The Market

:warning: the following is written after a considerable amount of red wine:

I just watched a market wrap-up on the late news. The Australian market (Asx-200) just hit its highest point for 2009 - I was up $1100 for the day (though still down where I was a week ago).

The poor girl doing the late news had this feed-in line for the financial report - "so, CommSec expert, how has the Swine Flu affected Australian markets today?"

What a freaking meaningless comment. Seriously, the market is NOT one single amorphous, brilliant, prophetic beastie. It is a collection of greedy, cowardly scumbags. The current financial crisis -that has driven the ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD into recession - is a classic example. Was it creatde by financial geniuses? No, it was created by greedy idiots, and the markets - the same breed of greedy, cowardly idiots - panicked and followed them.

WHen the market finishes up, we hear, "market sentiments were bouyed by such and such!!!" When the market finishes down, we hear, "the market was spooked by such-and-such!" Or, if there are no apparent reasons for the market to finish down, we hear, "the market was down due to profit-taking today".

Crap. Garbage. Lies. Some sectors go up for various reasons, some go down for various reasons. Occasionally, due to a declaration of war or the announcement of huge stimulus package, the market will ALL move in one direction. But mostly its the schizophrenic behaviour of a huge number of cowardly or greedy people. Greedy, cowardly, STUPID people who caused the financial crisis, then made sure it filtered, through the market, into every sector to cast the whole damn world into recession.

But still we are told they know what they are doing. No they don't. Who could still believe this lie?

Co8 down

Crikey! Its been 7 months since I posted here! %^/

I just wanted to let people know that at the moment (9/4/9 here in Oz - the evening of 8/4/9 at the back of the planet) Co8 appears to be down: so if you dropped by here wondering whats going on, know that you are not alone and I haven't heard whats up via email.

Otherwise KotB chugs along, and Yvy is due to give birth next week :)

Kecik! 76

Crikey, I made this back in July... wonder why I never got around to posting it?

The birds haven't been coming lately, but for a while there they were so eager they would literally come in to hurry us along. On one occasion, Yvy left the window open after cooking somehing and came back to find a lorikeet perched on the fridge.

I can live with that, but she was less than happy, as the comic says...

FIRST _ _ _ PREVIOUS

Metamagic Components Update

I'm sorta having a few second thoughts about elements of this.

Checking out the Metamagic Components SRD, they seem to be REALLY expensive. Really really REALLY. I understand the thinking behind this - balance, of course, and to make sure people still use metamagic feats rather than rely on the components, and the fact that being able to metamgick your middle level spells without sacrificing your high-level ones is a major boon - and I certainly won't say they are 'too expensive', because doubtless the folks who created Unearthed Arcana put some sort of testing and thought into it all, and I have done only a little of the latter and none of the former. But from the simple perspective of "if I mod this, will they come?" I am not sure it will be worth the effort. I haven't made up my mind, and I enjoy readfing up on this stuff, and I am not going to try and do any of it til my other priorities for KotB and the Co8 patch are done, but I was thinking of putting one or two metamagic components in the KotB Demo just to give folks a taste - maybe one to maximise Burning Hands or something, see what people think of it - and thats when I hit the costs. Some examples:

Repel Vermin Widened: Rare snakeskin worth 3,150 gp

Ok, we're not doing 'Widened', but this one caught my eye because rare snakeskins is something I could easily add as a component, what with all the animals and such running around in the woods outside the Keep. But I gotta ask, what is the point? Sure, it keeps the critters back twice the distance (or an extra 100% on the diameter, meaning an extra 50% in any given direction? Not sure). But they either push through the barrier and come at you, or they don't wherever the barrrier is (ok yes yes yes, this lets you protect a bigger party, I understand that, but you also get my reservations). I mean it's paying 3150gp when you could just say, "everyone bunch up!"

A similar example:

Glitterdust Widened: Ground topaz worth 1,950 gp

What 3rd level caster about to cast his 2nd level spell has 1950 gp to burn to make it work somewhat better?

Polar Ray Enlarged: Pale sapphire worth 1,650 gp

Again, we are not doing 'enlarged', but Polar Ray caught my eye because its one of our new spells and one of the ones that really got me thinking about adding Foci to the game. but 1650gp to make your close-quaters ray go a bit further? And its a ranged touch attack, for criminey's sake - what if it misses???

Flame Blade Extended: Masterwork scimitar worth 315 gp

This one is just ridiculous to me: a 3rd level Druid would hope to have a masterwork scimitar, if not an actual magic one yet (probably would - wealth by level and all that - but they aren't that common a weapon) but would he sacrifice it to extend a spell? Gimme a break!

For the record, we can do the following Metamagic Feats right there in the script:

- Extend
- Maximise
- Heighten
- Empower

I'm pretty happy with that. I don't think we can do:

- Enlarge
- Still
- Silent
- Quicken

and I am not sure about Widen: I suspect we could do the effect of Widen but it wouldn't be matched by the animation, so it would look like a cheap hack and increase the number of times you fry party members etc.

Getting back to it: now, I understand that Widen adds 3 levels, so a metamagic component lets a 2nd-level caster cast like he is a 5th level caster: no small bonus, that. But the fact remains its asking a 2nd level caster (that is to say, a 3rd level caster, if you take my meaning ;)) to burn nearly 2k gp on a spell that remains very much a 2nd level spell, just affecting a bigger area. Will anyone playing KotB ever do that? I have my doubts...

I am having the same issues with Alchemy (or Craft (Alchemy), and thats the last time I shall mention the distinction). I have a lot of ideas about adding Alchemy, and I think it could REALLY be done justice. I won't go into it right now: a pleasant surprise for somewhere down the track, I hope :) But again, look at the cost of alchemical items:

Acid (flask) 10 gp 1 lb.
Antitoxin (vial) 50 gp —
Smokestick 20 gp ½ lb.
Tanglefoot bag 50 gp 4 lb.
Thunderstone 30 gp 1 lb

I've pruned the list to those that can/will/might actually appear in the game (no Sunrods etc) and I have some other stuff in mind too. Very useful items for low-level parties, but look at those costs! Of course it is only a third of that to actually craft them - the whole point - but then you have the DCs of 20-25 for everything but acid. Pass a DC25 check to make a Tanglefoot bag, or burn 50gp buying it? Either way, you're looking at a few levels up before you can comfortably do either, and by then, why bother?

Annoying that, but again, necessary for game balance. I get that. I just don't like it :(

Moving on: lets look at the positive aspects of these ideas. There are some metamagic components whose pricing makes a lot more sense and would still be worth using. Some examples:

Barkskin Extended: Heartwood of venerable oak worth 340 gp
Bear’s Endurance Extended: Distilled alcohol worth 340 gp
Bear’s Endurance, mass Extended: Distilled alcohol worth 940 gp

Do Druids chop down venerable oaks to extend their spells? No stupider than them wearing hide armour I suppose : "look, an innocent creature of the forest - kill it for its hide, I need armour!" But I digress. Extending protective spells makes a LOT of sense and while on a dungeon crawl, being able to extend your protection past 1 encounter improves your chances of survival and also makes for a much better game (not having to run off to camp after every fight). And those costs aren't too high - by the time you can cast Mass Bear's Endurance, you can afford 940gp to Extend it.

BUT you wouldn't be paying 940gp: you would be paying 1/3 of that, because you would MAKE the distilled alcohol using your Alchemy skill :) So you could get a bigger bang for your 2nd level buck for only 113gp!

See where this is going? By having the Triad, as it were, of Alchemy, Material Components and Metamagic Components, you can open up a whole new section of the game. Every encounter, every area to explore, every professional you encounter, will have the possibility of contributing something for a material or metamagic component, many of which will have to be harvested or distilled or alchemically treated. Other examples (not necessarily ones I will use):

Cat’s Grace Extended: Vial of quicksilver 340 gp
Cat’s Grace, mass Extended: Vial of quicksilver 940 gp
Control Plants Extended: Alchemical defoliant 1,650 gp
Cure Light Wounds Empowered: Alchemical salve 700 gp
Cure Moderate Wounds Empowered: Alchemical salve 1,100 gp
Cure Serious Wounds Empowered: Alchemical salve 1,500 gp
Magic Weapon Extended: Alchemically distilled blood 250 gp
Magic Weapon, greater Extended: Alchemically purified blood 750 gp

Distilled blood? This makes for a nice segue into the next issue: harvesting things and other forms of material conponents.

Unearthed Arcana discusses the issue of harvesting tissue, which we already have in KotB based on a simple Survival check. That will remain for things like wolf pelts etc, because hunting and skinning is obviously a direct function of Survival, but for harvesting animal parts (be it for metamagic components, material components, poisons or just as quest items) UA recommends Profession (Taxidermy). This gives us an excuse to add a new skill with lots of potential uses - always a good thing, especially for spell-casters who generally have little interesting in the way of class skills beyond Concentration and Spellcraft - which can be pursued by those who want to focus in Alchemy and play that whole part of the game, and ignored by others who don't want a bar of any of it.

This again links up with both ordinary material components and metamagic ones: indeed the main use for it, I suspect, will be harvesting ordinary material components. Of course the occasional gorgon hoof, minotaur horn and rare toad skin will still pop up. Alchemical treatment can be applied on a case by case basis.

One last issue for today: corrupt spells. The Book of Vile Darkness lists some corrupt spells, some of which look relatively easy to make, and some other evil stuff. I don't fully understand the concept of corruption: take the second such spell, 'absorb strength'. You eat a chunk of fresh flesh, and you gain 1/4 the previous owners Str and Con scores as an enhancement bonus to your own fopr 10 mins / level. Interesting idea.

Now the corruption: 2d6 Wisdom damage as soon as the spell ends.

What is that? Temporary, like barbarian fatigue, or permanent? Are you assumed to carry a Restoration Scroll in your pocket? I don't think the book goes into nearly enough detail, but perhaps I haven't read enough of it: it may be dealt with elsewhere. The errata notes that the idea is present in 'Complete Divine' too. But if its permanent damage as it seems, you better be eating the flesh of some gargantuan critter like a dragon thats going to give you massive boosts to your scores, because you ain't casting that spell again in a hurry.

What has this got to do with material components? Ok, nothing, I was just throwing it out there on a tangent. But the idea of corrupt and vile magic is certainly there, and seems relatively straighforward in many cases. It also involves many sorts of material components, so expands that area of the game yet again. The Book of Exalted Deeds has the same sort of things: Distilled Joy, Pegasus Feathers, Unicorn Tail hair. Listen to the descriptions of some of these things:

Celestial Blood: If a spell to which this component is applied deals damage, there is a 30% chance that the spell deals an extra +2d6 points of damage to an evil target. The celestial who gave the blood must still be alive for this to function.
Couatl Feather: A spell to which this component is applied has a 35% chance to have its effective caster level increased by +2.
Couatl Scale: A spell to which this component is applied has a 30% chance to have its saving throw DC increased by +1.
Lammasu Claw: A spell to which this component is applied has a 25% chance to have any damage the spell deals increased by +10%.
Lillend Scale: If a spell to which this component is applied requires a Will save, there’s a 40% chance that the saving throw DC is increased by +1. When the scale is used by a bard, the chance increases to 60%.
Pegasus Feather: If this component is used when casting detect good or detect evil, the caster learns the number of evil auras and the power of the most potent aura in the first round of concentration instead of the second, and the power and location of each aura in the second round instead of the third.
Phoenix Feather: A spell to which this component is applied has a 10% chance to remain prepared even after being cast. Casters who do not prepare spells gain no advantage from this component.
Unicorn Blood: The blood of a living unicorn is a powerful alchemical substance. It can be formed into a ravage (see Ravages and Afflictions, above) that saps the strength of evil creatures.
Also, if a spell to which this component is applied requires a Fortitude save, there’s a 40% chance that the saving throw DC is increased by +1. In either case, unicorn blood retains its potency only as long as the unicorn that gave it remains alive.
Unicorn Horn (Sliver): Removing a unicorn’s entire horn kills it, but a unicorn may on rare occasions give a sliver of its horn to a favored ally. If a spell to which this component is applied requires a touch attack (melee or ranged), there’s a 40% chance that the caster receives a +1 sacred bonus on the attack roll.
Unicorn Tail Hair: A spell to which this component is applied has a 20% chance to have its duration doubled.

I do believe that little bit counts as 'fair use' and doesn't violate copyright ;) But look at them - they are metamagic components! Sure they don't work all the time - 30% chance here, 20% chance there - but they work on ANY good spell! Talk about powerful! Now check out the cost:

Ambrosia (distilled joy) 200 gp
Angel radiance 20 gp
Blink dog tooth 30 gp
Celestial blood 20 gp
Couatl feather 10 gp
Couatl scale 16 gp
Lammasu claw 30 gp
Lillend scale 15 gp
Pegasus feather 11 gp
Phoenix feather 40 gp
Unicorn blood 500 gp
Unicorn horn (sliver) 55 gp
Unicorn tail hair 25 gp

They are a FRACTION of the cost of UA's metamagic components!!!

Now THATS unbalanced...

It gets worse: now for the table from Book of Vile Darkness:

Agony (liquid pain) 200 gp
Humanoid eye 2 cp
Beast brain fluid 3 sp
Humanoid finger 1 cp
Bit of lycanthrope fur or skin 7 sp
Humanoid hand 3 cp
Humanoid heart 1 sp
Bit of ochre jelly or gray ooze 5 sp
Metallic dragon heart 7 gp
Soul in larval form 250 gp
Chromatic dragon heart 6 gp
Soul in receptacle 200 gp
Demon flesh 5 gp
Tongue of creature capable of speech 3 cp
Demon heart 18 gp
Devil’s heart 20 gp
Vial of humanoid blood 3 cp
Feather of an intelligent creature 20 gp
Vrock feather (only one usable per fiend) 1 gp
Humanoid bone 1 cp
Yugoloth’s brain 5 gp
Humanoid brain 4 cp

A humanoid brain, still fresh (or preserved), for 4cp? Ok, thats just ridiculous. (Admitedly there is a 10gp cost to preserve them, but what does that mean for the 4cp? You can't buy a fresh one unless you are standing next to the guy who just did the butchering as it happened, and you're telling me he's gonna hand it over for 4 coppers???) Indeed since so many of these are under 1gp, you can apply the 'don't bother to track them' rule and just announce that you are using them on EVERY spell. Thats right, EVERY spell can have a % chance of a metamagic-style feat being applied! Lets just look at the effect of the ones that are 1gp or less:

Humanoid Heart: A spell that this component is applied to has a 25% chance to have its effective caster level increased by +2. The heart must be intact and well preserved (still bloody).
Humanoid Brain: A spell that this component is applied to has a 50% chance to have its range doubled. The brain must be intact and fresh (or preserved).
Humanoid Child’s Eye: A spell that this component is applied to has a 20% chance to have its duration doubled. The eye must be intact and fresh or (or preserved).
Humanoid Finger: If a spell that this component is applied to requires a touch attack (melee or ranged), there is a 40% chance to receive a +1 profane bonus on the attack roll. The finger must be intact and well preserved (still
bloody).

Hmmm... some of them aren't described, I think they must be specific components for evil spells (haven't read them all). But this lot give us the necessary ammunition for the discussion at hand - these are all metamagic feats (except the last one): 25% chance of Heighten +2, 50% chance of Enlarge, 20% chance of Extend - each for a negligable cost, and while they only work on Evil spells, they work on ANY Evil spells.

Hmmm.

And - yup, you've guessed it, if we are going to allow these things to be harvestable, that means any old peasant in Hommlet or wherever suddenly becomes a wealthy repository of usable parts.

Perhaps not a direction we want the game to go...

RPG rant

Ahh, a good old-fashioned RPG rant - just what this website was designed for.

Recently I was looking for some info about U3, The Final Enemy. I have the modules U1 and U2 (folks familiar with them will recognise various motifs from them in KotB, which I gratefully acknowledge :-)) but since the campaign for which I got them never eventuated, I never got around to getting U3 (D&D stuff is VERY expensive here in Oz, being fully imported and all, and not to be bought on a whim too often ;-)). Anyways, that was many years ago and I don't tend to buy stuff nowdays for various reasons, but I really wanted to find out more about U3. (Why? Never you mind :-D)

So anyways while reading a comprehensive review of it at ummmm www.rpg.net or somewhere, they offered to sell me a pdf version for $4.00. Heh, thinks I. No real reaction at all at that time - you get what you want in a lower quality format for a lower price - makes sense I guess.

So go forward a week or two and I was looking online for some info about material components after the recent discussion of introducing them into the game (very small discussion between myself and Half-Knight - I notice no-one else weighed in. And Basil did, I think, but no big grass-roots push of "yeah, lets do it!" - there never is). I found some d20 book specifically devoted to the subject - Encyclopaedia Arcane: Components and Foci if I remember the name correctly. Of course we all have a giggle about these books just being a push to make money but since I was specifically interested in this subject and am happy to acknowledge other folks may well come up with better ideas than me (not to mention do some play-testing for balance, or at least apply the rules / guidelines for producing balanced encounters, which I never worry about but recognise as important) I thought about getting the pdf version of this. (Actually, I was going to buy U3 as well, spend about $20 to get 4 or 5 pdfs and have a big print-a-thon. Our financial situation has been looking up lately, due to some re-structuring of this and that and a combined pay-rise / tax cut. I got some stuff for Cheeky that Yvy wanted from Amazon.com too.) Also I thought I might find something good devoted to Alchemy, since I have been trying to get the Thunderstone going (it works but the little timer for its duration doesn't count down for some reason) and once it is in we will have about 6 different items that could be made by an Alchemist (that, Tanglefoot bags - damn, don't those things need an overhaul in KotB! - poison, acid, Smokesticks and ummmm I forget the other one) so enough reason to have the skill implemented: but again, some more research might reveal something interesting that could easily be added to the game.

Didn't fnd anything spectacular about Alchemy, so just went to see about getting the Material Components one. It was $10.46US (marked down from 14.95). For a 64-page pdf! Ridiculous! What the heck were they thinking?

That quite depressed me so to cheer up and get my anticipated pdf-fix I printed off that copy of Libris Mortis Cujo linked to some time back. Didn't do a whole lot for me when I scanned through the pdf version but it has some stuff about new special materials (again, for the 'Craft (Alchemy)' skill) and things always look better in print (even draft quality print on a crappy printer running low on blue and green). 207 pages! This was more like it. Happy Ted! :-)

So then I decided to print off a pdf of this 'equipment Guide' that someone linked to, that someone else had assembled from core-and-other rulebooks. It was full of abbreviations and while looking through it I came across something else called 'Complete Arcane', which I had never heard of but assumed to be some sort of conpanion piece to 'Complete Warrior', which people talk about a lot. So I googled it, and there was a pdf download saying ***click me!*** So I obliged.

Hmmm... 200+ pages, new spells, new classes, new prestige classes (God help us), not a word about material components or new special materials (like Adamantine), though there were a few ancilliary references to new uses for Alchemy. Not what I wanted, glad I didnt spend money on it, though I dare say it is good in its own way.

On with the rant. So I then start thinking "isn't there some book about life in the wild?" I am really starting to run out of ideas for the wilderness around the Keep, and thought I might find something. A quick look at the back of the Equiment Guide and there it is right under 'Complete Arcane' - 'Races of the Wild'. Lets give that a google.

No downloads without going to some Torrent place (I don't have the software, and certainly won't install it to pirate things - I feel queasy enough about such things as it is) but thats ok, I don't mind paying a few bucks for a pdf.

$29.95!!! WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT???

I mean COME ON! Thats what I would expect to pay to pay for a hard cover version, and wouldn't! (Not saying its not worth it - fully imported, high production values etc - but I wouldn't). A quick look through DriveThruRPG.com and most of the WotC books are similar priced!

And so we come to the meat of the rant - here was I, someone looking to spend his hard-earned money. I won't pay full price, but am open to a cheaper option. The pdf should be perfect for me. And unlike a printed book, it costs them nothing to create: they just have to sell a licence to online stores to permit a download. Its a bigger scam than Windows!

So what do they do? Charge such an exorbitant price for something I still have to shell out time, paper- and ink-money creating that I feel impelled to rant on here about how bad it is rather than becoming a loyal customer!

And they wonder why people pirate stuff...

Now, I would certainly not try to justify such behaviour - it is stealing. The two things I downloaded I just grabbed from sites where they were openly available, no question asked, so whether they are Open Content I don't know (that doesn't justify it either, but I was following a 'didn't ask / wasn't told' idea :-P ). But the point is, if stuff could be downloaded cheaply and legally, you would have to think it would greatly reduce the extent of piracy. I think the music industry has finally figured this out (judging by some of the ads I hear on the radio to download this and that for 99c) and of course we all pray the gaming industry will finally realise that charging nearly a hundred bucks (AUD) for a new game is just saying to the average teenager, "yeah, we make games for you and them price them at levels you can't afford! Hahaha! What are you gonna do about it?"

And of course the kid pirates it. What the hell do they expect?

I had a discussion abut this once with a programming friend of mine. He suggested the software developer (or more likely the publisher) has a room full of actuaries that carefully calculate the exact price they can charge to maximise profits without pushing folks over the edge into mass piracy and just plain refusing to buy. True enough, I dare say. But the thing is, these people are not infallible (wise readers will observe the rant now taking a tangent to the left). You hear some of these corporate types talk about 'synergies' and 'leverage' and they seak as though they have some arcane knowledge. But the majority of new business still fail, despite often being run by folks with MBAs and other training, or in partnerships with advisors such as the ofore-mentioned actuaries. The companies still make colossal mistakes, giant businesses still periodically go catastrophically belly-up and medium-sized businesses - such as game developers we all know and love - go under all the time.

At the other end of the scale, we all know of entreprenuers - formally untrained in business but with a knowledge of people - wh make squillions by doing things that to the corporate types, look like maverick actions and/or luck. Doubtless these Richard Branson-types listen to the advisors, but don't buy into the self-deluding arcane jargon they surround themselves with.

My point? Its common sense that pricing yourself out of the market is bad business sense. These guys just seem to lack that common sense. How sad.

If you'll excuse me, I have a fairly-priced $4 module to buy, and some other stuff to download elsewhere.

Maps, Areas and Quests

Today's tutorial addresses some issues with maps: which maps belong to which game.areas, which map has which quests associated with it, that sort of thing.

GAME AREAS

The following little example from dear old Zert will demonstrate what 'game area' refers to.

{120}{Yes, lad?}{Yes, lass?}{}{120}{}{}
{121}{I think you should leave the group.}{}{8}{npc.area != 1 and npc.area != 3}{130}{}
{122}{You leave group!}{}{-7}{npc.area != 1 and npc.area != 3}{130}{}
{123}{I think you should leave the group.}{}{8}{npc.area == 1 or npc.area == 3}{140}{}
{124}{You leave group!}{}{-7}{npc.area == 1 or npc.area == 3}{140}{}

{130}{What? Leave here? No, lad, that won't do. I'll only go my way in a village.}{What? Leave here? No, lass, that won't do. I'll only go my way in a village.}{}{130}{}{}
{131}{[exit]}{}{1}{}{0}{}

{140}{Okay lad, I'll take my leave. Watch your back, though. It's a dangerous world.}{Okay lass, I'll take my leave. Watch your back, though. It's a dangerous world.}{}{140}{}{pc.follower_remove(npc)}
{141}{E:}{}{1}{}{0}{}

Soooooo... Zert can tell whether or not he is in a village based on the game area: 1 or 3 are apparently villages. 1 of course is Hommlet, so naturally 3 is Nulb.

There are in fact some 15 different game areas, corresponding to places on the worldmap. Lets consider the worldmap for a moment: here are the names you will see displayed on the worldmap, as recorded in data / mes / worldmap_location_names_text.mes:

{010} {Emridy Meadows} ; WORLDMAP_MEADOWS_LOC
{020} {Moat house} ; WORLDMAP_MOATHOUSE_LOC
{030} {Moat house cave exit} ; WORLDMAP_MOATHOUSE_CAVE_LOC
{040} {Nulb} ; WORLDMAP_NULB_LOC
{050} {Imeryds Run} ; WORLDMAP_NULB_RIVER_POOL_LOC
{060} {Cave Lair} ; WORLDMAP_CAVELAIR_LOC
{070} {Temple of Elemental Evil} ; WORLDMAP_TEMPLE_LOC
{080} {Burnt Farmhouse} ; WORLDMAP_TEMPLE_WELL_LOC
{085} {Deklo Grove} ; WORLDMAP_DEKLO_GROVE_LOC
{090} {Hommlet - North} ; WORLDMAP_HOMMLET_LOC_NORTH
{100} {Hommlet - South} ; WORLDMAP_HOMMLET_LOC_SOUTH
{110} {Hommlet - East} ; WORLDMAP_HOMMLET_LOC_EAST
{120} {Temple Ruined House} ; WORLDMAP_TEMPLE_HOUSE_LOC
{130} {Temple Broken Tower} ; WORLDMAP_TEMPLE_TOWER_LOC
{140} {Verbobonc} ; WORLDMAP_VERBOBONC_LOC
{150} {Hickory}
{160} {Placeholder}
{170} {Placeholder}
{180} {Placeholder}
{190} {Placeholder}
{200} {Placeholder}

This is how it looks since Co8 had a hack at it and added Verbobonc, Hickory Branch and a bunch of placeholders for future expansion (clever Spellslinger). These are the little name boxes that appear when you hover over a spot on the worldmap, and which appear in the list on the right. But what about the numbers of the game areas themselves? They look something like this:

1 _____ Hommlet
2 _____ Moathouse
3 _____ Nulb
4 _____ The Temple
5 _____ Emridy Meadows
6 _____ Imeryds Run
7 _____ Temple Well
8 _____ Moathouse Back Door
9 _____ Ogre Cave
10 ____ Deklo Grove
11 ____ Temple Tower
12 ____ Temple House

Thats only 12: I thought we would get up to 14 on the Worldmap when we remember that Hommlet has 3 Worldmap locations, but 14 is Verbobonc. Whats 13? It took me forever to figure out that in the list above (that has the 2 Hommlet maps) the Deklo Grove comes in at 85, so there is in fact 16 names there: the 12 areas, Verbobonc and Hickory, and the 2 extra Hommlet worldmap spots. Heh. The fact Deklo Grove seems to have been sorta jemmyed in there may explain why there is no 13 - I can't think what else there is.

So how do we use this connection? Well, if we want to have a new area on the worldmap open up to the players, we activate the pertinent game area. For instance, lets have a look at Spugnoir, who will mark both Emridy Meadows and the Moathouse on your map. (Note this starts mid-conversation with the PC asking about locations)

{33}{Where is this moathouse?}{}{8}{game.areas[2] == 0}{70}{game.areas[2] = 1}
{34}{Me want to go to this moaty place.}{}{-7}{game.areas[2] == 0}{70}{game.areas[2] = 1}
{37}{Do you know where Emridy Meadows are?}{}{8}{game.areas[5] == 0}{130}{}
{38}{Where be Emridy Meadows?}{}{-7}{game.areas[5] == 0}{130}{}

{70}{Here, I will show you where the moathouse is located on your map.}{Here, I will show you where the moathouse is located on your map.}{}{70}{}{}
{75}{Thank you. I will head there now. [travel immediately to the moat house]}{}{8}{}{0}{game.worldmap_travel_by_dialog(2)}

{130}{Here, I will show you where Emridy Meadows is located on your map.}{Here, I will show you where Emridy Meadows is located on your map.}{}{130}{}{game.areas[5] = 1}
{135}{Thank you. I will head there now. [travel immediately to Emridy Meadows]}{}{8}{}{0}{game.worldmap_travel_by_dialog(5)}

Notice a couple of things there, compared to Zert's:

- the command game.worldmap_travel_by_dialog(#) where # corresponds to the game area
- that you check for whether a PC does or doesn't know the area (ie already have it available on their map) using the comparatives game.areas[#] == 0 and game.areas[#] == 1
- that you set the game area as known (ie mark it on the map) with game.areas[#] = 1
- that you check whether you are in this or that game area with npc.area == # or attachee.area == # (as we saw Zert do above). I can tell you from tragic experience, game.area == 1 does NOT work!

Another thing to mention, though you will have to take my word on this, is that if you make your way to an area some other way, it will still automatically mark on your map. For instance, the 3 'satellite' maps to the Temple - the broken tower, the ruined house and the well (which is your back door when coming out from the area where Smigmal is) can all be accessed map-to-map by just going through doors / ladders, but will then show up on your worldmap. Note also that as with the 3 locations in Hommlet, there are no 'red dot' paths between these areas, or random encounters: so if you are making a new module with a new worldmap, you place these next to each other.

So, lets say you use game.worldmap_travel_by_dialog(5) to get to Emridy Meadows - where do you turn up? Which is to say, why turn up at that exact spot? In the past we have seen teleport commands such as game.fade_and_teleport(0,0,0,5008,465,481) which will teleport you to the top of the Welcome Wench, to the exact coordinates scripted. But where does game.worldmap_travel_by_dialog(5) (or clicking on the worldmap in general) get its coordinates from?

The answer to that is found way away from the various map names, in the modules/rules folder. Inside you will find the maplist.mes file. It contains all the map names, plus their starting coordinates and whether they are to be regarded as outdoors or not, or whether they are to be fogged. I'll give you a few examples: go look at this file for yourself, its a very important one.

{5066}{Map12-temple-dungeon-level-1, 548, 589, Flag: DAYNIGHT_XFER}
{5067}{Map13-dungeon-level-02, 488, 569, Flag: DAYNIGHT_XFER}
{5068}{Map-Area-6-Imeryds-Run, 478, 483, Flag: DAYNIGHT_XFER, Flag: OUTDOOR}
{5069}{Map-Area-10-Decklo-Grove, 485, 487, Flag: DAYNIGHT_XFER, Flag: OUTDOOR}
{5070}{Random-Scrub, 480, 480, Flag: OUTDOOR}
{5071}{Random-Forest, 480, 480, Flag: OUTDOOR, Flag: UNFOGGED}
{5072}{Random-Swamp, 480, 480, Flag: OUTDOOR, Flag: UNFOGGED}
{5073}{Random-Riverside, 490, 475, Flag: OUTDOOR, Flag: UNFOGGED}

Note how the maps are named. Those are not idle descriptions, like those for the worldmap names we saw above that turn up on your worldmap (which could be just as easily changed), or the map names in map_names.mes that are at the side of your worldmap and could likewise be changed quite easily and have no impact on the game. The map names in the maplist.mes are the names of the folders that the game looks for when it goes to that map. So when you execute the aforementioned

game.fade_and_teleport(0,0,0,5008,465,481)

it is to this file that the game looks, to line 5008, to see which folder to look at in the modules / Co8 5 / maps folder. Then, inside that are the mobs, the sectoring, and the map.php which in turn points to the background map number etc. About the only thing that doesn't come from this folder is the townmaps - they are arranged by map number (5001ff) no matter what the map is called or what folder is used for it.

To answer the previous question, this is also where the game gets coordinates from if you just do a game.worldmap_travel_by_dialog(#) command to this or that area, or if you add a new area to the Worldmap like Verbobonc or HB: those co-ordinates in the maplist.mes map reference are where the game looks (and can be changed accordingly). Otherwise, if you go via a script or a door, then you get the coordinates from jumppoint.tab or written into the script or whatever (and they over-ride these ones, of course).

We've probably been through all that before. What is worth mentioning in this context is that some maps CALL themselves Area 9 or Area 12 or whatever - well, those ARE just names, an area doesn't become 'Area 6' because you name the folder that, its controlled in the .dll which has already assigned specific areas to the maps. So our next question is, which maps correspond to which areas? Which is to say, if you add a new map (such as Frank's house) will it still be in area 1?

After much slavish effort, here are all the maps in ToEE and their areas.

{5000}{}

Area 1 {5001}{Hommlet}
Area 2 {5002}{The Ruins of the Moathouse}
Area 2 {5003}{The Moathouse Tower}
Area 2 {5004}{Upper Level of the Moathouse Ruins}
Area 2 {5005}{Dungeon Level of the Moathouse Ruins}
Area 1 {5006}{Inn - Cellar}
Area 1 {5007}{Inn - First Floor}
Area 1 {5008}{Inn - Upper Floor}
Area 1 {5009}{Trader's Barn}
Area 1 {5010}{Trader's Store}
Area 1 {5011}{Church of St. Cuthbert - Upper Floor}
Area 1 {5012}{Church of St. Cuthbert - Main Floor}
Area 1 {5013}{Church of St. Cuthbert - Lower Floor}
Area 1 {5014}{Guard Tower - Cellar}
Area 1 {5015}{Guard Tower - Lower Level}
Area 1 {5016}{Guard Tower - Main Hall}
Area 1 {5017}{Guard Tower - Parapet Level}
Area 1 {5018}{Guard Tower - Upper Hall}
Area 1 {5019}{Guard Tower - Parapet Interior}
Area 1 {5020}{Prosperous Farm Cottage}
Area 1 {5021}{Prosperous Farm Cottage - Upstairs}
Area 1 {5022}{Woodcutter's Cottage}
Area 1 {5023}{Well-Kept Farm}
Area 1 {5024}{Well-Kept Farm - Upstairs}
Area 1 {5025}{Prosperous Farmhouse}
Area 1 {5026}{Leatherworker's House}
Area 1 {5027}{Blacksmith's Shed}
Area 1 {5028}{Weaver's House}
Area 1 {5029}{Weaver's House - Upstairs}
Area 1 {5030}{Tailor's Cottage}
Area 1 {5031}{Average Farm Building}
Area 1 {5032}{Weatherbeaten Building}
Area 1 {5033}{Moneychanger's Establishment}
Area 1 {5034}{Small House}
Area 1 {5035}{Small House - Upstairs}
Area 1 {5036}{Potter's Cottage}
Area 1 {5037}{Brewhouse}
Area 1 {5038}{Modest Cottage}
Area 1 {5039}{Cheesemaker's Cottage}
Area 1 {5040}{Mill}
Area 1 {5041}{Reclusive Cottage}
Area 1 {5042}{The Grove}
Area 1 {5043}{Herdsman's Barn}
Area 1 {5044}{Wheel and Wainwright's Shop}
Area 1 {5045}{Walled Manor House}
Area 1 {5046}{Walled Manor House - Upstairs}
Area 1 {5047}{Carpenter's House}
Area 1 {5048}{Town Hall}
Area 1 {5049}{Stone House}
Area 0 {5050}{MileStone 10 Map}
Area 3 {5051}{Nulb}
Area 3 {5052}{Boatmans' Tavern and Nulb Market}
Area 3 {5053}{Mother Screng's Herb Shop}
Area 3 {5054}{Mother Screng's Herb Shop - Second Floor}
Area 3 {5055}{Mother Screng's Herb Shop - Third Floor}
Area 3 {5056}{Smithy}
Area 3 {5057}{Snake Pit - Main Floor}
Area 3 {5058}{Snake Pit - Second Floor}
Area 3 {5059}{Snake Pit - Top Floor}
Area 3 {5060}{The Waterside Hostel}
Area 3 {5061}{The Waterside Hostel - Upper Floor}
Area 4 {5062}{The Temple of Elemental Evil}
Area 1 {5063}{Modest Farmhouse}
Area 4 {5064}{The Temple of Elemental Evil - Main Floor}
Area 4 {5065}{Tower Ruins}
Area 4 {5066}{Temple - Dungeon Level One}
Area 4 {5067}{Temple - Dungeon Level Two}
Area 6 {5068}{Imeryds Run}
Area 10 {5069}{Deklo Grove}
Area 0 {5070}{} // Random
Area 0 {5071}{} // Random
Area 0 {5072}{} // Random
Area 0 {5073}{} // Random
Area 0 {5074}{} // Random
Area 0 {5075}{} // Random
Area 0 {5076}{} // Random
Area 0 {5077}{} // Random
Area 4 {5078}{Slaughtered Caravan}
Area 4 {5079}{Temple - Locked Level}
Area 4 {5080}{Temple - Dungeon Level Four}
Area 4 {5081}{Air Node}
Area 4 {5082}{Earth Node}
Area 4 {5083}{Fire Node}
Area 4 {5084}{Water Node}
Area 3 {5085}{Nulb Building}
Area 3 {5086}{Nulb Building - Second Floor}
Area 3 {5087}{Nulb Building - Third Floor}
Area 3 {5088}{Nulb Building - Fourth Floor}
Area 0 {5089}{} // Moathouse Demo
CTD {5090}{} // Menagerie Demo
Area 8 {5091}{Moathouse Hidden Exit}
Area 7 {5092}{Temple - Escape Tunnel}
Area 7 {5093}{Ramshackle Farm}
Area 5 {5094}{Emridy Meadows}
Area 9 {5095}{Ogre Cave}
Area 1 {5096}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5097}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5098}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5099}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5100}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5101}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5102}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5103}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 1 {5104}{} // Opening Vignette
Area 0 {5105}{} // Temple Screenshot
Area 4 {5106}{Circular Shaft}
Area 0 {5107}{} // Temple Demo
Area 0 {5108}{} // Temple Demo
Area 0 {5109}{} // Air Node
Area 0 {5110}{} // Demo Hommlet
Area 0 {5111}{} // clipping test
Area 11 {5112}{Temple House}
Area 12 {5113}{Temple Tower}
Area 9 {5114}{Ogre Cave Interior}
Area 1 {5115}{Herdsman House}
Area 0 {5116}{} // Tutorial map 1
Area 0 {5117}{} // Tutorial map 2
Area 0 {5118}{} // Tutorial map 3
Area 0 {5119}{} // Arena of Heroes
Area 0 {5120}{Frank's House}
Area 14 {5121}{Verbobonc}
Area 0 {5122}{Lord Viscount's Office}
Area 0 {5123}{Caravan}
Area 0 {5124}{Inn - First Floor}
Area 0 {5125}{Inn - Second Floor}
Area 0 {5126}{Gnome Living Quarters}
Area 0 {5127}{Temple Antechamber}
Area 0 {5128}{Temple}
Area 0 {5129}{Drow Tunnel}
Area 0 {5130}{Dragon Cave}
Area 0 {5131}{Dragon Cave Exit}
Area 0 {5132}{Lord Viscount's House - First Floor}
Area 0 {5133}{Lord Viscount's House - Second Floor}
Area 0 {5134}{Chapel}
Area 0 {5135}{Church of Hextor}
Area 0 {5136}{Bazaar of the Bizarre}
Area 0 {5137}{Gnarley Forest}
Area 15 {5138}{Hickory Branch}
Area 0 {5139}{Hickory Branch Crypt}
Area 0 {5140}{Temple - Dungeon Level Three}

It won't come as a shock to anyone that the new bits we have added - Frank's House, the Caravan, Verbobonc, Huckleberry Branch etc - all come in as Area 0: the game wasn't designed to finesse those places so just gives them a zero. But look at the Verbobonc and HB main maps - they are areas 14 and 15! That comes from Spellslinger's efforts to hack them into the .dll so they could be accessed from the World Map.

Next are the quests.

QUESTS BY AREA

You will have noticed there are different tabs in your logbook's quest page for different areas: for Hommlet, Nulb and the Temple. As you get quests, they show up in relevant parts of the logbook accordingly: quests received in Hommlet turn up under the Hommlet tab, quests received in Nulb... well, you get the picture. Those names are from logbook_ui_quests_text.mes, which looks like this:

--- logbook_ui_main_tab_window text---
{11} {Hommlet & Verbobonc}
{12} {Nulb}
{13} {Temple}

--- text above acquired window ---
{15} {Quest Location}

--- text above detail window ---
{20} {Quest Information}

--- label text in detail window ---
{30} {Status:}

--- text used in the acquired text buttons
{31} {Month: }
{32} {Day: }

--- Text of quest states ---
{40} {Mentioned}
{50} {Accepted}
{60} {Completed}
{70} {Botched}

--- No Quest text ---
{100}{No Quests Available}

The canny will already have figured out that area 0 quests default to Hommlet, which is why all the Verbo-mod ones turn up there, and Allyx then added '& Verbobonc' after attempts to get a 4th tab going didn't work.

In KotB, the logbook tabs look like this:

--- logbook_ui_main_tab_window text---
{11} {Keep}
{12} {Caves}
{13} {Wilderness}

The Caves of Chaos ravine will be based on the Nulb worldmap location (game area 3), and the Caves themselves will be the various houses and places of Nulb. Everything else is the wilderness, where-in you actually get very few quests atm: just the bonus quest, actually :-).

Of course, all this means we can change all the other stuff in the logbook if we wanted. We could change 'botched' to 'screwed up', or 'completed' to 'you go girl!' But I should like to think we won't.

Now, precisely which 'quest locations' tabs are associated with which map areas? Here they are:

0 _____ Hommlet
1 _____ Hommlet
2 _____ Hommlet
3 _____ Nulb
4 _____ The Temple
5 _____ Hommlet
6 _____ Hommlet
7 _____ Hommlet
8 _____ Hommlet
9 _____ Hommlet
10 ____ Hommlet
11 ____ Hommlet
12 ____ Hommlet
14 ____ Hommlet
15 ____ Hommlet

Which is a fancy way of saying that everything that isn't set to Area 3 (Nulb quests) or Area 4 (Temple quests) are set for the Hommlet tab: they default there, same as area 0. Note that the other areas around the Temple on the World Map - the Well, Burnt Farmhouse and Tower - will NOT show their quests as being for the Temple (not that they have any quests - indeed, only the Tower has any mobs, they are tragically empty maps) because they have seperate game areas to put them on the World Map: interesting side effect, as it were.

Also note that it has nothing to do with the quest number: if you consoled the Temple Hight Priests into the middle of Hommlet and got all the Temple quests off them there, they would appear as Hommlet quests. Likewise if you had a quest from a recruitable NPC (and we probably should have a few of those) then any quest they gave you would appear in the logbook depending on where you happened to be when they gave it to you. Hope that makes sense - I think I've laboured the point enough that it should ;-) But just to prove it, here are some screenies where I ended up with the Nulb and Temple quests in the first tab because I consoled them on other maps:


And thats that! Any questions, comment below, but I think that covers everything.

A Long Awaited Party

Heh... this blog is sure getting a workout lately! Anyways, here's a moment that's been a long time coming...


I got ToEE going on my lappie! Thats a big deal for me - keep in mind, I never got it going on XP (not that my XP install isn't dodgy as heck - legally mine and registered, just dodgy). I had a few issues getting it going on Vista but will document those in the appropriate place on the forums.

Anyways, now I can test and run things from work, not just blindly mod, put it on a USB Stick, and go to the trouble of changing it over when I get home (not to mention finding time to mod at home, where I have various other responsibilities. Also not to mention getting mixed up and copying old files over each other and losing a nights modding, which I did again last week). This will seriously improve production of KotB by about 10-fold. Also, the game looks so much beter on the laptop than on the old 14" monitor I have on the modding PC.

I also got the 2 PCs networked with a cross-over cable: thats about the only thing I liked about XP, it made networking infinitely easier than Win98. I wouldn't have even tried to network them if one had 98 - not that I haven't achieved it, but not in many years and I don't want to go there again.

Kecik! 75

I made this a while back (thats our old flat, and Cheeky about 6 months old). But I hesitated before releasing such an excruciatingly bad joke. I'm sure you understand.

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