I find this thread very interesting. May I introduce my humble opinions (for that is all they are) with a little personal perspective? I first played AD&D in 1978, quickly took up Traveller as well and have been an avid roleplayer and a DM/GM ever since. I've also worked as a games journalist (in the computer and conventional rpg and tabletop arenas), a game designer, writer and editor (again, both in computer and conventional rpg and tabletop fantasy rules publishing) since the early 1980s.
I've played MUDs occasionally and I've just quit playing EverQuest after three years; my main character was a sorcerer (EQ's term for a wizard at the top of the xp tree) and I am extremely interested in what NWN can do. I've been tinkering with the beta toolset and studying the game's hugely powerful scripting language for some time now.
I am very, very excited about NWN. Yes, it is a subset of the 3E rules, with some computer game-centric interpretations of mechanisms but it is still something quite extraordinary, in my view.
I am looking forward to creating and DMing NWN adventures for old friends - grizzled pen and paper types - and newbies and people who have only ever played online computer games like EQ or perhaps stand-alone computer fantasy games.
We are not yet at the stage where a computer game is going to offer the flexibility of a fully fledged pen and paper system but I believe NWN is going to bring us much closer to that ideal than has ever been achieved before, in a way that will be more accessible to people than anything that has been attempted up to this point.
I'm not going to start bashing EQ here, despite having ample ammunition at my disposal but there is simply no comparison between what it is possible to experience within the framework of EQ and what is possible in a well scripted and thoughtfully DMed game of NWN.
It is true that a substantial proportion of people coming to NWN will bring shall I say 'diabolical' tendencies with them. I read the NWN boards almost as frequently as I read these boards and the signs are there. On the principle that ninety-eight per cent of anything is rubbish, I expect a lot of third rate player generated material to follow swiftly after NWN's release but I don't think traditional roleplayers should be snobbish about this (I don't mean to suggest anyone in this thread has been, I'm speaking in general). Munchkinism is not unique to computer gaming; it's more prevalent, sure but then, so are computer games per se. Traditional roleplaying has its munchkins too. I also think that my first efforts to write and run an NWN game are going to leave a fair amount to be desired.
There are also some stimulating debates and threads on all sorts of issues going on in over in NWN land. People have already written sample scripts to show how, on an instantial basis, an NWN adventure can apply rules not directly incorporated into the NWN engine, such as in the case of climbing, for example. Just like here, the NWN community is full of people helping each other out, not only in terms of understanding D&D mechanics and principles but in answering pleas for help with technical and artistic issues. Others are planning on cooperating to provide shared online campaigns.
NWN is not going to change your world, if your dice and books and friends satisfy all your gaming needs but it is going to add qualitative experience to those whose experience of roleplaying has been defined by computer games. And if anyone is wondering if I've been assimilated by the Borg, let me just add that I have been buying more dice lately. My current games shopping list comprises Manual of the Planes, the Psionics Handbook and NWN, in that order. Even when NWN comes out and I start work on my first module, I'm still going to be keeping an eye on new book releases.
I think it is going to be a Good Thing.
Cheers,
Ranes
