Introducing: Verbobonc Tales

Discussion in 'General Modification' started by Gaear, Jan 23, 2012.

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  1. sirchet

    sirchet Force for Goodness Moderator Supporter

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    Dovakiin is that you? heh heh heh

    Here's the whole joke "Arrow In The Knee".

    Warning there are a few naughty words used in this video.
     
  2. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I guess you could just look in description.mes in the mes folder.

    Sounds fine.

    Probably not.
     
  3. GuardianAngel82

    GuardianAngel82 Senior Member

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    "Let me guess. Somebody stole your sweet roll."
     
  4. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    Small update, I fell asleep so couldn't play ToEE and think about my lizardman;

    As said, wandering the tunnel has driven Lhizeas a bit crazy, and he will talk in third person about himself. "Lhizeas is very lonely, yes we are" And I haven't made much headway on the small gift he gives you, but I'm deciding on a ring or a cloak.

    Update: I would like the lizardman NPC model to be the "leader" lizardman, with the orange spines on his head. Use that portrait as well to modify please.

    As far as items go, I'm liking Scarab of Protection. Lhizeas could have been surviving because of it's protective aura, and maybe had found it dropped by one of the Hextor priests. Still combing through the craftable item lists though.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2012
  5. cezmail

    cezmail Gorboth's Rider

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    The whole idea of this sounds intriguing. I will have to see if I can get some creative juices flowing to come up with a concept to add some flavor.
     
  6. J'allan UlDragos

    J'allan UlDragos Dragon Warrior

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    I would like to create an old bard, that gives a very minor quest to have his lute repaired/ replaced. The party would need to purchase/provide a replacement, or maybe a PC bard with a sufficient skill check of his bard skills could repair it for him. Or if allowed, it could be in a specific place, and not just a generic lute... as in lost and the party retrieves it, maybe even from a remote location?? haha Fedexian, maybe ...

    As a reward, he would give either a minor magic item (such as the nifty "Bag of Tricks" or a Cloak of Charisma +1), OR possibly an enchanted instrument if the bard skill check is passed (choice of Pipe of Blasting, or those Chimes that open chests with Knock - nothing anywhere near game-changing, but fun!) ... and then the NPC character could play/ recite some short interesting epics with his repaired instrument. Or he could promise to chronicle the party in a tale for the population of Verbobonc...

    It's not that he REALLY needed the instrument repaired, as he could do it himself - it was a test of the parties honor, respect, and/or musical skill in the case of the bard skills.

    i guess i should stat him out, and give an equipment list in case evil parties decided to attack him, and Gaear could let me know how accurate that would need to be (no uber equipment, but no pushover either) ... i would say at least LVL 5.

    Good ideas?

    should i flesh this character out further?
    I saw Gaear's warning about "spoofing" ... so in naming/voicing the character what would be fair game? could you place a rock or metal guitarist/ frontman with a slightly modified name I.E Davidus Mustaine, or Edward V. Halen for example, or is that too silly? To voice the character in that case, minor song references could be applied to D&D locations, etc. for some mild humor effect. OR i could recreate an older version of my signature character, J'allan UlDragos....? How much dialogue do you expect, Gaear?

    I have access to recording equipment, as i work for a company that produces web video advertising - i could actually provide some voice lines (through my friends that are VO artists, or even just record in my home studio if this acceptable)...

    OK, let me know if any of this sounds cool and deserves further development, i hope!! Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2012
  7. J'allan UlDragos

    J'allan UlDragos Dragon Warrior

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    I really like WinstonSchnozwick's Lizardman NPC idea.

    Gaear are we limited to one submission per person? i may have some other ideas...
     
  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I'd really prefer that there were NO tongue-in-cheek references. Again, it's just not that funny or cute universally. Why not just make him/her an entirely original creation?

    Not sure what you mean here ...

    As little as you like, but not too much. Minor NPC.

    Interesting ... would the pro people be interested in taking on anything larger (e.g. voicing an existing NPC) for zero compensation? We can always use more voice overs as long as they are pro or semi pro quality.

    Do you have any experience yourself at VOs, JU? Also what are your home studio specs? Unfortunately this is an area where not being well-qualified and/or having lo-fi gear (think Ronald) stands out readily and immediately, so the veto stick is always close at hand. That's just the way it has to be. We're trying to eliminate that (Ronald) where we can and avoid adding in more.

    Otherwise the idea sounds fine.

    There is no limit to submissions per member.
     
  9. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    I'm probably not going to be able to do much the next few days, I'm getting my wisdom teeth out, so pardon my lack of updates. Here is the summary of my NPC in all it's build as of currently.

    Location: Underground tunnel connecting CotL and Hextor church. (Will go more in depth once have gotten pics, and he could be pacing back and forth or standing still)
    Name: Lhizeas (lie-ZAY-ess)
    Race: Lizard-man
    Character Model/Portrait: "Chief" Lizard-man with the orange head spines. (Portrait flipped horizontally and recolored)
    Main Point: This NPC lives and roams through the tunnel. It is a lesser explored area of Verbobonc, and as such, this experience should be special. He has been driven insane from loneliness, speaking in third person and clamoring for any passing attention. For taking time to give him company, you are rewarded a niche useful item of insignificant value, one of the lesser used/known crafted items.

    Dialogue Paths: Being ToEE, there are options for more than one way of treating Lhizeas. You can treat him nicely, giving him company and receiving affection and a reward, or be a bully, using dialogue skills to take advantage of him and steal his item. The bully dialogue path should not be available to good aligned parties.
     
  10. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Bear in mind that most players will just kill him. (Don't mean to be a party pooper but seriously, that's what they'll do. "I saw this lizard man in the tunnels so I killed him now what??" :blegh: )

    Anyway, if he's unknown to everyone and technically a monster, we can't really add him to the good Verbobonc factions and thus killing him will be consequence-free. Just so you know.
     
  11. J'allan UlDragos

    J'allan UlDragos Dragon Warrior

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    I work with Adobe Photoshop & After Effects, Premiere to edit and create images, video clips and audio files into rendered video. I have audio recording experience, but limited VO experience - basically i am just cross-trained in how to do it. Unfortunately i asked around, and no-one i asked seemed interested in doing "free" work ... sorry. yeah they are all professionals, each with thousands of ads recorded - plenty of experience - but in this economy, no one wanted to do free work for as one person put it .. "some old game".

    :( uh, not many gamers here at my work. in the VO dept at least ... LOL *sigh*

    Gaear i can give a shot recording lines myself, and if it is not up to quality standards, then it just wouldn't get used. I'll try not to be offended! haha I have a BLUE snowball USB mic, and a Shure mic i use for recording vocals sometimes. it's not like the recording workstations here which are enclosed vocal booths equipped with Protools, but i can get the job done on my own editing station (at home) using Adobe Soundbooth. I would just require the technical specs you use for audio mastering in TOEE. we usually encode audio to MP3 format at 160 kbps for the online advertising.
     
  12. J'allan UlDragos

    J'allan UlDragos Dragon Warrior

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    some other ideas for citizens of Verbobonc:

    1. some woman who screams at you for entering her home unannounced, implying she is changing, or in her bath "Get OUT, Get OUT!!! who goes bursting into someone's home unannounced!!!" LOL

    2. A house where upon entering someone asks you to help him remove a trap from a chest. Some clever dialogue will try to make it sound like this is a citizen with a jammed lock, BUT a Good aligned party with strong Sense Motive will detect this person is actually up to no good, and is trying to rob the place. This could create a scenario with several NPC's where there is the house owner, the thief, and several ways to resolve the dilemma: assist the crook, participate in the crime, share the loot, get caught, OR catch the thief, try to scare him away, get rewarded for your intervention, get caught in the misunderstanding, etc.

    3. Some peddler on the street selling food, maybe give him some funny lines as the merchant himself would not be that important Every major city has these kinds of street vendors ... is there a cart graphic that could be used?

    4. a weapons trainer running a gymnasium of sorts- you pay gold for a small boost in EXP for one character to receive martial training. say 50, 100, 200, 500 each for different lessons in various armaments. Maybe you could also challenge him to a duel like Tolub for an actual prize. (would also be a good way to use all that gold you have in the end of the game, or even out levels among party members that have fallen behind, or replaced fallen members.) maybe you have to beat him first before the lessons are offered...

    5. maybe a few beggars asking for coins or food? they could have some unique lines (kind of like the beggars you would encounter in an Ultima game)

    just a few more ideas, i'm sure i'll think up some more ... any of these sound worth developing?
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2012
  13. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Damn them ... ;)

    Seriously though, voice-overs are essentially acting. If you're not an experienced/skilled/talented actor, chances are you're not going to do well at voice-overs, even if you think you will. (Not looking at you in particular here JU, just in general.) Think singing - you have to be talented, skilled, and experienced to do anything people want to hear. Not being those things doesn't stop you from singing, but it stops people from wanting to hear you sing. We don't want to make people think "stop" when consuming any part of the modpack ... so VA has to be good.

    If you're determined to try, 128 kbps mp3 would suffice, but do it in mono. I'm more concerned about the bitrate of the recording than your mic - 16 bit is ideal, 8 bit is awful and basically unacceptable.

    Does Soundbooth use generic USB inputs through Windows, or do you have an independant breakout box with USB jacks (and presumably heavily shielded cabling)? Noise creeps in every which way. I can do sophisticated noise reduction if I have to but I'd rather not.
     
  14. WinstonShnozwick

    WinstonShnozwick Established Member

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    For him being part of good Verbobonc factions, there is no need. Lhizeas is a monster after all, and he is living under the hextor church, so there's no reason for him to be good. I'm ok with that, if people kill him they lose a cool NPC experience.

    As to the "I saw this lizard man in the tunnels so I killed him now what?" I have a possible solution. Lhizeas knows the tunnel well, and is very observational, so make his player detection range very large like the drow in gnarly forest or hickory branch. So that he sees and talks to you the moment he enters your line of sight.
     
  15. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Yeah, we could do that but it would have to be reasonable ... basically within the fog of war so you don't have NPCs initiating conversation from the shadows. That means that players could technically see him first, evn if only for a few feet. But as you say, I think that's okay; it is what it is. KOS players are just going to KOS no matter what.
     
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