While others will rise to achieve the greatest of heights!



Which will you choose? And can you take it for yourself?

Welcome, everyone, to Blades of Exile. Published in 1997, this was the final game in the Exile series, and it was a way for Jeff Vogel to open up his creation to his fans and audience. Blades is a Scenario Creator allowing people to design anything from a single room encounter to a full Exile-sized epic, full of twists, turns and wonders.

Blades is Freeware, and is available here for Windows, or here for Macintosh, and finally here as an Open Source project. So if you want to play along, or play ahead, be my guest!

Because Blades is Free, and is a Scenario creator, I will play through the three default Scenarios that come with the game, starting with

and work my way through the rest. In addition, I will be playing through many (hopefully) community designed scenarios, many of which are found here for download. And who knows, I may take a crack or two at bad ones. If I find one, I have a special surprise in store for them.

I strongly suggest reading my previous LPs of Exile, Exile: Escape from the Pit, Exile 2: Crystal Souls, and Exile 3: Ruined World as they help establish setting, mood an just who ArtAnaxiamander is and why she's in charge of the various PC parties.

And in the grand tradition of my LPs, I will be taking open submissions for PCs in the game. But unlike the previous ones, unless there is something fundamentally wrong or plain offensive (at my discretion), every submitted PC will get to be in the game. You will design your character by the Character Creation post, and while you may request a certain Party, and I will try to oblige, the final decision will be up to me.

Parties will consist of FOUR to SIX members, depending on how I feel things can shake out, and I will take requests for certain parties in certain scenarios as the case may turn out. I may change things behind the scenes if a party is too weak, but being too strong will never be a problem.

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this.

• A - Team Crime (Hox, Tokka, Zaka, Shinwell, Cooper, Danger)
  
  • The Valley of Dying Things
    
  • A Mild Rebellion
    
  • The Za-Khazi Run
    
• B - Team REDACTED
  
  • No Scenarios Yet
    
• C - Team Lucky (Lucky, Not a Solo)
  
  • Tatterdemalion
    

• Update 01 - Fort Talrus
  
• Update 02 - South Valley and Pangles's Hut
  
• Update 03 - Marralis and the Vale Infestation
  
• Update 04 - Fungal Cavern and Swetgrove
  
• Update 05 - To The School of Magery
  
• Update 06 - The Valley
  
• Update 07 - Residence and Holding
  
• Update 08 - Storage and Administration
  
• Update 09 - Under the School and the Underschool
  
• Update 10 - The Vahnatai and Puzzle Pieces
  
• Update 11 - The Library, Experiment Halls and Lecture Halls
  
• Update 12 - Control and Disposal
  

• Update 01 - Party Update and Selathni
  
• Update 02 - Willow and Liam
  
• Update 03 - Marshy Pit and Ogre Farms
  
• Update 04 - Abandoned Fort, Icy Caverns and Muck
  
• Update 05 - Zaskiva, and Aftermath
  
• Update 06 - Fahl, Buzzard and a Decision
  
• Update 07 - For the Empire
  
• Update 08 - For the Rebels
  
• Update 09 - Operation LMS
  

• Update 01 - Fort Gooding and Asskivas
  
• Update 02 - The Unicorns and the Giants
  
• Update 03 - Undead, Poppies, Crypt and Soul
  
• Update 04 - Casser-Bok
  
• Update 05 - The End of the Run
  
• Update 06 - The Long Run - Fort Gooding to Cunning Crypt
  
• Update 07 - The Long Run - Asskivas to the Blood Glee Clan
  
• Update 08 - The Long Run - Worm Caves, Unicorn Grove, Dark Maze and the Chasm of Fire
  
• Update 09 - The Long Run - Wurm Pit, The Deep Cavern, and Morag's Citadel
  
• Update 10 - The Long Run - Opal Citadel and Opal Mines
  
• Update 11 - The Long Run - Poppies, Caldera and the Spiralling Crypt
  
• Update 12 - The Long Run - Casser Bok and the Broken Fang
  
• Update 13 - The Long Run - The End of the Run
  

• Update 01 - Lucky and the Grove
  
• Update 02 - The Three Towns
  
• Update 03 - The Sorcerer
  

berryjon fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Mar 3, 2023

In this post, I will explain the mechanics of character creation for Blades of Exile. If you're already familiar with the way it was done in Exile 3, then you can go right ahead and skip to creating your character.



When we set out to create a new party, we are first given the option of using the preset team, or to create something new. Something ... better. As I've already killed the default team in the introduction, it is now up to you to fill in the blanks.



Each party will consist of no fewer than four, and no more than six Player Characters. I can have multiple teams running around, but moving a PC from one team to another is difficult at best. So, when it comes time to vote for the teams, consider your choices wisely.



When you first start designing a character, you are brought to this screen. Here you choose the species of your PC, their Advantages and Disadvantages. All these options have some effect on the amount of XP the character needs to level up. You see, by default, the bog-standard human requires 100XP to go up a level. Improving your character increases the XP required to level up, and giving your character disadvantages reduces it. Note that all percentages are multiplicative, so stacking Advantages on someone will hurt their long-term prospects, a lot. So, from the top:

• Human - (+0%) – The standard 'species' in the World, Humans are bog standard, having no innate advantages. Being Human means nothing, as they are everywhere.
  
• Nephilim - (+12%) – Felines native to the Surface, they too were sent into Exile by the Empire. Now, though, they return to the surface in small clans, with those that were hidden also emerging into the sun. Choosing to be a Nephilim gives you a +2 bonus to your Dexterity, and a small hidden bonus to Archery and Throwing weapons.
  
• Slithzerikai - (+20%) - A species native to the cave, they have been at war with the Empire and Exile in the past. Now, some are allied to Exile, while the Empire tolerates their existence. Being Slith grants you +2 Strength, +1 Intelligence and a small innate bonus to Polearms.
  
• Vahnatai - (+??%) - A mysterious and ancient species from deep beneath the surface, farther down than even the Slithzerikai, the Vahnatai are rare. They have been allied to Exile in the past, and are in a state of war with the Empire, though there are other Vahnatai clans out there that may chose differently.... To be Vahnatai means you pick a different species, and provide me with a custom PC graphic for me to use.
  

• Toughness - (+10%) - Simply put, the character with this trait takes less damage. Somewhere around 10%, but a variety of factors can affect the exact number.
  
• Magically Apt - (+20%) - A PC with this trait deals approximately 25% more damage with spells than a character without this trait, and all other factors being equal.
  
• Ambidextrous - (+8%) - The character with this suffers no penalty from having two weapons in hand in combat. I'll discuss the details later when I go through combat.
  
• Nimble Fingers - (+10%) - Better at handling Traps, Locks and poison. Very utilitarian.
  
• Cave Lore - (+4%) - The description says “Can Hunt”, which means that you'll occasionally get some food from nowhere while a character with this skill is in the party. It's also required for certain special encounters.
  
• Woodsman - (+6%) - Like Cave Lore, except for the Surface.
  
• Good Constitution - (+10%) - Resisting Poison and Disease, allowing the PC to recover from these ailments faster.
  
• Highly Alert - (+7%) - A person with this trait can avoid magical sleep, allowing them to keep acting when others fall. They can also act as a warning for the party, allowing them to avoid being surprised by ambushes and the like.
  
• Exceptional Strength - (+12%) - With weight a factor in how much a PC can carry, a character with this trait can carry 20% more weight that someone with the same Strength. They will also deal a little bit more damage with melee strikes.
  
• Recuperation - (+15%) - This trait allows the person with it to heal much faster than normal.
  

• Sluggish - (-10%) - This causes a 25% reduction in the ability of a character to move in combat by reducing their default AP from 4 to 3.
  
• Magically Inept - (-8%) - Cannot use Magical Items. No Potions, Wands, Scrolls, or other activated items, they are all unusable by this PC. Nor can they cast spells. Pick only if you have a very, very good reason for it.
  
• Frail - (-8%) - Poison and Disease are worse for this character. Yes, this stacks with Good Constitution, meaning +2%XP for no benefit.
  
• Chronic Disease - (-20%) - This character will occasionally catch the Disease status, negatively affecting their performance. Any PC who picks this gets rejected by me outright. I had enough of this with Matthias in Exile 3, and I have no interest in going through it again.
  
• Bad Back - (-8%) - Unable to carry great weights, this trait reduces carrying capacity by 20%, as well as reducing physical damage by a minor amount.
  

Once you've picked your traits, its time to move on to Stats.


This looks like a lot, so I'm going to start going down on the left side from the top. The first field is the name of NPC we're training. All training through skill points earned via level up also occur on a screen like this. However, seeing as how this is a new NPC, we haven't had a chance to name him/her/it yet.

The purchasing of skills is done with two resources. The first is the amount of skill points we have on the character (earned at level-up), and the amount of gold we have in our party. The image is good enough, I won't recite the numbers later. However at character creation, we have 60 SP to work with, and infinite gold to spend. But what to spend it on?

Health is a flat measure of HP. It goes up based on a character's Strength at each level-up, but can be increased directly for 2 HP per Skill Point invested. Every character starts with 6 Health and that cannot be reduced. The max is 251. If you wish to gain any discrete amount of HP with each level up, the minimum Strength must be 4.

Spell Points power magic spells, and do not go up with level, they can only be purchased with the skill points earned by leveling up. The max is 150.

Strength represents a character's soundness of body. The higher, the more HP a character will have in addition to dealing more damage with physical attacks. All characters start off with 1, but if they feel like taking any damage at all, should start with at least 3. The max is 20.

Dexterity affects how often you hit or get hit in combat, as veterans of RPGs may assume, but also affect the Actions Points of a character, which will be explained when combat comes around. A high Dexterity will allow a person to do more per turn of combat than others. All characters start with 1, but if they want to do well in combat, should have at least three. The max is 20.

Intelligence affects Magic damage, and the success of negative status effects much as Strength affects HP and physical damage. It's a nice dichotomy. All characters start with 1, but if they want to do anything with magic, should have at least 3. The max is 20.

Edged/Bashing/Pole/Thrown/Archery are all classes of weapons. Swords, Clubs, Spears, Throwing Stars and Bows respectively. They represent specialization in weapons, and the more you have, the better your ability to deal damage goes up. Focusing on a weapon can give more benefits than just the general benefits from a high Strength and Dexterity, so don't forget them. They all go to 20.

Defense is a general skill to defend yourself with; making shields better and in general not getting hit, or even reducing damage. However, the most important aspect of it is that this skill reduces the Encumbrance you get from your equipment. I'll explain that in Combat. A good long-term investment. Goes to 20.

Mage and Priest Spells represent the levels of spells available to the character. At Character creation, each point in these two skills provides 3 free SP. Spells will be covered in more detail later, but at character creation, only spells up to level 3 are available. By the time we get to places with Level 4 spells available, we'll have enough skill points to buy more ranks in this. They both go up to 7.

Mage Lore is a passive skill that is pooled across the party to determine if they know about stuff for plot points or resolving quests. It goes to 20, and by the mid game, we should have at least that many points in it across all our PC's.

Alchemy is important for brewing potions from ingredients gathered from across the world, and they range from the 'why bother?' of things like Weak Poison Potions to 'absolutely vital' like Skill Potions.

Item Lore allows us to identify items in our possession without spending money or spell points on Identify spells. It's fairly passive, and useful at low amounts to detect if an item is cursed or not. This goes to 10.

Disarm Traps and Lockpicking are exactly what they say they are. Used for Traps and Locks, the skills go up to 20, and can be used on things magic won't work on. Dexterity provides a passive hidden bonus to these skills.

Assassination is an unusual skill. Characters with it have a chance of doing bonus damage against any foe lower leveled than they are. This can help with cleaning trash mobs, or even against boss fights if you're over leveled. I like to think of this skill as the 'Win Harder' skill. Goes to 20, at which point you're dealing massive damage to anything less powerful than you. It does not stack with ranged weapons, just melee.

Poison is a skill that allows you to safely add poison to your weapons to try and hit foes with. Can be useful with Thrown or Archery based weapons, but I find it's just not worth the skill points in the long run. Goes to 20.

Luck costs no money to train, and it does the most dangerous and powerful thing of all – it affects the RNG. Can go all the way to 20, if you dare.



This is the Character model selection. All PC's can have their own icons, and here is where the fun really begins! All PC images are bitmap images, 36x28, mirrored for when facing the other direction. For this LP, I will accept custom images for submitted PC's!

I'll say it right now, I find the non-humans to be far less interesting than the human ones, so if anyone really wants to try their hand at a new PC graphic, please be my guest.



Submissions!



What I would like are names, some background information on the PCs and stats. You can chose (or create) a PC picture for yourself. Just keep in mind that over the course of the game, your character can earn over 200 more Skill Points, so there is some flexibility in which direction you want your character to grow.

Once I am satisfied with the number of submitted PCs, I will move on to allowing everyone to vote for the teams. After that, I will start the game proper with the first scenario.

If you have any questions, please, feel free to ask.

berryjon fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Dec 9, 2022

JustJeff88 fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Jul 3, 2022

Junpei fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Jul 3, 2022

Quackles fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Jul 3, 2022

BraveLittleToaster fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Jul 3, 2022

Hello! I decided that a taste of the actual game itself was required in order to get things going, so I took the first 6 submissions to reach me and threw them together as a party, and I will run them through the first scenario - The Valley of Dying Things in order to show everything off!



These are the three scenarios that come with the game, though only the first is available in the demo. Which you should not be playing, because the full versions are available for free! So, let's get right to it, shall we?

This is the non-combat window, and is what you will be seeing most of the time. On the left is the active map area, which is centered on the party and a region four squares in distance around them, with line of sight accounted for. Below that is the name of the area, then the actions bar which consist of Cast (M)age Spell, Cast (P)riest Spell, (L)ook, (T)alk, (P)ick Up, (U)se, Map, and (F)ight. On the right is the party status window, which you can use to check on the relevant characters, as well as showing their statuses. You also see their Food and Gold stores as well as the current Day, which can be relevant, but not in this scenario.

The Middle-Right is the inventory screen, which you can use to equip items, use them or just hold onto things for special occasions. You can click on the little icons on the bottom to get to a specific character, or on the "Spec" button for scenario-specifc Key Items.

The bottom right in the action log, which lets you know what is going on and what is happening.



And this is the combat screen. It's all the same, except the actions you can do are different, and your party can spread out, rather than be bunched up in one tile. Mage, Priest and Pickup are the same, but you have the Shield icon for the Parry Command, the Arrow to fire ranged weapons, Wait to do just that, End, to end Combat, and Act for other actions.

Moving into combat stacked the five back PCs onto the same square, but put Zaka out front. This is not ideal.

Actually, this entire party is a challenge for me. In my previous LPs, I anchored the entire party around Art, a PC with Priest Spells, and skill in weapons so she could Bless/Heal and keep swinging. I knew what I was doing and I did it with skill. Here though? Because I literally just took the first six PCs I got, I'm working with a party that has three archers/throwing specialists, one of whom is also a Priest, One Mage, one Priest, and one guy who is actually intended for melee combat. This is going to be hard.

Oh crap, I forgot about these guys. Vapor Rats breathe a noxious cloud, a temporary terrain effect. Anyone who steps into it gets Cursed, a stackable combat debuff that reduces your to-hit by 5%, your damage by 1-2, and yes, it's stackable. This is bad. Very bad.



And there are more hiding out out of immediate sight. This is not good for me.



Not good.



OK, time to crack open the character editor and give everyone basic weapons they can actually use, and reload.

berryjon fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jul 3, 2022