Time To Talk (Again)

No pictures, only text this week ... and that reflects the theme for this week's post: Conversations! I have posted on conversations before, which touched upon styles, but as I have been writing more conversations for NPCs since my last post, I thought I would touch on the topic again.

Observing Boundaries: Protocol

There is no doubt about it, next to area design, writing conversations must be one of the hardest parts of creating a module for me. That's because I like a module to reflect a depth of realism about it with respect to character (NPC) boundaries. i.e. An NPC would not normally allow a PC to wonder around a building (or personal space) without paying them some sort of interest if the PC is not normally expected to be there. So, if the PC is spotted, and the NPC's immediate response is not to attack them on sight as an intruder, then isn't the next normal response to speak with them?

Of course, there are some circumstances where this would not be the case, such as a PC wondering into a public area like a tavern or a shop, but unless a PC has been acknowledged as a guest in some way, then, in my opinion, an NPC ought to confront the PC and ask them why they are there.

I have come across this issue when designing the NPCs and events/conversations possible at a Guildhall (designed by Matthew Rieder by the way). As a public building, my first thought was that such conversations would run their course quite naturally, but then I considered the organisational structure of the building and recognised that boundaries had to be set in place to conform to real expectations. e.g. A PC could not expect to simply wonder through the building to meet the head man simply because they wanted to. Protocol had to be met.

Protocol In Practice

So what started out to be a design choice of one NPC and a conversation, has turned into a number of NPCs and all their associated conversations too. The upside is an expanded adventure with a more realistic challenge. The downside is it takes more time.

The design parameter of maintaining good protocol is closely related to logical flow, and regular readers of this blog will know how much of a prime goal that is of mine regarding adventures that I write. As always, the trick is achieving this goal without damaging the flow and pace of the story as a whole. And to get the balance right between meeting sufficient levels of realism as opposed to putting the player through unnecessary steps.

When the time comes for Beta testers to check over this module, conversations will be the most important area that I would like feedback on, as I believe it can make or break a module.

Better The .... Items (Bane/Boon)

This week, I continue to write about some of those gaming aspects that you can expect to find in Better The Demon. This week covers those items certain PCs may like, while other may not: The Bane or Boon item! And because I cannot show you any pictures of such items (so as not to give "spoilers"), I will also touch upon something I am working on, so there will be at least one image in this week's blog. After all, we all like pictures!

The Bane/Boon Item

When it comes to cursed items, I decided I wanted to take a different slant to normal. For while I accept that there may be certain items that are simply cursed for everybody, I also wanted to consider items that may be a curse (bane) to some creatures, while being a boon to another. Hence, the introduction of the bane/boon item.

The governing factor on whether an item is a boon or a bane for a PC is based according to an item's alignment compared to the alignment of the PC who acquires it: If a "good" aligned PC picks up an "evil" object, they may well find the item a bane to them, and act as a cursed item; whereas an "evil" aligned PC can pick up the same item and find it a boon to them in some way. Therefore, a player may wish to think twice before picking up a Holy Dagger of Slaying if they are playing a PC with an evil alignment.

But, what value does a bane item have in an environment where a player can just reload a game and ignore the bane item and never pick it up in the first place? The answer (and I am sure many of my regular readers will know where this is leading to) is that even reloading will NOT remove the cursed bane item from a PC. Here is what the item description has to say about a bane item: "Cursed items have been known to travel time to become bound with a person they were destined to be with. (i.e. Reloading won't help you.)" In other words, if you have picked up the item and it is a bane to you, the cursed item will remain with you (even between reloads) until the curse is properly removed. Here is what the item description says about removing a cursed item: "Cursed items bond with its carrier and require a "Remove Curse" cast directly onto the item or the application of some "Oil of Unbinding" to enable it to be removed." You have been warned! UPDATE: To clarify this point, a bane item does not return to a PC on a reload if it has been properly removed within the game.

The Sequence Puzzle

This is where I give an excuse to post an image. I have been working on another puzzle, which involves memorising a simple sequence. It's a straight forward enough puzzle that does not require any real explanation, but I have used it and the player's interaction with it in such a way that gives it a different twist. I won't go into more details, but you can discover it when you play it. (Although eagle-eyed readers will spot a clue.) Here is an image of an instance of the puzzle in play:

POLL RESULTS: Predestination v Freewill

The final results to this poll are now in, and I include them here for the record. I have to confess that I am surprised that the "freewill" option took the final lead. However, one thing I realised about my own definition during the time this poll was up, is that it is easy to confuse the concept of having a "will" (in general) with the term "freewill", as if the two meant the same thing, which, of course, they do not. i.e. We all have a "will", but, personally, I do not believe that will is "free" in the context of life. Therefore, by deduction, I believe in predestination. Furthermore, I would be interested to hear how people "qualify" freewill with respect to the laws of physics and such things as "cause and effect". Anyway, that's just me, and I leave this discussion for now ... unless somebody wishes to continue it further.

Scripting Away

Lastly, just a quick note to say that I am continuing to tidy scripts and conversations. I have managed to tighten some of the code by moving functions into more include files. Along the way, I found some things I cannot do as I hoped (broken OC functions), but, overall, I am making progress, even if it is slow due to health issues. If you can keep your patience waiting for this module, then I hope it will be worth the wait.

Better The .... Treasure (Appraise Skill)

This week I want to introduce one of the ways I am expanding the skills for the game. In the past, whenever I have played a game, be it from my pen and paper days through to gaming on the computer, there have always been some skills that seem a little underplayed compared to others, and they tend to be forgotten by most players ... or categorised at not very useful. I hope to redress some of the balance, and while I may not succeed, I hope some of the alterations I have made will make the game a little more entertaining at least. When I have made an alteration (or addition) to a skill usage, I have tried to keep as close to the original rules and intentions as possible. This week, I would like to talk about the Appraise skill.

Junk or Treasure?

You know what it's like ... You wonder into some "deserted room" and you happen to stumble upon a gaudy piece of artwork and you begin to wonder .... is it just junk or some priceless piece? After all, what's the point of dragging something around with you, weighing you down, if, when you eventually get to sell it, it was not worth anything like what you expected.

Knowing how much something might be worth could be the difference between carrying one piece of artwork out of a building compared to another. Having an ability to tell the worth of something is what the appraise skill gives you.

Appraising In Action

First and foremost, if you do not have at least one rank in the skill, you will not recognise a valuable piece of art from a piece of tat! Although, at the very least, you suspect it may be worth something. So, unless you are strong enough to be able to carry every potential treasure item you find with you, then you will have to be a little more discerning in your choice of carried items. Or, if weight issues are not a problem to you, then simply knowing how much something may be worth to an interested party is worth knowing in itself. NB: Using the appraise skill this way only applies to larger objects of art and miscellaneous items. It does not apply to general smaller items, such as gems or jewellery. (Unless the gem or jewellery is a unique item and considered an art piece itself.)


Appraising an item is an automatic process for anybody with the skill. The moment a PC picks up an item (where the PC is said to be examining it more closely), the weight, the general quality, and gold to Weight Value are instantly calculated (appraised) by the carrier. Accuracy of the gold to weight value is calculated by the DC of the item to appraise against the PC's appraisal skill score. If the PC makes the skill roll, then the appraised value is more accurate than if they had failed.

Within a few seconds of appraising the item, the PC will give their estimated gold value for the item, along with their level of confidence. The additional feedback at the time of appraising can be Confident, Uncertain or Unconfident, which gives the player some indication of how accurately the PC has appraised the item in question. (All calculations are based on the 3e rules.) Note, however, the item in question can then be given to another PC in the party (if they have a higher appraisal skill score) and another appraisal attempt will be made. Simply dropping the item from the current PC inventory onto another PC will give new appraised feedback about the item without having to change PC to enable it. This is useful if the second PC has a higher appraisal skill than the former and is more likely to give a more confident valuation. (See the expanded chat window in the image to see the differences in appraising between the PCs.)


In the example here, the item had originally been appraised with a gold to Weight Value of 34%, but was then passed onto another PC (with a higher appraise skill) who appraised it at a higher value, reflected in the 50% WV and their valuation was an uncertain 388 gp. The same item was then handed over to yet another PC, who had the highest appraisal skill in the party, who calculated a 37% WV value, which equates to 293 gp value, and with which the PC was confident with their appraisal. A couple of things must be noted here: 1) The first PC who picked up the item (whose appraisal skill was the lowest in the group) was actually closer to the mark with their 34% WV estimate than the PC (with a higher appraisal skill) who checked it after them. This shows that there is a degree of luck when making such valuations, although generally, someone with a better appraisal skill will be more accurate (reflected in confidence level) than one with less. 2) Recognise that a higher confidence is the preferred result for valuation accuracy.

What Is Weight Value?

One of the most important benefits of knowing how much something is worth, is whether it is worth carrying it along with you due to its weight. After all, if something is worth 20 gp, but weighs 20 lb, it may not be worth the encumbrance to carry along. Each player will decide their own criteria of whether it is worth it or not, but knowing the weight value is where this can help a player decide. Basically, the percentage value given for a Weight Value (WV) is its comparative worth in gold against a bag of 500 gold coins weighing 10 lb. E.g. If a treasure item weighed 10 lb, and was estimated to be worth 500 gp, then the WV value would be 100%, because it was "worth its weight in gold!"

There are two things worth noting here though: 1) The valuation is based upon the appraisal skill of the PC and so the WV is only as accurate as their confidence in such. 2) Not every merchant will give you its total worth in gold, even if they are interested in such items in the first place. Therefore, a truly worthwhile treasure is one that calculates to at least around 120% WV, which estimation is more likely to recover its equivalent weight worth in gold.

It should be noted, however, not to quickly dismiss a treasure simply because it scores a low WV, because it may still be worth quite a bit of gold, but will require humping around with you until you can sell it to retrieve what it's worth. And if general worth is all that interests you, a player should keep an eye open for an item's appraised quality, which can be any of the following: Poor; Mediocre; Reasonable; Good; Grand or Exceptional. It should not take too long before a player recognises what kind of reward they can expect from each category.

For ease of play, all such information about each treasure item (which shares the same in game icon for ease of recognition) will contain important information within its name that can be accessed simply by hovering over the item in the PC's inventory. At-a-glance information includes the important WV information along with the weight, so a player can instantly do a mental sum in their head to recognise its worth. I know I could have given the gold value as well, but I did not want to include this as it may be misleading. Instead, if the player examines the item in question, they can see the estimated gold value there alongside the confidence level of this estimate.

Exploit Protected

As regular readers of this blog will know, I like to include a degree of exploit protection with respect to certain items and actions to give them a degree of permanency. As these treasure items can be randomly generated, I decided to include them within this remit. What this basically means is, if a player saved a game just prior to picking up the treasure and the game handed them a poor quality item, reloading the game to try to gain a more valuable item will not help the player, as the same value item (and weight thereof) will be returned. There will be no advantage to reloading a game, except for one reason: They get to reappraise the item. If they want to reload the game for this, then so be it. :)

Your Comments

Lastly, please leave comments on your opinions about including such additions to the game, and let me know if there are other skills you have already altered, or would like to see altered to imrove the game. I am not talking about complete skill system rebuilds, but maybe some odd tweak or such that might improve the game for you.

Don't forget to vote on either/both of the two polls currently running if you have not done so already!

Atmosphere And Lighting (POLL)

I am continuing to write material for the first module called, Better The Demon, and hope to finish this year! Last year, I had hoped that I would finish it, but this time, I feel more confident. This is because I have decided to not be so worried about some details that may easily be overlooked by some players anyway. On occasion, I play an RPG game to relax, and I have noticed that many do not have the same detail, and I do not feel it detracts that much. Now, I am going to concentrate on the remaining conversations, creatures and encounters. I will still continue to write quests, but I believe I have them all accounted for now, and all that remains is to join the dots.

True Darkness

Now, to the main point of this post: How important is atmosphere and lighting to most of you? Now, on the surface of it, the obvious answer would be "utmost", but I am asking it from the point of view of "realism". i.e. Should an eerie underground complex have "ambient" lighting to help complement the existing lighting to enhance "atmosphere" or should just the existing lighting do all the work?

Now, in my designs, I have opted for a combination of priorities, subject to my own preferences for the area in question. However, I would be interested how you might consider this aspect of game play. i.e. If I need light, then I should find it .... or .... I wish the design made it so I could see. Which best describes you?

An eerie altar looms out of the darkness ahead!

In the above example, I have removed all ambient lighting because I wanted the altar to stand within existing lighting only, but it may be better realised with additional lighting? Is the scene too dark? Yet, if the PC is using their own light source (via torch or spell), then this will contribute towards the overall lighting of the scene anyway. The point is, what do you think works best for your general gaming experience? Should I add additional lighting to areas to enable a "clearer view" or leave them to existing light only to be more true to the scene? I have started a second poll, called "Atmosphere & Lighting" for you to vote, and leave comments as required.

Readable Books (Improved Image System)

This is just a quick post to say that I have improved the way images can be incorporated into the Readable Books system of mine. Note, I have NOT updated the Vault code because I do not want to upset other people's usage of the code to date. However, I will be incorporating images into books this way in the future, as it maintains the "image consistency" of the book and allows for text to be placed on a page next to an image, which it could not do before.

This was something I looked at doing a long while ago, but time was always against me with other priorities. However, I finally decided to do it and I am pleased with the results. For those that want a heads up on the scripting involved, I simply saved a separate background image that was the same size as the original, but with the new image on it, and then held the name of the TGA file in a global variable and updated the background GUI image whenever the page was referenced, deleting the global storage between references. It worked a treat and removes the need to rely on a rather complicated bit of scripting to reference different conversation files and keep track of various tokens. i.e It's a MUCH SIMPLER system!

However, as some people may also like the "zoomed in" feel when looking at images, I have not removed any of my original code, so that the two systems can, in theory, be used side by side. Below is a screenshot of the new book images in action.


Meanwhile,I am continuing to plug away at the conversations and scripts remaining in the mod, and while there are still a few areas left to do, I am definitely on the home straight now.

And while, personally, I do not celebrate the Xmas festivals (due to them stemming from a pagan background), I do, however, wish everybody a Happy New Year if I do not post again before then. (If anybody wants to hear more about the histories of such, or simply wants to chat, I am happy to do so via emails.)

And please, do vote on the poll and leave comments as you like!

Better The .... Gods (Manual Entry)

This week I am continuing to talk about the Althéa Campaign in general and the Better The Demon series of mods in particular. As some of you may be aware, this campaign is the continuing adventure of my D&D days, from its original idea in 1989. Therefore much of what I have written below is simply a moving of pen and paper material into the NWN2 format. If you don't mind seeing a website that is still very much in development, then you can find additional information to what I am about to write at this site: The World of Althéa. (Click on each of the books at the top of the page to navigate to the different sections.) Please bear in mind that the site does not receive much attention compared to this blog, and so will only be updated when I have more time. The material that is currently there is mostly copied and pasted material from my pen and paper days that may need editing. However, there are one or two new bits that I have added to test that I had it working.

Without further preamble, this week I show you the manual entry relating to the gods of Althéa and how the players can expect their relationship to them to work when they enter the game world. Please leave any comments relating to this topic or any other you may read in your travels, and I will answer when I can.

The Gods of Althéa

New Gods: With a new world, comes new gods. Some gods (especially for the non-human races) may remain unchanged. (They were kept as such within the Althéa Campaign.) However, all the human gods will be different - and subject to which god your PC has when they enter the world, they may find the god changed to one appropriate to Althéa, or have their deity name labeled as “Uncertain/Searching”. If you are creating the PC from new, then you will be given a choice of valid gods from which to to choose. (See an example of some in the image below.) If the PC is imported, however, then a check is made to ensure no invalid faith enters the world. If you are playing a cleric, the game ensures you enter with a valid faith (rather than "Uncertain/Searching”) and provides you with an appropriate holy book, which is required to learn spells when resting.

MP Alignment Restrictions: If a MP game is underway, then it is possible that the current party of players has already committed themselves to either a good or evil alignment. If this is the case, then the newly entering PC will have their alignment changed to that of the party, which may mean clerics being out of favour with their god and unable to pray for spells. Therefore, make sure your PC’s alignment matches that of the party leader in a MP game to be sure of having access to spells.

POLL: Freewill v Predestination

And while we are on such a topic, why not give your vote on the latest poll; bearing in mind that some may think they had a choice, and others not. ;)

Very basically, the poll is asking whether you believe if everything follows a predestined and determined path - whether because of the laws of nature or an intelligent design or whether the universe is purely chaotic in nature where man is free to make a choice.

Better The .... Items (The Chameleon Stone)

I thought it was about time that I started to share some information with you about the campaign play itself. From now, and in the coming weeks, I hope I may be able to talk about some of the items that you would be familiar with in the campaign world of Althéa, and some of the gaming mechanics (rules) from the manual I am trying to write. At least this way, any writing I do for the manual will act as a blog post as well, so I am not overdoing it. Subject to how much of a spoiler I determine an item (or placeable) to be, will determine how much detail I give, or whether I discuss it at all. ;)

The Chameleon Stone

For this week, I introduce to you the Chameleon Stone ... A small magikal stone that has the ability to transform into the object which it hides. Check out the description of the item as it will appear in the game, along with an example of its GUI upon its activation.
This is just one example of a new item that the players will find in the world. Hopefully, the sporadic placement of such items will help make Althéa an interesting place to explore and discover.

NEW POLL: Freewill v Predestination

As a quick aside, I wanted to take another poll on how people think/believe. It comes from some of my other blogs that talk about the nature of reality and beliefs. (Search this blog for them.) If you have a minute, just give me your response, and feel free to give your reasoning in a comment.

Very basically, the poll is asking whether you believe if everything follows a predestined and determined path - whether because of the laws of nature or an intelligent design or whether the universe is purely chaotic in nature where man is free to make a choice.