Last Action

The man speaks up, his voice smooth and melodious instead of gruff and coarse as you expected. "You've laid here in bed for five cycles of the sun - how long you had been asleep when we first found you, we cannot guess." He looks you up and down, though his voice is gentle his stare continues to be intense. "Are you fit? Can you travel?"

[font="Courier New"]"Yes, and I would like to head back to my camp"---53----||||||||---------------------------19.4%
"Actually, I do feel a little light-headed..."----26----||||-------------------------------9.52%
&quot;I am fine, but who are you two?&quot;—————–194—|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||—-71%<br /> <br /> Total Votes: 273<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Backstory</span><br /> <br /> You are a traveler. Orphaned at a young age, you have survived on your own throughout your early years hopping from village to village and learning to live off the land. You began hearing stories from other travelers of a great civilization far off beyond the tall mountains. No one from there was willing or able to give you details - all they could remember was that it was grand and amazing. Curious, and with nothing to tie you to this land, you have set out to find this place. After crossing the mountains and a substantial desert on the other side, you have once again reached fertile land. You made camp beneath the trees for the first time in many weeks, but when you awoke again, you find yourself in a house with no memory of having traveled there.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Inventory</span><br /> <br /> [1] Strange-smelling fungus<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Codex</span><br /> <br /> <ul><li>someone named &quot;Ashwyn&quot; appears to be a powerful… person?<li>you are in some region of the land know as the &quot;hinterlands&quot;, east of a river known as the &quot;Feora&quot;</ol><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Story Log</span><br /> <br /> You wake up. The room is dark. Where are you? How did you get here? You see light beneath a door and hear voices in the next room speaking softly.<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">&gt; <a href='&quot;http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=586553&quot;'>Sneak up to the door and listen</a></span><br /> <br /> You get up and sneak over to the door. It is thick and wooden. Little sound gets through, but you hear a man and woman talking about someone named &quot;Ashwyn&quot;. They sound fearful.<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">&gt; <a href='&quot;http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=586825&quot;'>Search the room</a></span><br /> <br /> With your eyes now adjusted to the dark, you carefully work your way around the room. The bed is a simple feather mattress on wood slats. Some empty shelves are on one wall, covered in dust. A low table resides in the corner. There are no windows. Your nose picks up a peculiar smell that leads you towards a blank wall, but as you get closer you see fungus growing on it. You scrape it off and put it in your pocket.<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">&gt; <a href='&quot;http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=587221&quot;'>Look for a way out</a></span><br /> <br /> You peer closely at the wall, wondering if perhaps the fungus meant there was a seam or doorway built there. Before you can complete your examination however you realize the conversation in the next room has stopped and footsteps approach the door. Before you can even decide what to do it swings open, flooding the room with light. As your eyes readjust, the voice of a woman speaks: &quot;Oh good, you&#39;re awake&#33;&quot;<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">&gt; <a href='&quot;http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=587485&quot;'>&quot;Where am I? How did I get here?&quot;</a></span><br /> <br /> &quot;you&#39;re out in the hinterlands east of the Feora River, we run a small farm here,&quot; says the woman. You see she is short and lean of frame, wiry muscles beneath her shirt and slacks show she is no simple kitchen maiden. &quot;We discovered you unconscious in your camp - we saw your cooking fire smoke run up for two days straight and feared the bush afire.&quot; She steps into the room and a man follows, medium height with a dark beard and piercing eyes. &quot;My husband carried you back here.&quot; The man gives you a nod but otherwise remains silent, his stare seems off-putting.<br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">&gt; <a href='&quot;http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=587817&quot;'>&quot;How long have I been asleep?&quot;</a></span>

Hmmm... I didn't realize the corner I was backing myself into so soon with the option of querying the farm couple for their names! Of course they would in turn want to know the name of the player. You may recall I'm keeping the player character gender-neutral for as long as possible - well, names can carry a pretty hefty weight to them in that regard. Sure there are names that can be given to both males and females, and I could even use just a last name, but instead I decided to give players the option to decide how the name aspect should be played out.

If you haven't voted yet, take care in realizing that at least two (possibly three) of these options can (and most likely will) have an impact (much?) later on in the story.

Haha how's that for cryptic? :P Well it has to be cause even I don't know for sure!

Yes, I did consider just placing a single Other option with the box for people to fill out with ideas for names, but ultimately decided that wasn't the best route to go. At least, not at this time.