The Neverwinter Nights Toolset is an application that allows the creation of completely custom NWN modules that use the Neverwinter Nights Aurora game ngine. This powerful, 3D engine is state-of-the-art and provides an impressive playing experience, whether you create adventure modules to support a pen-and-paper, DM-guided style, or whether you are building self-contained games that don't require a DM.
The Toolset allows mapping of many different styles of terrain, contained in themed tilesets, inside of multiple areas of varying sizes. It uses a GUI (Graphical User Interface) which allows you to point and click to drop pieces of terrain, monsters, objects, NPCs, traps, create encounters, conversation trees, quests, and almost anything else you can think of. Best of all, even a novice user can create powerful, professional looking modules in a very short time.
Users who demand more power and flexibility will find the built-in NWN scripting language invaluable. It is a -based language that is very easy to learn, and can give you ultimate control over your game.Don't want to learn NWN script, but want to take advantage of this capability? No problem, there are many sites on the web that have scripts for download that will take care of most common tasks that you want to accomplish, including our very own Stratics NWN Script Library. If you can't find what you need, it is likely that you can find help on the Scripting Forum, it is full of helpful folks who like a challenge as well as the #nwnscript IRC channel which you can find more information about via the Stratics Chat web page.
For the user who wants even more customizability, customized resource bundles called 'Hak Paks' can be added to your module. These bundles can contain customized 3D models for creatures, items, additional sound and music files, you name it.Hak Paks give the utmost in customization capability, but are recommended for experts only.
Once created, these modules can be hosted on an NWN server for others to play in multi-player mode, or distributed to others for their personal single-player use. If hosted on a server, your module can be registered for anybody on the Internet to find and play, or you can set a password to control access.
You can access your module as a regular player, or via the powerful DM client - a pecial version of the client that gives you ultimate control over your game. Take control of creatures, NPCs, and even other players. Spawn monsters dynamically, control the pace of the game, you can do anything you want without even becoming visible to the other players - unless you want to, of course.
When designing your own modules, you may find it very helpful to view modules created by other players to see how certain things were accomplished. Check out our Module Library for a selection of modules that you can download and pick apart at your leisure.
At the end of a long day spent perusing our tutorials and building your module, spend a little quality time at Stratics' NWN creation, Glendenmoor, and have some fun adventuring with your friends.
Learning to Build a Module, the Stratics Way
In order to best present the information you will need to become an expert world-builder, we have created a series of mini-tutorials that, when combined, form one larger tutorial. You will probably want to start by following each of the mini-tutorials in turn.
The tutorials will walk you through the creation of a sample module that contains a little bit of everything that can be done with the Toolset. The sample module is called 'The Fortress of Rockgate', and when development is completed, the module with all needed resources will be available for download in the Module Library.
Once you have grasped the basics, use the mini-tutorials as references for details you may have forgotten, and peruse our research tables that slice and dice all the nuts-and-bolts statistical reference material, such as the different properties that can be applied to a given weapon or piece of armor, catalogs of terrain, creatures, items, and so forth.
This tutorial and associated references form a rich, constantly updated resource that can be used again and again by novice and expert builders alike. We hope you find it, and indeed all of NWN Stratics, to be your primary source of information on Neverwinter Nights and the Aurora Toolset.
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