Custom System that requires players to maintain a certain number of Death Tokens. They can quest or purchase more.
Setting
Custom
Alignments
Good - Neutral Only
Races
All Currently
Classes
All Base Classes - Custom PRC classes
LevelRange
1-20 - Experience gain is quest based thus the number of quests you complete is equally as important as level.
NumberServers
1
Application Reqs
None
House Rules
Extensive Customization including a Feat system that allows you to obtain class feats by completing quests.
Language
English
Scope
Large
Tricks Traps
Medium
RolePlay
Light
DM Needed
No DM Required
Magic Level
Low to Moderate
Treasure
Moderate
Experience Rewards
Moderate
Vault Type
Server
PvP
No PvP
Connection
DSL
Content Rating
Mature
NumberAreas
100-500
Description
For eons the Blood God has languished in his cell, imprisoned within a mountain on the mortal plane for crimes against his brother gods. His oozing essence seeps into the ground, and trickles into a small pool outside. An elven traveler drinks from the pool. He is wracked by dreams of violence and power.
Soon there are others, a whole congregation of worshippers for the imprisoned Blood God, and the Church of the Shroud is born. Mighty kingdoms fall before the Elders of the Shroud, and their dominion extends over all the realms of men.
Yet there is strife within the very heart of the church. The Elders praise their divine lord in public, but make no efforts to free him, seeking instead to make themselves gods in his place. Ancient prophecies have long predicted his release, but who listens to ancient prophecies any more in this age of corruption and debauchery?
The Shroud World NWN2 server was born of a proud tradition, our long-running NWN1 server was one of the very first Persistent Worlds to go live, and the campaign upon which Shroud World is based dates back to the late 1970s. Over the years, we have provided an entertaining and challenging experience to thousands of would-be heroes. We strive to continue that tradition with this new project.
This time around, we took the deeply detailed Shroud World storyline and moved it forward fifty years. We wanted old Shrouders to feel instantly at home in the new world but we did not want to simply rehash our NWN1 world. The timeline change allows us to give new life to our old tales and strike out on some completely new paths.
For those new to Shroud World, the game-play has some stark differences from what you experienced playing in the single player game. Most progression is driven by quest completion and this impacts nearly every aspect of the character; from level advancement to how NPCs will interact with you. We will soon be adding an advanced character progression system which will allow players to purchase new feats using rewards they have obtained through questing.
We chose to establish the quest system as the foundation of our world in order to offer a number of benefits to the players. Since quest completion is the primary source of experience, character classes that are less focused on brute force can often find other ways to resolve many of the quests and gain experience points. The quest system also allows us to better integrate the storyline into the day-to-day happenings of the player. The creative and humorous works of our lead writer, Rheumy Filcher, give the players a reason actually to read the dialogue of the NPCs. And finally, one of our primary goals is for players to have plenty to things to do when they log on: this is made possible by the hundreds of quests available to PCs.
When we sat down to outline what we wanted to do with Shroud World, we came up with some pretty straight forward design criteria. I think those criteria are important to present because they are what best defines the world for the new player.
Simple put, our design goals are:
* A Friendly Place to Play � As a builder, I certainly get enjoyment out of watching players interact with my creations. But more importantly, Shroud World is a place where I have established real friendships and shared a comradery of people who enjoy the online gaming hobby. We believe the players are the most important part of the game world and we strive as hard to build our community as we do to develop a quality world.
* An Engaging and Entertaining Story � We are a PW Story server so it would only seem right that we offer an evolving storyline that grips the player. We drive the player to immerse himself in the events that are happening around him. While Shroud World is a dark and forbidding place, many of the quests have a humorous bent. We are also building a single epic storyline that directly impacts the character through quest chapters. Our goal is to continually build on this major storyline by adding new chapters with every major update.
* Redefining Adventure � As players progress, they will eventually want to take part in what we called �Adventures�. Adventures are far more involved than the dozens of dungeons the player might quest in, these Adventures are multi-area mini-campaigns designed for small groups. Each adventure has a distinct storyline and quest series that leads the player through a gauntlet of puzzles, traps, and maniacally designed Boss encounters.
We have created a number of systems to help realise these goals. Some of these systems are:
� Custom Quest GUI � We have developed an interface that allows the player to see his quest information at a glance. Because a player might have dozens of ongoing quests at any one time, we need a way to display that information in a clean and world-specific format. This custom GUI allows the player to see open quests, closed quests, a list of his recently obtained quests. It also gives access to other tools like a display of online players, use of Heed�s PC tools, a �Looking for Group� toggle and more.
� Fame and Faction System � Shroud World has numerous factions with which the player can interact. The fame system tracks what deeds the player has accomplish for specific factions. The higher one's fame, the more quests that become available and the player may enjoy other benefits such as new merchants or other bonuses. The Faction system determines how one faction of creatures views the player. Through quests and other means, the player can improve (or harm) his faction so that a once hostile faction will look upon him favorably. The inherent design of the system means that assisting one faction will reduce faction with another. Choose your friends and your enemies wisely.
� Advanced Progression System (APS) � Our soon-to-be-implemented custom feat system integrates character development into the quest system. By obtaining tokens through quests, you can purchase special custom feats. Some feats are class specific and other feats are more generic in nature. APS allows us to give player new paths of character development; Sorcerers can become summoning specialists or focus on necromancy, for example. We expect this system to be a huge boon to our world as it allows us to extend a set of controllable abilities to players to that help alleviate some of the issues associated with using a PnP ruleset in a PW. Our goal is to make every class fun to play, able to adventure in solo mode reasonably well, and bring value to a party. The APS system allows us to accomplish this more easily.
� Class Guilds � Players can join class-related guilds (mages, monks, paladins, warriors, thieves and priests) and progress upwards through the ranks via quests. Once we have the initial 20 quests completed for each of the 6 guilds, players will be able compete with other players to a obtain leadership role (based on their guild fame) and gain some special abilities.
So what type of player would enjoy Shroud World?
Questing, puzzle-solving, and a focus on tactics and strategy would have to be some of the key attributes of a Shroud World player. We consider ourselves to be roleplay-lite; we do not enforce any strict rules in that regards but we do support it. Shroud World is a player versus environment PW, pitting the forces of good against a forbidding world where evil holds the upper hand. Old alliances have been broken, and new ones forged, as the mortal plane is thrown into turmoil by a civil war within the ranks of the Church of the Shroud.
And the Blood God? Well, someone seems to have opened his cage. There are no safe places left any more.
Files required to play on Shroudworld can be found in the Download section of Shroudworld.com
Hmm, maybe I spoke too soon. I think that the server is now going to be waiting for a hot fix to the patch, as there are reports of several issues/bugs with the 1.11 patch.
Posted by King at 12:52:49 Voted10.00
@Thavik - as I understand, Segal is working on updating the server to 1.11 at the moment, so I would expect it to be updated today or tomorrow.
Posted by Thavik at 2007-12-1613:40:37
when's version 1.11 coming?
Posted by mwmdragon at on12/10/07
Voting! _________________________ MWMDRAGON MWM Weapon Exspansion Pack NWN2: Link Neverwinter Nights 2 Persistent World Server Balance Guidelines: Link NWN2 - Battlegrounds: Link NWN - NeverQuest: Link
Posted by Se at on12/20/07
SW is a great PW. It has that "just one more quest" feel that is addicting and very well done. I find myself (pretty much all day) wishing I could login and play. I've only had the pleasure of teaming up with three different players (so far) but the community is very helpful with questions and quests. The world isn?t too big, which is good as, even when there are low player counts you?ll more than likely run into someone which gives the feel of a larger world. Granted, I haven?t explored the entire map so, I could be mistaken on this. The quests (which drive the game play) are layed out very well. The custom quest log system is great! Without sounding too critical, there are some improvements that could go into it, however. A ?Back? button would be great. Being able to select the quest objective from the quick quest would be nice and the original quest conversation. Just a few little things that would make it perfect but, not even close to a show stopper. I like the fact that it?s RP lite. For those of us who like to play nwn without having to ?be? the character but instead ourselves (hard to find unless hack & slash) this is perfect. I haven?t experienced much lag (thumbs up for that!) as most nwn2 online is plagued with it. If you?re interested in a quest driven (still has good combat) with a mature community, this is a great place to hang your hat. In my opinion, this is about as close to ?pay to play? quality that I?ve seen in a nwn PW. _________________________ I'm a man but I can change, if I have to, I guess.
Posted by ekieron at on11/14/07
Ok, here goes. I have now played on the server for a few weeks now, and I am now able to give this server a good and appropriate vote. As you can see, I am voting a 9.75. There are just no perfect 10 servers out there, but this one is as close as you can get. There are spelling, and punctuation errors in many places, and most are being reported and fixed. There are some bugs here and there in many of the quests, but very minor and in comparison to the amount of quests, this is not a big deal. Besides, the developing team is constantly updating and fixing any errors that are brought the the attention of the staff. One thing I have been disappointed with is the lack of Role Play. This is not an RP enforced server, thus you don't run into too much. Sometimes if a player recognizes that you are an RP'er, they do try to get into character with you, but not too often; most people are just focused on the task at hand. Which brings us to a groundbreaking aspect of the server. There is a unique quest engine on this server that is seemingly endless. You do not get too much XP for killing things, as the main basis of your PC's progression is completing quests. This is fantastic, because there is ALWAYS something for your character to do. You can log into this server, play for 10 minutes, log off and truly feel like you have accomplished something. A negative aspect to this though is if you are in a group. If you are grouped with players who have the same quest as you, they have to get the killing blow of a specific monster or leader for the quest to count for their "Quest Book." This can get very annoying, as if you adventure with friends often, then you will find yourself doing the same quest a few times over. I would ask that they try to accommodate the group, or, party aspect a bit more. Players are very friendly, the design is fantastic, as many areas are very appealing to the eye. There are a few sound misplacements in various areas that can often annoy the detail-oriented player. However, this is minor as well, in comparison to the correctly placed sounds. I am a bit annoyed that you cannot play standard Prestige Classes, however, the server does offer some "secret" classes that you can learn from NPCs in game. This is pretty unique as well, but does not allow a character to truly plan their progression as accurately as one may wish. (This makes me wonder why the server is not more RP oriented as well, as this is definitely a role players type class progression.) In summary: This server is a masterpiece. It is genuinely groundbreaking with many aspects of a server that I have never seen before. It is superbly scripted, designed well, full of content, choices, and custom aspects in every facet. There are custom feats, skills, crafting, classes, and quest GUI that will keep you coming back for more. It is the best server I have played on given all negative aspects and positive aspects weighed against each other. I cannot rank it a 10 due to some negatives that I do not prefer and I feel detract from game play, however it is an outstanding server. If you are looking for a game world to call your home, you will do yourself an injustice if you do not at least try this server for a few weeks. Cheers all. -e'Kieron _________________________ Kieron
Posted by nicethugbert at on11/08/07
Neat! _________________________ NTB's Hills and Valleys Vol. 00
Posted by sunwolf at on02/16/08
The more I play, the more I like it. My 10 vote was well deserved.
Posted by Dulcet at on10/29/07
I have met some great people that are very helpful on this server. I love the different quests that can keep you guessing as to how to solve them. It isn't just hack 'n slash, but takes time and thought to go through this world and level up. It's great!
Posted by ekieron at on11/14/07
I would love to vote. I swear I will. It is just to premature to vote right now. The best server I have played on efor NWN 2 is Desaria 2 for RP, and Dungeon Eternal X for Hack & Slash. The most either of those servers should recieve is a 6 or 7. I must preface this with the following: I am a developer. I have programmed and played countless NWN and NWN 2 modules and PWs. I have engineered PWs for NWN 1 become great. This server truly is groundbreaking. I want to vote. I want to vote a 10 for the greatest NWN 2 server I have played. I would vote 10. I want people to understand that this post is almost as good as voting a 10. I take voting very, very seriously. a 10 is a groudbreaking server with most everthing about it, perfect. There are some definite minor imperfections to this server. MINOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please understand, this server is incredible. It is the greatest server for NWN 2 I have ever had the pleasure of playing on. If you want questing and the feel of real D & D, I swear to you, this is the place for you. I am serious in saying, "This is the most remarkable, well scripted, and terrifically, groundbreaking server I have ever had the pleasure of playing." There are not a ton of people on at most given times, (about 10 at any one time), but that really makes no difference. You can find a friend easily as far as I am concerned. (Was level 1, found two people in 4 log-in's, one helped me complete a tough quest "Ragnur," and both players had good RP.) This was 2 friends found out of 4 times logging into the server. What a great place to play so far. Again, I want to give a 10. I have never, EVER, given a 10 on a PW server. If I had to vote now, it would be an 8.5 or better, close to 9. Reason? Typos, some small errors here and there. Other than that, a 10 for sure. I am going to have them fix those things, then vote 10. For the soft voters, this is a 10. You should vote a 10. Truly and honestly, by most all voting, this is a 10 and nothing else on NWN 2 compares to is right now. I assure you. - Kieron _________________________ Kieron
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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