Travel Time Between Oskahold and Torrent Watershed (spoiler)

[algesan]

Okay computer RPGs rarely need you to actually "hurry" to beat a time frame. OTOH, with the 1.2.1 release, it is getting ridiculous.

Secret path to Riven Fields, need to sneak out of Oskahold a few miles, then spend a week (!) climbing down to the river, fight your way down the river, then spend a week again (!) climbing up to the end at/near Riven Fields. No problem, except...

Going back to Oskahold to camp. Seriously, on NM, I have to rest about every other fight, which means my Karj group has been back to Oskahold three times now to tag the Inn. So, it's been 1+2+2+2=7 weeks plus time by the river to explore up to the third ford. Really!? So even if there are no further fights, this will be a two month trip instead of two weeks plus time by the river.

How about a campsite, which doesn't need to be a levelling one, earlier on by the river? Just to not have the instant two weeks added to game time everytime the party needs to rest to get spells & healing back.

[fallen]

algesan - well, we won't change the geography of the world, so the timelines stand. Added a simple campsite at the beginning of the Watershed for convenience.

I'd expect, with travel times of the Underdeep, it will take your group years to beat the full game.

[algesan]

LOL! Never expected you to change the geography, especially when a camp fixes the problem. With it my party could be considered 11 days on the journey with another 7 on the other side. Not bad for a contested smuggling route alternate to the two week legit trail.

The way it was I was over two months into the trip just from the extra two weeks each way to camp that resulted from just zoning. Inconsistency there. Makes me think about being able to open the West bridge and/or training up elite raiders from Oskahold for guerrilla strikes against the Baron's checkpoint.

[Cory Trese]

Also right now you cannot see the turns / calendar advancing, so it is definitely a bit confusing.

In-game challenges will definitely involve reaching certain points within a certain in game time period.

In that case, your characters will need to be cautious of using 7-day (thousands of turns) zone transitions.

[algesan]

No problem, actual "timed" challenges can be fun. I'd submit that timing, if possible, should be based on "sleeps" rather than turns given the way the game is flowing. In my experience as a DM & player, counting seconds & turns out of combat becomes a PITA for all parties.

Based on my perspective as an outsider, this would put a lot more pressure on higher difficulty parties since it would limit their ability to refill in camp so much and force them to swill potions, thereby burning coin out of their pockets.

[fallen]

algesan - the nice thing about having a computer is that its very easy to count seconds and minutes in and out of combat, as well as for any long distance travel. We're always counting

[Cory Trese]

In my experience as a DM and player, I love games that count out game time down to the minute and miss it terribly in games where it doesn't happen.

I love the mix Heroes will provide -- the story elements (week long walks) the player direct (how many days you spend resting at the inn) and the map flow (days spent painting the dungeon red.)

This is the culmination of years of dreaming -- we really hope that after playing the finished game, you'll see how the overarching picture fits together (clue: it's tightly wound.)

[algesan]

fallen: Hopefully not when I have to stop playing with the game open to tend to RL

Cory: My post was to point out what I considered a backstory oops. Yes it may take years of game time to finish HoS, but my better games involve both sequences of tight time (by minute or second depending on system) & episodic ones where time is vague & inbetween. I'm waiting on Amazon to post 1.2.3 (I think I'm at the zone to Riven Fields and don't want a corrupt save, so I'm holding), but by my count it took me 22 weeks & a few days (temple camp) to get to Kern's End. Was that expected in your time frame?

A camp at the beginning of the Torrent would have made it 6 weeks (visit to Oskahold to spend points for 13th level made 2 of those), which seems more reasonable to me.

Oh, I'm sure I'll be happy with the way the game turns out in the end. Biggest annoyance now with my current party is Vraes still stuck with Oskahold smith's spears from bad luck on the drops (he's gotten nicer swords & hammers from drops). That will be a factor in the game until Lukan's weapon can be anything besides a sword, unless running a sword Vraes. Maybe the blacksmith "converting" it at some point later.

[fallen]

fallen - it's turn based ... so it counts when you move and take turns.

The campsite has been added, thanks.