Looking for something to play? Various lists of modules
LyraVren
Member Posts: 21
Here are some links for compiled module lists, for those who don't know how to get started on finding something to play. Note that the lists may not be up to date, check the projects on the Vault for newer releases.
Lists with up-to-date links for migrated Vault pages:
* Hall of Fame modules: list of the highest rated modules before the old vault vanished.
* Campaigns and module series list: Adventures consisting of multiple modules.
* Hero's Path Module List: individual modules grouped to lengthy adventures.
* Unusual module list: something different from the typical heroic adventures.
* Romance Module List: list of modules that feature romancing NPCs.
* Adult content modules: just what it says on the tin.
Lists with outdated/archive links:
Use the search box on the Vault to find new/working links!
* Modules listed by prime material plane: if you're seeking an adventure placed in specific setting.
* Class-specific module list: adventures specifically designed for certain playable class(es).
* A to Z module list: just to see how much playable content there actually is!
Lists with up-to-date links for migrated Vault pages:
* Hall of Fame modules: list of the highest rated modules before the old vault vanished.
* Campaigns and module series list: Adventures consisting of multiple modules.
* Hero's Path Module List: individual modules grouped to lengthy adventures.
* Unusual module list: something different from the typical heroic adventures.
* Romance Module List: list of modules that feature romancing NPCs.
* Adult content modules: just what it says on the tin.
Lists with outdated/archive links:
Use the search box on the Vault to find new/working links!
* Modules listed by prime material plane: if you're seeking an adventure placed in specific setting.
* Class-specific module list: adventures specifically designed for certain playable class(es).
* A to Z module list: just to see how much playable content there actually is!
Post edited by LyraVren on
16
Comments
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1309774090
Many fragmented (imho) ways of getting modules, it will be hard.
The steam workshop is awesome, but it has very little modules.
The vault is terrible but has endless amount of modules.
Soon there will be a download tool exclusively for iOS that will have even less stuff.
Also I only see 3 main mods, 3 premium mods, 3 pay mods, 3 free mods, and Multiplayer/PW list on the game.
If mods like Aerolith, World of Greyhawk, Aielund, etc, can be played on the Android Mobile, then I dont know how, and how do you play these type of mods? And where find these type of Mods?
If I understand the comments I read correctly, a lot of mod authors are not using it because they don't want to deal with learning how to upload their work to Steam, which is challenging. Also, I think a lot of mod authors moved on years ago, and have no interest in continuing to support their work with updates.
At least we have @Savant1974 's Aielund Saga available on the Workshop. That's the main, highest quality user-created epic adventure I would ever want to play.
Besides all the manual downloading, one of my issues with the Vault is searching and finding anything. You have to sift through an enormous amount of poor-quality junk to find the few buried treasures there. The old Vault had some really good search-by-category and search-by-rating functions that we lost when it was shut down. Again, Steam has search-by-category and search-by-rating, making it easy for end users to find offerings they might find interesting.
Really don't like the new vault at all, it's quite annoying to find what you are looking for there.
Against the Cult of the Reptile God: Most of the conversions of old pen and paper modules don't seem to rate that highly, but this one gets almost universal praise.
Return to Ravenloft and Beyond the Gate: A two-part series set in Ravenloft. I have actually played the opening hours of the first one and love how it nails the atmosphere. A Cleric or Paladin is recommended.
A Tangled Web: Another two-part set based on the authors home-brew go to campaign setting of Vayne.
A Dance With Rogues: Though it won't be for everyone (this one is decidedly rated R), this is one of the most celebrated and certainly unique modules out there. Another two-part set, it comes with a recommended starting protagonist. The module is known for it's graphical sexual content and (obviously) being a Rogue focused campaign.
A Hunt Through the Dark: Basically a six-part quest where you (as a Drow, or at least you should be) make your way from you civilization and life in the Underdark to the surface. Though it was never properly finished, there is plenty of content here.
Sands of Fate: A trilogy of modules made specifically for characters who have completed Shadows of Unrentide and Hordes of the Underdark. It then takes these same powerful characters to even more epic levels in brand new setting. Again, this gets almost universal praise.
Honor Among Thieves and The Cave of Songs: Two pretty modest modules by a author named Baldecaran that seem to be very highly regarded.
Siege of Shadowdale, Crimson Tides of Tethyr, Tyrants of the Moonsea: A trilogy that was apparently (much like Darkness Over Daggerford) originally slated to be official premium modules.
Blackguard: Again, not going to be for everyone. The trilogy of mods is made specifically with the assumption that you will attain Blackguard status by level 8, and fully embraces the Chaotic Evil nature of the class. Another very popular set of modules though.
Swordflight: Perhaps the most ambitious set of mods yet made in the Aurora Engine. Was informed of it by a blogger I highly respect. It currently sits at 4 parts, and is already pushing well over 150 hours of content. Lilura1 (the blogger) compares their scope, design, and mechanics favorably to Baldur's Gate itself.
Shadowlords, Dreamcatcher, and Demon: Massive set of interconnected modules, easily downloaded on the Steam Workshop.
The HeX Coda: Another planned original Premium Module, this one cancelled because it didn't take place in a traditional D&D setting, and was more sci-fi than fantasy. Could be argued it's what brought an end to the Premium Module release model.
Aielund: Pretty much the gold standard for epic NWN modules, also easily installed on the Workshop.
There is hundreds upon hundreds of hours of content listed above (and I only downloaded and installed the cream of the crop). The main campaign and expansions are already a good 200 hours of content. Darkness Over Daggerford, Pirates of the Sword Coast, and Wyvern Crown of Cormyr are probably another 100. For about $35 (assuming you buy everything, and taking into account what is available on the Vault that is of extremely high quality) you are looking at probably over a thousand hours of content. Mind you, almost everything I listed above is pretty much considered far superior to at least the main campaign. Much of it on par with the expansions, and some of it even comparing favorably to the gold standard, Darkness Over Daggerford.
Another thing I noticed is that it is clear modders NEVER embraced Neverwinter Nights 2 like they did the first game. I can only assume that is because the Aurora toolset is vastly superior to the one offered in the sequel. The first game may have more aged graphics, but's it has MUCH smoother gameplay and a far, far more impressive set of modules. Anyway, I think this list is a good place for anyone to start. You won't be completing all of these anytime in the next year.
A very good mod lots of fun.
Nums
DM-Friendly mods - some of which don't require a DM, see the mod descriptions
Neverwinter Connections recommended multiplayer mods (no DM required)
[EDIT] The latter list now has updated links to Neverwinter Vault.
It's worth mentioning that some of the top-rated module series (Aielund Saga, etc.) work for multiplayer.
I'd like to get a new multiplayer mod list put together for the new Neverwinter Connections, not just to update the links, but also to include more (good) MP mods since the last one was put together. Suggestions based on experience with particular mods are welcomed.
There is a lot more to this than just mod authors not wanting "to deal with learning how to upload their work to Steam."
The best NWN mods from the Vault (old or new) were designed to use significant amounts of custom content developed by other builders. There is a culture among those builders (especially those of us left in the community half a decade after the IGN Vault imploded) of deep and mutual respect for our colleagues, and for their rights with respect to the use and disposition of that content.
It's one thing to post a mod on the Vault, that includes download links to haks that are also on the Vault, or even to re-package them in downloads that are also hosted on the Vault. The original authors, after all, uploaded that content on the Vault, and for that purpose. It's another thing entirely to presume to take that content and re-release it yourself on a different site - and that goes double for one that has as controversial a reputation in the gaming community as Steam. At least some creators flatly don't want their work to be uploaded there because they don't approve of it.
For those of us who insist on trying to do this ethically - as I do - it means at minimum making a good-faith effort to contact the (in some cases, possibly dozens) of contributors whose content would also need to be re-released on Steam, in order for your mods to be playable on it. If and when permission is denied, it means re-working the mod in order to make it playable without that content, or with substitute content. In practical terms, it may also mean significantly re-organizing haks to work with or without content that may or may not be available on Steam -- and then re-testing all of that.
These are some of the considerations I'm personally facing in my efforts to plan a Steam port of my own NWN modules. I like to think there's a little more to them than just not wanting "to deal with learning how to upload" my work there.
As with many other mod authors, I'm also very busy with other projects. In my case that includes trying to write and publish fantasy novels on top of working an extremely challenging full-time tech job -- one that requires a lot of off-hours study just to keep my skills relevant enough to remain employable. And never mind having a life or spending time with my wife and family.
Last year, I set my author career back by months to edit and release a new version of my mods, with significantly new and improved content, for NWN:EE. Only a few people played it. I hope that my reluctance to glibly repeat that experience, and back-burner all of my other priorities again for months, just to deploy my work for a single platform where it is already playable by people willing to do only slightly more than click a button to install something, may be understandable.
Anyway, with my two uploads... I was told once that if you make the game you want to play others will want to play it also. Well only 300+ on the first upload and 35 as of this post with the second and only 8 votes for the first. One of the things I don't like about modern single player RPG is that the area's you get to explore are really small, they appear that way to me anyway. So I made the area's in mine quite large and expansive. I love to explore.... Well seems I'm one of those rare people who likes to spend hours checking out every nook and cranny of a zone cause that's the one comment I was getting in IM, your area's are too big O_o Either that or the story is lackluster at best and boring at worse... Meh whatever, I had fun building them so I guess that's all that matters in end. Not like I'm getting paid to build them
https://neverwinterconnections.org/pages/multiplayer_mods
Additional recommendations based on firsthand experience are welcomed.
This is my favourite module list - if your criteria are originality and story, you can't go wrong with any of these.
Runes of Blood seems to not work with the ee. it uses installers and those were made for the original nwn. this did help me find some more modules to playthrough tho.
You should find that the .exe installer can be treated exactly the same as a .zip file with whatever utility you use. I haven't tested it with that particular module but it works normally with others with an installer.
I made a thread on Steam for the best module suggestions: https://steamcommunity.com/app/704450/discussions/0/1626286205687011593/
Have fun
Example -
If you want a download tool that replaces the steam (aka stench as I like to call it) workshop for the vault, @Surazal has written and maintains with regular updates the "Neverwinter Nights Mod Installer Tool - NIT". So instead of complaining give it a try.
My final thought gets back to the original purpose of this thread. Now as I see it, there is one list of modules that could be useful and yet does not as yet exist (I thought it did but I can't find it anywhere). That is a list of the myriad of old TSR PnP modules that have been implemented as NwN modules. Almost all of them have been done. So anyone feel like creating such a list?
TR
yeah i found that out afew days after making that comment.
I'm attaching error to help tracking down the issue. I have tried to install it in different locations, but each time result was like the error message above.
With these restrictions:
- no CEP required or CEP no higher than CEP 1.X (smartphone cannot handle the volume of CEP 2.X)
- no permanent item strip (if it takes character's items but gives them back at the end, it is ok)
- no permanent alterations to character's XP, level, skills, etc
I have tried to play (or aware of) the following titles:
Dragon's Bane: Rebirth of the Surface Alliance
Endless Nights
Infinite Dungeons
A Time For Heroes
Aldania
Barbarians at the Gate
Are there any more that worth trying?
They have some good suggestions for high level modules here:
https://neverwintervault.org/article/reference/heros-path-module-list-nwn1
https://neverwinterconnections.org/pages/multiplayer_mods