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Module Profile - Penultima 1: Pest Control

Module Profile by Jay Watamaniuk July 30, 2002

Module Title: Penultima 1: Pest Control Author: Stefan 'Twoflower' Gagne Play Time: 30-60 minutes Recommended Level: 3-6 Single or Multiplayer?: Both HakPak Needed?: No Feisty Dialogue Example: "I eat goblins for lunch. Bring it." Where to download: Neverwinter Vault

Overview:

Stephan has created three of his promised 6 module campaign centered around the Kingdom of Penultima. This first adventure starts the player off looking for work in the Guild of Middlemen under the watchful gaze of Bernie Maynard. He tells of the sorry condition that miner Glod Gloddson finds himself in after a group of goblins take up residence in his mine. It's up to you brave the mines and save Glob's mining operation.

Stephan has created an excellent dungeon crawl that contains some very funny moments, witty dialogue and more than a touch of wackiness. Watch for some great scripting special effects, an issue of Playgoblin (racy material for tiny monsters), and, of course, a penguin named Tuck.

Author's Description of the Kingdom of Penultima:

Penultima... it's a kingdom where nothing of great importance ever happens. A place where the primary challenges of the day are not fighting for your life against hordes of orcs or scouring the local dungeon for shiny metal, but trying to find a good cup of coffee or debating proposed tax reform laws.

Oh, there are warriors and monsters and wizards and adventures aplenty -- but they're halfhearted echoes of the greater glories available elsewhere in the world. A perpetual lazy afternoon seems to settle over Penultima... an aura of modernized living, proper civilization, nothing out of place, nothing too alarming, nothing too exciting.

Shame it's all about to go to hell.

 

Interview with the Author - Stefan Gagne

1. Where did you get your inspiration for the setting of your modules? Does this come from pen and paper D&D?

Penultima is inspired by the fantasy-parody genre in general, but two cultural nuggets in specific: Terry Pratchet's "Discworld" series, and the japanese animated series "Slayers." Both take traditional fantasy conventions and turn them upside down, infusing some of the ridiculousness of modern life into the low-tech, high-magic mythical atmosphere of D&D. (I also stole the name Glod Gloddson from Pratchett, but that was an accident; I was poking my memory for a good dwarf name and that floated up from the subconscious. Whoops.)

I've never been able to play much pen and paper D&D, since I didn't have any local friends who enjoyed the game (and because I never totally understood the game rules...). I was hoping that someone would eventually merge the power of the Internet, the ease of playing a computer game, and the fun of pen and paper RPGs together. Bioware apparently felt the same way. Except they actually did it and made money off it while I sat at home eating the Nachos of Apathy.

2. How long did it take you to create your modules?

Not too long. Once I got the hang of the toolset, creation was a snap, particularly when it comes to the Orc Whacking portions of our program. Plot based events and heavily scripted conversations are another matter... but even those I could get done with relative ease and a lot of testing.

Unless I'm wrong, Pest Control took about a week, while each of the others took a week or two. I work at a breakneck pace on any project of mine; I've really got to learn to slow down and take my time, my friends have been wondering if I died or something since I've been so busy making games.

3. Can we expect more zany tales after your initial 6 modules?

I should warn that 'zany' doesn't apply to the WHOLE campaign; it gets rather serious near the end. (All good stories should be emotionally involving rather than a simple series of jokes about orcs using cellular phones.) Buuuut...

The good news: Yes! A second Penultima campaign is in the early planning stages. New lands connected to Penultima will be opened up and more mysterious mysteries and bizarre encounters are in the works. I'm even planning a 'Penultima City Redux' home-base module for the new campaign with beefier shopping experiences and new NPCs.

The bad news: I won't be able to release future mods at the same speed. I've been managing so far. I had to put a project named Unreal Estate on hold to get Penultima done, and if I don't get back to them, my OTHER fans are gonna lynch me. (You can find my online fiction through the 'Other Writing' link on the Penultima page) So, in the future, I'm gonna do one-of-this, then one-of-the-other.

Your best bet is to keep tabs on my LiveJournal for updates and alpha testing copies, and NWVault for final file downloads. (I prefer folks download from NWVault if possible; if my ISP yanks my site because it's too popular, I'm in deep doodoo.)

4. If the Toolset had monkeys would you use them in your next module?

Absolutely.

Although I could really go for a Gelatinous Cube, personally. Always my favorite monster. The illustration in the 3e Monster Manual is particularly cute. Mmmm, cubalicious.

5. Would you really?

What part of 'Absolutely' did not register with you?

6. Can you mail me a copy of Playgoblin in a plain, brown envelope?

I'm afraid that PlayGoblin is so dangerous that merely handling it in a plain brown envelope would cause you to lose 15 SAN. ...wait, wrong RPG.