"…and so the Second Age began with the Chaos Lord stepping from his erratic domain and beginning to whisper into my kin's ears. I could not tell you why, out of us all, my chromatic brothers and sisters were the ones who heard him most clearly…and why they blackened the world."
- Taken from "The Watcher's Tale" translated from the Old Tongue

Brought about by the Law of Three, Brynsaar is a crucible in the chaos of the cosmos. All vie for control: chaos and law, good and evil. It is a realm of conflict. In such a place, heroes and villains are forged, agents for one side or another, all able to make a name for themselves in a land where the conflict of dragons and gods reshape the world anew... Brynsaar is a persistent world where serious roleplayers come to pursue epic quests in search of glory and renown. Lycius, creator, primary builder, and head honcho took some time out from world domination for a few questions.

Where can I find this world?

www.Brynsaar.com

What is your favorite thing about Brynsaar?

Lycius: I thought about this for a long time and my favorite thing about Brynsaar would be the quality of the players. I've played countless PnP sessions and countless hours of MMORPGs, and only in PnP games with my old school group did I even come close to the level of quality I get on Brynsaar. Still, I figure this question is best answered by one of my players, as I'm a tad biased towards my own creation. ;)

This was in response to a post I made regarding the size of the mod. (The world is huge, over 300 areas, 8 cities etc.):

"This doesn't begin to describe the world, in my opinion. These hundreds of areas are not just places to hunt, shop (a gazillion stores), or even hang out (a dozen inns and gathering spots). They are places with a history and their own cultures (Mercallum is different from Rothgaard is different from Drakmaar--you can feel it when you enter the cities). Even the in-between areas are absolutely breathtaking to look at and walk through. Brynsaar truly feels like a world, not just a module."

Why would anyone start a persistent world?

Lycius: My reason for starting the massive work that became Brynsaar was pretty simple. I like video games obviously, but games where I can interact socially with other real people are a favorite. I played through the single-player campaign and it left me wanting interaction with more than scripted NPCs. That feeling took me to multiplayer servers, and I unfortunately discovered things that plague all multiplayer games.

Before NWN I was an avid player of several MMORPGs. I gave up on them because of the absolute lack of RP and the mass of jerks who entertain themselves by ruining the fun of others. NWN gave me an option they did not, small dedicated worlds with admins you could actually get results from. After trying a few PWs out there I quickly found myself dissatisfied with a great many things, so I decided to build my own world with my own rules.

The sheer immensity of the toolset nearly stifled that thought, but I actually used the tutorial on the BioWare site and taught myself the basics. Then came the massive task of scratch building not only the physical world, but its cultures, people, and history. This is not something a single person with any semblance of a life can accomplish alone, so I shelved the idea and started playing on a server called Glorwing.

There I met a few great friends and my future wife (yes, I'm a statistic). After a few months, I got charged up to finish Brynsaar again and with me came a great many players interested in helping create a whole new world. Alia Desyon (Love of my life) came with me and she is the primary mind behind the history. Nordavind and Jerbs are my script Jedis, and without them Brynsaar wouldn't be alive. The list of dedicated playtesters, builders, DMs, thinkers, writers, etc. is too long to mention, but my staff is fairly large (around 30). Once we got organized it all started coming together, and last December we launched the world. All in all, it's a tremendous amount of work, but well worth it.

As a new player, what does Brynsaar provide to help me get started? I've played Neverwinter but never played anything online before--do you have any tips?

Lycius: Quests allowing for rudimentary world-exploration and familiarization, as well as a robust player and DM resource base to draw from. My advice would be to use the in-game resources made available to ALL players to grow familiar with the world and its history. BEFORE you log in, take the time to read the history and get an understanding of the various cultures in the world. Then just dive in and roleplay.

What is the chief technical problem you have had to overcome?

Lycius: Scripting. My talent with scripts is so horrid that Nordavind made me swear never to touch another script.

What do you think is the selling feature of Brynsaar over other persistent worlds?

Lycius: The fact that the players' actions directly impact the history and story line of the world. The world is huge in scope and feels huge when you log in. Some would say it's too large until you realize that the true fun of roleplaying is absolute immersion in the setting. Brynsaar isn't a cookie cutter world with a city for each alignment and 3 respawn points. There are 4 major cities and 4 villages/towns. The overall setting is a power struggle between the two great empires of Brynsaar and its effects on the individual city-states. We have a spawnable pantheon of 21 gods, each with their own personality. Nothing about Brynsaar is generic; it's all had life poured into it by the staff.

Can I find out more about the background to this land?

Lycius: Absolutely, the history is huge and detailed. The commonly known history is located on brynsaar.com in the forums and off the main page in various links.

What do you see happening to Brynsaar in the future?

Lycius: My hope would be continued growth of the world and its player base until such a time as Dragon Age lives up to the NWN community's expectations *grins*. Granted, I'd have to completely start all over with the actual mod, but the world will already be designed. Never know, at the rate the world and its history are developing... My options are pretty much open in several areas.