Summerset Valley; a peaceful small town on the continent of Marr�ll. Not torn up by the Civil War that raged and ended only ten years ago. You are Melissa Lane; a nineteen-year-old woman of Summerset Valley. But for you it has not always been peace and happiness. After your mother died, giving birth to your youngest sister, your father became an alcoholic. A mad man, a drunk, and very violent ? ruling over you, Nathalie, Mike and Jodie with an iron grip of fatherly tyranny. Then you met Jimmy a charming young man and you hoped to marry him one day; to escape the tyranny of your father. Due to your father Jimmy left you, never to be seen again. And there you are at the top of the cliff ready to jump to your death. But then a mysterious man addresses you, with an offer to make something good of your life. More screen caps at module pictures section of this site. VERSION 1.05
A hidden treasure story-wise and very creative approach to roleplay, but seriously marred by a surprisingly lousy balance, especially considering you'll be playing a precast character who won't gain levels during the mod... The basic idea I find pretty intelligent and innovative. You start with a level 1 fighter level 1 rogue level 18 wizard peasant girl - very low hitpoints, NO spells and way fewer feats than normal for the level. You are offered power and release from your fate by a being of considerable power (and pretty suspicious intent) in the beginning. So you basically acquire power by learning spells and finding magic items in a world, where magic is considered a myth (and definitely not sold in stores). After you get over the fact, that there are NO exp to gain and no decisions to make about the way the char is built (and it has pretty little to do with D&D in fact ;), it actually plays very well. Magic in the world comes at a price, and the choices and roleplay aspect are very well implemented. One problem, however, is that a lot of the spells and items you acquire are random, and thus as they are the only way to increase in power, the difficulty levels can vary between easy and "are you nuts" pretty easily. Sadly, the way the three parts of the main quest are presented can also lead to pretty much frustration. Doing things in the locigal order (visiting one area first, as you promised your henchmen to help him out there after he helps you in the starting artea) you'll and up fighting vampires that are pretty ridiculous, bordering impossible (especially as their regeneration is set at level "insane"). That, in another area, it's possible to acquire an incredible weapon vs. undead with which the fights become doable is in no way hinted before, thus all I was faced with after a few dozen reloads and finishing the vampire quest with a ton of blasphemous cursing was a "hey, would have been nice to have this sooner". Other enemies in the areas of the 3 main quest areas are complete pushovers and rather boring in comparison. The final battle is *completely* silly, if you choose the good path. Even setting the difficulty to easy and reloading about 50 times I could ot find ANY way to beat the thing, that kills the PC with 2 hits, almost always hits, can cast "save or die" spells at will, summons creatures that kill you with one spell at will, is immune to the weapons of henchmen or summoned creatures, resists magic, regenerates faster than you can hit it's AC and (of course) is immune to sneak attacks, critical hits and about anything else. Just plain frackin' idiotic, and it completely spoils an otherwise wonderful story to be unable to finish it. It's OK to have the good path the harder path, especially as magic is clearly presented as the "dark side of the force" here, but completely impossible is no fun. ***Addendum*** I upped the vote a bit after reading the wakthrough and realizing that there IS a way to finish it on the good side, however to do absolutely requires 2 items that are so obscure to acquire that it's actually more likely to miss them. *** HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD*** The first item is a set of armor you absolutely REQUIRE if you are to play as a good char, but that will NEVER ever hear about if you actually ROLEPLAY the good alignment. Reason: it is found in the underworld that, upon entering once after dying you MUST leave after doing the first and most logical thing: talk to Horus (the first thing you see there). You cannot choose a dialogue option the first time that lets you stay there and explore, If you escape the dialogue it gets treated as your second death if you talk to him again, and you will have to sacrifice a sibling to return to life (no option for a good char) or go the "game over" screen. So a good character, upon hearing the price for a second death will NEVER return to the underwold, never find the required armor and not be able to finish, PERIOD. The second item is a sword that is hidden behind a random secret door and is only acquired if you are at exactly 100 "good points". Even 99 won't do. Especially if you missed the armor, it's highly unlikely that you will survive all the fights without casting the occasional spell and thus getting a point or two on the evil side. Also: you have no IDEA that you missed the sword because you didn't have 100 until you read the walkthrough. It's not impossible thus, but I still consider the way this is done as a major design flaw. _________________________ With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince... With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D.... ... and still keep the frog you started with.
Posted by cegli at on11/16/05
Great story and very creative.
Posted by Anonymous at 2005-11-1308:48:18
When I try to load the module, the game always crashes...
Posted by Amywien at on10/09/05
This was a very enjoyable module, good roleplaying opportunities, and not just from the dialogues. I am surprised that it has seen so little attention. Come on folks, if you like story and roleplaying, try it.
Posted by Amywien at on10/09/05
This was a very enjoyable module, very good roleplaying opportunities which extend beyond the dialogues and posed some hard choices. I really liked playing Melissa.
Posted by Anonymous at 2004-08-1104:13:00
All the hak packs put me off... i'm not even going to try it. Should have put all the data into one hak pack. I bet you're loosing a lot of players who would like to give your mod a try because of this. And most of the stuff i've seen from the hak pack overviews is just the poor attempt at making what has already been introduced with the new expansions
Posted by tanstaafl28 at 2004-07-1918:04:00
Too many haks. What's up with that? Somedays I feel witty, others foolish. Then there are the days when I feel witty AND foolish.
Posted by Adarious_Mistdancer at 2004-07-0811:25:00
Hi, I just began playing this mod. Some comments and some questions(this is assuming you check this anymore): --I've noticed previous comments on grammar/spelling. I also noticed none offered to correct the issue and send the file back to you. I'd be willing to attempt it. It would do me good while I'm learning the toolset. --Thus far, I haven't really seen too much for a good character to do with the mod. It is really easy to see early on that 'good' is nearly unacceptable. This is seen if you die, talk to Horus, and refuse to cooperate with him further..which ends the mod. Something worth noting would be the idea of expanding the good horizon here. Instead of ending the mod at that point, you could have an elaborate story-driven alternative. In this alternative, Horus would hunt both you and your family wherever you went (with some guidelines). The whole 'defend your family and seek the defeat of Horus' line of thought could be implemented. You might also consider implementing someone new for Melissa to meet and begin a romance with. It would of course be tentative at first due to her loss, just as the real world would be ... but it could develop from there. --The respawning of monsters in dungeons such as I've seen in the crypts, is highly unnessary and annoying. If one does not gain experience or other benefits, which they don't .. then things such as skeletons and zombies, for example, should remain dead. --Corpses staying on the ground for every monster is somewhat annoying. This is moreso because it is not mentioned anywhere that few to none of them will have any lootable objects. That said, I am not far enough in to say much more in the way of suggestions. I might suggest though, maybe adding more in depth dialogue and/or activities/encounters, etc with family members .. dependant upon alignment. Few if any modules have a focus there, which would add a unique atmosphere to your own. I am stuck at one point though, and have been for over an hour. I've noticed mentions of a walkthrough being included with the download, but have yet to see anything more than general tips--included in the readme files. The point at which I am stuck is in the first level of the crypt by the set of 5 switches and chain, which seem to be linked to the door to level 2. I am assuming the arrangement of the ?heads? on posts was the hint for that, but it failed. There is seemingly no way to get the door open, and as one gets repeatedly hit by fire by pulling the chain ... this gets quite exasperating. Thus I am at a standstill and can find no hints even using the toolset. Either I'm not looking in the right places, or the script/s are hidden in such a fashion that only the author knows how to locate and manipulate them. I might also suggest creating a blueprint/guideline set to creating a new character .. or editing Melissa. I personally would like to see levels higher than 1 in rogue and fighter--though more rogue (like 2 or 3 higher). I'd like your thoughts on these things ... so far I've put 3 1/2 hours into the module and about an hour here between reading posts and thinking of my own post. I might also be interested in the idea of perhaps getting in contact with you for help in developing my own mod ... or, if you'd like, a combined effort to make a more expanded and in depth version of your own mod. Bear in mind I'm not saying your mod is bad, or even all that inadequate .. the gods know I've seen some shoddy mods so far even if they had good humor "A Pimp's Quest" .. but it would be nice to see it grow and/or evolve, rather than being a dead project as it seems to be now.
Posted by Adarious_Mistdancer at 2004-07-0811:24:00
Hi, I just began playing this mod. Some comments and some questions(this is assuming you check this anymore): --I've noticed previous comments on grammar/spelling. I also noticed none offered to correct the issue and send the file back to you. I'd be willing to attempt it. It would do me good while I'm learning the toolset. --Thus far, I haven't really seen too much for a good character to do with the mod. It is really easy to see early on that 'good' is nearly unacceptable. This is seen if you die, talk to Horus, and refuse to cooperate with him further..which ends the mod. Something worth noting would be the idea of expanding the good horizon here. Instead of ending the mod at that point, you could have an elaborate story-driven alternative. In this alternative, Horus would hunt both you and your family wherever you went (with some guidelines). The whole 'defend your family and seek the defeat of Horus' line of thought could be implemented. You might also consider implementing someone new for Melissa to meet and begin a romance with. It would of course be tentative at first due to her loss, just as the real world would be ... but it could develop from there. --The respawning of monsters in dungeons such as I've seen in the crypts, is highly unnessary and annoying. If one does not gain experience or other benefits, which they don't .. then things such as skeletons and zombies, for example, should remain dead. --Corpses staying on the ground for every monster is somewhat annoying. This is moreso because it is not mentioned anywhere that few to none of them will have any lootable objects. That said, I am not far enough in to say much more in the way of suggestions. I might suggest though, maybe adding more in depth dialogue and/or activities/encounters, etc with family members .. dependant upon alignment. Few if any modules have a focus there, which would add a unique atmosphere to your own. I am stuck at one point though, and have been for over an hour. I've noticed mentions of a walkthrough being included with the download, but have yet to see anything more than general tips--included in the readme files. The point at which I am stuck is in the first level of the crypt by the set of 5 switches and chain, which seem to be linked to the door to level 2. I am assuming the arrangement of the ?heads? on posts was the hint for that, but it failed. There is seemingly no way to get the door open, and as one gets repeatedly hit by fire by pulling the chain ... this gets quite exasperating. Thus I am at a standstill and can find no hints even using the toolset. Either I'm not looking in the right places, or the script/s are hidden in such a fashion that only the author knows how to locate and manipulate them. I might also suggest creating a blueprint/guideline set to creating a new character .. or editing Melissa. I personally would like to see levels higher than 1 in rogue and fighter--though more rogue (like 2 or 3 higher). I'd like your thoughts on these things ... so far I've put 3 1/2 hours into the module and about an hour here between reading posts and thinking of my own post. I might also be interested in the idea of perhaps getting in contact with you for help in developing my own mod ... or, if you'd like, a combined effort to make a more expanded and in depth version of your own mod. Bear in mind I'm not saying your mod is bad, or even all that inadequate .. the gods know I've seen some shoddy mods so far even if they had good humor "A Pimp's Quest" .. but it would be nice to see it grow and/or evolve, rather than being a dead project as it seems to be now.
Posted by DarkOman at 2004-04-1806:58:00
Im in the final chapter at the big tree in the gardan. I searched and search and have not found any passage,secret door or such to enter the Tunnels. The only thing I found in the NW side of the tree was an invised/hidden container that is used to use trade skills. I even reintalled the mod just in case and it didnt seem to help. Anyone have any ideas or can help? Thanks,
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