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Codex Interview Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome Interview

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
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Jan 7, 2003
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Tags: Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome; Wolf Mittag

Wolf Mittag of Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome fame has taken a lot of time to answer our questions about his new game


4. I played the demo which I recommend to all our readers, and I couldn't help but notice that there are magical weapons and wizardry skills. How does that fit into a historically authentic RPG?

I included wizardry into the game exactly in order to make it historically authentic: When you're playing "Teudogar", I want you to feel like a genuine Germanic barbarian - and that includes superstitiousness.

People strongly believed in wizardry, and this belief probably made it actually effective. E.g., if you believed in blessings, knowing that you'd been blessed would free you from worrying about a possible defeat. This would enhance your concentration and courage, thereby actually improving your chances of winning a duel. That fact that you attributed your success to a supernatural cause doesn't bother me as long as there is reason to believe such a "spell" genuinely worked.

This is the kind of "magic" included in "Teudogar". It's not about gaining instant victory by pulverizing your enemies, but rather about tilting the odds in your favor by giving you confidence, or by demoralizing your enemies. Today we'd consider it plain autosuggestion, psychology, placebo effects, or manipulation; yet it was equally effective when it was called "magic" and its effects were attributed to higher powers' interference.​
That's actually a great way to handle "Magic" in a realistic game world. As George Constanza once said "It's not a lie if you believe it"
 

Otaku_Hanzo

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The state of insanity.
Yes, it is. And I commend his attention to detail as far as history goes. The way some of the people talk as well as how the tribes are set up and everything. Nicely done.

That's one of the reasons I like Darklands as well. They included magic for the exact same reason Wolf has in Teudogar. And the attention to historical detail in that game was astounding as well.

All in all, Wolf and company have done a wonderful job and I will gladly shell out the money for the game once I have it.
 

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