Halls of Hamhock beta test

[Dorateen]

Last week, I started a closed beta test for an upcoming module "The Halls of Hamhock". I have already received some preliminary feedback, this thread is for testers to continue the discussion.

Harumph!

[Lariam]

Weclome to the Weave forums and good luck with the testing, Dorateen!

[Phoenixus]

Hey there Dorateen,

Glad you found it.

I want to go over some general things I noticed currently in your module.

I liked your entry cutscene as well as the idea of graying out the scene to give the background. This is a very good portion, but it moves a little too quickly. You may consider adding one more block of text to this before moving to the shot of the King with the demon behind him.

The entry point where the game starts with the conversation with the man in black should probably happen quicker. To do this use a speaktrigger right on the waypoint where the player arrives it will make a good entry conversation rather than having the PC walk up to him.

This conversation could also use a bit of smoothing up. It's good, but it makes assumptions on the part of the reader that they generally don't trust a man in black. It kind of comes off a little cliche. Outside that, the man is personable and likeable and is a good NPC.

Keep in mind my game didn't work the way it was intended, When I retextured your Dwarven Village are I accidently blocked off the Inn portion, so I was unable to get in. I fixed this but had already taken a first run through.

I then went to the Mayor's house, the conversation again, was with a personality that actually showed. He seems to be a real person behind the conversation and you've done well at creating him. But your player options for what to ask could use a little more fleshing out and need perhaps an added choice or two.

One thing I noticed up to that point... your indoor area was way too large for what was needed. Granted it's supposed to be a larger house, but in your case you can probably handle the entire thing in a much smaller area. On a side note, this was a common mistake you made in your module. There were several areas that needed a little compaction.

Your Dwarven Village was one of them. I compacted some of the unneeded space and brought it closer togather. I'll have more on that later.

Right now we are slammed busy at work and it took me near an hour just to write this much. I'll post more as we go along hopefully when I get more time.

Keep in mind this is not an indictment of your module. Once you get into this it is surprisingly good. But it definitely needs a little polish.

[Dorateen]

Thank you Lariam for the welcome, and of course Phoenixus for the much-needed feedback!

What do they call that... the tardis effect? Yeah, some of these interors started out bigger than I actually needed them. I think (hope) that this improved as I continued building. I'll be interested in your thoughts and suggestions as you progressed further.

[Phoenixus]

Ok while I have a little more time...

Keep in mind my first playthrough I was unable to get into the Inn so I attempted the mountain directly. I got to the guards at the top, and they stopped me... but only for the duration of the conversation.

Once the conversation finished I could walk right by them because I had already activated the trigger.

I didn't check the scripting for the speaktrigger, but make sure it's set to multi-use and not a Do Once kind of thing. Also... put a waypoint in back behind the trigger, and jump the PC back there during the first node of the conversation so he will be forced to trigger that again until the time when the conversation changes will allow him to pass. This will keep the player from accidently bypassing it before it's time.

[Phoenixus]

Ok...

Once inside the Mountain was where I noticed an overly large area with too much space.

I see what you are trying to accomplish with this area, but it doesn't work the way you are thinking.

I reccomend swapping the tilesets back for the cavern Tilesets and using different building structures for this initial level that or use the Dwarven Halls hak pack from RS Studios. I can help if you want to do this. It will do wonders for your Dwarven Hall.

That said...

The initial area was too sizable and too bare for what you wanted to do with it. You will need to use things like the fallen pillars as well as solid pillars. Also, use the Tower Building structures. to create the internal things you wanted to create. It will be much more fitting. As it stands the area is too open.

Keep in mind, combat wise I didn't know what the module level for characters was so I jumped in with an 8th level character and didn't have any henchmen. But the encounters were surprisingly well balanced against a single 8th level character, so I suspect a party of 3-4 characters of level 4-5 would probably find it a good challenge. That said I was solo so I can't put money on that.

More as I get time.