Work on the SoZ project continues, and I’ve created probably my last exterior for this little mini-project. Today was dialogue and scripting day. I suspect I’ll get the scripting perfected for this one area by tomorrow.
Here’s a little more info on the quest I’m creating:
The Village of Taruin nears death and the Samarachan Soldiers are doing little to help them in their time of need. The Taruin Farmlands have been taken over by an aggressive tribe of Batiri. The Village does not have enough supplies to last more than a few more months. In order to ensure that trade with Taruin can continue, you must aid them and rid the farmlands of the Batiri blight.
Advertisement
0_0
Very impressive. Very, *very* impressive. That second screenshot in particular is fantastic.
Thanks anduraga!
(*goes to work on a new dungeon that will reach an acceptable level of quality*)
Thank god I have not gotten around to playing SoZ yet, given all the mods for NWN2 and the persistent worlds. Now I will wait patiently for this mod to be finished before I play SoZ for the first time!
Tauschitz
second the comment about the areas – the lighting is superb, I especially like the 5th one with the ominous sky
You really don’t know how envious I am of your areas…
Wow I wish I could mod like that.
That is amazing. Very immersive and atmospheric. I hope to master lighting like you’ve done.
On the subject of ‘filling in’ the villages like Taruin, Rassatan, Torich etc…did you find that to be a hiccup at all, when actually laying out the areas?
I’m just curious for another’s perspective, because I’ve been combing the net for a week and haven’t found much at all.
The menu-driven villages are a charming thing sometimes, too — I just wondered if you felt as bewildered as I do starting out with it. Or did you just kind of lay the area down by instinct?
I’m not exactly sure what you were trying to ask but I’ll answer what I can make of it.
When designing a village such as Taruin, I didn’t want to go all out with it as some might would have. Initially before designing it, I had to know everything that I wanted to put inside of the village and center its design around it. For Taruin, the main attraction was the Temple of Kossuth, so I created a small sect of Taruin with a few buildings. The Brazier Knights were the personal guardians of the city, devoting their life to the flame and protecting the village, so you’ll see quite a few knights in the village, also a few priests preaching the word to the people to keep their hope up.
So, to answer your question the best I can, the quest I wanted to make shaped the design of the village (how the villagers behaved and what they did). In terms of laying out the village, I pretty much laid it out how I wanted it to look, making the Temple of Kossuth the main attraction of the village. Everything else would be extra.
I haven’t had the time to continue this little project yet, but I should have some time this weekend to work on it. I hope to have it complete soon and have it patched in (and submitted separately). I hope I answered your question. If not, just ask again but hopefully a little differently
Hey, thanks for the reply.
At least, once you realize that the OC scripts -do- actually exist and you aren’t crazy.) I’m continuing to watch the project y’all are doing, and I think it’s a great idea.
It’s helping me refine a perspective on area design, hopefully, that isn’t too philosophical or too pragmatic either.
So there’s a Temple of Kossuth in Taruin. Do you mind if I ask how you came by that information? I was basically going by the facts that SoZ hands to the player — there’s the bulk of Samarach’s military there, and spices are part of the economy. I don’t have much hardback D&D information, and if I’d tried to make this city, I fear I would’ve messed the cue to put in a Kossuth temple. If there’s been canonical stuff established, I can’t just shirk it.
Hopefully this makes that earlier question a lot more clear — But with Taruin or any other settlement in Samarach that you weren’t allowed to simply walk into, I looked for any information — city maps especially, but population and economic stuff — and just built up something mental from there. On Taruin (just as an example), I’ve been looking for a map way too long. I was starting to feel okay about marching in and just designing the area based on what I’d gleaned from SoZ and a few snippets of Wizards publications, here and there.
(Plus, all this agony is over Chult specifically because I like the setting, and just finished that campaign. It’s proving to be a gentle teacher.
I’ll eventually start building a stack o D&D books if it’s the only sure fire way to know what you should build. City layout was the biggest challenge for me — I guess it’s all creative interpretation. A lot of people seem to take a fairly loose approach to it (or, they just make worlds outside of anything preexisting). If I understand correctly, your solution of arranging part of the city around a purpose sounds like it might be the answer.
Thanks for being patient and communicative about this.
The Temple of Kossuth wasnt originally there. Its something that I added. Typically, you’d only find one of their temples in Thay, but my story evolved around a character who had escaped from Thay and fled back home in Taruin, spreading the new faith.
As far as Taruin itself, it’s Obsidian’s own creation I believe. The only city marked on the official Samarach map is Samargol and the Lantanese Lumber Camp. So its unlikely you’re going to find a map of it.
So as far as I know, you have free reign over the design of these places.