The Masterful Suggestions

Users who are viewing this thread

@Servitor: I wrote "almost zero Renown" because Renown is one of the most important resource of the game - if Renown is high, your party can be big. But not many people would stick by a mass murderer, right ? This way the player can't have too many troops and is indeed more forced to rely on himself.

@Knightmaster: well, if any of my Fan-fic characters make their way into the mod, it's up to the Player to decide if he/she wants them or not anyway: if they don't like them, they just won't use them, and if they like them, they will use them as they please, period. The new characters wouldn't be that closely tied to the main storyline anyway I presume, but this depends on Berserker Pride as well.
 
Speaking of the characters from my fan-fic... enjoy my two (or three :razz: ) personal favourites:

Dana and Dane
Together, we live, suffer and die. And we shall be happy all the way.
Race: Human/Human
Gender: Female (Dana)/Male (Dane)
Age: 23/23
Nationality: Tudor/Tudor
Appearence: Dana and Dane are twins who look, dress and behave similarly, so at first time it’s very hard to tell which is which. They are both slightly shorter than average (150-160 cm), have rumpled, somewhat spiky dark blond hair which is long but doesn’t reach their shoulders, green eyes, and they prefer to wear brown-reddish leather jerkyns, with red hoods those cover their faces. They are very similar even in body structure (thanks to the fact that Dana is a bit flat-chested): muscular and agile, but nothing exaggerated. Their only appearent difference is that Dana is right-handed, while Dane is left-handed (and their voice is different too).
Background: Dana and Dane were children of a village elder, who in his younger days led a wandering circus, but retired and settled in a village in Tudor to found a family. They were loving sister and brother and had a passion for acrobatics, which they learnt from one of their father’s former employee. This came to a breaking point when Dane grew old enough to be recruited for the army of Tudor so he was taken to be a soldier. Left behind and deeply worried of her brother, After several weeks Dana decided to leave the circus and search for Dane so she could take him home. Needlessly to say, she ended up badly, captured by slave merchants who wanted to sell her (along with other girls) to a perverted lord in Midland. It didn’t happen though, because Tudor soldiers ramsacked the caravan and took the slaves for their own personal use. Dane, now a trainee soldier, was part of the group which attacked the caravan, however brother and sister couldn’t recognize each other, because hard life distorted their bodies and faces. Abused by the other soldiers, Dane was forced to rape her sister with the soldiers watching the progress (everyone unaware of the incest). Dane asked for forgiveness afterwards and took Dana under his personal protection, but Dana was so shocked that she didn’t speak a word for quite a while. The ice broke only when they were captured by a Midland force and thrown into a common cell. There, Dane promised he’d take the girl out and return home with her, upon which Dana responded that she forgives Dane and is willing to go wherever he goes. They made love, and afterwards told each other their life stories. It was then they finally recognized each other; but instead of worrying about interbreeding crap, this only made their bond stronger. Soon, they managed to bust out of prison and escaped. Sadly, their home village got ravaged during the Midland-Tudor War. Since then, the strange couple wanders the land, gathering money as sell-swords and searching for a piece of earth where they can settle peacefully for the rest of their lives... or die together in one of their adventures.
Personality: The twins aren’t too welcoming towards anyone except each other; if paid well, they get their job done, but to actually earn their full trust takes quite a bit of time, but then they are reliable and caring comrades (a bit like Judeau). However, work or not, Dana and Dane refuse to split up for longer periods of time, both becoming hysterical and hotheaded if they are forced to do so. For this reason, they set up pretty strict conditions for the people they decide to work for. In every field of life, they get along so well as if they could read each other’s thoughts, and while talking with a third person they often respond simultaneously, and most of the time their responses are exactly the same.
Combat Style: having learnt acrobatics in a young age, the twins are both pretty agile for an avarage human. Such movements require lightweight or balanced weapons to work correctly though, so Dane used short swords, throwing knives and two-handed spears during his time as a soldier, and passed his experience on to Dana. In combat, they like to focus on few or a single target, Dana taking the left side while Dane taking the right, attacking in close cooperation. If one of them is injured, the second immediately focuses on defending the other and taking him/her out of harm’s way before returning to battle.

Dankell Baerd
This world caused us much grief. Now, we intend to repay that debt.
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Nationality: Tudor/Midland
Appearence: Dankell is a grim man of average height, muscles of steel, with countless wounds and scars dotting his body. His first fingertips missing from the little and ring-finger of his left hand (replaced by prostetic fingertips), and his right ear is cut off as well, and a scar running along his face, from the left side of his forehead across his left eye and down to his mouth (but he still got both his eyes safe and sound). He prefers to wear a full plate mail armor made of dark steel, almost black along with a red cape, and a black helm which covers his entire head, with a face plate that resembles the face of a howling man with the teeth of a large carnivore; only his eyes and mouth are left freely. His hair is black and cut short, his eyes are brown.
Background: Dankell’s early years are shrouded in mystery and he hasn’t earned much attention until in an earlier period of the Midland-Tudor war, he raised a band of mercenaries known as the Legion of Carnage, similar in caliber to the old Band of the Hawk, except its members were really hardcore bastards. He led a successful campaign against Midland on his own and attained the rank of Great General, but both the king and the nobility felt that he was too ambitious and wished to remove him (for good reason, because Dankell indeed wanted to claim the throne of Tudor, one way or another so he could crush Midland himself and unite the two countries). Their attemps failed one after another for various reasons. In the end, they persuaded one of Dankell’s sub-commanders to charge him with false crimes in public and declare a vendetta against him, all this in return of the title of General and a big load of gold. Dankell got rid of the guy, but it was too late. Neither Tudor or Midland wanted his services anymore, and the Legion of Carnage was mostly destroyed or disbanded. When the Band of the Hawk captured Doldrey, he made notice of their potential and wanted to meet up with them, but in the end, he couldn’t because they got screwed sooner than Dankell could contact them. When he was about to give up hope, acknowledging that the world’s social order can’t be changed so easily, he heard of Griffith’s return and the re-formed Band of the Hawk. Inspired again, he started to gather an army of his own, willing to meet the Hawk of Light, either as kindred spirits, or opponents clashing in the field of murder.
Personality: both towards his allies and foes, Dankell is a cold, strict and violent person who keeps things running by means of agression and intimidation if he has to. But those who get close to him realize that deep inside, he cares a lot for his men (on his own way) and from time to time, he displays a strong sense of comradeship, as well as respect for worthy advesaries. It is not rare that after a bloody battle, he lets the captured soldiers flee freely or even assimilate them into his own band if he sees them fit for the purpose. His ambition is to claim a kingdom on his own and establish "order" in the world, creating a society where not birthrights and corruption but personal skills and intentions decide the fate of individuals.
Combat Style: Dankell is very powerful (almost as strong as Guts). and while his armor looks pretty heavy, it is actually made from a unique combiantion of different metals which is relatively light yet durable, so it doesn’t limit his movement too much while it can endure all but the strongest blows. His cape has metal filaments woven into it, which make it a bit shiny and heavier than usual, but more importantly, capable to stop arrows and bolts fired from longer distances (but can’t resist projectiles fired/thrown from close distance). He prefers to fight in melee, albeit he also has a small crossbow. Once in the thick of the fray, he employs a weapon similar to an Aztec sword (except it’s made of solid steel rather than wood and obsidian), which can be used both for slashing and bashing, named „The Iron Fist”. He can use this weapon either with one or both hands. The Iron Fist also has a little spike poking out of the bottom of the handle, covered by a cap. Unknown to many, the handle part itself is a little container filled with a weird potion made of various plants and mushrooms; if facing overwhelming odds, Dankell takes the cap off the spike and stings the spike into his own flesh, letting the potion flow into his body, then places the cap back. Within a matter of moments, he goes berserk (similarly to the effect of the Berserker Armor, though less extreme). In this state, his eyes turn bloody red and he can rip even lesser Apostles apart with ease (but is still inferior to greater Apostles like Zodd, or Guts in his Berserker Armor), though he becomes completely exhausted afterwards. Often, Dankell also carries a shield with him, but the shield is always different because it usually gets broken in the thick of battle. He's a decent rider as well, though he likes to fight on foot better. Last, but not least, Dankell is nearly immune to many kinds of poisons, possibly a postive side-effect of the weird potion he uses.

...

So, like 'em guys ?  :lol:
 
I could use Dankell certainly as a lord for the male/female kingdom.  But the other two are messed up even by Berserk standards.  The twins idea is kinda neat but the rest just ehh...
Knightmaster said:
The code of honor sounds interesting and it would add flavour to the mod, if it can be implemented.

The new fiction characters are certainly well made (especially the first one)! But I myself prefer the original characters of berserk, some might or not like the new characters, but that is the mod maker's decision to add or not the new characters.

EDIT: It seems I have encountered a big problem, in the Batzuzo duel, I don't take damage neither does Batzuzo... so the duel never ends and I can't continue the story forward. Help would be appreciated.
You need to download BerserkData from the bugs and glitch page.  Full instructions to fixing the problem are there as well.
 
Berserker Pride said:
But the other two are messed up even by Berserk standards.  The twins idea is kinda neat but the rest just ehh...

Oh Twin Incestual Lovers who met again when one was forced to Rape the other sounds suitably GRIMDARK for Berserk, I just don't like the other guy.
It's all those qualities which are described something like Gut's but 'not quite as strong, really'.
I might be a little overcritical but I don't like the kind of OC who doesn't gel well with the series they are being inserted into, and those who are a little too 'Original Character'.

And I forgot to ask before, but Morris do you mean a weapon like this?
http://www.precolumbianweapons.com/swords.htm#
Just wanted to be sure what you were describing.
 
Once again, differing views... if I'm not mistaken, Berserker pride likes Dankell but not the twins, while for DannyQ it's the other way around (correct me if I'm wrong).

I made the comparisons at Dankell to allow people to imagine what he is like. And he's NOT just an alternative version of Guts, I swear. Unlike him, this guy always remains a distinct bastard, even towards close comrades (and his sense of comradeship is displayed only when he protects the defenseless companions, telling the enemy he/she is a ***** if he/she attacks those weaker than him/herself. And he's more of a (really) iron-fisted warlord, not a lone wolf. The closest equivalent to Dankell would be Emperor Beld from "Record of Lodoss War".

Just to let you guys know: I read the whole Manga and watched the Anime, so I know what is the world of Berserk like. Please don't tell me that "these don't fit in at all because they aren't dark enough", especially since the very author himself brings the Manga towards high fantasy style. IMO, Berserk started to lose its Dark Fantasy feeling around the time Schierke and the trolls showed up (it might be just me, though).

I indeed feel that you are a bit overcritical DannyQ (no offense of course). I can understand if you saw a lot of low-quality fanfictions which made you defensive towards anything non-canonical, but don't just simply say "no" at once, describe why you like or why you don't like them, alright ? :wink:

(And yes, that's just the kind of weapon I spoke of, it would be pretty brutal if made out of steel, don't you think ?  :twisted: )
 
Here is the main thing.  Unlike most kingdom management mods I don't want lords to spring out of the ground with a full army of troops the second you get a castle.  My idea is that once you decide to start your own kingdom you run into a lot of potential companions.  And in order for these companions to become lords you need to A)tell them "you are a lord now yay".  Then you need to give them a fief before they start gathering troops on their own.  Nothing is stopping you from recruiting guys for a fiefless lord but it will make it easier for you if they do it themself.  And of course I would want to code it so that the better the fief the bigger the army.  Although native already gives troop bonuses to lords who have a town so maybe that is already covered.  So basically you would have the choice of companions and who stays in your party or who becomes a lord.  With that in mind all 20 companions you meet will have to have a brief backstory should they join you.  I would probably make some of them have certain requirements to join certainly the powerful ones.  A guy like Dankell would be good because he sounds like the type I could script to lead an attempted coup.  Thats the main thing I like about his character.  He is not loyal and will betray you if say you treat him badly or the kingdom is failing.  But having a lot of characters to choose from would be awesome.
 
Hm, this system sounds pretty good to me, original and sane. One thing though. ALL companions capable of becoming Lords ? Hm, Puck leading an army of Midland pikemen, or Isidoro bossing Tudor knights around... would be funny :razz: jokes aside, all companions (both original ones, and, if you take in any, new ones as well) could become Lords, or will they be entirely new guys, or a mix between the two categories (just for example: Dankell and Farnese can be Lords, but not Isidoro and the twins) ?

I still have a couple more characters left, but honestly, even with the original companions, there wouldn't be that many figures who would be really suited to lead warbands, let alone whole armies. I can, of course, attempt to make more new characters who could be lesser leaders if you wish, but it would take quite some time to shape them into fitting and richly described figures.
 
MorrisB said:
Once again, differing views... if I'm not mistaken, Berserker pride likes Dankell but not the twins, while for DannyQ it's the other way around (correct me if I'm wrong).

I have no strong feelings about the twins, I just was mentioning thier grim history didn't phase me in regards to Berserk.
Though I can see BP's thoughts about thinking it somewhat OTT.

I'm not saying your characters or such you make are bad, just that I take issue with certain qualities of some of thier designs.
 
If a character had poor leadership you would probably not have them lead an army anyway.  Leadership adds a lot more to troop count in RotB than native so if you put a leader in charge without leadership they are going to spend all their time running away anyway.  And I guess if you take the time to make Puck supersmart then sure you can put him in charge of more men than just Isidoro :lol:.  I'll have to rebalance intelligence so some of them are poor choices for leaders though(like Puck).  But yeah all companions could lead armies.  This solves the problem of having Rickert and Puck in the same party.  I'll probably make the Rickert who joins after you heal Casca be full grown.  All I have to do is an Npc swap during that quest.  And characters don't have to all have heavy backstories either.  Some guy who was mayor of a town that got overrun by Apostles or Beasts of the interstice would be enough of a story to be a leadership type character.
 
Berserker Pride said:
This solves the problem of having Rickert and Puck in the same party.  I'll probably make the Rickert who joins after you heal Casca be full grown.  All I have to do is an Npc swap during that quest.

Hah I had been thinking about that before you revealed this new info,
All I had come up with was to give him some points in Engineering so he has a role when you got him back, I don't think any of Gut's Post-Eclipse Comrades had that.
 
@DannyQ:

Danny-Q said:
I'm not saying your characters or such you make are bad, just that I take issue with certain qualities of some of thier designs.

Well... at least I try my best. I believe they are still above-average compared to most fan-fics.
Which reminds me: I don't want to be dominant with my own characters, so if anyone has some nice character ideas, go ahead and post :wink:

@Berserker Pride: so Ricket will be like when Guts met him at the Hill of Swords ? Sounds nicely :smile: as for NPCs, one of the important aspects of Berserk is the developed backgrounds of the characters. Though I don't like the author's method that they are either fully described (Guts' and Caska's) or not mentioned at all (Grunbeld's or Locus'), but ah well. Point is, I like to make each companion unique, and not clones with small differences.
 
You never found out the full background of the secondary characters in the Band of the Hawks, and yet you still cared alot when they died (horribly) in the manga,

In-game Gaston was one of my fave teammates for seemingly minor reasons, like how well he happened to do as we fought  side-by-side in the breach in the wall of the Hawk's Nest (over and over again we defended that bloody wall together), and even seeing someone so minor as Niko's name show up as he ran in to support the defense was somehow more reassuring than a squad of generic soldiers.

Not everyone needs a novel and everything about them to be highly unique, just to be liked or to be remembered.
 
You have a point there, but we must also think of people who haven't read the manga, plus if a Berserk fan comes across entirely new figures, he/she probably wants to get to know them. It could be tied with a trigger, though: let's say you come across Dankell for example. First he treats you like a piece of trash until you don't teach him a lesson. Then he'll be pissed at you but he will also show respect, you can recruit him. Afterwards, he occasionally talks with you about random stuff, like how he hates weaklings who don't stand up for themselves, rants of letting an Apostle alive, or after a battle congratulates you for kicking ass in epic ways (and through these dialogs you get to know his style better and stuff), and when your relation with him is high, you can ask him about his background and goals and the like. This shouldn't be too hard to code IMO (though Berserker Pride knows better), yet would be nice to depict character/relation development.
 
Sure that's a good idea, and will be interesting, but you noticed he said something like 20 different lords?
Not every single one of those followers needs to have so detailed a tale backed up by multiple 'cutscenes', just knowing thier character and thier situation in a more general sense and letting them express themselves a little would be fine for them.
 
Since the original characters are also present, it's actually less than 20 (we don't have to write that much for original characters, right ? :wink: ), maybe like 10-14. But I guess you're right. There would be some epic lines nevertheless.

"Me ? Racist ? Don't be ridiculous. I'm a man of faith, I hate everyone equally !"
- Inquisitor Garrov de Balc
 
MorrisB said:
Since the original characters are also present, it's actually less than 20 (we don't have to write that much for original characters, right ? :wink: ), maybe like 10-14. But I guess you're right. There would be some epic lines nevertheless.

"Me ? Racist ? Don't be ridiculous. I'm a man of faith, I hate everyone equally !"
- Inquisitor Garrov de Balc

...Doesn't really fit the period, actually there's been surprisingly little of that in the whole series anyway.
 
MorrisB said:
Racism fits any world and period which contains humans. It's just that it's not always depicted in large scale (and that's a good thing IMO).

No, I mean someone just calling him a racist and then him making a wry joke about it doesn't seem so likely, and it's not a particularly original joke.
Anyway why would you interpret me to mean medieval times were somehow not filled with racists and generally politically incorrect all over by our modern day standards?

Honestly though, this talk about characters is taking over the suggestion thread, maybe this -new/original mod characters- stuff could be made into a new thread and continued there?
 
Back
Top Bottom