Vagabond Island, an island nation drifting through the Forgotten Realms
Gameplay Length
2-4
Language
English
Level Range
Intended for characters that have finished the HotU official campaign
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Heavy
Roleplay
Medium
Hack & Slash
Medium
Classes
Any
Scope
Part of Series
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player
Max Character Level
27
Max # Players
01
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
25
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
Any
Description
Several months have passed since you defeated Mephistopheles. You enjoyed some renown as the hero of Waterdeep, but, despite the epic nature of your deeds, you faded from the public eye rapidly. However, this period of relative peace in your life would not last long. A messenger delivered a letter to you one afternoon, a letter that requested your immediate assistance. The message's writer was a man named Vinscott - a duke in the aristocracy of Vagabond Island. In his letter, Duke Vinscott explained that he had discovered a plot that could provoke a disastrous civil war which would drag the entirety of Toril into chaos and destruction. The Duke wanted to prevent any of these events from coming to pass and, having heard of your exceptional skill, asked you to travel to Marble City, the political capitol of the island, and meet with him. After carefully considering the request, you hired a sailor to take you to Vagabond Island...
Man, did I play the same module everyone else did? I thought this module, although it had potential, wasn't up to the mega hype that everyone reported in previous posts. To wit: it needs a LOT of work and is NOT deserving of a "Hall of Fame" award in my opinion. (Although it has a that potential with some more work.) I will admit gladly that the story is AWESOME. It really pulled me in and my hat goes out to the designer for spinning such a good tale. More cool points for the animation scenes which were entertaining and well scripted. Thumbs up on this as well. That said, this is where my positive endorsement of the module sadly ends. It really has a LOT of logistical issues with it that makes it not a lot of fun to play. The worse problem is the scavenger hunt mentality. You find yourself going from one place to another place and back again a 1/2 dozen times just to advance. (Without any real hints as to where to go next..) Many rooms can only be opened up with a mysterious key or puzzle which you spend hours finding or solving only to find another otherwise empty room with yet more keys and puzzles. Generally I like puzzle modules and although it sounds like it might be fun to the right player, the reality is that in execution it's so overdone it's just tedious and irritating. The puzzles themselves often are lacking any real clues as to how to solve them. Sometimes you can have the answer to them in hand yet those answers are so vague you wonder how anyone could actually make the connection without reading the walkthrough. There are so many times I caught myself saying "OK, NOW what?" with no discernable leads on how to find the answers on my own. If the guide wasn't enclosed, this would have been a total washout. As it was I left the module feeling somewhat angry. The sense I got from the creator was a certain amount of sadism due to the many treasures that couldn't be redeemed, puzzles that weren't made to be solved, and areas that were difficult in getting into that ultimately led to .... nothing! Even so, this wouldn't have been too bad except the entire module was so treasure light anyway, it really made me sit and wonder why I stuck with the whole thing. Maximum work with minimum payoff. Except for that AWESOME storyline, there is no real reason to play this module unless you want to spend 3-6 hours being toyed with, bored, and vexed only to come back with virtually no treasure to justify your experience. Again, my hat goes off to the story. It is certainly the only reason to play the module. Too bad this was made to irritate players instead of having fun.
Posted by The_Abbot at on04/11/06
Thank you thank you thank you! I really enjoyed this module. The puzzles were all smart, yet you put just the right amount of help to solve them. I don't know if all the battles were hard becuase of my character or just they are. I wanted to play a cleric of Mask, so i was Rogue 12, Cleric 12, Shadow Dancer 2. The easiest battle in the game for me was the final one ( I didn't have the shadow beast to bother about and could combine a harm spell with a stealth attack ). Once again Thanks.
Posted by damohonda at 2006-04-0502:56:56
I have managed to beat the bad guy (istavan was it?) and the shadow beast disappears. So therefore I can't kill him. I never had chance to brew the potion... and therefore help the ghost... just how do I do that? I went to the alchemists table but no luck. Also I could not find the letter to Cassandra and I have turned that place upside down.. Before I start the next bit, Anybody have aqny ideas of how I do the above? Damo
Posted by damohonda at 2006-04-0406:59:41
I am a level 20 wizard level 7 barbarian. How do I kill the shadow dragon?
Posted by web4web at on03/11/06
I love this mod, but how in the sam hell do you kill the dragon! Geezzzz _________________________ Honey Rydrallen Bard Red Dragon Disciple Crazy, Sexy, & Cool
Posted by web4web at 2006-03-0604:49:04
Much fun, I enjoyed it. It's hard to find quality mods for high level characters - however, this is one of them (good mod for high level characters). Thank you!!
Posted by Snugiraffe at on02/28/06
Way to go! I enjoyed this mod immensely. Grunk and Yapp had me in bits (myself being a linguist, they reminded me of many people I know). The story's great, can't wait to see A Plague of Iron. I didn't give it a full ten because some of the quests don't really need fulfilling to complete this mod, but the mod makes you do so nonetheless (perhaps necessary for the next mod?). I also eneded up doing nearly everything in the wrong order which meant that names were mentioned I couldn't do anything with until later and some of the information gained was superfluous because I'd completed the relevant subquests already - but that's upon my own head and not meant to be negative criticism. You got me with the mirror, I'd never have gotten out without the walkthrough :) Thanks for the great work, the soul forge was a neat little idea. My Dwarven Defender is an absolute tank now!
Posted by KrazyKuts at on02/27/06
Very creative! I loved the dialogue, plot, design, all of it. Good job. (This is the first mod I've rated, or liked this much.) _________________________ God is wahsome!
Posted by acamantor at on02/04/06
Very good example that a epic adventure doesn't need to be hundreds of 20 level orc and trolls. Congratulations!
Site
