Into the Mind's Eye - Chapter 1 - The Ruins of Webcrag

seanc84 · May 2013

Into the Mind's Eye - Chapter 1 - The Ruins of Webcrag by @seanc84

Short Code: NW-DEU18DHO6

Mission Type: Story-based mission which includes platforming, dungeon exploration, and moderate combat.

Average Duration: 15-30 minutes, depending on how much you want to read

Amount of Combat: Moderate. No simultaneous stacked encounters, but a tough wave-based boss encounter at the end.

Starts in: Protector's Enclave

Mission Summary: After receiving a letter in the mail about a potential job, you meet with the contact and venture out of the city. At your destination you must find a way into mysterious ruins and discover the secrets of an ancient crypt.

Author tips/hints: This will require some off-the-path exploration. Not too much, but enough to prevent you from depending on your quest trail.

I'm especially looking for feedback on combat difficulty due to not being able to test this very well in the Foundry. Most of it should be fine, but the end boss might be tough to do solo with a companion.

Screenshots/attachments:

s4kur1t4 · May 2013

Kinda got stuck, explored the whole fricken ruins, read an scroll that required me to be a Cleric to read some of it or something, explored a sarcofagus with the name of someone in capital letters, checked some corpses, killed every enemy, read a book that for some reason i couldn't read again, tried interacting with the ghost, yet it always says "I don't know what to ask". Not sure if you put it to require to be a Cleric to be able to progress or what, but either it's an issue with that, or I am missing something, either way, had to quit midway since i got tired of looking around.
Tho i did find something funny: Screenshot link
The quest itself does look good, but i'm kinda thinking that you probably set a trigger or something on the Cleric requiring thing on the scroll since i literally didnt find anything else... but it could also be me being blind or something. Good quest!

seanc84 · May 2013

Did you look in the sarcophagus? The text should say that there's a body inside... it has the key to a small room that gives you the information you need to ask the cleric.

I'll update the text to make it more clear to look inside the sarcophagus. And fix that door issue... :P Thanks for reviewing!

seanc84 · May 2013

I've updated the quest to fix a couple things. Someone kindly informed me that you couldn't finish the quest if you died on the last boss, and I've removed the offending door. I also toned down the last fight to give players a break before the last big fight.

Maybe now I'll get some reviews from here... :P

kyeo138 · May 2013

I left my feedback in another thread, but I just wanted to say this is a GREAT quest. Loved it, and am recommending it to everyone. This is old-school paper DnD translated perfectly into NW.

maddriver · May 2013

I am very impressed by the quality offered by this quest. From the beginning to end, everything is top notch.
It is a breath of fresh air to see a quest where you have to figure your way in or out of an area. The castle rocks took me a while to find, but that was okay. The forest setting was well chosen, although it could have had more encounters.
I liked the fact that the encounters are introduced gradually and that you're not fighting skyscraper-sized demons from the first second. It reminded me of an rpg I used to play, Gothic. Aaah...nostalgia...

Anyway, back to reality. Some people may find themselves lost in this huge maze of doors and secrets. The one part where I believe it can be improved is the "Leave the eastern caves" objective.
I explored those caves first, so when the objective appeared, I left using the same way I got in. It is true that the map was showing the location of the door. Probably that was my mistake for not paying attention to details. I went on to clean the rest of the dungeon from the West side and found myself in front of the same door, looking from the other side. My only remaining objective was "Leave the eastern caves". No big deal, I managed to not horribly lost...eventually.

The final fight was challenging enough to make me use 3 potions. I played as a level 28 Control Wizard with a rank 14 Healer companion.
The quest ends with a cliffhanger. That mysterious bearded elf...he must be hiding something...

seanc84 · May 2013

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I really appreciate it!

I made a few updates to make it a little more clear about where to go and what to examine. Hopefully this cuts down on the time people spend hunting around for keys. :P

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

I will review your quest, hopefully you will have a go at mine.

Review on "Into the Mind's Eye - Chapter 1": done 16th May 2013. 5/5 rating

My Quest

Campaign: Resurrection of Xunvrae (4 parts)
Quest Name: The bones of Xunvrae
Author: Elimgarak83
Short Code: NWS-DNNZST5FJ
Tags: Story, Explore, Combat
Tested: 14 GWF, 60 CW, 60 DC, 29 CW
Quest forum post: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?235592-Resurrection-of-Xunvrae

Campaign

House Arken'etts' has a long history of producing the finest wizards throughout the Underdark. Since the spellplague ravaged

the planes, house Arken'etts' power has been vastly diminished.

Sin'Afay Arken'ett has enlisted your help in restoring the once proud house to its former glory.

Treachery and torment will be your companions during this campaign, taking you from the darkest crypt's deep enough Torils' surface

to planes of nightmare and legend.

Part 1: The bones of Xunvrae
Part 2: Xunvraes' Resurrection
Part 3: Shadow stalkers
Part 4: Xunvrae Must Die

Part 1 - The bones of Xunvrae

Xunvrae, once the most accomplished wizard in house Arken'ett disappeared over 100 years ago. If house Arken'ett is to be

restored to its former glory, then the archmage must returned to his rightful place.

Venture into an ancient Netherese crypt and discover what became of Xunvrae.

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Great quest, really did enjoy it.

Well though out story and dialog.

Level design was suburb, like the fact you have to explore a little. Looking forward to the next chapter.

seanc84 · May 2013

Thanks for the review! I added your quest to the list of ones to review in my thread here. Hopefully I'll be able to play it in the next day or two.

voivodak · May 2013

i'll try it this evening with a friend. Seems interesting. Please, return the favor. Link of mine quest is in signature

todocaldo · May 2013

REVIEW: 5/5 stars

Just got done and this is probably one of the best UGC quests I've done so far. I've subscribed and can't wait for more.

The platforming at the beginning was a bit tricky as I had a few lag issues which caused some pretty nasty falls

Combat was good though not too challenging, think I used one potion in the entire quest. (32 rogue, 28 cleric companion)
Best part about the combat is that the encounters did not feel forced but were placed very naturally in the quest which can be hard to do.
Liked the exploration, thank you for not hand-holding the objectives, made me work for them!

You clearly spent a lot of time on this and set the bar pretty high for any Foundry member out there creating their own content.

With that in mind, please check out my new quest "Easy Coin... Right?" NW-DFGF2UXQH
Reviews from those who really know what they are doing can mean a lot.

Keep up the fantastic work!

seanc84 · May 2013

todocaldo wrote: »

REVIEW: 5/5 stars

Just got done and this is probably one of the best UGC quests I've done so far. I've subscribed and can't wait for more.

Wow... thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it that much.

I'll add your quest to the list of ones to review in my review trading thread here... looking forward to giving it a try!

Thanks again for the glowing review!

I'm hoping to start on the next quest soon once I get the time to do some reviews for other folks.

duskdweller78 · May 2013

Very good quest, interesting background story and cool effects.

I just think there was a bit too much backtracking and there were too many uncustomized base undead encounters (the Foundry is full of undead encounters, it gets boring if you don't customize them), also the encounter with the big undead and the two undead spawning adds could get a bit ugly at higher levels.

Anyway overall is a great quest

delthanin · May 2013

Seeing as your quest was the one that I was so impressed with that I temporarily removed my own quest (so that I could tweak it some more before initial plays by others), I figured I should bump this and give you my review. Granted I played this quite awhile ago, so my comments are based on memory. Sorry!

Excellent quest. One of maybe only three or four quests I've ever given 5 stars to.

I loved the bit of platforming at the start. It wasn't obvious, but it wasn't so out of left field to be frustrating. Good areas, the enemy placement was well spaced and felt completely logical. Good interactables, GREAT respect for and nicely tied into Forgotten Realms lore.

The boss fight at the end was very entertaining, something that doesn't happen too often in Foundry quests. That's more a result of toolset limitations right now, but you managed to still make it interesting in spite of all that.

I recall being frustrated for a very small bit when I was trying to figure out what needed to be done next (not too long before going to the last chamber), but it was only for somewhere between 2-4 minutes. I really wish I could give better feedback than that, but again, been about a week and a half or more since I played it. Wasn't enough to detract from the quest as a whole.

I subscribed after I played this. Keep up the good work!

seanc84 · May 2013

Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'll have to run through yours at some point - I'm always interested in playing quests that tie in to Forgotten Realms lore. Your screenshots look dialog-heavy, too... which I like!

delthanin · May 2013

seanc84 wrote: »

I'm always interested in playing quests that tie in to Forgotten Realms lore. Your screenshots look dialog-heavy, too... which I like!

Heh, hope my quest description didn't give the wrong impression. The quest I have currently isn't super heavy on FR specific lore. It acknowledges the pantheon, what's happening in Neverwinter, and hopefully doesn't feel out of place. I mostly mention that since there are a good number of Foundry quests that don't necessarily feel like they're part of the setting.

I don't want to derail the thread about your own quest, though. Sorry 'bout that.

Into the Mind's Eye - Chapter 1 - The Ruins of Webcrag

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