Cormyrean Nights
Once the most peaceful of kingdoms Cormyr has suffered greatly in the last two years. Orcs and goblins rose up in unheard of numbers and old foes of King Azoun IV and his family tore at the realm. Cormyr rose to war suffering defeat after defeat as the hordes were joined by the ancient red dragon Nalavarauthatoryl the Red.
Many nobles committed outright treason as the city of Arabel was besieged, eventually falling to goblin hordes. King Azoun and his daughter Alusair fought the dragon and suffered defeat.
When the crisis had finally passed many of the kingdoms finest warriors, officials, soldiers, War Wizards and highest nobility were lost, including King Azoun IV himself.
With a child king on the throne and Alusair as his regent, Cormyr is slowly trying to come to terms with its loss and regain its former glory. However many noble families are on the edge of rebellion, some see their chance to return from exile, and Sembian interests are trying to covertly take control of the kingdom.
Marsember, Cormyr's second city, was largely untouched by the war, but many remember its early days of corruption, piracy and intrigue before the Obarskyrs ended its ascendancy. It would take very little for the city to return to those far off days, and its destiny might lie in the hands of a single character, who is about to enter its gates. - DM Servilan.
Commentary
Servilan's Cormyrean Nights of 2004 is a charming, non-linear adventure module set in and around Marsember, a port city in the Kingdom of Cormyr. The module is designed for good-aligned characters of eighth to tenth level, and generously rewards those who invest in the Persuade skill.
The
plot passes through five critical phases, with five side quests interwoven. In addition, 22 optional quests are offered, four of which are companion-based. You may only adventure with one companion at a time because this is a 1.62 SoU module (though compatible with 1.69 CR). Besides having their own quest companions will interject at key moments with flavor comments and leave permanently if you piss them off. So yeah, nothing new to see here, but it's executed well.
Perhaps uniquely, Cormyrean Nights features an attempt at factional reactivity; the only one I know of for the NWN platform. The factions that I know of are Commoners, Merchants, Temple, Adventurer's Guild and Purple Dragons. There are solid consequences for not being in good standing with a few of these factions, but it doesn't really change too much in regard to how the story plays out.
Custom content. Cormyrean Nights comes bundled with two third party haks: Neverwinter Alleys Tileset Addon (this adds alleyways into the city exterior tileset) and T1RLK_Gen_Doors (this adds 18 custom doors).
Below: Dockside alleyways. Be on the lookout for muggers lurking in the shadows!
What follows is commentary on the module's initial phases.
The player begins the module in the safety of Servilan's House, a starter zone where Servilan sets their level (8-10) and dishes out a proportional sum of gold. I chose the recommended minimum level of eight, received 26,900 GP, and then used that to purchase items from the vendor in the adjacent storage room. The items are non-custom, but useful.
There are two OP items of note: Kaga-To katana (EB +1, on-hit DC-14 Daze) and Robes of the Dark Moon (perma-Haste). We need exotic weapon proficiency for the latter and UMD or Monk for the former, though.
Perhaps uniquely, Cormyrean Nights features an attempt at factional reactivity; the only one I know of for the NWN platform. The factions that I know of are Commoners, Merchants, Temple, Adventurer's Guild and Purple Dragons. There are solid consequences for not being in good standing with a few of these factions, but it doesn't really change too much in regard to how the story plays out.
Custom content. Cormyrean Nights comes bundled with two third party haks: Neverwinter Alleys Tileset Addon (this adds alleyways into the city exterior tileset) and T1RLK_Gen_Doors (this adds 18 custom doors).
Below: Dockside alleyways. Be on the lookout for muggers lurking in the shadows!
What follows is commentary on the module's initial phases.
The player begins the module in the safety of Servilan's House, a starter zone where Servilan sets their level (8-10) and dishes out a proportional sum of gold. I chose the recommended minimum level of eight, received 26,900 GP, and then used that to purchase items from the vendor in the adjacent storage room. The items are non-custom, but useful.
There are two OP items of note: Kaga-To katana (EB +1, on-hit DC-14 Daze) and Robes of the Dark Moon (perma-Haste). We need exotic weapon proficiency for the latter and UMD or Monk for the former, though.
Library books detail such things as chargen, the module, and its setting. Very nice.
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Stepping through the portal transports the player into the adventure proper.
Somewhere in Marsember
A brief cutscene will show you standing on the streets of Marsember and then suddenly being knocked out by a magical spell of some sort. Opportunistic thieves will run up and steal your gold before they are chased off by guards, who will then carry you off to somewhere. A street walker will be shown to have witnessed the event.
Marsember Jail
You will awaken the next morning in a dank cell with no memory of who you are or how you came to be here. A guard will notice you standing at the door, and unlock it for you (Quest: Who Am I?).
Take note of the halfling locked in one of the cells as you make your way to the Jailor. We'll be catching up with him later. Speak with the jailor and you will remember your name after some effort. The jailor will inform you that you're in Marsember, a city in Cormyr. Then a second memory will return to you: that you're not from Marsember, but that you're here for some kind of mission. You will learn that you were found by Sergeant Rogers, a patrol leader of the Purple Dragon, the barracks of which is located close-by.
Re-equip your items if you haven't already, and take your leave of the jail.
Re-equip your items if you haven't already, and take your leave of the jail.
Marsember: Kings Tower Quarter
Likely the first thing to happen to you upon entering the district: a guard of the Purple Dragon approaches and orders you to sheathe your weapons in town. This becomes really annoying as the module progresses. I'm just not used to sheathing my weapons in RPGs. God, it's just a fantasy game. And the worst part is? I forget to sheathe every single time, and in battles I find myself fighting bare-fisted because I forget to re-equip!
Note the custom door in the background. This was the early days of NWN modding, when custom content was in its infancy. Still, so may modules you play these days still use the generic OC doors...
Note the custom door in the background. This was the early days of NWN modding, when custom content was in its infancy. Still, so may modules you play these days still use the generic OC doors...
See the female halfling standing behind that guard? That's Yvette, brother of Pyke, the halfling we took note of in jail. Yvette will ask you to spring Pyke from the clink at a cost of 100 GP, but you don't have a penny in the bank thanks to those thieves! (Quest: Jailed Brother.)
Lack of funds is your first hurdle of the adventure. You can't recruit a companion without money. You can't take public transport without money. You can't even do this first quest without money. It's possible to bully commoners and merchants into coughing up coin (DC-14), but that's just chump change and adversely affects your reputation with their respective faction, upping the cost of temple services and merchant vendors, respectively (not to mention the three point alignment shift
towards evil). How to cash-up, then? The easiest way is to simply flog an item to a marketplace vendor, one you bought in the starter zone.
The city guide in the east will also give you three leads if you ask her about work: the Adventurer's Guild (of this Quarter), the moneylender at Interesting Times (of the Merchant Quarter), and the barman at the Cloven Shield (of the Docks Quarter), to whom you must give the code: I need to see a man about a dog. What's his name? Vernon. As a rule city guides should be spoken to whenever you need info. For a modest fee of five gold, they will also ferry you around Marsember, a form of "fast travel" that reminded me of the Vivec gondolas in that other RPG you may have heard of.
Of the three leads, the Adventurer's Guild is probably gonna be your best bet because the other two quests require MONEY. The building is located just north of the city guide; you can't miss it. Inside, Losun the dwarf will give you the lowdown on the guild and even wave the 10 GP admission fee (thank god) as he hands you the Guild Key and Membership Certificate. Pat the dwarf on the head, use the key to gain access to the guild chamber, and speak to Shara in the southeast library for your initiation quest. She wants you to retrieve a stolen book (Quest: Shara's Book).
At this point you may also recruit one of the guild Henchmen, scaled to your level - either Negan the dwarven Fighter (4) Barbarian (4) or Melinda the Cleric (8). If you sprung Pyke from the clink, then you also have a Rogue (8) at your disposal. Ferek may be found and recruited later; from memory a Sorcerer (8). So yeah, you have a decent selection of companions available to you at all stages of the campaign, who may fill in for any glaring weakness your build may have.
Your main objective is to find out who you are, what happened to you and what your mission is. Main quest-wise, your first port of call should be the Purple Dragon barracks: speak with Sergeant Rogers to get the ball rolling. I think the author did a fine job in keeping the level of intrigue up, and spurring the player on to the reveal. Enjoy!
• I love how, during dialogue, as certain selections are made, the NPC may voice something out loud. Even if it's just a simple chuckle, punctuating dialogue with appropriate sounds (and gestures) adds heaps to immersion. The lil' things count, too.
The city guide in the east will also give you three leads if you ask her about work: the Adventurer's Guild (of this Quarter), the moneylender at Interesting Times (of the Merchant Quarter), and the barman at the Cloven Shield (of the Docks Quarter), to whom you must give the code: I need to see a man about a dog. What's his name? Vernon. As a rule city guides should be spoken to whenever you need info. For a modest fee of five gold, they will also ferry you around Marsember, a form of "fast travel" that reminded me of the Vivec gondolas in that other RPG you may have heard of.
Of the three leads, the Adventurer's Guild is probably gonna be your best bet because the other two quests require MONEY. The building is located just north of the city guide; you can't miss it. Inside, Losun the dwarf will give you the lowdown on the guild and even wave the 10 GP admission fee (thank god) as he hands you the Guild Key and Membership Certificate. Pat the dwarf on the head, use the key to gain access to the guild chamber, and speak to Shara in the southeast library for your initiation quest. She wants you to retrieve a stolen book (Quest: Shara's Book).
At this point you may also recruit one of the guild Henchmen, scaled to your level - either Negan the dwarven Fighter (4) Barbarian (4) or Melinda the Cleric (8). If you sprung Pyke from the clink, then you also have a Rogue (8) at your disposal. Ferek may be found and recruited later; from memory a Sorcerer (8). So yeah, you have a decent selection of companions available to you at all stages of the campaign, who may fill in for any glaring weakness your build may have.
Your main objective is to find out who you are, what happened to you and what your mission is. Main quest-wise, your first port of call should be the Purple Dragon barracks: speak with Sergeant Rogers to get the ball rolling. I think the author did a fine job in keeping the level of intrigue up, and spurring the player on to the reveal. Enjoy!
Observations & Pro-tips
• I love how, during dialogue, as certain selections are made, the NPC may voice something out loud. Even if it's just a simple chuckle, punctuating dialogue with appropriate sounds (and gestures) adds heaps to immersion. The lil' things count, too.
• Employed custom content is basic but ask yourself this: how many modules that came after Cormyrean Nights have employed alleyways? A good 80% of them just keep the generic OC doors, too.
• I'm pretty sure factional influence is not a huge concern. Well, things may spiral out of control if you bully too many commonfolk, I guess. From my limited testing, doing quests for the merchants only resulted in a 7% discount; something like a 400 GP discount on a 6000 GP item for doing a bit of debt collecting. Still, how many modules have you played that feature factional reactivity? The author deserves credit for putting some thought into this.
• It's possible to blindly follow the plot critical path without even exploring each of the districts. You will of course miss out on content if you beeline it, though.
• DCs are given for Persuade checks. I heartily recommend role-playing a good-aligned character with the Persuade skill in order to maximize the fun and come away smiling at the end of each quest. More XP yield, too! In a single dialogue I yielded 500 XP from three successful checks. So yeah, it really adds up.
• There is lots of quest and utility experience to be harvested campaign-wide: over 20,000 XP.
• For the most part loot is not tailored to Weapon Focus feats; however, in at least one case it is (Walin's basement chest).
• Combat is generally a faceroll (this is a comfortable, casual module to play), but there are exceptions. I cite Water Elemental DC-20 drown attacks in the sea caves, hideout of the Blue Hand.
• Oversight. I'm pretty sure you can kill the vamps (Mann & Leta?) over and over again if you don't destroy their coffins.
• There are many secrets and areas to discover that are not covered in Servilan's walkthrough. This is not a criticism. Just don't expect to see all there is to see if you blindly follow it.
Below: Yep, Marsember is a pretty big place - a fun hub to explore and quest in! Note the density of some of the buildings, indicative of alleyways.
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| Kings Tower, Centre, Docks, Merchant and Temple Districts |
Well, I hope this post gives the reader a decent taste of what the module offers - which is a lot. Give it a whirl if you're after a feel-good module that's EZ to install and play.