Ernie Noa's RPG Blog

I tried to change the default death script at the end of Keep on the Borderlands with no luck and lots of frustration. It seems simple, but I didn't get it to work. I've been poking around scripts from modules I've played and still can't figure out what I am overlooking. I can't find a good/clear tutorial on the subject, but have some new scripts in place (untested). Hopefully they will work.

This looks like a decent scripting reference for NWN2. I'll poke around and give it a shot. It may be helpful. http://www.nwn2scripting.com/index.php?ID=1

I did quite a bit of dialog for the opening conversation tonight. I'm going to try to focus on dialog and cut scenes for a while. It's not usually the order I do things in but perhaps it will help stave off burnout and I'll get the material I care about most into the mod.

Well what do you know! Ain't that a kick in the pants. I got a 1 or 2 line blurb at the bottom of the Wikipedia entry for Keep on the Borderlands .

I got a lot of knocks in Keep On the Borderlands regarding lighting. I have found a brief lighting tutorial which gives me some important bits of info I did not have. Anyone know of other lighting tutorials let me know. I posted on the bioware forums looking for help with making a character and NPC hug and or kiss in a cut scene. Perhaps there is something obvious but I haven't started digging yet. I know it was a pain in NWN1, and if you know of a good way to do this or a trick to accomplish it please let me know. Cheers!

I've got two fairly well developed ideas scrawlled on bits of paper. Both have been turned over and over in my head for 6 months, one of them for a year and half. The ideas are taking a bit of shape. I've elected to go with one of the two stories, the smaller easier one to build. I'm going to build key locations, and dialogs first, fleshing out the encounters and loot at the end. I am really going to try to pace myself, taking long breaks when I want or need to. For now here are three screen shots of an location I've had in my head for quite sometime. It still needs a few changes but it's a start. Enjoy! (Bruce your going to have to hit me even harder to get me to stop)

I recently rated Berliad's FRW Character Creator an 8.75. The character creator is an excellent resource. I have always found it difficult to create an 'appropriate' character using a level editor. This does a great job and I got quite a kick out of seeing some former adventuring companions around from other modules I have played recently. I also met some companions in modules I was about to play. I find it very difficult to self regulate in a character creator and I felt like this resource took the guesswork and the temptation out of the equation. It was very entertaining along the way. Kudos to Berliad. On another note, I inched forward spending 20-30 minutes on a new module last night.

I just put in my first 15 min on a new project. Someone smack me and make me stop before it's too late.

I am tempted to write again. I thought of resurrecting my efforts to port C1 Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan over from NWN1 to NWN2. I had an expanded plot outline. The original C1 was the dungeon and nothing else. I figured I'd add a back story and wrap up after the dungeon. I really got burned out after Keep on the Borderlands which was frustrating because the module could have been so much more. However with Keep so warmly received and having been given a very kind review I was tempted. It's raining where I live and I'm inside and my three young sons are either absent or quiet so again it's tempting. I opened the editors, and I started pursuing various scripts. I popped in a movie soundtrack (great mood music) and settled in. Then I called my friend Bruce (aka Darmok) and asked him to remind me why I am not writing another module. He had to tell me six times (I made him repeat it), but I closed the editor and came to my senses. Perhaps next Fall/Winter. Maybe w...

B2 Keep on the Borderlands was reviewed on NWVault by Dormammu . Dormammu is a long time reviewer who was kind enough to review my first module for NWN1 Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan . The full review can be found here: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2Reviews.Detail&id=6 I really enjoyed Dormammu's review . The comments were very fair and in my opinion quite positive. More important I got to enjoy a narrative of his experience while playing the mod. I get such a kick out of hearing the story from the players point of view. I always used to DM games and I suppose it's the same type of satisfaction and enjoyment for me. Here is one of my favorite bits that illustrates what I am talking about: Nothing surprised me more than taking my group of four (level 2 at that point) into an “easy” cave of goblins, only to have one of the goblins start yelling “HELP! GET THE BIG ONE!”, and an Ogre comes running out at us. Zounds! I went from feeling invincible to as vulnerabl...

Any D&D paper and pencil players out there? Have you seen D&D Experience on youtube or DVD. I was aware of it but found it on youtube tonight. Here's the first part. I'll gradually work through it but I'll probably only post the first two sections. PART 2 More on the DVD here: http://www.dungeonsanddragonsexperience.com/

Has anyone else seen the trailer for Stardust. I wasn't even aware of the movie until a few days ago. If you've played Hythum or Hythum II for NWN1, you'll know that airships are featured prominently in the modules. The airship in the trailer immediately made me think of my mods.

There is a great interview with Berliad on NWVault. I'd recommend reading the interview and his blog . Both are very interesting.

Berliad rated Keep on the Borderlands a 7.0 and posted a detailed response on both the vault and his blog . You can read his review with some great screen shots here . Here is the text from the review: My Vote: 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look Character Played: lv. 1 Human Female Chaotic Good Cleric, advanced to level 5 by end. This is a fun, old fashioned, low-level D&D dungeon crawl. It's pretty straight and to the point -- there's a bunch of Bad Things living near the keep, and the local leader thinks it'd be great if you'd go kill them for him. So, off you go to the Caves of Chaos to slay evil and rid the area of their infestation. The thing I really enjoyed about this module was exploring the many intricate and interconnected dungeons that make up the many Caves of Chaos. Each cave housed a different tribe representing a different sort of monster, and each tribe had a "boss" leader of sorts that I needed to kill. But while that sounds fairly simple, ...

I found this image on the World of Skell forums. Pretty funny.