Has some Forgotten Realms references, but could easily be any fantasy universe.
Gameplay Length
Estimated 8 hrs of gameplay.
Number Players
Designed for solo play, but should be able to accomodate a small party.
Language
English
Level Range
Designed to be challenging to a PC of level 7 using Normal difficulty setting. Higher level is recommended if you play a ranger, rogue, bard, or multiclass PC.
Races
All
Tricks & Traps
Heavy
Roleplay
Light
Hack & Slash
Heavy
Classes
All (but bards, rogues, and rangers may struggle).
Scope
Small
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player
Max Character Level
11
Max # Players
06
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
01
Content Rating
Mature
Alignments
Any.
Gameplay Hours
08
Description
A strange little town holds a deep, dark secret. What is the Grimshade Run?
Designed for solo play with a PC level 6-11 at Normal difficulty setting. For higher difficulty settings or weaker PC classes, consider starting at level 10 or more.
Instant XP upgrade is available for characters under level 6.
Scripted to accomodate a small party (6 PCs maximum), but untested for multiplayer.
Estimated play time: 6-8 hours
Treasure: Lots, with wide variety of custom, unique items.
Experience: Based on completing tasks, with minimal experience for killing. A character starting at level 6 or 7 will probably gain 4 levels.
Play style: Humor and light roleplay in a linear dungeon crawl. Some puzzles. Lots of combat, but much of it can be avoided by stealth. Many traps and locks--rogue skills can be helpful but are not required.
I'm not voting, because I tried to play the module with a Ranger 4 / Rogue 4. The author isn't joking about the need for stealth-based classes to start at a higher level. I did something with this mod I had never done before -- turned the difficulty down to "Easy." Even then, I couldn't get past the fourth level. But still, this is a well-designed dungeon crawl, and I might play it again sometime with a more appropriate PC.
Posted by MrZork at 2012-02-16 02:01:54 Voted 9.25 on 02/16/12
I had fun with this module, playing with my wizard who had just completed the OC's Prelude and The Lich of the Tender Box, He started Grimshade at wiz7 and ended at wiz11/rog1.
Playing on Very Hard in no-pause mode, yes, there were some reloads and some areas where I couldn't have gotten past them the second time without planning for what was to come. But that's part of the single-player experience. And, it doesn't take long to realize that there really isn't much XP for battling the mobs, so feel free to slip past them, if possible.
A word of warning, the level with minotaurs will be much harder for anyone running with Tony K's Henchman AI in their override. The minotaurs who would normally sit quietly in their rooms (realistically enough) get curious and come out into the hall, where they are difficult to avoid. I would say that anyone playing a character without high stealth or invisibility is well advised to disable the AI mod for at least that level.
The Shadow Cats were also a pain. I consider that to be more a problem with how NWN implements HiPS than anything else. But, ground-targeting spells do the trick and Evard's is a godsend.
I didn't mind the equipment strip. If it were a module where the PC advances one level and there were no way to get the goodies back, I would be a little miffed. But, as as with most modules that take the PC from 7th to 12th, unless the character was a munchkin to start out, there isn't much equipment he would have had at the beginning that he is really missing at the end. Most of the the recovered equipment I ended up selling before exiting the module.
As a final spoilery gameplay comment, I would say that the final battle is on the easy side, particularly if one calls the dragon to help. I didn't test out using the other henchmen (which was a cool idea).
Anyway, I thought this was quite enjoyable. I know styzygy only posted one story module (this one) and PGCCC, but I wish he had done others. I will keep an eye out for similar modules.
Posted by El-ahrairah at 2009-12-25 06:07:09 Voted 8.75 on 12/25/09
This was a nice module.
Started with a lvl6 bard and finished with a lvl 11 bard. One and Two were quite challenging, but it got pretty easy after that. The relatively low score is due to Six.
MINOR SPOILERS
It has no real challenging battles, its just annoying. Swarming with str-lowering enemies and cursed sentries without their statues in sight. The shadow dragon was also a spectacularly bad idea, since you can just shoot it from the other room.
Also I encountered a bug. After talking with Yorrick's lover and giving her she the skull I exited the room, and got attacked by the cambions. I fought them, but the erinnyes turned hostile, and every single NPC after that was hostile too. (the balor, the shadow dragon and the main villian at the end). The merchants and the seer women at the ruins of Grimshade were unaffected.
But overall I had a good time playing the module, so thank you very much.
Posted by Aaron_Anarchy at 2009-11-26 20:52:02 Voted 10.00 on 11/26/09
This was an Module was amazing. For lack of a better word. Extremely good story, obviously well thought out, and designed. Every detail of this module shines; The conversations, scripts, weapons, even the descriptions of the replaceable or creatures really set it apart from any other module i've ever played. It was pretty hard, (especially Six), but I managed to beat it in about 6.5 hours. This is the epitome of a well-designed NWN module. Brilliant work. MAY THE RUNNERS REST IN PEACE =D
Many thanks to all the players who have left feedback. Grimshade Run was a lot of work and overall I'm really proud of how it turned out. I had hoped it would get more attention, but c'est la vie. I had fun creating it and if a handful of people were entertained by the result, then it did it's job.
Looks like players have had a lot of trouble with not being able use stealth effectively. I'm especially surprised to hear of people having problems stealthing past the weakest creatures on the first level. I hadn't planned to update this mod any further, but now I may look into that.
Note that the description does say stealth classes will have a hard time, and "For higher difficulty settings or weaker PC classes, consider starting at level 10 or more."
***SPOILERS BELOW***
@ felicitynight -
Sorry you had a bad time. I did test with a monk and was frequently able to avoid encounters (but you're not supposed to avoid ALL encounters--that would be too easy).
The item strip at the beginning is a good good idea. It's key to the plot and atmosphere that you wake up alone, isolated (no henchmen), and hopefully scared. Re-equipping yourself is an immediate challenge. And Grimshade Run is loaded--LOADED--with gear. More than you can carry. Which you'd have quickly realized if you hadn't given up so quickly.
Also you do get all your original gear back at the end in addition to keeping whatever loot you wish from Grimshade.
@ ericdoman -
Sounds like it was a challenge to ration your healing potions. It was my intent to make that part of the challenge. I found it tough to balance.
On level 2, you should be able to avoid fighting some of the minotaurs by using stealth to peek in a door and simply close it if there's a minotaur.
On level 3, obviously he's not "impossible" if you were able to kill him. You could try running past the lich without fighting it. It's been awhile since I built the mod, but I recall that I nerfed his perception range a bit so that he couldn't attack you before you actually entered the room--that may be what enabled you to find a spot out of his sight range and bring him down. In playtesting I always took him out by hitting him with ranged attacks, retreating, resting, and repeating.
@ LokiTheRed -
There's a plot point at which it's beneficial to give up Yorick, and if you don't he gets mad and stops helping you. I didn't think triggering that scenario was avoidable, but from your comment I wonder if you managed to bypass it. Something else I may look into.
Posted by LokiTheRed at 2009-05-31 06:43:53 Voted 9.00 on 05/31/09
very detailed. wish Yorick would do something else after you leave the run though.
Posted by felicitynight at 2009-04-07 11:00:39 Voted 8.00 on 04/07/09
Even for a dungeon crawl, the balance is way off. The descriptions say you can stealth past monsters, it is only partly true. I rolled a level 9 rogue with 18 dex and invest every point possible into hide/ms. Despite this, the horde of skeletons in the first dungeon still see me easily. And because of how the level design and the monster detection AI works, going back to stealth without invis/darkness is almost impossible. The item strip at the beginning is a bad bad idea.
There is no henchmen available at the beginning. I'm not sure whether there is one later since I stopped playing at the first dungeon.
My advice to the author is don't try to make a dungeon crawl for solo play unless you specificly design the module for one or a few classes. If you must make it available to all classes, make it a party-based dungeon crawl. Put in a few henchmen, recruitable right at the beginning. they don't need to have personality or storyline since it's a dungeon crawl anyway. Also try not to do item strip before dungeon where you are not allowed to return. Shopping and outfitting your characters is one of the draw of dungeon crawl.
Posted by ericdoman at 2008-11-16 06:01:04 Voted 9.00 on 11/16/08
Good mod. Started as a 1st lvl rg and levelled up to 3/4/1 rg/ftr/assa. Finished as a 5/4/3 rg/ftr/assa. Very tough throughout, especially level 6 upto a point. Early on picked up xp for dis traps and on ocassions OL but for the last few levels this stopped
As mentioned combats were hard due to opponents and lack of healing/restorative potions etc so a lot of run and shoot with shortbow. Reloaded most at level 4, minotaur berserkers constantly hit me with criticals and level 6.
Couple of things I can understand why you specified it would be tough for rogues as nearly all of the NME could see me in stealth mode until I reached high teens, even then, I would be spotted.
Specialized with Katana which did not help until devil blade and transmorgipher?, brilliant.
Had lot of skill points on craft and set traps. Again didn't really help as early on DT for xp and when I recovered traps, predominantly tangle traps.
Level III the one with the impossible lich (59xp). Somehow managed to kill him by shooting and he did nothing in return. One of those favourable gliches in the game. Must have been just out of vision.
The shadow dragon took on his quest but in the gloom of the level stepped a bit close to his treasure and he became hostile. Tried to go toe to toe but no chance, managed to dash out and then shot him while he was stuck in doorway. Many times have faced dragons and killed them like this.
What really saved me was having UMD of 10 so I could use sequencer robe (2 spells, Ultravision and stoneskin), the darkness cloak and the staff with neg protection charges. Must say that was a godsend as level 6 was very difficult. Although did have quite a lot of restoartion and less rest potions by then. Overall very good and would be ideal for a solo cleric or for multiplay.
Cheers
Posted by heresiologist at 2008-04-13 13:21:47 Voted 8.75 on 04/13/08
Nice work Styzygy. The Grimshade Run gave me and my druid some chuckles, lots of challenging, yet not overwhelming, combat and a decent little story with a nice twist.
I've enjoyed this so far but it looks like I'm stuck on level 6. I checked the walkthrough and a few things seem... missing.
*** SPOILERS ***
There is no shadow dragon (or dragon of any kind) in the final room. There is loot though, just no dragon. I also found the secret room where according to the walkthrough, there is a merchant. But there is also no merchant. Also according to to the walkthrough the there are teleporters off of the east and west corridors, I found the rooms but there aren't any teleporters either. Any ideas on what could be causing such weirdness?
I just posted Grimshade Run v1.3. This version has some key changes to address complaints that the mod is too hard. Most notably, instead of starting only at at level 7, PCs who level with the NPC trainer can go up to level 11 depending on the difficulty level you request.
Good Running...
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2007-06-24 14:05:32 Voted 10.00 on 06/24/07
You're right; I pulled that chain. _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
@ Steve, re: "Fire plane is too inconvenient Fire elementals won't drop coal unless one is put on the brazier every time."
***Minor spoiler warning***
The fire elementals that spawn on the corners always drop a coal when killed. You can stay out and collect all the coals you need, and only visit the brazier once. I did this frequently in playtesting.
However, if you pull the cord chain labelled "don't pull this", each pull will summon a more powerful fire elemental, which will not drop coals. So maybe if you were killing elementals and not getting coal drops, this is why.
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2007-06-16 21:47:43 Voted 10.00 on 06/24/07
VOTE:
A mini Eye of the Beholder and different environments on every level like Ernie Noa's Shrine of Tamoachan, Styz has published his own PnP campaign!
Still, not perfect:
Water plane slows movement.
Fire plane is too inconvenient - it would be nice if there were fire elementals just on every corner and cardinal direction end, not having to get one coal, run back to the brazier and then have to run back. Fire elementals won't drop coal unless one is put on the brazier every time.
Character did not export at the end. _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
@ Steve - The content did not change. As I noted in my earlier post below, there is some innuendo which may not be suitable for the youngest players. Specifically, one of the houses in Grimshade is a bordello, which is operated by a "drag queen". There is no nudity or explicit language. The Grimshade Run is no more graphic than the NWN official campaign, which also includes prostitutes as NPCs and some suggestive exchanges between the PC and NPC/henchmen. However, such content may be offensive to some and may not be appropriate for very young players. I consider it "PG" rated--OK for most teens but maybe not all. I decided it was best to err on the side of a Mature label rather than Teen.
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2007-06-08 12:30:51 Voted 10.00 on 06/24/07
Err, why did the content rating change to mature? _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
I updated the mod description to change the rating from Teen to Mature. Although the story is not inherently adult-themed, there are some sexual innuendos which may not be suitable for young teens.
@ Canis & Barnibus, thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. Always appreciated.
Canis, re: the problems you reported...
1) I'm not aware of having done anything in this mod that could potentially nerf True Sight. It should be working in whatever manner the NWN game engine does normally, and I'm not sure there's anything I can do to change that behavior. If you can be specific about what opponents you think True Sight should be helping against, I can check to make sure I didn't inadvertantly break something.
2) As stated in the mod description, XP rewards are based on doing tasks and combat XP is deliberately minimal. This is because escaping is the primary goal and whether you beat the guardians by killing them or avoiding them should not make a huge difference in your level progression. I'm not sure how the game engine rewards destruction of undead via turning, but since XP for combat is set very low it's expected that turning undead should yield little or no XP.
Posted by Canis Lupus X at 2007-06-06 14:38:57 Voted 8.50 on 06/06/07
I found the module rather difficult to begin with, but once I got the hang of things, it smoothed out to be only a pain in the butt. The easiest time I had was with playing a straight cleric. The spells are really helpful, and the turning undead is very handy.
I noticed 2 problems.
1) True Sight had absolutely no effect on miss chances for concealment, whether it be blur, displacement, or etheral visage ... at least from my side of the table.
2. I saw no xp garnered from the destruction of undead via turn undead attempts.
A great module otherwise. Keep up the good work.
Posted by barnibus0 at 2007-05-29 11:16:57 Voted 9.50 on 05/29/07
This is a great module, with much fun to be had. The few problems I had was when I died every now and then, reloading to saves that I did twenty minutes ago became tedious. Other then that, you did a a great job. Module building is tough-I've started over dozens of modules because of a tiny insecurity. My biggest mistake ever? Two words.
Guardianblade Dungeons.
I'll leave it at that! =) _________________________ Loved Games: Guild Wars, Neverwinter Nights Diamond (Org, HotU, SoU, Kingmaker).
I really appreciate your taking the time to write detailed responses. A lot of players when frustrated would just say "It sucks" with little explanation, and probably also leave a low rating number on their way out the door. In my day job I've always found that it's nice to get praise but I learn more & improve by listening to people who aren't satisfied with what I delivered. That's equally true of this module-building hobby. Users like you are rare gold. I can't say thanks enough.
I have some specific details/ideas to share with you, which I'll send you offline as you suggested.
"I've said before that in making this mod the combat balancing has been the hardest thing to get right. Most of my testing was done with a straight Fighter, and also a Bard/RDD
"Balancing" a mod with a straight fighter is a very bad idea imho. A minmaxed fighter has the best AC and the best attack bonus of *any* character that needs to deliver physical damage at close range. In order to make a mellee encounter "challenging" for a straight fighter it's needs to be near-impossible for a dual-wielding ranger, a ranger/rogue, a cleric that has run out of spells or any multiclass character not mindlessly munchkinned (like, by taking cheesy RDD levels ). ;-)
"Challenge" for a straight fighter should not lie in melee encounters.
I started with a ranger/rogue and quit in frustration on level 2 (after already almost quitting with all the undead on 1). Then I played a pure wizard starting at level 9 (with 1 fighter level for the feats) and most fights are indeeed ridiculously easy if you have a full load of spells and a summoned creature. Then you run out of spells and places to rest or get killed by 5 sneaking shadow cats that cannot be tageted with spells... ;)
The problem reallyis, there's not much in between "boring and too easy" and "impossible and frunstrating"...
However, I'm way too intimately familiar with all the traps and encounter triggers, and the strengths and weaknesses of every critter. I know exactly the easiest way to beat everything. (Level Six, for example, doesn't take long if you know the path through the labyrinth and use area damage spells for taking out the Shadowcats.) So my sense of how difficult the mod is has become badly distorted.
Very true, the designer is inherently not qualified to judge the difficulty of his/her creation ;)
A fine is example is the problem with level2: When *I* first enter I have no clue about Ferdinand approaching. I open the first few doors and chests, start using up my spells and cannot rest, because there are enemies nearby (the minotaurs behind closed doors). I can also not return to level 1 and rest there (cheesy as that might be). *Then* Ferdinand appears, my summon kills him perhaps once, and then I'm screwed. He keeps getting up *way* too fast and won't let me escape. I open doors at random, out of spells and out of summons. Reload. And so on. Your tactics work *after* what I know from a few reloads.
About the shadow cats: hide in plain sight is one of the most cheesy and silly overpowered feats in the game. Every rogue player not taking one level of shadowdancer is basically an idiot (and every one taking more than one probably more so ;). It's limitless, free invisibility and a killer on enemies with sneak attack. *Groups* of enemies with this ability should be avoided, as there's nothing to do against them but massive AI abuse. They cannot be targeted with spells and once they appear around a spellcaster with low AC, the caster is dead. And no, setting difficulty to "normal" and dropping a fireball at my own feat *is* massive AI abuse ;)
General suggestions and possible options:
- make the cursed sentries respawn next to their sentry statue and NOT after only a second or two
- make groups of enemies smaller and more varied. Two melee critters accompanied by something with ranged attack or magic is much more interesting than the same group of 6 things over and over again
- tone down general diffulty a LOT and limit resting to once per level (at the exit to the next). This would add lot to the general feel of the "running the gauntlet against all odds" game, too.
Allright, it's past midnight and I badly need some sleep ;)
Feel free to mail me if you have some more specific questions. I'd be glad to add more unsolicited opinions ;-) _________________________ With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince...
With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D....
... and still keep the frog you started with.
@ Armin & Graymaster - Wow, what a difference in your experiences... thanks both of you for leaving feedback.
Armin, I'm really sorry Grimshade was a bad experience for you. I'm curious what PC class you played. Some are definitely harder than others. You're the second to report that the fights are too difficult and the game is not fun. I do take that kind of problem seriously.
Thanks also for kindly mentioning what you liked about the mod & not leaving a low number rating.
I've said before that in making this mod the combat balancing has been the hardest thing to get right. Most of my testing was done with a straight Fighter, and also a Bard/RDD. They had it rough. However, for my last two complete run-throughs before releasing, I used a Wizard and a Cleric, both starting at the recommended level 7. With both, I used the tactic of casting my strongest Summon Monster, buffing the heck out of it, and letting it tank while I slung spells. With this tactic, most things were way too easy.
However, I'm way too intimately familiar with all the traps and encounter triggers, and the strengths and weaknesses of every critter. I know exactly the easiest way to beat everything. (Level Six, for example, doesn't take long if you know the path through the labyrinth and use area damage spells for taking out the Shadowcats.) So my sense of how difficult the mod is has become badly distorted.
Based on what I'm hearing from some, I suspect that I need to soften a lot of the encounters, and find some effective way to nerf the "summoned pet tank" tactic so casters don't have it too easy.
It might help me a lot to know what PC build you're playing, and if there are any particular tactics that you expect should work but don't.
I'll address the design of level Two because you specifically asked about the purpose:
!!! Spoilers - hints for running level Two !!!
1) The key to "solving" level Two is keeping track of where Ferdinand the Cursed Sentry Minotaur is. You want to avoid him and go after his statue. When he comes near, duck into a room and close the door until he passes. His perception range is not long--you'll see him before he sees you if you move slow and careful.
2) Most rooms contain only a chest. They are perfectly safe if you don't open the chest. This gives you lots of places to hide even if you have no stealth--just duck into an alcove and close the door.
3) Don't run around trying doors at random. Wait until Ferdinand is moving away from where you are, and open a cluster of nearby doors.
4) If you can stealth, you can get away with opening a door and closing it quickly if there's a minotaur inside. If you have high stealth or invisibility, you can probably just work your way down the corridor and check all the doors until you find the statue, without a single fight. Mark the bad guy locations on your map, and don't fight them unless/until you have to.
5) You may have to fight a couple of the minotaurs behind some doors to clear out a zone where you can rest. Again, the key is to keep track of where Ferdinand is--you don't want him nearby when you're taking on a Minotaur Berserker.
6) An insider trick from the Builder: placement of the Sentry Statue is always in the North half of the corridor (so PCs won't reach it first before meeting Ferdinand). With this hint, level Two goes faster because you can skip the South end of the corridor in your search.
7) After you take out Ferdinand by destroying his Sentry Statue, this level becomes a Monty Haul giveaway--lots of treasure chests guarded by only a few monsters you can take out one at a time.
For a straightforward, linear hack&slash dungeon crawl with little to no story, I'm afraid, the emphasis is WAY to much on the "crawl" part.
This was the most slow, drawn out, tedious and frustrating experience in a long while - at least I thought so at some point... and then I entered level 6 and it got worse.
Fight balance is completely off for most characters, reloading all few minutes very much an integral part of the game and excessively unfair situations at *every* corner (the shadow cats on 6 alone would suffice as fun-killers for 3 mods). And in the second attempt (after quitting the first on level 2) I played with a character 3 level higher than recomended to boot.
Playing a rogue would be comletely pointless, as the main focus of the mod is combat, which then has to be avoided at all costs. Bards, rangers, multiclass characters of almost any build need not apply.
Just one example: is there any potential way to solve level 2 other than running through the corridor, opening all doors at random, reloading each time you get killed until you find the room with the sentry statue and reload once more? What gameplay is that supposed to be? (did I mention that level 6 is even worse...?).
So, sorry for the rant. I appreciate all the work put into this, the technical aspects of the mod are all very well done, The humor is great at times and it looks good. It's just, for my tastes, no fun to play.
I'll refrain from casting a vote, out of respect for the effort and all the good things about the mod, but really, this is in dire need of a reality check. _________________________ With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince...
With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D....
... and still keep the frog you started with.
Posted by Graymaster at 2007-05-26 08:43:38 Voted 10.00 on 05/26/07
What a hoot! Great romp for one of those Don't-Much-Want-To-Think-a-Whole-Bunch days.
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2007-05-26 08:36:06 Voted 10.00 on 06/24/07
Styz, did you get my e-mail? _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
I just posted v1.1. This includes some important bug fixes and tweaks. Most noteworthy changes are a fix for an item blueprint error that made the Anvil of Transmogrification unusable, and a correction to the AI of a main nemesis which should dramatically improve the challenge of the final combat.
Special thanks to Gylfi Gangler for excellent playtest feedback about this mod in The Builders Project forum!
re: combat balancing - It's one of the areas I've struggled with, particularly the final battle. Earlier versions were too tough for some PCs to win even with all the available "help". The current version is a little too weak even though the boss does scale a bit for tougher PCs. I'll take your feedback to heart and keep working on it.
re: Emilia's head - that's a bug, it should not have a unique power. At one point I was planning to have her talk, but I never implemented it.
re: Water - The water effect is created using Tile Magic and making it deeper than roughly the height of a PC seems to create issues. My PC is pretty old, and I hoped the slowing would not affect the majority of users. I really like the design concept but if I keep hearing from users that it's too slow, I'll have to come up with something else.
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