Idea Info Name: Trimogrify Index: Primary Category: Adventure Submitted: 6/5/2003 4:24:06 PM Written By: BebopDaBebop Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition Book Highly Recommended !

Storyline:  Ever since the ancient of times the world has been protected by The Guardians.  These guardians are a group of elite, selfless heroes that only live to protect and save life.  And but only three of these heroes are granted with supreme powers over The Guardians.  These three heroes are the leaders and over all generals of the rest of the Guardians and only the most trustworthy, noble, and valiant warriors are able to achieve such a status.  And every twenty years these heroes are re-chosen.  And the three rings of transmogrification are redistributed.  It was but one year ago Aiken, Gamil, and Hajari were chosen to be the peacekeepers of the rings and guardians.  Gamil, however, was a corrupt soul and used his powers as a peacekeeper and ring-barer to his own advantage and corrupted many of The Guardians as well.  The Guardians ended up being split into two factions, one on the side of Gamil, and the other on the side of Aiken and Hajari. 

Introduction:  The introduction of the game starts off with the explanation of the rings, The Guardians, and how Aiken, Gamil, and Hajari came into power.  It then shows as The Four Fathers (another group of The Guardians) gave Gamil his ring.  He then immediately abused the power of the ring and began to attack and kill people.  All the while some of the guardians began attacking other guardians, as if the entire attack was planned.  Gamil then retreated while everyone else was still confused.  The others, Aiken and Hajari attempted to catch him but it was too late.  Then one year passes, and the introduction allows you to witness an enormous battle waging.  Armies from Aiken and Hajari attack the new outpost of Gamil in hopes of bringing his destructive ways to an end.  The battle ends with Hajari mercilessly slaughtered by Gamil and his horde of unruly guardians.  Then you see a small boy of only eight years (he’s one of the guardians and you later learn is the main character).  He almost gets crushed and killed amongst the flying ruble and debris but Aiken saves him.  Then they hear a voice from the ruble “Aiken… Aiken…” So the two drastically throw rocks back and forth, attempting to free the imprisoned soul.  They uncover the near-lifeless body of Hajari and he says, “Aiken, I am done for.  I have nothing left.  The only reason I still live would be because this ring is still within my grasp.  But I have now become useless.  The battle is over but the war is not.  Aiken, take this boy and my ring, train him to become a Guardian and overthrow the wicked Gamil.”  Then, the boy (you) and Aiken retreat with the remaining Guardians to a secretive underground cave where the game begins.

The Gameplay:  The gameplay is similar to that of any third-person perspective action/adventure game.  Except there is one function of the game that sets this game from all the others out there, The Ring of Transmogrification.

Without the Ring: Without the ring you are still an admirable warrior.  You are able to cast spells and fight with a sword.  Each level you gain will add more combos with the sword, spells to your spell book, and of course more slots to save transformations to (will be explained later).  When you are in your ‘normal form’ you gain experience that is divided to all of your transformations.  Every ten levels you gain on various transformations, your entire character will gain one level in human form.  As said before, this will gain you access to more spells, sword techniques, and transformation slots. 

With the Ring

            Transformations: The key to this game is transforming into other creatures to do battle or to get you out of tricky situations.  All you need to do is absorb the creature’s distinct mana signature, and this can be done when the creature is dying, knocked unconscious, or sleeping.  The process causes the creature no pain so the creature will probably not be awakened during the process.  Then the creature’s mana signature is added to your memory bank, and you can only carry so many creatures in your mind at one time so be sure to only get the best ones!  And the key to this game is making sure you have a creature for each situation.

            Possession:  Another key feature to this ring is the ability to possess other creatures and people.  The only way to possess a creature or person is when they are half-asleep.  You know, kind of drifty, not quite nappy but almost there?  Like a guard that is really bored and he’s just sitting there yawning a lot, that is what I mean.  You cannot possess a sleeping person or creature, because then you will get trapped in their dream world, and that just would not be good for you (although that would make for a pretty cool level).  There is a spell, too, that allows you to make the creature/person half-asleep, but because of the usefulness of the spell it has to be a higher-level spell J. 

            Spell Shield:  In human form, the ring can serve as a spell shield of sorts and block any on-coming spells from higher-level monsters, evil guardians, or random magical spirits.  The shield lasts forever but while using it you cannot use any other function of the ring.

            Absorb:  Absorb is an ability, by the ring, that allows you to absorb magical incantations.  This ranges from spells to elementals, or wandering spirits.  However, you may only absorb one thing at a time, and whenever that one thing is absorbed, still locked in the ring, you may not use any other functions of the ring (IE, no transforming, shields, or possessions).  This ability is great when used as a counter spell of sorts, and must be used at times to pass certain parts of the game (some doors are only able to be unlocked by, oh lets say a burst of fire, so you have to find a flame or fire spell to absorb if you don’t have one).

The true beauty of this game is being able to solve problems in nearly infinite amount of ways.  You see a group of orc warriors and you want to get the jump on them.  Well, you could cast a fireball spell, surprise them, and while they are bumbling around all confused and bewildered you smack them with your mighty sword.  Or you could possess the one half-sleeping orc and convince each individual orc to walk out of the room momentarily to stab him in the back.  Or you could just transform yourself into a Troll Berserker and go nuts on the entire squad!  What else is so great about this game are all the different abilities, spells, and weaponry you can get from transforming into different creatures, monsters, or possessing people.

More on Monsters: No matter what monster you decide to transform into, each single one has many different uses and purposes along with unique abilities and attacks.  A small shrew may not be the most formidable transformation in amidst a gigantic battle, but it might be the perfect creature to infiltrate an enemy base.  You must always watch for which creatures and monsters to use in which situations.  Sure a Vampire is most certainly a deadly warrior with regenerative capabilities, but I don’t think it would do so well in the ocean or out in the middle of the day.  And sure a Troll Berserker may be a great fighter to take out large groups of creatures, but it doesn’t do as well in caves because it’s size is far too large.

Transformation Pool:  This is where all of your creatures are in your mind.  You may transform into any of them or you can ‘forget’ the mana signature.  When you do this the experience points from that transformation is halved and then distributed amongst the rest of your transformations.  Each transformation has a certain level and can gain levels like you in your normal mode.  The monsters, as well, gain more abilities and spells when a higher level is achieved.