Neverwinter Nights 2 Developer Chat Log

The Neverwinter Vault has published an edited log from the Neverwinter Nights 2 chat they hosted earlier tonight. Most of the questions focus on the new toolset, but there are a few gameplay-related questions tossed into the mix.
What is the world map like? What games have a similar approach? Will there be special/random encounters?

Nathaniel Chapman : The world map is most like that from the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series of games. That is to say, you select the destination you would like to travel to, and then hit a travel button, at which point you arrive in that area. You are free to script your own random or special encounters through script - essentially each destination on the minimap calls a script when selected, so scripters will have a lot of power and flexibility with how they want to use the world map in their campaigns.

Eric Fenstermaker : The OC has a bunch of special encounters in there.

Nathaniel Chapman : You can also use your own background graphics (.tga I believe) and icons, and you are not restricted to a single world-map per campaign.

Eric Fenstermaker : You'll click on a hotspot on the map and be redirected to the encounters.