Macsen Application Thread.

[Macsen]

Aha, it has struck me, as would a lightning bolt.

 

The wife and child are gone. Forget them.

 

The Thief was the leader of the Thieves Guild in the City. However, there is a nobleman in the City called Lord Adringhton who likes to run his own private police force, and clean up the streets. He is one of the Builders, a religious fanatic, and a very secretive man who does not appear in public. Even though the Thieves Guild has paid the City's police force not to mess with them, Lord Adringhton does not care and sends his boys in to arrest you and throw you in prison.

 

That is where you start off, in the dungeon of one of the Lord's many mansions. It is situated on the side of a cliff overlooking the sea. After quite a while some special event allows you to escape, such as a blackout or some similar occurrence.

 

The second level is the same as it was. Tybalt tests you by having you break into the Thieves Guild and snatching the fake crystal/diamond/thing. There is a slight change of motivation in the third and fourth chapters, for as well as investigating the Brotherhood of the Renaissance for Tybalt you are also investigating the Lord Adringhton for yourself, so that you can find out where he is and get your revenge.

 

Tybalt makes a deal with the Baron as normal, and you assassinate the Builder High Priest. But here is where the two plots are different. This time the Baron and his friends do not rush in and save the Builder High Priest with their cauldron. You go back to the Thieves Guild to find yourself face to face with Lord Adringhton himself. He is the Baron, and the whole Brotherhood of the Renaissance was a trick to make you kill the Builders High Priest. He allowed you to escape your prison. Now that you've done that task, which only you had the skills to do, Lord Adringhton is the new Builder High Priest, and you've been caught red handed assassinating the Builder High Priest and can be put to death under the City's rules.

 

Mwahahahaha!

 

The final level, then, would involve you escaping again and carrying out truly horrible revenge on Lord Adringhton in some way.

[sparhawk]

The final level should leave the ending open. So th eplayer doesn't know wether he was executed, or escaped. This way we can easily make another campaign if we want to, or call it finished if not.

[Macsen]

The final level should leave the ending open. So th eplayer doesn't know wether he was executed, or escaped. This way we can easily make another campaign if we want to, or call it finished if not.

It might be too abrupt and ending if it stopped straight after the revelation. It would be a little biit like Thief I ending on a cliff-hanger when Constantine is revealed to be the Trickster. Effective, but possibly unsatisfying. But the fan community probably wouldn't mind, as they would be given the tools to carry on the story whichever way they saw fit. And it would mean having to create only 5 levels instead of 6.

[sparhawk]

Maybe this is not so bad because others can pick it up. And 6 is only a limit, not a requirement. Also we might be able to drag it out a bit, if we absolutely want to do 6 maps.

[Macsen]

I don't think we need to drag it out to 6, if it can be done in 5. As New Horizon said, it's short and sweet.

 

I'll write up a full version of the above storyline tomorrow. It's Saturday night, and I'm going down to the pub.

 

If anyone wants to comment of the revised storyline, feel free to do so. It is greatly appreciated.

[Springheel]

Here are some ideas that came to mind as I was reading yours. (Personally, I think cross-polination is the best way to come up with major story arcs)

 

The Main Character was a high-ranking lietenant of the biggest Thieve's guild in the city. However, the city came under seige by a nearby prince, who eventually won and took the city over. This new prince was highly religious, and gave broad new powers to the Church, who systematically began hunting down thieves, pagans and whores.

 

Knowing that things were about to get very bad, the Thief flees the city, going to stay (somewhere else...perhaps a place where he learns new skills?).

 

After about seven years, the Church gets complacent and stops the massive sweeps. Our Thief returns to the city to find that the Thieves' guild is a shadow of its former power. Most of its high-ranking members are executed or fled, like him. A local baron is GuildMaster now, and he uses the thieves under his command as a personal source of revenue, as well as an execution squad. Most of the rank and file are made up of beggars and thugs.

 

Our Thief joins up, and we have mission #2 pretty juch as before (although this might actually be mission #1).

 

The Prince dies (is murdered?) and a new ruler comes to power. Although he seems to be just as religious as his predecessor, he actually has secret ties to an underground organization consisting of thieves, mages and others (possibly 'the order'?). The baron could be a member of this group.

 

I like the idea of the baron actually setting the Thief up to be captured at some point, because he realizes that the Thief is stirring up the rest of the guild against him. Once the Thief realizes he was set up, he is out both for revenge and to replace the baron as head of the guild. We might be able to work out a mission where the Thief finds out that the new Prince is protecting the baron. Knowing he is betraying the Church, the Thief has to make a difficult choice: Does he provide the Church proof of the Prince's betrayal? If he does, he'll be able to get revenge on the Baron, but he'll also leave the Church in a strong position in the city. If he helps the Prince, then the Baron gets away with it and might even come after him again.

 

Anyway, food for thought.

[Renzatic]

We've discussed it and come to the conclusion that you've done enough to garner the rank of (drum roll) TEAM MEMBER. Explore the boards to your hearts content.

[Macsen]

We've discussed it and come to the conclusion that you've done enough to garner the rank of (drum roll) TEAM MEMBER. Explore the boards to your hearts content.

Wow, that's quite an honour since you have such a talented team. Thank you.

 

I'll discuss the plot further tomorrow, including Springheel's great suggestions. It's half past two in the morning here, and I've just got home.

 

Edit: From now on I'll post in the relevant forum.

Edited January 30, 2005 by Macsen

[Alexius]

hahaha. Finish Excelsior first Mac!

Don't make me get the builder's judgment after you.

[Macsen]

hahaha. Finish Excelsior first Mac!

Don't make me get the builder's judgment after you.

The Excelsior will be fit to sail on time, capt'n. :lol: