In our latest devlog ( #4 ) Geri, the creator of the world of the Riven Realms, have shared how he got hooked on fantasy books, stepped on the road culminating in a life-time of dungeon mastering to his friends, and most importantly recounted the creation of the dark continent of Xeryn, where our game Vagrus takes place.  While explaining all the sources giving him inspiration for that, you - dear reader - might have suspected already that the lore of the Riven Realms is vast and detailed. And you were right.

In this devlog post we want to show you how you, as a player, can immerse yourself further in that lore if you so wish.

https://youtu.be/CMQTcXfWCIg
The Codex is a tool in Vagrus that lets players read up on the world, its inhabitants, locations, lore, characters, and whatever else that has an entry. The idea was to provide players who wish to know more a place to find it and to allow you to look up things you may have forgotten; but to make this absolutely voluntary. If you do not wish to read these entries, you can still absolutely play Vagrus , as this is basically additional fluff.



The Codex does, however, have gameplay implications: as you gain entries through events, you gain Insight , which can be used to improve your leader or your companions. This happens automatically though, so you need not read the entries at all. Collecting all entries will be a real challenge, one that is tied into one of the possible starting ambitions of your leader.



The Codex can be opened at all times and shows new entries first. Entries have tags that you can use as filters (such as locations, concepts, characters, and so on). Once clicked, entries become 'read' and you can find them below the new ones.

We hope that this optional nature of the Codex will be a great solution to all kinds of players who pick up Vagrus . Let us know what you think.

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So, we have looked at how to roam across the wastelands of Xeryn (devlog#2), and how vast the continent is (devlog#3). It's time to understand these lands, right? Let's step out of the game's world a bit and see how the Riven Realms - as a setting - came to be.



It's spring 1990 and I'm in elementary school. My best friend brings a book to school that he reads aloud to a small group of us during our big walks at lunch break. The book has a weird old wizard on the cover conjuring smoke from a crystal ball. More interesting are the illustrations on the inside: intricate black and white drawings of strange fantasy creatures and dungeon locations. The little book is Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson's Warlock of Firetop Mountain, translated to our native language. Most of you probably know that it's a gamebook that you do not read from start to end but in branching numbered chapters that make the story personal and add replayability. Yet they are much more than simple choose-your-own-adventure books because they include a stat and combat system you have to manage throughout the adventure - albeit a really simple one.

That, our first interactive roleplaying experience, set us down on a path that culminated in what is now called the Riven Realms and is shaping up to be Vagrus the game.

So, as it happens, many of you have asked us - either recently or through the years - how the Riven Realms came to be. These questions ranged from inquiring the influences on the setting to implying that it's some kind of an homage or even a ripoff of Dark Sun. Telling the story of how the setting sprung to life over 25 years ago, matured, got altered countless times, grew, and became a detailed fantasy world would probably mean telling the story of my life, which I do not intend to do here, thank god; I could, however, provide an outline for those of you interested in such accounts. So here goes.


There we were, having opened a door to a new kind of storytelling and a seemingly endless well of interactive fiction. Soon, this group of kids delved deep into the Jackson-Livingstone Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. It's not to say that we were previously unexposed to fantasy, because we were (mostly in the form of B movies and animations); but the level of interactivity with these worlds was alien to us before the FF books.

I can't remember exactly how I started thinking about creating my own fantasy world. I used to draw a lot, mostly creatures and warriors and weapons (what boys typically draw at that age I suppose), and soon these drawings would be given a common backdrop. Creatures suddenly came from lands I gave names to and heroes now had a history. Then came Titan, which was essentially a campaign setting book for Fighting Fantasy. I never knew campaign settings existed before encountering Titan. In it were described the three great landmasses of the Livingstone-Jackson fantasy world. One such continent, called Khul, was a dark, forsaken place filled with wastelands, cursed landscapes, and dwindling kingdoms after its devastation by magic and wars. That, more than anything else, influenced my world in its early stages; or I should say the part of the world where Vagrus is set, which is only one continent out of four. I started to draw maps. On them there was now a continent irrevocably ruined by an unspeakable catastrophe...


1992 brought with it the first (and maybe only) Hungarian play-by-mail game, called Túlélők Földje (roughly translated into 'Land of Survivors'). I must confess that I have never played the game myself but my friends were infatuated with it for a few years so I inadvertently learned quite a lot about it. Its world was devastated by a 'great burning' and I remember that I had become really intrigued by this concept, yet I felt that their setting was too lighthearted for my tastes and was constantly trying to picture what a post-apocalyptic fantasy world would look like. So credit where credit is due: if it wasn't for this weird game, I would not have focused on Xeryn so much, probably.


Around this time, we started to play our first pen and paper RPG. Hungary was some 20 years behind the Western world in many respects even after the political changes of the decade, so D&D was fairly unknown, as were boardgames and the large majority of fantasy literature. In most cases, translations did not exist for a long while or were made by amateurs. I recall experimenting with our own rule setting and playing on Titan but that soon became stale. Then came the Hungarian knock-offs of successful RPGs but they did not capture my imagination at all. Eventually, we started to play in our own campaign setting based on the fantasy world I've been busily working on. This brought with it a level of detail I previously thought unattainable and further expanded the scope of the Riven Realms.

We've been practically playing ever since, changing rulesets when we felt the need (but later on sticking to iterations of D&D for the most part) and occasionally trying other pen and paper stuff as well (most notably and extensively Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, D6 Star Wars, and Second Edition Shadowrun). These campaigns were essential in fleshing out the world, its inhabitants, and its history. Countless details (some large, some small) changed during the years to lead to the state in which the Riven Realms are now. It was eerily similar to drawing a map and filling out blank spaces as you go.


Obviously, many computer games had an influence on a budding world such as the Riven Realms had been back then. So many, in fact, that it'd be impossible to list them all. It all began with pirated versions of Ultima 6 as well as Might and Magic World of Xeen, but those influences were more general on world building and less specific to Xeryn.

1998 brought with it Baldur's Gate, followed by a renaissance of computer roleplaying games. By then these products were more readily available in Hungary as well so I got my hands on them right away. I was admittedly more captivated with the games than with Forgotten Realms in Baldur's Gate and its sequel but this era opened up access to a whole new range of fictional worlds and mythologies for me to delve into nonetheless.

There were a lot of games I could name that came later and had an influence on the world of the Riven Realms and the ravaged continent of Xeryn in particular. Chief among these was Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002. An alien, unique, yet familiar world was something I set as a golden standard for myself from then on.

Also notably, this was the time when English started to become more and more often represented in written material and on maps. This further shifted to prominence with my studies as an English Major at university, eventually culminating in English being established as the primary language of the Riven Realms outside of pen and paper RPG sessions.


With the early 2000s there came chances to obtain and read campaign settings that were previously beyond my reach. Of these, Dark Sun and Planescape were the most prominent influences on Xeryn (and are the most recognizable I think) but Dragonlance with its devastated world and cataclysm, as well as Ravenloft with its dark lands ruled by darker forces were also of utmost importance in shaping the Riven Realms.

As much as I like the comparison to Dark Sun, in fact it was the last of the old TSR campaign settings I became familiar with after my friend Christian lent me the first three volumes of the Prism Pentad and I read them with reverence. The look and feel of the continent of Xeryn had already been established by that time. Of course that does not mean I haven't taken a lot of inspiration from that particular campaign setting, especially concerning the traveling companies and trading houses.


I've always been a history fan, especially when it came to Ancient and Medieval times. Then my little brother became a History-Archeology Major at uni in 2005 and chose the Roman Empire and the Migration Period as his specialization. I used to listen to his long accounts of what he studied when we were back in our parents' house at weekends. We watched documentaries together on the Romans and I read some of his books and notes even. The Empire in the Riven Realms has always had a strong ancient Roman influence but these next few years laid the groundwork for a proper redesign of the Empire into the image of how it was always meant to be.


This might seem a no-brainer yet I think it most certainly deserves an explanation. Because I don't just mean how Tolkien's works influenced my own writing (which they most certainly did) but also how his documented world-building had a powerful effect on my world-building. Even though I had read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings several times before (both in Hungarian and in English), my fairly recent re-reading of the saga and especially The Silmarillion as well as Unfinished Tales were pivotal in conscious creation of fictional myths and a genesis story. Tolkien's essays and correspondence are also great reads for anyone thinking about creating elaborate fictional worlds.


There are a few honorary mentions that had a powerful effect on how the Riven Realms were formed, even though these were more literary influences than ones concerning the setting itself but sometimes it's impossible to separate the two.

The Black Company by Glen Cook: I was fortunate to have come across this sequence of novels some 5 or 6 years ago. Their nonchalant, even cynical narrative and dark world of mercenaries and lowlife characters were things I immediately took to and strove to incorporate into my own style and stories.

Robert E. Howard: I've been reading Conan stories since the late 90s and even though the Riven Realms is primarily dark fantasy, there are hard fantasy elements in it, and what there is had certainly been influenced by Howard's works. Also, Aquilonia has a heavy Roman/Byzantine influence, which might have had its own impression on my world-building (even though I do not specifically recall that).

H.P. Lovecraft: I was obsessed with Lovecraft in my secondary school and university years, reading from him anything I could get my hands on. His influence on unfathomable, cosmic threats present in the world of the Riven Realms is undeniable, even if mostly in essence not in form. Lovecraft's works set in the Dreamlands were especially influential when it came to fleshing out the Outer Realms.


It's late summer 2018 and I'm sitting at my desk, thinking about the Riven Realms, trying to give an outline of almost three decades of inspiration and creation (and fairly certainly leaving important stuff out). 28 years of imagination manifesting itself from a child's drawings to crude maps, from roleplaying backdrops to short stories - and now as the setting for a game in development. What a journey it has been! Fortunately, it's not over yet. If all goes well, this is just the beginning, and the Riven Realms might bring joy and inspiration to more than just a small group of friends. I certainly hope so.

- Geri, Lost Pilgrim

p.s.: Don't forget to follow & wishlist us here on Steam, and on your favorite social media channel(s).

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In our last devlog (#2) we talked about movement and demonstrated how it worked on our digitally hand-painted campaign map. Since then, quite a lot of you have asked us to provide a map for the continent of Xeryn, where Vagrus is set. We are happy to share that the wait is over!

So in this third devlog, let's zoom out a bit together and look at the interactive continent chart of Xeryn, where the game is set.

https://youtu.be/3I7MjuB__GQ
Maps are awesome, beautiful things. As it turns out, maps are also complicated things, especially when you have to integrate them seamlessly into several game systems. So it's been in the works for a long time and the video should give you an idea of how it'll work in-game.

This interactive version shows most of the continent and as you can see, it's a gigantic and very detailed map. From a functional perspective, we've tried to mimic the easy navigation of Google Maps so you as players will be able to scroll in and out with your mouse zoom as well as and pan the map with left click+drag.

The region and other location names are tied to levels that make them appear and disappear depending on your zoom rate, so you see major regions 'breaking' up into smaller ones, minor settlements coming into view, and in the largest zoom, other points of interest appear. You, as the vagrus, the leader of your traveling company, might have many events, contracts, and rumors to consider when planning a longer journey, and the chart offers the possibility to 'Mark' settlements and other places so you would remember them.

Another interesting functionality we added is the link to the Codex entries that are tied to that certain location. We will talk about the Codex in a future devlog but let's just say for now that the Codex holds all the lore and background story about the world, ordered into entries tied to cultures, people, places, etc. Consider it the in-game wiki of the world, except you don't start with all that information readily available but you need to gather it throughout the game.

So back to the continent chart, the Prologue section of the game, which we plan on releasing this autumn, is taking place in the area called the Molten Tongue and then on the Searing Plains (it's pretty much the area you see when the chart shows up in the video for the first time). Later on, in Early Access, which we'll release sometime in 2019, the player is going to start from Tor'Zag's Shelter, which is both 'Marked' and shown in the Codex in the video.

In our next devlog, we'll shed some light on how the setting of the Riven Realms came to be, what the main sources of inspiration were, and how closely its genesis was tied to our TTRPG sessions since childhood. We are very interested to hear about your opinion about the chart and the game, of what you have seen so far. Feel free to pose questions and let us know what you would be interested in to read about in future devlogs.

Cheers,
The Lost Pilgrims Team

p.s.: Don't forget to follow us here and on your favorite social media channel(s):
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Dear Followers,

As we promised earlier, here's an overview of the campaign map and movement rules. To understand it fully, we recommend you watch this short Youtube video in which we demonstrate the pre-alpha state of movement: Vagrus | Pre-Alpha Map Movement Demo V3

• Movement on the world map is turned-based. Players start their turns (one turn equals a day in-game) with a number of available Movement Points.
  
• Players always stand on nodes, and can move between them (on the paths) by spending Movement Points.
  
• Based on the terrain, the road (if any), and weather conditions, as well as the distance of the next node, the cost of movement between nodes can be markedly different. You can see this represented by the little numbers next to each line on the video.
  
• As the available Movement Points are spent, the possibilities of the routes taken are narrowed down and that is represented by the nodes and lines fading away in the areas now unavailable for the caravan to move into.
  
• When the caravan runs out of Movement Points, it is unwilling to push on that given turn, and needs to Camp on the node it currently occupies. Camping refreshes Movement Points (and also has a lot of other functions, but more on those in a future post!).
  
• Movement Points are displayed on the top left UI. March movement points (available as bonus and calculated from normal Movement Points) are displayed in red behind normal Movement Points.
  
• There's the option to March, indicated by the red target node and path, which occurs when a caravan opts to move beyond its available Movement Points in a given turn. Marching decreases Morale and Vigor but could buy you time.
  
• Movement Point costs are displayed either in blue (normal movement MP cost), red (the additional cost of Marching), and grey (which only serves to help you calculate longer journeys, as these nodes are not reachable in the current turn, not even by Marching).

We hope you liked this update, first of many to follow! Feel free to pose questions, add comments, and follow us here or on any other social media channel. (You may find the links to those on Our homepage)

Cheers,
The Lost Pilgrims Team

p.s.: You can find the original posts here: Pre-Alpha Map Movement V3 - with music! and here: Pre-Alpha Map Movement V2 - with music!

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Dear Followers,

we have just published our game here on Steam recently so that you can follow our progress on development, but also with intent of gathering the audience for our demo. We plan to kick-off its closed testing soon, following which we will open it up to the public.

As it stands, we have most of the major pillars of the game working and the next step is to balance them into more seamless gameplay. But before getting down to business, let's take a minute to introduce our team.


NOBO | GAMING INDUSTRY VETERAN
Once upon a time a senior developer at a number of studios (including Most Wanted Entertainment, Crytek, Mithis Entertainment), Nobo has since then seen the world through the eyes of a freelancer, and joined the core team of Lost Pilgrims.

SZONJA | SKILLED ESCAPIST WITH A BRUSH GLUED TO HER HAND
As lifelong fan of RPGs, Szonja has an exceptional love for characters of fiction and a passion for bringing them alive with her pen and tablet. Before stepping on the road to follow her dream by becoming a graphic designer, Szonja studied coding, C# no less, which comes extremely handy when she works with Unity, managing and animating the art assets she herself created.

GERI | GAME MASTER FOR LIFE
Geri has been building our wondrous dark fantasy world for over twenty years. Now he’s responsible for game design, as well as creating concept art with our graphic designers, and has been writing stories and lore to fill a gigantic game world with amazing things to do and find.


GABOR | RPG ADDICT WHO HAPPENS TO ENJOY SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
In a former life Gabor worked as a sourcing and finance process leader. Now he is the project and team manager of Lost Pilgrims, who is also responsible for fundraising and game design.


AKOS | CONSUMER OF ADVENTURES
An avid gamer and lover of story-driven experiences of all kinds, Akos is a graphic designer by profession. He helps out with various design tasks, ranging from social media profiles to UX design, and is responsible for the game’s UI.

BAZSO | BLACK BIRD DREAMING SINISTER COLORS
As an artist, Bazsó has been drawing and painting for decades. His wonderful work on successful board games (like Saltlands) caught our eyes, and now he works on Vagrus with us. He is one of the artists visualizing the stunning world of the game: painting its ominous greatness right alongside horrific creatures and magical anomalies.

GYURI | MUSIC ENTHUSIAST AND LIFELONG GAMER
Gyuri loves to create worlds, feelings and moods. A well-versed musician and composer, he is producing our game music and sound effects. He is also a great cook and throws amazing parties.

PETER | CONNOISSEUR OF THE BLEAK AND THE ALIEN
Peter Kovacs is a veteran of the graphic design industry, having created everything from storyboards, concept art, comic books, and board games to book covers and illustrations. He received a number of prestigious awards for his work and his distinct style is immediately recognizable in the industry. He primarily works on location artwork for us.


Well, that is the team currently, with a few more contributors who have supported us for brief periods. Now that we have given the credit where credit is due, we can really jump into reviewing the main features of the game. Coming up next in devlog#2 we will start with the campaign map and movement. Stay tuned!

The Lost Pilgrims Team

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