Mod Idea: Randomness

[Grim Squeaker]

Atfer now seeing De'Arnise Hold Be Gone, on top of Underdark Be Gone and of course Dungeon Be Gone, I've concluded there's a serious problem. People are getting bored with the original content as its so repetitive, so the obvious idea appears to be to skip it. Stoplight Red has one alternative which is Dungeon Be Cool which adds loads of new material to replace the dull encounters in the original Chateau Irenicus. However, its not really practical to do this to the entire game, so I have a suggestion: randomness.

 

Should a mod like this ever be made, it would introduce randomness to the standard game encounters. Some ways this could work are the following examples:

• Random traps: The problem with the traps is we know where they all are, so detect trap is only useful as foreplay to removing the trap because you know where it is! So this element which has been suggested before by Cam who use some random variables to randomise the location of traps in the game. So each game it would be different.
  
• Random items: Similar to random traps would be moving some items around to make the game generally less predictable. Also, some items could be changed at random (not plot critical stuff obvious) to be similar to NWN's random items.
  
• Random people: Some people in the game could be moved around a bit, but not too much. You don't want to have to check every tidy alleyway in Athkatla.
  
• Random encounters: Some sections of quests are really predictable. What if they could be different each time? e.g. in the De'Arnise hold, there is a 1/5th chance the traitor guard with the flail head is where he normally is, but a 1/5th chance he is in the courtyard with some other traitor guards. Or maybe he's interrogating Daleson to find out where Nalia is.
  

The last of these sections would be one of the most interesting I think as we'd actually be playing the game now, instead of just going from A to B and killing C.

 

Any thoughts?

[Domi]

Yeah, I suggested something like that (random quest outcomes etc) some time ago, and nobody liked it.

[CamDawg]

Everything on that list is something I'd love to see. The problem I ran into with just trying to do Random Traps is that it takes a lot of time and thought to find good locations for new traps. Random encounters would be even harder to pull off without it sucking. This doesn't mean it can't be done, but that to do it right would take a great deal of effort and thought.

 

I think an IWD-style approach to random items is a good idea, i.e. certain bosses and chests have a list of five items and drop one. This would be especially interesting if high-level items were randomized--you'd see a lot less powergaming if you didn't know Celestial Fury was waiting for you at the Guarded Compound, but instead an alternate item like a groovy +3 spear or amulet.

[Grim Squeaker]

Agreed, especially about the high-level items.

 

It'd be less of a pain in the arse if it were approached as a group project or something. Get a decent brainstorm on encounters that could be randomised and then possible variations. Then, much like UB, people could decide they were gonna do, say, the Alternative Graverobbers in Firkragg's Lair, and when they're done it gets added.

[Western Paladin]

Sounds like a good idea for a mod - the slight degree of randomness is actually one of the things I like about Icewind Dale II.

 

P.S. De'Arnise Hold Be Gone?

[Andyr]

... and Underdark-Be-Gone? I've not heard of those two.

[Grim Squeaker]

There has been some discussion of a De'Arnise Hold Be Gone at SHS (here to be exact), though I don't believe the discussion got very far. Underdark Be Gone has been suggested a few times, and Zyraen made his Underdark Accelerator over at PPG.

 

Edit: ZOMG 2000HT PO$T!!!!!1111oneoneone kthxbye

[Galactygon]

A possibility that you would kill Irenicus in spellhold and progress into hell from there would be interesting. Irenicus would be less powerful there, since he didn't have time to achieve the power he sapped from the Tree.

 

-Galactygon

[Grim Squeaker]

A possibility that you would kill Irenicus in spellhold and progress into hell from there would be interesting. Irenicus would be less powerful there, since he didn't have time to achieve the power he sapped from the Tree.

 

-Galactygon

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Would be cutting out a lot of material though, so I'm not convinced.

[Sorrow]

A possibility that you would kill Irenicus in spellhold and progress into hell from there would be interesting. Irenicus would be less powerful there, since he didn't have time to achieve the power he sapped from the Tree.

 

-Galactygon

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think that it would be a great addition to the game.

Everescaping villain was a thing that I really hated in BG2.

PC would have to escape throught underdark anyway, so I don't think that it would cut that many content from the game .

[Grim Squeaker]

Eh? Galactygon said 'kill Irenicus in spellhold and progress into hell from there'. Where would that allow you to go into the Underdark?

[Rabain]

I am a huge fan of randomness, I have brought it up several times during various development brainstormings. But like Domi, the idea was sidelined...I think mostly because no one was willing to do work that might not be seen in the game unless someone played through 3 or 4 times.

 

I agree with every point you raise to be randomised.

 

A possibility that you would kill Irenicus in spellhold and progress into hell from there would be interesting. Irenicus would be less powerful there, since he didn't have time to achieve the power he sapped from the Tree.

 

-Galactygon

I disagree with this, it is somewhat similar to all the X Be Gone mods. Irenicus Be Gone Earlier ?

[Domi]

Yeah, just to mention what was considered "bad" about randomness, was that the players will get terribly upset and just reload the game till they achieve the outcome they desire... It probably not so much about placing the items differently, as quest/encounters etc outcomes. My own growling points are that ToL, Loved on Vampire Res, Imoen is always there etc are not randomized... I am also one of those ones in favor of making the story line a bit more flexible, with killing villains when you can... My personal last fit f outrage was with gyth, when I slaughtered each and every one of them, occupied their ship, and then had to go back, and whistle ignoring the unkillable Gyth captain till Sahuagin attack kicked in. In reality, I should have made Gyth pilot me to Sul...

[Grim Squeaker]

When it comes to random events I would generally try to balance them. You're not gonna get something ridiculously overpowered in one case and shit in the other. Nor would one fight be that much harder than another, just different.

 

I really don't like the idea of having game changing events happen randomly. My idea with this was to provide variation but keep the plot the same.

[Domi]

Uhm, yeah, Okay. I guess then it will have less opposition. But to be honest, I don't think that the insignificant changes will really freshen up BG2.