Narrative RPG The Ballad Singer Draws From D&D And Visual Novels For Its Decision-Based Play

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The Ballad Singer is a narrative RPG that draws from Dungeons & Dragons and other RPG game books, aiming to give players a wide fantasy world where they can make dozens of decisions, slowly deciding the fate of the world and its characters based on their choices.

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The Ballad Singer follows four different characters: Daragast the aging warrior bard, Ancroran the Sylph ranger, Leon the magic user, and Ancalimo the soldier. Each of these four may work together, but all have their own character motivations and desires that will reflect in how the game plays should players choose to ignore or prioritize their wants in what the decide to do. Outright dismissing what these characters need can often result in death, though.

The Ballad Singer means to give players seventeen hundred different story routes to take, using the Domino System to make a single decision create chain reactions of events throughout the story. Seemingly simple choices can make the game alter in drastic ways for various characters, forcing players to carefully way each call they make. Upon completion of a run through the game’s world, though, it will show the route the players took through the branching story, hinting at ways they could make it different on future runs.

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The Ballad Singer is currently raising development funding on Kickstarter.


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Image of Alistair Wong
Alistair Wong
Very avid gamer with writing tendencies. Fan of Rockman and Pokémon and lots more!