Ideas for Arcanum2

hello all,

im part of a team who want to make a complete sequal of arcanum using WorldEd, but were still in the begging stages (story writing, planning, etc...)

my job is to make all of the side quests, and ive written down 26 so far, and i need to have 30 by Dec. 9, but im all out of ideas...so i was wondering if anyone here has any ideas? (contributers will be mentioned in the credits )

ps: the game takes place in 1910, tarant is in political turmoil, durnholm and blackroot are preparing for war, cattan is under the rule of a tyrant who kills any who oppose him (yes, cattan is already finished), and the panarii church has grown rich and is leading a crusade against the followers of the old gods

weve been working for 7 months now, so it isnt just some project were gonna scrap

edit: also, any ideas for the name are welcome
example: Arcanum 2: Panarii Prophecies

 

Holy crap dude, you made my fucking DAY!!! THANK YOU! I've been waiting for someone to make this mod FOREVER!!

First question: what ending of Arcanum are you planning to base the this off of?

P.S. Awesome name

 

I've wondered for awhile why in a steam punk techno setting that more of the Western Genre is not included. For reference check out all of the spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone. Specifically, ones which would be VERY applicable to the setting and style of arcanum... "A Fist full of Dollars" where the hero finds a town with two bosses and makes money playing one side against the other. Classics like "The good, the bad, and ugly" would be very hard since it takes place all over the place, but several which occur all in one town are PERFECT. Its not spaghetti, but "High Plains Drifter" is totally worth doing, all in one town and lends itself perfectly to the style of arcanum. "Once upon a Time in the West" is perfect for settings where the railroad is being expanded into some jerkwater town. "Duck You Sucker" is based on a renegade Irish Republican Army rogue who has fled Ireland and freelances in the west... perfect for material on explosives expert based plot. The genre is full of profession specific plots for gambling ( the entire 'Maverick' series ), healing ( Kung Fu ), persuation (Blazing Saddles "unedited for tv version" - lmao, or the James Garner classic "Support your Local Sheriff"), Archery ( elves = indians... list too freaking large ), Dodge and Melee ( Far and Away, and many others ). Spot trap / Disarm trap / Repair are more side related to anything than directly involved. But just tap into the western steam punk genre that has made Hollywood what it is for more than a century.

 

Don't forget shows like The Wild, Wild West.
The TV series was packed with easily adaptable storylines.

Then there's Brisco County Jr., (reaching a little further) The Adventures of Jules Vern, and even Q.E.D. *

I just woke up so that's all I can think of off hand.

*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083468/

 

Dark Elf: the ETA from our web designer is mid-january
Spiffy: we havent decided exactly how that will work, its either good hero ending or evil hero ending, nothing extreme like killing everyone
Tekkus & rroyo: Excellent suggestions, keep em coming

Also, ive been given permission to give more on the story so here goes:

3 major groups are vy-ing for control of tarant (which has expanded quite a lot since arcanum1) 1. The gnome aristocrats who want everything to be run on money, opening businesses everywhere, etc.
2. The Human Technologist League, a group formed after the death of Gilbert Bates in his honor. They believe that all profits the government makes should be used to further progress in technology.
3. The Panarii Church of Tarant, led by the wise Elder Virgil, (yes, it is the virgil from arcanum1, and yes, he does have his logbook detailing his time with "The Chosen one" -loregasm-) who thinks that all profits should be used to improve the living conditions, and stop the crime in The Boil/east tarant

This will be a much bigger Tarant than you remember people

Dernholm is now ruled by King Praetors son, King (insert victorian name not decided yet here) who wants revenge for the betrayel of Blackroot (the mayor is still alive) so they are having an arms race (blackroot produces something QUITE interesting its a surprise) the rest of this story is fairly genious so i will keep the rest secret

Cattan is seperated into North and South (North = rich elves and humans, South = poor humans and orcs) and the leader is an elitist half elf general who raids and pillages southern villages and kills anyone who opposes his rule. as for the terrain/houses..the north will be forest-like with lakes and mines everywhere, and the south will be mostly red-wood shacks.

The Panarii Church of Caladon, after victory in there raid of Vooriden are inspired, the high priest (not decided who yet) assembles a force of mercenaries and crusaders and begins there radical regime.

NPC's of interest:
Matthew Tarellond-Ashe (Geoffrey Tarrellond-Ashe's Nephew, hes just as evil and mean)
Chukka (used to be GB's body guard, now a mean drunk in the local inn)

Also, just to inform you, we have a proffesional writer in the group, who knows quite a lot about the Victorian Era, so expect the dialogue to be very much like in the original (A Half-Orc deigns to speak with me? How distasteful.) and etc....

more to come soon

 

Wild Wild West, good one, had forgotten about that one. But I really think the single town setting westerns are totally adaptable. In a way, the whole Boil thing is an adaptation of "A Fist Full of Dollars" except for the lack of a Marisol character who is held hostage by a boss. It would be a GREAT way to introduce the levered machine gun into Arcanum, since one is used in one scene. That one shopkeeper who befriends the drifter could be used to prompt him to pick less than obvious choices or follow the plot indirectly with suggestions or rumors.

High Plains Drifter is just freaking classic for a one horse town. I don't know how we could get the whole town painted red though... alot of blood spashes all over? You could set it up as a series of quests the dead marshall asks the PC to do all leading up to his tombstone being marked in the end like the original. Also, Its a rich mining town, but has very few "quality" items, So when the quest to become the towns defender is accepted and he is given a "free hand" for anything he wants the shokpkeepers would have to be rescripted or use a global flag to give stuff away after that point. When he equips the 'City of Lagos Volunteers" with rifles for the practice and real homecoming scenes, they should all prove to be horrible marksmen and flee at the real combat, later to be rounded up and herded into the bar. All in all, great storyline for Arcanum.

"Two Mules for Sister Sarah" would be funny to see adapted into Arcanum, especially when at the end it's discovered she is a whore and not really a nun. I can't believe Madam Lil has a monopoly over the whole of Arcanum.

I can't remember the whole plot of "Duck You Sucker" but I know there is alot of traveling involved and key scenes take place all over, but the concept of a radical seperatist explosive expert in the wild west is a good one. The idea for more profession only quests is valid, and needed. What ever you go with, best of luck to ya, and hope it turns out well.

 

James Coburns character in A Fistful of Dynamite (Duck, You Sucker) would be brilliant in Arcanum! I want!

 

So, considering Virgil is called Elder Virgil, and Tarant has vastly grown in size, I'm guessing that this takes place at least 30 years after the original?

Also, what are you guys planning on doing with Vendigroth and the Dwarven Clans?

 

Vendigroth - i cant give any information at the moment

dwarf clans - some are warring, some have become full fledged towns and yea basically all i can say

Though i can tell you that screenies of Tarant will be available on the 29th, they will show the hostile atmosphere were going for....gangs are warring, and calebs hotel is now a rubble where drug dealers hang out (yes you can buy illegal substances that affect your attributes either temporarily or permanently) and also more info on cattan coming soon (tommorow/after that)

The reason why we have introduced illegal substances into the game is to sort of set the atmosphere were going for...this will be very much like the original but more dark and gritty like fallout

 

thats where you find his nephew, (hes very wealthy and part of the elitist government) we haven't decided whether to make him join able to your group yet.

 

Can you tell us the name of the rich-man's city on Cattan?

 

Ah... lol.

BTW: Make sure the game is VERY realistic, just like Arcanum 1. Example: In Arcanum 1 if you returned the Kerghan painting to the woman in Tarant without getting the quest from her first, she thinks you are the one who stole it, and doesn't give you a reward.

I have never heard of anything quite this realistic in a game. And I want this mod to have things like this.

 

Don't worry Spiffy, thats exactly what were going for

Also, the names of the Towns/cities in North Cattan will be elven, whilst the ones in the south will be orcish (we havent decided how this will be yet)


Well I have a lot of work to do, ill try to keep you guys informed, good bye

 

Hey! On Cattan, don't forget the halflings and bananas!

 

heh i remember that topic... (yes, ive been lurking for quite a while)

 

I once learned from an extremely toasted Teaching Assistant in college that the root words that Dictatorship comes from are as follows:

Dict = Communist
Tatorship = Toture

He was buying the shots.... so it must be true.