In the village of Edgeland, the last remaining villager pleads with you. His wife died three nights ago and he buried her. Since then, he is haunted by her screams and moans each night.
Hideous undead plague the Badlands.
Module Progress:
- Currently working on the Badlands.
- Still have the Magular Mage Academy quest to do. When that is done then the Nova's Cape section of the module will be complete.
Ahh looking at the companions in the first screenshot i see Tessa and (forgot his name) but a new face. She looks a bit like Sierra, a relative perhaps?
ReplyDeleteYes, that is Tessa but the other two are new. The female isn't a relative. She does look like Sierra a little in the screenshots but less so when you're playing the game.
DeleteNice to see a familiar face returning, not that there was really much doubt they would, in some capacity. And the undead! What grand adventure is complete without an undead section? I usually play rogues, so undead are my worst enemy. Should be less of a problem in your module though, no?
ReplyDeleteEstarc
You'll be seeing most of the main characters from the previous module eventually. The undead shouldn't give you too many hassles if you play a rogue. The woman in the pic with the flaming mace is a cleric and she'll be a big help.
DeleteI know in the first game it was best to be a fighter/melee based class to get through, so would it be possible to play as other classes?
DeleteHi jabajack. You can play any class you like in this module but I do recommend at least one level of fighter or paladin. There will be armor and swords in the game that are necessary to the storyline. You could probably do a straight cleric for instance but you wouldn't get to use some of the nice swords. I know at least medium armor will be a requirement but I'm not sure if heavy will be required yet.
DeleteMadam,
Deletewhat about ranged-oriented characters? Do you plan on giving something extra for players who have (perhaps poorly) chosen some of the archery-related feats? An assassination attempt, a grand contest, or maybe saving a friend from being executed?
You could also filter out (on the limbo map) players with OOC characters. I've never heard of spellcaster-turned-gladiator.
I've included full-scale shops in this module. That's something that was lacking in the first module. I'll also try to include a nice magic bow somewhere in the module.
DeleteI'm trying to give more freedom of character selection in this module. Although a fighter-type makes the most sense, maybe even a fighter/rogue type story-wise, but I've left it open for the player to be what they want. I still highly recommend at least one level of fighter for armor requirements and to not miss out on some nice blades in the game.
The cleric's silver armour in the first picture looks a bit odd with the shoulder pads looking like there just stuck on the shoulders with glue. It may look better with bare shoulders.
ReplyDeleteThe black and purple armour is very nice.
Those undead in the 2nd picture look pretty narly, skeletons with bits of rotting fleash still coating the bones icky! :)
In the catacombs could have it very dark, with some of those placeable tall torchs that are clickable to light up, with them all starting as unlit. Would help give a clostophobic and creepy look (especially as your playing human with no darkvision or lowlight vision).
Good point. I think I'm going to remove the shoulder guards now that you mention it. I like the torch idea too. I'll see if I can incorporate that.
DeleteMadam,
DeleteTessa's outfit has a fine design (and even matching swords), but why is she wearing high heels in combat zone? None of the other females on the pictures do that. Bare mid-drifts may be explained with fantasy and magic but come on :^) Perhaps they give her reflex and silent walk penalties? Not a great tradeoff for a rogue, though.
I agree that the other chick's shoulder pads look weird. If you are going to remove them I suggest compensating it by giving her fully covered arms. It should also make her armor look more protective and less "aribeth-y".
Kudos for giving every companion a different color scheme, with brighter values on upper body parts. It makes micro-managing much easier thus keeping players in action rather than on hunt for dye traders.
Finally, you could use - for example - an empty wall torch socket placeable, have it consume a carried one and then spawn/activate a light emitter. This makes sense for long-forgotten dungeons where characters are not to expect any convenient contraptions left laying around. It pays to be prepared.
If I were a fantasy rogue/shadowdancer that's exactly what I'd wear - heels, bare midriff and all. Maybe there's a distraction bonus =) Or maybe I'm just guilty of being more interested in style and sensuality. Anyway, the concept of the module is admittedly a bit cheesecake and not meant to be a study in practical armor wear. If I made the armor completely practical it would be a lot less sexy. Think of the module like one of those semi-erotic fantasy paintings, but with interaction. Thanks for the comments and ideas!
DeleteMadam,
DeleteI'm not calling for total realism (that's why I mentioned those bare midriffs), I'm only registering an observation regarding use of combat stilettos. I'd rather save them for less life-threatning situations, but since it's your module and not mine, I'm not going to complain over such little things :^)
Or perhaps there is a third option: it can simply be explained that if all shoes in the game use the same set of low-poly models, it becomes impossible to visually discriminate between their details such as armor values, heel lengths, etc. A good (read: jogging player's imagination) armor description can always solve those dillemas...
I have actually written a script which changes critters' leg models when boots are (un)equipped, but it unfortunately causes trouble when no armor is worn and wastes CPU cycles due to being used in companions' on-hearbeat events. Yet it almost makes it feel like the day they added built-in support for visible cloaks!
PS. Judging from the screenshots, are you using Kurairyu's Hands or another/better mod?
Definitely not against such stlying though it may not work for you male characters =P
DeleteWith the high dexterity that Tessa has, maybe those stiletto heels are a cakewalk for her (giggling). See, there's no extreme I won't go to, to explain away my shameless choices :)
DeleteI'm not sure whose hands I'm using. I think they were in the CEP.
An idea for future may be to have a location that's a bit unstable, either a crumbling castle, watchtower, cave, or whatever. and have some triggers which cause the earthquake effect (simulates parts of the place colapsing - maybe with the trigger doing a 1d6 roll and on a 6 it happening) Other triggers that could cause the PC to 'fall' into a lower level if they are carrying too much weight (could do it for her companions too, so that there's a chance she'd loose some of the help if she's not watching her step). Colapsing ceilings blocking the pach back, that either needs smashing open or finding a new way round.
ReplyDeleteI think that would make an interesting place to explore. Especially if you set most of the triggers to be random if they go off or not (Not up on scripting but would assume could do that with the script doing a dice roll to see if it works, or possible forcing a Save by the character wil/fort/ref vs a DC to see if it triggers).
Hmm, I do like this idea. I think there is a way I can incorporate a variation of this later in the module.
ReplyDeleteMadam,
ReplyDeletefor some reason my comments were not instantly published yesterday. Perhaps there is an upper limit for anonymous replies after which they get queued into moderation?
Hi there. For some reason the comments went in the spam box. I'm not sure why. I unspammed them and they are up now. I'll have to check and see if there's a setting here that will prevent that from happening. Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, should you decide to continue working on Gladiatrix after this mod is complete do you plan on moving forward to maybe a 3rd part? or perhaps going back and re-work part 1?
ReplyDeleteI don't currently have any plans to continue the series after this module, but I never say never. If I do, it will be a much more leisurely approach as this is so much work and I think I'm going to need a break from it. Possibly short little adventures, but I'm not sure yet.
DeleteI might rework some of the first module at a future date, but I don't think it will be a massive overhaul. I'll probably just clean up some of the major things that were mentioned such as fleshing out Waycross a bit and adding more side quests.
It's thrilling to see such well thought-out modules still appear. Gladiatrix is an impressive work despite its flaws, doubly so from a first time author. Who knows, maybe it will inspire others to post their work as well, seeing how the audience exists.
ReplyDeleteHow do you plan to conduct the beta testing / sneak peek? Will it be a closed affair for a select few, or will the early module be publicly available for download?
Thanks! When the first section is ready for beta testing, I'll be posting a request for volunteers here and on the Gladiatrix page. I'm hoping for ten to twenty beta testers but I won't turn anyone away who wants to be involved. I'll email the testers a private link where they can download the module and I will also setup a private blog like this one where the testers can add their comments and discuss the module.
DeleteI thought I'd be a little closer to the first round of beta testing but I think I'm still a couple of weeks away from that. It's taking me a little more time to finish up the Nova's Cape area and quests than I thought.