Fan Mission: In Danger of Judgment (2019/11/15)

[krrg 69]

Description: The venerated Judge Malffourt lives in a fine house in an immaculate neighborhood of Bridgeport. But rumors have been spreading about Malffourt; something about a bribe? There is only one way to find out...

Download Link: https://storage.googleapis.com/krrg-tdm/indangerofjudgment.pk4

Special Thanks to my beta testers for their great feedback!  (Bienie, Cambridge Spy, Shadow, VanishedOne, acolyte6)

Screenshots

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Helps and Hints:

Spoiler

Q. Which rooms are the 7 secrets located in?

Spoiler

1. Machine room (in sewers)
2. Kitchen
3. Bathroom
4. Music / Ballroom
5. Jarrold's Bedroom
6. Downstairs Lounge
7. Upstairs Library

Q. What are the specific locations of the 7 secrets?

Spoiler

1. Purse, behind the large generator in the sewer machine room.
2. Ring under one of the upside-down chalices in the kitchen.
3. Golden builder piece, hidden in shadows on the high bathroom shelf.
4. Ring on floor to the right of the cabinet in music room.
5. Sword on top of the Jarrold's bed.
6. Ring on top of a bookshelf in the downstairs lounge.
7. (Very hard) In the upstairs library, in one of the window nooks, there is a stack of three books on a low table. The bottom book in the stack is a secret safe and contains a nice reward.

Q. How do I reveal the optional objectives?

Spoiler

There are three optional objectives, all of which are revealed by reading various notes and books.

1. Read the handwritten note on top of a desk in the dining room.

Spoiler

The key you are looking for is stuck in the dirt of the flower pot directly underneath the oil lamp on the wall. When you open the desk, look out! Someone might have already smelled the rotting food in the desk and come by for a nibble.

2. Read the journal by Mrs. Schumann's bed.

Spoiler

It looks like Mrs. Schumann stole one of Jarrold's books, but is too embarrassed to give it back to him. Get the book off the couch in her room and return it to the circle table in Jarrold's room.

3. Read Jarrold's journal, located in the chest at the foot of his bed.

Spoiler

The Judge has been behaving strangely. Perhaps it is worth searching his room to find out why? Come to think of it, everyone else in this house is an avid journal-keeper...where is the Judge's journal?

Spoiler

The judge has a secret study in his bedroom you might be interested in searching. Can you find the switch that opens it? (Re-read Mrs. Schumann's journal for some hints about where the switch might be...she really doesn't like a messy house does she?)

Spoiler

Climb inside the Judge's bed and have a look up with your lantern on. See it now?

 

 

 

Q. Do I have to pick the complicated lock on Elizabeth's study in order to gain entrance?

Spoiler

No, you don't have to pick your way into Elizabeth's study. The Judge keeps his own copy of the key to her study hidden on the shelves of the upstairs library between two pieces of pottery on the far wall. But, if you didn't find the key, you can still brute force your way through her door.

Q. What is the bribe and where do I find it?

Spoiler

What else would a flowershop bribe a judge with but flowers? (See the newspaper on a chair in the dining room and the note in the drawer in the small downstairs library for some backstory) Elizabeth must have thought the bribery bouquet to be too flamboyent, since she hid it out of sight in...what else? A secret room adjoining her study. Reread the note in the bottom of Mrs. Schumann's wardrobe and the delivery note in Elizabeth's cabinet for hints as to how to reveal the secret room.

Q. So how do I get into the secret room?

Spoiler

There is an astrological globe shoved in the corner with all the plants in Elizabeth's study. Give the globe a little spin and see what happens.

 

Q. I found a safe, but I can't seem to open it!

Spoiler

The judge keeps the key to his safe very well protected, and in a completely different part of the house. Try completing the optional objective (see above) triggered by reading Jarrold's journal. This should lead you into the right places to find a certain "Heavy Golden Key".

If that isn't specific enough, then:

Spoiler

The key is located in the upper-right cabinet of the battered old bureau in the Judge's secret room adjoining his bedroom. If you need help opening the secret room, see instructions above for completing the objective triggered by reading Jarrold's journal.

 

Q. Who wrote the piano music playing in the music room?

Spoiler

One of Mrs. Schumann's relatives, a man named Robert Schumann of course!   There ought to be two pieces available to play, both are from Op 15 "Scenes from Childhood":

Op 15 No 7: Träumerei ("Dreaming")
Op 15 No 12: Kind im Einschlummern ("Child falling asleep")

I like to think that Mrs. Schumann put these pieces on the Victrola to play earlier that evening before heading off to bed.

(Recordings are in the public domain and were sourced from Wikimedia/Musopen)

Q. Is Jarrold feeling hungry?

Spoiler

He's a late night stress eater, as you might be able to tell. He's feeling stressed, because he feels his boss is hiding something from him...I wonder what?

Q. I need more help!

Spoiler

Cambridge Spy has kindly recorded a complete walkthrough of the mission and posted it to YouTube. This should prove most helpful to you in locating the secrets, the loot, and completing all objectives (including optional objectives) if you did not find the above descriptions elucidating.  See thread for link, and much thanks @Cambridge Spy!

 

 

Author's Notes: This is my first ever fan mission, built over a period of ~6 months. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I did building it!

 

Edited November 17, 2019 by krrg
Added additional helps and hints.

[Kerry000 24]

Wow, thank you so much for this! It's an engaging little mission with a compelling story and a nice layout.

I played beta 5 last night, and I found 5230 loot and 6 out of 7 secrets.

The optional objectives were all easy (I think you intended it that way?) and the house was full of hidden areas and lots of loot all over the place.

It felt really intuitive in many ways, since I was rewarded in every scenario that I expected something to materialize. For example...

Spoiler

 

Lifting the upside down chalices in the kitchen and finding a ring beneath one was exactly what I anticipated from the moment I saw them. Credit to you for the smile on my face at the time.

I also explored the judge's bedroom thoroughly and would have completely missed the switch for the hidden study if it wasn't for a note upstairs that mentioned something about loose or moving bookshelves in the main bedroom. So I went back down and, sure enough, there are scratch marks on the floorboards near the bookshelves that made me search everywhere for a switch. It was a clever sort of mystery to solve without ever feeling frustrating.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to make this FM for us fans. A small, tight, and detailed mission was exactly the right choice for a first build on your part. I can't wait to see what you come  up with next. I suppose I can guess, since it's hinted at in readables throughout this mission  

[Jedi_Wannabe 145]

Congrats on the release! I hope to play it after work tonight. I'm in deep mapping on my own first FM, and in the middle of Thomas Porter campaign, but I am dedicating my free time to show some love to a fellow newb mapper. I read some of the test notes and it sounds like eye candy, CAN NOT WAIT.

Edited November 16, 2019 by Jedi_Wannabe
needed mo' hype

[Amadeus 280]

Congrats, krrg!!! Looking forward to playing this

[JackFarmer 384]

Congratulations! I will have a look this weekend!

[HMart 290]

Congratulations indeed.

[joebarnin 143]

Congratulations! I guess I need to put The Outer Worlds aside for a bit...

[Bienie 360]

Congrats on releasing your first mission! I had a great time testing it, and I already know that it's a high quality product!

[peispud 15]

Happy happy happy

 

[joebarnin 143]

Nice mission! Lots to do in a very compact space. I got

 3820 loot and 5 of the secrets

I concer with Kerry000 - this mission is intuitive. Just when you're thinking "there should be something here", there is. Good use of context and clues.

I loved the

thunder and lightning in the upstairs library. The first time in, I was in the middle of the room and I had a little warning because the lightning was first, so when the thunder hit a split second later it didn't surprise me. But later I came back into the library, I had just walked in and I didn't see the flash, and suddenly the sharp, loud thunder hits and I jumped! Nice surprise, and totally random.

Great job! Looking forward to your next mission.

[Heuli 20]

thanks krrg for the beautiful mission
I had a lot of fun
Greetings from Germany

 

[Jedi_Wannabe 145]

Spoiler

Played it last night and had a lot of fun! Very beautifully decorated and laid out very well. For a first FM it's really impressive. You nailed the size perfectly; not too ambitious for a first project. The speed you accomplished it is enviable. I hope you can crank out pretty little micro missions like this every 3-6 months now that you clearly have the hang of it.

The lighting was good, nice use of shadows. I am glad I didn't blow out the candle by the sliding statue, it was cool watching the shadows do their thing after you activate the globe. How she was originally just staring out the window was also weird and unsettling, I liked it. 

Those plants by the painting that opens tripped me out too. I had to stop and stare for like 15 sec and did like 3 double takes because I thought I was having a flashback. It was weird and cool, but tell me more about the design choice on that one I am curious. Was that a wind affect that got left on, or did you do that on purpose to creep people out? Because it worked, made that whole room more atmospheric.

It was the right amount of difficult that didn't involve annoying excessive back tracking for the objectives. I liked the optional objectives and how the story (well written, nice readables!) opened up more and encouraged you to take a second look in places you may have already thought you cleared, and without making it a chore. It made for fun exploration that didn't force you into it or hold your hand or put you on a leash. For it's space efficient size it is a really dense map full of life a nice details.

I play through maps on medium my first time go, then go back and try to ghost on hard later, so I don't know if number of AI changes with that in your map. But for the political climate surrounding the plot I was surprised Malffourt didn't have more guards around despite his absence at the house. I like more around to keep me on my toes and keep the tension high. However, the low difficulty for AI avoidance made the balance for the high difficulty loot hunt sweet. Don't know if that was an intentional design choice but it worked really well and I appreciated the balance.

The loot and secrets were fun and hard! I got 5 of 7 secrets and 4420 out of 5385 loot. This is one of my favorite aspects of Thief and you made it really fun and perfectly challenging. Expert hiding/placement of loot. As others have said, your feng shui is believable as hell! The delight every time I thought to look around/under/behind something and found something clever in plain sight that I missed the first 2 times in a room, well done.

So many nice little touches, I felt the love you poured into the project around every turn. The lights from the windows, the sounds of the rain, the lightning flashes in the upper library, the mystery, intrigue and creep factor, everything was on point, and again I'd like to stress and add more hype to the fact it's your first FM. Bravo and congrats on the release. I wanted to beta test but didn't have time to commit, so the least I could do is play your map day one and show some love. Can't wait to see what you come up with next, don't stop mapping. Let's take down the Crushers!

Thank you for this gem.

the gargoyle by the stairs was floating a bit for me.

 

gah Builder's balls! I don't know why I can't move that pic into the spoiler tags, sorry

Edited November 16, 2019 by Jedi_Wannabe

[MrMunkeepants 3]

this was a delightful little map, thank you so much for it!

I got about half the secrets; I couldn't

Spoiler

open the library safe or find the missing history book,

if those are part of the total.

Hints, please?

[gokudo 8]

Great mission. Not too massive, not too small, just right! 

[Cambridge Spy 122]

Here's my playthrough video of In Danger of Judgment:

 

 

[krrg 69]

Wow, thank you for the kind comments everyone, I'm beyond words! And thanks for the walkthrough video @Cambridge Spy, very nice!

I've edited the original post to include some helps and hints for those of you trying to hunt down those elusive secrets. Some of them are tricky, just be glad that my wonderful beta testers reigned me a little on not making those secrets too difficult

I'm so glad the storm upstairs was so well received!  I spent a fair bit of time very early on in the design getting that thunderstorm put together.

It's still in the early phases as far as what to build next. Certainly we'll get some sequels for In Danger of Judgment in which we defeat (or get crushed by!) the dreadful Crushers gang. I've also got a document I wrote up back at the beginning of 2019 with all sorts of missions-in-embryo; that's actually where my ideas for In Danger of Judgment were pulled from, and I'm considering building out another one of those ideas into another 20-30 minute mission, particularly so I can get more practice doing decent outdoor scenes (you'll notice I very purposely avoided outdoors for this first mission ). 

Also, I've been a little out of the loop with work recently, anyone know if the mission download server is healthy again?  If so, I'll have to go off and find the people that can help get this uploaded officially.

 

 

[STRUNK 201]

Very nice! I like the whole architecture and design of everything. You really have good taste I think. I'm going back now to find some more secrets and stuff : )

Spoiler

I saw some crosses on the ceiling that I think you forgot to remove and some baseboards that have no "cap", at the door to the downstairs librairy.

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by STRUNK

[krrg 69]

38 minutes ago, STRUNK said:

 

  Hide contents

I saw some crosses on the ceiling that I think you forgot to remove and some baseboards that have no "cap", at the door to the downstairs librairy.

Spoiler

Yes, when beta testing, several of us noticed the crosses; they are caused by some sort of weird shadow behavior from oil lamps on the floor above. I think I know how to fix it in future missions, but I was never able to entirely figure out how to get rid of the problem for this mission. The baseboards are predefined assets for TDM, so it might be a minor glitch in the model itself or the way that I'm using it there.

 

 

[STRUNK 201]

@krrg

Spoiler

Ok, that's weird indeed : D Well, it are really minor issues, I liked the map a lot nontheless.

 

[Spyrano 4]

As has been said before, fun, small mission, with good design/atmosphere (especially that stormy upstairs library). Thanks!

[Aldo 47]

Nice FM, some really nice building. Well done

[nbohr1more 2014]

On 11/17/2019 at 1:19 AM, krrg said:

Wow, thank you for the kind comments everyone, I'm beyond words! And thanks for the walkthrough video @Cambridge Spy, very nice!

I've edited the original post to include some helps and hints for those of you trying to hunt down those elusive secrets. Some of them are tricky, just be glad that my wonderful beta testers reigned me a little on not making those secrets too difficult

I'm so glad the storm upstairs was so well received!  I spent a fair bit of time very early on in the design getting that thunderstorm put together.

It's still in the early phases as far as what to build next. Certainly we'll get some sequels for In Danger of Judgment in which we defeat (or get crushed by!) the dreadful Crushers gang. I've also got a document I wrote up back at the beginning of 2019 with all sorts of missions-in-embryo; that's actually where my ideas for In Danger of Judgment were pulled from, and I'm considering building out another one of those ideas into another 20-30 minute mission, particularly so I can get more practice doing decent outdoor scenes (you'll notice I very purposely avoided outdoors for this first mission ). 

Also, I've been a little out of the loop with work recently, anyone know if the mission download server is healthy again?  If so, I'll have to go off and find the people that can help get this uploaded officially.

 

 

It's already on the official site and mirrors

Wiki entry created as well.

[krrg 69]

13 hours ago, nbohr1more said:

It's already on the official site and mirrors

Wiki entry created as well.

Thanks @nbohr1more!

[Amadeus 280]

Finally got around to playing this. This was really great krrg! So many details, both story-wise and environment-wise.  All your rooms really came to life, they all felt lived in. Well done, looking forward to what you have in store next

[Tarhiel 29]

Very nice compact little mission;

I hope our hero´s journey will continue and that he will

Spoiler

take on the gang

Edited December 16, 2019 by Tarhiel