Choose Your Language

Friday 1 May 2009

Fixing The Small Things

Not too much to report this week. I managed to get through most of the outstanding crafting points I wanted to get done this week (all but completing the second tome) and managed to fix a couple of other things along the way: (1) Alignment issues of companions when the player might perform an act opposite to their own ideology; (2) Stolen Goods text colour when the player had the chance to rename their items.

I know I have said it before, but I really am closer to getting into writing the plot now, and I hope I can start doing so with more frequency in the coming weeks. In fact, I can only foresee one more mechanics issue that may take some of my time, and that relates to the mapping system.

A Trip To Queensdown Warren

On a personal note, my wife and I took a trip out last Sunday to a local warren close to where we live, called Queensdown Warren. The weather was definitely on the plus side for the time of year and the bluebells were in full bloom, allowing me the chance to take some photos with the new digital camera we bought last year. The photo to the left is of a tree I thought was quite interesting, as it appeared to have a face in it that reminded me of the classic Treants of fantasy.

If you like to see some of the other shots I took (and even get to see what my wife and I look like), then feel free to check out the slide show at this link, which also shows off the bluebells. Unfortunately, a few of the shots are more blurry than I would have liked, but at least I am getting the practice now. :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to hear you're moving out of the dangerous world of mechanics--many a mod has been lost in their tricky hands. :)

Maybe you've covered this, but how are companions going to handle stolen items? I could imagine some becoming temporarily upset, but what sort of long term plans do you have in mind? Anyways, I think it's a good idea.

Those pictures are beautiful, too(somehow I thought you looked different, haha). Spring has sprung here, and the wafting dalliance of spring is hard to resist when I'm making such a swampy mod. ;)

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

Yes, it is good to get to the end of the mechanics section ... or at least near the end. ;)

With companions, I have decided to establish the player's preference of alignment relatively early on, and then have companions (current or potential) react according to that choice. The biggest effect will be if the player continues to steal items when playing a "good" aligned party. It won't take long before every party member has their alignment shifted to evil. At this point (or a predetermined point), any companions who don't like the way things are going will react. In this campaign, it affects clerics (or paladins) more than any other class, as alignment means more to these classes than any other. However, this should be a concern to a player, as it could be their main source of healing.

Even if the cleric is being played as the main PC, there will still be a problem, as a change in the good/evil axis will have the cleric's holy book removed by their god, which basically means they cannot cast any spells above orisons.

There is a way to restore ones standing with their god, by using altars, but this will be costly to the player in another way and so they should think twice before just assuming to either take stuff from chests that don't belong to them (for which they do not have permission) or even worse, kill an innocent! That is the quickest way to turn from good to evil in one fell swoop!

Furthermore, stolen goods will only be able to be sold at a black market, which will only be available to evil characters. So anything stolen will not be of much use to a good aligned PC anyway, unless they wish to use it, or sale close to the evil/good border between stealing and asking for forgiveness at a altar. ;)

Yes, the pictures are uplifting aren't they. And I know how funny it is when you see someone "in the flesh" after you have built an image in your mind.

We have the river (and marshy bits) in the other direction from where we live. I wil have to get some photos of that for you to take a look at. It won't be as swampy as a good fantasy adventure scene, but maybe it will make the building a little less dark. ;)

Lance.

Quillmaster said...

So what camera did you get?

Nice Treant btw :)

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

We bought the Canon D400, as I already have some lenses from a previous Canon (EOS 50).

Treant ... Yes, if you zoom in on the top part, it really does look like a disgruntled face. :)

Lance.