Game Review: Neverwinter Campaign Setting
Wow, I have to admit that I’ve been pretty excited about what Wizard’s of the Coast has been releasing lately. At GenCon I got to try out a press only sneak peak of the D&D Encounters adventure The Lost Crown of Neverwinter as run by James Wyatt, one of the creators of 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons. Other than the fact that I would have very much liked more than the hour we were allotted to see Mr. Wyatt’s GM style, I was impressed by the intricacy of the Neverwinter setting which is an expansion of the Forgotten Realms setting. To put things in perspective, I have never been a fan of the main FR campaign setting. It’s always been so large, such a broad inclusive setting that it felt like there was just too much to cover in one campaign.
Neverwinter, however, fits quite well into the new 4e “points of light” cosmology. Forgotten Realms fans may have been angered by the big 4th edition reboot which introduced the spell plague, a catastrophic magical flux caused by the death of the setting’s goddess of magic, Mystra, and advanced the settings timeline by 100 years. Neverwinter, so named because of its mild weather despite its location on North of Waterdeep on the Sword Coast, has escaped the spell plague until about 30 years ago when Mt. Hotenow erupted and wrought cataclysmic changes on the city-state and its environs. Only recently has the Open Lord of Waterdeep come to “aid” the locals in building a New Neverwinter, for the “good of the people” of course.
Neverwinter follows the excellent design choices of the recent Gloomwrought campaign setting, providing a broad description of the city, areas of interest, and power players. What’s really great about Neverwinter is that it’s specifically built for the Heroic tier of play, which encompasses the first 10 levels of character progression. This makes the setting itself useable to the vast majority of players who will be starting new Neverwinter games, rather than groups that might have been playing for a while as did the Gloomwrought setting. One issue I’ve had with D&D is that there’s always a great amount of support for 11th-20th level Paragon Tier play, but not as much for Heroic which encompasses 1st-10th level. Enough about my gripes though, lets get back to Neverwinter.
One of the things 4th edition has been doing recently is the introduction of character themes. It started with last year’s Dark Sun setting and has continued recently with a smattering of articles from D&D Insider. Themes harken back to the 2nd edition Kits, which were essentially an archetype that could be added to classes to give them more flavor and a little more customization. Continuing where Kits left off, themes provide story hooks and tie-ins specific to the Neverwinter setting. One of my favorites is the Neverwinter Noble, a lordling raised outside the city walls during its time of trouble, returned to claim their birthright and possibly the crown of Neverwinter itself. The theme provides a power called, “Take Heart, Friend!” that allows the Noble to grant one of his allies a +2 to their defenses and 5 temporary hit points until the end of their next turn. Thematically it feels like something a good leader could do, and rules wise it’s a nice little buff to keep your party on their feet during a tough fight.
The other themes of the setting are varied and allow for interesting inter party politics, and some other cool abilities. For those looking to add some lycanthropic flavor, their character can take the Dead Rat Deserter theme, or the Pack Outcast theme that gives them a shape-shifting ability to change into either a rat or a wolf respectively. Other themes include Oghma’s Faithful, the Harper Agent, Iliyanbruen Guardian for Eladrin, Uthgardt Barbarian, Heir of Delzoun for Dwarves, Renegade Red Wizard, Scion of Shadow, Devil’s Pawn, Spellscarred Harbinger, and the Bregan D’Aerthe Spy for those shifty Drow adventurers. Each can be used as a background for a character to add even more flavor and incremental bonuses to skills and languages associated with their theme.
Also there are some expansions and options for the Faerun versions of the core races: Sun and Moon elves for the Eladrin, Wild and Wood elves, and Gold and Shield dwarves. Also there’s a good number of Essentials style Domain powers for Correlon, Oghma, Selune, and Torm as well as suggestions on what Essentials Domains would work for the remaining Forgotten Realms deities. These extra touches along with the descriptions of other areas of interest dovetail nicely with the existing Forgotten Realms campaign book and Player’s Guide. All of this provides all sorts of customization and background ideas for your new or existing characters.
Probably the most exciting addition to the FR setting included in the Neverwinter Campaign Setting is a blast from the past, the Spellsinger. Inspiration for the Swordmage class included in the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide, the Spellsinger is an ancient Elf and Eladrin tradition that combines those race’s mastery of blade and spell seamlessly. Mechanically the class is a Controller Wizard class with access to leather armor and better weapons and restricted to Elves, Eladrin, and (maybe) Half-Elves. In fact many of the Spellsinger spells are slightly different versions of the Wizard’s repertoire. The difference arises from the fact that a Spellsinger uses his blade to make the attack, and after his weapon attack the spell automatically hits the same or another target within range for Dexterity modifier damage of whatever the spells damage type is.
Spellsingers were one of my favorite class combos from 2nd edition AD&D, and one of the few reasons I had any interest in Forgotten Realms. It’s this reimagining of the wonderful flavor of 2nd edition AD&D coupled with the great art and user friendly 4th edition rules that has marked an improvement in the quality of game material being produced by Wizards of the Coast. Sadly when pressed for answers as to future releases all of the Wizards representatives that I spoke with gave very polite, but vague replies as to the future direction of Dungeons & Dragons and what sort of products we might look forward to in the coming years. Not surprising given that it feels at times that there is a schism between what WotC wants to do, what the market will bear, and what Hasbro will allow them to do. Just don’t let that stop you from supporting a good company and a great product like the Neverwinter Campaign Setting. Enjoy.
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