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/u/FiredFoxy07
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| I feel like this is a question/discussion for mainly a DungeonMaster Subreddit but also this? Because I don't know if something like this has been done or people have also done things to this extent? Basically a regular SMP server with lite RP elements. no crafting tools, selling and buying from other players, while also having cops/guards on the look out for people carrying contraband and farming/selling drugs. We kinda did this two years ago with our last server (minus the no crafting tool). And I grinded to make a cult type thing where I chose specific players to do tasks then grant them access to the cult like room where we'd plan further tasks like "The dark ones fear the light, rid of all the torches across the land..." However. The grind took waaaaay too long. and shortly after the server ended (we like doing a month long thing only from 8PM-12AM) cult room Fast forward two years later. My friend cooks up a new kingdom with new laws, and mods added to the pack. and gives me admin powers to whip up content. Unfortuntely, I got into the server late (day 15/30) and DID NOT have anything planned (was busy with IRL stuff). But I also knew I didn't wanna actually "play" minecraft. But willing to help guide players to setpieces etc... Also was fun learning axiom and understanding redstone moreFast forward two years later. My friend cooks up a new kingdom with new laws, and mods added to the pack. and gives me admin powers to whip up content. Unfortuntely, I got into the server late (day 15/30) and DID NOT have anything planned (was busy with IRL stuff). But I also knew I didn't wanna actually "play" minecraft. But willing to help guide players to setpieces etc... Also was fun learning axiom and understanding redstone more Here are the setpieces for Alien Arc. What I did, and what I learned for our SMP3 1. Ancient Ruins https://preview.redd.it/p70gn5yexmk...bp&s=d3eb10bcc1f6c4a7b9f52cfd0fca842b9a20efd2 Built a hallway filled with chests. only one chest has pressure plates. The Player use said pressure plate infront of a door to open it. leading to an ancient control room ruin thing with levers. pulling the 3rd lever causes a dropper to spew out a note in alien-like writing. On the day of, I gave cops a tip of there being a drug farm in that area. Which lead them to disovering the ruins. (my friend in the green hat is the owner and also a "GameMaster") He doesn't know what I cook, but I'll let him know if something is afoot or is to come. What I learned, some players genuinely thought it was an AlexCaves thing and tried breaking through the door. All players pulled levers except for the only lever to use the dropper. poor design on my part. Also players were breaking through under the room and seeing redstone work. oof. The alien text read something like "Commencing operation 924". My friend notified me of a Player in the server called "Father" who was basically the priest that worshipped lovecraftian like gods and knew of ancient ways. So I figured, "These texts look similar to the ones Father has been reading" In hindsight, not sure if it was a good idea to combine someone's arc with mine. Also technically anyone could have translated the text, you just had to google alien-translator. In fact, I'm surprised The Father figured it out. But I also feel that forcing a player to use outside of the game sources for a puzzle too meta and not immersive at all. This setpiece really was just a proof of concept if anything, just messing around with axiom and seeing where things could go. 2. Alien Beacons https://preview.redd.it/8vdwmgylxmk...bp&s=96e7f1a9127ed7804ef2643d2bd25686f277138d I know nothing about game design. But after seeing Players fail to pull levers, I had to watch my recordings multiple times to figure out what was missing. Hints. But GOOD HINTS. You fall down the structure and puts you in a small room that teaches you "rotate this" and it's a stick on a frame. rotating the stick opens the door behind you. You then walk down steps where you find vine filled room with item frames around the wall and a big screen showing planets and colored objects. Also zombie villagers in pods. Only 3 item frames on the wall have lamp blocks behind them. specifically the same color as the objects on the screen. So rotating the objects to the correct orientation opens the exit door, spews out another alien note and activates a beaconI know nothing about game design. But after seeing Players fail to pull levers, I had to watch my recordings multiple times to figure out what was missing. Hints. But GOOD HINTS. You fall down the structure and puts you in a small room that teaches you "rotate this" and it's a stick on a frame. rotating the stick opens the door behind you. You then walk down steps where you find vine filled room with item frames around the wall and a big screen showing planets and colored objects. Also zombie villagers in pods. Only 3 item frames on the wall have lamp blocks behind them. specifically the same color as the objects on the screen. So rotating the objects to the correct orientation opens the exit door, spews out another alien note and activates a beacon This time I wanted someone to discover it (kinda) I wanted a specific person to find it. So I placed this structure right infront of their house. EXCEPT Someone else found it first. And instead of solving the puzzle, they broke through the door.... damn. The alien note read "Coordinates to Earth Selected" I felt bad. So the placed another beacon with different rotation solutions to another location where OTHER PEOPLE could discover it. Which they did. Thank God. BUT I gave them the wrong hint   At least my other buddy is good at brute forcing puzzles lol. Also was chests in both filled with Rayguns (Owner and I wanted to create chaos)... Too bad they only did damage to MOBS.Things I learned and was prepared for. Placed bedrock everywhere outside the room so no one could break anything outside. double double double check that it's the correct hint. Which I continue to forget later on. The next alien note read "Arrival in 11 days Prepare for...". Which would be the last day of the server 3. Up in the Sky and Blowing up my own house https://preview.redd.it/yd1vrcf0ymk...bp&s=db0bab3b1fdaeb0436f837c3028704678b67af53 https://preview.redd.it/3xkjkal5ymk...bp&s=b63ca3a4e2f418d8a4a2c117be55aff4ba9eb1b9 While working on the first ruins. I remember talking to my buddy for Alien Ideas. One idea I had was putting something in the sky so faintly but would get bigger and closer overtime. The downside, players obviously climbing/flying up all the way only to discover a PNG lol.While working on the first ruins. I remember talking to my buddy for Alien Ideas. One idea I had was putting something in the sky so faintly but would get bigger and closer overtime. The downside, players obviously climbing/flying up all the way only to discover a PNG lol. To eventually replacing the PNG with a darkened UFO. But i'll get to that later. The other things we talked about was how to show aliens a threat and jokingly mentioned destroying my house. So with his permission, I asked if I could create my house in singleplayer, make it look nice. Add a farm to make people think I'm going to setup shop etc... then plop it in the server early in the day. Every Player is genuinely working on their house and doing their grind. I basically go on the server to talk and see what people's arcs and thoughts on this and that are. Now here is where things got complicated. and I probably bit more than I could chew in terms of planning. After The Father translated the last note and discovering that aliens would arrive in 10 days, My goal would be to be in massive panic mode about the news. I would wait until the next Player was voted to be King/Queen. Then pester them about aliens coming and that they should do something about it. I would hit them and hopefully go to jail and panic some where. To which I would then trigger my home to explode while in jail. To make it actually look like aliens attacked my home. HOWEVER, I WAS VOTED AS KING.... dammit. New plan I guess? I would deny the existence of aliens, I would make sure it was illegal to talk about aliens. So that there would hopefully be a mass panic when I randomly blow up my house. But to my surprise, not one single person mentioned aliens (i guess because I made it illegal). But I would also tell specific people like The Father "I only made the law to keep my people safe". 3. Pods and Infusion https://preview.redd.it/b3vs48hcymk...bp&s=2a84d46bd1483746748664919786e8fa97f58c2c https://preview.redd.it/jotxztsdymk...bp&s=344cdd900e0d8c7d9227217627203260140cfbda With my home destroyed, The cops/guards went to clean up pools of acid I placed in the explosion. Many of them double checking for anything else. It seems people were expecting more to this explosion. And then that's where I think I kinda lost the plot. I guess I was focused on "oh no, do they want more?" That I panicked but did so anyway. I began testing command blocks that would spawn specific zombie villagers with high HP, knockback, and high jumping. but also slow. My first use of them would be underneath my house. The following day, I would ask the cops for more help cleaning up extra residue underneath. They would then discover a block of uranium and underneath is a hole filled with zombie(experimented) villagers that would continue spawning every 5min. They'd then discover a new note that read something like "xenogenic infusion commencing, 1st batch sent" And so the next day I would have more prepared for them. I placed 6 pods all around the land in craters that would spawn more of these Mobs once every 10min. And at the same time... I finally placed the UFO in the sky. On the 2nd last day, guards and civs fought the mobs and placed barriers around the pods https://preview.redd.it/j4jhixslymk...bp&s=5b62e1c48f892d0489df0d68548ce4fdbfe89e9b https://preview.redd.it/1z8f6swoymk...bp&s=a3b8c2c3bfb53989701c4ca9c9b28c36c06e9b9f But once again. Players would try to break through the UFO. In this case I made sure bedrock was filled inside. BUT looking back at it now, filling things up with BEDROCK feels such a copout. It's like this one DnD session I was in where the DM brought us to this grand cathedral like building... only for all the rooms to be empty or locked by strong magic. Not Fun. NEXT TIME I will know that ANYTHING PLACED in the world should be explorable for the player. 4. The Arrival and Finale So this where I think things could went 100 times better. But Let me explain HOW it was going to go at first. My friend and I's biggest goal was to get someone killed or sacrificed. He said he would perma death and then him and two other admins would become aliens. while he's dead. He would then use that time to also move the castle up in the sky as if the UFO is taking it. meanwhile, I play the Beacon sfx to everyone and have my friendTP everyone to specific coordinates. The coordinates being the inside of a control room as if the aliens took them as prisoners. The aliens would then place a lever down and pull it that will blow up earth from far away. Finally he would shutdown the server (for a couple minutes then turn it back on with a old backup). The End https://preview.redd.it/p7txqjli3nk...bp&s=d2f61ea32279c3955ba8fc25af7ec6603d72e457 https://preview.redd.it/c67ixonszmk...bp&s=a903d6ce5cd2af96e7db96eda4299f2e586f4c76 https://preview.redd.it/dhykgz5w0nk...bp&s=f24b7bf1f4b04ea863423b4aef97db35e2a6ddb2 https://preview.redd.it/pn5l9mfy3nk...bp&s=155fdbeb0e814af9f28606a106180061cc689a57 Here's What happened INSTEAD. We would get to the point where The Father is starting his sermon before the sacrifice. BUT some other players attack the church and UFO with a giant Godzilla. I think we could have continued the finale with the chaos. My buddy however shutdown the server immediatley with that day's backup. Here's What happened INSTEAD. We would get to the point where The Father is starting his sermon before the sacrifice. BUT some other players attack the church and UFO with a giant Godzilla. I think we could have continued the finale with the chaos. My buddy however shutdown the server immediatley with that day's backup.Here's What happened INSTEAD. We would get to the point where The Father is starting his sermon before the sacrifice. BUT some other players attack the church and UFO with a giant Godzilla. I think we could have continued the finale with the chaos. My buddy however shutdown the server immediatley with that day's backup. Here's What happened INSTEAD. We would get to the point where The Father is starting his sermon before the sacrifice. BUT some other players attack the church and UFO with a giant Godzilla. I think we could have continued the finale with the chaos. My buddy however shutdown the server immediatley with that day's backup. "We can't 'destroy' the server yet. wait until the end" he says A player responds back "So it's not RP, this is a scripted ending" And that's when it hit me. He's not wrong, This "finale" we tried building towards is beginning to feel railroady and scripted. I didn't have a backup plan, I couldn't predict what players would do. But also, You shouldn't suddenly get a giant godzilla to attack everyone. Take 2. The sacrifice is about to begin. He sacrifices two people, then before my buddy could get sacrifice, another friend attacks the priest as a retaliation. WTF But also makes sense. Why would someone just watch as This Priest (also now The King) sacrifices people. dammit. either way, my buddy still changed their skin to an alien one then we continued as planned. But those two moments. Those two unpredictable moments. Is what made me realize after all this, In the future I need backup of backup plan/routes. as well as better on the fly choices when players do things unexpectedly. In conclusion I'm no gamemaster I've never DM'd, and I've never played with command blocks and redstone much before. But this was definitley a learning experience of what works, what doesn't work. 100% next time I should plan everything days or months beforehand. I should leave more breadcrumbs for players to discover rather than taking control of the story. I love telling stories, I loved seeing people's reactions to the setpieces/puzzles and notes despite everything being made and told on the fly. If you've done anything like this of the sorts or even better do let me know. I'd love to hear everyone's stories and tips and tricks for setting scenes, set pieces and getting player's interest submitted by /u/FiredFoxy07 [link] [comments] |
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