Thissss issss lassst weeksss progresssss

(including a wicked exterior of the Great Petrified Serpent courtesy of Amraphael again! Now populated with appropriate nasssstinessss)

The Legacy of White Plume Mountain

(urgh... a nightmare halloween involving a car accident that I have a nasty feeling is going to cost me a lot of money... just in time for christmas, great...)

So, probably around about a year ago now, just over, DA2 had been released and I was working on the first segment of DA3. The party were fleeing the massacre at the militia's fortress and looking to sneak into the city of Marsember. Then, real life got very busy as work took off in all sorts of crazy poorly thought out directions and the staff struggled to keep up with it. And in the spare time I did have, all I could do was feel awestruck by what lay ahead of me to finish the DA series. I still laugh when I dig out my old notes right back from the begining (2006-7) to see that the whole DA series was going to be 5 chapters and each chapter cover 5 maybe 6 areas. Heh. piece of cake, huh? 2 Years, 2 chapters and 20 areas later (OK they were areas made by *me*, but still I mean c'mon), it weren't looking so simple. I had the biggest chapter facing me - a trek through the Vast Swamp, meeting *another* companion (who I might come back to at some point), sneaking into Marsember to find a paranoid Elder, lots of city sidequests involving attemtping a coup in the town, and winning round the Purple Dragons and the fleet, being shadowed by an assassin from the lower hells, culiminating in a showdown with the paranoid hedonist Elder Hasturn in a masquerade ball (natch...). Then, there was the other two chapters, Chapter 4 in a race across the Stonelands to find Elder Porphyrrion's lair, and the final chapter piece de resistance as the players soul is dragged down into Hades and he has to fight against the very devil who gave him/her a chance for revenge - to either redeem the PC him/herself and all the other vengeful souls, or to usurp the Keeper and replace him as the might power on the Planes. Aye, it was all mapped out. Even finally meeting Gork's dead Brother Spirit... (Gork was going to die, but his spirit find rest, so when the PC arrived in Hades, Brother Spirit was there waiting to help him/her).

There wasn't time. As much as I wanted to, this was too unwieldy a beast, and my free time was sapped. So I left the toolset alone. But it never leaves you alone, I find. Anything can be a trigger for a "I wonder if I could do/mimic/use that in a module...?" moment. But I needed a way of working that would allow me to still build with the toolset, and indulge this drug-like habit that modding can be.

So, I took to picking up bits an pieces of old areas, resusing them, dabbling in the prefabs on the vault. Picking mini-projects like the Cormyr Overland Map to try and get more content out there. And slowly, picking the odd hour's time on the toolset here and there, things began to piece together. And the germ of a simple idea took hold. The biggest time sinks in the toolset are area building and writing. So, let's not do either...


Doesn't sound like much of a prospect huh? Not quite from the Azenn school of self-deprecation but getting there. But it underpinned what I thought I wanted to do with the toolset. Something that harks back to pen-and-paper D&D sessions. Exploration and player interaction. I wanted to create a multiplayer (or single player party creation) sandbox game.


So, I started piecing things together. I'd learnt the basics of an overland map, I had a broad array of prefabs to exploit, there was some custom content itching to be used. Now I needed a framework to hang it on.

The Legacy of White Plume Mountain

White Plume Mountain was a classic D&D module (9th all time greatest according to some list that was probably made up), and brought some key archetypes to the game - the legendary sword Blackrazor, some devious traps and tricks in the dungeon that were soon aped in other products and became staple DM challenges. That said, for me it's also a bit pants. The set up is fine, with some crazed wizard clearly up to no good and puling the strings behind the scenes. But you never meet him. You never get to have that showdown, the evil monologue and exposition to explain everything, then, most importantly, stick him with a sword. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, and as was the way with classic D&D modules, there wasn't always this detail included (supposedly to allow DMs to be creative, and fit the module into their own campaigns, but I've always a had a more cynical view that it was just never thought out like that).

What fewer people know is that there are two sequels to White Plume Mountain. The imaginatively named Return to White Plume Mountain, a real mind-fark of a module in terms of what, by-the-book, it does to the PCs, published as a D&D 25th anniversary product, and the staple let's-screw-over-the-players PC killer dungeon Ex Kerpatis Cum Amore published in Dragon magazine (issue 77, folks). Again, the arch villain behind the scenes is still so behind the scenes he's barely noticable.

So, desperate to know more after that dissection of the modules, I bet? Is this his module announcement I hear my one reader (Hello Mum!) cry? Well, it boils down to what makes WPM so fondly remembered - the exploration and the interaction of the players. And what I had time to build - modular dungeons, each room a self-contained puzzle/encounter. I had a lot of WPM crafted already from dabbling in the toolset. And as I picked my way along in my spare moments, it began to take shape into something more concrete.

So, what is the Legacy of White Plume Mountain that I'm working on? It's a retelling/reimagining of the three White Plume Mountain products into one campaign, the campaign I would have run as DM to string these modules together, to be played single player with party creation, or multiplayer, with a main plot the player can choose to ignore whilst they explore the region using an Overland Map looking for trouble. Multiplayer, sandbox. I've relocated the mountain from Greyhawk to Faerun, placing it on the border of the Serpent Hills and High Moor, which fits quite nicely given the geography of the WPM map included in the original module. No companions, although the Dark Avenger companions will make a reappearance in some form; as much as I enjoyed writing for the companions in the DA series, in this format, it's very time consuming and a cutscene every few paces to discuss how bizarre old-school D&D dungeons are would get a bit repetitive. And companion driven story wasn't what I'm looking to achieve here - another time sink I can't afford. But there is party skill use in- and out of dialogue - I've tried to make this quite important and to add flavour to skilled (but dialogue-impaired) party members. Search and Search mode will actually be important. Something in the region of 15 sidequests, all a little more elaborate than the 1 area distractions of the SoZ overland map. Heavy use/adaption/modification of prefabs and inclusion of custom content. Crafting included. Aiming to be in testing around Christmas/early next year, assuming playing Dragon Age doesn't distract me too much.

I'd been wary about mentioning this knowing how things can go despite the best of intentions, but I'd given myself to the end of October to get thigns in shape, and all main plot areas are done and 70% scripted, so it feels like a home stretch now. Sidequests are a different matter, and area basics are there but need more work. I've been fortunate enough to have Amraphael's help on some areas for these, and some screenies of his contributions are below.

Looking back there seem to be a lot of mushrooms

As I've hinted at, I've been dabbling with an idea, which if things progress as they have been, I'll announce soon (ie if last area finished by end of month...). Something that fits in with a building pattern based on only having limited toolset time, and reusing areas/ideas from other (abortive) projects. Work/wedding planning got pretty hectic, so a plan based on occasional 30 minutes toolset time here and there was needed. Had a quick run through areas over the weekend using the DM Client, which is a handy way of quickly seeing how things look in game, and quite happy with the result. And yes, an efreeti model has come in handy... Some screenies below. More mushrooms than I remembered, but there is a reason...

What do Fernando Torres and I have in common..?

...hint - it's not that we're both finely-honed athletes, with Mediterranean flair and adoring female fans...


..but we did both just score a pretty sweet hat-trick!

(Soccer reference might be lost on some of you, but any fellow Liverpool fans will know what I mean!)

Check out the AME NWN2 Golden Dragon winners here

Proud, humbled and guilty given some of the competition.

Slowly getting back to reality after my wedding a fortnight ago. Was a great, but exhausting day. It was fun to see the guests reaction (depending on comprehension) to the geeky touches I'd put in - my bride walked down the ailse to the refrain from The Princess Bride, each guest recieved a custom six-sided die with our names and the date on the 1 spot (in the planescape font AvalonQuest), and the tables were named "Worthington", "Braddock", "Wilson", "Bishop" and "Wagner" - 50 xp for anyone spotting the connection! ;)

Pathfinder

Well, Pathfinder has finally been released (I'm awaiting my hardback copy, but the SRD is online). As 4e D&D really hasn't excited me, I'm hoping this re-envisioned 3.5e might keep the 3rd Ed flame burning a while longer. It's got some nice ideas for some of the core classes, and even each race is treated a bit differently in terms of bonuses. Will be interesting to see how it developed compared to the WotC marketing of 4e.

Meantime, highlighting overlooked custom content, I like mushrooms. Fried in butter and garlic, a little cream. Atop a toasted brioche.





Anyone else have fungi-based recipes to share?

Pet hates

At the moment, my pet hate is the fact that all the people I work with, who have spent the past 6 months dithering over whether they want me to do something, now all decide en masse they must have their projects done at the same time... so much for the summer lull.

But what are people's pet hates in modules? We often talk about what people like, but what about the flipside -little things that become big turn-offs? Feel free to mention burning horse companions that can't navigate the walkmesh, poor area design, unfinished campaign series... ;) . I guess for something to be a pet hate it has to be common enough amongst different modules to become a grind. Mine is probably lip-flappers on PC responses -perhaps because I read fairly quickly, but I find it slows the flow down too much, especially as 1) you've read the PC options already before deciding on which to pick, and 2) there's no PC voice-over anyway...

NWN2 Golden Dragon Awards

Well, I'm out of commission for a week with vanilla (not swine) flu (on what was meant to be time off for wedding preparations - so I had even less sympathy than normal due to suspicions that my flu was too well timed to coincide with fittings, shopping and preparations), and the Academy of Modding Excellence announce their nominations for NWN2. Proud and suprised to be included there with 4 nominations! Veteran Author, Best Action, Best Roleplay, and Misc. Custm Content.

Last year was when the quality of the mods on the vault really ramped up as the community showed what it can do (and I think the next generation of releases such as Zork, Trinity, Misery Stone, Better the Demon, Shattered Dreams, amongst several others will be building on that even further). So was suprised to see Dark Avenger 2 up there amongst the great competition from the likes of AmstradHero and others. Good to see the Halloween mod being recognised too. It does make me feel worse for shelving the Dark Avenger project tho... still think it was the right choice, but

Being called a 'Veteran' is amusing given the noob mistakes and fudges that pepper my time on the toolset, and that my only other playable release that year was one-joke-one-trick pony The Elemental Plane of Rats. Was very suprised to see my foraging system up for nomination, mainly as it is quite a simple system, and something I think the goodie system in SoZ takes a step further, but glad if it's been of use to others.

So, NWN2-wise, now my head is less fuggy, and my Fort saves vs. disease seem to be kicking in, I need to catch up on missed writing time for Shattered Dreams. Maybe next time, I'll post more on some other plans...

Dark areas

Reading this blog post from Kamal made me realise something. I always liked dark areas too, and have my preferred interior lighting to give the desired effect. Dungeons and caves should be dark and shadowy, to be atmospheric and tense places to visit. Most of the creatures have darkvision, so other than roasting hobbits, won't need lots of lit fires. But then along comes the PC. Chances are they will have a torch, but chances are they'll also have a mage. Who can cast Light. Or maybe a race with darkvision. And then all sense of atmosphere is lost. It's something that has always bugged me, but I hadn't quite put my finger on it. The Light and darkvision VFX makes things too washed-out bright - now everything is too stark, the murky cave walls look grainy - all that effort with carefully place lights lerping between phosphorescent colors is wasted. Yes, these effects should make things more visible, but it'd be nice if there was some murkiness left. Maybe having light create an effect like carrying a torch would be a better bet... or tweaking the bloom in these areas so the don't light things up as much (but then would need placed lights being tweaked)...

It's less of an issue in exteriors. In the OD&D campaign I play in, I've always liked the idea that the thief scouts ahead just at the edge of the light source held by the rest of the party, looking for traps in the gloom, but hopefully hidden to suprise the goblins that run down the passage after the main party.

Cormyr/Shadowdale Overland Map

I've uploaded my overland map covering Northern Cormyr and Shadowdale up on the vault. It covers Arabel in the south west, Hullack Forest and Thunder Gap in the south east, up past the Storm Horns, Tilverton, Shadow Gap and Spiderhaunt Woods, to Shadowdale itself in the north-east.

Part of the shelved project, it has encounters balanced for level 7 (if you set global int nChapter2enc to 1, if left at 0 then tougher encounters will spawn), with some new encounters of my own devising thrown in too. Can be used with the Arabel prefab I've shared too.

It also has several hidden sidequest locations scattered over the map - but I haven't made the actual areas for these and they will need developing by the builder.

The goodie system drove me to distraction - as far as I could tell it should be working, but I couldn't get it going. That said, all the needed ipoints are in place on the map for someone who can.

In other news, David Eddings recently died aged 77. I read the belgariad/Mallorean as a young teenager and absolutely loved them. Might have to dig out some copies for a spot of nostalgia.

The project that never was...

...has rightly been put out of its misery. Yep, this is the project-that-I-didn't-want-to-admit-I-was-working-on-because-it-was-unlikely-to-go-anywhere-but-really-was-working-on-regardless-and-making-the-same-overambitious-mistakes-all-over-again. I might make parts of it available on the vault - we'll see. Beginning to think it must be a conditioned behavioural response amongst modders - that's it's impossible to make a short, simple mod. I know that there are plenty of short simple mods out there, but I'm talking about proper modules rather than someones dabbling with the toolset. It does make me wonder

1. if we modders are partly to blame for how the NWN2 community developed
2. if the same mistakes are going to be repeated with Dragon Age

We all know the reason that's rolled out every time someone asks why so few modules for NWN2 are out there is the longer development time in NWN2 and the increased complexity of the toolset. But rather than tackling these problems, are modders acknowledging their presence then just carrying on regardless? How long have some projects been in development now, and how many of the players that we sought to cater to have long since gone?DA is only going to make things more complicated and involved from what I can tell...

Back on track, the main reason I've abandoned the-project-that-never-was is to help out with the writing on BouncyRock's Shattered Dreams. There's some interesting ideas in this and it's a different setting to writing in which is proving a fresh challenge. You'll have seen some of the development reported on Elysius' blog to give a hint of the effort going into this project.

So in case you thought this blog was going to turn into me sharing my holiday snaps and poorly-formed opinions on things, rather than anything related to building for the NWN2 community... afraid you ain't gotten rid of me that easily.