The year is 208 AD. The Roman general Septimius Severus leads
a force of 40,000 Roman troops into what they called Britannia.
As an ancient native warrior, what the Romans referred to as picti
("painted") or picts, you call the region home and must fight a daily
battle to survive. The game's primary outdoor zone is an 8000-room
map based on an actual map of the area between the Antonine Wall
and Hadrian's Wall in ancient Scotland, what the Romans referred to
as Caledonia. Your adventure begins just south of the Antonine Wall.
Trapped between great Roman walls and two impassable seas, you
are trapped in an inescapable war zone. The highlands and dales alike
teem with beasts, bandits, monsters, traitorous vassal tribesmen,
and ruthless, reckless Romans, all of whom behave in unique ways
based on their individual (or group) AI. Players can explore freely or
complete kill quests to advance their character's skills and statistics;
questing also gains favor with the tribal faction that issued the quest,
which leads to steep discounts at shops and large statistical bonuses.
One can also gather pelts from animal kills. The pelts can be used to
craft canteens, satchels, or leather armor, or they can be traded with
friendly native hunters for random items with unpredictable statistics.
Leatherworking is only one of many powerful crafting skills available.
Players can also forge bronze and iron armor and weapons with the
blacksmithing skill or craft bows, staves, or wands with fletching. A
player can also brew a potion or scribe a scroll imbued with one or
more of any spell currently known to the player. Potions and scrolls
may be used by any player, and scrolls can be studied in an attempt
to permanently learn the imbued spell(s). Failure destroys the scroll.
Magic in Pict is arcane but powerful; players start with a very small
selection of spells that are difficult to use and can even cause harm
to the caster if used without enough mana, but a player who hones
their Magic attribute and practices magic thoroughly will see results.
Pict's core gameplay is open-ended character advancement and gear
customization that requires difficult choices but can lead to ingenious
and powerful equipment combinations; any item that can be worn
has a chance to be enchanted or enhanced, and the mods are fully
randomized (like Diablo, Path of Exile, and my other favorite games).
There are no "best items in the game", only the best items you have
found and, more importantly, how well they synergize with your skills.
Pict is currently in casual development; if you would like to report
an issue or suggest a change, e-mail me or send a note to Theran.
See HELP NOTE for instructions on how to send an in-game note.
NOTE: I will be very active in Summer 2017. Send requests now!
