Sometimes, when a project is released, some of the people who have made great contributions have gone unnoticed. I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank those who have helped bring this campaign to life. For while I have done most of the writing and scripting, I could not have done this alone. Read on for for my acknowledgements and latest news.
Area Designers
Area design is not my strong point, and many years ago I reached out to the community to ask for help with some area designs. A few people came back to me and gave me their work from which some of the campaign areas have been built. Below, I list the artists that have provided you with some of the landscapes for the World of Althéa in which you travel and quest! Most of these contributors have had to wait many years for their work to be seen within this campaign, but I hope their work will be fully appreciated by the time of release.Without their hard work, the campaign may never have seen the light of day.
MODULE ONE
- Matthew Rieder: Guildhall and jail.
- Hoegbo: Dimension Vortex and Chaos Vortex.
MODULE TWO
- HOSA: Abandoned Village. Rocky area.
- Hoegbo: City squares (x2). Fortress approach and rooftop.
- Eguintir: Creepy Forest and Mansion.
MODULE THREE
- SGK73: Prefabs (x6)
NB: The areas mentioned above have currently been allocated or used already, but some other areas remain from Hoegbo, which I hope to still use if I find the time to include them.
Scriptwriters
While I have always done my own scripting, I have not always done so without seeking help and advice from the community. Sometimes a function or procedure was unknown to me, or I did not always understand the best means to approach something. This is where turning to the community has been a great asset. So many have helped me, but if I was to force myself to pick just three, my thanks would go to those such as Kev_L, Travus and Kaldor_Silverwand. However, as I say, there are many others who have been able to nudge me in the right direction, and you also have my thanks.
Testers
There is one stage that requires a great deal of patience and dedication when it comes to squashing the bugs and this is where the testers come in. I also owe a great deal of gratitude to these people, who have managed to find bugs ahead of release and made the game better with each find. In particular, I again would like to thank rjsahe and 4760 (Module 1), as well as Dustin_Offal who is currently alpha testing Module 2 stages. I cannot also fail to mention my wife, Jen, who has also been able to replay the module(s) after the many major updates I have made over the years, which help to alleviate more issues before release where possible.
As a side note, I must point out that updates and fixes are an ongoing exercise much of the time, as players will know how many times a game will require patching. Therefore, any and all players who have found and reported bugs over the years also have my thanks... there always appears to be just one more to find and squash!
Encouragers
Often overlooked are those that help to encourage along the way. It's not easy writing a campaign, which can take years to design, write and deliver. I first started writing this campaign within NWN2 back in 2007, released the first module in 2016, and am only now coming closer to releasing the second module in 2025/2026. That's 9 years for the first module, and (taking into account work done to the second module already), about another 7-8 years developing the second module. During that time, not only have I had the help provided by those mentioned above, but also the comments and "likes" throughout the years. These go a long way to help encourage me when the work remaining can still seem like a long way from completion. If I was to add just a few names to those that fit into this category, I would give thanks to Kev_L, GCoyote, raymondsebas, andgalf, and Greenman6220, to name just a few. However, anyone that has commented or given me a "like" along the way has contributed towards this project and I thank you too.
I would also like to include Travus here, whose excellent work on covering a video play of The Scroll: The First Day, went a long way to boost my enthusiasm and helped to encourage me to release my second module as soon as possible. I recommend his site for all those interested in watching D&D gameplay in action.
A Welcome Community
A special thanks goes out to all those of the NWN community. I appreciate your longevity and patience to remain committed to such projects, which I hope will prove worthwhile in the end. On a personal note, after my health failed me, causing me to have to withdraw from work, I was grateful that I was able to find a group of talented and polite people who shared the same hobby as myself. Indeed, it was after finding this NWN community, that I was encouraged to switch from writing the campaign for just my own players to include this wider group. This is why the campaign has a "Background" selection added at the start of the module, to allow new players to be introduced to characters already known by my own group of players.
So, long story short, my thanks goes out to all those that have contributed actively or passively over the years to help this campaign come to life. You guys really have helped contribute towards its making. I hope, in the coming months, I will finally be able to deliver a second module worthy of your time. In the meantime, I thank you for bearing with me and following my posts and blog.
Predestinated Days
I am currently still working on Stage 2.5, as I am now calling it: the stage between the end of Stage 2 and the beginning of Stage 3. It's actually the final two scenarios of the second stage, but I currently separated it for testing purposes. I had hoped to have these two stages finished by now, but ill health struck the household, and a virus kept me out of action for two weeks. Thankfully, I am now recovered sufficiently to continue from where I left off.
In the time prior ill health, I did manage to do a number of scripts and conversations that have gone a long way to completing this stage, but I am currently in the process of deciding how to proceed with both of these events. As both of these scenarios have the potential to affect the game later down the line, they require some careful thought to get right, which means I have to stop and consider what the conversations need to offer to ensure good logical flow. I have to be clear in my mind how I want the potential outcomes to vary or play out, and until this is the case, I have to sit on it and work on other areas... such as the beginnings of Stage 3, which is where today's screenshots come from.
Latest Campaign
The latest v1.34 is being released today, which (dare I say it) is looking the most stable to date. There are no further quest or logical flow fixes, and this latest update simply includes only a couple of FOLLOW routine fixes since the previous update.
Or, to put it another way, this latest release simply fixes a couple of issues to do with following PCs. The first fix corrects who the companions follow when issued a follow command. (They would sometimes jump to following the Main PC rather that the one shouting the command to follow them.) The second fix, also to do with following, attempts to fix the "jump back" bug caused when a player switches from a PC that is currently moving to another location. This issue has been known to occur in many modules, including the official campaign, but I hope I have now prevented this from happening within my own campaign.
My wife is currently replaying the first module just to be sure there are no more lingering issues for that, but otherwise, fixes are mainly constrained to the second module scripts now, as and when reported by the current alpha tester. This latest update to do with following was as a result of me noticing the companions jump to the wrong location when testing the second module. I was able to reproduce the issue in the first module, hence this latest release.
The module has also been released with the July date, but is no different from the May release, apart from ensuring the player has updated to the latest campaign folder as well.
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| A Surprise Attack! |
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| Arrival At An Ancient Fortress! |
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