ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Okay, so one of my major sticking points is... The prides.

To me, it's one dungeon, four locations, probably because I first got there in b42, when they were even more samey.

What I think the prides need?

Themed loot to match themed enemies.
Different and/or unique roomers and tilesets.
New pride only unique enemies and loot.
A pressing reason to go in there.

Feel free to addon!

Gorbat's, Rak'Shor, and Vor's Pride definetely need to be revamped a bit to be somewhat different from each other. Having a different tileset sounds like a good idea - maybe make Rak'Shor look like it's one really big Mausoleum, have Vor's look sort 'Magic Fortress' like with a sort of grand hall entrance and many supporting rooms to explore (with random lever placement in said rooms to continue on). Gorbat's could remain mostly as it looks now.

Having Unique enemies to said dungeons seems sort of interesting, but I think it should be limited to Non-Orcs - so we could have magical broomsticks beating us up in Vor or Armored Dragons in Gorbat to contend with.

One major thing I thought would help was alt Prides and alternate creature layouts. It's not major but I think it would help?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/785 ... at-alt.lua Gorbat
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/785 ... ak-alt.lua Grushnak
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/785 ... or-alt.lua Rak'Shor
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/785 ... or-alt.lua Vor

Gorbat goes mindpower-themed (Oozemancers, Psionics); Grushnak goes "tricky" (Archers, Skirmishers, Brawlers), Rak'Shor sort of went melee with a twist (Reavers/Shadowblades/something everyone will kill me for), Vor went Arcane Blades (to match Vor having, you know, an -armory-, implying some people there have melee prowess).

I do have some more creature ideas (beastmasters + fully armored war bears, some sort of behemoths, crystalline horrors, and alternate Pridemasters (named the same, but Gorbat would be oozemancer with a pet "Eyalwyrm" (basically nature dragon w/ Venomous Breath and moss skills/similar), Grushnak as a brawler, Rak'Shor a shadowblade/reaver combo, Vor a Stone/Storm arcane blade/mage type)) but that's on hold for the moment.

Of note on the above creatures is that they could probably use a fine-tuning pass - this was sort of rough draft stages and I was testing a lot of stuff involving rarity/giving Dream Knights their mindstar (which I think I need to change or something now that mindstars don't mindhook anymore...)

My next plan/idea (if someone doesn't do it first) was alternate layouts, if I can figure out zone code. Rak'Shor wasn't on my immediate radar for this, but the other three were:

Gorbat: This was the most complex one I was thinking of. Basically making the zones "vines" - a entry "stem" leading into a center, which has doors into two to four "leaf" rooms with switches placed in the corners of those. The exit would lead off the stem again.

Vor: Make the place basically a huge structure of rooms - not like Rak'Shor or ruins or anything, but basically a large set of rooms all connected to each other without hallways. Rooms could be large, and of course vaults can show up, but avoid hallways/connecting paths. Preferably in a large semi-circle?

Grushnak: Abuse the new archers by making more wide open rooms in the layout. This doesn't need too much, it's already pretty unique as a setup, but make the rooms that have a chance to spawn larger?


Themed loot would be good, pride only unique enemies (wouldn't mind seeing these "alts" used for this!), vaults, UNIQUE VAULTS, custom layouts, all these are very good too.

Arise thread, I command thee!

Ahem.

Anyway, I've been thinking about giving each Pride Lair a unique floor effect.

Gorbat would have Natural Aura: Increases mindpower, life regen and equilibrium regen. Decreases resistance penetration.
Vor would have Sorcerous Aura: Increases mana regen and magic stat. Decreases accuracy and stealth.
Grushnak would have Disciplined Aura: Increases all saves and defence. Decreases spellpower.
Rak'Shor would have Sinister Aura: Increases critical chances and damage. Decreases nature and blight resistance.

I approve of this necromancy.

Also, floor effects are a cool idea.

I vaguely remember some other thread about this topic where it was suggested that some prides would have a city-like layout, with several "blocks" of buildings separated by large avenues. A "block" would consist of several small houses very close together, with only 1-2 tile wide, irregular alleys between them. The rationale was that you'd have a bit more variation in surroundings than only wide open spaces, but still would have to deal with those.

I rather liked that idea. Could be a possible alternate layout on each floor for Gorbat or Vor.