The Veins of the Earth

The Veins of the Earth
Beta Project
Developer	Zireael
Theme	Fantasy
Influences	Incursion, D20, Sil, Angband, ADOM
Released	2013 Jul 15 (v.0.1.0, beta 1)
Updated	2016 Aug 29 (beta 13)
Licensing	Open source, Freeware
P. Language	Lua, T-Engine
Platforms	Windows, Linux, Mac
Interface	ASCII, keyboard
Game Length
Official site of The Veins of the Earth

A port to Python is currently underway.

Each of the versions listed (Python, Java, T-Engine) is open source.

A port to Java + Libgdx was attempted but quickly abandoned.

Some gameplay in Java version

A port to LOVE2D (a Lua engine) was attempted over the autumn/winter of 2016/2017, but did not really get anywhere beyond the basics due to performance problems.

Torchlight effect in LOVE port

Inventory screen in LOVE port

The Veins of the Earth is a module for T-Engine 4 1.4.0.

The standalone version (T-Engine + module) can be also downloaded from https://github.com/Zireael07/The-Veins-of-the-Earth/releases. The ModDB http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-veins-of-the-earth site downloads sometimes come later due to their authorization process.

The game has a WIP documentation at http://veins-of-the-earth.wikidot.com/.

The game is a playable beta.

Beta 13 is the last T-Engine based beta.

---

Since Incursion went open-source, the focus of the development will be on delivering a different experience to Julian's game, mostly focusing around

• random worldmap

• a consistent universe

• death not being an end to your game even though the character may be dead

• tiles and spell icons

• infinite dungeon

• infinite leveling with a soft cap around 40-50 character levels

Contributors WANTED! Various branches contain WIP code which isn't working properly for some reason. Any help debugging it is welcome!

Just fork the repo, make your changes and then make a pull request back. There's a list of issues (bugs and ideas) available on git, too.

Remember, do NOT include anything that's not OGL (i.e. no kuo-toa or illithids).

Anything that IS OGL - for example, SRD, Incursion, or the D&D Wiki portions marked as Open Game Content - is fine.

Any contributors will be credited in the Readme.

---

Contributors

• Sebsebeleb
• DarkGod
• Castler
• desophos
• ozymandias79

---

Key features:

Based on the OGL license

If you've ever played any of the games released on the Open Game Licence, whether computer or tabletop, you will find many things familiar. Same if you played any AD&D-derived games (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Angband)...

Tiles

The game uses freely available tiles which have been used in several Angband variants, so they are tried and proven.

Tooltips

Don't know what that spell or ability or monster is? Just mouse over it. Lots of readily accessible info for the player.

Help

Still stuck? Press F1 or H.

Turn-based

You make your action and enemies take theirs.

Grid-based

In true roguelike spirit.

---

Features currently implemented include:

• integrated most of Marson's Bosses AWOL functions and Marson UI; Marson's Autoexplore fixes; NPC Forgiveness; Enhanced Object Compare
• random worldmap different for every character
• random portraits for humanoid NPCs
• multiple dungeons, some of them persistent
• towns and buildings, e.g. noble houses, bank
• elemental planes
• death is not an end - you can continue adventuring as your child, if you had any
• brand-new start-up screen and menu [standalone version only]
• new old gold and black UI skin
• TILES - David E. Gervais with some edits by me
• game rules variants selectable at game start
• difficulty levels
• silver-based coinage and economy
• 14 classes: barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, wizard (with specialist schools [Seb]); warlock; shaman; magus
• 6 prestige classes: shadowdancer, assasin, rcane archer, blackguard, loremaster, archmage
• 16 races: human, half-elf, half-drow, gnome, halfling, elf, dwarf, half-orc; drow, duergar, deep gnomes; lizardfolk, kobold, orc
• backgrounds for quicker character creation
• attributes can be generated either via rolling or via resettable point buy starting at 10
• better starting equipment, taking into account class and race; magic items, immunities or resistances as starting perks
• a random name generator, taking into account your race and sex, now with an option to type the name yourself
• working ECL (Effective Character Level)
• Luck stat affects generation of rare loot (but not magical properties)
• XP for killing monsters, descending deeper, disarming traps, seeing monsters
• multiclassing (with attribute scores requirements) & prestige classes & bonus feats based on class
• complete, colored character sheet with tooltips displaying rules info
• randomized unarmed and weapon damage; archery and weapon finesse; two weapon fighting penalties & feats
• attack roll & AC & critical hits & offhand attacks (including double weapons) & iterative attacks
• death at -10 and detrimental effects both at 0 and in the -1 to -9 range; certain monsters can now poison you, reducing your stats
• saving throws printed to log; now take the best of two stats (Dex-Int; Con-Str; Wis-Cha)
• inventory & encumbrance
• spellbook now with spell information included, an iconed hotbar for spells [Seb]; some 0, 1st, 2nd, 3rd level spells
• armor spell failure chance; key stat must be 9 to cast spells; casters gain access to next spell level every 3rd level
• spell-like abilities for drow & duergar; other spell-likes as random perks at start
• Spellcraft test required to identify spells cast by others
• skill checks (printed to log) including armor check penalty & racial or feat bonuses; opposed checks
• stealth & sneak attacks
• all weapons from SRD; magic armors and shields; magic weapons; light sources; magic items
• all feats from SRD except archery feats and unarmed combat feats
• working item creation feats
• most monsters from the SRD (missing: demons, devils, dragons, lycanthropes, swarms, most animals which don't fit the dungeon theme)
• pre-made d20-style encounters of more than 1 monster
• humanoid NPCs can now have character classes
• shopkeepers can now sell & buy items
• item identification in two stages, auto-destroying known cursed items
• CR displayed in tooltips; monsters drop equipment and corpses
• monster info screen, showing number of monsters killed and seen
• hp, exp, dungeon level on-screen display now with bars and color changing depending on the amount of HP left
• colored in-game help screen; legend screen; basic rules info
• colored tooltips (color-coded relative monster stats and CR); colored log messages; item tooltips
• terrain effects
• speed bonuses
• resting takes 8 hours, monsters respawn on rest
• cure x wounds spells work in a traditional way; heal x wounds spells heal a percentage of total hp
• stairs have a chance of not changing the dungeon level [Seb]; Sil-style min depth and anti-stairscum measures
• level feelings and item feelings (warning: these affect only pre-spawned items, not monster loot)
• calendar
• hunger counter and display
• Diplomacy and Handle Animal skills