Beta disguises Sierra as a mage in order to investigate the Magalia Mage Academy. She also supplies her with an amulet that is charged with the necessary spells to make a convincing infiltration.
Module Progress:
- I changed the name of the mage academy. I didn't like the name I originally had
- Still working on finishing up the Nova's Cape region
- This segment of the module is taking a bit longer than I had thought. I thought I'd be ready for beta testing this section by now, but I still have a bit of work to do. Thanks for being patient everyone. I think the module will be better in the long run with the extra time spent.
Huh, I must admit, pretending to be a mage sounds like it could be pretty damn interesting. Looking forward to playing that quest.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is always a good thing to take a bit longer to develop your stuff. As long as you don't go the way of Duke Nukem Forever, a little extra time for quality purposes is something I heartily encourage.
Estrac
Pretending to be a mage does sound very interesting, sneaking through good roleplaying. Will the spells we receive renew when we rest or will they be scrolls?
ReplyDeleteThe Beta is looking like a good lil' game all unto itself! =)
Thanks! I think it is going to be an amulet with a set number of spells. There should be enough different spells in it to make her come across as a decent mage.
DeleteMadam,
ReplyDeletedoes this disguise also change muscular, gladiator body into a wimpy, strong-enough-to-wield-just-a-wand wizard? Won't they see her abs through that revealing dress? :^) Jokes aside, what about lack of mage experience / spellcraft, that is how to convincedly answer arcane-specific questions?
You don't have to apologize as it doesn't really matter WHEN you release the module as long as it is GOOD (read: worth the wait). If someone "really can't wait to play" then probably they won't be able to enjoy it anyway.
Hi. I never considered the main character to be an amazon type. She came from nobility and has always caught people off guard because she doesn't look like a typical gladiator. I never envisioned her with rippling abs so I think she could pass herself off as one.
DeleteShe'll have an amulet that allows her to cast spells and will be coached on the arcane before going into the mission.
Madam,
DeleteOf course someone raised in a noble environment will never achieve the same level of stamina, toughness and musculature as those trained in fighting from early age (especially if PC is female), but still they will be much more able physically than average person and tread with self-confident demeanor of a gladiator, which could look at least suspicious in the eyes of a typical bookworm mage. Food for thought. Naturally here is where the disguise comes to play...
PS. No hair dying this time?
From the character's wide-ranging background (lady of nobility, stripper, gladiatrix, femme fatale) I would think she has gotten quite good at molding into whatever the situation calls for. So I consider her a master of disguise now.
DeleteYes, there will be hair dye. I just didn't apply it for the photo above, but she will definitely need it for this mission.
Madam,
DeleteI'd say it is the natural-born talent (intelligence, dexterity, beauty, self-confidence, etc) and its development (education, practice) which makes it easier for a person to find themselves in different situations and respond to them faster, smarter or in a more accurate way. And you are right - it makes above even easier if current circumstances resemble events from one's diverse past. Though it may not necessarily work that simply when facing a completely new obstacle, such as pretending to be someone totally dissimilar (mage) without any non-theoretical experience...
I would also be careful with applying "master" tag to players' characters.
Enough of my philosophical meddling. Speaking of nobility, have you considered making use of derivatives of PC's noble heritage, such as courtesy, etiquette, literacy or other higher-class lore (music, dancing, hunting, etc) in some of the quests?
Thanks for the thoughts. Etiquette type quests would be a good idea. I'm not sure where I would fit them in. This module is much darker than the last. She's much more likely to be in a situation to slit someone's throat to reach a goal.
DeleteMadam,
Deleteunderstood, but I assume slitting throats is going to be reserved rather for evil characters or maybe after running out of honorable/kind-hearted/manipulative/sexual/monetary possibilities?
As long as the module doesn't drift into total grimdark (mind what happened to/in ADWR2), I'd say you could think of following examples of employing the etiquette:
-pretending to be of noble origin (which is actually true) to convince the Bad Guys to order ransom for PC's realease instead of killing her outright;
-pretending to be - for example - a chambermaid to infiltrate a castle/mansion (more espionage...);
-making a positive impression on eldery military/noble/royal people who would be turned away by common or disrespectful behavior and clothing;
-earning trust of orphaned noble children or while escorting them to safety;
-making convincing appearance in court;
-etc, etc;
Well, my guess would be to counter the lack of arcane knowledge when asked a question, would be to smack the mage on the head, and stuff them into a cupboard or locker and hope they don't wake up until you've finished the mission and got out of the Academy. Or if your lucky you'll be sneaking in as a new student and not expected to know the answers to those questions.
ReplyDeletehmm, I'm curious about what the mission to the Academy will be for now . . . wonder if it's to locate a recruiter of the scourge that's luring young mages to their cause, or see if the scourge has a hidden lab in the academy that's creating new monsters. No no, don't tell me, want it to be a surprise.
The dress looks very nice :)
Heh if asked a question she can just shout "A wizard did it!" =P
DeleteOK, for a second I thought that the Magalia Mage Academy was just the female counterpart to the Magular mage academy, like the two gladiator baths. Must be just how they sound to me...
DeleteCount Marcus,
Are you forgetting what this module is about? ANd what her outfit is like? Any *male* wizard could be easily...distracted from his question.
Now, for the pesky sorceress in the Academy, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS. I could imagine using bluff to come up with some mage-o-babble. It is a school, after all--they don't know everything! Perhaps you could get a bonus to your role if you either read or overheard that her worst subject is herbology, and choose an answer along those lines. Of course, I can also picture the Monty Python answer: "African or European swallow?"
Madam,
ReplyDeletesigh, comment went to spambox again. However this time I've gathered enough evidence to be (almost) certain why is it happening and how to prevent it. Thanks in advance.
I unspammed the comment. The site doesn't seem to give me an option to control that :( Just tell me when it happens.
DeleteMadam,
DeleteIt's just a speculation, but after considering all possible reasons, I'd say it may be relevant to CPU speed of poster's computer. Perhaps if the CAPTCHA-checking script lags behind and won't authenticate the comment on time, blog's application will assume it was posted by just clicking "publish" without going through "preview" process or was posted with missing/invalid code (so its author may be a bot), and send the message to spambox limbo.
There are no options to control this behavior exactly because of CAPTCHA - its presence eliminates all needs for spam filters and related to them settings. For security reasons it also can't be disabled.
I just managed to reproduce this problem - you have another comment in the spambox. Therefore if this message won't get moderated as well, it will probably mean I just solved a mystery even Scooby-Doo couldn't solve.
Bottom line: reducing processor cycles (or using an ancient - from today's perspective - machine) when posting as anonymous may lead to undesired circumstances.
Both of your comments today made it to my spam box. I'll just check it periodically and unspam them if any make it there.
DeleteMadam,
Deletetrue, yet it doesn't prove my theory wrong :^) Given the short timespan between those comments, it's possible that once certain IP is considered to be "spamming" specific blog, all further messages from such address are automatically quarantined until some time period passes.
But it's all unimportant now. Thanks for checking the spambox.
Will it be covert style or will she be just walking around wherever she wants inside after getting the disguise? Wouldn't the teachers recognize that she isn't a mage because she might not have a certain magical aura around her or something?
ReplyDeleteAlso couldn't there be multiple choices of how to infiltrate the academy instead of just one where you have wear a disguise?
She has all those skills at her disposal. She can threaten a student to let her in or use other persuasive means such as money or sex or find a secret passage or sneak in at night.
Hi. She'll be in disguise, but once she's in as a student she should be able to move around the academy without being covert. For the magical aura, she'll have an amulet that contains the necessary spells she'll need and the amulet should project a magic aura as well.
DeleteI haven't thought about multiple ways into the school yet. Beta is her contact in Nova's Cape and she is planning the mission. There is a lot more choice in this module and decisions that the character can make will affect the outcome, however, I don't think I can realistically put alternate scenarios in every situation. If I did that then it would be years before I finish the module. I'd like to finish this while people still actually play NWN :). A lot of people don't even play nwn anymore and have moved on to other things. For my module, sometimes a mission is just a mission and other times there will be choice. There is choice in this particular mission, but probably not a lot of variation on the way into the academy. Thanks for the thoughts!
I had the funny image of Sierra trying a spell to assure some mage. She fails looks left n right then just knocks him out and runs, hehe that'd be a choice =P
DeleteFor choices, you can add the illusion of choice in your mod, instead of actually adding a different path.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you have to spend the night there, that your fellow students don't rope you into a midnight ritual - for fun an giggles cause one of them has smuggled out a book from the restricted section of the library. And, yes by rope I do mean an actual rope. - a demon summoning event in the academy may be fun.
ReplyDelete