Minsc & Boo in Neverwinter xD

Akerhon

Greetings adventures!

As you might know, we’ll be seeing some familiar faces in Neverwinter pretty soon and we’ve got Simon Lucas of the Neverwinter team to tell us about integrating these iconic characters into Neverwinter! Check out what he has to say about bringing Minsc and Boo to life in Neverwinter:

One of the most exciting parts of working with an established IP is the chance to add familiar and much-loved elements into the game for fans and players to enjoy. Sometimes these elements are small, Easter Egg-type additions, or background information only the dedicated players will pick up on. Other times we get to use classic or iconic D&D characters and place them front and center in our game. Our next module is one of those times.

Minsc and Boo are two extremely colorful and much-loved characters from the Forgotten Realms lore, and we’re bringing them to Neverwinter for the first time with the release of the Elemental Evil module. The quirky ranger and his miniature giant space hamster companion were last seen in the Legends of Baldur’s Gate comic series by IDW, having spent the previous century petrified as statues.

Restored to flesh and blood and once more roaming the Realms, Minsc and Boo are bold and humorous companions and steadfast allies. Now players will have the chance to adventure alongside the intrepid pair and uncover the secrets behind the rise of Elemental Evil.

Through a series of introductory quests the heroes of Neverwinter discover a terrible plot that threatens the whole of the Sword Coast.

The story opens with the players meeting the Archdruid Morningdawn in Protector’s Enclave. He has been escorted to the city bearing a precious package—the Tree of Elemental Balance. His escort on this important trek was the famous ranger, Minsc. As always, Minsc is accompanied by his faithful companion, Boo. Thus introduced to the pair, players get to adventure alongside them and investigate the rise of Elemental Evil.

Throughout their adventures together, players can expect a healthy dose of Minsc’s irrepressible and enthusiastic optimism. Minsc persistently encourages players to take the fight to the enemy, placing armored boots on elemental backsides with righteous fury.

As the story unfolds, the heroes discover the extent of the danger and must save Neverwinter from destruction. Through this quest line Minsc and Boo fight alongside the heroes, providing information and assistance in Minsc’s own, inimitable style. GO FOR THE EYES, BOO!

- Simon Lucas, Neverwinter Designer

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9068263-dev-blog:-minsc-&-boo-in-neverwinter

elminster

Just when you thought they couldn't overuse these characters anymore...

CaeDares

While I'm a personal fan of Neverwinter NIghts (Not Neverwinter Nights 2 and not more than the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series) I don't exactly like the changes they're making to the game...Wanting to add characters? Cool, but adding someone like Minsc? The time period between the Baldur's Gate Series and the Neverwinter Nights game would mean that Minsc should be long dead from age (Hopefully!). If you were to only include Boo into the game as a summonable familiar for Mage-Type classes, that'd be extremely awesome, but leaving Minsc in the mix is a no-go for me.

scriver

@CaeDares -
1. This is not about the Neverwinter Nights from 2002, it's about the recent mmo called Neverwinter.

2. BG takes place in 1368, NwN takes place in 1372. That's a difference of four years. While NW the mmo does take place some 100 years after that, that doesn't matter anyway because

3. The article explains how Minsc came to be there - he was petrified and stood as a statue in Baldur's Gate and then was brought back to life.

CaeDares

scriver said:

@CaeDares -
1. This is not about the Neverwinter Nights from 2002, it's about the recent mmo called Neverwinter.

2. BG takes place in 1368, NwN takes place in 1372. That's a difference of four years. While NW the mmo does take place some 100 years after that, that doesn't matter anyway because

3. The article explains how Minsc came to be there - he was petrified and stood as a statue in Baldur's Gate and then was brought back to life.

I guess I forgot all about the MMO, I didn't play it for long because it seemed like another knock-off of other games, which didn't appeal to me.
Thanks for explaining that.

scriver

Yes, I thought the same. I'm sorry if I sounded brusque, by the way.

Also, it might interest you to know that even the NwN and NwN2 of the 00's were knock-offs of a sort: The original Neverwinter Nights was released in 91 and was one of the first mmos. So ironically the crappy modern mmo might actually be more in line with the franchise's roots than the games that we came to know and like.

Kaltzor

I dunno if Minsc is enough to start playing Neverwinter... It's an uninteresting enough of a game that not even Minsc can save it...

Nuin

It's a dignified action game. The gameplay is heavily twitch-based, so it's definitely not for your average RPGer looking for a strategy game.
All in all it attracts a very different kind of crowd, usually one with much faster fingers. Hardcore RPers prefer D&D Online afaik.

Coutelier

I remember in the comic there was a statue of Minsc and Boo that was brought to life by a wild magic surge. I think if the real Minsc and Boo had been petrified, someone would have rescued him already, like Aerie who would still be alive, unless she was off exploring the planes for a long time.

the_spyder

One question I don't see answered and that is who will be voicing the big lugg?

I don't play the Neverwinter mmo, nor do I intend to start now. Just saying that if they are going to do it, hopefully they will do it right.

Just a minor after note to @CaeDares (or anyone who loves BG and is interested in more of that world)- I am not saying that NWN2 is anything to write home to Momma about, but have you ever heard of a Persistent world in NWN2 called 'The Sword Coast Chronicles'? It is (or was, It looks like it still exists, but I don't know what the game play is like these days) someone's lovingly made attempt at bringing the Baldur's gate landscape to the NWN engine. And they actually did a pretty good job of it in my opinion. If it weren't for a few of the rules that they implemented, and the fact that I got a life somewhere along the way, I'd still be playing it.

kcwise

And now we can say that Minsc & Boo have visited Greyhawk as well? From what little I've read this MMO addition is part of a greater Elemental Evil story arc which includes The Temple of Elemental Evil, a Greyhawk classic (not sure if the temple features in the MMO adventure or not). Of course, it has no doubt been stripped of any Greyhawk elements.

Nuin

Neverwinter is set in the Forgotten Realms. As a high magic setting, it makes sense that certain constructs/beings/ideas from other universes would "inexplicably" end up there from time to time. I doubt the actual temple would make an appearance (the mod is officially titled "Elemental Evil") but some old god may be forcefully trying to exert his power in the area or something.

Anyway crossovers don't seem to be a rare occurence. Afaik the most recent mod t involved Tiamat, who in 4th edition is also Takhisis of the Dragonlance pantheon. She is trying to enter the Forgotten Realms through some bizarre ritual involving the Thayans and the Cult of the Dragon, and Elminster and co. are doing their damndest to try and stop her. Linu Laeral from Neverwinter Nights actually makes an appearance there.

kcwise

Hey, there's always Spelljamming to explain it. Some wise arse with a fleet of ships strapped some cables on the temple and carried it to Faerun. Totally plausible! Either that or it got all misty and managed to slip into Ravenloft before being plopped out somewhere in the Forgotten Realms. OR some dummy opened the wrong door in the temple and sucked the whole thing into the Planescape universe, where it was bartered away by otherplanar beings to some crazy undead monster in the Realms. "One used Elemental Evil Temple, reasonably priced. Minions not included. Please contact The Nameless One."

Since Ed Greenwood originally imagined the Realms as a place connected to many other places (even our own world) through portals, you're right that there's certainly no reason the Temple of Elemental Evil or any other element from another universe might not show up.

From what I'm told the Dungeons & Dragons Online universe (Eberron) has recently had quite a bit of crossover with the Realms too. Just like in comic books, a crossover can be a lot of fun.

Squire

Meh. Never played Neverwinter - it looks to me like just another World of Warcraft - and the inclusion of a BG character isn't going to make me start.

Besides, I more or less lost interest in the D&D franchise when 4e happened, particularly FR lore...I have no idea what happened after the Spellplague (other than a bunch of deities died), and I stopped following FR after that.

Teflon

Yes go for the eyes boo!

the_spyder

Nuin said:

Anyway crossovers don't seem to be a rare occurence. Afaik the most recent mod t involved Tiamat, who in 4th edition is also Takhisis of the Dragonlance pantheon. She is trying to enter the Forgotten Realms through some bizarre ritual involving the Thayans and the Cult of the Dragon, and Elminster and co. are doing their damndest to try and stop her. Linu Laeral from Neverwinter Nights actually makes an appearance there.

Even in real life, religions often have similar Deity constructs across multiple religions. There are absolutely parallels between Greek, Norse and Egyptian divinities. It is not uncommon for like concepts to be influenced by, or even derived from the same core belief yet be from widely differing cultures, even to the point of having never interacted (or rarely).

In Baldur's gate, you can encounter Knights of Solomnia and creatures from Dark Sun. So presumably Greyhawk is there somewhere also.

And Lolth exists in both Greyhawk and Faerun under the exact same name so....

wubble

the_spyder said:

There are absolutely parallels between Greek, Norse and Egyptian divinities.

Aren't you forgetting the Roman divinities? If there are any parallels between pantheons it's there.

the_spyder

@wubble - LOL. Yes, Roman as well.

The point is, if they want to find a reason to re-use ideas from one 'Realm' to the next, they have a plethora of options to choose from.

Nuin

I remember that there used to be a magazine in which the strongest wizards in D&D (Elminster, Mordenkainen and Dalamar, Raistlin's successor) would meet and discuss/exchange spell ideas, which is also helps explain why we have spells like Mordenkainen's Sword in FR.
So it's not just that there are odd commonalities between these different settings, they do exist in the same higher plane and in fact do interact directly in some ways. Spelljammers and Sigil (two elements that guarantee that these universes are already, at least indirectly, affecting each other) have already been mentioned.

Akerhon

Maybe they want Minsc in BG3
during or after the plague... ?_?