[UGC] Dwarven Dilemma - The Wobbly Leg

visceralrevolt · May 2013

Quest Name: Dwarven Dilemma - The Wobbly Leg
Quest Code: NW-DTNZTFYDS
Author: @revolting
Duration: 45 minutes
Players: Strictly Solo conent.Description:
You feel like stretching your legs, but yearn for a change of scenery from the hustle and bustle of Protector's Enclave. Why not go for a stroll in Tower District? There are taverns there you have not yet sampled...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Part One of the Dwarven Dilemma campaign, which starts from humble beginnings, to expand to an epic scale as new chapters are released. Custom npc costumes, hand crafted zones, skill-based interactables and dynamic delights await your perusal.

PLEASE NOTE: Intended ENTIRELY for solo play. Many parts of this quest simply WILL NOT WORK if there are multiple adventurers. You have been warned! Estimated play time: 40 minutes.Features:

Hand crafted maps, painstakingly built and decorated over the course of a month.
Custom costumes
Class skill interactions
The beginning of an epic campaign of intrigue, mystery, and entertainment.
Now eligible for the daily foundry quest!

This is my first foundry content, and as such, I'm keen to get feedback, both positive and negative. All comments welcome!

visceralrevolt · May 2013

orodalf · May 2013

Please capitalize "Enclave."
"Your quest path leads to a quest in Go for a stroll in Tower District." This is silly; rename it. Perhaps "Outskirts of the Tower District" might be more appropriate, to let the player know beforehand that this is not a part of the Tower District that is beset by Orcs.
The word is "Ruffian," not "Roughian."
The language in general is kind of strange; who uses the word "rapscallion," for instance?
Why are these rat-things called "Ratlings?" Aren't they just Wererats?
The encounter mobs interact weirdly with tents to cause some trouble in combat.
Nice cheese puns. "Oucheese!" "The Big Cheese" and so on.
Agnutt glows blue after you kill him.
The dream sequence part of your quest is amazing.
I like your use of invisible walls.
Your maps are amazing! I wish I had your artistry.

4 stars.

On the whole, quite well done.

visceralrevolt · May 2013

Thanks for the feedback, orodalf! Very useful.

Please capitalize "Enclave."
- Done!
"Your quest path leads to a quest in Go for a stroll in Tower District." This is silly; rename it. Perhaps "Outskirts of the Tower District" might be more appropriate, to let the player know beforehand that this is not a part of the Tower District that is beset by Orcs.
- Good call, thanks!
The word is "Ruffian," not "Roughian."
- Haha, those bloody Roughians! I'd already fixed that in a bunch of places pre-publish, but forgot to do the individual encounter npcs. Doh! Fixed.
The language in general is kind of strange; who uses the word "rapscallion," for instance?
- Certainly not everyone, but also not really that uncommon. Most people don't speak that way, nor even many people, but that particular half-elven minstrel and adventurer in the making does, for one.
Why are these rat-things called "Ratlings?" Aren't they just Wererats?
- not in this instance! I may change the name of them to something else, but they're not lycanthropes. (game mechanics aside...) More on that in later chapters.
The encounter mobs interact weirdly with tents to cause some trouble in combat.
- Oh, good grief, those tents! Easily the hardest part to build, the npcs just don't want to behave properly. I'm constantly working to tweak that particular encounter.
Agnutt glows blue after you kill him.
- Unfortunately a side effect of the mob he's based on and/or level you play at. I'm looking for a better encounter npc for him, but haven't settled on one yet. However, that is kind of appropriate for the direction things will take in later chapters. But... at this point it doesn't make much sense, so I'll work on improving that.
The dream sequence part of your quest is amazing.
- Thanks, that's my favourite part! I was going to make it much longer originally, but I didn't want it to be overkill. Sometimes short but effective has more impact. And the total adventure run time is already 40-50 minutes, so... yeah. Short and sweet.
Also tweaked a couple of costumes.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks again for all the feedback, very helpful. I'll keep polishing this until it shines.

lovepeas · May 2013

Tagged so I can find this later to play tonight after work.

p.s. I like the word rapscallion (no offense orodolf

)

visceralrevolt · May 2013

It is a good word!

orodalf · May 2013

- Never mind, I figured it out. -

beeblebrox69 · May 2013

Having trouble with my computer tonight, but will be giving this a shot tomorrow. Looks awesome! Some of your screenshots remind me of my own quest...

visceralrevolt · May 2013

UPDATE!

ALL CLASS SKILLS now have unique interactables.
Added some more costumes.
Added some more npc chatter.

thesabotender · June 2013

Played this both before and after all the improvements. Great quest, excelent attention to detail and very enjoyable story

visceralrevolt · June 2013

UPDATE!

Tweaked more costumes.
Improved column arches in the cellar (wierd stuttering was caused previously due to placement)
Added the Revolting Watcher, representing your friendly neighbourhood dungeon master.
Improved lighting in cellar and caves.
Improved Tower District area to make additions more seamless.
Upgraded dream sequence effects.
Now eligible for the daily foundry quest - thanks everyone!

mrthebozer · June 2013

This was epic. You did a great job pushing the limits of the advanced character editors. You managed to find a great balance between realistic and cartoonish without making them seem anatomically implausible. The dream sequence was awesome - the exploding lamps were an especially nice touch. And as I said in my review, you did a great job of applying a goofy and nonsensical concept to a high quality adventure.

Things I would have liked to see (at your discretion, if they fit your design)
- more variety in the first half of the combat. Visually, if not strategic.
- a faster route back to the inn after the Big Cheese encounter. Nothing as immediate as a teleporter, but backtracking through the winding cellar map with little to do stuck out as an unusually dull stretch in an otherwise great adventure. Not sure how you'd want to pull that off, though.

Great work, and looking forward to chapter 2!

lovepeas · June 2013

I love this foundry. It's one of my favorites!

noneerror1 · June 2013

First off I loved it.:o So keep that in mind for the rest of this post:

The quest is a bit too long. I wish I could see a point to cut it in half but I don't. This would be a very bland adventure without the dream sequence. (It turns a 2 star into a 5 star adventure.) If it was split before that, the adventure wouldn't make an impression as a whole.

I still suggest you need to edit it down for pacing reasons. Consider if each area, and combat encounter really helps the story or is just busy work.

There are a lot of bad regular video game invisible walls especially at the start. I love the 'plot' invisible walls that are throughout. More foundry quests should do that!
Sparkle-path should be everywhere, or nowhere. It's odd seeing it only in that one spot, plus it's bugged through a wall. Ditch it or expand it.
Less thug fights at the start, and less rat fights in the middle. It's busywork.
Smaller cellar. It still can be huge with plenty of room for your plot walls without being comically oversized. (Solves the bad pathfinding on the sparkle-path too.)
After the bossfight, add a teleport that isn't a teleport. It can be one of your plot walls and a loading screen. Just have your mind wander on the walk back. (Foreshadowing!) If you like the idea of a rat revenge fight have the rats attack while rebuilding the cellar.
Consider turning Agnutt into a boss.
If you are hesitant in cutting, think of it this way... sure, you put a lot of effort into the stuff you remove but every movie director leaves footage that cost millions of dollars on the floor for good reason. Less is more.

BTW what did you mean by "ALL CLASS SKILLS now have unique interactables" above?

visceralrevolt · June 2013

Thanks for the comments! Glad you enjoyed it.

noneerror1 wrote: »

BTW what did you mean by "ALL CLASS SKILLS now have unique interactables" above?

Just what it says; the quest provides unique interactable elements for all classes. For example, great weapon fighters / guardian fighters can use dungeoneering to place torches in the unlit tunnel. When the quest was first released, only dungeoneering and thievery were catered to, but now all classes have something unique to do.

Regarding this: "There are a lot of bad regular video game invisible walls especially at the start."

I am perplexed by this comment. The only invisible walls you should run up against in the entire quest are those that are there to convey plot elements; every other invisible wall should have a reason for being there, such as a visible blockage. There should be no instances where the player cannot progress for no visible or plot related reason. I've had no other comments on this, so I'm not sure where you ran into them, they they aren't something I tolerate on my maps. Things that are blocked off must always be blocked for a reason, not just "because".

noneerror1 · June 2013

When you first enter the instance on the right hand side is a break in a fence. You can climb on the boxes there and jump over the fence except invisible wall. A little later there is an earthen ledge that you can climb on, and again, wall. I always jump off the beaten path to look for chests, resources, etc. The fence in particular looks like a little nook that probably has something hidden in it. Of course it doesn't but if you are the type of player that looks for hidden areas, you will hit the invisible walls.

visceralrevolt · June 2013

Thanks! I'll have a look at tightening those up.

redneckronin · June 2013

Really enjoyed this. Brilliant story-telling and exceptional use of the Foundry.

5/5

If I had one slight niggle, its about how "health-pot" intensive it is. I went in with over 30 Potions of Greater Healing, and used over half of them, I was on a 58 TR, with level 15 Cleric Companion.

All The Best

metaherox · July 2013

I had a blast playing this. I loved the Wobbly Leg Tavern--in my opinion it is one of the best taverns in Neverwinter, and the upset dwarven rabble was the icing on the cake. I think the basement is amazing and I personally love the size and winding maze-like structure of it myself. The VIP room scenario was a beautifully weird combination (meant in a good way) of both humorous and creepy! It is often difficult amalgamating the two but you nailed it! I'm really impressed by the overall layout. This was a really fun Foundry quest and you did a fantastic job creating it. I was going to give you a 5 star review upon completion of the quest but sadly I was kicked out of the review window and was unable to reopen it. However it is a 5 star worthy adventure and one of my favorites. Also I happen to like (and use) the word "rapscallion" often as my character happens to be one (no offense meant to anyone not liking said word).

tearonhereye · October 2013

Well so i just finished part one of "a Dwarven Dilemma "

i would just like to say first of all - WOW -
i'v played almost any RPG\QUEST game out thar...and i'm a sucker for good storyline, one simple word -WOW-

i enjoyed every single moment of this, i could visualize the writer's mind Composing this,
just like dnd night with a self made quest

so...i liked the game so far I thought it was "OK" and its a big deal for me
but when i got to your quest, accidently i must add, im sure to be a huge grinder from now on...just in hope for more parts like this

plus the Making was nice too,

i got only one negative feedback - TOO SHORT :P

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

kitoox · February 2014

I love your story, i <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> love that story, i enjoy being a kid again with dwarf cheese XDDD

keeperofsorrows · April 2014

Really enjoyed this. A lot of fun and a good story; would have to agree on the backtracking though. Completely missed the class specific part when I ran through it with my Trickster Rogue though!

Curious whether the skeleton in the boat is going to be something explored more in future, or a reference that I failed to identify...

rymanith · July 2014

Loved the dungeon, it was my 1st player made dungeon and I'm afraid yours may have set an impossibly high bar for all the other dungeon makers out there. I look forward to the next chapter. eta on release? I must have missed my CW class specific ability activity. At least I don't recall what it could have been. I did die twice from falling off of ledges in the caves. Would have been nice to be able to climb my way back up, but I guess its more realistic this way. Great job again, and you also got my 1st tip!

[UGC] Dwarven Dilemma - The Wobbly Leg

Comments