Specific module recommendations?

Neverwinter Nights 1 General
1

I understand the NW Vault forum is probably not the place where the most players of single player modules hang out, but maybe someone here can still help me out?

I’ve played a lot of NWN modules a decade ago and recently I’ve played a couple that I missed out on back in the days. Some I loved (Ravenloft: Beyond the Gate), some I liked well enough (A Tangled Web 1&2, Crimson Tides of Tethyr), others I started and got kind of bored with, either pushed through or abandoned them. I’m still looking for something new that completely draws me in again.

What I would love:

  • nice atmosphere and area design
  • rewarding exploration, comparatively open design
  • lots of side quests, brownie points if they’re original and/or funny

What tends to dampen my enthusiasm at the moment:

  • rather slow gameplay, too much running to and fro
  • too much talking about relatively mundane or fantasy cliché stuff (it’s fine in short doses, but I don’t want to spend a lot of time reading unless I’m really fascinated by the story and writing)
  • too many merchants strewn all over the place
  • too many buildings you can enter without good reason and without finding much of interest in them
  • too big and empty looking areas
  • too many containers with measly loot and/or too many loot drops from enemies
  • unbalanced combat
  • respawning enemies, randomly spawning trash mobs
  • general lack of polish

Can anyone recommend modules that might fit my preferences? (I suspect modules less focussed on city adventures and more about exploring the wild would have better chances with me, but it all depends on how they’re done.) Keep in mind that I have already played a lot (though not all) of the really popular ones, so hidden gems would be most welcome (I know, that’s a tall order).

2

The HeX Coda 01 by Stefan Gagne (Canceled Premium Module). However, you might have played it already I won’t be surprise.

3

Yes, I’ve played that, but thanks for trying. :slight_smile:

4

There is so much for NwN1, it is not what is missing for the first game.

The Witch Wake (mon coup de coeur)

Orcs 1 - The Awakening of Arak-Hur ///// L’Éveil d’Arak-Hur ///// Bilingual Version (English&French);

Orcs 2 - Return to Al-Dha (Retour à Al-Dha)

The serie of the “Bâtard de Kosigan”;

A tragedy in Tragidor

JHR1: The Vethboro Dragon by Jason Robinson

Just to name some of my own favorite. Have a very nice day !

5

I think I haven’t played “A Tragedy in Tragidor” yet, I’ll check it out, thanks.

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6

Here’s a recent discussion on Steam that begins with my general guide to finding modules then makes some specific suggestions.

The Most Popular Recent list is probably the one most likely to contain modules you haven’t played in the past.

I’m not sure it matches all of the criteria in the OP, but modules generally don’t become favourites unless they’re pretty close to that.

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7

Interesting series of recommendations :+1: . I played a majority of them, owning NwN1 since its release date in 2002 (yeah, I’m a old player and builder…). Unfortunately, NwN2 has never had the same number of modules as NwN1 made by and for the community; The game has been more oriented towards PW since the beginning.

Personally, I have always loved mini-modules that can end in one day, designed for low level characters. These are just my personal of course.

8

I tried Tragedy in Tragidor, and it started out nice enough. I liked that every character in town was named and most had something individual to say, no walls of text, just a little small talk, it made the community feel alive. Merchants were few and all in one street, there were no random empty houses you could enter, I’ve found 2-3 side quests in addition to the main plot, areas were pretty open to exploration.

But it’s not quite what I’m looking for, as it prominently features some of my pet peeves as well, like huge areas with not that much of interest going on in them, lots of walking to and fro through them, some lack of polish (e.g. only one companion allowed, but second companion will still act as if joining and not point out you have to get rid of the other one first), and last but not least, randomly (re-)spawning trash mobs, sometimes in ridiculous amounts (I added this point retroactively, because this module reminded me that this is another thing that makes me lose interest quickly).

Still, thanks for the suggestion.

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9

All tastes are in nature, they say. Tragidor is an very old module.

Personally, I’m trying to continue/finish what I started at the beginning of the year, that is to say a module for NwN2 concerning “The Sunless Citadel” by looking at what was done under NwN1 by others builders and all official documents D&D.

However, life in general prevents me from concentrating full time on its construction. The latest content I gave to the community was the prefab “Friendly Arm Inn” for NwN2 that you can find on the Vault here.

Have a very nice day! :slightly_smiling_face:

10

Here are some of my favourites…

  • A Dance with Rogues
  • A Harper’s Tale
  • Aribeths Redemption
  • Bloodright
  • Caereena - Krakona Rising
  • Darkness over Daggerford
  • Dragon Dominant
  • Gladiatrix
  • Shadows of a King’s Justice
  • Solaufein
  • Swordflight
  • The Aielund Saga
  • The book of Shaddowe
  • The Shadow Lords
  • Tortured Hearts II
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11

here is a list of some of my favourites :

  • ‘a tangled web’ series, by bruce laplante
  • ‘almraiven’, by festerpot
  • ‘elegia eternum’ series, by stefan gagne
  • ‘kunoichi’ series, by adk [français]
  • ‘les ombres de la toile’, by ambryum [français]
  • ‘madness and magic’, by sphynxette
  • ‘sands of fate’ series, by john mca
  • ‘tales of arterra’ series, by kevin chan
  • ‘the aielund saga’, by savant & blackdiamond
  • ‘the prophet’ series, by baldecaran

there are at least a dozen other modules/series i really loved too, but i stopped at 10 for this list so i don’t cripple your computer with too many electrons. ;p   let me know if you want me to add more.

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12

I’ve already played through:
Witch’s Wake, Caereena - Krakona Rising, Darkness over Daggerford, The Aielund Saga, Shadowlords, A Tangled Web series, Almraiven, EE/Eternum series, Kunoichi series, JHR1: The Vethboro Dragon, A Tragedy in Tragidor (finished today)

I’ve played in part:
A Dance with Rogues (it’s very good but not quite my cup of tea, I fear), Gladiatrix (just the first one), Swordflight (just the first one), Les Ombres de la Toile (just the first one), Le Bâtard de Kosigan (I think I didn’t finish the last one, but that was ages ago), Tales of Arterra (got bored in Part 2), Orcs (got stuck in part 2, a decade ago), the Prophet series (didn’t play the last one back in the days, now I’m considering whether it’s worth starting from scratch in order to to get there)

I think I haven’t played:
A Harper’s Tale, Aribeths Redemption (I don’t like Aribeth or the OC very much, so this might not be for me), Bloodright, Dragon Dominant, Solaufein, Tortured Hearts II, Sands of Fate (will soon play co-op with friends though), Madness and Magic, Shadows of a King’s Justice, The Book of Shaddowe (not quite sure about the last three)

Will look into these. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

13

It’s been a long time for me and I’m not sure I can suggest many that Olivier isn’t already familiar with, but I’ll give it a shot. :slight_smile: Perhaps some of them might be of interest to others, though.

  • Cormyrean Nights by Servilan - This was actually the first NWN module I played, and what got me hooked on playing NWN mods.

  • The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by SirOtus - This is a well-made PnP conversion module that does a really good job of capturing the feel of an old-school pen and paper campaign.

  • Celestial Chronicles 1 by MadHenchbot - This is a short, well-constructed 1-2 hour “Coffeebreak” module with a storytelling focus (Olivier, I remember that you know this one).

  • Island Adventures - The Horns of Craven and The Color of Light (two modules) by Lord Alex and Lady Oonagh. I remember them having a good story, especially the Color of Light.

Hope those help!

14

BTW, for anyone who may have played Sanctum of the Archmage in the past, the mods have been almost completely re-made in recent years. The current (v5.0) release in particular plays very differently from any of the pre-2013 versions, and the remakes of chapter 2 have only been available for the last two years. There are some screenshots on the Beamdog Forums if anyone wants to check them out. :slight_smile:

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15

Welp… my suggestions are usually unpopular but maybe you will share the taste. I am VERY picky about stuff, and mostly play only personally modified modules which make a large collection by now. You will miss on the bells and whistles added, but they were selected because they were all great to begin with:

Heart of Winter 1281 20
Trials of the Luremaster 1310 15
Crimson Tides of Tethyr 1370 8
Darkness Over Daggerford 1372 8
Neverwinter Nights 1372 3
The Fate of Neverwinter 1372 18
Shadows of Undrentide 1372 3
The Aielund Saga N/A 3
Tyrants of the Moonsea 1372 15
Cormyrean Nights 1372 9
Hordes of the Underdark 1372 15
The War for Cania 1373 26
The Penumbra 1373 26
The Pawns of Darkness 1373 30
Rhun 1373 3
Shadowlords 1373 3
Dreamcatcher 1373 7
Demon 1375 15
Prophet 1384 8
The Arena of Champions Any 40

The added numbers correspond to the DR year they are set in (roughly) and the average character level recommended by the author. They’re in chronological order because that’s how they make the most sense storywise, as if they were all part of a single, grand adventure. They are mostly plot oriented, so aside of Rhun and The Arena of Champions you won’t find much mindless h&s.

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16

Quite a few popular modules here, I wishes there were more less known ones to test out. I’ll look at what @Andarian posted.

This series is good but (IIRC) you have to break through walls and walls of text.

You can safely start from chapter III - it has more content (and higher story-to-H&S ratio) than the other two. And Aribeth is not with you for half of time - you have another female companion you can cheat on your wife with.

This one I remember is long and good. Lots of customization and companions than can pack up and leave when you perform misaligned deeds.

I also wanted to play @Proleric’s Dark Energy, but somehow never got time for it. It seems to be a fine adventure so I’ll definitely try it again soon.

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17

Thanks for all the new suggestions!

I haven’t played:
Cormyrean Nights, Island Adventures: The Color of Light (just the first one, but I dont remember anything about it), Heart of Winter & Trials of the Luremaster (just played the IWD originals), The Fate of Neverwinter, The War for Cania, The Penumbra, The Pawns of Darkness, Rhun, The Arean of Champions, Dark Energy

I’m currently playing Madness and Magic by Sphinxette, thanks to xorbaxian’s suggestion, and so far it’s great. Some parts feel vaguely familiar but I’m not sure if I’ve actually played through it before. But it oozes charm and creativity and doesn’t waste any space nor my time. :slight_smile:

I could try and make some suggestions of my own, I have a huge list of modules I played through; it’s just that most of them I played a decade ago, so I don’t always remember all the details and can’t judge whether they’d still hold up today. Apart from the most obvious choices, I also don’t quite know which modules are considered popular and which ones lesser known, but off the top of my head, do you know …

  • Blackwall Keep 1 - Champions of Heironeous
  • Deja Vu
  • Threat of Dreams series
  • The Immortal Module (this one is quite different from regular NWN, as it is an adaptation of an old isometric arcade/adventure game, and the gameplay isn’t alway fun, but it’s such an ambitious project, definitely deserves a look)
  • The Song Divine
  • Kale’s Rangers series
  • Midwinter Festival / Midsummer Knight’s Dream / Midnight Calling (this might not fit the “less known” label, but to be honest, I hardly ever see it recommended, and IIRC it’s a really nice series)
  • Tales of the Sundering series (consisting of a hub module and various island modules made by different authors)
  • The Sunken Shrine of Ahmenkatja (short one, under 1 hour)
  • Skullington Falls (short, Halloween themed ‘open world’ with quests and puzzles, and no combat, IIRC)
    …
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18

I would start with Unusual modules: https://neverwintervault.org/article/reference/unusual-module-list-uml-nwn1
and
https://neverwintervault.org/article/reference/horror-module-collection-nwn1
as those two lists should fit your criteria.
I have to mention that I haven’t played all those in those lists.

My personal recommendations are (I will try not to repeat previously mentioned ones):

  1. In adventure genre:

  1. Maugeter - The Keys to the City v1.0.5

  2. Beerfish’s Planescape:Torment/Dante mashup:

  1. Bridge Modules between SoU and HotU - they are usually quite interesting, thrown away the ones I found utterly bad
  1. I personally like works by Udasu, thegeorge, Chris Huntoon, Stephan Gagne…
  2. Subterra series was interesting
  3. Penultima/Penultima Rerolled - one of the earliest funny modules
  4. Sleepwalker series: 1 - Desert Greed, 2 - Breaking and Entering (unfinished story warning)
  5. Humorus one: 1. Resurrection Gone Wrong 2. Resurrection Gone Wronger, Romancing the Bob
  6. Lone Wolf series (3rd part is not on the vault)
  7. Eye of the Beholder
    Eye of the Beholder II
  8. Evengale 1: When Reality Loses its Grip
    Evengale 2: Unhinging the Doors of Time
  9. The Crypt of Riddles I v1.03
    The Crypt of Riddles II
  10. Arctacia Adventures Trilogy
  11. Tyrants of the Moonsea was fine especially after release as premium module
  12. https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/blacksteel-chronicles-return-ancient-land-volume-one (Unifnished story warning)

From some of the newest modules, those were quite good:
The Tale of Fur and Frost
The Secret of the Founder
Sea of Shadow
Mortari Riseth (module) (some repetitive encounters in this one)

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19

  1. Halo of Flies and Shadow from a Soul on Fire duo-logy (Great story and writing)

  2. Kale’s Rangers 1 and 2 (Ranger modules which are a rarity on its own)

  3. Threat of Dreams 1 and 2 (Dark/Twisted story, intended for multi-class Rogues)

  4. Enigma Island Complete by Proleric. First two in series being better than the third in my opinion.

  5. To Cheat Death and The Dark Ride (Play as Undead)

  6. Sapphire Star (Challenging combat, variety of environments but average plot. Has some class-specific quests. It even incorporates a lycanthropy system, which is seldom seen in modules.)

  7. Red Moon Rising (Well-written main quest with 2 alternate routes that converge, plenty of side quests and areas to explore.)

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20

You are referring to “Rhun: Rise of the Underdark” module right? It’s meant to be a Persistent World but runs fine as a singleplayer module?