Yet another update

Public discussion of the extensive development of new levels in the Ruins of Undermountain.

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Halaster Blackcloak
Lord of Undermountain
Lord of Undermountain
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Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:47 am
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Yet another update

Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Well, I have the week off, and a two week vacation at the beginning of September. I've forgotten what a day off is all about. But I've been doing some writing. Got two more rooms done for Level 8 today, along with some other material. It's taking on average about 2-3 hours per room. Some of these rooms are huge, some are very complex (i.e. Room #24A, 24B, 24C, 24D, etc). Some are both. Just a ton of detail. Plus, it's slow going because of the background work involved.

For example, there is a cavern on Level 8 that houses an elder orb (beholder) and six death tyrant (undead beholder) servants. In addition to the overall room design (i.e. where do they lair in the cavern, how to they protect it, what are their battle strategies, etc), I have to design the monsters themselves. In this case, I have to determine which eyes still function, which spells it has memorized, and so on and so forth. Then there's the issue of placing treasure for those rooms that have it. I try to make it interesting. For example, instead of saying "there are two gold goblets worth 250 gp each", I prefer to write "there are two intricately carved gold goblets, each bearing an engraving of a suit of arms native to Cormyr, with silver trim along the lip. They are valued at 250 gp each". Just a little more descriptive and stimulating to the imagination when found and described. And of course, there's the issue of number of coins, value of gems, and which magic items to place that haven't been used elsewhere (or at least not overused).

So yes, it's definitely work intense. But my god, this product is gonna kick so much ass, it's gonna make Bruce Lee look like a wussy! :shock:

I'm jumping back and forth between the sub-level and Level 8 as the mood and particular inspiration hits me. I've gotten 13 rooms done in the past two months, which is fast compared to the pace I had before. I'm gonna pick it up over vacation. I'm hoping - hoping, mind you - to be able to wrap up the sub-level (very likely) and possibly Level 8 as well (likely). If that happens, we're hot! All that's left then is to finalize the write-ups of some NPCs, finish off the explanatory text (the parts that describe the setting, the dungeon conditions, gates and ways in/out, etc). And believe me, that can almost be done in one sitting, once the creative aspect of designing rooms is done!

So, we plow ahead. Never give up, never!

We have over 100 rooms (102 to be precise) completely finalized, done, written, completed. There were a total of 124 rooms detailed in the original Ruins of Undermountain box set, for reference. Note that there are at least 238 rooms being developed here (Rooms such as Room #28A, 28B, etc counting as multiple rooms as they are so complex and each room and sub-room is fully developed). However, that does not mean we are less than half done. Many (if not most) of these other rooms are planned, sketched out, and partially written, needing only final polish or partial work.

More news to come...
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