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Valley Of Shadows
| Title | Valley Of Shadows |
| Author | Travis Sidelinger |
| Submitted / Updated | 08-16-2005 / 03-18-2007 |
| Category | Temple / Crypt Adventure |
| Expansions | Works on all versions |
| Setting | Overall, the setting can be summed up as dark, dreary, and evil. If you like Ravenloft, then this module is for you. A lot of effort was put into setting this mood. The module contains lots of crypts, swamps, forests, dungeons, and abandoned structures. |
| Gameplay Length | About 20 - 30 hours of games play. The game is not linear and has many side quests. |
| Number Players | 3-4 players are recommended, but acquiring henchman can provide the larger party you will need. Note, a player can have multiple henchman. Note, most of the areas do not scale to larger parties. Thus, more then 4 players (including henchman) is not recommended. I didn't design the module to scale with large parties for sake of realism. That is one of my pet peeves. I really wanted to everything in the module to be as realistic as possible. Some exceptions to this do exist, such as the wolf packs. Most area's will remain cleared after all creatures have been killed. |
| Language | English |
| Level Range | You must be level 3 or less to start. You should be greater then level 10 at completion. |
| Races | Any |
| Tricks & Traps | Medium |
| Roleplay | Medium |
| Hack & Slash | Medium |
| Classes | Wizards and sorcerers - Will find some nice things have been especially tuned for them. Check out the magic shop where you can create scrolls and potions. Rogues - Will have plenty to keep them busy with lots of abandoned places to loot with plenty of traps and locked doors. Plus, you get XP for locks and traps. Clerics - Will have plenty of undead to banish. Also, note the free items in the church. These will be almost a necessity. Warriors - Check out Rabeccas fletcher shop and get her special fire arrows. There are an unlimited number of wolves to kill. So if you need a level or some cash, start hacking. Although, brute force hacking alone will not get you through this module. The use of specially skills and acquired resources will be a must. Dont expect to have magical weapons any time soon. Quins blacksmith shop has some nice items too. Rangers - Animal companions are available. Rabeccas shop will provide you plenty of arrows. Monks - Your level 10 ki strike wont come soon enough. Suggest you look for some magical weapons, or keep holy elixir on hand for you kama. Otherwise, a monk will do just fine. |
| Scope | Medium |
| DMNeeded | No DM Required |
| Single or Multiplayer | Single Player or Multiplayer |
| Max Character Level | Any |
| Max # Players | 04 |
| Min # Players | 01 |
| Min Character Level | 01 |
| Content Rating | Teen |
| Alignments | Generally good or neutral, although there is nothing preventing an evil charator. |
| Gameplay Hours | 25 |
| Description | |
| Module Name: Valley of Shadows Version: 3.3.0 2007Mar18 Synopsis: You were hired to help protect a band of traders and travelers.
You end up a small village that has been isolated for the last 53 years. Trapped by the forest and packs of hungry wolves, you begin to investigate the village's surrounds to find these villagers have a lot more to fear then wolves. With a little luck and lots of cunning, you may be able to unravel the curse to the "Valley of Shadows". Features: Ravenloft like module Areas: 116 Quests: 18 Starting level: 1-3 (The game will not let you enter at higher level, unless you already have the module token) Expected finishing level: 10-12 Total play time: 20-30 hrs Recommended Party Size: 3-4 (Henchman included) Bleeding/Death System: HABD Henchman System: HCR Henchmen 2.0 Resting System: CS Thieving skills are actually rewarded with XP Holy water and cure light potions are free A number of potions can be made in town after finding the right ingredients First and second level wizard scrolls can be made without the loss of XP Difficulty Rating: Medium to hard. Missile weapon ammo (arrows, bolts, and bullets) have weight All the known crafting supplies have been added to the game Notes: If you are looking for lots of gold and godly magical weapons for everyone, then this module is NOT for you. There are plenty of magic items to be found, though they tend to follow the recommended level restrictions. If you are looking for a challenging module that will test your characters skills and wit to the limit, make you work for your treasure, and provide foes that will require you think before you rush in for the attack; then this module is for you. If an area seems hard, you probably should explore somewhere else instead. The game is not LINEAR, nor do I want it to be. If you like Ravenloft adventures, then this module is for you. Plan on fighting plenty of undead. Thieving skills are highly recommended in your party. Magical traps exist in the game. Think like a wizard and you will get past them. The game was designed with magic users in mind. Thus, the module does not strongly favor warriors like many other modules do. The level restrictions for magical items, though not enforced, is generally followed. A strong attention to physical world realism was stressed in design, except were the tile-set would not cooperate. It actually gets dark at night. Torches will be a must. I tried to add stuff for all class types, but magic users are a little favored over the others. You cannot rest while carrying weapons or wearing heavy armor. On death your equipment items will be dropped and you will awaken in the church. A reasonable XP and gold loss will ensure. On henchmen death they will reappear where you met them. A player can have multiple henchman. Most of the areas do not scale to larger parties. Thus, if you go back and get more help (henchmen) the fighting actually gets easier. More then 4 players (including henchman) is not recommended as the fighting gets too easy and XP will be limited. Magical bags of holding are limited on purpose. Several do exist in the module. Alternative suggestions: Role play the actual strength of your character Carry extra strength potions Have a wizard cast Bulls strength on you Leave the extra 7 sets of full plate armor behind Make multiple trips Get a room at the Inn and store your extra stuff there Have your henchmen carry some stuff Additional custom potions can be created upon gathering the right ingredients. Fire and holy elixirs are available in town. These will prove invaluable. Fire based projectiles are available at Rebeccas shop Requirements: NWN version: 1.68 Expansion Packs: Hordes of the Underdark Shadows of Undrentide Community Expansion Pack (CEP) 1.53 Hak Packages: ValleyOfShadows3.hak | |
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 valley_of_shadows.rar (237) | 84.63 MB |
It definitely needs some reworking. Still having fun though, with little polishing it could be great Ravenloft-like module.
- First area has extremely overpowered boots, probably testing leftover
- "* Final pre-battle conversation does not always start." - it didn't start for me, maybe because nevechar was already hostile?
- potion of dexterity option in Akara conversation yields potion of owl's wisdom
- swamp hag quest never happened for my: she was hostile when I entered her hut
- henchmen system is all buggy
- backtracking
- how many vampires can live(feed on) on such a small village? There is probably more vampires than villagers.
- stole from general store and she turned hostile without warning, didn't bother reloading, than I had only few stakes and couldn't kill even a fraction of vampires with what I had without using console to spawn them. You could at the option of making stakes from ironwood or just another source of them. General store should warn you about stealing from her: no one else had the same scripting as her(bothered that I steal form them).
- about black market: never found it, opened the toolset found that guy called megrin should have one, but he was hostile(never found a password for it as the quest log in toolset suggests)
- dreylan pass to old church transition is one way only
- equipment of some undead that is dropped by them is tagged plot and thus unsellable, so why should they drop it anyway?(its also unusable to any1 but rogue - UMD cancel "undead only" property I think)
- opening placeables in woodsmen cabin produces error message
- Typos found: "Farwell"-Akara conversation; "kids will kids"(missing "be")-Neliana Kelm; "deads"(should be "deeds")&"looked"(should be "locked")-Kain; "destoryed"-Lichdom(book); "destoryed"-Shepherd; "Kind"(should be "king")-name of a sarcophagus of a king; "mining journel"-book;
- broken transition in wolfendale: one house when you enter and then leave makes you go to the farmlands(magic door:)
- advertised as non-linear: in fact it is linear
- dock warehouses: thief crates produce error message(might be connected with the thieves I killed)
- suddenly henchies disappeared(like there were in another area called nothing, they were still in my party). Saving and Loadning solves the issue or you can just go to another area and they(henchies) load again
- lack of bags of holding is annoying
- no blackmarket merchant)maybe shadow theives had something?)
- buying arrows is tedious, especially when I have money to buy them
- Trent got killed and "doesn't want to adventure with me any more", with all the stuff I gave him urgh. So I robbed him, he attacked, killed him. He left a corpse, used corpse on me, ground and friar at the temple and it doesn't resurrect...
- myconids are friendly and do nothing
- mine especially level 3 is too big, so is wolfendale farms area
- Akara scroll/potion making eats up all the stacked gems
- some typos: "shadown queen"-NPC; "nightbase priestess"-NPC; "vampir bat"-NPC; "Gothca"-Perin random line; "some times the time" - Kain; "ax"-Kain's journal
- typos, maybe you should use nwnspellchecker(on the vault somewhere): "rear"(should be "rare")&"cures"(should be "curse")-Shepherd; "try away"(misses "to stay")-halfling in the inn of last hope; "could't"-gypsy warrior in the same inn; Rebecca refers to herself "Rabecca"; Valena "Nobble", whereas her father is only "Noble"-I guess her son would be "Nobbble"
- all houses looks the same
- convo with old lady: our lines are switched: I offer her a quest to clear "my" cellar of rats
- some shadow thieves have no convo
- secret thief hideout is pinned on my map(not so secret I guess)
- weird faction in thief hideout: friendly then attack my hench(Perin) then enemy when I talk to them then firendly(some of them) again and enemy when they spot I'm attackin them again. They should be at the very least neutral, cause I'm like bargining into their hideout(Okay I got the signet).
- marcus magic tome description implies it is a chest
- naming convention is ugly: WolfenDaleInterriorHouse05Upstairs for example or starting with small letter: "rations", "bat"
- missing portraits sometimes
- loop convos(unescapeable) - Rebecca, Akara scrolls, Tamia Waynolt
Voted 7
Couldn't finish, though I think I wasn't far from it. Tremenous amount of walking and back-tracking because I couldn't unlock a door. If I needed to progress in a certain order in order to unlock areas, the journal entries should have been more clear. Also had to reload a couple times to get a quest to complete correctly (as in having someone follow to the destination successfully). Some foes were a little over-powered when located near underpowered foes. Maybe there should have been a bit better balance. The henchmen broke so that I had one following but couldn't be controlled. I couldn't even remove him from the party to rehire him.
Overall, I enjoyed the early stages and the atmosphere, but I guess I just need more guidance in a module.
Great points, should have been tested better to find the "Linear issues" of travelling. Between backtracking and dealing with many of the previous noted issues, this module can become tedious and never finished. The design work is good but needs more review to make the adventures want to complete the module. Maybe a walkthrough doc would help.
Pretty fun module, allowed for two henchpersons, which was nice. Problem was getting them good enough gear to keep them walking upright! Most useless Blacksmith that I have ever encountered, I think. Most of his weapons were Exotic, and low level to boot! Stores in general were pretty poor, as was the temple. Right now am stuck (Spoilers):
The main werewolf tells you to rescue his daughter and supposedly gives you a key. He doesn't! He also tells you that the town has a key, they don't, at least as far as I could tell. This effectively keeps you from completing the main quest with the vampires. Tried this a few times, which entails a whole lot of travel, but no go. Still liked this mod, but frustrating...
Played this again and finished it...I think? Never got the Shepherd to acknowledge final quest, but pretty sure lich is toast. Used "Undeath's Eternal Foe" on him after Death to Undeath didn't work, and it seems to have killed him and I was able to loot his corpse. Many issues with this one, but overall a fun playing experience regardless:
1. Henchperson interface was actually not bad, allowing for equipping and some conversation. One problem was that if you wanted them to follow a command, you gave it to the number one helper and it trickled down. Sometimes the lower down henchies did not follow orders and ran off to get almost killed! The Level Up function worked well.
2. Lost henchman Trent in a battle and tried to resurrect him, even back in town at the Temple, and nothing seemed to work. No instructions on how to use the Henchman Pack or whatever it was called, but it was frustrating. Thankfully I could do without his Lawful Evil presence! Just lost all his gear though, not good!
3. Very limited stores, with little useful gear and supplies. And they did not restock and level ayoup as they should. No new stuff on the shelves. And they only bought a limited type of gear. The payout for even upper level equipment was limited to whatever the top end level was, sometimes only 200 or 400 GP for anything?
4. This is a full stripper and it leaves you with virtually nothing. Hard to accumulate much gold and experience is also on the low end of things. Took a good while to level up.
5. Much of the better equipment that was dropped was limited as to who could use it. Mostly Evil and sometimes Undead, which made these items useless. And the stores would not buy the stuff either! Weird.
6. Never got the use of the Wooden stakes, so just bashed all the coffins I could find, effectively shutting down the vampires for the most part. Usually you are given the option of using stake from your inventory on a coffin with a vamp inside, but not here.
7. Most boss interactions started out with them red and hostile, so no way to talk things out. Too bad but I guess I missed some quest stuff that way.
8. Never figured out how to use the Cold or Live Forges in the Blacksmith's. It looked like you might be able to get some decent gear that way, maybe using a Mithral or Adamantite block plus a weapn, but no. Nothing happened.
9. Final showdown with the Lich was tough and in the complete dark! Lots of baddies that seemingly would not stay dead, not counting the lich. I used the Relic on him and finally got the right spell. Kind of got sucked into this area before I was ready, but still was able to prevail!
Perhaps a Walk Through might have helped this mod out, especially in some of the ways listed above. There was little to no respawn, which was nice. Resting was easy, after you unequipped your weapons and dropped your armor, and this was allowed in all sorts of areas, which helped a lot. I appreciated the work that went into this, it just didn't always work as intended I think. Still, a long and challenging module. Thanks for the effort!