Of course NWN is hardly the only game to include some sort of toolset, map editor, or the like. Frequently, however, these editors are too limited in what they can do, not allowing users to make fully fledged campaigns with all the features the professionals can include. Others are too difficult to use, requiring either greater technical skills or a larger team than the typical amateur modder can be expected to possess.

NWN managed to avoid both these extremes. On the one hand, it was an enormously powerful tool allowing one to do everything BioWare did to make its campaigns, as well as making it fairly easy to alter many aspects of play to create campaigns of a very different type as well. On the other, learning how to use it is relatively easy. This ease of use also extends to the speed with which one can make content with it, another crucially important, and easily overlooked, feature for amateurs with limited time to devote to what is after all a hobby, and not a full-time job.

The NWN toolset does of course have some limitations, as, though extensive modifications can be made, any modules made with it will at their core be using the same fundamental system, one based on 3rd Edition Dungeon & Dragons rules. Therefore, for someone with creative game-related aspirations attempting to make a fully fledged indie game would certainly be an alternative to consider. NWN does offer two advantages over such a course, however.

First is the aforementioned speed with which a skilled toolset user can make content. In my own case, this factor in particular was a crucial consideration. I had ambitions to make a large, complex RPG campaign, comparable in length and scale to major commercial games, and I also wanted to release something this decade.