****NOTE: THIS MOD REQUIRES MASK OF THE BETRAYER!****
ALSO: Crashing problems and other undesirable behavior can occur with files in the override folder. To play it safe, REMOVE ALL FILES FROM THE OVERRIDE FOLDER!
OVERVIEW: The story begins in Drawn Swords, a tiny settlement on a crag between the Backlands and Sunset Vale. You had come here with Vroman Horner, an amiable treasure-hunter of about one year�s acquaintance, in order to meet with his brother Manfred; the three of you were to seek adventure together after meeting up. But when Manfred fails to arrive on time, adventure finds you before you can find it.
Aided by a stern and lovely paladin of Sune, the good folk of Drawn Swords, and the diffident Vroman, you are soon drawn
into a drama of religious conflict, military stakes, and esoteric mystery�only to find yourself, quite unexpectedly, the drama�s key player.
This is a medium (four- to eight-hour) mod for neutral and good characters. It begins at fourth level. See the Readme for more information on building a character for this mod.
INSTALLATION
Installation is easy and does not interfere with any of the OC�s or MotB�s files. It has not been tested for use with other custom content, though. There are two ways to install the game. The first is recommended for most users. The second is for those who have unusual installations that the .exe might not recognize, who dislike executable files, or who run into trouble with the easy installation. (VISTA users: This .exe has not been tested with Windows Vista.)
**Easy Installation**
1. Unzip harp.rar. You will end up with a folder (H&C Unzipped).
2. Open H&C Unzipped. Move the campaign folder (Harp and Chrysanthemum)
to My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\Campaigns.
3. Move drawnswords.mod and backlands.mod to
My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\modules.
4. Run the executable file harp.exe.
**Manual Installation**
1. Unzip harp.rar. In the folder (H&C
Unzipped) you should find the following items:
A. A campaign folder (Harp and Chrysanthemum).
B. Three .bmu files. These are H&C�s custom music files.
C. One .hak file (harppak.hak).
D. One .tlk file (harp.tlk).
E. Module files (drawnswords.mod and backlands.mod).
F. An executable file (harp.exe). You will not need this.
2. Open H&C Unzipped. Move the campaign folder (Harp and Chrysanthemum)
to My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\Campaigns.
3. Move drawnswords.mod and backlands.mod to My Documents\Neverwinter
Nights 2\modules.
4. Move harppak.hak to My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\hak.
5. Move harp.tlk to My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\tlk.
NOTE: If you want to view the mod in the toolset, you will also need to copy harp.tlk to C:\ProgramFiles\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2.
6. Move the .bmu files to C:\Program Files\Atari\Neverwinter Nights 2\Music.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE GAME'S COMPANIONS, RESTING SYSTEM, ETC., DOWNLOAD THE README.
***QUEST CHEAT SHEET***
This isn�t a true cheat sheet or complete walkthrough (if there is enough demand for a real walthrough, though, I will make one). It doesn�t give the solutions to any quests or reveal any major spoilers. However, it does give you a checklist of all available quests in the game as well as where you get them.
Note that not all of the items that appear in your journal are quests: some are pieces of information tied to certain quests. The items that appear in this list are quests proper.
Harp & Chrysanthemum: The game�s main quest. You get this automatically.
Visitors To The Crypt: Brother Anselm, on the second floor of Swordskeep.
Gossam�s Green Thumb: Gossam Thistlefall, in Oudin Asterchord�s shop.
Gossam must be in your party.
Castle Joyous: The game�s largest side quest; to get it, look for the secret door in the Swordskeep Crypt.
War: Gargothis Warbeck, the gnome demonologist whose hovel can be
found on the Castle Joyous grounds. Perhaps the game�s most difficult quest.
Saern�s Sharp Swords: Melincourt or any of the other �volunteers� in the
Sword and Dragon Inn. Ianth must be in your party.
Dryad�s Fire: Northdark Wood (north); you must find Voeae, the dryad, to
get this quest.
The Tomb Guardians: Northdark Wood (south). You can obtain this quest
from two stranded travelers on one of the forest�s paths.
Backlands Barrow: The Backlands. There are three entrances to the barrow.
UPDATES
1.01
-Built with NWN2 1.11
-Added unlimited vials of acid to Asterchord's store (they will be pricey!)
-Added some new magic items to Asterchord's store and two elsewhere in the game
-Enlarged the scales in the Castle Joyous basement so that they are less easy to miss and easier to click on.
-Nerfed Dunne, Tybalt, and Theophilus slightly
-Fixed the War script so that Gargothis always plays ten hands
-Made sure the party stays put when Manfred chats with the PC
-Fixed a plant collection dialog that reports the wrong plant harvested
-Fixed a blank Tomb Guardian journal entry
-Made sure Freusen Esk is dead before the portfolio can be read
-Applied a conditional to the Flame Stone dialog so that it does not fire after Ianth has had her vision
-Added map markers on the Barrows entrances to make the riddle less difficult
-Fixed the Barrows OnEnter script so that it did not reset the puzzle when returning to a saved game there
-Maerdred now directs the PC not to waste spells before the arrival of the Zhents & Risen Sun
-Hid "The Lady in the Lake" from prying eyes
-Incorporated Vroman's romance dialog fix in campaign folder
This file is for the first version of H&C (1.00), and fixes the Vroman convo issue where Vroman thinks your PC is female even if he is a he. Drop it into your H&C campaign folder (in My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/Campaigns) BEFORE starting a new campaign if you don't want to download version 1.01.
I wanted to make it clear that this game is gorgeous, the amount of work that went it to it is amazing. The detail of the cut scenes, the music, the story, they all touched my heart. This is why I am replaying trying to get the romance of my character with the rouge to work.
Like I told my spouse when he asked me about why romances were important in a game "You are saving the area if not the world from destruction, isn't a world where you love someone even more worth saving? And does not the reward of love make even the hardest times worth living through?" He conceded my point with a grin.
This little world that was created is worth saving, I would adore the story to continue, but alas Maerduin has gone on to other projects he loves. Like any great story teller he has left us in wanting.
I have played this through once and enjoed the general story, this game is beautiful. I am trying the romance this time. I must know what my beautiful female bard/ ranger, who is kind and caring is doing wrong. I get all of the extra dialouge with the palidan, but not the yummy rouge . I have restarted multiple times & still Vroman clams up. (pout)
Posted by jfoxtail at 2012-07-26 08:00:36 Voted 9.50 on 07/09/12
If this is Beriliad my old friend from days of Yore in the NWN community - play it again my friend.
I strongly suggest playing Fate of a City - with an Elven main (mail) PC of any class and "goodly" alignment. Probably from Cormyr (Marsember)and used to human settlements as a young explorer and adventurer travelling the near lands in Faerun
Spoliers:
Fate of a City provides you "lost loves" roleplay opportunity and levels you to about 7. It is low magic item and sets appropriate power level. When I did all the quests here - and again had my love for a certain Paladin "unrequeted" (spelling) it fit the theme. Lucky with a sword - unlucky in love.
Follow up (understrentgh PC) with Red Prison by Serwyn (?) and more roleplay in love betrayed.
Posted by Berliad at 2012-07-25 19:29:04 Voted 10.00 on 07/25/12
My vote: 10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking
Character: Mers Fener, a level 4 Barbarian, leveled up in FRWCC. Advanced to level 6 by the end of the module.
This is a really spectacular module. It is stunning, evocative, and powerful. While not perfect, where it excels it is so amazing that it overshadows its few flaws and drawbacks.
Harp and Chrysanthemum features the most spectacularly designed areas I've seen in NWN2. Far more so than anything you see in the official campaigns, Maerduin makes brilliant use of vertical scale in many of his areas. The main town in the module, Drawn Swords, is a shining example of this, and is a major feature of the module. On top of his area design skills, the author creatures powerful--if not chill-inducing--moments with his expert use of cinematic cut scenes that showcase his areas, as well as custom music. I have never seen better use of the camera than the author achieved in this module; it should be required viewing for any aspiring modder who wants to learn how to do it right.
The story is fascinating, and is told largely via the interactions of strongly developed NPC's. You begin the module in the company of a rogue, an old friend, and shortly thereafter are joined by a paladin. The paladin, in particular, is a wonderful character. In many ways, she's tragic: seemingly cold and powerful, but, as you soon learn, also vulnerable and insecure. It's been quite a while since a character came alive before me like she did in this module--perhaps not since playing some of Alazander's old modules. Moreover, the story is punctuated by dramatic moments that had me saying "oh my god!" to my screen.
This is not to say that the module is perfect. As many have said in the module's comments page, the combat is quite challenging. I initially tried to let my barbarian lead the charge, but quickly found that I needed to boost the paladin's armor class as much as possible and let her tank, only allowing the others to join after the enemies had her surrounded. Challenging combat isn't a bad thing off hand, but it was even necessary to micro-manage to this degree on "random encounter" monsters. Some of these monsters were on respawn triggers, at times re-spawning shockingly close to the party, which became really annoying. At one point, I just ran through an area with the paladin, just allowing the other party members to fall to the monsters, because I just wanted to get back to the inn in town and rest. On top of all this, even decent healing supplies, such as potions of moderate healing, are in limited supply--though you can buy an extremely expensive liquor at the bar that works just as well, if you have the coin. Often, you don't.
On top of some combat frustration, I ran into several bugs. One innocuous one resulted in the town leader materializing in the middle of town without any scripts attached to him. At one point, another copy of that same leader had a conversation with my characters and walked right past his clone on his way back to his shop. I also somehow completely missed what was supposed to be an earlier encounter with some elven tomb defenders. This made a later conversation with them extremely confusing.
But what this module does right it just does so well that I can't let myself get hung up on those problems. The author's attention to detail, from the area design, to the stories on each custom item, to some of the charming side quests (the dryad was a favorite), to the fact that (if I remember correctly) the author actually recorded several pieces of the custom music himself, is unsurpassed. Objectively, maybe this module is a 9. But I experienced such a genuine, emotional connection to the story and its characters that I can't justify anything other than a 10. It's not perfect, but I can't imagine a way in which this module can't be considered legitimately groundbreaking. _________________________ My NWN Blog FRW Character Creator
Posted by kluang at 2012-07-20 01:15:40 Voted 9.00 on 07/20/12
I'm a bit confused about the ending
Posted by jfoxtail at 2012-07-09 14:04:28 Voted 9.50 on 07/09/12
Alas my love lost to a Paladin; love unreturned as there is no sequel ;)
Late to the game and thus late to vote...but this entry shows M's pedigre with Ossian. Simply outstanding albiet somewhat linear.
More of an interactive tale about you and your adventuring company - not just the PC. Outstanding - a must have.
Posted by raifa at 2012-06-28 05:49:59 Voted 9.00 on 06/28/12
This one is a really good one.
I wish it would have worked with Kaedrin though.
Hi I'm new to downloading mod's, I did the manual one and it's not showing up. I put all of the files into their respected places, and it wont show in game.
Posted by Darin at 2012-05-14 08:24:12 Voted 9.75 on 05/14/12
Excellent module, wish it were longer. _________________________ Check out Raiders of the Lost Tomes: Link
I'm not going to give this one a rating at the moment, I didn't play enough through it. To be honest, I found it really hard to get into. I think it was because I felt the story hook was a little weak. I didn't feel compelled enough to move forward. The area design is really fabulous though, easily the best in any mod so far and writing was pretty good. All the descriptions on the items was a really nice touch. I may try to play this one again, I like how well presented it is and the amount of effort that has been put into it. _________________________ I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Posted by GCoyote at 2011-11-12 13:24:56 Voted 7.75 on 11/12/11
Good story. Some areas were clearly more complete and detailed than others. Somewhat problematic use of spawning. As depicted these areas are not large enough to make a constant stream to newly arrived enemies seem reasonable. Village was pretty small, barely a hamlet, and not enough to support all of the activity surrounding it, e.g. the blacksmith and the artifact merchant. While I am partial to the Harpers as a plot device, their introduction here did not seem to have any relevance to plot advancement.
Detailed magic items were a nice touch. Use of the dragon was more thoughtful than what we usually see. _________________________ Too much ammo is a self correcting problem.
Posted by DannJ at 2011-11-02 21:11:23 Voted 9.00 on 11/02/11
I thoroughly enjoyed this module.
Posted by ursine at 2011-09-15 05:47:27 Voted 6.50 on 09/15/11
Well the strenght of the mod is the areas and the town itself. Very nicely done. The characters are interesting enogh but nothing special. The story itself was rather boring. Essentially you are a group of mercenaries clearing out a few places for the village which pays you. It's a very simple little story to say the least.
Combat is challanging but not undoable. I disliked the respawning enemies though. When I've cleared an area I expect it to stay that way.
The ending didn't fit in very well at all and I saw no real motive for my pc to attend that suicide mission. Especially since the fancy paladin woman turned down my advances. A half orc is not good enogh for you is it? The Theophilus character was not properly introduced to really interest me. Compared to black garius for example.
I never really like the harpers because I think they are full of **** but that's my own personal taste I guess.
6.5/10
Posted by darant at 2011-09-11 14:52:32 Voted 8.00 on 09/11/11
I tried this again after playing briefly and quitting years ago, only to find the same flaws--which forced me out again. While it's very well done I noticed nothing spectacular, except for the premise of battling the Zhents of course! There are two problems I have with the module, which clearly puts me in the minority--nonetheless I'll offer my synopsis.
(1)I didn't find the combat that well balanced for a group of level 4s, especially since two of the companions are rather weak. Most encounters involve either transitioning right into a battle, or having to walk right up to an overpowering enemy for a little chit-chat before taking your lumps. The weakest of these (and usually in multiples) were rated as *Very Difficult* with most being *Overpowering* or *Impossible*. I spent most of my time running for my life, commanding "Follow Me" in desperation to make it back to transition points to heal up on the other side and give it another try. There's simply no way to complete this game without multiple respawnings of the companions--which leads to my next point.
(2) None of the companions are really optional. Seemingly no conversation or quest can be completed without every party member present, as they have to give their two-cents worth in every cutscene or else it ends abruptly and your s**t-out-of luck. I understand the importance of the paladin for the storyline, but you can't even acquire the Zhent military portfolio without the others present--it took awhile to figure that out. I don't like respawning companions--it ruins the realism for me and makes the game arcade-style--so I think I'm done in the backlands. I was bringing the other companions back (who died early despite my best efforts to leave them back from every fray--WAY back) for conversations but now the paladin's dead too. I'm exhausted. I'd suggest suggesting a starting level of 5 or 6 (realistic for the rogue and cleric).
Thanks
Posted by Thullraven at 2011-09-06 17:30:25 Voted 9.75 on 09/06/11
Maerduin, you made a wonderful module. Thank you.
Posted by Thullraven at 2011-09-06 17:27:49 Voted 9.75 on 09/06/11
Maerduin, you made a wonderful module. Thank you.
Posted by eL_PuSHeR at 2011-09-04 12:33:09 Voted 9.50 on 09/04/11
Well. Finished it. The last combat was quite challenging but I managed to keep three of my four characters alive. GREAT CAMPAIGN. A lot of attention to detail, great plot, nice characters.
Posted by EpicFetus at 2011-09-02 20:58:38 Voted 9.75 on 09/02/11
Beautiful areas, interesting plot and characters, only problem is its way too short.
Posted by TikiHat at 2011-08-04 04:07:25 Voted 9.75 on 08/04/11
Just replayed this masterpiece, and feel my original comments might have been a little harsh. The thorough attention to detail throughout Drawn Swords and its environs is simply off-the-charts. I should have given credit for the very professional opening, the excellent soundtrack, and the way that Zach made everything feel as though it was late autumn with a heavy winter impending. The sound of a cooler wind in the background, leaves falling, the color palete chosen, everything combined perfectly to create a world where fall is giving way to a long and cold winter. It holds the mood created by Ianth's unfolding story, by the Dove's sad tale, and Vroman's loss.
The entire world is filled with detail. Every item has a unique name and description. Every book has custom content that is worth a read, even if that particular tome is irrelevant to what you are doing at the moment. A specific meal is described in enough detail to inspire hunger, and even an attempt to recreate it in my kitchen.
The only complaints I have after my second visit are that Harp & Chrysanthemum still feels to short and truncated at the end. The final battle ends, a cutscene, and a movie of your party leaving that section of Faerun fires. The module itself is most definitely finished, but the story doesn't feel the same way. It is unfinished, as if there should be a sequel. Alas, after 3 1/2 years that doesn't seem likely.
Posted by Johansen74 at 2011-07-03 07:50:16 Voted 10.00 on 07/01/11
Damn... Played it through a second time, did all quests this time (though the Harper Code quest doesn´t complete, guess because I went to the meeting before reading the book about Harpers), even won the War quest in 1 attempt (with Lucky Coin of course).
But this time I´ve hit a bug, killed Marcellus and friends but quest doesn´t update. It still says that I should meet them at the encampment, so can´t proceed with main quest :-(
Might give it another try at a later time, but not in the mood for a third playthrough right now so will find another mod for now.
But great work!
Posted by Johansen74 at 2011-07-01 11:49:34 Voted 10.00 on 07/01/11
Amazing module! great story, interesting and believable npc´s, great cutscenes with lots of mood, great custom music, beautiful areas and challenging combat. No bugs at all for me.
Only downside - combat is TOO challenging. Clay Golem had me running out of tomb to rest several times. Ended up leaving it, but came back after I got the adamantine weapon, it helped but still pretty tough.
Didn´t finish the game as even on Easy (only set it like that after several tries at the final battle) my entire party is gone in less than a minute. Most are close to 50% health even when cutscene ends. Badguy (can´t remember name) is invulnerable to my weapons. Tried focusing on elementals first but still didn´t stand a chance. I am only lvl 6 and it does seem like I´ve missed a few side-quests, so may give it another try from the start (it´s not that long and worth another playthrough) to see if being a lvl or 2 higher will help.
So my vote is based on everything up until last fight, absolutely perfect!
Posted by Enyavar at 2011-06-03 12:47:25 Voted 9.50 on 06/03/11
Just wonderful. Totally in the style of the official campaigns, and totally fitting into the Faerun setting. Though the end is very abruptly. No big battle between the armies, just an impossible boss. And then the endscreen. That felt like... huh?
Oh, and here's my statistics an war. Yes, I played it rather often. Via Load/save I cheated my way to earn the money to buy the lucky coin, 12000 iirc. After the exactly 2200th time I got the 10 matches in a row - which gave me the cash to buy the lucky coin, but that was of no use anymore...
Well then:
Won 0 matches: 3 times
Won 1 match: 20 times
Won 2 matches: 99 times
Won 3 matches: 268 times
Won 4 matches: 420 times
Won 5 matches: 546 times
Won 6 matches: 460 times
Won 7 matches: 265 times
Won 8 matches: 97 times
Won 9 matches: 21 times
Won 10 matches: 1 time
This means that we won and lost more than a million GP in total. And it makes a wonderful curve... "War" is boring yet fascinating :-P
Posted by TikiHat at 2011-05-22 18:00:43 Voted 9.75 on 08/04/11
I just finshed this delightful module. It was truly an impressive work. As nearly everybody has said, it was visually and musically breathtaking. The Knight was a standout Companion and the Rogue was a fully fleshed out personality, too. I especially liked the varied terrains that could be used to either avoid combat or control its flow. The North Woods and Castle Joyful areas were wonderfully fun to adventure through. This is also one of the very few modules out there where Diplomacy is a very important skill. Combat seemed well thought out as well. Opponents and settings made each encounter seem unique and fresh instead just repetative waves of orcs or mephits crashing into my party. Again, the topography and landscape made it possible for the melee specialists to keep the ranged and spellcasting members from being overrun... if you played it smart. The side quests were entertaining, except for the Cleric's. Only found 1 damned plant. Oh well, no deduction for my failure. The Crypt Quest was so well detailed and poignant that it could almost be turned into a standalone module in and of itself. That, in an oddball way, is my biggest complaint. H&C feels like it should be just the opening chapter in a much larger epic campaign. Everything is perfectly laid out and thought out to the point that I want it to last as long as OC did. I'm sitting at my keyboard screaming to myself, "I made Harper, I want to HARP!" I've never made a module, I admit. I can't fathom the effort this took, nor gainsay you for saying "Enough!". Still, I want to Harp.
There were only a few things that kept me from rating this a 10. Every module has some point where you accidentally click on a companion's 'space' instead of what you intended, especially around stairs and doors. It seemed to be annoyingly commonplace in this module, enough to make me curse with some regularity. This was most irksome when trying to target an enemy in combat. I burned quite a few potions trying to heal up party members who had been zapped because I couldn't bring aid to them due to this.
The only other deduction was for the abruptness of the ending. I killed the baddy and BAM, one cutscene line about a party-member mourning a family member and then a (very pretty)cutscene of the Party walking away from the area? No 'We Did It'? No 'Thank You'? Nothing? Terribly abrupt and jarring after the wonderful 2 days spent playing this otherwise outstanding work.
Even with the above-mentioned gripes, I plan on playing this many more times with different characters. For my first go through, I played a lvl-3 Aasimar Bard, who ended up a middling 6th level. I didn't take sleight of hand, and failed to complete the Cleric's quest. I also failed to get the resting restriction bonus. I hate running out of Curse Songs.
The only other thing
Posted by pepa at 2011-03-13 21:39:02 Voted 10.00 on 03/13/11
beatufully done, storyline is captivating, thanks
Posted by Arkalezth at 2011-02-18 11:01:18 Voted 10.00
I'm replaying it and have a couple complains:
- I can't take SoZ feats (I wanted a Dino!). I'd appreciate if this could be implemented.
*SPOILERS*
- When the priest locks himself in his house, you lose access to the only shop with an infinite amount of healing supplies. If you haven't purchased a good supply of them before, you may run into problems unless you rest (losing XP in the process).
I don't have much hopes on these issues being "solved" (no updates in almost two years), but this may be useful for future modules, yours or not.
Other than that, the module is nearly perfect.
Posted by Squire at 2011-02-17 03:51:07 Voted 9.00 on 02/17/11
It's awesome! Love the story, love the characters and love the overall design. It's nicely balanced for characters of the lower levels, which I like, and the overall feeling is more realistic.
My only real criticism is that the ending seemed a little abrupt, and left a lot unfinished. It'd have been nice, for example, to have the option to hunt down BMT afterwards (I didn't want to fight him and the cultists at the same time but if I'd have known I wouldn't get the chance to kill him after that then I'd have played it differently), and the relationship between you and the other characters could have done with more time to develop - I don't know about anyone else but I found that the relationship with the woman hinted at a possible romance, but it never seemed to develop beyond that. So I guess my real criticism is that it could have done with being part of a series.
However, as a single module, it was great. Really engaging, and one of the few modules I've played that have kept me interested for long enough to see it through. Good work!
Posted by TheVanillaGorilla at 2011-02-10 20:42:43 Voted 9.75 on 02/10/11
short, sweet, great areas, great story, great characters, great dialogue. A very satisfying module.
Posted by Jarandel at 2011-02-04 11:14:52 Voted 9.75 on 02/04/11
Finally finished it after several months' hiatus, great module.
Beautiful areas and lighting, interesting companions and storyline, the latter with some length and twists despite a relatively tight-knit geographic spread.
Posted by adarda at 2011-02-04 01:46:18 Voted 10.00 on 02/04/11
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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