Andor's Trail

Hello everyone! It's been long since I have posted something constructive but now it's time to do so again. I see the forum activity has dwindled a lot so why no discuss about the following question?:

What do you players think we should place in the house with the glowing door south of Crossglen? This map was created by Tomcat but nobody knows when he will come back. So I think we should think about a solution how to fill this house with an interesting storyline. I've seen so many thoughts about what's inside there and then you can play this map so I really want to present you a very interesting map for the next version!
PS: The dev team and I are working hard on releasing a new version and we're trying to push it out as fast as we can!

I look forward to seeing your ideas!

Because it is magical and godly...
It should have something magical and godly!

Maybe a shrine to the gods, maybe an important stash of relics of Andor's past!

Andor may be a thief, there are many pointers! Nor city, thieves guild, vial of green liquid...

I've been roughing out an idea that might fit well with this. Due to lack of time I haven't got very far with it (I know, a common excuse, but I really have been extremely busy, and it's not going to get any better in the immediate future), but I'll throw it out there anyway.

I was thinking of an area that used to be an old "Citadel of the Mages". Long since abandoned, it was sealed up for the safety of locals and largely forgotten. I have a background story roughly worked out for why, but I won't get into that now. I envisioned this as a three dimensional maze of corridors and rooms. The reason for choosing a 3D maze is that it's different, and it could be made reasonably hard (as hard as the green maze, for example) with relatively few rooms. The maze would have paths that led to a common area, with kitchens, library, etc, and paths that led to the quarters of the long departed mages (some of whom are perhaps not long departed after all ). Some of the rooms would be above ground, and some below ground. Very few of the rooms (and perhaps gardens) that are above ground would be connected above ground though. I was going to design the layout of the maze in CAD software, because it would be easy to envision the interlocking structure of the maze, and then build the rooms from that layout. The general theme of the rooms would be "decayed opulence". The paths that led to individual mages quarters would each have a slightly different theme, as a clue to navigation. In some places these paths could come to the same room, but bars in the rooms would only allow you to see the other path, not get to it. There would be a lot of clutter and junk left around from when the place was abandoned, which you find just by stumbling upon it. Most of this would be useless junk, but there would be a few nice to have items too, which could only be found by careful searching or a lot of luck. The monsters would all be versions of common monsters that you might expect to find in such a place (spiders, beetles, snakes, etc), but mutated by the remnants of the mages experiments, chemicals, and equipment into something a whole lot worse than their distant ancestors! The house could be the entrance to the citadel. There's plenty of unused map space for the citadel itself just west of the house, above the cliffs.

As far as the idea goes, I have more details than that very brief outline, but still no complete picture. One thing that concerns me a bit is whether this really fits with AT, which has no magic as such. If that's a problem I think it could be adjusted to fit though. Alchemists and potion makers instead of mages, for example. I have created some of the items that would be in the citadel, but that is the only content I have actually created. The reason I'm throwing this out is because I know I cannot really take this to usable content in any reasonable time frame without a huge amount of help (by which I mean, I will be doing some smallish percentage of the work). Sorry, but that's just the way it is right now; I'm in the throws of starting a company, and that consumes a lot of time.

Flaming wrote:Because it is magical and godly...
It should have something magical and godly!

Maybe a shrine to the gods, maybe an important stash of relics of Andor's past!

Andor may be a thief, there are many pointers! Nor city, thieves guild, vial of green liquid...

Well said my friend! I totally agree it should be magical and godly.

@rijackson:
I also like your idea because it has something to do with magic! And don't be in a hurry with creating this quest.

There's one thing I disagree with you: I'm just trying to put the BWM into the real mountain north of Flagstone and just east of Crossglen, so it fits into the worldmap. So I'm sorry but you can't place your citadel there BUT maybe this citadel could be in another realm? (maybe too much magic though?)

But we will definitely find some empty space for this citadel if it's not that large.

Happy hunting you guys!

So do you mean I should place a mage who is a weapon upgrader in this house?

The entrance to the house could require a gem that can capture the light so you don't go blind entering the house (Gem of Warmth?) . Once in the house you could find a crystal riddle ( like in BWM) that can lead you to a labyrinth with different paths ( according to a combination), each path would be a different color of the prism , the light from the source underneath the house would be split into a spectrum, with a guardian at the end of each path/color. You would have to defeat all the guardians in order to enter the chamber of light.
I like the idea of magic , the house could be placed on a ritual stone ( in the chamber of light) imbued with magical powers. Magical powers that can be harnessed (by a mage ?) in order to enhance some weapons in exchange for oegyth crystals.

Or maybe I just see colors because i can barely keep my eyes opened.

Using an extraordinary item (GoW) goes against the philosophy of not requiring any L&E item for quest stuff. Keep in mind that players that do not read the forums may not even be aware of their existence.
However, this gave me an idea: using the same type of "riddle" as in BWM but you need a matching gem to activate each crystal. Three different solutions to the riddle would lead to three different entry points in the 3D maze of rijackson (which I love the idea of). You need the three diffeeent gems to get to all the entry points, but as you have to select three times among three crystals, that makes 9 paths possible, and all "wrong" paths bring you back to the house.
When you don't have the right gem in inventory, you will see a message like "You notice a small gem-shaped hole in this red/orange/purple crystal."
One of those gems might even be acquired earlier in the quest, or in the maze through an entry point that do not require it.

I like the idea of a small cabin hiding much more underground than it looks above ground. And using BMW-type teleporters helps in not caring about what it could overlap with

@OmuNegru:
I generally like our idea about the crystal with which you can pass the entrance! But like Zukero said such rare items like the GoW cannot be used. But I also like your idea about a maze inside.

But: Maybe this entrance to the house could be a secret entrance to the BWM settlement? Anyway I want to fix up the Blackwater mountain so it fits in the worldmap

I like the idea that the glowing light inside the cabin is due to some process that has begun. Your choice is between finishing the process (by eliminating those which are trying to stop it and/or obtaining items which allow it to complete) or stopping the process (by eliminating those which are seeking to complete it and/or obtaining items which will stop it).

Each path results in a reward, but only one path can be chosen. This also might be an opportunity to incorporate "game-time" functionality. Your entry into the cabin disrupts the process to the extent that failing to complete or stop the process has catastrophic results.

The outside part of the citidel would not have to be very big on the world map. 12x12? Just big enough for a 'square dougnhnut' structure. And is there anything planned for the vined-over cave NW of Flagstone? That could be an escape tunnel from the maze. One-way from inside, with maybe a one-way stone into the room.

Nonzymurgist wrote:And is there anything planned for the vined-over cave NW of Flagstone?

That cave plays a role in a current quest, one requiring comfortable & sturdy footwear.