Urban rennovations in New Phlan
Filed under Design Diary on January 4, 2008
Keywords: Neverwinter Nights, Phlan, Pool of Radiance
In the original Pool of Radiance, New Phlan was comprised of a City Hall, the Training School, three temples (Tyr, Sune and Tempus), three inns, four Arms and Armor shops, five Holy shops, two Silver shops, one Jewelry shop, and four taverns. These buildings served the following purpose:
- City Hall provided commissions (quests)
- the Training School provided training (leveling), henchmen, and duels
- the temples provided healing; one of the main quests is given by Bishop Braccio at the Temple of Tyr
- inns were the only place in New Phlan where PCs could rest to heal and memorize spells (the City Watch rousted you if you try to camp in the streets)
- Arms and Armor shops all sold the same non-magical weapons and armor
- Holy shops sold mirrors, incense (IIRC) and holy symbols
- Silver shops sold silvered items and the best bow in the game
- the Jewelry shop converted coin into jewels
- the taverns provided rumors, gambling, the chance to get pickpocketed or participate in a brawl amongst the patrons
Other than the City Hall, Training School, Temple and Tyr and Jewelry shop, the locations were redundant, right down to their services, inventory and NPCs. They had no flavor to distinguish them or add to the immersion.
According to the Ruins of Adventure module and the 2nd Edition Moonsea sourcebook, Phlan has a couple different named inns, taverns and shops that serve different functions. Only the Temple of Tyr was noted by these sources, and no mention of the Training School was included. I had some decisions to make.
The first factor I considered was functionality. What purpose would be served by having multiple temples, inns or taverns? If I were staying true to the source, they wouldn’t be the source of quests. There was certainly an opportunity for atmosphere, but I felt it was likely that players would rarely visit each location more than once if they didn’t have an impact on gameplay, so the effort of creating them wasn’t worth it.
The temples were a harder decision, as they provided flavor for roleplayers. In the end, I opted to just go with the Temple of Tyr based on the effort-versus-use argument.
The Neverwinter Nights engine doesn’t require a character to go to a trainer to level up (though it is certainly possible to script). One of the first concessions I decided to make was to use the game’s default leveling mechanic. So, the Training School became strictly a mercenary guild where the players could hire henchmen. I’m leaning towards no dueling arena, but haven’t made a final decision.
I liked the idea of shops with different inventories. I also plan on restricting what each merchant will purchase based on what they sell.
Based on these decisions, I’ve designed New Phlan with the following locations:
- City Hall
- mercenary guild (to be named later, suggestions welcome)
- Temple of Tyr (sourcebooks call it The Waiting, but I’m not sure I’ll use that)
- one inn, The Cracked Crown
- one tavern, The Bitter Blade
- four shops (Matteo’s Arms and Armor, Ian Cockburn’s Grocery, Jerome’s of Melvaunt and a to-be-named magic shop)
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