I've had NWN for a while..beat it..starting again (finished with a lvl17 fighter..up to a lvl14 wizard now, somewhere in Chapter 2).

I saw that Platinum had been released, so I checked out froogle -- $34.99. Decent price, considering NWN Gold (only one expansion) is about 40 bucks at Wal-Mart. So..I check out the Hot Deals forum on Anandtech -- and found the Platinum edition for $29.99 at Circuit City! So..now I have both expansions, and since I already have the regular version, I can play NWN on my 2-computer LAN.

Yay. Fortunately, I had a test *today*..and not next week.

Allow me to quickly point out the followig two adresses...

Neverwinter Vault - Best site to get the latest on NWN in terms of fan-created content.

Neverwinter Connections - If you want to try out a DMed game(best way to play NWN MP, if you ask me), check this site, sign up an account, join a scheduled game, and have fun.

I bought NWN with the first add-on because I really loved KotOR.

I ended up getting bloody bored with it. I did play it for hours, and hours, and hours... but I only got to the end of part 2. The story was not interesting at all, shame really because everything else was obviously developed with such care.

burrie, how did you feel about the single player campaign? Can you recommend any fan-made add-ons that are considerably better?

The single-player campaign? Boring. Truly boring, a bit of a waste, as there IS potential somewhere stuck in there. And in fact, a big part of the problem of the campaign is that it isn't a single-player campaign, really. It's more meant as a campaign that can be played by more players at the same time, and it actually shows at various points. It's most likely amongst the reasons why the focus isn't really on the player at all, he's more of a courier who watches most things enfold around him.

The campaigns for the two add-ons are much better, in my opinion. Shadows of Undrentide is a neat campaign, nothing to jump around on my head for tho'. Hordes of the Underdark, which is a strict Single-player campaign, is the best of them tho'. Bioware really managed to cram most out of the engine, and the scope of the story is epic, real epic. (the ability to progress beyond level 20 adds to that, I suppose)


As for recommending any modules... to be honest, I only recently started trying out various of the single-player modules. Up to this time, I had mostly been playing in DMed games at NWC, or building and DMing myself. Still, from the few that I've played, I can recommend...

The Vethboro Dragon - This module is just short and sweet. A very small storyline, but uses some interesting gimmicks. Most of all, the module can be completed in 2-3 hours, yet have you ending the module with a smile on your face.

Good vs. Evil - An interesting module that lets you play NWN as sort of a RTS.

A Hunt through the Dark - Basically a module where you have to play as a Drow Elf(think the opposite of a good elf). Has good RP options, you can opt to play a good Drow as well. Has a neat storyline, and I'm looking forward to see how the author is going to complete this series. Mental note, although these modules can be played without any of th add-ons, I've heard that the next module will require HotU at least.

The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - I played this one online once with a DM, so I can't exactly determine how the SP-version is. However, it was a fun module, and one that I just might DM myself at some point.

Honor among thieves - I've only played this one for a short time, but it seems to be an open-ended module, specifically meant for thief classes. I heard some good things about this one, you might want to check it out.

Witches' Wake - The first official Bioware module that they released for free shortly after NWN(from which I also had the honor of being my first DMed game as a player, while one of Bioware's developers was there as a DM). This one is much more RP-oriented, you actually get no XP for combat at all. It is rather short tho', but : Good news - they recently started working on the sequel once the developer had done his work on Jade Empire(Bioware's X-Box-exclusive Action-RPG), Bad News - You'll most likely have to pay for it once they've set up the Digital Payment. Basically, you'll be able to get official Bioware modules for NWN at a small cost. However, patches and the content that is used in the modules will always be delivered for free.

There are quite a few more modules out there that I would recommend, but they require the add-ons, I've tried to limit the modules here to NWN-only. Finally, I would also recommend checking the NWVault review page.

Cheers burrie...

I might go play "Shadows of Undrentide", but I have these annoying traditionalist ways that insist that I play the original game campaign first before the add-on... argh! I deleted my saved game on the original game, because it was so long since I'd played it, I forgot the stupid story and had no idea what I was doing.

Maybe I should just sod it and sell them both.

Frankly, you don't need to complete the OC. They're not related at all. You'll have to start with a new hero in Shadows of Undrentide at level 1 in a complete new tale. If you'll play with the hero from the OC, SoU will be bloody boring.

(and I'd still recommend trying a game at neverwinterconnections. That site practically saved NWN for me, and has me building and DMing two years after I bought it, and still going strong. Heck, should I get a co-DM for the Massassi NWN Campaign that I'm hosting, you oughta join up)

Yaaaaay! Another Massassian with NWN and both expansions. You will love to be in a DM'd game. Especially when the plot gets good. I almost always ***** and moan for more time to play when it comes up :p

Burrie's the one that's got me hooked on DM'd games. He and I played in a 8-week long campaign (every Sunday) that was most fun. Unfortunately we had a...difficult player. The last session sucked though because two players didn't show up. BTW, that's like not cool. If you can't show up, let the DM and other people know beforehand. Anyway. It's a lot of fun being in such games. In fact, a few -ians (including I) are playing in a campaign right now (LividDK, Glyde_Bane, Matyy, JediGandalf) with Burrie as our DM. We enjoy it.

After the lackluster SP campaign I have no real desire to pick up the expansions.

I take it "DM" doesn't mean "deathmatch". I can see that getting crap fast.

Deathmatch? In NWN? Well, there is some PvP servers out there, but they're silly.

Nah, DM means using the Dungeon Master Client. Basically, there's one player(or more) who practically controls the world. He can take over NPCs, and talk through them. He can spawn items, objects, or creatures throughout the areas, and pretty much react to almost anything that the players are doing.

So what does that mean? Pretty much that the freedom for players is opened immensively. If the player wants to try something that the module wasn't originally planning on doing, the DM can judge wether the plan could or would work. Or in conversations, the players basically have to type what their characters are saying, and a DM will respond what the NPCs will say, allowing them to act out their characters, and again, giving more freedom when it comes to conversations. Furthermore, the DM can adjust the difficulty for the party. So they were able to take care of those three goblins with surprising ease? Well, spawn some additional goblins near them, and raise the difficulty. So their health is pretty low and they have no healing left? Drop a few healing kits near the corpses to help them.

Overall, it can really add to a campaign. There is one group(non Massassians) for whom I'm currently DMing a campaign since February, and it's a real blast. With the extra freedom, the players work out their characters and the backgrounds, and I build on a module to reflect the changes that have been made.


I'm with you on that one. If I hadn't been in a few entertaining DMed games at neverwinterconnections, I would've never bought either of the expansions.

(on the other hand, I wouldn't have given NWN a second chance if it hadn't been for those games as it is)

That sounds cool. Is it 56k friendly?

burrie, did you ever complete the original campaign? How long it take?

Well, aside from HAK-files that you'll sometimes need to download for new content(new creatures, new placeables), it has proven to be very 56k friendly when you're playing. Just don't host a game.One of the players in my group was on 56k for the first twenty-some sessions in my campaign, and I only learned that after he moved back to the states. Before that, I practically had no idea that he was on 56k. I've heard good reports from other people as well. (note that we played with about 6 players and he never had any real problems)

That's where part of the beauty of the tilesets come in, I think. They might be very limiting for area-building, but because it takes up so little information, you don't need to download a module to participate in a MP game(plus, it's so easy with the tilesets that even I can build an area). It also makes things easier for the DM, as he only needs to edit the module, and the players will never need to download a new module weekly.

And ja, I did complete the OC, but that was mostly because I wanted to move on with the character to HotU(which wasn't, I learned afterwards, necessary and even makes things confusing in HotU). I'd say it took me about... 13-15 hours, and I never levelled up enough and couldn't kill the final boss, I cheated my way through there. I was getting pretty sick of that campaign as it was, and just wanted to get on with it, and move on to HotU.

I gave up on the OC somewhere in Act 3 when it became totally clear that no plot would emerge. And I have a stupid inability to NOT complete all possible side-quests, so I was spending hours upon hours of dull trudging through dungeons and caves slaughtering the eco-system...

http://adamandjamie.com/nwn/ - Shadowlords and Dreamcatchers (and a new one, Demon, that you need HotU for, which I don't have) campaigns. Really fantastic. Character growth, better relationships with the NPCs, and better stories. And since each episode is pretty short (there are 5 for Shadowlords and 4 for Dreamcatchers) the story moves on at a brisk pace and takes place in different environments. Highly recommended.

I heard alot about that one, but never got around to trying it. I just might.

In addition to Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher, I'd like to point out another good module: Lone Wolf. It's only up to chapter 2, though, and I get the bad feeling that work has stopped on it.

Also, get the CEP (Community Expansion Pack). Some modules actually do require this. But there's a lot of good stuff in it. Stuff that I wish Bioware included by default (capes, robes, tunics, etc). Much better looking swords and shields. Yes, it is a HUGE download and those on 56K, well, you'll be spending a couple of days downloading it. I think it's in the order of 10^8 bytes (100,000,000). I'm not sure if you need the two expansions to get CEP.

The CEP does not require either expansions, and you can get it here.

And Matthew, thanks for the recommendation. I started it this morning with my first-time sorceror(will most likely multi-class to a Red Dragon Disciple at some point), and although I'm not far, this module definately has potential.