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One of the few things I’m happy about with my latest completed scenario, Lamentations, is the few new technical innovations it accomplishes. And while their uses are put to varying degrees of success within the scenario itself, I think they all possess potential to be used beneficially in other scenarios. The Way Out By far the simplest of the innovations is “The Way Out”, a simple special item the party begins with that, when used, will prompt a dialogue box allowing the party to leave the scenario. While the unique nature of Lamentations made this special item particularly useful, I strongly encourage pretty much every scenario to implement such a special item. The programming itself is extremely quick and easy, and it can simplify the player’s life immensely. How many times have you opened up an old saved game file to find yourself in the middle of some huge scenario, with no desire to play that scenario anymore. Sure, you could always go to the PC Editor, but I find that to be a hassle. “The Way Out” is much easier. The Level Checker Used not in Lamentations, but An Apology, the Level Checker is not my brainchild, but rather something I read on Aceron’s BOE Message Board. (I honestly cannot recall who the original author was, if that person would please email me, I would happily credit you.) The Level Checker’s purpose is to prevent an overly-strong party from entering the scenario. This is accomplished through the use of monster hps, which double for every “over classification” of the party. For example, a medium level party will cause monster hps to double when in a low scenario, where a high level party will cause monster hps to triple in the same scenario. The Level Checker works by introducing a non-party element to damage a creature, and to record whether the monster dies or not. There are two specials that can damage creatures — hit space and explosion on space — but neither of these will suffice, as if they kill the creature, and the creature has either a life flag or special called upon its death, which the Level Checker requires, a BOE error will occur. Instead, you must damage the creature via some other mode — quickfire or another creature being the most common. As quickfire causes random damage, I prefer other creatures. To make the sequence work, set the two monsters next to each other, and begin a timer. After x moves, have one of the creatures appear, and then immediately disappear two moves later. Set the defending creature to have no armor or defenses, and set the attacking creature to the highest skill and attack levels, and set its attacks so that it will always do just enough damage to kill the defending creature — for example, if the defending creature has ten hit points, give the attacking creature one attack of 10 one-sided dice. If the party is of the appropriate level (or lower), the creature will be killed, if the party is too high, the creature will not be killed. With additional timers and programming, you could even set it up so that the scenario could determine which level the party was — for example, if the creature was killed on turn one, the party would be low level, on turn two medium level, turn three high level, and so on. The Level Checker has its uses, but its somewhat debatable whether to include it at all. Players will still be able to cheat easily (via the PC editor) even with the Level Checker, and many argue that if they wish to play a low level party with super bruisers, they should be able to do so. Being primarily a designer myself, I feel that players should play my scenarios with parties appropriate for the scenario itself, but I understand the other side. In sum, use the Level Checker with caution. Walking Through Walls Lamentations has a special item, “Hegla’s Brew”, that allows you to walk through most terrain types for a short period of time after you drink the brew. While the purpose for the feature in the scenario is fairly limited, the idea has a good deal of potential. You can accomplish this result by editing any terrain to either clear, walk-through obstructed, or walk-through opaque, and then checking the “call scenario special” box. The scenario special called should look like this:
By controlling the SDF, you can selectively allow the party to alternatively travel through or be obstructed by each of these terrain types. There are, however, two limitations - First, every monster will be able to walk through the terrain, regardless of what the flag is set to. You can control this by placing “blocked to monster” terrain types around the terrain in question, but this often becomes cumbersome. Alternatively, you can use this feature to your advantage, by creating terrain the party cannot enter, but monsters can. Second, checking the “call scenario special” box prevents you from choosing any other terrain options. This can often seriously limit the effectiveness of this sequence. Intentional Graphical Errors When I first beta-tested Ben Frank’s Fog, the bmp file included had become corrupted. Not realizing this at first, I started playing the scenario, and was quite surprised to see virtually every terrain square constantly shifting into various strange forms. The result was actually somewhat interesting, and for about a minute I thought it might actually be on purpose, the “fog” the title refers to. While I quickly realized it was accidental, the idea of overloading the BOE graphics on purpose to produce this kind of effect began to fester. Accomplishing this is extremely simple — in the custom graphic # box of any terrain or creature, simply put a number larger than the any accompanying graphic’s sheet. The results of this, of course, are somewhat mixed. You’ll get vastly different results depending on whether the game is played on a MAC or a PC. The PC results, for monsters at least, are somewhat predictable. Monsters will appear as a silhouette of the last graphic the game tried to place — for example a black PC icon or a black “blood” splash. MAC results are far more random, examples of both are below. Obviously, the situations where this would be beneficial are few, but keep it in mind when designing a scenario. (Many thanks to Andres Gonzales for providing me with the MAC example.)  On a PC  On a Mac |