New to Dungeons and Dragons and Forgotten Realms

impervium

Hi! So, I like RPGs. And I like MMORPGs. But my knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons and the Forgotten Realms is cursory and second-hand. I played some pen-n-paper games years ago. I played Star Frontiers, and later on, Cyberpunk, Warhammer Fantasy and Call of Cthulhu. But no Dungeons and Dragons.

I've enjoyed a dozen other MMOs, but with the exception of Ultima Online and the Lord of the Rings Online, almost all of them are science fiction or comic book genre universes. I started playing Ultima Online in November 1997. Lots of memories from those first few years! Collectively, I've racked up over eight years of play time. Nowadays I treat UO more like a dungeon crawler on Superadine.

It took me a while to check this game out. But I spent a while the other night watching videos on Neverwinter's official YouTube channel. As I sat there and watched those videos--every single video--I started to realize, you know, this game is actually kind of a big deal. You can tell by watching the game play; and as I watched the gaming expo footage, I knew the gaming press and all the fans could tell. You can tell how much money and development time (and developers) they've poured into it. It shows.

Among other things, it appears to be a fun game to team up in, with specialized roles. I was a City of Heroes player for almost four years. A lot of ex-City of Heroes players are really starting to miss the kind of team play experience they had, and they're missing it badly in other MMO games on the market. Neverwinter will also have the Foundry of course, like STO's Foundry and Mission Architect in City of Heroes, but more advanced. In one of the press interviews I watched, Cryptic's COO said that you'd be able to tie Foundry story arcs to entrances and NPC contacts in the actual game world. Very cool! More than anything, it looks like there's a lot of stuff that you can do in Neverwinter. And it's all taking place in a universe with lots of history. These are really exciting things.

I bought the $60 Founders Pack, and I'm looking forward to playing in Beta. Meanwhile, any tips or pointers toward Forgotten Realms primers, websites or forum links, books or comic books would be appreciated. I'm looking for sort of a traveler's guide, you know? So I don't end up like Imanewbie.

lanessar13

You know what eventually sold me on Guardian? The Lead Dev for CO (which, while I didn't play the game until the end, I always had a high amount of respect for) Matt "Positron" Miller did an online chat with MMORPG.com and I could see he was excited about NWO and the team that was working on it, as well as the Foundry and what it could do. Having a well-respected game producer from another game literally glowing when he talks about it and looking like a kid at Christmas, sorry. THAT will be a good game.

As far as source research, there is a load of it. The actual DnD sourcebooks are a good source of information, mind you, but the novels written by Salvatore should also be a good source of information, so pick up Gauntylgrm and the others. Additionally, I'd say a playthough of NWN has sufficient lore (if a little dated, before the Spellplague) about the city and how it worked before the current ruler was in place. It's still valid lore for the sage types, and it's very well laid out. Both NWN and NWN2 are going for $15 on Amazon, or you can get the diamond editions for about $10 on GOG.

Those will be your best sources. The forums at Candlekeep are great for FR lore. Personally, nothing beats the old "gray box" for lore, setting, etc. (because Greenwood, the creator, laid it all out in a good format where it was Lore (box with stats) Lore (box with stats).

iamtruthseeker

Hi impervium! Welcome both the D&D and to Neverwinter! So far the suggestions are definitely a good first step, but feel free to ask us any questions if you need to!

deathssickle

Welcome Impervium

I recommend reading the New User FAQ if you havent already.
The Directory of the Founder Guilds of Neverwinter can help with guild shopping.
Also I invite you to have a look at my guild,if you like it feel free to join.(I leave a link in my signature)