Thief fan missions and campaigns

[skacky]

...that goes directly back to the outside courtyard via a sewer tunnel, and the two guards there are neutral to you.

Mostly correct. If you've kept your cover, they shouldn't pose a problem. The problem I faced was that they're supposed to engage in a conversation before going on their patrol routes, but the conversation is only triggered if you stand on the outside balcony on the museum. I didn't use that route to exit the mission, so I'm unsure if they're still neutral once they begin their patrols.

Mostly correct as well. This conversation can also trigger when you exit the bar backroom with the metal floor that leads to the outside tunnel. You can barely hear it but it does play.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Mostly correct as well. This conversation can also trigger when you exit the bar backroom with the metal floor that leads to the outside tunnel. You can barely hear it but it does play.

Ah, I only entered the bar backroom through that door, I never exited it.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

For curiosity's sake, and because I remembered it from a previous post in this thread, I dug up the other missions from author kfort that I don't remember playing. Both of them are contest missions, so they're pretty short.

"The Adventures of Burrick Boy" casts you as a stable boy in charge of the burricks - which one night mysteriously disappear. Fortunately portals were left in their stables so some adventurous burrick boy can pursue them and bring them back to their pens. What follows are four areas corresponding to each element. The air element is a small room filled with floating platforms and bloom - makes it hard to see anything. Another is a series of water-based obstacles, etc. It's short, and the author even managed to squeeze in some humour. Short but sweet.

"A Mother's Love", however, is something else entirely. Garrett is tricked into some sort of arena fight, where he must kill 15000 gold worth of monsters to be allowed to escape his imprisonment. This one is great because it has all of the 'official' Thief monsters, plus some fan-made ones, like dwarves, vampires, zombie children and more. I found a easy way to 'break' the fights, and was out and gone in 20 minutes.

 

[Yandros]

Katy was generally good at working humor into her missions, like the Hammerite with a water fountain on his head.

 

[JarlFrank]

Katy should make missions again, Wicked Relics is one of my favourites.

 

[Yandros]

Agreed, it's certainly a better-than-average mission and is her best IMO.

 

[Riskbreaker]

Katy was generally good at working humor into her missions, like the Hammerite with a water fountain on his head.

Man, much of Bloodmist Tower had me giggling like a lil girl! Definitely one of most memorable FMs I had a pleasure to play.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Wow, I was JUST about to post how much Bloodmist Tower made me laugh.

Looking overall at Katy's missions, I think her entire catalogue rates "above-average".

Any idea what she's up to these days?

 

[Yandros]

I have no idea. I tested WR like 3-4 years before it was released and when that fizzled and there was no release, I assumed it was dead, but then she reappeared eventually and got it finished. Who knows if she might do that again? Her Jack & the Beanstalk mission is also pretty cool.

 

[Dev_Anj]

Looks like I'm stuck in City Public Water Works. Is there any way I can enter the sewers to retrieve the medal? I've been to the temple already and solved the pressure plate puzzle, but I clearly need to do something else as there's still a door blocking me. I've thoroughly gone through the museum itself and have the maintenance keys, clerk keys, chief clerk keys and the Waterworks master key.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The medal is in the temple. To reach it, you must solve the "pay homage" puzzle correctly. If you do so, you should be able to walk across the metal walkway and into a room containing the medal.

The only thing in the museum you may need is the scroll with the clues to the "pay homage" puzzle, which is hidden behind a secret door.

As for getting back - outside the temple is a large room with four towers, so to say. Behind two of those towers is a passage which has windows that show you a part of the map you were in previously. At the end of that passage is a tiny hole you can fall down into to reach this previous section - this is your way back.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Dug up another old FM, this time from Thief 1/Gold. "The Secret Way" has Garrett breaking into a mansion gigantic fortress to relieve a nobleman of his valuables. But Garrett can't just waltz in, he has to take the long way round via the sewers, but to get to the sewers he needs to get to the local Hammerite cloister, but to get the key to that he needs to spring a mate of his from the nick.

This seems to be one of the first missions that starts out simple, but then just starts piling on the objectives, twists and turns. There's loot to be found in the strangest places (crate stacking required in places) and while the architecture is primitive, it's also atmospheric, except perhaps for the mansion/fortress exterior, which is very plain and dull. Fortunately the interior makes up for it.

One of the highlights of this FM is that the author added in some home-made soundbytes, you'll hear a passerby talk about how he would like to have a pint, or the bartender saying how there's going to be some taffing tonight.

It's not without its faults, though. The guards in the mansion are numerous and keep strict patrols, so good luck ghosting this one. What's worse, I came across a hilarious bug when dealing with the nobleman himself. I knock him out, only for him to spring back up, run to the alarm, set it off, THEN fall back unconscious. Several reloads could NOT prevent this, so my solution was to turn off the alarm immediately after he set it off - which worked, oddly enough.

EDIT: Another hilarious incident in this FM was that I found the poor bloke in the prison, unlocked his cell, he thanked me, gave me the key I needed...and then he ran out to freedom before I could even tell him that all the cops were still conscious and on duty. Poor bastard got murdered just as he reached the front door of the station.

Highly recommended, despite its age.

 

[Yandros]

I came across a hilarious bug when dealing with the nobleman himself. I knock him out, only for him to spring back up, run to the alarm, set it off, THEN fall back unconscious. Several reloads could NOT prevent this, so my solution was to turn off the alarm immediately after he set it off - which worked, oddly enough..

That's caused by the author setting the priority of his run-sound-the-alarm action as Absolute. It generally also happens when you kill an AI too, not just KO. Always good for a laugh, and also good for authors to remember not to use Absolute priority for most things. ABSOLUTE TRUMPS DEATH ITSELF. :D

 

[Max_b5]

I came across a hilarious bug when dealing with the nobleman himself. I knock him out, only for him to spring back up, run to the alarm, set it off, THEN fall back unconscious. Several reloads could NOT prevent this, so my solution was to turn off the alarm immediately after he set it off - which worked, oddly enough.

That's the author adding some tenacity to the poor guy. "Oh they killed me, better sound the alarm before I die (again)".

 

[Dev_Anj]

A bit late, but I completed Gems of Provenance. City Public Water Works is really well done, or at least, the museum and temple parts are well done. It has some decent pacing, fine architecture, and the feel of raiding some rediscovered tombs. The problems I had were mostly with the janky architecture in the craymen caves, the over sensitive cameras, and the obtuse path in the temple. That being said, it's certainly a unique mission, because of how it blends a public area, a restricted area, and an area infested by monsters well. I also found an interesting bug in it, if you back out quickly enough after getting the

Spoiler

fake emblem

, you can pass right through the door, and be locked out forever. This is also why I didn't experience the part where there's undead in the rest of the level(from what I heard from others).

Mercenaries is a mixed bag. The architecture isn't bad, and I like the idea of solving puzzles to get keys, but this mission also suffers from enemy overload. There are many guards patrolling outside, and if you don't take your time to knock out a few, I find that it becomes very easy to be detected. Even inside the building, there are many guards, and there are spots like the right angled staircases where you can't really predict when the guard will come. Once you do open up the chamber, it turns into a platforming level with some small puzzles, which isn't really what the engine was built for. It wasn't a bad experience, I did enjoy some of the areas there, but there were still several places where the unpredictable physics killed me, and there were janky parts like the water corridor. Also, sudden carpet bounce pads, really? Is this I Wanna Be the Garrett?

Overall, this is a very solid mission pack, which stands out mostly for its creative use of textures and patterns to create surreal spaces that still feel lived in and are enjoyable to sneak through, inspite of some issues. The author is certainly very promising, and I hope to see more from them.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Had a go at a few other T1/G FM from my archives.

"The Order of the Vine" is an overly ambitious FM with a humongous mansion (what is it with the old FMs and the overly-large structures?) that Garrett must semi-ghost through in order to steal a Pagan artifact from an odd nobleman. I say "semi-ghost" because Expert difficulty only allows Garrett 8 knockouts, so choose them carefully. It's a solid mission overall that is still enjoyable after all these years, but be ready for odd problems and nuances, like endlessly repeating conversations between guards, key hunts that take you from one end of the mansion to the other, written parchments that end "I'll just keep writing while he wai-" found in the hands of a murder victim, endless audiolog exposition in readables, etc. Fortunately the good outweighs the bad, like the new sand arrows (combination water/flash arrows), loot that functions as a light source and (my personal favourite) toilets that are big enough that you can spelunk through them.

Another oddity about The Order of the Vine is that it's 3 missions, with the first and the last being a prologue and an epilogue, respectively. While I personally question the usage of missions for story exposition (also that the Garrett voice actor makes him sound like he's coming down with a bad cold) the prologue is done pretty neatly and serves a broader purpose than just a plot dump, and I'm guessing that this FM served as an inspiration for most Thief FMs in one form or another.

Then there's "Skull of Herzeloyde", where Garrett must break into a mansion to steal a skull, but the job goes south when the skull refuses to be stolen so easily. This one is rather simplistic in many ways, but I'm willing to look past its faults due to its old age. It's worth a playthrough, but by now there shouldn't be anything in there that hasn't been done better by later Thief FM authors.

Finally I had a look at "Geller's Pride", a more worthwhile attempt at a mansion heist where the head of the household hides a horrible- uhm, book. The readables make sense in this one, as does the sewer system which serves as the main mode of transportation (though even I cursed at having to scour the sewers for that bloody key) and it offers multiple paths of entry, at least three of them.

But what I DID think while playing all three of these was "How cool it would it be if these old T1/TG FMs were remade today, a lá Drymian Codex!" They could be shrunk down a bit (who needs hallways big enough to house elephants anyway?) and maybe a few cool NewDark effects applied to them. "The Secret Way" would benefit immensely, shrink down that mansion-fortress, bring the cityscape to life (Drinking Society and all) and Bob's yer taffer.

 

[Max_b5]

What about the Thieves' Quarter? it's got pretty decent architecture and plot, but it's a little buggy (the first guard can't be ko'ed, and the first frobbable wooden door can't be picked or opened with a key either, and I looked everywhere on the map to find one).

 

[Melan]

There was something I liked about the wastefulness of those early missions, though: they were willing to go the extra mile that made casing Lord Bafford's Manor (essentially just walking around) more fun than just starting inside the cellar. When I look at my own work, I am finding that too few of my spaces are non-functional. There is something going on everywhere, which makes things a bit busy. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a cellar that's just a cellar. In many of these early missions, you walk around a city to find the way inside the mansion, looking for an opportunity. That's part of the reason why Geller's Pride and The Secret Way are cool. (Okay, many other missions aren't.)

Of course, this tendency of intensification has something to do with upgraded graphics, which demand more detail, and are therefore more work-intensive per mission area than early Dromed, where you could carve a room out of two air brushes (a cube for the footprint and a cylinder for the vaulted ceiling) and call it a day.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

There was something I liked about the wastefulness of those early missions, though: they were willing to go the extra mile that made casing Lord Bafford's Manor (essentially just walking around) more fun than just starting inside the cellar. When I look at my own work, I am finding that too few of my spaces are non-functional. There is something going on everywhere, which makes things a bit busy. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a cellar that's just a cellar. In many of these early missions, you walk around a city to find the way inside the mansion, looking for an opportunity.

A very valid point, which cuts both ways. I've pretty much grown accustomed to the fact that if there's a room somewhere in a Thief FM, it's there for a reason, a reason greater than just 'Yes, Lord Buffoon needs a place to keep his extra chairs, you know.' How many Thief FMs have been made where a location serves no other purpose than to be a vantage point for sightseeing and/or observation? I don't mind houses that have extra locations like these, I'm more bothered when the scale is off. Having a grand and lavish entrance hall is one thing, as that's flaunting the wealth where it counts. But a passage in the basement that's large enough to sail the Costa Concordia through sideways, then we have a problem. This also applies to furniture, I've seen rooms with cupboards and bookshelves that are too big to get through the bloody door, and not a Pagan or Trickster God in sight! IKEA doesn't exist in Thief, people!

EDIT:

What about the Thieves' Quarter? it's got pretty decent architecture and plot, but it's a little buggy (the first guard can't be ko'ed, and the first frobbable wooden door can't be picked or opened with a key either, and I looked everywhere on the map to find one).

If that's a T1/G FM, then I don't have it in my collection. I got Komag's DVDs a few years back and played through those, and only kept around those I felt was a reason to keep.

 

[Dev_Anj]

There was something I liked about the wastefulness of those early missions, though: they were willing to go the extra mile that made casing Lord Bafford's Manor (essentially just walking around) more fun than just starting inside the cellar. When I look at my own work, I am finding that too few of my spaces are non-functional. There is something going on everywhere, which makes things a bit busy. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a cellar that's just a cellar. In many of these early missions, you walk around a city to find the way inside the mansion, looking for an opportunity. That's part of the reason why Geller's Pride and The Secret Way are cool. (Okay, many other missions aren't.)

Of course, this tendency of intensification has something to do with upgraded graphics, which demand more detail, and are therefore more work-intensive per mission area than early Dromed, where you could carve a room out of two air brushes (a cube for the footprint and a cylinder for the vaulted ceiling) and call it a day.

I definitely accept using empty spaces to show off how grand a location is, how deserted it is, or to provide a break in action.

On the other hand though, there are also many instances where game developers and mission authors take it too far, and we get lots of pointless, dull corridors and square rooms. Case in point of a mission doing it wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ITIL7u25H4

 

[JarlFrank]

Empty spaces are okay. Unproportionally large spaces are crappy design and often a beginner's mistake.

 

[Melan]

If we are talking about pointless, huge and empty areas, the Haddur series has a city mission consisting of endlessly cloned street segments arranged in a pattern of three or four concentric rings, mainly looking like this:

Spoiler

It was so supremely dull that I kept playing just to see when it would end (a long, long time later, it turns out). That was around 2004, the time I decided the well was dry and I needed a big break from playing Thief missions.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I remember Haddur. It has one of THE longest Camvators in the history of DromEd.

 

[skacky]

I rather like pointless rooms because of three things:
- You don't know what you may find if you're playing the FM for the first time and stumble upon them;
- They're good for atmosphere and make the place look bigger;
- They're good to hide bodies especially if nobody comes inside.

Now, of course, if all your rooms are pointless then you have a problem.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

More digging in the T1/G archives:

"Poor Lord Bafford" is the oldest one I have, dated in early June 1999. And it shows. After Garrett made off with all of his valuables, Lord Bafford retreats to his summer estate - which looks surprisingly like a square brick. To be honest I'm not sure why I kept it around. 'Senile' is the best word I have for it, as it's both old and bizarre. There are design decisions there I can't begin to fathom, like the free-range ladder in the basement, or the nonsensical inclining platform just before it. It feels like something out of a DromEd tutorial or an early 48-hour mission. And yet, there's the occasional clever bit, like a nicely decorated ceiling in a antechamber.

Next-oldest after that (by only a few days) is "Death of a Lady" where Garrett must break into a corner estate and kill the lady of the house. Despite having better architecture than the last one, its age clearly shows in other areas, like the guard who ran after me, got stuck on a cart and stayed there for the rest of the mission, always running. Or the door I couldn't get through because of an invisible wall in the doorway. Going in without killing anyone is actually a challenge because of all of this, but that's about the only reason to visit this FM nowadays.

The only other FMs I have from 1999 are "Autumn in Lampfire Hills" and "Bloodstone Prison" which are at least worth a playthrough.

EDIT: Am playing through "Bloodstone Prison". Wow, this one is brilliant. But it seems I have a problem. Some of the undead look to be human, I mean 'flesh-and-blood-and-very-much-alive" human. Is this normal?