Tales of Celts II

Category  

Final Version

Expansions  

Requires All Expansions (SoU & HotU & CEP)

Setting  

Celtia is an alternate plane of existence with a parallel history to earth and a slightly different geography. South of where Greenland is on our world is the isle of Celtia. Norway and Brittan and Europe's mainland exist to the east. Migrants have come to Celtia for centuries to flee ..(well you have to play the game, talk to the arch druid and read some books to learn the facts...)Note that many magical elites in this game are aware of our world and have created bridges to it. The reverse may also be true. Thus Christianity has reached the shores of Celtia.

A note on haks - you do not need the undersea or goodversusevil haks to play Tales of Celts II - those are for Atlantis. There is a gate to Atlantis in the mod - if you do not have the Haks do not use the gate please.

Gameplay Length  

Depends on your style of play.

Number Players  

Single player or a small team or sets of small teams are fun.
Variables and items are set on the player not the NPC so you cannot mess this up with multiplayer.

Language  

English

Level Range  

1-25

Races  

Norse, Egyptian, Scottish and Irish legendary races are welcome (Elves, Dwarves, Humans)

Tricks & Traps  

Medium

Roleplay  

Heavy

Hack & Slash  

Medium

Classes  

Any class can play. There are special plots and features for Druids, Rougues, Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards, and Barbarians. I enjoy playing mystery/strategy games and having - talk to me again - relationships with NPCs with complex relationships of their own. This is reflected in the composition of the game.

Scope  

Epic

DMNeeded  

No DM Required

Single or Multiplayer  

Single Player or Multiplayer

Max Character Level  

25

Max # Players  

Any

Min # Players  

Any

Min Character Level  

01

Content Rating  

Teen

Alignments  

Alignment is not used in this game. It is disabled. Honor and Loyalty, the evidence of power in battle and who you are aligned to matter. Inventory items reflect these things.

Gameplay Hours  

<1

Description

Welcome to Tales of Celts II

After some very kind and insightful letters I have decided to return the mod. I have altered my plans considerably - more on that later. To the fans and developers out there - thank you. To the rest of you - hmm better not write that. Okay then -

If you encounter all NPCs hostile empty your override and do not use the add in materials and toys found in the package - just the haks and mod. If you still have the problem post a note.

For new players - This game is not designed to be played in the way you normally play a computer game. Do not vote for it if you have not played before. Review the readme document. You have been warned - you will experience culture shock.. Things are done to both reflect Celtic/Ancient European culture and create player level tensions that are unusual. It can be as simple as a character walking away to act before a player completes the conversation, to the lack of food or fire barriers that require both exploration and planning to overcome. It can also be complex – like learning that there are no good or bad guys in an apparently clear moral situation to having to engage in what may appear to be idle chatter to learn key survival information or needing to learn a language to find out the truth about an area. In short we have decided to allow the player to experience the confusion and uncertainty that an adventurer would face when crossing a new land.

This is an intellectually and emotionally challenging game for players. Its based on the actual spiritual and cultural world view of the ancient cultures or Brittain, Rome and north Africa. This is NOT Faerun. The game even challenges spiritual beliefs for some players. This goes beyond your character - its about you. - and you may not enjoy it unless you are willing to get more involved with your character and the world - to add your imagination, and to enjoy being manipulated, rewarded, terrorized, betrayed, and lionized as a player as well as a character. Use your journal to add notes, use the map to make pins of what is at a location. Think about what is being said to you and what might motivate it.
To accomplish this the very design of the game is not what you expect. Here are a few of the many ways you will be challenged and jolted.
1) The characters are not color coded or named so you can see alignment by appearance. A demon might be a friend. The beauty in a white dress may be a vampire who is lying to you and telling you to slay the demon. Even the gods may lie to you here. Alignment of the NPCs is acted out in scripted behaviors and may change. Thats right - there are no good or bad guys, and someone may attack you or your henchmen for some reason and then later on they may shift to being a faction friend and help you out.
2) You will need to track down the people who will teach you to speak Celtic or Norse or you will find many folks do not like you or cannot communicate with you.
3) There are spirits that cannot be killed, spirits who can reward you with knowledge, take you to other planes, or kill you if you fail to follow your nature (such as famine)
4) This is a matriarchy. This is a blood thirsty honor bound not afriad to die culture. As a result if a woman asks you to die for her you are expected to. If you die without honor you will find it very difficult as a player to escape (it can be done) but if you die with honor you will find that you can quickly escape once you take the time to realize who is telling the truth and who is lying in the afterworld.
5) This is a spiritual world. Barbarians and bards and druids have knowledge of souls and spirits and use them to escape the afterworlds.
6) This is not a story telling module, its an interactive module, a set of situations and relationships portrayed for you to enter. If you review the comments you will quickly see that any idea you have that this was not thought through or that there is no story or conversations etc. is a result of your not paying attention or not being willing to die and suffer the torment of the unknown (when does this end..how do I get out.. what does that mean...)that a dead person would. Each and every item and event is related to the spirits and personas of the world you have entered.
7) There are a number of randomizing factors in conversations, item placement, faction relationships that were intentionally added to make each game play different in subtle ways.

For veteran players of Rome games -

This module is not an upgrade for the Tales of Celts product group. While I appreciate your constructive feedback especially from fellow developers who know the challenges - because of some ignorant voting of others - if you vote with a score lower than the current average you may be sending this module into further obscurity (average score below 9.5). I would rather have you abstain and focus our energy on new works in progress. I decided to withdraw my work from public view - but after a set of very kind letters from community leaders I have decided to remain in the community. I have some real life adventures that will prevent me from making changes or adding new works soon - a new child in a few weeks. I want to encourage you veteran players and fans to help new players to understand what is going on and to keep a log of fixes and additional modules you would like to see during my hiatus. I will be checking this forum every few weeks but only acting as time allows on the goals below until winter.

I outlined my goals for the product set a few months ago. These goals have to shift as clearly my priorities and goals have in life, and the community support has been mixed. Here is an update on my plans as they stand today. I have a lot more to say about how I feel, but I want that to be constructive and as a Minnesotan – well it takes us a while to calm down and say how we really feel. Most of us die before its done, but I will try to do better than that.

Group 1: A set of smaller modules that are more linear or contained and highlight special stories in the Tales of Celts world. (In progress. I want to release one or two works using 80-200 hours of my time to produce that bring out two of my favorite plot lines – Terela the follower of Hel, and the story of the move from Christianity from paganism.)
Group 2: Tales of Celts Original - using CEP as the only HAK. Occasional fixes and updates. (Removed from Vault due to lack of time and NWN2 obsolescence)
Group 3: Tales of Celts II - uses a few new haks to add significant play experiences like horse riding and artistry (Occasional fixes and updates - conversion to NWN2, links to expansion modules. Some areas or features may be removed or altered to create a “basic” and “expert version” due to new player learning curves. Investment of 20-40 hours)
Group 4: Tales of Atlantis - expands on the cultures presented in Tales of Celts & adds additional African/Carribean and mystical cultures to the game. (In progress, early beta release possible more likely a NWN2 product Investment of 500 hours already – 200 more expected during release/conversion).
Thinking Developer’s Journal : A series of essays on the goals and challenges of creating interactive art that is more than just a game and the impact of tools and community on the work. (Concept only. Feedback welcome).

Files

Required Hakpaks