UPDATE: As of May 28, 2013, we are OPEN again for recruitment.
Based on a guild wide vote we are once again open to new recruits and members.
If you are interested in our guild please apply through a simple form here:
SHADOW is a medium-RP,
story-focused guild. We encourage and want role players of all shapes and sizes to join us.
We are on the Mindflayer shard.
Our general theme is that we are an underground, secret cabal, focused on making all members rich and powerful, and most of all uncovering Neverwinter's deepst, darkest secrets.
But, we also have a history of charity to the poor (a Robin Hood type of angle), as well as deep research into the arcane and powerful magic.
We have several divisions within the guild to suit all character types, including a Covert division (spies, scams, vice), a Political division (bribery of officials, diplomacy, alliances), a Security division (strong-arm, protection, security, man-at-arms and mercenaries) and a knowledge/research division (lore, religion, arcane artifacts, undiscovered magic).
SHADOW is a large, secretive cabal, that lurks in a comfortable but secret lair, somewhere in Neverwinter. They are, at first glance, a Thieves Guild, organizing rogues, cat burglars and henchmen into an organized collective that provides profit and security for all its members.
However, there is more to
SHADOW than meets the eye. For example,
SHADOW are also a source of hope for the poor and disenfranchised.
SHADOW provides food and shelter to the truly needy, as well as ensuring those who exploit the people of Neverwinter, are brought to vigilante justice.
In return,
SHADOW receives valuable information and inside "dope" from the citizens on the street, as well alibis, cover stories and double-agents to serve their purpose and profit.
But deeper within
SHADOW lie even greater aspiration and devotion.
Legend has it that
SHADOW have members that seek and crave powerful artifacts. There are also claims that their library is rich with ancient lore, myth and magic.
SHADOW have been known to delve deep into the darkest and most dangerous dungeons, ever-seeking power, fame and fortune.
Their members include Alchemists, Assassins, Fighters, Wizards, Sorcerers and the holy apostles of Oghma who value knowledge and lore above all things.
It is this thirst for knowledge and their lust for deep secrets that truly fuels their cause.
Empowerment through knowledge and prosperity for all who labor for it.
Won't you join us in our quest?
Shadow Portal - Our main guild portal.
Join Us! - Our recruitment application, it is fast and simple!
About Shadow - More summary information, for those who like to delve deep into guild literature before making a decision!
Shadow - Recruitment Video #2 - Our brand new "trailer", that gives you a recap of what
SHADOW is about and provides some additional information. This is just the start, expect more videos of our actual adventures as the game launches.
SHADOW - Recruitment Video #1 - This is just a short "recruitment" video for the guild, but it's fun, please have a look! When we get in the game, we'll be able to craft better videos, as we grab from the game directly and produce "recap" videos each month of our major story lines.
Character Profiles - includes information on the guild's current leader, Balar. This is just a work in progress.
Code of Conduct - Our "code of conduct" how we expect guild members to behave out-of-character to ensure a civil, drama-free, but fun guild for everyone.
SHADOW - Guild Structure Discussion - This links to our on-going discussion on how the guild will be structured, with sub-divisions, that will cater to different play styles and ambitions your character might have. Still a work-in-progress!
RP GUIDE A small "Player's Handbook", to help RPers have fun with our guild. This is particularly useful for people new to RP. This document is still a work-in-progress.
Methods & Events - This documents the various kind of RP events we're going to sponsor and how our RP will be structured. This is just a sketch and any feedback on the approach would be welcome.
SHADOW - Lore & History - This is a long Wiki page that goes into great detail about SHADOW's legacy and its lore. SHADOW has a history that spans back centuries into Forgotten Realm's history. Learn SHADOW's humble beginnings and how it has had a place in Faerun history ever since.
PM me here if you have any additional questions, or simply post a reply to this thread.
Thank you!
Comments
One of the unique things we offer is an actual "old school" Campaign Guide.
This project is currently a work-in-progress.
It is being written from several our guild members and dungeon masters. We will update it here periodically. The guide features tips on RP, plot hooks you can use as a player to integrate into our campaign, as well as tips from GMs on how to build, fun and popular modules with the Foundry. It is essentially much like any Campaign Guide you might download or purchase.
We'll also cover SHADOW and its unique history within Forgotten Realms, as well as its current relations with all the Neverwinter factions that are in the game.
Click the cover below to view our Campaign Guide. It is in PDF format.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating, I've been gaming with several of Shadow's members over the years, spanning different games (City of Heroes, Champions, WOW, Star Wars), I can attest that they are fair to a fault, treating each guild member equally and with respect. Events and story arcs are well thought out and FUN!!! The camaraderie is abundant as are the laughs- you'll feel like you've known everyone since high school (in a good way) in no time at all!
One of the reason's this all works is that Shadow has a strong foundation, pays attention to details, and wants everyone to come away a satisfied thieve.
Well, this is just one Wizard's perspective, but in my honest opinion, you can't go wrong gaming with this group!
Can't wait to get in game with all of you fine friends!
SHADOW provides an enviroment for those seeking power, fame, or fortune. It has a branch that studies lore, magic, forbidden secrets. It has a branch of mercenaries and thugs. It has a branch of power-hunger politically minded ambitious individuals, and it has a branch those those sneak thieves out there. Consider SHADOW, and help us found our guild. Upon release we will take our claim!
So, um, you're only interested in Evil and Unaligned characters at most?
- Titania Silverblade, the Iron Rose of Myth Drannor (Lvl 60 GWF, Destroyer)
- Gwyneth, the Cowardly Cat Burglar Drowling (Lvl 60 TR, Saboteur)
- Lady Rowanne Firehair, Heartwarder of Sune (Lvl 33 DC)
- Satella, Sensate (LvL 44 CW, Renegade, Non-Active)
Check Steppenkat's Foundry Quest Reviews!
Well first of all, thank you for the interest!
Secondly, let me get right to your questions:
1. We are a True Neutral alignment.
On the "good" side we do a lot of charity work, we help the poor a lot and we are suspicious of people like Lord Neverember who tend to exploit them and keep them impoverished. We actively try to rebuild Neverwinter. We run literacy programs. We run free theatrical events.
On the "not so good" side, we crave knowledge and power. Not necessarily always for ourselves, but for the group as a whole. Some of our members are more self-serving than others, but we take a solemn oath to protect one another like brethren. We do steal, although our stealing has a "Robin Hood" edge to it. We do get deeply involved with politics and intrigue, but often to constrain despots and cads. We do spy. We do like to make money, but we often invest it back into our "good" programs.
We're not saints, that's for sure, but we are not legitimately evil.
I believe, if you want to be "good for nothing hero", you'll find plenty of hooks with our guild.
2. Drow Renegade
I wanted to point out how this is something SHADOW is geared towards. I am in the midst of building our Campaign Guide, that among other things will list how SHADOW perceives and is perceived by the canon factions of Neverwinter.
With the Drow, we are in trouble!
The Drow matriarchy hate us. We stole from them and we liberated 12 slaves recently that they owned (some of those slaves are now our members). So we'll be RPing a rivalry with the Drow matriarchy, that at times, is going to cause us major problems.
On the other hand, we RP that we have a fledgling and delicated diplomatic relationship with the Bregan D'Aerthe. So we have some allies in this fight as well! We are desperately looking for Bregan D'Aerthe themed characters and guilds to build alliances with them!
I mention all this because a Drow renegade, who has gone out on their own and defied the matriarchy could find natural hooks with us. But also if you wanted to play a very loyal Drow, it might not be a good fit, since most very loyal Drow consider SHADOW as enemies.
I hope that answers your questions!
Even if you feel SHADOW is not a perfect fit given our Neutral alignment, I respect that, but I'd ask you stay in touch with us, so we can still role play from time to time, you can never have too many RP friends I find! We'd love to help you in whatever way we can, even if you don't want to officially join us.
Good luck!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
My apologies for the frequent updates, but we're working hard here and I'd be remiss if I didn't update you on some of our work.
We have an update to our Campaign Guide! It now completes the "How to Role Play" chapter (for beginner role players who'd like to learn how to RP), as well covering all the actual lore and history of SHADOW in Chapter 2. This chapter provides all kinds of hooks for both Players and Dungeon Masters alike!
Finally, we've begun to describe SHADOW's relationship with the various factions of Neverwinter in Chapter 3. This chapter is still incomplete, but we hope to finish it later this week.
So click the cover below to view our Campaign Guide. It is in PDF format.
It's a fairly substantial download, about 2.2 MB in size and about 30 pages now in length! Our hope is that it looks and feels like a real Campaign Guide, that you might download or purchase at a gaming store! It is of course, utterly free of charge!
We're also in the early process of revamping our main page and other portal pages. This is also a work in progress. However, you can take a look at what we have so far here:
SHADOW - Web Portal
Comments and feedback are welcome!
ARTISTS!
One more note, yes we are contacting artists to use their art work. We are offering 25 dollars for any existing art work, you might have that you'd like included. No need to draw something new, sell us something you've already finished! We don't ask for exclusive use either, you can resell the image to whoever you want, we just want a usage license for our document. We will of course provide full credit and links to your work for readers to review and purchase!
Interested artists can PM me here, answer this thread, or visit us at our Web Portal.
We'll be commissioning ORIGINAL work soon as well, so stay tuned for that!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
I would say that evil and unaligned characters would tend toward us, more than we would tend toward them. I think we may already have some good aligned characters, who just don't care much for the law, in our guild as it is. The guild itself is true neutral, characters vary.
The only alignments that might conflict with the guild are chaotic evil (because we have to respect each other in the guild), and lawful good (because we WILL be breaking a number of laws in Neverwinter). Anything in between those alignments easily can fit in, if they behaive. In fact, if a chaotic evil could behaive somewhat, then even they wouldn't be turned away. Also, you could play lawful good, if you want to be an undercover cop so to speak. I think that'd be fun.
Ewan Greedbelly - Player Video
This is the kind of creativity we love in our guild! Won't you please join us?
Those of you looking for updates to our Campaign Guide PDF, expect an update in a few days, the document is fleshing out nicely now. I'll update this thread when there's a new release!
Thank you everyone for your support, we grow slowly, but steadily each day!
Check us out at: http://nwshadow.enjin.com
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
No major updates to the Campaign Guide yet, but we hope to publish an entire new chapter later today!
I did want to highlight that we've been busy though!
First off, we have yet another member of our campaign/guild offer up another cool video for SHADOW. In this episode, EC Greenbelly checks out the dark corridors underneath the Driftwood Inn, to see if it will suit SHADOW for a secret base. Find out what he sees!
SHADOW - New Promotional Video
Also if you haven't already, check out our SHADOW recruitment video here:
SHADOW - Recruitment Video
I also wanted to highlight a very cool side project that's one of our members stewards here:
SIGIL - Planar Legends
The above is a link to a community that has lovingly recreated Sigil in Neverwinter Nights I. It has a public server you can connect to and role play in RIGHT NOW.
We will be linking to this project and providing some narrative bridges between it and SHADOW. This is a little tricky as the cosmology has been altered a little in 4e, but we're working on hammering that out and will publish the findings accordingly in our Campaign Guide.
In the meantime, use this as a superb surrogate for your RP!
More updates tomorrow, thank you everyone for your interest. We're growing slowly but steadily. Members, be sure to check out our forum for some Open RP, we got a hot thread going there too, which can help you get a taste of RP for Neverwinter, as well as help you practice role play your character!
Interested?
Click our logo below to learn more about us, or click my signature below that:
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Looking forward to meeting everyone and having a great time in game!
Thank you sansin! We are very glad to have you!
I am currently working on the Campaign Guide, after a few hours on the MMO-RP mumble server talking with other guild leaders. The mumble meeting was small, but it led to a lot of good will and some great ideas. I am pretty excited about all the potential here!
Within the Campaign Guide, I am fleshing out SHADOW's initial relationship with the various canonical factions in the game (not to violate canon of course but to describe our relation with them to facilitate plots and ideas for the Foundry).
I'd love input from any of you on that topic. I don't want to "own" this guild, I really just want to facilitate it, channel all our ideas, keep it all structured for us, but I look to all guild members for creative input!
For my own personal first set of adventures for SHADOW, I've chosen the Ashmadai and Mordai Vell as our initial nemesis. I'm pretty excited about it! Details to follow on this thread in a few days.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
I am pleased to tell you all that we have updated our "old school" Campaign Guide.
It is now 40 pages of cool, fun information!
Although the document is not complete, our new chapter on the Neverwinter Factions is completed!
How does SHADOW feel about Lord Neverember? About the Dead Rats? What does SHADOW think of Lolth or the Duergar? Is SHADOW connected to the Shadovar? Find out!
The purpose of this chapter is to describe how SHADOW relates to each of the major in-game canonical factions, so that our Dungeon Masters and Players can craft characters and stories to weave into our campaign!
This project is still a work-in-progress! You can expect more updates next week.
It is being written from several our guild members and dungeon masters. We will update it here periodically. The guide features tips on RP, plot hooks you can use as a player to integrate into our campaign, as well as tips from GMs on how to build, fun and popular modules with the Foundry. It is essentially much like any Campaign Guide you might download or purchase.
Click the cover below to view our Campaign Guide. It is in PDF format.
For more information about SHADOW please visit the following:
http://nwshadow.enjin.com
...or click the following to view our cool 2-minute recruitment video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCE-8L69vYo
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Thank you, it is great to have you! And thank you for the compliment on the site, I worry it doesn't quite shine enough (not as much as our players do anyway), so that made me very happy to see you liked our site.
I'd welcome anyone who might have feedback on how we could improve it:
http://nwshadow.enjin.com
We should have a new movie out next week, that should help "spruce" up the site next week. Stay tuned!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Come check us out if you want in: http://nwshadow.enjin.com
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Please check us out for the latest info on what we're up to here: http://nwshadow.enjin.com
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
We have screen shots of the run, as well as some other characters in the guild here:
SHADOW - Beta Weekend 3 Gallery
My thanks to Draus, Koth, Tabarkus, Oriah, Greedbelly and Jerinor for their inclusion in the gallery. Balar is in there too. I didn't get half the SHADOW members who were online this weekend, but hope to snag a few more before the window closes!
We'll post more screens as well as a new trailer from the weekend in the days ahead. Here's a sample of one of the screen shots:
You can learn more about us here:
http://nwshadow.enjin.com
In game I can be reached at @Ryger5
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
There's much more to come, a film is being made to produce yet another trailer, as well as a very cool Wiki update and another chapter in our Campaign Guide to be completed by the weekend.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
And welcome to all new members!
..actually i think all of enjin.com is down ATM.
Thank you for the kind words! Yeah enjin picks weird times for maintenance sometimes!
Good news is enjin is back up and the portal is up and running again:
http://nwshadow.enjin.com
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
We just finished our first official write-up and mock comic book!
This is the first guild canon to be documented as a result of role play in the game! It is just the start of a really fabulous story that YOU can help participate in and help sculpt and design!
Check it all out here:
SHADOW - The Hunt for Ravus
You can also just click the title image above!
I provide screen shots that is a little like comic book cells. This tells the whole story both with narrative and visually. I also provide a really quick recap of the event, as briefly as I can below that.
Finally, I end with "teasers" that talk about what might happen next time, basically plot hooks that we can pick up on, or utilize!
This has officially "happened" now. So we can use this in our RP moving forward.
NOTE: I took the Fire Opal gem that was talked about in one of our Open RP threads on our forum and added it as a plot hook!
So even our forum RP often yields plot hooks and becomes part of the campaign lore. I tend to do this, sometimes Open RP threads can be a great way to establish story!
My sincere thanks again to Koth, Greedbelly and Ulick for providing the RP and the Foundry content respectively!
Now that this is "canon" is should not stop you from seeking out Ulick's "The Hunt for Ravus" and run it on your own, even if it is OOC, it is still a fun adventure!
You can find Ulick's content by subscribing to the content author: @stucool66
Later this week: An update to our SHADOW Campaign Guide, with a brand new Player's Guide on character creation and background hooks for your characters, as well as an update on actual Neverwinter lore you can tap into as a Player.
Come join us! Click the image below to come to our site and join in on the fun!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
We have more artwork coming to our site! Commissions have been established!
We're also knee-deep in planning our RP for the opening launch. Won't you come join us for our discussion?
SHADOW is growing daily now, with new members coming online all the time. But we still need YOUR great creative ideas and vivid imagination. Won't you please join us?
http://nwshadow.enjin.com
And look for a critical update to our SHADOW - Campaign Guide to come on Friday!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!