Thief fan missions and campaigns

[Melan]

Sooo, how about those recent contest missions? Any of them good?

 

[Random_Taffer]

Can someone suggest some of the best Thief 2 fan made maps? I'm a complete virgin about them. I remember watching a video once of a map that was vertical as fuck, like Garrett climbing this massive and imposingly tall...abbey (?), seemed very cool, any idea what that map was?

I'm not sure what specific mission that is, but this thread contains a brief description of every mission ever released. It might help you choose what you want to try at least. There are a lot of other most recommended mission threads as well.

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148090

 

[Max_b5]

Sooo, how about those recent contest missions? Any of them good?

Derelict Dock District: Good. Gives some Old Quarter vibes, especially the first segment.
Bertrand's Forgotten Tomb: Short but also good. A crypt with some nice and clever puzzles to solve.
The Eye of the Gems - Shadows and Fog: Unless you love backtracking and fetch quests, I'd recommend staying away from this one.

 

[cowking]

Can someone suggest some of the best Thief 2 fan made maps? I'm a complete virgin about them. I remember watching a video once of a map that was vertical as fuck, like Garrett climbing this massive and imposingly tall...abbey (?), seemed very cool, any idea what that map was?

Honestly it's weird to say but probably my all time favorite fm is full moon fever for the dark mod. You should try it.

 

[DrKubiac]

Can someone suggest some of the best Thief 2 fan made maps? I'm a complete virgin about them.

I'd suggest starting with small well crafted fms, before trying more ambitious ones or campaigns. Things like Benny is dead, Watery Grave, Hidden Agenda, A Debt Repaid, What Lies Below and such.

 

[Jazz_]

Thanks for the suggestions but nobody has any idea what map the one I vaguely described could be? Huge ass cathedral in the middle of a town (but could've been a castle I guess?) and like verticality for days? It's gotta be the tallest map I have ever seen, that's why it made an impact on me.

 

[JarlFrank]

Try the missions made by skacky, he's *very* vertical. Might also be one of Melan's missions, they're super vertical too. Or maybe Broken Triad? That one has a huge cathedral in the middle of a town, but there's more vertical stuff out there than that one.

Huge cathedral in a castle also sounds like it could be ottoj's entrant to the Vertical Contest, Third Time's The Charm.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thanks for the suggestions but nobody has any idea what map the one I vaguely described could be? Huge ass cathedral in the middle of a town (but could've been a castle I guess?) and like verticality for days? It's gotta be the tallest map I have ever seen, that's why it made an impact on me.

At first I thought of that Mage Tower mission, where you're scaling a ten-story Tower out in the woods. But now I'm honestly curious to find out what you're on about.

That said... "The Tower". Doesn't go on for days (quite the contrary) but it's vertical. And really good.

 

[DrKubiac]

Could be a mission by Frobber, from the keeper of the prophecies campaign. Second mission maybe ?
That's the only mission I can think of which have a huge cathedral with lot of vertical climbing. That or either Seven Shades of Mercury or a mission from T2X.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Thanks for the suggestions but nobody has any idea what map the one I vaguely described could be? Huge ass cathedral in the middle of a town (but could've been a castle I guess?) and like verticality for days? It's gotta be the tallest map I have ever seen, that's why it made an impact on me.

No idea, but sounds awesome, so do post its name if you ever find it! And just to clarify: do you climb the cathedral from the outside? That might help narrow it down.

Try the missions made by skacky, he's *very* vertical. Might also be one of Melan's missions, they're super vertical too. Or maybe Broken Triad? That one has a huge cathedral in the middle of a town, but there's more vertical stuff out there than that one.

I've beta tested most of Melan's maps, and while they are quite vertical, I don't think any of them has a super-vertical cathedral as a centrepiece. It's also definitely not Broken Triad (which is definitely worth playing, BTW), the first mission in that one has a museum in the middle, and while it has several levels, you don't really climb it.

Could be a mission by Frobber, from the keeper of the prophecies campaign. Second mission maybe ?
That's the only mission I can think of which have a huge cathedral with lot of vertical climbing. That or either Seven Shades of Mercury or a mission from T2X.

There's a fuck-huge cathedral in Keeper of the Prophecies... maybe fourth mission (it's been a while), but you don't really do much climbing on the outside IIRC.
There is a vertical cathedral in Seven Shades, but that too is an inside place. At one point you have to jump onto a chandelier high up in the air and climb up its chain to flip a tiny switch on the ceiling, does that ring a bell, Jazz?
There's a cathedral in T2X, but, again, I don't remember doing much outside climbing or it being like so unusually vertical.

Damn, at this point I really want to know what FM this is!

 

[Jazz_]

Yep you had to climb it from the outside, and you went up and up on the cathedral exterior; again memories are foggy but it could be that there was snow as well, but I'm not entirely sure about that. I'll try the ones that have been suggested to see if they ring a bell.

 

[Melan]

There was a Hammerite cathedral in a snowbound city in T2X, and you had to climb inside, kinda. Does this ring a bell?

Although if it was really fucking vertical, it could have been The Chalice of Souls (not a cathedral, but fairly Hammer-y).

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Yep you had to climb it from the outside, and you went up and up on the cathedral exterior; again memories are foggy but it could be that there was snow as well, but I'm not entirely sure about that. I'll try the ones that have been suggested to see if they ring a bell.

Keeper of the Prophecies, Mission 5.

The snow was also in Mission 4 of the same FM pack.

 

[Icewater]

Huge cathedral? Sounds like Keeper of the Prophecies.

 

[Jazz_]

I can't quote posts for some reason but anyway I think Melan nailed it with ''The Chalice of Souls'', I'm not 100% sure but that's the closest thing I have seen so far to my nebulous recollection of the map I seek along with ''Endless Rain'' (as I understand both maps are made by esteemed member Skacky), it's either one of those or some other map really similar to those if there are others.

 

[JarlFrank]

Endless Rain is by skacky, Chalice of Souls is made by skacky, Squadafroin, and Firemage. As far as I know the city portion of that FM was built by Squada, the sewer section by Firemage and the brothel by skacky.

 

[Jazz_]

Why did I wait so long to try Thief FMs? I'm having a blast, the quality of the work done in a lot of them is just incredible.
I'm still very much a novice (played the original campaigns centuries ago so I didn't remember squat pretty much) so the very big maps kinda demoralize me, as in I feel a bit lost on what to do or where to go, I much prefer getting my feet wet with more linear, smaller maps for now, ''Chalice of Souls'' and ''Endless Rain'' look amazing but I have put them on hold because again I feel lost in them. So far I have played ''Godbreaker 1'' by Random Taffer and liked it very much (some jumps were frustrating to perform tho..), whoever voiced the protagonist did a great job at Sean Connery cranked to 100 lol. The second map looks fantastic but I still have to properly venture in it.
I have played ''A Servant's Life'' and I have mixed feelings about it, I liked the level design of the mansion and the more out there weird wtf moments (like the dude stuck in a oven in the kitchen or miniaturized trapped in a small cage with a rat) but a lot of the humour when you read the notes is very crass and juvenile.
''The Tower'' by Lady Rowena is kicking my butt over and over again and it's on hold. ''Betrand Forgotten Tomb'' was kinda meh, but I dropped it early, dunno if it gets better later on.
So far the fm I liked the most was ''Watery Grave'' by Squadarofl, it's got such a great weird atmosphere and it's a very small map but there are some very interestingly designed locations, great use of space, I had some wtf moments in this one too, if I'm not mistaken this was a first map for the author as well, very remarkable.

 

[Zenith]

When starting out I liked FMs by Morrgan and Mark Smith the most, neatly structured and moderately sized, with no keyhunts or scripted bullshit.
I'd also recommend trying Sperry's stuff before you get spoiled on the newdark visuals too much.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Jazz_ if you like small maps, you're gonna LOVE "The Tower" (2005).

 

[JarlFrank]

Why did I wait so long to try Thief FMs? I'm having a blast, the quality of the work done in a lot of them is just incredible.
I'm still very much a novice (played the original campaigns centuries ago so I didn't remember squat pretty much) so the very big maps kinda demoralize me, as in I feel a bit lost on what to do or where to go, I much prefer getting my feet wet with more linear, smaller maps for now, ''Chalice of Souls'' and ''Endless Rain'' look amazing but I have put them on hold because again I feel lost in them. So far I have played ''Godbreaker 1'' by Random Taffer and liked it very much (some jumps were frustrating to perform tho..), whoever voiced the protagonist did a great job at Sean Connery cranked to 100 lol. The second map looks fantastic but I still have to properly venture in it.
I have played ''A Servant's Life'' and I have mixed feelings about it, I liked the level design of the mansion and the more out there weird wtf moments (like the dude stuck in a oven in the kitchen or miniaturized trapped in a small cage with a rat) but a lot of the humour when you read the notes is very crass and juvenile.
''The Tower'' by Lady Rowena is kicking my butt over and over again and it's on hold. ''Betrand Forgotten Tomb'' was kinda meh, but I dropped it early, dunno if it gets better later on.
So far the fm I liked the most was ''Watery Grave'' by Squadarofl, it's got such a great weird atmosphere and it's a very small map but there are some very interestingly designed locations, great use of space, I had some wtf moments in this one too, if I'm not mistaken this was a first map for the author as well, very remarkable.

If you want smaller maps, go for "Ack! There's a Zombie in the Basement" and "Sinful Opportunities" by Polygon. They're small and not too hard, but very well-designed and fun to play through. Excellent for beginners. Lady Lilia, a youtube Let's Player who recently started to dip her toes into Thief FMs, started out with Ack! and it is an excellent choice for a newbie. Sinful Opportunities is its sequel.

Other small missions very recommendable for beginners:
A Servant's Revenge by SlyFoxx is a good little mission. Mansion with some snowy outside scenes if I remember correctly.
Happy New Year Mr. Lambert by Gaetane. A New Year's Eve themed FM with good writing and a small size, can be played through in an hour or less. I think there might have been some minor keyhunting in it but nothing overly bad. Recommended.
His Own Medicine by Kanditter is a good city mission with some mansion action, it's not small but it's not particularly big either. It's a great mission to get into the "city streets" style of FMs.
The Music of Sibel by skacky is a great introduction into skacky's excellent style of tight city streets and occasionally opulent mansions. It's much smaller than his usual offerings, so you won't get lost like you tend to do in his other FMs.
Shoes and Dresses by myself. I made it. It's good. Just try it.

 

[Jazz_]

^ Thanks, downloaded all of those. My FM folder is already 5 gb.

 

[JarlFrank]

Mine's 17.

 

[marbleman]

Have you played Thief 2X yet? It's pretty much another standalone Thief game, and its missions aren't too big or difficult.

Some other suggestions that should fit the bill for you:
All for a Night's Sleep - small but very fun mission
All Torc - a small 3-mission campaign
Stones and Glass Houses - a sequel to All Torc, also a small 3-mission campaign (though these missions are slightly bigger)
Mine Saga - a small 4-mission campaign
Sturmdrang Peak - also a good campaign to start out. 6 missions, not too big or difficult, but quite puzzle-heavy. Puzzles are very logical though
Saints and Thieves - one of my personal favorites. Not too big or difficult, also with a remarkable atmosphere. You might want to save it for a bit later
Prowler of the Dark - for Thief 1. A good place to start when trying to get into big city missions.

 

[Random_Taffer]

Yeah, there's a bunch of great small missions.
Off the Record by Yandros is a great small map with good atmosphere. Pretty standard story, but it makes for a good romp through a city watch station. Actually, Yandros has a few small missions, all of which are good.
Transitions in Chaos: Part 1 by Ramirez's Old Fat Burrick is a very well built "mansion with a dark secret" mission that is one of my all-time favorites.
Some earlier works I would recommend: Moth to a Flame by Madwolf, Turn of the Tide by Madwolf. These are both medium sized maps that are decently built.
Avoid the rest of Godbreaker for now if you want to stick to small maps. Missions 2 and 4 are both very large and sprawling.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Mine's 17.

I'm wondering: just how many Gb-s worth of Thief 1 and 2 fan missions are there in total?