Adventure Packs Server (edit)

[Kemeras]

Hello ALFA

I haven't been in the game much yet since coming back, I have been spending my time in the toolset and loving it.
To that end I have been working on an idea I had back in the NWN1 days but wasn't really required due to how NWN1 worked (still thought it was a good idea). I also wasn't really able to implement the idea and I hate providing an idea that *others* have to implement. So I have been spending my time in the toolset getting a tech demo up and running. I am at the stage now where I wanted to present the ideas to ALFA for feedback.

Adventure Packs
Overview:
The goal for Adventure Packs is to provide HDM and their staff access to *generic* content for the purposes of running adventures and advancing the general ALFA plot lines while also providing a creative outlet for members of the community without having to take on the full responsibilities of a (H)DM.
The initial scheduled release of Adventure Packs are envisioned on a quarterly basis, with the outcomes of the previous quarter driving story development for the following quarters release (i.e. first quarter is played out and tracked, 2nd quarter was being written while 1st quarter was released, 1st quarter outcomes will drive plot development for the 3rd quarter release, 2nd quarter drives plot outcomes for 4 quarter release, etc etc).
Implementation:
The topology envisioned is to use the World servers as hubs to connect to the Adventure Pack Server(s). The portals to the Adventure Pack Server(s) are setup and spread among the different World Servers and are accessible by DM turning on or providing the portal on the fly (note: I haven’t explored server portals so I am not fully aware of limitations on using them). Ideally the server portals would be setup by NPC conversation tree, if that is possible then the NPC can be added to the World server but not spawned in, DM’s could manually spawn in the ‘Adventure Giver/Portal’ and then despawn after the party has transferred to the Adventure Server.
Hosting the Adventure Packs on separate servers allows the potential use of scripting that would be otherwise restricted on a World Server (npc automation).
Using the base AFLA builders module to develop a shared Adventure Pack module that includes all of the Sets (Areas) from the already approved packs. This module should be treated as a library of areas and script to export and import into a standalone Adventure Pack (any newly created areas would be imported into the source builders module, the idea is to keep the adventure packs to *only* the areas they require).


Approval Process:
User submitted Adventure Packs would first have to go through an approval process before being added to the Adventure Pack Library (ALFA existing content submission policies apply as normal). The content Creator would host a group of DMs to run through as the players and the Host acting as DM. This gives the bonus of providing DMs with some adventuring time as players *outside* of the main world server plot lines and creates the opportunity to showcase and/or explain the ideas behind the content.

User Scenario:
Kemeras has written four generic adventure pack and has run it through the approval process. The final product is tweaked from the DM feedback after running the adventures and is ready for linking to the live servers.
Two of the adventures are linked to BG, 1 to TSM and 1 to Moonshea and will go live on the next scheduled restart of the servers. After the links are loaded and servers are ready to go, announcement of new content is released to player base.
The DMs start booking time slots to use the Adventure Pack server (keeping it to one party at a time) and the first DM party is run through on one of the BG linked Adventures. The party runs through the adventure and the DM, using the scripted content as a base, provides his/her own additional storytelling and RP avenues as he/she sees fit with that party. In the end the first party was composed of good alignment characters and finished with the Good outcome to the story.
The next party that DM runs through that adventure module is composed on mainly evil players and one good alignment player. The players run up against the choice of good vs evil Plot End and the result is DM run CvC between the evil and good player. The outcome this time is the good player ended up dying but not before stopping the evil players for getting a Major win. This outcome ends up being a Minor Evil win.

Writing Guidelines:
- Always write dialogue and cut scenes as a narrative, never provide answers for PCs as it takes away from the DM/Players RPing experience. Write similar to a PnP module where the text is provide for the DM (i.e. Cut Scene: Zoomed out on small hamlet, Text: Fog shrouds this sleepy little hamlet but what horrors lie behind its surface?. Cut Scene ends and party starts into the adventure).
- Provide multiple endings to all adventures, there should be a clear Good vs Evil aspect to all stories, players in AFLA are a mixed bag and avoid narrowly focused storylines that pigeon hole players into specific roles.
- Provide optional side quests that enhance the story but are not a requirement of the main plot line.
- Provide at least 2 specific class/skill options in the adventure module (I am aiming for 4 different options). i.e. Secret door that leads provides an alternate path, optional side quests based on class/skill option). These options should enchance the experience for the specific class/skill/feat holder but only act as a supplement to the story. Players should not *have* to have these class/skills/feats to finish the Adventure.
- While keeping the adventure generic always write/design the adventure to run as a stand-alone without DM intervention but added as many DM RP hooks as possible (non plot related NPCs that the DM can take over etc, bring a little of mundane life to the area).

OPTIONAL: Good vs Evil Plot Tracker
This is basically already done and it was surprisingly easy to get NWNX up and running since I am only writing to the DB, never reading from it. I setup a table that will hold the Quest Name, Journal Tag, PC Name, Status, GvE status, and major/minor plot line + timestamp. I then setup a SQLDirect statement on the end status of any quest line that commits the above data to the database.
The front end still needs to be developed, I envision it as a single page that reports out the overall status and having a section where DM’s can manually enter their own adventure data. The overall picture would show how many quests were completed with a Good option, how many with Evil and how many that ended Neutral (minor wins). The only real purpose of this is to allow the tracking over game events to use a tool for writing further plot lines.

Example: 2 Adventure pack servers have been running for 3 months, the server DMs have run a bunch of different quests over that time period, some on the adventure server some on the main world server and have been adding in the non-scripted quests to the GvE Plot Tracker. At the end of the quarter the writing/DM/Admin teams look at the overall picture and see that 97 quests were finished with an ‘Evil’ ending versus 45 that ended with a ‘Good’ ending and 15 with a ‘Neutral’ ending. This let’s all of the content creators see (and the player base) with Ethos had more influence. Since Evil in this scenario was clearly dominating the plot lines, the next round of plots should put ‘Evil’ forces at the dominate focus or even use it to significantly change existing areas by running a large end of Quarter DM events.

------------------------------------------------------------------

So that is it in a nut shell, I am finished writing the plot for my first adventure and I am about 50% through the content creation process in the toolset. I am estimating that once I have enough Sets built that we should be able to bang out a 4 pack of adventure modules per month.
I recruited my Wife into the set and costume design side, she is a Farmville/cityville/café world addict, she saw the toolset and wanted in  more than happy. She is also acting as Editor and will be reviewing the dialogue/writing, which is great since it frees me up for implementation of scripting and events.
The two biggest time burning areas I see so far are writing the story/plot line and set design (area creation, setting up placeables, getting the wakmesh right, etc). Anyone who is good at area/set design but not a strong writer and vice versa, strong writer but not technical can help with this project.
More than anything I need content to add, it doesn’t have to be detailed (Outlines are great) but if you want to write the dialogue I am more than happy to take it

Current Status:

- GvE Plot Tracker tech demo completed
- need to re-write gve_insert and gve_update as functions

- Adventure pack (have a stack of these I have to track down, my wife did up a crap pile for me when I was hosting Earthspurs).
- 3 outlines completed for implementation
- Infectious Zombies!
- An Assassins Tale.
- The Walking Stick.
- Loin, Tigers and Orcs! (very rough outline)

- Infection Zombies storyline and scripting is about %50 complete. ETA is end of this week.
- An Assassins Tale, outline completed, dialog and journal entries need to be written.
- The Walking Sticks, outline 75% completed,dialog and journal entries need to be written.
- Lions, Tigers, and Orcs! - outline 25% completed, dialog and journal entries need to be written.

- Integration with AFLA Base Mod - 0% (mid next week)
- Integration with AFLA ACR/Vaultser - 0% (n/a at this stage, setup earthspurs before so I am familar with the process).

Hoping to have everything in place for the first pack and all the base resources for more people to pile onto the idea ready by the end of January. I think this will help with the RP tavern blues a bit by providing *controlled* static content and if possible keep the release of new content coming.

Cheers,

Mr. & Mrs Kemeras (since my wife is helping )

[Mick]

I applaud your enthusiasm and vision, Kemeras. Really, I do. Furthermore, if you are willing to put in the hours to make all of this happen, then I am amazed at your energy.

That said, before you go all out to try and make this happen, try to get a feel from admin whether you think it will ever be implemented or not.* I would hate to see your work be pushed aside and consequently your spirit crushed by our excessive red tape. It is a significant deviation from the way ALFA has traditionally done things and history has shown that change is NOT welcomed in ALFA. People will disagree, some even with vitriol. But anyone who has been around a while and who has paid attention knows it is true. It is not debatable. The pillars are law and challenging the interpretation of them is heresy.

It is not that I don't love your idea. I do. It's just that I have little faith that ALFA can evolve.

*It might be easier to ask Standards what they think about this. If they don't like it, it will not be implemented, regardless of who else does.

[Kemeras]

Thanks Mick

No worries there, been there done that and still agree with ALFA policies on any changes. I thought I would throw the idea out to the community and see what people thought about it.

I should pull it apart though the GvE Plot Tracker is completely optional, it just a small project I an using to get familiar with NWNX and will probably throw it up on the vault when I am done. ALFA will *always* get first crack at anything I create, I seriously love this place and am more than happy to contribute in anyway. I just think it would be a cool little tool to track the movement of what ALFA really is at heart, a dynamic storying telling system.

Even if 1 DM takes on 1 adventure module to use and 1 group of players get some enjoyment...more than happy

If ALFA doesn't want any of the content or doesn't like the idea I am fine with that as well, it will get released to the vault most likely. This is more for me than anything else, I have been looking for a creative outlet and the NWN2 toolset is meeting my needs (end goal for me is to create a series of machinima shorts, my old boss got cherry picked by Bioware because of his machinima hobby...was pretty cool actually but that's another story ).

To me, this idea is a way to add the concept of the DM having a 'stack of modules on his/her shelf' that he/she can pull out and run at anytime. I am personally not endorsing adding additional static quests to servers, my vision is that these are something a DM would open and close access to as well as being coded to be once per player.

Kind of similar to the Thieves World novel series where a large group of authors worked in a fantasy world but each story was for the most part stand alone (characters would cross over but the original author owned creative control). In this case (H)DMs would have ownership off all major plotlines etc, players submitting content have to make it generic for that reason.

The pros and cons I see of this are:

Pro:

- Additional playable content
- Additional adventure palettes for DMs to base their own adventures on (i.e. enter and despawn all quest NPCs, setup new ones and invite players over).
- Increased community involvement (crowd sourcing of content creation)
- Introduction to DMing (approval process when showcasing work).
- Incentive to RP outside of tavern settings
- Load balancing players on a World server (split off half players and send them to a module, while running a plot line on main server with a specific group).
- DM control to static content.
- If using an Adventure Server model, the ability to run heavy resource scripting techniques since the module does not to be run 24/7.

Cons:

- Increased infrastructure overhead
- Increased DB calls (in the case of using a Plot Tracker)
- Potential for player based preference for static modules over dynamic modules(I think that is low but it's still a valid concern)
- Potential for abuse that all static content has.
- Content creators would be restricted from playing in their own Adventure Packs (sad but true. Would be a requirement, too much potential for meta abuse)
- there has to be more, I just can't think of them..Murphy's law demands there be more I can't think of

[hollyfant]

*It might be easier to ask Standards what they think about this. If they don't like it, it will not be implemented, regardless of who else does.

Ha! I wish...

Anyway, it's an impressive, ambitious plan. Which makes it worthy of serious, meticulous scrutiny. However, since I'm just me, I'll just take a few cheap shots at it.

One of the problems I see, is "meta". If player X designs an Adventure Pack, player X's PC cannot play in it of course. Which would mean PC Y has to leave his life-long buddy behind, just 'cause PC X's player wrote the Pack. And if said Pack turns out to be tailor-made for PC Y, the player of PC Z will no doubt start whining about how player X did it all just to get PC Y a nice, new, shiny sword. And whether that's true or not, it'll be damaging to the community.

Another issue is that of resources. Do we have enough spare servers available? Do we have enough capable people willing to script and build all these packs, knowing it's all going to be temporary anyway? And do we have people to DM there? Who'll be responsible for the enforcement of ALFA's rules while on a Pack server - a pack HDM?

Again: the idea is worthy of being taken seriously. But it does need work...

[Kemeras]

@holly: take shots, PLEASE TAKE SHOTS I know it has holes. The meta issue is definitely one of the issues that I see as a potential problem.

Another is the content creators might get upset that (H)DMs are using the Areas they created but not the story lines and/or scripted actions.

That is actually part of my ideal that *all* content is made available to all HDM to plunder freely, using an open source approach the content. Anything I can do as a player to make a DM's life easier and free up his/her time to spending playing I will do if I can

This is something I think many many people in the player base can do, write a little story, build 5 or 6 little interiors, build a few nice exteriors and pass them along to the DMs who then don't have to always start at a giant square of grass

I would love to see the Adventure Pack Server idea come to full fruition. I think it would be fun and convey a PnP module like 'feel', while still operating in a persistent world and having your actions matter to that world as a whole. That being said if the only take away is a bunch of finished areas that DM's can use, that is still super cool.

I remember coming back to ALFA and seeing the Armour sets I made for DD STILL BEING AROUND... that was super super cool!. Same thing here, seeing an area I built being used on a production server would be super super cool .

I should have a demo of type of adventure and how they flow by the end of this week, I will create a vid or just open a server up.

Hosting resources: I would put up the initial beta and testing servers, those resources I have in house. If it really went forward to a live implementation, I would take that one as well to be honest. I should be able to get a server for cheap in our DC, bandwidth usage is my only real concern.

Seriously though, thank you both for the feedback.

[Kemeras]

@holly:

And if said Pack turns out to be tailor-made for PC Y, the player of PC Z will no doubt start whining about how player X did it all just to get PC Y a nice, new, shiny sword. And whether that's true or not, it'll be damaging to the community.

a very valid point, another item for the guidelines that content creators do not add anything non-mundane loot to the adventures, exceptional loot should be handed out by DM's only.

Working out the writing and creation guidelines for each level range (1-3, 4-7, etc etc) I would have to do if it goes past the brainstorming stage. That would be critical to the success of the project. All content would require (obviously ) to be inline with ALFA standards.

[Dorn]

Wonderful idea Kemaras.

I think the first para of your overview sums up the intent wonderfully.
The rest of your proposal is just an actual implementation plan and evidence of effort rather than the usual conceptual rant with no substance some of us are used to.

Thankyou to you, and your wife. I sincerely hope admin plug this in provided server load/memory issues are not a contraint. Their role is to drive ALFA forward making it a better and more 'salable' place and this is another feature which may bring people in the door (both players and players who want to be part time builders). And i hope they give standards a strong direction that their role in considering these things is to find solutions to rather than constrain proposals (which i'm sure they do anyway). The rest is surmountable.

@holly:

If player X designs an Adventure Pack, player X's PC cannot play in it of course. Which would mean PC Y has to leave his life-long buddy behind, just 'cause PC X's player wrote the Pack.

Player Z would be well aware fo this when making the server. Even wives and husbands are sometimes apart, there can be IC reasons for the above. I see this as an insignificant constraint.

... PC Z will no doubt start whining about ..

IThink the answer above is fine.

One thought.

I have not seen a DM for two months. If some of these adventure packs could be set for the L3-6 people to run WITHOUT a DM that would be fantastic (i say 3-6 as static world server content should be built in for L1-3 development before a server is allowed to go live given pressures on limited/brave DMs).

I recognise that that MIGHT involve a lot more work (basically writing modular statics in a way) and perhaps would be a second phase.

[AcadiusLost]

At work, so I didn't have time to run through all the logistics details in the original post, but I'll give a generalized tech seat response to the concept for now.

One of the main goals (technically speaking) for ALFA on the NWN2 platform was to try provide a more consistent experience from one server to the next; to make the community feel more like "one world" and less like a loosely connected group of individual (sometimes competing) personalities who built/hosted/owned/HDMed their own projects. Scripted items that work on one server (grappling hook, first aid kit, wearable earrings, playable instruments, etc) should work on all the servers; spells cast on one side of a server portal should still be missing on the other side... etc. All the servers store persistent data in a central location, allowing central management of game event logs, PC status, ban lists, etc. We (admin) also maintain remote access to all Live hosting machines, so we can synchronize updates and avoid the need for planned downtime to involve weeks of trying to coordinate individual schedules.

We've been decently successful at this so far; but one of the consequences has been a lengthy list of requirements for Live hosting- both in the module itself (the right scripts in the right places for all interactable game objects: placeables, doors, areas, modules, creatures; the right pricing on all items, all the right serverside scripts in the correct configuration, etc) and on the hosting machine (firewall / port forwarding issues, vault connection, NWNx4, connection to the main persistency database, full suite of NWNx4 plugins). You'd also be looking at having to set up autodownloading, with all walkmeshes staged and available on FTPs; In short, hosting an adventure pack is logistically like putting together a new Live server, and involves handing out read/write access to the central resources that ALL the servers depend on. I suspect that all this peripheral effort would be a major disincentive to Adventure Pack development.

What I would suggest, though, is that such a pack could be developed as a set of importable files which could be dropped into an existing module as needed, then removed after the adventure was run- this might complicate playtesting, but a hosted Beta server might work well for this part of the cycle. This way all the minutia of hosting and maintaining a Live-capable module isn't thrust on the novice builder wanting to try his/her hand at developing an Adventure Pack.

I will give the proposal a more close read later as time allows.

[oldgrayrogue]

I for one like this proposal and applaud the OP (and his wife). I also like the option of people writing purely static modules for players to play without a DM. Any additional content for players and DMs to enjoy is welcome.

[Kemeras]

Thanks OGR,

I was thinking of 'how do you include a PnP like module in a PW world' and this always seemed like the closes one can get.

Infectious Zombies is about 65% done, I saved a bunch of time by grabbing some prefab areas from NWVault instead of re-building, plus I am still shaking on proper walkmesh cutting and smoothing etc that my own areas will take longer due to learning curve.

Should have something by the end of the week to demo the concept. I will jump on IRC when I do and try and grab a few people (ACR is not included in the base builder mod from my understanding so it won't be a full test but close).

I also re-did the outline for 'The Walking Stick' going with a murder mystery on that one.

@AL:

"We've been decently successful at this so far; but one of the consequences has been a lengthy list of requirements for Live hosting- both in the module itself (the right scripts in the right places for all interactable game objects: placeables, doors, areas, modules, creatures; the right pricing on all items, all the right serverside scripts in the correct configuration, etc) and on the hosting machine (firewall / port forwarding issues, vault connection, NWNx4, connection to the main persistency database, full suite of NWNx4 plugins). You'd also be looking at having to set up autodownloading, with all walkmeshes staged and available on FTPs; In short, hosting an adventure pack is logistically like putting together a new Live server, and involves handing out read/write access to the central resources that ALL the servers depend on. I suspect that all this peripheral effort would be a major disincentive to Adventure Pack development."

Thanks AL for the tech response, I was involved in taking over the Earthspurs hosting back in the NWN1 days and I am familar with the process(Sysadmin by trade, not worried about that end).

For the ALFA scripts etc I do want to tackle that and understand that it would be the same process as setting up a live server (As long as I can take on the bulk of the work I am good, I don't want to create more work for others). The only two things that are new to me there is : Autodownload and Walkmesh staging (not sure what is required for the walkmesh).

That's exactly what I would like to do, provide a server that is a Live server and prep the Adventure Packs to run off it. RDP access is no problem to setup and allow into my network.

I will need to do some testing and if written well I can probably pack more than 4 adventure modules into a pack (have a DM prep room or something so the different adventures can be turned off/on to save resources).

The idea is that the Adventure Pack server would be a shared server that we can put more story telling scripting on that would otherwise be restricted on the Live servers due to load issue. If that can't be done then I will keep the scripting light instead.

Cheers!

[Kemeras]

Just a quick update to let ppl know that I am still working on stuff

Story is completed and mostly implemented now, getting hung up a bit on cut scene scripting (Some reason I cannot get PlayAnimation or ActionPlayAnimation to fire in the cut scene, visual effects and movement no problems but play a different animation other than idle..noooo ). I want to finish up the polish and then I am going to start into the next module.

Been able to get Vaultser and NWNX running and have two machines pass character BICs around (still working on the ALFA integration but have moved back to content creation for a bit).

Hialmar has been super helpful with getting me up and running.

Thanks!

[CloudDancing]

I really would suggest you apply to be a DM posthaste! You want this in, being a DM is the way to go. BG and MS could use this sort of thing. We have spoken about using interchangeable modules spaces for campaign events as well as Mira wanted generic areas for events as well.

I would refer back to the player Chris Shend's huge amount of work on creating instanced areas and instanced housing for Alfa.

Again, we are seeking to draw things from NWN2, a nearly ten year old game, that one can log into D&D Stormrage for free and pretty much get all of this down pat. Jumping, swimming, flying, instanced areas that are changing and contain scripted full on adventures are nothing new in MMORPGs.

They have become pretty standard operating procedures for MMOs in the last five years in fact.

So yes it will be innovative to try to get NWN2 to perform like any of the very well programmed sucessful current MMOS, like DDO, LOTR, WoW, and so forth. But it has been done and done better because those systems are programmed to provide a MAXIMUM level of enjoyment as persistent multiplayer roleplaying worlds.

Try out the Baldur's Gate server or Haven or an open server out there and you will see MMO content has become the big thing. Alfa has fiercely resisted the MMO enviroment by making gold, gain, crafting, and farming pretty much the most useless or time consuming activities a player can do IC. And of course this is because our focus is on DM events and adventuring with a personal interest in each carefully crafted player character.

So again we are a cross-roads. When will the next toolset type game come out that actually supports an effortless play environment that can be hosted by the hobbiest? Is the day of the creative user-generated content that NWN provided over as Cryptic struggles to play with the franchise plopped in it's lap? Does Alfa want to change and bend to more of an MMO experience? Do we need more Dms?

[Swift]

So yes it will be innovative to try to get NWN2 to perform like any of the very well programmed sucessful current MMOS, like DDO, LOTR, WoW, and so forth. But it has been done and done better because those systems are programmed to provide a MAXIMUM level of enjoyment as persistent multiplayer roleplaying worlds.

Correction, though systems are programmed to provide just enough fun to keep people playing. Never forget, while fun is an obvious thing, no system makes it into an MMO unless it has a high chance to extend players subscriptions.

So again we are a cross-roads. When will the next toolset type game come out that actually supports an effortless play environment that can be hosted by the hobbiest? Is the day of the creative user-generated content that NWN provided over as Cryptic struggles to play with the franchise plopped in it's lap? Does Alfa want to change and bend to more of an MMO experience? Do we need more Dms?

Quite the opposite, actually. While nothing has really hit the market yet, user generated content is The Next Big Thing. It a) Keeps players happy and b) reduces how much content the developers have to actually make themselves. Will this be in the form of NWN1/NWN2 style toolsetting? No one can really say right now. I would certainly not hold our breath for NWN3 to be at all compatible with the kind of world ALFA wants to be, but then, once NWN3 is out, we will face the same issues of dwindling player bases, an no amount of magic on the tech side of things will get people coming back, so maybe we will have to adjust our vision.

[Kemeras]

@Cloud:

I agree with the ALFA principles on not trying to re-create a MMO experience and I am not aiming to do that either. I guess it depends on your yardstick but it appears to me that ALFA has been successful in this regards.

I will apply to be a DM again but I need to get my RP chops back under me, only have had a chance to play on BG once since coming back (SUPER FUN time at that). Taking on the creation of a whole area, WAAAY outside of my skill set right now (in the future maybe, I always wanted to do Hillsfar) but right now I can *do* this and I think alot of players could contribute with something small versus how daunting it can be to take on a whole project.

My main goals are:

- Keep the PnP feel to the modules!
- Provide adventure modules that are stand alone non-repeatable (at least not by the same character).
- Provide a means of adding rich story telling scripting while not crippling a world server (i.e. providing a server portal to the content so we can use NPC daily scripting routines or complete cutscenes that are impractical on a world server).
- Develop a stack of modules that any ALFA DM is welcome to use (i.e. adventure server would be open to all DM's to use) in any manner they want (integrate directly, rip apart and resetup a new one, modified just the creatures and villian etc).
- Keep the PnP feel to these modules! (this is probably the most important goal for me).


I have come up with a device that I think works well for cutscenes (ipoint speaker FTW, I got hung up on a cut scene issue until I realized that I was calling destroy object on the conversation owner DOH!) that makes the module feel like the DM is talking to you in dialog scenes (hoping people like it).

I was trolling through the ALFA story forum and there are a large pool of good storytellers here, I am hoping to tap into that talent pool by making it easier for a writer to pass along a plot outline and some dialog and have it turned into a module.

I do want to be clear though that my goal is to focus on story development, I wasn't even planning on including anything other than mundane gear (if that even). Ideally the player base will want the content *for* the content and not a new location for XP and loot

Speaking on having it in BG, playing on BG got me thinking that we could use existing areas, export the area to an ERF and pass it over for a 'special' campaign development process and then when the DM is ready to have it go 'live' relink that area of the sewers using a server portal instead.

I have no idea if that idea will work out, in theory it should be in the end it might just be better to add the content directly to the world servers...doesn't matter to me in the end.

I don't really see any problem with all live servers using the same module, it's one of the reasons I am keeping the locations, NPCs, etc very generic. I would like to see the content open up slowly and mainly through DM interaction, not as a static quest that is always available (I would LOVE to script the Quest Starter NPC to have it move to a different NPC each time a group accesses the content to keep the meta knowledge...murky ).


For example, the module I am working on is a Zombie themed adventure, we link it from NPCA on BG, Player group A gets the quest from NPCA, once they accept the quest (which on a world server would be a journal entry with a small description and the author), the speak trigger is disabled and a different one is enable and now NPCB would be the quest giver instead of NPCA (even though it's the same quest).

I just want to create content...that's it

p.s. is there even a NWN3 scheduled for development? Swift is bang on about the user created content, L4D2 toolset is pretty easy to use (not as easy as NWN2 but still not hard).

MMO are well...boring..... I personally liked DnD Stormreach but it's teh same thing as WoW, I play for a bit, there is almost ZERO interaction, ppl racing through the same modules over and over...and I quit

I need the RP, I need context for why we are going such and such...MMO can't deliver that...yet (still waiting to see how the Star Wars MMO by bioware works out as a story based MMO).

I hope that it keeps going on this path, where we have a distributed World over many many servers but a very small population that is engaged with that world (i.e. the ALFA model).... time will tell.

[Kemeras]

I guess in my own long winded rambling way I was trying to say..." having fun, not going to stress about it"