|
|
|
     |
| Please read the world fiction page. This module is not about
hack-n-slash. I'm hoping it is a compelling world you can fall into
for a few nights. RULESET USED The module is open to all classes. There are many class specific things in the game that will make playing the lesser used classes alot of fun. This is probably a good module to explore being something besides Fighter, Wizard, or Thief. Experience is low for combat (2%), most experience comes from accomplishments and specific class/skill actions (disarm, persuade, perform, animal empathy etc.). Your first major quest is to earn your full freedom, so any action that advances that cause will earn experience (the King will explain more ingame). Henchman... This is a single player campaign yet there will be many places that a particular skill is needed. AOS has a very unique henchman system that I think most players will find enjoyable. It allows greater flexibilty then the normal henchman system and prevents the need to 'go back to town' to hire the right person for the job. Discovery of the system will hopefully be part of the fun. Henchman also do not level up normally, but again, this system is something that you will discover ingame. Resting is realistic. There aren't any "no rest" areas, but there are alot of places where it's probably not wise to sleep with both eyes closed. The day/night cycle is twice as fast as the OC (and most modules). This makes summoned creatues a bit less useful as well as buff spells. Death will result in spawning at the temple and incuring an exp fine of ( level * exp) - 100 So there is no penalty for first level, 100 exp loss at second level, 200 at third etc. Players should start new characters as the combat is really based on 1st level characters and doesn't scale very well.. Gameplay will be more then 30 hours, and characters should go from level 1 to close to lvl 20 throughout the series All players start out as either freed slaves (if human), or released criminals (if non-human). Of course if you are a non-human, you do not have to be evil. You could be a criminal because you were framed, or maybe you committed a crime for honorable and good reasons. Your player history is up to you. Your current freedom is very limited and in the beginning and you are treated very cautiously. You are free to chose whatever methods you wish, but be prepared for the consequences. Criminal actions (in towns) will be punished and will have negative effects. Be warned, sometimes justice is a 'showstopper' and will force a restart of the module. I try to be pretty realistic, if you kill a person out in the middle of the forest, nobody will probably find out about it (for awhile). If you barge into someone's house and kill them in the middle of town, you might as well reload your last saved game. Gameplay is very open ended. While there are stages of the module, how you get to those stages is up to you. There is no 'right' way to proceed. There are certainly things that work better then others though. There is a finale that includes an epic battle, but there are substantial variables that can happen with that battle. I fully expect there to be lots of confusion when people start commenting on the finale.. as many players will report very different endings.(depending on their choices). I'm hopeful some will even play it more then once to experience one of the other paths. You can, and will fail some of the sidequests. Some of them are mutually exclusive, so while you can receive both of them, you won't be able to complete both. There are also quests that are just plain hard and require a bit of luck, don't be discouraged, it is very different then most modules. As long as you keep the major quest moving along, don't worry too much about failing quests along the way. There is not alot of excessive combat. At no point did I say "hmm, this spot is kinda empty, let's s pawn some orcs here". You will have to do alot of fighting to finish, but hopefully all of it feels like a part of the world, not the builder's whim. There are no Kolbolds, orcs, zombies, etc in AOS. Each monster type is unique to this world and you will have to learn them. I am very careful to keep stuff at equal levels as the graphics.. (ie.. the creature that uses the kolbold graphic doesn't have 300hps and breath fire) and there is nothing outright unfair about what I do with them. But I did add alot of custom AI and 'tricks' that certain species do. It really keeps you from saying "oh, a goblin, how boring". Don't expect monsters to always fight fair. If a creature has been living in a cave for a few years, you would naturally expect him to have some defensive positions set up. Also most intelligent creatures will fight intelligently. Be prepared for things that do more then just run up and start bashing you. The module is fairly low on magic. You will get nice items, but not 10 of them. Every magic item besides potions and scrolls is custom made and each has a history. So you won't be finding any +1 longswords. There will also be a few ways to create items yourself. Your character will probably be much weaker then a similar character from other modules. There are also many magic items that also have a strange/unique use that you can hopfully figure out. Most of these extra uses are scripted, so will only be hinted at within the items description and will be left for you to discover. It's probably good to pay attention to feedback from the game, you never know when one of your magic items may 'act up ' on you. There are alot of thinking parts to this module. Make sure you read the conversations and not just fast forward to get to the quest part. The best part of this module is how it ties together and builds to the end. The big plot sequences are not handed to you, instead they are hinted at by multiple NPC's. What chased the elves from Magareth? What killed the humans? Where did the undead army come from, and why did they stop? There are lots of things that you will piece together. |