ToME Wiki
Overview
NerdanelVampire: This is an original module idea not based on an existing work, which explains why the name is so silly. (If anyone wishes to actually make this module, the name can be changed.)
You are a hero. You battle evil. Simple? Well, if you are a hero from an evil race you battle good instead. And, your enemies can cast mind-affecting spells to turn that around, and around, and around...
Description
Power politics
In a more or less generic fantasyland the perfectly matched forces of Good and Evil have waged an eternal war for a very long time. The fortress of Good is a handsome tower 100 levels high. The fortress of Evil is a dank underground installation 100 levels deep. Both fortresses have their entrances near the same town (with home and shops) and are heavily populated by creatures of the corresponding alignment. Sometimes an enemy creature finds its way in the wrong fortress but is usually dispatched quickly by the inhabitants.
There are also lesser fortresses of various elements scattered around the map. Fire and Water are mortally opposed, as are Air and Earth (or Electricity and Acid). There may also be fortresses belonging to the higher elements.
There is only one thing that can change the various balances: a hero. It is rumored that the Cosmic Laws consider themselves too important to bother with puny upstart mortals. That may be too bad for the Cosmic Laws...
Gameplay
A hero goes to the great fortress whose existence he or she is opposed to, and tries to kill its leader, thereby causing the war to be finally resolved. The normal monsters try to kill the hero normally, but the smarter monsters try to convert the mighty player to their cause.
Every hero has the main alignment of Good/Evil in which neutrality is not permitted. It is possible to remain neutral in the secondary battles, but once a hero takes a stand for some side of an elemental issue, neutrality becomes impossible for that war.
If you decide an elemental war you get a significant, thematic reward from the winning element. For example, winning the war between Fire and Cold might give an artifact with immunities to both fire and cold. Additionally, resolved elemental wars may permanently affect the power balance inside Good/Evil factions, making the principal wielders of the winning element more powerful and the principal wielders of the losing one weaker.
The strength of a hero's conviction is measured in Faith Points, a separate tally of which is kept for each war. (The faith points displayed on the left of the screen are the ones that currently matter.) If these points are diminished below zero they are restored back to the maximum and the alignment is flipped. All the monsters in the dungeon become friendly when they notice the change, which may be after a few turns. The hero becomes immediately unable to harm them, and also to pick up items, since that would be stealing from trusted allies. Recall dungeon is immediately switched to the opposing fortress and does not change when recalling out. The only way to proceed in this case is to switch sides, at least for a while.
Avoiding getting killed is about the same difficulty as now in ToME. Avoiding getting converted is like avoiding getting killed, but at a several levels deeper depth (or higher height). There are potions and other ways to restore lost Faith Points, but no way to flip a conviction save being converted by an enemy.
A player's convictions affect his powers and abilities. For example, a priest would rely upon very different prayers depending on if he was being good or evil today. A mage's standing on elemental issues would affect his ability to cast elemental spells.
Winning the game
The game is won when the leader of either Good or Evil is dead. The player then becomes a great ruler in a world that is either sickeningly nice or hideously evil, and maybe additionally really dry, wet, etc. An ultra-ending would have the player rebelling against his former masters, who have grown in power and arrogance without their opposites to rein them in. Defeating them would mean that the hero would become the supreme authority and could arrange the world to his/her liking.