Sword Coast Legends by N-Space Announced

Wizards of the Coast recently announced Sword Coast Legends.  Here's the trailer video:

As someone who loves the Infinity engine games, not to mention NWN1/2, this is really exciting footage.  But I found it a bit hard to ge ta lot of detail about what exactly the game is.  But having read this interview, this part grabbed me:

GamesBeat: So Sword Coast Legends itself is almost like an old-fashioned Forgotten Realms boxed set? You’ll have other material coming out that builds on that set in the future? Is this right? 

Tudge: Yeah, it’s pretty close. We’ve often talked about — we hope that fans love this so much and play this so much that it becomes the Sword Coast saga in a lot of respects. We have a lot of stories to tell and a lot of places we’d like to visit, a lot of people we’d like to meet. I can see this going for as long as people keep playing. 

Stewart: I’d definitely like that. My ambition for this title from the beginning is for a new group of D&D players, when they talk about getting together and playing D&D this weekend and whatever campaign they’re doing, they’re talking about Sword Coast Legends. D&D is just the shorthand. It still has the DM and the player interaction and the crazy fun joking. But really capturing that essence and spirit. That kind of base set and then the modules that add on top of it and shape it, I love that analogy, because that’s what I see this game becoming, just a different version of that.

The interview is a little all over the place, but this is the basic breakdown as I understand it for the game's pitch:

• 1-4 player, isometric, real time tactical combat with pause.
• Modular, single player adventures will be released and available for purchase.
• Some of these adventures may mirror the thematic story that is current with D&D Adventurer's League, like the recent Tyranny of Dragons and the current Elemental Evil storyline.  
• Some future expansions will also include new races and classes.
• A DM mode by which you can stage your own adventures.
• Built upon 5e rules (I think!).  I'm not sure that they're going to show dice rolls and be that rooted in the rules.  But perhaps closer, I hope, that Neverwinter was to 4e rules?

All of that is pretty freaking exciting.  Here's more on the toolset:

GamesBeat: Are these going to be easier to use than the tools from the Neverwinter Nights games?
Tudge: I’m happy to say, absolutely yes. For me, the promise of what Neverwinter Nights offered was really exciting as a fan of D&D and a person who enjoys being a DM. Even before I worked at BioWare, I got in there and started working with those. I was a little disappointed. I come from an art background. I got in there and learned it, but I was a little — I was looking forward to something far more accessible, something that could get me creating adventures much quicker.
Right from the start, we’ve talked and made sure that is the case, that you can get together at 7 on a Friday night with your friends for a session and you can start in the lobby at the same time as the players and be DMing right away. You don’t have to spend a week preparing for the adventure. You certainly don’t have to be writing any complex scripting.
Stewart: Another point, you remember months ago now, you guys came out and we set up stations here at Wizards. We let everybody at Wizards who wanted to come in and play, whether they worked on Magic or Duel Masters or D&D, whether or not they were a DM. People who knew D&D but were not big video game people, definitely not any kind of technical people, jumped on and were DMing and having fun in five minutes. The whole team here was so impressed at how cool it was to be a DM, but also how you could really DM on the fly without having to have all kinds of crazy knowledge from the outside world.
Tudge: It was interesting, because initially, when you volunteer — when you have a group you’re demoing with and you let them play, nobody volunteers to be DM. Almost every time, one of the dev team ends up DMing. There’s this immediate intimidation. DMing has to be really complex, right? It has to be a lot of work. But I don’t even think the first dungeon run is even done before everyone is fighting over who gets to DM.

That's awesome.  Look at how successful the Neverwinter Nights games were!  Their toolsets were incredibly powerful, but there's no question that they required a massive time commitment to produce something suitable for play.  NWN2, in particular, with its terrain editing system, required incredible commitment to produce even a small module, even after one had mastered the toolset and scripting language.  Module authors have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours producing content.  What they can do is amazing, but I definitely think there is a big market for something that is easier to use.

The game, so far, reminds me a lot of a blend between Neverwinter (the MMO), the Neverwinter Nights series, and the Baldur's Gate games.  Neverwinter has the ongoing content releases that mirror current storylines.  It also has the Forge, a simplified toolset that allows users to build adventures for other users.  But it's set in an MMO world, which doesn't appeal to everyone--myself certainly included.  Here, we have a game that takes those good ideas, but converts them into a modern, isometric, single or multiplayer experience.

So, we have TONS of promise.  This is exciting.  It's right up my alley, and exactly the kind of game that I could go gaga over for years.  If they execute and deliver on what they're talking about, I am going to be desperate to give them all of my money.

The question, of course, will be how well the entire package is executed.  I'll be watching this one closely...but I'm old and jaded enough that I will most likely be waiting for the first reviews to come in before I purchase it.

Update: More Links
Article on PCGamesn - Excellent preview that helps flesh out some of the basic principles behind the game, though doesn't get into the plan for the future.

Mysteries of Westgate

I wanted to send out congrats to Alazander, Hugie, Challseus, Tiberius209, Maerduin, and everyone else from Ossian about the recent announcement of their upcoming module, Mysteries of Westgate! It sounds like it's going to be nothing short of spectacular, and I'm looking forward to seeing materials from it. It must be incredibly gratifying for individuals in that company to finally have been able to produce something that will actually result in a cash return...especially in light of the premium module debacle of '06.

Also have to say that I much prefer the "adventure pack" descriptor to the term "premium module." :)

....

As for me.. Well, what can I say? I just haven't had much time or interest to devote to anything NWN2 related for a while now, except for a fairly brief return last month. This includes a complete lack of progress, very unfortunately, on my Vault review of Ryam Baco's module, which is pretty poor form on my part--first time I've ever really sat on a review, and I'm feeling like a pretty bad person for it.

I don't have the NWN2 expansion pack yet, and I'm honestly not really feeling the urge to get it. I'm excited to hear about some of the modules that have come out lately, and are coming out soon, but at the same time I'm not feeling much motivation to get out there and play them. Hopefully things will improve in a few weeks when the World Series ends (I'm rootin' for the Rockies, in case you're interested...After '04, Boston is now just another rich team from the northeast). But at the same time, I don't have a ton of free time, and I want to spend it doing things that I'm excited about. Lately, that's mostly been baseball, as well as a few Wii/Gamecube games (recently picked up Tales of Symponia used...not sure if I like it yet...story seems intriguing and the art is nice, but it might require too much twichiness to be enjoyable).

Anyway, I certainly wouldn't be surprised to find myself back in the den playing NWN2 modules sometime in the next few weeks. But at the same time, it also wouldn't surprise me for it to be a while before I pick it up again. We'll see.

Thanks for visiting. I will try to continue to keep this space active, whether I'm posting about NWN2 or otherwise.

Maximus reports on his trip

Maximus has posted a report of his trip over to Obsidian a week or so back to check out Mask of the Betrayer. He also links to one by the tileset gurus at Robinson's Workshop, though I haven't had a chance to read that one just yet.

Interestingly, Rogue Dao studios also had a chance to demo their upcoming module at this meeting. I've long been a fanboy of the Planescape setting, and from Maximus's description, and everything else I'd seen from it, it really sounds amazing. I'm actually much more excited about playing their module than the actual expansion campaign... In fact, I'd probably be willing to hold off on purchasing the explansion to see if I could snag the expansion as a Christmas gift, except that Rogue Dao's module will require the expansion!

MOTB / Subtlety of Thay

In what was a surprise announcement to me (at least), Maximus posted tonight--after what apparently was a special Obsidian event for key community members--that Mask of the Betrayer has gone gold! Ship date in the US is scheduled for October 9th, which is less than a month away! I really had no idea that it was so close at hand. It really is pretty cool that Obsidian allowed folks like Maximus to get the word out prior to the official announcement.

With Mask comes a host of new monster models and other toolset goodies that should be a real boon for our community, which continues to churn out excellent-looking modules--including Enoa4's recent release of Tomoachan, and Hugie's soon to be released first chapter of Moonshadows!

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Also, in what was a freaking massive oversight, I neglected to highlight the induction of dirtywick's Subtlety of Thay into the Hall of Fame. SoT is among the top three or so modules available for NWN2, so he deserves all the kudos in the world for his induction. Here's an excerpt from my comments about his module:

Subtlety of Thay is a tremendous module that is easily among the top two or three mods I've played thus far for NWN2. It has a wonderful story. What begins as a simple fetch and retrieve quest becomes a problem of epic consequence, ultimately causing one's character to play a pivotal role in a conflict between two nations. That might sound a bit generic, but the details of what happens are very creative and engaging. There are a variety of interesting and well-developed characters that are deftly interwoven into the story as you progress through the module. Several of them become companions, at least for a time, and there is a great deal of well-done banter between party members, as well as between the PC and these NPC's. The plot is executed very well, with excellent pacing and good justification for almost everything that happens. The story is generally linear, especially once you get past the initial quest. That said, I almost never found that it felt railroaded, because the need for an urgent course of action was always justified by the story.

Arcane Scholar

The main feature in this week's update at Rob McGinnis's NWN2 blog is a feature on the arcane scholar prestige class. Here's the lowdown on the requirements/features of this class:

Requirements

• Skills: Spellcraft 8 ranks.
• Feats: Empower Spell, Skill Focus (Concentration), and Skill Focus (Spellcraft).
• Spellcasting: Able to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.

Class Features

• Hit Die: d4.
• Base Attack Bonus: Low.
• High Saves: Will.
• Weapon Proficiencies: Arcane Scholars gain no weapon proficiencies.
• Armor Proficiencies: Arcane Scholars gain no armor proficiencies.
• Skill Points: 2 + Int Modifier.
• Class Skills: Appraise, Concentration, Craft Alchemy, Diplomacy, Lore, Search and Spellcraft.
• Spells Per Day/Spells Known: When a new Arcane Scholar level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as though he had gained a level in whatever arcane spellcasting class gave him access to 3rd-level arcane spells. If the character has more than one applicable arcane spellcasting class, he must pick one to improve.
• Bonus Metamagic Feats: At 1st level, the Arcane Scholar gains the Maximize Spell feat. At 5th level, he gains the Quicken Spell feat.
• Spell Knowledge: At 2nd Level, the Arcane Scholar and any party members gain a +1 bonus to their saves versus spells. This bonus increases to +2 at 8th level.
• Improved Empower Spell: At 3rd level, the Arcane Scholar becomes especially adept at empowering spells. Empowered spells now only use a spell slot one level higher than the spell's actual level.
• Improved Maximize Spell: At 7th level, the Arcane Scholar becomes especially adept at maximizing spells. Maximized spells now only use up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell's actual level.
• Improved Quicken Spell: At 10th level, the Arcane Scholar becomes especially adept at quickening spells. Quickened spells now only use up a spell slot three levels higher than the spell's actual level.

All I can say is wow. There's usually some sort of disadvantage that goes along with becoming a particular prestige class rather than keeping your "pure" class, but I'm not really seeing one here aside from the requirement of taking those skill focus feats. And the payoff is huge. "Free" maximize and quicken feats at level one make up for the "lost" skill focus feats, but the improved empower, maximize, and quicken spells are an enormous advantage--especially for blaster sorcerers. I'm sure this will be a popular prestige class, probably more so in the long run than the Red Wizard of Thay.

(Portrait by wyldcat)

1.07 Patch Preview - Premonition

The big item of significance in Rob McGinnis's post this week at the official NWN2 blog are the patch notes for 1.07. This is the first "named" patch, and it will be interesting to see if that's a new trend that we see moving forward. If nothing else, the time delay in getting this one out the door justifies treating it in a special manner. Since 1.03, the patch by which all others must be judged, Obsidian has been operating on an approximate 2 month timetable for its patch releases. Nevertheless, it looks like 1.07 is going to come closer to three months since the release of the 1.06 patch.

I usually avoid doing this before the actual release. But things have been a bit slow around my house lately in terms of nwn2 activities (or gaming activities, period--everything else is busy!!), here are some of the highlights of the upcoming 1.07 patch, at least from my perspective:

Character Mode and Strategy Mode – In advance of the release of the Mask of the Betrayer expansion pack this September, we’ve included one of the major new revisions we’ve made to the camera and control modes. Now, the four camera modes (Top Down, Chase, Driving and Free Camera) have been consolidated into two modes that are more configurable and clearer to use than the old modes – Character Mode and Strategy Mode.

This was something none of us really expected to see until the release of Mask. But given how much grief Obsidian took with regards to its camera systems in the initial release, it makes sense to roll this out early and work through any issues before the expansion is actually subjected to evaluation by review magazines.

Overall, this feature seems more like a streamlining of the options for less experienced gamers than a real change in feature set--I have a feeling that my experiences in game will feel absolutely identical to my current camera scheme (Top Down view). But I do like that there are additional customization features available, which might let me optimize things a bit better. I'm also hopeful that some of the "jumpiness" of the camera near some placeables -- especially walls a buildings -- will be less of an issue with the new camera. But I won't hold my breath.

* Marquee/Multi-Selection Revamp – Marquee and Multi-selection have been dramatically improved to make controlling a full party much easier. You can see the new improvements to Marquee and Multi-selection in the new Strategy Mode.

I'll be interested to see what happens with the multi-selection stuff. I'm pretty happy with just having my companions follow my selected character. But it might be nice to occasionally have a party control style that is closer to that from the Infinity games.

* Party AI On/Off Button – There is now a button on the main game UI, next to the rest button, that will toggle the entire party’s AI on or off.

This sounds like a great little feature. Every so often, especially when setting up for a big fight, or sometimes even during big fights, I have to "disable" AI by telling everyone to stand their ground so that I can set people where I want them. My hopes is that this will make this process a bit easier. Not a big deal, but it could be something I use every five hours or so when playing.

* Bronze Dragon - New Creature! The Bronze Dragon creature has been added to the Toolset, so expect him to show up in new community content as well as Mask of the Betrayer.

This isn't new, as we've already seen screenies of this beastie--and I still think the mantra about there not being enough dragons is way overblown given our ability to tint the models we already have--but I'm always a fan of new monsters being added to the toolset.

* A Creature Appearance Wizard has been added. This will allow you to change the appearance of spawned creatures and creature blueprints, including race, gender, armor and armor attachments. This feature can be accessed by right clicking on a creature or blueprint entry. NOTE: This feature is currently in Beta, and there are plans to improve its functionality.

This is a big deal, and patches a major hole in the default toolset. It is true that Grinning Fool's plugin was a fine alternative, but there was no excuse for this not existing in the stock toolset from the get-go. I'll be interested to see how many features it currently has, and how their development of it goes over the next several patches.

* A new custom skydome system has been added to the toolset, allowing users to replace the NWN2 skies with skydomes of their own creating.

Skydomes were mentioned in a previous news posting, but again this should be a great feature that really improves what modders can do with the exterior areas.

* The distance a DM can zoom out has been greatly increased.

I'm not into multiplayer, so it's hard for me to know how much the DM improvements really extend the DM client. But this one is interesting, because one thing I often would like to do is zoom out further as a player. I realize this might make me take a fps hit, but I'm hopeful that I'll nevertheless have that option with the new cameras.

* Pasting encounter triggers with spawn points no longer crashes the Toolset.

This sounds like one of the bugs that I know several builders have had trouble with--not just the crashes, but the resulting corruption. I'm hopeful that this will solve that particular problem. Toolset crashing and module corruption continues to be perhaps the biggest problem with Neverwinter Nights 2.

Overall, this is one of the meatier patches we've had since 1.03. I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl once it's released...assuming that life has slowed down a bit by then!!

NWN2 News

Through a combination of working through orientation week, a cold that knocked me out for about 4 days, and a bit (though not as much as I'd like) of console gaming, I haven't had time to do anything Neverwinter in a while. Fortunately, the community has hardly been standing still! Here are some highlights of the news:

Granny Released!

I'm massively late in reporting on this, but Obsidian released their Granny plugin on 10 August, which allows users to export animated models from 3dsMax that will work in NWN2.

I don't have the slightest clue how any of that works, but fortunately, there are folks in our community do! Amraphael (of Neverwinter Zork fame), one of the more resourceful builders in the community, immediately used it to create an animated trap door--one of the first things that I remember discovering in the original game. I don't see much on the Vault yet that makes use of this tool, but with the advent of the new contest (see below), I'm sure we'll see more in the near future.

NWN2 for Macintosh

With a hat tip to QSW, who hat tipped Lucky Day, it looks like there may be a Macintosh version of NWN2 in the future. This is terrific news, as it could greatly expand the population of players in our community. Mac users constituted an important minority of players in NWN1, even though the lack of a toolset prevented them from participating as builders. Let's hope that this NWN2 conversion provides them with a stable toolset in addition to a great game!

Modules, Ho!

There have been a slew of good-looking modules released over the past few weeks:

• Dark Avenger by Wyrin_D -- Looks to be the best work yet by NWN2's most prolific author, it's out of beta and has gotten a warm reception.
  
• Asylum: A Corpse, a Vote by Ryam Baco -- continues the story of the weird psychological thriller, A Bet, A Corpse. How in the world does this not yet have 10 votes?? (and yes, I'm at fault, sorry)
  
• Conan Chronicles 1 - Legions of the Dead by John McA -- The first NWN2 module by McA, who the author behind the epic and wildly popular Sands of Fate series (among others) for NWN1. You get to be Conan! Who doesn't like the thought of that!? While the scoring hasn't been as high as a mod like Nestlehaven, this module has already gotten 27 votes in just one week, which tells you it's been darn popular.
• The Corruption of Kiahoro by human_male -- Promising 12 hours of gameplay, this module, which was just released yesterday, looks like it has been the result of a lot of work. Looking forward to seeing the reaction to this one.
• Edit (MASSIVE OMISSION): Pool of Radiance 2 by Markus "Wayne" Schlegel -- The sequel to one of the better modules yet released on the vault. This is going to be high on my playlist when I return.
  

A New Contest!

The winners of the fan art contest have been announced, but I wanted to give them a separate posting. So I'll move on to the next contest, which focuses on custom content. From Rob's blog, here are the categories:

• Creature/Monster (requires animations)
• Weapons
• Buildings (can have animations if you like, such as a swinging sign, but don't have to)
• Placeables (can have animations, but don't have to)
• Clothing/Armor
• Props & Miscellaneous (equipable items that don't fit into any specific category - such as books and bouquets of flowers)

Really looking forward to the results of this contest! With three months to work with, content creators should have plenty of time to put together high quality entries. I'm particularly keen to see what happens in the creature/monster category, because custom creatures were an area in which the NWN1 community really excelled.

I'm starting to feel the Neverwinter itch once again, but I think I'm close to finishing final fantasy tactics... Once that happens, look out!

Obsidian Blog Update - Skydomes and Sounds

After a weeks' hiatus, Rob McGinnis was back posting to his blog yesterday. There were two significant pieces of news.

First, was the announcement of support for custom skydomes in the new expansion. This feature should help builders when they're using exterior areas but do not want the standard sunny day or starry night up in the sky. Maerduin mentioned these his most recent post, and they do offer some great opportunities--I can imagine that we might see some brilliant cutscenes if the sunsets he mentioned are ever implemented. Skyboxes were certainly a popular custom content feature in NWN1--I remember Hugie making great use of them in his modules.

The post also features some previews of some of the new sound sets for spellcasting. With the exception of the Warlock's spells, all spellcasting chants in NWN2 were originally taken straight from the original game. They work really well, but I'll be glad to have some new ones to listen to. The samples they provided sound a bit...well...silly without the swirling magic noises that typically accompany casting, but I'm sure they'll sound better in context. The Mass Fowl spell is pretty humorous in concept, though I worry that I might get a bit tired of hearing that particular chant if I use it with any frequency...especially the laugh at the end of it.

They also posted some screenshots of the new camera GUI. I'm with Maerduin in that I'm pretty happy with the current camera controls right now. But this new system seems like it will abolish some of the redundancy and complexity associated with the current four cameras, while at the same time giving users a bit more control. As long as the end result is basically identical to what I"m currently using, I'll be happy. Here's the strategy mode screenie:
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Finally, while this isn't related to McGinnis's post, I wanted to send out some props to Amraphael. In the process of creating his ZORK module, he has created some awesome custom content that he is already releasing to the vault. These include a wonderful "birdies" visual effect, as well as a gorgeous rainbow. I can't wait to see these in game.

It's just so refreshing to see someone taking the initiative to personally produce any content needs he might have in terms of content in the game, rather than just complain about how Obsidian hasn't given them enough monsters/placeables/whatever. I'm sure we'll see more of that once the Granny tool is released, allowing folks to make animated custom content. But, for whatever reason, it's been fairly rare thus far.

Anyway, major props to Amraphael--looking forward to your module!

Gametrailer Mask of the Betrayer Video - Treants!

Thanks to the heads up by QSW at NWVault, I watched the Gametrailer MotB video this evening. It shows a character wandering about a snowy terrain (using snow textures), fighting off some of the baddies that live in that area. The white of the snow is a bit over-saturated, so it's hard to see the detail of the texture very well, though I'm sure that this has to do with how the video was captured more than the actual game's graphics. The video clip also shows the mountainous area we saw in Feargus's video earlier this month, which Nathanial Chapman (the Obsidian rep) identified as being a location in Thay. The combat seemed fairly boring, with Wyverns going down as fast as Gnolls, but I'm sure this was mostly likely due to the fact that they're demoing the game with an overpowered character.

The coolest part of the video, however, were the close-ups we get of four new creature types: the two-headed Fell Troll, the Shambling Mound, the Wyvern and the Treant. They all look great. This is the first time I've seen anything indicating that a Treant will be among the new creature models, and it makes the Tolkien fan in me happen. It looked a bit small for my tastes (about the size of the 7-year old Ash tree in my back yard), but the toolset's scaling features make that an easy fix for builders.

Thanks to gametrailer's easy embedding features, here's the video if you haven't already watched it:


The above Treant image was by Leo Winstead. Here's some other Treant art from around the web:

Warlord: Treant


Thornwode Deeps: The Treant by Stephanie Pui-Man Law


Blasted Treant by Tom Galambos:

Treant by Denmark


And, of course, the brilliant Treant model by DLA's Elryn for NWN1:

Feargus Interview

I spent 15 minutes watching the E3 Mask of the Betrayer Gamespot video just now. There's not a ton of new information, but a few highlights:

• The character customization options with the Genasi look pretty fun. They show one of the water genasi's hair syles, which essentially looks like cephalopod tentacles sticking out of one's head. Not that I get that excited about character appearance, but it should make the multiplayer crowd happy. :)
  
• The new camera settings look promising. They don't seem all that revolutionary, but if they did more to prevent the camera zoom from darting around in top-down mode, I'd be pleased. It also looks to me like you can zoom out farther in top-down mode (or, as it's now called, strategy mode), which should be really nice.
  
• If you fast forward to 11:30 or so, you get a fairly long look at a Wyvern in the distance. Unfortunately, Feargus decides to fight Gnolls instead, so we don't get to see it in action. But the passive animation is neat, with its tail darting back and forth. :)

Update: In the new screenshots at IGN UK, there's a shot of a great looking golem(?). It's great to see some of the new creature models that will be in the game, as they should prove extremely helpful to builders:

Obsidian supporting its contest / Wyverns!

I'm making it a weekly habit to report on Obsidian's blog entries, but they've just been so good this past month.

First, the lead feature had to do with Obsidian's fan art contest. I think it's wonderful that Obsidian is doing this mid-term feature on their contest, as it's something that a lot of community members wished they'd done more of during the module contest. There are still a few weeks left for you artistic-types out there, so be sure to get your entries in.

Second, they released a new screenshot of one of the new monster models that will appear in Mask of the Betrayer--a Wyvern (pictured top right). Pretty amazing looking critter--I'm looking forward to seeing it in game! :) It is a bit different of a design than we saw from DLA in Wyvern Crown of Cormyr (below). More avian than reptilian (though aves is technically a clade within reptilia, of course...).

Update:
I decided to grab some more pictures of Wyverns from around the 'net, just because I think they're neat creatures:

Wyvern Hunting by Donato Giancola:

Ochogames:
Draconika:

Another Wyvern:

Bronze Dragons & Console Commands

I meant to post about this when it happened, but forgot. Anyway, Rob McGinnis posted yet another really exciting update to his blog this week.

The piece of info that has gotten the most attention is the surprising addition of Bronze Dragons to the toolset as of patch 1.07. There has been a lot of criticism of the fact that only two dragons were included in the original release. I've always found that a bit of a strange criticism--the tinting and scaling capabilities of the toolset allow you to do an awful lot with the two models that are available, and I'd much rather have them flesh out some of the other underrepresented monster categories (golems, shapechangers, etc) than focus on more dragons. But whatever, I'm certainly not complaining about getting free content. This should make a lot of people happy--and it is a gorgeous model.

Perhaps more important, however, was the news of a number of new DM commands that will be available in the next patch. I think this means that these will be available in the in-game console under DebugMode, as well as the DM client. The reason that is so important is because these were among those commands that will be added:

dm_getvarfloat : Returns the value of the specified variable.
dm_getvarint : Returns the value of the specified variable.
dm_getvarobject : Returns the value of the specified variable.
dm_getvarstring : Returns the value of the specified variable.
dm_giveXP : Gives the specified amount of XP to the current target.
dm_givegold : Gives the specified amount of gold to the current target.
dm_god : Turn player character invincible.
dm_jumptopoint : Jump to the specified points. Syntax is: float float.
dm_setfaction : Your current target will have its faction set to the one specified in the command line.
dm_setfactionreputation : Where: faction1 and faction2 are the names of factions. x is an integer value indicating the value to set the reputation value to. Description: This function will set the reputation value for how faction2 feels about faction1 (0 is hostile, 100 is friendly).
dm_setvarfloat : Sets variable specified to the given value.
dm_setvarint : Sets variable specified to the given value.
dm_setvarobject : Sets variable specified to the given value.
dm_setvarstring : Sets variable specified to the given value.

These, particularly the dm_setvar* series, are absolutely essential for players, as they allow us to get around occasional variable-related bugs in modules. They don't happen often, but I still probably used them 10-15 times in modules over the past few years. Without these commands, I'd otherwise have to reload from an earlier part of the module, or even worse, restart from scratch. This is a big improvement--kudos to Obsidian!

Rob's NWN2 Blog: Genasi & Purgatorio

Pretty amazing update today on Rob McGinnis' Official NWN2 Blog. I'll highlight two items that caught my fancy.

First, he has more detailed info on the Genasi, the new playable race(s) in the upcoming expansion. All seem to get a penalty to Charisma, which makes them unsuitable for some classes. I'm guessing (I could probably look this up) that they will also feature an ECL penalty. But still, they could be interesting races to play. I'd be particularly excited if someone decided to do a Genasi-specific module at some point. That could be extremely cool.

Second, he posted some screenshots from Rogue Dao Studios' upcoming module, Purgatorio. They apparently have custom monsters in game, including the much-needed Slaads. I think they look awesome, particularly the Green Slaad. Can't wait to see them animated--and I can't wait to start hacking them up. :D This continues to look like it will be the biggest community release of the year.

More on the Red Wizard

One of the highest-profile additions that will be coming with the expansion class is the new Red Wizard of Thay prestige class. In the NWN2 blog yesterday, Rob McGinnis gave the lowdown on how they will be implementing it:

Requirements: The Red Wizard prestige class requires that you be human and have any non-good alignment. You must have 8 ranks in the Spellcraft skill and at least one metamagic feat or item creation feat (other than scribe scroll). Other feats you must have are Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration, too. On top of all that you must be a specialist wizard with the ability to cast at least 3rd level arcane spells.

Class Features: The Red Wizard uses the d4 Hit Die, just like a normal wizard and has a low base attack bonus (BAB). Her high save is Will. Red Wizards gain no armor or weapon proficiencies and gain 2 skill points, plus intelligence modifier, per level in skill points.

The special features a Red Wizard gains are as follows (not listed in any particular order):

1. Red Wizards continue to gain spells per level as though gaining a level in Wizard.
2. Enhanced Specialization: Upon becoming a Red Wizard, the character becomes even more skilled at casting spells from his chosen school of specialization.
3. Specialist Defense: A Red Wizard gains a bonus to defending against schools from his specialist school.
4. Spell Power: The Red Wizard's effective caster level for determining level-dependent variable checks is increased by +1.
5. Wizard Bonus Feat: Red Wizards gain a bonus metamagic or item creation feat.

Overall, it looks like a nice option for neutral and evil specialist wizards looking for something a bit different. Unlike the Pale Master, I don't think there's any sort of delay in caster level, so this seems like a nice alternative. The enhanced specialization might be really powerful for an illusionist or an enchanter, and the spell power boost is handy. That said, I don't think it's going to result in the feeling that you're significantly different from a normal wizard--but at least you get to be a Red Wizard!

The graphic, by the way, is an excellent collage/paint job by relsh (note, this is not a contest submission).

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Life's been pretty busy, and my university was in the College World Series recently, which means I haven't played NWN2 in about 5 days. I'm nearing the end of Subtlety of Thay, and hope to finish it up tonight. Fun mod. Comments on that to follow.

Obsidian Fan Art Contest

With the conclusion of the first Obsidian competition, we have another to follow:

Due to the fun we had with the mod-building contest, we are announcing a Fan Art contest for the non-builders.

There will be two categories that a person may enter:

First Category: Your favorite NWN2 Companion (Khelgar, Neeshka, etc.) or NPC (Lord Nasher, King of Shadows, etc.)

Second Category: Your favorite NWN2 creature or monster.

Submissions are due July 31st, so folks have plenty of time to work on their entries. There could be a potentially really cool prize associated with winning. From Rob:

...I am toying with the idea of the winner(s) artwork being added as a placeable piece of art in game. We would get the artist's permission for that, of course... and no guarantees that will happen.

I'm sure almost any community artist would be thrilled to have this happen. Kudos to Rob for thinking of it, as it immediately makes this contest seem far more interesting. Even if it doesn't happen officially, I think that converting these submissions to placeables could be a really cool project for some enterprising custom contest creator out there. :D

It should be a fun contest, and I'm looking forward to decorating my blog with the submissions. :)

Speaking of which, here's the first (unofficial) entry thus far, an entertaining little comic by SuiSa2006 from the official forums:

Patch 1.06 Released

Just over two months since the previous patch, Obsidian has released patch 1.06 (hat tip to Maximus). Their target cycle seems to be a patch every other month, and in general, they've hit their mark each time since 1.03. Here's the past history:

• Nov 1 - NWN2 in stores, patch 1.01 released.
• Nov 9 - 1.02 patch (more of a hotfix than a real patch)
  
• Dec 4 - 1.03 patch (very significant performance improvements)
  
• Jan 30 - 1.04 patch (mostly user interface issues)
  
• Feb 8 - 1.04 hotfix
  
• April 11 - 1.05 patch (AI, scripting, mouse-over health status)
  
• June 12th - 1.06 patch
  

Kudos, as always, to Obsidian for continued support of and improvements to the game.

Looking over the patch notes, here are a few highlights that look useful to me:

Custom Content

• Several new UI customizability features. Among them, users can now set textures on UI objects via script, and users can set the state of progress bars via script.

This could result in some amazing UI modifications in modules. We've yet to see any published modules that really take advantage of the ability to have re-skinned UI's, but Rogue Dao's Purgatorio, which is currently in internal beta, apparently is doing this.

• Placeables now have an OnClick event. This event will fire whenever a user clicks a placeable, regardless of whether the user can currently path to it.

I can see this resolving a number of minor but occasional issues builders have in which they want users to try to use an object, but need to place that object in a place that is not accessible.

Toolset

• Undo and Redo now work for Terrain, Grass, and Water painting.

If this works as advertised, it could be a godsend. There also appear to be several improvements to the tools used to shape height maps. I haven't messed with that enough to know how important these changes might turn out to be. Jclef, winner of the Obsidian mod contest, indicates that the new flattening tool is very useful.

General

• Specular Lighting has been improved. Shiny objects should now look better than before.

I'll see if I notice any difference once I update. I never thought that shiny objects, like armor, were too dull, so hopefully they didn't over-correct a problem here.

• Trees and Objects that fade no longer lose their directional light shadow when faded out.

This is a nice improvement, and should fix something that I occasionally find distracting and disorienting when I'm exploring environments.

Effects/Spells/Domains

• Bestow Curse now reduces all of the target’s ability scores by 3 rather than 2.
• Energy Drain no longer allows a saving throw.

These changes might make me tempted to actually use these spells. I've previously never found them very useful.

• The Turn Undead ability will now function properly.

I noticed a lot of inconsistency in the effectiveness of turn undead when playing Keep on the Borderlands, so perhaps this bug is what was happening.

As with most patches, I'll probably wait to patch until I'm forced to do so in case there are any problems that arise. Although, if I decide to play a cleric or paladin character, I might go ahead and update just to get whatever benefits are associated with the bug fix for turn undead.

Mouse-over Health Status!

As I played through Dark Waters and The Birthday the last couple of nights, I noticed a small but substantial improvement to the NWN2 user interface that goes back to a beef I had about the game from the moment I started playing: mouse-over health status for all NPC's has been added! Here's a screenie of it in action:
Here, my mouse cursor is hoving over the "Unseelie," and it reveals his approximate health status. This is how NWN1 worked, but it was initially absent from NWN2. Prior to this improvement, the only way to discover a character's health status was to right-click on that character. There was no quick way to assess the health of a large number of foes in the middle of battle. And now there is! While it's a little thing, this already has greatly improvement my comfort with the game--and has decreased the clicking I've had to do!

I guess this was an addition in the 1.05 patch, but I didn't see mention of it in the patch notes. Kudos to Obsidian for making it happen.