Your dog-eared copy of the 'The Good Adventures Guide' described the hamlet of Aubry as, "Quiet, not normally of interest to those in pursuit of fame, treasure and a few heads to kick, as it lacks any of those. Except, that is, its claim to fame as the entry-way to the Pass of the Spider. ...built by the ingenious, and stark raving mad, illusionist Darion Dragonhigh to entertain his 'guests'... ...first in a series of such Passes in the region that have been 'gentrified' by King Strombringeth I... ...full of low level monsters and treasure to match...
"Location: Aubry, western Orbrekh mountains, northwestern Turmish. Rating: Good for beginners, yawn fest for more experienced head-kickers. Fees: Smallish fee applicable for entry key, no exit fees or taxes. Travel Notes: From Nathlekh, the City of the Cats, on the shores of the Lake of the Long Arm (southern Dragon Coast), take the trail east along the edge of the Gulthmere Forest, across the border into Turmish, and finally turning south into the southern Orbrekh mountains and to Aubry. Aubry is located about 60 miles East of Nathlekh, and travel in the region is relatively safe, reputedly due to a family of giants that call the Orbrekh home."
Since the self-test quiz in the back of the Guide, next to the 'horrorscopes', rated you as 'less-than-beginner' you thought Aubry, and the Pass of the Spider, might be a good place to start your new career as an adventurer.
On the way from Nathlekh to Aubry, you used the Guide; to help keep warm. It made a good fire-stater...
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Random Pass System 1 (RaPS1):
Pass of the Spider. v1.9
by David "Mungo_D" Edwards
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An eight level dungeon crawl, with random map, random encounters (most hostile but some friendly), random traps to a degree), and random treasures... Designed for replay-ability!
Player can now choose one of three level of traps.
(Normal / 25% of Normal / None)
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- requires: v1.68 (SoU and HoU), CEPv2, the CRAP-CEPv2 update, the C.R.A.P. Dungeon Hak, and the hakpak of Amethyst Dragon's Colorized Icons.
- available in either Winzip or Winrar formats...
- intended for single-player level one starting character.
- may begin any level but no higher than 4 recommended (low 5 for m/u)
WARNING: YOU WILL BE STRIPPED OF ALL GOLD AT THE BEGINNING
- takes approx. 7-10 hours with full traps, 5-6 for no traps.
(depending on familiarity with C.R.A.P., and the benevolance, or otherwise, of the R.N.G. - based on lvl 1 PC)
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: All searching for traps/secret doors is done using the Player Action Widget (or PAW) in the 'Widgets and Books' Bag given to you at the start of the module. 'Use' the widget on the door, chest, or floorspace you wish to search. One current limitation of the PAW is that it locates only one trap at a time; not a problem for doors, but means you need to search again when you find a trap, eg. in a corridor, to be sure there are no others. Also, despite being given the option, there are no hidden compartments to find in RaPS1.
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Note: there is a 'cleaner' utility module called 'RaPS: Removal' available at the Vault which you can use to convert RaPS-saved characters into non-RaPS compatible ones.
Send bugs (module or RaPS specific ones, I have no connection to the C.R.A.P. team), comments (the more constructive the better), or flames (I like a good laugh) via the Vault...
Two Henchmen can follow the player at a time. Small XP penalty for henchman's death (severity depends on alignment and PC level). Henchmen and other followers influence your ability to search for traps (i.e. assumes entire party searches, so uses highest search skill value in party!). 'Hench-clerics' can still raise the player on death, but should be less problematic.
Player bleeding (not Henchmen - they respawn 30 seconds after they die), specific rest areas, need camping equipment for a 'better quality' rest. Player respawn on death available, but a '25xp times PC level' penalty is applied.
v1.1: Many thanks to Lariam for feedback on v1.0. Most of Lariam's suggestions will be found in this update, plus a couple of other 'issues' I have found...
1.68: updated to NWNv1.68/CEP1.68 (mainly to do with cloaks...) and the removal of a sporadic 'divide-by-zero' error on encounter spawning (finally, I hope!)
A big THANKYOU to Hugie for his review!
v1.9: updated to NWNv1.68/CEP2 with new CRAP patch and color icon hakpack (mainly to do with cloaks... now the new ones from Bioware work as they should.)
My favorite party combination during testing was a wizard PC with a pixie familiar as the token rogue (silenced!), the bard and the fighter - no bleedin' cleric to save me... Had a great time whoppin' the dungeon. Aessinus: hope you both enjoy it, and if you have any suggestion to improve it, let me know - I'm in the planning stages for v2.0 at the moment (that goes for anyone else). GoodOne: Glad you liked. What trap setting did you play with, or was it the original v1.0 with no choice? Lariam: Yes, I downloaded Sunken Cemetery and gave it a short go. There are some CRAP issues the author has not dealt with for solo play - exporting character on rest for one. I might give the game another go when I'm not so 'wrapped-up' mentally on this one and I'm a little less critical :) Don't know if you saw, Lariam, but I sent you a message on Bioware suggesting you take an evil character to visit the graveyard, at least... (and, just for the record, the character came before the name. I needed a name for the character and since you've been so helpful and positive... ) Cheers, Mungo
Posted by Lariam at 09:35:47 Voted9.25
A rogue certainly always is an appropriate choice for dungeon crawling, but in this module you can have a rogue companion (and are recommended to have one - at least in the earlier version), and you get to do some roguish stuff, listening looking for traps etc., with your player character, but with the accompanying rogue's skills. It feels more like the group is looking for traps etc. together - which, I think, is as it should be. So, your player character gets to participate in the roguish things even if she isn't the rogue in the party. Any class probably works great (I played with a dwarven fighter myself). Mungo: In case you're interested, there is another new module that takes advantage of the C.R.A.P stuff, Sunken Cemetery, in which, according to the author, dealing with traps works in the usual way but you must use C.R.A.P functions to look for secret doors and compartments. You probably want the traps to be dealt with through using the widget. Just thought I'd mention this, in case you'd be interested. Let's see if I can find the time to play through this one again in the near future... I shoud check out the updated version. There is room for raising my vote, after all. ; ) And just the FR specific coins alone sound so cool... : D Cheers, Lariam _________________________ Forgotten Realms Weave
Posted by GoodOne at 2006-05-2002:54:34
The module was good. It seems more for a rogue. I give it a 9.00.
Posted by GoodOne at 2006-05-2002:54:18
The module was good. It seems more a rogue. I give it a 9.00.
Posted by Aessinus at 2006-05-1806:50:42
"Well, I *did* release my module, but Bioware released a Premium Module covering the same style of gameplay... Just happened to me this morning " Ah, but your's does not require an internet connection! Thank you from a father som from the boondocks :) _________________________ Please don't forget to vote and leave feedback! It's Free! :)
Posted by Mungo_D at 2006-05-1802:53:20
Well, here it is - the first update... First of all, thanks Lariam for your feedback, it sure has led to an improved game. In the process you've scored yourself another NPC in-game... New to v1.1 - updated to v1.67/CEP1.53 - Proper background to fit into FR setting - proper FR coins! - more to hiring henchmen, including a little background of each - More henchmen, as each may not work for PCs with certain alignments - Evil henchman available in graveyard for evil PCs - Some other parties/adventurers to run across - Secret doors, a Side Quest - New entry area that allows... - Ability to choose level of traps (including none) at start of game - And, ability to turn off cloak animation at start of game - Fixes galore, including the 'Kill Counter', and those pesky sounds - Tweaked end-battle I hope you enjoy playing this one, and don't forget to give it a vote - it encourages me to start RaPS2... Note: With the impending release of the 'Infinite Dungeons', I now plan to make it possible for the PC to travel through the Pass to Brand and then onto the Infinite Dungeon via a magic portal. ID is suitable for lvl 1-40, but recommended for lvls 5 to 30, so RaPS1 could be a 'trainer' for your PC before entering the ID. Just an idea... Cheers, Mungo
Posted by Mungo_D at 2006-04-2800:40:30
Hi Lariam, yeah saw that in the forums; thank you for the recommendation... I get the same feeling about some people holding off, so thought I had better at least post a progress report. The first update of RaPS1 is well underway, but I have not had as much time as I would have liked this week to get things done (testing is SO time comsuming in itself), so the update should be ready sometime next week. This update will be for v1.66. Once it is done and out, the new version of the CEP should be out, so I can turn my attentions to making the module v1.67 proof. Then I will turn to v2.0 multiplayer version, where I plan to include some changes/additions that v1.67 allows, and, if it is not too hard, also convert it to PRC3.0a (been waiting on the first 'stable' version of psyonics!) Then, finally, I can look at starting RaPS2 using the 'improved' henchmen kit by 69MEH69, and hopefully a new edition of the CRAP base mod... Cheers, Mungo
Posted by Lariam at 16:01:59 Voted9.25
Hi Mungo, I mentioned this mod in the "Hot New Modules not to Be Missed" (or something along those lines) thread at the Bioware forums. Let's hope you get some more downloads and other comments/votes soon. I'm sure, though, that some folks are just waiting for the update. I hope to see some sequels some day. : ) Cheers, Lariam _________________________ Forgotten Realms Weave
Posted by Mungo_D at 2006-04-2119:03:38
I have released a 'cleaner' utility module called 'RaPS: Removal' so you can 'convert' your saved characters from the RaPS system for use in other modules. Just follow the 'Forums link' above - I'll move this information into the description when I update RaPS1... Cheers, Mungo
Posted by Mungo_D at 2006-04-2016:56:17
Thank you Lariam for taking the time to both play the module of an unknown, and for your extremely helpful feedback - I now have about two pages of notes on changes for the first update, including, I hope, an injection of more variation - love the idea of another party of adventurers as the basis for an encounter... Damn that enemy counter - it WAS supposed to be counting all the time! If you earlier comments were food for thought, this be a feast! For those of you interested, I should have the update done by next Friday. Cheers, Mungo
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