I still miss the days when the old BioWare forum had a “Module Discussion” section; now I don’t really know anymore what’s the best place to ask for specific recommendations, the SP module fans seems to be spread across several websites’ forums, and many probably don’t visit forums at all and just post reviews at the Vault or so. But after posting on Beamdogs’ NWN Module Discussion yesterday and still waiting for the first reply now, I thought why not turn this into a little experiment and see which NWN forum is most active and helpful in this regard - Beamdog’s, this one, GOG’s or Steam’s.
So, I’ve played quite a lot of NWN modules back in the days, about a decade ago, but I’ve also missed quite a few classics and hidden gems, and I’m currently trying to catch up a bit on those. At the moment, I’m mostly in the mood for:
modules that aren’t strictly linear but allow you to explore on your own and do a lot of side quests or even discover interesting thing just by poking around. I’m also looking for a certain level of quality in the area design that makes exploration feel rewarding, meaning attention to details, environmental story-telling, a good variety of everything and comparatively compact design - no large maps with lots of empty space to run across; preferably few trash mobs, but unique encounters; also good dialogues but not an overwhelming lot of it with walls and walls of text.
Examples of modules that I’ve most recently played and that fit the description: Darkness Over Daggerford, The Wanderer, Cormyrean Nights, A Tangled Web 1&2, maybe Eye of the Beholder (sadly Im stuck in it), maybe Ravenloft: Beyond the Gate. And I just finished Citadel by the Sea, a PnP conversion by BlueAres, which I had never heard of before but which perfectly met the requirements as well.
Any suggestions on what else I could check out?
PS: Not to open the flood gates, but if you have a really, really good suggestion that doesn’t quite fit all of the above, I’d be interested in it, too. For example, I also played and loved Madness and Magic which was more linear and story-oriented but had such lovely attention to details, good compact area design and unique characters.