For the Battle Contest Arena, a strong level is suggested.
Tricks & Traps
Non-existent
Roleplay
Heavy
Hack & Slash
Medium
Scope
Part of Series
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player or Multiplayer
Max Character Level
Any
Max # Players
01
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
Any
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
Character is (usually) a wiseass, but all alignments get options.
Description
Penultima City provides a series of shops and social locales where you can unload your loot and buy new items. The Guild of Middlemen can automatically launch other modules in the campaign at your choosing provided you have them downloaded -- or you can launch them yourself like any other module, nothing needs to be carried over from the city to make it work. You can train up a level 1 character right out of the gate to level 4 at the House of Payne -- no more rerolling or Prelude running. There's merchants, cultists, drunks, lots of silly conversations, world history, and maybe a secret or two... (Now version 1.3)
Posted by amers1015 at 2009-09-24 12:05:22 Voted 9.50 on 09/24/09
All I can say is WOW! I can't believe I'd never played this series before!
It's very funny (sometimes down right hilarious), but still manages to tell a great story with engaging characters.
I agree with others that posted that the combat was too freakin' hard at times, but I was having such a good time with this, that I didn't even mind really.
Excellent work, everyone should try this series! _________________________ The less you know, the more you believe.
Posted by Hinotori at 2009-08-21 10:16:34 Voted 9.50 on 08/21/09
I'm midway through the campaign, and I had to say that it's truly incredible that a module this old stands up so well even now. A genuine classic, and with ample good reason.
Excellent idea on making the city a hub for quests. I only wish that a PC's actions during the campaign affected the city in some way and that there were another way to gain experience aside from the contest. Experience wouldn't be as much of an issue if the other modules weren't so ridiculously hard at the low end of the level ranges given. The only way to get through the campaign is to either be prepared for a lot of respawning/reloading/metagaming or to grind the contest, which feels forced and repetitive.
However, aside from that major complaint (which has less to do with this module than the campaign as a whole), everything's well-written and, at times, truly hilarious.
Posted by Goglutin at 2009-08-17 08:52:59 Voted 9.00 on 08/17/09
I played through the hole campaign and it was really good ( the rating is for the whole campaign). Note : I'm really greedy on tens...
I had not given a ten because in the first 5 modules (out of ten). I got really frustrated by too hard combat and by the fact that XP was only gained through fight. I was playing a rogue and it was really hard without a good henchmen to help me maneuver for placing my sneak attacks. Indeed, the balance is really much better in the ''rerolled'' campaign and the fact that you have a henchmen with you helped me much. The second part of the campaign is really better than the first one so keep on playing up to those one and you'll be surprised.
Still, the humor and the storyline is good (or should I say GOOD !!!) so it deserve its 9 rightfully !!! Be prepared for a good laugh and don't take it seriously !!!
Posted by Kilvain at 2008-10-18 05:02:28 Voted 9.00 on 10/18/08
A functional and fun module that connects the series. The DragonBites dungeon was a definite highlight.
Posted by Thalraxal at 2008-10-07 08:07:50 Voted 9.00 on 10/07/08
Fun series, great humour, and the whole 'questing out from a central hub' is a neat idea.
Posted by incognitus at 2008-01-22 21:25:12 Voted 8.75 on 01/22/08
The module(s) were great. Most of my complaints would have to do with the fact that the this is a fairly old module and has not been updated (which is too bad)
incognitus _________________________ "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is."
Posted by Copperhawk at 2007-12-06 07:16:07 Voted 7.00 on 12/06/07
Not bad just for the arena
Posted by WeAreAllKosh at 2007-12-03 19:18:14 Voted 7.00 on 12/03/07
Oh my lord. A 1 from Savicki? That's like a -8 from someone else. I'm glad to finally get a chance to vote higher than him. :D
I don't know if this module is indicative of the quality of the series (was this actually the first one Gagne made?). But it looks like Penultima could be the example that the other so-called 'parody' modules on the Vault feebly attempted to emulate.
I don't care how small this module is or how little there is to do, I'm stunned that Always Winter Nights and Journey of a Thousand Miles rate so much higher. I'll admit, after playing those two I expected this to be more of the same -- flat, random, nonsensical attempts at humor. But it cracked me up repeatedly and consistently. Although off-beat at times, every joke in the module is executed wonderfully. The author clearly has an intelligent comedic mind. The corporate takeover of the tavern, the brothel/equipment store mixup (especially the fletcher!), the less than 95% human feces in the dragon treats. Those other parody modules may be 20 times bigger than this one, but you'll find even fewer quality jokes. I actually found myself reinitiating dialogues just to see the responses to all the alternate lines (because, amazingly, there's always more than one).
And unlike those other modules, it's built well. The use of placeables, especially, shows that the author's attention to detail is not likely to fall short in the series.
Why a 7? Well, the size still has to be a factor. I can't rate it too comparably to larger modules that actually do boast quality. And some of the dialogue trees are a bit disjointed. The 'I like swords' line given to the guard at the open causes an infinite loop. And a few NPC responses abruptly end the dialogue or lead to 'End Dialogues' when it seems they're not supposed to.
But I'm glad to have finally found some good NWN humor. It looks like I'm going to enjoy this series.
Posted by Breagha at 2007-10-07 14:46:13 Voted 10.00 on 10/07/07
I played this series ages ago - it's been at least three years - but still the humour and the story hunts me... and now I have to go play it again :P
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2007-07-10 08:28:44 Voted 1.00 on 07/10/07
As the sign indicates, nothing to do.
For a PC user with the toolset, this can be a template, but for Macintosh users, there is no use for this module. _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
Thanks,
Steve
Posted by cosmonauts_wrath at 2007-01-17 19:25:26 Voted 9.50 on 01/17/07
Great Fun!
Posted by _six_six_six_ at 2006-12-12 14:29:17 Voted 8.50 on 12/12/06
Posted by XTogX at 2006-10-20 13:17:16 Voted 9.00 on 10/20/06
Nice humour, not overpowering or detracting from the gameply _________________________ Nope, nothing springs to mind...
Posted by fommil at 2006-07-27 02:25:04 Voted 8.00 on 07/27/06
a bit too short
Posted by Scarn71 at 2006-06-28 21:49:04 Voted 9.00 on 06/28/06
A fun environment and a challenging arena. What made this especially worthwhile for me was the ability to use it as the home-base and launcher for the entire Penultima series. Good stuff.
Posted by slobberknocker at 2006-04-09 18:53:01 Voted 10.00 on 04/09/06
very good
Posted by MeatWare at 2006-03-20 02:40:40 Voted 7.50 on 03/20/06
Nice City - Small, To much off character NPC. Well done
Posted by MeatWare ( 213.58.xxx.xxx ) at 2006-03-20 02:31:08
Cute City, small but very nice NPC, To much off character for me.
Posted by GLWizard at 2006-03-18 08:44:01 Voted 10.00 on 03/18/06
Posted by KotCzarny at 2006-02-15 15:32:20 Voted 8.00 on 02/15/06
very good as the humour value, could be more persistent (fe. if you return from a 2nd module etc.)
Posted by WhysperMuse at 2005-08-31 11:32:12 Voted 10.00 on 08/31/05
Better late than never. Just finished the OC (Heck, I just GOT the game 2 weeks ago) and went looking for something new and different. Being an avid Bob Asprin fan, this looked just about right. And heck yes, it's perfect.
Any objections to me blatantly borrowing the 'Hub' feature (fully credited of course)when I get into mod-building? ;>
Posted by kotekzot at 2005-07-18 18:10:10 Voted 10.00 on 07/18/05
ten out of ten. Stefan rocks like nobody else does. i want a t-shirt with his face on it and 'i love Stefan' on the back. and how about a cap? i want orange.
Posted by Vimsen at 2005-05-10 06:30:17 Voted 1.00 on 05/10/05
.
Posted by Winston Johnwell at 2005-05-08 10:07:25 Voted 10.00 on 05/08/05
Your blend of pop culture with RP elements is excellent.
Posted by LoCash at 2005-04-05 19:34:06 Voted 7.00 on 04/05/05
Posted by TOllas at 2005-03-10 11:05:43 Voted 8.50 on 03/10/05
Posted by The_Luggage at 2005-02-15 06:51:25 Voted 9.00 on 02/15/05
An enjoyable staging area. More continuity between adventures would have been nice, but given the age of this module, it's held up very well. Humouros Dialogue is outstanding.
Posted by darth_borehd at 2004-11-27 16:06:01 Voted 9.25 on 11/27/04
The entire Penultima series is a must-have.
Posted by weird dude ( 62.128.xxx.xxx ) at 2004-11-10 12:54:00
Site
at 2009-09-24 12:05:22
at 2009-08-21 10:16:34
