As an SRPG, the various aspects of Olithum fall into one of two categories:

• RPG elements:
  • The game offers detailed control over the player character, allowing you to outfit them with equipment as you see fit and decide their every action as you build a reputation and lead followers to accomplish quests.
  • Although there are no artificial levels, all characters gain experience and advance differently depending on their actions. Every action performed earns a small amount of experience towards improving that aspect of the character, be it raw ability, proficiency with a certain weapon, or skill with one of the magical arts.
  • Campaign mode provides story-driven action where player choices can affect the outcome, with access to various locations through a world map which changes as the game progresses.

• Strategy elements:
  • The game takes place in a grid world much like a board game. Action is turn-based, giving players time to weigh decisions, an important process since only so much can be done in one turn.
  • The focus of many areas in the game is to gain influence and recruit followers which can assist in defeating other factions, each of which are led by characters attempting to do the same. Thus on a different level the game also resembles the general RTS concept of team vs. team warfare, an important difference being that these "teams" are smaller in scale, but there are more of them (more or less like having lots of typical RPG "parties" engaging each other).
  • In skirmish mode, you can quickly select a character and level to jump into the fray for some quick action.

Every turn a character has a certain amount of time points (TP) which are used to carry out actions. The exact TP cost of an action is calculated based on a character's attributes and skills, and thus varies from character to character. Unless you find a way to alter time (always a possibility in a game of high fantasy), all characters have the same amount of TP per turn.

There are currently 30 different actions available to a character in Olithum.

Factions are a central concept to Olithum, as an area usually contains several groups vying for supremacy to further their own cause. Each faction has a leader, who in addition to leading faction members throughout the area attempting to eliminate other factions, is also responsible for recruiting new members (if any are available in that area). The player character is often one of these faction leaders.

Factions usually gain influence by defeating other faction members, or in some cases by performing certain other tasks, and can use their influence to recruit new members. The more influence a faction has earned, the more powerful followers it can attract, but the race, alignment, and discipline of a leader also affect what characters he/she/it is able to recruit.

Note that factions are not the only inhabitants of the game world, which is also populated by numerous creatures, monsters, and characters not affiliated with any faction. Each faction has a reputation which reflects its interaction with the general public, and can affect shop prices or even attract new enemies...

 

For more information on gameplay, get the original Player's Guide here (significantly updated version not publicly available yet).

 

 

Site and Contents Copyright (C) 2008 Josh D'Aluisio-Guerrieri and Adam Guerrieri