The Broken Heart: A Preview of my Upcoming NWN Module

Omagogg was a warrior of the Bear Claw tribe. Long before the city of Neverwinter sprang up Omagogg served Mhoghazz, Overlord of vast stretches of the sword coast with a reign that was still growing as civilization was only just reaching the north.

The young warrior was ambitious, and he sought help from Grizellha, a night hag. She agreed to help him overthrow Mhoghazz. When he asked her the price she told him "Omagogg, your rise to power will make you many enemies but one will stand above all and that enemy will take from you more than you can now conceive. You may make no attempt at vengeance. Fear not, warrior, for vengeance shall be had, but it will be mine, and not yours. I will come to him in his sleep and destroy him."

Omagogg agreed and within the year Mhoghazz, who had no surviving sons but for a single infant who had vanished months before, died of sickness, unable to rest for the nightmares that plagued him. Omagogg met all challengers in battle and became Chief of the Bear Claw.

Inwau was a barbarian princess, daughter of Hurugarr of Elk's Leap, one of the Bear Claw's smaller rivals. Omagogg was prepared to sack the Elk's Leap when Hurugarr sent Inwau, offering his thirteen year old daughter up to wed the overlord as a peace offering.

Omagogg was immediately smitten with the young girl's beauty and accepted her as his wife. The people of Elk's Leap were spared slaughter, and Hurugarr was bound to Omagogg's house by blood and became a great chieftain of his clan.

Inwau had a talent for wild magic, and as she grew she became a mighty sorceress. Omagogg and Inwau lived together in the Arms of the Bear, a great and ancient tunnel complex on high ground, in the hills overlooking the Vale of Summer.

Omagogg was blissfully happy with his bride. As he grew older with her he became a gentler ruler, and fair. As settlers trickled in from the south he allowed them to settle in his marginal lands in relative peace in exchange for trade goods. His people prospered, as did the "pinkskins" (so named for their lack of tatoos) from the south.

As Inwau blushed into womanhood she happened upon a pinkskin Captain named Herold Whillson. While she was trading for scrolls in his village they were attacked by a band of Ogres, and side by side they fought them off. They parted, but Inwau was clearly smitten by the chain clad knight. Each time she returned to the village to trade the spark between them grew. Soon she began sneaking out of the barbarian fortress from a secret tunnel she had built.

This went on for many years. The Pinkskin village prospered and grew, and eventually Omagogg traveled there himself to collect the governors tribute.

It is said that as soon as he saw Captain Whillson his queens treachery was laid bare, as he saw his two youngest sons in the armored man's eyes. Omagogg knew this was the enemy that the night hag had warned him of all those years ago. He knew that he should stay his hand and allow Grizellha to exact her vengeance, but his rage was too great. He drew his greatsword and struck the knight down. He then ordered his retinue to raze the town and they killed every man, woman and child in it.

He returned to the Arms of the Bear, but word of his deeds had arrived before him. Inwau lay dead in her chamber at her own hand and her bastard sons had fled to Elk's Leap.

Omagogg mustered his Army and marched on his wife's home tribe. Omagogg met Inwau's bastard sons on the battlefield, but they still loved him as a father and would not raise a weapon to him. Instead they bowed before him and offered their heads, which Omagogg took. Then his army slaughtered the people of the Elk's Leap just as thoroughly as they had destroyed the pinkskin town.

He returned to the Arms of the Bear, and that night Grizellha apeared to him. She said "Omagogg, you have served the life I made for you well, and now I have come to accept your payment. Now I shall destroy the enemy I warned you about all those years ago."

She returned to the shadows from whence she came and Omagogg railed at the darkness, "Devil Bitch, No enemy stands before Omagogg! I have slain them all with my own hands! Stand before me again and I shall destroy you as well!"

That night as he slept he stood again on the field of battle and took the heads of his sons. Night after night he suffered the same dream as Grizellha kept her promise and feasted on the despair of his greatest enemy.

ERROR: NO RIGHT BRACKET ON EXPRESSION from Lilac Soul's NWN Script Generator When Using CheckPartyForItem Function

If you're getting an ERROR: NO RIGHT BRACKET ON EXPRESSION error on compile when using Lilac Soul's Script Generator I'll pretty much bet the farm that you're trying to write a script that uses the CheckPartyForItem function. The solution is VERY simple. If you get this error just add an include for nw_i0_tool and voila! The script will compile perfectly.

If you don't know what an include is... well, it doesn't matter. Just generate the script normally and copy/paste it into the script editor. Save and Compile. If it gives you a No Right Bracket on Expression error just add a line above the entire script (immediately above or below the green comments are fine as long as the line is above the int Starting Conditional(); or void main(); line).

The line you need to add is:
#include "nw_i0_tool"

Don't put a semicolon after the line.

That's all there is too it. The script will compile normally now.

If it hadn't been for Lilac Soul's Neverwinter Nights Script Generator I never would have started modding. Sure there are some intrinsic limitations, but nothing you can't learn through. The script generator is a perfect starter tool for noob modders.

Last night while modding I used it to do a simple script and behold... I got an error! It's not the first time I ever had this particular error, and It's one that can be worked around using multiple scripts and integer variables, but that's a royal PITA. This time I decided to try and fix it.

It took ten minutes.

I gotta tell ya, I feel pretty stupid for not Googling the solution right off. I shudder to think of the time I've lost in my life writing and testing scripts to get around this function. After ten minutes of looking at scripts that worked it became clear that all I was missing was a simple include!!!

Edit 10/1/12: The Krit has updated the script generator, and he's done a GREAT job with it. You can get the updated version here.

Ink: Movie Review

A puff of air can change the world.

My sister has given me many wonderful things in her life. Of these things Hulu is not the greatest, but neither is this the least.

I'm not going to bore you with a detailed review of this movie beyond this...

Someone once said that fairy tales don't exist to teach children there are dragons, fairy tales exist to teach children that dragons can be slain. Ink is a fairy tale.

But that's all. Anything I say will only spoil the experience for you. It's free. You can watch it yourself. Do it or not as you choose, but life offers few easy joys. Take the opportunity to enjoy this one. This movie threatened to displace π as my favorite all time film. It stands head and shoulders above anything a major studio could or would create. Once again thoughtful writing and skillful film-making trumps a big budget.

I don't want to become an independent film snob, but one or two movies like this and the mainstream film studios can kiss my ass goodbye for good.

Take a couple hours, get a drink, sit back, click the full screen button and watch. It will be a better one hour and forty seven minutes than you ever payed for in the Cinema, and the popcorn's a LOT cheaper.

EDIT: Well, you missed your chance to see it for free, but Ink is still available for purchase at GoG.com.