Return to Sanctuary - Diablo Themed Roleplay PWS
CaidenTheStoic
Member Posts: 20
Hello, everyone!
I'm happy to announce that myself and others are building a new roleplay persistent world from scratch.
We had a poll to decide what setting the world should be.
Options included Warhammer Fantasy, Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Might and Might, and more.
Sanctuary (Diablo) was a resounding winner.
The region we will be building in is somewhere untouched by existing Diablo games.
We will be keeping the world as accurate to the lore of Sanctuary as possible.
It is a long process to build a server, so I don't expect anything soon. I am hoping to have something playable within the next three or four months.
One thing we are going to do differently is help players get leveling out of the way.
Gaining one level every few days or a week isn't something our group enjoys.
Instead, we will focus on player influence, currency, and reputation.
Getting to the level cap will take no time at all.
Adventure with groups to refine your builds, collect resources, and buy items.
"What if people get their items and just start amassing tons of money?"
The server is going to be evolving constantly.
Perhaps the local lord wants to build a new fort in Khazra territory and asks the players to help fund it?
What you do with your influence is up to you.
Details
- Timeline: Ten years after Reaper of Souls
- Level Cap: 25
- Races: Humans
- Subraces: Many
- Classes: All
- Type: Roleplay / Action
Planned Features
Here is a list of things we are hoping to include in the first launch of the server.
Subraces
While there are no elves or halflings in the world of Sanctuary, there are many types of humans.
Do you want to be a Child of Bul'Kathos from Arreat?
Perhaps an Askari from the Amazons?
Sure!
Just because there are no races doesn't mean we can't have variety.
We'll scour the lore and figure out what to include.
Dungeons
Half the fun of the Diablo games is delving into monster-infested regions.
There are tons of enemy types in Sanctuary, from the goatmen of the Khazra, to Undead, to the Fallen demons.
We plan to give these monster regions character. It won't be a big flat space with spawns in it.
There will be power structures, unique enemy types, minibosses, and similar.
Power Balance
We want to appeal to new players and veterans alike.
If you're new, don't know how to build well, and venture out into the wilderness, we don't want you to get gibbed by some Fallen.
Monster regions will have a gradient of difficulty.
The farther from civilization you go, the harder content will be.
Newer players can help clear roads, guard farms, and escort traders.
Perhaps they'll find a mentor to train them in-character.
Over time, that newbie will be adventuring with a group of their own into the hardest group-content the server has to offer.
Quests
We don't want scripted quests.
We will have active DMs as often as possible. They will run stories from little one-off quests around towns to deeper and longer-lasting D&D-esque campaigns.
Builds and Item Variety
There are some... suboptimal weapons and gear choices in Neverwinter Nights.
We're hoping to bridge these gaps to allow more weapon choices.
Some often forgotten weapons include spears, dual-sided polearms, whips, and more.
With total control of items and availability, we can balance and normalize items to give folks a much wider range of choices.
Conclusion
That's it for now!
I wanted to drum up some hype and cultivate an interest in this long project.
If you have any questions or ideas, please let me know!
We're in the early stages but are already churning out creatures and areas.
I have created a Discord server for the module.
Feel free to stop by, chat, ask questions, and similar.
https://discord.gg/C3vv7U3
EDIT: Planned release date is the end of September.
Post edited by CaidenTheStoic on
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Comments
Fallen
Khazra
Tavern
The Main Hub: Kallina's Crossing
Very interested in this project!
Glad to hear!
We just finished writing a bunch of clean-up and run-the-server scripts.
Next is building more NPCs and the faction zones!
Some more areas completed.
Subraces are done, but they work differently than we initially planned.
While diving into the lore, we realized how specific a lot of the cultures of Sanctuary are.
We don't want to force people to have a specific origin or background just to get the tweaked stats they want.
For example; We initially planned for the Half-Orc stats to be for the Children of Bul'Kathos, or Barbarians.
Can strong people not be from other parts of the world?
Are people forced to be from the Arreat region?
What about Elf stats of +2 Dex / -2 Con?
We wanted them to be the Askari people from the Skovos Isles.
But wait... only their females are warriors. So that means we gender lock that subrace?
As you can see, it's the same all the way.
So we went with a more background/body type route.
The available "subraces" are:
- Strong. (+2 STR / -2 CHA / -2 INT)
- Nimble. (+2 DEX / -2 CON)
- Athletic. (+2 DEX / -2 STR)
- Sturdy. (+2 CON / -2 STR)
- Hardened. (+2 CON / -2 CHA)
- Studious. (+2 INT / -2 CON)
- Worldly (+2 WIS / -2 CON)
- Charismatic. (+2 CHA / -2 CON)
We're currently working on building items, balancing underpowered weapons, and finishing the Khazra enemy zones.
Take care!
Encounters and enemies had to be rebalanced, loot distribution built into spawns and bosses, and more.
It was an immense amount of work, but the server will be launching with 24 different item sets.
Feel free to stop by, chat, ask questions, and similar.
https://discord.gg/C3vv7U3
The server is launching tomorrow on Friday, September 4 at 4:00 PM CST.
All players are welcome to join us in roleplay and PvE.
I won't post the beta patch notes, but a lot has changed.
Thanks to everyone who helped test and provided suggestions to improve the server.
Look for Return to Sanctuary on the server list tomorrow!
Discord: https://discord.gg/hgT5NNg
Here are some screenshots from beta:
Nighttime adventuring.
Please message me here or on Discord if you're interested.
I hope you're all well.
Last week we released the first major-ish content update for the Return to Sanctuary.
A much requested... summon overhaul!
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/C3vv7U3
Nearly every summoning spell was rebuilt with new creatures and stats, including class-specific summons from the likes of Pale Master, Blackguard, and Shadowdancer.
Summoned creatures have more powerful alternate versions when combined with their respective Epic Spell Focus feat.
Want more powerful undead? Epic Necromancy.
Better elementals? Conjuration.
Better summons from Shadow Conjuration? Illusion.
Planar Binding
"What if I want summons and I'm not a caster? Like Shadowdancer and Blackguard...?"
Good question, random onlooker! Class-based summons scale off of class level. Every level in Blackguard will increase the power of your conjured creatures. The same goes the other classes.
After discussing things with the community, we decided to balance the fact that summons are more powerful by making them require concentration.
What does that mean? Well, mages in NWN already overshadow melee in a lot of circumstances. We've compensated that a bit by dramatically increasing the damage potential of melee builds. However, a strong mage build, with epic focus, summoning an elder elemental just pushes them over the edge.
It isn't fair.
Summons require concentration. You can only move and attack while a summon is active. If you cast spells, activate items, and similar, the summon goes away.
Fear not, summons are quite powerful. A level nine summon with epic spell focus is nearly on-par with another player. They're a great way to handle enemies when running out of spell slots or to help a group with smaller mobs of enemies if you want to conserve your strength.
So, please come join us!
We're looking to reach that sweet spot of self-perpetuating RP and player-driven content.
We have some big plans for new updates in the near future including:
New dungeons
Shapeshifting overhaul
Revamped spawning system
Spell / Class balance pass.
Artifact Set system
Dynamic regions (Push/pull PvE capture the fort type areas)
Thanks for your time!
Please enjoy some screenshots of players fighting their way into the depths of Hell.
Inside a Corrupted Castle
Choke Point
Post-Rest Buffing
Hell Portal in Sight
Abandon All Faith