I've mostly kept it free of D&D, FR and NWN-specific material, but there are a few hangovers (like the save vs spell and the insight markers).
Gameplay Length
It was a small module to begin with, and I had to cut 2000 words out. Do the math :)
Number Players
Single player only
Language
English
Level Range
Any
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Non-existent
Roleplay
Medium
Hack & Slash
Non-existent
Classes
Any
Scope
Small
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player
Max Character Level
Any
Max # Players
01
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
Any
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
Any
Gameplay Hours
<1
Description
Now in Vanilla! If anything doesn't work, please tell me and I'll get right on it.
Following several thinly veiled threats upon both his life and that of his family, Lord Samuel Byron has employed you to escort his son, Peregrine, to his city home at the King's court. You may consider childminding a demeaning use of your talents, but it always pays to ingratiate yourself with noblemen. Armed with a picnic basket, Perry has led you into the woods for lunch... unfortunately, the trail appears to have vanished a while back. It looks like you're going to be looking after the boy for a while...
Dialogue is largely conversational rather than interrogatory, so there are plenty of opportunities to miss it. To compensate, I've tacked a "dialogue mode" onto the end that will allow you to explore all the conversations at leisure.
Updated 26th February for minor spelling and grammar, hopefully a bugfix and the vanilla version. Aside from obvious mistakes I've resolved not to change the content, for better or worse, in the interest of fairness to my reviewers.
I played this mod despite of the fact that I found the title unappealing, and I must say: charming! Very well done, and very well written. I would not have minded a bit more explanation of what the statue actually was and what it was doing there, but on the other hand, it is not necessarily bad to leave things to the player's imagination. Damn, that kid's got some good legs! I thought he'd never stop! :) I disagree with others that the walking was 'tedious'; I thought, in fact, that it was funny and functional: it imparted a mixed feeling of annoyance (with the kid - but that's how kid's are) and foreboding ('something's not right here').
Posted by Arik at 2006-02-2304:08:29
Oh, I agree completely. I'm buzzing over with ideas about how I could have created a more focused module. The background is a nice mislead, but not really necessary - I could have easily just dropped the PC in there and simply said it was an escort mission. It would also have also perhaps have been interesting to get rid of the statue - earliest part of the design though it was - and had the PC have to negotiate with the children as they were (and perhaps had some more non-speaking children turn up, just to hang around and create an ominous feeling). Alternatively, I could have kept the setup and had the neverending forest as a curse placed by someone who wished the boy harm, with the player's later interaction with the statue as a means of breaking the curse. I guess that's the problem with hindsight though - there are just too many possibilities!
Posted by Brougham at on02/21/06
The quest is not very heroic and so too the action. But you have good writing skills to put toward more meaty plots in the future. Promising.
Posted by herrjeff at on02/20/06
I must add that I was surprised that the final part of the module had no connection with the background you provided. Although it fits well with the sidequest concept, I have the impression that you could "recycle" a part of the word limits to provide more flesh to this quest.
Posted by Arik at on04/23/06
10 votes! Cheers guys. Thanks for the comment on the closing conversation herrjeff - it's good to know how well that bit was working. It was pretty tough to write.
Posted by herrjeff at on02/20/06
Funny module, which first part would be better implemented in a larger area instead of the slighty changing forest. Perry's dialogs provided a good overview of his personality. The final part was a bit repetitive, which makes it hard to follow the options provided. Interesting use of non-verbal language though.
Posted by Quillmaster at on02/16/06
There was some good solid writing here that captured the personalities of the children quite nicely. Although there was heavy script use, I don't see this as a reason to downgrade you, I just won't give you a bonus for it that's all. I see no problem in utilising scripts - I think it's important a potential writer understands the capabilities of the tools at his disposal, after all, limitations may effect the route a story can take. Understand however that I wouldn't give someone a lower mark whose conversations were of the same quality simply because they didn't use scripts. Having said all that, I did feel it lost a little something toward the end. I felt that the story lacked a little cohesion despite its promising start. It was undeniably good though, a very worthy effort that made the best of the limitations we'd been set with. Having said that, I did feel the transitions were a little cheeky, and perhaps in that respect your scripting skills could be seen as giving you an unfair advantage over others. Nice work, well done. _________________________ View my blog regarding the Relbonian Chronicles project --> Link
Posted by Arik at on04/23/06
Mike - what spec PC do you have? I've tried Cakewalk on some pretty low-end systems and the tree barrier etc worked fine. As I mentioned before, I think using multiple maps would have had a very different effect - this way, the player ends up questioning whether or not he's actually going anywhere. You make a good comment about different class support - there were originally some "I'm a tracker, and this isn't right" lines before the cuts, but then I was trying to create a generic (non DD) fantasy setting, as per the rules. I guess we have different ideas about what's in the spirit of the contest. :) I'd have preferred it if the module had been marked exclusively on the writing, but I guess if the scripts really did get in the way of your enjoyment then I can't complain too much. Enjoy the contest!
Posted by MikeLM9215 at on02/13/06
Want to give more but feel rules violation despite attempting to find loop holes. This is a script-driven module. Without the scripts it falls apart. Couldn't the kid have just moved from one area of the map to another without leaving? First try couldn't get trees to trigger so started combat just to see if I could. I could. The tree barrier nearly froze up my computer. Would like to see this with multiple maps, characters (including ranger), etc. _________________________ The road to Ravenloft is paved with good intentions.
Posted by savage.carrot at on02/11/06
Interesting module that caught my attention, original premise, and I felt the writing was quite enjoyable. Overall, the ending should maybe have had a more satisfying resolution, but it's already been mentioned. Good work.
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