Random Encounter Areas

[ManUtd4Ever]

I would like to suggest random encounter areas that are accessed whenever exiting a town via a transition point for a new location. I just walked through Sestra - River Path and thought how nice it would be to encounter roaming bands of Exarch Guards or the like.

Ideally, these random encounters would represent two things... first, they would be consistent with the server's major plot lines. For example, if the Black Hand is attempting to squeeze a particular village, then travelers would encounter them enroute or exiting the town in question. The random encounters can be triggered by the town one just left, or their destination. Secondly, the encounters should be level appropriate. With this I would mean make entering or traveling through certain towns extremely challenging.

When the vampire population was higher many would RP traveling in pairs when leaving Second Wind Inn. There was a real threat of Clive challenging anyone on the road if he were on the server. This is the type of threat that it would be nice to replicate. The possibility of encountering a red colored boss outside of Sestra for any traveler not faction aligned would enhance total immersion and reinforce the plot lines. This applies to any village or faction.

As always, this is merely a suggestion and in no way implies the server isn't a load of fun to play on as it is.

Cheers!

[jarlexel]

DM_EF used to do that often, I never found one though

[Jhickey]

I thought something like this was in development, but I could be wrong. I like the idea however.

[Farmboy2003]

All my yes!

[Doubtful]

NWN2s default spawn system is a bit on the rubbish side, sadly as it is keeping the areas spawns constantly refreshed and dynamic would suck a lot of dev time and would mean map changes and tweaks with all the associated hassles.

However! Good news everybody! GBX is working on a new spawning system that would allow spawns to become randomised, party appropriate and much, much easier to change to reflect server/world dynamics and geo-political shifts.

This is good because there should be a whole arse of wandering monsters out there (and yes, the 'arse' is the correct measurement system for monsters), after all there's nothing to stop the critters of the Mossdale or Viridale from wandering out and stabinating people, or the goblins deciding to annex nearby farms, or whatever from doing stuff! Well, apart from the current limitations!

Currently DMs do set up wandering monsters and all sorts of fun interactions, but of course that relies on quite a bit of luck (I know that several times I've spent a while setting up a cool encounter, then watched in growing depression as the servers population has done whatever it could to avoid transitioning in) and a cross over of your play times and the DMs.

The sad news is that the system is still in development and GBX is a (thoroughly awesome and talented) busy dude, so no news on when the system will be done or the time it would take us to roll it out server wide.


Till we get the shiny custom stuff I'm afraid we're stuck with the default system.

[thaelis]

Just a thought in response to Doubt, but can the DM's manipulate the numbers in the "Player Finder" tool?

Usually we use that to find where something interesting is going on. If, in the scenario above, Doubtful had set up a cool encounter say on Tyr's fork but no one was going there he could then make it seem like "There is a commotion" at Tyr's fork without having to send out a shout.

I'm sure that would draw in players