Neverwinter Nights

[kinnygraham]

Credible communal alternative to pen & paper fantasy role-playing or gimmicky nonsense ?

Anyone into this ?

Good experiences or bad experiences ?

[Joshua]

Great game.


Lacking elements of 3e: several feats, spells, affixes... n' such.



Play it like it's a CRPG... not an RPG... because it does not have that freedom (as in "do whatever you want") aspect that pen-and-paper does.

[kinnygraham]

I gather there's a whole community out there using the toolset provided by the game to create their own adventures.

I'm just wondering how good these are ; I'm sure there will be limitations on freedom - but are these compensated for in any way (e.g 'hidden' mechanics = greater emphasis on character )?

[aiwendel]

The toolset is VERY easy to use.

The thing that makes this game worth playing, IMO, is multiplayer with a live DM. It really can be as good as living-room D&D if the other people in the game are up to it.

I've DMed NWN for several friends of mine. The toolset allowed me to whack out some custom adventures in no time (it took longer to sketch out the adventure ideas on paper than it did to build the module), and then with the DM client I was able to posess each NPC and yak with the players, rather than use conversation trees.

Some of the fan-created content is pretty bitchin. See the Neverwinter Vault (http://nwvault.ign.com/index2.shtml) for an overview, but look at the DragonLance Adventures project for sure. It's a group of people who are creating a faithful adaptaion of the DL module series, and are creating nearly 100% custom models, tiles, movies, and sounds.

This is a game that has legs. Much like half-life, you're buying it for more than just the original game. The stock campaign is pretty good (not as good as some), but the gems are in aftermarket.

[JdRavnos]

I was somewhat disappointed with it. When I played I was expecting something comparable to the Baldurs Gate games in terms of the story and got a remarkably bland storyline where I gather up animal parts. I really didn't play that far into it, so maybe it gets better, but from what I've read I doubt it.

As for the toolset I was amazed how easy it was to design a basic dungeon without having read anything about how to use it. But I didn't ever play in someone else's game so I'm not sure how good or bad it can be.

[Voidnaut]

Personally, I think that while it's important to support the thrust of this idea with our dollars, NWN falls rather short of what I want to see in a game before I'll be interested in making the "switch" from text-based RPGing online to graphical RPGing.

The character models are not distinct enough (ie, everyone looks the same). The tilesets are not flexible enough (yes, you can design your own if you're a talented programmer/artist, but it doesn't change the fact that every forest looks like every other forest, every town looks like every other town, etc.). The 'dimensions' are currently too limited (it's essentially a 2d game, there's no water movement, no air travel, no horizon, no night/day sky-scape, and no true sense of a natural variety in elevation -- landscapes consist of a series of flat platforms.

At the moment, it's far easier for me to get a 'vision' out there in text format than with the NWN toolset, and that's the way I'll continue running games for the moment.

[Jeremy Cole]

In terms of the single player game, its just more CRPG, with a pretty dull story to boot (I lost interest and quit when I was collecting some evidence doohickies in the second chapter). The live DM thing sounds like its getting away from the limits of previous CRPGs, but not that much.

I can't imagine, even with a live DM, getting anything other than a dungeon hack out of it - a dungeon hack being perfectly good fun if that's what you're after, of course. All you have with the system, as I understand it, is a 3D engine, the automated D20 system and GM intervention. The parts of pen and paper games I and the people I've gamed with most enjoy, player interaction with the environment, colourful descriptions, mutual story building, these things aren't, and I suspect can't be, addressed at all.

So, in terms of kinnygraham's question, I think it might be a credible alternative, but it depends on the kind of games you play.

[Kakkaraun]

Screw NWN.

http://www.openrpg.com

[aiwendel]

Don't knock the DMed multiplayer experience until you try it. Seriously. I've DMed quite a few times, and you really can get a lot out of it.

Don't try just logging onto some random server. Set up a game on neverwinterconnections, or get a game set up with people you know. Random games are, well, random.

[Elbast]

As a stalwart from NeverWinterConnections... knocking DMed games of NWN as useless without trying a few is dumb dumb dumb.

Hell... OK, freedoms are more limited than PnP but there are DMs operating in many styles, DMs who really care about their games and their players.

NWC is the core of people who want to really push the game to get the maximum from it... and the freedom it allows is second to none in CRPGs and with what some consider a bonus in streamlining combat so it doesn't take forever. NWN is not for all... no game is, but it has a lot to offer.

[RCL]

Quick!

Someone say something sexual/political/racist before this thread gets moved.

[Unregistered]

Hmm.

Nipples?

[aiwendel]

I've had real trouble trying to script buttsex in NWN.

[Voidnaut]

How do people even find these threads to ressurect them?

-Voidnaut

[Ian ORourke]

Originally posted by kinnygraham
I gather there's a whole community out there using the toolset provided by the game to create their own adventures.

I'm just wondering how good these are ; I'm sure there will be limitations on freedom - but are these compensated for in any way (e.g 'hidden' mechanics = greater emphasis on character )?

Yes they do. And I have to say, I'm a role-player with a strong narrativist bent and I'm finding DM'ed games that work for me. The new tools and stuff are great.

You should check the link below, lots of the community can be found at Neverwinterconnections.com - and it's an amazing scheduling service. Whole groups schedule their games there.

In short, it is a viable option.

[Bull]

Personally, I really like Neverwinter Nights. I think the game itself has a ton of potential, and as the first game to really try this sort of thing, I think it succeeds admirably.

Does it do everything I can do with tabletop gaming? No. But to expect it to be able to is kinda silly. This is like bitching that the Special Effects in the original Star Trek tv show aren't on par with modern day graphics. Anther few years and i think we'll see something else come out to do it better, if the demand for it is great enough (WHich it may not be).

What NWN does do is put the power of a limited CRPG and MMORPG in the hands of users, which is where I think this kind of game is headed.

Besides, it's D20 D&D. The Tabletop P&P game plays like a CRPG, so NWN manages to capture that feel almost perfect ;)

Bull