Ravenloft: Chapter one, Darkness Rising

shorlong

So...jsut got done....I wept over how poor my quest is and how it will never be this amazing...great job on the detail....I'm gonna go stare at the mirror and cry while questioning myself....

nyghoma

shorlong wrote: »

So...jsut got done....I wept over how poor my quest is and how it will never be this amazing...great job on the detail....I'm gonna go stare at the mirror and cry while questioning myself....

Yeah, Apoc has top notch designs.

apocrs1980

Thanks Guys I hope I nailed the mark with a great start to the series and did Ravenloft and Strahd justice. I think I did but you never know :P

crimeapple

Just finished the map as a solo lv37 CW. The map design is amazing, I don't even think cryptic's own maps are this detailed. Best forest map I've seen in the game so far as well. The final fight is intense, but there's a lot of room to maneuver so it's not unfair. There's a little bug, though, captain and guards at the village entrance didn't disappear during the zombie attack. That aside, wonderful map, can't wait til chapter 2!

pure711

apocrs1980 wrote: »

Thanks Guys I hope I nailed the mark with a great start to the series and did Ravenloft and Strahd justice. I think I did but you never know :P

So there I was, tinkering around in the foundry, watchin' the foundry stream on twitch, and I noticed they were playing this map. I saw the tavern. I didn't think anything of the streamer's reactions. I was just thinking..."what's so great about that? He probably just used a template and threw some rugs on it. Whoopie." So later today I started building a "hangout" and started looking for that same interior template and couldn't find it.

That's when I came here and discovered you built the whole thing from scratch. What. The. F***. I gotta say, that is freaking amazing. I didn't believe it so I went back into your quest and looked around and sure enough noticed each detail from the foundry, so subtle in placement that you could almost fail to recognize it (which I obviously did at a glance on twitch). I rarely rarely rarely ever see any people building structures from scratch, and none ever to the level of detail I saw in only playing the first 2 minutes of your quest.

You've set the bar high for the rest of us foundry builders, Sir. Although I think this is the direction the community should go - step out from the templates and really forge our own quests from scratch. I'll give it a go on my next quest. I've thought the foundry had more potential than I was utilizing, but I guess I needed to see it for my own eyes.

Cheers, expect a 5 star from me 'morrow.

hflord1

It started out as: I can do this, I like details....about 2 minutes in (if that) It became, "no ****ing way"....wow man.

You changed the lighting during a fight...

You've inspired me. I've just entered the Svalich Woods, but have such a hard on for you. Will stop gushing, you didn't ask for reviews, just saying, "wow".

---Edit for addition---

Was a blast, as a lvl 58 guardian I cannot beat the last vision. Too much stuff hitting me and I kill too slowly. So I didn't get to finish it, but was great stuff. Thx!

apocrs1980

Just an added note, you can decreases the difficulty of the last part by choosing to get Bildrath to sell you an item. He wants gnarl root for the exchange. Since this is a side quest the gnarl root will not show up on your quest tracker, it takes just a little exploration before you leave the 1st map. Bildrath will let you choose one of 3 items, if used correctly in the village of Barovia it can ease or even greatly sway the last fight to your advantage in 3 very different ways. Thanks for the kudos guys I am happy everyone is enjoying their time in Barovia.

cuddlesmacheese

Good stuff. I gave it five stars. I have spent many hours on map design and I can appreciate the quality and detail you put into this. I spent most of my time just looking at how you built your maps.

I will have Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh done soon and would love your feedback.

apocrs1980

Thanks cuddles, let me know when it's done, I'll be looking forward to it!

apocrs1980

crimeapple wrote: »

Just finished the map as a solo lv37 CW. The map design is amazing, I don't even think cryptic's own maps are this detailed. Best forest map I've seen in the game so far as well. The final fight is intense, but there's a lot of room to maneuver so it's not unfair. There's a little bug, though, captain and guards at the village entrance didn't disappear during the zombie attack. That aside, wonderful map, can't wait til chapter 2!

Thank you very much and great catch! I have fixed the issue the guards should now de-spawn when the zombie attack happens.

pure711

So I figured as much work as you put into your map, I could give you an in-depth test run. I spent at least 2 hours in this quest, so sorry if I skewed your “average duration.” Play through was with a level 30 GWF with cleric comp.

Details/Polish
-“Go to Next Map” as the initial quest objective could be changed to “Go to The Old Tavern” to avoid confusion with many players
-Quest objective/NPC spelling: Speak with the Shadowy Messanger -> “Messenger” Rename NPC to “Shadowy Messenger” If “messanger” was intentional, quest objective “Return to the Shadowy Messenger” should reflect it. Same issue with “Messanger’s Note” interactable.
-You can jump on some rocks by the tent outside, jump onto the tent, and then jump back towards the rocks and make it over the invisible wall. Once you do this, the player is stuck in that area. Screenshot for exact stuck-spot here: http://imgur.com/mwC0UmC Forced map leave/re-entry.
-You can go up the right side of the cave hole, end up on the top of the cave hole mound and hop over the invisible wall on the left side. The user is then stuck in the invisible wall traversing that entire right side of the walking path up to that stand/cart thing. Stuck-spot screenshot here: http://imgur.com/DVYTiFV Force map leave/re-entry.
-This is purely suggestion, but that street sign outside on the path could be made interactable.
-Bildrath dialogue – “he sets his book down and….” (He) should be capitalized, for new line.
-Bildrath dialogue – In the branch with 3 choices: Everything is for sale/why not/no one turns me down…..the text “1.” Precedes options 1 and 3.
-Bildrath interact – “Do my a favor thief” -> “Do me”
-Perrywimple emote text – “ow, your strong” -> “you’re”
-Dwarf rogue emote text – “just a little bit more here and all…” capitalize “Just”
-Chandeliers (two of them) near the shadowy messanger NPC too far into ceiling
-Same side with the above chandeliers, a plant near the guard rail clearly has it’s root clearly floating in mid-air outside the wood case
-Shadowy Messanger dialogue – “The man chuckles” add period(.)
-Shadowy Messanger dialogue – “The man in interrupted” typo
-Shadowy Messanger dialogue – “terror caused by this ‘curse,’” should be a period after “curse”
-Shadowy Messanger dialogue – “stuck here for an eternity, How to I get to….” Un-capitalize “how” and change “to” -> “do”
-Where’s the campfire in the Old Tavern map?
-A large vulnerable area. You can walk and hop once right through the side of a hill and end up walking on invisible floors around the entire graveyard 20 feet in the air. Entry was here: http://imgur.com/6O6znCe. Allowing you to end up anywhere here: http://imgur.com/oo8SpTe Stuck here as well, forced map exit/re-entry
-Grave robber dialogue – “She mumbles to herself in a low barely audible voice” add period(.)
-Black powder keg placement text. Tooltip and interact message are redundant to each other. Goes with the fuse as well.
-Another expedition through the terrain that gave me access the entire map outside your intended playspace. Entry here: http://imgur.com/4MidWei
-Ivar Istonovish dialogue – “the name completely ignores you.” Capitalize
-Ismark dialogue – “dismark then returns to his wind” typo
-Ismark dialogue – “Ismark sighs” period(.)
-Ismark dialogue – “It’s Nicoli and he (is) brings warning!” typo
-Final fight difficulty was a bit ridiculous, I died 5 times, used 5 pots, and had a companion. The difficulty of the overall quest went from standard to silly. The encounter needs to be tuned down.
-Ismark dialogue – “ismark is visibly shaken” period(.)
-Ismark dialogue – “What ever is in it is yours….” That whole sentence needs to be reworded (the word for used 3 times) and add a period(.)

This quest’s strongest quality was the map design and everyone giving you low rankings in the review boxes obviously doesn’t fathom the details of this map. Great job, waiting for more.

apocrs1980

Excellent write up pure711,

I'm truly honored that you have spent so much time finding the mistakes! I will get to work on these corrections asap! Thank you ever so much!

apocrs1980

Thanks again pure711,

All of the line items have been addressed, with exception of the last few bits of Ismark's dialog

-Ismark dialogue – “dismark then returns to his wind” typo - this one I couldn't find anywhere in the dialog nodes and
-Ismark dialogue – “What ever is in it is yours….” That whole sentence needs to be reworded (the word for used 3 times) and add a period(.) - I wasn't able to get around to in time, will finish this up later tonight.

Thanks gain for the awesome feed back!
Also I see it's eligible for the daily foundry rewards as well! Too cool

yospeck

Ran this this morning. Without a doubt I can say this is the most beautifully crafted quest I have seen, you've captured the atmosphere and held it throughout the entire adventure, the pace of dialogue vs. combat, the frantic and the thought provoking was done with an amazing accuracy. As I posted in my rating comment, this has now set the bar as to what deserves a 5, anything that isn't on par is immediately getting a 4 (so the rest of the community should hate you now). So to break down my thoughts:

Story/Quest - Really well done. I'm not sure how much of it is from an adventure (including dialogue) vs. how much is your own creation, but either way you've done an exceptional job. I was going into it thinking "I wish people would stop focusing on non Forgotten Realms stuff" given that there's so much content to choose from, however, the way you actually tied it in works REALLY well and makes you instantly feel trapped in that world.

Suggestions:

• I'd say scatter some more optional lore items around, books, NPCs in the tavern who can talk to you. This isn't going to appeal to everyone, but having it in there will make the lore nuts go crazy.
• I like exploring but the merchant crest side mission, whilst great, wasn't as obvious. I like rewarding exploration and I was fully prepared to go and seek out the gnarled root, but I have no idea which area it was in and thought that we might go through some woods later on where I could look around for it. Whilst I don't think it should be obvious, a bit more of an indicator "it can be found nearby" if on the same map, or "it usually grows near cemeteries" if on the next, would be a lot more helpful. I got to Nicoli and he asked for the crest and then I was kinda "Oh... I missed it already? Bummer..". So I didn't get the crest, or any other item, so didn't get that option (the options are all viewable btw if you don't have an item, not sure if you can turn that off would be better if you could). However, when speaking to Ivar Istonovich I was able to select the option to lie and show my merchant crest.
• Not sure if you can do this but double space your dialogue as it is put onto a fresh line, but looks clunky if there's no line between them.

World Design - Impeccable. I don't think you could do it any better, as a sucker for detail myself it was just breathtaking. Every detail added to the scene, the cemetery with the grave robber was a real triumph, the crooked and sunken angles of the headstone really made the place feel old. There's too much to comment on, but everything was gold.

Suggestions:

• I don't like how the carpets have been laid out in the tavern. though I know carpeting options are limited, the overlapping didn't really work for me and looked a little messy.
• I'd try and set the first shadow wolf that is static in the trees further back, he's a bit too out in the open and obvious. Maybe set him back in some thick mist with a few of them, try and get it so you can barely see them but can see their glowing eyes. Would be very cool.
• I don't know if it is intentional but the sign for the inn at the end if just called "INN", I'd say give it a name even if it isn't referred to by any characters. It's a sign, it should still have a name on it more than likely.
• The blacked off areas in the final map work fine, they don't feel out of place, but if you've got the resources left I'd maybe suggest changing them to streets heading off and curving out of sight blocked by an invisible wall, instead of a mass of darkness.
• Easter Eggs. Some nice "Ooo!" things to find would be cool. When I went into the cemetery I was really hoping that one or two of the gravestones might be interactable to see who was buried there

(word limit reached...)

yospeck

Encounters - I was a level 13 TR so obviously it is skewed and wasn't too difficult, in general I'd say tweak the early encounters a little and make them slightly harder (but not so much that it's going to unbalance for later levels). Though as the final fight can be pot heavy then again it's finding the balance. How you handled the change in details after attacks with the dead characters (inc. grave robber) was seamless.

Suggestions:

• Have more wolves spawn next to you in the tavern so that you actually have to fight something as opposed to just cleaning up.
• The banshee and skeleton archer that appear on the other side of the wall after you first see Strahd clipped through the wall, so might need a slightly higher invisible wall if they are supposed to stay on the other side forcing you to run round.
• Place the skeletons after the iron gate (before the bridge) better, I dodged backwards and they got stuck behind the gate.

Boss Fight: I did the boss fight on my first try and used a few pots, a lot of strafing, but it was a really nice challenge for a low level solo. I think it would possibly be too difficult later on. I didn't realise that the zombies would keep spawning each time you killed a pack and that the battle would end once the shadow wolves were killed. This is a GREAT idea, however, when you can't actively lock on to target something you find yourself throwing attacks into the group and just hoping for the best, then thinking that killing the zombies might be the best option as they're easier, which then triggers a new wave! I do agree with pure that the level of combat is a little inconsistent jumping from one extreme to the next, but at this stage I'd say leave the boss fight as is, maybe instead of having the zombie packs trigger a new wave, have a different mob with them as well that stands out (so like a chief zombie) and HE has to be killed as well to trigger the next wave, at least then people can try and do away with the zombie adds, but leave the chief zombie if they realise he is the trigger?

Typos:

Bildrath - Talking about the crest:
"Trust worthy" = "Trustworthy"
"Lets" = "Let's"
"Eye brow" = "Eyebrow"

Graverobber (and others?): Don't use "OK", use "Okay" as you are using full English, both NPC and player responses.

Ismark:

"... wondered in to our town" = "wandered"
"... spending her days looking over my father's corpse, encase he comes back" = in case.
"Sept" = 'Cept.
".. constant attacks was" = "were".
"Whats" = "What's"
"Fool-hearty" = "Foolhardy"
Nicoli warning (in Ismark's text) "They are puring out of the graveyard" = "pouring"
"Ismark, as he drops his cup.." = remove comma after Ismark

Strahd
"Puts his and on Nicoli" = "hand" (seriously, you cocked up the big bosses final dialogue!! For shame! )


Just epic.

raziail

First off I would love to say that Ravenloft is my favorite setting of all time and the work you have done here is amazing. The only problem I am having is I can not get the talk to Ismark to update. I go through all the dialogue with him over and over, but will not update. I have abandoned the quest and restarted many times to get stuck in the same spot. Is there something glitchy on my end because I have not seen any others with this problem. Thank you for all the work you do as I can not wait to finish this wonderful tale.

apocrs1980

Awesome, thank you very much Yospeck and raziail,

to address things a bit,
loved the suggestions, there are some things I can do and others I can't because of the limitations with the editor.
For example, I would have loved to make the entire village, but the map is at budget cap so, I will be creating other areas of the village to explore in future chapters, the village will act as sort of a hub to branch out from as you begin your journey searching for the pieces of the Sun Sword.
Thanks for finding the typos, seriously I look over the text all the time and end up going cross eyed. it's nice to have a fresh pair of eyes looking over it.
for the final fight you actually can progress on the side quest to a point to where you can cause the zombie spawns to be reduced by 100% (refer to the OP edit for the details in yellow text) however, I agree it's too easy to miss the gnarl root, I'll through in a clue so that players don't accidentally leave the map before finding it.

raziail, I think the issue depends on what point size the text is set to. larger fonts cause the response option to clip off of the page so that the player can not see it. I thought I had corrected this when I divided up the dialogue nodes but I'll need ot revisit it. In the mean time, pressing "enter" or "1" will progress you past the story.

harmor

Great quest i enjoyed the design and the theme of the maps, very well thought of.
I played as a level 60 rogue the combat was intense and then the game disconnected. recommended your quest to my guild and surly will try to play again.
Found 2 glitches a wolf that got stuck behind the road wall making it untargetable, easily resolved by backtracking and range atacks and a wolf that got stuck behind the explosive charge tree.

raziail

raziail, I think the issue depends on what point size the text is set to. larger fonts cause the response option to clip off of the page so that the player can not see it. I thought I had corrected this when I divided up the dialogue nodes but I'll need ot revisit it. In the mean time, pressing "enter" or "1" will progress you past the story. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Yes that is exactly what it was and I thank you so much for the suggestion. I am actually quite embarrassed that I did not figure that out . The adventure, story, and fighting were absolutely magnificent. I loved it and I ranked this the max amount of stars.

apocrs1980

Thank you very much no need to feel embarrassed, it actually is quite a common thing, apparently if you have more than 500 characters in the dialogue node it shoves the player response off the page, something Cryptic is going to need to address.
I'm glad you enjoyed the adventure! Thank you very much for the comments it's greatly appreciated

harmor

Is there an error in the last battle? the zombies keep spawning and i cant find the boss, i was swarmed with anemies. in my opinion this system is not fun.

apocrs1980

The boss fight is comprised of three stages, Strahd fights you then stage 2 he summons his vision (shadow wolf), then the shadow wolf summons 2 worgs to aid it on stage 3, if the shadow wolf is killed on stage 3 all the zombies despawn.

I had set it up so if you choose to fight and kill Nicoli's guards, it increases the chance for 2 packs of zombies to attack by 100% additionally if you attack and kill Ivar, you further increase the chance of another 2 packs of zombies to attack by 100%, making consequences to your actions.

I have just removed this modifier, so now the randomizer will have a 50% chance to spawn zombies in each location, running this over and over I have only got 1 or 2 packs of zombies attacking from any given street. this should decrease the difficulty significantly. Anyone who has gone through the revised version after this post is made, let me know if the last fight is better balanced.

apocrs1980

Alright I think I got everything perfected..I think. Or at least I hope so, at any rate, I feel comfortable publishing this at a ready to go quest. Thank you all for test runing it and helping me correct the errors I really appreciate it!

dzogen

Dude, the environments in this quest were sick. I'm not normally one to go around looking at everything but did in yours. 5/5. Looking forward to next chapters.

harmor

Will check it later on tonight. i am amazed that you ware able to create a randomizer with a modefier without any script editor.
you are my new moding hero.

On a side note and a very off topic request, is there any chance that you will write a tutorial or create a youtube vid tutorial?

apocrs1980

Thank you very much guys!
I enjoy crafting really cool looking places, I always want to take my players some where new when they play the quests I have crafted.

I'm limited to what items I have but I will be attempting to covering a randomizer and how to set one up in our live stream of the Forge this Saturday.

I'll type up how I do it here as well:

first off I have 1 easy drow assassin encounter and 1 easy guard encounter, they are set up close enough to the area of the map I want to be effected but out of the playable area to where no one will see them, also thier arro radius is well out of range not to cause the players to be stuck in combat.

I have it set so if the guard encounter dies then the zombie encounter spawns upon component complete.

I also set modifiers which are 1 extra drow encounter (assures the guard encounter will die triggering the zombie spawn) and a hard guard encounter (assuring the drow encounter will die (no zombies spawn.)

These modifier encounters are then set to (dialogue reached/component complete) for the events in the playable area that players are determining the out comes of.

So, if you kill Nicoli - the component completes and zombie encounter modifier spawns assuring the zombies will spawn in that area, however, If you build a barricade -Hard guard encounter modifier spawns assuring they will not.

I duplicated this system four times to cover all four streets.

and that's the simplest explanation I can give.

Looking forward to seeing some cool quests on the horizon

hipppiethegreat

Hey there. I love Cragsteep Crypts and REALLY want to try this one. I loaded up the game today and saw this one listed, but I zoned and it was gone. Nothing on the search using keyword or author name. Bug or something else?

apocrs1980

Hey there hippiethegreat, for some reason it's not showing up under the subscribed section, I think it's because it only has around 76 plays so far.
But you can do a search for Ravenloft under the best tab or search under my name apocrs1980 it should show.
Both pull up the quest, it's called "Ch 1 Journey to Barovia" for some strange reason it does not show the campaign "Ravenloft" gotta love beta.
However, just a heads up this is a big change of pace from Cragsteep, it's a single player quest that has more story elements to it, since it follows the old D&D module.
I think it still is a fun 25-30 min quest and only the start of the series.
At the end of each major section I am considering putting in a 3-4 player dungeon to take out the iconic baddie of each demiplane of the mist.

Cheers!

hipppiethegreat

Good to know

I got it to show up by searching for the key word "journey". Only way I could get it to show. Go figure.

Thanks for the info mate. Playing this one now!

apocrs1980

Quick promo bump since folks cna't find this searching by my name or subscription column