THE
HAND OF DARKNESS
... Passed over the land, leaving naught but death and dread in its wake...
(Version 0.9, for Dwarf Fortress version 0.47.1 and up.)
First of all, thank you for taking a look at my mod.
Hi, this is my first released Dwarf Fortress mod, so bear with me there may be some rough spots.
With that said, this is actually a rather small and simple mod that i made of almost exclusively 0.47 features, so needless to say, it won't work on 0.44.12.
I intended this to serve as a sort of an example mod for 0.47 modding features while still being a mod that actually adds some fun gameplay. With that in mind, i wanted to get the mod out relatively quickly, so a caveat of that fast release cycle is there's been very little testing, aside from basic Arena Mode combat tests. So it's highly probable that the balance is
way off for some things. If you find something in play that is totally out of whack, please tell me so that i may fix it.
I'm not about to make you read through a lengthy text if you just want the mod, you can get it from here:
[Download Hand of Darkness(v0.9) from DFFD]The best way to support this mod is on my
Patre... nah i'm just kidding, i don't have one, never will. But for real,
The best way to support this mod and it's further development is to show interest in this mod, download it, play with it, give me feedback, ideas and report bugs. Installation:- Download the zip.
- Open the zip.
- Open the "(47.X)Hand of Darkness V0.9" folder.
- Copy the contents of the folder directly into your Dwarf Fortress directory.(the same folder where Dwarf Fortress.exe is)
Note, The only reason you can get a prompt to overwrite files is if you're updating from a prior version of this mod.
This mod does not overwrite vanilla files.Uninstallation:All this mod's files are prefixed with "HoD" so just delete all of them that you find in either the "raw" or "data" folders.
A readme file is included with an overview of the folder structure.
ContentsSo, what's this mod actually about? It's a creature mod consisting of original-ish and somewhat tougher than usual monsters, with the theme of
DAAAARKNESSsssssThat is, dark creatures, creatures in dark places and in some cases, creatures with dark thoughts. It's mostly the Fantasy kind of "Darkness", rather than "Grimdark".
Here's what the mod contains:
Dark evil
With the release of 0.47, goblin civs got a little too common, so i thought: "Hey, why not have some extra variety?" Basically a copy of the vanilla Goblin civ, except it can have one of two(thus far) creatures as its members. There's also some other stuff too. Also, you can play as an adventurer from this civ.
Dark Blendecs
These guys are a bit different from their foul counterparts, mainly in that they're civilization compatible, also all of these guys are basically necromancer-lite. They can re-animate corpses and summon various creatures with the [EVIL] tag. One of the two creatures who can spawn as part of Dark Evil.
Blackwings
Nightwings, except they're suitable for civilization. And can conjure obsidian weaponry, which could be very !!Fun!!. Or maybe if they can't pick up their conjured weapons in combat, you get free obsidian weapons lol. Also if their flying ability poses a problem (in terms of pathfinding), i'll do a transform interaction for them, later. The other creature that can spawn as part of the Dark Evil.
Queen Spiders
If you're hoping for a drider, you'll be severely disappointed. The females spawn underground and they're about twice the size of GCS, no webs though. Their little trick is that they can release an eggsac which spawns the tiny males (called consorts), which are poisonous.
Spined Salamanders
A large lizard with rather nice coloration. They've got a cobra-like hood, as well as sharp spines on their back they can launch at you. Has animalperson (which can be "tamed" as pets by Dark Evil.) and giant variants.
Dark Imps
These guys are a lot different from the only other imp in DF, the fire imp as they're unrelated to them. They're about the size of a young-ish human kid, but don't let the small size fool you.
They have an awesome array of tricks(including regeneration), have incredibly powerful kick attacks with their hooves(like seriously.) and can dash at max speed indefinitely. Occasionally taken as pets by Dark Evil, despite being intelligent. They're way more developed than any other creature in this mod, mainly because they're from an older mod of mine, "The Grimoire of Darkness", Which if people show interest in this mod, may be rolled into this mod. They spawn in evil forests at night.
Caustic Burrowers
Four legged spider-like monsters found underground. Have several deadly "Acid"(in reality just necrosis) attacks and can spawn a volatile caustic sac.
Magma Burrowers
The exact same thing as above, except they're found deeper, and have magma based attacks instead. !!Dwarf!! or !!Adventurer!! is a common result of a fight with these...
Megabeasts:
The Lighthunter Owl
Over the course of several mods i've dreamt of implementing this. Gigantic black owl with glowing white eyes. Anyone who knows whom this refers to knows what they're in for. If you don't, you don't have to worry about it when its killing you. Listen for its cry, that is your cue to run and pray to your gods for mercy.
[REDACTED]
Find out yourself... Or just read the "creature_HoD_Spoilers.txt" file.
I will admit, the mod is a bit bare-bones right now...
CompatibilityDARK_EVIL will use creatures with EVIL_PET and EVIL_PET_ALWAYS creature classes as pets. So you can add one of those classes to any creature if you want them to be able to be used by my Dark Evil civ.
Beyond that, the only possible compatibility conflict may happen if my mod and someone else's uses the same internal name for a creature or whatever.
Recent changesThis is the first release.
Known issuesImmobile summoned creatures appear to be kind of... sluggish in Dwarf Mode. They don't use their interactions as frequently as they should.
Future plansExperimenting with experiments.
Another creature for Dark evil.
Various refinements.
Porting GoD.
some references to other games.
More original creatures
PermissionsI
have to include this section, otherwise people will think that i disallow them from doing stuff with this mod. Quite the contrary, in fact:
I encourage you to put this mod in modpacks, modify it, whatever, you don't need my permission. Attribution would be nice, as would notifying me if you include the mod elsewhere, if only so that i can track this mod's travel/reach.
The only thing i'd ask that you NOT do, is claim my mod as your own.
