I announced recently that my last building task in Neverwinter Nights 1 (before moving on to Act II of the Sanctum saga in Neverwinter Nights 2) was going to be to do a final update for Chapter 1, “The Sight.” In particular, I wanted to merge the two “male and female Robin” versions into a single module that supported both, to fix a few very minor and lingering bugs and spelling errors, and to do just a little more “tweaking” to improve the combat and playability. I started that work last week, and it’s coming along very nicely.
It’s coming along so nicely, in fact, that since this will be my last building project in NWN1, I’ve decided to turn it into a major overhaul of the first chapter. It will be a full version upgrade (to “Version 3.0”), and I expect the updated module to be ready sometime in February. In addition to the aforementioned improvements, I’ve decided to completely rebuild the whole of the “Ancient Ruins,” which I was never fully happy with. I committed a classic “first time builder’s mistake” by making these areas too large, when I should have broken them into several smaller and linked areas instead. I’m going to do that now, and take advantage of the opportunity to use some very cool new tilesets while I’m at it.
I’m also tempted to retrofit some of the new features introduced in Sanctum 2 — such as the food and improved “bleeding” system. I haven’t entirely made up my mind about that yet, though, since I don’t want to delay getting started on Act II for too long.
Dang man. 🙂 You are going to keep us all so busy re-playing the original first two modules that we never get the chance to continue any further with the series. 🙂
I am kidding of course. I like the sound of what you are proposing very much indeed. Especially the new tilesets. Although I am not sure that reducing the size of the areas is necessary. One of the things that, IMO, makes NWN1 superior to NWN2 is the size of the areas. NWN1 allows the player to enter into these large, even sprawling play areas and FEEL like they are entering into an epic adventure.
Whereas NWN2 forces the player to squeeze into a dingy-sized photo booth where you often have to resort to using the WSAD keys for navigation in order to escape from getting stuck in a corner of the dinky little maps. I *liked* the big ruins. They made it feel awesome, impressive. It made me feel like I was entering into some mysterious place that was potentially full of perilous secrets.
Have you seen the feature list for the 1.69 patch, which is currently in beta 3? They are including things like flowing capes, ridable horses, and other things that were part of the last commercial module. Just think what you could do with that one. Real Rideable Pegasi!
Oops. Forgot. No Pegasi in NWN2. Oh well. 😀
Anyway. I am really looking forward to seeing what you come up with in the new version of part one. I have already played the original three times. (Which cannot be said for any other module. Or any other RPG for that matter.) Now it looks like a fourth time is on the books. You haven’t got a speck of mercy, have you? 😀
Gezer: Thanks for your feedback! And no, I pride myself on being merciless when it comes to re-playing my modules. 😉
I’ll give what you said about the areas some thought. Level 2 needed to be rebuilt for several reasons, and that’s largely already done. But I’ll consider leaving Level 1 as it is. Changing area size is a nightmare because there’s no way to cut and paste a partial area definition; you have to rebuild it again from scratch. So a good excuse to cut back on some of that rebuilding would be a welcome relief. 🙂
Since you are doing a major overhaul of Chapter 1, perhaps you you won’t mind if I expand slightly on my prior remarks about your characterization? I wasn’t trying to criticize your choices with my remarks on NWNVault, not by any means. It adds a lot of depth and flavor to a narrative to have characters with some less attractive qualities. It makes them more alive. So I hope that you don’t think I was trying to be negative about Robin. If you prefer that I quit making such comments, say the word and I will hush.
But I mentioned before that I am a writer myself. I love to get feedback of all kinds, not just praise. I find that praise is great. Praise gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling that encourages me to keep going. But simple praise doesn’t help me gain any new understanding of my craft. Undiluted praise does nothing to assist me in opening my eyes to recognizing anything about my creations that I was not already aware of. As the creator, I find that I am sometimes blind to things that neutral third parties find obvious.
I just want to clarify what I meant, so you don’t misunderstand me. I did not mean to be hard on Robin, or on you. Then I will shut up about this.
When I read a story, or roleplay a story, I try to put myself in the mindset of the major character. So when I started playing your Sanctum modules, I tried to put myself into the boots of the PC character. I looked at who he is (I played a male, Robin female), where he came from, what made him who he is, and tried to guess how he perceives the world.
The guy grew up in the deep woods. He is the son of foresters. What this says to me is that, regardless of the class I choose, he will display the following characteristics:
– He will be relatively naive. Not much chance for social interaction in the deep woods. He will be extremely well acquainted with a handful of close neighbors, and know almost nothing about anyone else. Not a cosmopolitan figure by any means. The guy is a bumpkin. Set him down in any good sized town and the sharks would skin him alive. Realpolitik is not his forte.
– By the same token, he will be imbued with “small town values”. Personal and family loyalty will be second nature to him. This is almost a universal characteristic of people living in tiny, tight knit communities. I see no reason to doubt that he would share it.
– He will have some skill at Stalking and hiding, tracking and finding. No matter what class. If he is a Ranger or Druid, he will have a LOT of skill at all outdoor related activities. But even as a rogue or fighter, etc. he should have some skill with animals and related things.
– The guy is smart. Book smart and horse sense, both. He would have to have horse sense to survive to manhood in the forest – Mother Nature doesn’t give second chances. He would have to have book smarts to survive three years under the close tutoring of the greatest mage in the country.
– Physically tough. Strong. High dexterity. High endurance. Hillbilly – barbarian type physical conditioning. wood chopping, water drawing, log dragging, hog butchering tough.
– No doubt he would have at least some basic knowledge of weapon and armor maintenance.
– Excellent archery, unarmed combat, close short blade skills. Might or might not have good sword skills. Probably can use a sling. Blunt weapon skills of all kinds.
That’s who I see this guy as being.
Now I have to consider how he would react to Robin’s revelation of what has really been going on during their time together.
Robin and Len saved his butt when his parents were killed, gave him a home, and trained him in magic. Probably they also trained him in other adventuring skills. No doubt he also took over his part in the household chores, and became a member of the family. Or he thought he was a member of the family.
After Len’s death, he learns the following:
– His teacher is actually Lenard the Archmage, former king and the most powerful spell slinger in the land. But nobody bothered to mention that to him for the three years that they have been living together like family.
– Robin, his “best friend”, is actually Princess Randia Killraven, rightful ruler of the country and leader of the resistance. But nobody bothered to mention that to him for the three years that they have been living together like family.
The man that I described above would feel betrayed. There is no other way that he could possibly feel. He might forgive her. He almost certainly WOULD forgive her, especially if he is in love with her. But he would still feel betrayed. And rightfully so. And that kind of wound doesn’t heal in a day, or even in a month.
By the way, a lie is derived from intent to deceive. The exact procedure is not important. Whether one tells an untruth, or distorts the truth, or withholds part fo the truth, doesn’t matter. If the intention is to present another person with a false impression of reality, than one is lying. So they lied to him for three years.
Why did they lie?
I can think of three possible reasons.
1) They did not trust him with the truth because they thought he could not cope with it. – Disrespectful and Insulting.
2) They wanted to protect him from the emotional upset that the truth would cause. – Disrespectful, condescending and insulting.
3) They did not trust him with the truth because they thought he would betray them.
What other reason could there be?
Randia Killraven is the actual and de facto leader of the Resistance. Even Nimrod defers to her orders. She may have disapproved of Len’s decision to lie to the PC, but ultimately she is an adult. She is responsible for her own decisions. She made the decision to go slong with his decision for three years. It would take the man I described above a long time to get past that.
Which means that you have set in motion a positively delightful dramatic plot line that has the potential for all kinds of twists and turns.
And that is ALL I meant by my remarks on NWNVault. I really like the complexity and depth of your storyline.
Gezer, I very much welcome comments (particularly ones that are as extensive as yours). But if you don’t mind, I’d prefer for general commentary of this kind to be posted instead to the "Modules Forum" on my website:
http://www.andarian.net/434/13682.html
That’s why I posted a link to it on the Sanctum 2 download page recently. I’d like, instead, to try to keep blog responses focused on the topic of my blog posts. The reason I created the "Modules Forum" in the first place was to provide an arena for just this kind of player-centered and directed discussion about the modules.
I would like to blog at some point regarding your comments on Robin, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet and didn’t want to write something incomplete. (As you can tell from my blog post, I’m rather occupied at the moment. :)) Until then, I’d prefer to pursue this topic on the modules forum, and I’ll re-post your comments there to get things started.
For those interested, I’ve posted Gezer’s comments, as well as a partial response, to the Sanctum Modules forum. – Andarian
I’m really looking forward to version 3.0 Not only will we get Mysteries of Westgate, (well hopefully) we will get a new version of Sanctum. I can’t wait. February is going to be a fun month.
This is just FYI. It is a near certainty that you have been aware of this from the beginning, long before I was. But just in case…
http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=614397&forum=42&sp=0
This thread is the latest one that I have found dealing with some of the new features available with the 1.69 patch for NWN1. In addition to ridable horses and flowing cloaks they are including things like an additional prestige class, multiple action options of some type (I am getting lost in the explanations in the thread) during dialog menus, summon mount feats for paladins, and a bunch of other things. New spells too.
Anyway, there it is. Although You have probably already seen it. Hope things are going well. Still looking forward eagerly to seeing the next module. Have fun!