Neverwinter Nights : T20?

[vutpakdi]

Just a thought, but has anyone looked at modifying Neverwinter Nights (the D&D 3rd edition computer game) for doing T20 adventures? It would probably take some extensive modifications and some help frm BioWare, but I would think that the basics are there. No starship combat or vehicle support though.

Just an idle thought.

Ron

 

[doomhunk]

Well.... on a similar vein I've been playing around with Jagged Alliance 2 which is quite easy to mod. Always been an XCOM/JA2 fan. Thought a squad-based merc game would be fun to create. Probably the best isometric engine to mod would be the XCOM:Apocalypse.

Equally, I've been playing VGA Planets 4 beta, which works nicely if a little fiddly. I keep returning to the idea of some kind of Traveller experiment along these lines.

Both Neverwinter NIghts and Vampire:The Masquerade have good scripting capabilities that a serious mod team could use for a Traveller game. Does anyone else out there tinker with stuff like this? I've modded a few games in the past, of course working in the computer games industry helps I guess, it'd be fun to do so again.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by Ron Vutpakdi:
Just a thought, but has anyone looked at modifying Neverwinter Nights (the D&D 3rd edition computer game) for doing T20 adventures? It would probably take some extensive modifications and some help frm BioWare, but I would think that the basics are there. No starship combat or vehicle support though.

Just an idle thought.

Ron

Unfortunately do to the licensing for NWN, it will NOT be done and we will not allow anyone to create third party mods and distribute them. Under the terms of the NWN license, anything you create and distribute become the property of Bioware.

Hunter

 

[phydaux]

So just licence the Infinity game engine and publish the title yourself.

Or, hook up with a long time computer RPG publisher like Sierra and publish using their in house game engine.

That would be cool, because then you could use CT/T4/T5 game mechanics and box WOTC right out.

The real bugger would be game design - some kind of balance between the totally open ended Baldur's Gate story and the totally liniar Icewind Dale story.

 

[phydaux]

Crap, now you've got my brain running.

OK, there are 3 areas that need to be worked on:

1) Game engine. The Infinity engine is KILLER. Got to agree with that. But it Bioware is playing that close to the vest, then that's right out. Maybe something using the Fallout or Diablo game engine?

2) Game mechanics. Here, I'd have to say 'Don't use T20.' It puts WOTC in charge, and almost forced the use of the Infinity engine. FFE owns Classic Trav, and could probibly swing T4/T5 game mechanics.

And wasn't Fallout originally supposed to use GURPS mechanics? "G:T, the computer RPG" using the Fallout engine?

3) Design. It's all about the STORY. Plot, sub-plots and tons of minor plots. This is where the real WORK would be.

Sierra hasn't put out a decent RPG in ages. Blizard, a sister company of Sierra, has the Diablo series, but that's only almost an RPG. WAY too linear. For something on the Baldur's Gate level, you'd almost NEED to use the Infinity engine, and now were right back to where we started, aren't we?

Hmm. Let me think some.

 

[Reginald]

Is the Infinity engine the only one QuikLink can use, or can't they just create another engine that can do just as well as Infinity if not more?

As for game mechanics, as an owner of a pre-ordered T20, I would like such a CRPG based on that rulebook. There may be some issue regarding OGC, but regarding the Trademark License, QuikLink can drop it and use their own trademarks, the blue Traveller label and/or "The Traveller's Handbook." For example:

"This entertainment software is based on the The Traveller's Handbook by QuikLink Interactive (licensed by Far Future)."

It would be best to avoid using the term "T20" as that may give a big warning sign to Wizards. Better to be safe than sorry.