I am not sure if I will ever get to the end of what I am about to undertake, but I have finally found myself tinkering with module 2 of The Scroll, with a fresh hope of being able to finish it at some point in the future. In all fairness, the second module has a considerable amount of work done to it already, thanks to those who have contributed with area designs, and the fact that the campaign code is mostly already written. However, putting it all together with a plot that works well enough to keep the player playing and intrigued is that much more difficult to do, in my opinion. And that takes time and energy: the former I am currently blessed with, but the latter, not so much. If I don't pace this correctly, then it will never happen, no matter how much I would like it to. Therefore, I will keep this blog as a record and (hopefully) an encouragement to keep going. And any feedback that you (the reader) give me along the way, may well be the make or break of it.
First Things First
1) PLOT: Thankfully, the hard part, the plot, is already taken care of ... but only in part! The point being, if I did not have a story to tell, then no matter how many area designs I have available to me, a lack of conversations or plot would quickly bring this latest project to an end. However, there is still the problem that even though I have the plot in mind, the same problems of forming a good-flowing, fully cohesive story that a player can have pleasure interacting with, remain. i.e. There are critical plot points, but I need to fill the blanks with enjoyable and meaningful content. I will need to put flesh on the bones of the plot - and that will take time to create. This also means writing all those conversations!
2) AREAS: Again, I want to thank those people who have contributed area designs for module 2, which help a great deal towards this section of the work. I can honestly say that I have been most impressed with other people's artistic talent, which have gone a long way to help inspire me with ideas to flesh out the story. If it were not for their work already, then I think this second module would never have left the ground. That said, I still need to alter some parts of some of the area designs, simply because they need some aspects changed to work with the story I have in mind, which is based upon my pen and paper campaign (PnP) from the early 80's. There are also still a few areas missing, which I need to build.
3) CONVERSATIONS: This is the part where the story starts to come to life, with the "spoken" word! Actually, I also like to move a plot line along with the written word in the likes of readable books and scrolls too, but conversations with NPCs are what give a module "breath" in my opinion. However, these also take a lot of time and care, not just for the conversation itself, but to tie in all the events and options that become available to a player as they progress.
Facing The Blank Page
Having the main framework in place is one thing, but I still needed to open the toolset and start somewhere ... and opening the toolset can be much like facing the blank page when writing. In the last few weeks, I have been fixing any problems my wife has found in her SP testing, and updating the campaign to make module to module transfer work more smoothly. That "obvious" stuff now done, I am now turning to the creative element of coding, and hence, the start of this blog record.
Thankfully, I was able to find all my old PnP notes from the past, so that I could refresh my mind with the main plot ... there was a lot to consider. To begin with, the campaign is written for both players new to the campaign and those who have played from the PnP days. Therefore, especially with the first module, I had to consider what the player's PC would know and how they would react when in the world. However, this continues in the second module, especially when the player meets with NPCs that they may have met before if they played in the PnP days ... or not.
With this in mind, and having ensured the core module to module code functioned correctly with the v2.65 release, I decided to concentrate my efforts (for now) on the "first" adventure that the players could potentially come across, either by their own exploration (or guided by the story).
Now, true to form, I will try not to spoil anything by what I write in these blogs, but now follows my latest specifics ...
EPISODE 1: RECALLING THE PAST
As I begin this series on the latest module build, I decided to do it in an episodic format, just because it helps me ... and maybe makes it feel less dry for the reader. ;)
Because the player is still joining the module in one of two backgrounds, I decided that the best course of action is to allow the player to continue with their quest, according to the remaining quests from module 1. This, ultimately, will mean travelling to Boran. However, there are a number of places they could veer off to along the way, as the opening area will be an overland map.
Irrespective of this for now, I have decided to work on some interior area layouts to do with an outdoor area that was created for me by HOSA. The outdoor area represents an area my original PnP players PCs will have visited in the past, and so I need to try to be as faithful to its original PnP design as possible, but with some poetic licence thrown in for using the NWN2 toolset.
I find that writing for such an area (like I did for New Edgeton in module one) comes with its own set of challenges, mainly because the buildings provided do not always match what I may have originally drawn. Thankfully, this PnP scenario was played over 30 years ago, and so even my most loyal player would have trouble remembering the original design. The benefits of using previously employed PnP material, however, is that it helps drive me along, much like the other player created areas do.
The other advantage of using material from so long ago is that anything I do rebuild within NWN2 gives my old time players a chance to revisit the places and even redo the original scenario (with some minor plot alterations to reflect the changes since they were last here), and be designed in such a way that the quest works for old and new players to bring them both up to speed with the main plot. After all, the old time players will have most likely forgotten much of the plot themselves in the years that have passed since we played, and so the remade scenario works all round bringing all players backgrounds to the same point.
So, that will do as an intro for now ... Basically, I am currently working on some interior areas that support the existing area by HOSA, which I have modified slightly. I will write more about this progress, and mention some of those aspects I am changing with respect to design in Episode Two, the next blog post. For now, here is a screenshot from HOSA's area to whet the appetite.
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| What Place Is This That The Heroes Have Discovered? |
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