Game: The Age of Decadence

From: http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/749/749013p1.html

Now, let me illustrate all above said with an actual example; the screenshots shown in this article go with it. It’s an assassin’s quest. A Noble House controlling one of the towns has commissioned the assassins guild, called the Boatmen of Styx, to kill an Imperial Guards’ Commander who was trying to take the town over. Now would be a good time to quote Glen Cook; “Conspiracies and assassinations and naked power-grabs. All the fun of decadence.”

Originally we planned to make the actual assassination (and different ways to do it) the pinnacle of the quest. The poison option was elegant, but anything involving combat was kinda cumbersome. I mean, assassins should strike once and be outta there before anyone realized what happened. Assassins shouldn’t jump at the guy and start hacking him to pieces a few hit points at a time. So, we replaced the assassination with a text adventure sequence and shifted the focus of the quest from the killing to getting out alive. Now the quest is less about you killing the poor commander, but more about you working with the guild, being a part of the team, and executing someone else’s plan, which is the main difference between a lone killer and a member of the guild.

Naturally, the Imperial Guards - a very powerful ex-army organization - would be very, very upset about you killing the Commander, so be prepared to be put either on a shit list or on a “kill with extreme prejudice” list, depending on your current standing with them. Again, if you expected to kill people who exist in the gameworld only to be killed and you’ve just realized your mistake, we’ll offer you a fantastic double cross opportunity. Kill your partner and explain the situation to the Commander. Almost a happy ending, except for the dead partner, pissed off assassin guild (nobody likes to screw up a big client’s order), and a disappointed client who placed the order. Almost a chain reaction, eh? Kinda makes you think twice, which is how we want you to play the game.

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