316 réponses à ce sujet

[Alupinu]

**UPDATE**



Hey everybody, Alupinu here just checking in to let you know that Fanglewood is still a work in progress. Though I am guilty of taking some time off to play Skyrim great game by the way, highly recommend it.
 
Purchased the book Underdark and did some research on the drow and it’s a good thing I did too. For one a drow city is out of the question that would have been way too deep for a 7th – 8th level character. Most drow cities are located in the Feydark the last lair of the underdark, which would have been suicide for such low level characters. The deepest I dare take players is the very upper edge of the shallows which is the first layer of the depths. The shallows, the deeps and the faydark are the three layers in order respectively.
 
I have settled on using a drow slave stockade which the drow use to hold slaves captured from the surface to be transported to drow realm below. The stockade itself will be a castle like structure with one main building and several side building and surrounded by walls. The castle will be located in a 24x24 area with multiple layers, lots of waterfalls and giant mushroom forests as described in the Underdark.
 
I have finally wrapped up the haunted mansion; I believe my players will not be disappointed. Just the basement alone is a 20x20 area complete with animated traps, a host of surprises and a secret way to the underdark . It took me three months to complete so I feel confident again that my players will be not be disappointed.
 
I know that Fanglewood is way, way behind schedule and for that I apologize. My reasoning being that it better to have a good campaign late than a lame campaign on time. I hope everybody shares in my reasoning.
 
I am still looking for all things drow or underdark. I have scoured the vault and I believe I have found and downloaded everything available but if somebody has something they would like to contribute, I would greatly appreciate it.
 
I'm just going to throw this out there, but I am hoping to find somebody that is very grammar efficient that will be willing to go through my conversations and do a grammar check. I'll still do all the writing, no need to worried about that, but my grammar is not as perfect as I would like. If you think you would be interested just pn me and we will work out the details.


Well I hope everybody is still looking forward to Fanglwoods release, (this I promise) and thank you for all your positive remarks and comments.

[kamal_]

Your underdark sounds great. Since you asked about drow resources on the Vault, I had a small outpost in Path of Evil connected to the Calimport Muzad, one exterior and four drow specific interiors. All were part of my area release and are labelled muz_***. I also found that the online drow translator was pretty comprehensive, allowing me to put that entire section's conversation into native drow without having to fudge on words too much.

[M. Rieder]

Driders! The underdark must have Driders!

It is a good sign that you are behind schedule. A late campaign is a good campaign.

[nicethugbert]

NEAT!

[Alupinu]

Kamal_, Thanks for stopping by but I have to ask. What is an ‘Online Drow Translater’? You mean there’s a real drow language or something? I’m confused, LOL.

Thanks Matt, I like your attitude. Will there be Driders? Maybee…

Back at you ntb!

Modifié par Alupinu, 02 février 2012 - 03:33 .

[PJ156]

Alupinu wrote...

Kamal_, Thanks for stopping by but I have to ask. What is an ‘Online Drow Translater’? You mean there’s a real drow language or something? I’m confused, LOL.

Thanks Matt, I like your attitude. Will there be Driders? Maybee…

Back at you ntb!

 
There are many languages with translators. I found a goblin one and many elven ones for my mods .. it adds consistency if you are using other languages in your dialogue but it is a little odd.

PJ

[kamal_]

Alpinu, some people that obviously like drow very much collected all the drow words and phrases they could from official sources, as well as their translations in English. The end result is a dictionary of 4-500 words or so. They also did a translator that allows you to type stuff in and it coverts it to drow, just like you'd do from English to Spanish.

The results are surprisingly complete, and words from English that it missed can often be handled by checking the English/drow dictionary for a similar word. I was able to do a a thousand or two word conversations, over four quests, entirely in drow. People spoke drow and it had in-line subtitles in English. I later removed the drow part from player lines and just left in the English subtitles, but all the npc drow lines remained. It looked like this:
Npc: (colored text indicating speaking drow) drow words (color switched back to default) English translation.
Pc: (colored text indicating speaking drow) English lines.

[The Fred]

There's a copy of that nice drow naming guide on the Vault, too.

[Alupinu]

Hey Pj! Good to hear from you. I did find one translator that seem to work good with drow, Eilistraee’s Drow Translator but the site only does drow. Are there other sites that do all fantasy languages’? Maybe I should look, LOL.

Iforgotmypassword, maybe I should put that in my player’s note with MinD. “That’s not a typo, that’s hobgoblin!” Like your name by the way, boy do I know that headache. LOL

Kamal, did anybody ever tell you that you must be the sage of the community? You are a book of knowledge when it comes to all things DnD.

Well that’s interesting about the drow language thing. I do know that JJR Tolkien developed the elvish language quite extensively. So I guess it should not surprise me that other people have developed languages such as drow as well.

This is very interesting because I have a big drow kangaroo court cut scene that I’m about to write and I was wondering about the language bearer. Maybe I could give the players a lore check and if they pass it, it will all translation to common but if failed they’ll see nothing but drow. Or if they have the right NPC with them, the NPC can do the translation or their lawyer maybe. I also have to keep in mind that the players’ party will be heavily drugged at the time so maybe it won’t matter. LOL


Hey fred, you don’t say? Well then maybe I should wonder over and take a look. Thanks.

Modifié par Alupinu, 02 février 2012 - 04:39 .

[Dorateen]

Alupinu wrote...

 I have a big drow kangaroo...

That would be a frightening monster to encounter.

On another note, the 3rd edition reference book for The Underdark is a very good source, as well as the book Drow of the Underdark

This sounds like it will be an interesting adventure.

Harumph!

[kamal_]

Alupinu wrote...

Kamal, did anybody ever tell you that you must be the sage of the community? You are a book of knowledge when it comes to all things DnD.

I had to look up lots of stuff for Path of Evil, may as well share.

Cut and pasted from a conversation in Path of Evil. I used the <> to make it clear the npc and player were not actually speaking Common.
NPC: <color=orange>Natha b'vecko jindurn? L'kyorl ventash'ma z'klaen inbal fris dos. Vel'uss ph'dos, lu'vel'klar xun dos doer dal? <color=white><A strange face? The guard captain must have sent you. Who are you, and where do you come from?>
PC: <I am Veldrin of Erelhei-Cinlu.>

Here's the translator I used.
http://www.eilistrae...en/language.php

And here are the drow interiors I made (two are very similar), you already have your exterior.
http://dl.dropbox.co.../drow_areas.erf

[Alupinu]

@Dorateen, <i>Drow of the Underdark</i> I did see that at my local book store. If you recommend it then I will take a hard look at picking it up, thanks.

@kamal, I looked at your sample conv. And my question is now how did you determine if the pc knew drow? Did you script a conditional or did the player know drow or was the pc drow by default?

I checked out your links and thank you. The eilistraee.com will come in handy and I down loaded your areas. I probably won’t use them (I make all my own areas, it’s a pride thing, nothing personal.) but I will check them out for R&D purposes. Tomorrow, it’s getting late.

[kamal_]

A few of those areas might not look right due to haks (the floor in one for sure).

In Path of Evil, the pc is magically temporally granted the ability to speak drow, and an "illusion" makes them look like drow when they are in the Underdark. I didn't change the pc appearance, theyre just told that the illusion was cast and the residents of the Underdark react to them as if they are drow. There was one non hostile drow outside the Underdark, and I did put in some minor drow speaking lines using a conditional on the pc race.

[Shallina]

it's possible to have them polymorth into drow for real I think

But I am not sure you can get them back as they were before polymorthing.

[The Fred]

Yeah, sure you can. It just depends on how you want to do it, though.

Alupinu wrote...
@Dorateen, <i>Drow of the Underdark</i> I did see that at my local book store. If you recommend it then I will take a hard look at picking it up, thanks.

Drow of the Underdark is 2nd Ed, though it does have some stuff on drow naming and so forth which is nice. Underdark is very cool but doesn't have much drow-specific lore; a lot of geography, mostly.

[kamal_]

The good thing about many of the old 2nd edition books is that wizards released them on their website when they moved to the new editions. Or at least they were, I can't find the link right now. The fluff stuff like descriptions is still is perfectly useful.

[The Fred]

They had a page of out-of-date stuff you could just download, like Maztica and Spelljammer stuff. I think that page went down, though (but IIRC you can still get to the adventure modules page).

[Alupinu]

@kamal, still haven’t looked at your area’s yet but I do have them sitting on my desk top. I do plan to get to that.
The problem with the polymorph or illusion idea is that it would clash with my story line. This is what’s going on story wise. Our heroes are in a courtroom being held in a holding cell. Their being tried for crimes against one of the house’s of the drow. (Another thing I need to figure out, what house to use.)
I think they have removed some or a lot of the 2nd edition stuff from the web. I was trying to look up the stats for a poltergeist and I couldn’t find anything. I could only find some of the creatures in MM1 and FF and even these books where not complete. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

@Shallina, like I told kamal, the polymorph idea would kind of clash with my storyline plus your right, it does sound like a scripting headache.

@The Fred, 2nd edition? Whenever I think of 2nd edition I think of stuff that was published back in the 80’s. Was there a Drow of the Underdark back then? I can’t remember, LOL.

Ok people, here is my idea’s on the subject so far. Love to hear your opinion on it if you have one.
A) Our heroes will be given free representation (lawyer) in their behalf and he* will act as a translator.
A magic box of some kind that will act like a speaker that sits next or inside the holding cell and does all the translations for the party.
If anybody has any idea’s to add to this list I would love to hear it.

(*)Sense the drow are a female dominated society, should the lawyer be female? Just wondering.

[kamal_]

Presumably they did something that got them stuck in that captured and put on trial in the first place. If it was just plain old adventuring and drow captured them, the drow would probably have just killed them. I'm guessing they were hired by another House? Why would another House hire surfacers?

There's insufficient info to help properly. If you were hired by a House to make trouble for another House, the House that hired you may secretly pay for a "lawyer" for you (probably not, they'd just disavow your sorry self), or someone who is from the House that hired you may provide you with a summary of what just happened before you get dropped into the Rancor pit.

There won't be a "magic box"; Why would the drow see a need for some kind of fair-play like making sure the creature on trial understands? If you get some "court appointed lawyer", it might be a male (lesser creatures get lesser representation), and that male I suppose could translate for you out of some sense of fair-play or anger at his place as a male.

I'm not even sure drow have courts, since that's all about law, and not the word of the matrons. Drow are supposed to be chaotic anyway, held inline only by House politics and Lolth. I'd imagine there might be some non-violent way to settle House disputes, but honestly I wouldn't think so. If you remember BG2, the Ring of Force item has a description that says there was a dispute between drow, and it was settled by a fight between the two drow with one magic item apiece being allowed. The ring of force was worn and used by an ally of one side in the crowd, and the use of the ring was ruled perfectly fine.

In Path of Evil, the player discovers that a drow who lives in Calimport can take them into the Underdark, where the party may look for the thing they're looking for. Should they hire this drow as their guide, he will take them. When they arrive in the Underdark the drow says "well, there's a drow outpost nearby, this illusion will make sure you're sorry selves don't get killed just for not being drow, Now off you go, I'll reverse the illusion when you're ready to go back to the surface."

[Dorateen]

The Fred wrote...

Alupinu wrote...
@Dorateen, <i>Drow of the Underdark</i> I did see that at my local book store. If you recommend it then I will take a hard look at picking it up, thanks.

Drow of the Underdark is 2nd Ed, though it does have some stuff on drow naming and so forth which is nice. Underdark is very cool but doesn't have much drow-specific lore; a lot of geography, mostly.

I meant the Drow of the Underdark written by Ari Marmell, Anthony Pryor, Robert J. Schwalb, and Greg A. Vaughan.

First prtinting, May 2007.

Updated for the 3.5 version of Dungeons & Dragons

[The Fred]

Oh, OK. I have a pdf right here of "The Drow of the Underdark", by Ed Greenwood, with a big "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition" logo stamped over it.

I'm not sure Drow have lawyers. Their society always seems to be portrayed more as a "just kill your enemies" one. However, I've always had issues with how their society is portrayed. I like the idea of a Machiavellian legal system and twisted Drow bureaucracy. I can also see them being hauled up before some folks to defend themselves, explain themselves or whatever. I'm not sure how much it would be an actual trial, though.

[Alupinu]

All right people this is what’s going on with the court cut-scene. The party is going to stumble across an old drow crypt where they will eventually stumble into a trap. This trap will not kill them or damage them just render them unconscious.
When the party awakes they’ll find themselves in a small cage without any equipment in front of three drow women sitting at a judge like bench acting like judges. Across the room sitting at a table will be another drow who will act as a lawyer. I was going to make him the parties’ defense but after reading everybody’s comments I’m thinking maybe prosecutor. About 2/3’s of the way through the party will start to realize that this is not really a trial as it is a game of mental torment and more psycho than anything else. In the end the party will be sentence to endure a place called the Reservoir. The cut-scene will end with the drows in the room all starting to place bets and wager against or for the party.

The Reservoir is an underground lake that has been set up by the drow as a dungeon/tournament cave. A place of traps and other horrors that the party will have to traverse if they ever hope to see the surface again and that all I’m going to say about that.

One last point I like to make. Why would the drow just kill a perfectly good slave? Unless there was some gold to be made out of the deal. I picture drow society to be a little like Roman Empire around the 1 or 2 century AD when Rome largest majority was slaves and slavery was a thriving economic industry.

Modifié par Alupinu, 05 février 2012 - 02:33 .

[Claudius33]

Not totally correct. Slaves population in Italy topped 35 to 40% on 1st century  BC. Later Roman Citizenship was granted more largely under the Empire, starting by client states, colonies and "freedmen" (emancipated slaves). For instance a freedmen's childborn became Roman citizen automatically, and people serving in the legion for 25 years were granted the Roman Citizenship.

The majority of the Empire's inhabitants were under Latin Right (a status largely below Roman Citizenship but largely above slavery).
Actually Roman economy more depended on these people than on slaves.
It's just because I'm currently working on a mod that takes place on 2nd century AD :happy:.

But never mind, that shouldn't change your mod which looks excellent.

Modifié par Claudius33, 05 février 2012 - 10:10 .

[Alupinu]

@Claudius33, I was referring to the actual city, “…the 1 or 2 century AD when Rome largest majority was slaves…” and not the Italian peninsula maybe I should have made that more clear. But thank you for pointing that out.

You’re making a mod based on the Roman Empire sounds interesting, I wish you luck.