Dark Elf

Lets get this straight up front. I can't promise anything except maybe beta testing (if it is ever completed). However, like Mr. Prophet of Doom, I'm a reasonably competent typist with some knowledge of a similar language (Java in my case). If you send me something to code and I have free time on my hands(this last part is very important), I'll try to send you something back that -I hope- functions. Send it to d e r t e c h i e @ yahoo.com Send dialog to the Prophet of Doom. I haven't done any dialog yet.

All I have to say is, this looks amazing. Add yet another argument to the list of reasons to get a Mac instead of a PC. I just hope Mortimer can port this. I don't have the knowledge or experience. I would love this idea even if it was just editing terrain in 3D.

Squirrel, this is possible, but I suggest you find a different use for it. You would have to give the item a special class in the scenario script and then check for it with char_has_item_of_class_equip call. Check the item calls in the editor documentation appendix. However, this wouldn't work for items brought in from outside the scenario. I reiterate my request that you find a different use for this.

I have two things to add to Kelandon's summary of necessary things. #1 is testing. Big, nasty bugs can kill a scenario very, very fast. Even if you have a great plot and extremely interesting NPCs, all of this is useless if bugs make your scenario unwinnable. Test it yourself. Get other people to test it. Fix the bugs and have them test it again. Repeat. #2, make sure those testers check your spelling. It's very minor and won't mess up your scenario, but spelling and grammar errors will annoy players and reviewers. If you keep spelling the teh and vahnatai vanati, no one will take you or your work seriously. Spell check your scenario, please. Random unassociated note: I'm not an apprentice anymore! Yay!

Garrison is right. Give this version of the idea up. As far as the PCs are concerned, the town has a very active scavenger population. Add a few beggars running around, picking stuff up, peddling crude daggers, flagons, bowls and other nearly useless stuff, and maybe a toadstool. Have one character have a basement or other storage area safe from the scavengers. Charge a reasonable amount of money (about 10-20 coins) for its use. Make the basement a different town from the clone towns. Then, in either town, the PCs can get to their protected stuff. Its also a much smaller number of calls for the CPU, and thus a much shorter wait when the town is entered.

Depends on what you mean. However, it undoubtedly involves scripting. To give a creature such an ability, you can hardcode it into the creature script. There are several examples of this in the 4 basic scenarios. Read the code for abilnpc (any) and t7maestro (Diplomacy with the Dead). Special abilities for characters are coded into the scenario script. You initialize them in LOAD_SCEN_STATE, then you have them call a state later on for the actual ability. I know there's an example in the Za-Khazi Run. For an item, you'll have to use the special item abilities which let them call scenario states. Then you script the ability, give your characters the item, cross your fingers and start debugging it. Babysitting contains some examples of this. I hope this helps. Otherwise, you may find yourself digging through the appendix to find the calls you need. Good Luck. EDIT: And, while I'm at it, I should welcome you to the boards here, SmirfOfDoom. So, Welcome.

The shop doesn't need to change every time you shop there. It just needs to change every x ticks. I don't think most people would notice if the shop repeated its pattern every 20-30 days. You can set that up with a quick while loop or two. Small scenarios are over in a week or two of game time. Larger ones could see repeats. On the other hand, miscellany shops selling ANY item can be a bad idea. Crafty players can use them to outfit the whole party with Blessed Plate and similarly powerful items.

Emperor Stewart closed the Vale School. This would have been a major part of the crackdown to bring all the mages under direct Imperial control. Since this is (by your reckoning) 41 years into his reign, the crackdown was probably his policy, not a continuation of a previous Emperor's. This centralization of mages was likely accomplished in the final years of Stewart's reign, and possibly the beginning of Hawthorne I's. The crackdown is major enough to be put onto a timeline. Give the man credit. Edit: Just finished reading *i's post. He's right. However, this post is observation and logic, not writing history.

Emperor Steward ruled 130 years before VoDT. The closing of the school would have been part of the Empire's crackdown on mages, bringing them all under more direct control. This was before the time in which the Exile/Avernum games are set. Hawthorne III ruled during Exile/Avernum I, and Hawthorne II before him. Assuming Hawthorne I ruled before Hawthorne II, Stewart would have ruled just before the Hawthornes, or with one or two Emperors in between.

If you want to go more indepth in Exile/Avernum history, maybe you should try writing in some of the details yourself. BOE/BOA is the perfect medium. And a First Visitation scenario might be cool. Has anyone done one?