Vintage Story Fantasy (Adventure Mode)

[Echo Weaver]

6 minutes ago, Enjen said:

After thinking about it a bit... Maybe this thread would be better suited in Off-Topic rather than Discussion? 

No way. Adventure Mode is totally on-topic IMHO, and so is brainstorming related to it.

[Foe Hammer]

6 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Especially if we can be the dragons and pester those pesky dwarves for a proper Smaug experience. 

I would love to be a dragon adjacent race, like a dragon, but upright and person sized, I feel like being a dragon would be very interesting to play the game as lol. Trying to build and chisel a wall will feel like painting minis inside a game .

 

5 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

I'm kind of in the category of wanting to be able to both fight and tame/ride them...

Taming and riding on a dragon however . If they do go this route, I would actually like there to be 2 types. A hostile type, think chromatic dragons in DnD, and a tameable/befriend able type, think metallic dragons in DnD, though not related to scale color maybe? Basically I feel I would be hesitant to fight them for no reason but would enjoy the combat.

 

6 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

I really like this, as it's something I'd like to do in Vintage Story, but doesn't really fit the story or the lore. Which is perfectly fine! That is, after all, what modding is for, and if that kind of gameplay is added as a whole new gamemode/game with its own lore...well, then I can have my cake and eat it too!

I am not fully familiar with all the elements of the story of VS, however I feel like it would not be a big stretch. I justify it in my head like @Enjen said, building and working to breath life back into the world. I could see the people joining your settlement being not just a combination of races that either have been nomadic, displaced by some event like a bad temporal storm, or even other Seraphs that have awoken to found themselves in an unfamiliar land, like we originally do at the start, and went to the first remnant of civilization they saw being the one we built. Can also be people migrating after, "hearing about it through a traveling trader", word of mouth sort of deal. Which does work into the idea from @Enjen about being the leader of a new kingdom, or at least the leader of a village at the start.

That said, I do concede that it would fit the fantasy setting much easier.

 

3 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

I wouldn't zoom the player out into an overhead view of the kingdom area; I'd implement some sort of map table instead. When you interact with the table, it brings up an interface with a small model of the settlement, along with a list of options to make managing some things a little easier. 

Almost exactly like what I was thinking. Have a large table map with tokens on it to represent map markers for settlements and threats, like war maps of old with small figurines to represent armies, settlements, and objectives. I would like it done in a way that is as immersive as possible, though I know that would require a fair bit of steps, probably through dialogue with a NPC or having to manually check if things have finished.

(There is more I want to reply and respond to, but I do not know how long of a post is "too long" and not sure if I will be able to do it very soon.)

Edited July 8, 2025 by Foe Hammer
Typo

[Foe Hammer]

3 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

What it needs is some sense of over-arching goal, because even though I spend most of my time on survival, it starts to feel pointless once I get the homestead pretty comfortable unless I have incentive to explore. Obviously, a game with NPCs and RP could go far to fill that hole.

To build off of what @LadyWYT said, I think a good thing would be a combination of things. Not all at once, but as events that happen either over time or in response to another. Temporals storms for example could line up with how the game currently is with them gradually intensifying, and eventually you have to/should do something to either stop it (unlikely) or mend the wound somewhat, close some major rights to keep the world from the danger of it intensifying exponentially/continuously.

And those other ideas, an evil wizard sending their armies to terrorize, an undead dragon creating and rallying an army of the dead, and other threats. These could all be a consequence of the devastation from the storms, or just other threats that see the world as weakened and decided, "Now is my time." It can also be something along the lines of, after going getting your town set up, you go to kick the threats out of their I'll gotten homes, maybe with a militia, small army, or other players. Can anyone say siege ?

 

3 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

That's mostly a brainstorming tangent, but I figure it's useful if some of the Adventure Mode team wants to mine this thread for ideas

I would be honored if any of the devs on either team took inspiration from any of my ideas lol.

[CastIronFabric]

I am more interested in game mechanics. Crafting, building etc.

As such 'a fantasy setting RPG style that has a different aesthetic' is too vague for me, I need more information. With that said, if they had said they are making a game that is steampunk tech in space I would be very curious. But 'fantasy setting RPG style' likely means, story based which I am not interested in.

I will have to wait and see but at this time I am in NFG mode.

 

 

[Echo Weaver]

5 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

I am more interested in game mechanics. Crafting, building etc.

As such 'a fantasy setting RPG style that has a different aesthetic' is too vague for me, I need more information. With that said, if they had said they are making a game that is steampunk tech in space I would be very curious. But 'fantasy setting RPG style' likely means, story based which I am not interested in.

I will have to wait and see but at this time I am in NFG mode.

Fortunately, the game supports plenty of styles. I don't generally play in Exploration or Homo Sapiens modes. You're more than welcome to not care about this one. I personally love story-driven gaming.

[Enjen]

5 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

I am more interested in game mechanics. Crafting, building etc.

As such 'a fantasy setting RPG style that has a different aesthetic' is too vague for me, I need more information. With that said, if they had said they are making a game that is steampunk tech in space I would be very curious. But 'fantasy setting RPG style' likely means, story based which I am not interested in.

I will have to wait and see but at this time I am in NFG mode.

 

 

The vibe I get from it isn't "Story Based" in my opinion but more so a world Rich with Lore! Lore in the sense of like how Earth has it's history. Different Races and Tribes. It might not have a main story to follow along with, but a History that explains how this all came to be!

At least that's how I view it when I hear Fantasy RPG. When I was a child "RPG" always meant Adventure Game with Turn-based fighting mechanics hahahahah now RPG and Fantasy are interchangeable in my dictionary. They sort of go hand-in-hand.

[Echo Weaver]

7 minutes ago, Enjen said:

The vibe I get from it isn't "Story Based" in my opinion but more so a world Rich with Lore! Lore in the sense of like how Earth has it's history. Different Races and Tribes. It might not have a main story to follow along with, but a History that explains how this all came to be!

At least that's how I view it when I hear Fantasy RPG. When I was a child "RPG" always meant Adventure Game with Turn-based fighting mechanics hahahahah now RPG and Fantasy are interchangeable in my dictionary. They sort of go hand-in-hand.

This makes me think about what counts as story-driven. Haha. VS default already has a story. You don't have to engage with it, but it's there, and it provides a motivation for me to explore.

I would hope that a fantasy RPG mode would have a quest system of some kind and/or a way to structure a sequential adventure.

It would also be really cool to have discoverable lore comparable with current VS. However, I don't want to see any fixed map. I like the way VS currently adds lore locations to its procedurally-generated map. Or, I do in theory, since I haven't actually gotten there yet.

[Enjen]

2 minutes ago, Echo Weaver said:

This makes me think about what counts as story-driven. Haha. VS default already has a story. You don't have to engage with it, but it's there, and it provides a motivation for me to explore.

I would hope that a fantasy RPG mode would have a quest system of some kind and/or a way to structure a sequential adventure.

It would also be really cool to have discoverable lore comparable with current VS. However, I don't want to see any fixed map. I like the way VS currently adds lore locations to its procedurally-generated map. Or, I do in theory, since I haven't actually gotten there yet.

oooo yes! get that Idea Wheel turning Hahaha 

An immersive Quest system would be incredibly cool. Maybe we can have a Journal that acts as an automatic Quest Log. But that's been done so many times. Maybe we can receive "Quest Flyers" from different NPCs and have a "Satchel" item that makes storing these un-stackable items much easier! Quests are given out once per world so if your multiplayer, maybe you can share quests with other players by just giving them the flyer!

I also vote Nay on fixed Maps 

[CastIronFabric]

39 minutes ago, Enjen said:

The vibe I get from it isn't "Story Based" in my opinion but more so a world Rich with Lore! Lore in the sense of like how Earth has it's history. Different Races and Tribes. It might not have a main story to follow along with, but a History that explains how this all came to be!

At least that's how I view it when I hear Fantasy RPG. When I was a child "RPG" always meant Adventure Game with Turn-based fighting mechanics hahahahah now RPG and Fantasy are interchangeable in my dictionary. They sort of go hand-in-hand.

I do not know how we get 'rich with lore' but not 'story based' from the the phrase 'RPG'  but here is my take.

-RPG for the old school D&D players = character stats, turn based combat, skill progression

-RPG for the new school so called AAA space that has high jacked the term = story based.

-RPG 'lore based'? 'story based? well it could mean this, or that, or what I think it should be etc etc.

 

That said for reasons I do not want to enumerate in detail I think specifically for this game and this specific team, I think the new mode is going to be more story based than the existing modes. If I was a betting man that is what I would bet on, however in concrete terms none of us really know.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2025 by CastIronFabric

[Enjen]

24 minutes ago, CastIronFabric said:

I do not know how we get 'rich with lore' but not 'story based' from the the phrase 'RPG'  but here is my take.

-RPG for the old school D&D players = character stats, turn based combat, skill progression

-RPG for the new school so called AAA space that has high jacked the term = story based.

-RPG 'lore based'? 'story based? well it could mean this, or that, or what I think it should be etc etc.

 

That said for reasons I do not want to enumerate in detail I think specifically for this game and this specific team, I think the new mode is going to be more story based than the existing modes. If I was a betting man that is what I would bet on, however in concrete terms none of us really know.

 

 

Hey thanks for sharing your definitions! 

Even though none of know, speculating is part of the fun! Whether its story based or not, im fairly excited for the Fantasy Elements

[LadyWYT]

2 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

I would hope that a fantasy RPG mode would have a quest system of some kind and/or a way to structure a sequential adventure.

It would also be really cool to have discoverable lore comparable with current VS. However, I don't want to see any fixed map. I like the way VS currently adds lore locations to its procedurally-generated map. Or, I do in theory, since I haven't actually gotten there yet.

Vintage Story's main storyline is somewhat sequential, in my opinion. While it is written to be linear, it's also flexible, in that there's an ideal order of completion but one doesn't HAVE to complete it that way. It's entirely possible to skip Chapter 1 entirely and jump straight to Chapter 2; however, it's unlikely to unfold that way unless the player either knows what to look for and deliberately makes such a choice, or just explores a LOT of territory before ever bothering with the treasure hunter's quest. I'm fairly certain this is why locations for Chapter 2 are located so far from spawn--it reduces the likelihood of newer players accidentally missing parts of the story, given that Chapter 2 locations are more easily spotted than the Chapter 1 location.

The distance is also an effective narrative tool for driving home just how big and lonely the setting is, which is one nitpick I have with a lot of modern fantasy adventure titles. Skyrim, for example, is supposed to be a vast wilderness dotted with ancient ruins and small strongholds of civilization. In actual gameplay though, you can get from one town to the next with a 5 minute jog, and it's difficult to really go from one hilltop to another without running into some sort of civilization(friendly or otherwise). Granted, the world wasn't built to scale in order to give the player things to do around every corner without making it a slog, but the drawback is that it's hard to take the world seriously as a result. In Vintage Story's case, a player can't afford not to take the world seriously when planning their travels, because they can't count on there being a safe haven over the next hill to rest and resupply in should they run into trouble.

I will say that Chapter 2 will still make sense if one somehow misses Chapter 1. However, the impact probably won't be the same. Chapter 1's location is very interesting and a shame to miss, and it also provides at least some background information on why the world is the way it is. Without spoiling too much, there's also an item there that will likely prove useful in the adventures to come.

2 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

I do not know how we get 'rich with lore' but not 'story based' from the the phrase 'RPG'  but here is my take.

-RPG for the old school D&D players = character stats, turn based combat, skill progression

-RPG for the new school so called AAA space that has high jacked the term = story based.

-RPG 'lore based'? 'story based? well it could mean this, or that, or what I think it should be etc etc.

My take on "lore-rich" versus "story-based" is that the two really go hand-in-hand. If the world isn't lore-rich, it's hard to have an interesting story, and vice-versa. In the case of Vintage Story, there's plenty of lore for the player to discover, and an obvious story to tell regarding the player and a handful of related NPCs. However, the story is not the sole purpose of the gameplay, and the game doesn't push the player to complete it in order to have fun.

[Echo Weaver]

Plenty of RPG games have quests but not a single central story. I can also think of a lot of open-world games where there is a central story, but it's totally optional. (I haven't personally played Oblivion, but a friend of mine had a fantastic time abandoning the story and opening up a shop in some town.) Also, a lot of games, including VS, tell a lot of story in player-discoverable documents. I think the line between story and lore gets fuzzy, similar to what @LadyWYT said. There are plenty of ways to do it. I think an RPG can be fine without a single central story, but it's hard for me to imagine one without quests.

If there's a central story, it shouldn't be one that involves completing/beating the game because this sort of survival game is intended to be open-ended, and I don't think it would be good to change that.

Edited July 10, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[Foe Hammer]

6 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

I do not know how we get 'rich with lore' but not 'story based' from the the phrase 'RPG'  but here is my take.

-RPG for the old school D&D players = character stats, turn based combat, skill progression

-RPG for the new school so called AAA space that has high jacked the term = story based.

-RPG 'lore based'? 'story based? well it could mean this, or that, or what I think it should be etc etc.

 

That said for reasons I do not want to enumerate in detail I think specifically for this game and this specific team, I think the new mode is going to be more story based than the existing modes. If I was a betting man that is what I would bet on, however in concrete terms none of us really know.

To add my unrequested 2 cents into it, I see the distinction as thus:

Lore is history, the reasons for how things got to where and how they are. Why this tribe lives here, has this name, and calls that place that name. It is the story already told.

Story based is the "living" narrative, the scripted or unscripted journey and all that happens usually towards a goal. It is the story yet to be told either by the actions of the player, the directing of the narrative, or ideally a mix of both.

In addition, as @LadyWYT and @Echo Weaver have said, the distinction can be fuzzy at times. And the two often go hand in hand. I think you can have a world full of lore with no story to guide you, granted it can be argued that the history then subtly guides you towards a specific path. However, I think that while you technically can have a world with no lore and a story, it is something that likely exists in the theoretical, or has so little depth you can stand in it with both feet and not get your shoes wet.

 

That all said, I do agree that it seems like the Adventure Mode would make sense to be more story based, however none of us know if that is true or to what extent, as you have also said. I just hope it is like the base game. There to be explored and enjoyed if you want it, hopefully even more open to your own paths you can take, or something you do not really need to touch if you do not care to.

[CastIronFabric]

9 hours ago, Foe Hammer said:

To add my unrequested 2 cents into it, I see the distinction as thus:

Lore is history, the reasons for how things got to where and how they are. Why this tribe lives here, has this name, and calls that place that name. It is the story already told.

Story based is the "living" narrative, the scripted or unscripted journey and all that happens usually towards a goal. It is the story yet to be told either by the actions of the player, the directing of the narrative, or ideally a mix of both.

In addition, as @LadyWYT and @Echo Weaver have said, the distinction can be fuzzy at times. And the two often go hand in hand. I think you can have a world full of lore with no story to guide you, granted it can be argued that the history then subtly guides you towards a specific path. However, I think that while you technically can have a world with no lore and a story, it is something that likely exists in the theoretical, or has so little depth you can stand in it with both feet and not get your shoes wet.

 

That all said, I do agree that it seems like the Adventure Mode would make sense to be more story based, however none of us know if that is true or to what extent, as you have also said. I just hope it is like the base game. There to be explored and enjoyed if you want it, hopefully even more open to your own paths you can take, or something you do not really need to touch if you do not care to.

To everyone:

Just to be clear, I know the difference between lore and story.

What I was basically saying is that people seem to be arbitrarily applying their own personal definition as to what is or is not RPG and unless the devs chime in we really do not know.

My personal bet is heavy on story, my reason for that is actually not related to my personal definition of the term RPG its just a bet, the reasoning itself I would prefer to not get into

Edited July 10, 2025 by CastIronFabric

[Echo Weaver]

8 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

What I was basically saying is that people seem to be arbitrarily applying their own personal definition as to what is or is not RPG and unless the devs chime in we really do not know.

Yes, that sounds accurate, and it's explicitly what this thread is for.

[dakko]

9 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

My personal bet is heavy on story, my reason for that is actually not related to my personal definition of the term RPG its just a bet, the reasoning itself I would prefer to not get into

That's a shame; I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the subject.

[Enjen]

9 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

My personal bet is heavy on story, my reason for that is actually not related to my personal definition of the term RPG its just a bet, the reasoning itself I would prefer to not get into

13 minutes ago, dakko said:

That's a shame; I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the subject.

I agree with @dakko I would love to hear what you have to say! Also, like @Echo Weaver said, that's what this thread was made for  to talk about it

[Echo Weaver]

My big concern for a game mode heavy on a central story is that it would reduce replay value unless it is extremely flexible.

I'm not familiar with Hytale, though. I assume they approached issues like this in their design. My first guess is that the story approach to Adventure Mode would be heavily influenced by whatever Hytale was attempting.

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Echo Weaver said:

My big concern for a game mode heavy on a central story is that it would reduce replay value unless it is extremely flexible.

Currently, the main story from VS gets quite a bit of replay value just from the different classes available. NPCs are still in the early stages of development, but they will offer different reactions depending on the player's class. Malefactor and Blackguard are the two with the starkest reactions currently, I believe.

What I'm hoping to see is that concept developed more in future updates. The story might always arrive at the same conclusion(it is linear, after all), however, there might be different paths the player can take to get there. Maybe a player does everything as intended, befriends the NPCs, and saves the world from another catastrophe. Or maybe the player decides to be an absolute jerk and gets themselves banned from the village...in which case, now they need to figure out how they're going to find the macguffin at the bad place. Good luck doing that without directions! The player pushed far enough to enstrange a certain old friend? Well now they have to figure out how to complete the next story chapter on their own, instead of having much-needed help. Of course, in the event something like that happened, maybe the player also has the option to redeem themselves to offended NPCs with a lot of hard work.

How feasible such a system is, I'm not sure. But I think it would offer a lot for replay value if the player has some choices about how they interact with NPCs, and the NPCs respond accordingly.

[Echo Weaver]

1 minute ago, LadyWYT said:

Currently, the main story from VS gets quite a bit of replay value just from the different classes available. NPCs are still in the early stages of development, but they will offer different reactions depending on the player's class. Malefactor and Blackguard are the two with the starkest reactions currently, I believe.

I had no idea that there were different reactions by player class with the story NPCs. I love that.

I agree that the ability to choose different paths through the story would add a lot of replay value.

[CastIronFabric]

14 hours ago, Enjen said:

I agree with @dakko I would love to hear what you have to say! Also, like @Echo Weaver said, that's what this thread was made for  to talk about it

Yeah I am not going to touch that rail but I will say this much related to my reasoning as to why my bet in on heavier on story.

The hint is in the name of the game Vintage Story. Is the team extremely satisfied with how the story of Vintage Story turned out?

 

Edited July 11, 2025 by CastIronFabric

[Facethief]

Man, what if they added, like, scrolls, or something, and they were like really old. And because they were so old, people, like, sought them out for information… like an elder or something. And then they exist in like, an RPG, set on like, the rim of the Sky or something.

[CastIronFabric]

40 minutes ago, Facethief said:

Man, what if they added, like, scrolls, or something, and they were like really old. And because they were so old, people, like, sought them out for information… like an elder or something. And then they exist in like, an RPG, set on like, the rim of the Sky or something.

or maybe..just hear me out a second...maybe. To progress in the game you do a series of quests and those quests have text and in that text has critical information that if you miss you will not be able to finish the question in the proper sequence or solve various puzzles.

Why would I ever think high quest focus would be RPG?..well anyway, I just played EQ2 so I dont know. Anyway, maybe the quests will all become tightly linked and even though it is possible to 'play' the game without questing its really an unrelastic option.

perhaps exactly like EQ2 which is a RPG

[Echo Weaver]

1 hour ago, CastIronFabric said:

Yeah I am not going to touch that rail but I will say this much related to my reasoning as to why my bet in on heavier on story.

The hint is in the name of the game Vintage Story. Is the team extremely satisfied with how the story of Vintage Story turned out?

Haha. I guess the name does seem important here!

I certainly got the impression that the team was proud of the VS story so far. I'm sure they've learned a lot and have things they'd change. I also assume that whatever is done for Adventure Mode would not be the same.

I'm not being deliberately dense. It sounds like you think some things are obvious from those statements, and I'm not cluing in.

12 minutes ago, CastIronFabric said:

Why would I ever think high quest focus would be RPG?..well anyway, I just played EQ2 so I dont know. Anyway, maybe the quests will all become tightly linked and even though it is possible to 'play' the game without questing its really an unrelastic option.

perhaps exactly like EQ2 which is a RPG

Sure EQ2 is a foundational RPG game. It doesn't seem like a great match for a procedurally-generated voxel world. Honestly, if I were going to point to an influential RPG with a rigid mandatory quest progression for comparison, it would be Diablo 2. The environments there are generated, but the quests are fixed. That adds a lot of replay value, but it's all with the same goals and the same feel. I played the heck out of Diablo back in the day, but I think Vintage Story could do better.

[CastIronFabric]

10 minutes ago, Echo Weaver said:

Haha. I guess the name does seem important here!

I certainly got the impression that the team was proud of the VS story so far. I'm sure they've learned a lot and have things they'd change. I also assume that whatever is done for Adventure Mode would not be the same.

I'm not being deliberately dense. It sounds like you think some things are obvious from those statements, and I'm not cluing in.

Sure EQ2 is a foundational RPG game. It doesn't seem like a great match for a procedurally-generated voxel world. Honestly, if I were going to point to an influential RPG with a rigid mandatory quest progression for comparison, it would be Diablo 2. The environments there are generated, but the quests are fixed. That adds a lot of replay value, but it's all with the same goals and the same feel. I played the heck out of Diablo back in the day, but I think Vintage Story could do better.

1.The latest update they have made some alterations to the main story quests because 'we were not happy with how the story part of the last update worked out'

2. If VS currently is NOT a RPG, then why would we think a RPG version of it would not have quests because there are blocks in it? Is that more of a wish or a prediction made out of foundation?

 

keep in mind, the grandfather of all block games has a 'story mode'

Edited July 11, 2025 by CastIronFabric