The combat system is fairly comprehensive, but the role-playing elements have not been neglected. Character creation is accomplished not by spending points on skills and attributes, but instead by answering a series of questions about your character’s background, including events in his childhood and his motivation for taking up a life of adventure. After answering these questions, your character’s base attributes and skills are generated, and you receive a small budget of extra points to round him out. While combat is a primary focus of the game, non-combat skills have far more impact than you might expect. Persuasion can convince everyone from your companions to various lords to follow a course of action, while Trade can be used to pursue life as a legitimate merchant. There are even skills that cover looting and leadership. Because some of these skills become even more essential as your goals get bigger, character development must be split between gaining prowess in combat and increasing leadership abilities.

But role-playing is more than just character stats and experience points. Mount and Blade advertises itself as “sandbox” title. While there are plenty of quests to undertake, there is no overall storyline or anything that is a “must-do”. The game starts you off with minimal equipment, some cash, a neutral disposition towards all factions and little or no renown (unless you pick a background that has you coming from a noble family). From there your course is whatever you choose it to be. About the only thing you do every time is gather heroes as companions and some troops to support you in whatever endeavors you choose to undertake. Heroes, much like your own character, develop with experience and can be similarly equipped, but they are more than just strong arms for wielding weapons in combat. Several abilities are labeled as party skills; your entire group benefits from whoever has the highest skill, so your character is not forced to become an expert on everything. One of your heroes can excel in the medical arts, while another can be an excellent tracker, but they are not just walking skill sets. Heroes have their own motivations, likes and dislikes, and they are not afraid to let you know when there is something they like or hate. I’ve had some companions compliment me for knowing when to retreat, while others have complained bitterly about my apparent cowardice. Even more interestingly, heroes can form deep friendships or intense hatred between them as they follow you. Some of your companions may decide to leave you at the first sign of trouble, while others will remain loyal despite starvation and defeat.

These kinds of role-play elements are to be found elsewhere in the game. The various lords, ladies, kings and usurpers who populate Mount and Blade also have their own motivations and personalities. Few things make this more apparent than when you are excessively cordial to defeated enemies and let them go free rather than taking them prisoner. Some lords are so disagreeable that they complain about your generosity even under these circumstances. Others have more rational likes and dislikes. There’s no real way to become friends with everyone, as performing quests for one person might cause you to step on the toes of another. Of course, your own soldiers have their own simpler tastes, with morale being a constant problem unless your troops are well paid and well fed with something besides rotten beef (and yes, rotten beef is a choice, though I don’t recommend it either in the game or in real life).

Regardless of all this interaction between yourself and the other characters, the world of Calradia continues to go its merry way whether you do anything or not. Every lord, king, bandit gang, town and merchant caravan has its own AI, and they all pursue their programmed goals as best they can. Wars begin and end, battles are fought and prisoners are taken throughout the game world, following no plot or script beyond the programmed goals of each of these groups. After a few game weeks, no two scenarios will be the same, and your own actions, or lack thereof, will have had an impact. There’s no timetable in the game. As long as you have the desire to continue adventuring, the world is there for your character. Since there is no overarching plot, it can never end, and the game does not artificially increase the difficulty of your enemies by increasing their levels or abilities as you get better yourself (though it does appear that quests scale their attributes to your level).