2006 NWN1 Mod of the Year Voting - Day 1

As of right now, here are the voting leaders for 2006 Neverwinter Nights Mod of the Year:

1. A Dance with Rogues, Part One and Two by Valine - 46 votes
2. Darkness Over Daggerford by Ossian Studios - 29 votes
3. Rose of Eternity, Chapter 2 by Challseus - 20 votes
4. Wyvern Crown of Cormyr by Bioware/DLA - 16 votes
T-5. Almraiven by Fester Pot - 11 votes
T-5. The Fall of Aielund, Pt. 2 by Savant and BlackDiamond - 11 votes

I'm somewhat surprised to see A Dance with Rogues at the top of the list, but I'm not shocked; those modules have had a near-fanatic following in the forums. ...It does happen to be the first on the list of votable modules, which could potentially translate into more thoughtless votes than other modules. Past contests, however, have been pretty reliable in choosing outstanding modules (2005=Hex Coda, 2004=Demon, 2003=Dreamcatcher, 2002=Lone Wolf) so it's probably not that important of a factor.

I've played four of the above modules. I commented on #2, 4, and 5 in a prior post. But while I'd overlooked it earlier, it turns out that I also played Fall of Aielund, Pt. 2 last June. Here's an excerpt from my comments (I voted 8.5 on the nwn1 voting scale, such that it is...I probably would have voted a 6 or 7 on the nwn2 scale):

As is evidenced by my vote, I felt it was something of a mixed bag. There were some great moments, most notably some thrilling large-scale (for nwn) battles that are nicely scattered throughout the module. ... The story overall is also quite good and was very interesting, and this looks to remain the case going into the third part of act 4. ... But I also felt that in some ways this module fell short of the prior mods in the series. It was completely linear...Some areas just felt like filler to prolong the module and keep you from getting right to the end. ... Even most of the dialogs are linear, with dialog options being rare...

I'm still uncertain how I'll vote. I think that a module of the year should be a module that truly breaks new ground and sets a new standard for module making. So, based on those criteria, I think it's going to be between the two giants of the past year: Daggerford & Wyvern Crown. Daggerford contained some of the best exploration and feel I've seen since Baldur's Gate 1, whereas Wyvern Crown had a better story, overall, and a number of novel features that players have been after for years--most notably the horses and the jousting.

I will say one other thing...and this is not to denigrate the offerings in the current contest...but none of these modules were quite as good, at least in my opinion, as Hex Coda 01 or Tales of Arterra: The Awakening--the two top finishers of the 2005 MoY contest. 2005 really was an amazing year for NWN1 modding.

I have a few weeks before the voting closes, so I'm going to continue to think on it. :)