Neoband long-term plans

[Therem Harth]

Game Changes

Instead of having it in for Sauron and Morgoth, you're going to into the depths of Gehenna retrieve the Morning Stone, without which the sun cannot rise. (Sound familiar?) The whole thing is ironman. You cannot go up until you have found it, and once you have found it you must get out with everyone chasing you. (Sound even more familiar?)

Also:
- No Banishment/Mass Banishment
- No Teleport-away
- *Destruction* inflicts damage instead of deleting monsters
- Much less distinction between "unique" and "non-unique" critters

Monster Changes

Critters that will probably go
Icky things
Frogs
Molds
Worm masses
Red/yellow/green/blue/etc. varieties of pretty much everything
Any and all Tolkien uniques
Elementals and elemental spirits
Beetles, one and all
Orcs, and probably Yeeks
Dark-elves
Dwarves (sorry!)
Beholders
All manner of demons and variegated undead
Dragons (but they'll be replaced)
Pretty much all D&D stuff
Angels (no kidding...)
[Edited to add] Mice, lice, and breeders in general

Critters that will definitely stay as is
Green glutton ghosts

Critters that will be spiffed up
Townspeople (expect a bit less silliness and a bit more danger)
Jellies/slimes/oozes (less flashy colors for starters)
Lizards and snakes (several unpleasant new varieties will appear)
Poltergeists and their ilk
Jackals and wolves (with more magical weirdness)
Spiders and insects (ditto)
Kobolds (some of the high level ones will be nasty)

Critters that will be added
- Several varieties of demons inspired by Jack Vance. In particular I really want to include Chun the Unavoidable...

Final Thoughts

This will be a huge undertaking. I probably won't have the time for it. OTOH I badly want to get away from the Tolkien stuff (duh?).

I think what I'm ultimately going for is more like Vance or Fritz Lieber in tone - darkly humorous, tongue firmly in cheek, but still a bit creepy. If you've ever read the Dying Earth stories, or Ill Met in Lankhamar, that's the sort of thing I'm talking about... Only minus the noxious 50s sexism.

Assuming I can even get this off the ground... edit file changes are always a crashing bore.

[HugoVirtuoso]

Sounds like a unique variant in the making with its own Steamband-esque touch to it.

[Nick]

So instead of changing the magic system to fit the theme, you're changing the theme to fit the magic system

[Therem Harth]

Well it took me a couple of hours (!) but I managed to prune out big chunks of the monster list, and in the process edit a bunch of monster descriptions. New ones will come later...

Be warned BTW that some of the new monster descriptions are pretty macabre, and may cause people to ask weird questions.

[Therem Harth]

Wound up keeping dragons BTW, though not all of them (only high level ones). One of my beefs with Angband is that dragons are common, a good source of loot, and powerful characters just slice through most of them. While the dynamic is nice, I feel like dragons should be a little more legendary than that.

Let's see. There are still some issues - Quylthulgs aren't specifically named any more, but some still bear the unfortunate Quylthulg name. Some spiders are still Tolkien material. There may be stray characters in some descriptions, or missing spaces.

I think Tolkien artifacts will be next to go...

[HugoVirtuoso]

Any thoughts on changing game title? For example, changes in FayAngband were extensive enough to make it Halls of Mist?

[Therem Harth]

Not sure. Fay seemed to lose a lot of players when that happened...

[MattB]

Sounds intriguing...

[Therem Harth]

Hmm... Artifacts. This will be interesting. Need less superhero and more supernatural. Artifacts should all be powerful, many should be weird and/or scary, and none should invoke feelings of boredom or apathy.

A bit of brainstorming...

The Trident of Luminescent Waves
The ceremonial weapon of a long-dead sea god. Ghosts of glowing plankton float about its head, hypnotizing those who look too long.

Benefits: 10d8 (+22, +24) [+12]. Branded with cold and acid. S, and aggravates demons.lays demons. Provides resistance to the elements. Activates for LOS sleep and cold damage.

Detriments: 1/3 chance of summoning spirits from the vasty deep every 100 turns!

Tom's Seven-League Boots
Crafted by a legendary ogre smith, these boots grant strength, stamina, and great length of stride.

Benefits: +10 speed, STR, CON. Provides free action and resistance to cold and poison. Activates for heroism and even more speed.

Detriments: Aggravates monsters.

The Helm of the Silver Knight
The shining, crested helm of a knight of old. You feel more courageous as you lift it, almost as if its erstwhile owner has taken a liking to you...

Benefits: +50 AC. Telepathy. +4 WIS and CON. Resist fear, sound, blindness, and confusion. Grants perfect saving throw. Activates to for major healing, curing conditions, restoration of SP, heroism, haste, berserk, and immediate destruction of the helm. (Obviously the player will be prompted.)

Detriments: the knight's spirit gets attached to you! Cursed, auto re-curse, cannot be dropped while cursed, and aggravates demons and dragons.

And just for fun...

General-Purpose Military Exoskeleton Suit
A drab-painted metal relic, from a time when the Universe followed physical laws. Its small atomic battery still works.

Benefits: (+60, +60) [+150]. +40 STR, CON. Resistance to the elements. Slow digestion. Activates for a plasma beam attack every 5 turns.

Detriments: The atomic pile is not working quite right, so your character will be mildly poisoned from time to time...

[HugoVirtuoso]

I like these ideas. What specific works of Jack Vance inspire the future of Neoband?

[Therem Harth]

Mostly The Dying Earth... Though really I'd rather not ape Vance, just take some inspiration from him. I could go on at length about his stronger and weaker points as a writer, but suffice to say there's some dated stuff there that I'd like to leave behind.

Edit: ehhh, do note that I'm not kidding when I say "long-term plans." I have a job in the tech industry and a bunch of other stuff going on. tl;dr don't get too hopeful! But I do intend to get this done.

[Therem Harth]

An update: unfortunately I have to scrap this idea for now. I just don't have the time. I have this week off, but expect me to disappear immediately after the weekend.

I'm figuring on starting a new variant project today though... Hopefully building on my experience with Neoband, so that the code is a little bit less horrible. Stay tuned.

[mewmew]

Reminds me Hellband. Well, excep no demons...

Also I don't think Chun was a demon, he probably was some kind of magician, at least it's not directly stated he was a demon.

[Therem Harth]

It's reminding me more of "Duke Nukem Forever" at this point...