Serpent in the Staglands Interview

RPG Codex has an interview with the Serpent in the Staglands’s developer duo Whalenought Studios, with questions concerning the game’s combat system design, story, inspirations and a few more subjects. Here’s a snippet:

According to the Kickstarter description, combat in Serpent in the Staglands is frenetic and dice roll-based, so that “the range of dice roll outcomes grows larger and more unpredictable” as you progress in skills and power. Could you elaborate on or provide some examples of how that is going to work? Further, apart from the swift pace and unpredictability, where will the challenge in combat come from?

To elaborate on the dice roll outcomes, as you grow higher in level, your dice rolls have a larger range. For example, at level one, you could be rolling a 1d4 for your attack damage, and at level ten, due to skill upgrades, better equipment and buffs, you could be rolling a 1d24. Your characters aren’t reaching heroic levels of strength and intelligence, so much as increasing their odds of surviving against more and more challenging foes. We are trying to avoid the idea that your players become hyper-powerful, and are aware that death is always around the corner, even if you’re level 20 and facing a pack of wolves.

The challenge comes from the chaotic nature of combat and the variation in enemies strengths and abilities, and how you choose to use your skills. Every humanoid can have the same spells and skills as you do, and no two groups of enemies can necessarily be defeated with the same battle strategy. We want to keep the player on their toes and reward creative strategy and their skill usage.

Also to keep combat challenging, we’ve set up the monsters in the game to act like mini-boss battles, requiring unique ways to dispatch them. Spirits must have special dispatching spells cast upon them or they will return, and some have large area affecting spells or minions.’‹

You mention Aptitudes, a system to branch your main character’s knowledge and persona, affecting conversations and interactions with the environment. Does this mean there will be alternate paths and solutions in the game, such as talking your way out of a situation rather than fighting? Perhaps through Darklands-style (choose-your-own-adventure) events?

Yes, that’s exactly right! We don’t have the full screen story images in our budget like in Darklands, but all the events take place in real time in the world instead, either through dialogue or environmental interactions.’‹

Where do you see Whalenought heading with Serpent in the Staglands? It’s a certainly a departure from your earlier, perhaps more accessible, mobile games. Are you looking to become the next Spiderweb Software or Basilisk Games, focusing on throwback CRPGs?

Our plan is to continue to explore the world of Vol (where the Staglands lies) in future games. We have a lot planned for other continents to explore and are excited to continue unraveling the lore in other campaigns.’‹