Lazybones
Hero
Sorry for yet another thread on this, but I guess this is the place for it 
.
I’ve built and run a few mods now, a pair of quick arenas (basically just a few rooms that I run on the fly, spawning monsters and loot) and a short two-area module called “The Great Fens” (containing a swamp and an ogre cave). I'd like to make a few comments on the game based on my experiences thus far as DM.
The arenas were fun, if just basically combat. They were a good way to test out the DM toolset and combat mechanics. When I didn’t have players, I just spawned monsters and let ‘em fight (hound archons rule!). This is where I first noticed the DM faction glitch, where sometimes the DM gets drawn into attacks by monsters and “allies” (like said archon). Plus, there is a glitch where the DM becomes visible to everyone and then cannot become invisible again (again, drawing monster attacks like no one’s business). I ran the arenas all weekend and even got some recurring players. One note: serious DMs will need to be aware that these arenas are out there, and that players can rapidly and artificially buff up their characters with them (one of my players said that his friend possessed a dragon and let him kill it, zooming him up several levels). For that matter, a player can build a one-room dungeon full of treasure chests and XP-up items, and run his characters through them. Luckily the DM server allows for enforcement of item level limits, “legal” characters, and server-only characters (as opposed to characters the player brings in from his/her computer) if desired. I also noticed that allowing only server characters greatly reduces the speed at which players come into your game (they have to build characters, after all).
Building a “real” module was a greater challenge. It took longer to build one NPC with a conversation and a store than it took to build both arenas combined. The module was set in a swamp, with a woodsman near the entrance to talk to PCs and sell them a few items to start with. The game supported server-only characters so it was limited to 1st level characters at this point (until I get “regular” players). I added a ranger NPC, mainly for DM-possession purposes (I did write him a simple script, but it was “broken” in that he gives the players a potion if their charisma is high enough, and I didn’t write in a limit restricting them to only speaking to him once). The module had a number of encounters and placed monsters, and a cave linking to the second area, where an ogre (buffed up with a level of barbarian) waited.
I DM-ed the module three times, and I’ll comment mainly on the last time, since it highlights some of the problems and opportunities of the game. I think the success of this game in multiplayer for serious D&Ders is going to rely entirely on the players one is able to get (and more specifically, the ability to recruit recurring players for specific times). I was able to get eager players, all still learning the game (aren’t we all!), for all three games. I noticed that waiting for players to join was a problem; the first two games I finally got 3-4 players (the ideal IMO, although the server goes to 6), but they dribble in slowly. I notice that there’s a sort of bandwagon effect with multiplayer games; people are reluctant to join a server without players since they want to have fun right away interacting with people. Thus I think that the persistent worlds will have a slight edge on the one-shot servers being run from home in terms of attracting players. There's also a problem with players coming and going (as DM, I had to shuttle back and forth between the entrance and where the party was a few times, and at one point a half-orc barbarian that had joined left at a difficult moment); again, I think regular players arranged beforehand is the best solution.
Anyway, in last night’s game, I had advertised at ENWorld earlier in the day that I would be running the game, and one of our members, LightPhoenix, did show up at the appointed hour with a bard character. He met my woodsman NPC, picked up the NPC ranger (possessed by me) and we set out.
My first encounter, sort of a “warm-up” was a single crag cat (CR2). This one beast wiped the floor with us, although in both earlier games it was slaughtered without a problem. I guess the problem was that we really had only one player and an NPC, and that neither was optimized for combat. LP’s bard was slain several times and I believe the ranger died once as well. I didn’t learn until later that my ranger’s chain shirt is considered “medium armor” by the game, making his dual-wielding attack bonuses terrible.
We did ultimately get another player, with a druid character, although he was clearly new as well (didn’t summon his animal companion until near the end of the module, and apparently dual-wielded scimitars
). Both players were good role-players and made a good effort to stay in character throughout the game. Most of the random encounters, while set for “easy” or “normal” difficulty, proved extremely challenging for such a small group (esp. without a melee tank or arcane spellcaster), and the placed monsters either seemed inexplicably easy (the ghouls), or impossibly difficult (the ogre). I made another error when I (as DM—the ranger had died again) attacked the ogre with my crossbow, getting a sneak attack for 53 points and stealing the thrill of victory from the players (at this point, the ogre was wounded, but each PC had died several times). The DM avatar apparently has all the skills and feats in the game, making it a deadly foe in combat. The game does allow the DM to arbitrarily kill monsters with a mouse click, and if done well enough it can even seem to be the result of a player’s swing (although an astute player will notice that he didn’t do damage). Still, in all three games the eeriness of the ogre cave, with a sound effect (ogre roaring) out front and complete darkness inside before one gets to the ogre, came across quite well. It was priceless when the druid, apparently not having a torch, walked blindly right into the darkness, followed a few seconds later by a roar and a loud splat.
In all, it was an interesting experience each time. LightPhoenix’s bard was excellently roleplayed, although it takes some getting used to the system of emotes and typing in conversations. The game does allow you to save text strings to your quickslots and has a quick chat function with about twenty different statements/expressions.
I'm already working on a longer adventure with more areas; now the challenge will be recruiting a good group of regular players (in that, I suppose, NWN will be a lot like the PnP game
). It does take a fair amount of time to churn out a mod (at least one with more than just tons of beasts thrown together in adjacent rooms), so running an ongoing campaign will be a considerable undertaking for most DMs.
See you online!
LB
.I’ve built and run a few mods now, a pair of quick arenas (basically just a few rooms that I run on the fly, spawning monsters and loot) and a short two-area module called “The Great Fens” (containing a swamp and an ogre cave). I'd like to make a few comments on the game based on my experiences thus far as DM.
The arenas were fun, if just basically combat. They were a good way to test out the DM toolset and combat mechanics. When I didn’t have players, I just spawned monsters and let ‘em fight (hound archons rule!). This is where I first noticed the DM faction glitch, where sometimes the DM gets drawn into attacks by monsters and “allies” (like said archon). Plus, there is a glitch where the DM becomes visible to everyone and then cannot become invisible again (again, drawing monster attacks like no one’s business). I ran the arenas all weekend and even got some recurring players. One note: serious DMs will need to be aware that these arenas are out there, and that players can rapidly and artificially buff up their characters with them (one of my players said that his friend possessed a dragon and let him kill it, zooming him up several levels). For that matter, a player can build a one-room dungeon full of treasure chests and XP-up items, and run his characters through them. Luckily the DM server allows for enforcement of item level limits, “legal” characters, and server-only characters (as opposed to characters the player brings in from his/her computer) if desired. I also noticed that allowing only server characters greatly reduces the speed at which players come into your game (they have to build characters, after all).
Building a “real” module was a greater challenge. It took longer to build one NPC with a conversation and a store than it took to build both arenas combined. The module was set in a swamp, with a woodsman near the entrance to talk to PCs and sell them a few items to start with. The game supported server-only characters so it was limited to 1st level characters at this point (until I get “regular” players). I added a ranger NPC, mainly for DM-possession purposes (I did write him a simple script, but it was “broken” in that he gives the players a potion if their charisma is high enough, and I didn’t write in a limit restricting them to only speaking to him once). The module had a number of encounters and placed monsters, and a cave linking to the second area, where an ogre (buffed up with a level of barbarian) waited.
I DM-ed the module three times, and I’ll comment mainly on the last time, since it highlights some of the problems and opportunities of the game. I think the success of this game in multiplayer for serious D&Ders is going to rely entirely on the players one is able to get (and more specifically, the ability to recruit recurring players for specific times). I was able to get eager players, all still learning the game (aren’t we all!), for all three games. I noticed that waiting for players to join was a problem; the first two games I finally got 3-4 players (the ideal IMO, although the server goes to 6), but they dribble in slowly. I notice that there’s a sort of bandwagon effect with multiplayer games; people are reluctant to join a server without players since they want to have fun right away interacting with people. Thus I think that the persistent worlds will have a slight edge on the one-shot servers being run from home in terms of attracting players. There's also a problem with players coming and going (as DM, I had to shuttle back and forth between the entrance and where the party was a few times, and at one point a half-orc barbarian that had joined left at a difficult moment); again, I think regular players arranged beforehand is the best solution.
Anyway, in last night’s game, I had advertised at ENWorld earlier in the day that I would be running the game, and one of our members, LightPhoenix, did show up at the appointed hour with a bard character. He met my woodsman NPC, picked up the NPC ranger (possessed by me) and we set out.
My first encounter, sort of a “warm-up” was a single crag cat (CR2). This one beast wiped the floor with us, although in both earlier games it was slaughtered without a problem. I guess the problem was that we really had only one player and an NPC, and that neither was optimized for combat. LP’s bard was slain several times and I believe the ranger died once as well. I didn’t learn until later that my ranger’s chain shirt is considered “medium armor” by the game, making his dual-wielding attack bonuses terrible.
We did ultimately get another player, with a druid character, although he was clearly new as well (didn’t summon his animal companion until near the end of the module, and apparently dual-wielded scimitars
). Both players were good role-players and made a good effort to stay in character throughout the game. Most of the random encounters, while set for “easy” or “normal” difficulty, proved extremely challenging for such a small group (esp. without a melee tank or arcane spellcaster), and the placed monsters either seemed inexplicably easy (the ghouls), or impossibly difficult (the ogre). I made another error when I (as DM—the ranger had died again) attacked the ogre with my crossbow, getting a sneak attack for 53 points and stealing the thrill of victory from the players (at this point, the ogre was wounded, but each PC had died several times). The DM avatar apparently has all the skills and feats in the game, making it a deadly foe in combat. The game does allow the DM to arbitrarily kill monsters with a mouse click, and if done well enough it can even seem to be the result of a player’s swing (although an astute player will notice that he didn’t do damage). Still, in all three games the eeriness of the ogre cave, with a sound effect (ogre roaring) out front and complete darkness inside before one gets to the ogre, came across quite well. It was priceless when the druid, apparently not having a torch, walked blindly right into the darkness, followed a few seconds later by a roar and a loud splat. In all, it was an interesting experience each time. LightPhoenix’s bard was excellently roleplayed, although it takes some getting used to the system of emotes and typing in conversations. The game does allow you to save text strings to your quickslots and has a quick chat function with about twenty different statements/expressions.
I'm already working on a longer adventure with more areas; now the challenge will be recruiting a good group of regular players (in that, I suppose, NWN will be a lot like the PnP game
). It does take a fair amount of time to churn out a mod (at least one with more than just tons of beasts thrown together in adjacent rooms), so running an ongoing campaign will be a considerable undertaking for most DMs. See you online!
LB
