
... Money? Not likely in the world of Althéa. In other campaigns, one might find some gold or the odd gem, but the chances of such in
Better The Demon will be slim. I am not saying it will be impossible, but extremely unlikely. On the other hand, I hope to make the contents of barrels to be more useful in other ways. I have already coded two types that can be found: The
exploding barrel and the
oil barrel.

The atypical (yet quite typical in the fantasy world) exploding barrel, will be marked with the usual characteristic flaming emblem on its side. At the moment, its offers little more use than a potential threat to nearby enemies caught within its blast range than anything else, but it may be something I put to greater use in the future. The satisfaction of seeing one of these barrels blow up when attacked, however, is quite cathartic - even if it does take a couple of hits to break past its hardiness to resist such dangerous knocks or blows.

The oil barrel, however, may be of more use to the adventurer. This is because this campaign will be using an adaption of Amraphael's
Alternative Handheld Light Sources Pack, which contains lanterns. Lanterns have a longer burn time than torches and can be refuelled with oil if purchased or located in barrels such as these. Oil barrels start off with a random number of "flasks" of oil that must be gathered in flasks, which in turn can be used with the lanterns available in the module. The player will know how much oil remains in the barrel when used.
I have made it that oil must be gathered via a a flask before used with a lantern because a flask of oil can used in other ways as well as refuelling lanterns. A flask of oil can also be used as an oil grenade, keep a campfire burning, as well as one or two other ideas I have in mind.
POLL: Gaming PoliciesIt's good to see that the latest poll has had a reasonable response already, after only one week. I have deliberately not gone into detail in my responses to date as I did not want to potentially bias other voters. However, when the poll is complete, I will make a more detailed analysis of the data then and add my own personal comments and preferences.
In the meanwhile, if you have not voted, please do so, and add a comment if you wish. Every comment and piece of feedback do help me to understand what a player likes or dislikes and does (however slightly) help me to write in such detail and game play that may appeal to more players.
Hidden MapsAn interesting point I managed to include among other things this week (in my opinion) was the ability to keep complete "open maps" hidden on the game map until the PC had moved closer to the area in question. It always frustrated me that a complete map of an area would be given to the player the moment they walked into the first chamber (unless blocked by a door). This, to me, seemed unrealistic, unfair and stole some of the "exploration" fun out of a game. So, by making use of a special "door blocker" object, I have now placed "doors" in hallways or passageways that would normally be open that means the player's map does not reveal that part of the map until the PC is close enough to the door, which then destroys it and allows the map to update. It's still a work in progress and does require a few more minutes placing these "doors" at build time, but the result (in my opinion) is quite good.
And Finally ...
Building continues in other areas. I am working on a new area, and Hosa has sent a couple of screenshots on his own work and hopes to do more this weekend. I am also working on conversations and general plot.