NWN2: major spawn loot

Dorn · Post by **Dorn** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:25 pm

There is this system in TLR. Well....in some of TLR (built by many different folk)

You are adventuring as you do.

You find some hated orcs/orges/giants (depending where you are).

You and your friends are quite/very/extremely tuff respectively so you decide to take the carefully stored can of whup ass out of your backpack and open it on said spawn.

Victorius you look through their equipment. They have some mundane armour/clubs/clubs respectively....but also....do mine eyes decieve me! A chest in the cheiftans place!

I can understand this chest being there as these groups continually pwn headstrong adventurers and take their goodies.

You openm the chest and!!!.......you get a littel pink marker.

Then you find borgia and plead and beg your way into getting the loot.

This gives him the chance to say:
a) well done here's the loot! (secretly removeing the +4 vorpal sword as you're level 1 with a level 10 partner who helped you through it)
b) havn't you hit that several times before? (secretly moving hand towards the DMkill button)
c) good job, nice party, here you go (get everything)

What do you think about this idea of rewards from static spawns? Could also have exp based on the pink marker instead of from killing the spawn itself as well.

Or does this just make it a true pain int he bottom for DMs.

I dont mean ALL spawns. Just the big big ones that would have serious loot that SOME might think is exploitable?

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:51 pm

This is an excellent idea. I would say it actually takes some of the burden off live DMing, rather than adding to the DM burden. The primary problem we have with statics is the concern over farming and generally exploiting the system when no one is looking over your shoulder. This token allows for oversight at precisely the moment when its really needed.

This approach could greatly enhance the efficiency of DM resources. The downside of course is that it would require a bit more resources on the building side. If the encounter is left as-is forever, that's not very satisfactory. But moving static encounters around every now and then could make up for that.

Stormseeker · Post by **Stormseeker** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:19 pm

Ive always liked this idea...in play like dorn say's the dm can modify the treasure to fit the pc's who turn in the token.

darrenhfx · Post by **darrenhfx** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:23 pm

How would the DM know if the lvl1 had a lvl 10 helping if they aren't online to witness it? I guess if they are taking down large enough foe, it could be implied that they had some sort of help... dunno.
Could we have the little pink markers create a bright neon flag in the logs?

coach · Post by **coach** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:25 pm

great idea

other than you can get stuck with a loot token for a few RL months if players and HDM times don't geehaw

i still have a flower from may

Stormseeker · Post by **Stormseeker** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:30 pm

*chuckles*trust us when we say that a level one aint going to get one of these tokens with out higher help.
Yep turning in a token can be difficult...especialy if you forget about it in your inventory.*raises hand*

Jeppan · Post by **Jeppan** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:30 pm

I think it is a fantastic idea and the truth is that giving out loot on the fly can take lots of time anyway.

As for waiting for lewt I think that is better than not having some fine loot at all when you defeat an orc tribe (or even worse that you do and it gets farmed over and over)

Dorn · Post by **Dorn** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:32 pm

darrenhfx wrote:How would the DM know if the lvl1 had a lvl 10 helping if they aren't online to witness it? I guess if they are taking down large enough foe, it could be implied that they had some sort of help... dunno.
Could we have the little pink markers create a bright neon flag in the logs?

Well a DM could just ask how they got it when the player turns in the loot marker.

...i guess the player COULD lie......but then is it worth the risk that the DM might check?

The only problem i see with this system is if a DM twinks his mate. But i'm sure that would happen with or without the system in place....and very rarely.

Post by **Arianna** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:57 pm

How do keep track of What loot the token is suppose to represent? If you don't list it on the token itself?

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:45 pm

I think the loot token is meant to represent what you defeated, not the loot itself so much. The essence of the token is that the loot you get is up to the discretion of the DM. This is a better way to think about it anyway, because if we say it represents a particular basket of loot that's adjusted, that would seem to just invite potential argument over whether an up-or-down adjustment was justified. If we say its completely discretionary at the outset, it eliminates any perception that somebody could be "owed" some underlying, specific basket.

Grand Fromage · Post by **Grand Fromage** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:24 pm

I've always liked the loot note rather than having the actual uberloot available. Very good way to cut off any exploits without making the entire thing DMed only.

idoru · Post by **idoru** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:25 pm

Arianna wrote:How do keep track of What loot the token is suppose to represent? If you don't list it on the token itself?

Since I created the original loot token implementation on TLR [/shamelessboast] I know the answer to this one..

I created a loot token for each mob spawn I created that dropped magical items. So you had "loot token - orc chieftain", and then matching loot. My policy at the time was that all magical loot came in the form of loot tokens. Standard NESS spawns dropping magical stuff every time you kill them is a good way to encourage PGs to hit the same spawn over and over...

Can't really take credit for the system though, as I believe Sareena or Alby gave me the original idea.

Stormseeker · Post by **Stormseeker** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:25 pm

Still a good idea*grins*it should have been implemented alfa wide..maybe in nwn2 it can be.

Ronan · Post by **Ronan** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:35 pm

Why not script it? Persistant tracking of spawns and who fights them is possible even in our current NWNx2-less system.

Personally, I'd prefer everything be kept as IC as possible.. Perhapes the adventurers find a chest they cannot open, and so take it with them. Or a generic "magic sword" they cannot identify easily.

Lusipher · Post by **Lusipher** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:36 pm

I agree with that as well, Ronan.