Your own lore tie-ins to UGC.

hercooles130uscg

Just curious what kind of stories people have "behind the scenes" of their content.

When I was stuck on duty a while back and had no access to Neverwinter but was in the mood to work on my stuff, I decided to flesh out more of the side lore that was already in the quest. It was a lot more fun than I thought, and gave me new inspiration for the quest as a whole.

So my question is, anyone else out there have their own written lore or stories that expand on an idea or event that happens or is hinted at in their campaigns?

I posted a little story in the Art and Fiction forums, which is pretty much dead, that ties in to some of the side lore in Act II of the campaign I am working on. It is all optional lore that you can find in the quest really, and not part of the main story.

My idea came originally from the fact that I had tons of notes about stuff that involved the locales, yet only a small portion of that can be found in the mission, and less if you do not go looking for it.

I urge everyone else to go back and look at any campaigns they have done or are doing and flesh out an idea. Even if no one ever reads the extra information, it will make you build a better story, because things will fit together. I had originally mentioned doing this way back before Alpha in my massive How To Guide on making better UGC (though it has since disappeared with the old forums, but can be found HERE )

But, I urge you even more to SHARE IT! Start your Campaigns forum page with an excerpt of your story to draw people in, or if it involves extra lore, put it in the Art and Fiction forums as well.

If anyone wants an idea, you can check out my post HERE...though ACT II is a bit ways off still.

If you already have a campaign that has a story you want to share, post them both here. While most people I think in Neverwinter just skip through the story, you will find those rare people that will enjoy the work you have done fleshing out a great read.

xhrit

My campaign serves as an origin story for my TR - in fact most of the recurring characters in the campaign are ones that myself or guildmates have played in NWN or other MMOs.

The lore behind our guild is that we are a group of time traveling spelljamming planeswalkers who wander across the multiverse battling the forces of evil - it is a secret society in which few members know of the true extent of the guilds power; most members only know of the continuity they were recruited from.

I have written a lot of lore scattered across the net; I am actually consolidating all the lore into a guildhall style foundry quest. A lot of people have asked how Everdark ties into the rest of the story; most of that lore is sitting in a text file on my desktop. Also there was supposed to be a quest in between parts 1 and 2, but I cut it out. That is why the story jumps ahead a few months.

I was kinda holding out finishing the quest until I got some demons... but idk if I can wait that long.

boomba66

To be honest I just use the wonderful lore that is already in the forgotten realms. I just add it to the foundry. I talk of the evil gods, stuff that happens in the "Core Cannon" novels and make a story inside that frame work.

But much like xhrit, I use my major npc's as old player character's of mine or my friends. Its much easier to give them a personality you have seen acted out at the table top.

I do love the idea, I have thought about posting stats for my major NPC's so players could looks at there NPC's like they used to be able to do in Baldur's Gate and NWN2.

antonkyle

I have set my campaign within the Lore of the forgotten realms in an area I thought was interesting. All my NPC's are made up though.

Had a few review comments suggesting I make a table top campaign. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do so but the comment is flattering all the same.

Part 3 is almost finished, Part 5 is ready but part 4 is not yet started. The story keeps growing. I don't think I could have envisioned the direction the story would take when I first made part one. It has been fun taking people's idea's from the comments. I have to admit that I had almost given up on it until the comments started coming.

I agree with Boomba66, with ' the wonderful lore that is already in the forgotten realms' it is hard to go wrong. I had never read or played any D&D before and I think reading up on the Lore has been more enjoyable than playing the game. Their is such a wealth of idea's to take from.

eldarth

In "Old Magic" I got the seed of the idea from the in-game quest/lore that Control Wizards were tasked with finding little pockets where pre-Spellplague magic was still slightly functioning and expanding on that into a disastrous result of experimenting with pre-spellplague (old) magic.

Tried doing a little too much with it during the Tower District contest by having several random tome locations and experimenting with underground timers and logic and such, but I think since then has polished up into a nice little story driven quest.

I definitely try to make sure my quests "fit" with the lore -- and it can give you some great ideas for quests as well.

hercooles130uscg

Why i understand using the lore in the Forgotten Realms, D&D has always been about writing your own story within that world. The beauty of having a rich resource like the Forgotten Realms is you can build your own personal story that has never been heard before, but anchor it in a place that has lots of history to tie into.

When I started adapting my book for use as a campaign in Neverwinter, I changed a lot of it so that is blends with D&D, and in fact, I almost like the story better with it grounded in Forgotten Realms.

My little backstory I posted in the other forum was a complete imagining of a long lost location never before seen in Forgotten Realms. And it is something that can be done because that is what D&D is all about.