Knights of the Chalice 2: Hearkenwold

[Gunnar]

I just started playing this recently and it’s my new favourite game.

https://www.nexusmods.com/knightsofthechalice2/mods/5

Thanks to @Dorateen for this mod, you are a true bro. I salute you

[Gregz]

I just started playing this recently and it’s my new favourite game.

https://www.nexusmods.com/knightsofthechalice2/mods/5

Thanks to @Dorateen for this mod, you are a true bro. I salute you

What does his mod best compare with?

I hated KOTC2 because it was a reloading/rerolling simulator, but I loved KOTC1.

[Gunnar]

I just started playing this recently and it’s my new favourite game.

https://www.nexusmods.com/knightsofthechalice2/mods/5

Thanks to @Dorateen for this mod, you are a true bro. I salute you

What does his mod best compare with?

I hated KOTC2 because it was a reloading/rerolling simulator, but I loved KOTC1.

I agree with you about Augury and I feel like Dorateen addressed the problem by limiting all battles to short encounters on tight maps, a lot of the time against single type enemies.

[Dorateen]

I just started playing this recently and it’s my new favourite game.

https://www.nexusmods.com/knightsofthechalice2/mods/5

Thanks to @Dorateen for this mod, you are a true bro. I salute you

What does his mod best compare with?

I hated KOTC2 because it was a reloading/rerolling simulator, but I loved KOTC1.

I agree with you about Augury and I feel like Dorateen addressed the problem by limiting all battles to short encounters on tight maps, a lot of the time against single type enemies.

Thank you for giving the module a look. The biggest inspiration for me is the old Gold Box games, and I think it compares most closely to that kind of approach. The adventure is designed to be open ended, so the player has a lot of latitude about where they go and what content to interact with.

[Gunnar]

I think I reached the end of the available content, looking forward to future updates. I especially would like to see the underwater city!

My party reached level 9 with a fighter, monk, cleric, druid, psionicist and wizard. Everybody felt useful, with fighter having big single target damage and the monk spreading things out with multiple attacks. The cleric is full of helpful spells and the domain power “justice” lets you summon an Inevitable that is very powerful and useful throughout the game. Druid animal trance and quicksand spells work well. Psionicist stomp, energy stun and energy ball spells are great, while wizard gets high spell variety.

When i was building my party i was not sure how useful speed was going to be. I can say that being slow is a bigger penalty than being fast is a bonus. It was not uncommon for my dwarf fighter to not be able to reach enemies on his turn.

There are a lot of one handed swords in the game. I think every weapon type is represented but the distribution is not even.

There’s a lot of awesome flavor text for Dwarf, so id recommend taking one along. With an elf and good/lawful and chaotic alignments covered, the only flavor text that i missed with my party setup was for a Paladin during one encounter. (The only time i saw purple text)

There were times where i wished i had taken some notes; there is one point where you have to remember someones name and type it in.

I am not sure what is going on with the crafting system, it all seems too expensive to bother with especially when you can buy +1 attribute from a trainer for only 200gp. There wasn’t much to buy from shops either, so if I played this again Id dump all my gold into trainers ASAP.

I would have liked to see some more areas that trap you inside and force you to deal with limited resources. Some extremely difficult optional encounters would be welcome. The battle maps with corners/chokepoints and terrain like fire and drops were the most fun, along with mixed groups of enemies with varied combat abilities (like enemy parties) later on.

[Dorateen]

Thanks again for playing through the module! I have new content I am working on right now, and I am planning have the updated module available around September. This is structured, so that you can pick up with your saved game and continue the adventure from there. The underwater city alluded to will be an eventual destination for the party, but not yet. In fact the next part will feature a location where the party is trapped, and with limited resting options.

It does help to keep some notes, as I don't make extensive use of the journal, that's an intentional design decision. But in regard to the guild sponsors, I like to point out that there are two places with the names referenced, so the player does have a fallback option if they don't remember.

I didn't give much attention to the crafting system, as the module is not designed to require such powerful weapons or equipment. There are some crafting gem drops in case a player does raise enough funds to try maybe one or two enchantments. Could also be helpful early on if there is a basic weapon not covered. The NPCs available to craft with are limited.

[Dorateen]

I'm finishing up the continuation of the Hearkenwold adventure module, hope to have it ready by the end of this month or early April. I wanted to share this screenshot. It might be an Easter egg reference to RPGHQ.

[Dorateen]

If anyone is interested, I have updated the Hearkenwold module for Knights of the Chalice 2. This is version 1.85 and is available on the ModHQ. It can also be found on that other site.

This update continues the adventure and introduces the coastal city of Saldanus. The new content is designed for a party of 10th level characters. Existing saves are compatible, once the new Hearkenwold folder is placed in the KotC2 Modules directory, when loading a previous save, the new areas will become available.

[rusty_shackleford]

This is version 1.85

Would you consider it "finished"?

[Dorateen]

This is version 1.85

Would you consider it "finished"?

I consider it an ongoing campaign, this is just the next stage of the adventure. Within the design, there are many self-contained adventures that are complete. But the broader story has not been concluded yet.

[rusty_shackleford]

@Dorateen I know you made modules for …I think, Iceblink? Can you link them?

[Dorateen]

@Dorateen I know you made modules for …I think, Iceblink? Can you link them?

I made Hearkenwold as a module first for IceBlink. In fact, the update I just released is going to be present in the next IceBlink version as well. I just want to tinker with a few things next week, and then I can upload IceBlink Hearkenwold to the Vault.

But the presentation is even more old school, and not as robust as Knights of the Chalice 2, in terms of systems and mechanics.

[rusty_shackleford]

@Dorateen I know you made modules for …I think, Iceblink? Can you link them?

I made Hearkenwold as a module first for IceBlink. In fact, the update I just released is going to be present in the next IceBlink version as well. I just want to tinker with a few things next week, and then I can upload IceBlink Hearkenwold to the Vault.

But the presentation is even more old school, and not as robust as Knights of the Chalice 2, in terms of systems and mechanics.

Wasn't aware you made/maintained a version in both engines. I'm actually not that big of a fan of 3.5e, so I'll probably play the IceBlink version then

What is your process of designing maps? Do you just wing it in the kotc2(or IB?) editor, external program, graphing paper?

[Dorateen]

What is your process of designing maps? Do you just wing it in the kotc2(or IB?) editor, external program, graphing paper?

The developer of the IceBlink engine made a handy tool called the IceBlink Tilemapper. I use that to creat 16 x 16 tile maps, mostly from Gold Box art assets that are available. The finished maps are then imported in the KotC2 editor. That makes the conversion process easier, because I can copy the game maps directly between engines. Of course there is still room for fiddling, and adding KotC2's own art resources.