[UGC] Classic AD&D module "Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh U1"

cuddlesmacheese

NW-DB9Q7NCWR

Part one is now complete, and I hope you enjoy it. This was the first stand alone module I ever bought. I have put many hours into the quest trying to keep it true to the original story. I would appreciate feedback.

Thanks

crok2

Can't try it tonight, but tagging this so hopefully I remember to try it late tomorrow night.

kamaliicious

The story scroll when you reach Saltmash, West doesn't need to be capitalized.
With Restan: simplist -> simplest.
After leaving the inn, with Zasha she says "Yes?" but the pc has no responses and has to click close. Should be some sort of pc response there even if it's something like 'ignore her.'
When the mayor offers to let you keep the treasure you find, there is a missing period.
Building interiors on an exterior is a nice touch.
At the alchemists house, press f to Open door, open shouldn't be capitalized
The conversation with the door back outside is missing an ending period.
With Ned Shakeshaft, there is a missing period after "on the side of his head"
The dialog with the dead alchemist is missing a period.
The crates by the end boss are all missing periods.

The first time I did the quest, I was only able to find 2/5 upstairs (Ned and something else). I think this is because I went upstairs first, and some quest objectives may be set to disappear/no longer be usable at the end of their dialogs. Repeated the quest and made sure I did the lower level 5/5 first, then had no problems.

The quest description says solo will be hard, I didn't find it hard as a solo 34 TR. The only hard encounter I think is the boss, and I don't remember any stacked encounters.

Excellent and moody, with several great area design touches (the roof, the cave cove, the "haunted house"). 5 star, max tip. I would have liked to return to Saltmarsh and inform them of my success at the end.

cuddlesmacheese

Thank you kamaliicious for the feedback. Good stuff and I will make the changes.

I was limited in how I move folks through objectives in the house. I was thinking about invisible walls for upstairs until they complete the bottom story, but I wanted to give folks the option to roam. I will need to figure out a better way. As you know, I am forced to make the tool bend to my will and it doesn't always work the way I need to it to.

Yes, you return to Saltmarsh in part two. It has some story twists that I wanted to save for the next part.

Thank you again for the feedback.

cuddlesmacheese

Changes made. I also simply made the second floor items not intractable until you complete the bottom floor.

Thanks again

cuddlesmacheese

Thanks for all the reviews and feedback so far.

labmouse42

My wife and I did the adventure last night. If you can, please review my adventure shown in my sig file. It should take 10-20 min to complete. I would appreciate any tips you have with your experience with this toolset. The thread where I am tracking changes is shown below.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?304062-Trade-Reviews-Looking-for-input

Here are our thoughts on your adventure.

---

How did you get the NPCs to remember peoples names?

I am amazed by the amount of work you put into the dialogue. That's stunning. Well done!

How did you make the quest 'talk to the people of saltmarsh' not show a blue bubble?

The ambiance while running up to the house was amazing. Great use of smoke effects.

We went up the second floor first. Can you put an invisible wall on the 2nd floor that blocks us from going where we should not. Just make the invisible wall interactive and say something like 'You feel like you should finish exploring your current level first'

I liked how you built the suspense when going through the house.

We did not see the description of ned attacking us until after he was dead. Can you delay the npc spawning until after that point? It felt slightly out of place.

Did you use a sword stuck into a wall as a lever?

The last level was a bit hard to find.

The caves were just a touch to long. Shrinking them by about 20-30 seconds would have been more fun.

---

Overall it was well done. I am impressed with how you were able to take the adventure and put it into this game. Even with some elements that you could not directly put in -- like the +1 ring of protection in the fireplace or the carrion crawler in the kitchen (if memory serves me correctly -- its been years since I ran that adventure)

Sadly what's fun in a tabletop game and fun in a MMO are different. Some of the elements translate better than others, due to the fun factor. For example, I don't know if searching through the floors is 'fun' for everyone unless there are more mobs to fight. On the other hand, your marketing this instance specifically for those kind of players.

tikorumblegut

I say well done! I was the 20th review to put you into dailies status and wanted to thank you for the visual trip down memory lane!

As far as how the adventure is set up (due to staying as true as possible to the module), it will mostly draw praise from old school D&D fans like me. I'm not sure how younger folks will take how the "adventure" is grand, but it's not a hack n slash. I am extremely excited to play part 2!!

Only issue I found were:
Had trouble with targeting the Blackmoore estate sign from the steps. The door action kept overriding it and I had to go to the other side of the sign to read it. I have no solutions for that.

Besides that, Great job, and thank you!

Tiko

cuddlesmacheese

labmouse42 wrote: »

My wife and I did the adventure last night. If you can, please review my adventure shown in my sig file. It should take 10-20 min to complete. I would appreciate any tips you have with your experience with this toolset. The thread where I am tracking changes is shown below.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?304062-Trade-Reviews-Looking-for-input

Here are our thoughts on your adventure.

---

How did you get the NPCs to remember peoples names? I am not sure what you mean here. You can use [nickname] to show your name. Or, i typed in the council member names manually.

I am amazed by the amount of work you put into the dialogue. That's stunning. Well done! - Thank you

How did you make the quest 'talk to the people of saltmarsh' not show a blue bubble? The quest is only to talk to the mayor, but i had hidden walls drop as you spoke to certain townsfolk. I didn't want to force feed people where to go next.

The ambiance while running up to the house was amazing. Great use of smoke effects. The lighting, I think was the key.

We went up the second floor first. Can you put an invisible wall on the 2nd floor that blocks us from going where we should not. Just make the invisible wall interactive and say something like 'You feel like you should finish exploring your current level first' . I was going to do this, but I wanted to give people freedom. I simply made the items not interact-able until you complete the first floor.

I liked how you built the suspense when going through the house. Thanks. Credit to the original writers.

We did not see the description of ned attacking us until after he was dead. Can you delay the npc spawning until after that point? It felt slightly out of place. Yeah, this was a little cluncky. You can do NPC text, but it was too limited.

Did you use a sword stuck into a wall as a lever? Mace.

The last level was a bit hard to find. Good ;-)

The caves were just a touch to long. Shrinking them by about 20-30 seconds would have been more fun. I just tried to stick to the module. I also ran out of rooms I could use.

---

Overall it was well done. I am impressed with how you were able to take the adventure and put it into this game. Even with some elements that you could not directly put in -- like the +1 ring of protection in the fireplace or the carrion crawler in the kitchen (if memory serves me correctly -- its been years since I ran that adventure)

Sadly what's fun in a tabletop game and fun in a MMO are different. Some of the elements translate better than others, due to the fun factor. For example, I don't know if searching through the floors is 'fun' for everyone unless there are more mobs to fight. On the other hand, your marketing this instance specifically for those kind of players.

Thank you for the feedback. Now, back to work on Part 2.

cuddlesmacheese

tikorumblegut wrote: »

I say well done! I was the 20th review to put you into dailies status and wanted to thank you for the visual trip down memory lane!

As far as how the adventure is set up (due to staying as true as possible to the module), it will mostly draw praise from old school D&D fans like me. I'm not sure how younger folks will take how the "adventure" is grand, but it's not a hack n slash. I am extremely excited to play part 2!!

Only issue I found were:
Had trouble with targeting the Blackmoore estate sign from the steps. The door action kept overriding it and I had to go to the other side of the sign to read it. I have no solutions for that.

Besides that, Great job, and thank you!

Tiko

Thanks for the feedback. I did the quest mainly for me. I bought it brand new when I was 10 (yes, I am old).

I will just nudge the invisible wall some.

crok2

First off, really well done! I LOVED it. I took some notes on typos:
Blake Primrose: "Anything" typo'd
Can't read my writing... something like Mimes? The word 'Something' typo'd
Robbs Jaegar: "Always" typo'd
Bartended Jollz: "Business" typo'd
Mayor Bashand: "Complicated" typo'd
Duncan: "Believed" Typo'd

Some epic story telling right there and I loved having to search for things! I got lost a few times which probably dragged the time out... sorry hehe. Anyway, very well done i was totally immersed in the story

cuddlesmacheese

crok2 wrote: »

First off, really well done! I LOVED it. I took some notes on typos:
Blake Primrose: "Anything" typo'd
Can't read my writing... something like Mimes? The word 'Something' typo'd
Robbs Jaegar: "Always" typo'd
Bartended Jollz: "Business" typo'd
Mayor Bashand: "Complicated" typo'd
Duncan: "Believed" Typo'd

Some epic story telling right there and I loved having to search for things! I got lost a few times which probably dragged the time out... sorry hehe. Anyway, very well done i was totally immersed in the story

Thank you for the feedback. I will correct the spelling mistakes. I am glad you enjoyed it.

cuddlesmacheese

That you all for the reviews and feedback. It is very appreciated. I am now busy working on part 2.

I have also decided my next module will be Palace of the Silver Princess.

Thanks

snakesandcakes

This module is great and deserves more attention.

cuddlesmacheese

Thanks for the feedback.

Update: I have all the sets created for part two. I had to build the Sea Ghost form scratch almost. Work has gotten in the way some, but I hope to make some good progress this weekend.