March 2023 Developer Update

Aschent_

Aschent_

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Dec 10, 2019
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The Dragon's Neck Dev Update

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We hope everyone has had a pleasant month of March! We don't have much to share this update as we hit a bit of a lull in development due to that annoying 'life' issue. However are currently refocusing and continuing to move forward on higher-priority objectives. Also, ICYMI, Civilian is now available as a Wiki page.

TDN OST Preview
Once again praising/shouting out Bruce Ashbey at Edelweiss Records for the work on our OST:
https://soundcloud.com/edelweissrecords%2Fsets%2Ftdnost-preview-5

Code & Systems Update
All classes are now implemented for TDN11 (Base Classes and Prestige Classes). There are a few pending tweaks needed along with a number of bug fixes required before this is 100% ready for launch, however the bulk of the work around classes is now complete.

In Progress: Disguise System Rework & Enhancements - KT28

The next projects over the upcoming 30-45 days:
  • Spell Overhaul (Design pass is essentially finished, code is what is left)
  • Death / Significant Wound -- Update (Wiki to be updated once the system is updated):
    • The following effects are applied when receiving cumulative"Significant Wounds" during PvE Respawns. These wounds can be cleansed at a priest for a small fee, however represent the risk of repeatedly throwing yourself at a dungeon (which is a bad idea especially when suffering repeated defeats/respawns).
      • 1st Death: -1AC, -1 AB, -1 CON
      • 2nd Death: -4 AC, -4 AB, -4 CON, 25% Spell Failure
      • 3rd Death: -6 AC, -6 AB, -6 CON, 50% Spell Failure
      • 4th Death: Permadeath
  • System Validation Pass:
    • Death/Dying
    • Stealth
    • Banking
    • Tailoring (Appearance customization)
    • Factions
    • Social Skills shifted into an NUI

Nobility & You
As we've worked out the social systems, we've made the decision to remove Nobility (i.e. Being a current local or foreign noble) as an option for players. We are aiming for a consistent in-game experience when it comes to social status, and unfortunately Nobility opens up too many vague doors that become difficult to traverse.

That said, Disavowed will remain a Background option which means that your background can consist of some level of nobility however you are disinherited and in terms of social status, are no better than a civilian in the eyes of society.

Guard Applications Reminder
As mentioned in our October Dev Update, we are looking for one more player interested in joining the Murann Guard ahead of our launch.

In a continued effort to establish the kind of RP culture we want and help strengthen the setting from launch, the TDN team has decided to open up the potential for 4-6 applications for players to begin the game from launch as guards in Murann (the primary city and hub for the server). You may apply individually, however applying as a pair may be looked upon even more favorably for reasons that will be explained in this communication.

Please be sure to read everything closely before you make a decision whether to apply or not.

Overview
Guards play a unique and integral role on any server, but not all servers have player character guards. On TDN, there are many parts of the setting and story that we believe will support the inclusion of player guards and in turn will benefit from having them. As we’re steadily preparing for the launch of the server, we’ve identified that having a handful of player guards ready for the launch of the server would greatly help support the DM & QM team in accurately portraying and enforcing the setting.

To that end, we’ve put together this post to detail what would be expected from a guard player, the benefits to this unique pre-launch application process, and how to apply.

Please bear in mind that we can’t and won’t force you to remain in your role, however there will be some slight drawbacks to quitting the guard early if you do decide to sign up which will be explained in the Benefits section of the post.

Keep in mind also that this is a good opportunity as an initial formative experience for your character and will help to cement your character within the setting more firmly as someone recognised by the city and its residents, even after you quit (should you choose to quit).

Duties
As a guard, your primary role will be patrolling the streets of Murann and Trademeet, as well as the space inbetween. You will always be paired with another guard in this task so that you have another person to roleplay with, and assigned a specific route or post by the guard captain (which will initially be a DM). This will consist primarily of a few things:

  • Checking licenses
  • Keeping the peace*
  • Defending others on the roads
  • Investigating any reports made by players
The expectation would be that you spend the majority of your time in-game doing these tasks as a guard, with the possibility that you may get promoted quite quickly with consistency and dedication to the role. If that is the case, you may have the additional duty of interviewing any prospective new player guard candidates - a DM would be able to guide you through this or show you how these would look by having you along to interview another player initially.

Furthermore, at the end of each day you would be expected to write a short report using the parchment items that will be provided by editing its description, which you’ll hand off to your superior (initially a DM, but later a promoted player guard).

More specific details on how all these duties will function will be provided for successful applicants to understand better how they will perform their role.

Please be aware that as a guard, your experience and wages will only be from playing as a guard. Your experience from dungeons will be halted and you should by no means be entering dungeons as a guard unless expressly given permission by a DM due to an event.

*Footnote: For any situations where you may need to arrest another player or defend yourself from an attacker, the DMs will give priority attention to guards asking for assistance where possible. However please note that PvP should never be initiated by guards and there will be severe IC consequences if guards are caught attacking others or abusing their position.

Benefits
Given that on this occasion we’re looking for the help, these roles will come with some modest benefits.

  • Firstly, we’d like players to stick to these roles for at least 3 months. For that reason we’re offering guard players to start at level 6 (please note that this will be the same whether you’re an old player or a new player, so this would be of lesser benefit to an old player who would be starting at level 5).
For each month a player remains in the guard role, they get to keep a third of the bonus experience required to get them to level 6. This means that new players can potentially gain a lot of experience for free right out of the gate. However, if a player doesn’t complete at least one month as a guard, they will have all of the bonus exp taken from them.
Example: If you start at level 2 and you’re boosted to level 6 as a guard, this requires 44,200 experience. Of that 44,200 xp, each month you get to keep 14,733 xp (33%) permanently. If you quit after a month, we would take the other two thirds (29,466 xp) away from you. You would, however, get to keep any and all RP XP you gain in this role.

  • Secondly, player guards will gain bonus RP XP as long as they remain a guard - this will always be the case for guard players as they won’t be able to gain experience from dungeons and thus it is considered a trade-off.
  • Lastly, player guards will get a weekly wage to offset the lack of dungeoneering. This likely won’t seem as much in comparison to dungeon-goers, however it is relatively safe and won’t suffer the natural taxes associated with dungeoneering such as loot sharing and the purchase of healing kits etc.
With the headstart in level, the increased RP XP and the weekly wages, we believe the benefits will give guard players enough incentive to stay on for the initial 3 months of the server launch and help us create a truly solid atmosphere.
Guard Application
The classes we’ll be looking for in the guard are primarily Fighter, Warden, Scout, Rogue, Ranger, Swashbuckler. For the forseeable future we won’t be considering any other classes than these for guards.

To apply, we’d like you to fill out a short application answering the following questions and send it to Khaine:

Your player name / username?
Your Discord name (including number tag)?
Your character’s name?
Your character’s class?
A brief summary of your character concept?
Have you played a guard before on any other NWN server and, if so, which?
Why do you want to play a guard on TDN?
Are you willing to commit at least 3 months to the guard role?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Minimum Level Requirement (Warlock, Dread Necro, Blighter & Favored Soul)
As we've been observing testing, and theorycrafting out the future of roleplay/lore for our class make-up, we've shifted a few classes to require a 2:1 ratio if the player decides to multiclass:
  • Blighter
  • Dread Necromancer
  • Favored Soul
  • Warlock
In essence this means that if you have a level in these classes, you cannot multiclass unless you can still meet the 2:1 ratio by level 18. For clarity, that means that the above-listed classes must reach level 12 by the time they reach level 18.

Reasons Why:
  • Narrative Support -- Ultimately the 4 classes mentioned have significant flavor and non-typical backgrounds/implications. Dipping into these classes makes little sense and players should expect to spend the bulk of their character's journey adhering to the class itself.
  • Mechanics -- In general, the spell-casting and general in-game experience of each of these classes is unique. Splitting that reality with 'creative' multiclassing breaks that experience and waters down the impact of some of these mechanics.

Elven Settlement Interior Sneak Peak
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