Avernum 5, April Update

[Frozen Feet]

Didn't he say something about the tutorial being more action-filled than before? Maybe the whole Isle of Bigail gets pummeled underground, causing Anama to become avernites' problem!

 

..or then not. What did we learn about this, kids? Never post when you're tired!

[Ash Lael]

Action packed tutorial is good. But can old-timers and/or those who have played the game before have an option to turn off the tutorial tips and just play through it? I've been playing Spiderweb games for quite a long time now and get sick of being told how to equip a knife and open a door every time I replay one.

[Slawbug]

Clearly you should spend more time playing Exile 1 and 2.

 

Also, let's remember that Avernum 5 is being written by Jeff... not Drakefyre.

[*i]

I agree, the option to disable the tutorial messages would be awesome.

[Randomizer]

It sounds like there will be enough changes so having some tutorial messages will be useful the first time. Besides after a while you get good at hitting the return key to remove the message before you have to read it.

 

I think the idea for more action will either be like Avernum 2 where there is an attack on the starting point or Geneforge 4 where there is a real event to get you into the game.

[Xaiya]

For some reason, I haven't gotten sick of the tutorials. And I have played 8 or those games...

 

The fact that Jeff hasn't posted in a while is good, because it means he is working.

[Randomizer]

Here's a different beginning.

 

You start out as Anama missionaries sent by to convert that evil mage ridden land of Avernum. Do you keep the faith or turn to the dark side and learn magic?

[SevenMass]

Quote:

Originally written by Randomizer:
Here's a different beginning.

You start out as Anama missionaries sent by to convert that evil mage ridden land of Avernum. Do you keep the faith or turn to the dark side and learn magic?

That would be an unacceptable start for me, I want to play a mage, from start to finis!

WHEEEEEE, for mage power!

[Xaiya]

Grrrrrr...

You always start as adventurers in the Avernum series, and you always will.

[Dikiyoba]

Except that Dikiyoba believes Jeff has implied that you may not be adventurers in A5. From what little we know about its plot so far, it's not safe to make assumptions.

[Student of Trinity]

You start as a Chitrach.

[Nioca]

You eat, you grow, you mate, you get stabbed by a passing adventurer.

 

Something tells me that wouldn't go over very well.

[Randomizer]

You start out as a group of peasants being robbed by a band of adventurers. You kill the adventurers and decide that their life beats what you've been doing. So following a note with a map that their leader was carrying, you go off to seek fame and fortune with the Darkside Loyalists.

[Slawbug]

Quote:

Originally written by Student of Trinity:
You start as a Chitrach.

DIE. But seriously, this isn't even funny.

[Nioca]

It could be an easter egg for completing the game. It could be a new, playable race.

[Dikiyoba]

Nonsense. No one would be stupid enough to dye and hide chitrach eggs.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Puksis]

I have a question. IF there is a hitchance in a5, can U hit with 100% chance. Im annoyed in a3 when my hittingchance is more than 95% and I still miss! Could there be a 100% hittingchance?

[Emperor Tullegolar]

I'm gonna assume the answer to that is no. Come on, even kings of Sparta miss every now and then.

[Slawbug]

Capping hit chance at 95% (and 5%) is a very old RPG convention that stems from D&D and its 1d20 combat rolls. It has displayed remarkable robustness for a rule that isn't essential, showing up in RPGs all over the place. That may be because it makes sense. You can always get a lucky dodge somehow, can't you?

[Micawber]

Quote:

Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar:
I'm gonna assume the answer to that is no. Come on, even kings of Sparta miss every now and then.

It's going to be a long while before I recover from seeing that film.

[Zummi]

Hey..how about at some point in the game..yous can load your A4 characters..

 

It's a fun idea..but pretty bleak to happen..

And..

THIS IS MADNESS!! NO!! THIS IS AVERNUM!!

(Glad to take that off my chest.)

[CharonX]

Quote:

Originally written by Yama:

Quote:

Originally written by Student of Trinity:
You start as a Chitrach.

DIE. But seriously, this isn't even funny.

Yes, seriously, I'd at least demand being a Nullbug.

Or maybe a Gremlin. Plus a water trap. er... sorry wrong RPG...

[VCH]

I'd like to see the A4 adventurers in A5. Its always nice to run into past heroes.

[Student of Trinity]

[Dialog pane with headshot of Aldus, now wrinkled and bald]

 

"In our day you had to slay a thousand worms just to reach first level! Kids these days start out with enough power to do cool stuff, and they don't even appreciate it.

 

"Why, to get Demonslayer, I had to fight a cursed golem that resisted everything and split into seven indistinguishable mirror images of itself at every hit. Then I lost it somehow, I forget ...

 

"But now you young whippersnappers come along with MY Demonslayer, and tell me you picked it up in the tutorial, after learning how to open a chest!"

 

1. Wow, Mr. Aldus. That's really cool.

2. Can I have your autograph? It's worth 50 coins in Blosk.

3. You old guys didn't have it so tough. I heard the guys before you had to carry arrows.

4. Hey, I needed this sword in the tutorial. It was the only way to kill Rentar-Ihrno!

[Zummi]

Quote:

Originally written by Student of Trinity:

2. Can I have your autograph? It's worth 50 coins in Blosk.

Aldus: Only 50 coins!? Those ungrateful Blosk people won't be there right now if it wasn't for me!! And my autograph there is only 50 coins worth!?

[Slawbug]

Didn't most of the ungrateful Blosk people die before the adventurers got there?

[Zummi]

Well..by that time in A5..Blosk would be repopulated by ungrateful Bloskans..

 

So..there many ungrateful Bloskans out there that isn't grateful for the hardwork A4 adventurers have done for them..

Tsk tsk..

[nikki.]

Option 3 was the best, closely followed by 4. In fact, option 4 is a lot like the main theme of PS...

[ArchMage81]

how about if you start knowing lots of spells since start, and then you just gain power by making them stronger when you train them

[Tyranicus]

Quote:

Originally written by Student of Trinity:
[Dialog pane with headshot of Aldus, now wrinkled and bald]

"In our day you had to slay a thousand worms just to reach first level! Kids these days start out with enough power to do cool stuff, and they don't even appreciate it.

"Why, to get Demonslayer, I had to fight a cursed golem that resisted everything and split into seven indistinguishable mirror images of itself at every hit. Then I lost it somehow, I forget ...

"But now you young whippersnappers come along with MY Demonslayer, and tell me you picked it up in the tutorial, after learning how to open a chest!"

1. Wow, Mr. Aldus. That's really cool.
2. Can I have your autograph? It's worth 50 coins in Blosk.
3. You old guys didn't have it so tough. I heard the guys before you had to carry arrows.
4. Hey, I needed this sword in the tutorial. It was the only way to kill Rentar-Ihrno!

Quoted for emphasis on hilarity.

[Puksis]

Quote:

Originally written by Yama:
Capping hit chance at 95% (and 5%) is a very old RPG convention that stems from D&D and its 1d20 combat rolls. It has displayed remarkable robustness for a rule that isn't essential, showing up in RPGs all over the place. That may be because it makes sense. You can always get a lucky dodge somehow, can't you?

If there would be an alley in some game, witch is 2 metres wide, and you set up a trap. U will start running and U will face a deadend. The trap is a 1 metre 98cm wide rock, that rolls towards you. So is there any chance of lucky dodge? And the rock wont stuck.

[Lilith]

Yes, yes, and the Improved Evasion ability in D&D allows a character to completely avoid damage from a fireball going off in a sealed room. We've heard it all before. Please refrain from attempting to make game mechanics make sense: it will only make both you and the game designer cry.

[Puksis]

Quote:

Originally written by Thuryl:
Yes, yes, and the Improved Evasion ability in D&D allows a character to completely avoid damage from a fireball going off in a sealed room. We've heard it all before. Please refrain from attempting to make game mechanics make sense: it will only make both you and the game designer cry.

I wasnt talking about evasion, I was talking about dodging it! The rock has 100% hitchance!

[Lilith]

The point I am making here is that your bourgeois notions of "realism" have no place in an RPG. Attacks have a chance of missing because the game works better that way, and that's that.

 

Maybe the rock had a crack in it and breaks into pieces before it hits you. Maybe you vault over the rock as it rolls toward you. Maybe you block it at just the right angle to send it rolling back the other way. It doesn't matter how it happens, but since it does happen, it must be possible within the context of the game. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[Student of Trinity]

Realism is important, but that's why pen and paper games are nice, where you have a GM with the power to play God, instead of just a bunch of mindlessly applied rules. If the GM says the rock is inescapable, you get no saving throw. You die. Fun game. What a great GM.

 

Otherwise, if the GM allows a saving throw to survive the rock, that means the rock isn't inescapable. There's a high ceiling, or something that could stop the rock, or whatever. If you make the save, the GM has to think up some explanation of how you survived.

 

Explaining how characters survive is usually not hard to put over, but explaining an unfavorable die roll, when the players argue that their success should have been automatic, can take some fast thinking. If the GM isn't up to handling situations like this convincingly, the game loses a lot.

 

For advanced players, a nice variant on having the GM think up excuses for survival is to make the players propose how they hope to survive, before rolling. The GM may then apply bonuses or penalties, or simply rule failure or success, based on how good the proposal is.

 

In a CRPG, you just have to do the excuse part yourself. The games never specify the rock so precisely that this is impossible.