Created with Multiplayer in mind but can be played solo
Language
English
Level Range
Higher levels recommended for solo play and with hirelings
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Light
Roleplay
Light
Hack & Slash
Heavy
Classes
Any
Scope
Part of Series
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player or Multiplayer
Max Character Level
12
Max # Players
04
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
08
Content Rating
Everyone
Alignments
Any
Hakpak
included
Gameplay Hours
07
Description
A PnP conversion of my fave mods. Your mission is fairly straight forward - to destroy the troublesome Giants and find out who is behind the evil pact that unites the various Giant races. An all out assault on the Hill Giant Steading is just the begining - where else might it lead? I know these mods have been done on the vault before but I wanted to create them in my own way and with HCR rules. Hirelings are available for those short on numbers.
The full series consists of 7 modules.
The next mod in the series "Glacial Rift of the Frost Fiant Jarl" can be found here:
G2 http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=3760
My players have just finished the mod (again) and though they lost a life in one of the encounters you mention, they won through. Please bear in mind that the mod was intended for multi player but can be played solo by taking a higher level character. The party that has just finished the mod were: 10th level cleric, 10th level mage, 10th level fighter (ranger) and one of the NPCs they met on route (fighter). The areas you speak of were certainly tough but not overly so for the party mentioned. Solo players should be well stocked in healing potions and be around 14th level or even higher. _________________________ Trev
Posted by dmalder at 01:09:08 Voted10.00
You are rather cryptic with the problem area/creatures though I think I know where you are talking about. My players are heading into the mod for a another go, having completed it once. Since my players are in effect bug detectors (they play the first version of the mods, uncover bugs and I fix them before posting them on the vault). So I will be coming to the areas you speak of over the next few weeks and I will have a look at the challenge rating then. As you say though the encounter is optional so should not prevent you finishing the mod anyway. _________________________ Trev
Posted by Mirgalen at on02/08/09
Played the PnP version as a Magician as part of our Friday Greyhawk Campaign that was way back. I understand what Trev was trying to do here and would have probably done pretty much the same myself if the name of the game was "make it as close as possible to the original material". I like the hugeness of the areas and items (chests) in this case. Yet the conversion did not work for me. Perhaps it is not as single player friendly as it may seems. I tried it once, cleared everything and returned home without any clue. This time I took a couple of lvl 12/13 dwarves (both pure fighters) in and managed to find the key passages. Yet, I cannot complete the module. In one area you face a couple of creatures with 18+ AB and they smash the two dwarves in no time. This is still OK because that encounter is optional. The real trouble is to get to the "final room" you need to defeat four creatures with 18+ AB and w/o spoiling too much, let's just say that they can kill both characters before you can get close to them (my character has a lot of HP btw with 23 CON). Not sure if it was like that in the PnP version or if these encounters are poorly scaled by Bioware AI but there is no way we can defeat these beasts. Note: I did not try it with two henchmen.
Posted by dmalder at 10:21:08 Voted10.00
Hi Twar_Blackshire Thanks for giving it a whirl and thanks for the vote (always appreciated by us builders!) Most of the bugs you mention were in fact repaired though I could not say for certain that any of my mods are guaranteed to be 100% bug free - though I do strive for that. I can say for certain that the mods improve as you go through the series (as did my scripting) :) _________________________ Trev
Posted by Twar_Blackshire at on10/13/06
Just finished the module and I did enjoy it, however there were some definate things which caused me some grief. Now it must be said that I downloaded this a while back so I'm not sure if you had updated this since I got it so if my 'bug research' is old news..forgive me (smiles). ***SPOILERS*** Lizard shaman keeps giving me bastard sword and exp. every time I talk to him after killing dragons. Orc quest- saved orcs then they left north...when I went from the south halls to the north halls I appeared among all the orcs and got 'stuck'. I had to kill the orcs I just 'saved' to get through to complete them mission. Plus the orc that asked me to save the orcish slaves didn't respond to the orcs being killed by me or that they had been saved by me either. No experience for finishing the quest was dissapointing for me. References to Middle-Earth made me laugh...(I'm sure Gary Gygax would love it!) Teleportion device didn't work (probably my fault, as I automatically used it on myself which seems logical.) Spelling errors always catch my eye...as well as others...fixing them only makes ANY mod better. Otherwise I did enjoy it, and if these fixes were in place I would have gladly voted higher. I know mods take a lot of work to make as I just finished my own and posted it on the vault. Thanks for the fun. I'll try your G2 now. No hard feelings, I don't mean to rag on you...
Posted by dmalder at 14:41:15 Voted10.00
JonnyP Thanks for your support - my mods are built primarily for my ex PnP players, and I doubt that they would disagree with your thoughts at all. We have tried 'Role playing' via text heavy mods and hated them (most were Hall of Fame mods too!). We/they much prefer 'role playing' by deeds, with a great deal of emphasis on action and adventure. As for changing encounters, I also agree with you, that these mods are just conversions of fondly remembered PnP mods (our favourites). I reckon more posts would have been posted along the lines of "nothing like the PnP versions" if I had changed things, seems you can't win. If however you play all 7 mods of the story then it may be of interest that I have added an 8th mod of my own making. 'Lolths revenge" continues the story but I have had a free hand with what I wanted to do (a purely optional mod) _________________________ Trev
Posted by JonnyP at on07/24/06
It's a pure PnP conversion of a classic hack and slash module in which you fight a LOT of Giants... so what did you expect? The designer would imho have been totally wrong to change the encounters so that you meet a greater variety of creatures, as then it would not be a true rendition! This is a very good conversion of the 1st in one of the all-time-great series of original modules. The Hardcore rules add spice to the adventure, and the scaling of the rooms to Giant Size is excellent. If you are looking for an adventure filled with fiddly sub quests and endless chatter it's not for you. However if you want a well executed trip down memory lane with lots of combat and treasure, and a challenging level of difficulty then this is perfect. Good old fashioned fun.
Posted by Kenrae at on06/29/06
Oops, those comments were mine.
Posted by Anonymous at 2006-06-2911:55:14
Sorry, but this module bored me. Since it's a hackslash module, I didn't expect too mucho dialogue or story. But I did expect interesting combats. Fighting the same monsters again and again isn't my idea of fun. And since neither the story nor the NPC interaction kept me hooked on it, I've decided I won't continue with the next modules.
Posted by dmalder at 16:26:54 Voted10.00
Thats hardcore rules Im afraid, you can only rest after 12 hours (8 if you have a bedroll) if my memory serves me. The time can be altered should you wish by opening the mod in the toolset and changing the time in the "hc_defaults" script _________________________ Trev
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