Welcome to The Dragon’s Village (TDV). This module is situated in a custom Asian setting of my own creation. The setting contains an amalgam of Japanese and Chinese elements. I must preface these comments by noting that I am not an expert in these cultures by any means, although I did teach the history of both regions back in my days as a history instructor. However, I think you will find adventuring in this setting to be an interesting variation from the more “traditional” Neverwinter Nights settings.
This module relies upon hak packs to integrate the new content that makes this setting unique. You will need to download and extract the following hak files into your NWN/HAK directory to play:
The Community Expansion Pack (CEP), latest version (same one we’ve been using). In case you need to get it again it’s at https://neverwintervault.org/project/nw ... -23-cep-24.
Coulisfu’s Oriental Haks. These haks include:
Oriental Rural Tileset v.3
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nw ... l-rural-v3
Oriental Interiors 1.1
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nw ... riors-v-11
Oriental Doors 1.0
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nw ... ding-doors
The Setting
The Dragon’s Village is set in and around a tiny village in a remote region. While nominally under the sovereignty of one of the great noble lords that rule this land under the leadership of a feudal Emperor, in practice the humble people of this settlement live their lives in relative isolation. Twice a year the agent of the lord comes to the village, to collect taxes and dispense justice, and traveling merchants and peddlers sometimes visit, but most of the time the villagers’ world is their neighbors and the land from which they extract a sparse existence.
The village is adjoined by an ancient holy place, the Monastery of the Four Paths, where monks and shugenja holy men seek esoteric truths. A wizard, or wu jen, is known to live in a tower on the edge of the Forest of Na to the south. The villagers avoid this forest and the deeper Wood of Secrets to the northeast, for both are places of mystery and spiritual power, best left undisturbed. A tribe of lion-men are known to dwell in the latter forest, but they do not bother the villagers, so they are content to return the favor.
It is a humble place, but it is also a place with its own slice of history and significance. The village draws its name from its most famous product, a man who left his rural origins to fight in the armies of the great lords, rising through talent and determination until he drew the notice of the Emperor. The man, whose name has been forgotten to time, is now known only by the name he took in his service as the Emperor’s most skilled general: the Dragon. The man who had begun life as a peasant rose to the status of a great lord, his name entered in the Book of the Hundred Families. When he finally died, at the conclusion of a long and victorious campaign, his final testament asked only that he be entombed not in the great and hallowed halls of the honored dead in the Palace City of the Emperor, but in the humble surroundings of his homeland. This was centuries ago. To the villagers of today, the Tomb of the Dragon is just another local landmark that holds ancient secrets best left undisturbed.
It is a world of constant struggle to survive, but also a world of magic and wonders.
Character Creation Guide
This module uses some variant rules for character creation. Characters should be created according to the following guidelines; if you have other ideas or questions please feel free to contact the DM. Players that enter the server with characters in violation of these guidelines will be asked to create a new character.
Character Races
While there are many strange and unusual races of creatures present in this setting, demi-human races are much rarer here than in the Forgotten Realms. There are five races eligible for player selection during character creation:
- Humans: the standard race of this setting.
- Half-Elves: pureblooded elves are known as the “spirit folk” in this setting. They live in wild, isolated areas far from “civilized” human settlement, and are a mystery to most humans. Pureblooded elves are not permitted as a player character race, but players may play a mixed-breed human with some spirit folk ancestry. It is said by some that in past centuries there was greater contact between the two races, resulting in bloodlines that have some admixture of the two races. They appear to be humans at casual observation, but some have hints of their blended heritage, such as oddly colored eyes or slightly altered features.
- Builders (dwarves): also known as “stone people”, the Builders are a rare but important race in this setting. They spend most of their time in their communities deep underground, although some will occasionally head up to the surface for a period of wandering, selling their exceptional skill with stone and metal. Some Builder communities have arrangements with the powerful noble families of the land, completing construction projects for them in exchange for gifts of other goods that they take back to their tunnels. Builders are typically taciturn and stoic; the stereotype of the raucous, ale-swilling, foul-mouthed dwarf does not apply in this setting. Also, unlike most standard dwarves, Builders quite frequently have little or no facial hair (though you may certain choose a facial model with a long beard if you wish). Most Builders found aboveground are fighters, monks, or shungenja. Players who wish to play a builder character should select a gray or dark brown skin color.
- Fey-Touched (gnomes, halflings): the power of the fey infuses the natural world of this setting. While most of the fey treat little with the lives of common humans, there are many stories (especially in rural areas) of fey who develop a fascination with human beings. Occasionally the fey will kidnap a man or woman for a time, bringing them back to their community for as little as an hour or as long as a decade. No one is sure what happens during these abductions, as those taken return with no memory of them, but one result of these events are the half-human, half-fey offspring that occasionally appear. These “fey-touched” are uncommon in the countryside and almost unheard of in towns and cities, for the simpler folk that live in the rural regions are much more likely to perceive (and be perceived by) the fey. Most fey-touched have little contact with their fey heritage; the fey seem willing to forget about these children soon after their birth, and leave them to their human parents to raise. The way that these unusual people are treated varies on the community; most in rural communities are treated with at least cautious respect, lest the local fey become angry and retaliate with tricks and magic. The fey-touched are likely to experience more racism in towns and cities, where there are fewer dealings with the fey in general. There are two sorts of fey-touched.
- Gnomes: Those individuals with the blood of the natural spirits of the land or the water in their veins are commonly referred to as the “earthfey”. These are represented by NWN gnomes.
- Halflings: In contrast to the earthfey, the “anaima” often have the flighty personalities of the winds and the flame from which they are descended, and are represented by NWN halflings.