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Old school D&D
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Member Posts: 5,050,278 Bounty Hunter
Greetings all!
I started playing D&D back in the 80s. Sadly, I stopped playing in the early 90s and only recently got back into D&D and RPG-based video games. I've never played the original Neverwinter games (NWN1, Baldur's Gate, etc.) Friends that have played those, have told me how much fun they were. About two years ago, when I got back into playing video games, I had a renewed desire to play medieval RPGs. First, I discovered Oblivion. It rocked, of course! Then, I discovered DDO. It was my first MMO-RPG experience. The combat system and 3.5 rules were much to my tastes. However, I soon got tired of the Eberron world, with its robots and advanced technology. I'm sure there are those that like that kind of campaign world, but I, for one, honestly hate it. I still play DDO, but am not very enthusiastic about it. Druids nor gnomes even exist it it, and Warforged run about the streets more commonly than elves, or even humans sometimes. Knowing my dissatisfaction for the Eberron world, a friend from DDO told me about a new discovery he made--Neverwinter. So, here I am. I'm old school (1st edition/2nd edition background), and truly appreciate Gygax's vision for the game and genre. I appreciate a good story, authentic environs, dungeon crawls, flavor and depth to quests, characters, npcs, and the campaign world. Though, not a big fan of 4th edition, I can live with that, as long as Neverwinter provides a game world where I can finally feel free of robots and space technology mingled wrongly into my beloved medieval fantasy world. I'm looking forward to a world like Faerun. I remember playing Forgotten Realms when it was first launched in a boxed set. I really liked it. And, although I was more of a Greyhawk fan, myself; FR was often a world in which my friends and I would game and even campaign. So, I'm looking forward to Neverwinter. The Foundry system sounds like a lot of fun, and hopefully will open a new dimension for gamers to create the worlds they prefer, rather than being stuck in a game world that just doesn't make sense or seems to be pandering to a generation of attention deficit kiddies that just HAVE TO HAVE their robots and laser guns and instant gratification.
May I suggest to Cryptic a few ideas (which may or may not have already been mentioned my many before me):
Please stay as true as possible to Gary Gygax's vision and ideal for what Dungeons and Dragons is supposed to be (i.e. a fun, imaginative experience with friends where a great story is told, great characters are made and played, and where the flavor of the game and experience far outweighs the gear and loot won). Please don't make this another Monty Hall game like DDO or WOW. Please also, put dragons in this game. One failing of DDO that I have made constant note of is the lack of dragons. In fact, I think the total number of dragons in that game you can count on two hands (including npc dragons). However, it seems that beholders are around every corner in contradistinction. Why it is not called Robots and Beholders, I know not. Anyway, please include the classic classes and races in the game, and exclude things that just don't fit into a medieval fantasy campaign world (i.e. include druids and gnomes and half-elves that can actually look like Tanis Half-elven...and please do not include silly robots, laser guns, flying airships with glowing cheerios of elemental power floating them around.) Please let alignments actually matter for characters (i.e. Drows were always an evil race, so let them be so.) Oh, and please allow the game the use of xbox or logitech controllers for keymapping as an option, as that makes the game so much more relaxing and enjoyable for me.
Thanks for your time Cryptic and Neverwinter! And, to all those players already here on the forums waiting so ever patiently for this game to release, I thank you all for reading my thoughts and my introduction. I look forward to hearing from you here, as well as gaming with you in the future. Thank you all!
I started playing D&D back in the 80s. Sadly, I stopped playing in the early 90s and only recently got back into D&D and RPG-based video games. I've never played the original Neverwinter games (NWN1, Baldur's Gate, etc.) Friends that have played those, have told me how much fun they were. About two years ago, when I got back into playing video games, I had a renewed desire to play medieval RPGs. First, I discovered Oblivion. It rocked, of course! Then, I discovered DDO. It was my first MMO-RPG experience. The combat system and 3.5 rules were much to my tastes. However, I soon got tired of the Eberron world, with its robots and advanced technology. I'm sure there are those that like that kind of campaign world, but I, for one, honestly hate it. I still play DDO, but am not very enthusiastic about it. Druids nor gnomes even exist it it, and Warforged run about the streets more commonly than elves, or even humans sometimes. Knowing my dissatisfaction for the Eberron world, a friend from DDO told me about a new discovery he made--Neverwinter. So, here I am. I'm old school (1st edition/2nd edition background), and truly appreciate Gygax's vision for the game and genre. I appreciate a good story, authentic environs, dungeon crawls, flavor and depth to quests, characters, npcs, and the campaign world. Though, not a big fan of 4th edition, I can live with that, as long as Neverwinter provides a game world where I can finally feel free of robots and space technology mingled wrongly into my beloved medieval fantasy world. I'm looking forward to a world like Faerun. I remember playing Forgotten Realms when it was first launched in a boxed set. I really liked it. And, although I was more of a Greyhawk fan, myself; FR was often a world in which my friends and I would game and even campaign. So, I'm looking forward to Neverwinter. The Foundry system sounds like a lot of fun, and hopefully will open a new dimension for gamers to create the worlds they prefer, rather than being stuck in a game world that just doesn't make sense or seems to be pandering to a generation of attention deficit kiddies that just HAVE TO HAVE their robots and laser guns and instant gratification.
May I suggest to Cryptic a few ideas (which may or may not have already been mentioned my many before me):
Please stay as true as possible to Gary Gygax's vision and ideal for what Dungeons and Dragons is supposed to be (i.e. a fun, imaginative experience with friends where a great story is told, great characters are made and played, and where the flavor of the game and experience far outweighs the gear and loot won). Please don't make this another Monty Hall game like DDO or WOW. Please also, put dragons in this game. One failing of DDO that I have made constant note of is the lack of dragons. In fact, I think the total number of dragons in that game you can count on two hands (including npc dragons). However, it seems that beholders are around every corner in contradistinction. Why it is not called Robots and Beholders, I know not. Anyway, please include the classic classes and races in the game, and exclude things that just don't fit into a medieval fantasy campaign world (i.e. include druids and gnomes and half-elves that can actually look like Tanis Half-elven...and please do not include silly robots, laser guns, flying airships with glowing cheerios of elemental power floating them around.) Please let alignments actually matter for characters (i.e. Drows were always an evil race, so let them be so.) Oh, and please allow the game the use of xbox or logitech controllers for keymapping as an option, as that makes the game so much more relaxing and enjoyable for me.
Thanks for your time Cryptic and Neverwinter! And, to all those players already here on the forums waiting so ever patiently for this game to release, I thank you all for reading my thoughts and my introduction. I look forward to hearing from you here, as well as gaming with you in the future. Thank you all!
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Hope to see you more on the boards and possibly in the game.
Hope to see you in game!
If in your journey you seek a guild to aid you on your way, then might I suggest you make your way to the that notice board over there and look at the Directory of the Founder Guilds of Neverwinter as I'm sure you will find something that will take your fancy.
Additionally, if you should be seeking a friendly guild that is accepting of all and already has a strong presence in Neverwinter, then might I suggest you look at my own guild, The Neverwinter Knights as we may well be what you seek. All the best.
Regards,
Gov
That is to say, D&D has always provided a template, but the actual flavor of your play was always up to you. Indeed, let's not forget very old modules like "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks", that demonstrate just how varied this vision can be. This is the vision that was endorsed by Gygax:
Make this game your own. There are no rules, only guidelines and each campaign is unique to you and your group.
On that note, the Foundry is the saving grace of the game.
Here we have the precise toolset to sculpt campaigns and adventures that can accommodate just about any campaign style or personal taste there is. And it is varied set of tastes. What is "definitively D&D" to you is not "definitively D&D" to others. Ultimately, the only real entity that decides what gets branded as D&D and what does not, is Wizards of the Coast.
So if you want a campaign, that matches your personal interpretation of D&D, then this game precisely accommodates it.
Indeed, probably more than any MMO to come along, this truly embraces the spirit of D&D, which is to provide a basic construct of rules and guidelines, from which individuals and groups can sculpt the fantasy/campaigns that they'd personally like to see.
Remember, as far back as the 80's, D&D provided things as dark as Ravenloft, as campy and power-gaming as Tomb of Horrors, as hack and slash as "Against the Giants", as riddle-focused and puzzle-oriented as "White Plume Mountain" and provided a wide array of tomes. Fiend Folio was distinctly unlike Monster Manual and in turn different than Monster Manual II.
If you browse through old Dragon issues, you'll see the "controversy" over the Anti-Paladin article, or the debate about Bards (who didn't really become a canonical part of D&D for many until years later) and most certainly the evolution of Dark Elves, from their rather campy debut in Queen of the Demonweb Pits, to their mass-market, generic appeal in the work of Salvatore.
It's a tapestry, a village, a wide array of taste, style and experience. It's a canvas, paint on it, as you like.
The beauty is, this is how D&D was always intended to be and precisely what Neverwinter offers us.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!