Faithless: The Making of an NWN2 Module

It has been a bad week for me. Seven days ago, I found out that I could not turn on my computer and external modem. To make matters worse, I also found out that my phone line was dead. It seems an odd coincidence that three separate machines would choose the same day to malfunction. When I brought my computer to the repair shop, I was told that both my motherboard and video card weren't working and had to be replaced. I can't explain what brought about this massive glitch in my devices. My guess is that my Intel Core 2 Quad processor and my GT8800 video card generated so much heat that they fried each other. Maybe the heat was so strong that it radiated to my modem and melted its innards. In its death throes, my modem then short-circuited my phone line. Sounds like a plausible explanation. Or maybe the gods do not want me to finish my module. Faithless is so blasphemous to the deities of Faerun that the gods have reached across the multiverse to zap my motherboard, video card, ...

To help me understand my characters better, I find it fun and useful to write back stories for the more important NPCs in my module. Character backgrounds are often excellent inspiration for side quests. For this post, I've decided to spotlight Queen Christine of Damara, wife of King Gareth Dragonsbane. A submissive woman this lady is not. Even though she only has a small role to play in "Faithless," her strong character warrants a separate writeup on her. Despite appearances, nothing that I write or show in this blog is a spoiler. Most of the information presented below may be read in the four TSR modules regarding the Bloodstone War; namely, Bloodstone Pass , The Mines of Bloodstone , The Bloodstone Wars , and The Throne of Bloodstone . A small part of this writeup is actually my conjecture on why some of the characters behaved the way they did. I believe that readers may discern the actual realms lore from my conjecture based on how I phrase some of the information. Th...

Thirty game years ago, a war was fought in Bloodstone Pass between the monster armies of Zhengyi the Witch King and the civilized forces of the Barony of Bloodstone. At the forefront of the war was Sir Gareth Dragonsbane, who was to become the next baron of Bloodstone and eventually king of Damara. When the war ended, Lord Gareth built two massive walls at either end of Bloodstone Pass. The southern wall was called Damara Gate, and the northern wall, Vaasa Gate. Like its southern counterpart, Vaasa Gate is more than just a wall. It is a well-manned fortress that stretches from one steep mountain face to another. The Gate hosts a thriving market where civilized folk from either side of the wall may trade. Its interior chambers serve as stock rooms and living quarters not only for the soldiers stationed there but also for adventurers on monster hunts. The most detailed description of Vaasa Gate that I could find was from the Forgotten Realms supplement The Bloodstone Lands by R.A. Salva...

Despite its abundant veins of bloodstone, the Galena Mountains in Vaasa don't attract as many miners as it could have. Besides the dangerous and hostile creatures that make their home in these mountains, the bone-gnawing cold keeps away all but the most foolhardy prospectors. Fortunately, the Forgotten Realms are never lacking in foolhardy people of any sort, and many of them seek their fortune in the Coldlands. One of the challenges that I faced in constructing "Faithless" was building the mining camp that the player characters will find themselves in. I've never seen a mining camp, much less set foot in one, but that didn't stop me from rising to the challenge. First, I had to do some research, which is not at all difficult in this age of the Internet. To this end, Google Image was my friend. Looking specifically for old photos of mining camps in the mountains, I downloaded as many images as I felt I needed. I also downloaded several images of mountain trails, w...