Neverwinter Nights 2: PW Spotlight: Nepenthe

Why would anyone start a persistent world?

Well, we wanted a world that we really liked to play on. There are some really great PWs out there, but they don't seem to quite fit the play style we like. We decided to try and see if we could come up with one that had the fit we were looking for. Plus it's fun. Don't get me wrong, PW development is a ton of work piled on top of a ton of work but eh, what else would I do? Plus I like scripting and coming up with clever ways to accomplish things.

Our lead designers are Asmodae(myself) and Looney. Looney was responsible for starting Realms of the Lost Legion which was a popular server for a long time. That server was what got me into Neverwinter Nights in the first place. Later I hooked up with Looney when he was working on Exodus for NWN1 and I helped implement a MySQL backend that greatly increased the performance of quests and smithing on Exodus.

We learned a lot from doing Exodus, including that there was another site/server using the name. So we changed gears and names and our NWN2 world is going to be called Nepenthe. We are taking our lessons learned so far and moving ahead to NWN2. We have big plans.

As a new player, what does Nepenthe provide to help me get started?

We are looking at providing a really gripping 'new player' experience. Of course there's a lot to accomplish with a brand new player. You need to make them feel comfortable, make sure they know exactly the first few steps to take, and make sure they get a good feel of the server without being overwhelmed. You also have to make sure that they get enough info about your world without being bogged down in tedium. These are all factors that are going into our design for the 'New Player Experience!'

What do you think is the selling feature of Nepenthe over other persistent worlds?

This will have to be our player interaction and guild/faction system. Dynamic factions, with changeable alliances responsive NPCs, faction constructed buildings. The factions are going to be a big driver for the server as they will be part of the backdrop that forms the server story. In fact the faction conflicts will BE the server story for the most part. We have some other things going on in the background as well (check our wiki linked below). We also have an extensive modified crafting system in the works that will be non-standard DnD. It will be different from pretty much every MMO style system I've heard of.

Can I find out more about the background of this world?

At the moment we are still getting information online and a new website up, so there isn't a lot available. You can see a flavor piece or two at http://exodus2.pbwiki.com Our official domain is http://www.nepentheonline.com, we are still getting the site itself together however.

What do you see happening to Nepenthe in the future?

It'll run pell-mell toward its final destination! Honestly pretty much everything we have so far is slated for 'future', as is NWN2.

Would you consider Nepenthe more of a "hack-n-slash" world or an RP world?

There will be a mix. Probably more hack-n-slash than role-play, but a good amount of that hacking and slashing will be driven by the characters themselves and their RP. One of our chief goals is to have a breathing world that shifts and grows with the players and responds to their actions.

Is this a closed server? If so, is a bio submission required for play?

Nope, we will not have a closed server.

Is the setting of Nepenthe in the Forgotten Realms or is it a unique setting?

Unique. Our setting is going to be very dark. If I had to pick a theme song it would be Metallica's The Thing That Should Not Be.

Where did the idea, for this setting, come from?

Our ideas come from a mix of different ideas and styles. We've taken parts from CThulu and Edgar Allen Poe, as well as general mythology. We wanted to go with something a bit different from your typical Faerun based fantasy worlds and still appeal to our sense of fun and adventure.