Mod of the Week: The Keep on the Borderlands, for The Temple of Elemental Evil. I was scrolling through Mod. DB 's latest offerings, as I do most mornings, when the words " The Keep on the Borderlands " first caught my eye.. See, The Keep on the Borderlands was the first module I ever played in Dungeons & Dragons, the pen- and- paper RPG, back when I was in grade school in the early 1. It's been modded into The Temple of Elemental Evil , the 2. D& D video game by now- departed developer Troika. Though the full- conversion mod is still in development, I couldn't pass up the chance to check it out while getting all nostalgic for my first D& D campaign. I knew nothing about D& D when I was first invited to play with a couple of grade school friends, except that it involved rolling a bunch of dice. They already had a fighter, thief, dwarf, and cleric, so I had to play—as they were called back in the day of Basic rules—a magic- user. I named my magic- user Greeble, and on the character sheet drew what I thought a spellcaster looked like: an old guy with a long white beard wearing a robe and a pointed hat covered in stars and crescent moons. ![]() · Jesus did not go to the temple to cleanse. He came to the temple to announce the destruction of a whole way of life. Those who operated the temple had no. In the mod, I did my best to re- create Greeble, giving him the Magic Missile spell that pretty much defined his offense. I don't know how it works these days, but back then magic- users were only allowed daggers, which is why, to this day, seeing Gandalf with a sword in his hand just feels kinda wrong to me. I picked four more characters from those available, we geared up in the starter room, and began our journey. The mod begins the way the original module began, with the party arriving at the Keep on the Borderlands, and having to answer some questions posed by an understandably suspicious guard. Moments later, we're inside, running around and poking our heads inside all the buildings, looking for quests. I'm quite eager to visit the Caves of Chaos, the part of the module I remember best. Looking at the original map (above) of the Caves of Chaos now, it strikes me just how ridiculously convenient an introduction to the game's monsters it was. A bunch of well- spaced cave entrances along the walls of a rocky ravine, each housing a different family of monsters, so players could just go down the line like they're trick- or- treating, meeting a new group of baddies at every door. In the original campaign, one door leads to a lair kobalds (plus a few giant rats, the starter monster of all starter monsters). Another area had orcs, and another had goblins. There's a cave for hobgoblins, owlbears, skeletons, and many more, providing a nice cross- section of baddies, including a big boss- type or two. There's even one chamber with a shallow pool, which taught me the important lesson that shallow pools usually conceal a) some shiny bit of treasure and b) some hard to spot slime monster (in this case, grey ooze). In the mod, though, you can't just traipse off to any spot on the map and get your dagger dirty.
First, some quests need to be collected. As we explored the sprawling town inside the walls of the Keep, I was pleased to find a hat merchant, allowing me to outfit Greeble in a suitably pointy hat. We also visited an animal seller, where I picked out Greeble's familiar. I honestly can't recall what Greeble's familiar was originally—knowing my lack of imagination, I assume it was a black cat—but this time I picked out a box turtle. Yeah, I know it's not fearsome, but neither is a dude named Greeble . We also came across the chambers of a priest who, if memory serves, I owe a nice big stab in the back from thirty- odd years ago. Sadly, he wasn't taking visitors, so perhaps I'll come back when we're all a few levels stronger. And, finally, we found a notice board in the general store, listing a couple quests we could agree to perform. The notice board isn't the only thing in the room, either. As with many of the rooms and chambers in the mod, there are lots of items in the shop to interact with: books to read, objects to examine, goodies to pilfer, giving the game some additional life and providing some reasons to really snoop around. We accepted the quest to find the missing adventurers, which took us to a swamp, which I definitely recall from the original module. I was expecting to run into some lizardmen, but instead we just found some snakes, big ones, that came slithering out of the marshes to greet us. It was a lengthy battle, mostly comprising of misses on all sides. Greeble, actually, turned out to be the best fighter in the group, something that definitely wasn't true in his past life. He scored several hits with his Magic Missile, connected with a couple acid splashes, and healed several injured and poisoned party members. Less useful was our stupid monk, who didn't connect with a single fist or foot for the entire fight, which was doubly irritating because monks have a flurry attack so she missed twice as often as everyone else. Use a weapon, stupid monk! I'd be holding a damn battle axe if I were allowed. It didn't matter anyway, because after the snakes, some much larger reptiles completely slaughtered us. Reloading, we tried another quest, this time investigating some woods filled with spiders. Bigguns. That went a little better, but after killing some big spiders we were all killed by some little spiders. Huh. That seems backwards. We tried again, this time meeting some wolves. That went well right up until it didn't, and soon, Greeble was the only one left alive and was forced to summon his.. It didn't do much to help. But it tried. Then it died. Then Greeble died. Clearly, one does not simply walk into the Caves of Chaos. Luckily, though, there are console cheats to let you load maps even if you suck at everything. Don't worry! I just wanted to take a look at the Caves to see if they were faithfully represented, and I'm happy to say, yes, they are. The ravine and the cave entrances along the walls are there, all ready for some D& D trick- or- treating! I even poked my head in and fired a quick magic missile at an Owlbear. I'll get there legitimately someday, and along the way, there will be plenty of new features of the mod to enjoy. It adds a new alchemy system and a number of other class and racial skills, and clearly, tons more maps. Despite repeatedly getting my new party killed by starter monsters, it was a great little trip to take: this mod brings new life to a great old adventure. Installation : Obviously, you'll need a copy of The Temple of Elemental Evil. No worries if you don't have a CD copy: Go. G has you covered . Then, download the mod here : it's self- installing, just plop it into whatever directory your copy of To. EE is in. It will also install a new front- end which will let you run the mod (and other mods and add- ons). Full instructions here for unpatched versions of To. EE . Once installed, you may need to launch it as an administrator (right- click it and choose "Run as Administrator"). Diablo III - Wikipedia. Diablo III is a hack and slashaction role- playingvideo game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the third installment in the Diablo franchise and was released in the Americas, Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan on May 1. Russia on June 7, 2. Microsoft Windows and mac. OS. A console version was released for the Play. Station 3 and Xbox 3. September 3, 2. 01. Versions for Play. Station 4 and Xbox One were released on August 1. In the game, players choose one of seven character classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor or Wizard (with the Crusader being unavailable unless the player has purchased the expansion pack, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls and the Necromancer added later as separate online purchase) – and are tasked with defeating the Lord of Terror, Diablo. Diablo III set a new record for fastest- selling PC game selling over 3. PC game of 2. 01. It has sold, along with Reaper of Souls, 3. Diablo III received critical acclaim from critics, although its digital rights management that requires an internet connection at all times was criticized.[8]The expansion pack. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released for the Windows and mac. OS editions of the game on March 2. For consoles the expansion pack content was released as part of the Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition version. It was released for the Play. Station 4, Xbox One, Play. Station 3, and Xbox 3. August 1. 9, 2. 01. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition includes the original console version of Diablo III and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion pack.[9]Gameplay[edit]Diablo III's inventory and HUD retain a feel similar to that found in earlier games in the series, including a viewpoint reminiscent of the isometric view of Diablo III's predecessors. The inventory has sixty slots for items. Armor and weaponry each occupy two slots and all other items each occupy one slot.[1. It can also be expanded to include details about the character's attributes. Much like in Diablo and Diablo II, the quality and attributes of equipment are randomized. In addition to base stats (such as damage and attack speed for weapon or armor points on armor), higher- quality items have additional properties, such as extra damage, attribute bonuses, bonuses to critical hit chance or sockets (which allow items to be upgraded and customized by adding gems for various stat bonuses). Magic- quality items have 1 to 3 random properties, rare- quality items have 4 to 6 random properties and legendary- quality items typically have 6 to 8 properties with varying degrees of randomness (for example, the Mempo of Twilight, a legendary helm, always has a socket, bonuses to elemental resistance, attack speed and life, a bonus to either Intelligence, Dexterity or Strength, and one additional random property, however the magnitude of these bonuses varies from item to item), and set items are a subtype of legendary items which provide additional, cumulative bonuses if multiple items from the same set are simultaneously equipped. Higher level monsters tend to drop higher level items, which tend to have higher base stats and bonuses.[1. Diablo III's skills window depicting the abilities of the wizard class. The proprietary engine incorporates Blizzard's custom in- house physics, and features destructible environments with an in- game damage effect. The developers sought to make the game run on a wide range of systems without requiring Direct. X 1. 0.[1. 2]Diablo III uses a custom 3. D game engine[1. 3] in order to present an overhead view to the player, in a somewhat similar way to the isometric view used in previous games in the series.[1. Enemies utilize the 3. D environment as well, in ways such as crawling up the side of a wall from below into the combat area.[1. As in Diablo II, multiplayer games are possible using Blizzard's Battle. Star. Craft II also available in Diablo III.[1. Players are also able to drop in and out of sessions of co- operative play with other players.[1. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo III requires players to be connected to the internet constantly due to their DRM policy, even for single- player games.[1. An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are used in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed.[1. Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up merely by touching it, or coming within range, adjusted by gear, rather than having to manually pick it up. One of the new features intended to speed gameplay is that health orbs drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar, which itself is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick bar buttons to skills and spells; previously, players could only assign two skills (one for each mouse button) and had to swap skills with the keyboard or mousewheel. Players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons.[1. Skill runes, another new feature, are skill modifiers that are unlocked as the player levels up. Unlike the socketable runes in Diablo II, skill runes are not items but instead provide options for enhancing skills, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill.[2. For example, one skill rune for the Wizard's meteor ability reduces its arcane power cost, while another turns the meteor to ice, causing cold damage rather than fire. Hardcore mode[edit]As in Diablo II, Diablo III gives players the choice to make hardcore characters.[2. Players are required to first level up a regular character to level 1. Hardcore characters.[2. Hardcore characters cannot be resurrected; instead they become permanently unplayable if they are killed. Hardcore characters are separately ranked, and they can only form teams with other hardcore characters. After dying, the ghost of a hardcore character can still chat, the name still shows up in rankings, but the character cannot return to the game. If the hardcore character reached level 1. Hall of Fallen Heroes.[2. Artisans[edit]Artisans are non- player characters (NPCs) who sell and craft. Two types of artisans can be introduced by completing a quest for each: Haedrig Eamon the Blacksmith and Covetous Shen the Jeweler. The Reaper of Souls expansion introduced the Mystic artisan, who can replace individual item enchantments and change the physical appearance of items. Artisans create items using materials the player can gather by scrapping acquired items and reducing them to their component parts. These materials are used to create items which will have random bonuses. Unlike Diablo II, rare and magic items can be enhanced, not just basic weaponry and armor. Crafting can also be used to train and improve the skills of the artisans rather than create new items. When artisans gain new levels, their shop reflects their higher skill level. The process of salvaging items into materials also makes inventory management easier. Blizzard stated that this crafting system was designed so that it would not slow down the pace of the game.[2. Followers[edit]Followers are NPC allies that can accompany the player throughout the game world. There are three followers in Diablo III: Kormac the Templar, Lyndon the Scoundrel and Eirena the Enchantress, who each possess their own skills and background.[2. As followers fight alongside the player, they gain new experience, skills, and equipment as they level up. Only one follower accompanies the player at a time, creating a gameplay strategy decision. Originally, followers were only going to appear in Normal mode; however, Jay Wilson stated at Blizz. Con 2. 01. 1 that followers would continue to be usable in later difficulty levels.[2. Followers do not appear in co- op games nor against Diablo, as he will trap them in a cage of metal bones. Auction house[edit]On August 1, 2. Diablo III would feature two types of auction houses; one where players spend in- game gold and another where players could buy or sell virtual items for real- world money.[2. The real- money auction house was not available in Hardcore mode.[2. Prior to release, Blizzard stated that nearly everything that drops on the ground, including gold, could be traded with other players either directly or through the auction house system. Aside from certain bound on account items, such as the Staff of Herding needed to access the Whimsyshire easter egg, Blizzard stated there would be very few items that would be bound to a particular character and therefore un- tradable.[2.
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