At the moment, the function that handles the messages doesn't know what type of creature was responsible for the kill. That would be a great message for a troll kill, though. I might be able to work in information about the attacker, but for now the six filters that I mentioned are the only ones recognized:

Name (of dead creature)
Type (of dead creature)
Subtype (of dead creature)
Trait (of dead creature)
DamageType (of attack)
AttackTrait (of attack)

Well, this attempt has not been as successful (so far) as I had hoped. This is a little disappointing; I had hoped that OCTGN players, at least, would jump at the chance to contribute something, however small, to the module (or that our fan-fiction writers would jump at the chance to have work read by everybody who uses the module). Lack of community involvement will mean less variety of death messages, so you will tend to see the same ones multiple times, but I suppose that is hardly the end of the world.

I'll keep this thread open for anybody who later decides to contribute to this aspect of the OCTGN module. If there is anything I can do to make the process easier, be sure to let me know.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]28 Rounds Later[/spellbookname]
[mage]Necromancer[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a06]2 x  Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ04]1 x  Graveyard[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ13]1 x  Ziggurat of Undeath[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j11]1 x  Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC12]1 x  Shaggoth-Zora[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC19]3 x  Venomous Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC22]3 x  Zombie Brute[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC23]2 x  Zombie Crawler[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC24]3 x  Zombie Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c23]1 x  Malacoda[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC04]2 x  Grey Wraith[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e22]2 x  Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]2 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e23]1 x  Jinx[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x  Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x  Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x  Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q05]1 x  Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI06]2 x  Zombie Frenzy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI01]2 x  Animate Dead[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i29]1 x  Vampiric Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i08]1 x  Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]1 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]2 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i21]1 x  Purge Magic[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Experimenting with the Necromancer, but I have very little experience in building spellbooks. Any feedback regarding what you see as strengths or weaknesses would be greatly appreciated!

Additionally, I'm curious as to why Ziggurat of Undeath and Deathshroud Staff aren't included in any zombie spellbooks I've seen on this forum. Why are these cards not being chosen and should I remove Ziggurat?

Thanks a bunch!

Ziggurat of Undeath is unpopular because it is only really useful against swarms, where you can be sure of many kills. Deathshroud Staff requires you do be close to the action, which Necromancers don't like to do, being rather squishy.

Regarding spellbook:

1. Consider dropping either the Libro or the Graveyard to make space for other spells. It is hard to maintain both. Personally, I prefer the book.

2. Drop a grey wraith. You don't need two.

3. If you are going to use Zora, add 1-2 more crawlers as food.

4. Vampiric strike is useless to you. You want to get deathlock out in most games, and if your Mage is forced to resort to melee, it is over anyway.

5. Add some tanglevines/force holds/stumbles to stop your enemy from getting away. Zombies can inflict massive harm, but only if they can actually catch their target (which is frequently easier said than done).

6. Drop one of the Animate Deads. They are marginally useful if you manage to take out a very powerful enemy creature, but this will generally only happen once per game, and your brutes are more than enough firepower anyway.

7. Include a Skeletal Knight (or Mort) as a guard. Malacoda is too slow to keep up with you, and your Zombies certainly can't protect you.

8. Add a Hurl Boulder for finishing the enemy and a Force Hammer against conjurations.

9. Add 1-2 Maim Wings for high-priority flying enemies.

You also pay the magebind cost. Magebind means the cost of the spell is greater, not just when casting, but for all effects that compute the cost of the spell.

In the spell database, Mohktari is missing the Tree subtype and Tanglevine is missing the Vine subtype.

Aside from letting him die a slow and painful death and then [mwcard=DNI01]reanimating[/mwcard] him as a zombie, is there an easy / less risky way to make him immune to the Idol/Cloud? 

Just let the zombie happen. It will still take a while for him to die. Sacrificing him sounds like a great play. Regrowth is not a great idea, because as a necromancer you should generally try to drop a Deathlock.

As far as conjurations go, I think the one conjuration that he would go very well with is the [mwcard=DNJ01]Altar of Skulls[/mwcard]. Cerberus has the defensive strength needed to protect it while it powers up.

Try this one.

You'll have to replace some cards (like Standard Bearer), but most of it (and the most important parts of it) does not require FvW.

Great start! I especially like the last one, though I think it should be changed to "Did somebody forget...", so that it makes sense when read by both players (I'll take care of that). Keep them coming!

Also, I've modified the program that reads the messages so that it can handle messages that don't name the creature or that name the creature multiple times, so feel free to use as many (or as few) {}s as you need.