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The Texts of Thaan - Chapter 1
The beginning of what is intended to a series of several modules, the player begins this module as a novice adventurer from Faerun who finds themselves lost in the mist, and drawn into Ravenloft. Seeking a way home, the protagonist will find themselves drawn into seeking a series of occult texts in order to accomplish this feat. As a direct result, they become embroiled in a tale of eldritch intrigue that will leave them forever changed.
The series has a mixed gothic/cosmic horror theme, and involves significant role-playing on the part of the protagonist. Set in the 3.5 version of the "Ravenloft" campaign setting, many spells, skills, and class features have been modified to be more true to the spirit of the campaign setting during this era.
The module is intended for a new first level pc of any race/class/gender/alignment, who will reach about level 6 or 7 by the module's end. Approximately 8-12 hours or so of gameplay, depending on how many sidequests are completed.
Two required Hakpaks found in .rar file included, along with module. The walkthrough is also included in the archive, and includes a more detailed content warning (mature themes), disclaimer, and statement of value. Readme/changelog also included in the .rar file.
Feedback and bug reports of any kind welcome!
Version 1.04 has several more minor adjustments, typo corrections, and bugfixes. I've slightly decreased the difficulty of some enemies based on player feedback. See readme re: known issues and changelog. Will continue to update and bugfix as necessary, though further adjustments may take some time, as my (primary) computer is being repaired.
Thanks for playing!
J.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 the_texts_of_thaan_chapter_1_-_the_mists_of_saniset_v_1.04.rar (29) | 69.1 MB |
Looks very promising. But it seems the .rar file is missing?
Yep - my bad! Think its fixed now.
Thanks!
Well met.
How exciting. And great screenshots too. Bookmarked to play. Now get back to work on the next one in the series.
More.
—
Phyte: My heart has been locked for longer than I can remember.
Sharwyn: Done, and done.
—
I think the author forgot to upload the rar file...
I think I've uploaded it now. Whoops! Thanks for the reminder!
'Tis always nice to see a new Ravenloft module.
I started playing. While the atmosphere is fantastic I find the combat impossibly difficult for level 1 characters. In the beginning segment it is possible to run from the undead but that doesn't seem like a viable strategy in later areas. I find my paladin being slaughtered again and again by vermin in the crypt that are simply far too powerful (even with the game difficulty set to easy). Unless I've somehow missed a number of sidequests that would let me level up, or I'm expected to return to the beginning area and grind, I don't see how I can possibly progress.
My log says it can't load the cep3 haks?
They're all there, i tried 3.0 and 3.03.Hm...
Hi Nathan:
Sorry about that. Are you using v 3.03 of the CEP, along with all of the other required projects? Or is there another more specific error message? I'll try to assist if I can. Thanks.
Hmm, the latest version worked for me. Do you also have the cep tlk file put in the tlk folder?
Yes, got the cep3.tlk AND cep3.03.tlk
I love this! Lord of Worms' work is perfect for the Ravenloft setting which I also love! Please more!
Thanks! Let me know of any specific complements/critiques/bugs you encounter as you play through :)
J
I have some problems with the guardswoman in prison basement. She's supposed to give me a lantern but unfortunately doesn't do so.
At the end of the dialog an item 'item170' is supposed to be created on the PC but that does not work. I tried to spawn the item using dm_spawnitem but that just causes NWN to crash.
I'm playing v1.00 (if that matters).
Thanks for the bug report. I did check the script in the 1.01 version, which would have been unchanged from the original after some minor tweaks by myself. I'm not certain why that's happening, exactly, but I'll investigate on the next playthrough. I do recall it working correctly on my own playthroughs. It may have something to do with how the item is rewarded in the actual script or which dialogue node the script is triggerred on.
I'll get back to you if I see the same problem on future playthroughs myself, and can fix the issue.
Regards!
J
There was nothing wrong with the quest. The 'bug' was totally my on fault as (I don't really dare to say) I had forgotten about a baseitem.2da in my development folder (for some testing purpose) that did not contain the CEP3 items. Removing that file solved the whole issue.
So before 'complaining' about a bug it always a good idea the check override/development folder
.
No worries, always good to know about possible problems/compatibility issues. Thanks!
J
I've started playing this recently using a Dex/Wis oriented Cleric/Monk. The beginning is in fact pretty brutal but I was able to kill most of them once I found an area to rest and summon empowered summons from animal domain.
I am seeing a lot of plants and class restricted items that I can't interact though, so I might consider switching to a druid or bard.
Stat distribution for bard henchwoman is questionable. Her low charisma of only 12 means she can only casts spells up to spell level 2 and the lack of multi-classing means her okay-ish strength and dexterity isn't that useful. I suggest lowering her wisdom by 2 point and putting those into charisma.
Hey, Thanks for feedback!
Yes - beginning area deliberately designed to be fairly challenging at first. That being said, dex/wis cleric/monk (along with paladin/sorc and fighter/rogue) were the classes I had the easiest time with when playtesting my own module. Without going into major spoilers, there are definitely some useful class-restricted items for monks and clerics in the module. Heal, Animal Empathy and Spellcraft can help you interact with/process the plants for useful items.
Will keep in mind your feedback re: the hench. However, when I playtested using a character editor, the hench did increase charisma upon level up, and was able to get higher-level spells in a timely fashion as they levelled. Shouldn't be an issue as I (hope) to make further chapters available.
Had a lot of fun, despite some frustrations at the beginning and the end.
The atmosphere, especially in the opening area, was fantastic. The tilesets added a lot to the mood. I liked a lot of the custom gear, and found myself using a spear of all things for large parts of the module because I love divine damage bonus. And then I discovered that tridents had both disarm and improved disarm as bonus feats, and started most combat with a trident that had elemental damage so I could knock my enemies' weapons from their hands before switching back to my spear.
The alignment choices, really fit the setting. My paladin did her best to to stay 100% lawful (not that difficult) and 100% good (harder), which meant using the books as little as possible. But it also meant that it was relatively easy to get my henchie to become less evil and selfish.
Combat was tough. VERY tough. I had to reload a lot in the very first area. I also found the underwater areas particularly challenging, because my paladin had to forgo her heavy armor. I didn't mind too much in the middle act when she was hunting for the second book because the underwater area was a small section of the overall island. But a lot of the final act was underwater, and the constant need to get back to the ship was more annoying than anything.
But the annoyance of running back and forth did not seriously impede the fun. This is a great module and I'm looking forward to the next installment.
Will there be more...please?
I hope so, though I'll need to take a break to get some things sorted out in real life, but also to get the computer I'm using to actually program repaired, and to re-write some of the notes I have for the game's plotline. It might be on the order of years between releases, but certainly more is planned. Thanks :)
This is an absolutely splendid module (and series, one hopes). The death of a specific NPC was absolutely awful.
Am I doing something wrong? I really want to check this out, it sounds really good, so have tried to DL this several times, and every time the 7Z opener blocks during unpacking and gives me this message:
"error opening archive (check available disc space, that you have a valid password, or that the archive is not damaged or partial)"
I have 330 Gigs free space on the desired drive...can anybody help with this?
Works for me using 7-zip 22.0
Hi there:
Was able to re-download the most recently updated version for myself on a recently wiped/cleaned PC using winrar, without an issue. I don't know if using winzip, winrar, or another program would help? Sorry!
J
Just checking but you are using the most up tp date version of 7zip? I've seen this before when people have had similar problems when using an unarchiver that was nowhere near to being current.
TR
Works for me with the latest 7zip on Windows 10.
Hi!
I wanted to say that I love the module! really enjoyed the roleplaying aspect though the fights were really though! Is is possible to change Wynns alignment in this module? I tried to but only got to 25 points which wasnt enough.
I hope you are able to continue the series in the future! Had a lot of fun playing!
Hi there:
Thanks for feedback. It is possible to change Wynn's alignment to morally neutral (though not morally good) in the first module. Try to make sure you get a score of 6 in lore and 4-6 in persuade as soon as possible, and better dialogue options will become apparent using the "persuade" and "insight" (lore) skills, that will change their alignment more quickly. Likewise, be sure to stop and talk with Wynn upon occasion as you move the plot forward, and to complete every side quest you can. Otherwise, you may wish to consult the walkthrough, as its quite do-able. Naturally, using the texts and rod of raising frequently will stymie that process.
The tough fights were by design, That being said, I have gotten some negative feedback about them so I may dial the difficulty down (just a touch) in mod revisions and the next chapters in the series. Part of that was to tempt the player to use Rod of Raising/Texts more frequently than necessary. Part of the difficulty factor may be my personal tastes and age showing - I do tend to enjoy games where I frequently find myself spamming Power Word: Reload, or where I'm ready to throw the controller against the wall in frustration before I finally figure it out. I hope to find some sort of balance as the series progresses, even if I'm maybe biased towards erring on the side of too challenging.
Regards!
J
Thanks for the help! I'll try it in my next playthrough!
About the combat difficulty, even though yeah it was really tough, it was also really satisfying to finally beat the enemies! So i get what you are coming from!
The module was the most fun i had in a long time! I was really engaged from start to end so I'll just wait patiently for when the next one is finished! (If its possible)