This module is a short (but playable and completable) demo for a work in progress that is intended to eventually be a complete campaign starting at level 1. The main plot is set in the Forgotten Realms, where a young adventurer takes on the mission to find and explore lost temples of the dead god Amaunator, who died in the cataclysmic fall of the Netheril empire. On the way he can gain the aid of various (NPC) companions.
"Mission statement": The focus is on adventuring and combat, though there should be some "diplomatic" solutions as well. I prefer the very low levels (about 1-6 maximum) and would like to emphasize play in this range. Loot and money will be low accordingly. Despite this combat should be balanced to be fun, not frustrating.
The campaign should allow the player to take advantage of many skills which are often neglected (for example Search and Listen) and will offer extra options for characters with exceptionally high attributes. Another particular goal I have is to make the environment more dynamic than usual, for example rubble-strewn floors where it is possible to stumble, or knee-high water where running is impossible; these effects should apply to both the player and NPC enemies and allies.
v0.88:
- major changes
Following is a list of gameplay changes and features.
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RESTING SYSTEM
Adventurers need 1 food ration per day. There are 4 grades of food ration: Poor, Average, Good and Superb. These restore respectively up to 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the character's total hit points on resting. This is added after the character loses 5% of current hit points from activating rest (so resting without food leads to a loss of 5% of total hit points). The food rations are automatically deducted from the party's inventory at every rest. Characters with high Survival skill heal more even without food.
Some creatures can be turned into food after slaying them. The food item generated automatically from the creature depends on the character's Survival skill bonus:
Less than +10: Poor
over +10: Average
over +15: Good
over +20: Superb
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ALCHEMICAL ITEMS
The power of all grenade-like alchemical items has been improved in Ruins of the Sun God:
Acid Flask damage:
Normal - 2d6 single, 1d6 splash
Improved - 4d6 single, 2d6 splash
Greater - 6d6 single, 3d6 splash
Perfected - 10d6 single, 5d6 splash
Alchemist's Fire damage:
Normal - 2d6 single, 1d6 splash
Improved - 4d6 single, 2d6 splash
Greater - 6d6 single, 3d6 splash
Perfected - 10d6 single, 5d6 splash
Holy Water damage:
Normal - 2d10 single, 1d10 splash
Improved - 4d10 single, 2d10 splash
Greater - 6d10 single, 3d10 splash
Perfected - 10d10 single, 5d10 splash
Tanglefoot Bag DC/Dur.:
Normal - 15/5
Improved - 20/8
Greater - 25/12
Perfected - 30/20
Thanks for trying it out again, and glad you enjoyed it.
This is for a large part a personal experiment to see if I can fix and improve a lot of things that I disliked in how NWN2 campaigns and modules usually go. For the moment the actual adventure is pretty much a showcase for the mechanics. I still want to build a bigger adventure later but I really want to get the mechanics to work as I would like them first.
Posted by darant at 2011-05-26 03:02:58 Voted 6.00 on 05/26/11
Much better than before, now it has the makings of a proper mini-adventure. However, this is far too unfinished. Rather than spend time implementing complex scripting systems, why don't you focus on fleshing this out enough to make a full small adventure--one with a tavern you can enter, merchants with gear to sell and another area or two with a real conclusion to an adventure?
Posted by darant at 2011-05-22 20:09:01 Voted 6.00 on 05/26/11
The temple insides don't look anything like the early version you have seen, there's a specially coded boss encounter there and other stuff. I'm currently trying to first set down the basics of some mechanics changes, like a food for resting system, and other things before I make new areas and quests. You will get the gist of the intended feel if you make a new character, give him some gear from the tutorial room and try the new temple with the 3 companions.
Posted by darant at 2011-05-21 21:37:53 Voted 6.00 on 05/26/11
I want to give this a fresh start, but if it only goes straight to the temple I'd rather wait a bit until it's more fleshed out before I play. I didn't get far in originally because of the swarming bugs mistake of the earlier version. Let me know--thanks, I'd appreciate it.
Yes, you start in a "quest hub" from which you can later freely roam to different quest areas. I'm rebuilding this module completely to include all sorts of custom scripting, and hopefully it will be a complete campaign at some point.
Posted by darant at 2011-05-20 17:47:19 Voted 6.00 on 05/26/11
From the screenshots this looks completely new. Do you start in a town now?
Thank you for the comments, I'm glad I seem to be on the right track. I will try and add more content so it's not over so soon.
Posted by Arkalezth at 2011-04-05 10:34:29 Voted 6.00 on 04/05/11
It's well done and has some interesting and new features, but it's too short (it took me like 5 minutes), so that keeps me from giving it a higher score.
I'd like to see a bigger module from you, this is a good start.
Alright, hope the new version is more to your taste. I got rid of the free level-up by the way, and this will now not let you reach level 2 either. The adventurer really doesn't do that much even if he does everything there is, so about 300 XP quest reward seemed more appropriate. I'm thinking of making this the entry adventure of a larger story, but that's only in planning stages now.
Posted by darant at 2011-04-04 19:00:57 Voted 6.00 on 05/26/11
My comments were a little hardcore, born of frustration. I didn't realize the ridiculous swarming was merely an error so I apologize. I still don't like the free level-up, but at least you are forewarned so you have the choice. I'll try this again later but I'll upgrade to a neutral vote for now.
Hi, thanks for trying the module. I checked back on this page in the first time in years and the reason this module is nearly impossible now is the changed AI since I made it years ago. Back then the oodles of monsters wouldn't attack all at once, so you could pull them one by one. Now they just rush you all at once, so yeah, that's just stupid but not my fault :P. Sorry for that, this would need an overhaul to be playable as intended now.
Posted by darant at 2011-02-02 20:53:15 Voted 6.00 on 05/26/11
This NWN2 is hopeless left in the hands of amateurs. Every geek wants to level you to 2 right away and still mercilessly try to kill you. It's the same thing in virtually every submission. D&D always had the potential to be so cool, but in every mod it's either a death gauntlet or you have to take some female companion everywhere or the story can't progress. Seriously, F--K. I get so frustrated being a normal male playing this game.
Hi there, thanks for your comments and thanks for playing. I mostly play on PWs now, so I don't think this mini-module is likely to get updated any more. Still, thanks for the ideas, they might come in handy since I plan to make areas and such for online play at some point.
About 3 rooms and 20 minutes of play. I understand that it's a toolset test run ... but I kind of liked it.
I couldn't begin to score it. As an adventure, it would rank rather low, but that's not what it is.
We can use more like it, whatever classification you'd wish to give it (an "Interlude," perhaps?)
If you continue to tinker and add to it, I could see it developing into a decent module (companions, more conversations, more rooms, more levels). In the meantime, I'd not worry about the 1st thru 3rd level range and get rid of the bonus xp. Just market it as a 2nd level ... thingee.
The encounters were tough but survivable for my 2nd lvl cleric. Luckily, she made a few good rolls early on the 2nd level of the temple.
I loved the weapon she found toward the end. Perfect for her experience level. I'm glad the cloak didn't work ... that would have been pushing it, I think.
If I've got your idea of a "test run" right, I'd recommend tinkering with the following:
The convo ("And if you smile at me one more time, so help me ...."). A little more versatility and a concluding convo.
Details that players might want to know. Is corpse x the fresh remains of the cleric's assistant? The bones of an earlier adventurer? Perhaps the rust and dust of an original priest or worshiper?
A legend or preserved scroll explaining the undead in the temple would be a nice extra.
Details upon examination of the sarcophagus and mace would also be nice. The mace kind of deserves a history. Given a detailed history, my characters would find it tough to choose between that and a generic +2 weapon. If something like "casts light" were added, the +2 would be sold with no reservation.
Try experimenting with placeables. More broken items, cobwebs, echoes, etc.
To really do some tinkering, check out the vault and see if you can make the surface look more like ruins (broken walls, shattered rooms and the like).
As I said, I kind of enjoyed it. If you're looking to experiment, I hope you take the ideas tossed out in the spirit they are intended.
1) Its definitely doable with a standard melee Fighter. The potions provided help against the strongest monsters in the cellar. For a pure caster the lack of a meatshield may be a definite problem though, but the module really is meant for sword-swinging types rather than low-level casters.
2) Thats new to me. I equipped the item when I tested the module and got the standard +8 for full plate. Are you playing with the current 1.06 patch?
just played this mini module: I liked it. Some comments:
1) Can be quite hard with some of the stronger monsters. Consider providing a companion.
2) The armor you get as a reward in the end has a bug: It provides no AC, i.e. while its description tells its a plate armor, if you equip it, no armor protection at all is shown.
I would vote around 6 at the moment, but the mod could be more fleshed out. Not bigger, just more polished. It still has some potential.
BTW, if anyone likes the areas I made for the module and wants to reuse them, just go ahead. If possible drop me a note, especially if it's for a persistent world.
Hey - you're welcome; glad to see you've been doing/planning some revisions. I'm actually happy to not to have found a well-functioning cloak - that +5 soak damage property seems pretty powerful for a level 2-3 character... ;) But that's just my 2 cents. Like I said, I'm glad to see that you've been doing some revisions and spending some time in the toolset. There was something about this tiny little mod even as it was that I found quite appealing. :)
Thanks for the mini-review! I had improved the lower level some time ago but never got around to uploading the new module. v0.2a has some changes to the loot and a temple cellar thats not just a large empty room. I removed that cloak, it seems to be buggy - the toolset shows +5 soak damage, but I dont see it in the game. There's still no real quest and goodbye message from the cleric, but there is some nice loot in the last room. I'll try to make a real quest to round out the module soon.
A small addition: I *think* that the cloak that I found had no properties other than being only usable by a good-aligned character. _________________________ Forgotten Realms Weave
This was perfect little hack & slash module to bridge the two contest modules (set in the Realms) by Mungo_D and Lord Niah. Especially considering that the character that I made for Mungo's 1st-level module was an "undead hunter" ranger who headed towards the Dalelands after his first adventure (and thus would have had to travel through the old Netheril grounds).
Anyway, despite its small scale, and alpha status, this did show some promise, I thought. I liked the chap in the beginning. His dialogue structure wasn't good because one could say things straightaway that should only be available later on, and because he repeated a certain phrase far too often. However, I liked the writing otherwise, and I especially enjoyed the way that giving some extra xp was handled.
The extra xp takes a new character to level 2, but this also worked well for a character who had just reached the second level before this module.
The fighting was fun and challenging. The treasure was appropriate for the level.
A couple of more things: It was a bit weird that the cleric of Oghma wouldn't be helping in clearing out the ruins. He's old, yeah, and of course he might not be willing to risk it, but on the other hand, he was an experienced adventurer (or used to be one, anyway). Perhaps he's afraid of arachnids, or something..? ;)
Also, the mod would have felt a lot more complete even as it is, had the cleric chap had some final dialogue, too - to signal the end of the quest.
Finally, the potions available in the chest were really powerful for a 2nd level character. Now, they're needed in the ruins, so there's no problem about them in that regard. But something in the dialogue could indicate, perhaps, that it really is quite a treasure that the player character can take with her in the temple.
All in all, I enjoyed this little hack & slash fest. Fully stand-alone, this module won't be very appealing. But as bridging two other FR modules, this worked almost perfectly. Still, I won't vote for this, yet. But I'd encourage the author to finish the mod one day. If you'll be doing that, do check out my sig. :)
Okay - sweet; thanks for the response. I'll add this to my list of modules to be played. Right now there certainly is room for more small-scale level 1 modules set in the Forgotten Realms.
When I get to play this/finish this, I'll post some comments, of course. :)
Yes, the NPC also says that it's a forgotten temple of Amaunator :-) I liked the mission in Baldur's Gate II that involved him. This really is just a toolset test run at the moment, I hope that I can find the time to extend it somewhat.
Would the 'Sun God' happen to be Amaunator? Anyway, is there a specific setting to this little module? I guess I can check this out anyway at some point. It doesn't seem to be very long... ;)
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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