"Advertise" Your Written Play-through(s)!
Elrandir
Member Posts: 1,664
So as I'm sure we all know, there are a lot of really cool written play-throughs of the BG saga on these forums. Some of them are very challenge based, while others are more for the role-play. There are several prominent writers of these as well as a few who have just started and only have one or two of their play-throughs up. Sometimes one of the more well known writers will make a new play-through, (example: @Blackraven) but someone who reads all of their work will miss it and only find it a week or two later. (example: me) The idea behind this thread is that writers of these "play-throughs" can "advertise" their play-throughs, thus making for easy access for others, as well as a visible and concise back catalogue for new members of the forums. I'm not going to include my own writings in the main post, but I'll place them in the comments, same as you all. The "format" for these would be...
[Title of the thread/character's name/what kind of challenge it is/however else you'd want to title it] [release status i.e complete/BG1 complete/on break/on hiatus/ongoing/etc.]
[Link to first page of the thread]
[short description of the thread]
Any extra details or notes you might want to add beyond the description is up to you, though I don't know what you'd put in that section.
Now, I'm not sure whether to leave this in General Discussion or Challenges and Playthroughs. I think I'll leave it in General Discussion for at least a week, just so it can garner attention. Once that's done I'll toss it into C&P, since it definitely belongs in there.
With all that done, I'm going to tag a few people who I know have written play-throughs on the forums, since they'll hopefully be interested. @Lemernis @Heindrich @lolien @bengoshi @meagloth @MacHurto @BelgarathMTH @SionIV @Aurorus @Gotural @SharGuidesMyHand and Blackraven (previously tagged)
[Title of the thread/character's name/what kind of challenge it is/however else you'd want to title it] [release status i.e complete/BG1 complete/on break/on hiatus/ongoing/etc.]
[Link to first page of the thread]
[short description of the thread]
Any extra details or notes you might want to add beyond the description is up to you, though I don't know what you'd put in that section.
Now, I'm not sure whether to leave this in General Discussion or Challenges and Playthroughs. I think I'll leave it in General Discussion for at least a week, just so it can garner attention. Once that's done I'll toss it into C&P, since it definitely belongs in there.
With all that done, I'm going to tag a few people who I know have written play-throughs on the forums, since they'll hopefully be interested. @Lemernis @Heindrich @lolien @bengoshi @meagloth @MacHurto @BelgarathMTH @SionIV @Aurorus @Gotural @SharGuidesMyHand and Blackraven (previously tagged)
Post edited by Elrandir on
12
Comments
Meagloth's tale of HeroGuy: the 24-roll little-bit-reload run!
Well, Elrandir said write more, so it's a minimum roll solo barbarian run(9,3,3,3,3,3) which starts with lots of pretty words and roleplaying and deteriorates into a rushed reload-fest screenshot-dump. I think chapter one is very good though. scroll down for the barbarian. The thread starts with a failed bezerkr called Loser.
Phaendris: Scourge of the Sword Coast (ongoing)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/31439/phaendris-scourge-of-the-sword-coast-role-played-evil-play-through
This is my only play-through currently being run (at least on the forums...) and it's a heavily role-played standard game with an evil party. It's being updated at least once a week, and It will be a full run-through of the BG "trilogy", although I'll probably take a break after completing BG1.
***
The Journeys of Theodoric: Hero of the Sword Coast (on break. BG1 complete)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/31093/the-journeys-of-theodoric-hero-of-the-sword-coast-solo-cavalier-playthrough-bg1complete-on-break
This is the only one of my play-throughs that can be considered at least somewhat "complete", since I did successfully beat BG1. The character and challenge is a solo cavalier game, which Theodoric has already proven his abilities in. The game is not role-played at all except for a few key moments, most of which take place towards the end of BG1. It's been some time since I beat BG1 with the character, but I'd like to catch the rest of my play-throughs up before tackling BG2 with him. However there is a complete solo challenge available to read for those who want to.
***
The Heavenly Arrow's Flight (ongoing)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/30614/the-heavenly-arrows-flight-roisins-journey-solo-archer-playthrough-w-roleplay-style-storytelling
This was the first play-through I made, and while I definitely think I've improved even in the few short months since I first started making these play-throughs, I still think that Roisin's tale is good. It's currently unfinished, since I got caught up with other play-throughs and real life, but once I've completed BG1 with Phaendris, I plan to return to it and finish BG1 before probably taking a break and then returning for BG2. As for it's contents, it's a solo archer play-through (although how "solo" it is will change depending on circumstances/which game I'm playing.) with role-playing, though definitely not as heavily role-played as Phaendris.
Edit: Despite not being done with Phaendris yet, I still decided to return to Roisin, so Roisin's back in the mix!
***
Treyve Goldbeard: Solo Dwarven Defender (ongoing)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/33478/treyve-goldbeard-solo-dwarven-defender
This one is completely meta-gamed and I'm not doing any role-playing at all, so it's probably one of the less interesting play-throughs for others, but it's nice to sit and relax and play a game without having to write as well.
***
Battle In The Pits (A Role-Played Black Pits Adventure) (ongoing)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/33699/battle-in-the-pits-a-role-played-black-pits-adventure
I don't think this one needs much explaining. It's pretty self-explanatory. An interesting thing to note is the fact that I created the party to give all 10 classes (sorry barbarian. You're just a fighter kit) a way to shine. The party is made up by:
A Paladin (cavalier)
A Ranger/Cleric (Filling the role of a druid as well)
A Monk
A Bard
A Fighter/Mage/Thief
And a Sorcerer.
Every class is represented!
***
What? A new play-through? Even though I have yet to finish my other four?! I know. I'm bad. But IWD:EE! C'mon, guys. Give me a break.
The Tale of the Manliest Gnome Ever: Glasgin Firebeard (Solo, Semi-Blind, Non-min-maxed Stats, Minimal Reload) (ongoing)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/37175/glasgin-firebeard-gnome-barbarian-solo-semi-blind-minimal-reload-role-played-play-through
This one is my first foray into IWD since it first came out, when I played (dabbled, really, I was young.) it as a kid. This was the game that first nudged me towards the fantasy genre, and I love it for that and so many other reasons. I felt that since I have only a little knowledge of it, I should go ahead and make my first play-through a written one. Since I'm quite the fan of solo characters, I decided to make something unique. And I ended up with Glasgin. A gnome barbarian with good (but not over-powered) stats, and a lot of attitude. I went ahead and decided to make it minimal-reload (only on character death or game breaking failure) as well, just to add to the fun. It's heavily role-played, and I'm expecting quite a journey from it.
The thread is called, rather succinctly: An Account of Levinus Sternfell's Expedition to Icewind Dale (first time playthrough)
I'm playing a modded version of the game with the most important mods being IWD-in-BG2 and IWD NPCs. The former allows me to play the game in the BG2 engine, and the latter introduces 5 good/neutral-aligned NPCs with banter (friendship/romance options) to accompany the PC. This makes for a different experience than vanilla IWD, in which there are up to 6 PCs and no NPCs. Besides said two mods I've installed a few tweaks, but nothing spectacular.
The PC is called Levinus Sternfell, a LG Half-Elven Cleric/Ranger, kitted as a Priest of Lathander.
I'm playing minimal reload on core difficulty and maximum HPs for all characters at leveling up. The playthrough is more about the atmosphere and hopefully an interesting story and less about the tactical challenge.
Status: in progress (just started).
The thread can be found here.
The journal is presented as Sternfell's, not mine (Blackraven's). He's keeping this journal not so much to express feelings he can't express to his companions, but rather as a possible source of information for others who might want to continue his work should he die. This means that the journal is going to be quite to the point, and more about actions and thoughts than about sentiments.
I don't have one right now since I am creating a WeiDU function library, but I might start a new one next week.
-a Blade's Journey, heavy roleplaying of a female, human Blade. I lost the save(s) \o/ so you could assume how cold the thing is here.
-a Party of Clerics and Holy Warriors, heavy roleplaying, no reload with Sword Coast Stratagems, BG2 only, saves are lost
-Life and Death of Nárwendil, in less than an hour, no roleplaying maximum powergaming, died at the hands of Tarnesh while trying to take him down at level 1.
-Poison the blood, slay the bodies, a BG2 only role-played Journal or Darhaina, a Kensai/Conjurer/Assassin who got killed by Angry Mushrooms™ that were spawned by a Mushroom Generator™ because of the non-existing precautions she had taken.
I was also thinking of a heavy-roleplaying NetHack Journal... but I think it's better to perish the thought.
This playthrough focuses on the use of the console command ctrl+q. This command forces the target to join the party.
Get ready for laughs and mayhem aplenty when Gaspar, the Swashbuckler with inhumanly good looks and a hypnotic gaze, turns foes into friends! Creatures both magical and mundane join Gaspar in his quest to claim his place as the new Lord of Murder!
I didn't plan to heavy role play this, but Papaver makes his own life from the very beginning. It's a little hard to role play with no item challenge, but the real problem is that i have very limited time to play, so updates are rare. (This time i'm at the "Road to entry 5.")
For the portrait, inspiration came from @booinyoureyes.
And Wise Papa has something to say too:
So here I come.
Proesis's Adventures, a SCS Solo No-Reload Challenge (BG:EE Complete)
My first no-reload playthrough and probably my favorite Baldur's Gate experience of all time. Heavily inspired by @Blackraven and his run with Teyl. I chose to play a female Elf Assassin/Mage because I wanted to experiment with Poison Weapon + Melf Meteor, it went really great and it was quite rewarding. The game was pretty balanced except in the end when it became a bit too easy because of the Arrows of Detonation + Poison Weapon. Funny that I had no clue about how to insert images in my posts before haha.
Proesis's Adventures 2 : A BG2:EE Solo SCS No-Reload Challenge [Failed]
Here is the next chapter of Proesis's journal, this time in Amn. The run ended early in the Chapter 2 when Proesis got struck by a Mental Domination spell, casted by some Talos Priest in front of their temple.
To be honest, I don't think the character could have made it solo, except maybe by using traps + rest at literally every fights. I started to feel that the difficulty was ramping up as Proesis was struggling to take down Golems and Vampires with her bad THAC0 and APR. More and more foes were immune to her poison, backstabs, or both.
The tale of a Drow (no-reload)
My latest run, with a totally overpowered character fighting against a totally hardcore modded game. There is a lot of mods for this playthrough but everything is going well. Even though I haven't updated the thread for a while, I actually finished every quests of BG:EE with Yami. The completionist run is done. More informations soon.
I'm pretty confident for this run as the Shadowdancer is brutally turning the game into a point and click adventure. I'm pretty sure he will be able to complete BG2:EE aswell but we will see.
And now I'm planning some more runs, I started a Dragon Disciple solo with the same rules than with my F/M/T, it's going to be a LOT more difficult with limited way to protect myself and to deal damage. I'm probably going to use the Wand of Fire a LOT, but I need to find it.
I also want to start a Monk, a Blade, a Dwarven Defender and another Blackguard, but I'm not sure when and with which rules.
Because I saw your new Black Pits adventure, and I noticed that you edited your message here to include it. But without a new message on the thread, people aren't likely to notice the new stuff.
Maybe we should post a message here to advertise the new playthrough while also editing our original post to include it in our list ?
This was going to be a heavily role-played story conceived as extracts from journals, interviews, folk memories, etc by a Loremaster writing a tome [@10 yrs after the events] destined for a few wealthy patrons [and Candlekeep library, of course]. Mostly Charname's memoirs but supplemented by other sources in Harper archives, Jaheira and Ajantis.
But I found the initial chapter which never got beyond dealing with Gorion's body too time consuming and set it aside for further consideration and thought. By the time I cleared the decks enough to have another go at it ~ the thread was archived and I could add no more to it except by recopying and reposting. I still like the way it begins and have since taken the characters up to meeting/recruiting Jaheira-Khalid and their initial discussions both from Charname's POV and Jaheira's trenchant recollections.
Charname is a typical 92pt roll FM Neutral Good Half-Elven who is highly ambivalent about Wizardry as he really wanted to be a Priest of Oghma[Blunt Weapons]. A passionate character with psychological force trying to make sense of a world turned upside-down while his divine power is churning and grinding inside trying to be born. Totally frustrated by being apparently the focus of something huge which no one seems able [or willing] to explain.
BG1 only [Vanilla] full party, minimal pre-buffing and using such game factors as lost spells and dismal HP leveling to be meaningful though rare story elements rather than random nuisances. I had not quite made up my mind about handling NPC deaths but I expect at least one Party member to be lost along the way. Perhaps Ajantis in the Bandit Camp.
Do you remember Yahiko?
I... I can almost see... I want to, but I... too late. Yahiko, a totemic druid with 75-roll, has successfully soloed BG1 with SCS and is somewhere in Amn.
His story is a portrait of what has happened, and what may happen to any druid in a solo run.
You know what you want. You want a continuation. Nothing is real. Yet.
Posting my RP no item DD run through here incase anyone wants to take a peek.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/34038/dragon-disciple-poverty-run/p1
I did get a bit lazy towards the end with the creative RP writing but my writing isnt the best anyway so I doubt there will be any tears shed, haha.
Mordu to take on BG2EE next!
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/32964/bg-ee-order-of-the-stick-minimal-reload-run/p1
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/36468/no-reload-bg2ee-scs2-minimal-npcs-request-challenge#latest
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/36975/solo-sun-soul-monk-run-me-right#latest
I made a separate thread for my second playthrough, a Human Mage turned Fighter named Victor. I did so in order to prevent Thani's and Victor's stories from intermingling. Victor's tale can be read here. It gives a more roleplayed journal written from Victor's perspective, and a more or less completionist approach (NPCs eating up invaulable XP ensure that).