90 réponses à ce sujet

[PJ156]

I am working on my first desert area. I have started to pick out a palette of textures, colours and tints. I am hoping for something Arizona like (Sonoran desert?). It's coming along but if anyone has any desert area experience and some thoughts or tips please shout out.

 

 

For the first time I am working in the module folder for custom content. That is so that the behemoth of a hak set from module 1 does not change. Given the variety of locations I need for this mod I think that will work well.

 

PJ

[kamal_]

I am working on my first desert area. I have started to pick out a palette of textures, colours and tints. I am hoping for something Arizona like (Sonoran desert?). It's coming along but if anyone has any desert area experience and some thoughts or tips please shout out.

You've got PM.

 

[PJ156]

That looks good, boxwood grows all over the world I see. 

 

PJ

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

I was trying for that Arizona (Monument Valley?) look too, but the texturing was a bear.  Without a lot of vegetation to break things up, it's really difficult to make a bunch of sand look like anything but a bunch of sand.

 

First area gets around that problem just by having a lot of junk in it:

 

 

Lots of little tufts of grass, scattering of trees, and an eroded out landscape to break everything up.  Even that wasn't enough, though, just look at the layer-cake texture job I had to do on the right: 100% stone, then 50/50 stone/dirt, 100% red dirt, and then highlights of white sand.  It actually looks like a mess in default light; it's only with some harsh overlighting in-game that it blends together.

 

This is the best picture I have posted of the less verdant desert areas:

 

You can see in the center-right how I tried to break it up with a little bit of dried mud, 1/0 brush at 100% squiggled around.  If you download the module (Danaan v200) you can poke around in the Wadi-al-Khanal area and see some more open desert.  I guess the main trick is just to make something interesting in the background, out in the unwalkable area, to draw the player's attention so they don't spend too much time looking at the ground.  That and always try to have some sort of feature that you're drawing on the ground, like a hillock, dune, or gulley, instead of just leaving bare dirt.  Like have a big splotch of darker sand,  edged with lighter sand, and then highlighted with lighter sand in the middle. 

[PJ156]

Thanks there's some ideas there. I will have a play tonight on the opening areas.

 

I am thinking to use RWS strata cliffs for my bluffs. This first area is quite small so I will play with it and be prepared to do some reworking

 

PJ

[rjshae]

I am wondering whether those daytime shots might benefit from some brighter lighting. Deserts can be hard on the eyes.

[Eguintir Eligard]

Desert attempt looks pretty phat to me. It's like I said to someone who one asked what to do with deep snow areas to add stuff... don't. It is what it is, just enjoy being able to make a viable area with less work since that's how it is. There's a reason they are called waste lands

[PJ156]

There's an aspect of the next mod that is causing me to pause. I though I would post here and see what your thoughts are.

 

I have about 30 mins of game play in the new mod and no combat yet. I need to break it up a bit but cannot think how.

 

My principle issue is that the principle protagonist for the party until the story shifts in module 4 of the series is Lawful Good. They are trying to prevent the party from achieving one of its goals and I am not sure how they would go about this. I am certain they would not use brute force though. I am therefore stuck with random encounters. i am stuck with that because I am still in the city.

 

Thugs are fine at low level but who is going to attack a 16th level party of three. I hate dropping high level monsters into cities without back stories.

 

I just did vampires and I about to do witches, that closes two avenues I might take.

 

So I am out of ideas until the players get out of town and I can drop them into a "random" encounter.

 

Thoughts/comments, would be welcomed.

 

PJ

[kamal_]

What's wrong about not having combat?* You have to make the non combat time interesting. Maybe the LG protagonist tries to get the party arrested for some perceived crimes. The party is surrounded by the guard (who are well aware of the party's power, and thus come prepared). It's up to the party to talk their way out of it/accept arrest but then escape/use non-lethal force on the guards and go into hiding etc.

 

*says the guy who made a campaign that didn't require combat.

[Tchos]

I agree with Kamal.  Combat is not a requirement.  What are you using the combat for?  If it's for XP, the DM Guide has extensive information on awarding XP for non-combat interactions.

[PJ156]

The question is bigger than that I hope, I think I did not write clearly but, in general, I like combat as a part of the story. My mods weave combat into the plot just because it can be fun and challenging and it keep things diverse. Bearing in mind I don't use puzzles or side games. It's just the story progression.

 

Also with the combat gone all I have left in the box is area design and the story and I am not always confident enough with the latter.

 

More than this I am wondering how a LG protagonist would go about putting a stick in the spokes of the party. Spies is one possibility and misinformation another. I like kamal's false arrest idea but they are not going to try to kill the party, not till other methods have failed. I just wonder what other methods I/they might use?

 

PJ

[Tchos]

Okay, so combat is the goal, not the means to the goal.  In that case, disregard the question of non-combat XP, but I wanted to add to my post to give a specific citation instead of leaving it as a vague reference, in case it's useful for other situations.
 

CRs for Noncombat Encounters
You could award experience points for solving a puzzle, learning a secret, convincing an NPC to help, or escaping from a powerful foe. Mysteries, puzzles, and roleplaying encounters (such as negotiations) can be assigned Challenge Ratings, but these sorts of awards require more ad hoc ruling on the DM’s part.

It goes on for about a page and a half giving examples and suggestions for XP awards from things other than combat, many of which I've seen done in NWN2 modules, such as trap-disarming XP and playing according to your alignment.

[rjshae]

If the main goal is to delay them without causing harm, then a potent alchemical drug could be used--strong enough to cause a deep narcosis but not enough to kill. They can be detained in a cellar, without gear, but fed regularly by a deaf mute. If they manage to get out, then the search for the alchemist who provided the drug can create another delaying tactic. They can be led on a wild goose chase about the city by the alchemist and his cronies, finding false clue after false clue.

[Berliad]

More than this I am wondering how a LG protagonist would go about putting a stick in the spokes of the party. Spies is one possibility and misinformation another. I like kamal's false arrest idea but they are not going to try to kill the party, not till other methods have failed. I just wonder what other methods I/they might use?

 

Is the LG protagonist aware that the party is justified in their actions (I'm assuming the party is, in fact, just)?  Or might this person have a skewed perspective on events?  This sort of goes back to kamal's false arrest idea, with the idea that the LG protagonist might do misguided things if they incorrectly think they are the ones doing the right thing.  Whether that's attacking, arresting, etc, I'm not sure.

 

Other options: misinformation seems a good one.  So, too, does applying political pressure.  They could also try to distract them.  For example, they could (directly or indirectly) hire the party and send them off on some unrelated mission to keep them out of the way.  This could certainly involve going after some legitimate evil, and so could involve some combat.  I agree that while it's certainly possible to not have combat, it is nice to work it in periodically, as fits the story, to keep things varied and engaging.

 

Anyway, just some ideas.  Good luck!

[andysks]

Non combat xp is always good. And I generally prefer non hack-slash modules. I often award some xp even if it doesn't involve a quest. Like, you find a boy and his toy is fallen in a backyard... doesn't have to be a quest. The yard is just there. You pick it, give it back get some xp. Or destroy it in front of his eyes, still get xp. Of course LG would give it I guess . But stuff like that work. Or you find a crappy item, keep it, and later you meet a scholar and you have the option to talk to him about it. He says it's a rare dagger or what not, get some xp for you didn't throw the -3 to attack -3 to damage dagger away. You get the point .

[GCoyote]

Or perhaps conditions suddenly don't allow the party to continue.

• Riot/Revolution - Not wanting to get caught up in such could send the party into hiding or force them to advance by round about means.  L/G NPCs will want such brought under control and the party could be drafted into the effort, justly or not.
• Fire - Not a creature but in a city without a fire department it's the kind of threat that can require all hands to pitch in.
• Weather - Without modern gear, weather is a lot more likely to kill you if you don't respect it.  The L/G NPC might require the PCs to participate in rescues etc. before allowing them to proceed.
• Plague - If you have healing abilities you might be drafted.  If not you may have to avoid it. 
• Intrigue - If the L/G NPC has enemies, the party may have to prove its intentions are honorable before they can be allowed to proceed.
• Robbed - Some serious thieves cleaned the party out during their sleep and now its a matter of re-equipping ($$$) before they can move on.  In your mod, high level gear isn't' that easy to find, hence the problem.  The L/G NPC may or may not have an interest in helping them/solving the crime.

Just off the top of my head and no idea which would be difficult to implement. 

[PJ156]

Thanks guys, there is loads to play with there. I should be able to do something with that and it would do me good to step out of the story a little.

 

Dragons demanding princesses is a little to high fantasy for me. I want to put a dragon onto my mod at some point but I need to be careful with that to make it fit the way I see things. For sure I think that any dragon would be driven off populated lands quickly and, if a dragon is intelligent enough to demand princesses then it is intelligent enough to know that, if it does that, it stands a very high chance of ending its day as 13 suits of armour 8 shield, 24 miscellaneous poisons and a very impressive fire place feature.

 

PJ

[OfficerDonNZ]

I've always though that DnD Dragons were for the most part solitary creatures (depending on Colour/Type) They tend to keep to themselves mostly. Most people in the FR will most likely never see a dragon. That and the dragons are smart enough to know that despite their size and power they can be killed so they don't attack the other races too often unless they want a hunting party after them.

[PJ156]

I think you're right. If and when I include a dragon the whole plot will surround it.

 

I did think a while back that I would take the first part of the Turmish Tarrasque project and make that about a dragon. I was, and still might, add a module or three after the gathering storm and have the principle protagonist being a dragon.

 

That seems to me to show sufficient deference to the great beasts.

 

PJ

[rjshae]

You could have an illusionary dragon--an accomplished illusionist is using his spells to project a dragon, complete with roaring flames and wind buffets. His goal is to kidnap a local princess, with whom he has grown deeply enamoured. She was scheduled to be married off to a particularly ugly but powerful prince from a distant land, and the dragon ploy is an act of desperation to obtain his beau.

[kamal_]

"There's a dragon in the hills! Save us mighty hero!"
End result of villager seeing a kobold, and the tale being mangled and elaborated for a better story by the time the hero shows up.

[PJ156]

"There's a dragon in the hills! Save us mighty hero!"
End result of villager seeing a kobold, and the tale being mangled and elaborated for a better story by the time the hero shows up.

 

That would be a good one for a 16th level party. I guess the kobold could have a friend