Solasta: Crown of the Magister is an upcoming tactical RPG set in a high fantasy world full of dungeons to explore and dragons to defeat. The developers, Tactical Adventures, are committed to making Solasta the best translation of table-top gaming to tactical RPG ever made.
The trick to translating D&D into a tactical game is maintaining both the mechanics familiar to table-top players as well as the freedom of choice and expression that table-top gaming provides. While other tactical RPGs base success rate on percentages, Solasta is actually using dice rolls to determine actions.
Players will begin Solasta by rolling a team of 4 characters in traditional D&D style. These characters each have signature abilities, voices, and unique dialogue options that help create a game world full of choice and unique encounters.
In battle, players will have full reign of 3-dimensional space in order to out maneuver the enemy. Using climbing, flying, and teleporting, the game will make use of verticality and positioning not often seen in Tactical RPGs. Further, environmental interactions on the battlefield allow players to push wall and pillars onto enemies, knock them into pits, and leave enemies stranded by destroying bridges. Tactical Adventures wants to give players all the freedom they would have in a table-top game to strategize and overcome the enemy.
The other unique mechanic in Solasta is the way that players must consider how light and darkness effect the enemy monsters. As your team ventures deep into dangerous dungeons a small torch may be their only aid to see the enemies around them. Some monster may fear and try to run from light, while others will take an attack of opportunity against you as the light gives away your position. Tactical Adventures is keen on ensuring players have tons of variables to consider in battle. There's a lot more going on than simply spreading out your units and attacking from cover. All of Solasta's mechanics are designed to capture the table-top experience in a new an engaging way.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister will be at PAX West next week with a first look at the game right before launching their Kickstarter campaign on September 3rd.