Planewalkers: Dreamland

CHIMERA GAMING

A DM-Friendly NWN Planescape Campaign Module by Arawen, based on the original story by Eric Noah.

The party must travel into the dreams of a young coma-bound boy whose dreamscape is growing into a full-fledged universe and find a way to return his soul to the real world.

The Planewalkers Campaign combines a traditional fantasy setting, the world of Castellar, a vast declining Empire on the verge of civil war, and the AD&D Planescape setting. Within the story, characters from Castellar will discover the existence, power and features of the planes of existence beyond the Earth—and how they affect the destiny of the Castellar Empire.

The Planewalkers Campaign emphasizes roleplay and creative play in the style of pen and paper D&D. A DM is required. The style is freeform with no scripted NPC conversations. This module includes an extensive DM Guide as well as DM tools designed to make play flexible and dynamic.

Two versions of this DM-Friendly module are currently in beta testing for eventual public release at NWVault: a 14 to 16 hour campaign game and a 4 hour one shot game.

Dreamland is part of a series that includes The Soul Gem, Beyond the Veil and Embers of the Past.

For more information, please message Arawen at Neverwinter Connections.

News October 12, 2005

Thanks to Finnish composer Matti Paalanen, Planewalkers: Dreamland will include original background music that will evoke the wonder and terror of Simon's Dreamworld.

A module music widget will enable a DM to change the emotional tone of a scene at will. Most features, such as a Spell Keys and Power Keys, can be toggled manually by DM widgets for maximum flexibility.

News-October 7, 2005

The polished Dreamland one-shot is complete and ready for DMing. Like other chapters in the Planewalkers Campaign, it can be run as a one shot, mini-campaign or as part of the Planewalkers epic story. By player request, Dreamland now starts in a tavern, so players can "warm up" into character with each other and learn a little about Simon and Kerynn before starting their rescue effort. Taverns may be a roleplaying game cliche, but especially in one shot games, where strangers are playing with each other for the first time, a familiar starting convention can help.

The party is about to head into unknown territory, the boy Simon's dream plane, to rescue to his trapped soul and save his life, but is his newly created world a dream or a nightmare?

News - July 10, 2005

Right now the main focus is polishing the Dreamland one shot version so that it can be run as series of related one shots with the upcoming Embers of the Past Prelude module. Polishing involves two aspects, optimizing one shot design for maximum drama and efficiency within a limited game time, and scripting, which adds polish for both the DM-required and single player versions.

This past week I also be rebuilt from scratch seven areas of the Dreamland one shot version that had to be discarded after I changed tileset haks. The new smaller haks have added more zing to module performance, but at a cost. Remarkably, the large tileset compilation hak I formerly used made every area constructed with the rural tileset irreversibly incompatible with standard NWN, even if an area I built did not use any custom tiles. All seven areas had to be redone from scratch. In my own use of haks, I am always careful never to break default content by always adding to existing configuration files (2das, tileset .set files) so that additions of custom content can be reversible.

News - June 25 , 2005 - Haks and Module Design for DMed NWN Games

These days, most NWN modules require haks, community created content, to spice up their their design. The Community Expansion Pack (CEP) has now become standard in multiplayer NWN gaming and new content comes out all of the time, but is there a point where the number of haks becomes too large for a multiplayer game?

In my experience, DMs who build their own NWN adventures use one of two strategies to deal with haks. Those who intend to create a highly polished module for public release often use a very focused set of custom content, designed for the module alone, though perhaps in conjunction with the Community Expansion Pack (CEP). Those who intend to build campaigns on an on-going basis with frequent toolset visits between game sessions often prefer to use popular tileset combination haks such as those by the Classic Roleplaying Adaptation Project, Na, JXP, DOA, and Jacoby. The combination tileset haks are easy to use, require no technical knowledge and generally work very well in the toolset.

Originally, I built Dreamland with a large tileset compilation hak, but I've since discovered that players and DMs with computers below required spec for NWN-HotU can have difficulties with large amounts of custom content in multiplayer games. My first round of editing cut back the total number of tilesets used in the game, including a lovely ruined, haunted castle that looked very spooky but whose tiles had imperfect pathing that could slow down the server.

I also moved nearly every placeable, merchant, NPC, and critter in a spawn system or in triggers. Like a PW, content is only around and taking memory when players are present. Spawning in and out content keeps the module size small. This strategy has made my Castellar Chronicles campaign very accessible to players on older machines and dialup connections. In Dreamland's beta campaign and one shot modules at Neverwinter Connections, the triggers and spawn system worked well, especially when supplmented by the DM client to give each session a distinctive story arc of drama, danger and mystery.

In preparation for eventual public release of DMed and single player versions, I recently have removed the large tileset compilation hak altogether, which will require rebuilding many areas. Most custom tilesets and critters are still present, but I've been editing tileset haks to keep only what I need and experimenting with compressing textures to their maximum workable extent.

To maintain game speed, I will keep hak custom content beyond the CEP in any module I build to 50mb or less uncompressed. Keeping custom content beyond the CEP small speeds up the game considerably in DM client testing. For example, in Planewalkers: Embers of the Past, I originally planned to have about 100mb of haks in addition to the CEP, but when I cut haks down to 30mb, game speed in my test module increased 50%.

Within the NWN engine, I feel that there may be an inherent threshold of multiplayer inefficiency that occurs between 50mb and 80mb of custom content added beyond the 741mb currently in the CEP. In single player modules, where a slight drop in speed might not even be noticed, but it can have a much greater impact in multiplayer games which are more resource intensive.

On the positive side, the new Dreamland hak set is only about 12mb compressed, which should encourage more people to play the game.

News - June 16 , 2005 - DM Friendly Module Design Thoughts

Now that I have run both the campaign and one shot versions of Dreamland, I have been editing, polishing, and debugging the modules, as well as tinkering with the haks. There are some elements such as combat balance and tailoring to different class combinations that need tweaking, as well as a few levels and scripts.

The main task is to polish up the DM-only version of the module so that it can be run by a DM without resorting to the toolset or major on the fly adjustments. I prefer to DM in a soundstage, but I've noticed that the most popular DM-Friendly modules have everything laid out in advance.

Once important encounters and NPCs are preset, DMs can concentrate on delivering the story, rather than rushing ahead of their PCs to fill empty areas on the fly with the DM Client. I find on the fly play more responsive and immersive, but the difficulty level in trying to follow extensive written instructions during a live video game is probably expecting too much.

When DM by myself, I generally just have an outline of what I plan to do and important plot points. For one shot, this can be a 3x5 card. For a longer several session game it may be a two to three page outline, so a DM guide is mainly useful for pregame background.

For Dreamland, the DM version will be different from any single player oriented version, since the single player version henchmen and cutscenes would create awkward moments in live DMed gaming that uses no scripted conversations. Also, henchmen cannot be easily possessed by DMs without continually removing them and cutscenes tend to be problematic in DMed games. Once can use the DMFI Wands and Widgets Voice tool to throw one's voice to henchmen without possession in game, but it's not the same as having sufficient control to give them minds of their own.

The single player story focuses more on discovering and choosing how to respond to Simon's plight via interaction with henchmen rather than with fellow players. The NPCs in Dreamland have very different ideas about what is happening to Simon and what should be done about it, so gameplay will follow an influence system similar to KOTOR2, where the player has to choose which NPCs to follow, resulting how much they reveal about their view of the story. Designing dialogue in this fashion is very much like a logic puzzle and I am enjoying it immensely.

News - February 5 , 2005 - Planescape Dreamland at NWCon

I decided to create a quick one shot version of the Dreamland campaign module for NWCon.

The principles of one shot module design are quite different from campaign games. For a multi-session module, I feel that it's important to create a structure that gives players an open-ended set of hooks into the world, then have that world and its people react to players' choices. The one shot format involves a group of players who meet for the first time as the game starts. To keep the story flowing and get everyone in character, an urgent premise as well as some in-character getting acquainted time is necessary. This is followed by a time-limited mission within a smaller area. Player choices still matter a great deal and there is wide latitude to determine how problems may be solved, but the game structure is far more contained by design. Pacing for one shots is especially challenging because usually there are major differences in preferred play style among players, with some desiring roleplay while others crave action. Therefore it's important to present a variety of challenges.

I'm happy to report that I had a full house of six players for my NWCon game Planescape Dreamland on January 29, 2005. We had a party with some very original characters, including a dream elemental, a little girl, and her kitten, as well as more traditional D&D bard, ranger, and ranger-rogue to balance out the party. Dezran and I DMed the game live, with all conversations and events entirely unscripted. Every player contributed distinctly to the story of rescuing the boy Simon's soul. Their responses to his nightmares and fantasies created a truly dramatic evening.

One player, SD, summed up the one shot game as follows, "So, to recap - multiple planes, demons, fears and hopes, an angry ranger, and now a talking cat. This is less a barroom tale and more a children's story book."

News - January 22, 2005

I'm back to tinkering with Dreamland early this morning. I'm mainly sketching ideas for scripting portions that Dezran and I did on the fly with the module as a DM soundstage.

I jotted down ideas for a few NPCs who might end up as henchmen. Looking over my notes, I'm pleasantly surprised at how much the story has evolved while DMing the beta campaign at Neverwinter Connections. With a little flexibility and last minute tooling, there's an amazing amount of room for DM initiative in any NWN module. Now that's a revolution in gaming.

News - December 31, 2004

The Planewalkers: Dreamland campaign beta is poised to resume, with the pace of the rescue mission quickening. The greatest challenge at this point is finding time to DM and build, though with the holidays, work on custom content for Dreamland is continuing. The NWN Community is top-notch. I'm very impressed with the free tools and tutorials available to learn NWN 3D modeling. You can learn more about creating NWN custom content here.

My other DMed campaign, Castellar Chronicles, is largely improvised in the toolset and light on custom content, which allows for more nimble game creation between sessions. After building in this fashion for a couple of years, Castellar has covered about one hundred hours of gameplay and a multi-novel length original story. It's my best gaming experience ever, but as a builder, Planewalkers provides a more relaxed building experience, allowing for more focus on the small things since the overarching story is already in place.

News - August 1, 2004

The campaign is currently in its first beta test, with good reviews from players so far. I'm tweaking and fixing after each session. The DM Guide continues to grow since we make changes each time we play.

Once Dezran and I finish the first run of DMing Dreamland at Neverwinter Connections, I'll create an updated beta version of the module and DM Guide. The updated beta will compile all of the changes to date and add more options for various classes. The already hefty DM Guide will be spruced up as well.

The most challenging task left is the custom content. To make the final module more lean, I plan to edit the tileset hak, which I've never done before. In addition, one special Planescape piece of custom content is still needed, a planar rift placeable.

To make a planar rift, I'm teaching myself GMax, NWNMax and the Gimp. It's my first time with 3D Art and even though I have a very simple rift object in mind, it looks like it will take a long time to create a jagged gash in reality.