Arcanum is an RPG (role-playing game) in the spirit of the Fallout series (which should not be surprising since several members of the staff worked on Fallout 1). It was developed by the now-defunct Troika Games, a company that also made the Temple of Elemental Evil, a CRPG adaptation of the classic Dungeons & Dragons module, and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. While they only made three games, many CRPG connoisseurs believe that Troika should have a seat next to Black Isle and Origin in the halls of CRPG greatness. Arcanum was their initial product, and it is the only one to feature an original setting.
The game takes place in the world of Arcanum (bet you did not see that one coming, eh), which is a typical semi-medieval fantasy world in the initial stages of an Industrial Revolution. The world is wedged between the two conflicting forces of magic & technology. This magic-steampunk setting is a refreshing vacation from the high-fantasy or high-technology settings of most other RPGs, and the setting is one of the things that people like about this game.
Another strength is the effects on the player of the conflict between magic and technology. If you have a lot of magic skills, spells and scrolls (and maybe potions too) will be more effective, but technological devices (guns, contraptions, etc.) will have a tendency to malfunction with sometimes deadly results. If you have a lot of technological skills, technology will be more effective, but spells will have a tendency to malfunction on you.
Anyway, enough with the intro. Let's move on to the game itself! When I start a new game, I am asked to choose a pre-made character or make one myself. Since I want to have control, I decide to create a new character. The first screen (shown below) lets me choose my gender, race (human, dwarf, elf, half-elf, gnome, halfling, half-orc or half-ogre) and background.
While it is not surprising that different races have different base statistics, it is somewhat surprising that gender also affects starting statistics.
As you can see, females have a -1 penalty to Strength and a +1 to Constitution. Females are also limited to four races (human, half-elf, elf and half-orc). I guess that the other races just aren't as enlightened as these four and do not allow their women to go adventuring.
Picking a background just gives you a mix of bonuses and penalties that can help you fine tune the character you want. Some backgrounds will give you a useful item; some will affect your starting amount of gold pieces (the unit of currency in Arcanum); some will affect your attributes; many will do more than one of these things.
Anyway, I decided to straddle the magic-technology divide by creating a well-rounded fighter. Here is the character I created.
On the next screen, I was able to raise or lower my attributes or starting skills. Arcanum is a classless game; this means that if you want to play a fighter, you cannot just pick a fighter class; you have to allocate points to attributes and skills that would be useful to fighters. Arcanum uses the same point system for an attribute, skill, technological discipline or spell. So when you are given extra points to spend, you can raise one of your eight attributes, raise a skill, or learn a new spell or technological discipline. There are eight attributes, sixteen skills (with five levels of proficiency per skill), eight technological disciplines (with seven choices per discipline) and sixteen schools of magic (with five different spells per discipline). Technological disciplines seem to function as a crafting system that allows you to create certain items given the right ingredients. Spells are self-explanatory.
I assign my points as follows.
The next screen is a shop screen where you can purchase items with your starting gold. Since I had 400 gold (the default I think), I purchased a Quality Sword and a Jacket (that had better AC than the suit I was wearing).
The opening cinematic shows the IFS Zephyr, a zeppelin, on which my character has booked passage.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, two orcs with primitive flying machines attack the Zephyr, causing it to crash.
When my character regains consciousness, he lifts some wreckage to see a dying gnome. The gnome mumbles something about an evil being and tells me to "find the boy a give him back his ring." The gnome then hands me the ring and dies as the opening cinematic ends.
When I get into the actual game, I encounter Virgil, who appears to be a member of a religion he calls Panarii. He appears to be a new convert and does not know much about it, but he says that my survival of the crash shows that I am the reincarnation of some ancient Elven hero who is supposed to fight some evil. Anyway, he joins me and tells me we need to find his superior, Elder Joachim, who is in Shrouded Hills, a village not far from here.
This concludes the first day of Arcanum. I played this right before I went to bed, so I did have much playtime. Plus, my fingers are getting tired. Anyway, the next day's session will be much longer.
The game takes place in the world of Arcanum (bet you did not see that one coming, eh), which is a typical semi-medieval fantasy world in the initial stages of an Industrial Revolution. The world is wedged between the two conflicting forces of magic & technology. This magic-steampunk setting is a refreshing vacation from the high-fantasy or high-technology settings of most other RPGs, and the setting is one of the things that people like about this game.
Another strength is the effects on the player of the conflict between magic and technology. If you have a lot of magic skills, spells and scrolls (and maybe potions too) will be more effective, but technological devices (guns, contraptions, etc.) will have a tendency to malfunction with sometimes deadly results. If you have a lot of technological skills, technology will be more effective, but spells will have a tendency to malfunction on you.
Anyway, enough with the intro. Let's move on to the game itself! When I start a new game, I am asked to choose a pre-made character or make one myself. Since I want to have control, I decide to create a new character. The first screen (shown below) lets me choose my gender, race (human, dwarf, elf, half-elf, gnome, halfling, half-orc or half-ogre) and background.
While it is not surprising that different races have different base statistics, it is somewhat surprising that gender also affects starting statistics.
As you can see, females have a -1 penalty to Strength and a +1 to Constitution. Females are also limited to four races (human, half-elf, elf and half-orc). I guess that the other races just aren't as enlightened as these four and do not allow their women to go adventuring.
Picking a background just gives you a mix of bonuses and penalties that can help you fine tune the character you want. Some backgrounds will give you a useful item; some will affect your starting amount of gold pieces (the unit of currency in Arcanum); some will affect your attributes; many will do more than one of these things.
Anyway, I decided to straddle the magic-technology divide by creating a well-rounded fighter. Here is the character I created.
On the next screen, I was able to raise or lower my attributes or starting skills. Arcanum is a classless game; this means that if you want to play a fighter, you cannot just pick a fighter class; you have to allocate points to attributes and skills that would be useful to fighters. Arcanum uses the same point system for an attribute, skill, technological discipline or spell. So when you are given extra points to spend, you can raise one of your eight attributes, raise a skill, or learn a new spell or technological discipline. There are eight attributes, sixteen skills (with five levels of proficiency per skill), eight technological disciplines (with seven choices per discipline) and sixteen schools of magic (with five different spells per discipline). Technological disciplines seem to function as a crafting system that allows you to create certain items given the right ingredients. Spells are self-explanatory.
I assign my points as follows.
The next screen is a shop screen where you can purchase items with your starting gold. Since I had 400 gold (the default I think), I purchased a Quality Sword and a Jacket (that had better AC than the suit I was wearing).
The opening cinematic shows the IFS Zephyr, a zeppelin, on which my character has booked passage.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, two orcs with primitive flying machines attack the Zephyr, causing it to crash.
When my character regains consciousness, he lifts some wreckage to see a dying gnome. The gnome mumbles something about an evil being and tells me to "find the boy a give him back his ring." The gnome then hands me the ring and dies as the opening cinematic ends.
When I get into the actual game, I encounter Virgil, who appears to be a member of a religion he calls Panarii. He appears to be a new convert and does not know much about it, but he says that my survival of the crash shows that I am the reincarnation of some ancient Elven hero who is supposed to fight some evil. Anyway, he joins me and tells me we need to find his superior, Elder Joachim, who is in Shrouded Hills, a village not far from here.
This concludes the first day of Arcanum. I played this right before I went to bed, so I did have much playtime. Plus, my fingers are getting tired. Anyway, the next day's session will be much longer.
