Today I Smiled: Competition

One thing Tiamat has brought is a small re-kindling of my NWO foundry building and I'm glad to report that the Scribes' Enclave still stands! To try show my appreciation I've joined this months mini-contest which involves making the Best Winter Home. I've made these two for people to enjoy - temporarily anyway. I will be taking them down once the contest is done to give way to actual quests.

Please note: There are no quests, monsters or reward in either of these. Just a house! :P

A Humble Abode - (NW-DTCJS6NS2) 

A Winter Home - (NW-DCBNR2ABC)

Speaking of foundry stuff, this review by Tipa (aka Brenda Holloway) of Arroway Manor also made me smile! No, I didn't win. Far from it, but still got the green level companion reward. That hasn't stopped me from joining another foundry contest, one involving the North Docks District. That one isn't finished yet but I'll be sure to post up my work here when it is!

On to non-Neverwinter stuff... I'm sure most of you have seen the "This is EVE" video by now. I don't play that game but boy that almost, almost made me jump the fence to try it. Another one that I'm on the fence for is Black Desert. Just from the first picture on Steparu's Final Beta test. I first thought it was a shot of tabletop models. Then I have to remind myself its open-pvp so... probably not. :P

Also something that probably no one (in my usual blogging circle) has seen before... female Streetstyle Freestyle final battle: Two chicks showing fantastic control with a soccer ball. Yeah, stuff like that interests me. :P

I guess I should finish off with something more Christmas-sy since it -is- the season, so here's Peter Hollens with a jazzy acapella version of Holy Night. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Neverwinter: Not so Hidden Communities

While the Siege of Neverwinter takes center stage in Neverwinter Online at the moment, with the armies of the Cult of the Dragon attacking the exterior walls of the city I thought I would talk about something else in the Cryptic's online D&D game, namely two not-so-hidden groups that might make life better for players.

First up is the Scribe's Enclave, whom readers of this site might have heard about before. If player generated content and building quests in the Foundry is something you enjoy then please give their guildlaunch site a look (setting up a guildlaunch account is free and straight forward). Not only do they play through your quests but they also give a lot of advice and ideas on how to make your missions the best they can be. Everything from accuracy of lore to decor techniques to technical mechanics and tricks in the foundry editor. They are actually going through some tough times at the moment with scribe leader Zeirlynn going through some burnout, so new blood would be more than welcome.

The second "community" exists as a channel in the game which, if you've wandered the forums or played for a length of time you may have encountered before: the NW_Legit_Community. I knew about them for months but never bothered to investigate further, until I decided that I wanted to run some of the harder epic dungeons. Then I hit the problem in the regular Zone chat PUGs of not meeting their (often higher than needed) gear score requirement, previous dungeon or boss mechanic experience, and/or not having the right class they are looking for. Not so with the NW_Legit_Community. They take anyone who can handle themselves and run various dungeons everyday. One time they were even just rolling dice to determine which epic mission to attempt, one after the other. I strongly recommend signing up to their channel if this sort of thing interests you. At the very least it does open another point of contact for general questions and the like with less trolling than the global zone chat.

To open communications with them just type the following line in-game:
/channel_join NW_Legit_Community

Agent of the Enclave

Part of the "Odd Jobs of Neverwinter" journal!
*The writing style in the book is now in a different hand.*

This diary is now property of the Scribes Enclave. While its previous owner is nowhere to be found, we will make use of the many more blank pages to record the plentiful up and coming quests available in and around Neverwinter. This week, our agents tried:

Jump Test @ Vashsama01 (NW-DF7WS108M)
No apparent combat, but our agent found the jumps too difficult and had to abandon the attempt before the first checkpoint.

Monster Hunter Version 1.03 @ 11MIRAGEX (NW-DDSFQ9KSA)
A valley with slowly spawning zombies (literally a zombie farm) that just needed slaying. Our agent found they were slowly becoming a zombie too due to the monotony so they were forced to flee.

A Simple Request @ OoKeNnEThOo (NW-DIC2E7M92)
A very enjoyable quest that our agents ran twice. Good designed encounters, optional flavor text all around and a decent hidden boss battle make this the most memorable one of the week.

Valia's Last Stand @ Lorheith (NW-DHNRM4CR3)
A straight forward and unpolished quest that saw our agent finishing off an undead army in their crumbling castle while rescuing some captives.

Towers and Trolls @ choose4me (NW-DIXHTZ2JH)
A humorous and easy quest involving a table top RPG played in a tavern wherein the players really "get into" the game. Features a difficulty adjuster in the "Stone of Difficulty", should you decide to pick it up during the adventure.

The Chicken Maze @ pegasus666 (NW-DD4KQBB3Y)
Our agent couldn't find the start point, so this quest was quickly dropped.

Part One - Learn the Basics @ xxkamasangelxx (NW-DINUOMOTR)
The first part of the Merlin tale where our agent played as the titular wizard which followed the source material pretty closely (a lot of reading, probably breaks EULA though). Disappearing and reappearing actors and props made for a slightly jarring experience.

An Unmarked Grave @ xTripleshotx (NW_DHOTQVHUK)
A pretty solid quest where our agent helped Elwin the Sage put her father's spirit to rest. With a lot of violence.

Hired Blades @ isojourner (NW-DQN2UP745)
Very simple quest of evil alignment that also seemed broken. Fitting since crime doesn't pay.

The Marked Queen - Part 1 @ rph4ze (NW-DBVWAZNU)
Combat heavy quest with many challenging fights for a solo quester. Frustratingly, there is also no reward chest to be found after our agent slaughtered the Marked Queen and her army. In short, a big waste of time.

Prueba01 @ currolordofcaos (NW-DD6YF8RF3)
Our agent couldn't find the start point, so this quest was quickly dropped.

Against the Red Wizards @ GuitarZan698 (NW-DEX75VHLQ)
Part two of "the Vulgar Unicorn" campaign, it makes use of interesting map conservation methods and is on the light-moderate side when it comes to combat. Unfortunately it is plagued with flashing/rendering pieces that gave our agent a minor headache while playing through it.

Shadowfell Disciples @ orangefire (NW-DEBISCCCR)
A fantastic quest that quickly grows from a simple "hunt the goblins" mission with excellent custom made maps. Highly recommended especially as it's the first one of a campaign.

Crimson Descent @ mymecoleon (NW-DRWNLMGYV)
A deeply lore based mission where our agent was assisting another mercenary group against some Thayans with a lot of extra reading for those who look for it. It also features a highly custom map and is very combat heavy.

Kolde Acres: Grandmother @ koldelegacy (NW-DDKURMXWQ)
A story based exploration quest through expansive custom maps with extra side missions for those who chase after it. The first mission our agent has encountered that actually has some ingenious cutscene mechanics.

The Forge of Winter

Current Foundry Rank: Artifex (Level 6)
Current Scribes' Enclave Rank: Member-Scribe

Decided to post this little tracker to let people know how I'm going with my quests being constructed in the Neverwinter Online Foundry, along with any notes I've found while using it and mistakes I make. Hopefully it proves useful to some others.

All the below are stand-alone and solo friendly.

One Step to Darkness [NW-DNJC9SK7A]  (1 hr story focus)
Rebel Incursion [NW-DFHLFGNQY] (15-20 min combat focus)
Dirty Rats [NW-DGLB37WLW] (15-25 min combat focus)
Spiders of the Glade [NW-DUWK7BEE7] (15-25 min combat focus)
Arroway Manor [NW-DP3GLWRDP] (8-15 min stealth focus)
Coeden [NW-DM719BCQ5] (15-20 min combat focus)
A Measure of Character [NW-DKJKPQKH8] (15-45 min story focus)

Notes:

1. Given that people can still find/play individual quests out of order I'm not really fussed on releasing each one as they complete.
2. So far, it's taken awhile to even complete one quest mainly due to the (not so bad, but still there) learning curve.
3. Also spent sometime just writing in a notebook about how things will play out for the whole campaign.
4. CTRL+S will save you if the editor hangs when you are dragging an item to the playing area.
5. Don't duplicate maps after you put dialogue. Do it before.
6. Don't add things to a map after putting dialogue or you'll need to add it in copied maps manually (argh).
7. You can rig a timer by making guards fight monsters in a separate room.
8. The Foundry Forums are a good source of info.
9. People don't like running around. Tried to cut this down (Q1) but still ended up on the heavy side. I'm guessing especially the final part. Them tomb halls are huge. :P
10. Dungeon prefabs don't always gel well together and cause odd graphic issues. To combat this I've put walls to try hide those missing textures.
11. Knock backs can break a module if a monster falls to an unreachable zone and doesn't die. The players will then forever be in combat and cannot interact with stuff. With this in mind I paved over all the big holes I had (Q1) so it wouldn't happen.
12. Getting reviews and plays is actually the hardest part it seems. Hopefully I can count on my guildies to get my content through the review phase (must get 5 reviews and 20 plays).
13. Apparently it's common for new patch releases to break modules, according to Star Trek Online (another Cryptic game) foundry users. The only way to beat it is eternal vigilance. 
14. After raging a bit I decided to have another crack at this, modifying my planned quests to be even simpler to better cater for the audience and more importantly, to work around the weaknesses of the editor.
15. Having decided to switch to quick 15-20 minute quests I've realized it will be too cumbersome to try tell the story I had originally planned. Because of this I've scrapped my original campaign plan and have decided just to make a bunch of stand alone things that may or may not link together.
16. Just as a note as of Febuary 2014 my quest and campaign limit has been bumped up from 10 to 15. Not sure if that was a global thing.
17. Put up my current foundry rank. Totally aiming for level 10! Or.. 9... or 8... :P
18. Joined the Scribes' Enclave to see what they are all about. They are bloody amazing. I strongly others to join too. Non-authors will be able to find some really fantastic hidden works in here as well. Unfortunately the Enclave has closed due to lack of activity.
19. When posting for reviews on the Foundry Forums, always offer to trade. People are more likely to play your maps if they get some much needed plays and reviews themselves. 
20. Join competitions. Especially silly ones since it will up your skill in things like decor and costume design! :P