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)
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 on09/12/07
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.
Posted by herrjeff at 2007-08-2906:37:10
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 Alex at 2007-08-2810:51:45
Thanks Ace of Blades! Really glad you liked it! :) _________________________ 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 The at on08/17/07
Excellent, Hugie. I've never had this much being a Rogue in a singleplayer module. _________________________ Escape from the Underdark!
Posted by Alex at 2007-08-0413:49:23
Thanks Nelson! Got your email and replied. :) _________________________ 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 Nelson at on07/29/07
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
Posted by Alex at 2007-04-1814:58:35
Thanks for the feedback guys--glad you enjoyed the mod! :) _________________________ 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 fardoche77 at on04/18/07
Great fun! And thanks for answering quickly my PM, Hugie. Slight Spoiler I could never enter the frozen wastelands without crashing the game, but I guess it didn't matter too much...
Posted by tetrahedrite at on04/17/07
Hugie, Enjoyed the challenge of this mod, looking forward to trying another.
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