nicked on 19/4/2007 at 11:50
Thief 1 was designed to be story-driven, and the missions came out of the story, whereas with Thief 2, they sat down and worked out what missions they wanted and then cobbled the story together once they'd decided on the missions. I don't know how much change Thief 1 went through originally, but I gather that once the missions were started, the storyline didn't change very much at all.
nicked on 19/4/2007 at 20:46
Garrett hears about a fantastically valuable precursor artifact that has just been shipped into the city, so before it is moved on, he decides to rob a warehouse.
However, upon breaking into the warehouse, he finds that the artifact has already been moved, so he has to eavesdrop on an important conversation between two dock workers to find out where it has gone. Garrett learns that the artifact was very important to the recently formed Mechanist order, so they immediately moved it to the secure vault of the City bank.
Garrett robs the bank but discovers that the artifact is more bizarre than valuable - it's some kind of golden sphere.
CUTSCENE: He takes it to his fence, who tries to find out what it is, but accidentally triggers the artifact. A strange red gas billows from a small opening in the artifact. At his fence's screams of pain, Garrett steps well back and watches as his associate disintegrates before his very eyes.
Garrett realises the Mechanists must have some dire plans for the city if this "rust gas" is anything to go by, and besides, he's pretty pissed that his fence got disintegrated, but he doesn't know where to start finding out who is to blame. So he stakes out the local Mechanist cathedral, and sees a high-ranking Mechanist carrying a document wallet leave. He decides to follow the courier to try and track the documents, figuring they must be important. He follows the Mechanist to the docks.
At the docks, he witnesses the Mechanist board a huge Mechanist vessel, bound for destinations unknown. He has to stowaway on the boat by hiding in a disused storage locker in the bowels of the ship.
The boat soon makes port on a dark and mysterious island. Bizarrely, there is no plant life anywhere on the island. Garrett breaks into the huge factory in the centre of the island and finally finds the documents. There are blueprints for a deadly rust gas bomb that will wipe out all life on a monumental scale. The plan is to destroy the city! The bomb is being constructed underneath the Baron's Castle in the centre of the city. The entrance to the secret Mechanist facility deep under the city is protected by identification scanners that will never allow Garrett to pass undetected. He needs to bludgeon and kidnap the highest ranking Mechanist on the island and take them back to the city on a small rowboat.
Finally, Garrett reaches the city and hides the Mechanist in his hideout while he plans the job. He tries to torture the location of the secret mechanist facility out of him, but to no avail. Eventually, the prisoner escapes. Garrett gets a shot off, but only wounds the man. He must follow the trail of blood left by the Mechanist. When he eventually catches up to the man, he has led him straight to the Mechanist facility. Garrett breaks in and sabotages the machinery the mechanists are using to construct their rust gas bomb.
However, this has only slowed down Karras' mad vision, so Garrett decides to use trickery to stop the Mechanists. He frames Karras for a crime he didn't commit. Everyone knows that the mechanists have been really interested in precursor artifacts, so he robs the local museum of all it's precursor relics and leaves a scrap of mechanist clothing in the museum. In the aftermath,
CUTSCENE: Sheriff Truart publicly arrests Karras, the leader of the Mechanists, and blows the whole plot to destroy the city wide open. He is hailed as a hero and over the next few months receives more funding than he could possibly know what to do with. The city watch becomes a deadly, elite force of hundreds of men almost overnight, and Garrett realises his carefully plotted saving of the city has had terrible side effects for his line of work.
Garrett can only lie low for so long, before he must take a job despite the risks. An old associate of his begs Garrett to rescue his sweetheart, who has been arrested by Truart's new super troopers. He can't pay much, but Garrett needs all he can get, so he breaks into the prison and rescues the damsel in distress!
As thanks for saving his girl, Garrett's friend tells him about a possible opportunity to stop Truart. The noble commitee that is providing Truart with most of his funding is due to deliver a large sum of gold to Truart. Garrett is told that it will be kept in one of the noble's homes, but security will be extremely tight because of the amount of money. So he decides to case the joint to get an idea of what to expect.
After snooping around the mansion, Garrett returns to his home to wait for the money to be delivered. However, the watch has significantly improved, and someone saw Garrett. He is suddenly ambushed at his home by many watch officers, and must use all his powers to escape the ambush and get to a safe place.
Once he has evaded capture, Garrett has run out of time, and he must rob the noble's mansion immediately. He has to hope the city watch won't expect him to visit the same place twice, as it's a pretty desperate move. He robs the mansion he recently cased and finds that Truart has been taking bribes and being a very dirty cop. He steals the evidence to use against Truart. Even Truart has to answer to the Baron's High Court, after all.
The only safe way to reach Truart's estate is to trek across the city's rooftops. Garrett eventually reaches Truart's estate by this route, avoiding all the watch patrols.
Garrett breaks into Truart's estate and presents him with the evidence, and blackmails him into cutting down the city watch presence. Truart is livid, but has no choice, and Garrett is hailed as a hero among his fellow thieves. Life returns to normal. Hurrah!
Renault on 19/4/2007 at 22:52
Quote Posted by redface
I wonder if it would be possible to make our own version of T2's story by simply editing the books & objectives files (and if needed the mission order), without having to modify the .mis files at all...
A huge task, but doable, don't you think ? How's that for a mod idea ?
This is an amazing idea, and while it might be a huge task, it wouldn't take as long as creating any one single FM from scratch.
Muzman on 20/4/2007 at 06:00
Quote Posted by Dark Arrow
Didn't someone write somewhere that Garrett was supposed to murder Ramirez for gold in the original plot of Ambush (?). However, it was changed to make Garrett a "good" character (?).
Ken Levine said that at one point the story was that Garrett had been hired to do away with Ramirez by the local merchants and that this was more in line with his original conception of the character and his morality. But it was argued that they should try and kill Garrett first for various reasons, among them that moral high ground.
Ken doesn't seem too happy about this turn of events when ever he brings it up, but the win for having that overall attitude to Garrett is the guy can be read in more ways. There's been lots of arguments about how one is "really" supposed to play the game and be true to the character (is Expert difficulty indicative of the man or is it just a difficulty level), and having G be a more reactive sort of guy about anything more serious than stealing things is pretty interesting.
Muzman on 24/4/2007 at 07:06
Perfectly nice thread, minding its own business, not hurting anyone, and I go and kill it.
funkwich on 24/4/2007 at 23:03
Quote Posted by Muzman
Perfectly nice thread, minding its own business, not hurting anyone, and I go and kill it.
You just failed the forum mission on two difficulties.
qolelis on 28/4/2008 at 22:03
I decided to try my hand at this, so enjoy (or not):
Mission 1: "Casing the Joint"
Subtitle: "Always go prepared..."
Garrett has a job planned for the other evening, "to steal another fat nobleman's priceless trinket and leave quietly", but the place is big and unknown, so he decides to find a map of the place first. He breaks in at the firm who built the mansion and steals the blueprints.
This would be the introductory mission, not too big and with basic thievery. Garrett has to find a way in, handle the nightwatch, find the blueprints and get out. There could be some readables about some group called Mechanists installing the security system at the mansion.
Mission 2: "Another fat nobleman"
Basso was supposed to help out with the security, but he hasn't been of much use after that Jenivere got the better of him, so Garrett decides to keep him out.
With the blueprints, Garrett enters the mansion and easily locates the trinket he came for. A bit too easily perhaps and when he finds the trinket, it's booby trapped and an alarm goes off ("Damn, so much for leaving quietly..."). A servant wearing a strange mask comes running. Garrett recognizes her voice, but that can't be, she's supposed to be dead. Nevertheless, it really is (insert name of person from Garrett's past here) (it must be, that voice can only belong to one person) and Garrett tries to talk to her, but she only repeats the one phrase: "This one has seen something." and runs off (supposedly to fetch some guards). Something is obviously wrong here, but Garrett decides to save his own skin first and he leaves.
Mission 3: "Ambush"
Garrett decides to find out more about the masked servant. He meets with Sammy at a pub and Sammy tells him about a meeting between Karrass and Cavador about the masks. Sammy is always a good source for information, but this time he has also sold Garrett to the City Watch. Garrett must escape and relocate.
Mission 4: "Eavesdropping"
Assuming that what Sammy told him was true I am going to be a part of that meeting. Garretts gets to the meeting and learns more about the servants and that the servants are collected regularly for repairs.
Mission 5: "Framed"
The security at the mansion has been beefed up after my last visit, so I prefer not going there again, not as a thief anyway... I will dress up as a Mechanist and tell him that I have come to collect his servant for repairs.
Garrett has a few days to spare before the servants are to be collected, so he decides to get back at Sammy in the meantime by framing him. Sammy is a member of a Guild, so Garrett will have to get in at their place, steal something they value and hide it in Sammy's room. They will not approve of Sammy trying to go solo and even stealing from his own. Garrett might as well steal a little extra for himself: "The Guild will be too busy blaming Sammy that they won't suspect an outsider." Sammy's reputation of being a greedy coward has not made him the most popular guy in the neighbourhood ("Cowards run, but greedy cowards talk." as the saying goes).
Mission 6: "Undercover/Trail of blood"
Garrett first locates the Mechanist collector and steals his clothes. Being dressed as a Mechanist, he has only the equipment that the Mechanist was carrying (make up some fun and useful Mechanist tools).
Then he goes to see the mansion owner, but when he gets there, he learns that the mansion owner has been killed and the servant is gone. The offender has left a trail of blood after him and the CW follows it. Garrett follows the CW. The trail eventually ends in front of a teleporter. The offender and the servant is there. The CW fights the offender and kills him. The servant flees through the teleporter. Garrett follows the servant through the teleporter.
Mission 7: "Damsel in Distress"
On the other side of the teleporter Garrett must venture deep into the woods to find the servant and take her back.
Mission 8: ”Head or Tails”
Garrett must learn how to reverse the effect of the mask.
A Mechanist courier arrives in The City. Garrett follows him around and ends up at the Mechanist seminar. He reads the letter after it has been delivered (he must leave it behind so no one suspects anything, so he must make a copy of it (the Mechanists have a machine for this)). In the letter he learns about a device that is needed for reversing the effect of the mask. The device has been locked up at the bank.
Mission 9: ”Bank”
Break into the bank and and steal the device. Find out how to use it. A document is locked up together with the device and it tells Garrett about how to use the device. It's written by Cavador and he warns anyone of trying to perform the procedure: ”I am the only one who can do it.”.
Mission 10: "Kidnap/Blackmail"
The only one who can safely remove a servant's mask is Cavador. Garrett has to kidnap him and make him remove the mask: Cavador once had an affair with a Pagan and if that got out, his life would be over.
Mission 11: "All aboard"
Garrett's lady friend convinces him that he must find out what Karrass is up to, but she is too weak to come with. Cavador tells them more about Karrass's secret base and the ship under Mechanist flag that has just arrived at the warehouse (The courier arrived with that ship).
Garrett breaks in at the warehouse, stowaway on the ship and off he goes.
Mission 12: ”Thieves' Highway”
At the ship's destination, Garrett finds a small mechanist town with a huge complex at the other end. That's where Karrass can be found. He must cross the rooftops to get to Karrass's mansion/fortress/factory.
Mission 13: ”Sabotage at Soulforge”
Garrett learns that Karrass wants to enslave all humans by turning them into obeying mechanisms and making them work in his factory to build more machines, thus fulfilling the Builder's vision (according to Karrass). Garrett has to get inside the fortress and destroy the machinery and knowledge that makes the enslaving possible. Garrett somehow discovers that Karrass himself is in fact a machine! Who constructed the machine known as Karrass?
Evil epilogue:
When Garrett gets back to The City, his lady friend is dead, Basso is dead, everyone Garrett knew is dead and Cavador is nowhere to be found. Garrett saved mankind once again, but he payed a high price for it. ”Nah, I'm better off alone, anyway...”
Dussander on 29/4/2008 at 00:50
This looks like fun! I've put together a plot, which has similarities to the real one, but I've completely changed the order. I've eliminated the Keeper's involvement in this plot, it seems sufficient to have Viktoria as an ally and to introduce her earlier. I've also made Truart and Karras closer, hence Karras doesn't manufactor evidence which could be used against Truart.
A little backstory: The Mechanists, a new order sprung from the Hammerites, have completely established themselves in the city. They have enhanced the lives of many with their central heating & water access systems, security & alarm systems, and general technologies (victrola's, electric lamps, etc).
Truart joined forces with Karras a long time ago, as he had contact with Karras in the Hammerite order as a lieutenant & later as the sheriff. They organise some kind of plot together. Karras is a psychopath as usual, believing that all life must be purified in the eyes of the builder. Truart's reason for his involvement is not because he's corrupt, but because he's been warped by the criminal activities he has witnessed, and now he believes everyone is guilty and the only way to restore order is to get rid of the civilian population.
Garrett is working on contracts via fences to keep up rent & costs of living whilst making money to eventually retire. He also gets tips about treasures he can steal, like in good old days of Bafford.
Non-plot missions
1. Garrett is contacted by a husband, requesting that he trails his wife around town, who he believes is seeing someone else. He's paying Garrett to find out who it is and rob him blind. After trialing the wife, he breaks into the small mansion on the outskirts of the market district, finds out who the mansion belongs to and steals a certain amount of loot. (Assassins is one of my favourite missions, so I have used the same concept here)
2. Garrett receives information from his fence of an artifact stolen by pirates. Garrett makes his way to Markhams Isle in a boat to retrieve the artifact and hidden treasures. An undead mission, perhaps.
3. Garrett is contracted to rescue some helpless girl held hostage by the local group of thugs & thieves. The girl's father cannot afford the ransom but has enough to hire Garrett to retrieve his daughter.
4. Garrett's friend Basso finds himself scheduled to go up in front of a court for breaking & entering. Garrett is to break into a judge's mansion and finds evidence against the judge, to blackmail him with so that the judge doesn't send Basso to prison.
Plot missions:
5. Garrett is hired to sabotage technology in a Mechanist's facility (hired by Viktoria, but not knowingly) [thanks to the person previously coming up with an idea like this in this thread]
Cutscene: Mechanists ambush Garrett outside their facility and they take him via submarine to the Lost City complex to face interrogation by Brother Cavador, a master of torture.
6. Awaiting interrogation by Cavador, Garrett breaks out of his holding cell & searches the Lost City for information about the ambush and escapes. Information hints that the Mechanists were assisted by the City Watch
7. After escaping the Lost City, Garrett exits into South Quarter/Stonemarket and heads home only to find the City Watch is staking it. Garrett travels across town & breaks into a [small] local watch station and gathers info. Garrett goes into hiding.
8. Garrett finds out from the watch post that Lt. Hagen helped the Mechanists ambush Garrett outside their facility, and authorised the stakeout of his apartment, with orders to kill Garrett on sight, as Hagen is now aware Garrett escaped. The mission is for Garrett to enter City Watch headquarters and frame Hagen of a theft crime to eliminate him while he thinks of his next move.
9. Garrett discovers a note has been left at his new hideout (in a mission briefing, no need for a cutscene), which puzzles him as no-one should know where he is. The note states that he has an ally and they give instructions on how to track them into their hideout, Garrett grudgingly trails them as its his best lead and he might be able to force info from them - such as how they knew where he was. He tracks them across a forest to a pagan encampment, using vine trails (as described in the note).
Cutscene: The first meeting with Viktoria, and Garrett shows his usual stubbornness. Viktoria reveals suspicions of plot the Mechanists are baking to eliminate the populous, after witnessing the aftermath of some kind of test. Viktoria reveals she was the mystery contact who employed him for the sabotaging job, and she has kept tabs on his whereabouts. Garrett, our hero who likes to save the city, agrees to break into Angelwatch to search for plans, he also wants revenge against the City Watch & the Mechanists.
10. Garrett goes across the rooftops of Dayport to get to Angelwatch, to case the upper complex and map it out. He remains undetected as to not tip off Karras & Truart to his whereabouts and plans. Garrett breaks into Karras' office for plans & finds a top level meeting will occur in 2 nights at a seminary in which they'll discuss technology & security at Angelwatch's lower complex - which Garrett suspects is the main headquarters. The info reveals that access to the lower complex of Angelwatch requires 2 different keys (one key for Truart and another for Karras) which must be used simultaneously with a set of codes.
11. Garrett eavesdrops on conversation between Karras and Truart at the seminary. He finds out on plans about a poison which can be distributed in gaseous form and through the water supply. He mentions that the Mechanists have provided the city with a lot of the infrastructure such as water supply and heating systems. He also learns that a cultivator is used to disperse a poison into the water and air supply. The meeting reveals that this dispersing technology is hidden in an industrial sector of the city, in a warehouse, and the poisonous gas sample is in the bank. The meeting reveals that their spare keysets is being held in the bank (Truart's) & warehouse (Karras'), incase they lose their originals, that they keep on them at all times. Garrett steals the set of codes from the seminary which are needed to enter Angelwatch's lower complex.
Cutscene: Garrett's second meeting with Viktoria, in which he is a lot more willing to assist now he knows what they're up against. They decide that Garrett must break into the lower level of Angelwatch when Karras & Truart are both there & introduce poisonous gas into the air vents using a cultivator, eliminating them. Garrett is tasked to steal the poison sample from the bank & steal cultivator from the warehouse district, as well as the keysets. Viktoria intends to find out how to work the contraptions, and her agents provide Garrett with maps on the bank and warehouse.
12. Garrett breaks into the Bank to steal first set of keys (Truart's) and sample of poisonous gas.
13. He then breaks into the warehouse district, both serving civilians & the Mechanists. The Mechanists have their own section which is guarded like a fort, and includes barracks, factories, and a chapel. Garrett steals the 2nd set of keys (Karras') & cultivator (needed for poison gas deployment).
14. After rendezvousing with Victoria, Garrett learns how he must set up the cultivator. They also learn that Karras & Truart have locked themselves in the Angelwatch lower complex - so it is time for action. Garrett breaks into Angelwatch's upper complex again which he previously cased, and makes his way to the lower complex. Using the keys & code set to gain entry, he penetrates deep into the complex, and works out how to seal it off permanently. Before setting up the cultivator, he works out how he will escape the facility quickly & gets a gas mask. Once he does that, he deploys the poison in the cultivator which spreads through the complex and he escapes - the end.
qolelis on 29/4/2008 at 15:25
In my first attempt I tried a more personal approach. My second attempt looks like this:
If Garrett was a well-fed kid with a nice home:
Mission 1: "Dog in distress"
That grumpy old man living downtown has a dog, but he doesn't take care of it as he should. Garrett has to get in and rescue the poor thing.
Mission 2: "Food fight"
Garrett must break into the family kitchen, steal food and feed the dog without his parents noticing.
Mission 3: "Framed"
The grumpy old man has talked to your parents about his missing dog. Since the law against animal abuse hasn't been invented yet, Garrett must frame the grumpy old man for some other crime, before he finds his dog.
Mission 4: "Ambush"
Garrett successfully framed the grumpy old man, but he bought his way out of prison and now he's after Garrett. The grumpy old man is waiting with a couple of friends outside Garrett's school. Garrett has to escape and get home safe and sound.
Mission 5: "Eavesdropping"
Garrett's birthday is coming up and he has to eavesdrop on his parents to find out what they are planning. He learns that they are getting him his own account at the bank. "That's swell, now he can speculate in interest rates."
Mission 6: "Bank"
Garrett accompanies his parents to the bank. It's a huge place and Garrett somehow gets separated from his parents. Now he has to find his way back. His parents has forbidden him to speak to strangers, so he can't ask anyone for directions.
Mission 7: "Blackmail"
Garrett has to convince his parents to allow him to keep the dog.
Mission 8: "Courier"
The dog has been sick lately and Garrett's dad one day says that he will take the dog out for a walk and a little bit of hunting (he grabs his rifle while saying this). Garrett is afraid that the dog might get hurt, so he must follow his dad without him noticing.
Mission 9: "Trail"
Garrett's dad stops on a meadow. The dog stays loyally at his side and looks up at him while he raises his rifle and points it at the dog's head. Garrett must stop the dog from getting shot. While doing so, the dog runs off, but gets an acute diarrhea from the fear and the sickness. Garrett has to follow the trail.
Mission 10: "Rooftops"
When Garrett finds the dog, it has hid under the porch of that old house belonging to the grumpy old man. It yelps and then it dies, because it was too old and too sick. The grumpy old man comes out and grabs Garrett by the arm: "Let go of me, old man!", but the grumpy old man only tightens his grip and drags Garrett into his house and locks him up in the attic. Garrett has to get out by climbing over the rooftops.
Mission 11: "Kidnap"
The grumpy old man must be stopped for good, but Garrett is just a little kid. He fantasizes about being older and kidnapping the grumpy old man and stow him away on a boat heading for some destination far far away.
Mission 12: "Case the joint"
Garrett wants to stop his father killing dogs and other cute animals and decides to steal his hunting gear (rifle, ammunition etc...). His dad keeps his hunting gear in his hunting cabin. Garrett tells his father that he wants to go hunting with him and takes the opportunity to check out the cabin before robbing it. Garrett has to make a map showing how to get there and over the cabin itself.
Mission 13: "Hunt"
Garrett breaks in at his dad's hunting cabin, steals the hunting gear and gets out.
Mission 14: "Sabotage"
Find a way to destroy the hunting gear and do it.
Macsen on 29/4/2008 at 17:23
I reckon the Dark Mod could do something like this for their mission pack. Have a contest where people can enter a variety of great mission ideas and have a judge choose about five of them. Then have some FM makers start building them, and when they've begun to take shape in terms of design and size string a plot through the middle.
