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Drow On The Prowl - Dor Maeglin Underdark

Profile by Jay Watamaniuk
Based on a BioWare Bulletin submission.

The deceitful, brutal world of the dark elves continues to fascinate fans of Dungeons and Dragons looking for a challenging setting to test their characters' mettle. The Underdark serves as the central theme of Dor Maeglin Underdark, a long-running persistent world tempered into one of the best and broadest multiplayer experiences for Neverwinter Nights. I chatted with Siggy, the boss monster for quest integration, team management, and scripting to learn more.

Where can I read more about Dor Maeglin?

http://www.dormaeglinunderdark.com/

I understand Dor Maeglin has been around for a number of years. To what do you owe your longevity?

Siggy: Dor owes its longevity to the players. It is their choice to leave or stay. We listen to them as best as we can and try to accommodate their ideas into the big picture. While it isn't possible to please everyone at once, we aren't afraid to go back and change something if it isn't working out. We have many players who have been with us for the long haul, and they really pitch in and help out new players when it comes to getting around and surviving on Dor Maeglin.

We keep players interested by running events. Some for the RP fans and some for the hack and slash fans. By supporting a wide range of players and their needs we feel we can accommodate a stronger bond between the players. Events can spice up the playing field a great deal and do a lot to break up the monotony of leveling.

Some of our events involve continuing story lines that can change the look and feel of an area, such as a war that decimates a city or an ongoing invasion where areas are dramatically changed. This gives players a feel of being involved in the event at a grand scale and the ability to see their victory in battle reflected in the lands they adventure in.

What features would attract the veteran NWN player?

Siggy: Veteran players will find the game challenging to a point that they may find themselves drawing upon their knowledge of game dynamics to survive in some areas. Whilst we provide challenges to the heavy geared players, we also feel that a poorly equipped party must have a fighting chance if they play their cards well.

Various spells and abilities have been reworked to provide a more balanced environment for all builds and classes. The changes involve duration and damage tweaks that allow, what we believe, is a fairer game in a persistent world without infringing on standard PnP rules.

Dor Maeglin is a world that presents a progressive challenge from level 1 through 40 while trying not to blur the social gap this large range introduces. There is something for every type of player, from the RP'er to the Hack 'n' Slash fan. Those who aren't interested in the race to power don't get left behind and are encouraged by the extensive partying support provided within Dor Maeglin.

Do you make use of any new community content?

Siggy: Dor Maeglin features a unique equipment system that provides various grades of an item to satisfy any player regardless of class. Item quests are set around the realm and offer different levels of challenging bosses and minions for players to battle in order to gain the components and gems to forge magical items. These party-based quests offer challenges for all levels with the epic quests rewarding the adventurers with a chance to forge the most powerful items in the land, Maeglin and Quenyan items.

We have avoided using the campaign equipment throughout 99% of Dor so that all builds have a fair chance to find suitable equipment. This system isn't the only means to acquire items as there are various merchants around Dor that will sell themed items.

Movement throughout Dor Maeglin is tracked persistently; allowing you to log out and have your character in the same place even after the game has been reset. Perhaps the most interesting concept we have on Dor that sets it from other MODs is that location is also tracked live on our website. A map of Dor Maeglin will trace your character's movement as you travel throughout the land.

Dor Maeglin has its own Web Updater that allows people to keep current with hak content and optional content, such as portrait and head packs. The updater also doubles as a launcher, connecting you directly to the Dor Maeglin game server.

Dor Maeglin uses the best of the older models and tilesets from the community along with some parts of the CEP. We use Lisa's clothing hak and include some of the community artwork for some load screens. Dor also uses a lot of models in its haks, such as the Corrugon, Osyluth, and of course, various drow models, including one of Ellistraee (courtesy Listerina, one of our founders).

Dor Maeglin has the ability to switch between two community AIs (Jasperres, Fallen) and the base HotU AI on the fly. Do not be surprised if some spawns do not behave as you would have expected.

The Drow elves continue to be one of the most poplar races ever created in the D&D universe. Why do you think they have such a fan base?

Siggy: Spectacular swordplay and the incredible gift of magic. Geek meets engineer. The Drow live in a fascinating world that is torn between parallels of modern society to the far extremes. It's a dog eat dog world where the weak are culled and the strong must be strong forever or be replaced.

The Drow world is so well themed and developed by Salvatore that playing such a world is quite enjoyable. The themes expressed in a Drow world are so unlike reality that it is truly fantasy and makes the game more than just hack and slash. They have such an intricate and complex social structure that it's quite interesting what possibilities can arise using Drow for RP purposes.

Here in reality, we take our holidays on a nice beach or visit another city. On Dor Maeglin, that city is underground and its beach doesn't have as many waves, but it sure has plenty of mushrooms growing nearby!

If you could have one piece of content that you currently do not have, such as a particular creature, a new tile, or a placeable, what would you choose?

Siggy: Another large outsider would be nice. You can only use the Mephistopheles model a few times before people start pointing it out. Perhaps a retriever model would be nice. We could also used some more abominations as they are great for event beasties.

As far as tile sets are concerned, whilst there are often moments where a new tile would be nice, it seems that the community has provided what is needed for any decent module.

Placeables are also in abundance, though a few more statues to place at the entrance of a themed area would be nice.

If we had to choose only one we'd go with the retriever.

What do you think is the greatest achievement in the NWN community?

Siggy: I think the greatest achievement in the NWN community is the commitment that all the current successful MODs have given to bringing people together. No one is paying on a monthly basis to play their worlds, yet the spirit and energy they show brings people a sense of belonging to the world they play on.

Out of the tools brought out by the NWN community we believe nothing compares to NWNX2. It is invaluable to us for enhancing the world our players enjoy. Not just for its ability to track variables in a database, but also for its profiling and letoscript support.

Dor Maeglin current development team:

Previous developers over the past year include:

Event DMs:

RP Events:

Dor has received contributions from many others and will continue to do so for as long as it has players that support it.

Related Links

• Introduction to Persistent Worlds
• Guild Profile: Dor Maeglin (2003)
• Register your own Guild
• Guilds and Registry FAQ
• More Guild and Presistent World Profiles

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