Introduction: A territorial dispute between Dalreon and the barbaric northern kingdom of Harrn has escalated into war. King Jorlaan II is determined to bring a swift end to the conflict, but the outlying towns are nervous that the frontlines draw increasingly closer. You awake on a merchant ship docked in the river town of Rindleforde with a pounding head and turning stomach. Offering no solace is the irritated owner who has awakened you from your slumber, and wants to know what you are doing on his ship.
Module Trilogy Sands of Solvheil I: The Ruins of Kazatharis Link Sands of Solvheil II: Beneath the Hearleforne Link Sands of Solvheil III: Crusaders of Shalihir Link
Character Creation
Race: For the scope of this module, it is assumed that the player is human. Other races will still function, but will make less sense from a story standpoint.
Class: This module take place in a low-magic setting where both divine and arcane have yet to be rediscovered, thus mundane non-magical classes are recommended. While other classes will not hinder progress in the module, it is written and balanced for the melee classes below.
Preferred Classes: Fighter/Ranger/Rogue
Level/XP Progression: This module is designed to take a newly created character to around LVL 6.
Rest/Death: Left at game defaults. This module is focused on storyline over semantics.
Time: This varies greatly on how much ancillary exploration, reading, and dialogue is done by the player.
Encounters: Encounters are a mixed bag of:
a.) Hand placed creatures.
b.) Standard NWN encounters.
c.) NESS enabled spawns.
Depending on what the situation called for.
Note: This module is divided into several sections. The beginning does require a bit of Fed-Ex work, but that is only to get the PC to an appropriate combat level and is never seen again. The middle of this module is more free-form as the PC/Party explores dungeonesque areas. While the last part is more linear as it guides the PC through the ruins and subsequent battles.
...as well as the scores of others I've absent-mindedly forgotten. Thanks to the NWN Forums, the Vault, and the NWN community in general.
_________________________
CHANGELOG
UPDATE [v1.1]: Corrected transition from Rindleforde to Mill. Trigger and Landscape weren't playing nice-nice so I redrew and uploaded. If your became stuck at this point, redownload and use the DM Tome to set Journal entry for [Welcome to Rindleforde] to 100 and Experience to [1000]. This way you can proceded to the Mill without having to retrace any steps.
UPDATE [v1.2]: - Fixed area hb (Broken NESS Spawn call that could be cause of companion levelup crash)
- Added additional Speaktrigger in Kazatharis Structure in case lever conversation doesn't start
- Added text to signify end of the module (since ga_end_game doesn't currently play ending movie)
- Added Character Export option to end dialogue (thanks ciViLiZed)
UPDATE [v1.3]: - Removed extra feats from Anziath, Bram, and Ambrose (thanks Balgin Stondraeg).
- Removed ga_reset_level from Malcolm roster add (fixing level up crash).
- Added some additional dialogue in a conversation or two.
- Applied patch 1.10
- Removed Thief Tools +1 from kobold rogue (a true scoundrel will know where to procure a set anyhow)
UPDATE [v1.4]: - Removed Torch from Inn Store
- Added MW Longsword to Smithy
- Made transition to Millbridge a bit more obvious
- Made Plot dependent doors set to Plot
- Made Adjustments to Mill Cellar Speaktrigger
- Added Localized Descriptions to several Rindleforde NPCs
- Made overall conversation fixes
- Added additional torch bracket to Mill Cellar
- Removed erroneous descriptions of Romantic Interlude NPCs
UPDATE [v1.5]: - Fixed broken conversation node in holdup (thanks Berfert)
- Added many map points that are hidden and shown in conversation (thanks Mr_Darke)
- Added sound to some conversation nodes
- Removed buy restriction from Crown Merchant
UPDATE [v1.6]: - Fixed end of 'Find the Ring' so never asked again.
- Sound and Spell improvements in some conversations.
- Fixed Class checks as new gc_ script replaced old. Source of 'loose stone' bug(thanks Adrian1481).
UPDATE [v1.8]: - Buy Restrictions removed from all shops but Inn
- 'Noone' typo removed from conversations
- Options for skipping excessive travel added to a few conversations (thanks Noelle)
- Feats adjusted on Malcolm / Alignment adjusted on Ambrose (thanks Vahle001)
- Missing texture fixed in Kazatharis Tunnel
- Added conversation to Tornne as fallback in case it doesn't autofire (thanks PfcJs)
UPDATE [v1.9]: - Unused doors in Rindleforde set to static
- Many many fixes (thanks Aristan)
UPDATE [v2.0]: - Many Spelling/Grammar fixes (thanks fire&ice)
- Several community suggested fixes
/CHANGELOG
_________________________
Don't forget to vote! Let me know if you liked the module and setting or if your time would have been better spent trying to stand in the corner of a round room. There's no stopping me now as I have already begun the next chapter. Your feedback can only improve the overall product and help me create a more enjoyable and engrossing adventure.
Prefabs Also, feel free to download the area Prefabs and use them in your own adventures. These areas straight from the module have been stripped down and are ready to import into your own module or DM campaign.
Posted by shuurai at 2012-10-12 12:00:50 Voted 9.00 on 10/12/12
Good mod, cool story. Areas are nicely done, and the NPC's are interesting and well developed. Combat is nicely balanced, but there are a few places where the number of foes can get a little overwhelming. Overall a decent mod, if a bit short and a little forced.
Posted by Filgrind at 2012-05-19 02:52:09 Voted 9.50 on 05/19/12
very good story
Posted by prattlepate at 2011-09-28 14:36:05 Voted 8.00 on 09/28/11
Following the voting standards. I enjoyed this module, and actually thought that overall it was the better of the trilogy. Your world building in particular is a strong backbone for the modules, and although it was a little linear for my taste, it did not overly effect my enjoyment of the module.
Posted by Kaeljin at 2011-07-07 10:29:33 Voted 8.50 on 07/07/11
i liked this module as trilogy,and,as it deserve a 9.But,if u rate individually....how i can put it ?
Well,its like a swiss cheese ,its good but had some holes !!! :)
Posted by TikiHat at 2011-07-06 17:49:55 Voted 7.75 on 07/06/11
An interesting Module that had both good points and bad.
Setting: Extremely well done. Rather than just plopping a story in a non-descript part of Faerun, you created an entire world. Not just a new place, but a completely figured geography, ecology, history, economics and religion. You fleshed this out rather well in custom scrolls and books.
Setting pt 2: Rindleford was logically laid out and actually seemed large enough to support a reasonable population, rather than just 4 or 5 huts being a "village". There were some details, however. The interior of the bar seemed a lot larger than than the exterior, the docks looked raised but walked level with the land, the Mill looked like it had just been placed on top of the ground instead of being a part of the environment. It got substantially better by the desert ruins, but there were still a few missing doors and whatnot on the buildings. The presentation wasn't bad, but attention to detail could have made it outstanding.
NPCs: They were entertaining and believable in their interactions. The actual characters were odd. A Bardling who was really a Fighter? A Lawful Good Royal Representative who was a Fighter/Rogue? As many have commented, the use of OC voices seemed nice at first, but ended up feeling a bit contrived.
Story Arc: So far, the story seems very nice. I feel a little put out that a latecomer to my party got all the glory at the end of Part One. I'm hoping that Parts 2 and 3 rectify this. In the meantime I'm trying to console myself with the facts that a few days prior I was just a drunken stow-away swashbuckler without a talon to my name. The Ending does seem to hint that I did get a rather nice promotion myself. I guess I'll see in Part 2.
Gameplay: Overall very nice, with two major exceptions listed below. I found the challenge of playing in a basically no-magic environment quite refreshing. The low level of plunder really made me appreciate the useful goodies that I did find. Combat was tough before I gained Insightful Strike, but then became managable for the most part. The Fed-Exing was tedious, but mercifully short.
***Rants***
1. After spending time to create my Character, I was extremely annoyed to find everything stripped in the game launch. I can understand taking away weapons and gold for the plot, but to be forced to run around town in my underwear until I could afford clothing was too much. Next time please at least give starting clothes for the class
***Spoiler***
In the battle after crossing the trapped bridge, my character succumbed to a Fear Spell. The route I had to run attracted every skeleton on the plateau, who quickly surrounded my still fearful Swashbuckler. The NPCs all dropped within a round or two, and the dark elves joined my battle. Being tightly surrounded took away all my SW bonuses and abilities and left me outnumbered by about 20 to 1 by critters resistant to what little damage I could deal out. I quit counting respawns after the first 10. I decided not to slag this entire creation over that fiasco, it might have been a fluke about where I was and which way I was heading when the spell was cast, but would strongly suggest adjusting the enemy sensativity to encounters. I heard that SoZ really bollixed them up for modules created earlier.
***End Spoilers***
Rants aside, I am enjoying your creation and will download and start Pt 2 in a few minutes.
Posted by eL_PuSHeR at 2011-07-01 12:11:04 Voted 8.00 on 07/01/11
I liked this module, albeit the low loot, low magic world. Playing part 2 now.
Posted by Brutus_Brainless at 2011-01-06 16:11:49 Voted 7.25 on 01/06/11
good story, cutscenes, henchmen, visuals, much details.
i had a good time
thxs
Posted by Avo at 2010-11-23 07:06:55 Voted 6.50 on 11/23/10
I just finished part one of the series and started with part 2, which seems to be somewhat better.
I can plainly see that lots of work went into the setting and the characters, which is almost half the rent in my book. Unfortunately this module suffers froma very bad beginning with some serious flaws that almost made me stop playing. Once you get past the first tiresome dungeon it gets significantly better. So I'd like to advise everyone to grind their teeth and somehow get past that first major assignment (which is the main result for my low vote). It's worth it.
I'd like to start with the worst and get it over with:
- TORCHES! It has been said a hundred times and I say it again. Making a dungeon with no light sources is absolutely fine. I never got why centuries old abandoned place should have convinient torchlight. After a few steps into the dungeon I decided to head back into town to buy torches just to find that there aren't any! WTF! I spent a full hour looking all over the town for torches. Only by reading up on the vault I found the tiny torchholders in the dungeon. What makes it even worse is that the whole place is populated by Goblins and Kobolds. What do those monsters do all day - in the dark. I don't want to know. So besides being annoying for the player it doesn't even make any sense from a story perspective that there is no light.
- The same goes for potions. If you include lots of enemies that have the power to do permanent ability damage, for Gygax sake include potions of lesser restoration in your module! Especially if you encourage players not to play a cleric. Ambrose and Bram finsihed with CON and STR scores of zero and I could do nothing about it. Only through respawning after death my char escaped that fate. It wasn't even necessary from a hitpoint perpective (combat was easy) but it was the only way to get rid of the ability drain.
Sorry if I sound somewhat harsh, but that first dungeon is horrible. Plus, it looks boring. Ok, why waste time on placables if there is no light...
Anyway, after that the story developes and gets significantly better. The graphics get very good towards the end. The desert ruins looked great! Most of the companions have some depth. The story doesn't seem to be the most original, but the detailed setting makes up for that. Thumbs up for the effort. It was interesting enough to make me continue with part 2 and I like that one so far.
TWO minor points:
The idea of including voiceover from the OC is, though understandable, somewhat irritating. Quite often the lines felt forced into the dialog and not very fitting for that particular moment. At one point Ambrose switched from Sand's to Grabnar's voice set during the same dialog. This seems to have gone in part two, so I guess more people suggested to drop this.
Why do all the companions come with almost no equipment? This was weird for the hermit and I noticed this also on the mage in part 2.
In the end I consider this a slightly above average start for a campaign that has a lot of potential.
Posted by cemeteryschild at 2010-09-07 08:38:50 Voted 9.00 on 09/07/10
enjoyed it very much, good work!
Posted by Winwood at 2010-08-06 20:49:46 Voted 7.50 on 08/06/10
Very Good, Deserves a Look
Posted by Wendek at 2010-05-21 06:32:45 Voted 3.50 on 05/21/10
I'm sorry but this is unplayable, not to mention more boring than my math classes.
-I see someone mentioned a long time ago (yeah before giving up I actually read some comments to see if other people had the same problem) that the Keep is so damn dark. There are torches on the walls and they don't do anything, but then if you take them in your hand they start illuminating?! Companions can't light the way either because that's a NWN2 problem : they lag behind.
-Bugged, when entering the shrine with the "lost music" thingy, nothing happens. That's when I definitely stopped. And no, I didn't burn any step (I went back to town to take the mage, etc), and I only bashed non-important doors because that's an habit and every player does it when playing anything but a rogue.
-There isn't the slightest bit of fun there. The beginning is atrociously boring and *bleep*ing useless. I mean come on, there are other ways to get someone to level 2. Most mods use a NPC at the start that gives some starting gold and experience instead of a lousy, useless and boring Fed-ex quest.
And you should definitely label it as "very heavy" Hack'n'slash. I killed more mobs in a single dungeon here than in hours of some other mods. Hack'n'slash has its pros but you should state it beforehand so that people who think it's only "medium" don't have bad surprises.
-The dialogue options made me laugh. Not a compliment though. Basically you have the choice of being a stupid ass lawful good paladin who saves everyone because he's teh good guy, or a non less stupid chaotic evil mad man who wants to destroy everything (and more!) and spits on anyone he encounters. Nothing, NOTHING between that. According to you, one can only be Chaotic Evil or Lawful Good. Too bad I was trying to play a Chaotic Good guy. Obviously it didn't work.
-The settings is GREAT, I like your world. I think there were potential in your low-magic world, and it could have been interesting. But if I want to slaughter hundreds of kobolds and gnolls without any Roleplay, I'll go play Diablo II.
Sorry, but this is just unplayable.
Posted by Bumpus at 2010-03-03 06:37:57 Voted 8.25 on 03/03/10
some dialouge fades in and out
other then that I LIKE!!
For those who dislike the ability to just [Continue], you can reload a game yourself y'know ;)
I love hardcore roleplaying rules, but I didn't want to force it down players throats. It's up to you how you choose to play it. (no HCR this time around).
@Jarandel
Play the other mods, and the Deus Ex of this makes more sense (hopefully). _________________________ Raith Veldrin
Sands of Solvheil Series | Atlas & Gazetteer | Blog
Posted by M.I. Ranger at 2010-02-16 09:49:38 Voted 8.00 on 02/16/10
Awesome game and idea. Great new environment and areas.
A little annoying on the conversations (I think everyone else has also mentioned this, so I won't go in to depth).
Only had one problem: After clearing the ruins and everyone goes their seperate way, I tried to go back to the Apothocary(sp?), instead of going to the keep, and the game froze and shut down. Minor issue, I just did not do that after restarting. Might be my computer (ASUS G1 (2007)), but suspect override issue. _________________________ Ranger's have Lead the Way since there was a way to be lead!
Posted by Spidercat at 2010-02-08 07:51:15 Voted 9.50 on 02/08/10
Just voting \>^.^
Posted by jaege at 2010-02-08 02:06:14 Voted 9.25 on 02/08/10
Great mod. Good story, nice use of scenery.
Posted by merbeast at 2010-01-21 17:12:39 Voted 8.50 on 01/21/10
I liked the atmosphere (dark and spooky) and story. I loved the low magic setting. I did not like the forced story and limited character dialogue options. The unlimited/no consequence respawns did make some of the tougher fights too easy. I did like the personalities and characters of the companions, and I liked the very limited loot.
This module worked well for my tastes in that I prefer melee builds and loathe most magic use. The dark dungeons and swamps were excellent for setting the mood (nothing like debating over a shield or a torch to put you in touch with what an adventurer would be thinking).
Overall, no bugs and very solid.
Posted by Jarandel at 2010-01-21 09:21:30 Voted 8.00 on 01/21/10
Good module.
� Area design was fair with some nice touches here and there (loved the apothecary in town).
� Played through with a fighter training toward weaponmaster. Fights were balanced, with a few quite hard ones down there with plenty of ennemies including archers, if you didn't intend to use the "blah, I'll just die and respawn there" feature if course.
� Enjoyed the feel of that "first dungeon" were even "Sleep" can be a weapon of mass party annihilation hehe.
� The companions (and an number of other encountered NPCs) are lively and enjoyable though they do tend to come and go without any warning which may call for some reloads in case they happened to carry something you'll be missing.
---- SPOILER-ISH ----
My biggest beef was, for a while, the end. Though it makes plenty of sense within the overall story of the trilogy, on the spot it was "Yeah... -.- So this dude that got foisted on me something like 5 minutes ago steals the limelight and end fight from me (while you can land a few blows to help along it's a bit painfully obvious that it's scripted so that Mr. Limelight-stealer will defeat it even if alone, no matter what) and that's it ?".
---- SPOILER-ISH ----
I haven't finished this module yet. And this is only the first one of three. I just wanted to say wow. This is a great piece of work. I'll vote after I'm finished.
Posted by maglalosus at 2009-12-19 19:30:48 Voted 6.00 on 12/19/09
voted 6 - due to being invincible and never needing to reload from a saved game.
Posted by maglalosus at 2009-12-19 19:28:42 Voted 6.00 on 12/19/09
Nice little MOD, i liked the puzzle solving in the underground labrynth.
However, i did feel i was invincible and never needed to take any healing potions, due to being able to respawn at full health if i died!
Posted by snakespinner at 2009-08-06 02:53:19 Voted 9.50 on 08/06/09
Enjoyed the module. Interesting story and found no bugs.
Posted by Mr.Lizard at 2009-07-30 23:40:34 Voted 9.00 on 07/30/09
Well balanced with an interesting story. Build quality was solid with a good use of voice sets.
Yes, it appears the walkmesh was absent from the final area. With patch 1.22 fixing 1.21, and the area rebaked, everything should be good to go. Thanks for playing and for the comments. _________________________ Raith Veldrin
Sands of Solvheil Series | Atlas & Gazetteer | Blog
Posted by Ambrose MacAthol at 2009-03-03 21:02:08 Voted 8.75 on 03/03/09
Hey Raith,
Well finally got to finish this mod. That crazy 1.21 patch messed everything. Well..... not so much this mod, the only thing for me was it messed up the ending and I couldn't get the last dialogue with the king in the house. And the new patch came, and it worked.
Nice mod I enjoyed playing it, Can't wait to get into Chapter II.
Posted by ericdoman at 2009-01-21 01:33:59 Voted 8.75 on 01/21/09
Forget previous comment a little NWN2 1.21 patch paranoia.
Also apologies for not having voted, this is my 3rd run through of Sands so it has to be good.
Anyway will find out about the 1.21 patch in due course but with an added twist.
Here goes. Bought SOZ beginning of December and it crashed during installation, tried again and again until the pc states I need to format the disc. So contacted Atari UK technical support and sent back the disc. The level of service from Atari has been terrible, I am still waiting for disc. The only explanation they gave me after about a month was SOZ does not run on vista!
Which of course is wrong. Then I decided to reinstall OC and MOTB but during updates it was aborted due to a problem with a Safiya patch. Even so started to play Sands. However it did not feel right due to the previous aborted attempt during updates.
Tried again and updates worked fine, HOWEVER all previos games I had saved and downloaded had disappeared. I know that the computer gives you an option to save games and the first time I hit yes based on being able to replay Sands and muck around with the FRW character creator looking at a Sacred Fist build for OC. This time nothing is on computer and I can not remeber hitting yes for saved games.
So downloaded Sands (Updates were OK) and started playing so I will see if 1.21 has affected the game. If not maybe verybody needs to reinstall OC, MOTB and then update, a long time but I did it to coincide with lunch and had a few games of hearts, chess on computer.
I can remember quite a lot of the module and it is very good in my view except voice overs from OC.
Posted by ericdoman at 2009-01-20 13:32:29 Voted 8.75 on 01/21/09
Replaying this and a little stumped at the moment. I am sure I have found the music shrine and in the past Ambrose or wiz says something. Nothing i click on the stone and nothing. Went back to a previous saved game go through again and still nothing happens. Have the 3 NPCs and the journal specifies that we have to find music shrine explored everywher in lower level?
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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