Gates to Beyond/Story

Stanza

Stanza is the ‘canon storyline’, taking the player to each location in the game in a linear order.

Arc 1: Hamlet

Introduction

The player starts out hooded, with their features obscured, carried in a hay wagon to the centre of Hamlet. The driver, a character who shows up a few other times in the story, has a brief monologue regarding the conversation had between the two of them earlier on, affirming that they have reached the destination they wanted to reach, the House of Justice (otherwise known as Hogg House). The driver knocks on the door before pulling away in his wagon, leaving the protagonist to interact with the mayor of Hamlet, Bass Hogg (so named for the deep and bassy inflection with which he speaks). Hogg assumes the player character has been sent by Gordo, head of Forward Venture (the adventuring agency that has contacted him to deal with his town's problems), and asks to see their paperwork. Realising it has not been filled out, Bass Hogg takes the player into his office, effectively leading the player into character creation, which is a fairly quick process where the following sentences must be filled out:

• My name is ........... (Free choice, if left blank the name will default to 'Traveller')
• My ethnicity is ........... (Multiple choice between Marchlander, Flondrish, Bleaksen and Sliverian, with brief descriptions of each)
• I would describe myself as a ........... (Multiple choice between Duelist, Brawler, Ranger, Magician, Mechanic, People Person, Devout, or Nobody. This gives you a starting class and raises one skill of yours by 3, one by 2, and two by 1. If you are a Nobody, you start with a 0 in everything.)
• I am an adventurer because ........... (Multiple choice between 'I seek fame', 'I seek power', 'I seek fortune', 'I seek righteousness', 'I had no other choice', and 'I'd prefer not to say')

After this paper is signed, Bass Hogg asks the player character to stop mumbling and take off their hood so he can get a good look at them - this serves as the final part of character creation, as the player can unveil themselves to pick either a male or female appearance that reflects their ethnicity with a voice to match, or keep the hood on. The character's voice can be changed or turned off in the settings at any time.

Vignette

Vignette is a story with branching pathways, providing an alternative to the linear Stanza and granting players a more truncated storyline that focuses on the agency of the player character.