Actually, I''m making a two pronged point here.
1. Decide what are the important aspects of the game.
2. Put time and effort into those aspects.

Who cares if your NPC''s are cheezy, silly, or just plain stereotypical if you''ve got a fast paced action game complete with treasure?

On the other hand, who really cares if you''ve got a procedural item generator if fights aren''t worth looking at?

The dark cave was an interesting one, and could be fun. Other stuff might be simply finding out what caused the rift (maybe a mage created a portal and a demon lord came out and took over). Story is kind of the stuff where you take over the game. And you need to decide when and where it is.

Hey if anyone is still interested in the idea and wants to help on the development of the game, they can visit the forum here.

[edited by - Magriep on April 18, 2002 5:25:27 PM]

I know i''m posting way too late for this to be useful, but how about deviateing from Dante a little in the description of Hell?
Every "Hell" out there is a dark cave with flames and sulfur and other unpleasant things. The demons all have nothing to do except attack adventurers and perhaps torment lost souls that are in the pits of fire/ hanging from the walls.

How about the Bureaucracy of Hell. The demons are for the most part normal (EVIL) businessmen going about their day to day jobs of making people on earth suffer. Arranging car accidents, posing as telemarketers, slowing down the lines at supermarkets, designing smog, etc. The whole invasion thing is just a minor agenda item in this MultiNational''s corporate plan.

As I look back on this, i realize this is completely different from the "Dark Ages" theme everyone is playing with.