****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'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 on11/12/11
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 on11/02/11
I thoroughly enjoyed this module.
Posted by ursine at on09/15/11
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 on09/11/11
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 on09/06/11
Maerduin, you made a wonderful module. Thank you.
Posted by Thullraven at on09/06/11
Maerduin, you made a wonderful module. Thank you.
Posted by eL_PuSHeR at on09/04/11
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 on09/02/11
Beautiful areas, interesting plot and characters, only problem is its way too short.
Posted by TikiHat at on08/04/11
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.
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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