41 réponses à ce sujet

[rjshae]

Getting sucked (teleported) into a random level of Halaster's Undermountain dungeon would be an excuse for some random dungeon crawling that would also fit with the canon. Somebody would need to build those out though. A set of unreliable teleporter gates could then transport you to the next scenario.

[kamal_]

Not every character goes through adventure after adventure until they reach epic levels and pal around with Kelemvor (He seems a stuffy sort who doesnt throw good parties anyway). The realms have plenty of npc who are former adventurers who were sucessful in their adventures and have settled down to run inns or be a local lord/wizard/temple priest or the like. This is what I picture happening to my characters whose adventures do not wind up plane-spanning or universe saving. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact I find them more interesting and relatable.

[kamal_]

Bioware did a community competition for a bridge module between SoU and HotU. Of course it was relatively easy to fit a bridge because of the ending to SoU being "jump through an unknown portal or die".

[PJ156]

For me that's the image I like. For every adventurer who campaigns like the OC there's a hundred who get a good haul and retire out with the cash. For every adventurer who gets to retire there's another hundred who die trying. Most before they make second level.

 

There's no reason why an person might travel many miles without finding a new great adventure.

 

In my PnP game many moons ago you lost levels in those times .... that was one of the more "interesting" DM's I played under but I could see where he was coming from.

 

PJ

[GCoyote]

Not every character goes through adventure after adventure until they reach epic levels and pal around with Kelemvor (He seems a stuffy sort who doesnt throw good parties anyway). The realms have plenty of npc who are former adventurers who were sucessful in their adventures and have settled down to run inns or be a local lord/wizard/temple priest or the like. This is what I picture happening to my characters whose adventures do not wind up plane-spanning or universe saving. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact I find them more interesting and relatable.

 

Remember in the first edition AD&D rules, there was bit for each character class to become a local big shot on reaching 10th level! A wizard could build a tower, a fighter could become a lord, etc. The rules even specified an estimated amount of income per inhabitant for the DM to work from. 

[Arkalezth]

I usually play different modules with different characters too. Anyway:

 

My biggest issue is the role play... how did my antagonist make it all the way from "the Grayspeaks" or "Thay" to "Scornubel" ?? With no adventures ?

 

Assuming you mean "protagonist", well... maybe s/he just walked there? I mean, there are more reasons to go from point A to point B other than "a trail of dead goblins led me here". Maybe he wanted to see Scornubel, or get a change of scenery, or be from there originally, or started running Forrest Gump-style and ended up there. Or in the case of TMGS, the church could have sent him there (that's how TMGS starts, after all). Or maybe there were other adventures off-screen leading there. Modules are not made to follow others that are completely unrelated to them, but you can RP anything.

 

Speaking of the "being teleported to X", and without giving too many spoilers, that's Misery Stone plot. So it could serve as a bridge if you need one, I suppose.

 

Another good option is the module "Isle of Shrines", as it scales to your character's level. I think "Hyborian Hack" does too, though it wouldn't really make any sense for a FR character (unless, again, "a mage did it").

[Dann-J]

Not every character goes through adventure after adventure until they reach epic levels and pal around with Kelemvor (He seems a stuffy sort who doesnt throw good parties anyway). The realms have plenty of npc who are former adventurers who were sucessful in their adventures and have settled down to run inns or be a local lord/wizard/temple priest or the like. This is what I picture happening to my characters whose adventures do not wind up plane-spanning or universe saving. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact I find them more interesting and relatable.

 

There are old adventurers, and there are bold adventurers, but there are no old bold adventurers...

 

I suspect any adventurer who has lived long enough to become a household name did so because they 'retired' at some point. Although just about any profession must seem like retirement to an adventurer if you're not avoiding deadly traps or being attacked by monsters on a daily basis. Even regular warfare must seem like a holiday;

 

"Bad news General - the enemy have called forth their archers."

"Infernal plane-touched arcane archers with magical flaming bows and enchanted soul-destroying arrows?"

"No sir. Just regular human archers with ordinary bows and arrows."

"Then why are you bothering me? Wake me when it's all over."

[Jfoxtail]

Retirement is indeed I suppose the "unspoken" end of many a "BIC file" in my local vault. 

 

1) Indeed Kamal brings the point that in old D&D one retired (sort of) as lord of some local keep.

 

Properly run by the DM the adventurer would balance income flows, upgrade the keep, fight off local rivals and monsters / sieges... and occasionally be required venture out on some quest or mission to replenish the coffers. It made it incredibly challenging role-play wise to locate a "steward and henchmen" that were trustworthy beyond a shadow of a doubt. Further to role play your own henchmen and/or "randomly generated followers" to up level them. It became a RPG with resource management and strategy as was to me (and some) one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. I always dabbled in "kingdom politics" when I Dm'ed and I guess my players enjoyed. it. 

 

There is an interesting gap - potential for a module. In NWN1 there was a persistent keep - persistent housing - as a module to store your stuff and keep a near epic character current. I suspect some of the NWN2 PWs have one - but I have never seen the module for Single Players.

 

If one could build a "Crossroad Keep" single player module that would allow (1) persistent housing in an area of Faerun chosen by the player (2) periodic upgrading of said keep and finally (3) an occasional random attack by some local warlord / ogre mage/ bandit king... heck even a king themselves... something just to keep the player interested in occasionally returning to check in... Perhaps the keep could be a ship rather than a keep ? In essence all the same scripts - a "cabin alter", a quartermaster, a forge, and a persistent floating adventurers yacht that wither preys on pirates or is a pirate preying on weak merchants (alignment choices).

 

I would probably have a dozen save games for any number of retired PC. 

 

They would be fun "1 hour shorts" like re-aquainting with an old friend 

 

2) To Alks point that you simply could have walked there without experiencing adventure...

 

I agree and disagree. It is of course entirely conceivable as you describe it... and I cannot refute the point.

 

I would only say they very literature of Faerun seems to infer otherwise. I cannot think of any books (Salvatore et al) where the protagonist does not in fact experience some mini adventure or quest along the way. 

 

Now of course not every BIC I have is Drizzt Do'Urden ~ nor favored of Meleiki ~ nor hunted by is drow family. However if I was to "opine on the antagonist" of the Maimed God Saga - but a choice is actually sort of given in the end scripts.

 

One could suppose he (she) settled down in Nestau..(town spelling) with a certain ranger and lived happily ever after. Or one could imaging he(or she) is beloved of Tyr and called by the god. I suppose Tyr may not immediately use the same tool... but I cannot envision that he journeyed thousands of miles without incident. At least one rival god of Tyr would certainly devise some mischief as a test of Tyr's justicar at level 12....

 

I realize the author never completed a module that he contemplated for a 2nd installment ; but then I can imagine (role play) the character following my own second installment if I simply perhaps had the generic 1 hour adventure that inferred "travel". 

 

This was of course the very concept behind the NWS short modules as I recall. Single quest shorts that allowed you to equip - buy sell - and inferred travel to your next location. There were 4 of them (??) and all were very well done and received.

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

It would be a neat trick for the next NWN-style game to have a function that pulls a random .BIC file out of the local vault and create a NPC out of it.  You could then have a tavern or psych ward in-game filled with all those old retired adventurers. 

[rjshae]

It might be interesting to have a scalable adventure that consists entirely of clearing out a stronghold. Then, if you are of sufficient level, you can gain the rights to run it. Your steward can have a conversation file that links the module to other available campaigns, based on your current level. Just click the one you want to play and then you are teleported there. Once you are done you start up your stronghold again and choose the next module.

 

If you wanted to get fancy, it could be an extradimensional stronghold in a pocket dimension. That could almost serve as the basis of a group project... maybe add some interdimensional merchants for visitors, give it a few visiting guardians you could hire, and add some buildable chambers, like a magic vault, teleportals, a pantheon shrine, and a Star Wars-like pub. Ye Olde Den of Scum and Villainy...

[Arkalezth]

I actually mentioned "off-screen adventures" as a possibility. It may not be the perfect solution, but then again, you're trying to play a character through several modules that have no relation with each other, so chances are you'll have to take some liberties. Just look at the characters that populate a PW: They all have a background that leads them there, but that doesn't mean the player has actually played through it.

 

Besides, I don't know why some random adventurer can't take some holidays or follow a road to some city without making an epic story out of it, just because Drizzt's case happened to be different.

 

*coughs* It's "Ark". *coughs*

[Jfoxtail]

It might be interesting to have a scalable adventure that consists entirely of clearing out a stronghold. Then, if you are of sufficient level, you can gain the rights to run it. Your steward can have a conversation file that links the module to other available campaigns, based on your current level. Just click the one you want to play and then you are teleported there. Once you are done you start up your stronghold again and choose the next module.

 

If you wanted to get fancy, it could be an extradimensional stronghold in a pocket dimension. That could almost serve as the basis of a group project... maybe add some interdimensional merchants for visitors, give it a few visiting guardians you could hire, and add some buildable chambers, like a magic vault, teleportals, a pantheon shrine, and a Star Wars-like pub. Ye Olde Den of Scum and Villainy...

 

 

Exactly ! 

 

Crossroads Keep in various iterations.

 

I don't even think you necessarily need the link to every mod on the vault... rather just the Dbase behind it such that every time a player loaded the mod it would recall what "the Paladin" had stored in the alter and the "Mage" stored in the book case... persistent housing with the usual merchant / crafting capabilities.

 

Further every time you re-entered "detect if PC level up since last" an new threat could randomly generate.

 

"You are being attacked by Lord Farquar - rally the men and defend the keep" or "there is hole to the Underdark detected in the dungeons - go defend your keep from the drow".

 

You could even customized it slightly using "tile sets" (???)

 

The player could choose:

 

1) Castle and Steward ala Crossroad keep with those scripts.

 

2) The Ship from SOZ as your "keep"  - A first mate instead of a Steward - randomly substitute Pirate attacks and Kuo Tao from the depths. 

 

3) A Temple version for Paladins / Cleric types that so choose. A "cardinal" instead of a steward. Randomly substitute Banites, undead, or fiend attacks from below.

 

4) A Mages tower or more interestingly an extra planner mages tower in one of the 4 elemental planes (?) . A Elemental or Golum instead of a steward. Randomly substitute planner attacks or fiends.

 

5) A tree house a midst a secret grove for the woodsy types. A Nymph instead of the Steward... (oops Freudian FanBoi slip). Attacks from.. etc etc.

 

Of course I have "no talent vis a vis a toolset... but certainly I think the entire community would love such a team endeavor.

 

I think Kamal was the genius who even documented the Crossroad Keep scripts...

[Jfoxtail]

This of course would represent the "off screen" adventures if you will - especially for that "level 12 ~ 25 adventurer that finished campaigning until travelling to "x" destination... 

[rjshae]

I'd start small--like a lobby--and build that up into a workable form before getting more ambitious.

[kamal_]

Exactly ! 

 

Crossroads Keep in various iterations.

I think Kamal was the genius who even documented the Crossroad Keep scripts...

 

I documented it so someone could implement a stronghold type module, and even suggested a bard running a playhouse ala BG2 or a Red Wizard of Thay trying to improve their position in Thayan society. So hop to it

 

/make it more interesting than Crossroads Keep though.

[GCoyote]

Well the guest book system in SoZ already allows you to add previously exported PCs to the game and that PC can leave items in any of the existing locations and go adventuring in the game environment. So the functionality for that part already exists. Adding a suitable additional module like the Holiday Expansion pack to provide the PC with a keep, should be doable. Then you still need to generate encounters or add a scalable dungeon or threat.