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[Dorateen]

This thread is for the ongoing play-testing of Edinmoor

I have already received a lot of great feedback and am taking care of a number of finishing issues. I would like to release this to the Vault by mid August. There is still work to be done, but a play through should get the player to the final encounter and able to exit the last dungeon. The version I now have available for download includes the following changes:

added a cabin in Edinmoor
added a small cave in the Forest
the Constable has a conversation
fixed some walkmesh issues as well as other odds and ends

What I most need is some insight on is combat. I designed the campaign for a party of five 7th level characters. I think it might be best if you start with a fresh set of characters, which means no magical equipment. There will be opportunity to obtain level-appropriate gear, but that means at first it may be a struggle to get to that point. I tested the module with the following party:

human paladin
dwarf fighter
human cleric
halfling rogue
human wizard

I found the battles ranged from easy to very challenging. Obviously, the more feedback I get, the more helpful it will be in striking a good balance.

This campaign uses the following custom content:

JasonNH's Empath Abbey pre-fab
Shaugn78's Giants Boulder Toss
RWS Deep Halls tilesets
RWS Creatures

JasonNH was kind enough to combine the various haks and overrides into a single Edinmoor.hak file

The compressed file for downloading is about 66 mb
The mod file is 148 mb
The hak file is 142 mb

If anyone is interested, please send me a message and I will reply with a link to download the 7zip file. All questions, criticisms, feedback and such is appreciated.

Harumph! 

Modifié par Dorateen, 20 juillet 2010 - 01:33 .

[Dorateen]

Chaos Wielder wrote...

Sadly, I can't test at the moment, but I'm looking forward to checking this out. I guess that's not too helpful, but it's what I offer.

No problem! I was grateful to be part of the SOZ expansion project, which helped me on this module. I hope by the time this is up on the Vault, it will be an enjoyable adventure.

[kamalpoe]

Is a giant clock on an amulet an item I can aquire in this module?

[Dorateen]

kamalpoe wrote...

Is a giant clock on an amulet an item I can aquire in this module?

Eh... I'm sorry, Kamal, this one went over me head. Need more dwarf spirits before I wake up.

[kamalpoe]

This guy images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Flavor-Flav-cc08.jpg was in the rap group Public Enemy, one of whose hits was "Fight the Power".

[Dorateen]

Ah yes, good ol' Flavor Flave.
Of course, this is more of a metal-inspired work, with the Maiden and Dio references. Dwarves don't listen to that rap music.

Harumph!

[WyrinDnjargo]

hehe that was my first thought reading the title too. But as most will know I am much more a fan of the Maiden and Dio style.



Looking forward to this Dorateen. DOubt I can release mine in time to test yours but it's on the list to kick back and enjoy once I'm done

[Dorateen]

WyrinDnjargo wrote...

Looking forward to this Dorateen. DOubt I can release mine in time to test yours but it's on the list to kick back and enjoy once I'm done

Hah! I'm anxious to get this done so I can get into White Plume Mountain.

(I wonder if Leinadi will see this thread... his comment last week when I was venting about the forum change is the source of the thread's title.)

[PJ156]

I'm posting back on the thread now? If you want this elsewhere then DM me.

Okay, I am inside the Anvil of time now (cool name!)




= = = =   Spoilers   = = = =



Older note - Could not find the seeds on the witch are they there yet?
AOT Lv 1 Fiendish spiders will not attack.
AOT Lv 1 Captain gives you spider quest repeatedly creating an experience mine.
AOT Lv 1 the clock and the dias have the convo for turning the instrument.
AOT Lv 2 Anvil of time is the first with ,music? It seems a touch gentle for the setting.
AOT Lv 1 Stairs up go nowhere?
AOT Lv 2 All control panels say panel D.
AOT General comment - There is lots of cash and gear here. I am at 100,000 gp but I did bring some gear with me. None the less the cleric on AOT lv 1 has lots to spend and I had planty to sell him.
Cheers,
PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 21 juillet 2010 - 10:39 .

[Dorateen]

PJ156 wrote...

I'm posting back on the thread now? If you want this elsewhere then DM me.

Okay, I am inside the Anvil of time now (cool name!)

Cheers,
PJ

Thanks, PJ... Aye, posting here will be fine. Your comments are keeping me on track with those things I need to complete.

The spiders are supposed to attack after a brief line of narrative fired from a speak trigger. Sounds like the trigger didn't fire.

Drat! The Captain is another NPC I did not give a follow-up conversation to, or set his initial convo to show only once. Need to fix that, and give players the option to come back and kill him if they want.

I know what you mean about the clock and dias both having the conversation. At first I tried to group them as one placeable, then messed around with trying to get the convo to fire. I'll go back and attached it to just the time piece.

The level 2 music... that's the one with piano and strings rising dramatically? Heh, that was a favorite of mine from SoZ. Maybe lure the party into a false sense of security...

The spiral stairs on level 1, all the way up top... sounds like I forgot to add the door. There are a couple of other ways to get to the other levels, which I'm sure you discovered. I'll fix this in the next update.

Blasted control panels and their default display names! I'll go back and change these to something more appropriate.

OK, looks like I need to really tone down the spread of loot drops. I must have been leaving a lot behind, anything I didn't need when I ran through the module. At the very least, it sounds like you are turning a good profit!

Thanks again for continuing to test this module.

[nicethugbert]

I was thinking Rage Against The Machine.

[PJ156]

Back again, still having fun  in the Anvil of time. All comments apply to this area.

1. Astral timepieces not consistently map noted.
2. Rest spots not consistently map noted.
3. Level 3 Two dragon men in floating crystal room do not attack/interact (same for all rooms). Maybe something I have not worked out yet.
4. Level 3 spiral stairs down not connected.
5. Level 1 There is an archive that glows but cannot be interacted with.
6. Level 1 Fire labelled “place text here”
7. In the well I have three options to toss in two round stones not all work?
8. Level 1 Astral time piece in two parts.
9. Level 1 Astral time piece in two parts by deep black hole.
10. Astral time piece always goes to completed on quest log/journal. Could you consider keeping it in open quests till you have found them all?

11. I can't interact with the control knobs - again I will try to do some other things first.
　
I admit I am a bit lost now. I need to go a twiddle some knobs and adjust some time pieces. I am crap at puzzles so this could take a while .
Cheers,
PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 22 juillet 2010 - 10:53 .

[Dorateen]

PJ156 wrote...
Back again, still having fun  in the Anvil of time. All comments apply to this area.

Glad you are having fun. I know it can be frustrating when a module is in this stage of development.

I will check those map notes. You are correct, I want them to successfully show up so that players can track where the time pieces are. Same with the rest spots. Could be I did not flag the property to enable these mapnotes. Thanks for pointing this out.

The dragonmen will not interact with you unless you do something first. Sounds like you have not made them mad yet...

The archive has a non-vital piece of information. I probably failed to flag the "has inventory" property.

That level 1 fire "place text here" seems odd. I will take a closer look at that.

Regarding the journal updates with the Astral Time pieces, I'm not thrilled with the way I resolved this. But there are multiple pieces, and I needed to track the ones the player has completed. Since this was more so a quest-tracking mechanic, I sent all the separate journal entries right to the completed section. I'll look into this further to try and clean them up.

If at any point you want me to let you know what you need to do, just give me a shout. It sounds like you are very close.

Look forward to hearing about you advancing further!

[PJ156]

Hello Dorateen,

Played the Anvil of time this evening and I think I have finished the mod.

Generally this is a fun D&D mod.

These are my comments from this evenings run through.
1. Worked out the control panels but the construct was long since dead. Might be tougher with a lower level party. You still get the exp of the panels atfer the big guy tops. Double bubble on the exp; was that intended?
2. Crashed to desktop during Edinmoor final battle. But only once; probably me - it was when I tried to use the healing stone.
3. Edinmoors fear attack makes the final combat very tough. The effects seems automatic and lasts a long time - I had to cheat to win with my high level party 8 - 9. I had not cleric though with a fear resistance spell
4. A journal entry when the crystals are destroyed would be helpful?
5. Could not get into room with Yardaz and old mouldy.
6. Tried the giants tree with 21 strength. No luck there.
7. I killed the bad guys and left the spooky place am I done? I can’t seem to find closure.
I am going to download your update now and play a new party of 6th level characters. I can give feed back on combat balance then.
PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 23 juillet 2010 - 11:17 .

[PJ156]

I can't find a link to the lasted upadate.



I think the spirits may have addled my brain this evening. Tis Friday after all.



If you can give me a link I can give this some time tomorow.



PJ

[Dorateen]

PJ156 wrote...


Hello Dorateen,

Played the Anvil of time this evening and I think I have finished the mod.

Just sent you a PM with the download link.

That battle really does require some kind of Protection from fear. Magic Circle vs. Alignment should do the trick. Is that an available sorceror or druid spell? Both me wizard and cleric had it. And having a Paladin along helped, heh.

I'll check the conversation with the giant's tree. You should be strong enough... there should be a special dialogue option that only appears for the party member with 21 strength. You would have to choose that option to succeed. But I will make sure it is working properly.

Appreciate every bit of advice and feedback you have sent. It's a lot of little things, that only seem to add up. But your posts will serve as a nice check list for the items I need to fix, or fully implement (Like the encounter with Yardaz and Old Mouldy... It is not ready yet for this test version.) I think I will be on schedule to finish by next month.

Modifié par Dorateen, 24 juillet 2010 - 12:20 .

[PJ156]

This time I have a new party of 4 persons party of 6th level comprising:

Paladin
Rogue
Sorcerer
Cleric

All seems to be going smoothly. One or two issues, the worst being the thief issue. Not sure it’s the mod but may be a quirk in the death system you are running. Combat is okay. One saved game needed to date in villa combat at start but I got mass confused at the start and had no characters so death was inevitable.

1. Only one of each healing potion available in the temple.
2. Dire wolves pasted me when I took them on straight away.
3. Looping owl noise in forest with no delay.
4. Forest critters easy as I have access to fire magic, otherwise would be a big problem.
5. Stone tree worked fine, perhaps it would have done before I see now an extra option in the dialogue.
6. House in the wood is floating.
7. Dark seductress has a male voice (no biggie did not spot it till she died   )
8. Big issue which may force me to use a saved game - My thief is currently locked twixed life and death. She is healed to max but won’t get up and join in , her HP show 36/-18 (36 = max for her).
Cheers,
PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 24 juillet 2010 - 11:24 .

[Dorateen]

PJ156 wrote...

This time I have a new party of 4 persons party of 6th level comprising:

Paladin
Rogue
Sorcerer
Cleric

All seems to be going smoothly. One or two issues, the worst being the thief issue. Not sure it’s the mod but may be a quirk in the death system you are running. Combat is okay. One saved game needed to date in villa combat at start but I got mass confused at the start and had no characters so death was inevitable.

Thanks for the update, PJ.

That hit point status of your rogue sounds like a glitch. (I copied the SoZ on player death script, so that is the system I am using.) Have you had an opportunity to rest yet? I wonder if that would reset it back to normal. Otherwise, maybe the game is treating her as though she bled out and died. The rule is supposed to be characters bleed for up to half their hit points, but that 36/-18 sounds backwards. I wonder what would happen if you cast a Raise Dead on the rogue. I hope you don't have to revert to a saved game.

I moved the house in the forest to make it easier to reach the door, remember that issue? I guess I did not sink the house into the ground enough.

Yeah, I'm stingy on the heal potions, but I think your group is holding up pretty well so far.

Thanks!

Modifié par Dorateen, 25 juillet 2010 - 02:13 .

[PJ156]

 On the bright side I got into the house without any problems.

I have not tried resting yet but will do that first, I don't have a raise dead scroll. Should have brought one with me but money is tight.

PJ

[dunniteowl]

3. Looping owl noise in forest with no delay.

Don't blame Dorateen. I'm in yer gamez stealin' yer Soundz!



dno

who whowho whooo!

[PJ156]

Hello Dorateen,
Here’s my notes on tonight’s session:

= = = = = = = SPOILERS = = = = = = = =


1. Rogue was fine on reload of a saved game did not need to rest.
2. Villa - Kitchen shelf = shelf 01
3. Villa - spoke with daughter after I took on father and no response. Previously there was a family reunion convo.
4. Villa - Inkwell and book on the floor in Aryndellas room.
5. Villa - Trigger on three golem room only works on one door. Come at it from the entry hall and you can loot without challenge.
6. Edinmoor - can’t find the seeds referred to by the druid.
7. Edinmoor - Bendict juniors convo does not change back at the stall he still refers to him self being in the villa.
8. Edinmoor - Cyrus convo does not change after you have handed him in.
9. Edinmoor - Furganhal convo does not change after murder is solved.
10. Edinmoor - Glafinor convo does not change in response to solving the murder.
11 Villa - have not found a use for the useful looking spoon yet.


Notes on combats -


I am saving before each combat when I can. I then play the combat five times.
5 wins = very easy,
4 wins = easy
3 wins = moderate
2 wins = hard
1 win = very hard,
0 wins =impossible.


Where this does not work is out doors unless I can see the combat coming. The following combats I have used the above rules.


Many combats are triggered from a convo. This allows the pc to move the people in the party without triggering the convo to a fortuitous position by keeping the dialogue box opened with the last closing remark unclicked. I have not used this in any of the combats below but it does make some encounters very easy indeed. This one is down to role play I guess.


Combats so far


1. Dire wolves - impossible (played at entry level/equipment onto game) (5 pastings with knobs on)
2. Giant - moderate
3. Wolves in cave - very easy.
4. Jilted lover and daughters - Easy
5. Villa intro combat - Moderate
6. Villa arachnid - Very easy
7. Villa base of stairs - very easy but uses resources.
8. Villa front door - Moderate
9. Edinmoor dire wolves round II = Very easy with the wand of fireballs and good equipment from the villa.
F.Y.I after the forest and Villa I have 50 K and all the equipment I need at this stage.


Generally still enjoying this on second run through .
PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 25 juillet 2010 - 11:22 .

[Dorateen]

PJ156 wrote...

Hello Dorateen,
Here’s my notes on tonight’s session:

Hey, glad your Rogue made it out alive!

I'm in the process of putting together my next update. Some of the notes you mentioned have been addressed. What I still need to do is finish the epliogue conversations after that story arc. I does sound as if some conversations are broken, if done out of sequence (referring to father and daughter) I will take a closer look at that.

If you are interested in completing the Druid's quest, explore the witch's house more thoroughly to find the seeds. If you want to know exactly where they are, just let me know.

You will find a use for the useful looking "spoon" (I think they are forks, actually. Base item was a spoon...) as you continue through the adventure.

Great write-up on the combat. That seems like a good system. Are you saying the "moderate" fights, you won 3 out of 5 times? That means your party got beaten twice. If that is correct, then that sounds good to me for those encounters. I expect that players will be able to win these battles. But if they get wiped out on their first try, then that should just mean a change of strategy. It appears some of the tougher fights are thus rating as moderate. As far as players positioning their party before an encounter, I don't mind that. For me, it adds an element of tactics.

You can buy a lot of Raise Dead Scrolls with 50K. You may not need them, but at least you are donating to the local temple of Lathander!

Thanks for the ongoing playthrough. Look forward who your group does in the mountains and beyond.

[PJ156]

Hello again,

Three wins out of five is moderate as you confirmed. Generaly if I hit a wining tactic I try to change it in the next combat.

For me personally I like moderate, It's what I try to hit in my mods, there is some risk there but with thought and careful play you should come out on top.

Cheers,

PJ

[JasonNH]

Dorateen wrote...

I'm in the process of putting together my next update.

Let me know when you get this together and I'll restart my play testing with the latest build. Since you and PJ have made so much progress by now, it doesn't make much sense for me to pick it back up where I left off. Nice work, keep plugging away.