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Ravenloft - Prisoners of the Mist Profile by Jay Watamaniuk
This week, we take a look at the Ravenloft project, which has been in development for nearly two years by a dedicated team of scripters, builders, and developers, who are using custom NWN content developed specifically for this setting. We got a chance to interview four key members of the Ravenloft team about their project. Where can one find more information on Ravenloft: Prisoners of the Mist?What work do you do for Ravenloft: PotM?David: I am a website administrator. Also, I have been developing and building areas for the module; I am one of the Dungeon Masters, and also the "continuity editor" of Ravenloft canon/trivia.
Ryan: I am a Dungeon Master and do the usual plot and story coordination as well as contributing to the player resources available for character development. Ophelia: It is my job to keep our community at PotM informed of what is going on behind the scenes, as well as keeping the development team at Ravenloft PotM aware of what the community wishes for, regarding new additions and bugs. I also handle simple things, such as having a question answered thoroughly. I am simply making sure communication is running smoothly. Of course, it has also been my task to get attention to our project in these early days. It has been my task to make contact with different people who could help us with publicity. Your website is a great way for people to learn about Ravenloft. What are your plans for adding to the information listed?David: Eventually, I hope to have detailed pages for all of the nations of Ravenloft (as of the last published book, it was over 50). I'd also like to put up some guidelines for roleplaying fear, horror, and madness. If we ever include custom prestige classes, I'll make a page describing them, too.
Ophelia: It has been very important to us to have a website with easy access and good information on the setting of Ravenloft. Unfortunately we are not nearly done with adding content to our information pages as David said. It is our experience that knowledge of the world is a way to build your roleplay and your character in detail, which will most definitely enhance the roleplay experience of players, both from interaction with the setting, as well as interaction with other players. It looks like a lot of pre-planning went into Ravenloft before its opening. Can you give some advice on how you got things organized? Do you have any tips for future PW founders?Ophelia: A small group of people joined together for this project around Christmas time 2003, and since then we have been working to make this persistent world. So yes, a lot of pre-planning has gone into Ravenloft PotM before the grand opening this Halloween. A thing we've had good use from through the years is our weekly meetings via Messenger. Also, well organised forums and discussions have been a great help. Soren: Well, it is actually a bit loosely organized to be honest. A lot of people have come and gone over time, but when making voluntary projects such as this, you can't expect everyone to be constantly devoted either. You have to learn how to make the best out of whatever people want to contribute with whenever they feel the urge to create.
Ryan: Some would say half of our job as persistent world developers is already done, since we chose to adapt an already published D&D setting. Granted, we do not have to come up with a whole world - the history, deities, and important NPCs. Yet, it is my opinion that choosing an already published setting, such as Ravenloft, makes the work a little harder as we have to strive for perfection, more than we would if we had chosen to base our persistent world on a place we made up ourselves. We have facts we have to relate to, we have certain rules we must follow. It has been a help to have a guide, but most definitely also a challenge. What is the biggest draw to playing in the Ravenloft setting?David: Ravenloft is a very different setting than most D&D worlds. It is low-magic. It is dark, moody, and mysterious. While it is a horror setting, it is a *gothic* horror, which is more subtle than other kinds of horror. It is also a morality play, but the struggle between good and evil is less external than it is internal. Often, the conflict lies within the character's own soul, and the wrong choice can lead to utter damnation. It also accommodates characters from nearly any published setting, so your character can come from the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, or Greyhawk. On the other hand, the setting has such a rich history that you can also make a character that was born in Ravenloft. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Ravenloft is a setting for D&D fans who want something different. Think of it like food. Some people eat a staple diet of meat and potatoes. Now, there's nothing wrong with meat and potatoes, but some people like to try something else out every once in a while, like going out for sushi. Ravenloft would be the "sushi" to the Forgotten Realms' "meat and potatoes." Soren: Since David already answered this spot on, I'd like to add in that our PW is not only defining itself by being centred in the Ravenloft setting. Our key value is the vivid, inspiring, and ambience-rich roleplay, and Ravenloft has served us perfectly for that. We've also tried to further enhance this by developing all our custom systems to give players more opportunity to share their creativity and enjoyment of roleplay. A huge factor in this is that you need to actually be able to relate to what happens in-game. This doesn't mean we're fans of ultra-realism, but more than your actions should have sensible consequences for yourself and the world. We also try to constantly provide material that players can bring into their roleplay, such as details about their surroundings, and have game mechanics create occurrences that can lead to interesting situations. And, of course, we are lucky to be blessed with a team of very talented DMs who all are chosen for their skill, maturity, and creativity. ~
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Soren: I am the head scripter and one of the co-founders of the module. I have done 2d- and 3d art for our persistent world. I have been designing and building many of the areas as well as doing a general design of custom systems and custom content especially for this server. Also, I have been maintaining our hakpaks...oh, and spamming on our forums!
Soren: Well, we'd eventually like a large knowledge base with what players need to add detail to their characters. We don't demand you to be an expert before entering the server, though; the information serves to inspire people, giving them ideas for different kinds of characters and adding more detail to them.
When browsing through the server list in-game, I often get the feeling that a lot of PWs never got duly launched or populated by players because of the founders not being open enough to accept help. Before NWN, I had never seen a community so full of people willing to assist, contribute, and share their ideas, yet some module builders seem to think that their new PW is the holy grail of computer gaming and keep it so close to themselves that it never turns into anything real. You have to remain open to ideas and feedback, and make sure to appreciate whatever help you can get, or your own idea will remain being just that - an idea.
