Neverwinter Nights: Ravenloft - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Neverwinter Nights: Ravenloft

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
May 08, 2004 2:12:36 Two things:

Firstly, I have trawled through the multiplayer games available online and have found only one Ravenloft game, and it requires a player password to play; so I was wondering if anyone can help me join a good NWN Ravenloft online game?

Secondly, I am planning to make my own online NWN module. After lots of thought, I decided to begin it in the city of Karg in Darkon. Of course Ravenloft doesn't lend itself well to computerization, but any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated from those who would like to play.
#2
zombiegleemax
May 17, 2004 12:32:08 Well about ideas for a Ravenloft Module, including putting some Gothic music (or similar for mood), putting all dark places dark and the exteriors full of mist (including extra mist where some maps end showind the Dreaded Mist of the Setting), i can only say about getting the mood in the quest and asking the same from the players... and remeber to change what the chest and other caintainers give to the players... its a world of Low Magic, so they shouldn't be getting magic itesm at the beggining of the game... but put some around for when they need to combat those things that can'b killed with anything less than that.

A friend and I are working in a Module for Masque of thje Read Death, but we put the Module in Transylvania around 1800. So half the things we are inventing, half we take ideas from the sourcebook "A Guide to Transylvania".

We are around half the job of the module, but if you are interested in some info about it, we created a yahoo group just for that... it goes slowly for now, but any question you can get to me and to my pal (who is the guy who works harder in bringing the module to be ready, i have not a lot of time of my own to give to It), we sometimes Beta Test it, also if you are interested contact us.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/transylvaniamylove/

Aernestus Montalve
Chronist and Historian of Shäsburg
Professor of Schola Mayioris
#3
zombiegleemax
May 17, 2004 18:05:02 Hmm. While I have NWN, I have not tried my hand at module making, so my advice is all suspect.

1) Can undead (the monster type) be adjusted, thus altering the basic nature of all undead? If so, altering the undead to fit those of RL will be easy. If not you will have to adjust all undead manually.

2) To better simulate the effects of the mist, have those that wonder into certain predetermined areas of the Mist along the map border subjected to a teleport to a random location on the map. If the spell does not exist (I cannot recall at the moment if it does in NWN.) then see if you can set a condition whereby the PC's coordinate location on the map is changed to one of a specific array of coordinates. (I think that should be possible, rather like leaving one area of a map for another, perhaps.)

3) Gothic music is a must, of course (as Montalve already mentioned).

4) Low lighting! If possible have it so even Dark Vision is halved. Everything is spookier when you can't see what is coming. Daylight times should be akin to shadowed areas everywhere except where torches and such are placed. Nighttime should be a dark antiwonderland. Torches and such (which are uncommon) and what the player carries should be the only source of light in otherwise (near?) perfect darkness.

5) Detect Evil will need to be modified. IIRC it has a 50% chance of failing automatically? Detect Good does not work at all.

6) Fear / Horror / Madness: Flag monsters and setting that would inspire the above for a Will save. Hmm, setting up the consequences could be difficult.

7) Power Checks: This is more difficult yet. I cannot off hand imagine a means of determing this. Perhaps certain actions automatically require a check (set up by the DM)? Perhaps certain actions in certain situations provoke a check? Gaining the +/- resulting from the Power Checks will be most difficult to set up. Perhaps a program looks for home many checks of this type were failed before, and then advances the PC down the path of darkness if they fail their save. If they do not have a selected path of darkness, perhaps it will randomly choose one? Or perhaps it will queue the DM to select one? Or perhaps it will base the path on the act or the characteristics of the PC (Str, Dex, Con, skills with ranks, etc). Hmm, a difficult thing to set up indeed. But it should be possible, I would think....
#4
zombiegleemax
May 18, 2004 8:12:51 @Lovepuddin

I'm also working on a Ravenloft based NWN mod. The toolset is quite versatile when you get to know it well, but there's still certain aspects to the RL mechanics that you have to decide if you want or not.

Example: overpowering fear, simply is not fun in a real time computer game. It just means you lose control of the character for an undeterminable number of "rounds" while the monster bashes away at you. It might as well be a "reload" check instead.

I think the most important aspect of it is simply getting the atmosphere you need down, and making a good solid story. Then the extras can get thrown in (I got flintlock pistols working in my mod ).
#5
tryst_91
May 21, 2004 9:09:03 Right now there is a large (well rather large) guild working on our beloved Ravenloft. We are releasing a major campaign and are creating a good portion of the core to do so. Admittedly i haven't been in contact with most of the other members for a little while now due to technical difficulties but last i checked i was still heading up the Forlorn team... Life is kind of stepping in limited my current envolvment but there are still moving right along. We have our own custom tools as well and have incorporated everything from fear,madness, and horror checks, to a working powers check system. Our designers have done some amazing things. the man to contact is Daffy at [email]info@digitalchameleons.com[/email]

He should be able to answer more questions then me.

Tryst
#6
zombiegleemax
May 26, 2004 20:58:46 Apparently Ravenloft is more popular for NWN than it seemed. I'm from a different group that is also working on a Ravenloft project. We're designing a persistent world that will primarily focus on Barovia (though we hope to expand to some neighbouring domains). Initial plans called for something on a larger scale but Barovia is proving to be so huge and detailed that making the entire Core would be just too monstrous to attempt. We already have a custom music hak, we utilize the CEP, and we have a hakpak of our own that accomplishes a great deal with a small size, including much custom Ravenloft content.

Nice to know that so many people have Ravenloft projects in the works. For anyone curious or possibly interested in joining our group, our guild page is http://nwn.bioware.com/guilds_registry/viewguild.html?gid=6830 . Anyone can read the general forum but our other forums are for members only.
#7
zombiegleemax
May 27, 2004 0:13:32
Originally posted by ArtEChoke
@Lovepuddin

I think the most important aspect of it is simply getting the atmosphere you need down, and making a good solid story. Then the extras can get thrown in (I got flintlock pistols working in my mod ).

The primary developer of out mood for Masque of the Red Death, told me to ask you how did you implemented your flintlocks... he has been looking for a way to do it for months (and my characater need his guns :P)

Thanks

For the Rest of the Tread... its not always good to put madness and horror checks, in a game like this i t tend to disrupt the experience, even if it enfatices the mood...that goes even more to power checks... we as a group believe its more adequate to use those resources in DMs guided events. But everyone has their own way of running things.

my 2 cents

Montalve
#8
zombiegleemax
May 28, 2004 10:17:58 @Montalve,

I've emailed you about the NWN hak at the address in your profile.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax May 08, 2004 2:12:36	Two things: Firstly, I have trawled through the multiplayer games available online and have found only one Ravenloft game, and it requires a player password to play; so I was wondering if anyone can help me join a good NWN Ravenloft online game? Secondly, I am planning to make my own online NWN module. After lots of thought, I decided to begin it in the city of Karg in Darkon. Of course Ravenloft doesn't lend itself well to computerization, but any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated from those who would like to play.
#2 zombiegleemax May 17, 2004 12:32:08	Well about ideas for a Ravenloft Module, including putting some Gothic music (or similar for mood), putting all dark places dark and the exteriors full of mist (including extra mist where some maps end showind the Dreaded Mist of the Setting), i can only say about getting the mood in the quest and asking the same from the players... and remeber to change what the chest and other caintainers give to the players... its a world of Low Magic, so they shouldn't be getting magic itesm at the beggining of the game... but put some around for when they need to combat those things that can'b killed with anything less than that. A friend and I are working in a Module for Masque of thje Read Death, but we put the Module in Transylvania around 1800. So half the things we are inventing, half we take ideas from the sourcebook "A Guide to Transylvania". We are around half the job of the module, but if you are interested in some info about it, we created a yahoo group just for that... it goes slowly for now, but any question you can get to me and to my pal (who is the guy who works harder in bringing the module to be ready, i have not a lot of time of my own to give to It), we sometimes Beta Test it, also if you are interested contact us. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/transylvaniamylove/ Aernestus Montalve Chronist and Historian of Shäsburg Professor of Schola Mayioris
#3 zombiegleemax May 17, 2004 18:05:02	Hmm. While I have NWN, I have not tried my hand at module making, so my advice is all suspect. 1) Can undead (the monster type) be adjusted, thus altering the basic nature of all undead? If so, altering the undead to fit those of RL will be easy. If not you will have to adjust all undead manually. 2) To better simulate the effects of the mist, have those that wonder into certain predetermined areas of the Mist along the map border subjected to a teleport to a random location on the map. If the spell does not exist (I cannot recall at the moment if it does in NWN.) then see if you can set a condition whereby the PC's coordinate location on the map is changed to one of a specific array of coordinates. (I think that should be possible, rather like leaving one area of a map for another, perhaps.) 3) Gothic music is a must, of course (as Montalve already mentioned). 4) Low lighting! If possible have it so even Dark Vision is halved. Everything is spookier when you can't see what is coming. Daylight times should be akin to shadowed areas everywhere except where torches and such are placed. Nighttime should be a dark antiwonderland. Torches and such (which are uncommon) and what the player carries should be the only source of light in otherwise (near?) perfect darkness. 5) Detect Evil will need to be modified. IIRC it has a 50% chance of failing automatically? Detect Good does not work at all. 6) Fear / Horror / Madness: Flag monsters and setting that would inspire the above for a Will save. Hmm, setting up the consequences could be difficult. 7) Power Checks: This is more difficult yet. I cannot off hand imagine a means of determing this. Perhaps certain actions automatically require a check (set up by the DM)? Perhaps certain actions in certain situations provoke a check? Gaining the +/- resulting from the Power Checks will be most difficult to set up. Perhaps a program looks for home many checks of this type were failed before, and then advances the PC down the path of darkness if they fail their save. If they do not have a selected path of darkness, perhaps it will randomly choose one? Or perhaps it will queue the DM to select one? Or perhaps it will base the path on the act or the characteristics of the PC (Str, Dex, Con, skills with ranks, etc). Hmm, a difficult thing to set up indeed. But it should be possible, I would think....
#4 zombiegleemax May 18, 2004 8:12:51	@Lovepuddin I'm also working on a Ravenloft based NWN mod. The toolset is quite versatile when you get to know it well, but there's still certain aspects to the RL mechanics that you have to decide if you want or not. Example: overpowering fear, simply is not fun in a real time computer game. It just means you lose control of the character for an undeterminable number of "rounds" while the monster bashes away at you. It might as well be a "reload" check instead. I think the most important aspect of it is simply getting the atmosphere you need down, and making a good solid story. Then the extras can get thrown in (I got flintlock pistols working in my mod ).
#5 tryst_91 May 21, 2004 9:09:03	Right now there is a large (well rather large) guild working on our beloved Ravenloft. We are releasing a major campaign and are creating a good portion of the core to do so. Admittedly i haven't been in contact with most of the other members for a little while now due to technical difficulties but last i checked i was still heading up the Forlorn team... Life is kind of stepping in limited my current envolvment but there are still moving right along. We have our own custom tools as well and have incorporated everything from fear,madness, and horror checks, to a working powers check system. Our designers have done some amazing things. the man to contact is Daffy at [email]info@digitalchameleons.com[/email] He should be able to answer more questions then me. Tryst
#6 zombiegleemax May 26, 2004 20:58:46	Apparently Ravenloft is more popular for NWN than it seemed. I'm from a different group that is also working on a Ravenloft project. We're designing a persistent world that will primarily focus on Barovia (though we hope to expand to some neighbouring domains). Initial plans called for something on a larger scale but Barovia is proving to be so huge and detailed that making the entire Core would be just too monstrous to attempt. We already have a custom music hak, we utilize the CEP, and we have a hakpak of our own that accomplishes a great deal with a small size, including much custom Ravenloft content. Nice to know that so many people have Ravenloft projects in the works. For anyone curious or possibly interested in joining our group, our guild page is http://nwn.bioware.com/guilds_registry/viewguild.html?gid=6830 . Anyone can read the general forum but our other forums are for members only.
#7 zombiegleemax May 27, 2004 0:13:32	Originally posted by ArtEChoke @Lovepuddin I think the most important aspect of it is simply getting the atmosphere you need down, and making a good solid story. Then the extras can get thrown in (I got flintlock pistols working in my mod ). The primary developer of out mood for Masque of the Red Death, told me to ask you how did you implemented your flintlocks... he has been looking for a way to do it for months (and my characater need his guns :P) Thanks For the Rest of the Tread... its not always good to put madness and horror checks, in a game like this i t tend to disrupt the experience, even if it enfatices the mood...that goes even more to power checks... we as a group believe its more adequate to use those resources in DMs guided events. But everyone has their own way of running things. my 2 cents Montalve
#8 zombiegleemax May 28, 2004 10:17:58	@Montalve, I've emailed you about the NWN hak at the address in your profile.