RPGDot Feature: The Age of Decadence - An Interview

With the opening of The Age of Decadence offical site, we can finally roll out a lengthy interview on this intriguing game. Controversy aside, this turn-based, dialogue-heavy title appears well worth a look. Here's a sample:

RPGDot: Let's talk about character creation and development. First, AoD uses a skill-based system, although a class is also initially chosen. Can you elaborate on this?

Iron Tower: It's not a class, but a background. It's what you did in the gameworld, before the in-game events. It helps defining your character better, establishing his ties with various factions. For example, a thief starts as a member of the Thieves Guild (joining it on your own is more complicated than walking in and asking for an application form), gets a reputation bonus when dealing with shady elements and factions supporting the Thieves Guild for their own reasons, and a reputation penalty with the Imperial Guards and the Merchants Guild.

The background doesn't restrict your character in any way. A knight may specialize in combat and serve his Noble House in that capacity, or he/she may specialize in diplomacy or stealth. An assassin can rely on a quick blade and Critical Strike skill, or on poison and charms, and so on.

Backgrounds are optional, you don't have to choose one, in which case you will enter the game world as a stranger. Nobody knows you, which could be a good thing or a bad thing; depends on how you look at it.

Head here to read it all. Two of the screenshot sets are laid out to give simple examples of the dialogue flow, so make sure you take a look.