need help in creating new scenario - scenario mainly about orc's, orcish plaague, ect... (lookin for any good ideas)

[Lilith]

Please don't put 200 towns and 1000 custom graphics in your first scenario.

[Necrophilius]

Originally Posted By: Thuryl

Please don't put 200 towns and 1000 custom graphics in your first scenario.

who says im gonna put maximum? I just ask. I'm just curious.

And one question: If a scenario gonna be good piece of work, do I still have to worry about towns and graphics? There are many aspects why I would use many towns: for example, a specific battle would be just town (one-use only) - for example - thick forest with traps, or front line among soldiers, against enemy horde...

Not every first scenario must be a [censored], and if it's solid-tested, it shouldn't have bugs and faults, should it?

And 1000 graphics... i dont think it's possible to use that much in a reasonable way, but i think there are many possibilities of using em.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Necrophilius

And one question: If a scenario gonna be good piece of work, do I still have to worry about towns and graphics? There are many aspects why I would use many towns: for example, a specific battle would be just town (one-use only) - for example - thick forest with traps, or front line among soldiers, against enemy horde...

Not every first scenario must be a [censored], and if it's solid-tested, it shouldn't have bugs and faults, should it?

That's a good attitude.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Originally Posted By: Thuryl

Please don't put 200 towns and 1000 custom graphics in your first scenario.

Heh, of course not. In fact, there's little reason to come near the limit for any scenario.

Originally Posted By: Necrophilius

And 1000 graphics... i dont think it's possible to use that much in a reasonable way, but i think there are many possibilities of using em.

That's 1000 slots – you can't have more than 255 (non-animated) terrain graphics (because there are only 255 terrains to assign them to!) or 250 small monster graphics (because they take 4 slots) or 500 dialog or talk pictures (because they take 2 slots), etc. But there's still no reason for a scenario to need all 1000 slots.

[Necrophilius]

yeah, there's no need... but good to know what the limits are, because if someone is going to make BIIIG scenario, knowing the limits may help in planning (now I know that I have so big limits, that I don't have to worry about)

 

 

I just loved At the Gallows, and I think of makin somethin like that - just a big scenario, with lot to do, but one main difference - completly non-linear, except few moments. NO! Of course not non-linear ending! And no one ending! I think about multiple endings, depending on players decision (first possible ending is to "retreat" which gives sad, "game-over-like" epiloque")

 

Oh, and I'm not going to copy ATG. I'm just going make something as big, as one of exile games could be

It maybe takes a long time to do, but... it's also long time to play, and long-lasting fun i think?

[Lilith]

You're probably never going to finish it, but don't let that stop you from trying.

[Necrophilius]

hmm... maybe. Already made like 5% of it. And I'm goin holidays for 2 weeks ;] Who knows if after that I will get back to work? :D:D lol

[Necrophilius]

Well... I've made some levels, plot, graphic, ect.

Now, I'm stuck with monsters. Or with their one aspect- stats.

 

I've made some weaker ones. But still need the average, not too hard ones.

 

 

And I'm searching for any help with it. Mainly, advices or ready stats for monsters. Magic using monsters aren't so tough to make, but the "non magic" ones... ow

 

they have to be balanced. Let's say, my scenario is for "brand new" party, with "Classic" items obtainable, like stone-to-iron knife-to-halberd ones...

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...I know this is a month cold, but still...oh, feel free to ignore anything and eveything I say, of course.

 

Firstly, I dunno about having orcs (especially ones that sound very Warcrafty) in Exile. Part of the charm of Exile is that it wasn't the same humans/elves/dwarfs again...ok, you had goblins, but they didn't do anything of note, the important people were humans, nephil, sliths and vahnatai. Although cat people and lizard people are fairly common, there's no reason for sliths to use pole weapons and nephils to prefer archery and so on, it gives them a bit more individualtiy, and vahnatai seem fairly new and inventive. Now, if you were to call these green-skinned monsters, say, the "Zharg" or summat, and have them predominately use axes or something more exotic for cultural reasons, they'd be much more memorable.

 

As for the plague...is it going to be widespread, or localised? I can't speak for others, but I'm getting a little bored with terrible threats popping out of nowhere to destroy the world in every form of media...having it localised to a small area (an island, say) is easier for suspension of disbelief, and lets you kill everyone off in the end if you like.

 

Are the orcs going to be generic monsters, or are they going to have personality? I personally prefer BoE scenarios where the bad guys have character and some motivation. If, say, the orcs didn't particularly want to kill the humans all that much, but they just happened to be on the land they wanted, it could make them more sympathetic. You mention their own land being barren and unable to support them, which is a good place to start, IMHO...you might want to stick in something about it being their "Promised Land" or something, or that they were here first (maybe), it's their land and they want it back.

 

Were-wolves...maybe something a bit more exotic, some other sort of were beasty. Mind you, I've always wanted to see shape changing monsters in Exile, but it's pretty hard with the mechanics to do much about them. I'd be very interested to see how you do these. Keeping spell casters themed might be tricky as well...pity you can't choose what magic spells each type, or individual, knows.

 

 

As for monster stats, you can always nick the stats from some other mosnter, say, Troglodytes or sliths, and tamper a little bit with them. But yeah, I've no idea how you can tell if they are too hard or not.

[Sukutak]

Just a question. I read the original post, and part of it (the section talking about backstory for the orcs) struck me as pretty offensive: (mostly the racism, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't cringe at the grasp of genetics)

 

"theyre black because they live in specific area, where sun makes their skin tanned, and change their dna to be black..."

 

I would advise (honest advice; I don't mean to sound anal about this, but I felt someone should say something, even if as a complete newb to these forums I dont have a lot of room to talk about how to do things) you to avoid comments like that, both in forums and in the scenario you're making, because you risk turning a lot of people off from the game. Thats my two cents at least.

[Niemand]

While it may be awkwardly stated, it's not unreasonable that geography should be a major cause in the development of skin pigmentation. It is my vague understanding that this is often the case in humans in the real world. He's saying that their skin is dark because it confers a useful advantage, not because they are somehow inferior.

 

The portion immediately preceding what you quote, Sukutak, is what I would consider problematic; I must admit I simply missed noticing it until now. Having examined it in context, I am led to believe that this is not so much racism as poor word choice. However, I do agree that this sort of word choice is bad all around, as whether or not it springs from racism it will certainly put the thought into people's minds. Necrophilius, you would be advised to choose your words more carefully in future; for example in such a context 'people' would have served admirably, without introducing problematic connotations.

[Thaluikhain]

Originally Posted By: Niemand

While it may be awkwardly stated, it's not unreasonable that geography should be a major cause in the development of skin pigmentation. It is my vague understanding that this is often the case in humans in the real world. He's saying that their skin is dark because it confers a useful advantage, not because they are somehow inferior.

Then again, why can't Lamarckian evolution or something weirder apply in Exile? Though, it mostly keeps everything else realistic, with magic and random monsters thrown in.

And yeah, poor word choice.

[Sukutak]

True; Lamarckian evolution could perfectly easily apply to Exile, especially in something like, say, slimes which were created by magic. It'd be kinda cool, actually. And I probably should have expanded the quote a bit to include that; not quite sure why I cropped it out, but it was the source of most of the issue (with that nagging in the side about the Lamarckian-seeming idea of evolution, instead of it being that darker pigmentation is more fit to survive in some regions and is passed on more readily when it pops up by chance). I don't believe he meant it to be racist either, by the context, but its still not a great word to toss around. I kinda phrased my previous comment badly; by racism, I meant the connotations more than any conscious effort on the part of the OP.

[Necrophilius]

well. I didn't meant to sound racist.

My "inglish" is just a [censored] ;/

 

I meant, orcs could be green, because they are from another world? And that example with niggers, I know it was bad...

 

 

@Thaluikhalin

I'm still thinking about some aspects.

For "plague" I think it would be semi-localized.

Not spreaded over all world, but...

"mess starts in forgotten empire province, where the orcs opens their portal. Portal to so called "promised world"

Depending on the action, plague may spread somewhere else (ex. some part of valorim), or even spread on the whole world after long time (which mean "game over")

 

Yep... whole world plague would be boring. But just a minor plague on minor isle with only one village, would be crap

 

 

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Firstly, I dunno about having orcs (especially ones that sound very Warcrafty) in Exile. Part of the charm of Exile is that it wasn't the same humans/elves/dwarfs again...

 

agree. But... charm of BoE is "freedom".

Charm of exile is that differency. But which race could be savage? Sliths? Umm, maybe, but "Bahshikavian Sliths goes mad and plagues surface" sounds silly ^^

 

Warcraft? Umm... One idea from warcraft would be "universal", IMHO even for exile - orcs left their world via portal... And they could open portal from their "poor" planet to Ermania...

 

 

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

ok, you had goblins, but they didn't do anything of note,

They're just a dumb, angry "monkeys".

 

I already used them as a race, which orcs made "friendship" with, using goblins as cannon-meat and servants occasionally (first part of scenario is fighting with goblins, who went mad and made minor plague on island. No-one knows why, but they are armored better than casual goblins. During scenario, party discovers few orcs deep inside goblins cave. With help of orcish smiths, goblins were able to make some trouble...

After getting rid of goblins minor-threat, party will be able to leave island, and join orc-human war. (that would be the rest of scenario, which i'm still working at)

Goblin part would be just to explain some crap, and to let beggining party level-up.

 

 

 

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Now, if you were to call these green-skinned monsters, say, the "Zharg" or summat, and have them predominately use axes or something more exotic for cultural reasons, they'd be much more memorable.

 

hmm... Imho good idea. But for orc-lovers, it would be blasphemy

 

But... they anyway could have many names, used interchangeably ("the green ones", "orcs" "Zgarg's" "freaks"...)

 

(P.s. "Zharg" sound good, as it's onomatopoeic like "orc". More names like that please )

 

 

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Are the orcs going to be generic monsters, or are they going to have personality?

 

as for me, best choice would be "beast personality".

Savage, macciavelistic green dudes, who ironically treat humans as "monsters" and want to wipe them out (sth. like empire wiping out humanoids in exile-series)

 

Orcs could be even motivated by crazy religion (demon-worshipping, or sth like that. But without taste of "tower of magi and linda". Rather mass insanity and bloodlust of green dudes )

 

 

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Were-wolves...maybe something a bit more exotic, some other sort of were beasty. Mind you, I've always wanted to see shape changing monsters in Exile, but it's pretty hard with the mechanics to do much about them.

 

 

How about were-ursags?

Or couple of slith magi changing shape into favourite reptiles?

 

Yep, it's hard. Impossible to do such monsters appear in every corner. But there are many tricks (see creator's scenarios if dunno what I mean)

 

It would be not-so-hard to make one or few shape-shifting bosses, or to make one important battle with group of were-beasts. Inside town, it's easy.

Outside, in "combat", it's harder, but still possible.

 

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

pity you can't choose what magic spells each type, or individual, knows.

 

yep... But fire-elementalist may...

summon fire elementals or make rain of fire around him (radiate fire fields)

shoot heat rays (like weak fire spell, but one AP)

breath fire (stronger fire spell, but 3 AP)

and he may even have NO MAGIC

or just 1-3 lev mage/priest, for weaker spells.

 

 

 

 

P.s. does anyone have spell-list for monsters?

I really dunno what spells on what level of magic/priest monsters cast? I know only little about that (they use divine thud at lev 7, wrack at lev 1 ... )

[Thaluikhain]

Were-ursag would be more interesting than were-wolves...mind you, if they are from somewhere else, they might have some really weird animals over there that they might turn into, something not seen in Exile or the Empire.

 

Sliths turning into reptile beasts sounds cool, though when you think of it, there's no reason why they'd turn into reptiles just becuase they are also reptiles, any more than human turn into apes or horses because they are mammals.

 

As for orcs being green because of the world they come from...why exactly would they be? If, say, it was camouflage amongst their plants or something, if some plants followed them into the Empire's world, you could have a forest full of (practically) invisible orcs...also a good reason for them not to wear much clothes or armour, to go with the savage thing.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Necrophilius

well. I didn't meant to sound racist.
My "inglish" is just a [censored] ;/

I meant, orcs could be green, because they are from another world? And that example with niggers, I know it was bad...

:facesequoia:

[Necrophilius]

@Thaluikhain

 

Thanks for ideas, maybe I'll make use of them

 

 

Quote:

if they are from somewhere else, they might have some really weird animals over there that they might turn into, something not seen in Exile or the Empire.

 

Umm... yep, but what animals they could have? Giant ants? Octopuses? Demonic fiends? Dragons? Camels? Heheh... ^^

 

Or just maybe anything they find and "tame", like wolves worgs bears and ursags? (unseen in exile/empire would be bear-riders or sth like that )

 

 

Quote:

Sliths turning into reptile beasts sounds cool, though when you think of it, there's no reason why they'd turn into reptiles just becuase they are also reptiles, any more than human turn into apes or horses because they are mammals.

 

Hahahahaha!

Rotfl!

Omg, were-horse! ^^ Waaaah! Scary!

 

Ok, I think sliths could turn into reptiles for 3 reasons:

 

1) Their bodies are more similar to reptiles than any other humanoids, what makes shapeshifting easier...

 

2) Their religion... Um, bad sliths used to worship demons. Good sliths, or not-so-good, could worship reptile-gods

Man worshipping beast is more likely to turn into one.

 

3) reptiles are cute. And what other race would fit better to were-reptiles? (um, vahnahtie and were-hydras, but it sound silly)

 

 

 

Quote:

As for orcs being green because of the world they come from...why exactly would they be? If, say, it was camouflage amongst their plants or something, if some plants followed them into the Empire's world, you could have a forest full of (practically) invisible orcs...also a good reason for them not to wear much clothes or armour, to go with the savage thing.

 

 

They would be green, because... ummm... ummm...

Why UFO are green? No one knows. But how would savage-ufo looks like? And how it would travel without space ships, in fantasy-world?

And why troglodytes are red? And Goblins green? Because they just are!

 

 

Plants? Um... I already decided about that, and orcs would have (almost) no plants in their home world. (It's a wasteland, rocky endless desert as unfriendly as exile, but with it own sun, and with some different animals)

[Lilith]

just say they have copper-based blood or something, geez

[Celtic Minstrel]

Like lobsters!

[Necrophilius]

copper based blood? hahaah

or maybe blood based on mud?

Or orcish blood contains chlorophyll? Yea

 

The problem is, their blood stains will be still red, until I made them demons undead or sth else (no humanoids nor beasts)

 

Hmmm... but...

Does the bug-type creatures have the green slime-type blood stain?

 

[Thaluikhain]

They'd squeak when they die, rather than have the humanoid growl, though.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Originally Posted By: Necrophilius

copper based blood? hahaah

It's not so funny, really – it's actually possible.

[Nioca]

Or it could be just from sulfur exposure. Exposure to sulfur compounds have been known to temporarily turn a human's blood green, and if the orcs live in a wasteland, it's not too implausible that there might be high concentrations of sulfur where they live. It'd also turn their skin green as well.

 

Heck, if they've lived there long enough, a genetic mutation might have even made it so that orc blood is permanently green. Though that'd take a millennium or two, at the very least. And genetics isn't really something I know a lot about, so on this one, I may just be talking out of a certain orifice. But that's what artistic license is for.

[Necrophilius]

well...

i hadn't too much time as I had to study.

 

Graphics are here

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/6213/graph.png

some are remakes, some not mine, and some.... new ^^

any comments & suggestions ? I'd be glad for advices

 

 

and I have one problem

I'm stuck with "sdf" ect.

Just got five "missions".

 

And I dunno how to make it.

I wan't to make it so:

mission one:

display dialogue

if already displayed dialogue, dont do anythin

if mission done, jump to next mission and display mission 2 dialogue...

 

 

uh oh, i made dialogues but stuck with technic crap about it ;/

 

anyone help?

[Ishad Nha]

"mission one:

display dialogue

if already displayed dialogue, don't do anything"

That is a job for a Stuff Done Flag, sdf. Look at the exs files of other scenarios, that will show you how it works.

 

[Celtic Minstrel]

Your question is too vague to give much of an answer...

[Ishad Nha]

Look through the scenarios to see how they handle things like this. Latest versions of the Scenario Editor enable you to print out reports showing all the SDFs that occur in a town, outdoor zone or the scenario itself.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Only if you use Windows.

[Necrophilius]

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel

Only if you use Windows.

I use doors...

[Cryolemon]

Originally Posted By: Necrophilius

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel

Only if you use Windows.

I use doors...

I make a better door than a window.

[Thaluikhain]

Originally Posted By: Necrophilius

well...
i hadn't too much time as I had to study.

Graphics are here
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/6213/graph.png
some are remakes, some not mine, and some.... new ^^
any comments & suggestions ? I'd be glad for advices

That is an awful lot of custom graphics...you're not going to try and use all of them, are you? Quite a feat if you did.

[Celtic Minstrel]

I think I had that many graphics for one scenario, or close to it. Of course, it was going to be an epic, and it's now cancelled as a BoE scenario (it'll be BoA instead). It's still an epic, though. I hope I finish it someday, but it won't be for quite a while.