[Custom dungeon] The Dark Stronghold of Xarostak [RTC] [Thom] -- revisited !!

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:15 am

Version: V1.06 for RTC V0.49
Platform: RTC
Author: Thom
Date published: 2006, October 30
Date last updated: 2007, January 14

This is THE DARK STRONGHOLD OF XAROSTAK - revisited !!!

I want to avoid the word "redesigned" - because it is not a complete new layout. But some parts have been updated.
It all began with Trantor. He started playing my dungeon and gave me such a mass of feedback that I HAD to overwork it.
At that time I was a bit disappointed because it seemed that no one had finished it yet. The interest in it had faded away, and the few reactions I had got were thin...
With the help of Trantor I learned to see the main problems of "SoX" and started to delete them.
So, the biggest mistake I made was probably that I didn't gave enough information about the goal.
Now I have spread out some winks and signs - hope that will help...
Also, I have eleminated some red herrings - items, areas, messages. There were too many of them. I think there are still enough now, but I tried to sign them.

So - if an appreciated audience will give it a secound chance - here is the story of freeing the land and people of the dark things in the center of the

Story:

THE DARK STRONGHOLD OF XAROSTAK
-------------------------------

LORD CHAOS disappeared. Brave heroes spirited him away to a place we cannot know. After he was gone the land was not dark anymore and the people's lives were once again filled with happiness.

But, as always, there are still some friends of the darker things. Some rumours indicate that a couple of unprincipled wizards tried to contact LORD CHAOS at - well, whatever his present location can be named.

Then one day something happened.

The mood in the land became oppressive, the sky was filled with dark clouds, and the people were strained and felt sick all the time. Something changed the world into bad...

News arrived: A citadel exploded some night. There was a conspiratorial meeting of a couple of these wizards who seem capable of everything. Nobody knows what exactly happend that night. But all of them died - except for one: XAROSTAK.

Of all the ambitious Wizards it must be XAROSTAK who survived. Not that he was one of the worst - no, in fact he seemed to be a little bit stupid, fat and equipped with a great passion for silly entertainments. But he was always clever enough to take advantage of everything - even if that meant the death of people. And this behaviour made him rich - now he hires others to carry out his evil intentions.

XAROSTAK has his domicile in a dark stronghold, buried deep in the Mountains of Skuw where he lives, guarded by a mercenary army (and probably by some strange beings, too). Here he carries out his expensive experiments with magical artifacts (and it's said that he has a lot of these things) and he watches his beloved fights of wild creatures against humans, fights that take place in a special arena under the earth. Apparently he very much enjoys seeing the animals win.

And now, in the time after this special wizardmeeting, the dark mood in the land seems centered on his stronghold. Obviously he has a darkening secret hidden in the deepness of the dungeons of his residence.

Are you clever enough to find out what it is? Can you find a way into the dark stronghold and, what may be an even bigger problem, find a way out?

Try to rid the land of the mysterious influence that makes life so bad.

Notes:
Here is my first Dungeon for RTC.

It uses the traditional graphics in a traditional manner. But my goal was to create a dungeon that seems to be enlivened. Not an empty graveyard but, rather, a stronghold with soldiers and workers in it. That meant that I had to make some new features which are necessary for such a thing. Most of my time was spent drawing bitmaps to decorate my Dungeon - and most of them are
not important for the solution of the game. But I hoped I could enrich the atmosphere and graphics of the original DM.

So what you have now is an open Dungeon where there are no restrictions in wandering around (well . . . surely there must be SOME). Feel free to examine all the rooms, try to find out what they are for, and try to solve the main quest - first of all you have to find out what this is! (Therefore Magic is restricted I suspect finding magic power will be the first aim.) The game as a whole is not too hard and the puzzles are not too strong. The Monsters a bit more difficult.

If you get stuck: I have paid a lot of attention to the hint Oracle. So please ask it before you ask me. In case you are totally stuck even after consulting the Oracle, you can contact me at www.dungeon-master.com/forum - search for "thom".

A few words concerning the entrance sequence: The global game-rules make it necessary to choose a Party from these Mirror-Rooms, in the way we all have seen so often. It's not very logical that all the various Dungeons, in which you are to fight against the evil, have a stock of heroes to do the fighting. So I decided to separate the Mirrors-Scene from the rest of the Dungeon. Do not worry about the strange appearence of that sequence - the rest of the game will be more generally familiar.
And like in CHAOS STRIKES BACK you have to choose a party, then to save the game, to restart, to choose "do" from the mainscreen (bottom right), to add your Heros to a new Party and finaly press "enter Dungeon".

Instructions:
I've started Xarostak, have chosen my team but cannot find my way to the main entrance. I go to where I came into the portrait room and there's no way out. I tried saving and reloading. Does the game start this early so that you have to choose the correct type of players for your team?

> You need to restart RTC and using the 'do' menu bottom right, and champion select - like starting CSB

History:
30. Oktober 2006
Xarostak v01
- first release

1. November 2006
Xarostak v02
- cleared a Scroll at Level 1
- corrected Portraits-Images Stats
- corrected Bitmap-Error with Monster "Chef"
- changed bottom of deep abort-pits

7. November 2006
Xarostak v03
- exchanged first Torch
- several small spelling mistakes fixed
- changed doorbehaviour in Level 6
- added wall inscription on Level 5 ("beware of immortal")
- fixed some settings on hellhound
- changed appearence of sign "congratulation"
- add Walltext "Worms only"
- disabled possibility of removing potions in Level 1
- marked entrance to spellbook better

12. November 2006
Xarostak v04
- corrected several torch- and sconce-mistakes

- corrected map-icon straw mattress
- deleted a red herring
- slightly redesigned shooting-area Level 1
- several corrections on Level 6 (i.e. deleted dead end in chamber-of-worms)

30. November 2006
Xarostak v05
- compiled for RTC 0.44
- deleted Character TEST

14. januar 2007
Xarostak v06 "revisited"
- much much overwork in general
- spread out some winks and signs for the goal
- deleted many red herrings - items, areas, messages

Hints and comments:
Thanks
for Graphik-Support to
Ralf Hinrichsen - rh.hinne@t-online.de
LINFLAS
SOPHIA

for Translation-Support to
Paul Stevens
TRANTOR

and in general
of course to George Gilbert
and to all the helpul creatures at www.dungeon-master.com/forum

and last but not least to my patient girlfriend Heike

Download:
Download this dungeon from this Shared OneDrive (in the 'Custom Dungeons' folder)

Download this dungeon from http://www.thomas-schrage.de/DM/

(for downloading press the button in the middle of the site with the green arrow)

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:35 am

My current free time tends to be writing and stuff, but I will try to give it a go soon!

In the meantime, updated the link in the dungeon lists while still having a link to your old one

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:04 am

This is my review for THOM's dungeon The dark Stronghold of Xarostak Revisited, simply named Xarostak from now on.

Gameplay: 7
Gameplay is some sort of double-edged sword in Xarostak. The dungeon lacks lots of "traditional" DM stuff. There aren't many hard fights or typical DM-style puzzles, but there is some new, innovative stuff and a lot to look at and to explore. It should be noted, however, that several parts of the dungeon feel a bit "empty" where you won't have to do much, and one of the most intense situations in the dungeon is completely optional (and you actually get a hint that visiting that optional area might not be a good idea).

Originality: 9
There is a lot of new, cool stuff in here. Some nice new graphics enhance the mood, and there are lots of interesting, innovative locations. I especially love the slot machine, but the various arenas, the greenhouse or the school (complete with the very weird teachers) are lovely as well.

Difficulty: 4
Xarostak isn't exactly difficult. The problem is often to find the way or actually finding a puzzle instead of beating a strong monster or doing something tricky to solve a puzzle. Since the characters you can choose are fairly strong, monsters are rarely problematic. The dungeon does get a bit harder as you progress, but not very much.

Puzzles: 7
As I said above, Xarostak lacks lots of classical DM stuff, including puzzles like throwing items on plates or stepping into the correct teleporters or finding the right combination of some switches. However, the dungeon does feature some cool, innovative puzzles that haven't really been done before, especially the immortal Hellhound puzzle. I should add, however, that there is one way in the dungeon where you can really screw up so that the game becomes impossible to solve. However, you are warned enough that you should be extremely careful there that I don't really see a problem.

Size: 7
Xarostak feels very open in the beginning; unfortunately, that's also the part that feels a bit empty. The later, more intense parts sadly don't have as much room. All in all, the dungeon is shorter than DM, and it could have used some more of its really good parts.

Replayability: 8
I have found several hints (ok, and THOM already told me) that there is some optional, hard to find stuff that's there for replaying reasons. Xarostak becomes a lot easier to play after knowing how the dungeon is structured, so replaying it isn't tedious at all. It's fun to go back and jump straight to the good parts.

Craft: 8
The slot machine is especially lovely, as I already pointed out. Lots of other puzzles have some nice clues to them, often given in a very atmospheric way. And in some key places, there are even entries in the Hint Oracle. Several parts of the dungeon are quite amazing feats in editing, like the stuff that is going on in the deepest level of the dungeon.

Game Ending: 8
Quite a surprising ending for several reasons. There are two moments in the dungeon where you actually feel like you have done it, but then the game goes on. And in the actual end, the dungeon holds some nasty surprises.

Atmosphere: 10
Finally, we got to the category which Xarostak is all about! The whole dungeon is oozing with atmosphere, with lots of cool locations, nice descriptive text and lots of comments from the party members. The scene with the prisoner is especially awesome, one of the best, most atmospheric scenes I have ever seen in any dungeon. Definitely fantastic stuff!

Overall: 7
All in all, Xarostak is first and foremost one thing: different. It is definitely more driven by its atmosphere and its cool locations rather than by tough fights or classic puzzles. The first half feels a bit empty and shows mostly atmospheric locations, while the gameplay does get better in the second half. It's a bit sad that the best parts are all further down, but the good thing about that is that the game actually gets better and better the longer you play. The structure of the whole dungeon is that of a relatively realistic design which could be unfriendly to the player at times, but that's part of what makes the dungeon so unique.

Best part: The scene with the prisoner.

Worst part: The dungeon only really gets going rather late.

arturus · Post by **arturus** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:57 am

I've started Xarostak, have chosen my team but cannot find my way to the main entrance. I go to where I came into the portrait room and there's no way out. I tried saving and reloading. Does the game start this early so that you have to choose the correct type of players for your team?

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 7:42 am

You need to restart RTC and using the 'do' menu bottom right, and champion select - like starting CSB

arturus · Post by **arturus** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:38 am

Thanks Beowuuf....I didn't notice the 'do'!!

Tonari · Post by **Tonari** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:31 pm

When the scroll in the place of "Catch it" is read, RTC crashes.
Did you launch the scroll to which nothing was being written from shooter?
If something is not being written in the scroll without fail, the crash is
caused.

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:30 am

well, Tonari - that scroll is shot by a shooter! And if you are right, I have to write something in it with a text-editor (you can't do that with the RTC-editor!)

Thanks for that feedback - it is probably a bad bug...

BTW: Thanks for separating the two other Post in the "SoX Hints" thread (who ever it has been...

)

Post by **linflas** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:35 am

RTC didn't crash when i read that scroll, but text was empty.

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:11 am

text IS empty

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:23 am

Tonari wrote:When the scroll in the place of "Catch it" is read, RTC crashes.
Did you launch the scroll to which nothing was being written from shooter?
If something is not being written in the scroll without fail, the crash is
caused.

This is a known bug with RTC V0.44 (and is fixed in V0.45).

See: http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=26206

Tonari · Post by **Tonari** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:26 pm

RTC crashed many times by labyrinth of a lot of doors.
Especially, it crashes a lot when it came to see a lot of doors of DM2.
It is not limited as the moment when it got on a specific tile to crash.
It crashed when it got on the tile got on once again occasionally.
There is a thing that crashes under the doorframe, too.

Code: Select all

Error:
  an access violation exception.

Stack Dump:
  RTC.DrawMagicMap(char 12, char 21, char 9, char 2, int 264, int 224, bool FALSE, bool TRUE);
  RTC.DrawCharacterViewViewItemSpecial(int 6148, int 0, int 106);
  RTC.DrawCharacterViewView(int 6148, int 0, int 106);
  RTC.DrawCharacterView(int 6148);
  RTC.ProgStateInCharacter();
  RTC.DoFrame(int 51);
  RTC.WinMain();

I think that it is not possible to advance ahead by avoiding crashing.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:18 pm

Hmm - that's nothing to do with being under the door frame as it's simply drawing the magic map when it crashed!

Assuming you can reproduce this crash, can you please send me a save game at a point just before the crash (i.e. so I only need to load the save game, look at the magic map and it crashes).

Tonari · Post by **Tonari** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:20 pm

I sent the file.
Apparently, caused by magic map.
I always had magic map in the hand.
If I do not use magic map, I will advance it ahead.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:32 pm

That's great thankyou - I've now fixed the problem for V0.45

THOM - the crash was being caused by the door buttons that do not have an associated door on the same tile (e.g. at 12,17,9 and the surrounding tiles). Was that your intention? If so, what is the expected behaviour of that part of the dungeon?

The fix I've made is so that the engine just ignores door buttons that don't have an associated door (which is better than crashing!) - You might want to look at your dungeon and see if there's a problem with that that needs fixing as well.

Tonari · Post by **Tonari** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:13 pm

I ended this dungeon hearing some hints from THOM.

Code: Select all

LEIF THE VALIANT
FIGHTER 9 NINJA 9 PRIEST 8 WIZARD 8
TIME 8:31:28
DISTANCE 17445 STEPS(55.5KM)
SCORES 243892

I was able to advance because the hint had increased in the dungeon.
The decoration was very good, and I did some new discoveries.
The prisoner's rescue and conversation are especially good.
The labyrinth was difficult.
But the combat was not satisfactory.
Also in the dungeon of such a design, I think the more idea of the game balance for me to be able to have done.

Anyway, production hardship of dungeon. And thank you.

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:23 pm

Sorry for not responding...

@GG
Yes, it is intended, that some doors have buttons but no door - this is part of the labyrinth.
But I think this should be solved by the fix you have made.

@Tonari
Congratulations!!!
You did it with just one Charactere? I'm impressed.
Do you mean by "Hints" the ones the Oracle does? I think I didn't do more than these you can read above. Hope the Oracle did a good job...

What do you mean with "the combat was not satisfying"? was it too stong or too feeble?

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 5:22 pm

I can't find any source for light in this dungeon. I can't cast spells like Ful and the torch in the beginning is burnt out. What am I missing?

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 6:00 pm

Going through one of the choppable doors near the start gives alot fo torches

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 9:39 pm

beowuuf is right!

Hi Christopher - nice to hear someone is playing my Dungeon. Hope you like it. Tell me every Comment or if you get stuck, please.

Joramun · Post by **Joramun** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:35 pm

Hi, I tried this dungeon a couple of time,

I liked the effort at putting some furniture,
but I must say the hall of champion is a bit
too difficult to find one's way around it.
And worst of all : putting the torch in every single sconce
to get a barely decent lighting is just too bad.
I spent so much time clicking in darkness to find sconces,
it just impeded the pleasure in the game.

Finally, I found a couple of things (some items) but the dungeon seemed quite lifeless,
and with no clues of what to do/where to go i just abandoned playing it.

[Not that i'm playing that much, but when i do I stick to Conflux or Surgical Strike]

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:19 pm

Hi Joramund:

You usually use lightspells, don't you? Well, there IS magic in this dungeon. And you DON'T have to fill every sconce...

Well, I hope you have played the latest version. As you can read at the top, I have still realised, that there are some hints needed. So, in the latest Version there are some (I hope enough) to find ouit, what to do. You have to look carefull.

Maybe you give it another try...

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:07 pm

You need to do the old trick of checking walls, and I beleive you can fidn the area for magic

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:45 pm

You can actually get two magic books in this dungeon which should be encouraging.

Is there a way through the Immortal Specter area a second time? I have it saved there and I can't get the door to open this time around.

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:50 pm

Well - which area do you mean?? An Immortal Specter is where (and what exactly)?
Sorry, for asking this stupid questions but I have really no idea what you could mean...

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:45 pm

Oops, I meant Ghost. The Dungeon Master II style ghost. It can't be destroyed and it's in a small 4x4 room After the Flying Creatures room.

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:35 pm

Oh, well - there is no way to destroy the ghost - but you can get him out of your way somehow. Hafe a careful look at the room...

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:06 pm

The ghost is not in the way. Both doors are closed, the one I came in and the one I'm supposed to go through. There's a floor pad which doesn't seem to do anything in the room.

THOM · Post by **THOM** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:24 pm

ooops - a dead end!! not intended!!

sorry...

But: why do you want follow that way a second time??

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:41 pm

I couldn't find out what to do next. I have a Vi key and another key of the same type and remembered using a key like that in the beginning of the area I'm stuck at and didn't remember if there were other keyhole openings of that type there. I probably saved it there because of gaining a level or something.