WHAT IS NUREMBERG?

Key Features & Engine

Massive Scope – A 1200×800 hex map stretching from Antwerpen and Amsterdam (Brabant) in the west to Trentschin (Bohemia) in the east, Lausanne (Bishopric, Switzerland) in the south and Memel (Teutonic Order) in the north. Every town sits at its real GPS coordinates with authentic medieval politics, ecology, and economy.

Sandbox and ‘Four System’ Quests – (1) Personal quests generated by your characters’ unique life paths, (2) handcrafted side-quests and vignettes, (3) a major quest line for the base game plus 5 more planned via post-release DLC, and (4) I.C.E. (Immersive content Engine) – Procedurally generated investigations that rival handcrafted content.

I.C.E. – The Immersive Content Engine – Remember Sid Meier’s Covert Action? We’re bringing back real investigation mechanics where you gather clues, connect dots, and solve mysteries without quest markers holding your hand and can also serve you missions of interest (a bit like Origin Privateers Mission Board). ICE generates these dynamically using the same quest toolchain as our handcrafted content, so every mission and conspiracy feels authored, not random.

Narrative Life-Path Character Creation – Shape your party from age 15 through choices that define skills, temperaments (Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, Phlegmatic — real Galenic medicine, not personality labels), and destinies. Deep, replayable backstories with a lineage and heritage system that reaches back generations. NO experience points – Darklands’ system is respected: skills increase through use and become harder to raise over time.

The Four Humors – Darklands hinted at it, we are making it live -Every character has a dominant humor that shapes their attributes, vulnerabilities, diet, and how they die. Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile, and Phlegm are not flavour text – they’re a living physiological system driven by diet, season, exertion, and age. Push the balance too far and your character enters Dyskrasia, with real mechanical consequences.

Alchemy System – Craft salves, and bombs using a dynamic formula system. Mix historical ingredients (mandrake, mercury, aqua fortis) to create healing draughts, attribute boosts, or explosive projectiles.

Authentic Law & Order – Non-combat mechanics for social influence, investigation, and alchemy. Every action – from battles to diplomacy – ripples through the political and social landscape, affecting reputation, alliances, and the law’s interest in you.  

Historical Authenticity – Over 210 real towns based on historical records, each with its own character, economy, and political situation.

Hex Turn-Based Combat – Think classic SSI (Pool of Darkness–era AD&D) mixed with truly satisfying mechanics and meaningful choices. Darklands’ beloved endurance/penetration system returns, with combat stances, zones of control, flanking, and elevation. Permanent injuries, damage that matters, and permadeath (easily toggled off for those who prefer it).

Music – Not an afterthought. A curated medieval sound library with some bespoke orchestral tracks commissioned throughout development to evoke Darklands’ tavern ambiance and epic stakes.

Hybrid Python/C/Rust Engine – Custom-built for high-performance event driven systems and complex simulation. Python drives extensible systems (quests, AI, language generation). C handles real-time fluid physics and native acceleration. Rust powers high-speed rendering of the massive hex map as needed. GLSL shaders for atmospheric effects and environmental lighting.

Intelligent AI – Enemies with goals, plans, and adaptive behaviours. Pack hunters coordinate, berserkers escalate when wounded, and a robust tactical/strategic layer drives dynamic encounters.

V.O.I.C.E. – Linguistic Engine – NPCs don’t pull lines from a bucket. A systemic functional grammar engine generates speech shaped by each character’s social estate, temperament, piety, and relationship to the listener, including historically accurate Ihr/Du address forms. Built for multi-lingual support from the ground up. English initial Release, German committed too, other languages after release.

Development Status

Roadmap: Clear phased milestones leading to website release with early backer rewards.

Progress: Phase 1 is 70% complete, including character creation, terrain rendering, combat rules, the quest authoring toolchain (QUESTA), the procedural content engine (ICE), the linguistic system (VOICE), and a modernised text UI with tutorials to address Darklands’ accessibility issues. No spidery font on brown text, I promise.

Engine: Python/C/Rust hybrid with foundational architecture complete. Native C DLLs shipping for fluid simulation and NPC evaluation. Rust terrain rendering being optimised for performance.

Timeline: Prototype completion early 2026. Early Access launch 2027. Full release 2028 with DLCs through 2029.

Platforms: PC (Windows) via Website, later Steam release.

Team: Led by Marcel Gutsohn (historian and developer), Somatta Day (artist), Bruce Fischer (Midwinter Developer) QA and others.