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I Want to Crush Your Dreams.


Donald Hebb

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And revive BoA while I'm at it.

 

From the BoA Chat yesterday...

 

See, I've made some observations while looking at the boards, and I've concluded that:

 

1. People want to design.

It's true- people seem to have no shortage of inspiration, always discussing unmade scenarios and how complete they are. This is a good thing.

 

2. Scenarios are not getting done.

People are not finishing scenarios anymore. Okay, sure- the 3 or 4 remaining designers are churning out *something*, but there hasn't been an actual release (nevermind a good one) in a long time.

 

3. Blades of Avernum is basically going to pot.

Scenarios are not getting done, thus people are not playing scenarios, thus there is nothing for the community to do. Nuts. Which is confusing- plenty of people talk about making scenarios, and yet no results.

 

4. People need to have smaller focuses. Much smaller.

This is where I crush your dreams. If this is the first scenario you're making and you plan for it to be more than 20 towns, it will not get done. If you are a new designer and have to give "status reports" about a scenario, it will not get done.

 

The solution is to aim for more reasonable goals. In the manual, Jeff says:

"People are often surprised at how much work and concentration it takes to make adventures. It takes time to make good stuff. I strongly suggest, for your first adventure, aiming small. A few outdoor sections. Ten or twenty towns and dungeon levels. Don't try to make the world-changing epic until you really understand what you're getting into. It is better to release and share one small adventure than to make half of a huge one that nobody ever sees."

He is right.

 

Which is why I have a plan for all new designers:

 

A. Write a paragraph that, in 2-5 sentences, describes your entire scenario. Like a good thesis, it should describe what you will be doing and nothing more. For example, an intro paragraph would be:

 

"Party enters Green Valley to assist settlement in fending off goblins. Party goes to goblin lair and meets king. Party finds GV's mayor's seal on a note to goblin king. Mayor intends to bring military presence into GV to bolster its economy. Party kills mayor."

 

You can play through this scenario- it is missing some details, such as the option for the party to merely kill the goblin king, not notice the note, get 100 gold from the mayor and leave the valley. It doesn't say how the goblin king fights, nor which script it uses. However, this paragraph says what the scenario will do. It outlines the scenario and gives the designer a scope that is as small as it is reasonable.

 

I could have written introductory paragraphs for Bandits or RoR-BoA, but that would have been too complex for what I am intending.

 

B. Make your scenario.

 

This is the difficult part. Preferably, your scenario will be small enough to do in 1-2 outdoor sections and no more than 4 towns. One dungeon, maybe 2 floors of it. One town. I want the scope to be miniscule.

 

A bunch of designers will be ready to help you out if you do not know what to do. Do not hesitate to ask questions.

 

Finish your scenario.

 

C. Revise it.

 

The same designers who will help you will also not hesitate to help you revise your scenario. For instance, if all the mayor does is surrender peacefully, rather than summon the town guard, designers could help you make a dramatic final sequence the party has to escape the town. Maybe toss in some very high-level soldiers who the party will have to work to escape from. Perhaps have the party get less of a reward at the end from offended beureaucrats for killing the mayor. Who knows.

 

D. Release it.

 

The final step. Everyone benefits.

 

My goals in organizing this effort are three-fold:

 

I. New scenaros will be released.

 

The most obvious result. Depending on how many people agree to follow this setup, we will have a good number of new scenarios.

 

II. People will regain enthusiasm about the medium.

 

If there are new scenarios, people will play these scenarios. There are enough people minimally present who would do this given the chance that, given a batch of new scenarios, a revival could be possible. (And heck, maybe they might themselves start designing! One can only hope.)

 

III. A batch of new people will know what it means to release something.

 

This is the most elusive but also the most important result- the number of people who do this will know exactly what it means to make a scenario to its end. When Pat Doe makes Scenario A, s/he is that much more likely to be able to finish Scenario B. If BoA has 4-8 more new designers, that is a designing base upon which things can be built.

 

So if you're interested, let me know. Post here saying that you're interested. 4-8 people would be a nice total, but if more people are interested, that's great. Post here. (You can even post your intro paragraphs in this topic if you want, but I'd suggest thinking it over for a while.)

 

I plan on having a chat some time soon on AOL Instant Messenger, so knowing your time zones can help with planning out a time.

 

So far, Stareye, Ephesos, Imban and Yours Truly have enlisted their aid. (Not sure if Kel is in either- don't remember if I got his response or if he had already left.) If you're a designer and don't mind giving extensive feedback to newer designers (I'm looking at you, Ash), feel free to post here also.

 

If you want to be a scenario designer, that's great- just have enough faith to let proven designers share some wisdom about it.

 

(And as a sidenote, while doing this doesn't mean permanently abandoning any epic you might have planned, it does mean that your skills will advance to the point where said epic will look shoddy by comparison! Be forewarned.)

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I'd like to point out that Ash has been gone for a really long time. I sure hope he comes back, though.

 

Also, am I the only one who cares about reviving BoE? Yes, I know this is the BoA forum, but it seems like that the rest of the community only cares about BoA these days. I wonder why this is so. Well, I'd better get back to my BoE scenario.

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I just started a very small scenario which has one outdoor section and will have one town and one or two dungeons. It was mainly started to learn about the editor and I'm about a quarter of the way through the town. I'm nopt sure how quickly it will go with school, but I can probably get at least ten minutes a day in. The paragraph really is

 

Party lives in small isolated village and no one in the village knows anything of the outside world. The party is getting bored and wants to leave. The party's god, through prophet, offers to let them leave if they do 3 tasks. Party does tasks and in doing so finds that the god does not exist and the prophet is a liar taking advantage of the village. The party kills prophet(or something-that's the most obvious solution, but not neccessarily the best).

 

I'm on EST.

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I'm not sure that I like the idea of three "quests" proving that the prophet's god doesn't exist. The quests, in order to do that, would have to be fairly complicated- I mean, would it just be books lying around? And if so, why?

 

There's no simple solution to that one. Why not have ONE task from the prophet?

 

And your ending... The vagueness isn't good. Why not have the Prophet exile the party for offending his god if they discover the "truth"?

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I was thinking they do these three quests and then Zag will say "one more task..." Then this merchant guy stumbles into this valley. There's this guy in the village who's rebuilding his house and has a saw. When you ask him about it(there's no metal) he says he found it one day and assumed it was gift from Zag(the god). Then the merchant will say "Hey! That's my saw! I lost it a year ago(or something) while traveling". The the merchant will go on to tell you about the outside world and will mention magic(pretty much "for show") that sounds a lot like what Zama(the prophet) does when he communicates with Zag in front of others.

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Quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:
Then what do the three quests have to do with the plot at all?
Then it would be too short to be an interesting scenario, duh! :p

I agree with Thuryl, if the point of the scenario is to reveal the prophet a fake, one primary quest would be better. Of course, you could do three as long as each one revealed more and more of the truth.

Also, the prophet is obviously the main character of the game. Answer these questions about him:

1) Where is he from? What is his family history?
2) Why does he do what he does now and how did he get there?
3) What is his personality like? Does he have any quirks?
4) How does he connect with other characters in the story?
5) What are his interests, tastes, likes, dislikes, etc?

If you can answer these questions about all of the major characters in your scenarios, you will most likely make good characters as opposed to 2D cutouts with 1D personalities. You don't have to reveal everything about his character, but enough should bleed through to make him real.

If you want some irony, you could make the "real world" a horrible and war torn place with your isolated village an oasis. Upon uncovering the truth, you get banished away from your oasis forever, doomed to live in a decimated world.

A few things for you to ponder.
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Nicothodes, having a merchant wander in doesn't seem very... sensical. It's too random. Instead, you could just have the party discover a spellbook belonging to the prophet. This could be accomplished through the party having to return a quest item to the prophet, and the prophet's convenient and temporary absence.

 

As for the reduced scenario plan, here's mine, since I need to take a break from DoK2 for a while: Party sent to small valley on a courier mission to the local empire fort, and once the delivery is made, a large bomb tears apart the biggest town in the area. Party is left to figure out who is responsible, either the Empire or a local group of rebels. (Inspiration is from the heavy-duty explosives being developed by the rebels and Empire in ASR)

 

And I'm running on CST.

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Quote:
Originally written by Ephesos:
Instead, you could just have the party discover a spellbook belonging to the prophet. This could be accomplished through the party having to return a quest item to the prophet, and the prophet's convenient and temporary absence.
Now there's an idea. It even suggests a moral dilemma; either kill the prophet and use your knowledge of his magic to replace him as leader of the village, or expose him as a fraud, earn the gratitude of the villagers, and move on.
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Quote:
Originally written by Akai Hoshi:

4. People need to have smaller focuses. Much smaller.
This is where I crush your dreams. If this is the first scenario you're making and you plan for it to be more than 20 towns, it will not get done. If you are a new designer and have to give "status reports" about a scenario, it will not get done.

The solution is to aim for more reasonable goals. In the manual, Jeff says:
"People are often surprised at how much work and concentration it takes to make adventures. It takes time to make good stuff. I strongly suggest, for your first adventure, aiming small. A few outdoor sections. Ten or twenty towns and dungeon levels. Don't try to make the world-changing epic until you really understand what you're getting into. It is better to release and share one small adventure than to make half of a huge one that nobody ever sees."
My scenario contains 42 towns, of which two maybe not very necessary, and 9 outdoor sections. Okay, I confess, I had a period in which I really didn't want to even touch the scenario, but now its getting nearer and nearer the point were its finished. I only need to complete 1 towns and to code 6 or 7 towns. Now that I know what to do, that won't be so hard.

Mind you, when I started I had a rather small plan for a scenario with about 12 towns. then I got hooked on designing towns, and I had all these nice ideas and I liked drawing more and more custom graphics, so there you are. 42 towns.
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I'm up for that. One of the big factors putting me off design was the threat of getting totally stuck without anyone to talk to...

 

My paragraph then...

 

The party are sent by the Empire to a remote island where some portal experiments are taking place. The portal gets hijacked on the trial run and is taken over by demons/slithzerikai/bad guy. Party kills big bad guy, closes portal, saves day.

 

It's not much, sure, but it's small and do-able. Which is the whole point. I have setting, context and a fair amount of experience with the editor and scripting language.

 

I need to find a decent bad guy - demons are too... cliche. And they have no real reason for taking the portal. Apart from that though...

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Here are some questions that might help you?

 

1) What is the climate of the island? Rocky, arctic, tropical, etc.

2) Does anyone/anything live on this island before the Empire came? If so, who are they?

3) Are there any settlements previous to the Empire? Are they still inhabited or are the inhabitants extinct? If the latter, what is the backstory on that?

4) Why did the Empire select this island? Being remote is probably good enough but if you have anything to add such as a high density of magical crystals it would add.

5) Why is this teleporter there? Seems teleportation is pretty standard these days. Although having an experimental teleporter would be good. If you choose this, you might want to detail some of the experiments done.

6) Why does the bad guy take over the teleporter? Motivation may depend on who you select as the bad guy.

7) How does the take over ensue. Is it violent, or is it very subtle?

8) Why does the party arrive? To deal with the problems directly or for some other purpose and must deal with them after the fact?

9) How does it end? Do you end up killing the "bad guy" or is the "bad guy" not so bad after all and you let him/her/it achieve its goals. Do you have a choice in the matter?

 

A possible storyline:

 

1) The island is rocky, desolate, with areas of swamps and gnarled trees.

 

2) The island is home to several twisted wild creatures that inhabit the swamps. Also, it is home to a powerful shape shifter skilled in trickery and mind magic. There is also the ruins of a mysterious temple.

 

3) The shape shifter has a few lairs throughout the island. The temple was built by some race long extinct, although they were sufficiently skilled in magic.

 

4) The island was selected for its remote nature and for the high magical potential of the island. This is part due to the ancient inhabitants and also the shape shifter (although the Empire should not know of the shape shifter).

 

5) The teleporter is an experimental one. It is not used for transportation, but to study the magical theory behind teleportation. It is often used to probe the void and search for the possibilities of parallel dimensions. Arrival to the island is by ship.

 

6) The shape shifter (who originally lived on the mainland, was marooned here), although powerful, cannot escape the island. It feeds off of the magical potential here and the journey to anywhere through the ocean is too far to go by itself. It takes over the teleporter in hopes of using it to escape. However, it is not geared for traditional transport, so it must be modifed.

 

7) The shape shifter, skilled at mind magic, is slowly working on the mages turning them against each other. The process is slow, but mages are mysteriously murdering each other.

 

8) The party was sent here as a garrison to protect the mages from the wild creatures. The Empire does not know of the shape shifter. Not long after you arrive, the mages get very edgy. At the start of the scenario is the murder of the head mage by one of his apprentices.

 

9) The player discovers the identity of the shape shifter, but not before the mages get violent toward you and each other. The shape shifter wants to return to the mainland so it can find its family. You have the choice of helping it, or fighting it, pushing it into the teleporter and into the void.

 

Feel free to use as much or as little as you like. It only needs to be 1 outdoor section and maybe 6-8 towns and would make for a decent scenario if executed well. Anyway, let's hear your answers to those questions.

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Stareye, thanks for the ideas... I had originally planned on setting it before portal technology became widespread... i.e before Avernum was discovered etc... but this sounds better!

 

Quote:

1) What is the climate of the island? Rocky, arctic, tropical, etc.

I had planned on it being tropical - rain storms for atmosphere etc. The story wasn't great, so I was gonna flesh it out with cool things I picked up from films etc. Tropical I imagine.

 

Quote:

2) Does anyone/anything live on this island before the Empire came? If so, who are they?

 

3) Are there any settlements previous to the Empire? Are they still inhabited or are the inhabitants extinct? If the latter, what is the backstory on that?

 

4) Why did the Empire select this island? Being remote is probably good enough but if you have anything to add such as a high density of magical crystals it would add.

Well it was a remote, uninhabited island, with rare crystal formations. It was magically scryed to check for life, and selected because of the unknown nature of the technology they were testing... This WAS the first magical teleportation ever. Although, with your advice/suggestions...

 

Quote:

5) Why is this teleporter there? Seems teleportation is pretty standard these days. Although having an experimental teleporter would be good. If you choose this, you might want to detail some of the experiments done.

Already answered.

 

Quote:

6) Why does the bad guy take over the teleporter? Motivation may depend on who you select as the bad guy.

 

7) How does the take over ensue. Is it violent, or is it very subtle?

My first thought was that this demon just saw a huge portal appear (Grah-Hoth??) and went through it, and killed people. This sucked. Does suck.

 

Quote:

8) Why does the party arrive? To deal with the problems directly or for some other purpose and must deal with them after the fact?

They were sent to oversee it all. Poor story-wise, but they are level 1... Perhaps it's part of an apprentice, maybe a training op?

 

Quote:

9) How does it end? Do you end up killing the "bad guy" or is the "bad guy" not so bad after all and you let him/her/it achieve its goals. Do you have a choice in the matter?

Kill him, close portal. That's all I've got.

 

Quote:

A possible storyline:

 

1) The island is rocky, desolate, with areas of swamps and gnarled trees.

 

2) The island is home to several twisted wild creatures that inhabit the swamps. Also, it is home to a powerful shape shifter skilled in trickery and mind magic. There is also the ruins of a mysterious temple.

 

3) The shape shifter has a few lairs throughout the island. The temple was built by some race long extinct, although they were sufficiently skilled in magic.

 

4) The island was selected for its remote nature and for the high magical potential of the island. This is part due to the ancient inhabitants and also the shape shifter (although the Empire should not know of the shape shifter).

 

5) The teleporter is an experimental one. It is not used for transportation, but to study the magical theory behind teleportation. It is often used to probe the void and search for the possibilities of parallel dimensions. Arrival to the island is by ship.

 

6) The shape shifter (who originally lived on the mainland, was marooned here), although powerful, cannot escape the island. It feeds off of the magical potential here and the journey to anywhere through the ocean is too far to go by itself. It takes over the teleporter in hopes of using it to escape. However, it is not geared for traditional transport, so it must be modifed.

 

7) The shape shifter, skilled at mind magic, is slowly working on the mages turning them against each other. The process is slow, but mages are mysteriously murdering each other.

 

8) The party was sent here as a garrison to protect the mages from the wild creatures. The Empire does not know of the shape shifter. Not long after you arrive, the mages get very edgy. At the start of the scenario is the murder of the head mage by one of his apprentices.

 

9) The player discovers the identity of the shape shifter, but not before the mages get violent toward you and each other. The shape shifter wants to return to the mainland so it can find its family. You have the choice of helping it, or fighting it, pushing it into the teleporter and into the void.

I like it. Lots. I may steal some (supposing that's okay). I especially liked the idea of the shapeshifter - a "nice" bad guy... and the murders. Obviously I won't steal all of it - that would be bad. But I'm gonna think about it.

 

The scenario was only ever gonna be one outdoor section, and at the very most 10 towns.

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By all means, take as much or as little as you like. The point of this topic is to provide help with creating scenarios people will enjoy playing. If you need any further help, do not be afraid to ask.

 

Make sure you do a decent job of setting the mood for the island with appropriate terrain and what have you whatever type of climate you choose. A good atmosphere goes a long way.

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Quote:
Originally written by *i:
Make sure you do a decent job of setting the mood for the island with appropriate terrain and what have you whatever type of climate you choose. A good atmosphere goes a long way.
Cool. But you're preaching to the converted! I've directed films, written short stories (published twice!!) and absorb every film I can get hold of. I know how atmosphere can make or break a story.

As far as an enemy goes... Does anybody have ideas. I like the idea of an indiginous (sp?) creature, but is that too close too *i's thing... I do want to tell my own story, even if it is augmented by others...
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BoE is still a 2D game, it´s easy to design, can be hard to play and got a much greater community! laugh

 

Anyway I started once a scenario, but then my computer crashed.

Storyline: Party shall clean a big Avernum cave to secure the burial of Motrax´ remains. Party fights many lizards. Party finds old still used Empire Fortress. Party kills big fortress residents. Party gets back and shows the "empty" caves, fights angered Pyrog´s Spirit and wins.

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Quote:
I need to find a decent bad guy - demons are too... cliche. And they have no real reason for taking the portal. Apart from that though...
I don't think a demon is automatically too cliche. I mean, a well-characterized demon beats a poorly-characterized but creative enemy. But don't use Grah-Hoth unless you're prepared to really commit to that, because then you'll be bound hand and foot to game canon. It's much easier to invent your own enemy.

And as for motivation, demons have that simple tendency to want to show off (I mean, look at all the demons of A4). Or, this one might want to escape from the netherworld/imprisonment somewhere, and see that this portal is their best shot.

EDIT:

Quote:
Originally written by Slith Lord:
Anyway I started once a scenario, but then my computer crashed.
Storyline: Party shall clean a big Avernum cave to secure the burial of Motrax´ remains. Party fights many lizards. Party finds old still used Empire Fortress. Party kills big fortress residents. Party gets back and shows the "empty" caves, fights angered Pyrog´s Spirit and wins.
Questions:

-Still used Empire fortress? Why are they still there? Did they never hear of the truce? Wouldn't they be dead by now? (remember, well-written undead are an acceptable plot device, but random plagues are not)
-Couldn't you just stick with the lizards, and have some particularly-powerful drake or something leading the pack?
-Why Pyrog's spirit?
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Alright. I've been wanting to fiddle around with BoA for some time, and I have a basic plotline, so...

 

The party is hired to go to a mine, which was recently closed, and explore. The mine was closed due to strange creatures (not sure what- DEFINITELY not undead. I hate undead.) attacking miners. The party has to go down, find out what happened, possibly clear out the creatures, and look for survivors.

 

Thoughts?

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Here's a wild idea for the portal scenario.

 

Have the "monster" be some entity that is unknowingly transported from that parallel dimension (or wherever), it is confused and angry and just wants to get back home. It would not be visible or tangible to the party, but the effect it has on its surroundings would be visible.

 

Then, as stareye said, the party needs to

1. identify the cause of the murders

2a. eliminate the intruder

2b. help the intruder get home

2c. give up the lost cause and run home to mommy

3. assuming mages are still alive, let them know what you discovered so that they don't decide to keep probing that dimension and possibly invite another creature.

 

*this message sponsored the acme dimensional probe insurance company*

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Well...what if you can find a spellbook, but you can't understand what it says. There's also a crone in the village who is generally regarded as crazy and she translates it. It shows what Zama was doing. If you don't find the spellbook, you complete the tasks and leave the valley forever and are stuck in a horrible place. If you confront Zama, he kills all or most of the other villagers(maybe?) so at the end you are left either to abandon the valley or try to rebuild the village. Well? Thoughts?

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Nicothodes, the old crone route doesn't quite make sense. If there's been someone who can translate magic living in the village all this time, then the isolation angle kind of collapses.

 

Arachnid, here's an idea. Remember those swamp creature things from ASR? Flood the mine a bit, and you've got your monster problem solved. Well, not in a literal sense, but you know what I mean.

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Four people- this is a good starting point. So far, I count:

 

Nicothodes, Ephesos (who I hope will not give up DoK2 either!), SupaNik, Slith Lord, Arachnid

 

...

 

Quote:
Mind you, when I started I had a rather small plan for a scenario with about 12 towns. then I got hooked on designing towns, and I had all these nice ideas and I liked drawing more and more custom graphics, so there you are. 42 towns.
I don't want to say that it's impossible- Shyguy did it.

 

On the other hand, Shyguys are the exception to the rule by far. (Plus, Shyguy had a lot of klunkers that come with new design, albeit very competent design in his instance.)

 

SupaNik- The idea sounds sorta simple, and I like it. On the other hand...

 

"The story wasn't great, so I was gonna flesh it out with cool things I picked up from films etc."

 

Man. "Short and simple" is not equal to "inadequate". An Apology, for instance, isn't that long. Five of the top ten scenarios of all time are what you might describe as "short". Among the remaining five, only three are "epics".

 

"They were sent to oversee it all. Poor story-wise, but they are level 1... Perhaps it's part of an apprentice, maybe a training op?"

 

Back to the drawing board for you. Although I do like the idea of the party's being apprentices!

 

One idea I have, then, is to perhaps give the party an "advance reward"- for all characters in the party, you could give those who aren't already magi +2 to mage spells and +2 intelligence for effect. (If you want to be perfectly fair, you can have each of these "bonuses" take away from the party's final reward- if it's 5k gold, for instance, have each character "enhanced" take away 1k from the reward.) But that's a detail that can be discussed later.

 

My point is that you should have the party's role selected well in advance. Even if it's not very GOOD, it shouldn't be assigned randomly.

 

"If you confront Zama, he kills all or most of the other villagers(maybe?) so at the end you are left either to abandon the valley or try to rebuild the village."

 

I'm not liking this. I mean, I can sorta dig the crone, though I'd make it less "everyone thinks she's crazy" and more "Zama/Zag (you seem to alternate with names) had her imprisoned, and you have to sneak inside to reach her." Heck, you could have her be the author of the spellbook- perhaps even have Zama/Zag be her former apprentice. That would make for a far more interesting adventurer without adding anything in length.

 

And Zama/Zag's "killing the villagers" doesn't make sense- why do what he's doing in general, if not for control over these people? What good does killing do? If I were Z, I'd incriminate the party and try to have my ex-teacher killed at all costs.

 

If I were the party+crone team, I'd try to wow the townspeople with newfound "magic", challenging Zama/Zag in a duel.

 

Now, this would make for a REALLY interesting final fight-

 

You'd have the party, the crone, Z and the town guard. The party has to protect the crone, but ALSO not attack Z, lest they risk people accusing the crone of cheating. The party also has to protect the crone from the town guard, who are trying to kill her. To that end, I'd suggest adding the crone to the party as a PC, so the party can use Heal, War Blessing, etc. on her. You'd just have to keep her paralyzed every turn. Also, Z would have to be a monster with 1 HP, so any attack the party does instantly kills him. (You can also add calls to check for added statuses in his script in case the party decides to hit him up with slowing, paralysis, etc. And don't forget to include a check for who_last_attacked is!) After a while, the crone wins, and she explains to the people that the prophet is nothing but a lying scumbag and the people are "freed".

 

Now that would be a good scenario. Think about it.

 

In fact, the whole prophet scenario indeed has a nice little paragraph to it:

"Prophet controls town with paltry magics. Party does task for prophet. Party finds spellbook belonging to crone. Party finds crone and learns truth. Party confronts prophet and liberates people."

I'd say that it's the most complicated I want any of these scenarios to get.

 

And I mean it- to all of you. Think about it. Think about two things:

1. What's interesting

2. What's not too complicated

 

Now, as for chat times. We have two "american" time zones, one "british" time zone, and two people who forgot to list theirs. (Nice.) The designing "aids" all happen to be americans (who are in school, no less). So hm- how about some time around 4-6 PM EST? That translates into 9-11 (always remember) PM GST, I think. At the chat, I want all who come to have a solid idea of what they're doing with the scenarios before they leave. So okay, what's say we have it some time in the middle of next week?

 

And really- if anyone else wants to join in, have at it. The more, the merrier.

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This sounds like it could be very interesting. I've finished all but one of the BoA scenarios I downloaded, and as it looks like I'm going to have some time (alas), I could get started on the scenario I've been half-heartedly planning. But I have no idea where to start. Most everyone's scenarios astound me, and I wonder if I can produce something even playable, never mind good.

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Dareva, as long as you understand the scripting, you can make a scenario. And anyone here can help you with that, as well as any story-related issues (as we've demonstrated in this thread).

 

As for the chat, next week is good with me. My classes don't start up again until the 17th, so I have nothing to do until then.

 

(So in all honesty, given the rush with which I completed DoK, I could conceivably have a finished product by then. I probably won't, though.)

 

And for clarification, DoK2 is not abandoned, just temporarily on the shelf. The new project (tentatively named Embers of Rebellion) is just a way for me to give myself a break from the world I've created and actually get something else released.

 

And about the crone in Nicothodes' scenario, couldn't you just use a set_mobility call, or does that wear off in combat?

 

EDIT: Alright! My post beat TM's!

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Pshaw. It's not as difficult as it's cracked up to be, although truthfully, experience DOES help.

 

Don't worry- scripting and town/outdoors design are learnable, and if you take up a really small idea, it's very doable. Plus, a first effort doesn't have to have all-that-complex scripting- there's nothing inherently wrong with just a human settlement and a dungeon that needs purging.

 

Step 1 is "think of something neat".

 

Step 2 is sorta a toss-up. I prefer to draw towns as I go and script the plot as I go, especially since it allows me to contol a scenario's pacing better, but that's all your choice. And heck, if you're lost, you can always ask a designer for advice.

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My first scenario is going to be fairly short: Party goes to training school. Mysterious stranger tells them of some bad guys to fight, but they must sneak out of school to do it. Party fights bad guys, gets some neat stuff, but gets in trouble when they come back to school.

 

I'd like to participate in the chat and I'm on CST. About the only time this thrice-blasted connection doesn't drop is this time of day, though. I'll see what I can do.

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Originally written by dareva:
My first scenario is going to be fairly short: Party goes to training school. Mysterious stranger tells them of some bad guys to fight, but they must sneak out of school to do it. Party fights bad guys, gets some neat stuff, but gets in trouble when they come back to school.
WOW. I really, really, really like this idea. Do it.

It's okay if midnight is the only time you can come- most of us will probably still be on then anyway. (And if nothing else, I'll be on AIM for another hour.)
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I am interested in designing a BOA scenario. One problem - I don't have a story idea. I do know that I want it to involve unicorns some how, but i don't want to copy the unicorn thing that was done in the Za Khazi Run. Ooh just came up with an idea, it's small but (i'm gonna steal a bit of the plot from a book series called Diadem - i know the author):

 

Party is travelling and stops to rest for the night. During the night they are woken up by a unicorn asking for their help. Unicorn tells party that the leader of their herd is dying but they don't know why and the unicorns have tried everything but leader is still dying. Party discovers that a rogue mage/sorcerer wants to have control of the herd of unicorns only to harvest their alicorns - somehow he's killing the leader(haven't figured that out yet). Party kills rogue mage/sorcerer. Party gets antidote and cures unicorn leader and saves the day.

 

Not sure what to reward them with other than super healing elixirs made from ground alicorn dust. Pleeeease tell me what you think and if this kind of scenario would be feasible. If not, I welcome any ideas for a different scenario.

 

I'm EST.

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I don't think anything can be changed about my scenario at this point, but in short:

 

You pass by a town where you drink, eat and sleep. next day you travel on, and encounter a burning city, the enemy looks cat-like. You charge them and get severely wounded.

 

After a week or two you are able to go on in your traveling. you leave and (are supposed to) go to the capital of the province, Voughton, to ask about the cretures. You get a quest to qhipe them out. Afterwards you have to find out who did all this and kill him.

 

its a bit like Avernum 3, I know, ut remember this: I made (am making) this scenario to get aquanted with the engine, and not really because I wanted to make this extremely original thing. Don't worry. I put in a few things that will make it all more interesting, one thing related to one of the grandsons of commander Johnson (who syill remembers him?).

 

EDIT: And when will the next chat be? i heard it would be today at 5:00 pm EST, is that correct? Is that 10:00 pm GMT?

 

If so, then again I can't join then. When will you guys finnaly think of a time that is good for all of us? 1:00 pm EST maybe?

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Almost, thou persuadest me to become a BoA designer. Not enough time, though. Maybe some day.

 

It's a great service to nudge people towards putting in that initial architectonic thought, which novices don't realize is needed, and without which the result is doomed to rise no higher than mediocrity no matter how much work is put in. But as I read through the above posts, wondering whether I might conceivably join in after all, I started feeling like some (not all) of the 'advice' was too much, and, especially, too detailed. I may never finish my scenario, but I'm sure as hell never going to finish yours.

 

It's a fine line; it sounds like you've gotta walk it for BoA to thrive; I think some of your design hints are shading towards being design spoilers.

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Party is travelling and stops to rest for the night. During the night they are woken up by a unicorn asking for their help. Unicorn tells party that the leader of their herd is dying but they don't know why and the unicorns have tried everything but leader is still dying. Party discovers that a rogue mage/sorcerer wants to have control of the herd of unicorns only to harvest their alicorns - somehow he's killing the leader(haven't figured that out yet). Party kills rogue mage/sorcerer. Party gets antidote and cures unicorn leader and saves the day.
Well, it's technically 6 sentences...

The idea isn't a bad one (other than I don't know what an alicorn is, though that might be my fault). But who is this mage? Why is he doing this? Is he just generally evil?

Here's an idea- why not have the mage who wants the alicorns want to heal innocents? Let's say that he has a child whose disease can only be cured with the alicorn elixirs you speak of, or maybe he just wants to supply the Empire with these things to cure their mortally wounded. He'd be a much more believable villain, a much more convincing one, and the party would have a moral dillema- Kill the mage and let many innocent people die, or kill the unicorn leader and let many innocent people die. (Or just leave the valley, in which case the unicorn leader dies anyway.)
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Archaeologist recruits party as escort for expedition. Party clears out nasty bug infestation. Archaeologist retrieves artifact, attacks party, disappears. Party finds archaeologist on throne, he calls party uppity slaves and throws them in dungeon. Party learns of ancient slave rebellion, finds artifact of some sort. Violent confrontation with archaeologist ensues, he comes to, confused, and he and party hightail it out of there.

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Originally written by PoD person:
Archaeologist recruits party as escort for expedition. Party clears out nasty bug infestation. Archaeologist retrieves artifact, attacks party, disappears. Party finds archaeologist on throne, he calls party uppity slaves and throws them in dungeon. Party learns of ancient slave rebellion, finds artifact of some sort. Violent confrontation with archaeologist ensues, he comes to, confused, and he and party hightail it out of there.
A decent start, but needs more fleshing out. I'll offer a few suggestions that you are free to use in any capacity you wish:

Probably more interesting if the party is a bunch of students or apprentices to the archaeologist. The stock hired adventurers is a bit too cliched. It gives a better motivation to why the party is there. Also, freeing their master from possession later on would make a good plot motivator.

The artifact needs to be defined. I assume it possesses the archaeologist so what is it, an idol, a sword, or something else? Answer this question before proceeding anywere as the type of artifact dictates the story.

Bug infestations are a bit cliched. They could work well, but make the bugs special or unique in some way. Preferably related to the artifact at hand. Perhaps a cult of Aranea could be fairly interesting.

Throne? I got totally lost here. Almost feels like two separate scenarios at this point. You really need to flesh out where this comes from. Perhaps instead of searching for the artifact outright, how about they are searching for a Lost City in the mountains? Perhaps the people in the Lost City would have the trait of immortality (they can still be killed, but otherwise live forever) and they enslave mortals.

Not sure how the violent slave rebellion works in? Is the artifact a different one or the same one? I'd vote for recovering the artifact, feels less random and two artifacts are a bit much.
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The idea isn't a bad one (other than I don't know what an alicorn is, though that might be my fault). But who is this mage? Why is he doing this? Is he just generally evil?

Here's an idea- why not have the mage who wants the alicorns want to heal innocents? Let's say that he has a child whose disease can only be cured with the alicorn elixirs you speak of, or maybe he just wants to supply the Empire with these things to cure their mortally wounded. He'd be a much more believable villain, a much more convincing one, and the party would have a moral dillema- Kill the mage and let many innocent people die, or kill the unicorn leader and let many innocent people die. (Or just leave the valley, in which case the unicorn leader dies anyway.)

Alicon is the proper term for the unicorn's one horn.

I like your suggestion about the moral dilemma thing - kill a bunch of innocent people or a bunch of innocent unicorns - works good. What about he wants to sell the elixirs or alicorns to make a profit (sell to the Empire, maybe the Empire hired him to do this??)? Or perhaps he's just evil and hates unicorns for the good that they represent and wants to be rid of them? (don't worry, I'm not going to use a demon)

I do like the moral dilemma with the sick child thing, but I might wait on that till I have a bit more experience at this, and time smile (I start school in less than two weeks).
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Ya know, I'm just gonna toss this out there- making a more interesting story doesn't necessarily require taking more time to do it.

 

"What about he wants to sell the elixirs or alicorns to make a profit (sell to the Empire, maybe the Empire hired him to do this??)?"

 

If he's selling the alicorns to "make a profit", then that would make a particularly evil man who most people would not hesitate to put down. (This sort of thing is called "poaching".)

 

"Or perhaps he's just evil and hates unicorns for the good that they represent and wants to be rid of them?"

 

Demons or no, that's incredibly lame. I mean, what's a villain like that going to say to the party- "Fwuahahahaha!"? (Not that the villain has to spill his motives, but most villains should at least have some.)

 

I mean, my suggestions don't even have to make the scenario longer. You can "force" the party to kill the mage by having the mage be particularly paranoid and not willing to reason with the party. That makes the surprise at the end even juicier- the party gets the reward, is a bunch of regular heroes, unicorns ride off... And then the party enters the town at the end of the valley whose widows and orphans are desperately begging for the cure to their plague, wondering when the mage will send his alicorn elixirs into town.

The end.

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Originally written by Akai Hoshi:
"Or perhaps he's just evil and hates unicorns for the good that they represent and wants to be rid of them?"

Demons or no, that's incredibly lame. I mean, what's a villain like that going to say to the party- "Fwuahahahaha!"? (Not that the villain has to spill his motives, but most villains should at least have some.)
*cough* *cough* *Deacon* *gasp* *cough* *splutter*
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Originally written by Ephesos:
Quote:
Originally written by Slith Lord:
Anyway I started once a scenario, but then my computer crashed.
Storyline: Party shall clean a big Avernum cave to secure the burial of Motrax´ remains. Party fights many lizards. Party finds old still used Empire Fortress. Party kills big fortress residents. Party gets back and shows the "empty" caves, fights angered Pyrog´s Spirit and wins.
Questions:

-Still used Empire fortress? Why are they still there? Did they never hear of the truce? Wouldn't they be dead by now? (remember, well-written undead are an acceptable plot device, but random plagues are not)
-Couldn't you just stick with the lizards, and have some particularly-powerful drake or something leading the pack?
-Why Pyrog's spirit?[/QB]
1. Did you never play The Za-Khazi-Run, even there is a still used Empire Fortress and it´s even more remote than mine, ´cause I started to design the tunnels a bit to the north of Motrax´ cave!

2. Some good-trained Empire soldiers are hard to fight, even if they were for some yearse down in Exile. The dragon will be Pyrogs spirit, there shall be many other drakes in these tunnels, the tunnels to the north of Motrax´ cave were always full of lava and fire lizards.

3. Pyrog always hated humans as much as I know, I never met him in a game but I don´t think he likes his brothers and sisters, so why would he not try to keep a small Exile army from exploring drake territory and buriing Motrax´ bones with honor? Dragons are always mighty enemies for the end! laugh
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Originally written by Slith Lord:

3. Pyrog always hated humans as much as I know, I never met him in a game but I don´t think he likes his brothers and sisters, so why would he not try to keep a small Exile army from exploring drake territory and buriing Motrax´ bones with honor? Dragons are always mighty enemies for the end! laugh
I agree. Picture this: You are a hermit and you live on your own. You hate everybody, and espacially your nice friendly-to-all sister. She dies, just like you, but she gets a nice tomb and you don't. Wouldn't you be angry?
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Just to let everyone know, I sorted my problems. The party are a group of apprentices in the army. This is their last mission before their induction into the army.

 

The bad guy - I chose a demon, exiled to another dimension by his brethren for taking part in a power struggle. He wasn't killed because of his high rank and status - the others didn't want to make him a martyr of sorts, and risk more demons doing the same as him.

 

And if I neglected to mention before... I'm on GMT.

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1. Did you never play The Za-Khazi-Run, even there is a still used Empire Fortress and it´s even more remote than mine, ´cause I started to design the tunnels a bit to the north of Motrax´ cave!

2. Some good-trained Empire soldiers are hard to fight, even if they were for some yearse down in Exile. The dragon will be Pyrogs spirit, there shall be many other drakes in these tunnels, the tunnels to the north of Motrax´ cave were always full of lava and fire lizards.
We have played Za-Khazi, and yes, it is a pretty bad scenario.

In case you didn't get the whole story with the Empire soldiers down there, here it is: They were stationed in some very remote tunnels and in the confusion of the Empire defeat, for whatever reason, they were completely forgot about and they still think the Empire war is going on. That's the only reason the Empire soldiers in Za-Khazi make sense.

Incidentally enough, there was an incident in the 1950s where some WWII Japanese soldiers that were stationed on a remote island finally surrendered, believing the war was still going on. It was off this that Jeff based that Empire Fort.

So for your scenario to make sense it must take place during or very soon after the end of the Empire war. Make sure this is abundantly clear as you need to explain the presence of enemies.

Also, if you are picking Empire soldiers because they are "tough" that really is not a reason. You could, with little extra effort, make level 100 Goblins although I would not recommend it.

Quote:

3. Pyrog always hated humans as much as I know, I never met him in a game but I don´t think he likes his brothers and sisters, so why would he not try to keep a small Exile army from exploring drake territory and buriing Motrax´ bones with honor? Dragons are always mighty enemies for the end!
Pyrog was really into power and his opinion of the other dragons was probably neutral. Yeah, he saw Motrax as weak I grant you that. His opinion of the other dragons was more neutral if I remember.

The question that needs to answered is NOT "why would he not try to keep a small Exile army from exploring drake territory..." but Why WOULD Pyrog's spirit try to keep a small Exile army from exploring Drake territory and burying Motrax's bones?. Pyrog was in the northern waters and we have heard nothing of his possible haunts before.

If he's just there because you want to Dragon fight, probably not needed.

******

I'll offer a setting:

You are a hardened group of Avernite soldiers in the closing days of the Empire War. With their leader Garzahd slain and the aid the Vahnatai, the Empire is in retreat. You are far from any action and stationed in the Lair of Motrax.

The dragon died a few hours ago and an Empire Dervish approaches the fort. It turns out the Dervish had his mind taken over by the Dragon Sulfras and is being used as an envoy. Sulfras brings a message to Avernum: Out of gratitude for freeing her, she has decided to give Avernum the honor of taking Motrax's heart to the Crypt of the Dragons and putting it into the eternal flame there.

She opens a teleporter and you take Motrax's heart inside. Avernum, desiring good relations with the dragons selects you and now you have to get it to the eternal flame to return.

******

Feel free to use any of the above entry. It would make it a little more interesting than "cleaning out some arbitrary cave and fighting Empire soldiers and a Dragon".
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Demons or no, that's incredibly lame. I mean, what's a villain like that going to say to the party- "Fwuahahahaha!"? (Not that the villain has to spill his motives, but most villains should at least have some.)
Ok - gotcha. I've got some ideas brewing. How's this?:

Party is on way to town to be mage's apprentice. Unicorns ask party for help. Party asks mage. Mage lies and says nothing can be done - mage is also bad tempered for some reason. Party finds book on magic containing spell to kill unicorns. Party confronts mage. Mage has dying daughter - only cure alicorn elixir, feels best to kill first, capture later. Dilemma is here: Kill mage-cure unicorn-let child die(or is healed by unicorn but is now fatherless); help mage-kill unicorn-child lives-unicorns hate you forever; get unicorns to help mage and nobody dies.
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It seems a bit weak to have an everyone happy situation in a scenario that hopes to present a moral dillema. For such a thing to work, there cannot be one truly good outcome otherwise we do not have a real dilemma.

 

How I would see it, the mage has a dying daughter that REQUIRES a unicore die to cure it. The unicorns are understandably not very agreeable to help on this. You have to make a choice:

 

1) You help the mage get an alicorn by killing a special unicorn. Potion gets made, daughter lives, and you get magical training as reward.

 

2) You decide that unicorns are more valuable and side with them. Mage will do anything to save daughter and you end up killing him. Daughter dies of disease eventually, but is cared for by unicorns. Party gets some nature appropriate reward.

 

Basically it comes down to take a life to save a life.

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*sigh* - I see your point. If they all lived happily ever after there would be no point to the scenario.

 

How about the mage believes that a unicorn must die to cure his daughter. His research has led to tell him so. The unicorns, when party tells them of situation, says otherwise. The unicorns say that it's much simpler than that. Unicorns don't lie, so you believe them. When confronted with this the mage won't believe you and in a fit of rage born out of desperation he attacks you and you are forced to kill him. The unicorns then cure the child with an elixir made from alicorn shavings. However for killing the mage you are banished from the town forever.

 

Or.....

 

It really is that the unicorn must die in order to save the girl. You either kill the mage, save the unicorn, and let the girl die; kill the unicorn and save the girl.

 

Or......

 

Again, the unicorn must die to save the girl and the unicorn who is dying realizes that the life of this child is more important than his and sacrifices his life for her. The unicorns are greatly saddened, but you earn their respect, plus you receive an award from the mage plus experience. (a little weak, i know, but it's an idea)

 

Or......

 

The "my child is sick" is a lie to get your help. You never even see the child but believe the mage nonetheless. Unicorn sacrifices his life for life of child, you get a reward from mage.....then, just before you leave you hear a cry inside your head and realize the unicorns are asking for help again, but you don't know why (or perhaps you meet mage's daughter who has been locked up this whole time and she tells you what her father is really after). You follow the cry and find that now with the unicorn leader dead the Empire has captured the unicorns. They intend to keep the unicorns in prison, and each time there's a battle one unicorn will be killed the heal the empire soldiers. The ringleader of this, of course, is the mage. You kill mage and gain eternal gratitude of unicorns, as well as some nature appropriate reward.

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Originally written by iluvhorses:
The "my child is sick" is a lie to get your help. You never even see the child but believe the mage nonetheless. Unicorn sacrifices his life for life of child, you get a reward from mage.....
This seems like a much better start than #2 and #3 in that post, both of which seem really corny. But this could stand to be modified. Suggestions:
-It might be better to leave the Empire out of it... they'd be more likely to just wipe out the unicorns without a second thought.
-If the Empire is staying in the scenario, I imagine that the Empire's wizards would be more likely to want unicorns than the soldiers would.
-You could always go with the old "Mage wants near-eternal life from drinking unicorn blood" plot device, and stick with the sick daughter being a ploy. Or heck, it'd be better if the daughter really was there, and the mage was just using her as a way to increase his own power.
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You can have a scenario that ends with everyone happy, but it generally requires a lot of work to not make the whole thing trivial or require a lot of suspension of disbelief. For a shorter scenario, I would suggest a simpler dillemma.

 

I'll call these options 1 through 4:

 

1) It could work, although it is a little complicated and would require more work than 2 or 3. It does beg the question: If it was so simple to cure this, why didn't the mage just ask the unicorns in the first place? They don't lie after all, and the mage presumably would know that.

 

Any motive for not doing this other than lunacy or incompetence would be pretty shallow at best, and those would create other questions as well that need to be answered. The problem is that we are back to a suspension of disbelief for the reasons I stated above.

 

2) This idea I discussed above; no need to discuss further.

 

3) Essentially similar to idea 2 but it suffers similar problems as 1. Why is the party needed? Why didn't the mage just ask for help himself. Surely a father with a dying daughter would invoke much more sympathy than the party can.

 

Additionally, I just don't see a whole lot here: no moral dilemma, no action, just some dialogue scenes. As it is it might make for a nice short story, but not a very good scenario. Adding some combat would just be adding filler as far as I can tell, which wastes everybody's time.

 

4) This one has potential. The main problem is that it would be significantly more work than the others. The motives of the mage are to help the Empire army in some combat with valuable Alicorn potions.

 

To add another twist, the mage does not have to be entirely evil either. He could have been forced by the Empire to help them. The political climate can be such that refusal to help the Empire gets you thrown down to Avernum (if you set it before Avernum 1), or have his property and wealth confiscated, or something that the unicorns would not be overly simpathetic to.

 

This solves the problem of why he needs the party. Suppose unicorns can detect lies. The mage knows this and needs you to honestly believe in a sick child. It could be he even made the child sick with his own magic to save himself and his family from the fate the Empire would provide had he refused to help them.

 

I'll stop here, but in closing I will say 4 has a lot of potential to it if executed well, but it could be a bit more work than 2. 1 and 3 are problematic as they stand from a believability standpoint.

 

Hope this was informative.

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Originally written by *i:
The political climate can be such that refusal to help the Empire gets you thrown down to Avernum (if you set it before Avernum 1), or have his property and wealth confiscated, or something that the unicorns would not be overly simpathetic to.
This would solve a lot of problems... particularly since the Empire's tendency to eradicate magical creatures seems weaker in the post-war rule of Empress Prazac than before the Empire-Avernum war.
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