Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 The Archive In light of ongoing discussions of Alex II and its failure to materialize, and in light of the laudable efforts by several members of the community to track down old, obscure scenarios, and in light of the fact that the Blades community appears to have completed its transition in adjustment to BoA, and most importantly in light of my recent acquisition of 150 megs of extra webspace, I've decided to set up a new scenario archive. That's right, a new scenario archive. It's pretty basic: not searchable, no additional information about each scenario, basically just a list of scenario names and a bunch of corresponding zip files. I wanted to go from nothing to a functional archive in as short a time as possible, so it has no frills whatsoever. I also have not gone through and checked the ~275 scenarios to make sure that they are the most recent released versions. I know that scenarios go through a number of updates that don't necessarily get reflected on Spiderweb or other hosts, so some of the versions may be outdated. If you find any that are, please let me know. However, I expect not to have to do regular updates, since the majority of BoE scenarios are pretty well set in stone at this point: Tatterdemalion is not likely to get a re-write any time soon, nor, I would think, is Redemption. So why do this? Why, when Alexandria and Spiderweb both already do something like this? First of all, because Spiderweb has been notoriously negligent and Alexandria, though much better, is missing a bunch of scenarios and relies on other hosts for most of the rest of its scenarios — meaning that when other sites go down or Spiderweb flakes, Alexandria loses these scenarios. The Archive hosts everything that it carries, so these scenarios will not just disappear. I have a complete backup of the archive on my computer in a separate folder that I will never touch, and I'm going to put it on my new computer as well, so that it will never go down. The second reason to do it is that none of the scenario archives are complete. Alexandria is missing close to 100 scenarios, and Spiderweb is missing even more, and even together they're missing ~25 scenarios. Most of these are fairly inconsequential scenarios (The Isle of Serin, Minimalism), but some are fairly significant (Dirty Gold) that can only be found at archives designed to catch the ones that slip between the cracks, like the one at The Blazing Blade or TrueSite. A few rather important scenarios (Tomorrow, Roots) cannot be found anywhere but the designer's own personal page. Hence this site. If anyone spots any errors (typos, corrupted downloads, bad links, etc.), please let me know. If any designers would prefer that I not host their scenarios here, let me know. Everything is in its initial-release stage, which means there may still be a few screw-ups here and there. And have fun playing! By the way, in the process of collecting all of these scenarios, sorting them, and putting them together in the list, I have had my most brilliant idea yet: I have decided that I will make a BoE scenario entitled Doom Demon Echoes IV: The Lost Island of the Valley of the Big Quest for the Lair of the Undead Goblins and the Revenge of the Dragon-Killing Moon-Sword. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast ben4808 Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Wow, neat. Does Brett maintain Alex anymore? You could send him the ones you have and he hasn't. Either that or he could turn the power over to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 17, 2005 Author Share Posted June 17, 2005 As soon as I recover from building this thing, I'll send Brett a list of scenarios that Alexandria is missing. Maybe later on today or tomorrow I'll do it. By the way, if anyone has any of the "lost" scenarios (listed on the front page of the site), particularly "Island Visitors" or "Triad," which are not known to be lost, I'd like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Donald Hebb Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 FYI, the Adventurer's Club scenarios don't have a "series" page. The Demon Island, Doom Moon and Grich!!! scenarios are, inarguably, "related". Perhaps, in order not to confuse noobies, you could add astericks to note which scenarios are terrible or untried? And what about design utilities? Anywho! There are 286 scenarios for Blades of Exile, and I have designed 18 (6.3%). That's less than I remember, but so be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 18, 2005 Author Share Posted June 18, 2005 I only attempted to connect scenarios that were not alphabetically consecutive. This archive, as of right now, is designed for people who already know what they're looking for and just want to be able to download it. This may change in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody For Nathan Ashby Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 The Seventh Plague was updated to 1.0.6 but it's not uploaded yet, although you'd probably be better served to not put it up at all. =P BTW, I'm currently working on a new scenario for BoA which I'm hoping will turn out much better. This one actually has a sensable plot, so I'm thinking it'll be playable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Ash Lael Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 Great effort! You could try emailing Jeremy Maddock for the Isle of War scenarios. He also made Mountain Quest, so the address in that readme may work. Then again, chances are it's out of date by now... still, might be worth a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Tonweya Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 Great job, Kel. It's clean, easy to read, certainly effective and exactly what the Community needed. Again, congratulations and thank you. me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Silent Motion Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 I'll update Alex if you send me the info. If you can send me the scenario name and the download loc at a minimum, great. Maybe I'll build a second download location into Alex - pointing you your site. Plus whatever else you may have gathered. I'll also send you all the Alex info should you ever want to run with it. I don't think you really need a DB - just a way to show the info as needed. The # of BoE scenarios is small enough you can browse through them without the need for a DB. I've been waiting for someone to do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast ben4808 Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 TM, you don't have any of the missing scenarios? I though you had virtually every one in existance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Donald Hebb Posted June 18, 2005 Share Posted June 18, 2005 I have, in fact, played through Mr. Maddock's works, but I do not have them off-hand. (They were also, surprisingly enough, flat-out rejected from the SW tables on account of getting sub-2.0 scores.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 19, 2005 Author Share Posted June 19, 2005 Having now given this a little bit of thought, I think I will do the following things: 1. E-mail Jeremy Maddock at the Mountain Quest address. 2. Ask Zxquez about Random Rampage. 3. Add a note to every utility scenario that just says "utility" and links to a page describing what a utility scenario is. 4. Add a link to CSR on the front page of the site, saying, essentially, if you don't know what to play, go here. Also trim down the text on the front page if possible. 5. Make that list to send to Brett, because Alexandria is definitely easier to use than my site is. At some future point, I'd like to add authors' e-mail addresses, but that would take an awfully long time, and I already have links to the boards in case someone has burning questions, so I think it's okay for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgeoning Battle Gamma Mervian Posted June 19, 2005 Share Posted June 19, 2005 That's a GREAT job and MUCH needed!!! BTW the link http://home.comcast.net/~kelandon4045/GoblinGrotto.zip doesn't seems to work and the links for "Deep Down" & "Deathmatch" are shown the one instead of the other. Sorry, nothing from the missing list here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 19, 2005 Author Share Posted June 19, 2005 Goblin Grotto, Deep Down, and Deathmatch links fixed. EDIT: And steps 1-4 done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 21, 2005 Author Share Posted June 21, 2005 Update: Good news! I have been e-mailed copies of four of the missing scenarios: Island of War, Isle of War II, The Killing, and Oreh's Legacy. As far as I know, that leaves only four scenarios still missing: Island of the Giants, The, by Aaron Maybury Island Visitors, by Poseidon Software Random Rampage, by Zxquez Triad, by Poseidon Software I e-mailed "Poseidon Software" and was told that he doesn't have Island Visitors or Triad anymore. I have e-mails out to Aaron Maybury and Zxquez based on e-mail addresses from their other scenarios and have had no response yet. Anyway, if anyone has any of these, please let me know. EDIT: Unfortunately, Aaron Maybury's old address no longer seems to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon The Almighty Doer of Stuff Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 What was Aaron's old address? Do we know where he lives? A Google search revealed that there is an Aaron Maybury in Australia or New Zealand (but the email address is from 1998 and not likely to work anymore) and an Aaron Maybury at Oklahoma State University (the email address is probably still active). Do you suppose either one of these is him? EDIT: I asked Akhronath and iambobsushi if they had any of the lost scenarios, but neither does. Oh well. EDIT 2: Frahhamn and Scorpius also don't have them. I'll ask TurtleWhipper whenever I see him online, but he's on a mobile device right now. (TW's AIM ID is ASH LHK, right?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 21, 2005 Author Share Posted June 21, 2005 The old e-mail I had for Aaron Maybury was JpmBos (at) aol (dot) com, gotten off of his scenario Dragon's Lair at Alexandria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Zxquez Zolohahni Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 As far as I can tell, Random Rampage doesn't even exist anymore. It's nowhere on my harddrives or any web accounts I may have had. So, unless someone else has it, it's completely lost. Edit: Or, I could just go ahead and ask that none of my scenarios be hosting on the Archive, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast ben4808 Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 But all scenarios possible will be hosted on the Archive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon The Almighty Doer of Stuff Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 Oh, come on, Zxquez! Don't be such a spoilsport! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Quote: Originally written by Millicent, Dear Millicent:Edit: Or, I could just go ahead and ask that none of my scenarios be hosting on the Archive, please. I'll remove A Little Girl. Have you designed others? If so, you should probably list them, because my notes are rather a mess at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Zxquez Zolohahni Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 No, I haven't designed anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Done. A bunch of additional lost scenarios have been brought to my attention. If you have or know where to find any of these scenarios, or if you know that these are not real scenarios (alternate names for existing ones, leaked names of scenarios that were never finished, etc.), please let me know: Attack of the Black Mark Cabbages Augmentary The Cheater's Paradise The Dark Cave Death Cove Diablo's Demise The Duel Excalibur Halmeni Horror Hidden Valley Island of the Giants, The, by Aaron Maybury Island Visitors, by Poseidon Software A Mild Rebellion Moderator Land Moui's Kingdom New Blood Paladin's Sword Patty's Quest Prison Silly Town Silly Town 2 Triad, by Poseidon Software EDIT: Also, Thuryl thinks (but apparently is not sure) that A Mild Rebellion is another name for A Small Rebellion. Can anyone confirm this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 I know that Jeff has in fact referred to "A Small Rebellion" as "A Mild Rebellion" at various points throughout BoE and its documentation. I just can't confirm that nobody else also made another scenario of the same name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Drakefyre Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 They are the same scenario. Also, what about Witch or Worse and Witch or Worse 2? It would be much easier to consolidate the posting either here or at the Lyceum. In fact, I'm going to lock this and direct everyone to the Lyceum thread: http://p080.ezboard.com/fthelyceumfrm41.showMessage?topicID=54.topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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