Mostly the city of Tarondale; the beginning of the module consists of some exploration/travel in locales surrounding Tarondale as well.
Gameplay Length
I would guess between 5 and 7 hours here.
Number Players
Single Player Only
Language
English
Level Range
See "Classes" and Readme--you must be level 15 overall
Races
Any
Tricks & Traps
Medium
Roleplay
Medium
Hack & Slash
Medium
Classes
Here's how it works: You must be level 15 overall, and 10 of those 15 levels must be taken in the rogue class. A level/XP adjustment/manipulation area is provided at the start for characters that do not meet those requirements. Other classes (multi-classed) are welcome (nay, encouraged!) for the remaining 5 levels besides the minimum 10 in rogue. Shadowdancer and Assassin both make fine choices to multi-class in.
Conversation choices are often presented which account for good, evil, and somewhere in-between; there are opportunities to be generous and lawful and opportunities to be greedy, chaotic and cruel/evil. Anything works, really, as long as you take into account that you worked for an organization that was all about supporting the cause of the common-folk of Tarondale by assassinating the oppressive people in Tarondale responsible for the plight facing the lower-classes. See "Description" and Readme document for more info.
Gameplay Hours
06
Description
The Art of Death - Back in Black
Email me at [email protected] with comments, questions, that kind of thing.
REQUIRES NWN 1.68 AND CEP 1.52, 1.53 & 1.68
The year 1250 had not been a good one for the city of Tarondale. Ryvual II, who had been the King at the time, had been far from the perfect ruler; under his reign, poverty became commonplace, wealth was concentrated in the upper elite noble class, and the people were not happy. Crime was rampant, and to go out in the streets at night was like asking to be mugged.
No end to Tarondale's sorry situation seemed to be in sight, until The Arcanum, an elite group of highly-skilled assassins led by a man named Gauvral, took matters into their own hands. The Arcanum was an organization dedicated solely to the good of Tarondale and the protection of the commonfolk. The assassins of the Arcanum decided that change was needed, and that the noble class was causing the problems in the White City; the organization's assassins struck with frightening efficiency--every high-ranking noble house in Tarondale suffered a death near the top of their hierarchy. However, this simply served to make matters worse; it broadened the gap even further between the common people and the wealthy noble class.
The Arcanum realized that progress could not be made until the problem plaguing Tarondale was pulled out by the roots; King Ryvual II had to die.
One of the Arcanum's master assassins was given the task of killing Ryvual II -- they successfully infiltrated the Royal Apartments of the Palace and slew the King. Unfortunately, the king's son and heir, Vastan Ryvual, had awoke when the assassin crept by to slay the king, and had confronted the killer as they attempted to make their escape-they fought only briefly, for the assassin gave Vastan a cruel cut across the eyes, blinding him, but the noise of their skirmish was enough to rouse the palace guards.
As the assassin fled the palace, they were seen by several guards, but the assassin outran them and was not found. Vastan Ryvual, the heir to the throne, was blinded permanently and his face was horribly scarred, and he disappeared a few days after the assassination--it is said that he took his own life, throwing himself out of the highest tower of the palace, into the bay which surrounds Tarondale's royal district.
However, despite the Arcanum's success, Tarondale's problems were not so easily solved. Various powerful and wealthy noble houses began warring against each other, vying for the throne; after all, the King and his only heir were dead, so what was to happen regarding succession was unclear. As chaos set in, the Arcanum disbanded and disappeared.
Thirteen years of internal strife and noble warfare followed the assassination of King Ryvual II. Finally, in 1263 (current year), things began to settle down in and around Tarondale. House Kolarros emerged victorious from the noble wars, and King Kolarros I has begun re-instating order into Tarondale.
However, though Tarondale's future finally seems relatively secure, things are not as calm as they may appear on the surface...factions and intrigue abound, and some nobles still aspire to take the throne...
The Art of Death - Back in Black is the story of the master assassin responsible for the murder of King Ryvual II thirteen years ago. After the Ryvual Assassination blew up in your face, you had fled to Jarylin, a small, tired, secluded village in the countryside, a three-day journey from Tarondale. There you had lived in peace-you had minded your own business, and your neighbors, ignorant of your true identity, had minded theirs. Had you been given a choice in the matter, you would have remained away from the sinister plots and intrigues of nobles and guilds for the rest of your days-the life of the assassin was, you thought, behind you now. Then, early one fateful morning, the letter arrived...
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This module is designed for a character that is exactly level 15 overall; additionally, 10 of those 15 levels must be taken in the rogue class. If you are not level 15-total and/or you do not have at least 10 levels of rogue making up those 15 level, you will be taken to a holding area in which you can manipulate your XP and your level until you do meet the requirements; from that holding area, you will be able to re-enter the module normally.
(RECOMMENDED) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good (willing to assassinate for a good cause). This is just my interpretation of what alignment would fit the actions your character is supposed to take. You�re expected to be a clever-tongued rogue with a sense of humor who is a master at his/her craft and at assassination (you�re an assassin too (NOT THE CLASS, just an assassin) in the story). There will be plenty of back�n�forth banter between you and your henchman, and being a brooding and evil assassin wouldn�t make a whole lot of sense.
Special Features:
-Unique new 'Stealth Kill' system (see Readme for more info) which encourages a stealthy-approach to combat as opposed to a straight-forward hack'n'slash approach
-Custom music, tilesets, portraits, loadscreens, load-hints, creatures, items, skyboxes and visual effects
-A compelling central plot that (I hope) will hook you in and hold you 'till the end
-Numerous side-quests, most of which offer several (more than 2) ways of completing them
-A "unique" NWN experience (ok, how generic is that? But it's kinda true.)
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Anyhow, I really hope you enjoy this module; I've spent QUITE a bit of time on it (many months) and I'm pretty pleased with the finished product. Please report bugs, comments, suggestions and feedback here or email me (see above), and please vote, if you feel so inclined. :)
FOR DIAL-UP USERS WHO WOULD, FOR THE HAKS, MUSIC AND TLK, RATHER DOWNLOAD MULTIPLE FILES INDIVIDUALLY THAN ONE BIG .exe FILE, GO HERE!
Cheers,
Hugie
CURRENT VERSION :: 1.5 (NWN and CEP v. 1.68 compliant)
Posted by Larite at 2012-08-31 04:07:18 Voted 9.25 on 08/31/12
Very interesting story, beautiful music (but melody, that played, when i had a battle with dragon was some... unexpected, really), funny and charming henchmen, some very unexpected story-events. So, i'm very liked this module, good work!=)
Thank you for it.
Posted by Bianca at 2011-08-23 05:24:45 Voted 10.00 on 08/23/11
Great mod!I enjoyed playing!! _________________________ Everything you do has a meaning...
Posted by ulfhedin9 at 2011-04-30 21:45:32 Voted 1.00 on 04/30/11
Felt the game had to much control over my character...gear was chosen for me and felt like there was only one way to go...no real choices
Posted by snowdog at 2011-03-07 11:26:14 Voted 8.75 on 03/07/11
Pros:
Beautiful Atmosphere(especially at beginning). Excellent music. Nicely designed custom items.
Cons:
Odd character design limitations. Weak quest motivation. Doesn't really seem Rogue friendly for such a rogue required module.
Character Limitations:
My first problem is not reading enough. I just read the minimum 10 rogue. Went off built a new rogue. Equipped with what I saw as fair items for the level. Then discovered the item strip, then discover the items provided didn't match well with a Rogue/Fighter specializing in Greatsword... So back to the drawing board for a more dex oriented dual wielder.
Next (after playing/reading) I built my dual wielding Elf (Dex bonus) Rogue/Fighter/SD. But 10 Rogue levels meant I was stuck with an XP penality. Why 10 levels? It isn't like you need them for anything. They are more like a penalty. I almost always play fighter rogues and I never use 10 levels of Rogue. I am also not a big fan of dual wielding. If you wanted this much control of the character, maybe you should have just provided one? I definitely don't see the point of this restriction. Punishment? 5 levels would have let me keep my elf even and be a Rogue 6/Fighter 6/SD 4 (etc...). Oddly given the strong rogue requirements. There doesn't seem to be a real rogue advantage here. I almost always play this style anyway and I found non rogue modules like Prophet series better rewards being a rogue...
Motivations:
Really not enough motivation for supposedly good characters to kill people with no proof of evil/wrong doing. Like the poor sap saying we still exist and some of the nobles. Honestly I would have left town after hearing that story after my last mess of an assassination that had me lying low for a decade. I just had to hold my nose and do it. This is more like Lawful Neutral at best.
Custom Items:
As much as I dislike dual wielding, the custom sword was beautiful. Very nice looking and very functional. With these weapons it actually made sense to dual wield. This is the right way to do custom items. Few but really desirable. I always love the idea that a character would use the same sword throughout their career.
Atmosphere. The art/layouts/musics were all top notch.
Oddities:
Stealth Kill hardly ever worked for me. I am talking about against simple guards and such. I was sneak up attack, hit three times, then it would say the guard heard me. Yes I imagine the sound of my sword spilling his entrails was a giveaway. :) This had pretty much zero point IMO. Attacking from stealth has it's own obvious benefit.
Visual Question to anyone. Is your screen supposed to have the jitters during the historic cut scenes? Simulate dreams? I still had some of that in the cutscene when the note is pushed under my door.
Overall pretty good. But character limitations seem arbitrary given the low use of rogue skills. Motivations for good characters seem very weak.
I mostly agree with Armin and winterfox. Despite Hugie's obvious talent I do think that this module is overrated (like the blackguard campaign or worse the paladin "trilogy"). In fact, this module is even worse than ToM where you are forced to play something like a fighter using spells instead of a sword. Yet, you could play ToM with a bard or a rogue but here like in the Blackguard/paladin campaign you are highly restricted in terms of class or level. This time I managed to bypass these unwanted restrictions and completed the module with my shifter/assassin (finished lvl 19). I still had to endure the bug that will reset your character when there is a cutscene (sadly if you drink potions before meeting a boss, the effects will be removed). Who could blame me since the module is not even a true rogue module as pointed already by others. "Desert Rose" and even "Assassin: Shadows in Shander" are much more rogue-friendly at any rate. The story is very slim here and my character did not really care about what was going on. Even the plot twist would have been (IMHO) much more effective if it was related to the PC (and not a NPC you only meet at the very end and could not care less for). I had some fun going to all listed locations to remove every hostile NPC I could find. After all, this module is not about being a smart rogue who will try to sneak around and avoid combats but more like a tough rogue who can use uber items given (dagger +7) or purchased to go after all visible enemies. Still some bosses were a bit over the top. I found the last one immune to pretty much everything but managed to defeat him quite easily. The Mage I mentioned before was another story (one of the three nobles). I have to assume that most players did not talk to her and ambushed her (you need to be able to sneak pass her for that). This time I managed to petrify her but the average Joe will find her in the middle of a large area with 4-5 summons and will have no chance against her time stop + 4 or 5 horrid wilting (to make things worse Hugie even disabled AoE spell effects for this NPC) she cast while you are frozen in time. Overall I think is an average high level module but not that good compared to some other specific rogue modules.
Posted by medevac99 at 2009-07-20 12:26:02 Voted 9.75 on 07/20/09
Please excuse the 2 year delay in voting. Excellent work as usual - Thank You Mr. Hugie!!
Posted by incognitus at 2008-09-24 19:40:18 Voted 8.50 on 09/24/08
just finished this module. It was pretty good. The visual effect was very good. And I liked your custom items, though in the end the Katana and Shadowsilk proved to work the best for me. Custom musin, ahh how I like custom music. There were a couple of pieces that were pretty repetative but after hearing hours upon hours of OC music almost anything is better. Your choices were by and large good music choices.
I to thought the plot was weak, I never really got drawn into it. It was go here and kill there, for what basicly for money and the fact that if I didn't Gauvral would have slit my throat. Nor did I like the fact that my parter would attack just about everything on sight. We're suppose to assasins, you don't get side tracted with killing lots of guards that's not being stealthy. I ended up telling him to stay put until we made it to the boss. An xp bonus for getting to the target without killing any guards sure would have been nice. The dialog seemed to lack some luster, I'm not sure how to describe it... it just seem to be a little dry.
Non the less I had fun playing the module
incognitus _________________________ "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is."
Posted by incognitus at 2008-09-22 19:55:34 Voted 8.50 on 09/24/08
in the mages tower there is a room with two colums. If you walk between the columns when the brazar are two different colors the PC takes a little damage. When my pc walks between the two columns with the colors are the same the pcs is transported somewhere. But I don't know where because the game always stops there, infact the whole NWN gui dies and I'm dumped back to the desk top. Is that normal?
incognitus _________________________ "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is."
Love the mod so far, but I am having 2 problems.
1) I can't read the readme doc as it keeps coming up with a conversion filter error or something like that.
2)Finding/defeating the necromancer.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Posted by Epona at 2008-05-27 16:53:53 Voted 9.00 on 05/27/08
Thank you for making such a fun module! I enjoyed myself very much :) _________________________ "By believing, one can see"
I was just playing/testing this again with a similar character. Used a boat to access one of the noble house... The bugged NPC is a female mage (obviously) with the portrait of an actress. I tested the module w the DM client she only got one magic item: a robe that does nothing related to casting. She does have the quicken spell feat but that would not allow casting 2-3 lvl 7+ spells in a single round. I have witnessed her casting up to 4 spells per round a few times. Therefore I don't think this is a feature (either a bug or a cheat). Could be some time stop related bug, can't tell as I have never seen this in any other module.
Posted by Elhanan at 2008-05-04 23:52:18 Voted 9.50
Mirgalen - Uncertain of the NPC you ref, but do not forget that some items do allow spell storage that allow multiple effects to be released upon command. As I never had to cheat or use meta-game tricks to complete this mod, you may wish to relook at the tactics being used.
I played a bit more of this one but with the huge bug (or worse cheat) I found I cannot recommend it.
1. I play with hardcore setting and AoE spells should affect the caster and crew (e.g. fireball). Not sure why but Hugie decided to disable the feature so that AoE spells will only affect the character(s) on the player side.
2. I also found a specific NPC with at least twice the legal number of hit points.
3. Worse that same NPC can cast not one or two but up to five high level spells in a single round (5 reflex save roll by my character in the same round)! I would assume that this is a bug. I verified that this NPC is not hasted (and her quicken spell feat will not help with spells lvl 6+).
As a result you may have to use reload/respawn a fair number of times to defeat that NPC (how Heroic is that?) or you will need a great deal of luck to stop her. I had some success with chocking powder and similar items.
Great fun and very engrossing so far. Game stopping bug (spoilers ahead):
After the arrest, the king speaks one statement. When I hit "continue" as my response, the conversation ends.
NWN/SotU/Hotu 1.68 patch
Some minor bugs which I got through: no portals appear after killing the nobles (sorceress, took key, went to small octagaonal chamber across from the large room, no portal - undead noble, went to locked room, opened room with ledge and pit, no portal or conversation)
Same problem as laisee and others, crashes on entering winter wasteland. i have no problems with winter scenes from other mods, no HotU issues, etc.
I tend to agree with Armin on this one.
I may try it again some day.
* Minor Spoilers *
I really enjoyed the part before the city. The irresponsible group trying to stop a druid (ok rogue/druid) in a forest. A couple of caves (too) easy to "clean" giving an opportunity to re-equip the naked (item strip and de-leveling of) character...
I found the city boring on the other hand. The first small quest (to silence a guy) was OK but I got bored after just trying to enter some places and/or trying to locate the temple district.
It seems that things need to be done in a specific order.
This is some kind of issue with your HotU installation, I suspect...is your HotU disk scratched,perhaps? Do frozen wasteland-type areas load successfully in other modules? If they do, then it's probably a corrupt download--if they don't, it's something to do with your NWN installation, I think. Hope this helps! _________________________ Alex "Hugie" Hugon
Writer - Ossian Studios NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate - NWN2's first Adventure Pack Moonshadows - An Action-Packed, Story-Driven Adventure in the Forgotten Realms [Development Blog] The Third Sign - A Novel-to-NWN2-Module conversion of Gregory A. Wilson's book [Purchase from Amazon]
Posted by laisee at 2007-11-11 05:12:00 Voted 9.50
Hugie, been revisiting this mod after re-playing Tales of the Mage and encountered repeated problem in the Mage basement with "frozen wasteland" literally freezing my computer on loading the area (it could be my system). The gate to it was pretty subtle, and I am just wondering is this tongue in cheek or for real.
Posted by Celti at 2007-10-05 22:38:10 Voted 9.75 on 10/05/07
Wonderful module. I'm definitely going to play it again, if only because I skipped out on far too many sidequests.
Posted by dwong1207 at 2007-09-12 17:22:15 Voted 9.00 on 09/12/07
Had a lot of fun playing this module as I did your others. Loved the side quests, especially the ones in the Dravan manor. Very creative. Hope you're having fun at Ossian Studios making great modules!
I had a problem with the stealth kill system. It just didn't work. I would sneak up to people and try to steathily kill them, but they always heard me. So I'm not sure how it was supposed to work.
Bug Report
Also at the end as I talk with Rahar, an "evil" Arakall appears and starts attacking me for no reason. Not sure if anyone else experienced that.
For those like me who might wonder what happens with the visible cloaks in this module, note that it uses the
initial "cloak-disabling" cep168 hak, not the second hak CEP released a week after which fully implements the effects of patch 1.68. However, I noticed that many armor suits come with an attached cloak/cape that is visible when the PC wears it (same for NPCs). Thus, putting on a cloak in the PC inventory should not have any visual effects, but the cloak properties would normally apply to the PC stats, as things were before patch 1.68
Posted by Nelson The Geek at 2007-07-29 17:44:06 Voted 9.25 on 07/29/07
I found this module only because I read the on-line article on the "Best Modules of 2006". I had played most of them, but this one had slipped by me, so I grabbed it.
I enjoyed it thoroughly. The plot was engaging, the layout of the city was *fantastic* and the custom items were GENIUS (especially the boots). The writer ("Hugie") took a lot of time with the dialogue and it showed. I wish I could have found or bought more bags - a "pack rat" like me needs them! I would not have objected to "Boxes" with 0% weight reduction. I just wanted to organize my stuff better. I also wish I could have found a store that bought trap kits - I tend to collect them as much as possible to sell for the gold - I'm greedy like that. I found myself racing the henchman to see if I could recover a trap before he disabled it. The writer used a number of "triggers". These are kewl, but I got stuck at one point because a trigger would not fire. I sent the writer an e-mail and got a hint back in less than 12 hours. I wish I could get "service" like that in other parts of my life! I also had a hard time with another trigger that led to the cult lair, but there was a map pin there so I knew there had to be something. I *loved* the music when I fought the dragons! There was also a hint about an Easter Egg area. I found it. Hilarious!
One very minor complaint. When I was stripped of gear and thrown in prison, I was annoyed but not too concerned. When I found the 10-screen chest with my stuff, some was missing (the "pack rat" thing). On the same thread, when I found the 25-screen chest at the end of the mod with my starting stuff in it, some was missing. When the utility stripped me of gear, it unpacked my bags. I've been in one mod where the utility did *not* unpack the bags. I would not have lost stuff if that had been used.
Fun - 9, Layout/Design - 9, Dialogue - 10, Originality/Creativity - 10, Quality Control - 9, Overall - 9.25
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