A feature of Storm of Zehir, the new Overland Map is a variation of the world map. Instead of simply selecting a location to visit, the environment can be freely explored. Encounters spawn in as they are traveled, sometimes helpful, sometimes not-so-helpful -- as do "surprise" locations that characters can uncover with their skills (such as Spot and Survival). And because encounters on the map do not auto-scale in difficulty to your level, risk/reward becomes an more interesting part of exploring.
The Overland Map comprises the setting of Storm of Zehir, and encompasses both the Chultan Peninsula and the Sword Coast.
Encounters[]
The overland encounters are a mix of varied groups of different hostiles, neutral NPCs that are not hostile (unless attacked), and special encounters. All random encounters are represented on the Overland Map by the appropriate creature.
The party may be able to fight or evade encounter through the use of their skills. Generally, the deeper they head into the wilderness, the more dangerous the encounters will become.
Adventure areas[]
Adventure areas (caves, dungeons, etc.) once cleared out will generally remain so, but there will be many new areas to discover throughout the game. None of the adventure areas are randomized, but some of them can only be found if the party accomplishes something that unlocks the area, or if the party leader has certain skills needed to discover the area.
Modder support[]
The overland map and supporting scripts/systems is intended to be very user and modder friendly. To enable an area as an Overland Map, set the Overland Map check box on the area's properties to True. It is also recommended that the OverlandCameraDistance and OverlandCameraPitch (e.g. 25 and 40, respectively) are changed before test running the map, as the camera is locked and the default values of 0 and 0 prevent any good viewing.
The scripts attached to the Overland Maps of SoZ are:
• On Client Enter Script - nx2_ol_client_enter • On Exit Script - ka_olmap_exit • On Heartbeat Script - nx2_ol_hb
These scripts can be easily customized towards a module's particular needs.