Everlasting Journey

The Game World

Everlasting Journey begins in a physical world not much different from Earth. The physical world is where all normal creatures and people live. The air comprises of nitrogen, oxygen, and other essential chemicals to support life. There are desserts, marshes, plains, forests, hills, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc just like Earth. Most people will spend 99% of the time playing in this world. This is not the only place in Everlasting Journey however. This world is on a plane or dimension called the physical plane. There are several other planes that one may travel if they have the ability and can survive. The closest plane outside of the physical world is the Earth Elemental Plane. This plane is basically what its name implies. Mounds of earth, cracked ground, and dangerous earth creatures. This is a very violent plane with many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Next to the Earth Elemental Plane is the Water Elemental Plane. This plane is basically a gigantic ocean with underground life and caves. Not many people can make it past this plane, but those that do will find themselves in the Ethereal Plane. The Ethereal Plane is a place where physical beings are not intended to be. Ghosts, ghouls, and other scores of undead are commonly found here. This is where most people go when they die and while they wait for the decision from the gods of where they are going to go in the afterlife. Just outside of this plane is the Fire Elemental Plane that is just lava, flames, and heated areas. For a live person to survive in this plane, great magic is required. The only things that live here are basically fire elementals and beasts, demons, and devils. If one can manage to somehow get out of the Fire Elemental Plane alive, they will find themselves in the Air Elemental Plane. This plane has gravity similar to the physical world, but one is continuously falling, or being pushed through the air by massive winds until either something is struck (like a floating body of land) or until running into a tornado or some other devastating fate. The only other plane possible to travel to is the Astral Plane. This plane surrounds all other planes and is by far the most massive of the planes. This is basically like space. There is no real gravity and air to breathe. Only gods, demi-gods, demons, devils, etc. live here. Every once in a while people from the physical world can be found here (but that is extremely rare). Super intelligent beings also manage to find a way to live here and not be bothered by aging and other effects as the other planes have. If one can make it to the Astral Plane, they have definitely achieved a state of god like quality. All of these planes encompass Everlasting Journey (hence the name Everlasting).

The Party

A player may have a party of up to 50 different characters and monsters. The party may be saved and transferred to other adventures or can be used to play against other friends over the Internet. This will allow players to build their parties up to mega proportions and keep using them until they are bored.

The types of monsters available for a player to use are not limited to humanoids. A party member can be any type of monster in the game like a Vampire, Green Slime, Blue Dragon, Manticore, etc.

Click here for an example list of races

The classes available to a party member is vast also (depending on the race or creature).

Click here for a list of the possible classes

There are four different spell categories.

Click here for a list of spell categories, spell casters, and spells

Each party member has details and attributes that define and describe them.

Click here for a description of the various attributes

There are seven different types of currency

Click here for the types of currency

Each party member belongs to a certain alignment of good, evil, or neutrality.

Click here for a list of alignment types

Party members have several resistance qualities that determine the capability to survive and ward off various elements and environments.

Click here for the resistance types

Each party member may carry up to five weapons (which are ready to be equipped at any time, more if in non-equippable mode) and seven pieces of armor. There are hundreds of normal armor and weapons, as well as hundreds of magical and special types.

Click here for a sample of some weapons and armor

There are also many types of ordinary everyday items as well as mystical and magical items.

Click here for several examples of magical items

Some monsters and races have special abilities that others do not have.

Click here for a list of a few special abilities

 Combat

Combat takes place as a hemi real time/turn based system. The reason Everlasting Journey is designed this way is because turn based systems are not realistic enough, and real time systems don�t allow enough control over the party. An example of a simple turn based system is the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games by SSI. Pool of Radiance was the first one created by SSI, and is a good example. The quickest person would go first while everyone and everything was frozen in time. It allowed someone to walk up to a monster and attack it while it was just sitting there. This is entirely unrealistic, but actually fun because you could control every character precisely. Real time combat is just the opposite. You do not have as much control because the computer controls everything, and thus you have to "group" characters into similar actions. An example of a game like this is Age of Empires II. The computer automatically controls groups and will allow you to pick specific people and attack however you want, but if you have 20 people, by the time you get done with just two or three actions, the enemy has either killed you, or you have killed them. This is not much fun. Thus, Everlasting Journey has been designed to give the best of both worlds. At the beginning of each round in combat (a round is approximately 5 to 10 seconds of real time), you can choose actions for each person in the party. When you are finished, all the action unfolds under computer control of the action you specified. Thus, if you have a quick rouge in the party and he is attempting to flee, you will see him scrambling to where you specified quicker than anyone else who may be chasing him. Thus, it is completely realistic, but allows complete control over each member. Combat also supports repeating actions for a mass amount of characters at once so that you don�t have to repeat each action yourself if you don�t want to. Also, there is a timeout system built in multi-player mode so that you cannot sit there forever while you decide what to do. If you wait too long, the character or characters will lose their turn and either repeat their previous action or stand in a guarded position of some kind. This enhances the multi-player scenario. Each player will have the exact same amount of time to decide what to do.

 Journeying

Everlasting Journey provides a unique way to travel and explore the lands and planes. The party does not necessarily have to travel as one group. In fact, the party may be broken up into as many groups as desired, with any number of people in a group. Maybe you have a character that is great at camoflauge and you want him/her to hide in some groves from a band of orcs that go by. If the whole party was there, they would for sure be spotted, but with one character with a good skill, you could hide and observe them. Another example is to maybe send three "tough" characters out to find someone while the other four waited at your house. These are just a couple of examples of using the groups. It makes the game very interesting. Of course, if more than one group at a time is in combat, that will be your responsibility to try to control all their movements before your time runs out each round (that is unless you want the computer to control them for you). While journeying, one will find the land filled with a rich source of terrain. The combinations of terrain types and patterns are limitless in Everlasting Journey.

Click here for a list of the various terrain types

The picture below is an example of the overhead view that is used while playing the game.

Places of Interest

There are many interesting places to visit and reside in Everlasting Journey.

There are inns, which for a fee, a group of members may stay to rest from the night while quitting the game or waiting for other players to join them again in a multiplayer game. The inns allow members to rest and regain their hit points, stamina, and magic points. It is also a place to attempt to fight off illnesses, poisons, etc.

Probably one of the most popular places for members to visit are shops. There are many different types of shops in the physical world that sell countless goods. Some may sell only weapons. Others may sell general purpose items like oil, ropes, and food. A retired magician may be selling some magical items in another. Prices will vary from shop to shop. Just make sure you have someone who is charasmatic and good looking do all the haggling. Otherwise, you may be taken advantage of or treated differently.

Guilds are very sparse in Everlasting Journey, but extremely popular. These are places where henchmen reside, waiting to join a party for a fee, or even for just the adventure some times! Be careful whom you ask to join your party however. You might not want to hire someone with evil intentions (that is, unless the whole party is evil to begin with!). You might wake up dead, or missing one of your favorite magical weapons.

If you are looking for a place to spend some money quick, you probably want to go to a temple. A temple can be a tremendous help in Everlasting Journey as far as healing, reviving, removing curses, etc. With these powerful abilities that temples have comes a price. Often times temples are run by corrupt priests, druids, or sages who are only in it for the money. There have been occasions when one finds a friendly temple owner who will charge much less than others, but these are folklore. This is one reason a high level priest, druid, or sage can be literally "priceless". Also, if you have a good priest and you are looking for some money, why not get him a job at a local temple when you decide to call it a day. He could be making some money while the rest of the party is sleeping (or doing other jobs themselves). Then again, most adventures seem to make their money by slaughtering other parties, but this is not the safest way (or wisest) to do it.