Interview Witchworks Q&A on Homelan

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Neverwinter Nights: Witch's Wake

<A href="http://www.homelanfed.com/">HomeLAN Fed</a> has sat down with <b>Rob Bartel</b> to <a href="http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=10150">interview</a> him on <a href="http://nwn.bioware.com/downloads/module_witchworkstat.html">Witchworks</a>, the free module that <A href="http://www.bioware.com">BioWare</a> is working on for <A href="http://nwn.bioware.com">NWN</a> that will supposedly offer more role playing than the module that shipped with it. Here's a sample:
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<blockquote>HomeLAN - What can you tell us about the storyline for Witchwork?
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Rob Bartel - It's a much darker storyline, perhaps more in keeping with what we did for Baldur’s
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Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. The game starts with you regaining consciousness in the midst of a raging battle, unable to remember what has brought you to this point. With his dying words, your prince instructs you to "Tell the king that she is dead." When you next awake, the battle is over and you find yourself surrounded by the corpses of the fallen. In short, the basic story structure is that of a mystery thriller. Who was this prince? Who is the "she" he refers to? What were you doing here and where is this king you must return to? Who, if anyone, can you trust? While I have some ideas about what some of those answers might be, I'm taking a good Dungeon Master's approach: let the players find their own answers and then start weaving those into the story.</blockquote>
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I just wanted to say that I really like <A href="http://www.homelanfed.com/">HomeLAN Fed</a>. It's a great site, and that <b>JCal</b> guy really busts his hump to provide all he can for the site.
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[Ibbz]

I thought this was particularly interesting.......

HomeLAN - What other new gameplay features and content will be in the free module?



Rob Bartel - Gosh, I've got new gameplay features all over the place and I spent my initial month doing a complete overhaul of a lot of the systems found in the Official Campaign. Death has been completely rewritten, for instance. It will all make sense and be explained in-game but the basics are that you have a limited number of lives and that you will respawn to the most recent checkpoint. I've also changed the experience system so that players are rewarded for solving problems or progressing the plot rather than for wandering off to kill random monsters or townsfolk. For instance, if the player needs to get past a guard and into a certain room, they'll get XP for entering the room, not for killing the guard. Killing the guard is one means of getting into the room but it's no more or less valid than sneaking past him, bluffing him in conversation, casting a sleep spell on him, or using your familiar to lure him from his patrols. When it comes to conversation, Witchwork will also include a new system that significantly expands the pretty simple [Persuade] option found in the Official Campaign. You'll now be able to use Barbarian Rage or brute strength to intimidate someone, cast Charm Person to obtain a favor or use your Dexterity to snap their neck before they raise an alarm. In total there are something like 20+ different checks you can make in the new system and it's fairly easy to add new ones as required.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Gosh, I've got new gameplay features all over the place and I spent my initial month doing a complete overhaul of a lot of the systems found in the Official Campaign. Death has been completely rewritten, for instance. It will all make sense and be explained in-game but the basics are that you have a limited number of lives and that you will respawn to the most recent checkpoint.

*cough*

You have LIVES now? Like an arcade game?

Even Guanlet doesn't have that.

I've also changed the experience system so that players are rewarded for solving problems or progressing the plot rather than for wandering off to kill random monsters or townsfolk. For instance, if the player needs to get past a guard and into a certain room, they'll get XP for entering the room, not for killing the guard. Killing the guard is one means of getting into the room but it's no more or less valid than sneaking past him, bluffing him in conversation, casting a sleep spell on him, or using your familiar to lure him from his patrols.

This I like.

When it comes to conversation, Witchwork will also include a new system that significantly expands the pretty simple [Persuade] option found in the Official Campaign. You'll now be able to use Barbarian Rage or brute strength to intimidate someone, cast Charm Person to obtain a favor or use your Dexterity to snap their neck before they raise an alarm. In total there are something like 20+ different checks you can make in the new system and it's fairly easy to add new ones as required.

This I like as well.. However, it sounds like one of those promises they offered up about the original NWN compaign that never actually occured.