#Neverwinter Knights

[nightmaskart]

Yarrow and Lady Aribeth courtship

[dairine-bonnet]

Who else writes fics this way: hmmmm, it's such an interesting name for a fic, now I definitely have to think of a plot of this fic?

[jadeempire]

Leave your reasoning in the tags!

[enthusiastofshit]

[popsartattic]

[hekateras]

Shadow-Touched: Part I Part II here AO3 link The whole comic as a Flipbook

Something a little different from the usual fare! :)

This year I took a bit of a chance and signed up for the Heart Attack exchange, where you have two weeks to write 10k of gift fic or make at least 10 pages of comics. I was on the fence about signing up until I saw that someone was requesting an old videogame teenagehood passion of mine. I did an awful job making good use of the allotted time and did pretty much everything you're not supposed to do, and it shows in how rough and sketchy so much of it is, but even so, I consider it a success. I finally made longer sequential art and tackled some of the things I'd been struggling with so much. And the recipient seemed happy, too. :)

[klerothesnowman]

Roleplaying on Neverwinter Nights is one of a kind

Or: Klero desperately tries to sell you on their hobby

This is long and rambly as always, so if you want to be sold on NWN skip to the end without all the preamble. Star Wars fans pay attention because I'm gonna talk about a Star Wars server too.

Roleplaying is a weird hobby, innit? I think whenever people think about it their go to mental image is Sephiroth and Tails having an epic battle where Tails totally juked him with a hologram

And like, yeah, this is what public social media RP tends to look like. I'm sorry guys with unironic open RP posts on your dash, every time I look at you I can't tell if it's a joke or not. I'm not trying to dunk on you, that's just how it is.

But there's all kinds of roleplaying isn't there? For every open RP on social media, there's a private, curated RP being done play by post on a dedicated RP forum. People lovingly writing full paragraphs of their characters thoughts and feelings.

Sorry guys, I don't fuck with that one either. It's like everyone is taking turns doing soliloquies.

One of the best stories I've ever read has its origin in a play by post RP so I can't dunk on it too hard. Read Unsounded

Then there's MMO RP, this one's a little more palatable to me. People interacting in more immediate fashion, and there's even a visual element to keep your attention. ADHD sufferers unite.

But there's a problem with that too, and that's the... I want to say, impermanence. Unless you're playing in a kind of closed garden RP group the things your character does is never going to have a major effect on the world around you. There's a reason most MMO RP tends to just be hanging out at a tavern or something.

But then, there's Neverwinter Nights.

Released in 2002, and the last D&D game Bioware made, Neverwinter Nights is a weird game. The campaign is mid at best, the characters barely memorable, you could only have a single companion with you at a time. It doesn't look too great visually. Though I do think its visuals have a charm to them that I can't really explain.

But, Neverwinter Nights has three features that marked it as a cult classic that people still play 20 years later.

Multiplayer. You can have your buddies play with you.

The Dungeon Master. You can have one of your buddies possess and play NPCs, spawn new creatures and loot and all sorts of things.

The Toolset. You can make your own campaigns, import in custom content and even code new systems and features into the game.

If you've heard of Neverwinter Nights it's usually in the context one of these features. There are some high class player made campaigns out there. Shout out to Luke Scull.

But the thing that's really made this game stand the test of time is the 24/7 servers referred to as "Persistent Worlds."

These places are, effectively, small scale, community made MMOs, all with their own changes to the rule sets, some of them effectively completely different games. Imagine a D&D game that is always running, even without a DM but you can still play. Except also, there is a DM sometimes, running events that have consequences and continued relevance even after the people involved in them have logged off.

And! The majority of them are roleplaying servers, being in character is enforced. Imagine MMO RPers, if everything you were doing was in character, and you can expect everyone to be roleplaying too. You don't need to do the awkward feeling out of if the player you just met while out leveling a skill is up for doing some RP. They do, they're here, RP away!

But even still, this is all just my preamble. Because I'm not pitching NWN in general, I'm pitching it to people on Tumblr specifically.

There's a recurring motif in fanworks that I'm sure you're all familiar with. You're all really interested in the mundane parts of your fixations, the kind of things that get cut for time. You all love thinking about what characters do in their time off, what little quirks people when they're doing chores, the little moments that don't exist on the screen. You all love watching characters do things like go to coffee shops and enjoy each other's company. For the Star Wars nuts, you love to theorize and imagine what the day to day life of a member of the Jedi Order would be, how these ascetic warrior monks interact with each other when the responsibility of protecting the galaxy hangs over their heads.

When a server is on 24/7 every moment can't be the exciting adventure. These mundane little moments happen, they happen a lot. And what I've found is a roleplaying environment that is uniquely personal and warm, where you can spend hours just sitting around a table with friends talking nonsense. Where you can go through the motions of a relaxing routine, find people who matter to you, enjoy the mundane. It's "Comfy"

And it enhances the exciting adventure too, because you have explicit, obvious contrast to know what you're fighting for (or fighting to escape, depends on your character obviously). And when you get back the things you did mattered, you'll keep talking about them, they might impact people you haven't met.

And obviously I don't need to tell you that when you've grown close to someone it hurts all the harder when they're in danger.

Just to be clear, I don't have an ulterior motif for this. This isn't a dying hobby I'm trying to breathe life into or anything. I just think that this is the kind of thing that people here would be really into, and I've mentioned it in posts in the past so I'm just throwing it on out.

[ldy-lilith]

All I hear are screams, every time I dare to close my eyes I no longer dream, only nightmares of those who've died Nothing's what it seems

[gree3art]

Artfight attack on MarimoPunk

[sequesteredbhaalspawn]

If I didn't love my silly Bard/Ranger/Harper Agent multi-class for NWN2, being a Favored Soul of Kelemvor with Doomguide prestige class would be hilarious for Mask of the Betrayer.

[dairine-bonnet]

Do you know that feeling when one barely utters a few sentences or even a few words only, and you instantly get an urge to see them pierced by lightning coming out of your fingers? Personally, I have this feeling when incompetent people are telling me what to do...

[the-great-elwisty]

Obsidian Entertainment have marked their 20th anniversary by releasing a documentary in four five parts. Part one includes Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2. Various big names of Obsidian take part though sadly the writing/creative side is a little under-represented.

[kaninchen-reblogs]

Oh I also forgot to share this on here I think (I drew it back in December lol). One of my characters in Neverwinter Nights: Olivia (Strongheart Halfling, Rogue 15 / Knight 10 / Loremaster 5*).

Born to a Cormyrian noble family and raised in Waterdeep, trained in science, the arts, classical fencing, horseback riding, and capable of speaking 7 languages other than Common. As a child she read stories of knights and adventurers going on mighty quests, and now as an adult, she wanders the land in the hopes of becoming one of those storied heroes!

Because of her small stature, she's an expert at staying unseen and unheard, buffing herself with powerful scrolls from her satchel, then descending upon the unsuspecting foe with mighty fury. Mighty indeed -- whenever she kills any enemy, all nearby enemies have to make a DC 30 Will Save vs Fear or run away in terror!

She primarily fights using a fencing sabre, parrying and riposting enemy attacks... but when subtlety goes out the window, she wields a battleaxe that's as tall as she is!

*(I play on a modded server that changes the PDK prestige class to Knight and adds a Loremaster class, so those two classes aren't vanilla)

[hekateras]

Shadow-Touched: Part II Part I here AO3 link The whole comic as a Flipbook

And the other half :)

[kracovx]

Neverwinter Nights

[sugar-spice-and-everything-dice]

I've reached the point where having a henchman following me around has become detrimental to my ability to walk through an entire dungeon completely unseen. They just blow my cover and destroy my strategy of sequestering monsters in rooms with doors they can't open.