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[Trevayne]

So you're interested in contributing an area of your own to the game?

Post your area below, but first please ensure it follows these guidelines:

1) Name: Your area needs a name!

2) Story: Give us a well-written story for the area. This can be in the form of a few paragraphs or a few bullets. The story should give an idea of the background of this area as well as a hint of what the area will "feel" like.

3) Restrictions: Is the area restricted to certain areas/classes? Is it restricted to players with a certain item? Is there an entry fee?

4) Contents: A brief list of the monsters, items, traps, areas, and anything else you would put in the area. Items should be described in explicit detail (as you would see from /library). Monsters can be described either by relating them to existing monsters or by explicit stats. (You can design a monster that is "about as tough as a black bear" or one that "has about 150 HP and hits for about 15").

5) Draw: A description of why players would want to go to the area. Is it a good place for training? A good place to make gold? Are there valuable shiny things to be found? Is it designed mostly for parties of 30 archmasters, or can five novice rangers take on this challenge?

6) Writing samples: Give some sample room/monster/item descrptions. If you are describing a room, you should give the room's name, the short one-sentence description that players get when they enter, and the more detailed description that they get when they look around. Punctuation and grammar are obviously essential. Style counts.

7) Maps: Design, but do not post maps. Instead, give us an idea of how large an area is (either in number of squares or in relation to some in-game area). We recommend using a combination of ASCII Mapmaker and Paint (or any other graphics editor) to build custom maps.

Areas are typically evaluated on four dimensions:

1) Style: If your command of the English language is on par with a well-trained gorilla with a laptop, your area is unlikely to be added.

2) Balance: Rewards for an area must be balanced with the difficulty of the area and must fit in with existing items and areas in game. No, you cannot have rabbits drop cobalts or introduce that shiny base 80 damage flamethrower.

3) Excitement: Is this something that players will actually want to do? Does it provide something that does not already exist in game?

3) Need: Is there a need in game for this kind of area, or does it simply duplicate many other under-used areas?

(adapted from similar posts by Kalypso and Pandilex)