The Redcap Snatchers -- epilogue

hustin1 · April 2019

Okay. I did a ton of research today into Fomorians, into Redcaps (which is tough here because the in-game lore diverges *drastically* from all outside sources), and very deeply into the nature of the Feywild itself and what drives it. The origin story of Fomorians is especially important this time.

I have a story idea that ties very well into the two quests to date. What I'm not sure I have is time. April 11 is awfully close. I don't even have a title, but it won't be called "The Redcap Rebels". It will most certainly be something more fitting, and it should be a proper bookend to the entire story arc.

I'm going to *try* to finish it in the next 48 to 72 hours (famous last words). I won't be able to go crazy on custom map design, but I'll do the best I can. What I'll need from the community are *reviews*. Preferably at least 25, and hopefully it can earn 75 stars before the sunset. If Blood Magic could score another 5 reviews, that would also be terrific!

Okay, time to get cracking. This one won't be easy to pull off.

warrians · April 2019

i can work on a few blood magic reviews from alts. But why exactly 75 ?

Race you to finish our campaigns. LOL

hustin1 · April 2019

Actually I take back the 75 stars part -- I already reached that achievement (Foundry Master 1).

25 reviews for three quests that average 4 stars gets me Foundry Expert 1. I think Blood Magic has 20 reviews. That plus one other achievement gets me Foundry Stalwart, though I'm not sure that I can reach that -- Foundry Master 2 requires getting 150 stars on each of three quests.

warrians · April 2019

ah so thats how you get the cloaks...... i guess i will have to do without.

have u thought about it? inactive accounts from "legal cheaters" who followed ONE "quick achievement" guide and then duplicated it 15 times will all get the new cloak, while we wont. In fact i dont think i know any one legit author with 10 + quests.

warrians · April 2019

i will make you a deal - you play my whole foundry, and i will play yours from 3 diff accounts before the 10th XD Shameless, i know.

hustin1 · April 2019

I think I did them all except for the last part, but I'm not 100% certain.

warrians · April 2019

last part of ep 3 is up. i know you played till part 2 of ep 3. no part confusion past that.

episode 4 was just released. im working on episode 5 now.

it wont be anything like i dreamed it would, being made in "4-" days. but its going to be there.

hustin1 · April 2019

The new maps I need to make are nearly complete -- just some polishing left. Then I have to make costumes, place NPCs, finish the quest progression, and tie it all up. I don't know if I can finish all that by the end of tomorrow night but I think I can get it done by Tuesday night at the latest. I'm going to shoot for a released draft tomorrow night at the very least. I've got the story straight in my head now so it's just a matter of cranking the handle. It's looking like there will be only one major fight in the quest, though it will have to be a doozy considering the players involved and the events that will be coming to a head. The events are heavily based on existing lore so to me it's a matter of doing it proper justice.

Oh, the title will be "Children of the Fey." I think it will be quite fitting.

warrians · April 2019

that sounds cool i hope i will see it in time ! we have to remember to back up everything we can XD who knows, maybe cryptic will release a foundry emul@tor for single player use, one day, like a nwn toolset.

i checked the reviews you left, judging by them you playd till ep 3 part 2. if that is accurate then you are missing ep 3 part 3 ("Wilfred in the feywild part 3") and episode 4 (Wilfred in the enclave) .im on part 5 as we speak. 5 maps. maybe 6. im having major costume issues too, because most main characters have too many unique accessories. At times like these we gotta remember that people DO change clothes!

hustin1 · April 2019

I'm happy with my maps. I'm happy with my new costumes (I might create one or two more but those will be easy). Taking a short break to do something outside, let my creative energies recharge, and nurture my mental health (it's nice outside in springtime Pennsylvania today

)

@nitocris83 , any chance we can get some quests Featured? Some of us are moving heaven and earth here to finish in time (and a day or two extension would be great! That said, I need to finish ASAP because I still have to do my taxes!)

warrians · April 2019

hustin1 said:
I'm happy with my maps. I'm happy with my new costumes (I might create one or two more but those will be easy). Taking a short break to do something outside, let my creative energies recharge, and nurture my mental health (it's nice outside in springtime Pennsylvania today )

@nitocris83 , any chance we can get some quests Featured? Some of us are moving heaven and earth here to finish in time (and a day or two extension would be great! That said, I need to finish ASAP because I still have to do my taxes!)

I support that. I tried to click the "Submit to cryptic" button today, thats something i have been thinking on doing since i began episode 1, but then i thought, i bet they arent taking featured anymore. I need two more foundry authoring achievements to retrieve my cloak for transmog (i lost my foundry cloak somehow ) and one of those easier achievements would be getting one featured foundry.

Speaking of maps, i made a huge empty map and began laying thayan struts around ( enter details, search for THAY). Dude, check those buildings before the end of Doomsday. The buildings, in 3d. I wanted to try making a Thayan street as breadcrumb leading to that secret room that always shows Val´s Philactery and a treasure chest for my Episode 5 of Zero to Hero, but i was left there shocked and in awe. The size, the detail. Claps to cryptic design team, both the guys who designed the pieces, AND the guys who made places like the intro to Phantasmal Fortress and to Valindra´s Tower. I cant even, not even with the pieces on hand.

I am glad you are having a good time. I am starting to despair looking at the calendar. This loss is going to hit me harder than it will hit most authors because I regret having been a foundry user for years but only loading the foundry toolset so late.

hustin1 · April 2019

Finally. It's 5:26 am and it's publishing. I'll do a fast playtest but it should be complete. It's called Children of the Fey.

I hope everyone likes it. At the very end of the quest are my thoughts on the saga as a whole and what I was trying to accomplish with it. Now the rest of the playerbase will know what my alliance already knows regarding how I view redcaps

@asterdahl @terramak @nitocris83 @mimicking#6533 I don't know if you guys ever play Foundry quests, but I'd be honored if you at least saw what I've always thought of redcaps and of their potential.

@warrians Consider heaven and earth moved. Over the next 24 hours I now have to make sure this is fully playable, make video captures of this and of Cap Snatchers, back it up, and play it enough that it will stick in my memory since that's all I will have.

Stats

All maps are custom (the Arcane Reservoir is NOT an available map -- I had to recreate it from scratch using a couple of playthrough videos for reference)

More costumes than I can count. Three new races.

Based on enough lore to create a black hole in a student's backpack.

(the redcaps will NOT be worshipping a particular demon goddess -- the Foundry editor doesn't let you choose "none" for a helmet so I had to create a plot device for a particular piece of headgear. It's suitably humorous).

hustin1 · April 2019

Verdict: fully playable but needed some minor polishing. 0.02 is publishing now. Time for bed!

warrians · April 2019

Cool im going to play it ASAP! Man i did the Thayan buildings thing again and then decided to fly to see them from all angles. The guys at Cryptic drew a lot of stuff that players would normally never get an angle to see !

After i play your foundry im going to finish mine. Have to. Its by honor now

warrians · April 2019

Great job so far ! I wonder how you achieve the temporary grayscale without using backdrop, i never found the fx. Would really help in my death-like "bad" endings. (Like in Malabog´s Castle)

When i looked at Knox leather outfit from atop i could swear his cap was a redcap because of the shape. I died laughing.

Reservoir was perfect both in shape and in decoration. It reminded me of my Harper Hold but you got every room right, even the parts that didnt get used (post portal) are all flawless !

And man dont let me get started on unavailable maps ! Episode 3 of Z2H also was supposed to feature Arcane Reservoir, Feydark Breach and Quicklings Den, but as i crafted them i realized that would mean one more episode split due to "Critical Overbudget" and 6 more maps ( the aforementioned ones plus new clones of every adventuring map for the return ). Its huge enough as it is so i just turned the Sharandar weekly questss into 3 "Spoiler quests".

The forest map is so pretty, im taking screenshots! I was talking the brownie into joining the party when the server crashed and refused to return. I will post more about it when NWO is back! I blame your foundry by the way, i bet its too heavy for the server to load :PPP .

warrians · April 2019

(Cont)

@hustin1 i loved it ! The song circle was so well aligned i wish i could have actually listened (im deaf) !

And when the Fomorians charged, it was like "i gotta do eeeet" not like "man there comes another fight yawn". I was worried if they would come from different sides and what would happen if they closed in camp ( i dont know how something bad could have happened since im an author too, but you guys got all sorts of tricks up yer sleeve ). I ended up berserking and before wave 3 i charged out of camp and took the fight to them at the road . Its very rare for a MMO event to be able to make me get in character, especially with the foundry limitations, but you did it, gratz!

And the last map got me going circles trying to read all quotes and searching for easter eggs (You could tell me 30 times theres none, still id go and search for easter eggs and things i missed and side quests. Thats me on Table Top !). Like i said in the review, this is what i meant in my foundry when i said "lets go down with a CRITICAL BANG!". Claps on your conclusion!

I like your redcaps lore a lot more than the stuff ive read online ("The whole feywild is but a blurred mirror image of the prime, the feydark is a reflection of the underdark, blah blah blah, redcaps are a reflection of gnomes, and that leaves it implied that elves, coming from the feywild are a reflection of humans, even if we know elves are an older race").

I can also clearly see the redcap love and i can picture your redcap companions collection in my mind !

By the way, "new fashion statement, reebu" killed me, im still laughing !

Congratz on a job well done. Im sure i mentioned this before but they should hire you, look at the things you can whip together even when you only have two days to finish !!

On my end , i will try to finish today or tomorrow. Oh and I managed to press "Submit to Cryptic" xD i know nothing will come out of it so no Old foundry cloak, but heck ive been trying to click that button for months and now i did it XD Thanks !

See you later !

J

warrians · April 2019

Im failing at embedding images here, i dont know why, the button wont work.

https://prnt.sc/n9pozm

Warrians will miss the Foundry.... Theres offline foundry-like stuff but thats not the same thing. You cant party* for that.

hustin1 · April 2019

Oh, there's an effect in the editor called something like "fade to black and white". That's how I achieve that effect. If you search the Details for "black" you'll find it.

warrians · April 2019

hustin1 said:
Oh, there's an effect in the editor called something like "fade to black and white". That's how I achieve that effect. If you search the Details for "black" you'll find it.

hustin1 · April 2019

I figured that gnomes are supposed to be industrious and skilled, and even in the War Maker's Camp a cyclops compliments the redcaps on the quality of the siege engines they built. So, I figured that the redcaps' homes above all should be well-constructed.

warrians · April 2019

But you overdid it lol. Those support pillars are better placed than those in my house. I was under the stairs checking them

Also

Your signature, gotta fix it !!

" The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH "

hustin1 · April 2019

Thanks so much for the kind words. I haven't totally given up yet on achievements, for what it's worth. There's an outside chance of getting Foundry Stalwart (Dungeon Master rank 4) today, but it will take 8 or so reviews of Blood Magic and 25 or so reviews of Children of the Fey to pull it off. I'm in PE asking for reviewers, but it's hard to not get demoralized from the occasional snarky remarks from some...

Of course, @nitocris83 could solve this problem instantly by merely Featuring some quests. Perhaps @mimicking#6533 can offer assistance on how?

warrians · April 2019

yeah. i got one of the demoralizers on my board too

hustin, episode 5 is 99.9% complete im just spendin 15 minutes rewriting an ending ^^

warrians · April 2019

@hustin1 :
My NWo harddrive is now officially busted

RIP . it probably suicided when it finally heard about the foundry

Your quest rocks, my only regret is not being there to play it more and to enjoy the last hours.

I hope you get to sample my own episode 5 before the end and i pray it did publish before you do because the paitings in the last map make all the difference - they change based on which ending you chose, and they also make differentppl knock on your door before you (hopefully) grab the ending chest

I enjoyed the foundry system thoroughly and i dont think i will recover from its loss.

See you around, maybe

J

hustin1 · April 2019

I'm in Wilfred in the Dread Ring now. I'm finally a Foundry Stalwart!

I'll run this, then do a video capture of Cap Snatchers, and if I have time I want to see the Paradox Tavern in your first quest. And then I'll finally be able to sleep at 10am EDT.

warrians · April 2019

if u can record my own ep 5 in any way, video or even a few crappy screenies, please do. im left with nothing and thats not fair

rest well and i hope you enjoy yourself.

Im here in utter anguish. i was forced out of the game and even if i download and update it all, it will be too late.

warrians · April 2019

hustin1 said:
I'm finally a Foundry Stalwart!
.

CONGRAAAATULATIONS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im just a disciple who got his cloak stolen.

warrians · April 2019

just to make sure you understood, after you pick your ending, checking the painting (The paiting is also different depending on ending) creates a new interaction on your door.(there was no knock knock-named audio in the audio list or else i would have added it) it plays different depending on your ending, so its free from the quest tracker, meaning you wont be pushed to do it so its a missable. But thats where the ending really lies. if you can find it in yourself to replay, you will see how different both ending sequences are. I really think i outdid myself, when it comes to foundry mechanics at least because the foundry wont give you much when it comes to splitting scenarios.

The Redcap Snatchers -- epilogue

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