Neverwinter Nights 2: Gamespot: Designer Diary #3

Here's a portion of the article:

It's very easy to label a game as "epic," but what we tried to do was make sure we nailed down exactly what constitutes an epic storyline and then implement it. We wanted to keep the stakes high and the enemies powerful, as well as give you a key role, not just from an adventuring perspective, but also as a general, commander, and even a ruler of your own military stronghold. We give you a choice of being a politician, criminal, or advisor, as well, but that's up to you to choose. Whatever occurs, you will find yourself engaged in several battles over the course of the game--sometimes commanding large groups of troops on the battlefield, and at other times, diplomatically fighting for your reputation in a courtroom where it seems all the evidence is piled against you.

The story in Neverwinter Nights 2 begins with a series of brutal attacks in the Mere of Dead Men, including your home of West Harbor. These attacks begin to escalate up and down the Sword Coast, and you find yourself in the middle not just of a growing war in the Forgotten Realms, but a battle that has been raging across the dimensional planes for centuries. To make matters worse, you find yourself fighting wars not on just one but several fronts. There's the politics of Neverwinter and the challenges of fortifying your own stronghold, as well as enemies from Luskan in the North and the extraplanar githyanki that have declared a crusade on you. You find yourself locked in battle with all these factions, but you're in a position to play them off against each other to buy time and learn more of the events and history that led up to this conflict, and how to end it once and for all.

There are some new screens of a female character. You can read the rest and see these at Gamespot.