View source for Flooded Isles Expansion - ID: 1531

==== FORUM: [[Feature Requests]] ====
'''This topic was started by Oroboros on 06/03/2018, 07:49:31'''

<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 06/03/2018, 07:49:31</div>

On my wishlist is a Flooded Isles expansion pack that would take your characters into a realm far beyond the threat level of merely the Hell realm as depicted in Inferno.  It would be Lovecraftian in nature due to the sea and twisted/corrupted nature theme of Flooded Isles.  What is worse than Inferno?—a hyperdimensional non-Euclydian space full of cosmic beings that have never seriously considered the concept of morality as we humans understand it—only consolidation and maintenance of power, which the characters will be up against.  Destroying or even upsetting this power structure might end up being the plot of this story.  <br/>
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At level 61+ my most “playful” of playmates like Coast Walkers, Thorns, and Composts are no longer enough to hold my interest.  I once defeated 800,000xp worth of them without losing a single party member or using any cheat potions.  Maybe Flooded Isles could be a campaign/expansion pack that takes characters up to level 80 or something like that.  Might introduce another type of class transformation as well—as with Chronomancer class from Bard’s Tale 3.  Remember that Lovecraftian stories sometimes include time travel and other timelines or dimensions... That could make leveling exciting again for all of us who have currently maxed out that stat-development process at higher levels.  Creating higher-level abilities/skills/powers for high-level characters in general would also be a great idea.  Don’t feel that you have to be limited to the scope of what Michael Cranford had in mind.  May creativity and insight be yours in any of these future developments.  <br/>
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And as usual, thank you for having created this very nostalgic world for us to live in.  Blessings to you!

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<div class="postinfo">Post by icetear on 06/03/2018, 08:52:58</div>

Thank you very much for your ideas :-) I appreciate them!<br/>
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The most difficult task is to create content that can be dealt with regardless of party level (some player characters are still level 35 when having finished the Defiler).<br/>
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kind regards<br/>
Mario

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 07/03/2018, 09:55:12</div>

Then maybe the seashells allow your party access to a guardian to these new (expansion pack) realms which will test their mettle and prevent those who are incapable of entering these higher cosmic realms entry.  You could set the difficulty of this battle at level 40, 50, or whatever feels appropriate.  Then the real plot begins.  Within this realm, new abilities might include some sort of “force” attack from warriors that affects an entire group, healing, regeneration, & rejuvenation spells for paladins, more powerful bard songs, the ability for a hunter or rogue to attack more than one target per round (if there are others of the same kind in the attacked group), new spells for dragon callers (for instance like Earth Maw for BT3 geomancers), new spells for archmages too, such as spells which block aging, insanity, possession, etc. (which will be helpful in such a Lovecraftian world).  Maybe allow a class-based “time-shift” that allows characters to advance levels in a class they have previously transitioned from.  For instance, if one of your characters is a dragon caller but was originally a rogue, then you can choose to advance in rogue whenever you gain a level.  If one of your archmages turns into a chronomancer or “dimensionalist” or “void walker” or whatever you want to call it, then they can choose to advance in either archmage or the alternate caster class upon leveling up—but only at some special transdimensional review board that resides in planes more distant and vast than those that the elemental dragons live(ed) in.  You could allow for advancement in alchemical skills that are beyond the usual level as well.  Plus, as a general improvement, make mithril runes and high-level equipment (plate mail of forgus, enchanted spellwoven robes, etc.) somehow more available and not just up to extraordinarily slim chances that you’ll ever run across them even if you are grinding continuously in the only places they are ever found.  Create a way to unenchant items too—so you can then upgrade them with better runes.  Offer one to three calibers of runes that are above mithril (adamantium, diamond, tesseract, whatevs).  Make a set of higher level gear for all character classes that is better than forgus and wyvernhide, and enchanted spellwoven, etc.  And also, please allow for a way to not have to leave behind potentially valuable loot just because your party has no gear slots left (all full of seashells?).  Give the player options to transfer it to the bank if they have that spell/power, or to drop a currently owned item in order to pick up a more valuable one.  <br/>
Thanks for hearing me out, Mario!

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<div class="postinfo">Post by icetear on 07/03/2018, 09:57:58</div>

You're welcome!<br/>
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Ever thought about creating a roleplaying-game?  8-) <br/>
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kind regards<br/>
Mario

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 08/03/2018, 08:47:59</div>

By the time I was 12 years old, I was already buying the original Dungeons & Dragons boxed games.  By age 13 or so, I started creating my own worlds and then began serving as Dungeon Master or Storyteller for many different campaigns in many different fantasy worlds, some of my own design, others from Forgotten Realms or other “official settings”.  I’ve served in table-top RPGs in player and storyteller roles many times in the past.  I really appreciate the work you’ve done with Silversword!  Oh, that reminds me—maybe the Silversword itself (which has become severely underpowered since the end of the original story) can be upgraded to a more powerful and impactful form in this proposed expansion.  Mayhaps it can be empowered to defeat some of these cosmic forces. In the original Bard’s Tale series, the solution to the final problem was in the title itself.  That was true before in Silversword as well, and might become true again.

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Visstar on 09/03/2018, 17:34:28</div>

Wow, I'm terrified at the thought of playing this, let alone programming it!  :) <br/>
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It sounds amazing, but I'm not sure how non-euclidian space would look on a 2D iPad screen. How many arrows would yo need for navigation??<br/>
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The Lovecraftian thing is intriguing, and I like the "Sanity" spell, without which characters might go mad. Perhaps "Song of Reason" would suffice?<br/>
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Thanks for the post and the ideas. Whether Mario takes any of them on or not, you're at least making him think about it!

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 10/03/2018, 06:14:22</div>

Hi Visstar, yes being terrified is very much the point here.  This is “cosmic horror” after all.  And just in case folks are thinking that a connection between Celtic lore (which is often considered to be the premise of The Bard’s Tale series) and Lovecraftian themes is unlikely, I would invite them to play Clive Barker’s game “Undying” in which you eventually fight an extra-dimensional being known as the “Undying King”: <URL url="https://youtu.be/QxpRhtcdfww">https://youtu.be/QxpRhtcdfww</URL>  I’m not sure how the non-Euclydian geometry would work, but there could either be extra movement arrows and/or spells that transport you to dimensions that overlap with the one you’re in currently (or perhaps the spell enables said arrows).  For instance, you cast a dimensional shifting spell that takes you out of Flooded Isles into a neighboring dimension that overlaps with this same space and where sh*t gets weird and horrific—like finding an invasion force of extra-dimensional nasties that are right on your doorstep (including more than just Thorns, Coast Walkers, and Composts), but you didn’t have the eyes to see them before.  There could be other, overlapping dimensional spaces above and beyond this first one as well.  A sanity spell or song of reason would be absolutely necessary in “terrain” like this.  One could be the cure while the other is preventative.  I’m open to other ideas as well.

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 11/03/2018, 07:41:06</div>

Also, here is a video describing how alternate/higher dimensions could operate within a 2D and 3D framework in a video game: <URL url="https://youtu.be/XfiFBsKi7go">https://youtu.be/XfiFBsKi7go</URL>

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Visstar on 16/03/2018, 14:45:58</div>

<div class="quote"><b>Quote from Author: Oroboros</b><br>Also, here is a video describing how alternate/higher dimensions could operate within a 2D and 3D framework</div>

I liked this one. Perhaps dragons, who rule the planes, have magic for moving to other dimensions (planes), making the requisite spell a Dragoncaller spell.<br/>
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BTW I was thinking about a nautical theme for the Flooded Isles and think there should be a sea monster or two (Kraken, Leviathan, etc.) as major bosses. Perhaps Jack Carpenter has to take you to a distant shore to free enslaved Komkarthians (sp?) and you have to defeat a sea monster to get there.  If it gets too close to the ship, it drags you under, so you have to continually push it away, and the only way to kill it is to hack off its tentacles one by one with the Silversword. Integrating Lovecraftian elements like Cthulhu would be easy and would be in line with the insanity theme requiring the Level 8 sorcerer spell "Sanity."

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 27/03/2018, 06:29:32</div>

HI Visstar, sorry for the delay, but I had thought that this thread had been abandoned.  Glad you and I are keeping it going with ideas!  I really like your sea monster theme!  In the Lovecraftian world, such a monster could be Dagon (for more “research”, see here: <URL url="https://youtu.be/7uw7A7tJcrE">https://youtu.be/7uw7A7tJcrE</URL>) or Hydra (<URL url="https://youtu.be/5CAVfgBqruo">https://youtu.be/5CAVfgBqruo</URL>), but could take on any name or form in this realm.  Ship-based adventures sound lovely for the first portion of the adventure!  I like the more Greek mythology-based idea of cutting off tentacles (read hydra heads here) with the (perhaps newly upgraded with enough seashells) Silversword to systematically kill it one tentacle at a time, while then reaching an island where some sort of “Forgotten Temple” is eventually discovered—a temple to the Great Old Ones, or ancient transdimensional, god-like dragons, or some other “cosmic-level” nasties.  Within the temple, some sort of portal can be accessed, or maybe Dragon Callers or a new caster class finds a spell that allows for travel between planes to (at first) a shadowy flip-side of the usual world and full of monsters that were not visible before this planar transition.  Later, deeper, overlapping dimensional realms are accessed and cleared of mighty foes until eventually, you encounter the final boss, being a Great Old One who has recently awoken from sleep and who has become interested in conquering the physical plane where the plot-line of the Silversword game is set.  Think something like the battle with the mad god Tarjan in BT3, where the final foe must be defeated in a careful but tricky manner.  What do you think?

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 27/03/2018, 06:38:31</div>

For creative “research” purposes, here’s a great ship-based battle against Dagon from The Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.  This is a bit too modern for our fantasy setting here, but sets an appropriate scene: <URL url="https://youtu.be/7uw7A7tJcrE">https://youtu.be/7uw7A7tJcrE</URL>

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Visstar on 27/03/2018, 19:57:49</div>

It sounds cool! I think icetear already has a pretty good idea where he's going, but hopefully there's some room take some of this on board.

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Oroboros on 23/05/2018, 10:41:05</div>

Alright, sounds good.  Glad to offer some informed and inspired input along the way.  I hope Flooded Isles gets fleshed our some day.

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<div class="postinfo">Post by chrlpolk on 29/01/2020, 18:32:23</div>

Here is an idea I had for a Flooded Isles expansion awhile back which also offers an "otherworldly" element - maybe there's some intersectionality?  I had conceived this as an offshoot of Mario's Geas idea.<br/>
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The party is drawn to explore these sunken places. Islands, castles, villages, etc.  All underwater, lost to time.  The first part of the game is acquiring the ability to travel freely underwater (possibly some kind of magic that renders an "otherworldly" state to the party while underwater which inadvertantly becomes the antenna for the Geas).  Quite a bit of game explores these underground locations, looking for clues as to when they were built, who lived there, why they are unknown until now, and why you are drawn to it.<br/>
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At some point, you find a note about "Reviving a Dead Art" through a ritual.  This is of course a pun, because....<br/>
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New Class:  Necromancer<br/>
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Description:  Communicates with the dead.<br/>
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Restrictions - Ritual can only be performed by someone whose aura is not already clouded by more modern magic arts.  (Like Dragon Caster, no magic user classes)  Constitution of 25 required to survive the ritual.  Only 1 Necromancer allowed.  (The ritual will not work if there is already a Necromancer.)  Plot-wise, due to the strain to the veil of death breaching into the world of the living, only 1 Necromancer can exist at a time.<br/>
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Magic - Focuses on summoning skeletons, ghouls, etc.  Life draining magics. Unlike other schools of magic, characters revived during battle by a Necromancer are "undead" and will return to being dead after battle.  Perhaps high-level Necromancers can have life-restoring magic, but cannot be cast during battle.  (There is a plot reason for this.)<br/>
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Fighting - Necromancers do very low physical damage in battle.  However, their strikes may have added effects at higher levels, like stun and life drain (gives damage HP to Necromancer).<br/>
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Defense -  Necromancers are immune to instant-death magic.<br/>
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The Necromancer is an intentionally underpowered but plotwise necessary battler, which helps with the balancing issues of high level parties.<br/>
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After the Necromancer ritual is complete, the party returns to the sunken locations, only to discover that they are inhabited by spirits who they can now see and communicate with! (Necromancer required, of course; if the party returns without the Necromancer, they won't see the spirits.)  They had been there the whole time.  (Perhaps prior hints in locations of major NPC's, like, "PC caught a whiff of perfume which was quickly overpwowered in the stench of decay." Or, "PC heard a whisper, but it was the wind.")<br/>
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Party learns that these are an ancient people.  One of their historians stumbled upon an ancient (for their time!) ritual. Guess which one - just how old IS this ritual??<br/>
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That Necromancer experimented in the arts and caused the catastrophe that sunk the islands and trapped the spirits.  That Necromancer had lost all touch with humanity and is now alomst a mindless ghoul trapped in the art.<br/>
The party follows the clues and hunts down the old Necromancer who is now a Lich.<br/>
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Final Battle - Necromancer required.<br/>
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The Lich's first move in battle is to cast an instant-death spell that kills the entire party.  But, the Necromancer is immune.  Battle ends.  Lich comments in shock that there is another Necromancer, since there can only be 1 at any point in time.  He never realized he had died.  Battle begins again.  This time, the Necromancer must raise the party members as "undead" to fight on his behalf. as his dark magic does not affect the Lich.<br/>
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When the battle is over, Necomancer's party returns to dead.  Not only that, but the strain of constant revivals and the Lich's dark magic has turned them all to ash!  Their ashes are no longer protected by the magics that allow them to be underwater unhindered (beyond the Lich's chamber, which is mysteriously not flooded), and with no way to return them to the surface, The Necromancer contains the ashes of the fallen and places their ashes in an altar, thanking them for their sacrifice.<br/>
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Party is now only the Necromancer.  Other party member are just gone.  Your players are now pissed.  Necromancer returns a hero.  Some townfolk cheer, and others offer condolences for the loss of the fallen comrades.  Exposure to the full day sun after the death of the Lich both expels the method which allowed the Necromancer to travel underwater and the Geas.<br/>
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Post-game:<br/>
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Somewhere in the world, one scholar studies the artifacts that The Necromancer retreived from the ancient lands.  Included in some of the Lich's notes is a way to possibly revive the party members!  The Necromancer (required for this ritual) must assemble a new team, re-find the components necessary for the spell/ritual that allows underwater travel, then find the components necessary for the revive ritual from the ancient places (with the help of some remaining spirits - why can't they go to the beyond like most did once the Lich was destroyed?), and return to the Lich's chamber, retreive the ashes in a special container (which, of course, also has to be obtained in typical fantasy fashion), and bring them to a priest in the Temple District to perform the ritual that combines the Temple's Holy magic with the Necromancer's Dark magic and restores the party members, who are now waiting at the Inn.

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<div class="postinfo">Post by Visstar on 29/01/2020, 21:59:39</div>

Wow! That sounds like quite an adventure!  :shock:

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