Paladin Dream was inspired by a short story I wrote in high school, which you can access in the link below. (Don’t worry, there are no game spoilers!)
https://hitheryongames.s3.amazonaws.com/promotion/Dream.pdf
This was done for the King Arthur unit in English class and contains many characters from Aurthurian lore. Adrielian Abbey is loosely based on Camelot, for example. But the unique ideas I imagined in my short story formed the foundation for Paladin Dream, with many similar plot points and concepts.
Dream Duel
Both stories begin with a knight that loses a duel in a recurring dream. The lookalike enemy is the same. The mountain cave far away is the same. The identity of the rival duelist is different. Getting permission from the authority figure is the same.
Rival Duel
In King Arthur, Sir Kay is sort of a bullying oaf, and in my story he loses his temper and falls off a drawbridge. In Paladin Dream, Sir Kroy is less physically tough but more spiteful and malicious. Since Josiah is generally regarded as a sturdy and athletic knight, it made more sense to give him a rival who would try to bully him physiologically rather than physically. In both cases, the hero takes care of business and leaves their home.
Religious Bandits
Both stories have the plot point of bandits who continually sack a town because of their loyalty to religion. This idea is also similar to The Seven Samurai / The Magnificent Seven where a poor village employs mercenaries to defend them against a threat. In the original story, the bandit leader mistakes the hero for a villager, whereas in the game the interaction makes it clear that the paladin is recognized but underestimated.
A Witch’s Forest
Both stories have the element of a witch enchanting a forest so that the hero is unable to pass through until gaining a magic item. The gas mask in my older story is likely inspired by post-apocalyptic RPG Crystalis, and is a bit of a weird anachronism in context of Arthurian lore. The Fairy Flower is a better choice. Dierdre the Witch is less of a villain than Morgana. She’s more of a pagan / Celtic witch (not the Halloween and broomstick kind) and proves to be a bit crazy.
Enemy City
Each story has a part where the hero must pass through an enemy city and avoid guards who would otherwise attack them. In the original story, Balyn has a magical cloak, and in Paladin Dream, it’s possible but unnecessary to obtain this item. In Paladin Dream, the role of the rival city is greatly expanded where we learn that there’s a nefarious scheme being hatched there.
Return Home
Both stories have an element where the hero returns home to discover something they didn’t know before. In the original story, the knights ride home across the land, but in Paladin Dream the method of return is different. From a gameplay perspective, it didn’t make much sense to have the player backtrack across a huge map, so the plot created a solution to this logistical problem.
Writing Help
I want to extend a huge, public thank you to my friend Geoffrey Golden, who consulted with me on smoothing out the plot difficulties I was having early on. He is the one person I could not have made this game without since otherwise, I’d still be struggling to form a coherent plot instead of being a game developer. I don’t remember many of my early erroneous ideas, but at one point the hero character was a monk, I wasn’t sure whether or not to have a final boss battle, and there was an extraneous character who was murdered but had no other reason to exist.
I worked really hard on the story for Paladin Dream, and I hope the effort shows through. The short story is one of a small number of creative writing samples that I’m actually proud of, and it was a challenge to adapt a 10-page story into a more complex RPG. Play the game and let me know what you think!
Please wishlist the game! Thank you all for your ongoing support of this project! I really appreciate it. 🙏
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592120/Paladin_Dream/