Moria

[DM_Kev]

From today, I will be working on Moria and im really looking for lots of ideas from players as to how it should look and the things that can be done/found within.

I've never been completely happy with past versions of Moria, so im going to be completely redoing Moria this time. Due to its immense size, I hope to attach several quests to it over time.

Some of the things im including;

- Making Moria a means of passing from one side of the Mountains to the others (Moria range to Dimril Dale)

- Stashes of Dwarf treasure in secret rooms

- Lost Dwarven smith works

If you have any extra ideas or plans for Moria, just post them below. Especially any dwarven smith works. Any item ideas should be designed for levels 5-11 ish. I'll check this thread throughout the day for any ideas.

[DM_Longbeard]

My impresssions of Moria from ready the books....

Dark, VERY dark, ie. no light other than from torches/items etc.

The delves were kinda like floors, not sure how many but I would like to see many floors to Moria.

Mithril, if there's any left in Moria.

Lots of Orcs.

Delves i think were all linked by the great stairway.

Magical doors like the the main entrance that could only be opened under moonlight? Perhaps information from particular books so possession of book is required for lore check to open particular doors?

Ban doon me ma's fer food so i'll be thinking some more.

LB

[Fasin]

Some way up to whatever remains of Durin's Tower would be most welcome.

Many Pillared Halls, the peak of Zirak-zigil where Gandalf defeats the Balrog, Mirrormere, etc. :)

Maybe some quest involving finding Durin's Burial site (Im not sure if such a thing was known, or was lost in the mists of time).

If only we had a more appropriate tileset than the 'Ruins' set. But it is pretty nice, and with Dwarvish scenery scattered about it should do fine.

[TheStoryteller01]

There are flooded areas mentioned in the books. So moria would be a nice place to include zones where one has to wade through water like in the swamps.

It can be done with CEPs high and low water "tiles" I guess and could make for some nice optical effects.

[Galdor_Niphredil]

As has been discussed before it would be more in keeping with the books if the west gate was hidden imho. Maybe this could be done in a similar way to the secret doors on Himling Island.
In FoTR descriptions of the west gate include:

'this door was not made to be a secret known only to Dwarves'
'Unless things are altogether changed, eyes that know what to look for may discover the signs.'
and 'They are wrought of Ithildin that mirrors only starlight and moonlight and sleeps until it is touched by one who speaks words now long forgotten in Middle Earth.'

Maybe their could be a pre-cursor to parties entering Moria in that they must acquire the knowledge to interpret the Feanorian script on the doors, perhaps by a trip to some Elvish settlement- perhaps Elrond's library would be ideal for this.
On another thought, what about including languages as an upgradeable pc skill? Maybe some races would get automatic ranks in certain languages eg. Dwarves getting Khuzdul, Elves getting Sindarin, Men would have Westron/Adunaic. This type of skill check might work well on other unconnected quests.

..Then again this could all by tied in with a skill check against Lore.

Just throwing ideas around..

[ghost81]

The backgound sound can really make Moria, one server I played on had drums as the background music (can't remember what we have, haven't been there in a long time) this was very atmospheric, and effective for building atmosphere.

[Galdor_Niphredil]

Maybe a quest involving the recovery of mithril for Lagnar in Tharbad who could then forge the player(s) a weapon as reward?

[dsan1]

i think moria should be way harder than it is now.

perhaps you could create a level 0 to -1 passage to dimril dale where encounters are limited to masses (yes, i know that's a problem with nwn but take as many as possible) of rather easy goblins and orcs, and a level -2 and deeper part of the mines where the serious quests take action and - finally - where "the flame of udun" resides. at lvl -2 and deeper the encounters should be very hard orcs and goblins.

besides: would it be much work (i'm not moduling myself so i don't know...) to get rid of the classic nwn-troll in favour of e.g. ogres renamed trolls? my idea of a troll is a much more bulky creature than the classic nwn-troll is.

[Fasin]

Originally posted by dsan1
would it be much work (i'm not moduling myself so i don't know...) to get rid of the classic nwn-troll in favour of e.g. ogres renamed trolls? my idea of a troll is a much more bulky creature than the classic nwn-troll is.
I absolutely agree, NWN Ogres/Ogre Magi/Hill/Mountain Giants will make far better Middle Earth Trolls ... not a problem ... :naughty: *winks conspiratorially at Kev and Av*

[morez]

Yes, i agree too!!
Ogres in Moria should be renamed as cavetrolls and every troll in arda should be reskinned as ogre or mountain giant or so....
the NWN-trolls are just like some friends of the ents...
so as the fellowship really had some trouble with this cavetroll (and not only in this movie), it should be much harder than for lvl 7+ i think...
and i think that gollum could be invented as DM controlled creature he could be spawned in as DM-event especially in areas like moria

it would be also great if there will be some tunnels in different directions like you have to choose your way
and why is moria a one way trip so i want to travel from dimril dale to west too
one thing i saw in a moria modul was great:
there were this tentacle spell (dont know its name right now) as creature beneath the entrance....(just if you are interested in that Kev tell me)

[Galdor_Niphredil]

The Watcher in the Water- sounds a great idea if feasible. :)

[Fasin]

i think thats a druidic spell effect - not sure of its name as ive never been spell-caster really - tanglefoot perhaps?

[Avalyn]

Evards Black Tentacles maybe? :P
Its a level 4 wizard spell.

[Fasin]

see - told ya

[Nim White]

Don't forget a quest to find the tomb of Balin Fundinul, Uzbad Khazad Dumu!

[morez]

1.
i think the modul where you can look at the watcher in teh water implmentation is either:
http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/modules/data/1067696345179.shtml
or if not this:
http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/modules/data/1045592637112.shtml
yes i guess it's the evards black tentacles spell...
..just for information....there is this spell as skin ímplemenated as creature or place able that is damaging you...

2. if there is already a drum music in nwn or cep i would be glad to here it....

[mattimus]

Cunning Ambushes + Dastardly Traps should definately be included

Perhaps a haven for the evil characters who from time to time are seen on the server orc/goblin settlement similar to Dol Goldur?

I think the idea of getting the 'drums from the deep' is alos excellent

[Prophet7]

I really liked Galdor's idea of a mithril quest, it would be a good and easy way to add in a high quality quest. I think it should be for the higher level characters hunting Balrogs though because Mithril should be a very powerful and rare item. Maybe only allowing characters of a certain level to talk to Lagnar about it...etc.

I didn't get a chance to make sure because my companions were rushing ahead but I didn't see any of the doors ask for the password to get in, and I will double check today. Kev, this Moria is much better than the last, good job!! The last one seemed symmetrical and simple, but this one twists and turns enough to make it seem more like real tunnels. Maybe a few more giants at Durin's Tower though, I went in expecting a lot of trouble and found only two giants...a good challenge but very short.

[DM_Kev]

Moria is done :)

Oh, and there is a mithril quest in there someplace. ;)

[SNarfel]

Originally posted by Prophet7
I I went in expecting a lot of trouble and found only two giants...a good challenge but very short.


hmmm.. short giants.. fascinating;)

[DM_Kev]

Heh, I originally had 3 but thought it too tough :P

I'll see how others fare and if its worth it, I'll drop an extra one in.

[Argon Balros]

BUGGED quest for glorfindal in moria i just got the plans it siad i'd got em it updated my journal but when i gor back to glorfindal i could not complete quest and i could not fin a corosponding quest item in my pack after i got the plans i reloged once before i got back could that off screwed it up.

[DM_Kev]

Needs to go in bug reports. Its been fixed anyway.

[Prophet7]

I checked again and the door doesn't ask the password at all. Don't know if you care, but thought you should know. After I finished the Glorfindel quest I got offered better items as the party leader, but none of my party members had it. So now every single person will have to do the quest as a party leader to get better items.

[Luinil]

thats what the token system is all about yes, the leader of the party is the one who got the assignment and thus he gets the fame for completing it. "..and then the party led by [insert name] returned to Rivendell after successfully having recovered old books of great value for the elves..."

[DM_Kev]

I did consider when we started utt2 to reward the entire party, but there is a massive room for abuse here, which would be near undetectable for dm's.

Basically, people could join the party at the last minute and join them as they get rewarded. Players would be able to get rewards for doing absoloutely nothing.

I guess it gives different characters an experience as being the party leader, something which we are trying to promote on this server as a way of enhancing the roleplay.

[GammaGm]

I have seen in some other servers a fairly simple random set of caves, caverns etc. What if the Deep Dark had a random area with challenges appropriate to level and random exits stuff like that? Endless opportunity for low random opportunity rooms puzzels, riddles, crypts, traps, etc where after so long the rooms erase themselves or the doors behind you lock and there is nothing but to go forward. Well, or die.