The Medicine Cord
One of the chief play components in Dark Harvest is Tommy’s mystical powers. At the beginning of the game, Tommy has no powers, but after he meets with the spirit of his departed great grandfather (this happens in DreamQuest1—CH3DQ), Tommy is given a "Medicine Cord".
The Apache creator was not a wholly benign god—at times good, at other times evil. Medicine men, or shaman, were the only ones with a direct supernatural link. The most sacred possession of a Shaman was the izze-kloth, or "Medicine Cord". This was a leather cord, from one two four strands, sometimes woven with shells, sometimes wrapped around a small wooden frame to form a larger circle. It was the focus of many magical powers. A shaman thought that his hair was a source of power—it should be long and no one was allowed to touch it. Shaman would turn themselves into coyotes. Big mystical beings in Apache myths: tarantula, snake, raven, coyote, lightning and fire.
Tommy’s mystical powers should:
- Fit flawlessly into the story of the game mechanics and be vital to the players success in the single player game.
- Feel as if they are true and genuine to Tommy’s Apache heritage. Can have a couple that are just cool/wacky, but most should have roots in Apache heritage and be plausible and authentic.
- Be carefully chosen: there shouldn’t be all that many. Quality over quantity. Less than 10.
- Be usable in Multiplayer.
Single play thoughts
The mystical powers come to Tommy initially when he meets his great grandfather and is given a "medicine cord" (this happens in DreamQuest1—CH3DQ). He can hold the round section of his cord in his hand and turn it to access the various spells. This cord shows, visually, his level of mastery.
Tommy burns some sort of mana (that regenerates over time) when he uses a power. His base mana pool increases as he completes each on of the four "vision quest" levels in the game. The more mana he has, the more powerful the power.
The first mystic power comes to him during the first vision quest. During each additional vision quest, he gains 2 powers. Here is a possible layout:
| Power: | When learned: | Short description: |
| Levitate | DreamQuest1 | Tommy
can
move or levitate an object
Standard cast: Tommy can move or levitate an inanimate object Enhanced cast: Tommy can move or levitate an animate object (including himself) |
| Heal | DreamQuest2 | Heal yourself
or another
Standard cast: Can heal yourself slightly Enhanced cast: Can heal others or yourself to a greater degree |
| Shield | DreamQuest2 | A safe circle
of shielding
Standard cast: Circle of shielding is non-mobile Enhanced cast: Circle of shielding moves with player |
| Familiar | DreamQuest3 | Can summon
and control a familiar (a raven)—while controlling,
your body remains stationary
Standard cast: Can summon familiar and give it a command Enhanced cast: Can summon a familiar and posses it fully (your body remains stationary) |
| Lightning storm | DreamQuest3 | Standard
cast: Cause a lightning storm.
Enhanced cast: A full-fledged lightning storm |
| Soul steal | DreamQuest4 | Feed on the
souls of vanquished enemies. Once
you ready and cast the spell, it’s "fire and
forget"—it simply lasts for a certain amount of
time. While the spell is active, whenever you kill
something with a soul (an intelligent being), the soul
will rise like a ghostly apparition from the
body—run through the apparition to gain health and
other powers
Standard cast: Get health boost from souls. Enhanced cast: Get enhanced abilities (more powerful weapon fire, greater speed, bloodlust rage, etc.) from souls |
| Posses | DreamQuest4 | Posses and control another creature (while your body remains stationary) |
| Coyote | Secret | Transform into a coyote for a time (your body vanishes into the coyote) |
Note: the 8th power—turning into a coyote, should be a "secret power" that is inferred or discovered by the player
Medicine Cord user interface
NOTE: (George) I like the following a lot. Sounds like a Black & White gesture system - which worked very well. The hand would come up in first person and you would gesture to cast a power. I think that's something to run with and experiment with. I also want to maintain the gameplay of the Levels of Mastery and getting additional powers via Dream Quests in the game.
Tommy is given the Medicine Cord in the first room of the first dream quest, by his great grandfather. In the first test room, the player (hints are given by the grandfather) must learn to access it (Alt-1 is the default for the first power). With the cord raised, the top of the circle shows a swirly line rune. The player must hold down fire button 1 to raise his right hand and trace the shape of the rune. Then, the second fire button will fire the spell (some spells can "burn" more mana when the fire button is held down longer).
In general, the player selects his spell by selecting it with the default Alt + # combination. This will raise the medicine cord (in the left hand). The current spell will be at the top of the cord. The mana indicator is on the left and the spells already learned are on the right. The color of the rune gesture is the level to which Tommy has learned the spell (there are three levels).
Each time Tommy casts a spell successfully, his "counter" for that spell is increased—at certain thresholds, he will move to a new level of mastery.
The mana pools will increase with Tommy’s growing mastery and it will rejuvenate over time.
| Level of mastery: | Casting a mystic power: |
| 1 | The player must ready the power by successfully making the gesture with his right hand (via holding down fire button 1 and moving the mouse). The spell will then remain ready for a certain amount of time and to use the power, he uses fire button 2. Some spells use variable amounts of mana—if so, then the amount of time spent holding down button 2 will increase the mana spent on the spell. |
| 2 | The player simply calls up the medicine cord and fires the spell at his pleasure via fire mode 2. |
| 3 | The player may cast the spell as in level 2, or he may make the gesture (even multiple times)—making the gesture will either increase the power or lessen the mana spent on the spell—it’s possible for a player to ready a very powerful spell (like lightning) by making the gesture quite a number of times. |
Multiplayer thoughts
We need to make sure that the mystical powers work well in a Multiplayer game. We will probably need the ability to toggle them on or off (in case there are some Tommy's and other entities in the same game). We probably also want to have some way to set up the intensity level of the powers, perhaps by setting up mana points and allocating them.
Inventory Items
These can be the standard FPS fare, and it would be nice to have several custom inventory items per race (Saurian, Insectoid and Humanoid). It would give the player new skills to learn and master as they played. Perhaps 3 unique items per race, and 3 standard Earth items like Flashlight etc.