Realm of blades.

[dread]

I am probing the idea of creating the "realm of Blades" which is the home of the goddess Karounokuni.

I don't know why I'm telling ya'll, however, I'm looking for any ideas I hadn't thought of. I'm not looking for mob-names, or specific items, but I AM looking for general ideas, or themes, or nifty tricks that might make a fun zone. No promises.

Think of it like a story, tell part of the story with your idea, I'll work on figuring out how it will work in game. If you need inspiration, go "look" at yaruuki the samurai guildmaster in certhan. His description is the precursor to the zone, also check the "MAKE YOUR GODS?!?" post on general board, as there's a little info there about this place...nothing much, just some material to start your mind rolling.

[One]

That area would be so awesome. Karounokuni would be like impossibly epic.

Encounters with more than one boss at the same time are pretty sweet and quite underdone on Otherworld. Like where you fight
against 5 NPCs that are all slightly different (and you can't avoid fighting them all for long without taking extraordinary pains to ensure it)

Multi-stage fights are always fun. Going to be making some small additions to spawned series of mobs soon. It will hopefully ensure that they don't all spawn on your head while fighting their spawn.

Perhaps make sections of the zone that are almost like their own mini zone... like say there are 5 sections total, make 2 of them available in the beginning and then make a key at the end of each that can be combined to make the key for the 3rd, then you need the key from the 3rd to get the key to the 5th. Could make all of them possible to save, so you wouldn't have to redo all of the zone each time.

Could always just make encounters based around predictability/not too... like NPC that always procs a big damage ae spell, or a nasty status on target, or that rarely procs santuary on the tank.

[dread]

Ok, I'm going to maintain this post with various ideas for mini-zone areas. I'm really looking for input from people other than just One(I want his input too!!!), and here's why: Accountability. If multiple people have ideas invested in the zone, I'll feel bad if I don't make it. So I'm hoping the creative aspects of the zone will have a community effort, One and I will worry about the mechanics of mobs and lootz0r etc.

Ok, so the following section I will update with assimilated ideas, and I will add my own to start:
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Mini-zone #1 - scrap heap. A mountain of discarded and broken weapons. Conical in shape and lorded over by Fthorhenaus, a sentient mace and shield combination that heirloomed through an ancient Gnoll Dynasty: the Khrudnish den. Their dynasty was overthrown as the gnoll infighting thinned their numbers and necessitated a single pack. It's last owner Vghor was stripped of the combo following defeat in single combat. His wounds were superficial, but his body fell lifeless after 1 day without his weapon. Some say the weapon's soul has destroyed Vghor's and wore him like a suit of armor. Other's say he so loved the weapons that his soul accompanied them instead of remaining in his body. this area will be populated by "garbage men" and broken sentient weapons....most likely this will be the lowest level area of the zone (although that could be pretty high, I haven't decided)

mini-zone #2 - Gallery Long hallway filled with ornamental weapons and fraught with weapon racks. This area is ruled by the consulate. A group of five sentient weapons that belonged to the council of elders of the lizardfolk. The council formed to determine their course as man flooded the world. Unfortunately, they chose to seclude themselves in a crappy swamp...The weapon's souls are subversive, they didn't make themselves known to their owners, however, the owners held an uncanny sway over the masses, despite their lack of personal charisma. These weapons passed hands to new council elders by way of single combat...The weapons chose attributes in challengers that better suited their means than their aging owners, and would falter on a parry or strike blunt on an attack to sabatoge their owners. This area is also populated by automatons who maintain the racks.

Area #3 - The Foundry This is a place where weapons are born, it's hot, it's molten, it's got a river of metal...it's pretty awesome. This is lorded over by Shatterhand a hammer forged of intensely resilient metal from the core of the world by the dwarves. It cost untold dwarvish lives to mine the material, and the vein was depleted to make the hammer. Assisting shatterhand is Turunouki, the soulstar. A samurai whose devotion was so intense that he was granted authority to imbue exceptional weapons with souls and identities who no longer have host. He patiently awaits a masterwork created by shatterhand and his menials...very few weapons have ever met this standard. Labor-slaves inhabit this area.

area #4 - The killing field This is the hell of blades, for those offenders who particularly piqued the wrath of the goddess of blades. Their forms are bloated and distroted, bound in place to be used as testing dummies for the weapons churned out in the foundry. This area is populated by the cursed and also some minions who test the blades being produced. It is lorded over by Huutfhul, an axe wielded by Ogre king Khrog before he trapped himself chasing a pack of dwarves into a cave. They found the dwarf warriors neatly preserved as the ogre had squeezed far enough into the cave as to stop the airflow in or out.

The final area will be the throne, where the goddess reigns and watches.

This is the basic premise of the main areas of the zone. any artistic ideas or specific mob ideas would be welcome...also additions, modifications, footnotes of the areas would be welcome as well.

[dread]

bump! Added all major areas...still waiting for input...slackers!

[One]

Sounds pretty schweet.