Re-Visiting Chapter 1

Nostalgia had me yearning to give Chapter 1 a play through.  At first I couldn't get it to work, and then it occurred to me that I was trying to play with the latest version of NWN (enhanced edition), and that maybe I needed to rebuild the module in the toolset to make it compatible.  While there I thought I'd make a change to something I was aware didn't work, and am pleased to say I resolved the issue.  It involved the telescope on an external balcony of the castle.  It was meant to be useable and fire a conversation, but failed to highlight as an object one could interact with.  It now highlights as intended and fires a conversation between the main character and his henchman.  Although not essential to find, it does offer some opportunities to improve or worsen the relationship, so is a valuable resource for those who stated "I could never get that dam Druid to like me!".  Conversation choices have consequences, and one would be wise to read all options before deciding how to react, and frequently too, as some options only appear as a matter of circumstance.

Gailin (The Druid Henchman) was my first ever attempt at a henchman, and I'm rather proud that I could trigger responses from him.  Conversations are what I have the most fun with, and being able to have him interject with the conversations of others was a joy to work on.  There's a shop in Oasis where the shop keeper acknowledges his presence, opening up new conversation branches in the process.

I had great fun playing through again, sometimes in awe of what I had accomplished, but sometimes frowning at the flaws.

So... I started tinkering, and it got me to thinking I should upload an updated version so the current generation can enjoy it, maybe even expanding on it a little and fixing the end movie which is, I admit, somewhat annoying that the game could end without playing it.

You'll have to excuse me.  I need to go tinker on it some more. :)

What a Silly Thing To Do...

Well that was indeed silly... I only went and opened the toolset, and before I knew what was happening, I'd opened a conversation file and started tinkering again.

Does this mean there's hope after all?  Hmmm... to be honest I'd say there's currently about 20% of what I intended for chapter 2, and even if I magically got it to 100%, it would still end on a bit of a cliff hanger much like Chapter 1.  It was always my intent that Chapter 3 would resolve the cliff hanger of Chapter 2 on completion, with Chapter 4 offering a multiplayer game where friends could play as the 3 main characters from the previous chapters.  That, I am painfully aware, is far too ambitious.  Having said that, I found nostalgia had me yearning to do more, or at the very least, complete enough of Chapter 2 that it would provide some nostalgia for those who enjoyed Chapter 1.  It would be a shame to shelve it completely, particularly with the work that has gone into it so far.

Players of the original may recall the effort I went to.  There was a real sense of story with a rich mythology.  Anything that could be clicked on had a unique description and nothing felt out of place.

What exists in Chapter 2 strives to have the same level of detail, and much like Chapter 1, combat is light to begin with.  As Chapter 2 involves playing a Thief, the story starts with a cutscene in which the player is tasked in a threatening manner to steal a sword.  I didn't want this to simply be a case of beating up a shop keeper, so some elaborate planning has been undertaken to ensure it felt like a real accomplishment.  The heist has to be carefully planned with a number of tasks undertaken to warrant success.  It seems a shame to let such planning go to waste, so I'm seriously considering if I can just get the heist section sorted it would be worthy of an upload, even if just so that someone else can use it in a bigger project of their own.  Of course, there's always the danger that I'll end up thinking I may as well do a little more.  We shall see.

So, I expanded on a conversation file.  I always enjoy those.  They can end up quite detailed.  I end up checking lines of dialogue and asking myself if some animation would add to the scene, such as drinking or a simple head scratch.  It's always nice if you can get nearby characters to interject too as it can make a scene feel so much more alive... curses!  I only opened the dam thing because I thought it was worth copying the text from items if I planned on releasing a book about running a roleplaying game in Relbonia, and now I find myself bitten by the bug again!

Ah well.  Have to work tomorrow.  Will see how I feel the day after.

Happy gaming all. :)

Oh my... another year slipped by.  Again, I can only apologise.  Lots of issues surfaced in my personal life, to the point that I have moved a fairly substantial distance further North where I could afford to buy a house outright and try for a fresh start.  I still have to find a job, but at least I don't have to worry about rent anymore.

Despite a reasonable amount of work having been done on Chapter 2, it's become clear that I can never hope to complete the series, and so, with deep regret, it looks as if I will have to shelve the work that's been done, particularly as I now only have a clapped out laptop to attempt it on (I'm now the proud owner of a Mac, but alas, NWN on Mac does not include the toolset, otherwise I'd be all over it).  I may revisit for the sake of nostalgia, but don't hold your breath.

Having said that, there's a hell of a lot of content with regard mythology, background, characters, and a whole lot of other things, a lot of which was generated for my tabletop roleplaying circle.  There's enough content for me to seriously consider compiling it all into a book specifically for players of 5th edition AD&D as a complete world ready for adventure.  Whether I'd release it as a PDF or approach a publisher remains to be seen, but rest assured I am giving it serious consideration.

Watch this space for updates, and please drop me a line if this is of interest as a little encouragement would go a long way.

All the best,

Quillmaster.

I can't believe it's been 5 years since I last posted.  Truth be told real life took a bit of a tumble, something which I am still in the process of trying to rectify.

I truly hate that I left this abandoned for so long.  Creating in the toolset was my true passion but I had to divert my attention elsewhere.  Although I still have the tools, I simply can't perceive the project continuing without some external input, and fear that the mods I have used may make collaboration complicated.  I'm all ears though if anyone believes they'd be capable of taking a look.

An interesting read... maybe I should return to chapter 2.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/neverwinter-nights-enhanced-edition/neverwinter-nights-modules

Well, I must confess I simply haven't had the time to do more to the saga, and the longer time drifts by, the more I forget on what progress was made.  I did however take a peek over the Christmas period.  There's a fair few conversations that need expanding, and that can be terribly time consuming.  It did leave me wondering if I should consider re-installing NWN2 and making part two within that, but I suspect the learning curve would destroy my will to go  on.

On reflection, it makes far more sense to stick with NWN1 simply because of the amount of work already within chapter 2.

I'd still be very interested if someone out there might be willing to help.

Wakey wakey!

I can't believe I've left this alone for so many years.  It's been a struggle being a single Dad, to the point that I've had to have a minor operation.    Having to spend a couple of weeks resting, and now mobile enough to exploit my free time... so I started up the toolset and found myself dabbling again.

As anyone who's played Chapter One will know, I'm a stickler for detail, and atmosphere is one of the most important tools at your disposal for creating it. It's all about immersion. Immerse your player in the story by setting the scene, both visually and auditory. One trick I like to use with sound is I'll note the background noise of an area and place a much quieter version of it near the transition point of an adjoining area.

I also check the description of anything that can be clicked on, including NPCs, tailoring them to observations the player can make.

If you haven't played Chapter One, I urge you to do so, and if you have, I urge you to play again.  Were you aware that the confrontation that occurs in the mines has a game changing consequence if the Half Orc survives?  The consequence being that you encounter him later and he has conveniently made an area combat free. 

There are many things that are easy to miss, ranging in complexity, including but not limited to:

• Multiple reward possibilities dependant on how you're viewed by Anath.
• It's possible to get Gailin to like you.  Hard work, but possible.  There are several range bands to how he views you, altering his conversations and reactions to storyline in the process.
• There's an optional quest in Oasis involving a burnt note.
• Translating a book can gain another companion.
• Lore in all books is original and can contain clues.
• Lore on all armour is original, from dog collars to chainmail.
• In fact the lore of everything pertains to the setting

So... having rekindled my interest, I'm having another look.  No promises, but knowing someone wanted to play Chapter 2 could make all the difference.  Happy gaming people :)

Disaster Averted!

Okay okay, I confess I haven't been around of late, or even building come to that.  That nasty thing called real life is still demanding lots of my attention, particularly on the job seeking front, and I had a major disaster... two in fact, with regard my computer.  I suffered a particularly nasty virus attack that locked the PC and disabled safe boot mode.  The first time it struck took me a couple of days to sort out.  The second time merely a couple of hours since I'd remembered how I got round it.  You can't be too cautious people.  I actually have a good virus checker that deals with files in real time, yet it missed this one twice.

Having thought the worst was over, I was horrified to discover that it had somehow messed with two of my games, being Neverwinter Nights and World of Tanks, somehow assigning them to the creation of further viral attacks and rendering the programs unusable.  Fortunately the virus checker caught the files they kept creating whenever I tried to run them, but I was unable to fix the problem and make the programs run.  This was quite a disheartening moment for me.  World of Tanks I could manage without, but the loss of Neverwinter meant that work was unnaccesable, and that I'd never be able to witness my son enjoy my creations.

Fortunately I'm a patient fellow, and I decided to persevere and tackle the problem.  Several days later, having uninstalled both programs then re-installed them (a somewhat painful task with NWN since it meant having to remember how I got it to run on my system in the first place, plus having to find the critical rebuild patch that Bioware no longer have available), I was relieved to find I'd fixed the problem, and especially pleased that I'd made backups of essential files.

So... fingers crossed, I'm now back in business, and quite excited about building again having overcome the initial sense of loss.

Right now I need a rest though ;)

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. :)

Yes, I do still exist!

Just a quick note to let people know I'm still around.  As always, real life keeps taking a bite out of my creation time, (I'm still a single parent, and still looking for work... anyone got any offers?) hence the lack of posts as of late. It's hard to get incentive with a hobby, particularly when you know there's conversation work to be done which is always time consuming, and unfortunately, I think I set the bar quite high with Chapter One.  As always, if anyone feels they might be able to help in any way drop me a line.  I'll be trying to spend some time on it soon so my next post can be more interesting.