One of my favourite episodes in The Necromancer’s Tale is the Royal Ball.

This occurs mid-game, at which point the player has solved the murder-mystery focus of the first half of the game, while gaining their fledgling necromantic powers. Their reality is confused now, as they struggle to come to terms with the duality of the mortal realm and the realm of the dead, while building their power in order to exact revenge on the murderer.

In the Royal Ball, the player navigates the complex social circles of 1730s nobility, while having ghosts and demons whispering lies in their ears. The player is trying to gain evidence to prove their father's killer, and narrative choices offer the risk of exposing the player's rising insanity, and having them ejected from the ball or even arrested. The process is framed as a mini-game where Concern, Suspicion, and Stress rise towards crisis levels…

Lord Richard Carnell is an weaselly sycophant, closest adviser to the Baron, and deeply suspicious of the player. He could have critical information, if he can be manipulated the right way.

Lady Agnes Carnell, the cold, enigmatic wife of Richard: stuck in a loveless marriage and harbouring one or two valuable secrets, and a flirtatious nature…

Marija and Stanislav are a couple from the northern provinces of Rulsthen. New money, newly wedded, and irritatingly in love.

The great English writer Alexander Pope is a guest at the Ball, researching his great Essay on Man, as well as a more secretive work. A useful contact and ally, perhaps, if you can stand his pompous language.

Ali Mustafa Pasha is a vizier from the Ottoman Empire, accompanied by his magical servant, a Djinn, who cannot be seen by ordinary mortals but who can see the player and some of their crimes.

The player’s uncle Jervase Van Elstrik, the Baron himself, is a man under pressure and grieving for his brother (your father).

Mirabel Van Elstrik is the player’s aunt, wife of the Baron. A sad woman haunted by her own ghosts.

 
The Necromancer’s Tale is currently available as a ~3-hour free demo on Steam and will be completed in the next few months.

[The Necromancer’s Tale] demo has had over 1500 playtesters over the past 12 months, providing lots of analytics and around 150 in-depth responses via questionnaire. We have learned what players most love about the game (the detailed world, well developed characters, and overall interactivity)- which directly led to several features being added during 2023 (e.g. wearable clothes, voice acting, and further responsiveness in the world such as a playable piano and an interactable cat).

That’s right. It’s a gif of a cat. It’s about to hiss at you and run off.

We have also learned that players hope that the final game will offer a range of summonable creatures and various other necromantic battle-magic spells (in addition to the ritual magic which has always formed the core of the game). The one area that players felt a bit bland was combat.

Some powerful creatures you can enslave, and then summon to help you in battle.

The latest demo shows off our improved combat system, adding Mana, Battle Magic Spells, and Activity points carry-over. We have also made a more friendly in-game tips system during combat and generally improved the combat UX.

Mana: this is the game’s 10th skill, adding arcane ability to the physical, social, and mental emphasis of the existing skills. Mana will be built up in various ways as you progress through the game, either directly or through the wielding of magical artefacts. Mana has become a core skill which is now needed in order to activate undead minions in battle, as well as to cast other spells.

Battle-magic spells: we have 10 battle spells planned in total, but for now the demo offers 3. Each spell costs Mana, Action Points, and (sometimes) drains your Energy.

• “Activate Minion” is required in order to move a minion during the current combat round. Adding this requirement makes undead minions fundamentally different to your human allies in combat, adding a tactical dimension to their positioning and activation.
• “Death Focus” allows you to commune with the Realm of the Dead and gain a temporary Mana boost. This is a useful spell when you’re in a tight spot, perhaps during a combat round in which the randomised winds of magic are blowing only weakly.
• “Chilling Mist” is the first of two planned area-effect spells. This one invokes a magical mist which drains the action points of all mortal creatures in the affected area. It adds more tactical nuance to your control of the battle-field’s space.

From next Thursday (Dec 7th) the game is going into its second round of playtesting on the excellent [G.Round platform]. If you’re interested in being involved, for The Necromancer’s Tale or other games, please check them out!

The Necromancer’s Tale has a strong focus on the social aspects of RPG gameplay. The player secretly operates as a black magic practitioner in a medieval city (in 1733) where to be caught would mean certain execution. A lot of play revolves around the social aspects of conversation, coercion, blackmail – and even seduction – whatever it takes for the player to progress their cause. We wanted a game system which would involve decision-making during conversation as well as during more action-oriented play. In short, a system where choices matter – where the player wouldn’t feel that they could just mindlessly click through every conversation option without getting punished. Our system involves two related concepts: Trust and Tension.

Trust

Trust represents the attitude of the NPC townsfolk to the player. Through the use of ‘Trust Groups’ we simulate the behind-the-scenes gossip through which one NPC’s changing attitudes to the player propagates around their social network. For example, if the player acts cruelly to an NPC, then the Trust value will reduce for each of the Trust Groups that that NPC belongs to.

The Trust Groups are:
1 Workers
2 Educated
3 Military
4 Gentry
5 Orphans
6 Outsiders

The player’s uncle Jervase (militaristic baron of the city), for example, belongs to the Military and Gentry trust groups.

The overall trust of the city to the player is calculated from the average of each of the first four trust groups (since no-one really listens to orphans or outsiders). If this overall city trust value drops too low, the player will be tried in court, punished, and perhaps hanged. In the meantime, conversation options are affected by Trust values.

Transgressions

As well as conversation, the game also involves physical activity, of course. The player interacts with objects in the world, moves around, fights (on occasion), and sometimes drags dead bodies back to their home laboratory. Whenever the player is doing something illegal, line-of-sight arcs are displayed for all nearby NPCs. If the player falls within the arc of an NPC, then Trust is affected by the witnessing of the transgression (for the appropriate Trust Groups).

Tension

The second concept in our social system is Tension. This is a number which represents the overall atmosphere of fear in the city. Actions taken by the player which they were not actually witnessed doing will raise Tension but not directly affect Trust. So the player should be careful not to leave dead bodies lying around or bump off too many NPCs – even though they may get away with it at the time.

As Tension rises, the city becomes more heavily patrolled by guards, which in turn makes Transgressions harder to get away with. A high tension value also means that people are more suspicious, harder to deal with in conversation, and more likely to jump to conclusions if the player ends up in court.

The Necromancer’s Tale is in development and you can wishlist it on Steam now, to keep up to date on development progress!