52 réponses à ce sujet

[tallon1982]

I'm not sure it would have been a bad idea to have the farmer to hero storyline due to the fact it would be a remind to Loghain of his origin. A slap to his face if you will. I could just imagine his dialogue with you after you best him in the duel.

[berelinde]

I like numbers 1, 6, and 7. Guardsman-in-trouble works. OK, it's probably how the Wardens wind up with a lot of their recruits, but why mess with a winning formula. And I just like Highever.



I don't like anything to do with Lothering. It gets sticky. Leliana's been hanging out there for years. Why haven't you met? And did you know the family Sten killed? And in a small town like that, it would be unrealistic for everyone to treat you like a stranger, and a pain in the butt if they didn't. You'd have to establish the PC's relationship with the various villagers, and have them interact with the PC In a non-game-breaking way later. Too much of a headache.



Denerim is a big city. As long as you're sufficiently obscure, it would be perfectly logical for no one to know you. It would be a nice touch if *somebody* did, but it wouldn't be obligatory, and it wouldn't have to be everyone, like it would be with Lothering.



As for Highever, you never go there. You never meet anyone who knows anyone there, except Fergus, at the end, and he probably doesn't know everybody in the town. So that origin, too, would be easy to implement.



I'm as new to Dragon Age as everybody else. Maybe newer, since I can't seem to get the toolset to work on my computer. But I've been modding BG2 for years, and the one thing I've learned is that your bet chance at success always lies where you have to change the game the least.

[naledgeborn]

Highcastle's idea about the cutpurse crew in Denerim sounds good. Wouldn't require too much meddling with the game except for the Ostagar part.

[Bibdy]

I think the original human commoner campaign was going to be a villager from a farmhold outside Redcliffe, which gives your character some motivation for helping the place and revisiting it, possibly searching for family that was lost in the chaos of a Darkspawn attack or something. I derive this from browsing through the campaign talktable and finding some strings which mentions such things in there.



Doesn't seem that being a commoner from Denerim would be particularly exciting. There aren't any interesting characters there, or really any major event to revisit Denerim for which would be interesting to the character (short of adding an entire commoner area, yourself).



I think going the Redcliffe commoner route would be most interesting, since you can breath some more life into the characters of the town. Would make your modding life much easier, since you wouldn't have to be too ambitious on content creation.



Re-using existing content is always a good idea for a modder

[Ilvra]

I love the "guard to warden" concept. What I'd really like is for someone, somewhere, to join the Wardens because they have always wanted to -- maybe it's a long-held dream, whatever, and have the origin be about getting around obstacles that might prevent that. Pretty much someone with Ser Gilmore's attitude, but not his opportunties (at least what might have been his opportunities, had there not been an attack).

Modifié par Ilvra, 28 décembre 2009 - 08:19 .

[LDiCesare]

Number 4 is my favourite. Hating templars and getting pissed with them for some reeason sounds really nice. whether this is in Lothering or somewhere else doesn't matter much, but I like Lothering as a starting place. May need to redo some dialogues with NPC's, but that's still less work than a new site from scratch.

[kormesios]

Ilvra wrote...

I love the "guard to warden" concept. What I'd really like is for someone, somewhere, to join the Wardens because they have always wanted to -- maybe it's a long-held dream, whatever, and have the origin be about getting around obstacles that might prevent that. Pretty much someone with Ser Gilmore's attitude, but not his opportunties (at least what might have been his opportunities, had there not been an attack).

You can play the human noble that way, IIUC--there are plenty of "Why can't I join the Wardens?" options anyway.  But it didn't make much sense to me, since you clearly had a good position anyway.

In general, though, I think this is something a modder can do that the game designers couldn't.  In the retail version, you don't want to railroad a player into having a life-long desire to do anything.  Especially "Join the Wardens", when before they even know what the Wardens are.  They make assumptions about how this desire fits into their character's life, find they are wrong, then they feel railroaded.

In a mod, though?  Why not?  Anyone downloading should know what the Wardens are already, so they can read the setup and make an informed choice.

[Jaldaen]

highcastle,



I also liked Sergeant Kylon... and that was one of the reasons why the Denerim guard origin was the first one to come to my mind. I can just see him saying, "It hasn't been the same without you." It'd also be cool if you had him as your companion for part of the origin. As for Daveth... that's an interesting twist... what if your character was the one who caught Daveth? That would make for an interesting introduction to Duncan.

[Jaldaen]

tallon1982,



That is one appealing aspect of such an origin.



Loghain: How could you defeat me?

You: I'm a farmer, it's what we do to kill time between harvests.

[Jaldaen]

berelinde,



I'm glad you like the guard-in-trouble origins and will keep your comments in mind, especially about your experiences modding with BG2. I think you're right about not reinventing the wheel and changing the least amount of material, while still trying to get the biggest bang for your mod.

[Jaldaen]

Bibdy,



Thanks for your comments. I do think you're right about reusing existing content. This is one of the cons against doing the Gwaren option... even though I like it's concept. As for Redcliff, perhaps that is another option... though I'll have to think of how I'd want to make it work with all the other things going on in Redcliff when you first arrive (from Alistair's confession to the siege)... I think it has so much stuff going on with it initially that having a character from there could detract from the tension of the scenario if too many people recognized you.

[Jaldaen]

Ilvra and kormesios,

I also like the idea of the main character wanting to join the Grey Wardens for some reason, too. If I can find a way to fit it into the final storyline I probably will... even if only as dialogue options.

Modifié par Jaldaen, 28 décembre 2009 - 11:48 .

[Asante81]

Jaldaen wrote...

Asante81,

Thanks for your comments. I love the dwarven noble and city elf (female) origins and I think you're right that part of their appeal is that they draw you into the world of DA:O. I think the other reasons they work so well are because they have compelling storylines (royal intrigue and oppression/revenge), engaging characters (Gorim & Bhelen), and give your character a very good reason to join the Wardens. Whatever approach I decide to take... I'll be trying to include all of these elements. Right now some of the origins mentioned above aren't very spicy because I only just started and need to do a lot of homework on how I might make each of them stand out. However, I much admit that I like #1, 4, and 5 the most because they do have interesting possibilities with introducing lore.

Well you know, humans so far pretty much "lost" the origins I'd say. The noble one is rather generic and dull and the mage one interesting in a way but not that exciting too. What you need is something as exciting and enticing as the dwarven ones. This is why I would try to take my eyes on the things that make this world stand out amongst other fantasy lore. If I were you I would start thinking about those things, and then about the details.
Have you thought about the possibility of something like... a spy from outside of Ferelden?
Or... change your templar idea with letting them be part of a Chasind or Avvar tribe. (Chasind for exmaple.. they had to flee the first assaults of the darkspawn and came too close to a region with templars and your freshly married spouse is something like a healer for your tribe and ended up being treated an apostate... something like that... I didn't really think about that now. This would spare you having to explain why a FARMER is a good enough fighter to be conscripted into the Grey Wardens...)

Modifié par Asante81, 29 décembre 2009 - 12:12 .

[Jaldaen]

Added option #8, which was mentioned by Maximus741000 in the toolset forums.

I'm also retiring options 2 and 3 because they didn't get any interest and to be honest... I like the other possible origins a lot more. I'll probably drop one of the Highever options, too, but I'm waiting to see if I get inspired by either of them... or if there is interest in one particular approach over the other.

I've tallied the votes so far from this thread and other sources:

Option #1: 6 votes
Option #4: 7 votes
Option #5: 3 votes
Option #6: 3 votes
Option #7: 3 votes
Option #8: 3 votes

Modifié par Jaldaen, 29 décembre 2009 - 12:28 .

[Jaldaen]

Asante81,



Thanks again... I like your idea about the possibility of combining option #4 with the Chasind background... that could make for an interesting story. I'll have to ponder it because it does add a unique flavor to the origin.

[Series5Ranger]

Jaldaen wrote...

There was a Human Commoner origin, but really only in the planning stages (with a little bit of dialogue in Ostagar), but Bioware wasn't satisfied with it's farmer-to-hero storyline and cut it. I think they were right to do so... that type of story just doesn't sound right for Dragon Age's dark fantasy theme.

Cough Cough *Dungeon Siege* Cough Cough

[Jaldaen]

Series5Ranger,



I never really got into that game... though your point is well taken

[Jaldaen]

So I've decided to keep this poll running until Jan. 4th. At that time, I'll flesh out the top 2-3 options and then hold a "final" poll where people can express their preferences and contribute ideas based on the options being voted on.

[Jaldaen]

Okay, so I just cut option 7, too. I did this because option 6 would be a lot easier to implement. SO I'm down to 5 options (1, 4, 5, 6, and 8).



So keep the votes coming and I'll continue to widdle down the options until I find the best one.

[Jaldaen]

I cut down the options by two and added a new option. The two options I cut were the Highever and Gwaren options. I wasn't feeling very inspired by the Highever option and Gwaren would be too much work in addition. I'd rather use an area that is already finished and can be tweaked for the origin. It'll help the project get finished a lot faster.



As for the new option... I added the option of you being a "refugee" on your way to Lothering. Your caravan is attacked by darkspawn and your family is killed (parents, wife/husband, maybe your child). When you arrive at Lothering, people are being recruited (or maybe even pressed) into Cailin's army. Somehow you end up in the army, but during your march on Ostagar, your company is attacked by mercanaries weilding darkspawn weapons. After the battle, you discover these mercanaries were sent to kill the commander and his men and make it look like a darkspawn attack (though you can't find out who was behind the attack). You are joined up by Duncan who is impressed and recruits you into the wardens.



I'm also considering cutting option #4 because as others have mentioned, it might be a better apostate mage origin, than a human commoner origin. So it might be best to put this on the backburner and perhaps one day return to it as it's own seperate origin. Alternatively, I could open the Human Commoner origin up to all the classes. What do you all think? Should the Human Commoner origin stick to warrior and rogue or should mage be an option?



Thanks and Happy New Years!

Joseph

[Jaldaen]

I cut option 8 because I like the refuge storyline a little bit better than the militia one.



Someone in another thread mentioned the possibility of Sten being in the Human Commoner origin, perhaps even as the one who kills your family. I think that might be a bit much (I hate to make it so hard RP-wise to let Sten join you). Is this something you would be interested in? Alternatively, I could see Sten making an appearance in the refuge origin. Perhaps you are the one who finds him by the side of the road and drops him off at the farm while you and your family continue on your way to Lothering? It could be interesting... but then again it might be too much to bite off for an origin.

[fantasypisces]

The problem I have with Gwaren is that Loghain is your lord, literally, he is Teryrn of Gwaren. That could provide many opportunities for interesting conversations with you and Loghain, but I don't think the addon would go that far. My favorite is #4. But that sort of makes an issue with one wanting to roleplay with any semblance of being nice to the Chantry, and therefore the circle.



You do have some interesting ideas though.

For #4 you could have choices. Say other apostates show up (sort of like a secret cell maybe) to help/warn your wife/son that the Chantry is looking for them. Then the Templars show up. Your choice then becomes to either attack the Templars, or Attack the Apostates. Either way Duncan recruits you. But this way you are given a bit more RP choice.



Kudos to you for undertaking this, it will be tough work.

[fantasypisces]

And hit me up if you want any help with writing, or just proof-reading, or for creative criticism. Sometimes I have my creative moments hehe.

[Jaldaen]

I have trimmed down the ideas to the three that I'm most interested in pursuing:



The Denerim Guard origin

The Parent of a Mage origin

The Darkspawn Refugee origin



The reason I've chosen these is because each one offers something unique in terms of storytelling.



The Denerim Guard origin offers a glimpse into city life (alienage, curruption, thieves, etc.), an opportunity to meet Daveth before Ostagar, and the possibility of seeking out those who betrayed/frame you later in the game (maybe Howe is behind it all).



The Parent of a Mage creates some tough choices, would have an effect on your conversations with companions (especially Alistair and Morrigan), and color your opinion of the Templars and possibily the Chantry.



The Refugee origin offers a very good reason to join the wardens of your own volition, it also might allow for some interaction with Sten, and again offers the possiblity of some very interesting dialogue options with companions about the death of your family, it also ties in with the main storyline quite nicely.

[fantasypisces]

To go along with #4, farmer could defenitly work. You are away from home possibly hunting wolves who have been ravaging your land. You run into some Darkspawn which Duncan was tracking and you help kill them. When you get back home and find your family dead Duncan says he will go report it, to leave you to your grief. When you exit the house you find the other Apostates plotting revenge. They tell you how your wife was an apostate who belonged to their group and the Templars came to kill her (and your son/daughter). Your choices then become:

1) Become angry at the Apostates. You believe in the maker, or just distrust magic, or you are mad at them for helping your wife to have this 'secret' life.

2) Conspire with them and go against the Templars.



Either way, Duncan finds you and either saves you from the Templars who want to kill you for (as far as they know) harboring an apostate. Or they want to kill you because you killed all the templars. Duncan then conscripts you.