Gameplay idea for classes in TDM

[Deadlove]

In the original THIEF, there were four sets of classes in the city.

 

1) City watch, part of society

 

2) Hammerites, religious order

 

3) Pagans, anti-religious chaos bringers

 

4) Keepers, hidden entities, guarding secret knowledge

 

 

I see with TDM that we've got two of the factions covered, being the City watch + the Builders.

 

I've yet to see much of a Pagan class being represented.

 

I'm working to try to bring to life a class or Pagans/savages/barbarians to give the Order of the Builder a counter force of chaos to challenge it.

 

However, since Keepers are IP of EIDOS, has there ever been an imagining of a hidden class of people that don't directly reveal themselves but add the player in their quests, and exist within some hidden unknown part of the TDM world that the rest of the world is unaware of?

[Springheel]

There's the Hermetic Order of Mages which is somewhat like the Keepers. http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Mages

 

But the TDM setting doesn't set out to recreate the Thief one exactly.

[Obsttorte]

There are actually pagans in TDM. The reason they are not represented that much in FM's could be the lack of characters.

 

However, as far as I remember from the TDM Universe description on the wiki, the pagans in TDM slightly difers from what you know from the thief games. In the latter they were one united force, while in TDM pagan is more of a rough characterization of tribes/societies not following the builder religion.

 

The TDM approach is much closer to history, as in the past the term pagan was used for almost everyone not beeing part of one of the big religious societies, like christs or jews.

 

In addition to the Hermetic Order, there is also the Inventors Guide. So I think all in all we have enough factions to choose from, and personaly I don't see any need to recreate those from thief (beneath the fact that they are copyright-protected).

[Sotha]

Anyone can create a new faction. Just make a FM that introduces it.

 

That said, The City Watch (order), The Builders (faith, conservatism), Inventors Guild (invention, progress), Pagans (nature, savagery) and The Hermetic Order (mystery, magic) cover pretty well all the themes you could find in a steampunk setting.

 

Oh, and don't forget the Labourers Guilds (masons, carpenters, shipwrights etc etc).

 

Among these, new factions would probably be like some other faction, but with a twist, let's say the "The Order of Saint Malleus," a particularily nasty and zealous hidden sect of The Builder's Church, or "Brotherhood of the Future," a loosely bound bunch of Inventors scheming to claim Bridgeport invention markets for themselves by assassinating rivals, or "The Society of the Worm," a creepy bunch of mages trying to unlock necromancy for their disgusting evil plans.

 

With TDM, only the sky is the limit.

[Jon Irenicus]

"The Society of the Worm," a creepy bunch of mages trying to unlock necromancy for their disgusting evil plans.

 

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Order_of_the_Black_Worm

 

Did you played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

[Deadlove]

Can someone direct me to a FM that uses the Hermetic Order of Mages so I can play and see how they work?

[Sotha]

The Phrase Book has a vague reference to the society.

 

I think I've referenced them in other missions as well, like the Transaction.

 

For me, The Hermetic Order is always shrouded in mystery and all the player can do is to find obscure references that never declare anything decisive. It would be cool if the society was sort of an Illuminati in the sense, that references are obscure, and when you follow them you find contradictions and conspiracies that don't make sense. The Order is there in the background, but it has covered its tracks so well it always remains elusive. Always another trapdoor shows how the tracks lead always somewhere else and a solved puzzle presents always another unsolved one.

 

The Order is, after all, quite hermetic (as in non-permeable to gases.)

[Springheel]

Among these, new factions would probably be like some other faction, but with a twist,

 

Yes, there are references to groups of Necromancers, thieves guilds, the Inquisition, the Order of the Hammer, and the Builder Puritans in various missions and the wiki. There are lots to choose from.

 

Can someone direct me to a FM that uses the Hermetic Order of Mages so I can play and see how they work?

 

I don't think any missions deal much with mages yet. There are mage characters available, and the wiki goes into a fair amount of detail.