Ages come and go, each burying its secrets in the sands of time. Some ages slip quietly into history, while others end in explosions of fire and violence leaving permanent scars on the world. This is the story of two ages, one from years long forgotten, and another yet to begin. Like so many other heroic tales, it starts in an obscure place, a small town on the edge of nowhere in a land where man's biggest threat is himself.
Return of Mikaila Chapter 1 - The Edge of Nowhere
Please do not distribute this module without this
accompanying readme file.
By Tom 'Magi'
Smallwood
Released: Sept 2002 (version 1.14a)
Type: Role-playing, Cooperative, Puzzles, Story
For 2-6 players, first level
DM not required, but several enhancements for a DM have been
included
Class: A well balanced party is recommended
No HackPak required
Estimated Play Time: 6 hours
This guide is specifically designed for the DM. If you do not plan on DMing this module you should not read any further.
Contents:
Module Details
Special Rules for this Module
Plot Details
How I DM This Module
DM Controls
Credits
Links
Legal stuff
Author background and other projects
The Return of Mikaila series is specifically designed for cooperative play and you will not be able to complete it without at least two players. Some puzzles will scale to fit larger parties. If you are looking for a group to play through this module with, I STRONGLY recommend Neverwinter Connections.
This module includes an in-game module guide for the DM, giving backgrounds of NPCs and quests, as well as allowing the DM to control the flow of the game on the fly, although a DM is not required. Also included is version 2.0.0 of the DM helper by Doppleganger available at http://www.nwnguide.com/~nwnbuilder/
This is the first module in an ongoing story. If you are looking for the sequels to this module, watch for them on the IGN Neverwinter Vault. Chapter 2 should be available in October 2002.
Death, Donations and Praying - You may pray at a Temple of Pelor or to a Statue of Pelor in many areas of the module. These are effectively bind points. When you die, you will return to the last location you prayed. You will also lose all experience that you gained since the last time you prayed or leveled. You will never lose a level from dieing. Praying works like a save game, so PRAY OFTEN. In addition to praying, you may also save lost experience by making donations to a temple. For every gold piece you donate to a Temple of Pelor, you will save 5 experience points on death.
For example, lets say Garin earned 50 experience points and then prayed at a Temple of Pelor. Over his next few battles, he gained an additional 75 experience points, but died before he was able to pray again. He would lose the 75 experience points and be back at 50. If he had donated 5 gold pieces to the temple before he died, he would have saved 25 experience and only lose 50 leaving him with a total of 75 experience.
Resting - This module uses a modified version of the HCR resting rules. You can only rest every 4 hours if you have a bedroll and food. If you do not have food, you can not restl. If you do not have a bedroll, you may only rest every 24 hours. There are also several areas in the module where you may not res at allt. You will be fully healed after resting.
Auto-splitting of Party Loot - Gold dropped by monsters is evenly distributed to the party when the monster dies (it is automatically picked up). Gold from chests is evenly distributed among the party when a chest is opened. Items will go to random party members when they are picked up*.
Please see the DM item, The Return of Mikaila Module in game for a detailed description of the plot. This gives a detailed account for what happens in each part of the adventure.
When starting this module, the first thing I do as a DM is use the Module Guide (see your inventory) and turn off 'auto story advance' and 'auto start module' and then set it to force all characters to be level 1 and clear their equipement. Auto story advance is where the module tries to figure out when it should advance the story (after each character completes a number of tasks or conversations in Woodfork). Auto Start Module allows players to automatically advance from the DM house to the start of the module (in the town of Woodfork).
All the players start in the DM house, which I use as an out of character (OOC) area. As the players join, I make sure they talk to the DM Assistant to give them some basic background on the campaign and then answer any questions the characters may have.
Once we are ready to start, I have each player introduce their character to the other players, keeping in mind that they all grew up in the town of Woodfork and know each other. Once everyone is comfortable with the setting, I turn on 'Auto Start Module' and have them talk to the assistant again, who will send them to town with starting equipment and cash to purchase additional goods as well as reset them to zero experience. It also sets the initial bind point so that when they die, they don't respawn where they died.
Note that if you possess an NPC, the default conversations will not run if the player talks to them. So, they will not get quests given by NPC's, stores won't open etc. In general, I suggest not possessing major NPCs as quests won't be assigned correctly. Good NPCs to possess in town include Luafan, Josh, Steven, Dodger, Penny and Jarret. Potential problems with NPCs are Alisha (won't allow player to catch butterflies or give them points towards advancing to act 2), Maneta (donate, pray, quests don't work right), Kisandra (shop only), Commander (alarm and false alarm issues), Parlan (ring quest, delivery quest completion and shopping issues), Blacksmith (shopping, delivery quest completion), Jarret (delivery quest completion), Samwir (giving delivery quest and reward).
I like to make sure everyone is equiped and have at least done Parlan's quest before I start act 2, but I try and do it before they get bored. Once they are ready for the real adventure, I use the module guide to start the second act.
Other then that, the module runs itself fairly well. I spawn a few rats/orcs/temple guards or spiders if they need a little more combat or kill a few off if I have to. There are a couple of extra rooms in the ruined temple (on the Temple Passages level) if they come up with a creative way of crossing a pit with a rope or something, but I don't let them cross the chasms in the Ruined Temple Lower Level as that defeats the whole purpose of the area.
If things start going bad, don't be afraid to pause the game, if for nothing else to let everyone take stock of the situation and give you time to adjust things if needed.
For a more detailed description of the module and quests, see the module guide in game. I strongly recomend you become familiar with the module before you try and DM it.
Several DM controls have been included with the module. These will be given to all DMs that enter the game. A description of the items follows:
The Module, Return of Mikaila: This item gives you a lot of control over the module.
1) You can view a description of all the NPCs and quests in
the game
2) You can force new characters to start at first level
3) You can control when the second act begins. By default, the
second act starts when certain criteria are met. With the module,
you can make this happen sooner or later, as you see fit.
4) You can force all the characters to wait in the DM's house (an
OOC area for characters to gather) before entering the module
5) Give and remove quests to the party
DM Wand and FX Wand: These items give you additional information and control of the adventure, including obvious features that Bioware left out of the game like being able to see the stats of each player.
DM Notifications: You will get several notices as a DM, including being told whenever a player levels, when they try to talk to an NPC and when they pick up a plot item.
Lead Module Designer: Tom 'Magi' Smallwood
Scripting: Tom 'Magi' Smallwood & Herbert Vines
Writers: Tom 'Magi' Smallwood & Earc Luachra
Beta Testers: My Dark Age of Camelot guild (Daorsainn) and
friends on the Guinevere server, especially Akilmendra, Cary,
Earc, Ebu, Grenkriek, Ruby and Caladim
Help Wands: Doppleganger - http://www.nwnguide.com/~nwnbuilder/
HCR rules: Archaegeo - http://nwn.darkemud.com/~darke/HC/
Scripting Help: NWN Lexicon - http://www.reapers.org/nwn/reference/
Additional scripts and help: All the folks that post on the
Bioware forums.
Neverwinter Vault: http://nwvault.ign.com
Neverwinter Stratics: http://nwn.stratics.com
Neverwinter Connections: http://www.neverwinterconnections.com/
Official Neverwinter Bioware home page: http://nwn.bioware.com/
DM's Helper: http://www.nwnguide.com/~nwnbuilder/
Hardcore Rules: http://nwn.darkemud.com/~darke/HC/
1. My module works only with the retail version of the
Software, and does not work with any demo versions of the
Software.
2. My module does not modify any COM, EXE, DLL or other
executable files.
3. My module does not contain any illegal, scandalous, illicit,
defamatory, libelous, or objectionable material, or any material
that infringes any trademarks, copyrights, protected works,
publicity, proprietary, or other rights of any third party.
4. My module may not be sold, bartered, or distributed with any
other product for which any charge is made (other than incidental
charges for time spent on-line), but rather must be distributed
free of charge.
5. Authors MAY use my module and/or scripts as a base to build
additional modules as long as I am given appropriate credit.
Areas and scripts may be used as is, or modified as the author
sees fit.
Author background and other projects
I have been playing D&D since the old blue box edition
some 20 years ago. Other projects from me include several Jedi
Knight levels (including the award Winning WarZone 2) as well as
Chronicle Director, a tool to help design modules for Vampire:
The Masquerade - Redemption.
*Info on the minor Party Loot problem with stacked items: There is a minor problem when picking up stacked items that will sometimes result in the item not being randomly distributed. For those interested, this is due to an error in the OnItemAquired event which only registers if a new stack is added to a characters inventory, not if items are added to an existing stack. Bioware is already aware of this issue.