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Darkness over Daggerford

Profile by Jay Watamaniuk

Over 4,400 modules have been created for Neverwinter Nights that are free to download for fans of endless adventures. The latest addition to this long list comes from a professional game development house based in Vancouver, BC. Ossian Studios, headed by former BioWare producer Alan Miranda, has completed work on a huge 25-30 Neverwinter Nights adventure called Darkness over Daggerford. Formally a Premium Module, this adventure is huge enough to stand as its own expansion pack with new creatures, features, and content never seen before. We talk with Alan about his studio's work:

Where can I get this module?

You can download it right now, for free, at the Vault.

How long has Ossian Studios been operating?

Our company, Ossian Studios Inc., was founded three years ago in Vancouver, Canada, by myself (Alan Miranda) and my partner Elizabeth Starr. The company name is inspired by the legendary Celtic warrior-bard Ossian who told tales of epic adventures, so we felt it fitting for the type of games we were wanting to create.

Although collectively we are a young company in the role-playing game space, individually we have an incredible depth of experience and a proven track record on previous projects. I am a former BioWare Producer, having worked on Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal and Neverwinter Nights. Our designers have released their own NWN modules, all of which have been well received in the community and inducted into the NWVault Hall of Fame (see our team listing further below).

One of the main philosophies I took with me from my time at BioWare was the commitment to making games of the highest quality. As the Producer and Lead Designer on our Neverwinter Nights game, Darkness over Daggerford, I have led our team to achieve the same commitment to quality as was done on projects at BioWare, because as a company it is what Ossian Studios strives to do.

Work on Darkness over Daggerford has been going on for a little over a year. It was formerly a Premium Module before the PM program was cancelled. From the initial discussions with the BioWare Live Team, through the various development phases, and to the current phase near final release, it was one of the biggest and best kept secrets in the NWN community. Few people knew about it, and even fewer had played it. It would only be released when we felt it was ready and when we felt confident that its quality level was high enough - that time is now.

Among the many cool things we've developed for the game are a new world map system and a player stronghold system, which will make any player of the classic Baldur's Gate games feel right at home. With these kinds of features, Daggerford should be a perfectly tantalizing lead-in to NWN2!

Can you give us a rundown of what sorts of projects interest you and your team?

Single player RPGs are definitely of intense interest to our team - not just in playing them but also in creating them - and this is where the NWN toolset has come into play. The BioWare Tools department did a phenomenal job in developing the end-user toolset, giving modders the same power that the BioWare designers have in creating top-quality adventures. This is the reason why our team members have been actively involved in the NWN community and have produced their own fantastic modules, many of which are in the NWVault Hall of Fame and have won other awards. Their experience and talent were the reasons why we brought them onto the Daggerford project.

Here is a summary of the community members that are on the Ossian team, along with some of the other modules they have previously worked on:

Obviously, the Baldur's Gate series, the NWN games, as well as the Black Isle games like Icewind Dale, had a large influence on several of our team members, as can be seen from their own modules, which have tended towards a medium to heavy role-playing experience. Two of our principal writers on Darkness over Daggerford are huge Baldur's Gate fans, and this is quite apparent in the colourful NPCs that you'll encounter throughout the Daggerford game world.

When you assemble a number of hardworking and talented designers together into a project team, the final result will always be greater than the sum of what they could have achieved individually. A tremendous amount of work has gone into Darkness over Daggerford, and we are exceedingly proud of all our team members for doing such an amazing job!

Can you tell us about your module?

Darkness over Daggerford (a former Premium Module) is a single player adventure for level 8 players set in and around the classic D&D setting of the town of Daggerford, along the Sword Coast.

There were two primary goals for Darkness over Daggerford. The first was to recreate some of the Baldur's Gate experience that so many fans loved in BG1 and BG2: a world map, a large world to explore, beautiful exterior areas filled with unique quests and NPCs, and a stronghold. My passion for Baldur's Gate was what brought me to work at BioWare in the first place, so recreating this "feel" to a certain degree was the most important thing. We managed to accomplish exactly what we set out to do with this.

The second goal was to make this the biggest and best Premium Module ever. Aside from the fact that now Daggerford won't be released as a Premium Module, I think we succeeded extremely well on this point. As one of our beta testers recently put it after 20 hours of play-testing, "This thing is huge." With an estimated completion time of 25-30 hours, almost 200,000 words of dialogue, 15 areas to travel to on the world map, and some 30 sidequests, it's hard to call this a normal module anymore, as it's more on par with the size of adventure you'd find in an expansion! The Hordes of the Underdark expansion, by comparison, was a 20+ hour adventure with roughly 220,000 words of dialogue.

We also have a number of other new features, including:

• Over 100 new placeables made specifically for the game
• 3 new creatures
• 5 new music tracks by Premium Module composer David John
• 3 new TNO tilesets from DLA
• 1 new lizardfolk interior mini-tileset
• A random encounter system integrated into the world map
• The option to customize your stronghold
• A custom spawning and leveling system for creatures to always ensure the game is challenging for any level of character
• A custom rest system where your character and henchmen require sleep to be in peak form
• An influence system for henchmen

The story in Darkness over Daggerford is a classic Dungeons & Dragons story, where pen & paper adventurers should feel right at home. Players will immediately be drawn into the action and then descend into the subsequent webs of intrigue and deceit. I won't give away any spoilers, but here's a teaser from our intro cinematic.

In between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate lies the bustling town of Daggerford, a travel stop for merchants and adventurers alike along the Trade Way. Daggerford, however, has suffered a terrible tragedy. Duke Pwyll Greatshout is dead. Killed by a vile beast while on a hunt, the circumstances surrounding his death are...suspicious. All of Daggerford mourns his loss.

Now, a wealthy merchant by the name of Matagar Bugo has risen from the town council to become the new leader of the town. He titles himself the Baron of Daggerford and proclaims, "The outlook is golden!" with aspirations to make Daggerford the next great mercantile city to rival even Waterdeep.

Yet from the lands surrounding the town, news of strange tidings has begun to spread. Bandits are attacking the Trade Way caravans more frequently, and livestock have been seen to simply vanish in broad daylight. The Daggerford militia has been unable to find any answers to these problems, and whoever is responsible remains a mystery. Perhaps the outlook for Daggerford is not as "golden" as many wish to believe, now that the Duke is gone....

Can you tell us a little more about the new creatures and placeables?

Absolutely! NWN community artist BrotherRoth created over 100 new placeables, including wall and ground fissures (for all of the tilesets), all kinds of bottles, goblets, tankards, mugs, several new portals, lutes, flowers and bushes, and cheese wheels (lots of cheese wheels).

There will also be three new creatures in the game, including a new Primitive Lizardfolk creature that inhabits the Lizard Marsh to the west of Daggerford and will sometimes venture out in raiding parties - adventurers beware!

We will also be using three new TNO tilesets created by DLA, released to us through an exclusive agreement with BioWare, including a completely new exterior tileset with rolling hills, sea cliffs, and castles. In addition to these, we also have a new lizardfolk interior mini-tileset (created by BrotherRoth) for use in our lizardfolk village.

What are you working on now?

There's nothing we can talk about at this point. However, Neverwinter Nights 2 is on the imminent horizon, and it's looking like a very worthy successor to the original NWN game, but with even more gorgeous visuals! Having worked with the Black Isle guys on the Baldur's Gate games, I'm sure Obsidian Entertainment will be doing an exceptional job in making NWN2 a great D&D adventure. We're looking forward to it!

Related Links

• NWVault
• Neverwinter Nights Premium Modules

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