An Introduction

Hello, my name is Andrew Martello, and I am writing Deadwind, an upcoming RPG by Jason Accardo.  With the pre-alpha demo of the game on the horizon, I thought it would be the right time to explain what I have been doing for the past few months. In later logs, I plan on posting small explanations on the world and lore of Deadwind. Today however,I would like to talk about my process when writing for this game

The Importance of Worldbuilding

With an RPG,  it is extremely important for the world to be convincing, we have a keen eye for when things aren’t cohesive, and the lack thereof can make the narrative as a whole fall apart.  As this is my first project, at first I had no idea where to start, I tried defining races, fleshing-out key characters, writing the antagonist, etc. however, I realized that without a proper platform to build off of, I really wasn’t going to get anywhere.  

At this impasse, I took a step back, and realized that without proper worldbuilding, The narrative would never hold up to the standard that either Jason or I had for the game.  The next few months were dedicated to building this world,  and though they were frustrating, I now have a library that has been key in developing a narrative that both me and the programmer can agree on.  I can not stress enough how useful world-building has been, I find it is much easier to think of the repercussions an action would have, since I have developed the factions and inhabitants enough that they have defined goals and conflicts.

Inspiration

Fantasy is not my favourite  genre, I don't have any particular issues with it, but I have always been a fan of the speculation and ideas that stem from science fiction. While this game is a fantasy game, many of the ideas that surround the magic system, and the various religions, do have some (minor) roots in sci-fi. 

I also have taken a lot of inspiration from eastern history, during the early stages of worldbuilding, I was reading The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, and the chapters on the early formation of Islam, and the tribulations surrounding Constantinople, and the Persians interested me quite a bit, in particular what people are willing to do for their beliefs, and how these beliefs shaped the east as a whole.

Dialogue and Choice

Dialogue has been a tricky one, I have always been a fan of the choice that an RPG allows for in how you would like to present your character. In my eyes, an RPG video game should be somewhat like an RPG tabletop game, and while I cannot possibly present as much choice as I can when I GM a D&D game for my friends, I would still like to make the player feel that they are in control of the character, from who they like and dislike, to what they believe in, and what they can do to shape the outcome of the narrative.

In Conclusion

I hope I have made at least a little bit of sense in my points, as well as somewhat explained some of my plans for the narrative. I do plan on making more of these, and I promise the next ones will be more straightforward. My main goal for this post was to introduce myself, and to let you know what kind of thinking has been done on the narrative side of this game. I would love to answer any questions, or discuss anything, feel free to reach out to me @innervision986 on twitter.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Martello