You think dragging the medieval fantasy world of Neverwinter Nights into the modern era sounds impossible? Thanks to the d20 Modern Mod group, fans will be able to explore soulless urban dungeons populated with contemporary villains for the first time. The Herculean task of recreating Neverwinter Nights in the modern age, complete with guns, cyber-punk duds, skyscraper tiles, and mechanical monsters, has been the focus of the very talented group organized by Joe LaPenna, Knightfell, and Demigog.

View the d20 Modern Mod Video Clip (WMV, 12.6MB)

Where can I find out more information?

http://d20mm.com/

What is your experience with NWN?

Joe: I purchased the game right when it came out and for about a week I played the Official Campaign. Then I started building...and then I no longer had any time to play as it was spent on building and scripting. For a while I played on a persistent world, but I didn't enjoy that very much at all. Last January, when I joined the team, I started working on custom content for d20 Modern and since then have done little else.

Knightfell: I've played though NWN and SoU. I'm still wandering around in Hordes. I also have beaucoup modules in the making that are resting in the graveyard we call the modules folder.

Demigog: I have yet to finish any of the campaigns, but Hordes seemed the most fun and best so far. I model more than I play the game. If it wasn't for NWN I'd probably never have gotten into modeling. I love being able to create stuff. I started out with scripting. Then I found out about a modified NWN with models and started out with some retextured shields and creatures, then finally started getting into making my own models.

Where did the idea for this project come from? Why a modern setting and why NWN?

Joe: My own ideas stemmed from my experiences playing pen-and-paper (PnP) Sci-Fi/Modern setting games, such as Shadowrun, Star Wars, and a few others. I have actually never played the d20 Modern PnP game. The concept for the modification was entirely SuTech's. He had been playing a Spycraft game and had modded games before, so he decided to take a stab at NWN. Even though the official rulebook hadn't arrived in stores yet he was adamant about working to d20MM specifications. He loved what he had read about it and building on an engine built around the d20 rules system was a natural progression.

I've always loved science fiction, even more so than fantasy, though I still love a good fantasy game. This led me to desire a mod for Neverwinter Nights that would take the limitless possibilities the game holds to a setting more conducive towards my role-playing interests. Why I chose NWN was simply because it is the only game in a very long time that has held my interest for more than a few hours. As I mentioned previously, it was the build your own adventure aspect that I liked so much.

Knightfell: Sutech or Geekfiend (Susan for short) would be the ones to tell you where the idea originated. But I can tell you that what piqued my interest was one of my infamous, unfinished mods. I was going with the legend of Arthur and the "The King Shall Return" thing, which I am going to finish one day. I found the project in its primitive stages and have plagued it with my presence ever since.

Demigog: I'm not really sure. I found the d20 team, I think, from a release of theirs on the vault around the May of 2003. I've always liked modern content in a game, so I started making modern content. I liked the idea they had and I sort of just attached myself to the team and started making some modern content. In June of 2003 I joined the team. I like what NWN has to offer as far as being able to create what one envisions.

What was the first big success your group has had with regards to making some progress towards your goals?

Joe: I'd have to say that our biggest success was the building of the team itself. After SuTech left the project, it seemed a bunch of other people left as well, but the emergence of Knightfell and Ranger_Dan reinvigorated the project by adding modeling talent and enthusiasm to the team. We've been able to accomplish a lot these past few months with the great support we've received from the whole team. I'm so amazed at what we've accomplished.

Knightfell: Well, for a while the project became stagnant. We started getting brainstorms with models (placeables, guns, buildings, and such). Once we displayed a few, it seemed to refresh everyone's minds. It started going at a smoother, productive rate.

Demigog: I think in the last couple of months with our current core team we started to get more organized. I think getting the people we have is our biggest success.

What are some challenges you have faced in making the NWN engine stretch to the modern world?

Joe: The biggest problem has been limitations in the game for ranged weapons. A modern setting is not complete unless you have firearms of all varieties and all styles, and with the restricted ability to make changes to the ranged weapon system NWN has, we've had to make large sacrifices in ways of flexibility and adherence to the rules. We're doing what we can with new animations, custom.tlk, and item and other scripting solutions, but we're still facing some hard coded problems.

Demigog: For me, it was just teaching myself how to model tiles, learning how to animate, and trying to learn more about emitters. I'm still a rookie modeler in my opinion.

How has the implementation of some of the more difficult core rules into the NWN system been?

Joe: As I just mentioned, firearms have been a big hurdle in our development; but along with that, we've seen problems ranging from weapon proficiency rules (any character can wield any weapon in d20MM but with a -4 penalty if they are not proficient) to the inability to fully modify base character classes to conform to d20MM rules.

Demigog: Currently, I'm working on a new city tileset from scratch. New things will be wider streets and roads, freeways, more building groups, new underwater tiles with an animated kelp bed, more placeables, new spells that fire rockets instead of fireballs, new creatures (helicopters, for example) that shoot rockets instead of fireballs, and more doors (you can't have enough of a variety of doors). I was able to replace the flame on the tile torches with a light bulb, so we can have actual lights. There's more, but it's too much to list all of it. That's the gist of it though.

Can you tell about some of the content you're are working on but we have not seen yet?

Joe: Everyone likes trench coats, right? We're trying to get those done. In addition, we're working heavily on new tile sets. We've got a completely original exterior tile set in the works, a re-skin of the interior sets for a modern game, an original interior tile set, more stuff for the Netspace add-on we're developing, and of course, snazzy new placeables and items.

Knightfell: I'm actually working on some skyscraper groups that will give the city tileset a more close-knit appearance complete with reflective windows. I'm also working on some holographic and digital ads/billboards, which are looking quite nice so far.

Can we expect a module or are you focused on content creation?

Joe: We've recently begun putting together a team to begin work on a module of sorts. In the d20 Modern rulebooks, Wizards of the Coast has a series of excerpts, adventures, and examples using the special ops group "Department 7." We've been considering putting something together like that to not only test the limits of our custom content but to more directly engage the people who play NWN but who do not build. While play time, plot, nor theme has been established, we are moving forward. Hopefully, with the influx of people we've been having, we'll have even more support for this endeavor. In addition, some of us are working on our own d20M side projects.

Knightfell: A lot of us are working on our own mods with the content. Personally, I am working on "Agent X". It will be basically the gray area between James Bond and Austin Powers. High action with campy dialog (if I finish it).

Can you tell us about your group and what sort of plans you have for the future?

Joe: In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime... Err, actually, we are kind of a crack commando unit. A lot of what we do isn't assigned by me, Knightfell, or even the team. Some of the best stuff we've done has been a random idea that someone takes initiative on, works on, and wham! they post about it in our project team boards and we're astounded. When we were approaching the release of beta, we got much more structured, but everyone still maintained the same ordered chaos of a design process while working on a deadline.

Knightfell: The team is a well-oiled machine, especially when we get into our chat room and collaborate. I don't think we could have gotten to where we are if it weren't for people like Ranger_Dan, Demigog, and of course, the ever so popular, Spoonmerlin. I, for one, will keep making things until my hands break off. The d20 Modern Mod project is an ever-growing one. I don't think we'll ever be completely satisfied to call a final version.

Is there anything you would like to give a special mention to?

Joe: First of all, I have to thank my team, for doing so much for the project. If any of them left the project I'd feel like we truly lost something vital to the mod. Second, thanks to you guys, NWN is a great game--one of my favorites. You've done a spectacular job. If I'm ever in your neck of the woods I owe you dinner...all of you. Finally, I'd like to thank the very talented NWN community for all the great stuff people have put together that provides for such an enjoyable playing experience. DLA, CODI, Lisa... Everyone, thank you very much.

Knightfell: To our team. Ranger_Dan, Semper fi yo! Angelgabe, the reskin master and new clothes guru. Demigog: he's our jack-of-all-trades. Spoonmerlin: genius, pure genius. Sutech, the creator and team cheerleader. kaczor, for his great head models. Yare: scripter extraordinaire. And FOREVERphoenixX: not sure what he actually does yet but geek says we can keep him! Oh! And to Maximus at the vault and all the friendly people at NWC. Thank you so much for helping us get this out to the community.

Demigog: We have some very talented people on the team. Spoonmerlin and I are always trading ideas around in chat: he's a pretty smart guy. Knightfell is working hard on making a lot of our buildings. He's got the architect's touch (I think it helps that his mom is an architect--it's rubbed off on him). Angelgabe has done some great retexture work on some of the standard BioWare tilesets as well as making some great clothes. Ranger_Dan has done a lot of the guns, has some great ideas, and is working with me on the city tileset. Kaczor and his amazing heads. Yare does some great scripting. I'd like to thank the d20MM team and all the people on the BioWare boards that have helped me learn anything new.