Blackfoot Tribe design document/2

This is part 2 of the Blackfoot Tribe design document for Van Buren, the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.

Emotional Porn
Uplift: Take these savages and teach them how to use technology! Show them the error of their slaving ways!

Conquest: You can lead these people as a great army against your enemies!

Manipulator: You can help decide who will lead the tribe.

Nostalgia: The current leader is the missing sister of a FO2 CNPC!

Hatred: Everyone hates the Blackfoots because they make slave raids on their own kind (tribals). You can have a real scummy reputation by allying with them, but you'll be looked on as some sort of powerful cult leader if you can turn the Blackfoot away from their slaving ways.

Emancipation: Free the slaves!!

Drama
This is a big one – what can you do to screw over/build up the player, drama-wise in this location? What greater role can he play, either working against the inhabitants, with them, or by playing the sides off against each other. Anyone specially designed to hate the PC? Anyone that he's really supposed to like - and more importantly, how do you intended to pull this off?

Again, think Emotional Porn – conflicts that (for the most part) can't be solved by shooting the NPC, and make the player's emotions rise, for good or ill.

This section lists all the drama that could result in this location from the player's actions in this area. For example ("Rescuing the Hanged Criminal from this location will cause all the tribals in the region to be angry with the PCs and blame them for his future evil." Or, "When the tribals show up while the PCs are at Fort Abandon, they will accuse the PCs of sacking the Fort and killing their slaves, then demand restitution.")

Some other examples of "drama" from Icewind Dale 2 would include...


 * Isair and Made show up to kill the Wandering Villagers and threaten the PCs.


 * Iselore explains Isair and Madae's past history to generate some sympathy for the two cambions.


 * The players realize that the tiefling advisor to the Black Raven Monastery monks is whispering sweet evil in the Head Mistresses' ear. (Actually dealing with him, since he's not foaming-at-the-mouth-evil presents a moral dilemma - below.)


 * The Archimandrite of the Black Raven Monastery went to see Isair and Madae and has been missing for some time - something SINISTER could have happened to him.

Note that these aren't moral dilemmas - they're devices intended to create foreshadowing and deepen the player's involvement in the story.

Emotional Porn
Uplift: Take these savages and teach them how to use technology! Show them the error of their slaving ways!

Conquest: You can lead these people as a great army against your enemies!

Manipulator: You can help decide who will lead the tribe.

Nostalgia: The current leader is the missing sister of a FO2 CNPC!

Hatred: Everyone hates the Blackfoots because they make slave raids on their own kind (tribals). You can have a real scummy reputation by allying with them, but you'll be looked on as some sort of powerful cult leader if you can turn the Blackfoot away from their slaving ways.

Emancipation: Free the slaves!!

NPC Ally Drama
Because I can't get enough drama, list whatever specific events or Drama may occur from bringing a particular NPC ally to this location:

For example, bringing a ghoul to Denver may cause the Boulderites to freak out and call him a spy.

Bringing Christina to the Salvager Camp is going to invite her being attacked by the horny salvagers, unfortunately.

Bringing Mr. Handy to the Denver city, may cause them to try and "salvage" it without the player's permission.

And so on. Some of these aspects may be racial or tied into affiliations (NCR, BOS) that the PC himself may possess (for example, a PC ghoul is going to have a similar confrontation in Boulder that an NPC ally ghoul will).

The PC can tame the Devil Dog from the ravines north of the village. If the PC shows up at the village with the Devil Dog at his side, the Hangdogs will give the PC a great deal of respect (and some fear). He'll earn the epithet "Walks with the Devil".

Moral Dilemmas
Slavery: Having friendly association with the Blackfoots is going to make people assume you're a slaver.

Leadership: Sulik's sister Kurisu is the leader, but she'd make a great CNPC, but taking her with you would leave the group without a leader. BUT you can set up Chagas as the leader (he's the brother of Ramon, the old leader), though he has been in prison for a while and isn't really up on the tribe's current needs. You need to bring Chagas back to Leavenworth, but he doesn't want to go (he wants to be with his tribe) and you can't take them both at the same time.

Slave Families: Nearby communities have children who were stolen years before. Now they're teenagers and accepted in the Blackfoot tribe. Do you tear the kids away from their new families to give them back to their original families, which they no longer remember? Or do you let them stay with their "adoptive" parents and leave their birth parents heartbroken?

Uses of Technology: In your attempts to civilize a semi-primitive slaving culture, will you actually end up arming savages with guns that will make them better at slaving?

Spy to Save My Sister: Sharptooth is a spy for Caesar's Legion (only because Caesar holds Sharptooth's sister as a slave), reporting to their agents in Denver. If this becomes known, the other Hangdogs will demand that he and his family be banished to the wasteland. Bares-His-Teeth will have no qualms about doing this. If the PC leads the tribe, he'll face a rebellion if he refuses to banish Sharptooth and family. If he agrees, Sharptooth and family will almost certainly perish. What to do? (Not sure to what extent we'll keep this in, as Caesar's legion is being moved off the map.)

Other Role-Playing Tests and Epithets
Blackfoot Hunter: If you help on a raid, or bring black slaves you have acquired.

Insensitive Racist: If you go out of your way to mock their beliefs and ridicule their way of life.

Escaped Slave: If you're caught and enslaved and manage to escape, you'll gain this title and will be recognized as such by all slaving groups.

Mercenary: Refusing to help without demanding payment.

House-Husband/House-Wife: If you're taken as a mate by the leader of the tribe. Gets you a lot of respect in the tribe.

Housebreaker: If you replace the leader of the tribe (ousting Kurisu for yourself or for Chagas)

Hangdog Packleader: If the PC leads the Hangdogs.

Hangdog Warrior: If the PC successfully steals a pup from the feral pack's lair or tames a feral dog and becomes part of the tribe. This may provide an Outdoorsman bonus when dealing with dogs.

Walks with the Devil: If the PC tames the Devil Dog and has him as a CNPC, he gets named this by the Hangdogs. The Hangdogs will fear the PC more, because he has a bad omen walking around with him.

Devil Slayer: If the PC kills the Devil Dog and reports this to the Hangdogs. The Hangdogs will like the PC more for removing what they consider a bad omen. He'll be greatly liked if he brings the Devil Dog's corpse back.

Ties to Overall Game Themes
Civilization vs. Anarchy: These people are raiders because they don't have the resources to be self-supportive. You can push them toward a more self-supportive lifestyle (by helping them make guns and become traders) or push them to be more aggressive.

PC As Enemy: By taking Sulik's sister Kurisu as a CNPC, the player removes an established successful leader from power, and he risks disrupting the way of life for the tribe. Any hardship that befalls the tribe afterward is going to be blamed on the player.

Religion: A view on why the Blackfoots feel it's OK to keep slaves, and how their religion involves the spirit world and their superstitions regarding it.

NPC Companion Uses
Any NPC ally challenges that occur in this area? Or something cool for them to do? For example, "you can hook Jobe into the Fort Abandon broken radio tower and use him as a radio transmitter," or "you can cure Christina's insomnia with the CODE machine at Boulder," and so on. This could also apply to any NPC drama the ally causes in the location (the Hanged Man may piss off any tribals in an area that he encounters, and he may try to butcher any Twin Mothers tribals he can find).

Devil Dog as Champion: The PC can designate the Devil Dog as his champion and challenge the Hangdogs' Packleader for his position. The Packleader normally keeps the biggest, baddest dogs for himself (which is why it's very difficult for anyone to take his position), but the Devil Dog himself is a badass dog and is quite capable of making mincemeat of the Packleader's champion.

Devil Dog as the Stud: Teacher doesn't share his fellow Hangdogs' superstition that the Devil Dog is, well, some sort of devil. He sees great breeding potential in the Devil Dog, and will ask the PC for permission to keep the Devil Dog for a few days to use him as a stud.

Locations






Blackfoot Village
Overall feeling is a slightly Old Westernized native American/tribal sort of feel, The slow guitar stuff in FO2 is appropriate for background music. Buildings are painted black in a stripe along the ground, mimicking the black paint the warriors wear on their feet.

Fence: This is a simple fence made of earth, tough metal (too tough for them to melt down in their smelter) and junk (old tires, etc.). It marks the outer perimeter of their village and runs partway up into the hillside (so invaders can't get around it without climbing). The asphalt road loads up to a small gate-opening, which is blocked by an armored Greyhound bus (like the armored school bus used as a gate by the refinery tribe in The Road Warrior, except this one doesn't have a working engine, they just push it). The gate flanks are guarded from the inside. There are spots along the fence where it's possible to shoot through but not walk through (the hole is too small for a character to pass, but not so small that it blocks line of sight), and these spots are manned by tribesfolk with some of their limited number of pipe rifles.

''House: Standard wood and brick buildings ... this was once a tourist town, and the locals lived in these simple homes. Most homes have barrels under the drainage points of the roofs to catch rainwater. ''

''Cabin: Typical small wooden cabin on the hillside. Rented or bought by visitors who wanted to be closer to the caves or slops, or who just didn't like being in the "city" when on vacation.''

''Guard House: Formerly the sherrif's station. Those on guard duty report in here and can come here on short breaks for food and lavatory. Four guards rotate (in pairs) through this duty: Www, Vvv, Yyy, Zzz.''

''Weaponmaker/Garun's Home: Formerly a house with a small carpentry business attached. Now it's the home and workshop of Garun, an older guy who knows how to make and repair spears, knives, and bows. He sells them and can do the old spear-sharpening trick. Possible quest stuff involves him repairing stuff, finding people he wants, finding stuff he wants, getting on his good side to get him to upgrade your weapons.''

''Save-Mart: A superstore like target. It would be cool if it had a large sign with a Pip Boy in a Native American feathered headdress, shooting at a target. The name of the place could be "Bullseye," with the main point of the logo to look similar to a Target logo. Ha ha. Anyway, this place is where they keep their slaves (those who haven't been adopted into the tribe, or recent acquisitions or surly ones destined to be sold elsewhere). Inside there are many rows of shelves, barricaded with sections of fencing, patio tables, and other materials you'd find in such a store, all used to keep slaves in place (chains, padlocks, and bike locks are pretty common, too). This place still holds many durable items from the pre-War days, and an engineer could have a field day looting or buying tools and bits to use for things.''

''This place has a more gloomy feel than the other parts of the village. During the day the place is looked after by Dominic, the slavemaster. Children from the village are usually not allowed into this building for their own safety.''

Brahmin Pen: Similar to the slave pen, this holds a few Brahmin which the tribe plans to slaughter soon to provide food. They're given grain (or other food) to fatten them up a little more before the slaughter. Most of the tribe's other Brahmin range outside the village fence.

Slaughterhouse: Your standard low-tech slaughterhouse: a small pen for the waiting animals, a place to tie up the animal you're going to thwack, and a bunch of hooks for you to hang carcasses on.

Gardens: Each of these is a small plot of land carefully tended by the villagers and blessed by the Daughter of Hecate. Anywhere from 10 to thirty feet long, usually about ten feet wide.

''Shaman House: This is the home of Merrin, the tribal shaman and medicine woman. She's also a Daughter of Hecate. Her home is right next to Kurisu's because she wants to keep an eye on the village leader. (uses one of the variant House maps, with customized props).''

''Leader's House: The leader's house was once a winter home of an older gentleman who still liked to ski but couldn't handle the tougher slopes. Several large rooms, a big dining room and living room for entertaining. Many trophies from Kurisu's raids, and her several house-husbands wandering about (all of them impressive in some way, most of them physically).''

''Hangdog Houses: This is a collection of small bungalos, mainly one-room places with a kitchenette, often used by medium-income families or groups of college students away for a long weekend. Now they're used by the Hangdogs as their homes, as the dogs like running around the buildings and under the crawlspaces (which humans can't get into). These places are sorta run down, mainly from abuse at the hands of drunken fratboys but also somewhat from neglect. They keep the snow out in winter, but they're not pretty.''

Furnace/Storage Cave


A: Scrap metal

B Forge

C Storage Area

D Storage Area

E Giant bats

F Giant bats & cave-in

G Cave-in

H Giant bats

I another cave-in

J secret military cache

Mining Cave 2


M = Mole Rat

P = Pig Rats

R = Rats

X = cave-in (dynamic)

Z = secret unmined area

Spelunking Cave 1


A = Coyotes

B = Radscorpions of various sizes

Blackfoot Village Buildings


Overall feeling is a slightly Old Westernized native American/tribal sort of feel, The slow guitar stuff in FO2 is appropriate for background music. Buildings are painted black in a stripe along the ground, mimicking the black paint the warriors wear on their feet.

Art Requirements
Each area template should include an Art Requirements section. This section should have the following:


 * Provides a rough map of the location in a JPG file (see RadScoprion Nest, below). No one cares how clean it is, but it should include enough information so an artist/level designer can look at it, understand what you mean, and build the level with all the design parameters you have specified. The map may be contained in a separate file, but each location in the game should be mapped out, just as it was done for Torment and Icewind Dale.


 * Tells the artists what tile set will be used (if appropriate).


 * Tells the artists any special scenery objects that will be used for the area (i.e., cots, freestanding floor safe with an open and close animation, a turkey roasting on a spit, a special flashing neon sign, and so on).


 * Any ideas you have for the Town Map picture for the PIPBoy (i.e., do you want it to look like a Luray Caverns pamphlet, a travel guide, a picture of the chain link fence of an army compound, and so on).


 * Any movies or scripted cut scenes in these locations? Cut Scenes are elaborated on further in the Scripting section, below.


 * Please list any reference links you would like the artists to look at for your area. (M:\Reference Materials\Fallout_Art\F3_Location_Art\Denver, for example).


 * FMV Movies: Not just cinematics, but what real movies do you want to appear in the game (going to the tanker in Fallout 2) related to this area? This is pretty much a wishlist, but hey, it can't hurt to ask. And especially with supermen like Meyers in the house, it's not impossible to get a great movie in a short period of time (i.e., the movie of Annah finding the player in Torment).