It's not a secret that Kalypso Media has announced Disciples: Liberation, an RPG spin-off of the Disciples game series. TBS community wasn’t keen of that news. However, it is worth to notice that among the fans there are those who have been waiting for the opportunity to go on a role-playing adventure in favorite universe.
When start talking about RPGs, the first thing that comes to mind – it’s a classic, the source of inspiration for all modern games of this genre - Dungeons & Dragons. Have you ever wondered what Nevendaar would look like in a dashboard or computer D&D interpretation?
Today we will not only fantasize about this theme, but also highlight quite working projects that will allow you to take a fresh look at the dark universe of Disciples.
What is Dungeons & Dragons?
In the classical sense - D&D is a board role-playing game. Although in modern realities this concept has grown to completely different scale. Right now D&D not limited to just one Tabletop role-playing game setting or one rule system. This is much more complex phenomenon that has penetrated into popular culture.
Nowadays D&D is no longer the fun of nerds, but a public entertainment. Anyone can join the role-playing culture. Find a Master for playing live is not difficult in thematic groups or clubs. For online sessions there are dozens of platforms with experienced GM.
In addition to the original board-based adventures D&D has created and continues to create the best role-playing games. The pantheon of classic RPGs: Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Pillars of Eternity, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter nights - these are just a few legendary series that took the rules of Dungeons & Dragons as basis for gameplay.
But how to transfer the Nevendaar setting which has already been formed over three series to the realities of D&D, which are quite a contrast to what the Disciples fans are used to?
The Basic basics
The first thing to discuss is general set of rules. For more than 40 years of existence D&D has given us more than 10 editions. Some of them have already been covered with a thick layer of dust, but some of them have shown themselves so well, that even with new editions, they still remain relevant.
We are talking about the 3.5 edition, in my opinion, one of the best systems that wide range of players liked.
Of course for freshmen it will be much easier to play based on rules of the 5th edition, developed in 2014, but it is worth saying, that it has quite simplified number of features of previous systems.
Neverwinter nights and Neverwinter nights 2 were made based of D&D 3 and 3.5. Which are also CRPG standard.
By the way, these games are designed as adventure constructors. They are equipped with their own editors that allow you to create scaled mods. That's why I decided to mention them in this article.
Mechanics transfer
The transition from TBS to CRPG can be compared to the transfer of one measurement system units to another.
Many players have serious difficulties of perception at this stage, when the patterns that they are used to thinking are broken.
For example, it is naive to believe that in Disciples: Liberation there will be same system of hiring heroes, installing wands, playing for different races and etc., as it was in the previous game parts.
In role-playing games, the gameplay and plot orientation has a completely different vector. It focuses on specific characters and specific story.
This means that the focus is on development of the main character and the generation of events that surround him.
In Disciples II there were no heroes (in the usual sense for the RPG genre). It all came down to hiring unified leaders who didn't have their own personality. The skills gained were available to almost every leader. And the division into classes was very conditional.
In D&D these aspects are given much more significant and dominant role.
First of all - the choice of class. What would it be like to adapt?
Usually there are 12 basic classes in D&D. However, the world of Disciples has its own rules, so the distribution and prevalence of certain classes among the peoples of Nevendaar is very unequal.
For example, it is obvious that the representatives of the Sorcerer class are very small in number due to the peculiarities of their origin. They are descendants of powerful entities, dragons or semi-gods. In the lore of Disciples such personalities are practically not mentioned, but it can be assumed that the owners of this class could be the following characters: The Magician Hugin (whose unusual appearance suggests the theory of planar origin), Drulian/Illumiel/Taladriel (the power of which goes beyond the usual elven magic, and Taladriel in the game itself is called only as a sorceress).
With the Bard class are even more complicated because there is no evidence that such a specialization exists in the Disciples universe. In addition, Bards are also often credited with kinship with supernatural entities. Most likely, this class does not agree with the lore of setting and requires an exception.
Fighter as well as Wizard and Ranger are standard unified professions which are not difficult to identify.
Barbarian - class that isn’t difficult to guess would be common among barbarian tribes, as well as greenskins and swamp dwellers. But also some warriors of the Legions of the Damned, such as the Possessed, Berserkers, Black Paladins, and the Knights of Hell, may have this specialization.
Druid-the name of the class itself refers to the support branch of the Mountain Clans. However, in reality there is little common between them. Due to the peculiarities of this specialization, it is also difficult to draw an analogy with any category of units in Disciples. Shamanesses and Goblin Elders are rather closer to the more highly specialized Spirit Shaman.
Cleric is a class of all support warriors, however, "buffers" and "healers" of different faction can differ by set of domains. If for the clerics of the Empire domains "Goodness" and "Healing" are more suitable, then for the Elven healers it is "Healing" and one of the elemental domains (depending on the leveling branch), and for the herbalists of the Clans - "Strength" and "Rage" or "Traveling".
We can continue to describe the basic units from D&D for a long time, but it is worth understanding that there are certain conventions that will not allow you to transfer all the features of the warriors from the Disciples to the new role-playing conditions. Rather, the Dungeons & Dragons system itself will give them new unusual properties.
From theory to practice
Last year one of the enthusiasts shared with us his mod for Neverwinter nights, which adds units from Disciples and some related mechanics to the game (hiring a squad according to leadership, building buildings and improving units, etc.). After a while an improved version for the Enchanted Edition became available.
The mod itself is clearly made with a focus on PvP. Author admitted that he wants to create a server based on his development. However the project has not yet been continued.
Great work was done no doubt. Similarity of some units with their prototypes from Disciples II is very impressive. The set of skills and characteristics was selected very carefully. Author created his own leveling packages (algorithms) for each unit.
The potential of this mod is extremely high and we hope that author will finish what he started and someday launch the server.
Conclusion
We love Disciples series in our own way. It doesn't matter if you are a fan of TBS, RPG or maybe both genres equally, what is important is that we are united and not divided with love of the setting. Therefore there is nothing wrong with dreaming, fantasizing, and imagining what Nevendaar would be like in D&D interpretation or what it would be like in Disciples: Liberation.
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