Christmas Gifts & Thanks

[HEEGZ]

I would like to give two bits of info as Christmas gifts to our players. I believe these are not common knowledge and hope that it leads to more interesting role play, and greater survival odds for your characters.

Colored Text

You can change your text color in chat just like you do the <i></i> commands:

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<C=ColorName>text here</C>

For a list of the colors available, download this .pdf:

http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn ... lour-chart

Instead of using the alphanumeric codes, just use the name of the color you want from the left most column. So if you type in the following code, you get this result: Thank you HEEGZ.

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<C=Red>Thank you HEEGZ.</C>

Note that both "C"s and color names are case sensitive!

DMs, you can change the name color of creatures made with zSpawn. Right click on creature and select to rename them first. See the important instructions after the code example:

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<C=ColorName>Creature Name</C>

Because you cannot add in the <, >, /, or = signs while renaming, you need to retain these signs from the original zSpawn name and edit the characters around them. If you screw up you have to respawn the creature.

Detecting ALFA's New-For-2013 Traps

I have noticed as both a player and DM that when a DM spawns in a trap, it will frequently be set off without being detected. There is a simple and easy way to increase your odds of detecting the new traps. For reference, you can read about the new traps here:

http://www.alandfaraway.org/node/2643

The main thing is to slow down. Detection radius is fairly large, but if you move too quickly you may only get a single check to spot the trap. So, my advice is to slow down. Slow down. That means, move five feet and stop (about half a tile).

If you are within the radius of a trap, you get one search check every round, which is six seconds. So if you want at least two checks, you need to move five feet and count to six before moving again. For each additional check you wish to make, you need to remain stationary for an additional six seconds.

If I were playing a rogue, and came to a spot I thought was trapped, I would verify search is activated first. Next, I would move ahead five feet and stop. Count to twelve, move to the side, count to six, move to the other side, count to six, then move ahead five feet. Repeat this until safely through the dangerous area.

Obviously you can get crappy rolls or have a very high DC trap. However, slowing down and giving your character time to make more search rolls once every six seconds should increase your odds of spotting them. You can fill in this extra time by role playing how you are searching, etc.

Zelknolf please reply with any corrections or suggestions for DMs or PCs.

Tech Team Thanks

As a conclusion to this Christmas post, I would like to specifically call out three of our tech team members:

• Zelknolf
• Basilica
• Foam

I have frequently seen these three troubleshooting and improving ALFA behind the scenes in IRC. We have seen regular updates recently and they really help make our game possible. I occasionally see thanks sent their way, but I would like to reiterate my appreciation for the stuff you guys are doing for ALFA.

Finally, we have other members also contributing towards building and improving things in ALFA. In the past month, MrDuncan, Ronan, and Teric have all been adding new areas to BG and WHL. I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that come to mind. Players are in for some new surprises in 2014.

So to everyone: Thank You, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

[thinkpig]

Very cool, thanks HEEGZ, and thanks Basilizelknolfoam!

[Zelknolf]

I would minorly correct on distances-- tiles are actually 9 meters wide, but they're close enough to 30 feet that this is a good estimate:

Spoiler:

distance.png (404.93 KiB) Viewed 3265 times

Though spellcasters will have a good sense-- short-range spells shoot about a tile (actually 8 meters, and that doesn't improve with caster level, because NWN2 says so).

Non-rogues can also detect high-DC traps with a casting of Find Traps, which ALFA allows use/day items of (not cheaply-- 2160 gold for 3 minute castings 1/day-- but it's an option for non-rogue skillsey people).

And of course ALFA contains +search, +disable device, and +reflex items. Relying on a single roll being your foolproof protection against traps is likely to end in getting killed, as that one roll will eventually fail. Try to get them all up if you want to be a trapper, so that you at least need the combination of all of them failing to get killed.

[HEEGZ]

Thanks again for the added info and the picture reference.

[Ithildur]

*oggles picture of Tiny Perse*

[Castano]

thanks everyone for you contributions here.

[Rumple C]

Very cool, thanks HEEGZ, and thanks Basilizelknolfoam!

+10

[HEEGZ]

bump

[HEEGZ]

I would minorly correct on distances-- tiles are actually 9 meters wide, but they're close enough to 30 feet that this is a good estimate:

Spoiler:

distance.png

Though spellcasters will have a good sense-- short-range spells shoot about a tile (actually 8 meters, and that doesn't improve with caster level, because NWN2 says so).

Non-rogues can also detect high-DC traps with a casting of Find Traps, which ALFA allows use/day items of (not cheaply-- 2160 gold for 3 minute castings 1/day-- but it's an option for non-rogue skillsey people).

And of course ALFA contains +search, +disable device, and +reflex items. Relying on a single roll being your foolproof protection against traps is likely to end in getting killed, as that one roll will eventually fail. Try to get them all up if you want to be a trapper, so that you at least need the combination of all of them failing to get killed.

This just came up on IRC, so bumping again.

No one makes use of the color text that I know of, so going to try to popularize it (again).

Also, fixed link in OP for color name chart.

[Swift]

DOes NWN2 logging still dump full tags into the chat log? The colour tags tend to make logs pretty messy and do nothing to help their readability.

[HEEGZ]

All of my memories of chat logs are negative. I haven't messed with them in years so for me it is a minor issue. I can see how it would be annoying though.