Welcome to Roma Victor® a non-fantasy MMORPG (Massively-Multi player Online Role-Playing Game) based in the Roman Empire, circa 180AD. Most of Europe is in the clutches of the Roman Empire. Commodus has succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher Emperor and is exerting tyrannical influence. The Praetorians keep a strict and oppressive rule over the entire Empire, which is defended and (outside Rome) largely policed by the Legions. Many Barbarian outposts and enclaves exist peacefully outside Imperial rule particularly in Britannia, Gaul and Germania. These people however always live in fear of the Legions, which threaten their culture and their very existence. If they stand united, they may just hold them off.
Roma Victor® is the pilot project of RedBedlam Ltd., a Brighton-based development company set up with the express purpose of building compelling and exciting virtual worlds. Since it's inception back in May 2001, RedBedlam's ethos has been one of community involvement, with the belief that the best products are those that are built with the player in mind. To this end, each and every aspect of this game's development has taken place with direct participation from the online gaming community.
The historically authentic virtual world of Roma Victor® will be launched at the beginning of 2005, when thousands of players can log into the game world simultaneously and begin to shape their own Roman Empire. Roma Victor has now reached a crucial stage in its development and working closely with the dedicated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic people that make up the Roma Victor Community, RedBedlam is making excellent progress with this massive and ambitious project.
FAQ
1: What's the game world based on?
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Roma Victor is set in 180AD. Most of Europe was in the clutches of the Roman Empire. Commodus has succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher Emperor and is exerting tyrannical influence. The Praetorians keep a strict and oppressive rule over the entire Empire, which is defended and - outside Rome - largely policed by the Legions. Many Barbarian outposts and enclaves exist peacefully outside Imperial rule particularly in Britannia, Gaul and Germania. These people however always live in fear that one-day the Legion might turn up and take over. If they stand united, they might hold them off.
2: How historically accurate is the game?
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As with movies, where a story needs to be told, our game needs gameplay. Absolute historical accuracy is therefore not feasible but we do try to maintain historical authenticity wherever possible.
3: Are there any races or classes?
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There is only one player race: humans. There are no fixed classes such as warrior or druid etc. but there are classes of citizenship. Your character can be Attending, Free, Aligned (belonging to a Barbarian Clan), Slave or Citizen. The limits on your in-game career and activities are bound only by your skills, interests and personal goals.
4: Can you decide what part of the world you start the game in?
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Yes. You'll also have to make one more important decision - whether you're playing as a part of the Roman Empire or as a Barbarian. If you decide to start within Roman walls (any Roman city or settlement) you'll start off as a Slave but you'll probably live a varied and very safe life (unless you try to escape or choose to join the Legion as an Auxiliary or enter into the Gladiatorial Games). If you decide to start at a location outside Roman rule (in one of the Barbarian towns) you'll be Free but you're living in quite a wild and dangerous place. There's no state police or authority that's not been put in place by the players themselves. Players will need to establish a harmonious society if they are to have any chance of handling the Legion.
5: What do you start with?
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Your character starts according to their start location and your chosen character attributes with a modest amount of currency, identification (a brooch or bulla), some rags and a dagger. After deciding whether you want to play a Barbarian or Roman, you enter the world as a class known as "Attending". The Attending class will help get you into the game partly by providing you with your own NPC master or elder who will assign you your first tasks/quests.
6: How do Slaves become Free?
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If 48 hours of online gameplay time elapses without your character being seen by any Legionary, Praetorian, Prefect, Senator, Governor, Emperor or your Master then your character will become Free. This isn't a terribly easy thing to do actually.
7: How do you become a Citizen?
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This is a fine goal albeit not an one easy to achieve. As a Slave your first choice is to work hard at your chosen skills (fishing, farming, blacksmithing, studies etc.) and please your Master to the point where your Citizenship is granted and affordable. Alternatively you could join the Legion as an Auxiliary and work your way up the ranks until you are granted full Citizenship. The last option is to enter into the Gladiatorial Games and earn your Citizenship through combat.
8: Are there any levels to get to above Citizen?
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As a Citizen the world is your oyster. You can run businesses such as vineyards, farms, smiths and forges or even manage a team of gladiators and perhaps invest in your own Arena. You can travel the continent in order to trade exploiting the rules of supply and demand for your own personal gain. You can join the Legion (much more attractive than the consistently skirmish-fodder Auxiliaries). You can curry favour in the political world and work your way up the ladder and maybe even end up as a provincial Governor or Senator. Perhaps you'll be Emperor - you'll have to get past the Praetorians first though. Got a friendly Legion or two? Can you bribe a Senator to get your Assassin into Commodus' chambers?
9: Are there any levels outside of the Roman Empire?
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Barbarians are Free and therefore don't aspire to Citizenship. Within the Player-run and managed society that is the Free world, there may well be leaders, famous merchants, master crafstmen, politicians and heroes - it's a much more diverse environment and therefore there's no clear ranking or structure. If a Barbarian later chooses to join the Roman Empire, they'll have to become a Slave first - needless to say, that's not too difficult.
10: Will there be any magic in the game?
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Generally speaking, the historical accounts of Ancient Rome don't mention too many magic fireballs or teleportations. However, sometimes the actions of the Gods could be called magic and indeed there are rumours of items with special powers. Also, some Barbarian witches and Roman priests have been known to pull of some pretty impressive tricks.
There are enough games with magic monsters, future monsters, spells, pseudo-spells etc. out there, and we're really trying to give the player an alternative, combined with solid design and some decent game balance.
All the time and effort that other developers have put into magic, we can put into a comprehensive list of varied trade skills.
That having been said, if you find yourself dead and in Elysium then you can expect to see all sorts of strange and wonderous things on your way back to the real world.
11: What about religions?
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Our 'vague magic' system is deeply related to praying/meditating/rituals etc. They might have effects or they might not - that's for you the players to discover and learn about. Both Elysium and Lore will feature representations of several contemporary mythologies and beliefs.
12: What are the different armour classes and types that will be available?
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There are no magic items as such although some people do say that having priests or druids do weird things to your equipment does seem to help. As for types of armour, you can expect to see cloth, furs, leather, bronze, iron and even steel. Most items can be finely detailed by someone with sufficient trade skill and some items can even be laminated to protect against weather and wear.
13: Will trade skill levels affect the quality of items produced with them?
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Absolutely. The concept of making better versions of the 'same' item allows for real player competition. A shield, or a helmet that is more durable, lighter, or even provides better protection as you increase in skill levels gives a lot more meaning to trade abilities. It also means you can never guarantee that you are the 'master' of a particular craft, you'd better keep in practice, or the competition might supplant you.....
14: How will things like money and inflation be handled?
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Items will degrade and require repair, and, eventually, replacing. The value of items will move dynamically, depending on many factors such as levels of supply and demand. This is the ancient world. Don't expect everything to have a price tag on it, and the further you get from civilisation, the more you should be prepared to barter with merchants to get what you want.
15: Can I be a mercenary?
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Of course - within the Barbarian world you can fight battles for other players in return for money and plunder or you can reward people for doing the same for you.
16: Will there be fortifications?
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As well as being able to build fortifications at certain sites with sufficient resources and skilled labour, digging trenches is a possibility in many locations. All legionaries will be carrying standard issue shovels. A fair element of their job is digging along with eating, marching, gaming, fighting, training etc.
17: Will it be possible to burn buildings down?
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Yes - all objects in the Roma Victor universe have a combustilibilty factor. That includes constructions.
18: First off lets say I am a Goth. Some of the Goths want some plunder. There's a nice Roman city nearby. Will we be able to lay siege?
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Yes you could but it won't be easy and depending upon the details you might expect reprisals from the Legion.
19: Is the game PvP (Player Vs Player)?
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Due to the nature of the Roma Victor universe, player fighting is both possible and probable. However, it's extremely unlikely that you'll be attacked inside Roman walls. If someone tried to attack you in the streets of Rome or Londinium then they'd be taken out by the Praetorians before they had a chance to finish you off. If you're standing alone in a dark alley in some barbarian village, then the chances are that you're looking for trouble. If you're not - you should expect it.
20: Are there any non-melee weapons in the game?
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Yes there are - ranging from slings, javelins and bows right up to siege weapons such as ballistas.
21: Is combat based on the player's skills with the mouse and keyboard or the character's skills, equipment and attributes?
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Actually it's both. Your abilities with the mouse and keyboard will certainly be tested - the better you are at playing action games with the mouse and keyboard, the more of an edge you will have at combat in Roma Victor. That having been said, your character's skills, equipment and attributes are also very important factors and if they're not up to scratch, your l33t skillz probably won't help you enough. The members of RedBedlam development team are not fans of "press attack and sit back" turn-based combat systems.
22: What happens when you die in Roma Victor?
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If your death is at the hands of a PC (Player Character) then you'll drop all your items, reappear in Elysium (the afterlife) and have to negotiate your way back to the mortal realm. If your death is at the hands of a NPC (Non-Player Character) or monster (bear, tiger etc.) then you'll keep all your items but you'll still be heading for Elysium. On top of that your character's statistics could be affected too. Our best advice is not to die. Real life and Roma Victor are similar in this and many other respects.
23: Is the game really going to be free to play?
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When we launch the game you'll be able to either download the client or purchase the full retail box. From then on it's free to play.
24: Umm, so how are you going to pay for the development, maintenance of the servers and bandwidth?
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After the game's release, RedBedlam will introduce its revolutionary alternative revenue model in order to pay for the on-going development of the virtual world and maintenance of the servers. Added in-game services and features will be made available at that time in return for donations.
25: How big is Roma Victor?
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It's a half-scale version of Europe with a bit of North Africa thrown in.
26: What about the Eastern part of the Roman Empire?
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At this time there are no plans to initially include the eastern part of the Roman Empire as it was in 180AD into Roma Victor. There may well be player characters and NPC's that originate from these regions but gameplay will not be possible there. This part of the world may be brought into play during further expansions to the game world post-release.
27: How long does it take to travel great distances?
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Well, how long do you think it took to get from Londinium (London) to Rome by foot, horse, cart or chariot and sail? Halve it and there's your answer. A Roman Legionary was expected to be able to march around 15 miles per day. Of course, game time doesn't pass at the same rate as real time.
28: So how quickly does time pass in Roma Victor?
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Very approximately a Roma Victor week passes in around 24 hours.
29: How can I travel and see the whole Roma Victor universe?
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Well it's not going to be easy but our best advice would be to log off for the really dull bits like long sea journeys. Not many ancient Britons or Gauls would even comprehend travel to Rome. Of course the Romans tend to have a say in things. A free Barbarian might be caught and sent to Rome as a slave just as easily as a Citizen that joins the Legion might be sent to fight in Germania.
30: What modes of transport are there?
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Transport mechanisms include horses, litters (people-carried carriages), caravans, wagons, ships and foot. Horses can be bought or caught and trained. Litters and wagons can be constructed. We would like to work activity surrounding ships more into the game world but at the moment that's not looking too technically feasible.
31:Will you be able to fight on horseback?
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Oh yes. Barbarians didn't tend to do so however - they're more likely to ride a horse to a battle, tie it to a tree and go fight.
32: I've just bought some very nice expensive equipment. What happens if someone just kills me and takes my stuff?
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The short answer is that you lose it. You're not going to lose what you're carrying if you're just walking around inside Roman walls because nobody's going to attack you for fear of incurring the wrath of the Praetorians. If you're hanging out in a dark alley in a particularly violent Barbarian town then you shouldn't be surprised if a couple of nasty people jump you and take all your goodies. We won't be refunding your Sesterces. Similarly, if you threw big money on a casino table with really long odds you'd have a hard time convincing the casino that you should get your money back.
33: I'm more of a role-player than an action game freak so can I spend my time doing something other than trying to carve people up one way or another?
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Oh yes. Fishing, farming, horse catching & grooming, hunting, trading, smithing, carpentry, leatherwork, music, baking, brewing, politics etc. are all essential and profitable activities. In fact there are over a hundred skills and sub-skills that aren't directly related to combat and that number is going up all the time.
34: I noticed that brewing was listed as a trade. Will drinking beer or wine temporarily lower dexterity and similar attributes?
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All sorts of drugs and poisons including alcohol can be produced and will have an effect on your character if consumed.
35: Will food be used in the system to affect health? Will there be disabling consequences for not eating... maybe even death by starvation?
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Definitely. One of the most important aspects of survival in the ancient world is making sure you have food in your belly. In fact our system knows what you've digested and what you're currently digesting. Both will have an affect on your character and if there's nothing there, then expect to feel the consequences until you've managed to find something to eat.
36: How do I communicate with other players?
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You can speak out loud (anyone nearby can hear that), whisper (they'll have to be standing really close) or shout. Also, you can send messages via the network of Imperial Message Taverns and Free Town Halls. Within the same geographical region, such messages are pretty instantaneous but messages between regions can take much longer.
37: How does Roma Victor handle the thorny topic of the role of women in the ancient world?
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According to the current plan and in order to allow for the modern market, there are considerably less restrictions imposed due to gender in Roma Victor than there were in Europe in 180AD. Specifically, female characters can not join the Legion - although this is only one of the many careers in Roma Victor. Similarly there are plans for some roles exclusive to female characters.
Furthermore, female characters have some statistical differences to male characters. They have slightly more intuition, are slightly more dextrous, slightly weaker and slightly less tough. You'd hardly notice. This is to encourage (rather than enforce) historically appropriate activity.
38: When is Roma Victor being released?
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We're not giving out a release date at this time but we will not be taking registrations for the first beta test phase until later next year (2002).
39: You're asking for help?
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Sure. We want your ideas. If there's one thing that the relatively young MMORPG industry has learned, it's to listen to the players. We at RedBedlam will build the game that the players tell us to build. Some of mankind's greatest achievements have been accomplished by a group of people openly discussing and contributing to one project.
We want your ideas for game mechanics, technologies, quest systems, PvP balance, features and anything else you can think of. Please use our message boards to openly discuss the project and what you would like to see in it or change about it.
Many of the best MUD's (Multi-User-Dungeons) that modern MMORPG's evolved from relied on community interaction and involvment in order to develop and grow. This is a highly vocal community and we therefore have a good chance of constructive discussion bringing about good things. We have plenty of our own ideas coming from some of the best experts in the business but generally speaking we're trying to build what you tell us to build - in such a way that it all works out for us and for you.
40: What's needed apart from ideas?
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Well, firstly if you're an interested programmer, game designer, publisher, investor, artist, historian, database engineer or player-support guru, then we'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line at [email protected].
There is one other thing that would help...
41: Your company is actually taking donations?
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We sure are. Crazy, isn't it? Building Massively-Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Games, Virtual Worlds or Networked Virtual Environments is a massive undertaking on a par with making a big-budget movie or building a small castle.
Programmers need a roof over their heads. Servers are expensive. Huge chunks of bandwidth aren't cheap either.
Sadly, it's not a terribly good time to ask publishers and venture capitalists to invest. We are talking to some and a few major organisations are showing some considerable interest. These negotiations take time however and the Directors of RedBedlam are eager to begin development.
At the moment, the Roma Victor project is entirely funded by RedBedlam Ltd. and every little bit helps. So, in order to accelerate matters we've begun to accept donations. It turns out that the more people discuss the project and share ideas on our message boards and the more that people donate, the easier our negotiations become with potential investors.
So please, if you're interested in helping us build your ultimate free-to-play MMORPG, stop by our message boards, share a few ideas and click on the PayPal button on your way out. A single $10 donation is less than the cost of one month's subscription to any other MMORPG.
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