"Now that's an episode 1" Ok so I think I have what could almost be described as a basic outline to a story. The first part of a story. A nice little story with a beginning, middle and end. Even a climax. Just a few more holes to fill in and it should be ready. Or something.

Now then: the imposed henchman will be called Hinchman. Yes, very clever. Now how about an allowance for multiple players? I don't think that'll work actually. This story really seems like it's told from the perspective of one person, the main character, and not a group of any more than that. Ok maybe I can get some gimmick going. It's a group of people, and hinchman, who can go through the story together picking a side for the civil war and fighting accordingly.

So lets say the player continues to gather clues until about the ritual leading up to the civil war. The player will end up fighting his way through a castle to finally come in to a room full of high-level councel members in mid-ritual.

Ok a civil war between two groups who simply disagree on whether a ritual should be performed without question or if it should be simply postponed seems a little weak.

So though it's also a little weak or cliche on some level lets say instead one part of the population wants to get rid of the ruling councel for trying to pull off the ritual. The other portion of the population is still loyal to this councel and just wants to defend the status quoi if nothing else. Like seperatists and loyalists for lack of a better description.

Would someone need more provocation then just this apparent abuse of power by a councel to go to war? Ok lets say not only does the player find the councel mid-ritual performance but soon learns the rituals secret trade off and how it will effect everyone. That'd surely be enough to incite somebody to fight a change.

Oh sure, most stories have plot twists and world-changing revelations at the end. But not this one. Ok maybe the ritual succeeding at the end will be the twist. If the player was fighting against the councel. I suppose if the player is a seperatist it can be a twist that the seperatist leaders will end up performing the same ritual. Rationalize it with something about fate and not being able to escape it. Normal bullshit like that (LOL). As I've said really it's a foregone conclusion.

So once the ritual has finished, possibly in a cinematic/cut scene, will the player get to experience the city in the new, more utopian form or will we have to wait for episode two for that? I'll have to further think about such a question.

Ok how about some more humor ideas: I remember the movie The Mummy in which the main character is always running from the monsters and at one point yells "oh no! Not these guys again!". Then there's the the South Park line "That's it! I'm not following this stupid hippie around any more!!" and of course one of my favorites from the movie (Knights) nobody has seen "And where to plan to stick that thing?!" and "Ah no! Am I on fire now?!" and "Ahh! Stay where you stand!" (yes, I'm the only one who found that at all entertaining). Well I didn't say I'd use them all...Any one of these could be a funny line to drop in and would be the rather obscure reference(s) I had mentioned before.

Alright I've brainstormed enough days I should really start working on a more solid story arc.

Ok, this is an arc right? Lets write an outline in that rough form then eh? Like the first scene the player sees is A1, the next is A2, then A3 and so on until we get to the climax. Lets say this is A10. From there we could start at B9, go to B8, B7 etc. I suppose the war would remain at B8. Perhaps that'd be more of a triable than an arc? Either way.

Ok lets start at A1:

The player wakes in a small bed room. It's a plain room with simply a bed and no windows. Upon exiting this room the player is presented with a downward staircase. At the bottom of this is a moderately sized room with a bar serving beer and few different citizens conversing and chatting jubilently.

Each of these citizens will have one or two lines but only one will yeild an actual conversation. This one, a man I think, will mention someone else who would like to talk him. Someone in the local castle-ah-mah-terium. What? No good? Ok so the player leaves the the moderately sized Inn to enter the city.

Ok this is a fairly large even but not I think worthy of an A2 quite yet. No arc yet, that's what I mean.

The is a very large and I think busy sort of place, lots of people walking around. I'd really like to express a sense of vitality and healthiness. I have no idea how to do this in an NWN module. I'll have to play with the toolset a lot more and experiment.

There will be lots of NPCs wandering aboot. They'll all say something about a person looking for the player and say something about the councel and taking the good with the bad. Every so often there's an NPC with a converstation but mostly not. All them will be pushing in some degree or another towards the conversation with next major NPC.

Ok lets say this particular NPC is a council member in the councel hall in the government section of the city. There, was that so bad? I'll just make that one section east of the starting city section.

The government section will be full government buildings, I suppose that's obvious. And a foundtain. It's gotta have a fancy fountain. That's the rule.

So finally the player makes it to the councel hall and the councel member. He deserves a name don't ya think? Lets see how about Butter D Cake. Ok that makes no sense. Lets be more latest events for the time I'm writing it: Mactell. Great, perfect. A character named Mactell. Macs are going to run on Intel haven't ya heard? And he's going to tell the character vital information and to go kill rats for Ursula. So there ya go. on the nose, fore-shadowing, semi-relevant to current events. I mean how could this name NOT be the best?

Ok, councel hall talking to Mactell. Mactell hints at some kind of threat to their way of life. He suspects the strange hermit Ursula may be a suspecious character who knows something about the threat. Under the guise of taking care of her rat problem Mactell asks the player to go to her house and investigate. Mactell gives the player a key to get into Ursula's house.

Ok, now we've hit a semi-large aspect of the storyline. Now we can be at the A2 level of the story arc here. Yes, A2.

So the player exits the councel hall. Ursula's house, the player is told, is in a neighboring district full of housing. Ok a residential district. Lets not get slowed down here by names, alright? Fine then.

So the player enters the residential district. Away in a corner is ursula's house. But the door is blocked and it doesn't look like there's another way in.

Alright we're moving along pretty good here. How long would it take a player to get to this point while playing? Five minutes maybe? Depends on the conversations I suppose. So hard to judge if this is too slow of a pace or too fast. Is it already too long before any fighting? I'll find that all out later.

I'm happy with my progress for today, I hope you're in a real exciting cliff hanger here.

  ¶ 9:55 AM