Stoneshard Update #44 – Bounties & The Crypt

Ink Stains Games’ upcoming roguelike RPG Stoneshard will feature two types of missions for you to complete – quests and bounties. The former are fairly self-explanatory, while the latter will serve as these repeatable procedurally generated tasks that will dynamically alter the game’s world. The latest Kickstarter update explains how they’ll work:

Hello!

This devlog is a bit late and therefore kind of off-schedule, as we were busy polishing our today’s topic of discussion – bounty system and the associated dungeon, the Crypt.

First, let’s clarify the terminology. In our game there’ll be two types of missions: quests and bounties.

First category includes all quests with a scripted storyline and various special content. They are unique and can be completed only once per walkthrough. These tasks include both main plotline missions and various secondary story arcs.

And bounties are procedurally generated repeatable quests. Their structure always remains unchanged, but the place and the participants will change. Bounties are offered mainly by village elders, and usually revolve around solving their settlement’s problems. This is one of the best ways to make quick money and improve your relationship with a settlement or a faction.

As for now, all bounties can be divided into four conditional categories:

• Headhunts. To eliminate a threat, sometimes it’s enough to deal with its leader, an elite enemy who may give you a lot of trouble. By the way, elite mobs are also generated procedurally, but we’ll talk about it some another time.
• Rescue. Locals often fall into various dangerous situations. Your job is to get them out of the mess.
• Search. Lost relics, stolen artifacts, treasure hunts – you will have a chance to take part in all of this. By the way, nothing prevents you from breaking the contract and leaving the found valuables for yourself…
• Interaction. In such bounties you’re required to find a certain place and make a number of special actions to achieve… a needed outcome. Sounds pretty abstract, but, well, that’s how it works.

In the future we plan to diversify bounties by adding some new variations and categories. For example, our to-do list contains monster hunts involving some extremely rare and dangerous enemies.

It’s worth mentioning that bounties are very dependent on global map situation. For example, if orcs or brigands chose an abandoned fort for their own camp in the settlement’s vicinity, sooner or later they will start to create problems for this settlement – so at some point villagers will offer a bounty on them.

Also, unlike quests, bounties completion time is limited and thus is discussed in advance. Not completing the bounty in time won’t only worsen your reputation, but may also have serious consequences for a bounty-giver.

For instance, if you won’t disrupt the necromantic ritual in the crypt nearby in time, the undead may become significantly stronger in this region, so they’ll make even more trouble in the future. So take your bounties seriously and don’t be greedy – if you aren’t sure you’ll be able to complete them, don’t give people false hope and let them hire some other mercenary.

In alpha all bounties are focused on Crypts – our new dungeon type. Technically, the Crypt isn’t 100% new – we’ve demonstrated it a long time ago. However, during last month it was completely revamped from scratch to better fit the changed lore and also test our new approach to dungeon procedural generation.

Most crypts in Aldor have hundred-years history and reflect local burial customs. Those who could afford it were buried in impressive stone sarcophagi. Common folks could usually count on an ordinary wooden coffin. Many dead people are also buried with different valuables – as it’s believed that it may help the deceased in their afterlives.

So a trip to the crypt offers not only an oppotrtunity to die from the undead hands, but also a chance to make a fortune… if you’re lucky enough. Anyway, nobody will check the bodies of people who died several ages ago, so that’s probably fine.