New Codex Entries

This is going to be a section that I post up around the same time I post campaign updates, which will be my interpretation of certain phenomena or events in the campaign.

Hammer
Hammer is an iron golem designed by the Harpells that seems to have gained self-awareness. None of the wizards in Longsaddle are entirely sure why, but they don't seem to care much either. It works, and it doesn't explode, so that is cause enough for celebration, right? Hammer lost his head during a battle, and had his chest refitted into a face in the meantime. His head, which was later rediscovered, is the key to his warden powers. When he puts it on, he is able to transform. Currently, he bursts into flames.

Grant'Regroth
Grant'Regroth seems to be a golem of a different sort. Whereas Hammer was designed, Grant was formed naturally. He emerged from underneath Amakiirion's tower, and learned what he needed to know about men and their society from him.

Campaign Updates

The investigation party made it to Shadowdale, and were met with a cold welcome. The two drow in the group were escorted about the city by a goliath of a man named Marco. He carried no weapons with him, but his hands looked large enough to crush a man's skull without thinking. Lessinor first dragged TayVanya along to Flashpowder's a slightly insane gnome who deals in gondish technology. Flashpowder excitedly discussed with him how it could be made, and gave him several ingredients to find, including dragonhide, ironwood, and mithril.

Emeritus, meanwhile, left off for the temple of Selune. He was met by Kian, a priestess of the moon goddess. She told him to beware of the masked one, and that he has a large part to eventually play. The rest of the party caught up with them there. Kala'Xol also discovered a cat.

After speaking with Kian for a bit about the disruption in the spirit realm, they left for Harper's Hill, cat in tow, where they were to meet Andora, the Harper Druid. Midnight came and went, and she showed no signs of appearing. Emeritus and Kala'Xol chased the cat about, and Lessinor offered Marco a job working for Major Doran. Marco decided he might take him up on that.
As it turned out, Andora had been with them since the temple, and decided to test their character by waiting. She asked them to investigate the ruins of Castle Grimstead.

On their way back into town, they encountered a guard who was being assaulted by four thugs. After easily dispatching the rogues, the party helped the poor guard up. He told the drow that he would let the guard know that these two didn't need to be watched so closely. Marco took the two survivors back to the barracks where they were to be dealt with.

Hammer went straight to Flashpowder's, who was still open, in order to find out more about himself. He was given two gifts by the little gnome: A book called 'The Big Book of Golem Mods' and an enchanted warpick attachment for his arm.

The rest of party departed to the bar for a bit where Marco attempted to match Grant, the natural-formed golem, four shots for shot(Marco's shot glass was more of a large mug). Tay passed out, while Grant nearly had his lower jaw dissolved by the Dragon's Breath whiskey that Marco had.

The Scouting Party, meanwhile, was sent off to visit a mage named Treona. She was hearing strange noises coming out of the tower of the gauntlet, and was hoping for someone to deal with it. The party went out and were met with traps and netherese soldiers, and nearly interrupted a ritual upstairs. They discovered quickly what the ritual was, as when it was completed, they were greeted with a powerful shade who attempted to deal with them.

Outnumbered, the shade decided he was going to deal with the one who made him the angriest, the priest of Selune, Yrael. He emptied a great amount of dark energy into the poor elf's chest, and left in a puff of shadow. Yrael is convalescing at Myth Drannor currently, while the others are investigating the tower.

Campaign Updates: Part 2

Doran met everyone and split up the party. Veleska, Vitor, Yrael, Kaie, and Mervic went to go and patrol to the border of Cormanthor forest. Te'Vanya, Kala'Xol, Lessinor, and Emeritus went to a small village to investigate why they haven't been delivering their normal supply of farmed goods. The first party shall be referred to as the Scouting Party, the second party shall be referred to as the Investigation party.

The scouting party set off at dusk, because most of the major enemies in Cormanthor strike at night. The journey out was uneventful, but as they reached the edge of their patrol radius, they were met by a small party of scouts erecting some kind of listening post. They were ambushed, but dispatched the enemies.

The Investigation party set out immediately to the village. As they got close, there was a permeating silence, as if all activity was being suppressed by something. They found the village to be completely empty, save for two large spell circles, and the crying ghost of a little girl in a house.

Kala'Xol, disabled the spell circles only to find out what they were suppressing. The undead corpses of the entire village. Something had prevented their spirits from leaving this world. As the fight began, a large golem with a chest shaped like a face fell out of the sky, killing one of the zombies. After dispatching them and barely surviving, Emeritus ran off to track the supposed attackers, while Te'Vanya and Lessinor contemplate the clue left by the young girl, an insignia from House Tuin'Tarl, the house Te'Vanya used to belong to.

Among the remains of the dead scouts, the Scouting party found a map, detailing the locations of several other things, though they weren't sure of the meaning of all the symbols. Veleska sent Mervic, Ella and Yrael to go scout out the possible installation on the other side of the river. They discover a large camp of Netherese soldiers and scouts, looking like they're the advance force for an invasion. Ella sends Yrael and Mervic back to investigate, while she stays and learns what she can. On the way back, Yrael threw a rock at Mervic, knocking him out. He dragged the drow back to camp, and Veleska realized she had her work cut out for her. Yrael and Mervic lead Veleska, Kaie, and Vitor back to the hiding spot where Ella was sitting. They all decide to report back.

Te'Vanya and company found a drow priestess waiting for them in one of the buildings, but she fled before they had a chance to confront or question her. They tracked the drow invaders back to a hole that led into the underdark, and decided to report to Doran.

At Myth Drannor, the parties went out to explore and gather supplies and stories, except for Vitor, Mervic and Yrael. Those three were to train. In plate. Vitor led them in some rousing exercises, beating submission into them with a shield. Major Doran gave Valeska a list of things to do to prepare for the possible invasion. The next morning, Valeska brought the whole scouting party together to run an obstacle course and learn some teamwork.

The next morning, Vitor attempted to incite fear and motivation to join the city guard by setting fire to Yrael and Emeritus' city house. It didn't go well. The city watched in horror, but didn't really do much at all, except for run into their houses and lock their doors. Hammer attempted to inspire them by making himself a target for the party by lighting himself on fire and running into things. It didn't go much better. Recruitment would be much more difficult than they imagined.

The Investigation party was sent out to meet one of the seven high mages of Corellon, Amakiirion. They were greeted by a contingency of drow, who were baring down on the mage, and a companion, Grant'Regroth, a naturally formed golem. They dispatched the drow, among which was Sharvyll, the priestess from earlier, and took one prisoner, whom Amakiirion would interrogate.

He explained to them that there was something going on between Corellon and Lolth, which was starting to bleed into the surface. Among other things, they would have to get stronger and take out the forces of House Jaelre that were likely opening a hole in Cormanthor's ancient magic for the drow to get through. He sent them off to Shadowdale where they could meet up with Andora, his contact in the Harpers, and another of the High Mages, and where they could get gear.

Back in Myth Drannor, the Scouting Party, plus Hammer endured a grueling 90 minute tutorial on combat. After which, Hammer set off to meet his party back in Shadowdale.
At Shadowdale, The Investigatoin party is awaiting their meeting and being followed around by a large, mostly silent escort, there to keep the Drow in check.

I think that's everything. Comment if I forgot anything.

Campaign Updates

So, we have started our campaign. It's actually pretty insane, as it's twelve characters strong. I'll be attempting to update this on Tuesdays after our campaign, as well as archiving various flavor and fluff for the players to read and/or hear about.

System: Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition
Setting: Forgotten Realms

Dramatis Personae:

PCs

Chrystal Laflen - Tay'Vanya(Drow Shaman), Kaie(Shifter Druid)
Tay'Vanya is a sarcastic drow shaman who escaped the Underdark at a young age and was raised in Silverymoon, and grew up to worship Corellon Larethian. She is in Myth Drannor because of a dream she had that gave her the impression she needed to be there. Kaie is a cheerful unpunctual druid who used to live among a tribe of shifters in the High Forest, but left to travel the world as a guide. She ended up in Cormanthor because it seemed to be a good idea at the time.

Steven Meredith - Kala'Xol(Wind Genasi Swordmage), Valeska(Eladrin Warlord)
Kala'Xol is the daughter of a Loremaster who has a library in the astral sea. She escaped to see the world beyond libraries of books. Valeska is a captain of the guard and liason to the Sword Lotus Mercenary Company.

Caitlin Jones - Emeritus(Eladrin/Elf Ranger), Yrael(Eladrin/Elf Avenger of Selune)
Emeritus and Yrael are the twin sons of Immeril, an Eladrin, and Miriel, an elven female. They were killed during a drow raid. Emeritus lives in their house in the forest, and acts as a guide to the Myth Drannor guard, and Yrael works at the temple of Selune as a guard and occasionally hits up the local bars to cause trouble and seduce wenches.

Christopher Allen - Lessinor Ral(Drow Rogue), Vitor(Dragonborn Paladin of Bane)
Lessinor is a drow merc who works for Bregan D'aerthe. When he made it to the surface, Major Doran contracted him through Bregan D'aerthe to help gather info and join his merc company for a while. Vitor is a Dragonborn Paladin of Bane. He carries a large holy book on a chain, and cares not for good or evil, but strength and discipline. He respects Major Doran's strength, and shall follow him for now.

Peter Bowman - Grant'Regroth(Shardmind Psion), Mervic Zar'Shynt(Drow Warlock)
Grant'Regroth is a naturally formed golem found in Amakiirion's tower. Mervic Zar'Shynt is a warlock from Ched Nasad who used the commotion to head out to the surface. He spent a brief time enslaving a tribe of Goblins, and is followed around by their chief, Derp, a goblin wizard. He answered the call of the Sword Lotus Mercenaries to make good with the surface races, and because he needs the money.

David Shaw - Hammer(Warforged Warden), Ella(Githzerai Monk)
Hammer is a golem forged by the Harpells that gained sentience. He had a Harpell signature, fog of fate casted on him, and he was teleported to the sky above a bunch of zombies that the other characters were fighting. He has been with the party ever since. Ella was a latecomer to the Mercenary company, a githzerai raised by a tribe of goliaths.

NPCs

Major Doran - The leader of the Sword Lotus Mercenary company, the organization currently in charge of creating the militia for Myth Drannor.
Amakiirion - A drow invoker of Corellon, trained in both the arcane and divine arts, as well as high magic.
Andora - A Moon Elf harper druid who lives in Shadowdale.
Sharvyll - A Drow from Tay'Vanya's past, determined to kill the surface elves and serve her goddess, Lolth.
Jaret - A Sun Elf Harper Ranger.

Corellon Larethian - God of the Elves, former lover of Araushnee(Lolth), father of Eilistraee.
Lolth - Goddess of spiders and Drow, enemy to Corellon, mother of Eilistraee.
Eilistraee - Former Goddess of good Drow, killed by a follower of Lolth.
Selune – Goddess of the moon, one of the two goddesses that created the rest of the pantheon.
Shar – Goddess of the night and shadow, the other of the two goddesses that created the rest of the pantheon. Also the goddess who rules over Netheril, an empire just outside of Cormanthor.

Next Post: The summary of the campaign so far.

Disclaimer: Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms, and all names taken therefrom are copyright Wizards of the Coast. I didn't create them, and do not take credit for doing so. All other characters are original.

Bound and Determined! Also Course Plan

I'm bound and determined to get this darned blog to the point where I'm updating it regularly. No better time than the Present, eh?
So, here's a basic course plan to get myself the experience required to become good at Game and Level Design:
January - Unrealscript, Box Model, Dragon Age Basics, Elder Scrolls Construction Set Basics
February - UDK Project, Sub-D Model, Dragon Age Advanced, TESCS Basics
March - UDK Projects, Morph Targets, Dragon Age Module, TESCS Advanced
April - UDK Projects, Props, Dragon Age Module, TESCS Module
May - UDK Projects, More Props, Dragon Age Module, TESCS Module

The unrealscript stuff is programming in Unrealscript. The Box Model is a Joan of Arc model that you might have seen me doing. The DA Basics are a set of tutorials dealing with the Dragon Age Toolset, TESCS is the toolset for Oblivion, which I'll be using to create some quests.
The projects are:
QSteam World(Placeholder Title) - This is a 2-4 player Steampunk Action RPG that I'm working on. Currently, it is in a set of spreadsheets, outlining something resembling a Pen-and-Paper system. GDD is available for those who wish to read about it.
Project ACIDA - This is another Action RPG/Stealth Action game. Still working out some various things about it, but basically it's about a spy/assassin who's going through and stopping a rebellion from destroying the stability on Deepgate Colony.
Morph Targets - Basically, creating morph targets to work with a model allows designers to quickly create models by moving around sliders. I'm pretty sure they used this method to create all the models in Despicable Me.
Props - I need to make a lot of props. I'm talking like thousands. I'm classifying props as clothes/armor, weapons, etc.
The Dragon Age and TESCS Modules are pretty vague right now. I have a good idea of the TESCS module, but DA, I'm not sure. I'll update later.
Any criticisms, comments? Please let me know. Also, if you want to learn how to use UDK and the other construction sets, Please, let me know, and we can work something out.

INH Entertainment, RMCAD, Kickstarter, and the Make Something Unreal competition

So I've been thinking. I know, I know, a dangerous pastime. I was looking at the Make Something Unreal Competition, and I noticed that there was the distinct possibility that we could take our game and turn it into a mod for Unreal Tournament 3. This would be a much smaller project, since I've spent a lot of time gathering code and preparing for some simple platforming and cover controls, and could easily create a couple of Deathmatch maps to play it on. All of these things could easily port over to our game, Project ACIDA.
This would also give us something to post onto Kickstarter, a website that specializes in getting creative projects started. I'm hoping we can really get into the full swing of this game by the end of next school year, since it's going to get a lot harder after I move up to Denver.
In other news, at the end of next school year, I'm moving up to Denver to go to Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. I'm psyched. Their game art/design program is amazingly awesome.
Also, if I didn't already tell everyone. I just need to get an assumed name affidavit and the website INHEntertainment.com and we'll officially be Insert Name Here Entertainment....
Sweet! I went in reverse order!

World of Warcraft: The Rant

I have a few words for you, World of Warcraft. They aren't pretty, and you won't like them. If there are any fanboys out there, you probably won't be too happy with these words I have for WoW either.
First of all, let's talk concept. Warcraft was taken from something, namely, Warhammer. Now feel free to criticize me on this, but Warcraft and Starcraft are both bastardizations of that universe. Good ones, but hardly original. I love universes, like Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, and Lord of the Rings. They have this continuity to them that makes the world so much easier to believe, and draws readers in. Warcraft has had that for a while now, but with the advent of WoW, it's slowly been dissolving. I could give examples, but I don't want to come off like a sniveling fanboy, so I'll leave it at "things are beginning to change from what you expected them to be like coming out of Warcraft 3."
That consistency falls apart every time Blizzard puts out a patch, as well. Shamans were, rightly so, the most powerful class in Vanilla. Some toning back in that regard was called for, but it seems the longer they go, the more they neuter the most fun spec, Enhancement. Only with enhancement do you get to watch as people soil themselves on seeing two giant bloodlusted wolves attacking from across the map. After screwing with their shocks, completely changing Wind Shock, neutering their damage, neutering the totems, screwing with some other spells, and making the spec basically inferior to elemental in every way, there is almost no worthy reason to play enhancement in, for example, arenas, or PvP, which is the growing focus of WoW now, since it seems to want to be WAR. The constant changing and rewriting of classes makes me feel that the game was incomplete. That it still is. While yes, that's technically true, I plan to do minimal patches to any MMO or game that I make. I want to spend enough time in QA to figure out most of the huge imbalance problems before the game ever goes to the floor. Patches shouldn't be major, because of what it suggests. The constant changing of the game also reflects how Blizzard treats its fanboys. They listen to the loudest whiners, and cater to them. A lot of the loud whiners being people who have jobs there that aren't so good at the game and things.

Paladins have been going through this a little, but they have been growing into the 'easy mode' class of the year. One spec for paladins, you have a three spell rotation. Healing as a paladin has been described to me as binding half your keys to Flash of Light, the other half of them to cleanse, and placing your face, fist, or dog on the keyboard, and pressing down repeatedly until the raid is over. Protection is the most complex spec, with a whopping 5 spell rotation, if you get creative. I understand that the game needs to be friendly, but in my opinion, there shouldn't be any one class that's easier to play than another class. They should all be somewhat technical, with spell/ability combos that progress, many cooldowns to manage, kind of like rogues. I don't open up a game to click on something once and wait for it to die, I do so to entertain my mind and actually play a...you know...game. Preferably not whack-a-key either.
I have played a variety of MMOs recently, and I have this to say: The only reason WoW is surviving is because it already has a healthy fanbase. If they were to try to come out now, between Champions, Aion, Star Trek Online,and the ones coming very soon, like Star Wars: The Old Republic, it wouldn't stand a frigging chance.
A game needs to be more than bringing pelts to dudes in towns. It needs to be more than fetch quests, hunt quests, and level grinding. There needs to be more than just doing the same dungeon over and over and over killing the same damned bosses to get better equipment to kill them easier at a later date. The combat system needs to be more than hitting a bunch of keys in sequence and waiting for things to die. I may play most games on easy, but a game should require at least some skill. WoW has effectively ruined Warcraft for me, by making it mainstream. They've gone the way of Nintendo, leaving their hardcore fanbase to go appease the casual.
I only ask this, Blizzard: Please, please, please don't let this happen to Starcraft.

Oh! News update: UNREAL ENGINE 3 IS NOW FREE!!!! I can develop using the everything engine for something less than $15,000!!!