This is an exploration-driven module with heavy combat and a story that really gets going towards the end. Subsequent installments in the series will continue the story in a more linear fashion.
Patch
1.10
NWN2Game
NWN2
Description
Moonshadows - Chapter One
IMPORTANT NOTE: This module requires the official 1.10 patch to play.
A NWN2 Campaign by Alex "Hugie" Hugon; 10 hours of exploration- and story-driven gameplay featuring intense combat, many sidequests, dozens of custom items and creatures, and 12 custom music tracks!
"The High Forest is like any other place in the Realms, really, full of obscure mysteries for the discerning to uncover and ancient treasure for the enterprising to claim. And, of course, there's no shortage of monsters. But then, when is there ever a shortage of monsters?"
- Khelben "The Blackstaff" Arunsun
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Overheard rumors in backwater inns are without a doubt the leading cause of unexplained adventurer "disappearances" all across Faerun. In your case, the inn was a seedy one on the outskirts of Secomber, and the rumor originated from the mouth of a crusty one-eyed dwarf with breath that reminded you of a flatulent ghast. Between long sips of the ale you bought him, your new friend told you of an enormous crystal structure that had reportedly been glimpsed high up in the Star Mounts, the soaring range of peaks which juts up from the center of the legendary High Forest. When you asked him to elaborate, the dwarf hiccupped once, gently lay his head on the table, and--to your dismay--commenced snoring contentedly. None of the inn's other motley assortment of patrons were able or willing to shed any further light on this intriguing rumor, and when you finally retired for the night, your sleep was a troubled one. Curiosity was eating away at you, tugging mercilessly on something deep down inside...and this time, you suspected there wasn't an accidentally-swallowed piece of shuriken involved.
The next morning found you heading north, against your better judgment. North, towards the High Forest--and the Star Mounts, with their peaks concealed by an ever-present blanket of dark, swirling clouds. You cannot say what it was about this rumor of mysterious crystals which so appealed to your sense of adventure; in hindsight, it must have been Fate at work. What is certain is that no amount of training or planning could have prepared you for what awaited atop the highest of those mist-clad mountains, or for the logic-defying journey on which you were soon destined to embark.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Notes - This is designed for level 8 character. As of September 20th, 2007, there is an OOC area at the beginning for setting level/experience, as well as for outfitting yourself appropriately for the adventure if necessary.
- Death is permanent; there is no respawning. If you die, you will need to load a savegame. So save often.
- Resting is allowed in most areas, and is unlimited.
- The game should last anywhere between 9-12 hours depending on personal playing style and number of sidequests completed.
- A level 8 character should make it to level 13 (give or take 1 either way) by the end of the first chapter.
- There is an in-game "Map" item/feature allowing for fast-travel via dialogue to previously-explored locations (this NEW! as of 10/4/07)
Enjoy, and don't forget to vote when you're done! :)
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Mysteries of Westgate Available Now!
The latest Dungeons & Dragons RPG has been released and is now available for download! Mysteries of Westgate is the first Adventure Pack for Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Ossian Studios, creator of the popular Darkness over Daggerford mod for Neverwinter Nights. This single-player game comes with over 15 hours of non-linear gameplay, an epic story of horror and intrigue with multiple paths and endings, new creatures and tileset, as well as brand new music and voice-over. Players will explore the bustling districts of the city of Westgate, the most infamous and corrupt port city in the Forgotten Realms, and encounter the rulers of Westgate's underworld, the deadly Night Masks!
To play Mysteries of Westgate visit www.ossianstudios.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
(10/4/07 @1:35am EST)
Map item added; "fast travel" now fully implemented throughout module.
(10/4/07 @8:30am EST)
Added notification message when new map location is discovered; updated walkthrough to account for map.
(10/4/07 @ 3:30pm EST)
Fixed a broken "map" fast-travel transition to the High Forest - East; fixed typo in "map" dialogue ("Stronhold" vs. "Stronghold").
(10/6/07 @7:50am EST)
Changed a campaign script for possible multi-player-friendliness(?)...awaiting confirmation from multiplayer party before declaring Moonshadows fully multiplayer-friendly.
(10/9/07 @1:10pm EST)
"Fixed" the vanishing summons/buffs bug in Star Mounts! Magic will still act weird when transitioning between areas, but this is now addressed in a journal entry as a side effect of the plot. Summons *shouldn't* immediately disappear anymore. External Website Beyond Our Control
This author--a young one (bravo)--is a master of programming. Very creative executions are pulled off without a hitch. Some of the quests feel a little rushed, but overall a great play. The ending is rather anti-climactic though--as there is no sequel. Too bad, but probably over-ambitious from the start.
Posted by Alex at on02/10/12
I haven't used this site that much before, but took my time to finally register an account here to rate this mod because it was extremely interesting and also I hope to further inspire the author into completing the second part by joining the huge amount of thankful players who wish to see how the story will go on. =========Possible spoilers========= This mod offers the kind of story I particularly like - being a single adventurer, not trying to save the world, bring revenge to some bad guys or find some treasures, but merely exploring the things which got him curious and even reaching his goal suddenly leads to even bigger adventure. I like that the whole module isn't completely linear as most of DD stories. Here at start you can chose where to go and what to do, except for the Stronghold of the Nine part and the main storyline of course. Also the absence of companions is totally fine in that module. I really like that this is one of stories where perfectly fits my favourite kind of character: a self-sufficient dual-wielder ranger. Also I like the coincidence of being saved by selunites in the start of the 2nd chapter while choosing Selune as my goddess, might consider that as her divine help, roleplay-wise :) Good luck with working on the second part. Looking forward to play it.
Posted by Avo at on01/16/12
Alex, out of sheer luck I stumbled across my old post here and it seems you are right. I seem to have overwritten my initial good vote (8-ish or sth) with a 6 that was intended for "Seekers" I believe. or maybe not - seemed to have banished from memory which mod annoyed me that much. Apologies for temprorarily dragging down your rating. Fixed it. Also glad to see you are slowly working on a sequel. I would absolutely love to paly that.
Posted by Klystron at on10/15/11
Just finished my 2nd playthrough. Great mod, I'd love to see chapter 2.
Posted by Zinda79 at on10/02/11
Had a lot of fun with this one. Dialog was superb (well written and no typos that I could find, hurray!) as was the descriptions of scenery. Locals were beautifully done, characters had personality, and the mod itself is fabulously bug free! I do hope you find the time to finish chapter 2 someday. I'll keep my fingers crossed. =)
Posted by Alex at 2011-08-0910:24:06
Hey Avo, I think you may have mistakenly voted for another mod on my page, overwriting your previous review vote? :) _________________________ 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 Avo at on01/16/12
Hm, tough one. Allthough the main plot is not finished (it seems that there was an intended sequel) this is, story wise, a very promising start for a campaign. There are, however, a few great failures that drag literally it down into voting abyss. Nowhere in the realms of D'n'D are a party of 8 class level skeletons, two death nights and a lich a balanced encounter for a lvl5/6 party. The same goes for agroup of 10+ demon trolls etc. You'll find plenty of examples for this in previous reviews. That scaled encounter script is ruining the mod. The "instant death ghosts" have been discussed before. Terrible... The choice to implement this horrible thing is not quite clear, because the non-random encounters seemed to be well balanced. The final fight in Chapter 3 e.g. was just great, even somewhat easy. Combat for the most part is almost non playable and surely not fun anymore. Trying every fight 5-10 times until you figure it out seriously slows down the story and is a best mildly interesting for players who don't give a crap about story anyway. I played this with a lvl6 fighter that I had previously brought through another mod, where he acquired some ridiculously overpowered loot totally unapropriiate for his level. The mod advised me to get rid of it, which I didn't. In the end the only way I stood a remote chance against the overpowered enemies was by spreading the contents of my bag of holding evenly over all the companions and even then I had to reduce the difficulty to "moderate" to make it somewhat fun to play. This, combined with the low availability of gold ( and thus healing potions) makes it a frustrating grind for the most part. xp reward is pretty low as well, I just managed to get one level during the whole mod. Sad, the story is well worth it and it could eaasily get a rating of around 8+ if it weren't for the totally screwed up balance. A very promising mod totally ruined by that scaled-encounter script.
Posted by Avo at on01/16/12
Good one. As stated by other reviewers it's more like an assorted number of sidequests for the most part. The main story really only picks up during the last few minutes of the mod and it ends in a cliffhanger that makes it a shame that there is no sequel. Technical and graphic execution are very well done. No bugs and a great setting. The quests are well thought out and a lot of fun story-wise. The only odd thing is, and that also has been stated before, the balance. The very first quest the palyer gets (drow) is by far the hardest of the many sidequests. I, too, made the mistake of sending my lvl7 halfling ranger into the cavers first. I died a few times and had fun with a really challenging sneak, hit and run dungeon romp. Unfortunately I leveled up three times during that quest and got really good gear, so that i finished the rest of the mod without dying and almost without so much as a glimpse of necessary tactics. In the end a good choice for the level span of 7/8 to 14/15 which is still underrepresented.
Posted by Alex at 2011-07-1722:52:43
Hi all, Thanks for all the comments! I don't really check this any more, but feel free to email me with feedback. Also, just installed NWN2 on my new computer, and may start poking at chapter 2 again. Don't get yer hopes up, but in case anyone -does- check here anymore, thanks again, and maybe chapter 2 may see the light of day after all! _________________________ 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 karimus_cormaven at on07/14/11
OUTSTANDING ! I have added this module to my replay list. The music was FANTASTIC ! Sets the right mood for a solo adventurer out to make his/her bones ! I hope you are working on Part 2. I really want to finish the story line- since I got bumrushed so to speak ! Don't let me down dude- FINISH THIS !
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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