You stand near Yartar, your homeland. You are finally home after these long years with one simple thing in mind - burn this city to the ground. They all have to pay and especially..her. The mysterious man still comes in your dreams. You don't know why... The only thing you are sure of though is your dreams will come true and before this is over, you will have her head on a pike. Along the way, you will have to learn .... The beginning of a new series of adventure where you get to be the growing evil in a peaceful city. The first Chapter - Dreams of destruction - is made for a novice (first level evil character) rather insane and hungry for revenge where he will follow the dark path in order to become a blackguard. The sequels will come for the experienced blackguard to meet his destiny... ** READ THE Readme.txt BEFORE PLAYING **
Posted by SkyRider at 2012-09-14 07:12:44 Voted 8.00 on 09/14/12
I'm conflicted about choosing my vote here. I liked the novel approach of playing a bad guy, even though the opening scene made me laugh at the cliched behavior of my character. Actually, the module made me laugh a lot. Still, it could have been more finished, with a few more dialog options and some general directions... even though roaming around was fun.
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2012-06-08 05:42:54 Voted 3.00 on 06/08/12
Lack of direction for a powergamed character.
Too many killing of innocents, especially children.
Didn't like the personality of being a psycho.
The author made something unique, but this wasn't for me. _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
Thanks,
Steve
Posted by podcat at 2012-04-16 16:21:49 Voted 9.50 on 04/16/12
I liked this mod! Very engaging. It was a novel experience for me to be the villain. Not sure I can really play a psychopath for very long. The down side for me was the use of hard core rules. Also, a few encounters were a bit out of ballance. Thanks for making this mod!
Posted by chucknra at 2011-07-07 15:16:30 Voted 9.25 on 07/07/11
Extremely good module. A little linear but fun to play. A lot of effort was put into this module.
Posted by Evil Taco at 2011-01-20 13:56:38 Voted 5.00 on 01/20/11
Average at best. They really do give hall of fame to just anyone it seems. Big, bland areas unnecessarily pad an intro that seems to be stalling for time as it is. Npcs speak in modern American slang, because who cares about immersion, dude?
Yeah, an evil campaign is an awesome idea. But not at the cost of repetitive level design, terrible dialog, and a plot that you need a crowbar to get moving.
Posted by Copperhawk at 2010-07-17 22:21:56 Voted 9.25 on 07/17/10
Just refreshing as there is little modules there for you to play a truly evil protagonist. However, just like most games that start with low level characters, many scenes ae quite "boring". I suppose it would be better if there are more depth and back stories are inserted in this module.
Posted by Sienna68 at 2010-03-24 10:41:12 Voted 10.00 on 03/24/10
Very good.not as good as the other toobut the whole package is amaizing! _________________________ barbados.female.blonde
Posted by Delf at 2009-07-02 21:21:28 Voted 9.00 on 07/02/09
I think to play this series you need to understand that despite what it says in the description about RP Medium it is basically a Hack & Slash heavy mod that is mostly about the very tough, tactically intersting fights. This makes it possible to appreciate it for what it does well, and not get too upset by what it doesn't.
Pros:
-as stated above, combat is challenging and interesting.
-interesting premise, you get to play the villain of the story rather than the hero as in most mods. Makes for a nice change of pace.
-the story builds up dramatic tension well as you gradually put one piece after another of your master plan into effect.
Cons:
-Lack of any meaningful RP choices, or even any way to provide real variety in the type of character played. (Yeah, it's a given you're playing a blackguard, but there could have been a big difference between, say, a Bard/BG and a Ftr/BG, or between Lawful and Chaotic evil).
-character development is very simplistic. Playing as evil is one thing, but being forced to play such a stereotypical sociopath is another.
Ultimately I felt this series was disappointing in that the premise could have led to far more interesting role-playing than it in fact did. But considered as a Hack & Slash mod I think it's one of the better ones around.
Posted by MrGhosh at 2009-05-29 18:23:02 Voted 6.25 on 05/29/09
BlackGuard 1
This module's making felt very rough. A good module for someone's first module. Some parts are boring, some enjoyable. Module feels like parts of old neverwinter campaign. This is a above average module but there is nothing exceptionally great about this mod. Also there was no variety of options, mostly you could only kill people, basically you killed anything you were targeted to. Hope part two gets better.
P.S.- Hope author isnt like this in real life. _________________________ Neverwinter Balance Patch Balance Patch
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Posted by ericdoman at 2009-05-03 02:15:28 Voted 10.00 on 04/29/09
Tried again with a human rg/ftr (BG to be) Str 18 Dex 12 Con 12 Int 14. UMD works in part I but thereafter there is a roll required so a lot tougher to use. Using bless, aid and bulls str potions as some opponents are difficult to hit.
Found that Improved disarm (in particular Part II and III) works very well against many opponents. Also maxing out on taunt is another good skill to use in combination with imp disarm and imp knockdown (the latter IMHO is the best feat in NWN). Generally the stronger you are the better probability for success.
Played hardcore throughout
Posted by ericdoman at 2009-04-29 00:47:05 Voted 10.00 on 04/29/09
The 10 is also given because of the 3 below. Now I will always give an author a minimum of 7 due to their free time in making this module. Having a tiny bit of knowledge on using the toolset I am in complete awe of author's that make long 15+ hour modules.
Posted by ericdoman at 2009-04-29 00:43:02 Voted 10.00 on 04/29/09
Started again and this time made sure I did not close the guild's door.
DO NOT CLOSE THE GUILD'S DOOR WHEN YOU ARE INSIDE AS YOU CAN NOT LEAVE.
I am giving this mod a 10 because of the 3 below. Even so I thought it was very good and having played it before I hadn't voted.
Anyway first time I played this probably in 2004 I didn't really look at the blackguard requirements and so could not level up. This was one of the first indy mods I played, prior to that I had always played a paladin.
As you can imagine it was a blast completely different, a first (hence the 10) genuine very evil module and a huge change in mindset to play based on playing paladin's
Second time used a half orc ftr/rg. Still didn't really understand NWN and correct multiclassing xp penalties.
Used this characer upto part 2 as part 3 had not been released. When part 3 was released I played through again with an elven rgr/assassin/BG, still got multi classing wrong but this time in hardcore.
Now am using a cleric (What I hear you shout) but I have found it is quite probably the most powerful class in NWN.
Use trickery and magic domains and make sure I reach 9th lvl at some time, imp invisibility on top of that mage armour, stoneskin, magic/grtr weapon, div favour, div power (main boss fights) and darkfire. Playing in hardcore and it is still very tough so use summon creatures, weaken enemy to near death then unsummon (lot of pausing, quicksaves) and kill for max xp. Played most of part 1 solo.
Used Gard to take out some of the shield guards (away from prying eyes), Tyr guardsmen (very tough) and sell their equipment.
Found a new area probably leading into the underdark. There is a secret door somewhere but 2 tough NME.
Posted by ericdoman at 2009-04-27 04:18:29 Voted 10.00 on 04/29/09
Started to replay this after quite a while and unfortunately I now can not leave the guild. Must be the patch systems? Any ideas out there please? No real knowledge of the toolset.
Posted by Penombre at 2009-02-02 00:02:58 Voted 3.00 on 02/02/09
Alas, i must admit i found nothing interesting in this mod. This is the fist time in two years of NWN gaming i'm sufficiently irritated with some work to post truly negative comments on them.
- the quests were very tedious, either short duration hit jobs or longer dungeon crawling hack & slash galore. The cemetary/altar quest was the worst : rooms full of undead and coffins with yet other undead inside, of course...
- no NPC worth of attention. Henchmen were just bland drones and in the end, i simply decided to dump them and do it all by myself. It was a little harder but manageable.
- no location of any significant interest. The only "original" twist was going after druids, rangers, faeries and animals, but it was just another kind of stupid rampage
- besides a very few dialogs, most interaction was dull, and your character was always depicted as a "psychopath". In the end, that wasn't even worth it. I just felt like my char was just some caricatural and frustrated moron, barely on the level with teenager's angst and "griefs"
- walking, and walking back, and walking again, and again.
- improbable merchants selling traps and powerful magic at the market's square
- a whole LEGION of chests and barrels and loot bags with nothing interesting in them (opening scores of chests at lvl 8 to find between 1 to 10 GP or some Cure Light Wound potion in them, or Green Stone gems and other such low-level "loot" just like what was found in the very first warehouse back at lvl 1, many hours ago)
Frankly, this mod never delivered what it promised. It just made you "act evil" by slaughtering kids, helpless prisoners and anyone you fancied because you were supposed to be another mindless caricature. At some times i even considered letting the monsters kill my char just so i could put him out of his misery
I rate this mod 3.00 because obviously, there were lots of time and efforts put in its conception, but only because of that. Considering its "depths", "style" and "personality" alone, i would rate it even lower
i'm in the mines and i'm at the third floor ( the one with the triple doors) how can i open the doors since i haven't found a key or a way to bash them
Yeah..this might sound slightly lazy
but..i am not able to find the "stupid man" i simply cannot! could you possibly give me a hint?
Posted by Thousandhorse at 2008-09-09 22:37:31 Voted 10.00 on 09/09/08
First off, I did like this mod for what it was and playing as an evil character for the first time it was nice to see a genuine attempt at a portrayal of that. I won't go into what I liked about it, because I wouldn't want to take away from other's enjoyment of it. I will note briefly what I had issue with. My main problem was that I never really got the sense that I was an evil overlord in the making. Despite any malicious deeds I carried out with glee or murders I justified with a shrug and a chuckle, I never felt like anything more than a sadistic and unscrupulous fellow with a chip on his shoulder and an emo haircut. Moreso, I felt like I was a puppet the whole time and though I can sense a sort of Palpatine/Vader-like relationship with the mentor character, It felt to me more like Pinnochio/Gippetto gone bad. There simply weren't enough evil options for me and I was always concerned that at one point, one of the several NPC's I routinely kowtowed to like a gormless berk would send me on a literal 'bootlicking quest', which I would have to undertake to push the story onward. The NPC's I worked for didn't even have the decency to look the part and it came off feeling more like the whole supporting cast of villain conspirators had just gotten off of work at their day jobs. Even upon fulfilling the final destiny of the main character, It felt the same way and that makes no sense considering what that turns out to be. Overall, good mod and fun to play. Many things were done well and I was pleased with the result. It was just not ambitiously evil enough for me. Best suited for an evil barbarian character content with repeatedly asking anyone with a coin and a wicked gleam in their eye what they would like him to swing his sword arm at today.
Posted by learn1ng at 2008-05-26 15:48:32 Voted 10.00 on 05/26/08
I had problems with dialogue, so this won't get a full 10. But otherwise a very nice piece of work. _________________________ Wow...Escape from Underdark is awesome
Posted by Updogg at 2008-04-22 11:27:38 Voted 9.50 on 04/22/08
I jumped at the chance to play an evil character in a module actually designed for that option. The story was great, the action was fun if a little overwhelming at times, and there were only a few minor glitches or irritations with gameplay. Overall I think this mod was an excellent effort that game me a lot of enjoyment while playing. It formed a strong hook for the entire series.
Posted by shuurai at 2008-04-13 07:01:16 Voted 9.25 on 04/13/08
Very cool mod, even if a bit linear.
Posted by Anorith at 2008-04-07 15:09:39 Voted 10.00 on 04/07/08
This is my favorite series! Awesome
Posted by OVW at 2008-03-20 22:36:39 Voted 10.00 on 03/20/08
Amazing! Good job!
Posted by edwardocracy at 2008-01-20 15:43:07 Voted 9.25 on 01/20/08
I had a great time playing this mod! It was fun and challenging for my fighter/blackguard. It made playing a villain fun without being too disturbing
Help please! I played up to the point where I entered the old sewer, then got killed by the paladin. I loaded my last save game, which was just after getting the finished poison from the demon. Now when I return to the hand of Yartar guild to find Fargrak, he is gone, and I can't finish that part of the quest and reveal the old sewer location on my map.
Posted by Orpheus at 2007-12-14 22:32:00 Voted 9.50 on 12/14/07
Hi, restarted it with a fighter, and ran into a problem.
After bringing the Lich Ashes to Fragrak, he says that he will have the poison ready soon. What am I supposed to do now? I have no new interactions with either him or the other two guild members. What am I missing? I already have 2 Blackguard levels.
First, I'm a beginner and enjoy this module very much, although it is somewhat troubling to play :) One question though: I am now in the iron mines, and it seems that Formian Guards and Warriors are much stronger than me. I play a level 3 Elf Fighter, with double axe focus, AC 17 and +3 attack bonus, yet it seems like I need to roll 18 to hit them, while they can hit me when rolling 14 or 15. Each Guard costs me a few healing potions.
Is there anything I'm doing wrong?
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