How did Rogue Dao start? Monty : On a wing and a prayer.
After working in several worlds like Myth Drannor or Menzoberranzan, you've chosen a world that is not often seen in Neverwinter Nights mods: Planescape. What do you think Planescape offers compared to other worlds of Sword&sorcery? Hippo: Okay, bare with me for a moment here, because I'm a gushing Planescape fan and I'll take any oppurtunity I can get to rant about how great it is. In your classic ogres-and-sorcerors D&D world, you can make a difference. Get enough levels, enough feats, enough spells, enough artifacts - whatever - and you can change the world. In Planescape, the world changes you.
Everything's just too big in Planescape for you to make any difference at all on a cosmic scale. Instead of being a group of adventuring heroes out to save the day from an ancient evil, you're just another handful of berks trying to survive. In that respect, Planescape stands out from all other D&D universes, except maybe Darksun. Planescape isn't about doing heroic things to save the day and defeat the evil Wizard, Sinistratus - it's about trying to find your tiny niche in the great cosmic wheel, and keep it.
Planescape is just such an absolute departure from the sword-and-sorcery mindset that it can't be ignored. Sure, if you play in Faerun, you can be a drow ranger with scimitars and a pet panther. But if you play in Planescape, you can be the embodiment of doubt. Or a Wizard who's lost his voice (literally - someone stole it). Or a Signer who believes this is all just some sort of table-top game in which he's the main character. In Planescape, the possibilities are endless. Potential like that demands attention.
What is the central plot of the Trilogy? Ryan: The Planescape Trilogy is going to follow the path of all great trilogies. You can look forward to an immersive introduction to the multiverse, the explosive guts of the story, and that epic conclusion that changes not just the fictional world, but the way you look at fictional worlds. The overarching them of our story follows a mortal's descent into the belly of darkness, the tooth and nail struggle to escape, and the aftermath of bearing witness to the distorted world view of absolute evil. While our plot does broach upon the condition of a much larger setting, the real stage upon which the actions play out is the living, breathing soul of the character. We're hoping to realize a conceptualization of Planescape unlike any the Neverwinter Nights community has ever seen. The setting itself is a dense reinterpretation of the everyday struggles of ideas, ideals and existence, and we're going to great lengths to do justice in our visualization of what we can only describe as the D&D system's most intellectually rich and uniquely flavored game setting.
As for specifics... there will be Sigil, there will be the Hells and there will be places in between. I will say, there are a lot of ideas and locations on the table right now, and outside of the main plotline, there's no telling what's going to be added and what's going to end up on the cutting room floor. Let's be honest, we're probably not going to Bytopia... but you never know, there might be a Xaositect mole on the production staff, in which case you can probably expect the unexpected.
A very interesting new feature of this mod is the oportunity you present to the player community to allow their characters to appear as NPCs in game. Can you explain this new concept in more detail for us?Monty: We wanted to give the Neverwinter Nights 2 player community a chance to participate in the SP module development process as much as possible. So anyone and everyone can come by the forums at
www.roguedao.com and post their own player character from DnD, and that PC might become a major villain or party companion in the Planescape Trilogy. We are going to try to include as many player characters in the three modules as possible, and our NPC Design team is in charge of reviewing player apps and flagging ones we might be able to use in particular places.
Speaking of Planescape and roleplaying games, we have a question we must ask. Everyone has in mind the mighty Planescape: Torment, and might of course compare your work to that game. How are you planning to create something equally original and of high quality? Hippo: It's important to keep in mind that this game isn't P:T. We aren't trying to 'recreate' P:T. P:T was a brilliant game, made by brilliant people, and most of us have played it and absolutely adore it. But that's not the game we're making here.
It's inevitable that the game we make will be compared to P:T, and that's both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because, frankly, at least some of us are of the opinion that P:T is the single greatest role-playing game ever created, and we enjoy being held to such a rigorous standard - but on the other hand, it's a bad thing, because people who are expecting to play a sequel to P:T are going to be sorely disappointed. We're doing our own thing over here, and we'd like to think we're doing it pretty damn well.
The world of Planescape has, in theory, the capability of linking parts of the multiverse to others using those peculiar "doors" and "keys". It also presents a wide variety of possible races and characters. Can you give us some examples of the races and worlds that we'll have the pleasure of seeing while playing Planescape Trilogy? Monty: Without going into too much detail to spoil things, I'll just say that the player will have the opportunity to visit numerous planes and environments and interact with a number of Planescape-unique creatures.
The Planescape world has the additional difficulty of its jargon. Did this present a problem in itself while writing for this mod?Monty: Planar Cant plays a heavy role in the module's dialogue.
How is it possible to develop a mod just a couple of months after the game was released, and with a toolset which hasn't been experimented on? Wasn't this a risky desicion?Monty: Obsidian Entertainment always produces quality. Neverwinter Nights 2 is -the- franchise for DnD on a computer. We had little doubt as to whether the game was going to be something for which we wanted to develop a campaign module. As for the toolset, we've got some of the brightest mod designers available. They could make a beautiful, entertaining module with a piece of paper and a pair of scissors
Is this going to be a mod with a big dose of dialog or is it hack&slash oriented? Jason: There's a decent balance of both. Sometimes, slick talking is not going to get you out of a fight. Other times, you're REALLY want to try and avoid a physical confrontation.
About Inferno and Eschatologia, are they going to continue the plot of Purgatorio or can they also be played as stand-alone?Jason: Twould be a pity to miss out on the previous in a series. I'd personally play them in sequence.
Why did you take the desicion of making this a Trilogy instead of one big mod? Monty: A Trilogy gives people something to look forward to. Additionally, a trilogy gives the dev team a chance to take a short breather in between chapters and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Are you working in the two sequels already? Do you also have a release date set?Monty: Some preliminary work, such as story design has been done. As for release dates, we're tentatively shooting for a late Spring and late Summer release for Inferno and Eschatologia, respectively.
What are your expectations with the release of the Trilogy from the Neverwinter Nights gaming and modding community? Do you think that this may encourage others to create their own great quality mods?Jason: We're sure of it. Personally speaking, and not as a member of the team, there is no team I've seen as organized and manned up as this one. I'm also sure there's no team as far along as we are, both in built areas, dialog done, voiceover, etc. I'm hoping that Purgatorio really pushes up the bar for mod releases, forcing many to spend MORE time on their modules and make them worth the investment of time for teh players and an overall enjoyable experience.
What are your future plans after this Trilogy is released? Monty: We're all focused on producing the best possible first chapter for the Planescape Trilogy. We'll be glad to discuss the future once we've delivered Purgatorio to the Neverwinter Nights 2 community.
Link intervista
http://www.clandlan.net/index.php?page=ent...Dao-25-10-06_en
