Let's Talk About Hickory Branch

Discussion in 'General Modification' started by Gaear, Mar 25, 2008.

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  1. Badger-ude

    Badger-ude The nonPnP gamer PoV

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    I've only had time to read page one of this thread but it begs the question.... What is Hickory branch? I know it's a seperate adventure but how is it accessed? I've run several 5.00 parties and have never encountered this adventure... is it intergrated with one of the CMF's?

    Also, I generally avoid the fed-ex quests in favour of more action. I'd prefer to keep the encounters challenging for mid-game, although why not simply add small low-level action quests??? (Think Deklo grove)
     
    Badger-ude, Jul 8, 2008
    #76
  2. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Update on Hickory Branch 2 and Decision Time

    Okay. The new Hickory Branch is progressing quite rapidly, to the point where I've very nearly got all the maps completed. (There's absolutely nothing to do there yet though; that will come later. I'll probably resume work on other Hommlet-related stuff and then return to the actual HB story/quest/advernture afterwards.)

    But this would be a good time to decide if this mod should really be Hickory Branch at all, or if it should be something entirely new. As I indicated above, it's becoming more and more clear that there's really nothing in common between what I've been developing and krunch's original HB, beyond the name. So the choices available to us would be:

    1. call the new mod Hickory Branch anyway and to hell with the kaptain
    2. call the new mod something else and put an actual new and improved HB in the proposed TotWC expansion
    3. call the new mod something else and just dump HB 1
    'New and improved' in the case of option 2 would mean a new overland map (and crypt map, if we can't recover the Ax/VP version) and restatted monsters to provide a challenge for level 13+ parties or thereabouts, into which range the expansion would necessarily fall.

    Being as the TotWC expansion seems more and more likely to happen again nowadays, I would personally favor moving HB 1 there and making the new mod something different. However, I should point out that this isn't for egotistical reasons. I would be absolutely fine with the new mod flying under the old HB banner, if people preferred that.

    So, please provide some opinions here on what you'd like to see. If we go with option 1, it will pretty much be case closed and I'll just continue on as I have been. However, if we go with option 2 or 3, we'll need a new name for the mod (the one I'm working on). In that case, I would like people to propose candidates here, from which I will choose the one I like best. The guidelines would be simply that the name should indicate a geographical location, just like Hickory Branch does, because you 'go there' after all.

    As far as new maps for HB 1 go, I've found through my HB 2 efforts that reworking an existing map with entirely new graphics (pirated from existing ToEE resources, alas) is actually quite easy. The dimensions/sectoring et al need not even change. Therefore, I would happily take care of this for HB 1 if that's the chosen course of action, just decorating krunch's original map(s) with better textures and scenery and employing other forms of trickery that make it all look more professional.

    As a final thought, option 2 would unmistakenly 'honor' the kaptain more than option 1. It's only a pity that he didn't stick around to complete this task himself, being as that's the direction his own efforts were headed anyway.

    So please post which course of action you think is best, and if you choose option 2, post an idea for a name if you're so inclined.

    Thanks. :)
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2008
    Gaear, Jul 14, 2008
    #77
  3. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    Yeah, I think option 2: your efforts deserve their own name, but I would like to keep the Kap'ns work here somewhere, and liches belong in TotWC.
     
    Shiningted, Jul 15, 2008
    #78
  4. thearioch

    thearioch Need More Cowbell

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    Option 2.5.

    If Gaear's mod uses all new art, a different monster selection, and is targeted towards different levels with a different intent (subsidizing players who choose to avoid the "regular" Hommlet Fed-Ex, conversion, and matchmaking quests), I vote for it getting it's own name and identity.

    I throw the title "The Tomb of Mathel Mazaar" into the ring. Gaear said he was going with the Mathel back story, and I think the last name / title has a sufficiently Lovecraftian sound.

    Also, rather than make Cpt. Renton talk too much, maybe not get so detailed with the back story to the party -- I don't think we want several pages of text no matter how well voiced. Instead of the whole Lich thing, make it a bit vaguer, and make Mathel appear fully armored (no flesh, rotting or otherwise, visible). Upon defeat, instead of showing a body outline, just drop the equipment (armor, helm, etc.) and treasure loose on the ground. No explanation (he was a ghost, he was a wraith, etc.).

    "He was armored as he was in life, but showed us not his face in death."

    Anyway, I'd let krunch decide 2 or 3. If the mod is presentable, move it to TotWC. If not, remove it from the Co8 module with the presumption that we will add it back in whenever krunch brings it up to standards (consistency of map art, etc.)

    --thearioch
     
    thearioch, Jul 15, 2008
    #79
  5. thearioch

    thearioch Need More Cowbell

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    Because I haven't seen much of arkhamresident (who proposed Martel):

    Lila: Tell them about Martel, dear.

    Cpt: No sense in that, honey. He's 25 years dead. Dead and buried.

    Lila: Are you sure, dear? When's the last time anyone salted his grave?

    <party> Who is this Martel and why do you salt his grave?

    Cpt: [thinks for a monent, then slowly]: Martel Mazaar was the son of the town elder, Mikel Mazaar. Mikel was once the poorest farmer in all of Hommlet, but he worked hard, and was elected Elder. He had a wife, said she was of noble blood. Came from Verbobonc, if I recall. They had one child, a son named Martel. Trained by the town guardsman, he was a ferocious warrior. And a scholar. [A shadow passes over Cpt's face] Read books we never heard about. Looked down at us, called us unlettered barbarians.

    Lila: Jaroo caught Martel in the Deklo grove. Blood everywhere, and a stone altar carved with symbols older than the Old Faith.

    Cpt: That was just a rumor...

    Lila: Was it? Why did Jaroo curse him, then, forbidding him from ever showing his face in Hommlet again? Why didn't his parents show up at the trial? Where were they?

    Cpt: Lila, not in front of strangers!

    Lila: Why not Hroth Renton? When is the last time you salted the grave? Before this Rufus and Burne showed up, I bet. Have you even mentioned this to them?

    Cpt: I'm sure Lord Rufus and Lord Burne aren't interested in folk tales...

    Lila: Folk tales! With rumors of bandits striking from the swamps, and no bodies found? If it were just Gnolls and such, there would be dead bodies and empty chests everywhere.

    <party>: If it's not worth troubling Rufus and Burne over, maybe we could take a look for you.

    Cpt: [looking strangely relieved] If you wouldn't mind, running the Badgers has been taking a lot of my time...and if it will calm Lila down...[goes out back and returns with a sack of salt] I've marked the location on your map. Be careful, ghost of Martel or not, several caravans have disappeared in the area.

    --thearioch
     
    thearioch, Jul 15, 2008
    #80
  6. arkhamresident

    arkhamresident Inmate

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    Hell, I just drank too much one night and wrote a few paragraphs about an elitist jerk... Feel free to do with it what you wish, just glad I could be of any service. :)

    I personally would prefer him to remain corporeal undead. IMHO incorporeal undead are more of a mind fuck while the zombies and such present a much more immediate "I'm gonna eat your brains" type of fear which I think fits Mathel better.

    As for the Lovecraftian spin on the name... awesome. HPL is the bee's knees. :p

    Odd that I say you should do whatever then try to steer this towards my preferences, no? I blame the beer.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2008
    arkhamresident, Jul 15, 2008
    #81
  7. GuardianAngel82

    GuardianAngel82 Senior Member

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    What kind of beer?
     
    GuardianAngel82, Jul 15, 2008
    #82
  8. arkhamresident

    arkhamresident Inmate

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    It's a long list actually...

    Sweetwater's IPA, 420 and Georgia Brown
    Terrapin's Golden Ale and Rye Pale Ale
    Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
    Victory Prima Pils
     
    arkhamresident, Jul 15, 2008
    #83
  9. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    That's a snazzy title, but you've forgotten the geographical location imperative. ;)

    I've got a handy solution to the backstory already: I've simply added a 'skip story' option to dialogue in the appropriate place. That way, return players or the adventuring types from Ted's poll don't have to go all click-fest at that point if they don't want to. :)

    I've always intended him to be armored as opposed to just a generic zombie. In fact, as far as the game mechanics are concerned he may not even be a zombie at all. But he'll have a zombie face portrait, so he'll appear quite scary that way. I would dearly love to add a heavily modulated voice for him as well, but I don't think that'll likely happen. :(

    krunch won't be deciding on anything, unforunately, as he's gone the way of the dodo bird.

    Re: the Renton/Lila dialogue ... that whole thing's already been written, based mainly on arkhamresident's original 'screenplay ;).' I felt that my implementation of it did feel a bit staid, however, so maybe I'll try to integrate your stuff above. It's actually quite good for an engineer type. :p ;)

    One thing though (just like with the orc's blood): unless you install DH, Lila Renton is just a generic 'Hommlet woman.' I suppose we could try to make her Lila Renton in all cases though somehow - it would probably require some DH fiddling.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2008
    Gaear, Jul 15, 2008
    #84
  10. thearioch

    thearioch Need More Cowbell

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    arkhamresident wrote:
    I added Jaroo cursing him not to show his face because I thought it would make more of an impact if the party could tell if Martel was a ghost, a zombie that disintegrated when his helm flew off, or a suit of animated armor. And yes, Gaear, I envisioned a heavily modulated voice. :)

    Given that your name is arkhamresident, I thought it likely you might approve. :) You'd probably like the "Shadow Over Hommlet" idea that started growing on me a few days ago...

    --thearioch
     
    thearioch, Jul 16, 2008
    #85
  11. thearioch

    thearioch Need More Cowbell

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    Gaear said:
    :blush: Sailor, you get me hotter than Georgia asphalt :)

    I wouldn't have posted so much if I knew you had already written most of it, but I'm glad you found some useful. I was already sold with "low-level Lovecraftian horror stalks Hommlet." Anyway, though "Tomb of" counted as a location, but if you want a more *geographical* submission, I suggest "The Welkwood Horror", or more ironically, Jewel of the Welkwood (the Jewel river is an eastern boundaryof the Welkwood, which several Greyhawk maps show as the likely eastern frontier of Hommlet/Nulb).

    --thearioch
     
    thearioch, Jul 16, 2008
    #86
  12. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    'The Call of Cuthbert'. Heh.
    Fine by me. We would need a swap-file, methinks: if you click 'install DH' it installs one dlg file for Lila, otherwise it installs another. I think we will have to summon Morpheus as to how that would work, though.
     
    Shiningted, Jul 16, 2008
    #87
  13. thearioch

    thearioch Need More Cowbell

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    Actually, I was just making Lila sound "knowledgeable" about darker things b/c I know about DH. I thought I would blend her dark side of the Old Faith into my straight Co8 dialogs to sort of "back justify" Ted's "expansion" of said dark side.

    --thearioch
     
    thearioch, Jul 16, 2008
    #88
  14. GuardianAngel82

    GuardianAngel82 Senior Member

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    OMG! In 1977-80, I was in Cepheid Variable and played D&D nearly every weekend. Our motto was "Cepheid means Cthuluism", with the appropriate hand gestures. Now yet another group of D&D fans have fallen under the influence of Cthulu.

    Excellent!
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2008
    GuardianAngel82, Jul 16, 2008
    #89
  15. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    In a typically absurd outcome from 'teh interweb,' I can't actually find a regional map that defines the locations of Hommlet/Nulb/Verbo/Gnarley et al, in relation to one another. I'm aware that Hommlet is '30 leagues southeast of Verbobonc' or whatever, and the Gnarley Forest appears to be generally east-northeast of the Hommlet area, but as near as I can tell the Welkwood Forest is actually sort of southeast of the Hommlet area, possibly out of range of our ToEE world map.

    I wouldn't want to just call the mod 'Welkwood Forest' anyway, as that implies too large an area, but something like 'Welkwood Bog' (the new mod is largely bog-like terrain) would have been kind of cool. I'd like to stay away from formal titles, incidentally ('Welkwood Horror'), being as the name's not supposed to refer to a story or theme but simply a place.

    Also, I like Lovecraft as much as the next guy, but while a general influence is fine, I don't want there to be any obvious Lovecraftian references as such. IMO such a thing reduces the whole business to sort of a tongue-in-cheek affair, as if we're acknowledging openly that we can't stand on our own two feet thematically and have to borrow from the big dogs. So no Cthulu, no 'horror,' lurking or otherwise ;), no Shadow out of Time, no Mountains of Madness, no Walls of Sleep, no Innsmouth, no Arkham, etc., etc.

    I'm thinking of the discourse between Lila and Hroth Renton being an overheard conversation btw, possibly with the addition of a third party, if I can figure out how to do such a thing.
     
    Gaear, Jul 16, 2008
    #90
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