Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Chris Avellone Interview, Developer Q&A Part 3

The one and only Chris Avellone recently had a chat with RPG Site about his narrative design work on Owlcat Games’ upcoming isometric cRPG Pathfinder: Kingmaker. He talked about the game’s world and storyline, its branching narrative paths, and the things he liked most about the project.

I’ll put a few sample questions below, but before that, you may also be interested in checking out the latest promotional Q&A video featuring a number of Owlcat’s developers:

And here’s an excerpt from the interview:

RPG Site: What sets Pathfinder: Kingmaker apart from other CRPG storylines?

Chris Avellone: The setting, the companions, and the challenges you face set it apart – in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, it’s not about squaring off against an evil antagonist. It’s more nuanced than that, and presents the player with a lot of hard choices in being a leader and ruling a kingdom. And sometimes that means choosing the common good (or greater evil) over your own interests – or those of your companions and allies. Still, I think those choices are what make for the best stories.

RPG Site: What is your favorite aspect of Pathfinder: Kingmaker’s writing?

CA: It’s just plain fun. The goblins in Kingmaker, for example, are an unusual take on the tried-and-true goblin trope, so being able to play around with that in companion writing (I wrote the goblin companion, Nok-Nok) was a blast. I haven’t had the chance to do so much comedy (mixed in with some more serious themes) since Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues.

Also, Pathfinder as a franchise is very player-centric for a role-playing setting. It allows for a great deal of open-world exploration and allows the players to adventure at their own pace and literally create their own adventures – really, it’s encouraged. Sometimes RPGs can get bogged down on mandating a storyline or forcing a linear path, but Kingmaker bucks that trend, and I think that makes for a better RPG since it lets the player participate in the story more.