148 réponses à ce sujet

[kamalpoe]

Hellfire_RWS wrote...

? where did you get them. Now im worried that something is wrong with my oozes!)

I doubt they were RWS. I got rid of them because they just didn't work well enough. I didn't even know you had oozes in your pack.

[dunniteowl]

RWS Creature Conversion Pack.

dno

[kamalpoe]

Chaos Wielder wrote...
@ Kamal
If you want to go and finish the UM, I'd be fine with it. Here are some ideas I have in mind:
1) Caves/portals on the OM lead directly to the UM(we could offer something in the way of a brief narrative scene as to how this has happened). The areas below ground are removed from the plot. Think of the UM as one big meta dungeon, with smaller 'rooms' filled by individual modders.
2) We make a different campaign(though nobody seems really keen on that).

Well, doing it has caught my interest, so I'll build one. Someone else will have to handle scripting things like random encounters for it though. The only thing I'd need to know would be if it's under just one OM or has seperate sections, one for each OM.  It doesn't really matter to me how players get there. I'll put in some hooks for transitioning from somewhere else, portals, tunnels to the surface.

Incidentally, I figued in that demo video that the player was moving so slow because I didn't put down any terrain triggers, and the scripts default the player to the slowest speed.

[The Fred]

What I think would be awesome would be a half-illithid lizardfolk, the perfect meeting of snake-land and the Underdark. It would basically be a lizardfolk but with an illithid's tentacles. Or, basically anything else which is cool.

[I_Raps]

The Fred wrote...

What I think would be awesome would be a half-illithid lizardfolk, the perfect meeting of snake-land and the Underdark. It would basically be a lizardfolk but with an illithid's tentacles. Or, basically anything else which is cool.

I used those guys as a separate race in my Iron Kingdoms campaign.  Great fun.

The players captured one of them - a bard - and converted him to a lackey for a time.  They were ruled by a dragon and her half-dragon-half-half-illithid-lizardfolk son whose name was Kaketel or something similar.  One of the players misremembered and called him "Kukabura;"  I corrected him, but the name for the up-to-then nameless bard was born:

Cthukabura.


p.s. Everybody be sure to click on The Fred's link.  It's a great picture, worthy of saving.

Modifié par I_Raps, 08 septembre 2010 - 07:43 .

[MokahTGS]

Hellfire_RWS wrote...

? where did you get them. Now im worried that something is wrong with my oozes!)

Nothing is wrong with your ooze, Hellfire...they ooze just like they should and are happily eating adventurers in the moorlands of Jabberwocky.

I'm also looking forward to their update with your new discoveries...

[kamalpoe]

Something like this? The red paint is the area border and proposed tunnels/open areas, and I just laid down a desert texture for high visibility in the initial building.

350x175http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Arkur0fkYgs/TIgksF8qS6I/AAAAAAAAAxQ/ZHzU66WB394/s1600/um_proof1.JPG[/img]

There will be a lot more height variation in this map than the SoZ OMs. Any of the dead end tunnels could connect with the surface if that was desired. I put that swirl of tunnels in the top right to stand in for something bizzare like illithid caverns. The lowered area with briges is a proposed underground river/lake, though of course it could also be a
giant chasm. The large red opening in the southwest I figured could be for a city of some sort, with whomever owning it controlling the territory south of the bridges. The random tunnel area in between the two corners is a no mans land. I'd probably throw several chasm crossings into that area for dramatic effect. In fact looking at it I might make the red paths in the central area the walkable edges of a huge chasm instead of tunnels.

When making an OM map, you need to take care where you have decreasing elevation as you move north, because of the perspective of the fixed camera. Speaking of which, is there a plugin that will lock the camera in the toolset to the OM camera settings? That would make getting a good feel for things easier.

This is a 24x24 map, though the tunnels greatly restrict the actual area you can travel through compared to an overland map.

Modifié par kamalpoe, 09 septembre 2010 - 12:31 .

[nicethugbert]

The Fred wrote...

What I think would be awesome would be a half-illithid lizardfolk, the perfect meeting of snake-land and the Underdark. It would basically be a lizardfolk but with an illithid's tentacles. Or, basically anything else which is cool.

YUCK!  It's perfect!

[Shaun the Crazy One]

kamalpoe wrote...

Something like this? The red paint is the area border and proposed tunnels/open areas, and I just laid down a desert texture for high visibility in the initial building.

Kamalpoe that is absolutely beautiful.  I really excited about this prodject.

[LeeMer47]

kamalpoe wrote...

Incidentally, I figured in that demo video that the player was moving so slow because I didn't put down any terrain triggers, and the scripts default the player to the slowest speed.

I seem to remember that Survival also greatly increases speed. With a 0 Survival even walking on a road can seem slow. At least it seemed that way when I was testing an overland map.

[Haplose]

To be precise, Survival reduced movement speed penalties for rough terrain in SoZ.

So actually had the least impact on road movement speed.

[MokahTGS]

The Fred wrote...

What I think would be awesome would be a half-illithid lizardfolk, the perfect meeting of snake-land and the Underdark. It would basically be a lizardfolk but with an illithid's tentacles. Or, basically anything else which is cool.

That is awesome...and icky...

[The Fred]

I don't know what it is, the illithid tentacles just seem to go really well on a lizardfolk... plus, it would make a lot of story sense for the illithids to be breeding a small group of reptillian creatures to do work for them on the surface and be a military-type force (everyone knows illithid can't fight to save their lives - literally).



Kamalpoe, that map looks pretty good. I think a little more cavern could good, though, so the player has a little more freedom to move around and we have a little more freedom to place dungeons and things. Replacing a block of "wall" with a chasm would be a good idea, though, as it would make the place feel more open while still restricting movement a bit.

[kamalpoe]

The Fred wrote...
Kamalpoe, that map looks pretty good. I think a little more cavern could good, though, so the player has a little more freedom to move around and we have a little more freedom to place dungeons and things. Replacing a block of "wall" with a chasm would be a good idea, though, as it would make the place feel more open while still restricting movement a bit.

I can certainly add more cavern space. Underdark's not really known for there being caverns all over the place. When I sketched it out I had the idea that many people's additions could be placed either at the dead ends, or along the tunnels. But if people want caverns, it's not a problem to either enlarge some tunnel space or add them at dead ends.

If someone has something specific they want on the UM, let me know.

[dunniteowl]

Ever been to Carlsbad caverns? Those open areas under the ground are literally awe inspiring. I always pictured the Underdark as a series of large caverns on the order of Carlsbad (possibly similar in concept also to Journey to the Center of the Earth) where there are interconnecting tunnels, crevices, chasms, gaps and what not, hiding a vast array of lifeforms, natural creatures that create their own light, and of course with plenty of places large enough to not only hold cities, but entire ecologies.

In that sense, I'd think the UM you present, kamal, would be a good way to get folks to those types of areas and you just make the passages and occasional points of interest along the way.

dunniteowl

[kamalpoe]

dunniteowl wrote...

Ever been to Carlsbad caverns? Those open areas under the ground are literally awe inspiring. I always pictured the Underdark as a series of large caverns on the order of Carlsbad (possibly similar in concept also to Journey to the Center of the Earth) where there are interconnecting tunnels, crevices, chasms, gaps and what not, hiding a vast array of lifeforms, natural creatures that create their own light, and of course with plenty of places large enough to not only hold cities, but entire ecologies.
In that sense, I'd think the UM you present, kamal, would be a good way to get folks to those types of areas and you just make the passages and occasional points of interest along the way.
dunniteowl

Not in RL, though I've been in some cenotes and other underground spaces in RL. I just finished going through the maps provided in the Underdark book NTB linked. The Underdark extends under the entirety of Faerun according to that, and while there are plenty of caverns, the really large ones big enough for cities are not so common. Most everything is tunnels and smaller caves. Of course I can always take whatever artistic license is needed to give people a interesting map: light in the Middledark and below is supposed to be practically non-existant, but I think that might not make for good gameplay. Adding more large caverns is trivial.

Modifié par kamalpoe, 09 septembre 2010 - 05:46 .

[dunniteowl]

Well that's what I mean, kamal, the map you present would be perfect for folks to get to their destinations. If they want it to be the shores of a dark, black lake of eerily still water, fine. Or if they want to have the adventure center around a slaver's camp near the surface, fine.

This way, the onus is upon the adventure builder to create the module areas for their adventure and all you're doing is providing a pathway to it. And for those purposes, a map like the one you presented is perfect, really.

I was referencing Carlsbad as it's a very good example of large underground spaces. So large in fact, that it simply humbles you to think that above you, covering that immense roof above you, is tons upon tons of meters thick rock. There's plenty of room in the Underdark for all that and more. Then again, if you're going to follow canon FR lore, most likely none of this will ever actually encroach on the entryways to a Drowven City, an Illitihid stronghold or anything that grand (and I believe those are all either very far away from where SoZ takes place, and extremely deep in the Deep Underdark.

Potential encounters include in areas just below the surface, underground, not the Underdark (note the capitalized indication of a place name) include, Drow, Derro, Duergar, Illithids, Beholders, Umber Hulks, Purple Worms, Norkers, Piercers, Cloakers, Bulettes, Goblins, Kobolds, Slavers and a whole host of others thrown into the mix, including other adventuring parties, escaped slaves, bandits, wayward travelers (which might also make them escaped slaves) outcasts and the occasional scholar with mercenary guard in tow.

Your map, I think, is a perfect fit for those sorts of lead-ins to lower to upper level adventures.

dunniteowl

[kamalpoe]

The Underdark sourcebook (which is not good btw), refers to the upper parts of the Underdark as the "Upperdark", then the Underdark (drow cities are here), then the Lowerdark (but virtually no one goes there, incredibly dangerous).



As I build, things suggest themselves to me. For instance, in the central chasm I talked about, I got the idea that the air there goes down and is dry and cool for several days, then this reverses and the air rises and is warmer and damper. Local denizens believe that this is because there is an incredibly huge being at the bottom of the chasm, and the air currents are the being's inhalation/exhalation, but no one's ever been down there and lived. For this reason, the chasm is known as The Maw.



The little island in the lake is an ancient burial ground for a long forgotten race, or a pilgrimage spot for some underdark race.



The large cavern in the southwest houses a dwarven city. The dwarves control all south of the river. THe sourcebook says dwarven cities can extend into the Upperdark.

[The Fred]

Stuff like dwarf cities makes sense close to the surface. Maybe illithid/drow/duergar etc outposts, but probably not massive establishments. Of course, it kind of depends *how* deep you want to be. If you were to rationalise this by means of, say, a portal link etc, the UM could be *anyway* in Faerun, theoretically.

[kamalpoe]

Now with basic texturing and height adjustments. Notice some paths have turned into bridges over chasms for drama.
350x175http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Arkur0fkYgs/TImCLN5olcI/AAAAAAAAAxs/Rn_f_cNmK2E/s1600/um2.JPG[/img]

Modifié par kamalpoe, 10 septembre 2010 - 12:58 .

[The Fred]

Very awesome.

[kamalpoe]

Is there a plugin that will lock the camera in the toolset to the OM camera settings?
In the south of the map you can see how the rock faces tend to be right along the northern edge of the pathways, while the southern edge of a path is empty other than the texture border. This is because of locked OM camera would not show those spots ingame as they'd be behind the rock faces from the camera angle. In fact some of the rockfaces are actually above the path, but you can't tell with the locked camera.
I wanted to use the darkness vfx in the chasms since it has a pulsating effect. But there is a bug with the vfx, if you raise it a certain amount above the terrain under it it you get a central core of pulsating darkness and then a halo of darkness instead of a continuous plane of pulsating darkness. Instead I used the black paint on the terrain. It looks almost as good, and does give the sense of a chasm bottom so far away you can't see it. It's also painted black under the water.
It's kind of hard to see, but there are significant elevation changes, the paths go from about -2 meters to about 15. Since the player is OM size these should seem even larger. There are plenty of elevation changes "for the heck of it".

I considered putting in some rockfaces that block the camera's view of a path, this being a map of tunnels. Opinions on that? As it is now the path is basically freely viewable with a few small partial blocks of a path that a player would pass through within a second of travel, the outer northeast spiral would be an example of this.

[nicethugbert]

kamalpoe wrote...

As I build, things suggest themselves to me. For instance, in the central chasm I talked about, I got the idea that the air there goes down and is dry and cool for several days, then this reverses and the air rises and is warmer and damper. Local denizens believe that this is because there is an incredibly huge being at the bottom of the chasm, and the air currents are the being's inhalation/exhalation, but no one's ever been down there and lived. For this reason, the chasm is known as The Maw.

Well, critters tend to have bad breath and only plants exhale oxygen, in RL AFAIK. 

Wikipdeda says:

Araumycos
In the Forgotten Realms setting, Araumycos (Dwarvish, literally meaning "Great Fungus") is a fictional enormous fungal growth that lives in the Upper Underdark[/b] of the continent of Faerûn. It is a single organism that exists in the region beneath the High Forest,
beginning at a depth of one mile under the surface and ending at a
depth of three miles. It is immune to magic and greatly resistant to
psionic energy. Araumycos will sometimes attack intruders with poison,
spores, and manifestations that resemble oozes and slimes.[7]
Araumycos houses many fungal creatures of all varieties. Travel
within Araumycos is difficult, as the fungus regenerates quickly. Many
passages and caves are blocked by the fungal growths.[7]

[nicethugbert]

Drow of the Underdark

Modifié par nicethugbert, 21 septembre 2010 - 02:29 .

[The Fred]

It's a shame we don't have fading (well we do, but in this situation?) or dithering.