Rock the New Year!

Happy new year everyone!

And here are some new screenshots to accompany the post.

A foggy mountain path

A strange rock...

Fighting the devil-hounds

The un-dead rise!

Creature: Barghests

Barghests are demons that have the appearance of great spectral dogs. Their howls can send all  but the bravest men running for their lives, and their eyes burn with the desire to kill.

Barghests have a unique ability; they can breach the veil between hell and earth. However, even these strange demons can only manifest on earth during the hours of the night, when this veil is weakest. Some say their job is to chase sinners, and drag them screaming to the pits, but in truth they most often come when called by mortal magic.

- Enhanced senses
- Susceptible to silver

Undead

A quick note on the game rules.

Rogues and finesse-style warriors might flinch at all the pictures of undead I’ve posted so far. Undead are notorious for being immune to critical hits and sneak attacks, denying these characters their more powerful weapons. What are rogues to do in combet, when in an undead-themed dungeon?

The thing is, undead are interesting, and NWN2 is an undead-heavy game in the aspect that the developers gave us many different undead creatures and models to toy with. Besides, the walking dead are too awesome to not include in a game. So in an effort to have the best of both worlds, you will see undead in Acherusis, but they will not be immune to critical hits and sneak attacks.

In fact, that is the only one of 4th edition’s rules that I care for and use on pen & paper games. It does make sense; zombies have weak spots (brains!), as do vampires (hearts!), and even an organ-less skeleton will be crippled if a dextrous rogue smashes its tibia.

So go ahead and sneak up on them vampires. If you manage, it’s worth it.

A rogue backstabs a bloodsucker.

Character: Angus de Valles

A short, lean figure is slowly pacing through the dark halls of the monastery. Even as his red robes weigh heavily on his old, sick body, Angus tries his best to stand proudly. The aging, pale-faced monk has every reason to be proud, as he has always been a faithful servant to his lord and master, Asmodeus.

Coming from such a religious family as his, Angus was inducted into the clergy at the early age of 12. He rose through the ranks quickly, and not only because of his important name. Opportunities have always been plentiful for a master of elemental magic, and he would have risen to the head of the church if he hadn’t let the best ones slip.

He wouldn’t have, if he wasn’t so afraid. Not a coward, he reminded himself. Simply aware. Angus had seen things, visions in shades of grey, including the end of the monastery – an end marked by blood and fire. The screams in his nightmares had often woken him, his robes drenched in sweat. He never quite understood the meaning of these dreams.

Now, in the twilight of his life, almost alone in the dust-covered halls, he only has one final hope remaining. He hopes Death will come for him before day and dream unite, before he is forced to live his nightmare.

More Screenshots

Just a few more screenshots, so I can avoid typing.

All of these come from one of the early dungeons, the Crypt.

No further spoilers.

Fighting the undead

Zombies around a shrine

Who is buried here?

The Glossary

Acherusis is a custom campaign setting, a fantasy world of my own conception and creation. Obviously, you won’t have heard about it, because it has been a pen & paper experience for my gaming group.

Throughout the module, the player will come across various bits of background information about the world. Not only that, but important NPCs, groups, and monsters will be encountered along the way. All the information on these unique creations will be discovered in-character, and recorded on the player’s journal as “Glossary” entries.

In the coming days, I will be posting some of it on this blog, as well. The module may still be in the first stages, but I can’t wait to share these things I’ve been writing about for years!

First Screenshot!

Let’s see how uploading one of these lovelies works…

Monastery Grounds

~ Lord Firkraag

Realms of the Elf-Lords

One post on my old project, because it deserves it.

Realms of the Elf-Lords was a balance & gameplay modification for Battle for Middle-Earth 2 that aimed to make the game truer to Tolkien’s writings. It started out as a small “what if” exercise on my part and ended up as a large project, with a very long changelist and a number of professionally made unit reskins.

The mod was well thought of, and got/is still getting a large number of downloads. Realms of the Elf-Lords was a real labour of love, and a link to its site will always be displayed on the sidebar.

The point is, learned a few things from it. The most important of them is that you can never get anything done if you don’t persist. Most people aren’t closers, and that’s why so many mods and projects remain uncompleted. I know this, and will strive to make the same dedicated work with Acherusis. The other thing I discovered was that there is only one free wordpress theme that I really like…

So here’s to another successful run of fun, this time with Neverwinter Nights 2!

~Lord Firkraag

Acherusis

Acherusis is a dark action fantasy story, set in a unique world.

“Acherusis” is both the name of the campaign setting, and of the end-times; Armageddon, or the Apocalypse. Dark refers to the theme which I am hoping to create with the story and characters. Action, because combat and quick-thinking will feature prominently in the module – but tricky or quick-thinking characters may still get around it.

I will list my inspirations. I wouldn’t be making this module if it wasn’t for these games, and the people behind their creation and conception.

1. Baldur’s Gate Saga – for the rich characters, and of course the plot.
2. Icewind Dale I & II – for the great journey it offers to the player.
3. Diablo II – for making RPG combat so interesting.
4. Jade Empire – for all the choices the player could make.
5. Vampire: Bloodlines – for the great “feel” and immersion.
6. The Witcher - for making you feel the consequences of your actions.

Varied, aren’t they? Hopefully I will get the best from them in Acherusis. Wish me luck!

~Lord Firkraag

A New Project

I’ve finally decided to put together a page for my future Neverwinter Nights 2 module. I think it will help me organize my work while at the same time helping me stay committed to it…

I am Lord Firkraag. Some people may know me from my Battle for Middle-Earth 2 modification, called “Realms of the Elf-Lords“, which started as a what-if experiment and ended up rather big in scope – and popular. I’m using the same wordpress theme for this site – hey, it’s my lucky theme.

For a long time I’ve thought of making my own project with NWN2. At first I wanted a PW, but with no way to host it I could not go about that. A single-player module… Now that was a better goal, and so I started working on it a few weeks ago. And I loved it.

In the coming days I will update this blog, adding pages, posts, screenshots, and background information on Acherusis… So if you like the game, and enjoy a good single-player module, stick around!

~Lord Firkraag