A game of fantasy, adventure, strategy and opportunity
Designed and Created by Rich "Dr Nostromo, Zett Riff" Johnston
Thanx to Softbug for additional graphics work and invaluable assistance
Contributing Artists - Shelz Keast (Gallery 1, Gallery 2), Steve Bentley (Web Site), Martijn Mensen, Will Crawford (Web Site), Jessica Moens (Gallery)
Current version 0.9.5 (beta - Complete game with rule book using the Vassal 3.0.17 Engine) - Page updated 5/3/08
WE NEED ARTISTS! We'll never be able to release this game publicly if we cannot fill it with original art so please help.
We also need play testers for a campaign. Details for both at the bottom of the page.
Welcome to the official web site for "To Be King" - a game I've been developing, on and off, for over 15 years - up until now - as a board game.  I've been playing / designing games for over 30 years and I've always enjoyed both the fantasy role-playing style games (like Dungeons & Dragons) and the war simulation style games (like Avalon Hill / SSI strategy games).  My intention with "To Be King" is to create the best of both worlds by providing sophisticated player characters with dozens of options and traits, a fully dynamic, ever-changing environment, nearly 1000 random events, plenty of places to explore and a warfare system allowing players to develop armies, launch attacks and capture territory. With the advent of new technology (in particular the Vassal Engine), I've now been able to develop my dream game into an Internet based multi-player strategy / adventure role-playing game.

The game can be played with from 2 to 8 players. Each player develops a character of a specific race, receives a few special skills and then attempts to compete against other players to become ruler of the land.  They will have to accomplish this while trying to survive and become stronger in an increasingly hostile environment and other hostile players. The player may also create and control armies that will war with other player's armies in an attempt to control territory thereby shutting off certain areas of travel to other players while keeping paths open for their own.

During the coarse of the game, players will be required to fulfill certain tasks to gain the items required to reach The Great Throne. Fulfilling these tasks will require traveling through 2 separate islands (one of which has changing weather conditions which may affect movement), sailing the open seas (which uses a wind direction system to determine movement), exploring a palace and, possibly, getting lost in the ancient catacombs. The world's terrain is uniquely created for each game. Between having a new environment to play in for each game and all the random events that may occur, no two games will be remotely alike - 100% replay value.

Like Dungeons & Dragons and many of the large campaign war games, this is not a game that will take 2 or 3 hours to play. It will most likely be played over several game sessions, perhaps lasting as much as 20 hours or more so it's best played with a group of steady players.

The game can also be played in Partner Mode - a rule variation that was developed to make 2 and 3-player games more exciting. It allows players to each control 2 characters and can have them work independently at their own tasks or have them travel together, combining their strengths, making them a formidable party.

Since the game environment is completely dynamic, when a host starts a game, the world is basically blank and must be built making the game world different for each campaign. This can be an tedious process. So, for those that do not wish to go through the trouble of creating their own world, there's one included in the game package and others may be downloaded from a file site we've set up specifically for the distribution of pre-created worlds.

Another nice feature is that it's not necessary for players to have a bunch of extra files to connect with online games. As long as they have the base game, all they have to do is connect to a host game (running the same version) and their game will automatically be updated to match the host without any extra files being downloaded to their computer. In other words, you don't need to download a bunch of maps and pre-created worlds if you just want to play.

Here's a few screenshots. Keep in mind, this is a game in progress and much of the graphics used are borrowed for play testing purposes. That's why we need new artists to clean things up and replace the borrowed stuff. ...but more on that later. These pictures are general game play screen shots showing the various maps, races and features of the game. Click the pics for a larger picture:
                                                           

                                        

(NEW! This shot depicts the new palace map which will be included in future versions)

                                        
A Plea for Artists!

As I mentioned above, much of the art used in the game at present is borrowed and being used only for play testing purposes. In order for us to make a free public release of the game, all this borrowed art will need to be replaced by original art. Softbug and myself will be working on much of the more mundane items as we can manipulate graphics to a certain extent. But neither one of us is an artist. In other words, we can't just sit down and draw a monster. This is where we really need your help!

Any artist that jumps on board will pretty much have the freedom to draw whatever they like based on some very loose descriptions for character races, monsters and other beings. ...or you can just make up some of your own ...we don't care. We're not looking for a high level of quality or experience. Our main concern is getting the game released so we're certainly not going to be overly picky about what you can do. We also don't expect any artist to take on a huge load. If you can just do a couple pictures here and there, that's fine. Right now we're getting very little so we'll take anything we can get.

What we'd like to see done soon is the character races. There are 20 of them and we'd like a male and female version of each. These graphics would be 440 x 440 pixels. Nearly everything else would be the game cards which are 150 x 150 and would include creatures, beings and other miscellaneous items.

If you join us and send us some art, I'll provide as many links and advertising on this website that you would like. Every piece of art that we use will have your name on it and all artists will maintain their rights to any artwork they submit. This may be a way to gain some good exposure if you're just starting out so talk to us. Also, by joining us, you'll have access to all the game updates, our private development forum and our Ventrilo communications server. Of course, if you'd like to play To Be King, we can arrange that as well (grin).

New Art from Our Contributing Artists

Here's some samples of character race art we've received from artists that are currently working with us. Displayed on this page are the player tokens used in the game. Clicking the token will bring up a view of the original art and the Character Player Sheet graphics for that race. These pictures are the property of the respective artists and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Steve Bentley (Steve Bentley Illustrations)

Achnaroid (Character Race - Male and Female shown) - An insectile race evolving from some mad wizard's experiment, the Achnaroid is a good, swift fighter. Their exoskeleton gives them a natural coat of armor and their insectile claws makes them dangerous even without a weapon. Their senses and numerous eyes makes them difficult to surprise, as well. Achnaroids start as Neutral but they may be converted to any alignment.

         
Shelz Keast (Elfwood Galleries 1 & 2)

Sage (Character Race - Male and Female Shown) - Half man, half horse, the Sage tend to travel in groups and live primarily off the land. Not proficient in magic abilities but strong in all other areas. ...especially their speed. Being the fastest race allows them to cover more ground than any other race. Watch out for them hooves in a fight, they can deliver a nasty blow. Sage have no alignment preferences and can be converted at any time.

         

Undead (Character Race - Male and Female Shown) - Rumored to be humans who have died and been resurrected, some believe such beings have no soul but are otherwise living creatures ...in a sense. Their transformation has made them psychically powerful with the ability to attack psionically, always keep a spell, and resurrect the dead themselves, using them as slaves. Undead beings start as Neutral but they may be convinced to turn a new leaf one way or the other.

         

Imp (Character Race - Male and Female Shown) - Demonish looking creatures that you would think would scare most people off. But actually the opposite is true. Not only are they quick, smart, mischevous, and devious but they somehow charm all those around them; easily attracting companions and getting the best deals with merchants. Their wings are weak and they can't fly anywhere but they can go toe to toe with flying creatures. Imps start as Evil but they may be converted to any other alignment.

         

Creature Card Art - (from left to right) - Teikoona (Enemy), Lava Beast (Master), Night Spectre (Undead - Waterway)

                  
Martijn Mensen

Vamclast (Character Race - Male & Female Shown) - No one really knows if the Vamclast is related to humans or an alien race. Either way, they're generally feared. Very strong and psychic, the Vamclast has no problem fighting physically or psionically and always knows at least one spell. They gain nourishment from the blood of their victims and can use the Undead as slaves. Vamclasts start as Evil but they may be converted to Neutral. Being a blood sucker pretty much kills the idea of becoming Good, though.

         
Will Crawford (Crawford Designs)

Krimin (Character Race - Male shown) - Quite often passing for human, the Krimin are actually an extremely spiritual race that worships Gods and have a natural tendency to rid the world of unnatural beings -  especially the undead, which inspire a savage destructive rage within them. Skillful, sociable and very psychic, they always know at least one spell and can attack psionically. Krimin start as Good but can be converted to any other alignment.
Jessica Moens (Elfwood Gallery)

Fairy (Character Race - Female shown) - Faries are small creatures with limited flying abilities allowing them to attack other flying creatures and to travel short distances. They will strongly avoid physical combat as they are do not possess great strength. However, they are fast and their amazing psychic knowledge gives them extraordinary magical abilities and a formidible psionic attack. They always know at least 2 spells. Fairies are always Good and cannot be converted.


 

As you can see, things are progressing but it's a slow process and we could really use more help. You'll also note that we're giving our artists as much exposure as we can and we'll do the same for you so hop on board and help make "To Be King" a reality for everyone.

 Contact me if you are interested and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Looking for Players!

While we're trying to get the art taken care of, I also want to run a full campaign to work the bugs out of the game itself. If you're an enthusiastic game player who's willing to share a couple hours a week of your time, we need to talk. I'm located on the west coast (Pacific Time) so having other players in that area join us would obviously make it easier to set up a workable time schedule but if you have flexible hours and you want to get involved, let me know regardless of where you're at. Drop me a note if you're interested. You'll have access to all the game updates, game schedules, our development forum, the Ventrilo server, and the latest news.

In order to be a play tester, we ask that you be willing to abide by the following:

   Do not distribute the game. This is a private beta version with borrowed artwork so we'd like to keep it private among a group of players at this time. The official version 1.0 will be released freely to the public.
   Please read the rule book. This is a complex game and no one is expected to fully understand it upon reading it for the first time. But, having some understanding of the game will greatly reduce the number of interruptions and lengthy explanations during the game.
   You must have Ventrilo Client 3.0 for voice communications.

System requirements:

   The Vassal engine is a open source Java based engine. The latest version of Java runtime is required
   Windows, Linux and Mac OS are all supported
   1 gig RAM
   100 megs of disc space (game is currently using about 35 megs but may grow)
Thanx for dropping by and checking out the game. If you have any comments, suggestions, like to help, or anything else, feel free to drop me a note.

The Doc
©2008. The ideas expressed and all content on this page are the property of Rich Johnston and/or the respective artists. All rights reserved.  Any use and/or duplication of these ideas by an outside party will be considered a violation of copyright.  Proof of ownership can be established.
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