Choose Your Language

Wednesday 16 February 2011

An Assortment of Updates

There is no one topic for the project to report on for the last couple of weeks, as I have been dipping in and out of various parts of the campaign that need addressing as and when I am inspired. The main reason for this is because I have been trying to give some of my time and energy in supporting people with incorporating my Mapping System into their own modules. And while this did not require a great deal of effort on my part, it did mean using some of the time I had to respond as and when I could. However, I was more than happy to oblige where possible and it gave me a chance to talk (email) others about their own projects. Furthermore, the good news from this is that there are now two modules (that I know of) that are looking at being re-released with the new mapping system incorporated. I have already had the chance to look at one these modules, Risen Hero, and can say that the "fog of war" system that comes with mapping system I devised does indeed add an extra level of intrigue during play. The other module, currently under conversion is Trinity, by E.C. Patterson. Watch out for their re-releases on the Vault.

Campaign Manual

I have also decided to put together a brief manual for the campaign to help prepare players for their gaming experience with Better The Demon. This is because there are enough differences in the normal NWN style of play to warrant some background information for the player. The "serious" gameplay approach that the game presents will be explained as well as other more common playing elements like death and crafting. All such elements have undergone changes and the player will be left somewhat bemused as to what is happening if I do not give them some sort of manual with which to refer. At the moment, however, the manual is nothing more than a few rough notes jotted down in my paper notebook.

Crafting With The Greater Essences

Talking of crafting, I did write a few more pages to the new crafting recipe book that details crafting using the greater essences. I know this book will serve little purpose in the initial module (as it requires the PC to be at least 8th level to use - which is still 4 levels lower than the OC anyway), but I did want the book to be available from module one, so that the player can start to plan their crafting of items ahead of time. I know most readers like to see screenshots, so here are a few of some of the opening pages to, hopefully, whet your appetite: (I am aware of the typo on the 4th page. There may be others that will be addressed in time.)





4 comments:

Kamal said...

Nothing wrong with giving the player an out of character ingame reference if you're doing things much different than stock. Saves people from having to tab back and forth to a web browser to get the info.

My next work is going to be giving the players an out of character dictionary for Crimman thieves cant as they'll be speaking in cant with other thieves. Hopefully I'll be able to keep things such that players get it, but the reference will give them a backup.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Hi Kamal,

I will give some ingame rule updates as well, but I do think the campaign will need a manual.

I like the sound of your own cany idea. Sounds interesting ...

Lance.

Shaughn said...

Thanks for the link, hopefully I'll start getting some feedback on how the community likes the fog in Risen Hero.

The manual is a good idea. With the bit of changes I made it was difficult to pass on that information to the player and you have made a massive amount of custom content and gui changes. I think the players will appraciate and benifit having a manual.

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Hi Shaughn,

I thought that a manual may help the player adjust to the changes easier. We'll see how it goes.

Lance.