About 3 hours depending on how fast (or if) you solve the mystery.
Number Players
1
Language
English
Level Range
23-27 depending on class and play style (have a +5 or better weapon)
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Light
Roleplay
Heavy
Hack & Slash
Light
Classes
Any
Scope
Small
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player
Max Character Level
27
Max # Players
01
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
23
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
Good preferred, but other alignments can logically participate.
Gameplay Hours
03
Description
The dying words of a fallen knight are all you have to go on as you step out of the driving rain and into the Black Thorn Inn. Strangers eye you from the corners of a dimly lit room... weary travellers, local woodsmen, a strumming bard, a noblewoman. One of them is not what they seem... and you only have until midnight to discover which one. The fate of the Kingdom of Cormyr is in your hands.
Black Thorn is a mystery adventure set in the Forgotten Realms and designed to test your powers of deduction. You must uncover a powerful being concealed in a group of innocents without revealing what you're up to and without resorting to violence. You also are racing against the clock -- unless you find him, the evil being will escape at midnight! This module is designed to make you think creatively, spot important clues amid distractions, and piece them together to form a solution.
UPDATE!: This new version of Black Thorn has 3 new solutions (a total of eight possible mysteries to solve); an improved intro that allows you to manually or randomly select which mystery you'll try to tackle; and assorted other improvements and extra touches.
README: I very strongly recommend reading the ReadMe file!!
TIME: This is a timed module! One minute of real time equals one minute of game time and you only have about 3 hours. Use the PAUSE feature when reading dialogue or thinking up your next move! Detailed descriptions of the time rules are in the ReadMe.
MULTIPLE ENDINGS: There are multiple possible solutions built into the module. If you enjoyed the module and want to play it again, you can start over and select a different mystery!
CHEAT SHEET: The Cheat Sheet contains explanations of all the solutions in a format where you can quickly scroll to a specific one. CONTAINS SPOILERS! Be careful not to read solutions for any scenarios you haven't played yet!!
REQUEST: I would be very grateful if, when posting comments to this module's site, you avoided spoilers that give a solution away. Other spoilers are fine (but please mark them). Feel free to e-mail me through my Vault profile or send a message to my Bioware account (same name) if you have a question for which you must discuss a solution. Thanks!
USE OF THIS MOD - Since it has been some months since any problems beyond a typo have been reported, I am no longer going to support this module. I hereby grant permission to any builder who wishes to modify this module and use it or any part of it for his own submission, provided they credit me for my work. Also, should this mod become "broken" because of future patches and someone wishes to fix and repost it, they have my permission, again provided they credit me as the original author.
Special thanks to HerrJeff for what has been near-professional level proof-reading support!
Good luck and I hope you have fun! Please give my other mod -- Mountain of Mirrors -- a shot!
Also, come take a look at my latest CRPG writing project with Planewalker Games -- Link
The idea behind this mod is good, it's well-implemented, replayable, and offers a nice reward at the end. However the basic problem with it is that in at least most of the scenarios it is just not possible by any means to acquire sufficient evidence, either physical evidence or through conversation, to uniquely identify the culprit. Contrary to the walkthrough, no amount of logic or reasoning will typically narrow the suspects down to less than two or three even once all possible evidence has been collected. This basically leaves you rolling dice when the time comes for a final confrontation and hoping that you don't have to reload too often. I understand full well that the solutions to mysteries ought not be thrown in your face and that they require a degree of willingness to make inferential leaps rather than just pure deductions but ultimately I found this to be rather annoying. If I can solve Agatha Christie mysteries but not this then something is wrong, and not with Agatha Christie.
Posted by LeslieMS at on02/17/09
What a refreshing change of pace!!! Certainly not your run of the mill mod! Time driven, replayable, roleplayable and totally challenging! This was the most fun I have had with a mystery since the Clue bord game!! What an Ace! _________________________ Stupidity kills people. Nothing Good comes from ignorance. Knowledge is power that is useless with out the wisdom to use it properly. Be Well and Be Safe, Leslie
Posted by Luspr at on08/08/08
Still one of the greats :)
Posted by El at 2008-07-0720:16:48
Just checking in here - I've been away from the game a long time and frankly am very pleasantly surprised to see that folks are still downloading and voting and leaving comments. It's very rewarding for a builder to know that people had fun playing his mod. Thanks all! And keep plugging away Black Wings - you'll get that demon! :) _________________________ El Dano Black Thorn -- a Forgotten Realms mystery adventure for levels 23-27. Mountain of Mirrors -- a classic PnP conversion for levels 4-7.
Posted by Also at on07/04/08
correction: I do *have* a couple pages of notes. We need an edit function :)
Posted by Also at on07/04/08
Excellent mystery module. God, there were a lot of red herrings! I did eventually figure out each of the eight solutions. I'd be more detailed, but I actually played this a long time before I registered (I do a couple pages of notes somewhere lol). Oh, but I wouldn't mind more solutions in the future, if you ever feel so inclined :)
Posted by Spanghy at on06/24/08
I managed with a 20th level character but it was very very difficult even with strong weapons. good mod quite different from others ...
Posted by Black at 2008-01-0403:51:20
This module is brilliant and original, but really, REALLY hard. So far I've tried scenarios 1 and 2 and haven't succeeded at either. If you want my honest opinion, I think I'm the demon. I'm the strangest person there: charging up and down in boots of speed, frantically asking everyone what they think is odd about everyone else. I'll persevere though and will give a rating when I solve it.
Posted by OmegaBlade at 2007-11-0210:37:18
When I start it up it says that there was an error loading the module. I put the .mod file in the modules folder so I don't understand what's wrong.
Posted by El at 2007-10-2719:01:46
Penknight - thanks for the vote and the feedack. Suits of armor did not occur to me, though that might have been a better idea as many 25th level characters already have a weapon they love. Krakatoa: Thanks for the bug report. If you wouldn't mind, please e-mail me with the specifics - and thanks for staying vague on this page. Arielva - thanks for the feedback and the vote. I hope you enjoy the other solutions! Berra - While many did not appreciate your mod, I thought the scripting was a stroke of creative genius! Still brings a smile to my face. You're very welcome for the vote, and thank you for yours _________________________ El Dano Black Thorn -- a Forgotten Realms mystery adventure for levels 23-27. Mountain of Mirrors -- a classic PnP conversion for levels 4-7.
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