Grimm... it ain't no fairy tale

No, not Grimm the TV show (which I still haven't seen; opinions, anyone?). This is another of those might-have-been game concepts that I worked up in outline form while working at Eidos in the late '90s. Here it is exactly as I wrote it back then. I referenced it in the first edition of my book Game Architecture and Design (co-authored by Andrew Rollings) but other than that it hasn't seen the light of day in fifteen years...

Grimm is set in a fantasy world derived from the most ancient folktales. Players are clans and will sometimes struggle as rivals, but often must ally to counter threats to the whole realm.

How Grimm differs from standard CRPGs is that quests and interactions are oriented to the community rather than single individuals. In that sense the game is like a cross between Might & Magic and SimCity or Warcraft. You can use your most powerful characters, the Heroes, as a standard adventuring team if you like, but that leaves your clan vulnerable while they're away. Offense and defense must be balanced, and as your clan gains wealth and power your Heroes will become stronger and more skillful.

Each clan comprises:

• Four Heroes: The Lord, the Lady, the Priest and the Wizard
• Up to twelve Elders: initially with undefined powers
• Up to twenty-four Clansmen: the generic "citizens" of the clan

The Heroes are the most powerful characters, each representing an archetypal power:

   HERO         POWER                 RESPONISIBILITY IN CLAN

    Lord            battle                        military fortifications

    Lady            wisdom                    agriculture, trade

    Priest           spirituality                 health, protection from evil

    Wizard         secret knowledge     magical research

The Elders start out with no special responsibility. By assigning an Elder as lieutenant to one of the four Heroes, you cause him to "borrow" some of his master's power. An Elder assigned to the Lord becomes a Knight; if assigned to the Priest he becomes an Acolyte; if the Lady, a Minister. Once an Elder has one of these titles, he becomes a lower level equivalent of the Hero he serves with about one-third of their power.

The Wizard's lieutenants are special. Each gets a special title. Instead of being one-third as powerful as the Hero as in other cases, the Wizard's lieutenants are as powerful as their master but only in one area of magic. The Illusionist can conjure mirages, the Summoner can create temporary servants, the Elementalist can hurl bolts of fire, wind and rain.

Building up the clan

The ordinary Clansmen are not directly controlled by the player. Rather, their AI just responds to the power structure of the ruling council (Heroes plus Elders). The Clansmens' activities will reflect the priorities you've set in the council. For instance, if you assign six Elders to the Lady then half the Clansmen will concern themselves with trade and harvesting.

The clanhouse is a walled enclosure (like a motte-and-bailey castle) which constitutes the player's "city". Clansmen do not leave the vicinity of the clanhouse under any circumstances.

Maintaining the clan

Each Hero's area of responsibility is magically tied to him/her, the way the land was supposedly tied to the High King in Celtic times. This means that when the Lord is absent from the clan, the walls will no longer be maintained and will gradually crumble, the Clansmen assigned to sentry duty will become less alert and capable, etc.

Quests

Quests must be undertaken by a group of no more than three characters. These could be three Heroes, but note the drawback mentioned above (your clan will decline in their absence). More often you'll send one Hero with the power most suited to the quest and a couple of Elders with different powers to back him up. Therefore the first phase of any quest is usually to find out what's in store, so you can pick your adventuring team to meet the likely challenges.

Examples of quests:

The gods demand that a player clears and blesses a path through the Forest of Thorns. The player knows that the Priest will be needed for the blessing. The Lady would be useful for scouting a path, but he cannot spare her so he sends a Minister in her place. The third member of the team is a Knight to deal with bandits rumoured to live in the forest.

Following on from the previous quest, when the path is blessed a mysterious stranger comes through the forest and bestows a broken sword on the clan. He departs without saying anything, but the Priest learns from prayer that the stranger was the Herald of the Sea Goddess. Presumably if the clan can locate the other half of the sword they can forge it into a useful magic weapon - but what if that other part resides with another clan who won't readily give it up?

A marauding band of skeletal warriors appear at the edge of the map, attacking any who pass nearby. Trade suffers, and Clansmen are reluctant to go out to the fields. If nothing is done, the skeletons start to build a tower. Players must act to stop them before a necromancer moves in and starts calling new soldiers from out of the graveyards.

The Trickster God steals the sun, causing continual darkness to descend on the world. The crops and cattle are dying as eternal winter sets in. Someone must find where the sun has been hidden and restore it to its rightful place in the sky.

Economy

Wealth (in the form of gold) is gained by prospecting and trade. Gold is used for a one-off payment to build and repair structures, as in most strategy games. It can also be gained in the form of ransoms, as gifts from the King, or by selling magic items to passing NPC merchants.

Buildings

Each Hero has his or her principal domain: the Lord has the Barracks, the Lady the Hall, the Priest the Church, and the Wizard the Tower. These structures broadcast a continual supply of power to the Hero. Upgrading the structure (with gold) increases its "power supply".

There are also other structures that provide special functions - eg, the Watchtower from which balloons can be sent aloft to spy out the land. Some of these peripheral structures are specials that you can only build once you've got a certain item; for instance an ancient codex allowing a clan to build a Naphtha Turret.

Birth and death

New clansmen are born some time after one is killed or promoted, the time depending on the power of the Lady. If an Elder is killed, a clansman can be promoted by the Heroes.

If a Hero is killed, he awakens the Afterlife and must journey back to the temporal plane. In his absence, the clanhouse declines in the area he's responsible for, so the death of a Hero is a serious business and you must try to get him back from the Afterlife as quickly as possible.

A journey through the Afterlife is always fraught with peril but it is an opportunity for the character to gain experience. Also you may meet up with slain Heroes from other clans, and forming an alliance may be the best policy.

A typical game
A campaign starts with just the four Heroes, four Elders and four Clansmen. The way you assign the Elders will decide the activities of the Clansmen. One Elder to each Hero leads to a well-balanced development of the clanhouse, but some levels may require you to specialize. (For instance, a clanhouse set on haunted plains might make early concentration on religious affairs a priority.)

According to your policy decisions and any gold or items found, the clanhouse will grow and upgrade. Typically, upgrading of a building requires only time and manpower. Upgrades at a building (eg, the Plough to increase farm productivity) then become available but cost gold to carry out. And special quest items are needed to construct special buildings.

New Elders are usually encountered on quests, or may arrive as rewards between levels. (“The High King is pleased and sends you his cousin to serve as Elder.”) More Clansman gather to serve you as your Clanhouse’s renown and experience spread.

It’s envisaged that the view would be 3D or isometric, as in Diablo. Control during a level is via the usual interface for realtime strategy games. Between levels, you would have a strategic interface allowing you to reassign Elders, send campaign messages, etc.

Network gaming

Played on a local network, the game can be run as a regular multi-player RPG or one player can use the built-in editor to become Games Master and design the Quest Challenge. Using a set number of points he must "buy" adversaries, hide clues, ward quest objectives, etc. The players then attempt to complete the quest, the winner earning points to spend on designing his own Quest Challenge.

The One King

The land is ruled by an NPC King who is sufficiently powerful that he would be a tough adversary for all the players' clans combined. The King will set tasks for clans (usually a contest like "Bring me the antlers of the questing beast") and success earns royal favour that the player can use later. Favour can also be gained just by Heroes spending time at court, but as noted above this entails a penalty in the form of clanhouse deterioration.

Online gaming

The problem with MUDs (“Multi-User Dungeons”) is that they usually turn into an ego trip for power-gamers. Players who have been in the game a while get so powerful that newcomers are put off - they just have no way of matching the old hands in power.

Grimm gets around this by making a clan's power mainly a matter of versatility rather than brute strength. You might collect a hundred magic items, all with different powers, but each character can only take say two items on an adventure. So the long-term player will usually have more items to choose from, but he's not impossibly more powerful than the newcomer.

In addition, the One King imposes laws that all must obey. For example:

• No-one may attack allies without giving one minutes' notice of breaking off the alliance.
• A group that includes a Priest may not kill an enemy who's surrendered.
• No hostilities are allowed within the Royal Parks.
• A Lady on her own must never be attacked.

These laws provide a regulatory structure that ensures the game never degenerates into a free-for-all. Players can still plot, scheme and cheat one another, but the need to observe certain rules of engagement enhances the fun.

Preschool gamebooks

Here's a little gamebook fragment I dug up recently, part of a project with Leo Hartas called Tell Me A Story. You can read about how we came to work on this over on the Mirabilis blog, but Fabled Lands fans are, I'm sure, more interested in the interactive part. (The image is by Daryl Sim from his Flickr stream.)

#0
Tell Me A Story
Interactive stories for children of pre-school age, designed for “mother-and-me” use.
This demo is Jack & The Beanstalk and begins halfway through the story, with Jack already in the giant’s castle.
Continue [ link to #1 ]

#1
[Two variables; WISHES = 1 and HARP = false ]
But the giant lifted the mug and found Jack hiding there. “I’m going to have you for my tea,” he said. And he tied Jack up with string.
What do you think Jack did?
Laughed at the giant [ link to #2 ]
Bit his thumb [ link to #3 ]

#2
“Don’t you laugh at me. You’re going on my dinner plate.” The giant served himself peas and mash, and he spooned some gravy over Jack’s head.
What then?
A knock at the door [ link to #5 ]
Dinner-time [ link to #6 ]

#3
“Ouch!” said the giant. He dropped Jack to the floor and forgot all about him. “Ow, ow ow!” he said, sucking his thumb.
What do think happened next?
The giant slipped on a banana skin [ link to #4 ]
He went to get a bandage [ link to #5 ]

#4
The giant’s foot shot out from under him and he came crashing down like fifty tons of bricks. The whole castle shook – though it was only built on a cloud, remember, so maybe it shook quite a bit anyway.
Jack quickly untied himself. Then what did he do?
Helped the giant up [ link to #13 ]
Ran for it [ link to #15 ]
Hid inside the banana skin [ link to #11 ]

#5
The moment the giant left the room, the sparrow that Jack had helped earlier flew in through the window. Plucking at the string with its beak, it soon had Jack free. “Where’s that magic harp I came for?” wondered Jack.
Did he go and get the harp? [ link to #22 ]
Or did he leave right away? [ link to #15 ]

#6
So, Jack was about to end up in the giant’s tummy if he didn’t think of something quickly. He still had his sword and he still had his last wish. Which do you think he used?
The sword [ link to #8 ]
The wish [ link to #7 ]

#7
[Set WISHES = 0]
“I wish that the giant’s potatoes would turn to plaster, his peas to cannon balls, his gravy to mud, and his beer to vinegar,” said Jack.
The giant tasted his mashed potato. “Horrible!” he said. He tried his peas. “Yuck!” he said. He drank some beer. “Urgh! I can’t eat this!” And he stomped out of the room, shaking the castle with every angry footstep.
What next...? [ link to #5 ]

#8
“What’s that, a little toothpick?” laughed the giant. He took the sword, which was smaller than a cotton thread between his fingers. But although the sword was small, it was sharp too, and the giant pricked himself. “Ouch!” he said, leaping to his feet.
What happened then?
He went to get a bandage [ link to #5 ]
His wife came in [ link to #9 ]

#9
“What a fuss over nothing!” scolded the giant’s wife. “It’s only a pinprick.”
“But it hurts!” said the giant.
They had forgotten all about Jack. What was he doing while they argued?
Whistling a tune [ link to #30 ]
Untying himself [ link to #27 ]

#10
Jack’s mother was astonished to see a giant banana fall down off a cloud into her back garden, and she was even more astonished when she saw Jack get out of it. “Hello, mum,” he said. “You’ll never believe this, but...” And he told her the whole story.
Next [ link to #12 ]

#11
Jack crawled inside the banana skin and zipped it up like a sleeping bag. “Oh my head...” said the giant as he sat up on the floor. Then he saw the banana skin that Jack was hiding inside. “Another banana!” he roared. “I don’t want bananas in the house. They’re too dangerous!”
He threw the banana out of the window. Where do you think it landed?
In the dustbin [ link to #31 ]
In Jack’s back garden [ link to #10 ]

#12
[ if WISHES = 1 and HARP = false, go to #33
else if WISHES = 0 and HARP = false, go to #34
else if WISHES = 1 and HARP = true, go to #35
else go to #36 ]

#13
Imagine you’d fallen over and an ant was trying to help you up. That’s how much use Jack was. In fact, the moment he got under the giant’s back to give him a push, the giant began to wail like a baby. “Oh! Oo! It’s got inside my shirt! Help, mother! It tickles!” And he jumped up on a chair.
What then?
Jack ran off [ link to #15 ]
The giant’s wife came in [ link to #37 ]

#14
He had enough, all right. “Stop chopping!” he cried. “I’m going back up to my cloud. Look!”
“And you can stay up there,” said Jack. As soon as he was at the bottom of the bean-stalk, he lopped it off so that there was no way to ever reach the cloud again. And then he went home whistling a tune.
Continue [link to #12]

#15
Yes, Jack ran out of the castle, across the cloud, and started down the beanstalk. But he hadn’t gone more than half a mile when the beanstalk started swaying. Jack looked up. The giant was coming down after him!
What did he do?
Jump [ link to #16 ]
Draw his sword [ link to #17 ]

#16
Jack looked down. He could see a haystack. It was so far below that it looked no bigger than a bread roll. He jumped off the beanstalk and tumbled down to land safely in the haystack. So what do you think the giant did?
Jumped after him [ link to #18 ]
Kept climbing down [ link to #19 ]

#17
Jack sliced through the beanstalk. “Yikes!” said the giant as he went tumbling past. He landed in the sea with a splash that sent water flying fifty metres into the air and upset every boat in the harbour.
Jack climbed the rest of the way down.
Next [ link to #20 ]

#18
He did, he jumped as well. And he fell down and down like a big fool. And he landed in the harbour. The water splashed fifty metres into the air, and every boat tipped over and the fishermen had to swim for shore. On the docks, people were picking up fishes that had been flung right out of the sea. “We’ll feast for a week,” they said happily.
Next [ link to #20 ]

#19
“That big fellow just won’t give up,” said Jack. Drawing his sword, he hacked through the beanstalk like a lumberjack chopping down a tree. “Oh-err... You stop that...” called the giant from high above. He didn’t like being on the stalk with it swaying like that. What do you think he did?
Kept on coming down [ link to #21 ]
Went back up to the cloud [ link to #14 ]

#20
Jack waited by the sea but no bubbles came up. “Either the giant has drowned or he’s turned into a whale and swum off,” said an old sailor who had seen it all before.
Jack made his way home.
Next [ link to #25 ]

#21
Jack sliced through the beanstalk. “Yikes!” said the giant as the beanstalk fell. Down and down he fell until his shadow covered half the county. Finally he landed in the sea with a splash that sent water flying fifty metres into the air and upset every boat in the harbour.
Next [ link to #20 ]

#22
[set HARP = true ]
The harp was made of gold with silver strings, and it was said to make the loveliest sound of any musical instrument ever made. “I wonder what it sounds like,” said Jack to himself.
Did he play a tune? [ link to #23 ]
Or did he leave right away [ link to #15 ]

#23
It was a more beautiful sound than fresh water flowing, bees buzzing in a field of clover, or birdsong on a spring morning. “Oi! Who’s messing with my harp?” shouted the giant, and he came running. Each footstep was like an earthquake!
What do you think happened next?
The giant slipped on a banana skin [ link to #24 ]
Jack ran out of the door [ link to #15 ]

#24
Yes he did. There was a banana skin lying in the hall, and the giant skidded across the stone floor, tripped over in the doorway, and went flying. Imagine an elephant on a roller-skate and you’ll get the idea. He crashed to the floor with such an impact that the bricks fell off the chimney, fell all the way to earth, and those are the Mendip Hills that you can see to this day.
What about Jack? Did he:
Hide inside the banana skin? [ link to #11 ]
Or run back to the beanstalk? [ link to #15 ]

#25
[If HARP = true, go to #28
Else go to #29 ]

#26
Jack wriggled into the mash. He could hear the giant saying: “He’s gone!”
“Well, eat the rest of your dinner,” said his wife.
“No point,” grumbled the giant. “I don’t want vegetables and no meat.” And he scraped the plate off into the dustbin. What a waste of good food – but that’s giants for you!
Next [ link to #31 ]

#27
That’s right, he was. He had just got the string off when the giant suddenly said, “Where’s that lad I was going to eat?”
Jack had to think fast. What did he do?
Hide in the mashed potato? [ link to #26 ]
Run out of the door? [ link to #15 ]

#28
Jack got home in time for tea and told his mother the whole story. “I found the golden egg, the magic purse, and the loveliest-sounding harp you ever did hear,” he said.
The egg made Jack rich, the purse helped him save his money wisely, and he played the harp at parties and everybody liked him. And he became so rich and famous that people still talk about him today.
New story [ link to #42 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#29
Jack got home in time for tea and told his mother the whole story. “I found a golden egg and a magic purse,” he said. “I’m going to sell the egg and save money in my purse so that we never want for anything again.”
So Jack became very successful and happy. And he never went climbing bean-stalks ever again!
New story [ link to #42 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#30
The sparrow that Jack had helped earlier was just outside and it heard him whistling. It flew in the window and untied him with its beak. The giant and his wife were still quarreling. His voice was deep like thunder, hers was sharp like lightning. They had forgotten all about Jack. So what do you think he did next?
Hid in the mashed potatoes [ link to #26 ]
Went to find the harp [ link to #22 ]
Made his escape [ link to #15 ]

#31
So Jack was in the giant’s dustbin. He stank of old potato peelings, dirty tissues and last week’s fish, but at least he was safe. Or was he? “I’d still like that harp,” he said to himself, wondering if it was a good idea to go back for it. Do you think he should?
Yes [ link to #22 ]
No [ link to #32 ]

#32
Better safe than sorry. Jack started climbing back down the beanstalk. But he hadn’t gone more than half a mile when the beanstalk started swaying. Jack looked up. The giant was coming down after him!
What did he do?
Jump [ link to #16]
Draw his sword [ link to #17 ]

#33
So, Jack had found himself a golden egg and a magic purse. The egg made him rich, and the purse helped him to save wisely. And he still had one wish, which he used to get his mother the most beautiful dress anywhere in England.
And as for that beanstalk? Well, Jack got an axe out of the shed and...
Bet you can guess the rest!
New story [ link to #42 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#34
So, Jack had got away with a golden egg and a magic purse. The egg made him rich, and the purse helped him to save wisely. So he did quite well for himself. And as for that beanstalk? Well, Jack got an axe out of the shed and you can guess the rest!
New story [ link to #42 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#35
So, Jack had got away with a golden egg, a magic purse, a marvellous harp, and he still had one wish left. He used the wish to get his mother a fine new dress, and the egg and the purse made them rich, and every evening Jack would play the harp and people came from all around to hear him.
And do you know what he did with that beanstalk? Well, he got an axe out of the shed and you can guess the rest!
New story [ link to #42 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#36
So, Jack had got away with a golden egg, a magic purse, and a marvellous harp. The egg made them lots of money, and the purse meant they always had a little bit saved, and every evening Jack would play the harp and people came from all around to hear him.
And do you know what Jack did with that beanstalk? Well, he got an axe out of the shed and...
Bet you can guess the rest!
New story [ link to #42 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#37
She did. She pulled Jack out from under the giant and put a glass over him. “There, that’s got you trapped,” she said. Jack hammered on the glass, but he couldn’t break it. It was too thick.
But Jack still had his last wish. What did he wish for?
A thunderstorm? [ link to #38 ]
A sack of diamonds? [ link to #39 ]
The glass to break? [ link to #40 ]

#38
The thunderstorm made the whole cloud shake. “Quick,” yelled the giant’s wife, “let’s get outside before the roof falls in!”
The glass fell over, freeing Jack, and you can be sure that he made straight for the beanstalk at once. But he hadn’t climbed more than half a mile down when the beanstalk started swaying. Jack looked up. The giant was coming after him!
What did he do?
Jump [ link to #16 ]
Draw his sword [ link to #17 ]

#39
“Let me out and you can have these diamonds,” said Jack. The giant was so greedy that he picked up the glass at once, and Jack ran straight out of the door.
Next [ link to #15 ]

#40
The giant and his wife started talking and forgot about Jack. He made his wish. From another room in the castle came the sound of a harp-string being plucked, and the note made the glass shatter.
Jack headed for the door. The giant and his wife hadn’t noticed he was free. Then he thought about the harp. Should he go back for it, he wondered. What do you think?
Yes [ link to #41 ]
No [ link to #32 ]

#41
[set HARP = true ]
The harp was made of gold with silver strings. Perched on top of it was the sparrow that Jack had helped earlier. It had returned the favour by playing the note that shattered the glass. “This is a beautiful harp,” said Jack to the sparrow. “Would you like me to play you a tune?”
Do you think he did? [ link to #23 ]
Or did he climb back down the beanstalk first? [ link to #15 ]

#42
Tell Me A Story
Jack & The Beanstalk [ link to #1 ]
The Goat & the Troll [ link to #0 ]
Snow White [ link to #0 ]
Options [ link to #43 ]
Quit [ exits ]

#43
Follow link
Back