Announcing The Blades of Netheril, an unofficial sequel to the Neverwinter Nights OC
LukeScull
Member Posts: 17
Fantasy author and Ossian Studios lead designer Luke Scull is thrilled to announce The Blades of Netheril, an unofficial sequel to the Neverwinter Nights original campaign! The story is a direct continuation of the Wailing Death storyline. Cast out in disgrace and erased from Neverwinter's history, the hero is thrust into a struggle between ancient powers that could ultimately rewrite the fate of Faerûn. Familiar faces will return alongside new allies and enemies as the player embarks on an epic quest that is both world-changing and deeply personal.
The Blades of Netheril will be split into three chapters each approaching an expansion in scope. Each chapter will include:
• 20+ hours of gameplay
• A fully narrated intro cinematic
• Deadly new monsters to fight
• New portraits and a gorgeous world map
• New music
• The level of quality one would expect from an official campaign or premium module
The first chapter begins in Skullport, also known as the Port of Shadows—a city of slavers, monsters and villains festering far below Waterdeep. Waking up in a dark cell with no memory of they how they came to be there, the hero will discover a dark conspiracy that spans the breadth of the Forgotten Realms.
As well as acting as a direct sequel to the original campaign, The Blades of Netheril will serve as a sequel to Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark, and Luke’s previous AL series of modules.
The first chapter of the Blades of Netheril is targeting a release date of June 18th, 2022—exactly 20 years after Neverwinter Nights was originally released on Microsoft Windows. Subsequent chapters will follow six to 12 months later.
The Blades of Netheril is currently planned to be available free for owners of Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition on Windows/Mac OS X, while other versions may follow later. Multiplayer is planned but may be added post-release.
For regular updates on The Blades of Netheril, subscribe to Luke Scull’s Patreon. You can also visit his website at www.lukescull.com and follow him on twitter @Luke_Scull.
About Luke Scull:
Luke Scull was the lead designer and writer of NWNEE: Tyrants of the Moonsea, NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate, The Shadow Sun, and the Gemmell award nominated The Grim Company trilogy of novels. He also created the classic NWN Hall of Fame modules Siege of Shadowdale and Crimson Tides of Tethyr and is a veritable depository of Forgotten Realms lore. The Blades of Netheril is his personal project and has no affiliation with Ossian Studios.
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Comments
I intend to update my first two modules for NWNEE, but it's low on the list of priorities - hopefully I'll get it done before first chapter of The Blades of Netheril is released and Beamdog can add them to the curated modules menu.
The untold story of the Hero of Neverwinter's fate was a hook too good to resist. It made sense to link to the expansions and my (semi-official?) AL series and create a grand sequel that treats them all as part of one big continuity. This is what I'd have wanted as a player when NWNEE was first announced, and I hope it's something that will draw a sizeable audience of players even as a free download.
I absolutely agree - there were some great characters and story elements in the OC, which I'll be building on in The Blades of Netheril. The formulaic structure, respawning enemy mobs, and somewhat careless encounter design probably had their place in 2002, at least in terms of winning over more casual fans, but there won't be any of that here. I'll be taking inspiration from Daggerford, Tyrants, HotU, Swordflight, and others.
I'm involved in other commercial projects so the payment here will be in the satisfaction of bringing a long-term creative ambition to life. That said, new music, character models and particularly VO are expensive. I'm not particularly comfortable with the Patreon model either - but I'm not sure what alternatives are available outside of forming a team of folk all willing to work for free, and that's a level of time commitment that borders on the insane when I have other games and books to write and bills to pay.
Have anyone from Beamdog talked to you about adding this to the launcher, or will you only release it in the vault?
What is the AL series by the way? I'm not familiar with your work but this sounds really cool and I would love to have played your other adventures when starting this one. And do you need to use your character from the OC or is it possible to create a new one? Will a new character be to weak?
Also... "Waking up in a dark cell with no memory of they how they came to be there" is giving me "Oh Gods, you're gonna strip my inventory from my imported character, aren't you?!" vibes. :P
It'll be really nice to see a proper conclusion for the Hero of Neverwinter though. There are quite a few mods that have attempted to do it justice, but so far none have really struck the right chord for me. Out of curiosity, are you planning to have the OC romances (with Aribeth or Aerin) have any impact in Blades of Netheril? Will we see any of the old henchmen back (Linu, Tomi et al, barring Grimgnaw since he's dead and Deekin since he went on to finish his adventures with the SoU/HotU protagonist)?
Sometimes you get 3, 4 perhaps even FIVE dialogs' options that take you to the SAME ANSWER, this isnt role playing at all, this has a name, it's called DECEPTION.
I prefer 2 or 3 dialogs with 2 or 3 different asnwers, this is HONESTY, INTEGRITY and GOOD.
I mentioned your work here btw:
https://forum.neverwintervault.org/t/luke-scull-patreon-and-blades-of-netheril/4310
I just watched a video today saying that WotC are putting out a Magic College Prom story....
So glad someone is making good content.
I've not spoken to anyone at Beamdog.
You should use your character from the OC, if you have one. If not, you will be given the appropriate amount of experience to level-up a new character.
I'm afraid there will be an item strip - I'd rather be upfront about this. However, you will get ALL of your items back before the end of the first chapter.
"Maybe" to your question about romances and "Yes" to returning henchmen - as for whom and when, you'll have to wait and see!
So this new campaign start at high level right?
Thanks for the reply!
Nah, I don't agree. The point of different dialog options with the same answer is for your own ability to role-play your character, and creating different answers for every option would be unnecessary and time consuming because only people who like to reload conversations would ever see past the illusion.
Like in Planescape you often get the option to say something like,
"Yes, I agree." or "[Lie] Yes, I agree."
This is to make the game more satisfying for you as a player, even though the results are the same.
The only time this kind of design/writing doesn't work is when the answer you get truly don't fit the dialog option you choose.
Player, "I will save your dog."
NPC, "Please hurry and find him, noble soul!"
Player, "I will save your dog, but only so I can later sell it to a pet-shop to earn some easy gold."
NPC, "Please hurry and find him, noble soul!"
Any screenshots or more info on this anywhere?
You can keep up date with the project here: https://www.patreon.com/lukescull
Most of the posts are behind a Patreon subscription wall, but the bigger updates are public. I should have some screenshots soon!
The first chapter of the Blades of Netheril is targeting a release date of June 18th, 2022—exactly 20 years after Neverwinter Nights was originally released on Microsoft Windows. Subsequent chapters will follow six to 12 months later.