Dearest Travellers,
If you’ve already checked out our gameplay video, you might have noticed that Creative Director Jakob spends some time explaining how to create characters. No doubt, character creation is a huge part of the soul and spirit of Book of Travels and we hope you’ll love getting deep into your character before starting your adventure. So today we’re sharing a little bit of insight into the thinking behind those character creation fields. We also have a first ever peek at artwork and info on four of the game’s 15+ Forms, plus a nice little bit of character-related community news...
The Wheel of Personality, Jung and Chinese Theatre
The character creation process in Book of Travels allows for very detailed and creative player input, which we think will enable rich and characterful roleplay. (You can see some of the fields you’ll be able to complete in the image below the next.)
Every character begins its life as one of a selection of Forms, each of which has been inspired by a combination of archetypes. In creating the Forms, our research took in personality theory from many disciplines including Comedia dell’arte, Chinese Theatre and Jung’s twelve personality types. All have been sources of inspiration rather than templates, and our main intention has been to build a framework that allows players to create complex, nuanced personalities.
Just like classes in traditional RPGs, each Form comes with different gameplay orientation and skill affinity, but in Book of Travels, Forms are designed to help players create an individual playstyle and enjoy a high degree of personal expression in their roleplay. Further character complexity can be added by choosing background, gender (a freeform field) personality traits, skills, talents and appearance, which will together make for a unique character and a unique play experience.
There are over 15 Forms to choose from with more to unlock as you solve narrative chains and engage in gameplay events. Here are four for you to get to know right now - we’ll be sharing another four sometime soon.
The Mirther and The Dimmed
The Mirther is creative and embodies honesty and youth. They echo rural Romantic archetypes such as shepherds, wandering musicians and artists. They are a daydreamer and find much mirth in or out of company. By contrast The Dimmed is an older, wiser type whose light shines less brightly. Their stoic attitude in company does not temper their thirst for exploration, especially when the quest is enlightenment.
The Moss Walker and The Weatherer
The Mosswalker has feet that are deep in the earth and finds magic in all things mundane. They live a relatively ordinary life but their values are wide and true, making them something of an unconventional, Bohemian type. Striding and far from domestic, The Weatherer’s spirit is forged by exposure to elements literal and metaphorical. Their unequivocal thinking and broad experience finds them well placed in exploration and adventure.
Choose a Form role on Discord!
From today, Discord users will now have the ability to choose from one of the above forms as a role. These are our first lore based roles and there will be more in time to come. So if you haven’t already, come by and say hello :)
Which Form resonates with you the most? Let us know in the comments here, and please feedback your thoughts on anything you think you like or are unsure about in our character creation process.
Thanks so much for spending your time with us!
Best Wishes,
Helen and the Dev Team x
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152340/Book_of_Travels/
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What is TMORPG?
The T in TMO signals an alternative to the more common industry standard MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) putting 'tiny' in the place of 'massive'. That means fewer meetings, which we think means more magic... Read more here: What is a TMORPG?!
Revealing the Early Access World
Later this year Book of Travels will be available for Early Access on Steam. In Chapter Zero parts of the Braided Shore will be open, and among the places to visit is the gem of the region – the city of Kasa. Read more here.
Join our Discord
Join our super friendly Discord to exchange ideas on all things Book of Travels as well as art, games and books. Join here.