design your own DDO settlement contest

[AidanRyuko]

event type: draw and design
time: this will be open untill September 30th.
Reward: 250 turbine points

So you guys reached stormreach and had lots and lots of adventures, but don't you think it's time to get a real pillow instead of sleeping on your backpack? Time to get your own living space! There is only one problem, the main cities are pretty crowded and don't have any houses for rent. You are forced to build your own house outside a city!

So, where would you live and how'd you ensure safety, food and possibly transportation? I would love to see your creative ideas with a little text below it to describe what you made. The most beautiful/creative settlement will be given a Coupon code for 250 TP!

below is an example to get somewhat of an idea of what you could make.


Hunter's Shack - House Lyrandar asked me to secure the old lighthouse for restorations into an airship portal, for this job I set up a longterm shack high up the mountains so I can oversee enemy movements at any time and even shoot them from a long range (or shoot myself to them). I am fairly selfsufficient with fresh veggies and meat from my direct surroundings

[DynaTheCat]

wooo cool contest. :O

I has something in mind. I will try to flesh it out some time.

[AidanRyuko]

That would be awesome Dyna ^^, you're always pretty creative

[Teh_Troll]

How about a hotdog stand outside of VON1?

[Cordovan]

Good luck to everyone who enters!

[THAC0]

This could be fun... even more so if it means we have an option to the Guild Ship (hint hint Devs...).

We'd be all over that!

/runs off with ideas in his head....

[Silverleafeon]

+1

[Vallin]

event type: draw and design
time: this will be open untill September 30th.
Reward: 250 turbine points

So you guys reached stormreach and had lots and lots of adventures, but don't you think it's time to get a real pillow instead of sleeping on your backpack? Time to get your own living space! There is only one problem, the main cities are pretty crowded and don't have any houses for rent. You are forced to build your own house outside a city!

So, where would you live and how'd you ensure safety, food and possibly transportation? I would love to see your creative ideas with a little text below it to describe what you made. The most beautiful/creative settlement will be given a Coupon code for 250 TP!

It has been my long term dream in this game to live in the Desert. My plans are to kick the Wizard King out of his tomb as it is roomy and full of built in defenses.

Instead of a mount, I always dreamed of the devs allowing me to have a Mad-Max type of vehicle that I could roll around the desert in. I would armor plate it with Epic Ward of Undeath shields that are otherwise useless in the game but the scroll/seal/shard sets seem to fall with impunity.

This would give me a place to live, away from the bustle of Stormreach, and I could just roll over those pesky random skeletons while out of my Sunday drive.

If I had time to draw the picture I would - but life is too busy, so I thought I could at least dream about it in text.

Sigh.

Vallin.

[Marupal]

event type: draw and design
time: this will be open untill September 30th.
Reward: 250 turbine points

So you guys reached stormreach and had lots and lots of adventures, but don't you think it's time to get a real pillow instead of sleeping on your backpack? Time to get your own living space! There is only one problem, the main cities are pretty crowded and don't have any houses for rent. You are forced to build your own house outside a city!

So, where would you live and how'd you ensure safety, food and possibly transportation? I would love to see your creative ideas with a little text below it to describe what you made. The most beautiful/creative settlement will be given a Coupon code for 250 TP!

Are we limited to one pic or can we use multiple pics to sum up the settlement from different angles?

[AidanRyuko]

offcourse you can submit multiple entries or several pictures for the same settlement! It's all about creativity =)

Wiz King could make for an awesome place to live but don't forget the Dubai-rich type of indoor swimmingpool =)

[DynaTheCat]

(more realistic rendition of maciel with hair done.... albeit, she's more gritty than this most of the time. I wanted her to be a homely rough beauty. An unpolished gem.)

Maciel Ferrin, handywoman and proprietor of the Road's Fork, a tavern at the edge of nowhere.



Maciel the Artificer & her warforged friend Method.

Picture of Maciel in her workshop working on Method's head.



This is Method. (I drew him kinda younger looking in the above pic....)

A "warforged" created by Maciel's Grandfather Frederick.

Unlike other warforged, method has the ability to Absorb inorganic materials within the palm of his hand.

Method was originally created about 2 ft tall as a suitable playmate for a young Maciel. Over the years, he has grown with Maciel through this strange "absorption" method and developed his own unique personality.

At this time, he works as the muscle, barkeep, and cook of Maciel's tavern.



This is frederick.

He is Maciel's grandfather and Method's creator. He has since passed away and left the tavern to Maciel.

During his time, he was one of the greatest artificers alive.

Frederick raised Maciel as a single child. Maciel's parents were nobels killed by assassins for political reasons. Frederick rescued Maciel and sought refuge in a land beyond the desert wastes, away from a society he felt was corrupt beyond repair.

He crossed the desert and while seeking passage through the desert wall, he found the cavernous ruins of an ancient machine war. He wished to uncover the secrets of the machines buried beneath the desert and, thus, decided to settle within the crevice wall.

Using artifice, Frederick was able to carve out a meek living within the desert crevice, as well as, offer occasional assistance to passerby pilgrims, caravans, and refugees seeking to pass beyond the desert wall. Hence, the tavern was created.



Landscape concept.

It's a desert mountain wall that bisects a large desert. There is a crevice along the wall that enables passage to the other side.



Tavern quick concept.

The tavern extends into the mountain walls. The crevice is protected from sand storms through artifice created by Maciel's grandfather and Method's creator; Frederick. In regards to the story, Frederick had passed away a year ago; leaving Maciel and Method to take care of the tavern. Since Frederick's passing Maciel has taken over his workshop.

The Tavern draws water through artifice and machinery Frederick built years ago. The tavern also runs on electricity generated by wind "kites" strung across the crevice walls (kites not shown yet).

The tavern has a secret entrance to an excavation site / cavernous mine Frederick dug. The caverns inside the mountains is actually the remnants of an ancient battle. Huge war torn mechs and war machines strewn the caverns. What had actually occured was a huge inter-planar battle between a machine plane and an ancient civilization. Before the war, the whole of the vast desert was a fertile jungle / humid Savannah. The culmination of the battle was the casting of an ancient spell that gathered and folded the ground upon itself; crushing a whole battle field between two tectonic plates, in turn, creating a mountain tomb (the caverns)... and the subsequent two sided deserts bisected by a huge mountain range.

Frederick actually found Method's soul / power stone within the caverns and created method as a small simple toy robot companion for maciel.



Balcony to the desert concept.

Ability to step out onto a balcony and face the desert.

[Czekojin]

Nice, Dyna has some skills up there. Very cool!
Alright, let me also try my luck and be gentle since english is not my mother language, pls ^^

Sooo...
Here it is, a wanderer monk who originally came to Forgotten realms to find a peace for his tormented mind because of his brother, who died by his fault. What had actually happened, nobody knows except him.
The people in this world became a burden very soon, though. It seemed that the only option to get rid of everything of material value was just disappear from everyone's eyes. So it happened. The wanderer found his way to high peaks of Storm Horn mountains and eventually settled by the huge waterfall between two rock walls, with a beautiful view to this rich landscape. However, the surroundings were not really safe: below, many giants and gnolls; above, griffons and harpys.
A shelter was needed and the monk has always been hardworking and sedulous. Soon, he built a humble cabin and a latrine where he could quietly (well, not every time, though) meditate.
But sometimes, there were situations with random encounters who approached too close and the monk felt endangered - so he added few traps. A wooden spikes for a giant's foots and a heap of boulders tied together in the web. On the bottom of the web was a simple knot which could be untied by the tug at the rope by any time and boulders would just crash the mob lured under them.
Also, the latrine itself became a silent weapon. The monk knew that inhabitants of Storm Horns drink from 'his' river so the latrine vent leads to the water and water takes everything away, of course.
And he lived happily almost ever after and could not be seen any longer.
He melted into the nature...

lol.

Here are some pictures I made.

Profile:

[DynaTheCat]

Also, the latrine itself became a silent weapon. The monk knew that inhabitants of Storm Horns drink from 'his' river so the latrine vent leads to the water and water takes everything away, of course.
He melted into the nature...
]

Looll........

You, sir, are scary.

Nice arting btw <3

[Czekojin]

Looll........

You, sir, are scary.

Nice arting btw <3

Thanks, I try to add some fun stuff in when I can
But, I like your way of showing all aspects of the story which make a bigger artwork in a result. Not sure if I would have so much time or patience for that. Also, it is cool that there are still creative people like you. Good luck!

[AidanRyuko]

haha quite original on the stories of the both of you - as you probably already have seen both of you have received the prize for this one =)

Turbine could get some great questpack inspiration from these drawings.

[DynaTheCat]

Thanks, I try to add some fun stuff in when I can
But, I like your way of showing all aspects of the story which make a bigger artwork in a result. Not sure if I would have so much time or patience for that. Also, it is cool that there are still creative people like you. Good luck!

Lol ya.... I try and use drawing to relax and it cuts into my "personal" time. But, meh, we art cuz we love so.

[DynaTheCat]

haha quite original on the stories of the both of you - as you probably already have seen both of you have received the prize for this one =)

Turbine could get some great questpack inspiration from these drawings.

Hehe, well ty for hosting the contest Aidan. It's hard to get community things going for old mmos especially for a game as old as ddo. So these kinda community creative social event are a rare and great thing.

I will use this code to promote activity in my guild. I almost have 1 million renown so will run an item, plat, and this code event for guildies.

Thanks for making your code the grand prize.

I am currently on the road helping my bro move.

But, will get back to these forums more when I have time.

Thank again for the fun time Aidan. I learned quite a bit bout landscaping as well. :3

[Czekojin]

Lol ya.... I try and use drawing to relax and it cuts into my "personal" time. But, meh, we art cuz we love so.

I can feel it a similar way Gratz btw ^^

haha quite original on the stories of the both of you - as you probably already have seen both of you have received the prize for this one =)

Turbine could get some great questpack inspiration from these drawings.

Also thanks again from me; it was fun to create it and participate (would love to see more entries, thou) in it.
Turbine should make these contests-like more often. I missed the shadar-kai tattoos because I was gone exactly at that time of competition, lol.
Anyways, I am storing TP now for more upgrades later, probably until the expansion of another raid, cap lv 30 and housing, where I am sure there will be lots of stuff to spend for.

[AidanRyuko]

Yes I think so too, I also think the gaming community itself changed quite a bit in the past 10 years.

In a way I think it's weird because in the end it's playing with eachother that makes a game fun and lasting and I think most people like recognition when they managed to do something good/fun.

I try to host events for fun too, but of the last THREE events I hosted on this forum (tournament, guild hero event and this one) only 3 people participated alltogether. It puzzles me why, I always try to make it accessable for as many people as possible (free to play, usually about equal for every level player or no player lvl required) and even Cordovan has been helping out on getting more views by replying to those threads and getting it on dev tracker/ddo chronicle.

I don't see other events popping up either. The most participants I ever did get was hosting an in-game trivia in marketplace with about 5 people actively participating (and the rest complaining about the spam).

Maybe i'm denying that people simply don't want to do anything that derives them from leveling up with the exception of a few like you two.