Current NWN campaign

LoLth

Just a quick question.

We do seem to be tearing through the scenarios without a huge amount of difficulty. Problem is, the next classic conversions are a good bit above our level.

Now, depending on how we are fixed at the end of G2 (wednesday) we will have a choice:

1. Continue with the classic conversion theme and risk a scenario well above our supposed ability


or


2. Deviate and play through a "filler" module that is not a PnP original.

If it were my choice I'd take the risk with the higher level mod, but seeing as we will all be playing it I think it would be better if we put it to a vote.

(suggestions for fillers are accepted as well by the way).

I vote option 1. Risk the higher level mod. (made for 15th level characters)

Saruman

Since im almost level 12 ( i think 600xp to go) then i can go with that.. lets go high level.. with more of us it will be ok... Im sure you can go DM if things get nasty!

Doli

Hi well i am the lowest lvl, being only 7th og 8th ( cant remember just now hehe)
i still think we will probably be better of in the adventure for high lvl players... especially with those str. gloves....
So i vote 1 too..
please state it clearly where i can get the hak and all so i
come better prepared than last time....
I have my eyes open for it this time...:rolleyes:
see you all tomorrow and please lets start early, im on gmt+1 so i have to stop at 11pm gmt
its such a buggar when i have to stop without getting the finish
see you;)

Squall

Ya ide say lets go the higher lvl campaigns. most of us are around lvl 10 or 11 so as long as we stick together we shoudl be able to handle it.

Seldon

Yea i'd be up for a higher Lvl camp thingy. Fun and all as it was pure hack and slash doesn't seem all it cracked up to be...

P.S. Nice flights to Lisbon.


€74!!!!

FlashBang

As one of the few ppl that never played pnp-games, I have to say I don't know what the difference is between a "normal" module and a pnp-conversion (well, besides the conversion already existed as a pnp-adventure, of course). I'll play whatever is on server. I'm a spellcaster thou and not a fighter. As soon as you guys fall at the front, I'll leg it out of there

next game I'll probably go cleric or fighter/rogue and leave the spellcasting to other ppl. I feel too useless as a wiz.

cya
- Flash

Rev Hellfire

I also donbt mind mind. But to be honest I'm a lover not a figher.

Hope to see u all tonight, I'll be a bit late 8:45ish, have to reinstall machine and put baby to bed But be there I shall.

Saruman

Right well Flash i have also never played pen and paper! Ever!! I dont even know what it might be like :rolleyes:

My first roleplaying anything was Baldurs Gate (original) well.. unless you count Quest for Glory 1 but that was more of an adventure game i thought.. though fantasy based! Maybe it was an RPG though.. im not sure. Said adventure on the box i think.

Doli i have to ask.. since you are obvously not a boards.ie member till now, how did you come across our server? Someone tell you about it or did you just find it in the list somewhere?

LoLth

Classic conversion vs. NWN specific

Classic conversions are the modules originally written for 1st to 3rd ed. Dungeons and dragons converted to NWN.

The problem with this is, pen and paper (especially 1st ed) relied on the DM to do most of the work when it came to atmosphere, conversations, descriptions etc as well as most encounters being randomly generated. NWN does not do this, it presents everything and manages everything. For a conversion , the problem is, how true do you stay to the original? Too close and you have a barely populated dungeon with cardboard characters.
Add in too much detail and you risk having a scenario unrecognisable as the original.

"classic" scenarios can therefore seem a bit bland. Against the giants in particualr was only 16 pages long with a badly drawn map and three NPC details. As a conversion the NWN scenario is spot on. just a bit too accurate. Its funny that Flash accused the author of a lack of imagination, the author was Gary Gygax, the guy that invented D&D which later spawned NWN .

So far, all the modules in this campaign have been 1st edition D&D modules converted. (hence the classic title). The first two were very good conversions but did have a lot of "added" material. (I went back and checked against the original when we were finished).

The next in the campaign is a conversion of "the killer scenario". Designed to kill groups in Pen And Paper games, many a nerd has held his head up halfway with pride after completing Mr. Gygax's Ultimate challenge. of course it has been substntially altered to suit NWN. A direct conversion would be unplayable. If its half as fun as the original, you will love it (I have dm'ed and played the original, but from an email conversation with the author, the maps, puzzles, traps and even most of the story line are completely different in this - sort of a planet of the apes re-imagining only hopefully not as crap).

FlashBang

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but the last module (note: only the last one) had the following properties:
- no real story at all
- no real design
- no real quests
- no real plot
- areas that looked like they were created with a random-area-generator
- (lets face it) no atmosphere

It doesn't matter who created it. Even a genius sometimes has a brainfart.
By the way, did this guy ...
1. ... only make the PnP version or ...
2. ... did he also create the conversion for NWN?

if #1 then I think I know where the problem lies

All in all, if someone creates something good doesn't mean that everything he creates after that will be good, too. Often sequels lack the power and effort that was put in the originals. I don't want to point fingers, but just look at movies and computer-games (*cough* C&C *cough*... whooopsy...) and you'll see what I mean.

But hey, at 8:30 we'll see whether it was a brainfart or real unability in G2

cya
- Flash

p.s.: btw, any new hak or bik needed?

Saruman

Flash Patrick Cutter did the conversion so the problem lies there... not with the original... im sure it was better..

Its like book v movie.. the book (original) is always better, the movie remake has to take other things into consideration and has to streamline it etc etc.. so it can never be as good!

The last one was pretty boring and repetative.. but it had some nice xp at least.. would have been better as a hack and slash if we faced different monsters at different times instead of mostly giants.

Doli

How did i find this server you ask?

Well i downloaded All Seing Eye, and i browse servers in different
catagories, and tried out some different ones ( not included those with passwords and hellish ping). I came across your server while you where playing as you might remember, not having a clue why everybody was shouting and i was getting invitations while i was trying to figure out the rules of rest and respawn.
So it was pure luck i guess.:D

Another server i play sometimes it the German one called Three Kingdoms, it has ok rules for rest and respawn. I hate those servers with stupid restrules and rations and bedroles and other hellish rules from D&D and Everquest. I like D&D i played it a lot as a kid. But i see NWN as a mix of Diablo 2 and Everquest, an improvement even so i dont want it too much like everquest, with corpse run and skills that take forever to improve. That was the downside of Everquest.

So i am grateful that you have let me into you circle. Maybe i'll persuade my friend to join us .. he was the one dragging me into this game and Everquest too. We even completed the NWN modul together.... much more fun with someone who can think than just dragging a henchman around.

See you all tonight

Saruman

Cool.. Welcome Doli... I have never bothered with the all seeing eye.. even at the last Lan Party i was at a few months back.

Anyway... Lolth whats up with tonight?? Its 5:05 and no mention of what we are doing.. if we need a hak im going to need to know before i leave for home as i dont have fast net access easily at the mo while my house is being done up.. i dont want to be lugging pc's back upstairs to a sawdust covered workspace that is my soon to be room

Or are we just playing Giants 2?

Saruman

Ah just noticed where you said

depending on how we are fixed at the end of G2 (wednesday)

I was looking out for the usual date related post...

I should be there tonight but like Rev i might be a little late.. depends.. im playing football so hopefully i will be home before 8:30

LoLth

sorry for the silence. Call out from hell.. what could go wrong did go wrong.

anyway, G2 tonight. No new Hak file needed.

I will post the hak for next monday tomorrow (the link to the Hak).

as for story, I was trying to fill everyone in on the background, but people legged off. If we had gone to the village first (bad design having a tiny transition to the village BEHIND where we started) we probably would have heard rumours etc.

When this mod was converted, journal entries were few and far between, just because it doesnt turn up in the journal doesnt mean there arent any quests, it just means the writer, or converter, was lazy.

Random generator rooms.. funny you should say that, part of the original scenario was a random generator. I checked the maps in the original when we finished on monday, and they are identical.

Againts the Giants, would sort of hint that we are going up against.. well.. giants. It wasn't called agianst the giants and their many and varied pals. As for variety, there were Hill giants, Mountain giants, fire giants, a frost giant, ettins, ogres, ogre beserkers, bugbears/hero/shaman , mountain cats, dire wolves and useless orcs and lizard men if we wanted. Not a bad roster, just all pretty close to a theme. Danger at dunwater we only met lizard men, secret of saltmarsh we only met humans and the odd spider.

dont worry, there is one in the pipeline that will more than match your desire to meet lots of interesting creatures and kill them.

I'm not saying that these scenarios are better than the dreamweaver ones (because really, they are nowhere near). But until a new dreamweaver or it's equivalent comes out we have exhausted the top of the multiplayer mod list.

be warned, G2 is also pretty hack n slash if i remember right.

ps. as regards story line, if people actually let us know what in notes etc they found then maybe we would have more of an idea about story

FlashBang

there were notes?! dang, maybe I should start clutching loot again. At least I read out the notes to everyone (or at least drop them so everyone can read)

about TASE:
1. open the proggy
2. rightclick on the main window (where the servers are) and select "new server..."
3. Insert the following data:
- Type: Neverwinter Nights
- IP: games2.iol.ie
- Port: 5121 (note: this is the portal-server)
- unckeck "private server"
- check "add to 'Favorites1'"
4. Press OK and press yes when it asks "Store hostname (dynamic IP)?"

ok, now if you want on the server, go to Favorites - Favorites 1 and doubleclick on the server. If you want to keep an eye on the other servers too (to check if ppl are playing right now), follow steps 2-4 again but put in the ports 5122 (play-during-week-server) and 5123 (campaign-server). Enjoy!

cya
- Flash

edit: important note! you can WATCH the other 2 servers but you can't JOIN them without the password (which I doubt you'll get. Thou, it should be possible to extract the password when you use the portal on the portal-server. But that might be a bit complicated. I suggest you just check if ppl are playing, then join the portal-server and use the portal to get to the play- or campaign-server)

Doli

How did i find this server you ask?

Well i downloaded All Seing Eye, and i browse servers in different
catagories, and tried out some different ones ( not included those with passwords and hellish ping). I came across your server while you where playing as you might remember, not having a clue why everybody was shouting and i was getting invitations while i was trying to figure out the rules of rest and respawn.
So it was pure luck i guess.:D

Another server i play sometimes it the German one called Three Kingdoms, it has ok rules for rest and respawn. I hate those servers with stupid restrules and rations and bedroles and other hellish rules from D&D and Everquest. I like D&D i played it a lot as a kid. But i see NWN as a mix of Diablo 2 and Everquest, an improvement even so i dont want it too much like everquest, with corpse run and skills that take forever to improve. That was the downside of Everquest.

So i am grateful that you have let me into you circle. Maybe i'll persuade my friend to join us .. he was the one dragging me into this game and Everquest too. We even completed the NWN modul together.... much more fun with someone who can think than just dragging a henchman around.

See you all tonight

FlashBang

dejà-vú!

is the board borked or did you post this twice?

Doli

Wierd, did only post it once.....

doesnt seen all that great ... no need to repeat it hehe