Spurred on by the Free Offer of Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition on Good Old Games (Now over. You have to fork out the princely sum of £3.19!), I have hunted down the old server I used to play on.
Higher Ground PoA is one of the many iterations of the Path of Ascension module written by AW Trespasser, and in my opinion one of the best (and certainly one of the few remaining, these days!). Based around the Town of Ascension, and a Quest for Immortality (by finding the Legendary Crown Of Immortality), the Higher Ground admins (FunkySwerve and his crew) have been working on the module for over 12 years!
Neverwinter Nights was originally published in 2002, and written alongside the latest pen-and-paper version (3.5) of AD&D. It was specifically designed for third-parties to write and run their own adventures, with the Aurora Toolkit included with the game, and many servers popped up, with a wide array of games available, from power-levelling uber-servers to immersive role-play-based ones. Higher Ground sits towards the power-levelling end, but has many alterations in place to carve out its own niche. Players are (heavily) encouraged to party with people of a similar level, and most magical items are level-locked, meaning you cannot use the more powerful ones until you have reached a certain level of experience. Speaking of Levels, one of HG’s most innovative features was the ability to reach higher levels than the original game allowed for. Initially capped at Level 20, FunkySwerve wrote a system to allow you to reach Level 40, and has since expanded this to take you to Level 80! Along side this, he and his crew wrote more and more areas to visit, (including The Hells, and The Mother of All Dragons!), with appropriately challenging monsters and puzzles, and also more and better loot, so the rewards were befitting for such adventures!
When I was playing in earnest, I built a stable of high level characters (Soul Spike, the Zen Archer; Short Spike, Dwarven Defender; Black Spike, Assassin; Good Spike, Paladin; to name but a few), and collected many Artefacts, enough to fill my Bank Chests (where you can store items you do not need to carry, and can transfer to your other characters) to bursting! When I created a new character, I could equip him with some of the best items available, swapping as I went up levels. I also gained access to one of Funky’s other innovations: subRaces. While there are several Base Races available, HG added a selection of subRaces, that could be earned as rewards for certain Adventures (often being found as Books amongst the Loot). Using one of these books gave your Account access to more powerful subRaces, including Wraiths, Erinyes (winged demons) and Raksasha.
Unfortunately, I am starting again, with a new set of CD-Keys (which Higher Ground uses to verify your account), and so have lost access to all of this! I shall have to build up again, but this time, I do not have as much spare time to dedicate towards levelling up and loot-hunting.
So, on with the Adventure!
As a test-character, I have reprised my half-orc barbarian (Grunty McGruntFace), and started exploring. There are a lot of low level starter-quests that didn’t used to be there, but I have avoided most of these (they begin with fetch’n’carry missions) and headed straight for the low level adventure areas! So far, they are all looking very familiar: Cellar full of rats – Check! Wilderness full of Fire Beetles – Check! Caves full of skeletons – Check! Bandit Camp (with nice lootz) – Check! I am slowly remembering/re-learning the controls, and once I’m a bit more confident (and have some time to spare) will party up with some other low-levelers to take on a more dangerous area!
Time will tell how far I get, and how much time Lucretia allows me to waste on such pursuits will be a major factor. But I will update you on my progress.