Base Mod Content Thread: Scripts

[Dorn]

* Armor Damage - visual mods like the shoulder or leg plates being hacked off
* Weapon Breakage - helps support crafting and professions

Extremely annoying. We used to have weapon breakage, and it was very annoying, which is why it has been removed. Perhaps if it only worked on normal armour and weapons, not magical and even then it was even rarer than what it was.

I used to love it:)
Made it worthwhile being a fighter and being strong enough to carry backup weapons. Made it necessary to save up for that extra weapon (wealth sink - as long as it's applied to magic weapons as well).

I always thought it was a shame it was removed.

I LOVE the aging idea. I think that would be fantastic. At the moment i'd do it through DM remakes if i needed to. ANd as not many human characters last long enough to age considerably these are only required rarely

[Thangorn]

Anyone heard any word as to whether Jasperre and Neschke will update their JAI & NESS (respectively) systems for NWN2? Are they still active in the community?

[Baalster]

Anyone heard any word as to whether Jasperre and Neschke will update their JAI & NESS (respectively) systems for NWN2? Are they still active in the community?

A couple of months ago, Cereborn - the last maintainer of NESS - was asked, and he responded positively. After that - nothing.

My guess is that both systems will be updated for NWN2, if not by them, then by someone else.

Baalster
HDM 081 Whitehorn

[ç i p h é r]

@NickD

Per the forum guidelines, I'm just putting the ideas forth as suggestions so we can track them, not promoting them per se. We can debate the merits of each idea when the time comes and determine what it is the community wants.

As regards the NPC experience idea, it's for the purpose of eliminating the "static" feel of the game world. This isn't a play once module. It's a persistent world so in order for it to really feel like one, it would be far more interesting if NPCs would also show some change over time. Wouldn't have to be much, but exactly what and how much does bear consideration I think. And yes, DMs certainly could handle this...but if they are not NPCs involved in plots, it's a terribly mundane thing to be occupied with and I wager they rarely get updated for that reason.

[fluffmonster]

weapon breakage would be great, *if* it could be made to PnP.

Ah, I miss the thrill of the red die.

[Spider Jones]

Weapon breakage might even be included in NWN2, If they include the feats/combat abilities like Sunder, Improved Sunder, et cetera.

[Wynna]

Baalster's Reputation System. Murky has reservations about how requiring this would make demands on the builders to lock them into this system that I'll ask him to comment on, but I'd like to work around them and get this in, if possible.

Baalster's rumor system. I saw this demonstrated one night and it wowed me. It was on the fly inclusion of directed rumors. He was manipulating a database and after I used a keyword in dialogue that recorded the rumor in game, less than a minute later he was able to force an NPC to spout my test PCs words as a rumor right back at my test PC.

I wrote a set of scripts for TSM last year that allows for the movement of a siege tower between a start waypoint and an end waypoint. The start and end waypoints may be placed in toolset or by the DM on the fly in game with an item currently called the siege engine whip. The same tool creates the engines in game with a click on the ground and with the next click on the created engine starts it moving towards their destination. The engine currently gets one z-axis change, so it can start on a hill and 'roll' down or start in a ditch and 'roll' up. The number of stops the engine makes between the start and end waypoints is customizable in the master script, as is the time it spends at each stop (to allow time for defenders to fireball it before it destroys and recreates at the next stop.) The damage it takes is persistent, as are the flames/smoke/scorchmarks that burn on it from stop to stop. Fire burns it down slowly. When it dies, it leaves behind debris that may or may not burn for a while. You can create as many siege engines as you want, the scripts tag each uniquely. They're pretty fun on their own, but the movement scripts themselves could be adapted to pretty much any placeable we want to have move.

[Baalster]

Baalster's Reputation System. Murky has reservations about how requiring this would make demands on the builders to lock them into this system that I'll ask him to comment on, but I'd like to work around them and get this in, if possible.

I believe we should force builders to use the infrastructure of the base module. If we can harness best practices we can make uniform modules with regional contents.

The reputation system isn't difficult. Alot of it I can into the scripters heads in a session or two. However, we need to know if reputation still is in the game, and if the influence system of NWN2 can do the same thing.

With the reputation system in place, we can add the script-less quest system and the rumor system built on top of it. So we can direct which quests are available to the PC and which are not. We will definitely have more "lively" NPCs as the can react differently based on the PCs reputation. This forces the PC to spend time on the server to gain the faction's trust. No more rushing in, and be treated as you've known them all their lives. Some regions doesn't give trust easily. The game should reflect this.

As for the rumor system, why would you give someone with high reputation crap or false rumors ? And why wouldn't you give false rumors to someone you know you dislike ?

These three components are things I intend to bring to the base module, by taking the tech team through the code for them. They will absolutely need redesign and rewrite for NWN2. What I have on Whitehorn at the moment, I consider proof-on-concept. Many has liked what they seen, and the possibilities they give to bring better life to the NPCs. It's one of the key things I would like to see on our show-case first wave of servers for NWN2.

Baalster
HDM 081 Whitehorn

[ç i p h é r]

Bear in mind, this is very fundamental to world building. To try and implement this after you've created all your NPCs, conversations, quests, and even merchants would be like trying to stuff a concrete slab under your home after you've built it. Depending on the method of implementation and the extent of the system, this may even apply to the creation of global NPC blueprints (for the purposes of introducing default NPC attitudes "out of the box" based on specific factors, namely region of origin, race, class, gender, and/or deity).

Regarding rumors, the use of a database not only allows you to record rumors based on what players say and do in the game, but allows DMs to insert rumors into the system to stimulate plots. And in the same way reputation affects rumors, it should affect store prices and access to special inventories, which is one of several reasons why I favor the use of conversation based merchants. We could go as far as creating the global template for that as well but leave it up to builders to decide what they want to drop in.

If the ONE PW argument ever applied to anything it's to fundamental systems like this. Can you imagine being on one server where this was implemented then travelling to another where it wasn't?

[Baalster]

...which is one of several reasons why I favor the use of conversation based merchants. We could go as far as creating the global template for that as well but leave it up to builders to decide what they want to drop in.

This is how the quest system works. The builder is free to make the conversation how he wants, but the dialog should include the appropriate scripts at the correct locations. Once people have done it two or three times it is very easy.

Another thing we can do, is to use Z-dialogs and build up our own dialogs in scripts. Pretty nifty, but will loose its usefulness with the variable setting in conversations directly... I used it to implement a dynamic Reptation Adjustment Wand to change the reputation for all custom factions on Whitehorn up or down 1,3,5 or 10 points - with just three scripts.

Baalster
HDM 081 Whitehorn

[ç i p h é r]

Right on Baalster.

BTW, I've been meaning to speak with you on this whole subject seeing as you and I appear to be surfing the same wavelength. Seems like some collaboration would be in order.

[Magonushi]

Hope someone sees this.

Might I suggest we change the way we handle PC deaths around here. Just last night I was reminded of the pains of trying to relevel after an accedental DM-kill-button death and loss of level.

It took Ven and myself quite some time to make sure all my XP, htps, skills, etc. set up again.

My suggestion would be to not take off the XP cost of rezing until someone is actually rezed with the standard clerical spells. This way a DM misclick wouldn't cause an entire quest to pause for 15-20 minutes while the player relevels and whatnot.

Thoughts?

[Overfilled Cup]

add to bartlebys. Practicing soldiers. ie attacking combat dummies/archery targets

[Vendrin]

Hope someone sees this.

Might I suggest we change the way we handle PC deaths around here. Just last night I was reminded of the pains of trying to relevel after an accedental DM-kill-button death and loss of level.

It took Ven and myself quite some time to make sure all my XP, htps, skills, etc. set up again.

My suggestion would be to not take off the XP cost of rezing until someone is actually rezed with the standard clerical spells. This way a DM misclick wouldn't cause an entire quest to pause for 15-20 minutes while the player relevels and whatnot.

Thoughts?

Please god let this happen.

[ç i p h é r]

Please god let this happen.

God works at ALFA?

I KNEW it. He's a programmer!

WHERE ARE YOU HIDING HIM!!?? (Her?)

just kidding people