A downloadable Low Fantasy RPG for Windows



"Thommas BlackThorne is the last heir of the BlackThorne,
a once noble family of the northernmost edges of the empire.
The family castle, the BlackThorne Keep is a ruin of the ancient
forgotten glory and a reminder of what was lost. When his family
lands are given to a new noble , Thommas needs to travel south to find
his older brother that decided to dedicate his life to the church
- and deliver the news of the Fate of the BlackThorne."

Fight


Explore


Investigate





Hi! My name is Roberto Garcia and I'm the founder of the BlackThorne Keep gaming community and writer of the PARAGONIA RPG, a low fantasy tabletop RPG that takes place in a world akin to  16th century Europe and Americas. I've been passionate about gaming and RPGs for all my life and studied Screenwriting, Cinema and Filmmaking. 

In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, I had the opportunity to start learning Unreal 4, and decided to turn all my years of gaming and RPGing into something new: a BlackThorne Keep ARPG with next gen technology - gathering all the stories of friends and foes along these years of online and analog gaming to create an original electronic Action RPG.

And that's why I'm on itch.io! Here I intend to gather the enthusiasts of this world and genre to help fund the project, while keeping a line open with the people interested.

That said, it's important to make clear that this is not (yet) a product. If you decide to contribute to the project and buy the game in its current form, please understand that you're not buying a final product - it's far from that! The objective at this point is to gather a community to help bring this vision to life, and if you’re looking for customer support or a fully developed experience, don't buy it now. Hopefully in a few years you will be able to get a fully realized product - no hard feelings!

Now, if you're interested in the project and want to help make it real, please do! At this point, I'm doing all of the development alone, learning code and buying assets from artists, and this kind of stuff is not cheap. All funds gathered here will be used to further develop the game and enhance it.

And this is just getting started! I hope I can count on your support.



BlackThorne Keep Chronicles is set on a new world called Paragonia, based on the tabletop RPG setting I've been working for almost 20 years. The setting we will be exploring in the game is called The Old Empire, a region of the world where the struggle for power have divided a once great nation into several rival kingdoms and city-states. 




The first part of the Story Campaign takes place in a region called the Black Forest, named after a millennia old clan structure often called The Blacks. Several of the known noble families of the current Sherath Kingdom trace back to the original "Blacks" and are now known as BlackOaks, BlackStenius, BlackBriars, BlackThorne, BlackWood etc, changing names and lands over the centuries. The Blacks resisted the first incursion of the empire, but were eventually conquered and assimilated to the nobility.


First draft of Black Forest - North Map



One of the planned game modes is a Campaign Mode that will introduce the world setting and tell the story of the BlackThorne, a once noble family that fell from grace and is now gauging their way trough the opulence of The Old Empire.


What Is the BlackThorne Keep

The BlackThorne were once lords on the edges of the empire, ruling the region commonly known as BlackForest North. Their ancient castle, the BlackThorne Keep is now a ruin - a tale of pride and decadency.  Originally built to dominate the region and keep the savage clans at bay, the keep was overrun by the Iron Helm clan, the very same savages it was supposed to master. Seeing no other solution, the BlackThorne Lord at the time sapped his own castle and destroyed it. Even though he rooted out the savages back to the mountains, it cost him his castle, his title and his family glory.

Decades later, the Northern BlackForest is a place almost forgotten by the empire. The only town there is in all aspects a frontier town and works as a commercial hub for the folks that live in the region.

The remaining BlackThorne live now in one of the remaining farms of the Castle era - the lands that were not taken from their ancestral that destroyed his own Keep. No longer nobles, not yet accepted by the common folk, the BlackThorne live at the shadow of their glorious past - often recalled of their fall by the shadow of the opulent ruined castle at the edge of their lands.








The game in its currently state is playable, but it is in EARLY stages, what one could call Early Access. Even though it has a lot of its building blocks in place, it should be considered very heavy Work in Progress in ALL areas. 

Current features (Work in Progress):
-Melee Combat 
-Open World exploration
-Horse Riding 
-Quest System
-Arena Game mode for Combat Testing
-Traveling system
-Taverns and Inns
-Hunger System
- Camping feature
- Loot System
- Game Pad support
-Equipment Maintenance

Currently being implemented:
-Character Sheet
-Local and World Map
-Equipment Maintenance
-Shops and Workshops


Planed Features:
- Story Heavy campaign
- Game Modes: Story Campaign and Arena
-Resources (for survival gameplay)
-Active Karma System with branching story
-Character Progression and Customization

**The list of planed features might be changed if any supervening issue arise. **



System Requirements:

-Intel Quad Core i5-2300 or AMD FX-6300
- Windows 8 64 Bit/ Windows 10 64 Bit
-Dx 12 compatible video card
-8gb ram
-Disk Space: 15gb



Best Played On:



Join our Discord!


Download

This Low Fantasy RPG is currently unavailable

Download demo

Download
BlackThorneKeep Manual Alpha 28.pdf 468 kB

Development log

View all posts

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

(+1)

Great work so far, Could deffetly be a gold mine, and easily the best medieval rpg to date! 10/10 I will be doing streams of the game to help find bugs add suggestions, you can find me here.  https://www.twitch.tv/wraithsquadronrebel I will also be promoting the game though redit twitter, and to a few inside people i know in the gaming world to help make this dream happen hopefully.

(+2)

So Far i'm seeing the small improvments! i played a small chunk cause i started at night but enemies die faster (including myself) they don't respond multiple times which was a problem at first, game runs smoothly. I didn't experience any lag there was a bit on obs but i need to tweak the setting on that. There were a some misspelled words and some youi didn't need proof read through you dialogue again is the only thing i can think of. 

Questing, HUGE IMPROVEMENT! i know where to go and there even a quest complete window and more which helps alot i can stay focused in the game i know im on the right track and i don't have to recheck. each spot is populated with characters now so the game is getting livelier plus the lore is involving the main protagonist's. Horse ran into a wall lol which is just funny had to type it in. I have to watch the character now cause of his hunger, overuse of the campfire it was boggling my mind, I know im going to die in the next episode.....or lose my mind lol 

I'm definitely playing more and hopefully explore everything there is  Fantastic buddy!

(+3)

Okay for an alpha build, pretty freaking sweet! Combat is amazing and very hard which I expect. It actually reminds me of for honor battle mechanics, nice open world though not much going on did make me feel like I was in a fantasy world and of course graphics are great, sound and animation can be worked on but the lore is coming together. Great job especially as a one man developer.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, Marxxiez! Im glad you had fun with the current build, motivates me to do better! I am currently working on a few improvements on the Campaign mode and bug fixes to the general main flow of the game, like main menu and options. Theres a lot on the way, Ill be updating the game pretty frequently, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again for supporting the project! Much love!

(+1)

it's amazing what you accomplished alone, keep the good work, for sure will be a success!

(+2)

i'm currently playing the campaign open mode and  im stuck at trying to find the mine south west of the castle ruins. i can't open the map either so if you can help me out i would appreciate it

(+1)

Hi Marxxiez! Thanks for supporting the project!
The mines are easier to find if you stick to the road going south. Currently the map is not yet implemented, Im working on it as we speak, should be in on the next major update. 

(+1)

Thanks for the response! I got myself lost looking at the house icon lol 

(+1)

Off to a good start! Looks great!

Hi Lerius! Thanks for supporting the project!

(+3)

Can't wait to learn the lore of this world. I've been following some of your previous work for quite a time and it's really impressive. I'm looking forward to play and see what BlackThorne Keep has to offer. Keep up the good work mate!

Hi, Mozzeratti! Thanks for supporting the Project!