152 réponses à ce sujet

[Dorateen]

I can't believe it's July already. There is a still a bit of work for me to do on this campaign, mostly writing. Much of it involves encounter set-ups like the one below. I have a few room-sized areas that I need to add in, but that should not take very long.

While working on the dungeon crypts, I came across a 3rd
edition monster known as a Krenshar. These are feline-like magical beasts, which have the ability to pull back the skin from its head, revealing the musculature and bony structures of its skull. This action, often accompanied by a loud screech, has the effect of a scare spell cast by a 3rd level sorcerer.

For this monster, I have modified the panther and given it the special ability of Scare accordingly.


By dorateen at 2012-07-07


By dorateen at 2012-07-07


By dorateen at 2012-07-07

Also, I have added as a conversation line, rjshae's quip about dwarves making a serviceable projectile in a pinch to an ogre encounter somewhere in the module.

Harumph!

Modifié par Dorateen, 07 juillet 2012 - 08:34 .

[Dorateen]

Tchos wrote...

If I didn't know your old-school preferences and influences, Dorateen, that would sound like you were building mechanics around the assumption that the player can just respawn if they die!

By Dumathoin's beard, may it never be so!

I wanted to follow up here in this thread, rather than risk going off topic in the development diary of Tchos. What I meant to say was that the dead party-members being revived after going through an area transition seems to be a flaw from copying over the default SoZ scripts. It certainly wasn't an intentional design decision. I think using the k_mod script would have prevented this, but I switched it out in a later update. As you pointed out, though, there should not be any conflict with tagbased activate item use. Regardless, you have the death system working without the area transition bug, so that is what I will look at.

The concern I have now is that the previous campaigns I made were for 5th and 7th level characters respectively. They would soon have access to Raise Dead, in addition to NPC clerics who sold scrolls of Raise Dead. But in Edinmoor: Broken Vessels the party is supposed to start out at 1st level. Also, this is an escape and survival type adventure. While there will be scrolls of Raise Dead to be found later on, there are no means of purchasing such remedies.

What will happen when a player's 4 hit point mage is killed by one of the class-specific goblins I've placed in an early encounter? If I go the perma-death route, is it just reload, even if other party members survived? Do they go back to the Party Editor and recruit a new PC from scratch?

On the other hand, if I left the area transition bug in the game, that would give players an easy out for such a circumstance. Or possible, I could have the NPC in the starting area give out scrolls if the Party hikes it back to him with their fallen companion. Not sure how to check the whole party to see if any of the characters are dead.

Something for me to think about as I try to finish up these encounters.

Harumph!

[Tchos]

Ah, sorry, I didn't see your response was here until now.

Okay, so I see where you're coming from. An early encounter with a level 1 party. Personally, I would prefer that the transition bug be fixed, and let dead characters stay dead. I know full well how easy it will be for a 1st-level party (especially a mage) to die in its first encounter, having experienced that many times when playing Troika's Temple of Elemental Evil (imagine my amazement when I reached level 2, and nearly doubled my hit points!) The solution was to reload and try again. It makes later victory that much sweeter, and is valuable experience for learning strategies for later encounters. Harder core players than I would probably prefer to recruit a new PC after such a death. This is all assuming that the goblin encounter is a fair challenge level for a level 1 party.

By contrast, I've heard of a recent game for the iPad, I think, in which if you fail to get through a level, it will pop up and say "Do you want to skip this level, and get all the rewards anyway?" What an insult! There's no pleasure in an unearned reward.

That said, I see nothing wrong with putting an NPC cleric in the starting area who would be willing to raise any of your fallen companions from that early encounter. It would certainly be better than an automatic raise, and you wouldn't need to give them scrolls.

If I were to make a "lite" download for you of my module, which files would you need to be in it to see how my death scripts are set up (if you want to see them before release)?

[Dorateen]

Tchos wrote...

If I were to make a "lite" download for you of my module, which files would you need to be in it to see how my death scripts are set up (if you want to see them before release)?

I would want to look at the scripts you are using in the module properties for on_player_death and on_module_load

However, I'm guessing that you will finish your project before me, so I will get to download and play anyway.

Considering these options, I suspect I was overthinking the whole matter. As you suggested the reload if necessary is probably the way to go. After all, the point of tactical party-based combat and a bleeding system, is to protect the weaker party members and not let them die in the first place.

Thanks!

[Tchos]

Something occurred to me that could have caused the problem you encountered with the k_mod scripts.  Kaedrin's PrC overrides several K_mod scripts, with the purpose of including a hook to execute community content scripts.  A nice end goal, but not if you've customised your k_mod scripts for your campaign!

In my campaign, I used a differently-named set of scripts, but included the same hooks at the end, so mine is not overridden, but does what Kaedrin's wants to do.  However, k_mod_load and k_mod_player_death are not among the overridden scripts, so it may not have been connected.

On the other hand, if you were using the k_mod scripts in Kaedrin's Module Event Tagged Module v1.01, that includes pre-SoZ versions of those two scripts.  It doesn't include any module switches, like that item activation one that you need, and it would not work for the bleeding and death, so I advise using the SoZ ones.

Here's my current On Module Load, which may be identical to the SoZ one except for the hook at the bottom and the name of the script.  I haven't yet modified it to handle my own companions/cohorts, so it still mentions the SoZ ones, and I left it in there for my own reference.

Here's my current On Player Death script.  Very short, and again I think the only change I made here, except for the script name, is Kaedrin's hook at the bottom.

Modifié par Tchos, 31 juillet 2012 - 11:17 .

[Dorateen]

Tchos wrote...

Here's my current On Module Load, which may be identical to the SoZ one except for the hook at the bottom and the name of the script.  I haven't yet modified it to handle my own companions/cohorts, so it still mentions the SoZ ones, and I left it in there for my own reference.

Here's my current On Player Death script.  Very short, and again I think the only change I made here, except for the script name, is Kaedrin's hook at the bottom.

Hey, thanks, do you know if those links expire? I just clicked on them and was sent to some kind of error page.

Anyway, don't take time away from your project for this. I will poke around in the module load script, and see if I can fix the issue.

Modifié par Dorateen, 02 août 2012 - 01:58 .

[Tchos]

I guess when they say "temporary", they mean "1 day", because they don't work for me anymore either, though they worked before. It was the first time I tried Pastebin, and I marked those entries as "temporary" because I didn't want to clutter things up, but I thought it would be long enough.

Anyway, it's no bother, but if I shouldn't worry about it, then I'll trust you have it under control.

[Dorateen]

I'm still alive! This time of year always gets me inspired for some Dungeons & Dragons adventuring. That, and watching the progress of all the other great modules/campaigns.

So I've jumped back in and just finished off another encounter with an adversary party. As I've mentioned a while ago, most of what I have left to do is write out the conversations that preface these battles, including the final climactic showdown.

One encounter down, several more to go...

Meeting restless spirits


A battle begins


Victory... I think


Harumph!

[Dorateen]

So... I've been working on a super secret project in another toolset, which has drawn me away from working on this one. But I would like to finish Edinmoor: Broken Vessels in the near future.

One of the reasons that interest had waned is that I was not feeling enough of an old-school vibe, and I was lured in that direction. Now that I am thinking about how to pick up and proceed again, I am revisting the idea of requiring a food resource for resting. Nothing fancy, just a generic "rations" item that can be found in various areas throughout the adventure. I would likely start with a supply of 6 near the beginning, and scatter other rations elsewhere. It would only be necessary to have a single ration in any party member's inventory, in order to rest.

This would be easy enough  to implement as the resting option for this campaign is conversation driven. So the ration item would be tagged, and checked on the appropriate dialogue node. If no rations are in the party's inventory, then no resting. Heh.

It also fits in for thematic reasons, as this is very much a survival quest. Since the player has to start from scratch and gather weapons and equipment, they might as well have to scavange for food resources.

I really miss something like this since the old Might & Magics or Realms of Arkania series. I'm sure it's been done in other NWN2 modules that have a specific tracking/hunting theme. But I have yet to encounter it in a party based adventure.

While not in place yet, this is something that gets me excited to open the NWN2 toolset again.

Harumph!

Modifié par Dorateen, 13 mars 2013 - 03:14 .

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

You're welcome to poach some scripts from The Danaan Unvanquished, not just the resting script but also some script that spawn forage items- basically, items are spawned into an area at random waypoints based upon the amount of time that has elapsed since a player was last there.

[Dorateen]

Thanks, Lugaid. That sounds like it would be fun. I think The Dana'an is one of the NWN2 mods I was remembering, with a forage system and hunting for food.

Modifié par Dorateen, 13 mars 2013 - 04:55 .

[Arkalezth]

Markus Schlegels' modules have a similar system, be it rations, camping materials, or something like that. As for foraging, you can check Wyrin's Foraging System if you haven't. It uses skills like Survival or Craft Alchemy in order to gather resources from plants.

[Dorateen]

Using skills to hunt for plants in Dark Avenger was pretty cool. I just have to decide how involved I want to get. A script based system could be a nice backup for desperate players who have run out of rations and cannot find any that were hand placed. I wouldn't be looking for a great variety, just one food item that can be tagged and checked when the party tries to rest.
Also, I have to balance the need to keep resources somewhat scarce, given the setting.

[Dorateen]

One of the things I have been debating has to do with a wilderness area. It uses a very nice pre-fab from the Vault that is well-crafted with hand-placed trees sparse enough to be used for what I had in mind.

However, I often work in the toolset with the trees turned off for better visibilty. I had gotten used to seeing the area like that, and wondered if I should delete the trees and have it show ingame like that. It would fit more of the barren landscape I was aiming for. Or is it too much, and won't look as good to players? Another thing, I hate to remove what the author of this pre-fab obviously spent a lot of time working on, only to present a lesser quality version of the exterior area.

So here are two contrasting screenshots, with trees and without.

I'd be interested to hear which one would look better in game. The context is that the party has just surfaced from a desert canyon below.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

VS.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[kevL]

hm, split the difference.

remove half the trees, shrink them, and leave some spots near water verdant,


2c.

[Arkalezth]

Agreed. The area looks like it could have some trees/plants, but not as many as in the first pic. As for trees reducing visibility, there's an option to make objects fade, so it's not a problem.

[Dorateen]

Interesting, I hadn't considered a compromise. Shrinking the trees is a good idea, because I think the height of them was obscuring some parts of the map.

Arkalezth, you're right, in the game players can set objects to fade so usually trees will not block their vision. However, in the toolset, there is an option to show/hide many placed objects such as trees. I find it is easier to work with triggers or creatures or other smaller resources, with the trees not showing.

I will have to get a modified version up and see how it looks.

Thanks!

[Arkalezth]

Ah, my bad then. I thought you meant in game, not in the toolset.

[Tchos]

I'm not able to get online often at the moment, so please forgive this late reply, but in regard to your earlier post, about resting ration:

You could also look at the SoZ scripts for your ration requirement. SoZ has the "Stone of Alarm" which you may recall is an item that allows resting in no-rest-allowed areas. All you'd need to do is change the name, description, and icon.

As to today's post, I personally prefer more trees. But, then again, the terrain texture isn't exactly in accord with a lot of trees.

[PJ156]

The terrain is not for trees and rivers run through some very barren areas, water in itself is not enough for vegetation. Some low scrub might green things up a bit.

I personally would go over the area with some colour. Use a warm brown to paint some shadow at the base of rocks and pale grey around placeables. Use dirty warm brown under any scrub you do put down.

As for changing prefabs, you should do what ever you want to make it to your preference.

PJ

[Dorateen]

Thank you for all the feedback. I now have a few options to consider how to treat this area. Even Tsongo, yes, that is why I struggle with these outdoor environments. Would much rather be designing a cave system or deep dungeon!

PJ, your comments make me think that I had the right instinct, that the area had more trees than needed for a region of hills. The texture in that prefab, I don't think is too bad, once you see it close up in game. I'll post some revised screenshots soon.

[Arkalezth]

I'm not familiar with the tree types available in the toolset, but if you put a few trees, maybe you could make them look drier? Even if you don't put many, the trees in the pic look a bit too leafy for that terrain. Or just put some bushes and logs here and there.

(My English plant vocabulary is rather limited, so I don't know if these expressions are correct, but I hope you get my meaning.)

Modifié par Arkalezth, 17 mars 2013 - 04:32 .

[kamal_]

There are both desert specific trees such as various types of cactus, and of course there are also trees without leaves designed for use in winter settings, but suitable for use as dried out desert trees. nwn2 has a pretty wide variety of trees.

[Dorateen]

kamal, I didn't want to have to start planting new trees! I'd rather break out the axe and take out the existing ones, if they're not suitable. But, yes, I could look at some of the more dried out variety or less "leafy" ones, as Arkalezth said.

The geography I was thinking of was something like the southwest united states, sort of like Arizona. Where you have desert canyons, but also higher elevations where you might find more lightly forested areas. I could be off, since I'm not from there.

Modifié par Dorateen, 18 mars 2013 - 01:03 .