TrollsZine 4

[zanshin]

The Pit is a dungeon I take it? Awesome.

Your Bard looks very interesting - I have commented elsewhere.

[mgtremaine]

Thanks.. Yes The Pit is a 4 level dungeon [8 maps - 3, 2, 2, 1] that I referred to in the Game of Sphinx. Basically there isa large crater in the center of Cala that has been there for hundreds of years. There are vast tunnels running through the area now as it has been built up over the years by the outcasts of the city as well as powerful creatures that now call it home. The more interesting of which are the The Sphinx, Brolin the Balrog and his goblin slaves and the great Dragon who blew his way in to the bit a century ago. The path of his destruction is called the serpent's way and it very obvious when you start on it. [Don;t go that way if you are low level  ]

I hope to serial it out in TZ5->9 but I'll have to put the spurs to myself. My original notes are pretty terse, no room descriptions just vague notes on the map and the room # monster stats on the backs. [Yeah Old School! ]

-Mike

[zanshin]

Sounds like a hit to me. Lets hope we can keep TrollsZine going to publish all of it

[sligo]

Understand with the errata for the solo's. It might take me too long to get it done for TZ4 anyway. In fact, it might work as a continuing column - one or two solo's per issue.

I will communicate with Rrrick and Khenn offline to get their thoughts on 7.5 QS. I'd want to be sure I include anything from the Errata article, of course, so it might best wait to TZ5 as well.

I'm kind of dry at the moment for anything else I can contribute, but I do have a few things lurking in my brain somewhere... Just gotta find the right bait to fish them out...

[mahrundl]

Aug 13, 2010 10:16:23 GMT -5 mgtremaine said:

Thanks.. Yes The Pit is a 4 level dungeon [8 maps - 3, 2, 2, 1] that I referred to in the Game of Sphinx. Basically there isa large crater in the center of Cala that has been there for hundreds of years. There are vast tunnels running through the area now as it has been built up over the years by the outcasts of the city as well as powerful creatures that now call it home. The more interesting of which are the The Sphinx, Brolin the Balrog and his goblin slaves and the great Dragon who blew his way in to the bit a century ago. The path of his destruction is called the serpent's way and it very obvious when you start on it. [Don;t go that way if you are low level  ]

I hope to serial it out in TZ5->9 but I'll have to put the spurs to myself. My original notes are pretty terse, no room descriptions just vague notes on the map and the room # monster stats on the backs. [Yeah Old School! ]

-Mike

That sounds like lots of fun. I look forward to seeing the serialisation!

[zanshin]

I think we now have nearly everything we need for a TrollsZine except a solo adventure.
Any volunteers? Sligo - I know you have a good track record in this area
Cartomancer has advised me he is unlikely to have the time for part 3 of Dark Rising.
Danhem? Darknight? Anyone else?

[sligo]

I'll put some thought to it... I haven't yet contributed a solo for TZ. Everytime I try, I end up starting a solo that would likely end up being 600-800 pages long...

I do have an idea that might work, though...

[danhem]

With an August 31 deadline I won't have time to put a solo together. You can put me down for one in TZ 5 however.

[sligo]

Can I write a solo that actually requires another solo (one of FBI's - specifically Arena of Khazan) in order to play it? The idea I have is an old one that's been rattling around in my brain for about 30 years, but I think I can do it short enough (i.e. under 100 paragraphs) and give it proper justice.

[zanshin]

Sounds good Sligo , a number of the old solos linked in to other ones (Naked Doom and DED for example)

The August 31st deadline is potentially elastic... Number 3 took longer to put together than I originaly anticipated.

[quoghmyre]

yes it did;-)

[zanshin]

But never mind the speed , look at the quality

[sligo]

Aug 17, 2010 5:40:27 GMT -5 zanshin said:

But never mind the speed , look at the quality

On that you can be confident! My job is as a Data Quality Analyst, afterall. It's in my blood...

[sligo]

Yee hah!!! I just finished the first draft of the mini-solo for TZ4. It checks in at exactly 100 paragraphs, and is 18 pages long.

I'm going to go through and do some initial clean up. There are a number of situations that are repeated enough that I can direct the player to a common paragraph. Hopefully I can trim out at least 10% if not more.

In the next pass, I will shuffle the paragraphs. I'll do a little play-testing on my own, and offer it up for some other playtesters.

I'll warn you, though. This is one extremely deadly adventure. Out of the 100 paragraphs, I counted more than 20 that describe your character's death in one form or another. I'm trying to think of ways to improve the character's odds of survival without getting cheesy. There will certainly be a few tweaks here and there, but basically, you go in knowing the odds are bleak at best...

[mgtremaine]

"I counted more than 20 that describe your character's death"... uhh Exalt

-Mike