Choice vs. Linear Plot in CRPGs

anobody posted a complaint about the linear aspect of the NWN2 OC on the boards, which spawned an interesting debate about the linear aspects of Computer Role Playing Games.

BW022 made some good points with his post:

In the game all modules and pre-written campaigns have predetermined plot arcs. It simply isn't possible to write a module which covers every conceivable choose.

Imagine a DM writes a module for her group. About twelve hours consisting of a small town, a murder, and an assassin's complex. Maps, stat blocks, NPC descriptions, etc. The module starts out with a gnome coming into the bar and asking to speak with the PCs.

What do you think happens if the PCs say "We kill the gnome."? Well, maybe the DM scrambles a bit and lets the PCs find a note on the gnome talking about a murder. What then happens if the PCs say "We burn the note and leave the village."

Eventually the DM will say, "Fine. Nothing happens." She no longer has anything prepared. Perhaps the DM is good enough to ask what you plan on doing and then writing a specific adventure for you next week. Is the DM supposed to repeatedly spend dozens of hours on stuff you never do?

Kale Kross made an interesting counter point (which really highlights the importance of a DM):

The best DMs (and I've had the privilege of playing with several like this) don't run their sessions by planning out everything that could happen in a module. Rather, they construct their world and retain a clear picture of it and its inhabitents in their minds. They add some more major NPCs who will have their own agendas within the world as well. Naturally and fluidly, the world will continue to operate, even if the PCs decide to sit on their butts in the local tavern and do nothing. The DM creates a sort of "ecology" that is self-sustaining.

Actions the PCs take as well can have ripple effects within the world. The DM does not have to plan entire adventures or even sesssion. Only a continued sense of what is going on in the world and what will happen is necessary (with a few add-ons as the DM sees fit to throw into his/her world).
Using only these guidelines, the best DMs can do it all on the fly, allowing for true freeform roleplaying and stories that go in any direction.

In this sense, planning a whole quest isn't what's really required. Just planning of the world itself and the NPCs. It's the DM's choice to have an overarcing connection between sessions, but sometimes it's just fun to play for the journey of it.
While adventurers can be heros, not all adventurers are. And the reason we play is for the journey of it all anyway, not to "reach the end." After all, that's why DnD can be freeform and neverending in the first place, so long as the DM keeps it going.

Check out the full thread here:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=526710&forum=1...

Creating a Villain

SCARLETTHORN posted this article about villains over at the Citadel. This first appeared in issue #23 of The Orc.

(Author unknown)

Speculative Fiction is a genre full of villains, from the truly evil ones like The Big Bad Wolf or Tolkein's Dark Lord, through the deranged ones like Misery's Annie Wilkes or Batman's Harley Quinn, to the tragic ones like Darth Vader or Magneto.

In this article I'll attempt to review a few points and tips that should be taken into consideration when creating such an antagonist for an ongoing campaign, an antagonist that would be a little more interesting than a bored dragon lying on his pile of gold, waiting for a group of hardy adventurers to come and turn him into an impressive collection of breast plates.

Like any other issue to be addressed in roleplaying, or at all, for that matter, before asking yourself "how?", you must first ask yourself "what?". Before we start designing our villain, we must first define what exactly we are attempting to create. Is he going to be an ongoing villain, forever lurking in the shadows of our campaign, or just a local antagonist for a single scenario? The villain's powers and motives, his interaction with the characters and the influence he'll have on them and the rest of the campaign will all derive from the answer to this simple question.

Once we've understood the role we want our villain to take, we can move on to creating the villain himself. The first question we should ask ourselves is why he's doing what he's doing, or in other words, what is his motive. Only a handful of villains are truly evil, and they can usually be found only in one of two genres - epic fantasy and horror. Most villains of most campaigns will be driven be much more earthly motives, such as an unquenchable thirst for riches or power (and a complete disregard to the welfare of those who stand in their way), revenge or even an ideological or political agenda which places the characters on the wrong side.

Another issue directly connected to the two previous ones is the relationship between the villain to the characters. Generally speaking, all villains can be roughly divided into two categories - those related to the characters' past, and those who aren't.

The first type of villain is the classic comic-book villain, the villain whose entire existence as a villain, or perhaps even whose entire existence is focused on the characters and on taking his vengeance on them and undoing their efforts. There's nothing wrong with creating such a villain, but in doing so, be careful to avoid the two classical mistakes of over-focusing on one character and of over-using the related villain motif. The first mistake is creating a villain opposing a single character, for a specific reason concerning that character alone, and not the other members of the group. It is possible to create such a villain, but be careful not to draw the campaign's focus to a certain character and not to steal the other characters' spotlight. The second mistake is self explanatory. There's nothing wrong with creating a villain who embarked on his evil career after a past confrontation with the characters, but if every kid who lost a tic-tac-toe game to one of the characters when he was in third grade will later return as a powerful villain - you're doing something wrong.

The other type of villain is the distant and faceless villain, existing only to serve his own cause. He isn't interested in the characters and does not actively seek to defeat or harm them - he simply wants to get them out of his way so they stop interfering in his plans. Or, as General Bison, a mediocre villain in a mediocre movie, once put it: "For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me... it was Tuesday".

Another issue to address is the villain's powers. In order for our villain to be interesting, he must be able to defeat the characters. In other words, for a villain to be interesting, he must have some distinct advantage over the characters. But before you open your Dungeon Muster's Guide or Keeper's Companion and start searching it for interesting spells, formidable magic items and witty catch-phrases, stop and think. Any major villain will physically confront the characters only when all other options are exhausted, usually at the end of a lengthily campaign.

A real villain will lurk in the shadows and attempt to harm the characters in a variety of indirect methods - from various spells and curses that will make the character grow a rat's tail or develop an acute allergy to carrot juice to dirty politics that could cause the characters an insurmountable amount of trouble, from harassment by various law-enforcement agencies, through shop owners refusing to do business with the characters to closing down the characters' favorite tavern. Use your imagination and try to think of different and unique ways to empower your villain. Like any other subject in roleplaying games, there are no "rights" or "wrongs" here - even a close friendship with one of the characters' romantic interest could be considered as an advantage the villain has over that character.

One last issue to think about is the way you use the villain. If every scenario would start with the villain attempting to destroy the characters and would end with the characters defeating the villain, you're well on the way to a glorious yawn-fest. To ensure that your villain remains effective, he must be allowed to hurt the characters in a manner that is noticeable, but not fatal. Destroying valuable equipment, impairing abilities or abducting friends and allies are all great ways to remind the characters that the villain is still there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike. And of course, not every scenario needs to revolve around that villain. Even the most vicious villains are allowed to sit out a scenario or two, just to return to the hassle the characters at the least convenient time.

Creating an installer

PIPBoy3000 posted something a while ago about how to create a self-extracting installer. He even posted the script he used for Pirate Cards.

Check it out:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=534921&forum=115

Download the NSIS here:
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Download

Once you have it installed, copy his script to a txt file, change the extension to nsi, and update it to reference your project and files instead. Drag and drop it into the compiler window and it will do everything for you.

Drow

For those of you wanted to use Drow and looking to give your NPCs a bit more life, here are some resources:

Descent Into Darkness {Drow Campaign resources set in the Forgotten Realms}.
http://drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/

Eilistraee’s Drow Translator
http://www.eilistraee.com/chosen/language.php

The Realm's of Otara: Drow Names
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/vortexshadow/drownames.html

Most of these were posted in this language thread over at the Citadel:
http://nwcitadel.forgottenrealmsweave.org/showthread.php?t=634

Elysius: Story Writing

Frank Perez, aka Elysius, recently posted four articles on how to write a story for NWN. You can see all four posts here:

Story Writing, Part 1: Storming the Brain

To decide on our story premise (in other words, the general idea of what the story is about), Dirtywick, Anduraga, and I agreed to hold a brainstorming session. We gave ourselves twenty minutes to generate as many ideas as we could, during which no idea would be criticized. We allowed ourselves to suggest any idea, even those that were deliberately silly, in the hope that these may lead to better ones. Afterward, we voted on three of the ideas that we liked best. We then picked the idea that was chosen by most of us.
> Read more

Story Writing, Part 2: The Plot Thickens

I once wrote in this blog that regardless of a story’s length, I find it useful to structure its plot as a three-act outline. In fact, I have a specific formula for how the acts are written.

Act 1. The hero (that is, the PC) becomes aware of a problem to be resolved.

Act 2. The hero tries to attain an objective, to which a strong antagonist is opposed. At this point, the hero gets a complication that makes it more difficult to attain the objective.

Act 3. It seems that the hero has no chance to defeat the antagonist. Nevertheless, the hero can still prevail, but only with the help of one or more third parties that tip the balance in the hero's favor.

> Read more

Story Writing, Part 3: Little Computer People

Entire books have been written on developing fictional characters, but I won’t even begin to touch the surface of this topic. Instead, I’ll provide only a couple of tips on character design. Don’t be misled by this seemingly meager offering, however. When applied properly, these tips will add considerable depth to any character concept.

Here’s my advice to beginning writers on how to create characters:

1. Write a back story for each significant character with a focus on the emotional problems that the character faces, how and why these emotional problems came to be, and what it would take for the character to resolve them.

2. Put your characters in situations that force them to confront their emotional problems in a way that will advance the story.

> Read more

Story Writing, Last Remarks: Where to Go from Here

It helps to read a lot of fiction with an eye toward studying what the authors did that makes their work effective. Even if you aspire to write exclusively in the science fiction or fantasy genre, include a lot of mainstream fiction in your diet of books. My favorite novels include Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Shella by Andrew Vachss, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt (not to be confused with the movie of the same name), and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (a surprisingly brutal novel from a 19th century country girl). In the fantasy and science fiction genre, my favorite books include Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Doubtless, you’ll have your own list of favorite books. One can learn much by studying the works of the writers you admire.

Reading will not get aspiring writers anywhere unless they set themselves working on their own fiction. Don’t worry if your first stories are amateurish. Even the masters started with baby steps on their path to greatness. They got better with practice, and you can too. So dust off your favorite game toolset and start making the interactive stories that you’ve been wanting to write.
> Read more

Frank Perez is the creator of the NWN2 module "Battle of the Builds" and is currently working on his next module called "Faithless." See more at his blog: Faithless: The Making of an NWN2 Module.

Estimating how long it will take

Kulharin posted a good question in the official forums: On average, how long does it take to create an average module.

I was curious. I don't know a heck of a lot about the toolset beyond the basics... But I think I am interesting in creating an average sized module with a few areas. maybe a town or two, a few outdoor areas and a few dungeons ... With a bit of custom 2DA content and monsters .... How long roughly would it take to create a basicly average module.

Rob McGinnis was kind enough to give a quick answer based on their experiences:

For the layout of areas (art only, including props)

Exteriors:
Tiny - 3 days (24 hours)
Small - 5 days (40 hours)
Medium - 8 days (64 hours)
Large - 15 days (120 hours)

Interiors:
Tiny - 1 day (8 hours)
Small - 2 days (16 hours)
Medium - 4 days (32 hours)
Large - 6 days (48 hours)

For Design (writing the story, working out encounters), here are our numbers for Mask of The Betrayer.

Module A (The Barrow)
Avg. Gameplay (minutes) - 75
Implementation Time - 59 man days
# Tiny Areas - 0
# Small Areas - 3
# Medium Areas - 2
# Large Areas - 0
# Designers - 1

Module B (Mulsantir)
Avg. Gameplay (minutes) - 240
Implementation Time - 112 man days
# Tiny Areas - 6
# Small Areas - 4
# Medium Areas - 2
# Large Areas - 2
# Designers - 3

FRW: Treasure guidelines

Here are the treasure guidelines as determined in this thread on the FRW forums:

http://nwcitadel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=853

Using this as a guideline will help create a balanced module. This is something I'm always looking for an can never find. Here it is reproduced for your convenience.

 I posted the following in another thread since the question came up. These are some very loose guidelines (they could be a lot more detailed) for handing out magic items and wealth in modules. Feel free to discuss, since nothing is set in stone yet.

The two basic guidelines for handing out gold and items are to:

#1 Use the following table of magic weapon (and equivilant) per level
#2 Use a modified version of table 5--1 from the DMG to gauge how much wealth a player of a given level should have. This wealth number is the total value of all items and gold possessed by the player.

Phoenixus magic weapon guidelines

1-3rd = Masterwork weapons
4-6th = no better than +1 weapon/armor or equivilant
6th-9th = no better than +2 weapon/armor or equivilant
10-13th = no better than +3 weapons/armor or equivilant
14-17th = no better than +4 weapons/armor or equivilant
18+ = no better than +5 weapon/armor or equivilant

Note: Also remember that adding special abilities to weapons or armor beyond the enhancement bonus makes them equivilant to more powerful weapon. For a general idea, look at the base gold cost of a weapon with the next powerful enhancement bonus to the one you are handing out and make sure that your weapon or armor is not equal to or greater than that value.

For items like potions, scrolls, and wands, the general idea is only give the player access to items that can cast spells that an equivilant level spell caster could cast, with an occsional item that gives them temporary access to next level higher of spell (but with very limited charges). So, for example, if a first level cleric can only cast cure light wounds, you shouldn't be giving first level character of any class access to potions of cure moderate wounds, except possibly as an extremely rare one-time case.

DMG Table 5--1: Character Wealth By Level (modified to 1/2 vaule)

Level Gold
2nd 450
3rd 1,350
4th 2,700
5th 4,500
6th 6,500
7th 9,500
8th 13,500
9th 18,000
10th 24,500
11th 33,000
12th 44,000
13th 55,000
14th 75,000
15th 100,000
16th 130,000
17th 170,000
18th 220,000
19th 290,000
20th 380,000

Note: One thing to remember is that players will actually spend gold and resources during adventuring, so ou have to make sure they recieve enough gold per encounter to both cover this expenditure and also ensure they have the proper wealth level. One way to easily figure this out is to make the bulk of magic items they acquire expendable items like potions and scrolls, then ensure that they have to use those items to defeat encounters instead of saving them up and selling them.

Merchant markups 

Further down, Seryn made the following point:

I checked some of the OC merchants just out of curiousity, and the four or so that I looked at all had 100% markups with 40% markdowns, just as an fyi.

Gamasutra: The Ecology of Game Design

Styraxian pointed out this article by Kevin Carter that talks about the placement of NPC/Creatures and their relationship to the environment.

I have a great time playing through all sorts of game worlds—blasting randomly placed enemies, collecting scattered power-ups, earning points, gaining levels, all en route to some nefarious “main boss.” Usually the game world is very transparent though, meaning I can tell I’m in a game from the moment I pick up a controller to the moment I put it down again. As a player, I’m not exploring environments, I’m beating levels. I’m not fighting aliens, I’m defeating scripting.

This isn’t always the case. Sometimes I can forget I’m playing a game. Sometimes I feel I really am crawling through an air vent in the Black Mesa Facility. Sometimes I think I’m actually looking for the orc chieftain who has been leading the attacks on my village. Sometimes I—

Check out the full article Living Worlds: The Ecology of Game Design by clicking the link below:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20...arter_01.shtml

Names

Coming up with interesting names that won't have your players rolling their eyes can be difficult. At least it is for me. Here are some good resources to keep you come coming up with another name like "Hard Goodman."

Puzzles

Good puzzles give the players a chance to overcome obstacles on their own terms. They can be a nice change of pace, but they can also be a dead end that kills the action.

Tea Leaves: There and back again

I came across a post by by peterb over at Tea Leaves where is examines physical locations in games how what makes for a consistent and engaging experience.

The question then is: if you are describing a space that doesn't signify a real-world space, how do you make the player care? How do you increase the power of the virtual space you've created so that, when she is done playing your game, the player thinks of it, on some level, as a "real" place? In this article, I'm going to discuss three techniques: familiarity and reuse, signifiers such as maps and text, and geometric and logical consistency.

Check it out:
http://www.tleaves.com/weblog/archives/000026.html

Things to avoid

Arcane Fury posted a message in the modules forum asking what puts people off a mod. Here's a quick list:

• A lame story
• Bad Grammar
• Bad spelling
• Absurd design decisions
• Too-large maps that have mostly nothing in them.
• Illogical alignment shifts
• Authors using settings not their own (such as the Forgotten Realms) but not trying hard enough, or at all, to follow established lore.
• Dialogue that railroads the PC into a specific personality.
• Overly difficult combat.
• Grinding monsters for XP and too much combat for the sake of combat.
• Endlessly fightingfightingfighting the same battle over and over and over again.
• Tedious things you have to do which do not aid the storytelling.
• Editing enemy stats to just flat out stupid levels
• Making things overly complicated or trying to emulate life too closely (i.e. - Having to worry about food, actual weight for coins)
• Quest rewards that do not match the difficulty of said quest
• Totally useless quest rewards (i.e. - plate armor for a mage type character)
• Monty Haul campaigns (overabundance of money and magic items)
• Unrealistic merchants (magic weapons/armors for sale, full plate or exotic weapons for sale on a village smith)
• Magic items with no history to them
• Unrealistic treasure placement
• Too many exp and a resulting fast level progression
• Standing helplessly by (e.g., in dialog mode) while something important happens.
• Limited dialog choices, especially when dialog has an impact on alignment and influence. Apparently, there are only two alignments in Faerun: Lawful Tight@$$ and Chaotic Stupid.
• Uninspiring conversations.
• Stagnant background. Townsfolk who just stand in the same spot all day and night, having the same non-conversation, until the end of time.
• Experience Penalties
• Impossible to solo.
• Too many instant death situations and attacks
• Too restrictive resting

Check out the full thread:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=536202&forum=111

Wiki: Abeir-Toril

If you are considering placing your module in Abeir-Toril, the fictional planet of The Forgotten Realms on which Faerûn is located, be sure to check out the wiki.

Abeir-Toril main entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abeir-Toril

The Faerûn entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faer%C3%BBn

WotC: Adventure Builder Archive

While digging around looking for some ideas, I came across the Writing Your First Adventure article By Wolfgang Baur on the Wizards of the Coast site. It's a fun read and can help stretch your brain:

If you are ready to design your first RPG adventure, or learn how to improve the adventures you've already got, you've come to the right place. The "Adventure Builder" will cover all the bases, from hooks to background to traps and treasures.

This time out, we'll cover the foundation you need to build a great adventure. It's not the background, the stat blocks, or even the main villain. It's monster selection, and figuring out the size and style of the adventure.

Of particular note is the section on balancing encounters. While this it's a bit different from PnP, it's still worth a look.

While this breakdown is good advice, it's not complete. You'll want to be sure that your ... encounters include encounter variety by class as well as by EL. That is, make sure to include each of the following types of encounters, to give every class and every player a chance to shine.

1) Two Skill Encounters: These are creatures or obstacles that can be defeated by stealth or skill, such as guards, castle walls, cliffs, informants, or low-hp creatures that can fall to a single sneak attack.

2) [Eight] Pure Combats: You need some no-negotiation, straight-up combats that play to the fighter classes. Think orcs, wolves, ogres, giants -- or dragons. Consider tactics first here: ambushes, charge, bull-rush, something to make it more than just attack rolls and damage rolls.

3) Two Magical Challenges: Include two magical challenges that require a knock, a fireball, or whatever other strengths your arcane spellcasters have. They might be lore-based challenges, such as knowing the weaknesses of an extraplanar creature, or they might require the use of Concentration or Spellcraft to manipulate a magical object or unravel a mysterious warding.

4) One Divine Challenge: The divine caster in the party is more than just a medic, so give him or her something to do with at least one undead turning, Knowledge (Religion), or nature-knowledge encounter (if your divine caster is a druid).

5) One Puzzle or Trap: This could be as simple as finding the key to a tough lock, deciphering an ancient script, or finding a secret door with Search, but you should include traps and puzzles for your party to solve. If the party doesn't have a rogue in it, use Knowledge skill checks as a substitute.

6) Two Roleplaying Encounters: Social skills play an important part of the game too, and bards don't like to just sit and do their stuff in the background. Provide at least two roleplaying encounters that can be defeated by the right social skills, bribes, exchange of services, or clever conversation. Examples include a scholar with a clue that the party needs to bypass some defenses or wardings, or a devil who will ally with them against a common foe.

7) One Mook Encounter: This should be against foes of at least 2 CR less than the party, and ideally 3 or 4 less. Think kobolds, bandits, skeletons, wild animals, or any other group of many foes that play to Cleave and area-effect spells. It's fun to see heroes cutting a swath through hordes of foes.

8) One Polder: "Polder" is a Dutch word describing land reclaimed from the sea, but here it's a more general term. As described in detail in Dungeon 135, polders are safe havens for adventurers, places where the party can regain strength. Think Rivendell in Lord of the Rings. Your polder could be a xenophobic elven tree city, a magical rope that generates rope trick spells as a charged item, a bound archon who wards a treasure, or a dwarven merchant caravan. If the party wishes, they can heal up to full strength and level up.

9) One Bigger Fish: To keep the blood flowing, you should have one overwhelming encounter that the party can't handle without serious risk of a total party kill. This could turn into a roleplaying bit of Diplomacy, a chase, or a stealth challenge, depending on how the party handles it -- but they should see that not every encounter in every adventure should be fought.

10) Big Finish: A grand finale encounter with all the trimmings: villain, minions, and a room or terrain that provides interesting combat options.

Note that for the sake of increased combat in a CRPG, I've doubled the combats from four to eight. That's a total of 19 encounters, 11 of them involving combat. Whether that's enough for a full level of play is up to you as a builder, but at least Baur's list will get you thinking about balance.

Check out the article here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ab/20060728a

Check out the full Adventure Builder Archive here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ab

3.5 Ruleset

Sometimes I find that I need to reference some minor factiod about the 3.5 ruleset. Here are some links dealing with this.

(Current Level * NextLevel)*500 = XP needed for next level.

N*(N-1)*500 is the minimum XP needed to get to Nth level.