In 1981, I was 11 years old and in the 6th grade. One afternoon, I went to a classmate�s house after school. In the middle of his dinning room table was a mighty castle. It was about 2�x 2� and made entirely out of glued together sugar cubes. �Wow� I exclaimed! �What�s this?� My friend�s older brother smiled and asked �Have you ever played Dungeons & Dragons?� �Soon, we were whiling away the small town hours, delving into the depths of the earth and conquering the barrier peaks.
Baltron�s Beacon harkens back to those days. It's not a globe spanning epic, or a ground breaking saga. It�s just a short dungeon crawl, 1985 style.
A strangely delivered advertisement has led you to a sage named Demetrios. He needs a rare component to complete a desperately needed potion. The journy to retrieve it will take you through a large, unexplored swamp to a ruined keep, the former headquarters of a vile cult that once claimed the lives of many innocent youths.
You cautiously accept the mission. But who knows what monsters lurk in the vast marsh? Are the old ruins occupied, perhaps by things even more dangerous than the previousl residents? Beware, for the eerie green light shining upward from the central tower, the beacon that guides your way, may attract others as well. To succeed, you must penetrate the keep and find a unique Black Flame worshipped by the old cult. Could those evil ones be lurking about still? You will know soon...
To solve the mysteries of Baltron's Beacon, you must excel in handling wilderness, building ruins, dungeons, traps, puzzels, and monsters.
Player- Single or multi-player.
Level- 5-7. New players leveled to 6. finish at 8 or 9.
Game play- Hack and slash. Don�t look for any mushy romances, or intellectual orations.
Play time- About 6 hours.
Companions- There are 4 possible companions, any 3 selectable at a time. Fighter, rogue, wizard, and Cleric.
Resting- You and EACH companion gets one rest every 8 game hours. Use them wisely. (switch characters before resting.)
Crafting- Standard OC crafting is used.
Death- Companions will revive to 1 hp after the fight. The main PC will have to be revived, so make sure you have some heal kits or a cleric. If the whole party dies, it�s reload time, so save often.
SoZ and MotB are required to play.
The .hak version of;
Heed's PC Tools- Link Interior Floor Texture Pack 01- Link are also required. Please down load them.
installation;
Place .mod file into your mydocuments/nwn2/modules folder
place .hak files into your mydocuments/nwn2/hak folder
place .tlk file into your mydocuments/nwn2/tlk folder
I made a walkthrough for folks having trouble with the swamp areas;
Link
I'm having fun, but the mod is also frustrating at time - especially the sleeping arrangements lol. In any case, I found a bug not mentioned and thought you'd like to know since it's a pain to deal with. When leveling up the npc's all of the stuff they're wearing disappears - armor, boots, helmet, belts, etc. The stuff in the back pack seems to be ok though (arrows, heals, etc.). I didn't notice the first time I leveled the thief and was lucky to have a saved game to go back to. Now I have to remove everything they're wearing each time one of them levels up. Karen :)
Posted by Galeocerdo at on07/07/11
Really enjoyed this module. Great use of graphics and sounds to produce a sense of immersion. Good use of small obscure treasure containers. The PC has to slow down and search to find all loot and quest items (disabled the "reveal all" key command). The only glitches I noticed were minor graphical glitches with trees not rooted to the ground (near keep) and some strange labeling (on transitions and one trap). Very minor. Thank you for producing and posting this module. Outstanding, a must have.
Posted by DaveFritz at 2011-05-2108:36:59
Hi, bb, I finally got the door to work. But I had to zoom in until the door almost filled the screen in order to get it to go. None of the others I encountered were THAT finicky, but some were hard to make work, others OK. I did find a few more areas Thanks for the hint. Due to re-spawns and some (unnecessary) running around the swamp, I ended up just into L11, after starting at L7. Cheers, Dave
Posted by Ailim at 2011-05-2016:02:30
Well, found a way to play this mod: deleted the whole NWN2 from my computer and reloaded it. Can play the mod now, yay! Stuck in the swamp though. Found that teleporter? but says I need a key. Where do I find that?
Posted by bealzebubba at 2011-05-1916:38:38
Hi Dave, I hope you've enjoyed it so far. Some times those secret doors can be finiky. You just gotta click on it just right. If you want to climb the rope, use the character with the highest dex, remove armor, and empty hands. That gives you the best chance. Other than that, you should be able to finish. The roasted seeds are the only requirement. There are a few areas that have secret doors or need a key. If you use search mode, it improves your chances with secret doors. good luck.
Posted by TheVanillaGorilla at 2011-05-1914:40:11
oh man I remember playing this module in...probably 1988 or so. Downloading now, can't wait for a trip in the wayback machine
Posted by DaveFritz at 2011-05-1710:11:44
Hi, bealzebubba, I'm having a major problem. I cannot seem to complete the module. I've roasted the seeds, but when I try to return I am blocked by a "Secret Wall Door" that will NOT let me through to the main Shrine area. When I return back through the Place of the Guardian, I cannot climb up the rope. I also think I have missed a lot in the Dungeon and Shrine areas. There are several doors that I cannot open and large blank areas on the maps that I cannot find a way to access. Maybe what I need is in those places. Help/hints would be much appreciated. Cheers, Dave
Posted by bealzebubba at 2011-05-0811:06:16
Hmm, if you have all the required haks; baltron1.hak baltron2.hak heed_pc_tools.hak dmfi_110_1.hak floortexture_pk01.hak I'm not sure what to tell you. Since it seems to work for everyone else, I'd guess the problem is on your end. _MAU_ never posted if he got it to work or not. I'll ask around on IRC and see if any one has an idea.
Posted by Ailim at 2011-05-0809:58:11
I've had the same problem as Mau did earlier. Can't play the game, I get a message saying I'm missing a hak file. I checked the list you gave of the haks I should have, and I have them all.
Posted by Bolvei at on05/05/11
I always liked this module, and Bealzebubba brought to life pretty well. The areas were well done, and the scripting was well done. That being said, I really hated the constant respawns in every area. Also, the timed resting restrictions used in this mod would be fine for a PW, but for a single player, playing a wizard in a hack slash mod...ARGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One hour game time equates to 15 minutes real time?!?!?! You could have also put more realism into the townspeople, and NPCs. It was like talking to cardboard cut-outs. The module, as a whole, was pretty much like the PnP version, but lacked a lot of "life"...truly a hack slash mod.
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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