Good News everyone! We got some more leads thanks to this post by @Bengoshi
The first is the line from the worker stating to Trent at the beginning of his piece "representing the demons nagging at them."
So it involves demons, a little bit more confirmation for the above posted pictures.
now onto the screen caps (Which I did full screen so they'll be under spoilers)
The first one, doesn't tell us much, except maybe get this employee a recycling bin under his desk or something. BUT look to his left screen. MAT something or other. (we'll come back to it).
This is the juicy one. The first thing one might notice is the cover mechanic much like the EXCOM games. Could this mean we are getting a more traditional turn base experience?
the next thing you may notice is the carriage in the top left and the paved road (if not the dead thing lying in the middle of it.) This got me thinking back to those axes from earlier with the Art Nouveau design.
Art Nouveau was popular late 1800s (1890 - 1910 according to Wikipedia) and I think that carriage fits that timeline/style. So what we are probably looking at is not a D&D game.
The camera pans left and we get a larger (other version) of the first screen cap.
And god dammit, move your head for a second... MATE... something something... oh well, maybe someone else can make sense of these curved lines and boxes. (dialog options? encounter options?)
Anyway, back to the demons from above, another small clue to the game might be back in Trent's whoisology. The list seems to be cleaned out (expired names) a bit.
Is there any name there that may have to do with demons? www.chevhell.com perhaps. Blank page, obviously. But try looking at any other page that is registered to Trent (that isn't in use yet) such as www.deathbytrap.com or even www.axisandallies1943.com you get a Go Daddy placeholder. . . so idonno, maybe title of the game... maybe a redherring... maybe he thinks Chevies are crap cars. Who knows.
Top Gear: Enhanced Edition. Navigate three tv hosts through the idiocy of BBC bureaucracy. You will always fail, though, due to the power of idiots in groups
Sure, but it's only when 1) the main weapons used by enemies are firearms and 2) firearms are extremly lethal
That you need to build the game around an x-com/shadowrun style cover system, which is what the screenshot appears to show.
If the majority of enemies use melee, then taking cover puts you at a disadvantage by restricting mobility, even in settings where firearms exist. You can have cover rules in the game without having symbols appear for cover points. If you go to the trouble of putting cover icons on the screen you are implying that characters are expected to spend a lot of time crouched behind the furniture.
It *is* a dating sim, and the cover points are used during the first argument with a potential gf, which is a minigame where she throws kitchenware at you. Or fireballs.
Sure, but it's only when 1) the main weapons used by enemies are firearms and 2) firearms are extremely lethal
Errmmm, no. Cover is a thing without firearms. Cover from crossbows and bows, dude.
Sure, cover is a thing without firearms, but unless ALMOST EVERYONE is exclusively using crossbows, you don't need to emphasise the cover points in the game engine.
Sure, cover is a thing without firearms, but unless ALMOST EVERYONE is exclusively using crossbows, you don't need to emphasise the cover points in the game engine.
14th to 18th century guns cannot penetrate heavy infantry armor. Cover was not really a thing until like the wild west. Unless you count shields as cover. And castle walls. And heavily fortified war machines.
Well, there also were cannon balls and grenades of course, and you took cover from those, but still.
What I mean is, they way they took cover was not, like, a personal thing, but a squad tactic. If that makes sense?
Also note that before shell casing, you often had one shot, then you grab your spear.
Cover is in 5e mechanics, and I can see it playing an integral part in a turn based game, even without firearms.
As @Vallmyr mentioned, spells, and other projectiles such as crossbow bolts could play into cover mechanics.
However, I find that second screen shot too modern looking to be anything medieval due to what looks like an asphalt road. That could be due to incomplete graphics at this time and only time will tell.
I believe the cover mechanics state that this game will be turned based as opposed to RTwP.
Sure, cover is a thing without firearms, but unless ALMOST EVERYONE is exclusively using crossbows, you don't need to emphasise the cover points in the game engine.
Why not?
Because if you highlight a feature it implies that the players are expected to use it. And if the enemies aren't using ranged weapons, that would be a pretty stupid thing for the players to do.
14th to 18th century guns cannot penetrate heavy infantry armor. Cover was not really a thing until like the wild west. Unless you count shields as cover. And castle walls. And heavily fortified war machines.
Well, there also were cannon balls and grenades of course, and you took cover from those, but still.
What I mean is, they way they took cover was not, like, a personal thing, but a squad tactic. If that makes sense?
Also note that before shell casing, you often had one shot, then you grab your spear.
If you look at millitary tactics, cover, in the form of trench warfare, starts to become essential around the time of the American civil war. Prior to that "forming a square" was still the standard tactic for infantry armed with firearms. With the widespread introduction of breach loading and rifled barrels forming a square became suicide and trenches became essential.
Special shields were used by crossbowmen solely to provide cover, not unlike strapping a tower shield to your back. Also, castle defenses were engineered heavily to provide good cover for the defender while offering no protection to the attackers.
the next thing you may notice is the carriage in the top left and the paved road (if not the dead thing lying in the middle of it.) This got me thinking back to those axes from earlier with the Art Nouveau design.
Art Nouveau was popular late 1800s (1890 - 1910 according to Wikipedia) and I think that carriage fits that timeline/style. So what we are probably looking at is not a D&D game.
@deltago - I don't know that the carriage means it isn't a D&D game. The Baldur's Gate games feature lots of anachronistic items for a supposed "medieval-ish" setting. There are post-Industrial Revolution-style rails in the Nashkel & Cloakwood mines. Baldur's Gate city also has a post-Industrial Revolution sewer system. And street lights, as seen in Baldur's Gate, were rare in medieval cities. For example, it wasn't until the 1600s that street lights began to be installed in Paris, and the gas-lamp style that BG uses weren't around until the 1800s.
The carriage, is one thing, (you also don't see it in use in any other Forgotten Realms game iirc, going all the way to NWN2 and NWN online) but the actual paved road. It isn't dirt, it isn't stone/brick or even concrete. It could be missing graphics, but the blackness of it looks more modernish than anything we've seen in any D&D game.
That too me is the biggest, "what am I looking at" aspect of the screenshot.
Cover is in 5e mechanics, and I can see it playing an integral part in a turn based game, even without firearms.
As @Vallmyr mentioned, spells, and other projectiles such as crossbow bolts could play into cover mechanics.
However, I find that second screen shot too modern looking to be anything medieval due to what looks like an asphalt road. That could be due to incomplete graphics at this time and only time will tell.
I believe the cover mechanics state that this game will be turned based as opposed to RTwP.
Special shields were used by crossbowmen solely to provide cover, not unlike strapping a tower shield to your back. Also, castle defenses were engineered heavily to provide good cover for the defender while offering no protection to the attackers.
I assure you, cover was a thing before firearms!
Cover "being a thing" and cover being the only way to survive any battle are very different things.
DOS2 has cover. In that it uses it's three dimensions and ranged attacks have arcs. But it doesn't stick shield icons behind furniture and packing cases (which is what Beamdog game appears to do). Because cowering behind a table is stupid when someone can run up behind you and stick you with a sword.
Which implies that the enemies you will be fighting in Beamdog's new game will not be using swords, axes, clubs, teeth or claws as their main weapons. Which makes any standard D&D setting, including Ravenloft, seem unlikely.
I would put Axis&Allies Vs Demons 1943 as much more likely, given the little we have seen.
If you look at millitary tactics, cover, in the form of trench warfare, starts to become essential around the time of the American civil war. Prior to that "forming a square" was still the standard tactic for infantry armed with firearms. With the widespread introduction of breach loading and rifled barrels forming a square became suicide and trenches became essential.
Special shields were used by crossbowmen solely to provide cover, not unlike strapping a tower shield to your back. Also, castle defenses were engineered heavily to provide good cover for the defender while offering no protection to the attackers.
Unless you count shields as cover. And castle walls. And heavily fortified war machines.
Anyway, my point being, the kind of cover they do in the games Gun and Red Dead Revolver and Shadowrun does not really make a lot of sense in FR setting. Then again, I do suppose that magic wands that functions almost exactly as guns might mean that tactic does make sense, whatever. Then again again, with magic potions and healing spells aplenty, ancient guns are probably not that dangerous, they just poke a hole in you after all*. Modern high velocity guns tears you apart if you get hit, but ancient guns do not.
*That was actually the most dangerous part of the gun; the injury would not be lethal, but because the bullet often did not have enough force to exit on the other side, it would stay, possibly leading to infections either because the bullet was dirty or because the wound would not close or the barber-surgeon had dirty tools when attempting to remove the bullet. Again, with magic... not so dangerous...
Comments
The first is the line from the worker stating to Trent at the beginning of his piece "representing the demons nagging at them."
So it involves demons, a little bit more confirmation for the above posted pictures.
now onto the screen caps (Which I did full screen so they'll be under spoilers)
The first one, doesn't tell us much, except maybe get this employee a recycling bin under his desk or something. BUT look to his left screen. MAT something or other. (we'll come back to it).
This is the juicy one.
The first thing one might notice is the cover mechanic much like the EXCOM games. Could this mean we are getting a more traditional turn base experience?
the next thing you may notice is the carriage in the top left and the paved road (if not the dead thing lying in the middle of it.) This got me thinking back to those axes from earlier with the Art Nouveau design.
Art Nouveau was popular late 1800s (1890 - 1910 according to Wikipedia) and I think that carriage fits that timeline/style. So what we are probably looking at is not a D&D game.
The camera pans left and we get a larger (other version) of the first screen cap.
And god dammit, move your head for a second... MATE... something something... oh well, maybe someone else can make sense of these curved lines and boxes. (dialog options? encounter options?)
Anyway, back to the demons from above, another small clue to the game might be back in Trent's whoisology. The list seems to be cleaned out (expired names) a bit.
Is there any name there that may have to do with demons? www.chevhell.com perhaps. Blank page, obviously. But try looking at any other page that is registered to Trent (that isn't in use yet) such as www.deathbytrap.com or even www.axisandallies1943.com you get a Go Daddy placeholder. . . so idonno, maybe title of the game... maybe a redherring... maybe he thinks Chevies are crap cars. Who knows.
I still say it'll be german shepherds with laser eyes. Beamdogs!
1) the main weapons used by enemies are firearms
and
2) firearms are extremly lethal
That you need to build the game around an x-com/shadowrun style cover system, which is what the screenshot appears to show.
If the majority of enemies use melee, then taking cover puts you at a disadvantage by restricting mobility, even in settings where firearms exist. You can have cover rules in the game without having symbols appear for cover points. If you go to the trouble of putting cover icons on the screen you are implying that characters are expected to spend a lot of time crouched behind the furniture.
Well, there also were cannon balls and grenades of course, and you took cover from those, but still.
What I mean is, they way they took cover was not, like, a personal thing, but a squad tactic. If that makes sense?
Also note that before shell casing, you often had one shot, then you grab your spear.
Unless you are captain Blackbeard, who always carried half a dozen handguns;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Edward_Teach_Commonly_Call'd_Black_Beard_(bw).jpg/1200px-Edward_Teach_Commonly_Call'd_Black_Beard_(bw).jpg
As @Vallmyr mentioned, spells, and other projectiles such as crossbow bolts could play into cover mechanics.
However, I find that second screen shot too modern looking to be anything medieval due to what looks like an asphalt road. That could be due to incomplete graphics at this time and only time will tell.
I believe the cover mechanics state that this game will be turned based as opposed to RTwP.
I assure you, cover was a thing before firearms!
That too me is the biggest, "what am I looking at" aspect of the screenshot.
-Grunt
Unless it's also in the PHB in which I haven't seen it.
DOS2 has cover. In that it uses it's three dimensions and ranged attacks have arcs. But it doesn't stick shield icons behind furniture and packing cases (which is what Beamdog game appears to do). Because cowering behind a table is stupid when someone can run up behind you and stick you with a sword.
Which implies that the enemies you will be fighting in Beamdog's new game will not be using swords, axes, clubs, teeth or claws as their main weapons. Which makes any standard D&D setting, including Ravenloft, seem unlikely.
I would put Axis&Allies Vs Demons 1943 as much more likely, given the little we have seen.
There is nothing in the 5e PHB more advanced than hand crossbows and alchemist's fire.
*That was actually the most dangerous part of the gun; the injury would not be lethal, but because the bullet often did not have enough force to exit on the other side, it would stay, possibly leading to infections either because the bullet was dirty or because the wound would not close or the barber-surgeon had dirty tools when attempting to remove the bullet. Again, with magic... not so dangerous...