Chugging Along

Ossian Update
Busy day today, but not much that I can really report on. The first half was spent meeting some deadlines for Ossian doing some... uh, secret stuff. And now I get to move on to more deadlines. One wonders when Ossian will make an announcement that might interest people, but until it happens, my lips - or keyboard and mouse as the case may be - are sealed.

Medieval Europe Update
The second half of the day was spent finalizing my historiographical paper. I took most of the week off while it was peer-reviewed, but today was when I took the comments and incorporated them into the final draft. As of about ten minutes ago, that draft officially left my desk. I also spent a couple hours reviewing another student's paper on royal mistresses, but my review of that paper has now also been completed and my comments e-mailed away. So I am now officially 100% done.

The Maimed God's Saga Update
Unfortunately, the above two projects left little time for my NWN2 module, but that doesn't mean there's no news to report. A little while ago, Nicolas Hugon, the brother of fellow-Ossian member Alex 'Hugie' Hugon, e-mailed me two proposed logos for 'The Maimed God's Saga.' As it will be a cleric-class module heavily dependant on Forgotten Realms religious themes, I had originally asked him to come up with something reminiscent of medieval-style calligraphy - i.e. something similar to what old monks used to scribe into manuscripts where the first letter of every page was a complex piece of art.

I am including his design above, but he also sent a more modern design of his own as well. The first is pretty close to what I was looking for, though I would probably ask him to tweak it a bit. However, the second design looks pretty snazzy IMO. I'm probably going to mull them over for a night or two, but feel free to comment.

The Evolution of the Daleks
Well, it was probably inevitable after I raved about the opening episode of the Manahattan-based dalek two-parter last week, but the conclusion did dissappoint a bit. Once again, we got a hammy David Tennant ranting and raving about the daleks, daring them to shoot him, and generally over-acting the roll. Damn, I wish someone would tell him he does so much better when he restrains himself just a wee bit.

Then of course we got another gross example of a distressing tendency of the new series: the Doctor's reliance on his superhuman anatomy to save the day, but there's no need to delve into that whole topic.

*Sigh* What could have been...

The Maimed God's Saga Update

Areas and Acts and Conversations... Oh My!
I took some time over the past two days to start laying out some of the technical details of The Maimed God's Saga. There will be a total of 32 areas to be designed over three acts. Each act will be a single module in the campaign. The area breakdown is:

Area Size	Tiny	Small	Medium	Large	Total	T.A.S
Indoor	5	7	3	0	15	31
Outdoor	1	7	7	2	17	59
Act 1	2	6	3	0	11	26
Act 2	3	6	1	2	12	35
Act 3	1	2	6	0	9	29

T.A.S, or 'Total Area Size,' is a way I use to figure out how big the module's going to be, so I know if there's some kind of imbalance. Originally, there were going to be two acts with the above Acts 1 and 2 combined. However, that made Act 1 over twice as big as Act 2, though, so the first act was split.

In terms of dialogue, there will be 51 conversations that I estimate will take 60,700 words to complete. I am dedicating 15,000 words each to the two companions, so they comprise 50% of the total module dialog. By comparison, my Saleron's Gambit henchmen often hit around 10,000 or so words, but many of those were functional throw-aways, by which I mean things like asking them to heal you or pick locks, etc. With the nifty NWN2 toolset allowing that to be done otherwise, all the dialog will go to characterisation and personality development.

I've also broken ground on the module itself. Above is displayed a screenshot of the male and female versions of the specially-made Tyrran armor for the module. I wish I could get a scale symbol on the front rather than the star, but we can't have everything we want I guess. The man is also the first central character in the module, and the setting is the Temple of Tyr in the small aptly-named town of Riverford, where the module opens.


I've also already created the two hotties everyone will get to cyber-romance (or not, as the case may be - I'm looking at you, Berliad!). Above left is the oh-so-manly Tancred with his devastatingly gorgeous blue eyes. Below him is Verona, a red-headed babe with devastatingly gorgeous green eyes. (See, I told you these two would be unique!)

But all this is very part time right now. Ossian is cracking the whip and forcing me to do... uh, secret things. Well, they're not exactly forcing me to do anything, but they do take priority.

The Next Chapter

Presentation Tomorrow
Tomorrow I get to give a 15 minute paper presentation about depositions of English monarchs with 5 minutes allotted to questions. Luckily, the accompanying paper is mostly finished with only some slight revisions required... unless I get ripped apart during questioning. Then there might be some major rewrites. That won't happen though.

That, however, should finish off my class requirements, leaving this weekend to work on Ossian... uh, secret things.

The Next Step
Before getting sucked in by Ossian, I was well on my way to completing the first module in my upcoming Diviner series. The scope was modest, to say the least, but it was mostly supposed to be a small effort to allow me to familiarize myself with the new toolset while providing a quick adventure for the community.

Now those objectives aren't so important, and I've found myself more and more unsatisfied with what I have so far, so... MAJOR REWRITES for "Diviner's Fire." It will need to be greatly enlarged and expanded in scope. That means it's not exactly on the horizon.

However, there's something else that's going to slide in between Ossian secret stuff and "Diviner's Fire" redux. That would be the rebirth of my cleric-based series. It was originally going to be my first NWN2 mod, and then I became so enamored with the story, that I withdrew it with an eye towards trying my hand at a novel and submitting it cold to WotC. Fifty-odd pages in, and no thanks. I'll stick to modding.

So now my first mod for NWN2 will be "The Maimed God's Saga" with the first module subtitled "Justice." Each module will be stand-alone so that I don't feel bad if subsequent modules don't get made. I have a fairly substantial design document (and fifty pages of text) for the first installment and a brief outline of the core ideas for the later modules which are now tentatively subtitled "Courage", "Wisdom", and "Glory."

The modules will be specifically made for Priests of Tyr, God of Justice, sometimes called The Maimed God. Each of the first two modules will involve you in a battle of the gods in which you, the champion of Tyr, will struggle against the forces of a one of the 'evil' deities. The third module, "Wisdom," will have a slightly diplomatic flavor, as you will need to cultivate alliances with the followers of other faiths. The fourth episode, "Glory," will be a stronghold quest which leads into a battle against a foe greater even than the gods themselves.

And that's the last I'm going to post of the last three chapters for a while. I'll update a bit about the first chapter in the coming days and weeks. To people who are interested in the other series I've mentioned previously, fear not. I still have every intention of making all of them.

Joining the Rest of the World in Public Anonymity

I guess I saw Berliad and Alazander having so much fun, jealousy ensued, and I decided that I too simply must have a forum from which to rant. Ta Da! Witness the result. It is now from this point that I intend to update my NWN2 thoughts and progress on my NWN2 modules.

However, I have no intention of stopping at just Neverwinter. No, I'll post no end of nonsense in all my geeky glory. Do you want Medieval History? Too bad, you're gonna get it. Dr. Who? That's my favorite show of all time, so you're bound to get that too. Sports? Occasionally going to hit on that as well. Politics, high literature, and the fine arts? Nope, you're on the wrong blog.