New Logo by Cowface

I just received my new logo design for the campaign. The talented Cowface put this together for me. It looks great! How exciting, but back to school work for me...

busy with school

I haven't opened the toolset for a couple of weeks now (since the end of spring break). School has been very busy and I have four more weeks until finals. This is my last full semester. Next semester I have two classes and then I graduate, yeah. I will be going back to work in May.

It has been almost three weeks since I made some major improvements to "The Exile". Since then, I have received 350+ downloads and 3 comments. It appears that people are downloading, but I'm not sure if they are finding time to play through it. I hope people will give it a try; I feel that the new ending has been a major improvement to the overall experience.

I guess I better get back to my school work. I'll try and upload a few pictures of my progress with "Lanterna" (maybe tomorrow).

Jer

"Lanterna" map and Companions

This is a rough drawing (not to be used in actual module) to help me plan out the module's areas. I'm currently working on the Brinsby area (your home village).

Below are a few possible companions that you can travel with. For the first chapter, you will have a party limit of three; so choose wisely ;)

Companions:

Boone (Bear male barbarian) - Lived most of his life with the belief that he is one of the few talking beasts still living. He has longed to return to the Charnia region, to see if the rumors of talking beast in hiding are true. He has been a good friend to you and Fledge.


Fledge (Badger male rogue) - A valiant, brave, little creature who thinks he is a great fighter, but is really a better rogue. Highly intelligent, devote follower of Elos (talking beast never change), believed to be one of the few surviving talking beasts. Good at not being seen, opening locks, traps, etc. Very skilled with a small bow made for him by the Wood Elves. He lives in a humble burrow by your home (Brinsby). He has been your good friend for many years.

Balen (Mountain Dwarf male fighter) - Until recently, he had given up hope of finding any survivors of his lost clan. He fought against Zorn with the Charnians during the Great War. He was in Charnia at the time when it was raided. He was forced to retreat with the Charnians to this new land.


Drinn (Halfling male cleric) - Basically your Mr. Know-it-all. Well versed in the Deep Magic of Elos. Always willing to interrupt other's conversations with solutions to their problems. He is an old friend of your father and wants to go with you to look for your brother. He feels a need to look out for you, ever since your father disappeared.


Miki (Wood Elf of the East female sorceress) – She was also in Charnia at the time of the great retreat. She came over to this land and has been staying in Aberfax (and Lorenwaite at times). She recently learned that your brother went to look for your father’s lost caravan. She traveled to Brinsby to hear of any news. She has wanted to return to her people (The Wood Elves of the East) to see if any have survived, but it has been too dangerous to travel alone. She is eager to hear from your brother’s group.

Chronicles of Charnia - "Lanterna"

Here is a brief (preliminary) introduction to the upcoming campaign...
Background-
approximately 60 years have passed since The Great Battle of Charnia (see "The Exile"). After that battle, the creatures and followers of Zorn continued to grow in numbers and eventually run the Charnians from their homes. The Charnians escaped into the forest and eventually crossed through a great mountain range via the mountain dwarves passage. On the other side of the mountain they began to build a small town with a few outlining villages. The followers of Zorn eventually stopped hunting the Charnians and returned to their lands. They began to lose focus (since there was no one to torment) and eventually separated into different clans and tribes based on race (goblins, orcs, ogres, dark dwarves, kingman, etc.) About 10 years ago your (the PC) father led a large group of Charnians in an attempt to return to Charnia. Since the attacks had pretty much ended, they felt that maybe Zorn's evil creatures had all destroyed each other and returning to Charnia would be safe. The caravan never returned. You and your brother were young at the time. Your mother has never recovered from the loss of her husband. A month ago your brother led a small group to try and find out what happened to the first caravan. They were only supposed to be gone for a week, but haven't returned. The past few months, there has been a dramatic increase in attacks on the outlining villages by goblins. Your mother has been very ill and bedridden due to all the stress of losing her husband and now her eldest son. You have decided to form a very small (thus undetectable by the goblins) party to search for your brother.

I have a basic outline of the main events of this campaign. There will be three chapters. Each chapter will advance you a couple of levels (maybe you'll reach lvl 6 or 7 by the end - like BG1). I want the areas to have a BG1 type feel (nonlinear, some areas with only side quests, etc.). I want the combat to be challenging and require tactics like IWD1. Most importantly, I want the companions to be interesting and fun to have around (since they are the ones you will be interacting with the most). I want people to feel sad that the story has to end - I know, that's wishful thinking ;)

Jer

"The Exile" goes through some major changes

Well, I posted a major update for "The Exile" to the vault. Many (including myself) were not thrilled with the previous version's ending. I spent a few weeks studying the OC and how it scripted large battles. After about 20+ hours of scripting and creating cutscenes, we have a much improved ending. I think most everyone will be happy with the way it turned out. I 'm am very pleased with it. It wasn't easy and took a ton of testing. I hope you enjoy it.

Jer

P.S. If you have played a previous version, try playing as a different alignment. This will give you a different companion (Sildor for neutral and Randel for good). They have some background stories, so feel free to right click on them and select "talk to".

The Exile

Due to popular demand, I'm planning on fixing the ending (for "The Exile") over spring break (1 week). I was never extremely happy with the ending, but the way it is, was very difficult for me to script. I'll research the OC and how it handled the multiple wave battles. I liked Berliad's suggestion; having multiple waves with a couple of leaders leading each wave. The scripting should be tricky, but I'll do my best to figure it out. Hopefully, this will make a huge difference for those who like to kill everything. Expect to see this update in two weeks...

Jer

p.s. the main purpose of "The Exile" module is to introduce The Exile (the antagonist). He plays an important part in the upcoming campaign (which I was going to start writting over spring break, but it'll have to wait).