Neverwinter Nights: How an AD&D Dungeon Master Learned to Love D&D 3E

Neverwinter Nights was published in 2002. It was a hopelessly mediocre game. The plot was an endless stream of lazy cliches and tired tropes. The non-payer characters were two dimensional and unlikable. The level design was uninspired.
By the end of 2003 it was the best fRPG on the market, and (arguably) it still is.
The release of Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark were significant improvements over the original game, but that's not what made NWN the best computer fantasy roleplaying game ever made. That honor goes to its fans.
NWN was made to be modded. It came bundled with an on-board toolset. The base game files include a hak folder specifically designed to insert custom content into the game, and Bioware was careful to make sure that the graphics requirements for custom models and animations could be met using freeware.
The result was an explosion of custom content with levels of quality that met, and often even surpassed, the official assets.
Combine this with Bioware's unique DM game client and NWN became nothing less than the first D&D dedicated virtual tabletop.
Free Download:
This Mod file has never been released before. It is my custom build of the city of Rel Mord, from The World of Greyhawk, and the surrounding areas. This is not a stand-alone module. It is a start point intended to be modified and used as a campaign location. Features include DMFI tools, perma-death, restricted rest areas, ridable horses, and an alignment driven temple system capable of raising corpse drops.
Haks are required. Download links provided:
Community Expansion Pack:
neverwintervau...
Classic Dungeon Tileset:
neverwintervau...
Urk's Rel Mord Campaign module:
drive.google.c...
I haven't used this mod in many years. You may find a few glitches. Players will spawn into a DM lounge. This is an OOC area where players can gather before a DM session begins. There is a tourist portal in the Trophy Room. This will allow players to tour the map. The DM should remove this portal before beginning the campaign, but I have found it useful to let players tour the map and shop before the first session. Only a few have been killed doing this.
Players will begin the game with only a staff, some DMFI tools, and some money.
Death is permanent. Resurrections are expensive. Attempts to resurrect characters who are not in the designated death area will fail.

[@saltysoykaf2104]

It's always great to see a NWN video on youtube :D

[@The_Gallowglass]

3.5 Is my favorite incarnation of D&D. I've played AD&D 1st edition, 2nd ed and nobody I know would even play 4th edition. 5e I don't mind, but 3.5 is my favorite.

[@DoctorEviloply]

Neverwinter Nights was my childhood. As a young kid it was the first thing to turn me on to the power of tabletop RPGs. I spent hours making my own modules. And hours more on the various persistant world servers. If it wasn't for Neverwinter Nights, I may never have found out about tabletop RPGs and how great they are.

[@grumpyoldgrognard9561]

I was a little tiny bit older than you. I was a 20+ year veteran DM when NWN came out, but it was a real life saver when my wife and I moved to NOLA for her internship. I started and ran a custom Greyhawk campaign I built in Aurora for 3 years. Good times!

[@ricardojuanlopeznaranjo6651]

I started playing D&D in 1986, here in Spain. Later moved to a mix of 1st, 2d AD&D and D&D and have all the fun I could with It. Stopped playing with 3ed and CAME back a few years ago with AS&SH (now hyperborea) and ACKS. Dont like 4 or 5e, they are based on computer games and MMORPG's, not in fantasy literature ir comics but I enjoyed Neverwinter Nights custom content too.

[@grumpyoldgrognard9561]

I was not even a fan of 3E, but NWN saved my gaming life when I first moved to New Orleans. We were a single car family with a small apartment. There was no way I could have maintained a weekly PnP campaign.

[@rammur]

some servers still to this days that have been runnin steady for 20+ years now lol some huge ones too 300+ players at least on one of em

[@PeterNorthsLeftTesticle]

I ran a campaign using NWN for 12 years.

[@grumpyoldgrognard9561]

Your name rings a bell. What was your NWC handle?

[@PeterNorthsLeftTesticle]

@@grumpyoldgrognard9561 Oh man. I think I used NWN DM a lifetime ago.

[@grumpyoldgrognard9561]

That rings a bell, too. You were a HOF DM on the old NeverwinterConnections site. My handle there was UrKnightErrant. Peeps called me "Urk."

[@ThePaladinWorld]

Great video.

[@grumpyoldgrognard9561]

Thanks!