Neverwinter Lore

courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

So we are about nine days out until the official release of Neverwinter the new Dungeons and Dragons MMO. It's really quite an exciting time to be a Dungeons and Dragons fan with two mmos to choose from. Justin Olivetti over at massively has done a good job of highlighting some of the differences between the two game settings in what is sure to be a long running debate between fans of both games. Personally, I have decided to upgrade my rig just in time for summer break so I can have a chance at enjoying this great looking game.

Just like I did when DDO released their expansions a few months back with the Drow, I bring you some resources for info. on the new setting, though some long time fans may already be familiar with it, it is always cool to have some background on the game settings for the Dungeons and Dragons newbs and the rest of us who did not get a chance to spend a lot of time in the pen and paper game world of 4E.

For starters here is a link to an excerpt of the Neverwinter Campaign guide from the folks at Wizards of the Coast and provided by the good DDO community. It is an excellent resource for lore and backstory on Neverwinter, while it may not be a game guide for the mmo masses, those who are interested in the story will appreciate having it as a handy reference.  There is also some good info here from WoTC. Here is a link to the various factions that play in the game.

There is also this wiki page with info on the Forgotten Realms which I found helpful and finally the link to the official campaign guide to Neverwinter is a must have and a fountain of info, especially for the mmo players who will be messing around with the foundry.

Whether back story is important to you or not when you play Neverwinter, I hope you find these resources fun to wade through and provide the necessary background to refer to when the game finally drops later this month.

History of the Drow: DDO's Latest Expansion Features Familiar Foes

Everything old is new again eh? It would seem the same applies to DDO whose new announced expansion coming this June "Menace of the Underdark." is an intriguing virtual retooling of the old Forgotten Realms setting first made popular by TSR more than 20 years ago.

There are plenty of sites out there including Ten Ton Hammer and Massively which have all the details about Turbine's new expansion. Instead, I want to focus more on the history of the drow, the race which is heavily featured in the campaign setting in which this new expansion is based on, so I dusted off my old copy of The Drow of the the Underdark (available on paperback on ebay and similar places online) and brushed up on the history of DDO's new/old fantasy campaign setting.

The Drow or dark elves, are a fearsome and mysterious race to most surface dwellers in the realms. The most dangerous of the drow, are wizards. They can become quite powerful and often appear in the company of strange familiars. What's the connection with the drow and spiders? Well, they have a strong affinity for arachnids, Most of them worship the spider goddess Lolth,
whose priestesses dominate drow society.

Lolth will most certainly be making an appearance in DDO's new expansion, as she is central to the drow. I am guessing she will be a high level boss, but there are many other gods or creatures which can make an appearance which dwell from the forgotten Realms. For example there is VHaeraun, a lesser god, the god of thievery, and then there are the monsters native to the region.

"Deep Bats," werebats, deep dragons, and Rothe are just a handful of creatures which may or may not make it into the video game version of the Forgotten Realms, but with such a rich history, the game will have plenty of adversaries to confront in parties or solo play.

If you want to read more about the lore and history of both the Drow or the Forgotten Realms, you can head over to wizards of the coast and look up some of the books explaining the elements of this campaign. Alternatively, you can visit the ddo Menace of the underdark website which has info. on the new expansion. Players will be able to play the druid class and I should probably also mention that the new ddo expansion is going to raise the level cap to 25, which means I hope to be getting some toons to max level. I have been very busy playing through my subscription of DAoC, but I hope to play some DDO this spring in preparation for what appears to be a fun expansion.