated to 16-bit a few years later, computers received all-around upgrades, and visuals and audio became increasingly appealing. I remember playing the original Rogue (name-giver of the "roguelike" genre) on my Atari ST... the only copy I had access to was a demo which ended after the first level. That didn't stop me from playing it for hours on end though... I just kept restarting and playing that one level. It was mesmerizing. For the first time, I had experienced a complex fantasy RPG video game with procedural maps, and there was no going back from there. If I ever make my own game, I thought, it would have to be replayable.
Tabletop vs video games
At the time, I was playing both tabletop and video games in parallel. How did those two worlds compare? Well, there were things that were quite similar, like the fun of creating a new character. But there were also stark differences. What sets tabletops apart from video games are essentially two things:
For one, you're usually playing video games alone in your room. No cameras, microphones or other technology used in online gaming can replace being in a room with your friends and having real human interactions. Other than adventuring together, a good deal of the fascination those games bring comes from being directly around other players and seeing them make funny faces or artistically throw the dice only to have it end up on a 1.
Then there is the seemingly endless freedom of choic and action found in tabletop RPGs. When a DM is faced with a player's intend to take an action he didn't anticipate, he can make up a solution for it on the fly. The player wants to rob the store of the quest giver, and the DM didn't think of this to happen? It just takes minutes to make up the list of the lootable store inventory and to roll the store owner's stats. Such a thing is not possible in video games, as the code has to include all game scenarios when it starts. An extension for robbing the store could be provided via an update, but it cannot be added dynamically at runtime. Developers can add new scenarios based on community feedback, but it's not a seamless experience and it will never be possible to implement the ideas of all players - in video games, possibly tens of thousands.
Therefore, tabletop RPGs will continue to offer a unique experience. But video games have their own advantages - for one, they will always be available whenever you are in the mood for a game. There is also something to be said about directly seeing and hearing well-made worlds like those in "Red Dead Redemption II" or "Kingdom Come - Deliverance".
Despite the differences, tabletop and video game RPGs do have many things in common. When you create a fantasy RPG video game, you are essentially taking on the role of the Dungeon Master - you create the world, the cities, and the dungeons. You create the NPCs and control their behavior. You design the modules (quests), and you place the traps and treasures. You also roll all the dice - not in person, using a piece of plastic, but by assigning the task to a proxy: your game, which you taught (programmed) how to roll the virtual dice and when to use which one of them.
Inspiration for Knights of Frontier Valley
When I started working on KoFV, I thought of my tabletop times and wanted to capture some of that experience, like propably many other RPG video game developers had done before me. In my case, it led to adding three key tabletop mechanics:
1) Permadeath: Tabletop games do not have a concept of "reloading" after death. Death is permanent, and when it happens, you start rolling the dice for a new character. Without permadeath, there is no way of actually "losing" the game. This might be intended by many of today's game designers, as they want to make their game more appealing to as many people as possible. At first glance, a game might seem more rewarding if the player always wins, because, who likes losing? This is a misconception though. Players do not get the same feeling of accomplishment when they win a game that cannot be lost. They might still feel good about having solved all the puzzles and other challenges, but in the end, it was just a matter of time. For that reason, permadeath is enabled by default in KoFV. There is another option, but dying will always come with a penalty.
2) Single-character: In tabletop games, each player controls a single character. Sure, you play with friends and there is a party, but other PCs are controlled by other players. This is important, as the more interesting interactions between players, including conflicts of interests, do not come up when one person controls the entire party. Titles like Baldur's Gate, Wizardry, and many others are great fun, but by being party-based, they detach themselves a bit from the tabletop experience.
3) Turn-based combat: this feature is essential when trying to emulate tabletops. Games like Diablo, Skyrim, and many others are great RPGs, but action-based combat, or combat where the player does not directly control each move or attack, does not reflect the tabletop experience, which originally evolved from being a tactical wargame simulation into being an RPG. Now, in video games, combats are common and plentiful, and having to lead many easy battles can quickly turn into a chore. There are good solutions for dealing with this dilemma. KoFV was inspired by the 1986 title "Wizard's Crown" here, offering an automatic "quick resolve combat" in addition to the turn-based one. It's not a simple mechanic though that only produces an end result - a real battle is playing out in front of the player (just much faster), with the option to intervene when needed.
The new "Quick Combat" feature in KoFV - still working on it
Aside from mechanics, tabletops were also the inspiration for many other game components, such as quests or NPC behavior.
A long-term partnership
As tabletops play such an important part in KoFV's background, it is clear why partnering with one of the key designers of the original Dungeons & Dragons is a huge deal.
Therefore, I am incredibly excited to announce that Robert J. Kuntz has partnered with Adamant Studios to work on "Knights of Frontier Valley"!
Rob was a good friend of Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, the creators of Dungeons & Dragons. He was Gary's protege and the lead play-tester for D&D with his iconic character Robilar. He contributed significant content to the game through D&D's supplements such as Greyhawk and Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes.
His designs have been nominated for awards three times and have won twice: Maure Castle won the Golden ENNIE award and was published to celebrate the 30th anniversary of D&D; and Kings & Things won the Charles Roberts award for best Fantasy board game.
Today, Rob is as active as ever in the tabletop community. He is still publishing content, DM'ing game sessions and giving many interviews, seminars and workshops. As the last man standing from the early Dungeons & Dragons era, he is the only authoritive go-to source when it comes to questions about the early days and how the original creators intended the game to be.
Rob will be acting as both a creative consultant and content contributor for KoFV. What we do have in mind for this partnership is much more than just making KoFV a better game though. We are looking ahead, past DLC for KoFV and a possible second instalment. Long-term, we will be working together on projects based on Rob's ideas and extensive IP.
Robert J. Kuntz
This is all I am going to share today, but there is more coming soon. There's another exciting announcement shaping up, and i also have an update on game development.
Until next time,
Martin
(*) "Dungeons & Dragons" is trademark owned by Wizards of the Coast and is used here for historical purposes only.