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Community Project Proposal

Débuté par Guest_Chaos Wielder_* , févr. 21 2011 06:11

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#51
Guest_Chaos Wielder_*
Posté 22 février 2011 - 04:27

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Quixal wrote...
I have several thoughts.

First, for something like the Tarrasque it is unlikely that only one group would be tasked to deal with it. Not only would a given faction likely hedge their bets with more than one group but it is likely a lot of people would have a personal interest in seeing the threat ended, altered or maintained. I think you shoudl run into other groups.

Another thought is that as an alternative to having locations destroyed over time, actually work the destruction of a location into the final battle. Say you come across the Tarrasque as it is attacking a city and how you engage it has an impact on how well the location comes through the fight.

Finally, what about encountering the Tarrasque several times over the course of the story? Whatiif ye old ancient lore suggests several ways to combat it, only one of which actually works and there are several aborted attempts to defeat the creature by the party or other parties?

Edit: One day I will get used to the quirky formatting here.


The T does need to have more than one group fighting it, I agree. The creature has an apocalyptic air to it, and I cannot imagine everyone just sitting around(either running or trying to fight it).
I also think that it should be encountered multiple times as the story progresses. In what capacity would have to be decided later on, but I don't want it to be distant. It needs to be an engine of destruction eating whatever is in its way. That's how it ought to be, and it can be made no differently.

_Knightmare_ wrote...

Here's my various suggestions:

- I like the idea that a group of druids (or something similar) is seeking to protect the T. They are doing so simply from the point of view that is is a force of Nature and Balance (as is the forest fire mentioned before). They might be a True Neutral group, but with a couple factional/sub-group differences: one group within this druid group sees the T going around destroying civilization itself as a good thing (these guys are Neutral Evil for the most part). The other half are seeking to protect the T as the afore mentioned "last of its kind and a part of Nature" (these are Neutral Good members). Having the player face off against a "rival" good aligned group can lead to some interesting adventures. What do they do - you can't (or shouldn't) just wipe out/kill off an entire group of Good people.

- Set the campaign somewhere outside the Heartlands of Fearun. Not only are they played out, but they are also full of "super-heroes" - this avoids the "why are we doing this when people like Elminster live just down the road."

- Have the player start off as like a Henchman for the more powerful/well-known group of adventurers (those who eventually die fighting the T as others have mentioned). And I more mean "henchmen" in the old 2nd edition AD&D than the current version. Back in those days, henchies were low level "followers" of more powerful adventurers/heroes, sort of like a knight's squire. This is a good reason the player is such a low starting level.

- Don't have the T as the opening point of the story. Just have the player do a couple "squireish" (is that a word, if not here's my TM) adventures. On that terrible day the T comes to town, the player returns to find the place totally destroyed by some unknown force, which of course is the T.

I can offer some help out with scripting and I've done work in my own module with moving creatures around the OM plus worked on having locations change (both in terms of the people/NPCs there and the visual look). You will need a scripter to help keep track of variables and such that might transfer between the different submitted modules. As my new son will be born in about 8 weeks, I may have very limited time to do things, but I'll offer what help I can.


1) I think you're spot on here, and Hellfire's addedndum to this point is fantastic as well. I can imagine Druids doing this from a lore perspective and, perhaps equally important, is that Druids would make a very interesting "antagonist" for the story as well. It would make the adventure very different, and I like that. The idea sits very nicely with me.

See my post after this for the rest(and congratulations on your future blessing). :wizard:

 

dunniteowl wrote...
I think, honestly, having a very tight plot specific setup for the Tarrasque is not only doable, but important. It will be the glue that holds this module effort together. That said, I also believe that the plot devices shouldn't be too heavy handed. If you read the little piece I whipped up from the first post I made, all that is written is nothing more than a huge clue. You'll need to find these items, based on rumors of someone having an artifact or item that grants them special powers. You'll have to gather them all together, then go near the Tarrasque and assemble it. (this is how you get your +5 enchantments to bypass the DR, this is how you get healing for that awful final battle, this is where you get a few extra spells and this is where you get your primary buffs or effects that prevent you from being struck with awe from the might of the creature, etc.)
It doesn't do anything more than provide a little flavor background beyond telling you there is at least one way to stop the beast. You'll also note that the fight didn't end until a character in the original story shouted, "I wish this beast would die!" Hint hint, it says, you have to bring it to -30 HPs and then use either a Full Wish or a Miracle.
This is what the Might of Turm provides when it is assembled.
That doesn't mean it should be the Only way to defeat the Tarrasque. Or that it will be easy to find the items. Note that in the story, all such rumors and stories of folks finding the device parts all died suddenly and the items disappeared.
Was it this insane Cult of Destruction responsible? Could they have the missing pieces? Are they hunting for the other missing pieces? Can you stop them? More importantly, can they stop you?
Could you choose to join them and allow the Tarrasque to ravage the lands until the level of destruction is completed and the beast just goes away and goes back to sleep?

I design story ideas with the intent that each one is a short story, complete to itself, independant of the happenings in other short stories. One day I had an epiphany about how life is like that. You have all these little short stories of what goes on in a person's life, a town's doings, the occurrences in a region, etc. and they all sort of entertwine to become a piecemeal collection of Your Story as you move through them and deal with what happens.
Sandbox play does not mean there is no story, or that there can't be a compelling plot. It only means you get to experience these Short Story events in the order in which you find them instead of experiencing them as the train slides by them in orderly fashion. So. My offer still stands, I wouldn't mind focusing on story elements and will also attempt to provide a few interiors and exterior areas (mostly for others to populate) though would make my primary focus on having the "weaver of tales" position.
You guys can hash out the rest.
dunniteowl
(by the way, I just totally whipped up that little story about the previous encounter right there as I posted it. There is no canonical basis for a Tarrasque showing up anywhere. I also did a little Turmish Lands study when Hellfire and Baron first broached it as I was going to do the Library at Aglahon Reach.)


I agree with you on this. Non-linearity doesn't mean there's no story, it's just a matter of having a different methodology of how the story operates. Our lives are collected of thin fabrics of experience sewn together haphazardly into what may or may not be a quilt. I like your idea here.

Now, it's a matter of how we want things to be set up(I'm giving my notions the post after this), but I do think setting up a framework would allow people to work more cohesively and, ultimately, make for a better adventure(two gains). If you want to help direct certain story strands, I'm all for it. It's a matter of combining existing lore with a new adventure, and I think you have a knack for it.

There definitely needs to be a plot, and I would like it to be more involved than just "get X, slay Y" and I wholeheartedly support the idea of continiuing with it. As I plan on using the Turmish lands as the setting, your knowledge would be very useful in particular.

Modifié par Chaos Wielder, 22 février 2011 - 04:33 .

#52
Alupinu
Posté 22 février 2011 - 04:38

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Never mind... :)

#53
Guest_Chaos Wielder_*
Posté 22 février 2011 - 04:42

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Now, that said, here's what I wanted to say. I've looked at Hellfire's OLM in the toolset and, really, I quite like it. I think the Turmish lands fit most anything we could desire in this sort of adventure. There are several cities, many forests/mountains and the focus of the region is on economics/farming rather than military might(a hungry Tarrasque might smell it out). If someone has a particular reason why this region would be a bad idea, I'd like to hear it. To me, it seems perfect. And with a ready made OLM, I think development could start much sooner.

With the opening, I sort of like the idea of you not being a hero to begin with but you're sort of thrust into the adventure. Perhaps you and your SOZ party are squires, collectively, for a group of greater adventurers. You've stopped off in Xorhun in Turm, and you(not the heroes) have to deal with some small banditry problems while your lords deal with some political problem(Druids, perhaps, for later). This would serve as the general opening for the mod and allow for some low level play--we might even have a way for this to be skipped for replays.

After you deal with whatever small problem you have to do, the Tarrasque would end up attacking the town. You'd become separated from the main heroes--are they dead?--and you have to make your way to the main city of Algahon in the northeast. From there, the problem of the Tarrasque and the druids helping it could come more into focus(and the artifacts, etc, which are needed). From there, since you worked with the great heroes to begin with, you're now in a position to work closely with the governing body of the Turmish lands(which is very democratic, so factional infighting could be there).

This is my idea I have at the moment, so let me know how this sounds.

Modifié par Chaos Wielder, 22 février 2011 - 05:46 .

#54
Shaughn78
Posté 22 février 2011 - 05:38

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I like that CW.

I would suggest making one small change.

The main character is squire to the hereos of Xorhun. They were given that privilage because of some minor relation to the lord of the land. (bastard whelp, distant nephew/niece, whatever). When the T attacks it desroys the land and kills the hereos and the lord and immediate family disapear, presumed eaten.
The party of squires now true adventurers head to Algahon. They are accepted as an adventuring party because of their connection to the hereos. Since the player has a claim at lordship he is allowed to hear the discussions of the other lords. They however think little of him/her due to: lack of leadership experience, a very weak claim to lordship, lord over a destroyed land with no inhabitant (all eaten by T)

Now if there is a builder out there who enjoys complicated conversations and loves politics this could open a whole new area of play. The player would get to debate forming, moving and supplying armies, evacuating lands and providing for the refugees, reconnaissance on the druids, as well as the search for artifacts and managing the varius adventuring groups.
This is likely beyond the scope of the project, but I figured at this point get as many ideas as possible is a good thing. With some scripting this would create a stronghold like path of play. The player would be handling the logistics of battling a Tarrasque, instead of crawling through every hole in the ground they can find.

Modifié par Shaughn78, 22 février 2011 - 05:44 .

#55
kamal_
Posté 22 février 2011 - 05:45

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You need _knightmare_'s army system. That will really let a T rage.

#56
Hellfire_RWS
Posté 22 février 2011 - 05:50

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Wow, this is kinda creepy.  My Idea for my Turmish module was Political in nature.

There were two individuals that were trying to get their man elected to the Assembly of stars (Turmish ruling body)

Basically a good path and a bad path, and you could help which ever person you wanted get his man on the Assembly.

From page 34 of the Vilhon reach

Officially, Turmish is ruled by the Assembly of Stars, a group of freely elected men
and women chosen from the everyday population of the region. Each serves a term
of three years before another election brings a fresh group of Turmishans into political
life. This keeps professional politicians' to a bare minimum, since the decision to run for
office is not a personal choice to make, but rather the decision of one's peers. (That is not
to say that the decision to elect someone to public office cannot be political.)
The job of an assemblyman is not easy. Long hours and extensive travel throughout
the Reach is normal. By getting a successful merchant elected to the Assembly, a competitor
vastly increases his chances to expand his own wealth.

#57
Guest_Chaos Wielder_*
Posté 22 février 2011 - 06:11

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For the record and for all concerned, here's the beast: http://www.d20srd.or...s/tarrasque.htm
Note that it's stronger(!) in 3.5 than in 3. It's like they saw potential exploits and made it even stronger. Note you need +6 weapons to beat its 15/ damage reduction.

Shaughn78 wrote...

I like that CW.

I would suggest making one small change.

The main character is squire to the hereos of Xorhun. They were given that privilage because of some minor relation to the lord of the land. (bastard whelp, distant nephew/niece, whatever). When the T attacks it desroys the land and kills the hereos and the lord and immediate family disapear, presumed eaten.
The party of squires now true adventurers head to Algahon. They are accepted as an adventuring party because of their connection to the hereos. Since the player has a claim at lordship he is allowed to hear the discussions of the other lords. They however think little of him/her due to: lack of leadership experience, a very weak claim to lordship, lord over a destroyed land with no inhabitant (all eaten by T)

Now if there is a builder out there who enjoys complicated conversations and loves politics this could open a whole new area of play. The player would get to debate forming, moving and supplying armies, evacuating lands and providing for the refugees, reconnaissance on the druids, as well as the search for artifacts and managing the varius adventuring groups.
This is likely beyond the scope of the project, but I figured at this point get as many ideas as possible is a good thing. With some scripting this would create a stronghold like path of play. The player would be handling the logistics of battling a Tarrasque, instead of crawling through every hole in the ground they can find.

 

We could do a distant relation, perhaps, or at least something that makes you mildly important. Other than that, I think we're on the same page. Do people like this idea?

The latter is certainly beyond what I had in mind, but I'm not opposed to it. Does someone like storytelling on a grandscale? Perhaps even with a big turtle-dragon-beast waiting in the wings? Now's your chance to shine.

All that said, I think this is a workable opening. I'm very open to suggestions, but I think the nature of political intrigue, the ambiguous druids and other sorts of things make the campaign rather interesting(at this stage, anyways).

kamal_ wrote...
You need _knightmare_'s army system. That will really let a T rage.


It has great cleave. :devil:
However, yes, I'll be sending him a PM(unless he gets to me first).

Modifié par Chaos Wielder, 22 février 2011 - 06:12 .

#58
kamal_
Posté 22 février 2011 - 07:18

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Chaos Wielder wrote...
The latter is certainly beyond what I had in mind, but I'm not opposed to it. Does someone like storytelling on a grandscale? Perhaps even with a big turtle-dragon-beast waiting in the wings? Now's your chance to shine.

I'd say I heard wings flapping, but I heard they're pretty quiet.

#59
Shallina
Posté 22 février 2011 - 07:30

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If I was doing the 2 or 3 early lvl I would of course have an other story to put the player in contact with an established band of adventurer.

Modifié par Shallina, 22 février 2011 - 07:32 .

#60
PJ156
Posté 22 février 2011 - 07:50

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Here are some thoughts that build on what I have read and perhaps add a new angle?

This is developing as I write so be prepared to pan for nuggets and ignore the spelling :)

Mr T is not such a big problem (except for the fact he is eating his way throught the countryside). He is not a problem because there is, and always has been, a way to destroy it.

In times gone by an artifact was created to foil another enemy however the artifact was too powerful by far and the rulers at that time decreed that it should be broken up to prevent it corrupting any individual. Each piece would be hidden and the care of that part placed in the hands of an order. Each order passed the knowledge they had down through the generations until now. Unfortunately the information has not been well kept. Some of the parts are well known but other have become lost, moved or thier hiding places corrupted or taken over by beasties.

Each order is now responsible for getting it's piece back so the rod can be made whole and Mr T driven from the land.

A general call for adventurers has gone out but has not been answered with vigor. Mr T seems to have that effect on people. Thus even the humble are put to work.

Of each of the orders one person is represented on the council of stars. Being elected, the coucilor is not privy to the secrets of his order but is the orders voice on the council.

All well and good; the adventure begins. Oddly however the party find barriers in thier way that should not be there. As time goes on it seems that Mr T has a sponsor in town. As they get closer to thier goal they find resistance increasing.

Also they find that pieces of the rod are missing, taken from thier hiding places already (not a huge issue they are not the only party working this).

That's what the party see; meanwhile behind the scenes ....

Mr T has been invited to dine on the locals. Someone within the council of stars (lets call him Mr X) wants to turn the democracy into a dictatorship. To do this he intends to become the hero of the hour, force an election which makes him a ruler for the duration of Mr T's stay and then gain popularity by leading the population to victory and getting himself crowned as ruler. Thus, while he needs the rod parts, he does not want them found too quickly nor does he want to be not the person who puts them together so he has hoarded a few to ensure that he controls the timing (he has his own torturers and adventuring party on the job - Did I mention senior persons in town have been going missing - members of the orders in fact).

Soooo ... when the party come along they start off useful, then become irksome, then as they build thier popularity, a royal pain in the posterior. What starts as attempts to foil them become attempts to kill them.

The druids can still be there, and these too would be encouraged by Mr X since they are blockers to the party and a political tool in the longer term.

This could be broken up into adventures according to the orders, each presenting a different quest or type of quest, then there is a central hub module that has the politics and the assasinations and foil modules/scenarios. Some quests might be to regain a piece of the rod, others (earlier quests simple to help the sponsor order regain information on where thier part of the rod is)

Just some thoughts, I like politics in modules. Like a good stock it adds flavour; very important when dinning on trees since i doubt very much they taste good.

I could tell you more but I don't want to spoil Image IPB

PJ

Modifié par PJ156, 22 février 2011 - 07:56 .

#61
kamal_
Posté 22 février 2011 - 08:37

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PJ156 wrote...
Mr T is not such a big problem

He pities the fool who doesn't think he's a problem.

#62
PJ156
Posté 22 février 2011 - 08:51

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kamal_ wrote...

He pities the fool who doesn't think he's a problem.


Image IPB Does he know pity?

#63
Guest_Chaos Wielder_*
Posté 22 février 2011 - 09:06

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@ PJ:
I very much like the idea of some local politician using the situation to their advantage(who wouldn't?) So, I think that can be used for sure. The way I see the Tarrasque is that it's a force of nature(like a hurricane, or whatever). We give it meaning, but all it wants is to eat. People will exploit it in whatever way they so desire.



I've been assembling a list of custom content that the mod will be using(this way, a master hak can be assembled which the individual projects will be associated with). Here's the list I have now:

RWS Creatures(Too many to list here)
Bounce Creatures(Werewolf, Drider, Beholder, Minotaur, Yuan-ti, Abomination)
MOW Creatures(Wererat, Paelnorn, Quelzarn)
Evil Edison's Creatures(Hill Giant, Gray Render, Efreet)
Artechoke's Creatures(Mimic, Dopple, Intellect, Gibberling, Larva)
Some secret Shagret creatures.
And the Tarrasque.

Now, should we just use Pain's monster pack? That's got all of the above(sans secrets and Mr.T), but it has stuff we'll never get around to...so, just curious. It might just end up being overkill.

BCKII

I assume people would like this for building, so I think it could prove quite useful. I think it would be nice. Depends on if people see the need.

RWS tilesets

Obligatory. These are all really good, and stuff like the imrpoved caves should be used for sure.

Once this is sorted out, I can make the hak and distribute it to those who are interested. I'll also be making a 'sign-up' section where people can decide what they want to do. 

Modifié par Chaos Wielder, 22 février 2011 - 09:09 .

#64
Shallina
Posté 22 février 2011 - 09:23

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It would be nice if every activ modders does 1 or 2 part :)

#65
nicethugbert
Posté 22 février 2011 - 09:28

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Pain's Borg Cube also has his spell's, Kaedrin's stuff, and Races of Faerun. That would be fun to play with.

Also, the "Reichstag Fire" idea would be fun, especially if given a number of twists and turns.  Maybe the idea of exploiting the tarrasque disaster for political gain isn't so air tight and the exploiter gets hoisted on his own patard.  He could be much higher level making it foolish for the NPCs to tackle him directly until a weakness is found.  Or he could be lower level but very well positioned to offset that.  Perhaps a hostage situation?  Maybe the PC's actions determine the level and defenses of the antagonist.  Events might develope in the antagonists favor at first or he might gain the upper hand later.  In other words sucess wouldn't follow a simple linear path.

Modifié par nicethugbert, 22 février 2011 - 09:40 .

#66
drechner
Posté 22 février 2011 - 09:47

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I would definitely be willing to contribute, but most likely AFTER BGR is finished :)

#67
dunniteowl
Posté 22 février 2011 - 10:18

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[Silently glides overhead and lands upon the City Gates]
Hmm, from this place I shall build the tale of the heroes, the villains, the deeds and actions, the machinations and manipulations, the trials, travails and ultimately, the tale of:

A New Time of Woe Upon the Turmish Lands

A large scale, freeform (mostly) adventure for characters up to Level 20 (+) and adventures abound!

The main plot:
A large creature of horrible and awesome destructive power has begun to ravage the lands,  can it be stopped?

Sub Plots:
Opening
Your Character can start out as a low level (1-4) player, Esquired to a local Lord or Noble of the lands *(for those who wish to start off with a new, untried character)
(Secondary)
Your character gets separated from the Noble during a confrontation with the beast and while you survive, you can no longer find any sign of the Noble, his/her lands are in ruin, people are gone and/or scattered.  You must help the survivors regain some semblance of order and stability in their lives.
(Tertiary)
Your character *(and any new-found companions) must make for Alaghon to inform and warn of this newly arisen menace.

Mid-Game
Dealing with the Assembly of Stars seemed a pretty straightforward matter, but it is clear, even from an "outsider's" view, that there are wheels within wheels and plots within plots from many of those who sit in attendance when the Assembly of Stars meets.

It will be important to learn to deal with the factions who vie for having more power behind the Assembly and to be able to know when to stand or relent when dealing with them.   The Assembly, having heard others tell pretty much the same tale as you when you arrived, has unanimously agreed that a collection of forces, scholars, mages, nobles and knights is necessary in order to come to grips with this Monstrous Threat to all of Turm; possibly the entirety of the Vilhon Reach.

You will be issued missions and orders to convince, collect and coordinate others so that, together, the mighty Tarrasque can be stopped.  Also, you will discover information that leads you into dangerous and uncharted territory.  All indications lead you to suspect there is a cabal or cult of people who would like nothing more than to see the Tarrasque continue it's meandering rampage of utter destruction, for whatever reasons.

Dealing with those who attempt to cajole and convince members of the Assembly of Stars over time, it also becomes clear that something is not quite what it seems.  You find yourself arriving just after the nick of time on occasion, sometimes jumped by bandits or brigands in such situations that co-incidence doesn't make sense.

Who is foiling you?  What reasons could they have?  It is up to you to either discover who these murky characters are and deal with them; or expose them in whatever way seems most fit to you.  In the meantime, you have important business to attend and so cannot always spend too much time looking into each suspicious person of importance who attends the Assembly.

As you explore and recruit, you also must research.  There are tales of old items of power that once stopped a tarrasque generations ago.  There are conflicting stories and tales of what they are, what they do, even what they look like and you must sort through myths, legends, half heard tales and rumors to see if anything of substance resides in these disparate bits of information.

EndGame
Now the armies are recruited, the mages and scholars as prepared as they can be.  Though you have yet to find out who, exactly, is foiling your movements and plans, you are close to doing so.  Even so, it is time to start sending large armies on their way to surround and attack the tarrasque from all sides. 

In this time some things are clear:  There are at least two inimical factions at work doing their secretive best to ensure the tarrasque continues to destroy the lands, for reasons unknown, though you have your suspicions.  Also, the cabal or cult you have heard about now seems to be part of the Order of the Emerald Enclave, but it's impossible to guess which members stand with you and which against.!  You must find out somehow, or they may succeed in the destruction of all of Turmish Society.

Your search for artifacts of power has been hit and miss, met constantly with disaster, deception and distress during your searches.  Again, it's clear someone or some group is behind this.  You must continue to seek out those items you know have yet to be found; and also discover who has been killing off the ancient protectors, disappearing with artifacts you should have returned to Alaghon for safekeeping until all was in readiness.

Throughout this, your travels, adventures and exploits not only bring you closer to an inevitable confrontation with the Tarrasque, you are also drawn deeper into the political machinations and maneuverings that surrounds the Assembly of Stars.  At the same time you discover unique and distressed members of a now very frightened population far removed from politics, battle or power.  Simple folks who just need a helping hand from someone they know (or at least hope) can help them in their times of trouble throughout the Turmish Lands.


That's not too specific while keeping the majority of very useable and interesting ideas for plot twists, secondary lines for stories and allows plenty of room for sidequests, secondary story quests and some even totally unrelated adventuring within the overall confines of looking to somehow defeat *(or possibly assist in ensuring it survives) this Terrible Turmish Tarrasque by the end of the story.

I am open to adding or cutting and interweaving several things at a time and would be more than happy to coordinate the story elements between individual module builders and help keep the Turmish Lands as Turmish as possible during construction.

Also. for many of you who wish to build areas, create sub quests and plot related adventures, you really should add this site to your bookmarked collection:  The Turmish Lands  It's a great resource for a lot of well written and detailed information.

best regards,
dunniteowl

Modifié par dunniteowl, 22 février 2011 - 10:23 .

#68
manageri
Posté 22 février 2011 - 10:43

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Chaos Wielder wrote...

In general, I want to follow the SOZ systems. So, here's how it follows:
Resting is only allowed on the OLM and Inns. No resting in dungeons unless in unique circumstances. No time dependent rest. Again, the SOZ system for this made sense and was easy to use/understand.


I'd allow resting before the boss in dungeons. This means you get to balance the boss around a fully rested group, which is the only way to make it a true challenge because people can always go out and rest anyway. The half-assed restring "restrictions" like "you need to run 600 yards this way to rest" or "you need to reload the game because you got ambushed by a demilich" aren't actual restrictions, they're just annoyances, so either just allow it or make some actual restrictions like you cannot leave the dungeon and you cannot rest before you beat the boss. That last option has a whole bunch of obvious issues which is why I think it's better to just allow the resting.

I'd also like it if you reward people for clearing the dungeon up to the boss without leaving to rest. Not doing so obviously tilts the balance in favor of casters among other issues.

#69
Shallina
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:00

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Allow the resting but put a disturbance, you can be interupted during the rest, this way players won't press the rest button at each battle.

#70
The Fred
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:03

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Woah, too much of the text! Anyway, as if we didn't already have enough, here are some thoughts:

nicethugbert wrote...
Will this work with Kaedrin's?

Since this is a community project, I think it should be compatible (though preferably not required).

Shallina wrote...
First you need to define all the balance mecanism of the game in order to be able to make cool encounters.
Define how the rest system work
Difficulty setting, do you want to alter the game depending on the difficulty setting ?
The kill the Tarasque plot device
Is it an item ? Is it special(s) ability(s) that the character devellop thrue is journey ? A combinaison of the both ?
The main char background

Personally, I think we should do this as we did the SoZ Holiday Project - that is, people should be able to make modular, unrelated dungeons, so that organisation doesn't become a massive mess, and by the same ticket, things like character background should probably be left loose. I would have expected using the SoZ Party Creation system. Things like any rest system and general "rules of thumb" for things like loot placement really also ought to be agreed on (obviously some artistic license should be granted, but a guideline is probably wise).

WyrinDnjargo wrote...
Just throwing this out there as an idea, but what about some time dependant thing where you can actually have the tarrasque rampaging around the OLM destroying locations if the PCs cannot get there in time...

As others have said, time-dependance as per say mightn't be fun, but perhaps after a while, new, destroyed locations could be opened up. Perhaps the players have to track the creature or something, as in one of those methods for killing it where you have to get a piece of toenail or something to use for the Simalcrum spell.

Dorateen wrote...

Shallina wrote...
Is the Tarasque the only thing ? Could  an organisation  exist to prevent you from killing the Tarasque and wich could be found accross all the game ?

Aye, this. I'm already thinking of an insane cult of halflings that actually want to release the Tarrasque. Well, maybe not halflings. But definitely a pro-tarrasque faction that will seek to impede the party.

A word of advice - just make sure they're not gnomes. Seriously, though, this makes sense. To my mind, as CW said, the T's appearance is somewhat apocalyptic. I can imagine ALL SORTS of things would start kicking off - doomsayers, crazy cults, druids, heroes, politics etc. A lot of scope for people to make something interesting which is tied to the story but not necessary fully built in. I actually like the idea that you might need to divert the T into killing some great(er) evil, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be.

One other idea I had is maybe, instead of just collecting items, the PCs first need to, say, bring a tome on the Tarrasque back to a sage who can tell them what they need - it's available from the nearby Candlekeep-like library, but perhaps only on a short-duration reference-book loan (i.e. you can't take it out). So, you need to steal it or complete some quest for the librarians first.

I think we should also try and keep it as flexible and modular as possible, so that if someone has their own vision for a dungeon or whatever, they can run with it. We only need to decide on mod-wide systems, a loose plot (we have the hook already) and one or two other little things. In particular, the chain of plot encounters will need to be set up (i.e. which places HAVE to be visited, etc).

#71
The Fred
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:06

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Also, as regards resting, wandering monsters could be cool, but we'd all have to agree on and use a specific system. It might be easier just to disallow resting except in designated areas (such as right before the boss). Manageri's idea of giving a bonus reward for completing dungeons without leaving actually makes a lot of sense, since then you can restrict resting in a way which isn't just an annoyance - however, it might make players reluctant to explore new places since they can't leave and come back without forfeiting that extra XP or whatever it is.

#72
Shallina
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:09

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No you don't have to specify place to have to be visited.



You just have to set the final task of each stept so it fit in the story. (acquiring a book, an item, an ability from something like a statue of purification, or what ever).

#73
Kaldor Silverwand
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:13

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I'm hearing Kaedrin's PrC Pack stuff is essential and a customized rest system is desired by several. I'm not sure you can have it both ways. Kaedrin's PrC pack modifies the standard rest script. So while you could release all of the scripts in a hak to keep Kaedrin's from overriding that means that the effort would be using a frozen version of Kaedrin's which probably isn't preferable. Unless you use a hak Kaedrin's rest system is going to win. If you do use a hak then you'll probably need to release updates everytime Kaedrin releases a new version that modifies the module scripts



I don't see a win-win here. This is why my stuff is not fully compatible with Kaedrin's. Overriding the standard scripts for mods prevents campaigns from using customized scripts.



If I'm wrong about this I'd like to know. Because I'm actually kind of sick of hearing complaints from people about why the Makeover isn't Kaedrin compatible.



Regards

#74
Shallina
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:14

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No we just need to use a frozen kaedrin version that is linked in a HAK.

this way we can even script custom feat/spell if we want to . (like the one used to destroy the T.

Modifié par Shallina, 22 février 2011 - 11:19 .

#75
Kaldor Silverwand
Posté 22 février 2011 - 11:19

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Shallina wrote...

No we just need to use a frozen kaedrin version that is linked in a HAK.


I said that:

So while you could release all of the scripts in a hak to keep Kaedrin's from overriding that means that the effort would be using a frozen version of Kaedrin's which probably isn't preferable.

Kaedrin releases updates frequently. Using a version frozen in a hak is not going to please people who want to use newer features.

Regards
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