Hey everyone! Exo here! It's rather rare, but I also write. I had creative writing class but because I had that I almost never did other writing (I had no time.) Now that it's summer I want to write. This is basically the story of an RPG I want to make. (This is more like a prologue.) The game I imagine is about 2-3 hours long. (The game is also a prologue).
Chapter 1:
Fwoop!
A sharp gardening shovel flew past my cheek and scraped it, pain itched my cheek but I couldn’t dare to let go. I had opened the wrong closet and now random boxes and tools were threatening to fall on me.
I groaned and pushed. I looked up, and saw a mallet inching towards the edge.
“Aw! Crap!” I shouted. I inched away just barely in time to dodge the mallet, and slid my foot away. “I can do this!”
Tang!
The mallet landed right next to my foot. The boxes leaned closer the moment I changed my footing. I groaned and regained my footing. “Crap!” I gave it a final push by jumping. The boxes leaned the other way and I slammed the door closed. I heard something crash in the closet, but I ignored it and slunk to the floor. The mallet and shovel were near me.
“Never opening that door again.” I muttered.
I stood back up and remembered what I had been looking for. Some nails and a hammer. I picked up the mallet and said, “At least something came out of that.”
I walked down the hall to my right. Glowing crystals were attached to the walls of the hall and lit up the brown colored hall with a fluorescent blue light.
“The nails, the nails,” I muttered and remembered what the caretaker of the Dragon sable told me, ‘The nails are in the third closet in the hall.’
I continued down the hall and thought, ‘I always wanted to take care of dragons, but I never imagined that it would be working on fixing stable doors as well.’
“Ven!” I heard the caretaker call me.
I turned around and called, “Yes sir, Mr. Armel?”
The caretaker was a short guy with a balding head, but hid it with a cowboy hat. He also wore a pair of cowboy boots but they caused him to waddle more than he walked.
“Ven! I need ya to come out here, now! We got customers, and a job, just, for, you!” he said with a smile half covered by his ashy mustache and beard.
I gritted my teeth. ‘Crap they’re onto me!’
I followed him out the hall and into the entrance, to meet an unfamiliar family of three. A father, a son, and a mother.
“Good evening! You must be Ven,” the father said, he was dressed in a black suit and had a comb over. His face was as smooth as a baby’s.
“Nice to meet you, Ven Giant, at your service. Mr?” I asked.
“John Florance.” he smiled, showing all his teeth, and put his hand out. “This is my wife Anna, and my son John Junior.”
“Nice to meet all of you.” I said, shaking all of their hands. “So, I heard about a job, what is this job?”
“Well! Step outside!” he said.
‘Uh oh, outside? Are they gonna nab me?’
“Hey anyone home?” John asked.
“Oh, yeah sorry. I just remembered, Mr. Armel that stable door.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it.” he said. He took the mallet out of my hand and hobbled his way down the hall.
I zipped up my coat and followed the three out of the main stable building.
Out on the green field right next to the building snored a dull plastic green colored dragon. He had a long grey beard and a set of four dull horns. He was laying down with his tail curled up beside his face, he was about as big as an old fashioned biplane. He was small compared to the size of the stable though, which was about the size of a football field.
‘Maybe they’re not after me.’ I thought, ‘after all, they wouldn’t pick such an old dragon.’
“This is our family’s dragon. He’s been with us since I was born.” John said walking up to the dragon and hugging him. “His name is Jargon.”
“Jargon.” I repeated. “So what’s the mission?”
“Well, Jargon as you can see is old.” Jargon woke up and yawned, I could see his ruby colored eyes, shining in the sun. “I’m afraid it’s not going to be too long before he dies and so I planned on taking him to his favorite place before he dies. The beach, at the other end of this island.”
“Why come to me?” I said. “If you need dragons to carry him it would be easier to ask the caretaker.”
“No, no. Jargon is far too old to fly. He’d probably freak out if someone were to carry him to other side of this island. Instead, I would like you to escort him through the cave Mt. Rain. The cave isn’t too dangerous so I figure a young dragon tamer like yourself should suffice to get an old dragon through a cave.”
“Makes sense.” I admitted. ‘Sounds like a trap but it makes sense I guess.’
“When will you have me do this?” I asked.
“Tomorrow morning, early as possible. Preferably before sun rise. We plan on having a barbeque for Jargon at the beach, so the earlier the better.”
“Understood, so then I will take him tomorrow. Anything else?” I asked.
“The Caretaker will take care of Jargon for tonight.” John said. “That’s all. Well I better get going, I’m going to make sure that barbeque is spectacular.”
“Groo!” Jargon said.
“Alright buddy. Take care.” John said, and walked towards the edge of the island with his family. I followed them around the stable and towards the edge of the island. Waiting there patiently were a couple of dragons, between them was a golden lantern shaped carriage. On each corner of the lantern there was a thick rope, which the dragons held. They stepped inside and the dragons picked flew up, picking the lantern up with them, then flew away.
I walked towards the edge of the island and waved John and his family goodbye. I looked down, at the thick clouds. The island was floating, high above earth. I always wondered what it was like, living on earth a few hundred years ago. Out in the horizon I made out a few other floating islands. I could see sunlight shine on the artificial atmosphere, which was almost like a glass dome.
I stepped away and returned to the entrance of the stable.
“Jargon, huh?” I asked the dragon.
“Groo!” he said.
I rubbed his head and he smiled, closing his eyes.
“I used to have a family dragon as well.” I said, frowning. “I guess if he lived this long, he would’ve been a little older than myself. Maybe twenty something. In any case nice to meet you Jargon, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you!”
He let out a deep growl without baring his teeth, in the dragon language that was more like purring.
I stepped back inside to get back to work.
The stables was like a city. There were areas that were quiet, inhabited by older dragons like Jargon, and then some areas were loud with shrieks and shrills, inhabited by younger dragons. I worked in the area that was deafeningly loud.
There were dragons flying high above me, racing. I dashed and dodged a group of dragons tumbling for a ball on the ground.
The stables was shaped like a coliseum or a sport’s stadium. The center of the building was open so that the dragons had a place to play and exercise. Of course they could play outside as well, but most of the ‘fun’ ocurred in the coliseum.
“You guys!” I shouted and pointed at a group of dragons. They turned their heads and looked at me one by one. “Yes you four! Scram! Don’t bully that one!”
They growled at me and I shouted, “Don’t you hiss at me!”
They walked over to me, the leader blocked out the sun by standing over me. He lowered his head down to mine and I stared into yellow eyes. He had pupils that were like a cat’s. I crossed my arms and said, “I said knock it off.”
He hissed and I leaned closer and made the best hissing noise I can.
He growled and I made the best growling noise I can. I whacked him on his head, and said, “Don’t you dare try to threaten me.”
He lowered his head and whimpered.
“Don’t try to act like the victim now!” I angrily said. “Listen. Don’t bully him, he’s new so I’m sure he’s just trying to find his way around and entered your territory by accident. So let him be okay?”
The group walked away and I sighed in relief. I walked towards the bright yellow dragon that was being bullied and said, “Hey it’s alright. You can leave now, they probably won’t bother you.” He whimpered and I spun around.
The dragon’s leader from earlier roared and swooped his head towards me. I put out my arms and grabbed his head. He pushed me back and I tripped and fell onto the yellow dragon.
I could hear the other dragons snicker.
“Alright, I’ll take you all on, personally.” I grumbled. I stood back up and peeled the jacket sleeve on my right arm to reveal a wristband. I focused my attention on it till I could feel the wristband head up. My right hand vanished beneath the wristband. With my right eye, I could see my right hand that had disappeared. Except it looked like someone had shaped the clouds into my hand. The dimension looked like a small closet but with grey clouds for walls. I grabbed the warhammer inside and pulled my hand out of the dimension.
I did the same thing with my left hand except I took out a bronze shield the size and shape of a door.
“Time to dance,” I muttered. I ran at the leader dragon with my shield up. He opened his mouth as big as possible and exhaled a column of fire.
I pushed forward with my shield before me, I could smell something burning. Fire crackled and popped around me.
The dragon flew up and breathed fire down on me. I put my shield over me and waited. Then he suddenly stopped and I peeked past my shield. He was closing in on me, he was going to squish me. I returned the shield and hammer and ran away before he could step on me.
I reached into the dimension and pulled out a bow and a tranquilizer arrow. I turned around and let myself fall to the ground to avoid getting beheaded from the dragon’s talon that swept over me. I pulled the arrow back and let it go. The arrow bounced off the dragon’s tough hide on its chest.
“Crap! Can’t get enough power into the arrow, on the ground.” I said. The dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire again.
I reached back into the dimension and pulled the shield back out. The fire sizzled around me. I stood up and planted the shield into the ground and took out another arrow. I pulled it back and waited, making sure this time it had enough power to pierce the dragon. It stopped breathing and I spun around the shield. The dragon was gone. I looked around, it roared and I looked up. He was swooping towards me. I aimed and let the arrow fly. It missed.
I grabbed the shield but the dragon slammed into it hard. I flew in the air for a few second, and when I hit the ground, I could feel my feet pull up over my head and cause me to roll backwards. I got back up using the bow for support. The dragon laughed, well gave out multiple short roars from his throat. I took out another arrow, pulled it back and aimed. This time in his chest. The dragon saw me aiming and just as he started to move I let it go.
The dragon grabbed his chest and started to run at me. I started to run the other way. Then I heard a great crashing sound behind me. I spun around and saw that he was asleep.
“No dinner for you,” I muttered. The other dragons that were with the leader were gone. My entire body ached, particularly my back, that roll must’ve pulled something. ‘I’m too young to be having back problems now.’ I thought.
The yellow dragon that had been bullied was still there. I trudged over to him, and asked,”Hey are you alright?”
He pulled his head back to get away from me.
“Hey it’s alright I won’t hurt you.” I said lowering my voice. I remember this dragon, the caretaker said he was only a year old. He was rather small and weak for his age, but the caretaker said, ‘he might be worth a lot in the future. If he’s raised just right, he could be a fast dragon.’
The yellow dragon, sat up and watched me, his blue wings were shut closed around his body. All that I could make out was his head, poking up from over his wings, he almost looked like a bird cage with a cover on it.
I put away the bow and sat down to make myself smaller. This was supposedly the way one should approach a scared creature, and I was in pain.
“Don’t worry, that stupid dragon won’t hurt you. I won’t let him.” I said. I fell over to the ground and laid down with my back against the grass. My body was still aching. “Relax.”
He slowly opened his wings up and sat beside me still sitting straight up. He approached me, and sat beside me. Then he quietly purred and flew away.
I watched him zip straight up and in a matter of seconds he was out of my sight. I groaned and sat up. ‘Sometimes dragon taming was hard, but moments like these are also why I love it. Dragons just seem to have so much more personality, and intelligence. It’s true I could’ve been a dog trainer or something, but where’s the fun in that? Besides we’re more valuable, after all there aren’t many dragon tamers.’
Personal notes: Introduced:
Someone is after the MC.
The MC likes dragons and used to have a dragon.
Mc’s Family might’ve been rich.
The world they live in, kind of.
Introduced two of his weapons and that he sucks at ussing a bow and arrow.
Side notes: (More like a lecture on stuff.)
I would sell this game for five dollars on Steam, maybe less. If it becomes popular, maybe I'll make a sequel. I already understand how I want to make the battle system in the game.
(They say you should understand how your game plays, and you should base your story off 'that') In the case what makes my RPG unique is the fact that you have a party made up of only the main character and you have no other support. Instead the main character is a master of weaponry. Which allows the player to switch weapons throughout combat to allow him to have the biggest advantage and ussing that I want the players to think about how to defeat thier foes efficiently alone. Of course if they fail to, since you're one person you can end up killed very quickly. This is why the character can equip any weapon in both hands, accept a bow and arrow, and I'll get to that later. But that means you can use a hammer and a whip. The one thing you will not be able to use is a sword. (Mainly because the sword becomes pointless.) Basically you have the hammer to deal damage lots of damage to one enemy, the whip to wipe out multiple enemies, a shield to block (Which becomes important), a staff to cast spells, and a dartgun, to cause debuffs and poisons. You start off with a bow and arrow, a whip, and a hammer. The bow and arrow gets replaced and the sword is usually good for dealing damage to one character in a game so yeah... The hammer is a little more efficient in this case. Now the next question becomes why does the story fit the game? You're alone. The entire game you're with one an old dragon , and the main character asks the dragon not to help him so that he can become strong and deal with everything alone. He also has no trust for others. I want the story and the gameplay to teach everyone that working in a group is more efficient than working alone. (Which is one of the things I didn't like about Undertale. Throughout the entire game I honestly felt alone.) The first two mother games I felt alone, despite having party members as well. Because honestly they're mute the entire time. Even when you're taking a picture with them you're the only one that's smiling while taking a picture... Yup it was awkward. Pokemon as well, many of the players agree that in HeartGold and SoulSilver it felt nice having one of your pokemon walk behind you. Despite the fact that it made no sense when you had an Arceus walking next to you and everyone is acting like that's a normal thing.) Towards the sheer end the dragon your with you saves you, and also the first dragon you're with saves you. I want it to teach people to trust each other and work with each other. Even if they're weak characters, I want it to proove that a team of weaklings can be very powerful.
(In the game the old dragon stays with you.) The greatest challenge, is how can I make the dragon feel like a very valuable companion, if he can't talk, especially in a 2D game with pixel art.
This is kind of my spiritual successor of the old show from Europe called Dragon slayers, a show about a team of dragon slayers. The setting is related, islands in the sky, but more modern. I used to love that show (When I was a kid) and I think that has been the basis of why I want to make stories about dragons and a setting where islands are floating. I can't say for sure, I haven't seen that show since I was six and I'm eighteen.
If I do end up making the game version of this story, I'm probably going to delete this story. Why? Because I want to remain anonymous and keep my personal stuff seperate from business stuff.
Topic: Dragon Taming (Read 900 times)