DM Blog: Hexadecimal

[Hexadecimal]

Yes, I'm actually gonna make one as well. Give you the players a view into another perspective of a DMs life, the IG/Event side of things. It will include images and information from how things work on my side, but I will of course do my best to filter away any spoilers first. So it should be no trouble at all reading for anyone.

But that won't happen until I write my first post on this, and that's not now. Need Sleep right now.

Stay tuned.

[Hexadecimal]

What could it possible be that I could share with the players of what I do? I asked myself this question several times as Sceer kept talking about how his Blog and how it began from nothing to what it is just next to my own Blog now. After a lot of thinking, and a few inspirational speeches I found what I was looking for.

What is it a DM like me really do IG?
A DM as me, that spends most of my time IG with you Players this is sometimes a hard question to answer. If I say to much I could spoil several months of planing and playing, if I say nothing you will grow bored. So what I'm going to show you now and then is just exactly what it is I create while being IG, on the fly, with only the DM Client and my own imagination.

Path of Purgatory
Below is a image of a area of one of the most recent events I ran. Enter, the Path of Purgatory. When and if you think that playing a rouge is not needed cause you can see the traps anyway think again. With my ideas of DM events you better make sure you got a rouge along if you want to avoid walking into things you didn't see. The Image below was a system of Traps and paths only a rouge would be able to spot in it's fullest. A few pathway traps required to be disabled to actually be able to move ahead without injury.



The Ritual Chamber
Feeling and impressions is a lot when it comes to DM events. To catch interest one has to find ways to detail a area, sometimes in ways the players won't even be aware they notice. When I create a Event I usually ain't just taking a area and filling it with monsters. Often I can spend 30-60min just filling it with details, small things that makes a load of difference once you Players see it. I'm not going to even mention how many hours I spent in ToM just preparing for certain events but the next time you enter a area you know I'm running a Event in keep your eyes open. Sometimes there is things you miss that could make a whole area so much more awesome if you just knew they were there.



The Storm
Sometimes I just spend time supporting another other DM IG. I work on creating details in certain areas, I handle effects and almost anything that is required on the Fly. Below is a example of a event I didn't plan out myself, I just ran around giving HarryMcScary support with putting in effects, encounters, Random areas and possessing creatures. When you got two DMs running a event we actually make some of our best ones, as we are very open about what we plan and is able to help each other out.

[Hexadecimal]

Adventure on the High Seas! Or the Proper way to say Yar!

So I'm making events, and it always drags out on the time for some reason. I can tell the players quite often on IRC and IG by tells that: "I'm working on a area for a event" or "I'm preparing things for a event later today". This is quite true. If I'm not careful I might spend hours just making one or two areas the way I want them. So today will be quite image heavy as I share with you just what I got to work with and what I turn it into when I'm done.

So what am I going to show you exactly? Well I ran a event for a bunch of players yesterday, and I actually made notes to take screenshots! So What you will get today is some before and after pictures along with some information. Because, really, I spent probably at least 2 hours IG yesterday just building these things.

The ship


Yes, this is what it looked like when I started. A basic Ship on water. Granted I did not do that much with the ship itself in this area, but what came with it was more than enough to keep my busy for hours. Cause any ship really got to have some interior. For note I had some fun plans for this area which fell as time disappeared. But I will do it again someday! Just to get it done cause it would be awesome.



I just love ships, and the ability to have several levels where people is able to walk around. But my ship did not come with that by default. So I had to make it on my own first. Second, the ship got 3 entrances, which means 3 sections of the ship I want to link somewhere. A Guest Quarter, Below deck and Captains Quarter. What I figured I should start with though was the largest part, the Interior.



And this is what came from my previous idea. I needed a interior to the ship. Quite empty isn't it? It's nothing like the end results. Now I pride myself with having a creative mind, the ability to learn and to put what I learned to use. I don't like stopping halfway cause, well it's halfway.


Overview of the areas below deck

Supply room and kitchen

Storage room

There! Much better isn't it? That took me quite a lot of time to do. A lot more time than this simply cut and paste ever could do it justice. I just love the idea of having a fully fleshed out area for what I need. I don't want to add things afterward a event starts cause I forgot. Now I got 75% of the ship done, the remaining 25% is what took most of my time actually. *shudders* It should not have, but it did still.


I said 25% remained yes? That is, two areas I had to put in somehow that just did not exist anywhere for me to easily grab and link. So I improvised, I do that quite a lot sometimes. This is a completely different area, that I blocked off the doors into, made my own entrances and really spent some time getting the transitions to work in. Why you ask? Because no ship is ever complete without a place for it's Captain to spend his long days writing logs, play the piano, invite fine women to eat dinner. Well you get it. I just could not imagined my event without the possibility that this might happen. Second I needed a place for the players to sleep cause I had one section of the ship left that I wanted to link. So I used the other room as a sleeping quarter for guests.  You don't mix crew and guests on a ship, nuhu, never.
 I seriously spent at least 30 min going back to this area just to get the transitions working, it seems that if even the slightest part of a transit object floats on a none walkable spot in the game, you can fully link it but it won't port you to it.

Last I needed a captain for the ship. Luckily he's been around before so getting his clothes and hat wasn't really a problem.



Meet the Captain, he refuses to show his eyes though. I guess he simply shudders for the need to hie adventurers for his ship, again.

Last meet my creation avatar. Whenever I'm building something I look like this IG. It keeps me smiling even when things don't work in the beginning. Brain in a Jar. *snickers*

[Hexadecimal]

Evening everyone. This is not going to be a ordinary DM blog.

While I have been busy spoiling you all with my almost everlasting time IG or IRC, that seems to have come to an end.

About 48 hours ago I got a call from a company asking if I could come into a interview within the hour. Since that phone call I spent the coming 24 hours in 2 interviews with 4 different people, 3 phonecalls with various other people and less than 24 hours from when they first called me I was hired.

So by the 2nd I'm starting work and my time around here will be cut down a lot. But do not worry! I will still be around and run events, some of you might not notice any difference at all. I even got something in the line here on the DM side that I will aim to complete before work start, my hopes is that you will all enjoy it.

What it is? That you will find out soon enough.

~ Hexadecimal

[Hexadecimal]

Another update? Yes!

Ehem...

Some of you probably noticed what it was I was working on and mentioned in my last blog. But for those of you who did not here it comes!

Say Hello to the Winterspear.



The Winterspear is a specific part of the Galena Mountains East of Phlan and just north of the Thar. From it's cold and snowy peaks springs the river known as the Winterspear River. From the highest parts of the mountains it was violently awakened ages ago and it's fury has never ended. But even from this dangerous force of nature there comes life.



The River itself grants the needed water for many different kinds of trees and vegetation to spring to life around it. Further down it is one of the main sources of water to the city of Hulburg and countless of small villages of both humans and monsters alike in between.



But now something has stirred deep in the Winterspear Mountains, and from deep below the snowy peaks marshes thousands of Kobolds towards the land around it, threatening the cities of both Hulburg and Glister as they steadily push on from the Winterspear Mountains.

[Hexadecimal]

So...

It's been a while since I last updated here on my blog. Suppose that is only natural considering how life been for me the last few weeks. Not going to talk about that, boring! So let's talk about something else: What Hexadecimal been doing these last few weeks!

A selected few know this already, but the Winterspear mountains revived a few add-ons these past few weeks. Something I have found ToM to lack has always been places to explore. It's the Moonsea! It's the place where farmers trip over ancient ruins everyday!

"Arr! Shar be Damned! Another bloody ancient ruin of doom! Just where I was planting my potatoes!"

Ehem, anyway. Given the last few weeks I have worked to put in the finished touch on the areas and make them fun to explore. The feedback I have recived so far been very promising so I hope that they will come the server and you players well in use!

But I'm not done yet!

"By Beshebas Beard, he never stops speaking that one."

Today I'm putting in something special, something I have had in mind and been working on the last week.

"Ye know, they ain't finding this funny you twit. Just let them know about it and be done with it. The'r gonna die horrible anyway soon enough."

Introducing!

"Arg! That's it. I give up!"

Hexadecimals very own first Quest on ToM!

"That's all? And here I was thinking it would be something good for once. Ye lousy Bastard! Wake me up when ye got me ma +5 vorpal dagger!"

And where might this quest be located you might ask? Oh, that you will have to find out by yourself.

"Finally! Get back to yer hole ah don't wana see ya for another week!"

[Hexadecimal]

Oh, forgot to add: I'm going to try and make a few more quests and spread them around the server the coming weeks. If things goes as well as with this one expect more soon!

"Ye Gods yer back! I said one week damn it! Back! Back I say you foul beast!" Beats Hexadecimal back into the hole with the ugly stick

[Hexadecimal]

Hello everyone, today will be a short update on my DM blog. But a update none the less

Following the great success of my first DM quest I have begun to spend some free time at work to spawn up more quests to be made once I manage to steal a few hours at home during the weekdays. I'm hoping to be able to fill up some of the level ranges which so far lack some in the possibilities of quest and that is the higher level ranges. I'm hoping to be able to within the coming month produce at least two or three more quests for the level range of 4-10 and I hope to be able to give you all some to do when you reach those levels.

Once I get the hang of how the system behind our Quest System(TM) work then I should be able to speed this up a bit as well. My goal for now is to try and get out at least one new quest each month. To give all our great players some more new and fun things to do.

[Hexadecimal]

Say hello to our newest Quest Giver. He's not that hard to spot once you find him, but let me note he is not in Phlan. I try to make use of the areas outside of Phlan currently so people will have reasons to leave the city and go out adventuring.

Not much else for update today except I heard a group managed to topple a giant, congratulations on that! It's not a easy feat on ToM atm.

[Hexadecimal]

Update!

It's a short one though.

Because of a drop in activity by us DMs IG I'm shifting focus from quest building, toolseting and scripting to be more IG. These last weeks we experienced a lot of things on the DM side which caused several DMs to be unable be around. I personally missed this though so I'm right now working to simply wrap up the small parts I'm working on in the toolset and then leave them half finished to continue to have as main focus to login IG.

While I'm not around as much as I once was I hope to be able to login at least several times a week but it is not guaranteed that I run custom events and quests every time for note. I'm probably more going to watch and observe you players and spice up the things you do on your own initiatives. Still don't be afraid to ask me if you want to speak with a NPC, do something plot related or similar. Actually that would even be the best. Catch me IG and let me know of your plans so I can help you make them come alive!

[Hexadecimal]

It's the 2nd of November and I'm taking it slow and peacefully for the first time sine last week. I spent mostly all of Halloween IG or working in the toolset, creating, tinkering, configuring and moderating the server to have everything work as flawless as possible for the final of several of my plots that came to conclusion on Sunday. I'm now standing at a wider selection of things to spend my time on in the coming future and I believe everyone will agree that from here it's going to get more interesting to play on ToM.

I have several projects in line that will hopefully start to appear across the server within the coming weeks, and I will of course drop some info, screenshots and jokes on this spot so keep looking!



Hexadecimal, cause I can.

[Hexadecimal]

So, it's another Friday and what am I up to you might ask?

Here's a few updates for you all on that!

First of: Quests!

I have spent some good time this week trying to adjust and change our quests on the server a bit. Some have grown a bit, some shrunk(!), but mostly I have been trying to adjust the level ranges, difficulty and rewards(!!). With the help of some well placed spies across the server there been a small flood of reports of quests and areas eating people alive. So I set out with the big War Mace of Doom and gave the quests a few whacks over the heads.

So, take a look around! Give some quests a new go and don't be afraid to >PM< me the information!

So, what's next?

Notes!

I snuck this into the server today and I hope you will find some fun with it. It's going cost you a small sum of gold but you will hopefully find a lot of fun with this "new" tool to play around with. I'm certain at least some of you has come across our nifty custom made notes IG now and then, now you can make your own!

And the rest?

Well, I'm still working on a new quest for the Server. It's coming along nicely but it's still a long way from finished. But stay around and I'm sure you will enjoy it as well.

Last?

Oh, yes. There is something more. Currently on the server there is a few quests done by other DMs that is almost done! I'm looking into putting them live for you all to test as well. So there is quite a Christmas coming up on ToM.

Hexadecimal
Cause I can

[Hexadecimal]

Quests!

Well, I have been speaking about making another one. Turns out I took a bit more than first predicted but it's coming along nicely. I have had a lot of players help me happily with the project to bug test scripts and give me some input here and there but for now it's going to enter the polish stage and it's now just going to come some fun screenshots from here here on the blog now and then.

So for the first time ever, here's two images on what's to come on ToM!

[Hexadecimal]

Greetings Everyone, it's been a while since I last made a post and it got it's reasons.

First of all as some of you know I went sick for a few weeks. I'm just now finally starting to feel OK without any sudden attacks of sleepiness and other such unpleasant things.

I have spent much time in the toolset the past weeks because of that since it let me leave the computer at will. This in turn has of course resulted in some work been done to the ToM module and many new places has appeared across the server!

Here is a few examples of what I have been working on, most things but not all is in. And some is pending further discussion before being put in among the DM team but I'm going to give you all a insight in what I'm making.


OLM: The City of Melvaunt

It's a experiment that I'm quite pleased with. It's currently not including any walkable areas unfortunately but the OLM city is a bit more representative of how it would look.

OLM: The Glumpen Swamp

This is one of the more major things I have put into the module these last few weeks. It's a another full five areas that link together and create the large and dangerous swamp known as the Glumpen Swamp. 

OLM: The Quivering Forest

This I worked out with support from one of our Builders Guild members Harluk. It's the first real forest area in the module you can travel to! Lovely for those all out nature druids and rangers who prefer badgers and brown bears instead of warm beds and metal forks.

This is just small examples of what is now out there(!) which I hope you all will test out and enjoy as much as I enjoyed creating them!

We are currently also working at finally updating the domains and deities list which been sadly lacking for a long time. While it probably won't be perfect we will try and ship out what's been decided so far at least. (Yay!)

Last I got some updates for the people who announced their interest in a campaign lead by myself on ToM. I'm slowly working on it but unfortunately I have been awfully uninspired the last weeks. I'm almost done with the setup, I just hope that with the last lingering issues with my sickness gone I should now be able to finish that up and get going!

So enjoy it all and expect more news in the soon future!

Hexadecimal
Because I can.

[Hexadecimal]

Bonus Show/update!



While I'm not even sure if these "cities" even will ever appear IG, they were fun to make. This is something that is quite important when you work for hours and days in the NWN2 toolset, if it's not fun it's going to break you working like this. I'm often spending more hours on planing and modelling when I'm working in the toolset than I do doing other things including work on a workday.

When I start to work in the Toolset when I get home, I almost always got a plan.

The Plan I worked out at work on a small block of paper and a pen. There I pen down everything from maps and 3D models to item attributes, colours schemes and facial appearance.

Then when I get home I got these treasures of notes and from them I create the many things you have seen me put into the module the last few weeks.

But this also means that I'm putting a huge amount of my day into making these things, so whenever I feel like I am about to force myself doing something I drop what I'm doing and work on something fun! Luckely for me I find the Toolset fun, so I experiment and let my mind rest a bit while I just do what crazy ideas comes to mind.

If I ain't got any that jumps up though? Well then I simply close down and stop being at the computer, it's a important thing to know how to do after all when spending this amount of time on something.

Hexadecimal
Cause I can