Ernie Noa's RPG Blog

I saw Beowulf last night. I was not very familiar with the story, but the names were at least familiar to me, and a little about the battle with Grendel. I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to Dungeons and Dragons and/or Neverwinter Nights enthusiasts. The animation and story telling are both excellent.

Happy Thanksgiving! I know I've got a fair number of non-US visitors, but wanted to pass along kind holiday wishes to all my visitors just the same. I need to get back to that Turkey I'm roasting!

Keep on the Borderlands broke 10,000 downloads within the past 24 hours. I am very pleased, but I'm also surprised. I think it's solid, and fun but not a great mod. I think Tomoachan is a much better module, but downloads are coming MUCH slower. Either way it's all good.

I posted earlier about NWPodcast and the Academy of Modding Excellence. Episode 39 of nwnpodcast is up and it includes a great interview with the guys behind the Academy of Modding Excellence. There is also some scary news about the future of Atari. It's worth a listen. Check it out here .

I've got a player who's stuck in the slough mires in my NWN1 mod UK5 Eye of the Serpent. The following is a screen shot of the area Micon is stuck in, with the two exit points circled. I'm going to invite Micon to look at the screen shot included with this post. I hope it helps!

Oh the horror! I've been bumped from NeverwinterPodcast #39 to http://www.neverwinternightspodcast.com/ #40. Jay, one of the hosts wrote me this morning explaining that The Academy of Modding Excellence which I posted about recently will be giving out awards soon and wanted to get some time sensitive information out the community, hence the switch in schedule. I jokingly gave Jay a hard time, and let him know that was fine with me and made perfect sense. The information in my interview is in no way time sensitive so it's a very logical change. I listen to every podcast and remain excited about both episode 39 and episode 40. I have no problem with the change. If you are not listening to nwpodcast , you should be. It's really great stuff, and Jay, Trey and Michele are a terrific bunch of people. The interview and post interview conversation I participated in were fun and memorable.

I did the smallest amount of planning work for Hythum last night. Basically a bit of online documentation to share with the guy I'm working with. It's very modest to say the least but it's a start and it's something rather than just ideas floating about in my head.

I finished Mask of the Betrayer last night. That was definitely worth the $30 I spent on it. What an enjoyable gaming experience. Not just a good NWN2 adventure or D&D adventure, but a genuinely fun gaming experience. I will take a break from gaming while I work on some family projects over the next few weeks, but I am now free to focus on new development. Fantastic game. I'd highly recommend it. It's worthy of at 10.0 on NWVault.

Have you checked out Moonshadows by Hugie ? If not it's worth a peak at the very least. It cracked the 5000 count download, got above an 8.0 from the reviews guild and earned the reviewers award. Not too shabby. Go check it out... you won't be sorry.

There was news on NWVault this morning about the Academy for Modding Excellence . I've been curious about how this was going and am happy to see they are really getting things rolling. If I recall correctly Hugie is involve. Alex/Hugie is a pretty sharp guy so I'm sure this will be something worth watching. Here's the news post from NWVault: Announcing a new and comprehensive set of NWVault awards for Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2: the Golden Dragon Awards! Yes, that's right, at last there are specific awards recognising different talents; from best Tileset through to best Roleplaying Module. The new Golden Dragon Awards are sanctioned by the NWVault and handled by the Academy for Modding Excellence . They are awarded annually both for NWN and NWN2 works. The awards for 2007 kick off in January, but the 2006 awards for NWN are already nearing completion right now! Over the coming few days we will be announcing some of the nominations in each ca...

I'm unstuck with no replaying of the academy. * whew * It turns out although my journal said I was done, there was an item (not mentioned by name to avoid spoilers) that I had not pick up. I'm on the road again. I'm guessing when this is done it will be a bit before I start on a modding project. I'm itching to go, but have a few family video project that I have not even started on. The annual family DVD that goes to all immediate family members, and two videos for my two younger kids, short DVD's featuring their toys. I did one last year for my two youngest and they are both asking for another this year.

I'm stuck in MotB and I'm not sure why. I've consulted a walkthrough and I should not be stuck. My journal also indicates I should not be stuck. * * * Spoilers ahead * * * I'm in act to at the Red Wizard Academy trying to get the four souls needed to open the door in the headmistresses tower. I have completed the mephit puzzle, I did the mirror/reflection, restored the soul to the guy with the false soul, and I've given the fused soul to the demons. The journal says I've got what I need to open the door. The walkthrough says I have everything. When I tried the door it let me put three of the four in place and that was it. I'm not sure which one I'm missing. Either I never got it or dropped it somewhere. That's a lot to redo. It looks like others have hit this: Read the bioware forum here Perhaps it's just lying on the floor. I'll have to go look around for it. Pain in the neck. :-( *** END SPOILER ***

Although I am on a World of Warcraft player, I do like Warcraft and Starcraft by blizzard. Take a look the pumpkin carving contest entries posted on their web site. Pretty wild stuff. WoW Pumpkins

About a week ago I was contacted by Michele aka Liso from Neverwinter Podcast . Michele invited me to participated in an interview for and upcoming episode of Neverwinter Podcast . I started listening to the podcasts early on and have ultimately listened to every episode. The podcast goes to the top of my playlist each time it comes out and it's a great way for me to keep up with what's going on in the community and to get an NWN fix while at lunch during the week. To put it simply, I am a fan of the podcast, and I was thrilled to be invited to participate. The interview was done last night via a Skype call. Liso/Michele did the interview and Jay was 'lurking' in the wings, managing the recording. I had a chance to peak at the questions ahead and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to say. With the exception of a very minor technical glitch it went very well and was very fun. The interview will be included in a few weeks in episode 39. I'll be sure ...

This post will be woefully inadequate. I have only one or two minutes to write and a length post on this subject will be coming probably later this afternoon or tonight. Last night I was interviewed by Michele aka Liso from NeverwinterPodcast. After the interview I had a chance to chat with Michele and Jay. Jay is also one of the principle people involved with the podcast. I have a lot to write about the experience, but don't have time to post my thoughts this morning. For now I wanted to say Michele and Jay (and Trey) all rock! I had so much fun and was so happy to participate in what they are doing. Michele and Jay were absolutely fantastics. My interview will be up in a few weeks, but if you haven't listened to their podcasts, run don't walk to http://www.neverwinternightspodcast.com/ and check out their fabulous work. I will post at length later. Michele and Jay thanks for the opportunity and thank you even more for the very enjoyable chat afterwards.