Runemaster - Development Diary #15

Well it's Monday where I live and Paradox has posted the next Development Diary for Runemaster. This time the update has information on Reputation & Recruitment.

Runemaster - Developer diary 15 - Reputation & Recruitment

Last week's Dev Diary we presented some info on how armies are structured and used. Today, we'll tell you how to raise those armies. And we'll go into the reputation system, as well.

Units are recruited in two ways. You can either go to a barracks structure or you can broker a deal with a NPC.

Barracks

The barracks are the primary location for recruiting new units. Each city has a barracks where units of the same race as the city can be recruited. There may be hidden barracks in more uncharted areas of the map, though, so keep your eyes open. There’s a limit to how many units of each type can be recruited from barracks. Some quests can unlock new unit types and increase the number of units of an existing type that you can recruit from a certain barracks.

Not all barracks will offer you troops, however. Each barracks is tied to a faction in the game and only barracks of the factions that have reason to like you will open their doors for your character. So if you complete quests for characters from a hostile or neutral faction, one possible ancillary reward is that the barracks of that faction will open their services to you.

NPC

Some NPCs are just sellswords and will offer their services for a price. Others will join you as a quest reward or they might give you an exotic unit of some kind if you help them. Units gained from NPCs are standard units but can start at a higher level than those units recruited from barracks. Some units can only be acquired from NPCs.

Reputation

In Runemaster, it's important to manage your actions so you can keep your reputation high with those factions that are important for you. Where you stand between Change and Stability can be considered a special faction, since that decides which side you’re helping during your journey towards Ragnarök. If you go too far towards Change, you're considered a collaborator of Loki and you'll have a hard time being allowed to help Thor at the end of the game. If you tend too much towards Stability, then you're considered an ally of Thor and it will be difficult to set Loki free when the time comes. If you balance it right, even the gods won't know which side you're on until the final moments.