SP Medieval Fantasy Robin Hood (1193 A.D.)

[Damocles]

ROBIN HOOD 1193 A.D.

I think a Robin Hood mod has been tried a few times, and its never really got anywhere. I know that there's a non-english speaking one, but I haven't tried it, also from what I could make out, it hasn't got very far- I only mention it to prevent posts telling me its been tried. I've spent a few weeks messing around with the module system and I;ve made some progress, so I thought I'd share it all with you lovely people.

A few things to start- first, this is my own take on the Robin Hood legend, so don't expect a renedition of Prince of Thieves (shocking movie) or the BBC Robin Hood. Yes, I'm setting it in the Crusades. Yes there will be references to King Richard. The odd Saracen may crop up. But Morgan Freeman is NOT doing the voice work and I didn't even ask Kevin Costner...

Ahem, anyway.

STORY:

The year is 1193. Sir Robin of Loxley, a minor Saxon nobleman, returns to his Norman-ruled homeland of England on the orders of King Richard, to deliver a letter to the Baron de Laci, Lord Sheriff of Nottingham and one of the most powerful magnates in the realm. Robin was a low-born Saxon subsequently knighted by King Henry at Ballans, when fighting, ironically, against the king's rebellious son, Richard. However, Robin's loyalty has always been to the rightful king, and upon Henry's death and reconcilliation with Richard, Robin transferred his loyalty to the Couer de Lion. In order to prove his loyalty, he was forced to join the king on the Third Crusade, but his men were all killed during the Siege of Acre, apart form one faithful retainer, Bill Stutely.
Meanwhile, back in England, the Baron de Laci has been manipulating events to suit his own ends. Prince John, Richard's younger brother, a clever man with a ruthless streak who was the only one of Henry's sons to remain loyal to him, is plotting to usurp the throne. Baron de Laci has quickly become his closest confident, and now rules the county of Nottinghamshire with an iron fist.  The Sheriff, Prince John, and a handful of powerful Norman nobles have been relentlessly taxing the Saxon population of England. To what end they are raising this money is not known- it is claimed that all is to pay for Richard's wars.
Into this turbulent mess of politics Robin steps, with the full authority of the King behind him as he prepares to deliver the letter, the contents of which he does not know, and return to a peaceful life in his fief, Loxley. Unbeknownst to Robin however, the King's name no longer carries any weight in Britain. Robin was supposed to herald Richard's return, but the Kingn has been captured by his enemies and news of this capture has reached England first. Soon Robin finds himself outlawed, friendless, and a hunted fugitive. He must gather allies from unlikely places, defend and protect the suffering Saxon populace, and thwart the plans of the ambitious Sheriff.
England is counting on him. And underneath it all he knows that if de Laci is successful, then Richard's return will bring civil war and bloodshed on a never before seen scale....

UPDATES

Oooh... we now have signatures to support the mod. See below...

[url=http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,91369.0.html][IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2723/4348492465_8631e96f7d_o.png[/IMG][/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/yl8skw9][IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2684/4452692226_169f44eba2_o.jpg[/IMG][/url]

[url=http://tinyurl.com/yl8skw9][IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/2rwu635.jpg[/IMG][/url]

TEAM

Finally the identity of the secret modeller is revealed! It's Captain Lust! (I can feel your shock).
Which makes the team:

Chief of Functional Stuff: Damocles
Chief of Pretty Stuff: Captain Lust

 

[Damocles]

COMPANION BIOS

(Subject to revision if I need to mess around with their stats and equipment, or with their background. Also note that weapon proficientcies are the aproximate values entered in the module_troops file, and will vary slightly from the given number.  Here's Stutely's Bio to start off with, I'll get to the others when I can be bothered.)

BILL STUTELY

Spoiler

Starting Attributes and Level: S:11, A:9, I:7, C:5 -  Level 1
Main Skills: Weapon Master (3), Power Strike (3), Power Throw (3), Shield (3), Athletics (3)
Weapon Proficiencies: One Handed (80) Throwing (80) Other (30)
Starting Equipment: Hauberk, Boots, Fighting Axe, Throwing Axes, Shield
Archetype: Saxon Warrior
Role: Fighting
Quests: None.

Backstory:

Stutely and Robin go back a long way. Both of them grew up in the village of Loxley, though they were never friends as children. This in a way, contributed to their later relationship. After Robin was knighted, shortly before the battle of Ballans, he was given Loxley as his fief by King Henry, a gift King Richard honoured. When commanded to raise men for the Crusade, Stutely was eager to join up and they have since become friends- though it is clear between them that Robin is the leader and a noble, whereas Stutely is a follower and a peasant. Stutely respects Robin's intelligence even if he considers the schemes Robin comes up with to be insane most of the time. He is a pessimist, and constantly surprised when Robin pulls off his latest caper. For Robin's part, he is respectful of Stutely's experience in fighting and his down-to-earth view of the world. Stutely is Robin's elder by several years, and a born soldier. His skill with the shield and his fighting axe are to be respected.

Use:

Stutely has no party skills, so isn't a great help on the map. However, he's not a bad fighter, and good support for Robin. His throwing weapons mean that he can ordered to Hold Position while in scene and use ranged attacks against enemies while Robin duels them sword to sword. Alternatively, he can be ordered to Charge and wade in with his fighting axe, leaving Robin free to use his bow to clean up the opposition. In larger encounters, he is a valuable addition to the battle line and one of the few close combat options for the Merry Men- though he is not as tough close to as Little John or Friar Tuck, he makes up for this with his throwing axes.

LITTLE JOHN

Spoiler

Starting Attributes and Level: S:12, A:6, I:10, C:5 -  Level 2
Main Skills: Weapon Master (4), Power Strike (4), Ironflesh (4), Athletics (4)
Weapon Proficiencies: Polearms (120) Other (30)
Starting Equipment: Leather Jerkin, Leather Boots, Leather Gloves, Quarterstaff
Archetype: ???
Role: Fighting
Quests: Villager Quests

Backstory:

Robin meets John on a bridge fighting all who come by. John lives for fighting- he seems to have a great emptiness in him that he fills by bashing heads in with his staff. The past is another country for John, and the borders are very well guarded. All Robin really knows about him is that some recent tragedy has made him the way he is. When Robin met him, John hadn't eaten for days. It is suspected that 'John Little' is not his real name- he does not protest Stutely rebranding him as Little John, and indeed seems to have taken his 'christening' as marking the beginning of his new life. John has signed up with Robin because he wants to fight- fighting is simple- but there may be an underlying desire to reduce the suffering of the Saxon villagers. If Robin wants to know anything about John's past and what tragedy befell him, he will have to work hard to win the man's trust.

Use:

John has no party skills either, but he will give the player quests related to the Saxon villages. He is one of the toughest fighters but is not very flexible. He has no ranged weapons, but is good for 'tanking' for Robin. Also, his long reach weapon and high combat skills means he can clean up weaker opponents fairly easily. In the bigger battles he is a 'hard point' in the battle line. As he has no ranged weapon, its best to hold back on the Charge order until the oppertune moment to prevent him wading in and getting surrounded.

 

[Damocles]

A couple of those screenies I promised. More to come later

Robin and Stutely

Spoiler

Robin VS Little John

Spoiler

Friar Tuck

Spoiler

Nottingham Castle

Spoiler

Leaward Keep

Spoiler

The Map...

Spoiler

Spoiler

I will add more- am more coding than screenshot taking right now though...

MODELS!

The modeller, who wishes to remain anonymous in case anyone figures out how awesome he is, has come up with some cool stuff...
N.B.- some models will be new, like robin's hat, others will be retexturings.

Robin's New Look

Spoiler

Little John's New Look

Spoiler

Will Scarlet's New Look

Spoiler

 

[damnimbored25]

Sounds good.
I love you all??
So basically you have  30% done??

 

[Verbeek]

But anyway, looks like you've already put some work into it! I like the words quest and stealth very much, sounds promising?
How about some sreenies, some candy for the waiting mob.
Good luck, pal

PS: I've always liked LoCKsley more than Loxley, you know, the x always make words look futuristic.  and 'medevi'l, do you mean Mid-evil or Medieval by that?

EDIT: Dude, damnimbored, u are ALWAYS on-line dude, how do you do that. Are there two of you taking watches?

 

[damnimbored25]

I'm on vacations and i have a pretty bored life.
damnimbored?? 

 

[Damocles]

Screenies will come soon. Promise.
And yeah, 'love you all' in a kind of hippy, peace and goodwill to all men way, as opposed to a gay way.
I didn't mean to freak anyone out. Sorry.  I will use a less cheerful smiley this time.

Oh, and not even 30% done. In features its about 25% done. In terms of quests... well, long way to go. And i want some distance on the quests so that I have locations that are relevent and stealth intergrated into questyness before i bother pissing about with the map. And until the map is sorted, there will be no release. I am sorry...

Also, I hate map editting so I'm putting it off a bit. But it will be done, even if i just do it uber-basic.


EDIT

Map is pretty much done (hooray) bar putting the bridges in the right places. I will also need more villages than I currently have- so basically the map is done, the parties are not. I may make it look prettier by messign about with elevation or something, but right now its functional and I am SO proud of myself...

 

[Verbeek]

I'm on vacations and i have a pretty bored life.
damnimbored?? 

Why don't you do see some tutorials on modelling, if you have so much time? Or get into coding. I wish i had your time

And robin hood was a tree-huggin hippie too. He called all his friends and they all got into the trees and lived there for a while, to protest against high tax prices.

 

[Sir Theuralt]

Morgan Freeman isn't doing any voice work!? How do you expect this mod to succeed?

 

[damnimbored25]

I'm on vacations and i have a pretty bored life.
damnimbored?? 

Why don't you do see some tutorials on modelling, if you have so much time? Or get into coding. I wish i had your time

And robin hood was a tree-huggin hippie too. He called all his friends and they all got into the trees and lived there for a while, to protest against high tax prices.

I tried but i didn't find Wing3d

 

[kuauik]

what about Nasir

 

[Galtran]

I'm on vacations and i have a pretty bored life.
damnimbored?? 

Why don't you do see some tutorials on modelling, if you have so much time? Or get into coding. I wish i had your time

And robin hood was a tree-huggin hippie too. He called all his friends and they all got into the trees and lived there for a while, to protest against high tax prices.

I tried but i didn't find Wing3d

Your google-fu must suck real bad then

http://www.wings3d.com/

first result on google when searching for "wings 3d"

 

[damnimbored25]

Thanks

 

[Kolba]

Good idea. Good luck!

 

[Wu-long]

Don't worry aobut models im sure after awhile of proof worthwhile mod they will come in

 

[sareth255]

the expanded gameplay 3 mod has alot of good gamebeson models and etc.

you could ask them to use some "bandity" stuff

i also know how to model quite basically if you could use some quite basic help 

 

[Someone_forgotten]

Sounds really awesome! Keep it up!

 

[zalmoxis]

indeed, it sounds awesome...

 

[Damocles]

Cheers for the modelling suggestions...

Yes, it would be cool to give the comapnions unique outfits and weapons for example, and I might look for a modeller in due course. Personally though, while new models are cool in a mod, they are more a side-benefit. The main thing is that the gameplay should be fun and that the sotry should work, so I HAVE to make a massive dent in that before I start learning to import model files and adjusting them within the mod, not to mention assigning meshes to new items. But thanks for offers of support and all, and when the main quest line is far enough ahead, I'll be taking an interest...

The great thing about focusing on the quest line as that as I want to do cool stuff in missions, new features will pop up- mission one required both companions in scene and (limited) stealth, so thats where those features come from. I know that there'll be a mission down the line that involves rescuing Will Scarlet from jail, so I'm going to have to improve my stealth triggers to make it all work. Also, coding is fun. 

 

[Guybguy]

Good Luck!!!