Introducing: Verbobonc Tales

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

I really like WinstonSchnozwick's Lizardman NPC idea.

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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?

 

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.