20 réponses à ce sujet

[PJ156]

In The Last Days of the Raven there will be several sub plots, each of about 20 - 30 mins play time.

They will preferably be played out within the town but I can add and area or two if needs be. I would like help with one of these subplots. I have a plot basis (see below) but what I can't do is see a way to actually have this as a quest.

Here is the basis for the sub plot called "A soldiers tale".

When Lord Nasher called the muster for the doomed battle with the King of shadows the local lord of the town you are in sent some town militia. Of the fifty he sent only five returned after the battle. One of those is the soldier in question.

He is a broken man, spending his days and nights in the lowest inn in town he drinks himself senseless, when he sleeps he has nightmares which he wakes from screaming (you will be able to hear him if you go into the inn at night). When you talk to the man he is coherent but deeply troubled, he has watched his friends being killed/eaten by the undead, and that sort of things sits hard on a commoner.

He will beg the party to kill him as he does not have the courage himself. The PC may choose to kill him and that will end the plot but I want there to be a more uplifting end to his tale.

What I want to do it fit some sort of quest around this man. Can a cure be found, is the one solution I have - perhaps an ingredient needs to be obtained. However I don't want to trivialise this into a fedex type quest. It needs to be rounder than that. I also don't want the solution to be offensive, Post Traumatic Stress is a real issue to some people in one form or another.

I wonder if any fellow modders have any thoughts, perhaps this does not even belong in a mod I don't know. However my mod will have three such subquests, where the PC makes life better or worse for different members of the townsfolk.

You thoughts would be welcome.

PJ

[kamalpoe]

Let the cure erase his memory of more than just the battles. That way the player can ask themselves if it was worth it.



Perhaps a wizard/cleric could help (I would think Heal might do the trick here, since it cures many mental states as well as wounds), and you might have to do something for them before they will.

[PJ156]

Thanks Kamal,



I like these ideas, the first especially. Perhaps I could extend the quest on that basis by getting the now memoryless man back with his family.



PJ

[Azenn]

Maybe come up with a way for the PC's party to relive the soldier's memories and try to discover what caused his current state. Maybe he executed some deserters, betrayed a comrade, let someone die, slaughtered townsfolk, etc. It's up to you.

In this scenario, it would be the PC's responsibility to enter the mindscape, fight off some minions of the Shadow King (hey, good thing NWN 2 has all those models already! =D) find the cause of his nightmares, and either kill it or cure it somehow. I like the idea that either solution could potentially wipe the soldier's memories. For instance, let's say that the soldier was forced to kill his deserting brother. Solving the quest could erase all memories of the brother or family, begging the question if it was all worth it. =)

Entering the soldier's mindscape could be a short quest in and of itself where the PC has to find some nifty magic balm/plot device.

GL

Edit: And I meant deserting brother, not desserting brother! (it would be quite the different tale if the brother was court martialed for eating all the mess hall's cheese cake)

Modifié par Azenn, 11 octobre 2010 - 01:53 .

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

The enter-the-dream idea is neat, you could set it up as a groundhog-day thing, where you play the same thing over and over, to the same bad end (I guess the zombies get the soldier's friends and he wakes up screaming), until the player figures something out, does something different, leading to a different outcome for the soldier. Then the soldier wakes up peacefully and decides to become a professional zombie hunter or otherwise gets on with his life. It would be a great excuse for a spooky dreamscape with infinite undead, maybe even a few OC cameos.



If you feel stuck, though, I find it helps just to look at the module (or your series) as a whole and ask yourself what you're trying to say with it. Once you've got a vague idea of your underlying themes, then just make sure your subquest tangles with one of those themes in some way. It's just a subquest, it doesn't have to do everything, but if it's driven by something you care about, then something good will come out of it. It seems you have a really clear set up with the screaming-in-the-night thing, now you just have to realize what the second half of that thought was. Even if it does end up just being a simple fed-ex quest, as long as you can get at that second half of the thought,it will be good.

[Friar]

I think a dreamscape would be good too.

[Banshe]

Dangit. I thought of the dreamscape thing too and then saw that everyone else had thought the same thing...

[Dorateen]

Not completely analgous, PJ, but in The Halls of Hamhock I had a Thane who was devestated by the destruction of the enemy he had witnessed, and gone into a sort of malaise. It fell upon the party to find a special text about Dwarven honor and all that, to bring him out of his depression.

I like the idea of a Soldier's Tale. Perhaps the PC needs to track down bits of information, even regarding what had happened to this person, in odrer to restore is mind. I see this as something personal the NPC is going through, an inner turmoil that only he can resolve. But the PC can be there to provide some help (if they choose), the catalyst or spark that will get the soldier to see things differently.

I'd probably have some better idea once I've played through Caravan Club.

Harumph!

Modifié par Dorateen, 11 octobre 2010 - 02:36 .

[Friar]

Gann from MotB knew a little something about dreams didn't he?

[UncleGerhardt]

Maybe a cleric of Shar could help - Shar is not only the evil Goddess of Darkness and Loss but also of Forgetfulness. But the cleric certainly won't help for free (the clerics have to be of evil aligment)...

Modifié par UncleGerhardt, 11 octobre 2010 - 04:20 .

[rjshae]

A few random notions:

• You could treat it like insanity, the spell, and use the corresponding cures: greater restoration, heal, limited wish, miracle or wish. Those would normally cost a peasant an enormous amount of money, of course, so it may take some trading of favors. Or maybe the peasant needs to be taken to a magical pool in a sylvan glade, but along the way he has a chance to redeem himself in his own eyes, and begins to view the past in a new light.
• He could be healed initially by means of a symbiotic biological implant of some sort, perhaps from a hedge wizard who practices a weak form of vivimancery. Later it could be revealed that the implant was a parasite in disguise and the victim went berserk and killed the rest of his family. (Not the fault of the hedge wizard; he was merely ignorant.)
• There could be an independent, non-evil Mind Flayer who has developed a reputation for psionic surgery (with, say, a Duergar and a Svirfneblin assistants). The party would need to win him over in order to gain his aid; not an easy task since he is bigoted against surface dwellers. They may need to save him from evil bounty hunters in order to succeed.

[PJ156]

Thanks guys,

I'm too far behind to comment on individual thoughts but there are some great ideas here. I love the idea of the dreams having physical form and have been thinking about the dreamscape idea all day when perhaps I  should have been working

I thought perhaps you might be able to go back to the battle and change events within his mind but I like the physical manifestation better. A little of the KoS influence still remaining, I think there is a way to use both.

I also like the idea of tracking down information on the man to build up a back story first, perhaps using that information to break him out of his stupor from the inside.

I have a hedge wizard in "The Millers Tale", another of the subplots. I don't wan't to big him up too much .

Cheers,

PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 11 octobre 2010 - 07:40 .

[dunniteowl]

Those fifty men, stalwart and true, did march off to battle in the dawn's hue.

Only five returned, broken, beaten, defeated and full of remorse.

One drinks his days away and awakes screaming in the night.

One stands tall in the fields, restless, having lived through the fight.

One mends shoes and boots, hammering away on a cobbler's horse.

Two have wandered off to live their lives in quiet solitude with little to do.



Great ideas everybody! I just thought I'd pop a little rhyme in there to sort of give clues to other things that can be done or looked for in the sub-quest to help this guy out -- that is, if you don't decide to honor his initial request and just kill him.

Talking with the four other survivors from that town should be able to yield something of value in the quest's ultimate answer. Also, while I really like both the dreamscape and metaphysical 'visitation' ideas, I would offer that if the shades or spectres of the fallen are there, they are also now, basically inherently evil and possibly prone to having distorted the truth to some degree of the actual events of their death. They may be torturing this guy in an unwarrented mistaken idea that he is at fault, or out of pure rage that he lived while they didn't.

You might have to enter the dreamscape in order to actually speak with the shades -- perhaps having to relive the battle in several different perspectives in order to see the whole picture. Then, because a couple of scenarios don't line up all that well, you have to go out and talk to the other survivors and find out what they know of the dead men who haunt the man.

In the end, you may have to call in reinforcements (a Cleric or Priest of some sort) and just offer to remove the memories as suggested -- knowing full well that you may end up with a blanked mind who cannot remember more than how to speak and perform simple tasks.



Interesting idea there PJ.

dno

[M. Rieder]

Perhaps the soldier needs to embrace his feelings and explore them. When the PC speaks to the soldier perhaps there is a setting or a scenario which is a common theme. The PC may then have a quest to stay on a lookout for such an area/scenario. When he/she finds it, they can return to the soldier and bring him/her along.



In the area which is characteristic of the dream could be the site of a battle with the KOS. There may be diferrent things around the battlefield which the PC finds which helps the soldier work through, understand, and possibly accept what has happened to him.



This could be a nice place for players who have payed attention to their conversational skills, or who have payed attention to their intelligence/wisdom/charisma scores to capitalize and have some rewards.



You could have this work in tandem with entering the dreamscape. You could also have this idea as an alternative to the dreamscape.



Your idea for a quest is very good and I think it has potential to add depth and meaning to your module. Good luck.

[_Knightmare_]

dunniteowl wrote...

You might have to enter the dreamscape in order to actually speak with the shades -- perhaps having to relive the battle in several different perspectives in order to see the whole picture. Then, because a couple of scenarios don't line up all that well, you have to go out and talk to the other survivors and find out what they know of the dead men who haunt the man.

I just watched the movie "Courage Under Fire" the other day. Has a similar theme where you watch the same gun-fight going on from a handful of different perspectives. Some of the soldier's accounts don't exactly match up, so something else went on besides the official story that was reported by those soldiers (and some of those surviving soldiers are now haunted by the memory). A good example of this concept if you needed a refference.

Modifié par _Knightmare_, 12 octobre 2010 - 12:32 .

[PJ156]

Thanks _KM_ I shall look that up.

I've taken a great deal from this thread and I think I have a subplot that works. I am limited a little by my ability with the toolset (let's face it i am limited a lot ). My final output will reflect that, but I've picked something I can do I think.

I shall use the physical manifestations of people he died along side of haunting him in his room. The PC will need to enter his dreamscape and show him that there is nothing he could have done for these people and that he will honour thier loss best by living himself. Then there will be a twist.

Thanks for all your help, this thread has really pulled the plug out on this one. I wanted "The Soldiers Tale" in the mod but did not see how I could impliment it.

Cheers,

PJ

[rjshae]

PJ156 wrote...
I've taken a great deal from this thread and I think I have a subplot that works. I am limited a little by my ability with the toolset (let's face it i am limited a lot ). My final output will reflect that, but I've picked something I can do I think.

For a dreamy appearance, you can modify the settings in the Day/Night Cycle Stages for the area(s). The Desaturate fields can drain away the normal color, or you could fiddle with the Bloom settings to accentuate flare or soften the image. Probably one of the SkyDomeModels from MoB would give you an unusual sky. Lots of fog effects will probably help, as would some odd lighting. Finally, apply a semi-transparent effect like fx_camouflage to all the creatures will make them look a little spirity.

Modifié par rjshae, 14 octobre 2010 - 08:25 .

[The Fred]

I came a bit late to this two, but I figured I'd add my take on it too.

The "dreamscape" type idea is a nice one, either entering the man's mind or fighting shades which somehow leave it etc. and could be really cool, but it'd be easy for it to become a sort of hack-and-slash kind of quest i.e. "save the guy by killing more things", only this time they're different things. The "Groundhog Day" version of the idea is also pretty neat but could get kind of annoying for a player.

If you wanted a slightly more mundane version, maybe you could just have to do something to help fix or reconcile something in his life, which might help him get out of it, like (for example) reuniting him with a long-lost relative. Then perhaps he's so overjoyed that he feels he has a reason to live again and, while still troubled, is able to get on with life. Alternatively, some other sort of psychiatric aid might do, somehow persuding him it's worth carrying on.

This could be very boring I guess, but if you made it so you had to talk to him, research his backstory etc to work out what you might be able to do, it could get a lot more involved, especially if the path is only hinted at so it looks a bit like putting him out of his misery is the only choice. Of course, you could use this along with the "memory wipe" idea - perhaps someone suggests wiping his memory of the events, then someone else objects that it's not morally right (though the first or another someone could then say that it's more morally right than leaving him suffering etc, opening up an interesting moral dilemma), but if you take the "easy way out", he ends up losing more of his memory than intended, as suggested, and the player has to decide whether he's better off in his new state of blissful ignorance, and come to terms with that.

Just some thoughts, anyway. Those two would work quite well as alternative ways of doing the same quest, but I'm not sure how they'd mesh with the dreamscape idea. Giving that as an option as well would be a lot more work and probably a bit too messy, but at the end of the day, it's your choice ofc.

Just my thoughts.

EDIT: Oh OK, just realised you'd said you'd decided on a path. Still, some food for thought I guess.

Modifié par The Fred, 14 octobre 2010 - 08:16 .

[PJ156]

rjshae wrote...

For a dreamy appearance, you can modify the settings in the Day/Night Cycle Stages for the area(s). The Desaturate fields can drain away the normal color, or you could fiddle with the Bloom settings to accentuate flare or soften the image. Probably one of the SkyDomeModels from MoB would give you an unusual sky. Lots of fog effects will probably help, as would some odd lighting. Finally, apply a semi-transparent effect like fx_camouflage to all the creatures will make them look a little spirity.

Thanks Bob I will have a look at those effects. I have not got my ideas round how to do this yet in terms of the dream areas so your advice is timely.

Also thanks The Fred, the final version is still in the melting pot so I can still review your thoughts when it comes to writing the text. I like the idea of having to get some background on the guy and, as you say, the whole thing could become a hack and slash solution very easily which I don't want to happen.

[The Fred]

Yeah, I mean you could make it into a sort of psychiatry-based quest which also happens to occur inside some sort of mindscape - in fact, you could have both the suggested "erase memory" and the successful cure option as things which might happen in there - perhaps if the players chose to kill the shades or whatever they are in a hack-and-slash-like method, it removes them but does irrovecable damage to the poor guy's mind. Expunging them some other way might be harder, but probably more satisfying as a solution.