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Author Topic: Xvart Village  (Read 4756 times)

GoblinCookie

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Xvart Village
« on: September 15, 2014, 10:38:30 am »

I have created a mod to bring the lovable blue skinned swordwielding maniacs from Baldur's Gate over to Dwarf Fortress.  The inspiration for their entity comes from a mixture of the information provided here and the appearance of the xvart village in-game.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Xvart

This is I hope is to be the first of many mods introducing more and more elements from the Forgotten Realms Universe (that is Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights) to the game.  Ideally all of them that it is mechanically possible to reasonably add without stretching the lore (or the game) to breaking point.

As this is an ambitious project however I do not wish to commit to it and let everyone down so instead I have released a singular mod to add xvarts (and only xvarts) into the game.  Eventually I can progress to more and more creatures until I have downloaded the whole wiki onto dwarf fortress.  8) 8) 8)

About Xvart Village
Xvarts are small creatures with blue skin and a small amount of whiteish hair on their heads.  They live in and around mountains, avoiding open areas.  They can live for up to 400 years, but usually die violently before this.  On the plus side they kill plenty in their lifetimes and are often found covered in trophies from their many victims.

They do not however have much metal armour and xvart entities carry short swords exclusively.  Even the civilians carry swort swords and they are inherantly skilled in the use of swords and knives. 

Xvarts are ruled by a Supremacy, who appoints a set of Bosses to rule each village.  Xvart government is not in any way hereditery but neither is it democratic; the stongest Boss siezes control of the Supremacy when the former Supremacy dies.  Boring menal and civilian tasks are presided over by an elected Chief, elected by the people of the xvart settlement he rules.  This sharing of power is possible because the bosses do not care to concern themselves with 'menial tasks', leaving the adminstration of such to the Chief and the Chief does not normally dare to challenge the Boss because he can be 'replaced' rather easily. 

Download Link
http://dffd.wimbli.com/download.php?id=9704&f=Xvart+Mod.rar

Location Link
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=9704

Version 0.2 changes.
*Xvarts no longer have pouches because these are bugged at the moment.
*Xvart civilians are fixed to always have swords or daggers on them by duplication of tool items.
*Xvart naming has been further restricted in order to limit the appearance of un-xvartian names.

Version 0.3 changes.
*Xvarts description has been changed to simplify it, leaving the bulk of the description to the actual in-game creature.
*Xvarts appearance has been changed to better fit with the 4th Edition Xivort creature.
*Xvarts have been given blowguns in line with the 4th Edition Xivort creature.
*Xvarts now occasionally have axes or maces in line with the 1st Edition Xvart creature.

Version 0.4 changes.
*Xvarts now have blowgun ammunition in their entity file.

Version 0.5 changes.
*Xvarts likespan has been reduced to about half that of a human and they now grow up faster in line with 2nd Edition rules printed in Fiend Folio Appendix.
*Xvarts now occasionally have spears and a 'two handed' sword of their own described as a xvart longsword.
*Xvarts were supposed to come in litters off 1-3 but this does not seem to work in World-Gen which does not support twins or triplets so this is not implemented.

Version 0.6 changes.
*Xvarts no longer have BONECARN. I thought that this meant that xvarts would eat bones, it actually defines the creature as a Carnivore meaning it does not eat plants. Now xvarts can actually eat the plants they grow in their gardens.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2014, 09:19:12 am by GoblinCookie »
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GoblinCookie

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Xvart Village
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2014, 06:56:04 am »

I have released a new version of Xvart Fortress.  Hopefully they are now complete and I can get on with the creation of some more Baldur's Gate creatures.  Tasloi will be next I think.  :)
« Last Edit: September 17, 2014, 07:25:34 am by GoblinCookie »
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Illogical_Blox

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Re: Xvart Village
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2014, 02:55:49 pm »

Aren't Xvarts in D&D as well? Why are there so many mods adding D&D creatures to DF?
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Me: "Just imagine a load of dwarves sitting round a table, and one of them says, 'I like stranglers for... for their... their...'"
Brother: "SOFT HANDS!"

GoblinCookie

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Re: Xvart Village
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2014, 01:09:38 pm »

Aren't Xvarts in D&D as well? Why are there so many mods adding D&D creatures to DF?

Probably because D&D creatures are basically what the game is already based on and the only real annoyance to modding them in is the lack of a magic mechanic. Dire Forged is a mod that does a similar thing and I intend to keep an eye on that mod because I want to make sure both mods are compatable ultimately.

I have now released the third version of this mod, now I have acquired the sourcebooks for the 1st Edition Xvart creature and the 4th Edition Xivort creature I have now edited them accordingly.  I hope that they are now perfect, although I might make a 4th version if they fix the pouch bug to give them back their pouches (and thus coins) because that fits well with Baldur's Gate. 
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Xvart Village
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2014, 07:03:59 am »

Things have been going well of late.  Tasloi are now essentially finished and they fit pretty much perfectly with the Forest Retreat settlement.  I am now set to introduce fomorians because these are related to xvarts but which researching them I ran across a 2nd Edition Sourcebook that answered the question of how long did xvart's live.

They have now got a lifespan reduced to about 50 years.  My plans to make them also have multiple births did not work out because World gen does not seem to support the concept of more than one child per mother.   :(
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Xvart Village
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2014, 09:18:22 am »

When playtesting my xvart in Adventure mode I discovered that they cannot actually eat the vegetables they grow in their gardens.  The problem was the BONECARN tag which has now been removed.
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GoblinCookie

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Re: Xvart Village
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2015, 01:47:35 pm »

I have uploaded the final version in which Xvarts are as they are in my new Mod.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=147854.0

This mod is now redundant since all it's content is included within Forgotten Realms Mod.
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