(6+ hrs) Gameplay hours is a result of following the main adventure.
Hours will vary depending on how many side-quests you decide to take on while exploring the city.
Number Players
1
Language
English
Level Range
1
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Light
Roleplay
Medium
Hack & Slash
Light
Classes
Wizard or Sorcerer
Scope
Medium
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player
Max Character Level
01
Max # Players
01
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
01
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil are good choices.
Good characters will not suit this module due to the body mutilation and undead summoning that is required for your laboratory assistant.
Gameplay Hours
06
Description
This module was created for a single player first level Wizard or Sorcerer of any sex and race.
The adventure takes place within the nation of Calimshan on the eastern shore in a port city known as Almraiven.
Almraiven is a full city adventure and is the first installment of two modules.
"The dark silhouette of the High Tower looms ahead, reaching upward like the many jagged rocks and dead trees that surround the area. For many years it has been home to you and it is within those walls you were taught the arts of the arcane by Bakadah, your master. It is on this night that your training comes to an end and your acceptance into the Auren Society of Weavers is at hand.
The Auren draw their power from a weave that spans into the Land of the Dead. It allows such members to grasp a better understanding of the spirits that roam that realm and use it to their advantage. As of late the weave has felt tainted, as if it has been soiled in some way. Even your assistant Charles, who you summoned from the Land of the Dead, complained of headaches and the like. The dead should not do this.
It is this very taint that has awoken the Council of the High Tower from their slumber in tombs they have remained within for one-hunded and sixty years. On this night your first assignment is to come from Bakadah, an assignment given directly to him by the Council of the High Tower.
Fantastic scripting, and engrossing plot. The most 'alive' NWN city I have ever seen.
This is not really so much a con, merely an observasion. No repsawn (Keep a very up to date save at all times) Some very expensive equipment in some stores, that apart from the properties on them, do not strike me as items a Wizard or Sorcerer would use.
Posted by meaglyn at 2012-10-07 17:08:23 Voted 9.25 on 10/07/12
Just finished this...It was a lot of fun. I liked the quest system a quite a bit. I ended up playing as Aluvian because I was just trying it out and got hooked and didn't want to start over.
A lot of interesting scripting in here.
Posted by snowdog at 2012-07-26 09:56:18 Voted 9.50 on 07/10/12
Ok. There really seems to be a definite bug here with henchmen. I had a save before choosing to save Wundra/Darwien. I replayed this multiple times. Everytime I save Darwien and return to Annex (doesn't matter where Villa or Log), I get Falis as a possible henchman not Annex.
For the first time ever I loaded a module into the toolset(SLOW!) to look for a resolution. It looks like the script is setting falisready instead of 7733.
So for anyone else who goes through all the trouble to get Annex as a henchman only to end up with Falis anyway, turn on debug and:
dm_setmodulevarint 7733 100
Now when you go to the runners shop and enter the code, you will get Annex meeting you at your departure.
Posted by snowdog at 2012-07-24 18:26:04 Voted 9.50 on 07/10/12
Decided to play this one again to get a different henchman to try Part 2 again.
I am getting the same bug as someone reported in 2009. I return Darwien to Annex and it gives me Falis as a companion instead.
It isn't just a messed up journal entry. I go to his house and he there back from the dead(I killed him in the sewers after saving Darwien), ready to join me in the forest.
Annex has a code entered for the runners shop in my journal, but it isn't valid when I go to the runners shop.
Argh.
Posted by snowdog at 2012-07-10 20:57:50 Voted 9.50 on 07/10/12
I put off playing this one for a long time because I don't play wizards and I don't play evil mods/characters.
But I played a morally ambivalent neutral character and it was fine and since it isn't hack n' slash playing a wizard was fine, since you spend more time investigating than casting spells.
The Clutter of shops actually full of stuff was amazing. Along with the throngs of people, it breaths life into the city. And the colors!
This was the most beautiful full, lush city I have seen in a mod and I plays MANY.
Only thing I wasn't a fan of, was the small section and street sign system. It just felt disconnected to me. But maybe that was necessary to manage the increased detail.
nevermind, I forgot to buy the scroll was all. heh.. guess I get to keep going :) _________________________ jml's list of community addons/overrides, etc. Link
hmm.. I think I broke the wundra/dar quest, by buying the belladana, before speaking to wundra's brother. I tried selling it back to a merchant and re-buying it, but her brother appears to be gone for good, never reappearing.. have also had trouble tripping certain triggers outside of detect mode. I don't recall this ever being a problem on my previous play through a year or so ago(which I also didn't finish). I guess I start over, not a big deal, just annoying considering I've been collecting and quests like mad wandering the streets aimlessly for the last couple nights. completed seven or so. oh well.. me dinar pouch had gotten annoyingly light as of late anyhow. *grins* _________________________ jml's list of community addons/overrides, etc. Link
Posted by Fate of the Auren at 2011-10-30 11:55:39 Voted 10.00 on 10/30/11
Hm I can't find my comments and vote here anymore. I absolutely have to vote again and give this module a ten. It's the best I've ever played ! :) Can't wait for Fate of the Auren !
Posted by Moumi at 2011-09-11 03:06:01 Voted 10.00 on 09/11/11
Hm I can't find my comments and vote here anymore. I absolutely have to vote again and give this module a ten. It's the best I've ever played ! :) Can't wait for Fate of the Auren !
Posted by Vivienne at 2011-06-21 08:54:21 Voted 10.00 on 06/21/11
I've also posted comments recently on your blog! and I have actually seen such cafes called "qahvas" from afar; this is in a country where no alcohol is allowed so men were drinking tea in tiny clear glasses, coffee in tiny cups, playing cards, smoking cigarettes and the hookahs which they call shishas. Also no women are allowed there, but I observed everything from afar!
Posted by Vivienne at 2011-06-13 23:59:19 Voted 10.00 on 06/21/11
Just a thought about an area design element and realism:
I think the inns of Almraiven shouldn't have fireplaces. The city exists in a warm climate and I'm sure the fireplaces and the crowded inns would cause an unusually warm and suffocating atmosphere!
Many hot countries have outdoor "cafes" where people lounge around after hours playing cards and smoking their "hookas".
Posted by Vivienne at 2010-11-28 07:13:36 Voted 10.00 on 06/21/11
Loved the atmosphere of this truly named city adventure and the sub quests but found the 'necromancy' and cutting up of corpses disturbing and almost didn't play the module because of that! But the screenshots were too lovely so I tried to ignore the disturbing parts and enjoy the city itself!
Posted by ChazM at 2010-09-13 12:33:29 Voted 9.75 on 09/13/10
Excellent adventure! The attention to detail is phenomenal. The environment really felt alive with the way things changed from day to night and as time progressed. I quickly realized that you never know when someone new (or even someone dead!) might show up in an area.
A couple things I didn�t care for:
* The Medusa Maze - While the implementation was interesting, the game play was frustrating and felt completely out of place.
* Dinars - I didn�t understand the purpose of the dinar money system. My dinars and gold were constantly trading back and forth, but for what purpose?
* Spell components - These were an interesting addition, but they felt like a lot to juggle, especially considering that there are a bunch of reagents needed for potions as well. The fact that they don�t stack makes them particularly burdensome.
All in all, this is an outstanding module, amazing in so many ways! Story, atmosphere, and technical implementation are fantastic, and I haven�t come across anything �broken�. Thanks for making this Fester Pot!
Posted by cemeteryschild at 2010-09-07 09:17:08 Voted 10.00 on 09/07/10
best module i've ever played for NWN1. not quite finished yet, but i love it. excellent work!
in wundra's quest, if I run ahead and walk into the room where wundra and darwien are with wundra's brother lagging behind, then healing darwien inexplicably fails (it tells you that you tried the healing and it failed).
If I wait until he is right near me before opening the door, it works. If you must base the success of a spell on his existence, then check if he is alive and in the party, rather then "nearby".
Also, the book says to FEED the person beladona and then cast the spell on them. But the actual healing you perform says you "wash it into their wounds" (which is also silly since they are partially transformed and no longer have said wounds)
Also, that quest is rage quitting frustratingly DM fiat. Why in the world do you have to save one and not the other? why can't you save wandra in her home if you brought all the ingredients in time and THEN go into the den to save darwien alone? (wandra's brother should still help here, in gratitute), why doesn't time matter, only order of actions? Why can you only buy one remove curse scroll at the magic store (they don't have more than 1? really?).
why can't I feed/wash with drawien the beladona while wandra gets the same from her brother, then cast remove curse on both (one by one?)
remove curse literally takes 6 seconds to cast! are you telling me that it just happen to finish feeding whomever I want to save beladona with between 6 and 11 seconds to cast the spell (so i can cast it on one using 6 seconds, leaving me with 0 to 5 seconds, thus not enough time to cast on the other?).
That whole experience stinks, reminds me of fable.
Also, keeping track of CHEAP material components? not fun. Especially since NWN already massively nerfs wizards... but anyways, its just tedious...
1. Components should be stackable (depending on the type, either 99 or 10 per stack, expensive components such as a 5000gp diamond don't have to be) as to not make a big bloody mess of inventory.
2. Some components should be much cheaper.
3. Component shops should have lots more of the basic components in stock (eg: rose petals)
4. You should start out with much more components in stock.
5. You should consider just have a pouch of "lots" of component, being effectively infinite. eg: a pouch of just pressed rose petals, it can store enough to cast the spell a thousand times over and will not be expensive at all. Makes me wish I could take "eschew components" though like in PnP.
Would have been nicer if instead of implementing massive nerfs to wizards, we were given some boons that didn't exist in NWN proper, since wizards already suck in NWN (but are gods in PnP).
Examples:
1. Component tracking only for spells that require EXPENSIVE material components. (still a nerf, but an ok one)
2. Remove familiar as you have (familiars a huge XP draining trap due to a bad decision in NWN1 XP algorithm, fixed in NWN2 btw), however, instead let you summon a familiar via a QUEST, said familiar will then appear as an ITEM in your INVENTORY... not as a character on the map... they would be used in gave via dialog options (eg: "command familiar to go fetch the keys for the cell"), and they will provide the bonuses they are supposed to (alertness feat, bonus to a skill or save or HP depending on familiar type).
3. Have "spellbooks" in your inventory where you record your spells, when you rest your character's "spells known" are all removed and replaced by the spells in said spell books. You can capture spellbooks belonging to other wizards (adding spells known), you could "copy" spells as per PHB @ 100gp per SL, rather then only learning them from scrolls ; which is significantly more expensive, a 9th level spell's scroll costs 25*17*9 = 3825gp. On the other hand, copying it costs 9*100 = 900gp in magical ink, and 9*50=450gp standard price paid to wizard who teaches you the spell as his teaching fee (can be zero if you are friendly enough for them to teach you spells at no charge, can be more if they hate you or think the particular spell is worth it, or whatever).
4. Allow the creation of semi-permanent / permanent tanks via golem crafting, animate spells, awaken spells, planer binding spells, dominate, etc etc (naturally many will not be available to a wizard, especially at lower levels, but having wizards actually have access to those will go a long way towards making them not suck in NWN1)
5. Allow permanent spells to exist (none in core NWN1)
6. Allow flight
7. Allow real powerful spells, such as wish (+5 to all stats here I come!), genesis, etc.
8. etc.
Instead this wizard only module has MASSIVE nerfs to what is already the absolute weakest class in NWN1 (ironically, the strongest class, bar none, in PnP) _________________________ I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman!
in wundra's quest, I tell her brother "there is a cure" without actually ever telling him what she is sick with. _________________________ I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman!
the bed REALLY needs an option to wait / rest until noon and midnight.
Most quests require that you go somewhere at about those times, with the person being unavailable at both dusk AND dawn. So you have to wait until one or the other, then pass the time one hour at a time.
Also, only half the people who give you their name get auto renamed from "race gender" to their name, and cannot be renamed in conversation, so you have to finish conversation, scroll up to find their name, use feather, type Name . Lots of work because of the sheer amount of people, would be nice if all of them auto renamed as they told you their name. _________________________ I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman!
ok, i reloaded a save, this time i talked to herbalore, then to kara (well, actually I tried the parrot between the two) instead of kara before herbalore, and now the parrot WILL talk to me and I can progress the quest...
mmm, might also be related to my progress with wandra's quest (last time I was at the point where I told him she can be cured, and he gave me money... this time I have done my research and know what she needs to cure, but haven't talked to him)...
i concur btw with the idea that it is fairly ham fisted choice, especially because you tell the guy "she can be cured" and no option to cure her there and then (if you were smart enough to shop before entering his house) _________________________ I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman!
i am doing the darwien quest, I spoke to kara, then I spoke to the owner of the shop, it advanced the quest. Now I need to talk to the parrot, but it has nothing to say.
I did try to speak with it before I acquired the quest (it had nothing to say), and I even had birdseed at the time (It was very cheap and looked like a useful item to carry)
Maybe that is why...
I also see constant crashes, also, the use of a database in the database folder seems highly problematic to me, due to reverting to earlier savegames and what it would do (Since the database is not kept inside the savegame, but seperate from it).
This is really failure of the NWN engine though. _________________________ I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman!
since the first module is called Almraiven and the second is called Shadewood (instead of Almraiven 2), it becomes very difficult to describe the series as a whole, as it is unnamed. It would be beneficial to come up with an overall name for the series... say you name it "Alnomicon" for example (almraiven + necronomicon, just a name I made up on the spot)
So you would want to name it: "Alnomicon 1 - Almraiven", and the second part "Alnomicon 2 - Shadewood"
So people could say "I recommend you play the Alnomicon series by "Fester Pot" _________________________ I do not have a superman complex; for I am God, not Superman!
Posted by colinodbl at 2010-06-26 22:22:37 Voted 10.00 on 06/26/10
Best module I think I have ever played. Great atmosphere and I love that there is very little combat and the overall manner in which the game is presented.
Posted by p_w_ at 2010-06-12 01:27:52 Voted 10.00 on 06/12/10
my vote
Posted by 'ol FP at 2010-05-29 06:33:18 Voted 10.00
Beerbaron72,
Thanks for stopping in to vote and comment. Although, I'm not sure why you'd want to play part 2 before part 1?? That's going backwards! :)
FP!
Posted by 'ol FP at 2010-05-29 05:45:43 Voted 10.00
Hi Crimson sword,
When you arrived in Almraiven within your home, there is a chest in the Laboratory that has your Auren Society of Weavers gear. If you spoke to Bakadah when you arrived via the communication orb on the table, he would have told you the items were in the chest.
If you did indeed grab your ring and the other equipment from your society, the ring is set to PLOT and cannot be sold. I'm always amazed at players who seem to misplace items that are not magical :) Well, at least no one has recognized you since you're not wearing your assigned gear.
Place your mouse cursor before your character and go into debugmode. Use the dm_spawnitem command as noted below -
dm_spawnitem storering
Hi OliverH,
You might want to avoid Shadewood then as it is packed with placeables, although the majority of them are off the walkable route, there have been a few unsatisfied players because of the pathfinding problems placeables tend to create.
I've had a few comment regarding the Wundra quest who were smart enough to get all the requirements before returning, only to be forced to enter and exit again. In a future update, I'll check the inventory of the player and make sure the attack happens right then and there.
Thanks,
FP!
Posted by Crimson sword at 2010-05-28 10:31:19 Voted 10.00 on 05/28/10
This mod is simply fantastic! I can't continue the plot, I need an ring called "Auren society ring" in order to continue the plot, but I don't have it. I think I have sold it or lost it, how can I spawn this item? Help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Just finished playing this mod. All in all, a great atmosphere. A couple of points I'd like to point out that bugged me, without having read the entire thread here:
While it's nice and realistic to have these cramped city quarters, the shoddy NWN pathfinding makes it a nuisance. Not a problem in most situations, though. However, in some situations in caverns etc., I had the problem that my summoned creature just wouldn't see the enemy which made it impossible to have it attack someone so my character could keep the distance and attack with spell or missile weapon. This made the fight much, MUCH harder than it should have been.
In the Wundra quest, you're railroading people quite bluntly. When I read in my library what I need to cure Wundra, I packed the stuff on the way back. Especially when time is of the essence, it doesn't make sense to go there, tell the guy that you can cure her and only then go shopping. So in theory, I had everything ready to cure her, except that I couldn't. I had to go out and come back in to trigger the attack. I understand you wanted to force the choice between Darwien and Wundra, but this is a pretty sluggish way to go about it.
A bit in the same vein are the instances where you cannot proceed except by performing one specific action that while fitting is not necessarily intuitive - thus you write the instruction into the journal. These issues aren't critical, of course, but they are so jarring precisely because the rest has been crafted so meticulously and masterfully.
One last point: I am not sure what the reason is, given that I'm running the game under Windows 7 which is wasn't made for, but I didn't have the problem with other mods: The more I proceed in the mod the more frequently the game crashed.
Posted by Beerbaron72 at 2010-04-27 03:06:03 Voted 10.00 on 04/27/10
Ok, for a good relaxing after a hard period of mod-building, nothing else is better than using NWN, finally, ONLY AS A PLAYER!
Congrats, FP, it's a very nice work: the locations are amazing, so the musics and the atmosphere.
Asd, however I've played "Almraiven" after "Shadewood".... I'm really a disorderly guy!!! ;)
Posted by 'ol FP at 2010-04-22 15:50:28 Voted 10.00
Hi there Bosch! Thanks for stopping by to vote and leave your thoughts. I'm looking forward to how the change in pace and environment in Shadewood makes you feel. See you there!
FP!
Posted by Bosch at 2010-04-20 20:55:11 Voted 10.00 on 04/20/10
Very engrossing! Fantastic city atmosphere and good music; I also enjoyed the dinar/gold system.
Posted by 'ol FP at 2010-04-03 06:47:54 Voted 10.00
Fanest,
The dinar system only supports up to 9,999 as there really is no need to have more than that. There is nothing in the city that requires so a large collection of dinars. It was fixed though in Shadewood.
Thanks for voting and leaving your comment.
Aardvarki,
Thanks for your thoughts! Headless NPCs is known to happen because of how they're spawned. I've never been able to fix it but it does not break the module or being able to speak to those NPCs at all.
Your comment and vote is appreciated.
FP!
Posted by Aardvarki at 2010-02-16 15:58:38 Voted 10.00 on 02/16/10
So I haven't played NWN in three years (my desktop died and my laptop couldn't play it), and in that time it appears I have missed a lot. One of my favorite parts of this game is the support for user-created material, which often, when created by dedicated users, results in a final project more interesting and enjoyable than the original Bioware games. This module is certainly one of those cases. Fester Pots has created a gem of a game that is as beautifully detailed as it is wide in scope. The city of Almraiven is the most realistic and meticulously detailed one I have ever had the pleasure of playing. I appreciate the detail, variety, and number of side quests which, although unnecessary to the central storyline, offer a fascinating and worthwhile delve into the city itself and add countless hours of gameplay. I haven't counted the number of side-quests, but I doubt that I completed half of them when I went through the game the first time (I plan on replaying someday). The characters themselves are just as colorful as the city, and each has his/her/its own unique story. Those looking for a hack-and-slash adventure should turn elsewhere, as this module is largely plot and character driven, and you earn experience mainly from advancing the storyline, completing odd jobs and helping NPCs, and learning new things. When I played, I completed only two quests involving major encounters - a robbery of a mansion and a de-haunting (which was seriously creepy). Both were difficult but still suitable for a low-level wizard.
I have no complaints for this module. It ran perfectly without a hiccup. There was, however, a rather amusing glitch where I saw NPCs walking around without heads. Thank you, Fester Pot, for this excellent adventure.
--Aardvarki
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