Maximius

What about an EidosArrow, you shoot it and everything sucks? I like what Ishtvan said to the effect of using the toolkit to do whatever the heck you want. Some FMs that are loaded with bizarre new equiptment are waaay fun, once again Island of Iron 2 comes to mind. I replayed it more than any other FM, cause there were a million ways to kill all those beautiful new undead and demons. I led them into fights with bots and Mechs, bottled necked em with explosive barrels and killed like 7 with one fire arrow, or sniped em with those groovy flasharrows. But sometimes an FM that gives you lockpix, and maybe a rope arrow, and thats it are a lot of fun as well. Each FM style is as valid as the other, like oysters or snails. I would like to see really weird new magical tools, very rare and expensive, injected here and there. One idea I had was based on the scouting orb. If I can toss this orb and then see through it and move it around on an axis, then why can't I move it around like its actually rolling along? Why you ask? Cause then the Thief can have a familiar, a rat to be specific. Dig this: The Thief finds a scroll in a witches den he's rolling. The scroll is an incantation to bind a familiar. What the heck he figures, cant hurt. He has to go find a rat and frob the scroll. Now the rat appears in inventory. It is deployed like the scouting orb. The Thief sees through its eyes, but theres more. The Rat has a light gem too, cause if a cat sees ya or you get too close to a guard, splat! The Rat can scale some surfaces, like wood or cloth, and can carry up to one small item at a time in its mouth (key, gem, coin). FMs could be developed along the lines of a dual storyline. I think I mentioned this on ttlg, the Thief gets caught and manages to toss the Rat into a trashcan as he is dragged off. Now, the Rat must make its way into the prison or dungeon, find the lokpix or key, get it to the Thief. Now, the Thieve's adventure begins. He must make his way back over the terrain the Rat did, but this time its a completely different play experience as a human. Or another theme idea, the Rat goes one way and the Thief goes another, say in some ancient tomb where the safety switch for a booby trap is down the hall. The Rat goes down to the switch, then the Thief takes over and completes the loot haul. Then both must meet up at the exit. Ah, early morning Thief ramblings...

Would it take a full fledged programmer to do such work, or could lowly newbie editors try their hands at some simple knick knacks?

I agree, it must be changed for both reasons.

My post was unclear, I dont want the gas arrows to make a new noise themselves, the noise is from the guard falling that you aren't close enough to catch. Im assuming someone who has to use a gas arrow generally needs the range it gives. But increasing the armor crash would make using that arrow a tougher call, methinks. I see your point about the different maps styles, oDDity. Maybe a linear FM could be made where you have to go back every so often to drag your loot sack along, but that would be tedious. I like the idea of just having to pass some stuff up even more. If you guys are already going to implement catching BJ'd guards, I'm going to swoon. ThUmP Ok, I swooned.

What about having a drop off point for loot in the map? A designated dump where you can return during the game and unload, near your entrance/exit place. Maybe some kind of object could be made that would tally what you dumped into it, call it Garretts Big Ass Velvet Bag. In the storyline, he would'nt grab this until he was ready to flee the premises. It could still be limited in size and weight, just more than he can carry in his kit. The last act of the FM would be Garrett moving this heavier bag, which would limit his actions like carrying a body, out the back window or door. I used to wonder back in t2 about the possiblity of Garrett having to "catch" a BJed AI. Say I sneak up behind him, whack, now I have to grab and drag the body to shadow before it hits the ground. The body would only be frobable for a few seconds while the AI crumples. This way: 1. Garrett never has to support a huge guards full weight, and just as importantly never has to dead lift it. And maybe some guards are heavier than others? Maybe some are nearly impossible to carry/drag, while others are like rag-dolls? 2. The noise, a regularly garbed man collapsing to the ground will make a noise, an armored one should wake half the castle. (In fact, a year ago I watched an old, old lady collapse on the street here in Philly, her tiny little body and head made a thump that I heard half a block away.)This realistically accounts for that *huge* crash missing in T1/2/DS when an AI was whacked, cause the bodies should never hit the ground. There can still be noise of course, and it should pose a threat. 3. It would force Garrett to pick his ambush areas very carefully. You whack the AI, catch him as he falls, then have to quickly drag him to shadow. You can still move a pancaked guard, its just noisy and hard with all that armor dragging across stone. 4. It would fine tune balance the gas arrows. They are a pretty powerful weapon, but imagine if you knew that to use it is going to A. make a big noise cause you cant run and catch the dude as he falls and B. make dragging a body away a lot harder, slower, whatever cause you couldnt catch him. You would think twice about firing away with them, or you might have to nock another expensive and rare gas arrow to take out the clowns who come running. Either way it limits their use and utility, a plus in my book.

Hello DarkMod peeps, thanks for saving Thief from the iron jaws of mediocrity. I've just downloaded GTKRadiant and I'm off to school. Or is that mEidoscrity? I can never remember how to spell it...