A dive down the AI generated art rabbit hole...

So... again, I have to apologise for not being as prolific as I'd like, in part this is due to my recent discovery of AI generated art.

It's been on the cusp of my awareness for a while, and while I had dabbled in the past, things have got very sophisticated very fast.

As an artist, I often have people gasp at my talent and proclaim that I should do it for a living, and that got me pondering on the question - is AI a threat to artists?

That all depends on your definition of an artist.  If you consider it to be someone who can render an image, then yes, we are doomed, for AI can churn out anything, much of which could be considered masterpieces.  AI is truly remarkable.  I was blown away by how remarkable it was, while at the same time completely terrifying.  I believe a true artist is someone who can convey an image, and for that you need imagination.  Even AI needs help in this regard, but if you have the imagination to describe what you want, AI can deliver, and there lies the terror.

Think about it. It is within our grasp to describe a scene, and have AI create it.

I need to investigate if and how I can share some of my creations.  In the meantime, would be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this subject.

Hobby Holiday

As some of you may know, life has been a bit hectic lately, and I needed to get away from it all.  I did try opening the toolset a couple of times, but I was always disheartened by the monumental task ahead, and would end up closing the toolset to leave tackling it for another time.  In the meantime I'd end up feeling a bit guilty having proclaimed the Relbonian Chronicles to be a series, particularly when Chapter One was welcomed so warmly.

Sometimes your hobbies can run away with you, ending up so big that you can't imagine finishing them.  In such a situation myself, I was in need of turning my attention to something more manageable in an attempt to remind myself that finishing a project was possible, in the hope that completing something smaller would encourage me to return to something larger.

Having arrived into roleplaying from a wargaming background, modelling has always appealed to me, particularly if it was something that could accompany my collection of fantasy figures, and with my eager 5 year old son showing an interest in his collection of knights, it seemed only natural that I turned my attention to an old unfinished model of a mediaeval tavern I'd started a long time ago...

...so, above is pretty much how it started out.  Polyboard cut to shape, then selotaped together with the additional strength of pins (later substituded for cocktail sticks) holding it all together to aid the gluing process.  I'd also made a start on the roof, which was just thick cardboard, and thin balsa wood strips for the tudor styling.

Another week down the line and I had pretty much finished the balsa wood application and made a start on the roof tiling, which was made from small cut up squares from a cereal box glued from the bottom up so that they'd overlap each other.  Once finished ready for painting, the walls were painted with a textured paint that would later be dry brushed, and the balsa wood painted dark brown.  The roof was painted black then dry brushed in grey (after a failed attempt at painting the roof red which I'd decided didn't work), and the windows painted blue and having the criss cross affect applied with a black felt tip pen.  

I hope you'll agree the final outcome is quite good.  My son certainly thinks so!  The good news is it felt something of a relief to be able to say I'd finished another of my projects, which did indeed culminate in me opening the NWN toolset once more.  It was still daunting, but I have this very evening sorted out a major glitch with the opening cutscene which was threatening the entire module.  I have a day off tomorrow, so dare say I'll be tackling it some more. :)

Moving

Personal problems have meant this project has been reluctantly shelved for the time being despite being so close to completion with the beta getting excellent feedback. Some glitches did surface but nearly all have been dealt with. In order to get my life back on line I'll be moving house the coming weekend, which will result in a loss of Internet for a few weeks. Maybe by then I'll see some light at the end of the tunnel and can contemplate geting this finished. Wish me luck!

Bad Times.

My world has been turned upside down by a personal problem that has made both the immediate and far future hard to focus on. As a result, this project is temporarily on hold, as I'm simply unable to find the time to give it any attention. It will have to await completion until either my life gets back on track, (and at the moment it looks like that's likely to take a long time. I'm struggling on a day to day basis.) or someone else can give a helping hand.

I mentioned a Hydra I was working on in an earlier post for a project based on Tomb of Horrors by Invisigoth, and am pleased to say I have at least managed to finish that. My final version can be seen below, although I understand this is subject to change in the final module.

Not sure when (if at all) I'll be back, which is a real shame considering the module is so close to completion, so if anyone out there thinks they might be able to help, please drop me a note.

Burning the candle at 3 ends!

I know I've been a little slow in updates of late, but that's not to say I haven't been doing anything. On the contrary, I've managed to do quite a bit more on the module, but suddenly seem to have 3 projects on the go, not including of course entertaining my son during the Easter holiday. Comes as quite a shock to the system having got used to him attending nursery in the mornings to suddenly find you have him full time for 2 weeks. Fortunately he's quite a character and well worth the time investment, but it does mean any personal projects of mine tend to get relegated to the evening... a time when my wife likes to compete for my attention lol!

All is well though. I've had another playtester help me pinpoint a problem I knew existed but was unable to resolve. With their help I got to the root of it and have ironed out one of the more persistent bugs thanks to their help. I've also implemented some additional story driven help for a part of the module that some found difficult, and have put some additional life in the town of Oasis.

As well as that, I've also volunteered my artistic skills to another NWN project that plans to re-create the infamous tabletop module "Tomb of Horrors". Knowing from personal experience what an uphill struggle a solo project can be, one can't help feel one has no right to moan about needing more help if not in a position to help others, so when I saw the cry for artists I figured I should put myself forward. I must say the level of professionalism, gratitude, and understanding within the group has made me very happy to have put myself forward. I'm having a lot of fun with a picture of a Hydra I'm working on for the project, plus it gives me the perfect excuse to increase my artistic skills and portfolio. Hopefully they won't object to me posting the Hydra online once it's complete so you can all have a peep, and I'm hoping I'll be able to contribute more than just the Hydra, but that's going to depend on their level of urgency I guess. Watch this space for further news on that project.

As for the 3rd direction I'm being pulled, some close friends were being nostalgic about our tabletop days and suggested we start some fresh sessions. In particular, someone wanted to revisit a character from my old Relbonian campaign that sparked this whole NWN project, so I've been busy prepping character sheets for a new session. It's not quite as easy as it should be as I'm having to cater to a request to use the 2nd Edition Star Wars rules for the game, not that I object mind, as it is a fantastic system that aids storytelling greatly. I already have the story in mind. It should make for a very interesting game that will take the mythology a step further.

Anyways, I'm waffling and have work to do... including a visit to the Mother-in-law!

Cheerio for now and have fun gaming!

The Trouble with Detail...

...is that it can bog you down. So why am I typing this when I could be pulling myself free from the quagmire? Simple. After all the devotion I've put into this, it would be criminal not to raise awareness of it. If this brings joy to just one person out there (and I know it will in years to come because hopefully my son will be able to play it and get an insight into his Dad) then it would have been worth it, but it would be preferable to have more than that enjoy playing in a world of my own creation.

Awareness is working because you are here. If you think you'd like to experience "The Relbonian Chronicles" then go tell your friends. You can never have too much awareness ;)

So what's bogged me down? Nothing too drastic. Not even too important for Chapter One to miss out on, but eventually I'll need it. Picture the scene:

There are essentially two types of magic in Relbonia. Mystical, being that used by Sorcerors, and Faith, the kind used by everyone else.
When I say everyone, I do mean all classes. Those traditionally non spell casting classes present (Fighter and Rogue) can cast spells from scrolls, the type of which is limited by the "Faith" they follow. They are currently limited to one Faith. Clerics on the other hand, can eventually access all 7 minor Faiths along with all the others bar the master Faith, "Muthkernatum", which is only available to high ranking Druids (whom the Clerics protect). Sorcerors on the other hand have no Faith limitations, deriving their magic from the essence of the land, which is why they are generally regarded as non believers or worse still, blasphemers.
Because Relbonia has its own mythology, I have had to rename many of the spells. Mostly those used by holy folk to add flavour to the game, and in some instances others because of names associatted with other settings (such as "Bigby"). I believe I have the renaming part 99% complete, but I also have to make the scrolls to match the renamed spells so that a player may purchase them from temples or Druid Colleges. The Faith issue means that I have to limit what scrolls are available to purchase based on the Faith followed by the character, which is evident based on the talisman/holy symbol they can wear (all of which have unique powers associatted with the Faith).
The problem with such attention to detail is I can't remember to what Faith I've assigned certain spells, although fortunately I'm about half way through the spell hook script which will deny the casting of a spell to non Sorcerors if they don't follow the revelant Faith. I say fortunate because I have at least got my code remarked with the Faith applicable to the spell. Unfortunately I can't have this open while checking where I am with the scroll creation, so I've now taken it upon myself to expand on the database I created to keep tabs on what spells I renamed so I can make a note of the Faith they're assigned to too. Of course this means extra work, but I'm hoping by doing it, it will make my life easier. At least when I come to assign scrolls to temple shops later I can filter my database and know what to plant in the shops inventory.

Perfectionism is a curse. ;)

So what's it all about?

Well we've successfully moved, but still have boxes strewn around our new house. For ages I thought I'd lost my Neverwinter disks, but recently found them hiding inside my Printer box which was a huge relief as my laptop had to be re-formatted a while back. Our son was a little unsettled at first, but he now regularly calls the place "Mummy and Daddies new house", so we are settling slowly but surely.

It's been a relief that I have this project to work on when I want to escape the drudgery of organising our house, and I'm pleased to say that as a result good progress has been made in the past week. The henchman is really beginning to shine as a character now, with numerous branches in conversations dependant on the reputation of the PC with him. I'm also close to preparing the final location of the module, although I should point out that as a castle it's a fairly large area to populate and prepare, and there's also a cutscene needed for it. So, we're a little way off yet, but there is most definately light at the end of the tunnel.

Followers of this blog should know by now that I've been priding myself on the level of detail within the module. If you're unaware of how such detail is incorporated then shame on you for not becoming a follower by clicking on the link to the left! ;) You're in luck however, for, as promised in my last post, it's about time I talked about the object of the series.

What has become apparent, as I'm sure any playtester will testify, is that "The Relbonian Chronicles" will succeed in becoming immersive. This is something I set out to do from the beginning. I didn't want to make a purely hack and slash module. I wanted to tell a story where the player becomes connected with the characters involved, to the point that they can experience being part of another world, and from different perspectives too.

The intention has always been for the Chronicles to be a series, with each module having the player roleplay a different character within the same world, thus gaining a different perspective of being a part of a whole. For those of you who fear the word "roleplay", it won't be as daunting as you might at first think. In order for the overall story to unfold the player will have to play set characters of a pre-determined class and alignment. As such, dialogue choices will not offer extreme choices, but instead feature options that fit with the character. Notice I said "Options" there. Not only are they present, but they can influence the game. None feel out of place, yet in some cases can make the game easier or harder to play. So, although the story is on a set path, the manner in which you get to the end of the path can have subtle differences. The henchman I've been taking so much pride in is a classic example of this at work, in that there are many instances of his dialogue changing dependant on their feelings toward the player.

NPCs too benefit from attention to detail. In at least 2 instances you can meet someone further on in the story in a different location. Meeting them again is not guaranteed as it will depend on the paths chosen by the player, as does the outcome of meeting them again. In some instances there are even NPCs that will feature in future chapters in larger roles, indeed, one of them is even going to be the players character in a future episode.

So, to summarise, it's a story, told in multiple parts, from the point of view of a differerent character, all of whom are connected in someway to the bigger picture... a series of events threatening the very existence of the Relbonian world.

It's getting late now, so I'm gonna have to sign off. Before I go, if there's anything you'd like to know about the module please ask here, and I will do my best to provide an answer.

It just gets worse!

My laptop died several days ago. All of a sudden it stopped detecting the sound card. Not a big issue you might think, but I kind of rely on it for setting the ambience in my mod with music and sound effects, plus many of the conversations make use of sound, so I sent it to be repaired.

It came back today. In a last bid effort to get it working they wiped it and re-installed windows. Not only did it not work, but I now have to re-install all my software. On top of that, I've discovered they used an invalid activation key. I'm hoping I can just type in the one on the sticker underneath my laptop, otherwise I've got serious problems.

Just to top it all off I can't find my Neverwinter disks. I know I have them, but where we've been packing in anticipation of moving house, they've been stashed in a box somewhere and I've now given up looking for them, so any new progress is unlikely to take place until after the move.

Fingers crossed my mod backups are intact. Don't you just hate computers?

House of Horror!

Nothing new to report I'm afraid, on account that we are totally stressed out with everything connected to trying to move house. Hopefully we should know by the end of the week if the house we are after is ours or not, and who knows, we may even have a moving in date. In the meantime, as fast as we are packing boxes, our son Max is unpacking them. I don't want to EVER move house again!

Give me a month or two to allow for settling into our new home and hopefully I'll get cracking again. Certainly it's my intention to have the module released before the year is over.

I guess it's about time I posted something, so here it is.

I've been cleaning up a few loose ends, and created a few more merchants in Oasis so players can equip themselves before the big push toward the modules end. Most are pretty simple, but there's the odd one with surprises thrown in dependant on circumstance and how you steer conversation. One for example has a small quest available, while another might give you a tasty weapon at a desireable discount.

I've been adding to the henchman convo file too, putting lines in place so that you can ask about the area you're currently exploring. It's my intention to give the henchman some personality so he's more than just an extra pair of hands, and I'm confident the going is good, as I already have an idea for him to have his own story. Getting the story out of him though is another matter, as owing to the circumstances in which he is hired, it's highly likely that he'll start off annoyed with his employer.

That's about it as far as progress is concerned, except for a few additional custom items I've made for the merchants that tie in with the background of the module. Further progress is likely to slow down drastically for the next month or two as we are in the process of selling our house. Fingers crossed we have a buyer, and have also found the house we want to move to, but it's all a bit stressful at the moment as the house we want is a repossession, which means if our buyer pulls out we lose it, and anyone else can step in with a higher bid. We've already started losing sleep because of it, so wish us luck!

More Testing and Another Playtester.

Today is my birthday! 45 today... boy... enough about that already!

I'm pleased to say I've had another playtester come on board, in the form of Kira'athu, another respected Neverwinter community member, better known to some over at the vault as gpudney. Thanks to some constructive comments from him I've made a few cosmetic changes to further enhance the immersion of the module, and progress is going well.

One of the more significant changes is that I've now upgraded to the latest version of CEP. I was initially against this, but a bug surfaced where a newer versioned player would witness a couple of minor aesthetic flaws, so decided to take the plunge. So as of now, "The Relbonian Chronicles" will require CEP 2.2.

Another reason for taking the plunge is that my earlier DM sandbox work "Muddles in Milton" is now going to receive an official review. As such, a request was made to update the work to CEP 2.2 and DMFI 1.09, so I figured if I was going to update the work for one then I may as well do both. My biggest fear with doing so was that the Relbonian specific tlk file would require re-working to perform with the latest CEP, but thanks to a program I found on the vault, I was able to merge the existing tlk file with the latest CEP one without problems.

Having made the upgrade, I thought I should test the existing work again myself, and in the process uncovered a couple of bugs missed by my playtesters. Minor issues - a spelling mistake and malfunctioning journal that had a conversation behave strangely, but it's nice to have caught them and they are now fixed.

I've been doing more work to my henchman, placing triggers that activate certain conversation nodes, which incidentally, contain different reactions depending on the reputation the player has with them, so expect some amusing arguments. ;) I've also started work on the final journey that will have the player venture to a castle for the final part of the module and expect to start populating it soon with combat encounters, so overall progress is good.

Right. I have to go now. My son wants me to build his trainset!

Tata for now, and happy gaming all. :)

Playtesting and Spell Hooking

First off, many thanks to Lance Botelle and his wife Jen. I've just returned from a pleasant evening in their company, where Lance tested my module while Jen kept us dosed with tea and biscuits. :)

Having watched over Lances' shoulder, I was pleased with the way the story flowed, while Lance commented on a number of other elements with positive responses.

We did uncover a bug along the way, which while a little discouraging that such problems can still be present despite my own attempts at testing, it's comforting at the same time that I'm able to pick up on it. Playtesting by others is a valuable asset that one should not dismiss, no matter how often they have tested a module themselves, which is why I'm seriously considering releasing an incomplete beta to get some further feedback.

As well as the bug, we (or should I say "Lance") resolved another issue I was having. Having followed a tutorial on the Lexicon to implement spell hooking, I couldn't understand why I couldn't get it to work, which was a pretty major issue considering my mythology plays an important aspect in spell availability. Spell hooking was after all the major draw for me in deciding that making "The Relbonian Chronicles" was possible, so having it not working would prove a major setback. Fortunately Lance spotted the problem quickly. Although I had saved a copy of an altered script in the default module properties, I had forgotten to use it. Selecting the copy made the test work, so that's likely to be the next major project I tackle. Having said that, I still have a couple of spell renames not quite working yet.

I was worried that a lot of typing would be involved with implementing the spell hooking, but having searched the vault I discovered Genisys had done a lot of the typing for me. If spell hooking is something you're considering, I'd recommend popping over to his spells & feats download.

As the setting of the module is unique, I thought it would be nice to experience it in something that felt new. This works to some extent thanks to the spells being re-named to fit in with the mythology, but I felt it deserved more. Having searched the vault again, I discovered some wonderful sets of coloured icons by The Amethyst Dragon. What's especially nice about them is you can drop them in your overide folder so that your icons are colourized for every game you play. I found they make a huge difference to the game, and was particularly impressed that all the spell icons have received the same treatment. I shall most definately recommend their use when I release the module. For those that can't wait that long, you can pick up his spell icons here, and view his other submissions here.

Right, I think I need bed now, and fingers crossed that we start getting some viewers for our home soon, as me and the Mrs are planning to move, which explains my lack of activity of late. Apologies to those of you kind enough to keep tabs here.

Night night and all the best.

More Hack Work Done

Dealing with the town of Oasis is taking longer than anticipated. This is mainly due to the town being a major stop over in terms of being able to re-equip the player, so not only am I having to place merchants along with their conversations, but I'm also having to create the items to stock them with. The going is good however, despite the other minor setback I've been experiencing. It's been a little painful to type for a while, all thanks to the idiot who reversed his car next to mine while I was unclipping my son from his baby seat. I got crushed between my car and the open door behind me, causing my son to burst into tears as I screamed into his face. Unbelievably, the man that crushed me went to drive away, and I had to chase him through the car park to get him to stop so I could take his details. Even more annoying, he didn't give a dam that I'd been crushed and got quite threatening, claiming I'd damaged his car opening my doors. Just talking about it now really riles me, to the point that I could prattle on for ages about it so I'll try to get back onto the suject of Neverwinter quickly. Suffice to say he is now contesting my claim, so we have a long drawn out process ahead of us with the insurance companies (he bent our door that I got crushed behind), and the police won't take any action because of the lack of witnesses. *Sigh*

Anyways, back on track, I was able to do a little more work on the hack that accompanies the module today, and am pleased to announce that as a result, I can now assign spell like properties to items so that they match their Relbonian spell names instead of the default names. I should also be able to create scrolls in the same manner, which has been bugging me for a long while.

I'm seriously considering some early playtesting before the module is finished so I can check how successful the variable reward system for the first major quest has been implemented. For those interested in possible playtesting, here's what you can expect for volunteering for the task:

A complete game experience up to arrival in the town of Oasis with an estimated play time of between 45 to 120 minutes (This is a very rough guesstimate). Although the hak pack requires further work, this will not effect play experience, as the hak affects mainly classes other than the one you will be expected to play (a fighter). As for what would be expected from you, mainly it would be to play in one of two styles (do everything in your power to please/disappoint the main quest giver), and give an estimation of roleplay/combat balance. Anyone interested should give me a yell.

Right, I'm off to tend to my dinner, happy gaming all :)

Quillfumbler

First off, as some of you may know, I've been restricted to using my laptop of late, one of the disadvantages of which is that I have to remember to press quite firmly on the "B" key, otherwise the headline of this article would have been "Quillfumler". As a result, I must apologise for any errors in my typing. All the more reason I think I should release a beta for any wannabe spell checkers ;)

There are times where I've regretted choosing the handle "Quillmaster" for precisely the above reason. People have high expectations from a "Quillmaster", and having articles with spelling mistakes doesn't really paint a good picture of what to expect. It's not just spelling mistakes. My earliest module was hardly a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.

So why did I choose "Quillmaster"? Simply because I thought it eluded to my "Dungeon Master" background, and of course it was the name of my play by mail game on which "The Relbonian Chronicles" has been based upon.

Even until recently, my early Neverwinter creations have relied heavily on Lilac Souls Script Generator, as I had no scripting knowledge whatsoever. It's been a real blessing to me, as over the years I've began to recognise how parts of the scripts work, to the point where I occasionally got brave and further tinkered with them. With "The Relbonian Chronicles" I've managed to take things a step further still, by taking the time to visit the Lexicon in my quest to achieve something that the script generator can't create. So, if any of you have sampled a past creation of mine, rest assured that (apologies for blowing own trumpet) this one is soooooo much better!

On the subject of scripts, I had a" Eureka" moment earlier (they can be sooooo satisfying - lol). One of my pet hates in a module is... tell you what... I'll quote the line I saw on the very Lexicon page I found my solution:

"A VERY useful function if you want to add some realism to your modules. Personally, I dislike knowing that "oh, so that's where the bad guy is because that's where the map pin is", even if I don't look at the map pin's caption."

The subject is of course "Map Pins". I like a map to denote points of interest to help you find your way around, but I don't like to see things I shouldn't know about. The command "SetMapPinEnabled" is a useful way of preventing such a situation occuring. Simply place your map note waypoint, right click on it, and under the advanced tab un-check the "Map Note Enabled" box. If you test the module you'll notice the map pin doesn't display on the players map. Back in the toolkit, you can place the below script in a conversation node under "actions taken" to enable the map pin.

So how might you use the above code? In the instance listed above it's simply used when an NPC mentions a location and points out where it is. When the player enters the relevant area (it needn't be the same as where the conversation occured), they find that the map pin is now visible. Cool eh?

I'd like to say to any novice scripters out there don't give up. Let each victory no matter how small inspire you to step that little bit further :) Even if you think you can't script, check out the script generator and get into the habit of searching the Lexicon.

Now you'll have to excuse me, I have some map pins to disable ;)

Overcoming Hurdles

It's been a little hectic this month. We recently attended the funeral of my father-in-law which I'm pleased to say did the man justice. Our 2 year old son also said "Gran'pa" during the service filling us with a sense of pride. It's nice to know he remembers him, and we intend to make sure it stays that way.

I know I promised to make a post about some of the NPCs several posts ago, but er... I'll have to put that on hold for a while. Not because there's been no activity, far from it, it's just that I'd like to do some screen caps to accompany the article, and er... I can't be asked at the moment (lol). The reason I can't be asked however is because I've been too absorbed in making progress, so the good news is that I've overcome two major hurdles that stood in my way. As followers of this blog will know, I've got to the main target area that the PC has been struggling to get to. Although it's not the end of the module, it is pretty major in that several quests can be completed here. As for the two hurdles, the first of which was a cutscene I wanted to include to help complete the atmosphere of having successfully reached this destination. I'm pleased to say that not only is the cutscene complete, but I'm also very close to completing one of the major conversation files to take place at the location.

There's still lots to do, to the point that I often wish I wasn't tackling it alone (anyone out there think they can help?), but I'm real happy with what's been done so far, and that's what pushes me on. I'm considering making what's made so far availale for playtesting so that any bugs can e ironed out as I go. If anyone fancies helping me out in that respect drop me a line.

That's all for now. Hopefully my next post will have some NPC info ;)

Dedication

I hereby dedicate this module to my father in law who passed away last week.
I'd also like to thank Gestalt for his cutscene system available at Neverwinter Vault, without which I'd never have been able to include the cutscenes responsible for breathing so much life into the module.

Oh No! and Ho Ho Ho!

"Oh No!" because i've been drowning in tasks that have prevented me from any updates for quite a while, mainly due to a mixture of babysitting my son and Christmas shopping, which brings me neatly to the subject of "Ho Ho Ho!" Apart from an apology for the lack of updates recently, I also wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

Here's hoping I'll get cracking again in the New Year and have something new to report soon :)