Anyone have time for a quick playtest?

Neverwinter Nights 2
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I fixed some bugged blueprints and randomized more of the loot in Escape from Maddock’s Island.
It’s a moderately tough H&S with four difficulty options.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/v2i4edjwdwprkq94chdwa/Escape-from-Maddocks-Island-UOP.zip?rlkey=dcilueiht4oi8ehbuelbnvhcd&st=o86qaci5&dl=0

3 Likes
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I have playtested it and “finished” it I think, overall I liked it so here’s my feedback about what I would do to improve the module:

  • There appears to be a bug that crashes the game at the very end, after I defeat Gabrile and give the charts to the ship captain to sail, the game crashes after selecting what appears to be the last line of dialogue.

  • There are certain cutscenes, especially those with the cultists chanting in the background, where the dialogue flows too slowly and is not skippable. Please make the dialogue skippable.

  • Death should have a game over consequence. As it stands you can just keep respawning in place over and over if you die, basically making you immortal.

  • Skeletons with halberd appear to be too strong, their level is high (15) and there are several of them at once. They are much stronger than Gabriel himself individually which seem to be a bit bizarre. I would suggest to nerf the skeletons down to level 10 (they are level 15!) and buff Gabriel to level 20 (he is only level 14?) since he fights alone too.

  • Several areas don’t have background music, I would suggest adding something, and maybe add a battle music as well, at least in the areas where there are bosses.

  • Lots of loot is found but there is no merchant anywhere to make use of. I know the setting probably wouldn’t explain it very well, but carrying around all the stuff just to drop 90% of it on the ground seems to be a waste. I would add a merchant in the prison (like a captured quartermaster after you defeat the jail warden that agrees to sell you some stuff in exchange for sparing their life)

  • If possible I suggest to associate a campaign to the module as it gives the possibilty to unlock the level cap and add an option to play with a full custom party plus some other features. It also would allow to connect this modules with others made in the future (could prequels or sequels) if you intend to turn this into actually a campaign in the long run.

Anyways, that’s what I can think of at the moment. Good work with the module so far and good luck with your progress!

1 Like
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Thanks! This will be another in the series of Unofficial Patches I’ve been working on to fix up abandoned projects and get them out there for players to enjoy.

The original author seems to have intended this to be pretty hard and I’ve tried not to change the balance too much. I never use respawn so I didn’t even notice that part. The skeletons are definitely the enemy a player has to plan around to beat this so I will have to consider what to do about those.

Thanks for the detailed feedback!

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One question, what character build/level did you play this with and did you start a new PC?

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I started a new PC, it was a human fighter/frenzied berserker, I selected the easy option (level 15 and 400k gold) and recruited the Githianki.

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Cool, thanks!