So Much Excitement!

PODCAST!
First things first. Today is podcast day. Drop everything right now and go here to learn more than you ever could have wanted to know about the making of "Saleron's Gambit", design choices in "The Maimed God's Saga", and... well, listen to liso and me share thoughts on medieveal (technically Renaissance) history.

FIRES!
So I was happy because last night I had actually cleared about two to three hours - on a weeknight, no less - to work on TMGS... I was going to get the texturing on my final map done and then start on placeable placement... and then a fire broke out in the preserve near my house... and I mean a really big one! The fireman I talked to said there were 55 fire-trucks issued to the area from the entire county. I would have taken pictures except I was too busy taking pictures of my actual house, cycling my sprinklers, and then loading all my important papers and mementos into my car.

Fortunately, the wind was blowing exactly the right direction, and my actual house was never that much in danger. Some people in the neighborhood next to mine are not so lucky, though I don't think any of the houses are unlivable. Still what a pain for them! Oh, and the fire has been put out this morning, but it was a fitful night's sleep... and yet another example of real life wiping out Maimed God time. Trust me, I would have 100 times rather had a quiet night with the toolset.

Yes, I'm Still Working on The Maimed God's Saga
With all the polling I've been doing, it occurred to me that people might be getting a bit worried I'm switching projects. Fear not; the polling is just for informational purposes. I still have months to go on TMGS, and all my actual toolset time is devoted to it at the moment. I'm committed to finishing one project before starting the next.

Speaking of Polls...
The latest poll is now closed and, as I did last time, I'm going to record the results for posterity.

Question 1: After reading the four scenarios outlined on my April 17th post, which setting would intrigue you? (You may vote more than once!)

1. The Viking Invasion - 19 (43%)
2. The Norman Invasion - 8 (18%)
3. The Hundred Years' War - 10 (22%)
4. The Wars of the Roses - 16 (36%)

Question 2: After reading the four scenarios outlined on my April 17th post, do any of these hold absolutely no interest for you? (You may vote more than once!)

1. The Viking Invasion - 5 (20%)
2. The Norman Invasion - 3 (12%)
3. The Hundred Years' War - 8 (33%)
4. The Wars of the Roses - 9 (37%)

Clearly, the two most popular choices were The Vikings and The Wars of the Roses. However, the latter also had the highest negatives, so it seems pretty cut and dry that the best positive to negative ratio was The Vikings. That gives me a direction to head, though I'll still kick things around for a couple months while I finish off TMGS.

Steady Progress

Podcast Interview This Friday!
I mentioned this a little while ago, but now it's almost upon us! This Friday is the release of my interview with the NWN Podcast team. Find the interview at their website here and listen to me sound important for a day!

Maimed God Progress
I have spent the last week finishing off all the maps. Yes, it seems like I've been doing this forever, but NWN2 maps are a very different animal from NWN maps. I've revised all the "completed" maps from Acts I and II, handled the two walkmesh issues I mentioned last time, and gone on to create one of the two remaining maps. I have now completed 52 out of the 53 I will need, and the last one is (barely) started.

I'm including two pictures from the latest map I'm calling "The Ruined Village." Something destroyed it as you can see... something dangerous! Gee, I wonder what that is! Actually, this is one possible outcome to one of the choices you make, so not everyone will see it on every play-through. I'm not going into it further except to say that this is an example of my commitment to having choices matter in this game. Make certain ones - maybe even one you think is correct at the time - and villages get wiped out.

The Sontaran Stratagem
I'll refrain from commenting (much) on the latest episode until next week. Helen Raynor (the writer) has had excellent opening episodes before (see last year's "Daleks in Manhatten") only to then fall flat in the conclusion. In general, the new Doctor Who is great at setting up impossible situations for cliff-hangers that are only resolvable by the most implausible means. We'll see next week.

That aside, I can say that I appreciate the characterization of the Sontarans in the latest episode. As I said last time, they're absolutely my favorite Doctor Who villains, and their mythos was well-handled. Little touches like General Staal lamenting that the Time War "was the greatest war in all history and we weren't even allowed to participate!" go a long way towards fleshing out the race. They were always militaristic, but we now see that it is not necessarily forced upon them by their conflict with the Rutan Host. Notwithstanding their commitments against that enemy, they actually longed to participate in a war they saw as grander in scale than theirs!

Anyways, more next week, but if the conclusion holds up to the introduction, I'll be very happy indeed.

Slow Moving

Hectic, hectic, hectic... Easter last weekend and very busy on the personal front means distressingly little got done on TMGS...

Maimed God's Saga Update
Progress can be summed up with two more maps and another conversation written in Word format. One of the maps was a big one; it's the road from Waterdeep to The Bastion of the Maimed God, and it has many points of interest. A screenshot of one of the small corners of that map is included. While I don't believe the screen shot truly does the map justice, I admit I'm not 100% satisfied with it. I'm trying to decide if it's just a matter of more time needed - I've already spent ten or eleven hours - or whether it's just beyond my ability to make perfect. I'm leaning towards the former but may soon switch to the latter.I also figured out I need another map for Act III (it's getting to be huge). 15 maps are done, 3 more are started, and 2 are left.

Podcast Interview
No sooner had I given the Neverwinter Podcast crew a shout-out then they came asking for an interview. Coincidence? Who knows? What I do know is that last Friday evening was partially spent discussing topics ranging from my memories of "Saleron's Gambit" to "The Maimed God's Saga," my work with Ossian, and history-buffiness, among other general modding stuff. I've been told the interview will be released on May 2nd, so keep a look out for it then. And thanks to community member liso for the pleasant conversation and interest in my past and current work.

Musings on Future Projects
Following my last post, I began kicking around an old idea I had for a future project. Back in the concluding days of NWN1, I thought about a module set not in Faerun, but on ancient Earth in the land of "fantastical" Greece. It would have combined what we know historically about Greece with some of the mythology, so the player would traverse the streets of ancient Athens or Sparta but still encounter the sphinx, the medussa, and other such monsters in a sort of "Clash of the Titans." The idea still intrigues me, but it would require new building models, and who knows when those will appear...

Recently, I've modified the idea somewhat to consider a module set in medieval England. I don't really have a story yet. I'm no further than the setting really, and I'm actually considering several different time periods, but I find myself wondering if anyone would play it. So I'm starting to sense my first poll question... before I do any more work on the topic...

Quick Hits

I don't have a lot to report, but there are several little things of relevance to the NWN community and (in some cases) D&D as a whole.

Gary Gygax (1939-2008)
I'm posting way later than everyone else on this, and there's little that I'm going to add that's new. Suffice it to say that if you're reading this, it's about 99.9% likely that you're one of the millions whose lives were influenced by him. Needless to say, I have enjoyed hundreds if not thousands of hours of fun in my life because of a game he conceived thirty-odd years ago. The gaming community has indeed lost a titan - if not THE titan - of the industry. Farewell, Gary.

New Mysteries of Westgate Video
The introductory video for MoW was released today, and it's pretty awesome. It was the first time I had seen it, believe it or not. Stuff like that tends to be added long after most of the rest of the campaign is completed. For most of my play-throughs it was just load and go look for bugs, verify functionality, etc. When the release finally gets here, it might actually be interesting to play the campaign from start to finish again just to experience it like our customers will... Then again, nah. I've played the campaign - no joke - 15 to 20 times already. As I've said before, there are no longer any "mysteries" in Westgate for me...

Ossian Interview at NWN Podcast
Yes, I'm a couple weeks late in drawing attention to this, but Alan Miranda and Luke Scull were recently interviewed by the NWN Podcast team. In the interview, they discuss all matter of Westgate goodness. Check it out if you haven't already.

It was the first podcast I'd ever listened to. I was, of course, aware that the podcast group existed; at 46 episodes as of this writing, they've been doing their thing for a year now, but I had never had reason to go and check it all out before Ossian was spotlighted. It's just another example of the myriad efforts being pursued that, in total, form a vibrant and friendly community. I'll have to keep a closer eye on them in the future. By the way, guys... it's "OSS-see-an," not "o-SIGH-in..."

Oh, and I did notice in the podcast immediately before Ossian's interview (episode #44), they gave a shout-out to "Saleron's Gambit," so thanks for that. (And yes, liso, that's meant for you. But did you really need to forget the name of my NWN2 project? I'm crushed!)

MoW Spotlights
Yes, the Ossian crew has begun to release episodic spotlights covering many of the cool aspects of Westgate. It is a fantastic setting different in many important ways from the more traditional Sword Coast settings. It is our hope that players will start the adventure with an appreciation of the city's legends, lore, geography, history, population, etc., and that this will make for a more satisfying and engrossing experience.

The first spotlight, released last Friday, was on the "Legend of the Quelzarn," one of the fantastic new monsters players will get to battle. Coming up very soon will be "Cosmopolitan Westgate." Stay tuned for further updates.