Video Game / d20 Modern Neverwinter Nights

D20 Modern Neverwinter Nights (or D20 Modern Mod) is a modern-futuristic themed Game Mod for the first Neverwinter Nights game. It is not a true module with a plot, but an empty module giving the modder a system to create modern or futuristic adventures (single-player or multiplayer) with the Aurora Toolset, including custom scripts, items, characters classes and objects; most of this can be edited by the modder. Basically, it is a d20 Modern total conversion of Neverwinter Nights.

D20 Modern Mod features several different Character Classes, separated between six basic classes and twelve Prestige Classes.

Each basic class is focused on one of the six attributes. They are:

• Strong (Strength)
• Fast (Dexterity)
• Tough (Constitution)
• Smart (Intelligence)
• Dedicated (Wisdom)
• Charismatic (Charisma)

Each Prestige Class can be chosen if the character meets a few requirements (feats, a minimum level in some skills, etc). This is not an obligation to use only this specific build, but the manual suggests that each basic class goes very well with two Prestige Classes. The Prestige Classes are :

• Soldier (Strong)
• Martial artist (Strong)
• Gunslinger (Fast)
• Infiltrator (Fast)
• Daredevil (Tough)
• Bodyguard (Tough)
• Field scientist (Smart)
• Mage^note The same thing that the classical Wizard from Dungeons & Dragons (Smart)
• Field medic (Dedicated)
• Acolyte^note The same thing that the classical Cleric from Dungeons & Dragons (Dedicated)
• Negotiator (Charismatic)
• Personality (Charismatic)

Each class (basic or prestige) have a maximum level of 10. Because of Neverwinter Nights rules, a character can only have up to three classes. So, the maximum level for a Player Character in D20 Modern Mod isn't 40 but 30.

The other important change to the Neverwinter Nights core rules is the using of firearms as ranged weapons, with specific ammunitions. Instead of using standard Neverwinter Nights ammunitions, it relies on a set of scripts. When a character takes a gun in his hands, the scripts check if he carries the right type of ammunitions (items shown as an inert icon), and, if successful, the amount of needed bullets for a full magazine is substracted from the ammunitions in the bag, converted in the same amount of usable ammunitions (arrows, bolts, or bullets, depending on the weapon) and go up to the loaded ammunitions slot of the inventory when the reloading is finished (reload isn't a free action unless the character has a specific feat). If a loaded gun is taken back to the inventory, its ammunitions are converted back to inert ammunitions.

There is five types of ranged weapons, each being a modded variation of the default Neverwinter Nights ranged weapons:

• Handguns: modified shortbows, they feature pistols, revolvers, very compact submachine pistols, and a Sawn-Off Shotgun. The handguns can be dual wielded (see below)
• Small arms: modified longbows, they feature some small to medium submachine guns
• Longarms: modified light crossbows, they feature all kind of rifles (from bolt-action rifles to battle and assault rifles), bigger submachine guns and big shotguns
• Heavy weapons: modified heavy crossbows, they feature some medium to heavy machine guns, and some special arms (flamethrowers, rocket launchers, futuristic energetic weapons, etc)
• Dual-wielded handguns: modified slings, it is a handgun when it is dual-wielded. Only two identical guns can be used that way (the player must use a specific command through a dialog menu, when having one handgun in his hand and an identical one in his backpack); in game mechanism, one of the hands bears an active sling which really fires, and the gun carried off-hand is just an inert prop. Putting back one of the guns in the backpack makes both weapons reappear in the inventory, converted back as standard handguns

There is also some more minor mechanisms added, like an alternative wealth system (paying with a bank account rather than with real gold), several item identification skills (depending on whereas the item is an occult or military piece of information, a chemical object, etc), or a system of driving vehicles. Note that some of the new systems, skills and feats are absolutely useless unless the modder adds himself heavy scripts to the D20 basis module, or the module is a multiplayer one featuring a DM.

Although the proper D20 Modern Mod replaces character classes, some bits of helmets, and armors, it doesn't delete the spells and the 3D models of the non-human creatures (including those of the Community Expansion Pack version used to make run the mod), allowing the modder to create modules with undeads, aliens or wizards.

The mod have been used in the released first mod of the July Anarchy series, its planned prequel uses it too.

The files needed to run the mod can be found here, but you also need to have both official expansion pack, and the unofficial mod ''Community Expansion Pack''.

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The D20 Modern Mod provides examples of:

Settings and sceneries

This list of tropes concerns the kind of sceneries and settings that can be created with the module. It also concern some of the inert items usable as scenery eye-candy.

• Abandoned Hospital: It is possible to build one by using the spaceship tileset, and a lot of imagination.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Not specific to D20 Modern Mod^note the "sewer" tileset belongs to the original Neverwinter Nights, but the player is able to create one.
• After the End
• Cthulhu Mythos^note At least, the late 20th / early 21st century variant: You have guns, several kind of monsters with more or less monstruous appeareance fitting with this setting (Kuo-Tua, Mindflayers, ghouls, etc), and occult-themed icons for inventory items.
• Everytown, America: Vehicles, objects for scenery decoration, and the urban tileset itself are a somewhat cliché of United States of America of the late 20th / early 21st century. With some imagination, it is although possible to design a rural place set elsewhere.
• Eyes Are Unbreakable: One scenery accessory is an intact enucleated eyeball.
• The Future
  • Cyberpunk
  • Space Opera: One of the tileset represents the inside of a spaceship. One other is the space, and can be used with miniaturized spaceships, which can be used to make space battles
  • 20 Minutes into the Future
  • Used Future: A lot of the modern / futuristic inert scenery items have alternative models in a rusted / stained / broken appearance.
• Groin Attack: One scenery prop represents a corpse lying on the back, tighly holding his groin with his hands. Its model is named "cadaver, old, ouch!" in the toolset.
• Magitek
• Parking Garage: One tileset represents one.
• People Jars
• Present Day
• Schizo Tech
• Stealth-Based Game / Stealth-Based Mission: The Infiltrator Prestige Class has been designed for this.
• Survival Horror
  • Darkness Equals Death
  • Zombie Apocalypse: The original Neverwinter Nights features a few already made zombies, the D20 Modern Mod adds chainsaws, and shotguns.
• Womb Level: The "Belly of the Wyrm" pre-generated area uses the "Beholder Interior" Tileset (which mostly consists in organic-looking corridors and circular rooms), filled with green stains and severed bodyparts. Its exit door is named "sphincter". It is intented to be part of a system allowing PCs to be swallowed alive by a monster.
• Urban Fantasy: The modder can create true magical items^note technically, a lot of items are considered as magical by the game, even if they are real: for exemple, the different stats of the firearms come from "magical" properties, as the effects of the pills. The Acolyte Prestige Class is the Cleric from Dungeons & Dragons, and the Mage is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. No rule prevents players having a Dwarf / Halflin / Elve / etc character. All the humanoid (Orcs, Goblins, Giants, etc), or supernatural creatures (giant spiders, dragons, demons, undeads, etc) can still be used.
• World War II: Although very poor in vehicles from this era, D20 Modern Mod includes a decent but classical selection of World War II era German, American, British firearms, and allows to create some custom clothes looking roughly like the related uniforms.
  • Ghostapo / Stupid Jetpack Hitler

Characters and NP Cs

This list of tropes deals with appearance and potential backgrounds of player characters and NPC.

• Ace Pilot
• Action Girl: The stats and classes makes no difference if the character is a man or a woman. Strangely enough, the manual describes all the characters basic classes with "they", but the Fast class is written as "she" but the picture illustrating the page shows a man - in game, there is no rule preventing creation of a Male Fast character. In the manual too, the Strong class description page is illustrated with a picture showing a woman.
• Action Hero: Especially when playing a Strong class character.
• Action Survivor
• All Bikers are Hells Angels: The "Biker" NPC model is a fat bearded man wearing a Hell Angels leather jacket.
• Artificial Limbs: This can be done by creating custom clothes looking normal, and then replacing one (or several) parts for limbs by robotic-looking parts.
• Badass Bookworm: Any Player Character with the Smart class
• Badass Driver: The Daredevil Prestige Class
• Badass in a Nice Suit: It is possible to do this, especially recommanded with the Bodyguard Prestige Class.
• Badass Preacher: Dedicated / Acolyte character
• Battle Butler: There is one among the already made NPCs of the base module. The unit is named "Butler" and is a level 1 Tough.
• Bulletproof Vest: A few torso-part of the lights armors look like this.
• Chest Insignia
• Cigar Chomper: A couple of heads include this. One of the male heads for human NPCs represents a helmet-wearing soldier with a cigar in the mouth, another one represents a bald one-eyed guy.
• Cold Sniper / Friendly Sniper: The Gunslinger class is well made to create a sniper. Whereas he will be the former or the latter is up to the roleplay of the player.
• Combat Stilettos
• Cool Shades / Sinister Shades
• Eyepatch of Power: A couple of heads (including some which were already in the CEP).
• Faceless Goons
• Facial Horror: One of the male human heads is Darth Sion face (a man with a heavily charred/scarred face and a blind eye).
• Gas Mask Mooks: There is a gasmask model among the helmets. Can be used as an actual gasmask if it receives properties immunizing its wearer against spells which visual effects include gas or smoke.
• Hell-Bent for Leather
• Heroes "R" Us
• Humanoid Aliens
• Impossibly Cool Clothes
• Improbable Hairstyle
• The Men in Black: There are clothes parts which can create this kind of black tuxedos, and some heads with sunglasses, fitting the visual archetype.
• Ninja: Not included in the basic module, but it is possible to create some by using a black balaclava as headgear, black clothes, shuriken, and Japanese edged weapons.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The mod allows to create ninjas, zombies, vampires, robots, superheroes, and to combine them.
• Powered Armor
• Private Military Contractors
• Samurai: The 3D models used by armors and helmets include samurai armor and headgear. Out of D20 Modern Mod specific resources, the original Neverwinter Nights and the Community Expansion Pack (needed to properly use D20 Modern Mod) include a large array of Japanese melee weapons.
• Specs of Awesome: A couple of PCs and NPCs heads include transparent glasses. As they are a purely cosmetical feature, nothing prevents to choose such a face while playing a very strong combat-oriented character.
• Spy Catsuit
• Stripperiffic
• Superhero
• Super-Soldier
  • Space Marine
• Those Wacky Nazis
• Utility Belt: Though it's a purely cosmetical part of the armour.
• Waistcoat of Style: Depending on how you mix torso and arms parts when creating clothes, you can create this kind of clothing.
• Western Terrorists

Classes, Stats, skills, and feats

This list of tropes concerns the character stats.

• Artistic License – Chemistry / Artistic License – Engineering / Artistic License – Physics: The craftmanship system.
• The Big Guy: A character with the Strong and / or Tough class can usually be one.
• Dumb Muscle: Averted with the Soldier Prestige Class, which requires spending some points in the Tactical knowledge skill to be choosable. Can be played straight with a build combining the Strong, Tough, and Martial Artist classes.
• Genius Bruiser: Combining the Strong or Tough class with Field Medic or Field Scientist. It can also be done just with putting skill points in some "intellectual" skills without multiclassing in science or intellectual oriented classes, but the "genius" part will be less present, as those skills won't be "class skills" and thus there level cap will be halved.
• Genius Ditz: When a character puts a lot of skills points in the Theology / Occult / Chemistry / etc knowledge skills but nothing in the Current events, Streetwise or Popular culture.
• The Gunslinger: Especially with the Gunslinger Prestige Class.
• Master of None
• The Medic: The Field medic Prestige Class; an Acolyte can potentially be a magical one, if he chooses the right spells.
  • Combat Medic: A combination of Field medic and combat-oriented classes become this.
• Non-Action Guy: Depending on the module and the roleplay of the player, a character build with three-class combination of Dedicated / Smart / Charismatic / Celebrity can become one.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist
• One-Man Army: Possible if a Strong / Tough / Fast character have to fight mooks who's level is a lot lower.
• Squishy Wizard
• Street Smart: The "Streetwise" skill.
• Useless Useful Non-Combat Abilities: Most of the skills of the mod can be this (deciphering foreign languages or technical pieces of information, craftmanship, repair, etc). Most of them requires heavy scripting of the module or the intervention of a Game Master to work.
• You Have Researched Breathing: Some actions, like driving a car or having decent knowledge of current events or popular culture, require specific skills or feats.

Items, weapons, and armors

All which is related to inventory and usable stuff.

• Arbitrary Gun Power: Can be played straight or averted, depending of what the modder wants to do when creating the weapons.
• Bag of Holding
• BFG: the heavy weapons, which includes miniguns and rocket launchers.
• Batter Up!: There are two baseball bat models: a regular wooden one, and the same with nails stuck in its top.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: The silver-ivory plated Desert Eagle model.
• Carry a Big Stick: One of the club models is a police baton.
• Chainsaw Good:
  • The two chainsaw models (a pristine one and a rusty one) are modified from the sickle.
  • There's longsword parts made to look like Warhammer 40,000 chainswords.
• Combat Hand Fan: The Fan weapon, which is a Japanese-looking fan. Technically, it's a kama, with means that using it without penalty requires to have the "Exotic" weapon proficiency feat, and can be dualwielded.
• Cool Car: Sadly, some of the 3D models of the mod are only usable as parts of the scenery, not as drivable vehicles.
• Gatling Good: Two of the weapons are two minigun variants. The mod also has rules about autofire.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: There are spectacles/sunglasses items, which are technically amulets^note to be more accurate, they are a new kind of item named "Modern Necklace", which works exactly like the amulets and is worn in the same inventory slot with special icon. They can grant some bonus, from relatively logical (bonus to Search skill, night vision, etc) to absolutely anything you want.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: There are two models of bottle weapons: a full one (club), and a broken one (dagger). Both also exist in the specific "improvised weapon" category.
• Gun Accessories: Some of the 3D models for firearms include some details like scopes or grenade launchers, but they are purely cosmetical and the models can be really customized. There are also some one-use items which are made to ehance stats of a firearm, without any visual incidence.
• Gun Porn: The mod includes 3D models for a lot of real firearms (and even more of Sci-Fi ones, too), although the ones that already exists in the basic demo D20 Module are far less numerous.
• Hand Cannon: The Desert Eagle, the Sawn-Off Shotgun, and some of the biggest revolvers.
• Improvised Weapon:
  • Some blunt weapons are put in this specific category (they suffer from a decrease of accuracy, unless the character has a specific feat). They include a mug, a bottle, a chair or a frying pan
  • Some other "improvised weapons" models belong to standard weapons categories. Among them, there are spiked plank and baseball bat (club), kitchen knife and broken bottle (dagger), and small hammers (light hammer)
• Improperly Placed Firearms / A.K.A.-47: The already made module suffers from some weird instance of it, like a Galil named "AKS-74U". Also, the file description of the guns which goes with the mod files includes some other errors and inacurracies, one of the worst being the SVD models described as "AK-style Machinegun".
• Improvised Armour: One of the buckler models is a trashcan lid.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Like in the unmodded game, they are the best type of one-handed weapon. And contrary to the unmodded game, they can be wield by anyone (although the wielder suffers from a malus if he/she doesn't have the Exotic Weapons Proficiency feat).
• Kill It with Fire: The mod new resources include a heavy weapon shaped exactly like the flamethrower from Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and a Molotov Cocktail icon for the throwing weapons.
• Laser Blade: Not only the mod includes the laser alternate appearance for bladed weapons from the Community Expansion Pack, but it also replaced altered stats and appearances of the kukris to replace them by Star Wars-style lightsabers. As those new weapons are actually a reskin of one already existing instead of brand new weapon type, which allows them to benefit from martial feats and proficiency.^note In Neverwinter Nights, the bonus granted to weapon types from martial feats are hardcoded, which explains that it is impossible to create such feats applied to weapon types created by modders.
• Machete Mayhem: There's a Machete item, which belongs to the short sword weapon class.
• Magic Antidote / Magical Antibiotics: There are exactlty one "Antidote" item (curing any poison) and one universal disease curing medicine, the later being named "Antibiotics". Although the ingame description stats that it is a cocktail of several medicines rather than a single antibiotic.
• Phlebotinum Pills: The "drug" class of item features objects represented by syringe and/or pills icons. They are consumables with one charge, and the modder can give each a "spell", which is automatically cast on the user.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: The two most powerful handguns (among the already made firearms in the basic module) are a Desert Eagle and a .44 Magnum, which inflict the same amount of damage.
• Sawn-Off Shotgun:
  • One of the already made handguns, it is a sawn-off 12-gauge two-barreled hunting rifle which must be reloaded after two shots.
  • One of the available hangun models looks roughly like a sawn-off Barrett M82 with a weird handle. As it isn't used by a pre-generated weapon in the base module, it's unclear if the modders wanted it to be this or a sci-fi gun.
• Self-Surgery: The Surgery kit is an item (described as a kit including the objects needed to perform a surgical act) which serves to heal a character. Although the act itself suffers from some restriction (negative check if the character using it doesn't have a specific feat), there are absolutely no specific malus if someone tries to heal himself with the item.
• Shoulder Cannon: Doesn't technically exist as an actual weapon, but there are some armour shoulder parts that are this.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: One of the icons usable for custom items is a weathered grimoire which cover features a symbol identical to the Cthulhu Mythos' Elder Sign.
• Wolverine Claws: The Fist Blades, which are a set of three steel blades protruding from the hand Wolverine-style. Technically, it's a kama, with means that using it without penalty requires to have the "Exotic" weapon proficiency feat, and can be dualwielded.

Other rules

• Critical Existence Failure: Like in the original Neverwinter Nights, being in full health or nearly dead doesn't have any consequence on the ability to walk and fight.
  • Although there is some scripts which force a character to do a saving throw or die immediatly, when they suffer a very high amount of damage.
• Dual Wielding: It is possible to fight with two knives, or with a knife and a baseball bat, or two small hammers, or anything. Like in the original Neverwinter Nights, it greatly reduces the accuracy of attacks unless the character has some specific feats, especially if his offhand weapon is bigger than a small melee weapon.
• Exploding Barrels: Not created in the demo module, but possible by combining a barrel model (there is a large selection of them) with a specific script.
• Guns Akimbo: Every handguns can be used this way (if the modder created the dual-wield equivalent items for the guns and ammunitions, of course), including the Desert Eagle; only possible with two identical guns. Note that the character will fire two times more ammunitions, and his accuracy will be decreased.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Although the carring capacity is limited by the character's strenght (this limitation becomes neglectable when the strenght is higher enough, which happens at a not so high point), the Neverwinter Nights inventory has enough room to store several firearms (from handguns to BFG), several square-meters of ammunitions, a few Bags of Holding, a whole load of tools, and tons of plot-related items.
• Incredibly Durable Enemies: Any enemy which has a relatively high level becomes this (see "Made of Iron" below).
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: What usually happen when a character tries to shoot another who is a lot higher in experience levels.
• Made of Iron: Any character with a relatively high level will have enough hit points to not being killed by a simple blow / bullet and will be immune of a lot of status effect because of their high saving throw bonuses.
• Swallowed Whole: Cf Womb Level in the "Settings and sceneries" folder.
• Trauma Inn: Downplayed. Unlike the original Neverwinter Nights, resting only heal a small part of hitpoints, not the whole lifebar. It can be modified by the modder, though.
• Universal Poison: Like in the original Neverwinter Nights.

Technical informations

• 2DSpace: There is a space tileset (with scaled scenery props representing space stations, ships, astronomical bodies, etc), designed for space travel and space battles. Thanks to the game engine, it is technically a flat area.
• Artificial Stupidity:
  • The Artificial Intelligence is the same as the original Neverwinter Nights. Especially with the followers...
  • For the NPCs, target acquisition range is slighly higher than the range of the firearms. It means that unless the NPCs have spawned in range, any attempted gunfight within two groups will end with the characters frozen facing themselves in a perpetual Mexican Stand Off. Worse, it gives an advantage to the IA characters against players: to be able to attack, the player will have to go nearer and will suffer an opportunity attack from his target
  • The creators of the mod didn't created customized patterns of recommanded feats / skills when levelling up, so the game makes absolute crap when having to do it automatically. It means that creating NPC will require to manually fix their skills and feats (or to create player characters, and then use a third-party tool to convert them as NPCs)
  • NPCs can only use the gun that they have in their hand when they are placed on the map; when run out of ammunitions, they cannot pick another gun from their inventory
  • NPCs seems to have some rather random difficulties to use the custom firearms and ammunitions system. Another thing is that nobody unless players characters is able to use dual-wielded guns, followers and scripted-spawned NPC can't figure how to use ammunitions at all and will choose melee combat
    • This problem can be avoided if the modder creates for NPC firearms with the "unlimited ammunitions" property.
• Loophole Abuse: In the mod, Acolyte and Mage are actually Cleric and Wizard converted as prestige classes. Because of how normal and prestige classes are hardcoded in the game, it means that it is technicallty legit to create a player character starting as level 1 Acolyte or level 1 Mage (but of course, them being prestige classes, actually levelling further will still require to fulfill the requirements).
  • A smart modder can prevent this issue, by creating a script which ends the module (or kill the PC) if the level 1 new player character who just began the adventure has gain this level in a specific class
• Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: Because of limitations of Neverwinter Nights, every firearms has the same (rather medium) range.
• Sword and Gun: It is possible for modders to create a character like this (with a one-handed melee weapon in his main hand and an inert gun-looking prop in the other), but he won't be able to use both, he only will use melee attacks.

Unsorted

• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It is a mod which allow you to create Neverwinter Nights modules by using the d20 Modern rules.
• Rule of Cool
• Shout-Out:
  • Characters can have the same faces (with sunglasses) that in The Matrix
  • One helmet model is the same as the classical Doom Space Marine's one. There are also a chainsaw weapon and a few firearms looking like the ones in the games and the armour customization features allow to roughly recreate the Doomguy armour (but without the tearing at the belly level)
  • A handgun's model looks like Rick Deckard's one
  • The longarms include a reproduction of the Aliens assault rifle
  • One of the monster's model is a Terminator-like silver skeleton with glowing red eyes
  • Some music tracks, and a lot of icons come from the old Fallout games. Also, one of the futuristic pistols is the 10mm pistol from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas
  • A lot of 3D models (faces, and inert objects for the scenery) come from both Knights of the Old Republic games, which use an upgraded version of the Neverwinter Nights engine
  • There are models inspired by the Star Wars movies, including a lightsaber weapon class (totally reskinned kukris), Bobba Fett and stormtroopers helmets, some spaceships, and a lot of firearms
  • An helmet model and a few character icons are obvious references to the Halo series
  • Some models of armor, helmets, and firearms are reproductions of items from Warhammer 40,000
  • A couple of weapons and a lot of scenery props come straight from Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
  • There are Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks among the books (both scenery props and icon's items)