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Venice
1499: Game Design Overview (pg.3)
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These
characters respond to the events that unfold over time in the city in
"real" time, allowing the player to dramatically influence their actions
and the progression of the story. As
time goes on, other events conspire to throw Venice into chaos: war in
the west, war in the east, the crushing of the Venetian fleet, the failure
of the great trading galleys, the discovery of a trade route around Africa,
and the collapse of the banking infrastructure.
The characters will react to these events as well, adding depth
and drama to the story, and forcing the player to manipulate circumstance
to their advantage.
Characters
will move through the city in response to their needs. As they grow hungry or tired they will move
to find food or to go home to sleep.
If they have a midnight rendezvous they will sneak out the back
of their house to a predetermined point to keep it.
A crafty player will be able to follow and trace the movements
of persons in the game, perhaps inferring their agendas and presenting
themselves as and aide or a hindrance to those affairs.
Many of the characters will be able to provide information to the
player, or will request information, and will react according to what
the player tells them, changing their habits and modes of operation accordingly. It is through these reactions and interactions
that the majority of the game progresses. Ultimately, the player will have to help characters
to achieve their personal agendas so that those characters may in turn
help the player to bring the game to a successful conclusion.
Some
of the important characters the player may encounter are listed below:
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Jacobi Lodovico
Jacobi, age 42, is a Capi member of the Council of Ten, as such
he is one of the three most powerful men in the city.
He is proscribed by law from having any dealings with the
public, so that he is not influenced in his decisions regarding
public policy; however, in practice all this means is that he conducts
meetings behind closed doors. His normal work when he is not in public service
is to sit as one of the GuildMasters of the GlassMakers, a position
that has brought him substantial prestige, wealth and influence
over time. Over the years he has done much to make this
guild one of the most powerful in Venice, in combination with the
guild of thieves that he coordinates by night.
He is utterly corrupt, and works every means possible in
order to provide himself greater wealth and power in Venice, while
simultaneously paying lip service to the Republic. |
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Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo, age 47, is an independent artist, intellectual, and renaissance
man. Until recently, he
has been pursuing a variety of contracts for the Duke of Milan in
exile, creating schematics for military devices the Duke can use
to regain his empire. He has been increasingly disillusioned by the
Italian Crisis, and pragmatically believes that France probably
should overrun the squabbling city-states of Italy.
Temporarily in Venice, out of harm's way, he is considering
methods of reshaping the Venetian warships to take better advantage
of the new types of cannons and to provide better defense from the
same. He has heard of the Scroll of the Sicarii, and would be very interested
in being able to examine it. As
Venice's fortunes wane, he will drift elsewhere in Italy. |
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The Doge
The current Doge, age 76, is the figurehead of Venetian politics. He is the embodiment of the state to the people
of Venice, and is placed upon a pedestal for their satisfaction. The current Doge, still embarrassed by the
political machinations of his predecessor, Doge Foscari, is making
every effort to be the politically correct Doge.
He is barred from any real power, but makes all the symbolic
presentations of state before the people.
He also knows everyone that is anyone to know, having spent
many years rising as a neutral, unobjectionable figure through the
ranks of the nobility. He will always seek the status quo, and during
the troubling events that will shake Venice to her core, he will
remain a stalwart bastion of disregard.
Conversations with him will be difficult to realize, but
may be rich in information and implication. |
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Bartholem de Goes Bartholem,
age 34, is ostensibly a merchant in fine cloth from Savoy.
In reality he is a German scholar, who has traveled throughout
the Holy Roman Empire looking for clues about the Scroll of Sicarii.
He has recently traced it into Venice, and will seek it assiduously.
Barholem is by nature a mild-mannered, conservative gentleman
- violence is not his style. He will probably be one of the first to find
the player, if the player does not make contact with him first. His strengths lie not in the people he knows,
or in his wealth (which is nonexistent), but rather in his friendship. |
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Lady Andrea Rosso Andrea, age 26, is a young Venetian noblewoman, visiting the
city from her home on the mainland.
She is staying with family, checking out the urban lifestyle,
and entertaining friends. She
is exceptionally intelligent and witty, and will make fast friends
with persons of any station if they are similar in disposition. While she doesn't care much for public rumormongering or fanciful
speculation about mythical things, she has time to kill and money
to burn, and as a woman of station may have be able to enter places
that a male player could achieve only with difficulty.
If she can be persuaded, she would be a valuable ally. Spurned, she may choose to make a game of harassing the player -
and as she has no concept of taking a game too far, this could be
a disastrous prospect indeed. |
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Michelangelo Buonarotti Michelangelo,
age 24, is a sculptor and painter of note. His services are rapidly becoming desired through
Italy. Most recently, Michelangelo
has fled Florence, after the fall of Savonarola. He is circulating in the artist community in
Venice, developing a love for the city that will bring him back
for another extended stay later in life.
He is devoutly religious, and is prepared to leave the agnostic
city to return to the mainland at the first hint of civil unrest.
He is not wealthy, but cares little for such worldly materials. If the opportunity presents itself, he may
try to obtain the Scroll as an artifact to return to the church
in Rome. |
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The Stranger Just who was that individual who visited Tomaso
Foscari the evening before his murder?
What is his business? What
does he know? Why did he
visit and where is he now? Only
time and investigation will tell. |
Machiavelli,
age 30, is a little-known person. He has recently been made 2nd Chancellor
of Florence, in the new government that took over after Savonarola was
deposed. As 2nd Chancellor
he is responsible for overseeing the treasury, and is in Venice to discuss
matters of trade and the relationship of the Venetian Florin to the value
of the Florentine currency. He
is a keen observer, and not above manipulating circumstance to his advantage. Should the matter arise, he could be an exceptional
ally, but probably not one to turn your back on.
There
are many other characters which remain to be detailed, however, this sampling
provides a cross-section of some
of the persons that the player may interact with as they work towards
proving their innocence. Of those
that are not listed here, the majority will be drawn from the larger categories
of individuals in the city, be they bankers, merchants, or other civil
servants.
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