*ALL PHYSICAL COPIES ARE SOLD OUT*: REALMS OF QUEST V (Digital version is available)

[R'zo]

Green and yellow jumps out at me. Blue feels very mellow..

[pixel]

I'd pick the green/yellow – it seems to match the smooth colour palettes you picked for those excellent images much better.

[R'zo]

I'd pick the green/yellow – it seems to match the smooth colour palettes you picked for those excellent images much better.

I Agree.

[Ghislain]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I am leaning towards the cyan/blue logo (the same color scheme was used in Realms III).

I've been working on the combat engine -- the encounter table based on the party level as well as displaying the monster names on the party options that appear during combat.

There can be up to 5 monster rows with 2-15 monsters in each of them.

[R'zo]

So will that mean a possibility of up to 45 monsters in a battle?

[Ghislain]

So will that mean a possibility of up to 45 monsters in a battle?

Actually it's 5*15=75, so that is the maximum number of monsters there can be in a battle.

[R'zo]

So will that mean a possibility of up to 45 monsters in a battle?

Actually it's 5*15=75, so that is the maximum number of monsters there can be in a battle.

Right i've been in out of the heat to day. ReIrving low rolls on mental performance
But Wow! That's a small army. I never played 4 so I don't know how it's battle system flowed. 3 got a little slow sometimes, waiting for each enemy to take it's turn. Waiting for 75 enemies to take their turn could take some time.

[rubygolem]

Wow. I'd imagine that spellcasters in this game will rack up an enormous amount of XP per kill with spells that hit rows of monsters or with spells that might hit all monsters in battle since battles can have up to 75 monsters to fight. Perhaps as an offset, there could be weapons that only certain non-spellcasters could use like rapid-fire crossbows for fighters or firehorns for bards or trap spring effect for thief, or dart of hornets nests, or molotov cocktail or such items.

I liked that in Realms IV, player characters could choose which enemy group to attack, whereas in Realms III, the player character attacked the nearest enemy unless they were using a ranged weapon. Here's a post I made back in 2013 on my first thoughts of playing Realms IV.

In Realms III, training levels was immediate during battle if enough XP accrued for player characters which was allot of fun and could aid in battle since upon training your HP goes up which can really help out in dire straits. In Realms IV, player characters needed to travel out of the dungeon and back up to the inn to train which increases the difficulty a bit. I liked both styles of gameplay. I'm assuming Realms V will be similar to Realms IV?

[Ghislain]

Wow. I'd imagine that spellcasters in this game will rack up an enormous amount of XP per kill with spells that hit rows of monsters or with spells that might hit all monsters in battle since battles can have up to 75 monsters to fight. Perhaps as an offset, there could be weapons that only certain non-spellcasters could use like rapid-fire crossbows for fighters or firehorns for bards or trap spring effect for thief, or dart of hornets nests, or molotov cocktail or such items.

I liked that in Realms IV, player characters could choose which enemy group to attack, whereas in Realms III, the player character attacked the nearest enemy unless they were using a ranged weapon. Here's a post I made back in 2013 on my first thoughts of playing Realms IV.

In Realms III, training levels was immediate during battle if enough XP accrued for player characters which was allot of fun and could aid in battle since upon training your HP goes up which can really help out in dire straits. In Realms IV, player characters needed to travel out of the dungeon and back up to the inn to train which increases the difficulty a bit. I liked both styles of gameplay. I'm assuming Realms V will be similar to Realms IV?

There is going to have to be some playtesting to see how overpowered the spellcasters are going to be, especially when they can attack the entire force of opposing monsters all at once with their powerful spells.

But Wow! That's a small army. I never played 4 so I don't know how it's battle system flowed. 3 got a little slow sometimes, waiting for each enemy to take it's turn. Waiting for 75 enemies to take their turn could take some time.

Realms V is basically going to be an ML version of Realms IV with extra stuff tacked onto it. And like Realms IV, combat should go a lot faster because only the successful monster actions get to be displayed (so no waiting for 1 second reading "KOBOLD MISSES..." over and over again).

I designed the individual players' fight menu, which allows for 14 unique actions (split into 2 windows, so Attack and Cast are featured in both).

Attack - Perform a basic attack (melee or missile weapon)
Cast - for spellcasing
Ally - Use your Ally (NPC/Summoned/Controlled monster) to perform an action in your stead.
Backstab - attack monster with extra damage with melee weapon but suffer an armor penalty (Thief, Bard, Courtesan, Monk, Ninja or Proteus action)
Beckon - A Demondim can attempt to control a demon (can be performed for any combat turn)
Defend - Instead of attacking, the player can defend.
Lay - Once per battle, the player can "lay on hands" to heal 2 hit points per level. (Paladin or Proteus action)
Seduce - A Courtesan can attempt to control a humanoid enemy (any combat turn)

Sing - Bard action to distract monsters that can make them listen to the song instead of attacking.
Turn - At the beginning of combat, Priests can attempt to destroy all of the enemy undead that are present.
Use - Use item for it's power
View - View character to inspect
View Pic - I had an extra slot, so I'll allow players to view their player portraits if they want to do that.
Whisper - Druids can attempt to control an animal enemy (any combat turn)

While Realms V still only 2 types of spells - Wizard and Priest, there are unique powers given to specific classes to make a Druid just a little bit more different than a Sage, for example.

[Ghislain]

Made some modifications to the player combat options, with some slight changes and additional actions/powers that can be performed.

Attack - Perform a basic attack (melee or missile weapon)
Ally - Use your Ally (NPC/Summoned/Controlled monster) to perform an action in your stead.
Backstab - attack monster with extra damage with melee weapon but suffer an armor penalty (Thief, Bard, Courtesan, Monk, Ninja or Proteus action)
Beckon - A Demondim can attempt to control a demon (can be performed at the beginning of combat)
Cast - for spellcasing
Condemn - Monks have the power to destroy a single immortal monster at the beginning of combat.
Defend - Instead of attacking, the player can defend.
Disband - Sages can destroy a single row of "Misc Non-living" monsters (like Golems, Elementals, etc) at the beginning of combat.

Lay - Once per battle, the player can "lay on hands" to heal 2 hit points per level. (Paladin or Proteus action)
Seduce - A Courtesan can attempt to control a humanoid enemy (at the beginning of combat).
Sing - Bard action to distract monsters that can make them listen to the song instead of attacking. (beginning of combat)
Subdue - Lords can try to control a single Mythical monster at the beginning of combat (such as Dragons, Hydras, etc).
Turn - At the beginning of combat, Priests can attempt to destroy all of the enemy undead that are present.
Use - Use item for it's power
View - View character to inspect
Whisper - Druids can attempt to control an animal enemy (beginning of combat)

[Ghislain]

Continuing work on the combat module. Players can now mete out melee weapon damage, kill monsters, and reduce their numbers.

With the extra space, a more detailed textual description of what is going on during combat can be provided compared to the previous games.

[R'zo]

VErykah nice! Can't wait to see it in action.

[Ghislain]

VEry nice! Can't wait to see it in action.

Thank you. Me too.

I've programmed the monster melee attacks just now.

I feel that I've programmed a major part of the game now. Putting in spells and monster special attacks is just a matter of sending pointers to the functions and routines I've programmed and it should be all downhill from this point (at least for the combat module).

[Ghislain]

Players can now gain experience during combat.

[Ghislain]

I decided to change some of the names of the player races. If this game does get some kind of notoriety, then I don't want to step on any toes of intellectual property or accusations of ripping off other people's ideas (if anything, I am borrowing a lot more from those 1970s mainframe RPG games that inspired the likes of Wizardry if anything else).

The most obvious one, Hobbit (by Tolkien) was changed to Halfelin, which is the French spelling of Halfling.

I changed Dunedain (a race in Tolkien's Silmarillion) to my own spelling of Duaen-Rein.

Changed Uruk-Hai (also Tolkien) to Turroq-Qai (my own spelling)

Changed Ur-Vile (from the Thomas Covenant books) to Urreville (my own spelling)

I'll likely go through the monster names and change them where I deem appropriate. I do admittedly use monsters from the Lovecraft mythos, but I believe these have recently fallen into the public domain.