Thief fan missions and campaigns

[duskvile]

There's new mission from Master of Dromed: Raising Corpses.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thanks for the heads-up, gave it a spin today.

Master of Dromed, for those who don't recall, has released three FMs prior to this one: "A Tough Night" (which is tough to play) "A Walk in the Forest" (which is a blast to play) and "A Visit to the Baron" (which is strange to play). Meaning that one can never be certain precisely what to expect, or if it's any good.

Fortunately "Raising Corpses" doesn't faff about. Garrett is going to rob a Hammerite-faction called The Order of Hermits of Saint Gramal The Pisserites. (You'll quickly learn why I call them that.) They've literally gone to ground, with a large underground factory on top of a large underground city on top of... something, because the underground city is almost taken over by the undead.

Despite the promising venture this mission is not vertical, though gradual descent is required to find all the objectives. While meeting the loot objective doesn't sound so bad, the real amount of loot is close to three times that amount, and I do believe this FM broke the record for 'most secrets in an FM'... and even though I dug my nose in deep I ended up only finding half of them. Oddly enough all the secrets I found were of the 'find-the-hidden-lever-to-unlock-the-secret-compartment'-type. (Guess Master of Dromed took some offense to his last FM having virtually no secrets, despite having plenty of opportunity for them.)

Throw in the sheer sprawling size of the place, the somewhat confusing map, the unkillable robots, and the pain-inducing juggling of boulders on ropes, and you've got something that's not exactly special, but will keep you going for a while.

Rating: 7.5/10. Does what it says on the tin.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Revisited a couple of old "classics" as I have them marked as such, but couldn't quite recall why, at least in the case of the former.

"The Saint of Redmound" has Garrett breaking into a Hammerite church to recover a skull of a dead saint, as well as clean out the place in the process, especially a downstairs laboratory which may house some secrets.

This is an old FM, and it has aged poorly. Architecture is barebones and simple, the soundscape is leaky, a massive amount of keys need to be hunted down, Hammerites are (in)conveniently placed and at first sight the whole ordeal appears to be on-rails. But looks can be deceiving. In truth there are almost always multiple paths of entry/travel (most of which can be used to dispose of the (in)conveniently placed guards) and readables are on-point... and that's before we get to the surprises. When rose-tinted glasses are applied and set to 2001 (the year of release) it becomes easy to see why people like this FM: The author is still grasping DromEd here, but harbors a mind that can think multidimensionally and outside of the box.

Rating: 6/10. It deserves its place in Fan Mission-history and is worth a play - just be mindful of its age. The author goes on to do better and greater things.

That is best displayed by the other FM I played: "Returning a Favor" which is a sequel of sorts. Garrett scored maps of Redmound thanks to a Hammerite priest, but now that same priest is in trouble; a murder has been committed and he's the prime suspect. He asks Garrett to clear his name by finding the real murderer at a Hammerite power station.

It's smaller in scale than "Redmound" and actually more restraining in movement, but still manages to offer some options. I'm more bothered by the greater emphasis on keys, and the addition of scripted events that spawn in new Hammerites, among other things. While I generally don't like that, it's done within acceptable means here, such as a loudly-slammed door announcing an arrival. The clear winner here is the 'whodunnit' at the middle of it all and the cast of characters involved with it, written with a heavy emphasis on readables, but still written brilliantly... but most importantly is how the player gets involved in it all. (You never see Hercule Poirot skulking in the shadows and sneaking among the rafters, do you?)

Again, if the rose-tinted glasses are set to 2004 one easily sees how this was well-regarded then, but to us in the Now it hasn't aged as badly as "Redmound" and somehow feels small and tight. Also this one needs to be played sparingly, so that the mystery remains.

Rating: 7/10. A fun dive into a little mystery. The author goes on to do even better and greater things.

And that's when we get to the author - Maria Ström, a.k.a. Morrgan. She went on to make "The Greyfeather Gems", of which Part 2 (Rodamil) scored a 9.5-rating from me, and also "All For a Night's Sleep", which scored a 10-rating from me. But then she stopped making FMs, and that was that.

A textbook example of how people get better at their work if given time.

 

[Beastro]

Rogue's Lair:

Overall very good. Nice, large map that doesn't drag on. It's perfect for integrating a makeshift hideout in repurposed ruins which made me ponder about how the mission was designed.

I very much get the feeling it was designed first as a ruin from the viewpoint of a lived in area, then the thieve's additions were fitted into it. At least, that's the feeling it gives off and it doesn't come off as backward designed with the ruin's architecture shorehorning in little twists the designer wanted in from the start. The result of this makes the hideout very spread out and stuff is stored in unexpected places, but it makes sense given that it's being repurposed and slowly converted to the thieves whims. In this regard it's a major improvement on the Lost City map in T2.

My only major criticism is the transition from gambling den to thieve's hideout. A well in a deadend underground hallway completely different from the rest of the den leads down into a courtyard pool is the only thing too contrived to me. The well doesn't fit in the gambling den and a small courtyard pool is not going to be something that would be feeding it. They really should have put in an underground stream going into the pool at the very least.

With that said, the transition is shocking and makes full use of the underground in display. I spent a good minute taking in the view and processing what had happened.

The only other quibble that I have is the secret area reward. You get a shadow sword that drains your breath when unsheathed. I like how you get it, it's a nice, short haunted statue gimmick, but this isn't a mission where this kind of reward is useful given the ubiquitous "no killing" rule on expert (who plays FMs on easy outside of a desire to kill anyway?). I got it at the end of the mission but wouldn't have done anything with it anyway if I hadn't of.

Even more, the breath draining mechanic is odd. The animation time it takes you to unsheath it eats up a good 1/4 of your bar which makes me wonder what utility it would have in a fight.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Due to TTLG's current server problems, I didn't find out about this latest FM until just now.

"Coveted Formulae" by StandAndDeliver (T1/G)

Garrett is hired to steal a valuable formula from a nearby factory.

The gimmick? This FM is tiny. It's also tighter than a twelve-year old taffer's belt pouch. The loot count doesn't even enter into the four digits.

And even though I scoured the place and took my time (~30 minutes) I still missed over 100 loot in this one.

Rating: 7.5/10. Good things sometimes come in small packages.

 

[duskvile]

What makes mission great for your rating 9 and 10? What makes it tick ?

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

What makes mission great for your rating 9 and 10? What makes it tick ?

For me, it's respecting the sacred rule of less is more, then maximize it skillfully to the fullest. Too many amateur FM's try to show off/stuff too many features, actors, sounds or art pieces that end up ruining Thief's unique spookiness.

 

[Beastro]

A Night in Rocksbourg 1 - A New Beginning

My cat does not like this mission. She enjoys her cuddles on my lap whenever I'm at the computer and the mission's cat call in the background ambience fires off every minute or so disturbing her rest and has her glancing at the screen in befuddlement. I will have to leave this mission for when she's napping elsewhere.

Custom graphics look interesting.

No sword though. I want to kill people, especially in such a tightly packed area as this map which seems would be a challenge.

 

[Rookie]

Thief: Deadly Shadows 20th Anniversary Contest missions arrived: https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152642&p=2515223&viewfull=1#post2515223

Mysteries of Tolham is for Thief Gold, A Shadow on the Water and One Man's Trash are for Thief 2 and Wolfenstein is for TDS.

Overall I've heard that Tolham is (yet another) nice city sandbox, Shadow on the Water is horror and Wolfenstein is homage to that good old 2001 game. I've yet to discover it. I only completed One Man's Trash - surrealistic and humorous mission similar to Loser and perhaps Kfort's missions. It doesn't take itself seriously. Not bad, not special.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I revisited a FM campaign that I hadn't played in 13+ years, just to see whether my earlier impressions were still valid today.

"The Trickster's Gem Mine" - by Belboz


Garrett, while out on his regular taffing patrol, comes across information showing a Hammerite mine with a weekly output of roughly a million gold pieces in valuables - until it suddenly shut down, that is. Once he picks his jaw up from the floor, he sets out on reaching that mine and lining his pockets with whatever valuables remain there.

IIRC this was intended as a ten-part campaign or so, but 'only' eight parts were ever released. Still, it chronicles much of the intended storyline and shows us the highlights, so short of an unexpected grand finale we've pretty much gotten the gist of things. It all starts in an ancient T1 FM called "Garrett's Revenge" where Garrett is dumped into a primitive cityscape and given free reign of the place. That FM then got re-skinned and re-released in 2000 for Thief 2 as the first part of this campaign set. "Errand Boy" as it's now called, has Garrett starting out just trying to score some loot, but it turns out he has a literal list of chores to do to get through the night. A Keeper has gone missing and might be in police custody. There's a bank here with a juicy vault to break into. There's also whispers about a magical sword that can be found. Along the way he comes across an innocent-looking book which details going-ons in the eponymous mine. Finishing his duties for the night, Garrett plans his next move.

The greatest strength of "Errand Boy" is for such an old FM there's a surprising amount to see and do. That said, not all of it is good. There are empty corridors here, empty dead-end rooms and most of the map is right-angled orderly structures, with very little opportunity for non-horizontal thinking. They key hunt-element is so massive it becomes one of the biggest objectives. The worst part about it all however are the coppers. On Expert-difficulty Garrett is not allowed to kill or knock them out, and they're constantly patrolling the streets and being a bother. But they also serve as a needed speedbump, if they weren't there this FM would be over and done with super-quickly, despite everything.

Overall "Errand Boy" is a bumpy but promising start to the campaign.

Next up is "Shore Leave". Garrett is locked into going to the mines now, and his best shot at getting there is down by the docks, past the warehouse district. But the cops are closing in and the situation is growing desperate, no time to relax!

This is easily the oldest-looking and jankiest FM in the pack. Scripted events are based upon clearly visible levers being pulled as critters walk past them. The difficulty (especially at the start) is artifically inflated by restricting Garrett's options a little too much. The objectives are bugged out, this is the only FM I know of where you aren't told what your objectives are until AFTER you've finished the mission. Being vague is one thing, being purposefully obtuse is just pointless and counterproductive. This also means that any and all optional objectives are literally hidden from view - you will need to consult a walkthrough if you want some decent answers. There's also a 'No knockouts'-objective that only seems to apply to the coppers - everyone else can be knocked out without issue, whenever and whereever.

Overall "Shore Leave" overextends its welcome. Its contribution to the main story is negligible, and generally feels like needless padding. Suffice to say, Garrett ends this part of the adventure by stowing away aboard a Mechanist submarine that's heading towards the mines.

The third part is named "Up Shit Creek" and kinda lives up to its name. Garrett's ride comes to an end, and he finds himself in a thieves' hideout on an island somewhere, and must traverse some interesting locales with the help of ancient and malfunctioning teleporter technology.

While not as bad as "Shore Leave", it's still bad. While "Errand Boy" and "Shore Leave" were open-ended and encouraged exploration, "Up Shit Creek" feels like a tunnel on rails from start to finish. The worst part is easily the unexplored temple you reach once you step through the teleporter, as it feels completely on-rails and banal - then it decides things are too easy for the player by spawning in new critters in previously explored areas as you progress, and even resorting to literal monster closets at one point to achieve this. I was not amused.

At this point it's good to mention the writing and the story. There's plenty of readables about, and they do manage to paint this background of events and what's going on, but most of it is just a case of 'Tell, don't show' (but I'll admit that when it does do "Show, don't tell", it does so quite well). Do we really need to know how the thieves took over this Hammerite outpost and turned it into their hideout, and that from the perspectives of two different characters? I'm not so sure. A key element of exposition here are the journal pages of one I. Jones, self-proclaimed archeologist who's making the same journey as Garrett, some years prior, and documenting every move. While his writings are helpful in finding out what needs to be done, they're written in a rambling manner that makes me skip entire paragraphs of text.

The FM amounts to a giant obstacle course, and at the end is the prize: Civilization, at last! More than that, Garrett has reached his destination, the Trickster's mines. To Be Continued in the Next Part.

Overall, "Up Shit Creek" doesn't offer enough positives to counter its negative aspects, and most players will just want to Get It Over With. But for those who perservere - congratulations, here's where things kick up a notch.

"Making Tracks" feels like Incline compared to what's come before. Garrett is taking refuge with a Keeper posing as a shopkeeper, located in the middle of a sprawling Mechanist/Hammerite-facility. Unfortunately this is the moment the Mechanists decide to raid the shop, so Garrett has to make a hasty exit and plan his next move. Keeping its age in mind, this FM is monstrous in size. The map is ~8 pages of loosely-connected images, but sadly most of this size is due to needlessly long corridors and stairwells. There's even a whole basement floor in there with nothing of relevance except for a few pieces of loot. But at least there's plenty to things to see and do here - but all of them strewn about. Hope you like long walks. There are actually three different ways to reach the end of the map - via the cistern, the prison cells, or the well.

Here is a good point to mention what is the worst part of the campaign as a whole - its looseness. This is meant to be a campaign, yet it isn't. It's a series of standalone FMs, meaning that there's no real progress, no continuation. The stuff you find in Errand Boy means *nothing* for "Shore Leave", and the items found in "Up Shit Creek" mean nothing for "Making Tracks". This counts double for the loot. At no point does Garrett visit a shop to buy gear, and as each FM is standalone the whole idea of a loot objective becomes moot.

(An interesting fact to note, is that it took the community over ten years to find all the loot in "Making Tracks". Some attribute that to how deviously hidden it was. I suggest an alternate theory: As the FM doesn't have a loot objective, no one bothered to go look for all the loot until much later. As for me, the first time I played the FM I successfully found all the loot without any assistance. The second-time round I missed 300 gold somewhere.)

Another way this campaign's looseness is visible is through re-appearing readables and items in your inventory. In the first mission you find a head of a corpse. It does nothing. It's not in your inventory in the second or third mission, but in the fourth mission it's needed to solve a puzzle - but instead of checking your pockets you now find it in some random Mechanist's chest?!? In the third mission you find a golden skeleton, and you can loot all of its parts except the skull - that has to be left behind for some reason because it counts as rubble. Yet in "Making Tracks" the skull is mysteriously present in your inventory, and needed to solve the same puzzle as the other head!

A readable pertaining to the 'head' puzzle in "Making Tracks" appears in "Up Shit Creek" at least, I faintly recall seeing it also in "Shore Leave". The readable that started it all, the 'story' of the Trickster's Gem Mine, is present in all parts of the campaign so far. But by far the worst part about all those readables? The spelling is poor. Proofreading the text was not part of the plan here.

Overall, "Making Tracks" is at least entertaining and fun to explore, but not without its faults.

Finally the meat and potatoes of the campaign is upon us - "The Trickster Rift Gem Mine". Except it's not really a mine. It's a Lost City map, filled to the brim with elemental puzzles and zombies. I don't recall seeing so many zombies in one level as in this one. Combined with the other denizens in here, it falls to the lava to be the most dangerous thing around - at least one place makes it piss-easy to unintentionally touch lava and instantly die.

This makes TTRGM a puzzle map, first and foremost. That, and find your way around the place. Added 'gameplay' is added as the FM gives you nine keys at the start and wishes you good luck on finding where they all go. Eventually Trial and Error will sort that out. While there's plenty of loot to be found and a hefty loot objective, it appears that they're all optional, especially the four "Find the elemental weapons"-objectives. The real objective is simply to find 'the machine' at the heart of the temple, and activate it.

Here would be a good point to check in on the story, because clearly a lot of effort went into writing it - but sadly it boils down to this: I don't know what's going on, and I don't care either. It's just too much. Too many wasted words, too many pointless deviations, too many characters introduced. It works just as long as I'm engaged in the mission itself, but the moment it's done it's out of sound, out of mind... and I'm saying this before we get to the sixth part, which is where things truly get out of hand, story-wise.

Overall, "TTRGM" manages to mix things together to be enjoyable while it lasts.

And now we get to the most memorable part of the campaign for me - "Elsewhere". At the end of "TTRGM" Garrett activated an ancient machine and stepped through a portal - only to find himself in another Lost City. More importantly, Garrett is now 300 years in the future, in a world where Karras's rust gas was unleashed worldwide, wiping out 99% of humanity and forcing them to live in underground bio-domes.

What does this mean for us taffers? Assets from System Shock 2 are used. Slow-ass opening doors at nearly every turn, many of which require security cards to allow access. Use the wrong card on a reader, and Xerxes (the AI aboard the Von Braun in SS2) suddenly butts in with a security alarm.

While massively annoying, that's not the worst part about "Elsewhere".

Another trick this FM pulls (and I think this is the only FM in Thief-history to do this) is that it takes place over a 3-day period on the same map. Unlike "The Seven Sisters" where each day was a different mission, all three days are played out consecutively, and without any loading. This means that if you go in blackjacking everyone in sight (and stashing away the bodies) you'll find all of your work will be undone as a new day starts, and all the downed bodies vanish and new guards stand ready to resume their patrols. But it only applies to the guards, stolen items remain stolen, open doors remain open, and moss placed on the ground remains there. And this happens TWICE. By the third day I am not surprised to find most players just fed up with it, and wanting this FM to come to an end ASAP. Oh, and did I forget that there's an objective to find and knock out four specific people on Day 2, except you have to go and do them all over again on Day 3, except then they've all run off and you have to hunt them down?

While massively annoying, that's not the worst part about "Elsewhere".

No, that honor goes to something that hasn't come up in this campaign until now: Voice acting! Up until now the campaign has used a handful of stock conversations, and Garrett has said a few appropriate phrases to inform the player about their surroundings. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing custom. Except now Garrett meets a chatty bloke, and becomes a chatty bloke himself. Emphasis on those words because now Garrett suddenly sports a thick English accent, and not one of the nice ones. So thick, in fact, that I had trouble understanding what was being said at times, and I've worked professionally with English for 20 years! To say these voice lines are jarring is an understatement. I dare to say this might be worst voiced lines for any Thief-FM of all time. Oof.

Anyway, the story is that Garrett is supposed to grab the needed items in the future to 'fix' the machine he used earlier, and to lift a terrible curse in the process - and hopefully undo this whole timeline in the process.

Overall, "Elsewhere" is just painful to play. But at least it's behind us now.

The final two missions are "The Chasm of the Lost" parts 1 and 2. Garrett is now looking to get away from the Mine and return to civilization with his hard-earned gains (where are those gains BTW?), but first he needs to know where he is. Where he is, is at a series of locations connected by deep chasm-passages. The first one is a Mage academy full of undead Mages and horny burricks, and later one there's an abandoned Hammerite facility, and then a trip through the Maw where some elemental puzzles must be solved and a key stolen, before returning to the Hammerite facility and unlock a secret passage out of there.

The biggest problem here is, these two FMs are not connected to The Trickster's Gem Mine in any way. Any and all readables found do not mention, refer or even hint at the events in the past six missions. I think they're better enjoyed as stand-alone FMs unrelated to the Trickster's campaign. Because to be honest, by the time I got to these last missions, I was well beyond the point of caring about the plot and story. This had the side effect that I didn't really treat them fairly in any analysis of them, so I'm better off being silent than unfair. I will say this though, the Maw-part is rushed. All those passages, all that stuff going on, and yet there's no reward for exploring and everything is on-rails.

So overall, do I recommend "The Trickster's Gem Mine" to modern-day taffers? I'd suggest a single playthrough if you haven't played them before, because there's still some fun to be had with them. But to count them among some 'recommended FMs' and such? Nope. They've just aged too badly.

Rating: 5.5/10.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

So I checked out the submissions for the Thief Deadly Shadows 20th Anniversary.

Sadly I don't have the means to play Thief 3 Fan Missions, so I'll be skipping "Wolfenstein" until a later date.

"One Man's Trash" is a weird one. It's set in a modern setting and Garrett seems to be a junkie layabout now, looking to score cash and dodging coppers. It has a lot of meta-commentary that just goes completely over my head, but it also both pays great homage to Thief 3, and dunks on it.

Definitely worth a try, but I'm not gonna give it a rating until I figure it out myself... whenever that happens.

Then nicked returns with "A Shadow on the Water", where Garrett picks the wrong night to break into a captain's canal estate. This is a pure and respectable tribute to Thief 3, done in the Dark Engine so brilliantly that one quickly forgets that fact. It's classical Thief 3 gameplay through and through. 8/10 Would rob again.

And then there's "Mysteries of Tolham" by Lord Taffer. Garrett must search the seedier part of the city of Tolham, which is still rife with magic after some cataclysmic battle, to find three power stones, some other minor artifacts and the usual truckload of loot.

I'm a little torn on this one. On one hand it has nothing to do with Thief 3, save for being a Fan Mission offering run-of-the-mill taffing. So it's kinda betraying itself by being in this competition.

On the other hand HOLY SHIT IS THIS ONE SOMETHING! It's the biggest, tightest cityscape I've ever seen. It's also a daylight mission but it'll take taffers a while to even realize that. There are tons of passages going off into dark and seedy buildings, which then branch off into their own directions and so on and so forth. Exploring this one is an absolute joy. And explore it you must, because this FM makes a paradigm shift when it comes to stashing loot. You will be looking EVERYWHERE in vain efforts to find ore nuggets, stray coins and other valuables. You'll be scaling building exteriors four floors up, you'll be parkouring across roofs, you'll be descending into murky depths and crawling through tight and windy passages - and that's just the eastern half of the map! The western half has death-defying leaps of faith and an absolutely breathtaking view of Tolham from high on up.

I spent close to SIX hours in-game on this one, longer than I've done with any other FM. Still only found ~88% of the total loot. I am drained. I can't wait to play it again sometime down the line... a loooong line, that is.

Rating: 9.5/10 The one downside that prevents it from getting top marks is that it's actually too big. This is not an FM you can just pick up and play when you feel like it. You need to plan and strategize, memorize where you've been and where you're going. It's bigger than many games released nowadays. It'll be worth it, but it takes a little extra dedication than, say, loading up "Bloodmist Tower" for the nth time.

Enjoy, you're in for a ride!

 

[octavius]

I revisited a FM campaign that I hadn't played in 13+ years, just to see whether my earlier impressions were still valid today.

"The Trickster's Gem Mine" - by Belboz

The final two missions are "The Chasm of the Lost" parts 1 and 2. Garrett is now looking to get away from the Mine and return to civilization with his hard-earned gains (where are those gains BTW?), but first he needs to know where he is. Where he is, is at a series of locations connected by deep chasm-passages. The first one is a Mage academy full of undead Mages and horny burricks,

Wow, I can't believe I was so close to finish this campaign 15 years ago. But that place full of mages was where I took a break...a permanent one it turned out.

 

[JarlFrank]

I revisited a FM campaign that I hadn't played in 13+ years, just to see whether my earlier impressions were still valid today.

"The Trickster's Gem Mine" - by Belboz

What a throwback! Errand Boy was one of the first FMs I played, based on your recommendation in this very thread (somewhere around the early pages).

I replayed a few of this campaign's missions a couple years ago, never got to the later ones though. They're quite rough, even for their time.

 

[Rookie]

Finally finished TDS Contest missions.

A Shadow on the Water - cute little mansion mission. Nice Thief: Deadly Shadows tribute. Plays it a bit safe (aside from ending section), not nothing to complaint. 8/10.

Mysteries of Tolham - nice city sandbox with surreal feeling over it. Perhaps too labyrinthine and devoid of challenge in some areas (platforming aside) but very enjoyable. 8,5/10.

One Man's Trash - Well done humourous/parody mission, which in some ways pays tribute to TDS and in some ways outright mocks it. Detailed architecture, not obvious clues of how to achieve some of your objectives... 7/10.

Wolfenstein - another city (or rather "town", "village") mission in the contest. Quite like stealth take on old Wolfenstein plot and the progression was mostly intuitive and logical. The plot left me with mixed opinion: the using of RTCW logo and opening are copyright infringement. Architecture in village is workmanlike and samey. The mandatory jump is awful. Overall, not bad. 7,5/10.

Overall, a bit sad that turnover was not as high as previous Anniversary contests (at least it is higher than NewDark Anniversary), perhaps due to community's shrinking, but still four missions are much better than nothing.