You know you could make the character mentally ill (delusional) they could BELEIVE that that's their history, while being a completely normal character.

OR if you really want to be cruel I have an 'out' for the 'dragon' thing if you're more interested in dialog options than power. Once again it would be an otherwise NORMAL character.

A viscious dragon had decades dominating the people in nearby villages, and forcing the villagers to worship the dragon, forsaking their old gods. The gods grew angry and sent their servants (paladins, clerics, etc) to slay the dragon.

.... badda bing bada boom, they kill it.

The dragon swore that it would return as a dracolich, and return them all. The clerics banded together to decide a way to prevent this, and a slightly cracked chaotic neutral character decided they should bring it back from the dead themselves, but through the reincarnation spell, not ressurection. The gods which the dragon had angered decided to intervene when the ressurection spell was cast, insuring the dragon would not only remember it's former life, but be forced to live as one of those it hated most.

---------------------------

this allows for the surley dragon dialogs without the cheesy "i'm a dragon" plotline, and game balance issues. It's still a little over the top, but it's the best I've been able to come up with - took nearly a week.

Okay, I'm going to say it;

Why in the world would an NPC like that want to bother going 'slumming' with a PC group?

Im sitting in an internet cafe in vietnam..the chair is so comfortable..hehehehe B)
WOWOWO
so much!! are you really willing to do so much work??? wowowowow thanks!!!
Yes you do sound annoying..just kiding!! hehe--ok yes im sorry im sorry im sorry, it's just that I really dont know much and I admit that I should have started learning before I start making. So I thought that I would like, put all my ideas in some file, write up all the banters, dialogues and whatever and do everything but get someone to put it all together to make it work. so..that's kind of why..
It just hasn't been working out that well....hehhehehe

There are some pretty nice dialog utilities out there. Snag one and start putting in the conversation that way. When you need it to do something special, or call the character by name, just ask how. The dialog is normally the most involved part..

If 10 is average, then we should be seeing NPC's with a value of 2 just as often as NPC's with a valu of 16, 17, 18...

Keep in mind there are more peasants than adventurers.. the average for adventurers would be higher in theory.

I'm in the planning stage of a new MOD. I thought I'd get some input - it's mostly an idea at the moment. I inspired I will be asking the modding community to submit NPC peasants from each of the different regional communities. This way everyone you talk to will have a small avatar, and a distinct personality.

The mod makers will be able to be part of creating the world and it's history.

------------------------------------------

well, that's my mod idea. now let's see what people think of it.. myself the other day while in here. I'm probably just being an idealist, but I'd like to start a mod that would require the modding community to participate in its creation.. otherwise I'll say to heck with it and just make it myself, which I don't think would be nearly as fun.

proposed features;

1) an all new map (completed)
2) dozens of areas that are new to the IE world - mostly ported from Diablo2.
3) Mostly short quests and dungeon crawls (module based)
4) Large enough map for longer more involved quest addons

that's the fairly boring part.. now for the interesting part. What I'm talking about is making a 'core' world for other mods to be added into. I plan to use any of the infinity engine maps, which will leave all of them open to modmakers.

Have you ever played Planescape torment? If not i'm afraid you cannpt understand exactly, unless i explain to you in like 2 pages. And besides you cannot understan my obsession with Fall-From-Grace

BTW in the AD&D setting, and in the setting of planescape, Succubi HAVE the form of beautiful women. They do NOT have other forms ...

I've played PST.. loved grace, even if you can't kiss her (succubus) she's also the only one with clue enough to understand the whole ravel thing about the kiss. having a dark past helps sometimes. possibly the greatest NPC i've ever come across in a game.

I love the idea, but I don't quite understand this how is it going to be played... You aren't doing anything with the actual SOA/TOB are you? It's a whole new game but on the IE?

heh, I feel rather daft but could you please explain it more clearly?

Curtesy of my 14mo old I just lost what was to be a two page responce.. the official forum for the project is located here on BlackWyrm

I plan to in the technical sence leave BG2 intact. We've had quite a bit of discussion in the workroom on how we will actually manage it. The players will have the option to LEAVE faerun (the world in which the Baldur's gate sage takes place).. the exact details of this are still in the works.

Right now one of the ideas I'm working with is to give them the option to hitch a ride - spelljammer style, effectively escaping from all the Bhaal business.

Mytera is being built as a new world. We will be using many maps from the original games. The actors, spawn points, etc are being stripped out of the maps, and the world will be repopulated. The current MOD Developer's kit we're putting together will have raw map areas from BG1, TotSC, BG2, IWD, HOW, PST, as well as several areas constructed from Diablo2 map tiles.

Each primary map region has a racial coordinator. Awake is managing the elves, and Dragon_Lord is in charge of the humans. I have the half-elves (neutral regions). There are probably about one hundred locations on the map which will be available for add on 'modules'.

It will be designed more along the lines of a PnP game. Hearty adventures out seeking fame/fortune etc. More of a freeform, non linear adventures - like all of the fun subplot quests from BG2.

Bhaal will nolonger be a factor, and no plotlines pertaing to being the sun of a god etc' will be allowed.

We're making a new world, for moders to work in, instead of having to worry about the existing BG plotlines, and continuity. We can create the historyand background as we go.

as soon as i finish my werewolf npc, or maybe while, probably the latter, i'll work on some dialogue now that i understand the whole coding thing. On your website the inventory snapshot for the GUI skin mod doesn't work. I could probably make some good discussions. It's all about the little things

the wep bage was looking for inventory, the file name was Inventory.. i fixed it..

Well this sounds really good. I have some ideas for the undead realm but I don't know how to actually code... or do anything else. I'd be really interested on working on that bit in some way though.

Are you willing to learn?

There are four main "problem areas"..

The Undead, Yaunti, Orcs, Goblins, and the desert kingdom. Of this group of five empires the Undead will technically be the easiest at first. They will have a total of three surface locations. Most of the work pertaining to them will be subterrainian, and module based.

The undead 'leader' will be responsible for undead empire plotline continuity, and history. You'll need to learn how to place creatures (actors) on maps, and how to do dialogs. The rest of the team can help, and there seem to be alot of people that like the undead within the modding community, so finding help later into the project - from the community - Shouldn't be a problem. Most of the serious work on undead regions wont come till later. I only have two surface areas built for them so far - one is a custom map.

Come on over to the forum, and let me know if your interested. If you are it may take a day to get you given workroom access. Other than establishing background for the undead empire, there wont be much for you to do initially, so you'll have plenty of time to learn.

Quick update.. We have a few items packs which will be released in the near future, which will need to be tested. We'll be looking for beta testers.

PST is out of print? that really sucks, i was going to go buy it this weekend. ugh, are you sure?

If the have half=price book used book retailers or something simular that does books games etc' you could call around.. found ToSC, BG2 and IWD at one recently.. PST shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

A pity there is no modding community for it. Or at least .. no  considerable modding community

That's mainly because it doesn't allow for console commands..

Ahh, I see what you mean. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't our very own Haer'Dalis have fiend's blood in him? He is a Tiefling...as Morte describes Tieflings: "They're born mostly 'cause one of their parents shared knickers with some kind of abbysal demon". And it's like just about no one knows that Haer'Dalis is a Tiefling...or they don't mind. How would they recognize Grace's fiend nature then? Both Haer and Grace are not evil, and no one seems to detect Haer's fiend blood. Besides, Grace is a succubus, mistress of temptation and charm...and in the form of a beautiful Athkatlan female for example, I doubt anyone would think she's suspicious. Just merely....very attractive.

No, I'm not beating down your idea. I really like it, honestly ^^

The women would suspect it.. the males wouldn't care.

Chevar, i'm taking this NPC under my wing alright?

Don't make me hurt you..

I thought you were still in the "brainstorming" stage.   Looks like you've put a lot of thought into this project, i will be more than happy to do what i can, once i know what needs doing. That was quite the description, and will do nicely. :thumb:  Unfortunately i can't make any dialogue for the peasants etc. until i know more about the cities that they will be in, which will have to wait until more people say what they are going to do to help. anyway, i have work to do.

Don't need anything yet.. I just finished the first map area. I have to take care of the surrounding areas over the next couple days. The south exit goes straight to the worldmap.. the north exits will be going to adjoining areas.. like in BG2, except the sub areas will not have map locations - you'll have to walk back to the fort.. or at least that's the plan.. It gives the characters a chance to leave the fort and explore the ruins. These maps are for the ruins. of the old fortress. Not much left of it these days.

It's being written as a TOB mod - those seem to be the only kind these days. It will be implemented under the TOB menu of the initial start screen, or at least that's the tenative plan.

Correction; I finished the map graphics.. I still haven't generated the ingame map.

Hmm two setbacks today.. My forum was supposed to go public today over at BW, but it's not yet..

Also had a setback with my map generator software... two down lots more to go.

had to post today anyway. Someone finally managed to come up with a project summary that works..

the general idea is as follows;

I have created a worldmap, and am in the process of creating areas leading from map to map untill the entire world is complete. It's will be, with exception of the section I make a mod in, a hollow shell waiting for moders, and questmakers to fill it in.

Sounds pretty interesting! I would really love to be able to go nuts and make up an entire land with anything I like. I would definately like some more details on this: Are the starting cities for each of the regions made by you or the individual mod makers? Are the region mod makers able to add whatever areas they like to their region using whatever area tiles they like (from bg2, iwd etc)? Do you have a list of all the races that you know, at this stage, you will have regions for? I take it there's a human region? I ask because I have a crazy idea involving the player being able to build their own castle which I would love to implement into a human region. Some areas of the map dont look like there's alot of room to put new areas in. Can you change the dimensions/castle locations etc of the map easily? (I was getting Heroes of Might and Magic 3 flashbacks looking at it btw )

The current concept I'm considering is allowing different modding groups to take charge of different map regions. so each of the region has an administrative group which help coordinate what goes where in their zones. Each zone will have a "start" map location which can be purchased through the Fort Unity mapmaker.

By modding groups do you mean several modders get together to take control of one region or do you mean modding groups like FW/PPG/black wyrm have set regions? Which ever it is you're going to want them to meet regularly so everyone knows what everyone else is doing/can ask for help on something.

As far as map icons go.. if you are near the icon it doesn't light up, only when you're actually on it, so the transparent part of the map icon is NOT important.

I only have four new cities currently. I'm trying to make arrangements for a 5th, but that particular city will be for a mod, so I'm not too focused on it at the moment. It's a city that has an intact, and ruined version.

Most of the areas in the Addons. will be reused, or modified from BG/BG2/IWD/IWD2 and PST. If you're motivated I'll try and get the WORLDMAP.MOS added online along with some of my racial city, and generic map icon graphics. (raw images) That way you can grab the map pack.. The regular bg2 icons will still show on it (wherever they would be on the regular map). Just start working on it, start it as normal BG2 modwork It can later be integrated. I'm going to make a list of "used maps from IE games" so there wont be much overlap.

The maps I'm working on are for theme projects, and special locations primarily. The desert kingdom, not race specific, is getting one special map (Diablo 2 Lut Golen) for it's capitol - they don't get full control of a race, so they get a new map. The barbarian region also get's a new map (Diablo 2 Hagoroth) for the same reason. The undead region get's a nice cemetary to play with for one of their crypt cities. The Yaunti get a city as well (Diablo 2 Kurast), and I've not decided what do do for a goblin city. I also have a stack of castle 3d models which I'll be trying to find a way to adapt when I'm further into the project..

Any mods created to integrate into TW can be made as BG2 mod, and integrated into the full project after it enters the beta stage. Preexisting mods can of course be adapted.

The only thing to keep in mind is that to keep the feel of the game more real there is not going to be a central plot, and chapters. I'm not looking for a linear world. Placing a 'new' identical map icon over a preexisting one will replace that map, as in the case with d'narse (sp) keep. So the world can evolve as the player adventures.

The plot size will vary based on the work of the realm masters. Two regions can go to war if two realm masters work together to coordinate it. There's the possibility of a 'timeline' while playing.. I want to see what the game and modding community is truely capable of. Primarily, I want to get the ball rolling, and see how big the snowball gets!

argh!
you could start another poll, but i think you should get rid of gnomes. Alah(that's his name right?), really brought down my previous perspective of gnomes. I say get rid of them. And for the half-elves, why be a half-elf if you can be a teifling. Good ideas. If i get some dialogue done for a peasant or some such, where do you want me to post it or do you want me to PM you?

I've never been a big fan of the half-elf 'race'.. one elf,
and one human get together poof half elf,
half elf gets together with human poof 1/4 elf,
1/4 elf get's together with elf, poof 5/8th elf.
The very confused 5/18th elf get's together with a drawf poof Half-orc (Kidding)

It would be better to assume there are some elves with some human blood but not enough to loose their elf abilities, and the same holds true for the reverse.

Being a little bit country (elf) and a little bit rock-n-roll (human) is fine and danady, but it sounds more like it should have been left as character background instead of calling them a race IMHO. All I'd need to do is swap the name. easy enough..

As for Gnomes.. well, honestly, it's really hard to come up with anything that would be suitable for gnomes mapwise.. unless someone out there has a city that would be fitting for a gnome capitol, I can't find a way to integrate them, so I'd rather try to come up with something to sneak into one of the planned sentient groups (yaunti, goblin, undead).. so I was thinking Trelfs. but that would take a lot of explaining.

I better get some sleep.. I finally got my hands on TOB (with the bonus items disk), so I have a lot of poking around to do tommorow..

Did you make the world map by yourself? I seriously like the zoomed in version. I know you are still in the "brainstorming" process,  but will we modders be able to modify the world map in our areas, such as removing things if we want to add something that will have to do with the history, such as a tower, a lake, a fire, etc. Do you have a thread going at black wyrm and would you rather me post there instead? I do need to get an account set up there anyways.

The world map was made with the game "Age of Wonders" I can modify it as much as is needed, within the confines of the scenario editor.. I set it up that way so I can change aspects of the map.

Wow, i edited the heck out of my previous post..

I'll be getting my own forum for the project on blackwyrm in the near future. I want to get some more maps prepped first. I have one citymap (graphic only) online, but it's not linked with the page at this time.the JPG of the area is 5.2meg. It's huge.. It's for the desert kingdom region - not race specific.. but hey they get a harem, so I guess there's a benefit there. (or at least the two palace levels were made for a harem) lots of pillows on the floor etc..

The frigian realm (barbarian frozen north) I already plan on editing, and enlarging a bit.. There are too many maps with ice available for modding, curtesy of icewind dale.

I also can generate a copy of the 'harem' with corpses all over the place (these maps are ported from Diablo2, so there's alot of pregenerated maps I can put out.)

Now let's see who's been paying attention. What character race have I not mentioned?

I like the idea of this mod, and i like the map. But how do you plan on incorporating the new map thingy ma-bobs(can't think of the word for it). Don't all the mods use the original world map, things could get jumbled up, or not work at all. And what do you mean by not using any rules. Is this an entirely new game, because that would be really cool. People bored with the old BG2, could play BG2 1/2. I think i am really confused, but i like the ideas of what you plan on doing. Perhaps you could explain it a little more thoroughly. :thumb:  This is like creating an entirely new game.

I'm still in the planning stages.. I don't have all the details to provide yet. If you click on my link image below it will bring you to my page. I'm being hosted by black wyrm and will be getting a forum set up over there after I get all my ducks lined up.

I - on my other computer, the one with the busted floppy drive, have a copy of the worldmap (reduced just slightly in size) which replaces worldmap.mos quite nicely. The world is divided into zones of inflewence.

The current concept I'm considering is allowing different modding groups to take charge of different map regions. so each of the region has an administrative group which help coordinate what goes where in their zones. Each zone will have a "start" map location which can be purchased through the Fort Unity mapmaker.

I want to see if it's possible to script the shopkeeper so that he will alternate between two different "stores" or scripts through dialog, allow for updates in his scripts or vendor list to be updated without having to restart the game. I don't know if that can be done.

So once you leave Fort Unity you enter the realm of a modding group. each region will therefore have their own history, and storylines that cross boarders will be negotiated between groups.

I plan on using slightly smaller map location markers, but still have to test it. In theory this should be possible through simply using a smaller image, and more transparent area.

Mind you I'm still just brainstorming, and not ready for a proper description of the project. The idea is for the modding community to work together to make one big 'supermod' together. everyone get's there due..

As I have it currently the world is segregated by race. Each group would control one race within the world. Including race specific kits if they so choose. I'm not planning on making additional kits for general characters. I'd like each race to have their own special kits, eventually.

The problem with this logic is that there are plenty of Drow fans out there, and very few for half-orcs or halflings.

There are some realms which are not controlled by any specific race. These are reserved for major mod development.

There are four monster regions of control - a dragon controled volcanic island (Reserved for MOD), the undead realm, goblin realm, The Yaun-Ti realm, and the orcish realm.

The orcish realms will have control over half-orc characters.

Draong isle is reserved for a single high level mod. The isle of the dead, according to the initial story is where an ancient evil of unknown power overtook an ancient burial site, and is ammasing a force which it eventually plans to use to extinguish all life.. but that in the story the map was made for.. what the people incharge of the realm do with it is completely upto them.

The Yaun-Ti realm, once again it's up to the people in charge of the area, but it's an area of inflewence controlled by the sentient reptilian races.. but the Yaun-ti have the real power - they have to, they have more animation variations.

Fort Unity is a place where all races are welcomed, a place of tolerance.. or in other words a place where a Yaunti, Goblin, Undead, Orc or whatever can go to recruit help, or to trick someone to come home for 'dinner'.

I would definitely consider helping in a project like this :thumb:
Some idea's were throw around on this topic that might prove useful to this project

Oh, I should mention. I plan on taking the role of world administrator, when all is said and done. Afterall, I'm the one that can edit the worldmap.

There have been plenty of people batting around ideas like this for a while. I just want to try and make it happen, instead of just talking about it. The only REAL requirements are basic ones.

1) Check to see what areas have already been claimed.
2) Try to keep it balanced.
3) Ask before crossing borders with your addins.
4) try to avoid lame plotlines like "you're the child of an evil god!"

I've never been a big fan of the half-elf 'race'.. one elf,

I went here, http://members.black...air.net/Chevar/ but it said that one of the realms was for half-elves, either you haven't changed it yet, or you haven't decided.

Haven't decided actually.. Have a lot of things in the works, and more things to test. Next week I start work on the developer's beta

I'm not at a point of being ready yet. I'm working on the graphical part of the maps right now.. and still have alot to do..

The first major thing on my agenda has been taken care of.. I finally managed to secure a copy of TOB.

I'm not building a world with strict rules, where everything has to be a certain way, or follow one persons idea of thing. The map is large enough for people to adapt other mods into it. I'll be releasing a demo after I get the start city prepared for population.

One of the NPC's in the start city will be a 'mapmaker' who will add locations to the players map based on the mods loaded. When I get to that point I'll be living in the scripting help forums. All a mod maker will need to do is add
their '??map.itm' to the latest version of the mapmaker character's shop inventory.

How would you use the catapults? or are these just scenery items?

Mostly just scenery (like they are in bg2) but I might put invisible creatures on them that can 'act' like they are the catapult.

If you don't mind some really strange looking catipults, I do have animations.. admiddedly I have more pressing matters to attend to.

How would you use the catapults? or are these just scenery items?
to chevar:
I am seriously confused, i was thinking i knew what to do, but now i'm not sure. Is the PC going to be a child of bhaal or some thing like that still. Yes i did read this:

4) try to avoid lame plotlines like "you're the child of an evil god!"

what is the history behind the pc, that is almost crucial to making this. Such as dialogue, quests, etc. Is <CHARNAME> just a basic adventurer, I've read everything so far posted in this thread, but i don't know where fort unity is, is this in the human realm, elf realm, in the middle of all the realms, that would make sense, a point where all the realms touch each other. Like the inn from bg1, i forgot the name of it, but where no fighting is allowed.

no more child of baal!

-------------------------
Fort Unity is a waypoint built at the close of the last great war. The world of Mytera was once ruled by a powerful empire based in the center of the continent. The empire, and the site of the capitol are little more than ash and rubble now. Racial strife tore apart the great empire thousands of years ago.

An undead hoard arose from the depths of an ancient graveyard, and sought to destroy all life in Mytera. To stop the advances of the undead hoards a group of mages, later known as the lightbringers, cast a spell over the land to insure the sun would never set. There was indeed prosperity for a time, but only within the lighted lands. All those from the shadows sought were kept from entering the light.

The reptilian races united to fight for their own salvation, for without the sun they would all freeze to death. The goblins considered it a betrayal, for they were left in the shadow, where there was no rest from the onslaught of the undead.

The dwarves were closest to the source of the undead, and had to flee from their ancient halls, and were offered sanctuary by the halflings.

As the shadow dwellers fought to escape from the ravaging hoards of undead, the empires crops began to fail under the relentless warmth of the sun. Crops outside of the barrier were destroyed by the cold.

The emperors palace was torn down brick by brick. The lightbringers, and their tower fortress simply vanished.. With the lightbringers gone the sun finally set for the first time in 20 years. The undead took advantage of the darkness to launch an all out assault on the surface world. This was known as the 'long dark' when the sun rose again the force which had lead the undead into battle was slain by it's piercing rays.

Fort unity was once a dwarven outpost. After the fall of the Limner empire Fort unity was established on the site of the old fort as a reminder that without the balance between light and darkness the world will die.

The fort still stands as a reminder, even now, nearly two thousand years later.

---------------------------

Many forsake their heritage, and put down their spade to draw arms, seeking fame and fortune. The life of a farmer, nobleman, serf, blacksmith, merchant and so forth can be honorable and rewarding. Yet, for some the draw of adventure is where the sweet necter of life truely lies. They are blown by the winds each seeking something else, but all of them crave the adventures life has to offer.

---------------------------


I hope that is a good enough answer for now..

Any idea when you will have a modders 'SDK' (documentation on pre-existing lore - fort unity etc) ready? I ask because I probably wont be ready to start any work for a few weeks (I want to get as much done on Julia as I can). Until then you can tentatively mark me down for the human region.

Fort unity is graphically ready. I have to do some of the outlining areas. On the map the Fort is just below the old Dwaven fortress, which is just south of the frigian boarder. to the east lies the Yaunti, to the south east is the elven empire, to the west are the human kingdoms..

I'm trying to save most of the material for the mods official forum.. i'm just waiting for it to open - I've been having to copy my notes over there from here.

I have an update for the page as well, but i'm having FTP problems..

If you want you can take a look at the map preview map for FORT UNITY.

It's not the correct version - I had to increase gamma correction by 30%. that's actually the night map without the bue filter applied.

Footnote; You may want to start thinking on which maps you want to reserve. The elves may be a united community, but for humans that's not possible. And you are neighbors with the desert kingdom (evil empire). and the halls of the (un)dead are to the north west. it's a good spot