====== The History of Nordock ======

===== As Told By the Creators and Players =====

==== Marc Richter, a.k.a "richterm" ====

I bought NWN on launch day. I tried to get it at lunch time up in North Jersey, but they didn’t get it in early enough. Instead, I stopped at a mall in Toms River and grabbed 2 copies...one for me, one for my bud.

I played a bit in a multiplayer game the first night...Chapter 2 I think.

I first started hacking on what would become Nordock a day or two later. The very first zone EVER is Benzor. The very second zone EVER doesn’t exist anymore...it was the old version of the Benzor Valley, just east of the city.

I put the server up within a week of launch. I set it up on a Pentium II running Linux.

It sucked.

No, really. It was great that people started coming to it. It was about 8 zones. Open character vault. No real quests other than the Orc cave based ones (which Qui did transition over to the new Benzor River Valley). No staff, other than me.

But the server software was TERRIBLE.

You think NWN crashes now? You ain’t seen nothing...

The worst bug was the Invalid Character Bug, ICB for short. After servicing anywhere from 10-20 logins, the server just wouldn’t let anyone else log in without being reset. This bug was FINALLY squashed in September, I think.

Anyway, Nordock went server vault after a month or so. People complained but more people every day were playing. We launched RR-West shortly therein, doubling our capacity. Then Qui launched RR-East and my box became the offical Test server. Jarketh launched RR-South and then Doug came along and all the servers settled in the great state of Texas.

We ran the community as an EZ-Board for many months...Nordock.net was around Christmas time, I think....maybe a bit afterwards.

I’ve never heard a peep from anyone at Bioware. That’s not sour grapes or anything...just a simple fact.

ATS was developed by Mojo, a clever dude. We were one of the first worlds allowed to use it. Fun fact: Mojo vanished for several months and their was a rumor posted claiming he was killed in a car crash. The truth turned out to be that he was hired as a game developer...probably somewhat because of his NWN work.

So Nordock will be two years old this June. (!) I’m still amazed at how many people have played the module and how many STILL play...it’s pretty freakin’ cool.

Another fun fact: One of the few perma banned people is my pastor’s youngest son. I don’t think any of the staff knows this.

Where did I get the name Nordock from? Good question...just kinda made it up. But for some bizarre reason, it’s blocked by Star Wars Galaxies as an obscenity. Make that as you will.

One more fun fact: My highest level character EVER was/is the original Marcalus the ranger. I got him up to level 8 on East.

==== Travis Reams, a.k.a "Jarketh Thavin" ====

I remember when Richterm’s Retreat was 5 areas, and ran on Richterm’s home computer (probably a Pentium 2, it was very unstable).

I remember when Richterm’s Retreat had a 14 player limit on that single server, and it was hard to get in. I would refresh the server listing waiting for it to drop a person so I could jump in.

I remember that Richterm’s Retreat was the first server I added to my favorite’s list.

I remember meeting Marcalus the first time when you used to port directly into Benzor. I thought “wow, he made this!?”.

I remember logging in the next day to a small room with couches and a sign saying, “This is the entrance area. New stuff coming: Drow and their own lands. Also: Dwarven lands. You can port directly to them from here without having to travel from Benzor.” My jaw dropped... DROW LANDS?!?!\\ I remember logging in every day and watching the world change around me.

I remember the HORROR of watching the RR server go down for an upgrade... the anticipation was too much.

I remember the first rendition of the Drow Lands. Valley of Darkness and Loknar. Loknar was MUCH smaller then.

I remember when HCR and ATS went in. Each had many bugs and went through many growing pains. I was one of the first to test out mining, smelting, and dagger crafting. Weee! Nifty!

I remember meeting Misha’s character Arleena. She was a monk that used a Tower Shield. Wow, did she catch a lot of flack for that.

I remember that in the EZBoard forums there was a Development board where Richterm would occaisionally ask for help with new lands. He asked for someone to make some Halfling lands, and that they be something similar to the Shire. So, I broke out the toolset and started experimenting with mapping and such. I was hooked. (I never finished the Halfling lands, and instead jumped on Richterm’s next request: The Underdark. Woohoo!)

I remember taking the job to make the Underdark, and the coincidental “promotion” to DM. It was right after Misha and Qui were made DMs, and we all learned how to kill players together by feeding them to Grissom. It was great!

I remember all the bugs. Man, was this game buggy. As a new DM, I quickly learned how to fix characters who lost tradeskills, lost levels, and lost lots and lots and lots of stuff. Misha and I would log in and stand in the Entrance with a *LINE* of players waiting to be fixed. Of course the playerbase was small enough then that we could trust the players to be honest. Were they? Only they know the truth...

I remember the huge wars we would have on West between the Drow and Surfacers. There was SOOO much RP going on, and the battles were daily. It was massive amounts of fun for me both as a player and as the “Drow DM”.

I remember deciding that I would host my own server. Hosting RR-South was a blast for me, and I sometimes miss it.

I remember holding my first (and only) massive PvP event. I had made a huge battlefield that was not connected to any other areas. We announced the event (on West, IIRC) several weeks prior, and at least 60 people showed up for the event, along with 10 DMs. We ported everyone to the battlefield, Surfacers on one side, and Drow on the other. The next 6 hours was nothing but pure, unadulterated CHAOS. Man, it was fun. BlackmageMaster had a Drow Wizard that cast a 15 minute TimeStop. We didn’t want to restart the server and spoil the fun, so we waited. And waited. And waited. It finally wore off... and when it did, the Drow were the last ones standing.

==== Misha ====

The first person to get a ‘recipe’ was Misha Brightblade, she found it in a chest. A dm (which ended up being richterm) possessed a minotaur and ran a little quest to get what he thought was the first recipe into the game. He kinda choked when I told him ‘Neat, ive got 2 now!’ (It had gotten into the loot tables, lol). The first recipe was the braveheart armor, btw.

The first person banned from a RR server was butterfingers, though he did return to a different server before the cdkeys were crossreferenced. He was also the first to formally request that the fugue be made more ‘homey’ , with elaborate details of how to do so. (And he didnt cause trouble, and very few ever knew he had returned, but I always noticed little playstyle similarities, and finally asked - it was him )

The first merchant was Ashal Cane.

I can remember a level one thief asking on shout ‘Anyone want to party up with a locksmith’ , or something very similar for a few days. It was a ‘young’ Nul Char

I remember a young Joshua O’tel who used to die a lot Ask him where he got his first +5 sword

I remember the arena at Brosna, and it getting camped by clerics with WoF farming xp. I can also remember showing that to marc, and it was gone the next day

I remember when you could buy hasted items at will. Boots, dark robes, swords, you name it. Rings of Power. You couldnt buy blue dragon armor, but there was a dragon who dropped it each reset

I know one thing you couldnt buy, that very people had, was +5 monk gloves. I had 2 of the first 3 pair on the server (the server, because there was only one), and ‘Teacher’ had the other.

I can remember almost quitting one time. Yes, Misha almost quit once...Anyone over level 15 could not get xp, by design. Not slowed to a crawl, cut off I had a level 16 who died, and I darn near walked away. The intent was to have level 15+ receive xp for roleplaying, but there were only a handful of dm’s at the time. So people started keeping their level at 14, and just letting the xp keep going, and leveling up when they got to 20. And yes, I reported that one, and changes were made the next day that capped xp just over your current level.

When the main quest first went in, there was a mad scramble to figure out the pieces to the puzzle. That was probably the most exciting time in Nordockian history. Everyone was working with each other, and at the same time, working to be first. I can’t elaborate many details here publicly without spoilers, but the first group in technically failed .

I am the keeper of Nordockian ‘history’, but YOU are the present and the future.

==== Talinthor ====

I remember playing a pit fighter named Brock in Marc’s Warhammer campaign back in college. We also had a guy named Sadusky playing with us. We were chasing some guy named...um...let me see...oh yeah, Blackavar. Many a good memory came from that campaign.

I remember the day roughly 2 years ago that Marc shoved a copy of NWN in my hands in an attempt to entice me like the proverbial bottom fish (don’t ask). I did try the game for a while and helped Marc test the first couple of areas.

There used to be a cave in Benzor Flats just north of the city gate. I remember exploring there when Marc decided to possess a skeletal warrior (or similar) and warned me to leave. I attacked then ran. He chased me all the way back to the streets of Benzor. There were no guards to help me at the time. I think I managed to hide until some higher level PC came along and dealt with my undead friend. Good stuff.

I played here and there on RR-Diff but I was way too addicted to EQ at the time to play NWN. But recently stopped playing EQ and I’m now playing on Nordock 1 (Sirion - arcane archer, say hello) and even running my own NWN campaign. Makes me wish I’d been more involved back in the day with Nordock but better late than never I guess.

==== Thralden ====

I remember when you could buy boots of speed from a merchant...

Another merchant sold a +5 tower shield, short sword of swiftness, scimitar of speed, etc. etc. etc.

I remember these half-orc drow slaves with true sight who would kill you before you could transition into any drow city, but who occassionally dropped all their “nodrop” gear...

I remember brutal PvP battles with the drow where “consent” was “implied” simply because we were surfacers, and they were drow

I remember when one cleric or druid could singlehandedly wipe out the entire fireblasted pass with harm spells...

I remember when heal potions cost like 1500 gold and people could earn 1,000,000 gold from jewelcrafting in about an hour, maybe 2.

You know, Jark, your post reminded me of a bunch of stuff... when did the server vault for East (I think) accidentally get wiped? I remember dm’s were handing out restores, basically giving you all your levels back... I had like a 6th level barb with a +3 shortsword and a lesser ring of regen as his 2 prized possessions... Man, I was happy to get those 6 levels and 2 items back

And I remember that battle, 2 surfacers joined the drow ooc because the sides were so uneven, I was one of em (Glunk). I remember the lag was so bad people were crashing left and right, and then you couldn’t get back in because the hcr pk tracker would auto ban you until the next reset. When the smoke settled and the dust cleared after the second battle, it was my buddy Luthar vs like 15 surfacers, and it took them over 5 minutes to take him down. I was sooo mad I couldn’t get back in and help him out!

==== smashnbash ====

what about the sermons in the benzor temple of life? (west)

the old battles of the undead npc’s in Kelahar’s? (I think that was where it was)

Boots of speed... (with a capital B)

before the crafting merchant of Mulrok? ( I made a fortune that way too..)

(more recent, but fun nonetheless...) the DM levelups to the noobs right after the vault consolidation... and then taking them all to the PoR... (was messy)

the introduction of Kabu...

==== Lord Seth ====

he... even tough I can’t claim to have “memories” about Nordock (from the very beginning at least) I do remember visiting often from time to time. my old PC couldn’t run NWN properly, and only ran it somewhat playable online. Nordock was the very first module I visited, and crafting was already implemented.

It was when the gateway was using the dungeon tileset, drow and duergar were just starting to be implemented, but that never caught my interest.

What kept me in was Galdor... I mean, c’mon... I was used to console RPG‘s... having a GOLD DRAGON speak to me by my name was cool enough, but he also requested MY help. How can you say no? simply, you can’t. And off was Veric (yes, Veric used to play from time to time in the old Nordock) fighting the undead horde that plagued the west benzor slums... lost as he couldn’t find the swamp up north I think the zenghi lands weren’t there at the time...

Anyways, I remember it because I could only find nordock trough trial and error, whatever server had Veric Deers in its database was it (I hadn’t made use of the “favorites” menu and I have NEVER used gamespy to locate servers) and at that time there were a LOT of public servers running it, but never really liked them. Then I lost access to the internet, and came back on october 2003, only to find out Veric was no more...

So then I tought... well since this was the very first module I played why not create the brave paladin I used to play? and thus Veric was reborn, to explore the greatly changed lands and face dangers he never did before(to you it might have been slow changes... but to me the xp death penalty for taking the guardian sky rocketed all of a sudden, then the merchants by the town square on benzor had all been gone to who the hell knows where[Mulrok], now there was no return from trondor, there was this place called misty Island I never heard about before,the road to Brosna was a LOT longer and full of unspoken dangers, there was actually a path to the North, bowyering was new to me as well as tinkering, weaponsmithing was more user friendly, my very BIG new surprise was finding out ingots didn’t weight anymore, there was jewelcrafting to be mastered, now poleweapons couldn’t be crafted anymore, along with syenite, rubicite and adamantine items, there was this “katana” of the dragons to be crafted, my character build that used to rock now SUCKED, there were a lot more players on at any given time.)

Also... didn’t the server used to level up automatically to level 2 any character? I recall one DM saying it was so because the world was very tough and people were dying all over the place.

Ah yes, the workshop wasn’t there in the very beginning, it was on the open near what now is the bank.

And GOD please finish that dog’s quest by the market... it’s been there unfinished for AGES(even tough the kid you are supposed to help indeed does ask for help)

==== Aekinskald ====

Speaking of SkyNine - she had a Quest to justify her unique items, her Alignment change and finally a private home. Helped on the latter two - made a weird team, the LG Khazad FTR/Smith and the Drow! Specialized in Ancient Red Dragons, we did .....

The original Brosna was a ruin left over from the Blackavar War - any old Silent Hand veterans wanna tell the story of its rebuilding?

Ayup, many a Khazad, especially yers truly, made a career outta mining for materials to make Jewelry fer sale - in the days before the Bank, dying sometimes would cost me a couple million .........

==== Tetra ====

I remember when one cleric or druid could singlehandedly wipe out the entire fireblasted pass with harm spells...

  * whistles innocently* still had to use another spell besides harm to get those last 11 hp. Ahh the memories.... 

Glunk and Luther were the best too. Which one of you was it that patented the “lead the ancient red dragon into the valley of darkness technique” again? ;P You guys inadvertantly made Tetra a hero to the young’ens with that stunt. WAAAAAAAm-ZAP!-K-Thud.

Never since have I met better sports than the two of you. whispers: They got ganged up on a couple times for getting a little too close to our turf.

Jarkeths post in particular really brought back waves of nostalgia. Hearing about the drow lands was what brought me to nordock. Word of them spread long and far and they were the first of their kind. Think I got in on it about 2 weeks after they went in.

West was the best when it came to drow in the early days. East had some good ones but west had the volume. I remember times when there was a good 15 of us all sitting around the fire in the valley of darkness and maybe a good 25 REGULAR drow players all-together. Just on west.

As was eluded to though, it was the interaction with the surfacers that made the icing on the cake. And yes, then there was sky-nine in the middle. lol. Boy was Tetra snooty to her.

I was also one of the lvl 20’s that ended up in jarkeths line after the vault died. I had so much stuff that I asked him to let me send him a printout hehe. Actually didn’t list half of what I had either Jarketh being the big-hearted guy he is though set me all up again.

I think you could even still just go to the magic store in brosna and pick up a golden circlet for 14k at that time.

And then there was the wonderful dwarven merchant in the merry midget. Sold everything from boots of speed to +5 cloak of protections on up. For drow that trip was a real adrenaline rush too. if you walked by the wrong midget and you were hammer fodder.

I could go on and on and on... good times.

==== NandeNulefnein ====

Little Gru did come from my slave Gruumash, though not one of the original henchmen.He was probably the first non-drow slave on RR,and Tetra didn’t have a House,she was my Daughter and one of the best Drow ever. She was supposed to assassinate me and take my Throne but it never came to pass. Reading all that takes one back to the past though. EZBoard, wow, wish all those posts were still around too.

==== Havoc12 ====

I started playing nordock on a server fired by one of the members of the Mature Players Association Guild, of which I was then a member (great group of people btw). It was hosted for a time as a server test and for us to gather and play. I made it to level 13, mostly solo. I had to take the guardian at level 12 twice. In a moment of weakness, my mouth still bitter with the taste of bile, I fervently wished that rictherm’s computer would burn out and that his car would break down. By that time the current version had the exporters, but they were not in the version I was playing. I was saved by the zenghi . The host upgraded after listening to my rant.

The gateway at the time looked nothing like the pleasant and quaint little place it is today. It was like a waiting room from hell I often wondered who designed that.

==== gobbe ====

Not really a “Nordock history” thing, but probably worth mentioning in this thread. As I think it is Nordocks first, and only mentioning in international gaming press (and also what brought me here in the first place):

**(Swedish) SUPER PLAY MAGAZINE - Issue no.7 2003.**

(Article translated from original Swedish one. Copyright - Medströms dataförlag AB)

The modding scene around Neverwinter Nights continues to grow. And whilst we are waiting for Bioware to continue their own hobby project, the excellent Witch’s Wake, we are investigating some fanbased modules. Nordock is the name of an adventure, or rather a world, in which you can spend hundreds of hours. The world is made to be a persistent world, that is a that doesn’t only exist when you are there. Aslong as a server is running the module players can come and go, form guilds and wage wars on eachother.

This kind of module transforms Neverwinter Nights into something that reminds you of traditional MMORPG‘s like Everquest or Ultima Online. And like in those games, 90% of the gameplay is based upon how the players around you behave, and how many people are playing. It’s hardly exciting walking around alone, in an entire world. And when you meet someone it’s a brat running about shouting “n00b!”.\\ There are alot of interesting details in this particular module, for instance there are a set of “hardcore rules”, which have been created by a few Neverwinter Nights fans.

The ruleset are more faithful towards the pen&paper rules than the ones pre-existant in the game. Besides that death is handled in another way here in Nordock. When a character hits 0 on the hitpoint meter, he will lie on the ground bleeding to death at a certain speed until he reaches -10 hitpoints. Only then will he die - but not even then will you see the game over screen. First you end up in somekind of death-realm. And from there you can return to the land of the living. In exchange for XP-loss, a sum of money and other horrendus things.

Then it is ofcourse preferrable that someone finds you where you are lying, bleeding to death to cast a spell to bring you back. In Nordock special rules for how resting and sleep is handled. When you enter the world you get a bedroll. With that in your inventory you can rest every 4th hour. Without it every 24th hour. Besides that, you need a ration of food everytime you decide to rest, the food you can buy or make on your own. When you have killed your game you need a special knife to skin the meat from the body, and then you need a campfire to cook your delicious meal.

All these new modifications of the rules makes Nordock feel like a very detailed and exciting world. Unfortunatley there aren’t too many players around. It’s quite rare finding more than 20 players on a server at a time. And these are also split up into three factions, which are spread out across the world.

But with a group of friends adventuring together, this is the place to go.

End Article