The only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage.

News: 13 April 2006: NWN2 to be released September 2006

The official announcement

In other news, the CEP team has announced the upcoming CEP v2 for NWN1.

News: 02 April 2006: NWN 2 is coming this year

NWN 2 is in development using the D&D 3.5 edition rules as a base, with significant improvements in the toolset. Check out the new NWN 2 Official Site and the NWN 2 Wiki.

News: 17 October 2004: Shadow Mountain

Shadow Mountain is a fun PW module found in the PW Action room at Lamespy. It features a very nice socketed weapon system that replaces many of the usual magic items found in NWN. It has a friendly community and a website with campaign maps and forums. The module has generous experience awards designed to bring the characters into basic epic without a lot of grinding. I've started contributing new areas and monsters to this module, next up will be a large desert region.

News: 18 August 2004: NWN 2 Is Announced!

NWN 2 is in development and is due to be released in 2006. You can find the official forums here. In other news, I have started a new PW project, Citadel of Evil; a module for Evil characters. Amidst the Ruins is going to be uploaded to the NW Vault archives in a month or so when I finish the user documentation.

Don't forget to check the official NWN site for the latest CEP patch.

I have finally started working on a single player module (using the CEP), as yet untitled. After running a live DM campaign and a PW I figured designing a single player will round out my NWN experience.

News: 28 March 2004: Community Expansion Project Released!

The CEP has been released. For those of you who haven't heard about it, the CEP is a (large) download of the best quality non-Bioware content for NWN (except, for the moment, new tilesets). A team has been reviewing fan made new content and has packaged it all up in an easy to use hak pack variant format. The hope is that with the new content in an accessible and idiot proof format, the CEP will quickly become a standard among world designers. Check out the details here.

News: 08 Jan 2004: What now?

The big question now is what is the future for official BW support of NWN. BW has made no comment or commitment on the topic of further expansion packs. There has also been no comment on the long term plans for updates to the content or toolset (although in the short term it seems that there will be new content updates per the latest Bioware Wednesday). I checked my Palantir to see if I could learn more of the future of NWN but as it is only a Magic 8 Ball that has been painted over, all I learned was Reply Hazy, Ask Again Later.

News: 04 Jan 2004: Bioware, Get Your Head Out Of Your Ass

Once again BW is demonstrating that they really don't give a shit about the DM community for NWN. Their latest refusal to provide adequate documentation for this game has landed like a dead fish on the table. HotU added the item creation skills Craft Weapon and Craft Armour. They added the resources a character needs to craft one of these items. What they didn't feel was required was adding a comprehensive list of what someone can actually make with these skills. DMs are left with the choice of placing crafting resources in the game and hoping no one makes a +5 sword or not placing the resources at all. This list exists as an internal BW document, you can be damn sure that of that. Why won't they post in on the website for us? What are they afraid of, that they made it too easy to make +5 swords?

When will BW get their head out of their collective asshole and look around and realize that they need to provide adequate documentation for this game?

News: 31 Dec 2003: Happy New Year

Have a safe and happy New Year.

Amidst the Ruins continues in development, check out the latest news here.

News: 29 Dec 2003: Dasaria

Even worldbuilders need to play the game some time. I play in a PW called Dasaria as the character Barric Camber, a cleric. I have started mapping the world so I can find my way back to places I've been to. The Dasaria Map Project can be found here.

News: 30 Sept 2003: Amidst the Ruins continuing development

After taking a summer break from NWN I am back to work on AtR. The server is back online for testing, there will be rewards for beta testers that help me out (probably premium in-game housing with storage access), details later as I work them out.

Plugs for other games:

Temple of Elemental Evil is a turn based old style D&D adventure based on the classic Greyhawk module of the same name.

Silent Storm is a turn based WWII tactical squad game/role playing game hybrid from Europe that will be released in the USA later this year or early next year.

News: 26 June 2003: Amidst the Ruins Beta Test

This Sunday, 29 June 2003, I will be running the first beta test for Amidst the Ruins, a persistant world project. Drop on by to Lamespy and you will find us under PW Action. Server name: Realm of the Demiurge.

News: 11 March 2003: Larundiam

I have started working on a PW called Amidst the Ruins. I have produced a port city called Larundiam as a start and am making this city available for download for those who want a large city to use for their module. The Larundiam module is over 100 areas including exterior areas, interiors, shops, major buildings, sewers, catacombs, and more. The city is barren and needs to be populated. Check in the Forums and Resouces page for all downloads available here.

News: 23 Feb 2003: When did inconveniencing the player become considered Role Playing?

I just created a character for a PW which I will not name. From what I saw the new belief is that making the game as inconvenient as possible for a player makes a module a roleplaying game.

A new character comes into the game in their underwear, with some cash. No bad so far, I guess. When I enter the city, it is night and totally unlit except in spots. Well, so what, I'll get out my torch. I don't have a torch (being blind apparently equals roleplaying to some people). So now I am running around blind and naked in this city trying to find someone selling some leather armour and a shortsword (starting out unarmed also apparently equals roleplaying to some people). I can find people selling clothes, but I wasn't going to blow money on clothes when I was unarmoured. I can't find anyone selling torches, btw.

In the end, I blundered around in the dark,naked, and mapped the area without ever finding someone selling what I was looking for. I won't be going back, because I am looking for a roleplaying game and not whatever that was that I found.

Thread on the Official Bioware Forums is here.

News: 21 Feb 2003: Bioware: Get Your Head Out of Your Ass

Apparently Bioware cares more about the feelings of the cheating and hacking segment of their player base more than they care about the needs of the DMs that run the games. To this end Bioware seems unwilling to make a substantive response to the requests for the option to disable the DM arrival announcements on a server. It seems that Biowares mission is to strive towards mediocrity above all else.

Stop by the Official Bioware DMs forum and post a comment on this thread to let Bioware know what you think. Then you can watch Bioware ignore the issue.

News: 13 Feb 2002: Scripting Utility and a Tutorial Site

Lilac Soul has released Lilac his NWN Script Generator V1.0, a script wizard for all occasions, not just conversations. Check out this link.

For those of you who are looking for the documentation that Bioware can't be bothered to supply on the Aurora Toolset, check out this site. Once again game developers shuck their work off onto the players.

News: 06 Feb 2003: New NPC for download

With scripts from Dirty Berk and Lilac Soul, I made 2 npcs that pay gold for bounty tokens like orc ears without any quests or tasks needing to be assigned. One npc pays the same amount for any type of token, the other pays differing amounts for differing tokens. 2 token types are included; orc ears and shadowknight sigils. You can find this package under Forums and Resources.

News: 04 Feb 2003: Thanks to Lilac Soul

I'd like to spotlight a NWN community member who goes out of their way to help DMs with scripting (and as a non-scripter I really appreciate the help). Go on over to Lilac Souls NWN Page and check out what is available for download or drop in on the Lilac Souls NWN Forums and ask for help.

News: 22 Jan 2003: SoU Fact Sheet

It's NeverWinter Wednesday and there is a Shadows of Undrentide Fact Sheet now available. For world builders, the good news is three new tilesets; desert, ruins, and snowy rural. There are also 18 new monsters, which for me means that I will have some new models to use to make new monsters with

New Forums

There are new forums online for NWN, AoW, and game editors in general.

News: 17 Jan 2003: Got Guns?.

I'm looking for art for muzzle loading muskets and pistols, anyone know of any please email me or post in the forum, thanks.

News15 Jan 2003: What's coming up for NWN

It's NeverWinter Wednesday over at the official NWN site and they have some news on the next developments will see in NWN.

Shadows of Undrentide, one of the worst-named game products in recent years, is the first expansion for NWN, coming this spring. Check out the faq here.

Bioware has posted a road map for development to the basic NWN game over the next few months, which includes multi-Hak pack support as well as external database support for persistant worlds. Check it out here.

Finally, here is a Custom Content Guide link. From the guide description; "Have you wanted to try your hand at making custom content for NWN? If so, this detailed guide/tutorial is for you - it has everything you need to get started."

News: 12 Jan 2003: The Realm of the Demiurge Server

Any modules I am running will be found on Server: Realm of the Demiurge. Currently the latest version of Donnybrook Landing is online as of 5:30 pm PST and will be on all night except when I am updating it.

News: 11 Jan 2003: Donnybrook Landing

I'm testing my server connection and load capabilities on Lamespy. Donnybrook Landing is a Action module that features a picturesque river-side landscape, fragrant Dungeon, Dragon Caves (with actual Dragons!), and the City of Pain (a PvP arena). Meet the charming local inhabitants. Shop at the inn for unique local items. Stop in and say hello to Hamish Smallberries, the proprietor of the Donnybrook Inn.

Dasaria

I decided to check out a well reviewed persistant world called Dasaria so I could see how other designers were doing things. This turned out to be a well designed project with a lot of attention to detail, at least from what I have seen so far. The background and rules for the server are nicely laid out in the forums dedicated to this world. It features MMOG fedex quests to get you to level 2 without risking life and limb. Dasaria is a Server Vault world with full PvP (that seems to be quite restrained as I saw no PvP at all while I was in the game, it is stated in the rules that all PvP must be non-grief and in good spirits). You can check out Dasaria here.

News: 09 Jan 2003: And now for something completely different

The Norworld PW has shut down for some reaons or another. What is interesting is what has replaced the Norworld web site at the old URL. Give me that old time religion! Blessed be, folks.

News: 08 Jan 2003: I'm looking for a scripter

I'm looking for someone with knowledge of the Aurora Toolset scripting language to work with me on various NWN projects, such as the Southbridge Campaign. If you are interested e-mail me at alexmars@aol.com.

News: 07 Jan 2003: New Modules

This is old news for some of you, however for those who (like myself) hadn't heard about it: Bioware is releasing a new free single player campaign called Witches Wake. It is an entirely new campaign set in a different world (not FR), it uses a modified Hard Core ruleset and plays a lot differently than the original campaign. You can find the official Witches Wake page here. Be sure to read the Players Guide so you can learn how this campaign is different than most you have played (hint: you don't get any experience for fighting).

Most of us old timers recall the gold box game Pool of Radiance (and most of us want to forget the horrible "sequel" of a few years ago). Chris Fowler has produced a NWN version of the classic PoR that is getting high marks and good reviews. I just started playing it so at some point I'll let you know what I thought of it. You can download NWN Pool of Radiance here. You will also want to download the intro movie he did for this module, you can download the movie and instructions here.

News: 21 Dec 2002: Back to NWN

I decided to give NWN a little time to mature as a product as I wished to avoid the stability and content issues that were present at release. Now that some time has passed it is time to get back to work on my NWN projects.

News: 03 July 2002: Egyptian Crypt Tileset available

Runemaker has produced an Egyptian Crypt tileset that is available for download from NWN Vault. The Vault has all the new tilesets that have been produced so far, you can find them here.

News: 03 July 2002: Remote Server Controller

Randus has written a remote controller for nwserver.exe. Check it out here.

News: 01 July 2002: Editorial Note

My earlier story about LANs requiring an internet connection turns out to be incorrect. Enough people sent contradictory word that I went back to experimenting. As it turns out, with some unusual jiggery-pokery involving opening and closing options boxes without actually doing anything that should have had an impact on the situation, I was finally able to start a LAN game without an internet connection. Honestly, given the lack of documentation on MP, I'm not sure if I am dealing with a bug or procedural error.

My apologies to Bioware for my comments.

News: 30 June 2002: Desert Tileset now available

Forums and Resources

Forum of the Demiurge

Official Bioware NWN Forum

Introduction to the Toolset

Module Construction Tutorial

Scripting Function Reference

The DMs Helper

The Library Project (in-game books that are imported as a *.erf file)
Legend the First
Legend the Second
Legend the Third
The Journey of Esselar

Magic Items
Summoning Item Pack This includes Sceptres of Summon Creature level 1-7, two Books of Necromancy (Animate Dead) and single use Bone Chips and Bone Shards. All of these are *.erf files to be imported into a module.

NPCs
Bounty Paying NPC This includes 4*.erf files to import into a module. In one version the npc will pay the same amount for all tokens, regardless of type. In the second, each token is worth a different amount. Two tokens (orc ears and shadowknight sigils) are included. Thanks to Dirty Berk and Lilac Soul for the scripts.

Modules
The Magic Theatre This provides a level-up switch and a merchant for setting up multiplayer characters.

Larundiam This is an empty port city available for use in any new module, just give me credit somewhere. Includes over 100 areas: exteriors, interiors, sewers, catacombs, new items, new resouces, and a selection of merchants already in place.