Heretic Kingdoms - Reluctant Hero - Designer Diary

Kult: Heretic Kingdoms (aka Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition) was a generally well-received indie action/RPG with some interesting twists and a strong story. With 3D People and iHobo now prototyping a second game in the same universe, Lead Designer Chris Bateman has written a Designer Diary for RPGWatch about approaching Heretic Kingdoms: Reluctant Hero from a different perspective, daring to try some original and unusual game mechanics.

The concept for Reluctant Hero has been kicking around the International Hobo offices for a while now. Why not make a cRPG about one person’s entire life? Why not give the player choices as to how they will live, and then let them go about living that life in whichever way they choose? At first glance, this sounds a bit like Fable, but although the two games may set off with similar goals, the games that result will be very distinct indeed. Our intention is to create a game which plays very differently to the typical cRPG, a game with less of a linear narrative and more freedom of choice.

The current design is quite different to Kult and with some novel ideas, this diary is worth a read for anyone interested in RPG design.