Neverwinter

Tomorrow, the first batch of Cult of the Dragon foundry quests will go live. I don’t know when mine will show, or if it will show. I kinda think the first few batches will have the advantage of player interest. I’ve been over and over the quest since the supposed deadline back on the 6th, ripping out stuff but more often, adding in new stuff. One disadvantage of coming up with the plot last is that by the time I figure out what the plot is, I’ve put too much work into the quest to make that plot clear to the player. ...

Back to the Foundry once more. Kasul and I had intended to start reviewing the Cult of the Dragon foundry contest entries tonight, but the start date for those has been moved to next week. The new module and the inevitable Foundry issues made it impossible for many authors to get their quests into shape before the deadline of yesterday passed. For instance, using the words “to pass” anywhere in your quest flags it as profane. ...

Got this note from Shard@prettycelt, the author of the “Turtle Soup” foundry: Hi there– Thanks for leaving a review and a tip! Based on your comment about lore, I did want to let you know that Eastern lore does, in fact, exist in the Forgotten Realms, including Yakuza. You can see for yourself: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Nine_Golden_Swords http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Xiousing And where there’s Shou Lung/Wa influence and Yakuza, it logically follows that there might be Sumo Wrestlers (but we can just call that artistic license lol). ...

Another Monday, another foundry night in Neverwinter. I know I said, last week, that I wouldn’t be reviewing any more Cult of the Dragon contest entries until the contest goes live on the 19th, but… there are just so many entries. It’s hard to find any new quests that aren’t contest entries. But, we did find one shining example. City of the Lost by mittensofdoom A cleric of Kelemvor has given you directions to the city of Luskan, and a mysterious holy arrow. Once arrived, we will be told more. ...

This week in the Neverwinter Foundry! A short night, as Kasul and I were play testing each other’s contest entries. Mine, as you know, is “Fire Sale” (and I’m going to do a project review on it at some point). Kasul’s entry is “Of Kobolds and Cultists”, and I won’t be reviewing it. You should play it, though – AFTER it gets featured as part of the Dragon Cult contest. ...

My most popular foundry is the one that took the least time to make. When new farm-type events roll around, some people head for custom made foundries tuned specifically for farming event drops. I thought this was a great scam, so I took my favorite farm foundry (someone else’s), essentially copied it, built it into an EverQuest theme – specifically West Karana, same as my blog – and put that out there. Each time a new event rolls around, I change its name to reference the new event. ...

Rewrote the end of my quest. The player gets to see all the damage they caused, and the medics treating the people you hurt, firefighters taking care of the damage… makes me feel good that these people are being treated.

Just four days left to polish my Cult of the Dragon entry. So much scripting left to do. Here’s a portion of the script for when you finally confront the Chosen of Ghaunadaur. Still working on making the ending suitably epic. See, right after the ending, the player rates and reviews the quest. The beginning has to draw the player in, but the ending has to seal the deal. It almost doesn’t matter about anything in between.

I’ve been lax about keeping up with our foundry nights, so we have a lot to cover today! The Stolen Dragon Egg by Zachariah92 An entry into the Cult of the Dragon foundry contest. You’re sent as a guard for a caravan heading to a city in the far north. After some eventful nights guarding the caravan along the way, you and your employers make it to the city and relax in a tavern for the night, perhaps even flirting with some of the merchants. Then the Cult of the Dragon strikes, and you must earn your pay by rescuing your employers – if you can – while defeating the Cult and their traitorous leader. ...

Foundry contest update #5. FINISHED! I finished… the first pass. It can be played and finished with all three quest paths. This screen shows how complicated the final room can get when you have three storylines colliding. I wrote a conversation for my in-dungeon avatar that explains how the storylines work, and talks about my other foundries, and (naturally) begs the player to leave a review. It’s a contest, after all. No reviews, no ratings, no winning. ...