Dramatic, Final Version, Roleplay, Snowy Adventure
Scope
Medium
Content
Teen
TricksTraps
Medium
Roleplay
Medium
HackSlash
Medium
LevelMin
01
LevelMax
01
Gameplay Hours
04
Patch
1.12
NWN2Game
All
Description
PLEASE NOTE THIS MODULE IS NOW SUPERCEDED BY "CONAN CHRONICLES 1 - THE BARBARIAN CHRONICLES" WHICH COMBINES THE FIRST THREE MODULES INTO A SINGLE CAMPAIGN
Introduction
"Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars." - The Nemedian Chronicles.
Such half-legendary fragments are all that remain to tell of the Hyborian Age and its greatest hero, Conan. You can relive these tales as Conan, or as a hero of your own design, following your career from its beginning as a youth among the Aesir, to your eventual rise to claim the throne of Aquilonia, the most powerful Hyborian kingdom.
"Legions of the Dead" describes the first recorded exploits of the young Conan, when as a youth of sixteen summers he fled his home in Cimmeria to join with a band of Northern barbarians in the frigid land of Asgard. The original short story was written by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, based of course on the collection of Conan stories by Robert E Howard. It pre-dates the more well-known "Tower of the Elephant" which is, taking the chronology of Conan's career, the first Howard story. The fact that "Legions" deals with a very inexperienced Conan, and the fact that the story is less well known, makes it a good start for a chronology.
Installation
DON'T put anything into the Program Files NWN2 folders where the core game information is kept!!
Download and unzip the part 1 and part 2 module files ("Legions of the Dead part 1.mod" and "Legions of the Dead part 2.mod") and put the mod files into your My documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/modules folder.
Download and unzip the "Conan Chronicles Extra Files" zip folder and put the folder called "Conan Chronicles 1" found inside the campaigns subfolder into your My documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/campaigns folder. Put all the bmu files from the music subfolder into the My documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/music folder. Put the subfolders called "Conan Chronicles MOTB Override" and "Conan Chronicles 1 Extras Override" into the My documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/override folder. (Remove any folder called "Conan Chronicles Override" from an old version of the game.) Put the conan.tlk file in the Legions of the Dead part 1 zip into the My documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/tlk folder.
Notes for Players (see the readme)
From 4th May 2008, I have uploaded new versions of this game to be compatible with subsequent games in the Conan Chronicles Series.
The game is designed for a single starting PC. Playing a human is more suitable for this adventure, but not required. If you really want to play a Cimmerian Gnome, feel free.
At the start of the game, you should create a PC and note that you can select "Hyborian Race" to choose from one of 11 subraces of the Hyborian Age. These subraces and their bonuses and penalties are described in game, in the create menu and in the walkthrough document.
There are a number of features specific to the game ( more information in the walkthrough):
Time. Time travels as in real life i.e. 60 minutes in an hour, not 2 which is the NWN standard! Instead, journeys between certain outdoor areas take time, perhaps 4 hours. Also resting takes time; 5-6 hours for a full rest.
Companions. There is a companion for part of this game. You can leave and rejoin this companion as desired, and she retains the equipment you left her with.
Resting. You cannot initiate resting while controlling a companion. Rest and your companion will rest with you. You may rest in most areas and abort by clicking out of the blue screen. In many areas, wandering monsters may run into you, appearing at a random location nearby. Depending on your survival skill, you may be surprised and unable to act for several seconds. There may be special safe-rest areas in game, perhaps after you have defeated certain encounters. Sometimes resting in a corner or in a small room with the door closed may allow you to avoid an encounter.
Death. You will not be able to defeat all encounters. There are also some story choices that inevitably lead to death. Sometimes you may be able to respawn back to a point before this choice, but not always. If you die, you usually respawn in the same place with full abilities back, but a hefty xp penalty. However, your mission is rescue based and if you allow your companion to die, its game over, so look after the companion well!
Thievery. Sneaking around and using your wits to avoid encounters is encouraged. Looting every single item from containers in front of their owners� noses is not! If you get spotted, expect non-hostiles to get hostile. But you can steal if you want to, just try and do it without being seen, and if you run away when you are spotted, those that see you often calm down after a while. If you get spotted too often, however, the whole faction turns against you.
Treasure. There are custom treasure scripts used which give a wide variety of random treasures or basic items. Feel free to loot all you like, but it is not the main focus of the story, and although merchants are present in one area, there are only rather basic supplies to be purchased by and large. Please don�t get too attached to all your stuff. Otherwise you might get upset at the end of the game�
Custom Items. There are a few custom potions, items and consumables which should be self-explanatory. Some may not work in other modules, but will work in future Conan modules.
Secret Doors. There are secret walls that move aside once you discover them, and then you can actually interact with them to close them or open them as desired. There are also secret catches or levers opening secret doors in walls.
Looking up. In one area (should be obvious) you need to look up. Use driving camera mode in that circumstance.
Note for Builders
Feel free to take this module apart for techniques and ideas to use in your own adventures. Part of the idea behind this module was to encourage other builders. Hopefully then you will not have to replicate all the long work it took to get this module functioning with its custom features. And feel free to design your own better solutions!
Posted by ubernerd at 2009-07-05 00:16:06 Voted 5.50 on 07/05/09
Very boring. A simple interactive novel. Little roleplay. Gameplay is more like an adventure game than a RPG.
A lot of efforts have made into this module but artworks and writings do not make a good game.
Posted by erthule at 2008-11-30 00:06:33 Voted 9.00 on 11/30/08
Very good game
Posted by Grimpelune at 2008-10-17 10:17:39 Voted 9.75 on 10/17/08
er... sorry for this second post, I realized I didn't say thanks in the previous one... so, I thank you John McA !
Posted by Grimpelune at 2008-10-17 10:11:53 Voted 9.75 on 10/17/08
(I apologize for my awful english... pain ahead ...)
I gave my vote a +1 for the serie, which I already replayed 11 times .
All the builts I tried have worked perfectly for me in this first part, and I would be tempted to conclude that divine spell-casters (druids and priests with the sun sphere) are the rightful rulers of the whole Hyborian world (much more than all these oafish norse's warriors, zamorian sneaky fellows, and even some khitan wizards, sorry John, eh...eh...)
As a player I like beautiful settings and good stories you want immerse into, colorful descriptive texts and colorful conversations with non-flat NPCs, P&P styled low-magic worlds, and diversified action ... I have been served in this regard, and much more than I expected from a free game (mommy couldn't strike such a bargain for 11 free tours at the merry-go-round with those greedy itinerant people, even when she would explain that "to have to earn a living" was just false, evil answer.)
The only small "con" I've found are those, and they are rather personal :
#1 The irresistible temptation for a weak-willed player like me to run that story-driven adventure a very hack & slash way due to the over-powering, ever-supplied, stock of potions of the potion seller in Castle Haloga.
#2 (Not a true con, rather a slight regret of a greedy fan of your games, dear dr Sungh...) I regret I couldn't replay the "dead-ends" of the story as much as I replayed the other "safe" paths... for obvious reasons... I would have preferred (and I know the issue will probably be the time it would consume to answer my wish-list) you used your immense art of story-telling to turn the said "dead-ends" into even more numerous alternate paths (e.g.#1 instead of dying during the hopeless Aesir's charge against the castle, be left dying, taken for dead, and therefore thrown into some zombie pit by the victorious hyperboreans... INSIDE the castle, #2 instead of dying, half-frozen, half-starved, lost in the hyperborean frozen wastes, be found in a near state by a hyperborean patrol of slave-hunters who would have kindly take me right in the castle with the appropriate clothes to blend with the locals ... re-usable at the end before CC2...)
#3 The short lenghth of the mod (totally compensated by the serie scope).
Completed the first module and I've noticed a few more bugs.
As a ranger, I was missing the Medium Armor Proficiency feat.
Creature reactions (Hostile/neutral etc.) seemed a bit buggy. For example: I started a fight with a jailer in the tower. The second jailer in the room also began attacking me. Once I had killed the first, I stopped to heal, but the second jailer suddenly turned "blue" and left me alone. Similar instances seemed to occur throughout the module.
Also, it is possible to heal your enemies. This gets annoying. It means that every time in combat you want to use a healing ability, you have to deselect your target first, or else you suddenly make things harder for yourself.
I've noticed a problem at character creation. In making a Kushite Ranger, which has the "Quick to Master" feat, I am only able to choose one feat at creation (in addition to my favored enemy. Is this a bug in the way the custom races are handled?
Posted by Mighty Dragon at 2008-09-20 01:57:42 Voted 9.75 on 09/20/08
Great atmosphere because original soundtrack, characters well done, great Story. Well, Conan is back!
Posted by helmo1977 at 2008-09-16 08:00:19 Voted 9.00 on 09/16/08
Great module. I read the comic and it almost felt as if you were making it.
Posted by plotyj at 2008-09-08 10:33:36 Voted 9.50 on 09/08/08
That's what I was looking for wen I bought NWN2. (sorry for my english)
I played this mod on nwn and was great. When I saw it for nwn2 thought it was a must have. It is very buggy. I cannot get the music to play and i have installed it twice now. The camera is buggy, cannot control camera. Makes the game unplayable to me. Shame I enjoyed the nwn version so much. not casting vote yet, until maybe can get to work right. Anyone else having these issues? How did you fix them?
Posted by LeslieMS at 2008-08-27 12:12:28 Voted 9.75 on 08/27/08
I loved it! The story line is spectacular. The mod is very well written, and makes the story soe engrossing. It is easy to get lost in the atmosphere of the mod, and I had a twinge of sadness when it was over. My grief, however was short lived as I jumped into the next chapter.
My only complaint is the lack of map notes in the castle area, as they would be very handy. There were a few map pins, but adding some, especially for the starting point in the castle, would be appreciated.
Keep up the great work. AND keep those chapters coming! _________________________ Stupidity kills people.
Nothing Good comes from ignorance.
Knowledge is power that is useless with out the wisdom to use it properly.
Be Well and Be Safe,
Leslie
Posted by Jau at 2008-08-25 14:24:09 Voted 8.50 on 08/25/08
I just finished this and I really enjoyed it! Writing was well done, and I liked the story. And it was bug free, for me.
Some thoughts:
Level 2 of the castle is just too dark, and there are no torches around. You should have maybe placed a few torches in this area.
There should have been some map notes (specifically the room where you came in with the grappling hook). There should have been other triggered map notes as well.
Since this is a setting that is not Faerun, it would have been nice if you included some custom load hints to give the player a feel of this new world they are in.
Posted by ericdoman at 2008-08-23 13:24:35 Voted 9.00
Have posted the same comment on other mods but I think it may be one of the CC mods that have affected below. Also when playing other non CC mods, the CC music is heard.
Ran through CC1 to 3 quite recently. One thing I did not mention is the option to be a Cimmerian etc was not brought up in opening movie scene.
BTW have found on character creator there are 2 new slots. Normally you have the choice of dwarf, human etc etc, now There is Bad Strref and "the last attempt to detect your settings" as race options? Also going through OC again and 2 things happen that are very strange and have not seen before. In the swamp ruins had noticed that the "tracks" are now walls suspended above the ground and worse still when you find the silver shard there is no movie scene and then the option to either look around or go straight back to village does not happen. You collect the shard and return to West Harbour and Daeghun does not recognise the fact that you have shard. End of game. This is quite a recent occurrence and so am posting this comment on all games I have recently downloaded. Maybe it's the ruddy overrides again. How do you post this for Bioware/Atari to see and take note?
I can't seem to hear any music. I followed the instructions for installation but all I get is environment sounds. HELP!!
Posted by VFighterX at 2008-08-16 19:40:12 Voted 10.00 on 08/16/08
Great module.
One problem though, for the "Khitan" race, I do not get a bonus feat even though it has the "Quick to Master" skill. So I only get one feat at the start.
Posted by bietu at 2008-08-15 12:09:29 Voted 4.00 on 08/15/08
Well well only way to me to get this module forward was to get kicked again from the barbarian squad. Then after jumping like 10mins on waterfall i finally got down. Then i resque the girl and in battle vs queen and undead army. While dialogue running princes will gets killed all the time. So i got tierd of thease bugs. If module would work solidly id say its 7.5 but this much bugs kills the fun of it. So i give 4 it requires improvements.
Posted by Jamro at 2008-08-15 08:32:51 Voted 7.50 on 08/13/08
Ok, I have no idea where you are now, somewhere I didn't go.
But before the attack at night, I approached the walls alone. There is a broken cart nearby with a hook and a rope, it kind of moved on from there...
Posted by bietu at 2008-08-15 06:48:11 Voted 4.00 on 08/15/08
Jamro
Well i couldnt sneak anywhere from the map at night. It just say that there isnt gonna be friendly welcome if i go alone and no other exit's in map. Weird thing is that when i return to the barbarian squad and we decide to go back. Somehow there is girl with us wich prolly is barbarian leaders daughter. Once i got kicked from barbarian squad at begin i did falldown bethween waterfalls and was trapped there no where to go and lower waterfall didnt drop me any lower eather. So if this all is really how it should be i cant say iam enjoying playing this. I have play whole Sands of fate serie in nwn1 so as i know pervious quality its hard to belive this should be like it is for me.
Posted by Jamro at 2008-08-14 20:27:16 Voted 7.50 on 08/13/08
Bietu, there are many choices here, some lead to instant inescapable end of the module.
But there's also a walkthrough in the extra files if you're stuck.
Sneaking out at night is ok, dying at the walls is not. Look around. :)
Posted by bietu at 2008-08-14 16:06:44 Voted 4.00 on 08/15/08
I really dont think this works correctly for me. Doesent really matter what i choose to do in module its instant death. If i attack to castle i cant climb the ladders up nothing happends and braking door is impossible because there comes stuff to neck wich kills. If i decide to sneak out of the camp during night i cant get anywhere i have to go back. If we all decide not to attack castle there comes bunch of overpowering undeads wich will kill the barbarian leader. Then during dialogue going and me standing cant do anything Undeads will kill half of the crew. Then comes some wizard if i run i cant get out of the map. If i fight i die or if they get me as prisoner there is no change of escaping.
Posted by Jamro at 2008-08-13 09:00:49 Voted 7.50 on 08/13/08
Overall, a very good module.
I liked all the cutscenes, the opening one set the mood perfectly.
The hunting was nice down to earth way to start the journey. I actually liked it enough to catch two deers.
A little disappointing to not be able to give or mention the second one later, so I ended up just tossing the carcass somewhere.
In the proving myself part, the Very Tall hills and ice formations made it annoyingly difficult to move around.
Nothing gamebreaking but the difficult controls made me not enjoy that part.
In the first floor I entered the castle to, something is very fragile, the game crashed on me every few minutes there. Seems like if I clicked at things at a bad moment, everything froze. All the other floors were just fine. The castle in itself was the bit disappointing part of the module. It was very nicely built and all, but it seemed very detached to be able to run around killing guards here and there and selling their loot in the first floor. Stealth, dressing up or something else should IMO have played a bigger part. Now it really was just a big place full of guards to kill.
After moving forwards a bit to the prisoners, the plot picked up pace again and it was great until the ending.
I'll definitely continue with the next part...
Posted by jimgrim at 2008-08-07 10:35:56 Voted 9.00 on 08/07/08
Lots of great details about this module... the Aesir, early quests, use of bluff for disguise, and loads of Conan mythos. I'd like to see even more immersion, more interaction with the Aesir (Siggi or others), more to differentiate male/female PC (dialog or attire). The castle was too dark... had to max out my monitor brightness and even then it was a little too dim for me. The areas were too dark while hunting for wood as well... it may be more realistic but makes it very difficult... maybe throw in some torches in the camp? You could add even more interesting flavor... such as kitchens where you can get ash to rub on for a stealth bonus. Overall this was a lot of fun for a roguish character and esp. if you're a Conan fan.
Posted by Ahlek at 2008-07-28 08:06:44 Voted 9.00 on 07/28/08
I really enjoyed this module. While it does have its drawbacks, I think its advantages outweigh them.
To Smorpheus below:
I can address some of the things you've said merely due to the fact that I read the description of the module series.
1) Conan doesn't appear in this module series because the 'player' is following the storyline of Conan himself. That way, the author is giving the 'player' the option of playing as Conan.
2) The queen continually attacks the 'player' during the ending cutscene because she is whipping him. C'mon dude, have a little imagination.
Posted by smorpheus at 2008-07-18 10:30:15 Voted 6.75 on 07/18/08
Played as: Single Player
Hours of Game Play: About 4 Hours
Character: Human Barbarian
Companions: You gain a fighter at the end of the module.
Start Level: 1
End Level: 4
Difficulty Level: Hardcore
Coin/Loot Value: ??? Can�t sell.
Death: Respawn, but will cost you XP.
Resting: Rest based on survival skill, wandering monster system.
Module Version Played: new v1.0
Mods Running: Tony K�s Companion AI, Spell Fixes, Kaedrin�s PRC
Overall Story - B
The story is interesting and original. It reminded me very much of the old Conan Endless Quest books, and the GURPS solo adventures. Here we have a character in their youth trying to earn the respect of her tribe.
One thing to be clear to people is that Conan does not appear at all in this adventure, this is merely set in his universe.
Dialogue - B
The dialogue throughout the campaign is solid and entertaining. The author clearly knows his Conan, and the Aesir tribe seems to fit within a certain setting and attitude.
However, the responses are often very narrow and can exclude several different takes on a particular situation. In the end, this is the biggest drawback of the module, you are often forced down a path because choosing to roleplay a certain type of character is certain death. While huge sidetreks have been designed at certain parts of the story, it is frequently possible to condemn your character to a poor fate based on a choice in a conversation. Like old Choose Your Own Adventures, there�s no clue in-game as to exactly what you should be doing to advance the story.
A good example of this is when exiting the prison after rescuing Rann. You can either A.) Declare bloodthirsty death on your enemies, or B.) Express fear. The only option which allows for Rann (another character) to suggest that you use fire is if you hit A. It seems to me that there should be multiple paths towards getting quest objectives and goals.
Characters - C
I thought all of the characters were interesting and fit the archetypes designed for them.
Quests � C
While the main quest path is very interesting. I think that more thought could have been put into the question �Is this fun for the player?� There are tons of great ideas here, and very good demonstrations of advanced Aurora scripting, but sometimes these great ideas are simply not fun to explore.
For instance, if you choose to attack the gates with your tribe, it�s sure death. I simply don�t understand this implementation. Why force a player to play through this poor decision, as if they have some choice in the outcome? Instead, you could play an ending cinematic (much like the end of a Choose Your Own Adventure.) Falling into one of these many poor decision veins is unsatisfying and mars an otherwise very good experience.
Level Design - A
All of the areas are well-thought out and look great. Of note are the castle and the initial hunting area.
Also, much appreciated, are the custom load screens.
Items � D
I think a random loot generation system was not effective here. It seemed as though since you knew that the player loses all their loot at the end, you put little to no effort into generating interesting items outside of some of the NPC items. A more �Conan� feel on the generic survival items like Healing Kits, potions and other consumables would have been much appreciated.
Enemies B
Well balanced and interesting. Of special note are the slimes you encounter upon first entering the castle, they are terrifically implemented via scripting and the VFX system.
Puzzles � D
I don�t want to come off as overly negative here, but I don�t see much choice. How many times have we seen use rope on hook, use hook on window? It�s generic, below average, and not satisfying to solve. Also dragging this down are the various �dialogue puzzles� (as I think of them) where you have to sort through the entries until you find the one that allows you to continue the story. This, however, is trial and error, and generally unsatisfying.
Overall Quality Assurance - C
Here are the issues I found.
Bugs:
-Not a bug exactly, but installation of this game is a nightmare. There�s no reason it should be this complicated. I�m pretty much an expert on NWN2, and I still had a lot of trouble sorting through your many files and figuring out which ones go where. It would be a very good idea to dump all your files in one archive, with clearly labeled directories of where each file goes. The Vault can support large game files, no need to break it up into 40MB or less.
-The Queen attacked me throughout the final cinematic.
-Delays are too long on some of the dialogues. Especially the ones with no animation on-screen. I was generally able to read each dialogue 2-3 times before it moved on, but in some cases (such as when you sleep outside the castle), it goes on so long I could probably read the sentence 10 times before it advances.
-No religion has been selected for Rann, so when you level her up, you pick it for her.
-After irritating Siggi(way before I knew he was a quest-giver), I was no longer able to get him to talk to me and complete his wood-gathering quest. So, I had a lot of wood in my inventory for no reason.
Spelling/grammar:
Generally clean, but there are typos here and there.
Overall Pluses:
*Great selection of Roleplaying choices.
*Several branched paths away from the main storyline.
*Nice, custom load screens.
*Great custom monster.
*Good battles, but you could probably get through this with no fighting if you play a rogue.
*Well scaled and rewarding XP rewards.
Overall Constructive Feedback:
*Installation could be easier.
*Many of the branched paths away form the main storyline are frustrating and not fun, and sometimes, certain death.
*Random loot has no character.
*Puzzles are brain-dead.
Final Score: 7.00 - "Very good, deserves a look." _________________________ Smorpheus' Toolset Visual Index Link
Posted by Volker at 2008-07-07 09:03:49 Voted 8.75 on 06/30/08
Well Dodgeful_Archer, I used a single class rogue now (with NWN 2) and I used a ranger when I played the old module in NWN and both did well.
Hey what's a good single class ch to play this mod series with?
Posted by Volker at 2008-06-30 08:42:15 Voted 8.75 on 06/30/08
Have I ever voted for the NWN version???
I've used a rogue (aiming for Invisible Blade) in my game and I had lots of fun. I didn't notice any big bugs, only some of those already mentioned.
P.S. Next character is either a ranger or a barbarian.
Posted by Zannyn at 2008-06-15 10:35:01 Voted 9.00 on 06/15/08
Love this mod, Great work!
The only thing i dont really like is there is no sound voices from the characters. Kinda disappointing.... Otherwise it is a great script! keep up the good work!
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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