Faerûn[Forgotten Realms]TW - v0.2 released, check the first post

[vercassivelaunos]

You made a human model look orcish. Impressing!
The idea with the different banners is great. Maybe I'll use it in my own mod

[Vladyvid]

Thanks Ver! Yeah I think idea with different banners is good cause each unit has a banner entry that specifies what battle flag it gets, so each unit can be assigned to particular banner type. That could be tricky if there is many cross faction units, but in this mod most units will be faction specific. Before I will post updates with some such different flags, I have to make more skins. I think I should be able to post units and battle flags update this weekend.

[Clansman117]

Let me first say that the banner idea is pure genius and those orcs are really good, especially for a first work. About Hlondeth, I thought it would be a better choice than Najara as Najara would need a unique culture while Hlondeth could use a human one, and Najara is always described as being very secretive and I don't see them openly warring against others, but stranger things can happen in Faerun. About a Dambrath symbol, I've come up with some. A spider with a bone in it's fangs, a nine-tailed whip, a scorpion, or a nine-legged spider, with the symbol red on a black background.

[Vladyvid]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I decided 23 factions so far, 7 more possible later. I thought about cultures because I wanted to start arranging cultures in the campaign. The map below shows cultural borders with factions names.

CULTURAL BORDERS & FACTION ARRANGEMENT

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BLACK FACTION NAME = confirmed
PINK FACTION NAME = possible

CYAN
northern human cultures:
01 - LUSKAN (denmark)
02 - SILVER MARCHES (scotland)
03 - WATERDEEP-NEVERWINTER (portugal)
04 - CORMYR (england)
05 - ZHENTARIM (hre)

RED
southern human cultures:
06 - BALDUR'S GATE (normans)
07 - AMN (venice)
08 - TETHYR (france)
09 - CALIMSHAN (egypt)
10 - LAPALIIYA (turks)
11 - ELTURGARD (papal_states)
12 - SEMBIA (spain)
13 - CHONDATH (milan)
14 - SHADOVAR (timurids)

YELLOW
horde cultures:
15 - DAMARA (poland)
16 - RASHEMEN (hungary)
17 - MANY-ARROWS (aztecs)
18 - DAMBRATH (mongols)

ORANGE
tropical cultures:
19 - MULHORAND (moors)
20 - THAY (byzantium)

GREEN
elven cultures:
21 - EVERESKA (saxons)
22 - AGLAROND (russia)

BLUE
dwarven cultures:
23 - GREAT RIFT (sicily)

I just don't want to have orcs separate to make a culture for one single faction - its enough that the Great Rift is the only faction of dwarves. Aglarond belongs to the elvish cultures because of the unmatched number of half-elven population. The Shadovar are included in the southern human culture to be different from most of their enemies. There are many factions which would have more or less unique culture but because it must be simplified I made the choices seen above - sometimes the cultural borders are bent to make most of rival factions different cultures from one another.

Tell me what you guys think, any suggestions?

[Vladyvid]

Last few symbols, only Evereska left - what should it be?



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From left to right:

Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep-Neverwinter, Damara, Dambrath, Amn!

The symbol for Amn is unexpected, but I decided to make it golden eagle because of the Amnish army that used banners with golden eagle. It will stand out more than the variations of symbols with coins, and will have some justification in the lore. The ship for Baldur's Gate should be in normal colours with white sail and red flags on its masts but to make it simple and standing out from other blue-background factions I made it all red. The symbol for Waterdeep-Neverwinter is actually the Waterdeep coat of arms with the small Neverwiner symbol above it. Tell me if you think I should get rid of that Neverwinter symbol there or make it bigger or arrange differently? Cause I'm not sure. From the many ideas for Dambrath from Clansman I picked the scorpion. Damara has the golden cup and the background is to resemble bloodstone pattern, sort of - blood drops pattern.

So again, one more to do - Evereska. I'd need some help cause I can't find any symbol directly related to that faction.

Edit: Mistake - two more: Evereska and Lapaliiya

The uploaded file is a .jpg so the quality is low but I use it so it loads up quick. The normal quality is better.

[vercassivelaunos]

I'd make the Waterdeep symbol without the Neverwinter eye. But everything else looks pretty neat

[Vladyvid]

I'll be updating the first post cause I just thought it needs to have more details listed. I will post there a faction selection map with all the faction symbols and such. For now adjusting the factions names and doing the minor stuff. If there is anything wrong with the lore (as far as the factions names for example) please let me know so it can be corrected. This is a call to the researchers and team members mostly but anyone who can spot a mistake can do it just aswell.

I haven't been working on the units last few days because of being busy with work and mentally tired after work but I will surely do something over the weekend. I want to be putting the campaign pieces together - adding all symbols and changing factions names and references. Then I will work on some cross faction units like Household Knights (bodyguard unit) Mounted and Foot Squires.

I know it doesn't show here in this thread, but the unit research is already quite advanced and we have already a long list of possible units in our discussion threads in the social group - so I will update the units list in the first post here later too, to give everyone some idea of the progress.

Help always welcome
If there are still any people out there viewing this thread from time to time who would be able to help, please don't hestitate to post here. All help is welcome - I don't expect skilled modders to join but if people who want to help would do some useful research - that alone helps a lot. Just saying this because the mod would obviously be finished sooner if more people could help.

[Druvatar De Bodemloze]

Update: first new unit skin!

Orc Warriors and Orc Archers for Many-Arrows faction, and for rebels.
I haven't changed the shields yet, so using scottish as its highlander model.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

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I know its not the best in the world, but hey - it's my first skin and for me it looks decent for these ragtag orcs. They are ugly and wear bear and wolf hides and I think they should look rough like that.

I personally focus on the campaign much more~ but these is impressive work! Bravo!
(looking forward To when you start developing menus & banners & get those exquisite symbols of yours in game!)

[Vladyvid]

I personally focus on the campaign much more~ but these is impressive work! Bravo!
(looking forward To when you start developing menus & banners & get those exquisite symbols of yours in game!)

Thanks for the kind words! Yes I will be changing the menus later on, for now I only have symbols in game and they look like these samples:



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For the in game version of the symbols I made their borders thinner. They look fine in game, on the screens a little blurry. Haven't done the _48 and _24 ones yet only the larger ones. I'm working kinda slow lately but I am progressing.

[Vladyvid]

Starting working on the units was a bad idea because I realised I must first learn more about modding units, making new rosters etc. before I can be really productive in this matter.

So I decided I should focus on more concept work, researching other elements of the campaign - building trees, resources, template unit rosters, assigning template units to recruitment trees etc. There is a lot of work with most of the aspects of the game, and the units can wait. There is still much research ahead, with all the features I mentioned aswell as with the characters names.

[Vladyvid]

I just added a faction chart to the first post, showing a bit of work on the new menus. The runic text is actually english words but written using Thorass runic alphabet (font).

They are two prophecies from Alaundo the Seer, for reference here in english:

"Twelve days 'fore Greengrass, his last rally mounts/
Azzer-ash shall leave his men but for one/
To him, he will name barons and viscounts/
And there disclose his dream to the iron son.
His vision entails his own demise/
Unheralded beneath the north sea wave/
He'll ask his memory be kept alive/
His name invoked in war and peace to save.
Two days hence, the dragons shall roar its last/
The proud king's body shall never be found/
His solidiers will keep his memory fast/
His kingdom shall become his sacred ground.
The eternal king nigh thirteen score year/
Inclement tyrant and holy savior."
- Fifth Portents

"When Nightal is almost at a close/
There from the gate wall shall descend/
A serpent to blow the Horn of Doom/
At the graveyard Kingdom of Man.
If the Star of Storms is its brightest/
When the dulcet ballad is played/
Soundest ground shall be torn asunder/
The tapestry forever frayed.
But if the Raging King has failed/
To keep his five retainers true/
Come 'morrow, the blessed sun will rise/
And no chaos shall ill ensue."
- Ninth Portents

Edit: The faction symbols in the chart are the exact campaign version size.

[Mulattothrasher]

Hey guys, wonderful idea for a mod. I have ran a few online adventures in 3.5 Forgotten Realms, and by far the most interesting setting I have been a DM in was in Unther. I ran two campaigns in that setting online and would send pictures to the players of Babylonian/Assyrian/Persian/Median to givee them the 'feel' of the area, it was a blast while it lasted. Anyway, Unther is by far my favorite setting, and I hope that y'all will include them. I noticed that you need a symbol for them and Mulhorand. I will see what I can find in my old books (I have like all of them - not a fan of 4.0 at all). I have a lot of info on the Realms, so if there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I want to play this!

[Vladyvid]

Hey guys, wonderful idea for a mod. I have ran a few online adventures in 3.5 Forgotten Realms, and by far the most interesting setting I have been a DM in was in Unther. I ran two campaigns in that setting online and would send pictures to the players of Babylonian/Assyrian/Persian/Median to givee them the 'feel' of the area, it was a blast while it lasted. Anyway, Unther is by far my favorite setting, and I hope that y'all will include them. I noticed that you need a symbol for them and Mulhorand. I will see what I can find in my old books (I have like all of them - not a fan of 4.0 at all). I have a lot of info on the Realms, so if there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I want to play this!

Thank you for your interest. This mod is in its early stages so many things need to be done. If you think you would be able to devote some time to help with the development, I'm sure you could focus on something you know best. I guess it's my mistake that there is no list of things to be done, but it is my first mod so it takes me a bit of time to get things organised. So even such help would be nice - to help a noob get things right

Ok so to name a few things that are needed:
- characters names for all factions
- factions descriptions for the campaign
- still some symbols missing + general heraldic research
- possibly some more units ideas (we're researching that in our social group so already coming along)
- general gameplay concepts are not all yet set in stone
- traits and ancilliaries (ideas) are coming along but help would be most welcome
There is also a ton of work in the art section but that is if you are an artist.

If you're interested PM me or post here, your choice. Nice to see another fan of the mod setting.

[Vladyvid]

GUILDS

I'm working on the new building trees gathering information about possible buildings, and this brings me to the topic of guilds. What guilds do you think should there be included? Myself I can only think of the Shadow Thieves guild.

Which organizations should be represented as guilds? Should the exact organizations be the guilds or rather you think should I try to work out some 'generic' guild ideas like the Thieves Guild, Arcane University etc? Instead of the vanilla mechants guild I would like to see Waukeen's Promenade for example.

- The Shadow Thieves
- The Harpers
- Arcane Brotherhood
- Cowled Wizards

Also perhaps the Temple of Tempus should be a guild rather than a regular building as it is devoted to a diety of war, and its followers are soldiers. Or maybe temples devoted to Torm and Bane should be guilds acting similarly to vanilla chapter houses?


AGENTS

I'm also thinking about the agents and I think I don't want to have princesses in game. Spies and assassins should in my opinion be rather rare and less frequently used than in the vanilla game. Merchants and diplomats I think would be more or less as they are in vanilla. The religious agents I think should be limited to priests of various dieties, without bishops, cardinals and inquisitors.

RESOURCES

My idea would be to have most of the game resources represented on the campaign map as settlements eg:

farming village - instead grain
mining camp - instead iron
mining town - when the 'mine' structure is build on the iron resource

etc.

These wouldn't be settlements as such that they can be inhabited or manned by an army (or would if possible) but would be given settlements models giving a different feel for the economy.

[MedievalDragoon]

GUILDS

I'm working on the new building trees gathering information about possible buildings, and this brings me to the topic of guilds. What guilds do you think should there be included? Myself I can only think of the Shadow Thieves guild.

Which organizations should be represented as guilds? Should the exact organizations be the guilds or rather you think should I try to work out some 'generic' guild ideas like the Thieves Guild, Arcane University etc? Instead of the vanilla mechants guild I would like to see Waukeen's Promenade for example.

- The Shadow Thieves
- The Harpers
- Arcane Brotherhood
- Cowled Wizards

Also perhaps the Temple of Tempus should be a guild rather than a regular building as it is devoted to a diety of war, and its followers are soldiers. Or maybe temples devoted to Torm and Bane should be guilds acting similarly to vanilla chapter houses?


AGENTS

I'm also thinking about the agents and I think I don't want to have princesses in game. Spies and assassins should in my opinion be rather rare and less frequently used than in the vanilla game. Merchants and diplomats I think would be more or less as they are in vanilla. The religious agents I think should be limited to priests of various dieties, without bishops, cardinals and inquisitors.

RESOURCES

My idea would be to have most of the game resources represented on the campaign map as settlements eg:

farming village - instead grain
mining camp - instead iron
mining town - when the 'mine' structure is build on the iron resource

etc.

These wouldn't be settlements as such that they can be inhabited or manned by an army (or would if possible) but would be given settlements models giving a different feel for the economy.

Finaly got some time off from studying,

My recommendations for the Guilds:

Shrine of Waukeen/Temple of Waukeen/Waukeen's Promenade for the Merchants guild, like you said, sounds good.

Shadow Thieves Outpost/Enclave/Headquarters for the thieves guild

Night Masks Outpost/Enclave?Headquarters for the Assassins Guild

Harper Refuge/Hall/High-hall For the Woodsman's guild

Shrie/Temple/??? of Tempus for Swordsmiths guild

Helmite Shrine/Temple/ Helms Hold for Armorers Guild

Shrine/Temple/??? of Gond For the Masons Guild

I think that the Cowled Wizard should be an ancillary/trait for Amnish generals.

Great Work on the Mod, You guy's are doing great!

I'll help in whatever way I can.

[Vladyvid]

Thanks for the feedback MedievalDragoon. I haven't been doing much last week or so because of work.

There is still some progress as I learned a few basic things about arranging unit rosters and such, and will be able to now arrange the rosters for the already researched factions, focusing on: Silver Marches, Waterdeep, Many-Arrows and Evereska.

I figured that first I need to arrange the rosters and only later start making skins. So in short I learned how to organise my modding and now it all doesn't seem so confusing as before. I still had some problems with the units.db file (don't remember the exact name), but I'm understanding more about this file now so the trial and error process was necessary.

The buildings research is progressing and is not going to be much of a problem. I don't know if I said it before but I already have the 23 factions in game, only that still missing some symbols and any advice would be welcome - as I couldn't find anything solid myself: Lapaliiya and Evereska.

Looking at the overall progress I guess the amount of artwork required will be the largest part of the work, so will be doing that later. At this moment I guess priority tasks would be to arrange the factions unit rosters, design the basic building tree and finish all campaign factions symbols. Then the buildings and units cards for the campaign and unit skins.

I don't want to give any dates for the coming preview because it all depends on how much time can I get this week to do something for the mod. I will surely do some research and will try to finish as many factions rosters as possible (without new skins yet).

I think now could be a good time to start gathering info about characters names - that sort of information is the most common and easiest to find, but the number of factions makes it a sizable research area so will take time to complete it - that's why I think starting now is a good idea. Would hope for a volunteer (or volunteers) to help with it, otherwise I would research it myself but only after I get the units rosters sorted.

[Vladyvid]

Edit: Nevermind

[Andriscus]

Hi all, just to say I love what you guys have done so far, I've been reading through the thread and there are some really nice maps and symbols already and some fantastic ideas for the mod

I'd also be happy to help out any way I can, I'm not a modder but can do some research now and, when it comes to it, writing/proofreading the in-game text for unit descriptions, etc. Since I don't have a job either at the moment I've got lots of free time, so should be able to get lots done

[Andriscus]

Hi everyone, I posted a message here earlier but it doesn't seem to have worked, something about a moderator needing to ok the message or something. Anyway I have had a read through the thread and looks like you have got some great stuff already, looks really promising

I'd love to be able to help out however I can, I'm not a modder but can help out with the research and - when it comes to it - writing/proofreading the in-game text for unit descriptions, etc. If there is also any scripting that needs to be done I have got loads of time on my hands since I don't have a job, so I can try and learn how to do that or anything else which the mod currently needs.

[Vladyvid]

Hi, great to see someone interested to help!
I wanted to add you to our mod development social group but it doesn't let me do it - saying you are not allowed to join social groups.
It's a pitty because we have more things completed in our social group discussions.
If you want to start with working on some texts, you could for example take a look at the faction list in the first post and work on some factions descriptions? Just an example of text work that is still to do, there's much more ofc. Connected with that would be the campaign description - starting 1372DR the year of the wild magic. Units descriptions is yet another story - at the moment about 50% of the unit research, but it only includes the 'raw' information and no real game descriptions.

Again, no idea why it won't let me invite you to the social group so perhaps you should contact the admins about it?