Neverwinter Nights The Witch's Wake Fan-Created Content Profile #1 - The DM’s Helper

Fan-Created Content Profile #1 - The DM’s Helper

Profile by Jay Watamaniuk and Rob Bartel, Sept 12 2002

Authors: Joseph Hardesty (Doppleganger), Richard Scheepstra (Jhenne) Additional Contributors: Robert Bernavich (character sheet code), Archaegeo (packaging the DM Helper with the Hard Core Ruleset) Intended Users: DMs Is this utility finished? It functions great but additional features are expected as work continues. Download Locations: www.nwnguide.com

Fan-Created Content & the Witchwork Series:

The Witchwork Series is an official NWN story arc to be released as free, downloadable modules by the BioWare Live Team. Part of our goal with the series is to showcase some of the innovative enhancements and systems being developed by members of our steadily growing fan community. Each of the profiles that we’ll be releasing over the next few weeks will focus on another fan-created component that you’ll be able to experience in our coming series.

But why wait for us? Many of these components are already being used in other modules so try playing some of them to see how they feel. If you’re working on a module of your own, consider using some of these components to make your creation a richer and deeper experience for your players. Pitch new ideas to their creators and get involved in their development.

So what’s our first fan-created content profile, you ask? Well, another goal of the Witchwork series has been to go back to the roots of the Dungeons & Dragons experience. One of the things that makes NWN so special is the inclusion of the traditional Dungeon Master. While the series will not require a DM, we want to do everything we can to encourage and facilitate that style of play.

If there is one fan-created tool that has become indispensable to the Neverwinter Dungeon Master, it’s Dopple & Jhenne’s DM’s Helper. It opens up a whole bundle of new abilities within NWN’s DM Client. In short, the authors have created a very special inventory item that, when used within a module that supports it, grants the DM far more powers over the players, creatures, and environment. DMs are able to do everything from destroying that pretty group of butterflies they mistakenly placed in the middle of the Dungeon of Infinite Bleeding Horror to displaying the stats and inventory of any given player.

Work continues on the DM's Helper as the authors respond to suggestions and requests from the community. The authors have also worked on the Player Helper (intended to provide a greater range of abilities to the players) and the FXWand (who hasn’t wanted a instant bit of special effects to scare the steel pajamas off their players?). All of these come in an easy-to-install package that can be imported into any module the DM wishes.

Author’s Description:

DM's Helper Version 2.0.0

The DM's Helper is a fan-created tool designed to assist Neverwinter Nights Dungeon Masters. It allows you to list player names next to their character names, view/manipulate their inventory, change their faction/alignment, penguin them (paralyze them in place and turn them into a penguin) or roll ability/skill checks against them (public or private), as well as perform other DM related tasks such as advancing the time of day or destroying objects, a full description of all the functions it contains is listed on the website and in the readme file included with the utility. It should prove indispensable to any DM and I personally would not run a game without it.

An Interview with the Creators

BioWare: Are all of you DMs from pen and paper? If so, as experienced DMs, how do you find the DM Client in NWN?

Richard Scheepstra: I am/was a PnP DM, but it has been several years since I was active. I am quite happy with the DM Client as long as the Helper is installed. But I am aware that some users find this to be an imperfect solution or find implementing scripts of any kind difficult. A few of the features of the Helper I do consider to be critical for DM'ing such as the ability to inspect stats and inventory. Neverwinter Nights is a 5 star game in my opinion, but I wouldn't mind being put out of 'business' and seeing some of the Helper functions integrated into the Client itself.

Joseph Hardesty: Richard’s answer pretty much goes for me as well. I've done some PnP DM'ing, but haven't been active for a while. I love the DM client, though I chafe a bit at the restrictions placed on the NWN DM… which is the main reason I've worked on the DM's Helper. I think it would be great to have some of the features directly implemented in the DM client, but I do think it's great that these capabilities are scriptable

BioWare: The DM’s Helper has become very popular. Did you expect so many people to use your utility for NWN?

Richard Scheepstra: Not at all, I'm happy to have helped create something that is useful to so many people though.

Joseph Hardesty: I started out wanting to make something for myself, to better accommodate the "style" of DMing that I wanted to do...it kind of surprised me when other people liked it so much. Good thing, though...there has been a great amount of input from other players and DMs, with a lot of ideas we probably wouldn't have thought of including otherwise.

BioWare: What is your wish list for future versions of the DM’s Helper? Do you feel they are all possible to implement?

Richard Scheepstra: We are hoping to work in chat logging functions and a few other features such as the capability to damage players.

Joseph Hardesty: Richard’s got that one covered. :)

BioWare: What is your next big project for NWN? More utilities or something completely different?

Richard Scheepstra: This can't really be called my 'next' project as it's already released *grin*, but I have also released a CTF/PvP ruleset module that has developed a small following. NWTactics (http://www.nwtactics.com) is an effort to create a 'Team Fortress' style of modification for NWN, it features a lot of cheat/exploit prevention code and a fun environment to play in. Since it's release a few other developers have started expanding on it and now several different map styles are available.

Joseph Hardesty: I'm more of a utility guy, but I don't really have anything planned at the moment. If I can put down the Helper for long enough, I'm gonna use the time to actually do some DMing for my group...!

BioWare: For people who want to try out the DM’s Helper, what are some good examples of modules that you know have made use of it?

Joseph Hardesty: That's a good question.. I've seen everyone suggest that DM's use the Helper, but I haven't noticed any modules that include it... though that isn't surprising, since I haven't had the time to really look heavily at the fan-made modules.

BioWare: Any plans to DM the Witchwork series once it’s available?

Joseph Hardesty: It really sounds promising. I'm certainly going to give it a try, though I can't really say for certain until I've got the first module in my grubby little paws. When is it being released, again? *evil grin*