From the mouth of Chaco:
Hi, forum! As the writer of this month's newsletter, I have an immediate need to tell everyone about what's happening on this forum. I made a choice to volunteer my writing skills to informally talk about what happened recently when I noticed that gamer_extreme_101 (the person who has drafted previous newsletters) hasn't been around recently. But enough about me and my choices. I'm here to talk about everyone's choices.
Tendry Is At A Crossroads
Caravel Software released their newest game,
DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale last month. The forum reaction was very positive, and people absolutely adored the new gameplay, the new puzzles, the new content, and the story. In this game, the story focuses on a new hero, Tendry Dimpalm, and his great tale of how he single-handedly saved Tueno from the Rooted Empire.
Although the overarching narrative will always be the same each time Tendry relates his tale to his audience, just as he can change the details and play up his heroism, the player can guide him through each playthrough. Making decisions, picking fights, and getting Tendry through in ever more efficient ways is the main attraction.
Tendry's Tale is a DROD puzzler wearing RPG clothing and features resource management as its core theme. If trying to decide whether to take on many enemies and lose HP to get a new sword early, or coming back much later to spend a ton of money and keys on the same weapon sounds like an interesting choice, then head on over to the Caravel Games website to try it out now!
http://caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/RPG.html
mrimer Is At A Crossroads
And rather than become paralyzed with indecision and hesitatingly look back and forth at the various horizons, he's steadfastly continued forward with his coding work and improved DROD: RPG based upon the comments he has received over the past month.
The new 1.0.2.49 patch for Windows has been released in a thread on the RPG Bugs forum, and it includes many, many bug fixes and interface improvements that people asked for and didn't ask for. Even though this is a text-based medium and some people might be reading this in their e-mail inbox, let's give mrimer a round of applause!
Here is the 1.0.2.49 patch thread, which contains a comprehensive list of changes and pending fixes:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=27129
More improvements are planned for the near future as well.
The Smitemasters' Guild Is At A Crossroads
Tendry may have attracted many people over to his area with his stories of bravery, boldness, and especially flair. (Oh, a lot of people are talking about Flair.) But plenty of attention still exists towards
DROD: The City Beneath, and new holds are still continuously being built. All holds get infested really quickly, so go ahead and clear out these new projects released to the Holds forum in the months of September and October:
*
12th Stalwart Escapes by Kwerulous
*
Murder in the Basement by lopsidation
*
Evil miners' fortress by mxvladi
*
Abel's Hold by Pekka
*
Cheese's Hodgepodge by cheese obsessive
The Forum Is At A Crossroads
And because the forum is a huge group of many people, we can split up and go every which way, exploring in all directions and reporting on our foundings. Here are this month's Topic Picks:
Ignore this thread
eb0ny's new creation is another forum game with a familiar theme of no winners and plenty of losers. In this game, anyone who does not ignore the thread loses. But, then, that can't possibly be it, right? Surely this isn't schmuck bait? I mean, I wouldn't be posting a link to it in the Illumination if anyone who didn't ignore the thread lost. Check it out, if you dare:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=27347
Make a Poster!
This past month, several forum members responded to the Rooted Empire's need for motivation. In the spirit of parody and of creating laughs rather than actually getting anything done, this unofficial contest resulted in a lot of questionably motivational posters. Although it's too late to join up, there are still a lot of funny entries and some people have still posted some additional pictures. Check out the discussion over here:
Main thread:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=27105
Poll:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=27189
Contest Compilation Coordinator Audition
As the Director of the Department of Grand Constructions, I have an obligation to fill any unoccupied positions. Architecture contests are occurring all the time, and the audition to replace the previous (absent) person has been running for several months straight now. This is simply offputting. If anyone wants to volunteer for the position, I'd like to encourage them to sign up in this thread - it's not a hard job and someone needs to do it. The thread:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21830
RPG Thread Resources
In the one short month that DROD: RPG has been released, there's been a lot of discussion on just how to play the game. If you've been having problems with efficiency and resource management, or if you just want to see what other people think about the game, you might want to check out these threads. (Of course, I'd recommend you play the game first so you don't spoil too much for yourself. Half of the fun is figuring out some of this for yourself and feeling good about it.)
*DROD RPG: Basic Optimizing:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=26808
*Things we currently love about DROD: RPG:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=26982
*Things we currently don't love about DROD: RPG:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=26979
*HIdden rooms by level in Tendry's Tale:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=26996
A Visitor Is At A Crossroads
He's wearing an overcoat and large-brimmed hat, just like all mysterious visitors. And he has one more story to tell in addition to the ones I've told. It's a tale of a new facility that's supposed to be opening soon, which might be of great assistance to the Smitemaster's Guild as a whole. He quietly mentions that although the Clearing School produces smitemasters of reasonable quality that might be able to clear out scattered hordes and infested areas easily enough, these people might have trouble penetrating defenses and facing off against the minds of the Dungeon Architects.
To shamelessly steal another phrase,
something is going to happen. It's not like that other
something that some of you might remember, but I think it'll be appreciated just as much.
Chaco Is At A Crossroads
And I'm going to finish writing this newsletter, leave this small studio (which is more of a dirty shack at second glance) and step outside for a while, and go figure out how to get off the Eighth and back to Earth again. I can't quite remember how I got here in the first place. Maybe I'll ask for directions. Asking for directions at a crossroads seems like a good idea to me.
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Official Addendum by mrimer:
For me, October is an exceptional month. It's exceptional for me because we have so much *goodness* going on here on the Caravel Forum. So, I'm giving out TWO Don't Ask Awards this month to mirror my exuberance:
NiroZ received a nomination for this award from a fellow forumite. If I may quote the reason for this nomination, this forumite shared, "
I like...his excellent official contest ideas, his sword-spinning poster that made me laugh until leaf juice squirted up my nose, some good recent feedback in the RPG Architecture board, and his overall excellent help and support throughout the forum."
NiroZ, please claim a prize from the Prize Pile for yourself or another.
Chaco also receives a Don't Ask Award for his initiative in writing up this excellent newsletter. I've been busy on development work, and I appreciate his slack-picker-upper-ness! Chaco, please claim a prize from the Prize Pile!
That's all for now. So remember, Big Brother is watching. Either that, or a bunch of forum peepz =) A big thanks and big smiles to all for the goodness going on!
____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.
[Last edited by mrimer at 10-20-2008 03:16 AM]
) But now I'm stuck trying to figure out what to get from the prize pile. Do I give it to a friend, get books, get games or do I horde it in case something better comes up? 
