PW workers?

Titanium Dragon · Post by **Titanium Dragon** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 7:03 am

Alright, this is just a curiousity question...

How many people on these forums are currently working on one PW or another, either Avlis or one of their own?

I, for instance, am trying rather foolishly to make a PW right now from scratch (well, not quite from scratch; I am gonna use everyone's favorite PW program:P). Though it will likely never happen, I work on it anyway.

How about the rest of you?

Galadorn · Post by **Galadorn** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 7:22 am

Great post.

Sorry for the false alarm though, since I have not and most liekly will never partake as it usually means you need to have a working brain to make a PW, and I am without presently.

I DO want to learn how to do it (from scratch), i've opened which is to say clicked "open" the DM Toolset, and fumbled around the menus to realise doing this is FAR out of my reach at the moment...
heh

But, I do want to learn it, and learn it well, to one day be able to set it all up and try it out on my own someday... I think it will be spot on too.

I'm glad you started this post, cause I wanna read/hear about other people who are doing it...

For instance, when you "started", what did you do first? Did you have an entire long-term PnP campain setting, that was playtested etc, to model your World after? Like Avlis, ...or did you make a new one for your PW plan?

just firing questions out there...

Do you like carrots? How do you get your wiskers so sharp?

subspace1011 · Post by **subspace1011** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 7:32 am

Oh it's fun. Lots of fun. I'm one of the Quest Builders on Hala. I started from scratch not too long ago as well. Scripts can be your friends, you just need to go through lots of tutorials. I've found the ones here: http://nwn.bioware.com/builders/ to be of great use when starting out. From there, it's a lot of knowing what you want to do, and searching for how the best way to do it.

Sindol · Post by **Sindol** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 7:49 am

I think the main point that needs to be made here is about the CoPaP. Maybe you already know about it, in case you don't I will say something about it here, and although I can not put it as eloquently as Orleron, what it basically comes down to is this:

We have a world that is pretty good ('s called Avlis, just so you know).
You can borrow our framework to build your own world on. You will get almost all of the mod-wide scripts that run the basic module operations.
This has obvious advantages (saves you bundles of work in designing and writing and playtesting and debugging them yourself), but it also comes with some major obligations:

- You must make your world avlis-compliant, meaning that your magic levels are equal to ours and your treasure drop rate is about the same and your xp levels also match with those of Avlis.

- You must take your part in the CoPaP, a federation of NWN PWs that aim to be compatible with eachother (see obligation number one) and will all be linked together one day (hopefully not too far away).

The full CoPaP guidelines and goals document can be found on the FTP site.

Titanium Dragon · Post by **Titanium Dragon** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 8:35 am

I have been playing D&D since I was about 7, and DMing since age 8 or so. As such, I have had many ideas about worlds, campaigns, ect. I love RPGs, and RPing in general.

The world I am currently working on (Qurui is its name right now, though that may end up being the name of the island rather than the world) was an idea that more or less evolved since I got NWN. I was at first thinking about creating a more temperate world, rather than a tropical one, but then decided against it because A) I like the tropics B) temperate areas have too much farmland for my liking and C) there aren't too many tropical worlds that I myself have been in. Also D) I like beaches, which I am going to someday get a tileset for, unless I learn how to use 3D editing programs.

I considered joining the CoPaP, but really I don't like the idea too much. Firstly, after seeing the disaster with Mythos, with characters exploiting the other world for loot/xp, I realized what a mess it could be. Secondly, I find it much more interesting to build code from scratch. Third, I like making things differently from other places, and think some Avlis things would be better different. And fourth, I hate using other people's code more than I have to, because it seems to hate me;)

Falkin · Post by **Falkin** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 9:07 am

Well, I may be starting to throw together a PW based on a campaign I was in with Arc a while back... it will definitely be quite a while though before it would be anywhere near a state it could be released in... Should be quite interesting though.

Neve · Post by **Neve** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 9:58 am

I'm building on one, It's currently 200 Area's big.

Falkin · Post by **Falkin** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 10:54 am

Neve wrote:- As you gaze unknowingly into the seemingly infinite depths of the optics of this altogether passionate embodiment of insatiability, you experience a gradual realisation that the heavily-embellished vocabulary scattered lavishly throughout the sentence you are currently reading is indisputably nothing greater than a generous ration of masculine bovine faeces.

pitched_black · Post by **pitched_black** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:03 pm

I'm proudly a member of CoPaP! I'm working on Hala, which shouldn't be too much longer in coming but I have to say that I did spend many days 'debugging' Avlis' scripts... lol, if you're going to join CoPaP, apply for it right away so you can start with their basic module, with everything already working... instead of the days necessary to piece it all together...

The universe itself is based directly on the D&D Manual of the Planes but the island that I'm building is orginal. I've had to work so far on every aspect of nwn, 2da's, 3ds max, scripting and just building. It is 'a lot' of work but it is also very fun starting from scratch. The very fact that absolutly anything is possible is very amusing. You want to ride a horse? You got it!

I have to stress though that it is a lot of work and though I am starting to get a decent sized team (which I am very thankful for), there was a long time in-between where it was just me an my map and nobody really cared either way.

apply for CoPaP!,
pitched black

terryrayc · Post by **terryrayc** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:12 pm

Interesting, I've been working on an underworld mod for a while now. Currently 97 areas all in the underdark. It's interesting and not hard. Currently working on using some scripts. Thought I might use the Hardcore ruleset scripts but might look into using this scripts used here and maybe think about talking to them about using add a underdark area. I know the sewers are very large but theres something about being lost 30 areas below the surface that interests me

Jordicus · Post by **Jordicus** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:16 pm

hehe... i guess you have never found the underdark yet then....

Morbid Ridicule · Post by **Morbid Ridicule** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:30 pm

I am trying to design my own PW, and I thought I might join CoPaP, 'cause no one would play on it if I didn't

. I downloaded NWNX2 though, and I don't understand any of it. I'll have to look at it again sometime.

Manuel the White · Post by **Manuel the White** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:35 pm

NWNX developers, I highly reccomend joining the NWNX Help Guild at Bioware if you haven't done so already. Info and link here: portal.php?getpage=nwnx

terryrayc · Post by **terryrayc** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:49 pm

No I have not found it. Of well Guess I'll just stick with making a Underdark only mod

terryrayc · Post by **terryrayc** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:51 pm

Hey Manuel clicked on that link and went to a page that told me I was very bad and my IP address had been logged and not to do it again

Sindol · Post by **Sindol** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:51 pm

I've edited the link, it should work now.

Jordicus · Post by **Jordicus** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 4:18 pm

terryrayc wrote:No I have not found it. Of well Guess I'll just stick with making a Underdark only mod

but, i would put out a query about your idea anyway. I'm sure there is lots of room for a larger underdark then currently exists.

Aloro · Post by **Aloro** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 4:32 pm

I'm currently working on Avlis.

- Aloro

Neve · Post by **Neve** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 4:40 pm

Manuel the White wrote:NWNX developers, I highly reccomend joining the NWNX Help Guild at Bioware if you haven't done so already. Info and link here: portal.php?getpage=nwnx

Worked fine for me, Thanks for the link

Actually · Post by **Actually** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 5:39 pm

I'm area building for Travellers. There was a decent chunk of world built when I signed on, with a map of what the "finished" world should look like geographically. I got assigned a corner of the map, and then just went to town in the toolset.

Overall, for what you can accomplish, the toolset is pretty easy to learn and use. I draw heavily on what I've learned about creating worlds as a PnP DM to set mood, tone, and backstory.

The biggest challenge for me has been trying to figure out how to make encounters that are functional in a multi-level 24/7 PW. It's not like a scenario where you can basically guesstimate the party strength at a given point in the mod.

Bye Now,
Jerry Cornelius - Look mah! I'm uh GAME develop-uh!

Vichan Lyonsen · Post by **Vichan Lyonsen** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 5:50 pm

pitched_black wrote:I'm proudly a member of CoPaP!
apply for CoPaP!,
pitched black

Ok, I have a large world i have been working on - well i stopped after finding avlis i must admit. but I'll bite - what is CoPaP? where do I apply for CoPaP?

TIA

Jordicus · Post by **Jordicus** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:24 pm

CoPaP stands for Confederation of Planes and Planets.

There are documents describing the idea and stuff on the FTP site, but the FTP site is on the servers which are down.

Once it comes back up go to ftp://avlis.blackdagger.net and under public downloads look for some documents title CoPaP and Articles of Confederation or something like that

Sindol · Post by **Sindol** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:32 pm

Vichan Lyonsen wrote:Ok, I have a large world i have been working on - well i stopped after finding avlis i must admit. but I'll bite - what is CoPaP? where do I apply for CoPaP?

TIA

Read my first post in this thread (the fourth overall), there is a short description of what it's about. A longer and more in depth description can be had from Orleron or from the FTP site, which are both unavailable at this time, but will be again soon.

Neve · Post by **Neve** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:43 pm

Here's a temporary host where you can download the original .doc file.

Articles of Confederation download

Brick · Post by **Brick** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 9:40 pm

I also work on Travellers..

The most unacknowledged part of module/PW making is, I think, stuff like house interiors *curses to self*, tedious stuff like that. Area transitions are just a pain in the ass. Even when you get the hang of making them quickly, there's a chance you accidentally misclicked by half a centimeter in your hurry...

Anybody making a PW should expect hours of boring stuff like that. Thinking about all the houses in Mikona just makes my head hurt.