Campaign Spotlight: Urk's Greyhawk
What is the inspiration for the development of your campaign?
That's easy. Tolkien. Just like, I'd guess 80% of DM's?
I read The Hobbit in 3 days and The Lord of the Rings in 2 weeks when I was in 8th grade. I mean... It's the perfect story. It's a sweeping epic of mortal men struggling against immortal evil. I know the lawyers say otherwise but I think it goes without saying that Tolkien was the inspiration for the entire genre.
The Steven Donaldson trilogy was a strong influence on me too. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant it was called. Good and evil are still palpable forces in constant conflict, but in Donaldson the line between them is much more nebulous. It's a very adult read. If you're looking for a bedtime story for the kids I'd look elsewhere.
Another favorite of mine was Pawn of Prophesy and The Belgariad. God only knows how many books were in that series, but I read every single one of them. This is a good read for the kiddies, by the way. The characters are extraordinary. Rich and diverse. The Belgariad is required reading for anyone writing henchman conversations.
What is the Setting?
The campaign is set in the city of Rel Mord, the capital city of the Kingdom of Nyrond. It's a struggling city on the cusp of prosperity. The Greyhawk Wars which ravished the kingdom and drained it's coffers are over. It's incompetent and unpopular King has stepped down and his son is proving a just and capable ruler.
I seriously considered setting my Campaign in Middle Earth. Bree would make a great start point for a fourth age middle earth campaign, but in the end there was Gary Gygax. I played D&D from my first year of high school all the way through college. That's why I decided on Greyhawk. To me Greyhawk is every much a part of D&D as the players handbook. Perhaps It's my geek version of a mid-life crisis, but it's meant a lot to me recapturing those heady days of Hall of the Fire Giant King and Tomb of Horrors.
When did you change focus from D&D to NWN?
I didn't. I stopped playing D&D years before NWN came out.
I played D&D for what? Ten years? Then my life got crazy with work and women and rent and what all else that forces a young man to back-closet his books. After a few moves I just lost them.
It was another 10 years before NWN came along. I didn't even finish the OC before I cracked open the toolset. It combines my love of computers with my love of gaming. It's my perfect game.
My first mod sucked. It's repairable and it's still on my hard drive, so it may yet make it onto the vault, but I didn't know how to script when I started it, and I didn't have a lot of time to work on it. That's what it taught me though. Scripting. You really can't build a decent module without scripting.
Anyway, I met Miss Right a few years ago, and my life changed again. Suddenly I had time to game again. All that time I used to spend in bars finds me either with her or at my desk modding. So I started a new Mod. When it was ready I started looking for players. Now here we are.
By the way... I married her, so if we have kids I may just have to drop the campaign and go back to just modding for a year or four. But for now I have social gaming time and I intend to use it.
Can you give us an overview of the campaign?
Sure. The campaign is about 2 years old, and we're just coming out of a 4 month hiatus. I've spent the time updating the campaign to the 1.69 patch.
We play twice a month on Tuesday nights at 8PM EST. Games can last 2-3 hours.
It's NWN1. Rel Mord is a custom build and I just don't have time to deal with the NWN2 toolset. I also don't like the NWN2 DM client. For my purposes NWN1 is just a better tool.
I'm a real stickler for RP and work pretty hard to give the game a PNP flavor. That means resting restrictions, bleeding, and most notoriously... perma-death. There's a lot of combat for an RP based game, but because of the perma-death rules I'm careful to scale it down. I use combat as a setting for the game, not a focus of it.
All players start at level one. The highest level PC in the game is currently 6th. I don't like auto-leveling. New characters level quickly when they are with higher level characters... if they can stay alive. That's part of the challenge of the game, and that's part of the characters coming of age. So yes... when you're just off the farm it might be best to hang back and use your sling for a while.
Any Slots available for your Campaign?
Yep. 3 so far.
I'm always looking for new players. I try to keep my games "open server", but I favor regulars over drop ins. My favorite party size is 5, and I currently have four hardcore regulars, but I usually allow for 7-9 characters per game depending on whether or not I have a backup DM. Anyone looking to join up should PM me to my Neverwinter Connections nickname, "Urk" and I'll send you my game announcements.
Do you use Haks?
I use haks. I LOVE haks. I try to avoid them, but sometimes a hak is needed to tell the story. I always reserve the right to add new tilesets and haks as needed. One of the biggest advantages of NWN1 is it's abundance of custom content. A builder can REALLY spread his wings with NWN1. The epitome of this is the D20 Modern Haks. Once I wrap up this campaign I'm seriously considering working on a scripted D20 Multi Player module with a Silent Hill/Survival horror flavor.
I swear by the Community Expansion Pack and Community Creature Pack. Both are required haks for my campaign. I also use Maxam's Classic Dungeon Tileset. I hate the bioware default dungeon.
What do you think makes a game fun?
The players. My job is just to give them a good story and a rich and immersive environment to present it in, but their job is to guide it. Drama is shaped by actions, and actions are dictated by goals and motives. The players decide the key characters' goals and motives. It's my job as a DM and builder to try to shape the story to their actions, and that can create some VERY interesting twists. They decide how everything unfolds.
Being a builder is a huge advantage for a DM. If the Player wants to join the Sentinels, build him a barracks. If the player wants to marry a cute little merchant in the slum district build them a house. Heck if you've got enough gold I'll let you build yourself a castle.
Why do you prefer campaign play to other types of games?
We're back to Tolkien. Epic fantasy isn't a short story. It's a novel. Actually... it's a series of novels.
I think you'll find most campaigners love character development. Epic fantasy is about character development. People don't just suddenly change. It takes time and experience. It took what? 700 pages and thousands of deaths before Aragorn was finally forced accept the responsibility of his heritage and embrace his Kingship? This kind of character development isn't possible in a few hours.
It takes a campaign to tell a truly epic story.
Do you have any suggestions for someone looking to start or build his or her own campaign?
Yes. Don't be shy. If you see a campaign and you want to join, contact the DM. Tell him or her why you want to join the camapign. Send them a character concept. Even if that the DM doesn't have room for you... Things change. When a space opens up tht DM is going to be looking for a new player with a compatible gaming style. That person may well be you.
If you can't find a game... Start your own. The community will be happy to help you get started. Sites like this one have a wealth of resources and people to help you.
Starting your own game can be hard. Again... DON'T BE SHY. Put yourself out there. Be aggressive and share your vision with others. Over time you WILL find enthusiastic players. In the meantime don't be a snob. If a player or two is all you can find run a game with a player or two... and make it a great game.
Where can players go if they want to lean more about your campaign?
Our Forums on Neverwinter Connections has everything you could ever want to know:
http://www.neverwinterconnections.com/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewth...
A good place to start is the Player's Guide. Starting players are assumed to be from or near the city, and the players guide basically presents players with all the info they could be expected to have as natives of the city.
Can you recommend any tools or downloads that will help with campain play?
First... DMFI. I don't understand why all multiplayer mods don't have this system scripted in. Then... check out the DMFI. For newbie DMs Carlo One's "DM 101" mod is a no brainer. Seriously... don't even try to DM your first game without playing carlo's mod first. For Newbie Builders Check out "Lilac Soul's Script Generator". The "Neverwinter Connections Community Guide to Dungeon Mastering" is a bit long, but it's VERY helpful. Oh... and grab a copy of the Dungeon Master's Quick Reference Sheet. It comes in real handy during play... especially when you start using console commands. Lastly, check out DMFI.
Any Upcoming Events?
Heck Yeah!!! I'll be running the Beta of my 1.69 conversion for NWCon4. This will be an open server, so anyone who wants to drop by and check us out can do so. The event is a total turnaround fore me. A sort of hack and slash scavenger hunt but my existing players will also learn about some important new developments in the city. You WON'T need any haks other than CEP2. I've pulled them out for this event. Do me a huge favor and Email me about any bugs you find.
http://www.neverwinterconnections.com/games/index.cfm/fuseaction/display...
http://www.neverwinterconnections.com/games/index.cfm/fuseaction/display...
If these links are dead you missed the event. Contact Urk via PM for information on upcoming events.
