Neverwinter Nights 2’s latest expansion, Mysteries of Westgate is nearing completion and we were lucky enough to talk to not only Alan Miranda, the CEO of Ossian Studios / Producer and Co-Lead Designer, but also Keehwan Her the Associate Producer at Atari.

For those who do not know about the adventure pack, could you please elaborate on what we can expect to see in the game’s storyline?

Alan Miranda: The storyline of Mysteries of Westgate holds much adventure, deceit, greed, danger, and, of course, mystery. Players can count on a story with branching paths, different endings, and some very important choices that change the outcome of the game. Along the way, you’ll come across three companions that you can ask to accompany you, or you can choose to face the challenges of the story all by yourself (the companions are optional). There is an intro movie prelude to the game that sets the stage for your adventure. It tells the story of a cursed mask that you have come across in your travels, which now afflicts you with terrible nightmares that started from the moment you first tried it on. Getting rid of the mask is futile, however, as it always magically returns. The nightmares are increasing and threaten to drive you insane, so discovering the secret to this mysterious mask is the only solution. A wise sage informs you that it is the emblem of the Night Masks, the thieves’ guild from the vile city of Westgate, so you immediately set out for the port city by ship.

Why was Westgate selected as the venue for the adventure pack?

Choosing a location to set an adventure requires a lot of research and sifting through famous D&D locales and fan requests, while always maintaining the requirement that there be a good backdrop with tensions or conflicts. The city of Westgate was selected because it fulfilled those criteria: It was a famous (or infamous) place, many NWN fans had requested a game be set there, and with its seedy nature and subversive rule of the thieves’ guild there (the Night Masks), it really stuck out as a prime candidate to us.

Why was it decided that this adventure be sold only as a downloadable package?

Keehwan Her: From a financial perspective, digital distribution makes a lot of sense. It allows us to sell the Adventure Pack at a lower price point while still providing players with the same high quality gameplay and content that they’ve come to expect from NWN2 products.

Are there any plans for future adventure packs such as this?

The answer to this partially depends on how well the first Adventure Pack sells. The bottom line is, we will continue to support NWN2 with Expansion Packs (like Mask of the Betrayer) and Adventure Packs (like Mysteries of Westgate) for as long as there is interest and demand from the community.

Back to the game itself. Since the players will need to choose between allegiances, how drastically will their choices affect the outcome of the game?

Alan Miranda: Some choices will be very drastic indeed (saying more would spoil the story). Just know that our goal was to provide an adventure where players were offered a lot of choices, so based on how they choose their allegiances, it will change both how the game plays out at the start, as well as towards the end. In terms of gameplay time alone, different choices will alter half of the core storyline for the player.

Since the game is partly created by the studio, and partly by the community, where does the studio overlap with the community additions to ensure the retention of quality the original game held?

Actually, Mysteries of Westgate was 100% developed at Ossian Studios. I believe there was a typo in the press release about being “created by community members,” which probably led to some confusion about this. To set the record straight, Atari contracted Ossian Studios to create an adventure pack. Ossian, in turn, did what BioWare does, which is hire the most talented individuals from the NWN community – those who have displayed their creativity, devotion, and skills in creating free mods. So there isn’t any community contributions to LMysteries of Westgate since all design, art, and audio work were done by Ossian. Development is done in a very organized and professional way, much as it is done at any typical game studio, except that our team members work remotely over the Internet from the comfort of their own homes. The “game development of the future” doesn’t get more comfortable than that!

How many new creatures can we expect to battle? What happens to be your favorite addition?

There will be four new creatures in the game, one of which is a giant sea snake called a quelzarn that is native to Westgate itself. Think of them as the city’s equivalent of the Loch Ness monster, except that there are many of them swimming about in the harbour and in the ancient sewers below the streets. It is said by some in the docks that these huge, slithering creatures can pluck sailors off of ship decks and swallow them in one gulp. My personal favourite creature is one that I won’t be able to talk about until after the game’s release because it would be too much of a spoiler if I did. However, rest assured that it’s nasty and very ugly.