underwhelmed with Neverwinter Campaign Setting

[Dannyalcatraz]

You're in the minority: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/310633-rate-neverwinter-campaign-guide.html

I usually am.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Paragon Paths unique to the setting?

Themes are the new Paragon paths, haven't you heard? And you can take them 10 levels sooner and thus enjoy them 10 levels longer.

Gear?

There is a crown.....

Feats?

Not needed. Really really not needed

Powers?

If a whole lvl 1-30 base class and four level 1-30 domains is not powers, no one can help you.

Builds?

See above.

If you want crunch, it is not the book for you. Simple as that.

And this must be the easiest FR product I have ever seen to just lift out of the realms altogether and put elsewhere. This is a great book for a beginner DM who needs ideas. True, if the DM also needs crunch, it will not help as much.

 

[Shemeska]

You're in the minority: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/310633-rate-neverwinter-campaign-guide.html

The one thing running through my head is if the NWCG is getting attention from the pre-4e FR fanbase, or if it's only pulling from the 4e fanbase who may or may not have been fans of FR. If it's still suffering from a fractured FR fanbase, a lot of folks from the large pre-4e FR fanbase might simply not be following it, and thus their opinion might not be counted in such polls. If you're potentially pulling largely from 4e converts that may skew the reception and feedback.

I'd look also at reviews from places like Candlekeep etc which have been a bit more mixed, with a broader mixture of positive and negative reviews (and reasons for those reviews, which always helps to determine if you can ignore certain reviews if it's a playstyle or other issue involved).

As for the folks complaining about lots of plot hooks and less concrete information like maps, etc that's a valid complaint, and it's one I've seen on one book I worked on as well. It's both a style issue from the writers end but also keep in mind that it might have also been a design direction from higher up.

Now as for my impression? Normally I'd be somewhat interested, except unfortunately for me in this case, post-Spellplague era FR is a complete non-starter for me and my group so it won't be of much use.

 

[Kzach]

If you're potentially pulling largely from 4e converts that may skew the reception and feedback.

Who cares what 4e-haters think? Seriously, it's a 4e book. Obviously the haters gonna hate and since they're not going to buy it anyway, why does their opinion matter?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Themes are the new Paragon paths, haven't you heard?

Not exactly a fan of 'em- so I don't consider them a reasonable substitute.

There is a crown.....

Wow, a whole crown. *yawn*

Not needed. Really really not needed

in your opinion, which is clearly not universally shared.

If a whole lvl 1-30 base class and four level 1-30 domains is not powers, no one can help you.

A whole class?!?! See my response about the crown.

(You know I was talking about support of extant classes. In the plural.)

See above.

See above.

If you want crunch, it is not the book for you. Simple as that.

Which was my conclusion. I don't need- and thus, don't buy- books that are 85+% fluff unless they are heavily discounted. WotC won't see a dime for NWN from me because it's lack of crunch means I won't buy it until it hits the used book stores.

And this is a valuable data point for them: knowing why a segment of the market doesn't purchase their product is as important as knowing why others did.

 

[Weregrognard]

Wow! I have the opposite opinion of the NWCS. I was ready to dismiss this book as soon as I heard of it, but became very interested after seeing the previews on the WotC site. I picked it up at the Neverwinter Game Day, and I'm itching to start a campaign!

If anything, the problem is that there is so much info, plot hooks, NPCs, etc., that it can be a little overwhelming. The book definitely lacks a clear-cut guideline for where to start.

However, the Shards of Selune adventure on last month's Dungeon mitgates this somewhat. It's a pretty good starting point and gets the players interacting with the important groups in the city. The Gauntlgrym adventure in the same issue, though, leaves much to be desired

Another thing I really like about the book is the breakdown of appropriate monsters for the different groups. They pull from several sources, including the new Nentir Vale Monster Vault. I'm always happy to get use out of my overpriced, yet underused library

 

[Jack99]

And this must be the easiest FR product I have ever seen to just lift out of the realms altogether and put elsewhere. This is a great book for a beginner DM who needs ideas. True, if the DM also needs crunch, it will not help as much.

Indeed. I have already made a whole new campaign, based on the area, in a world of my own. Very easy. Now all I need to do is wait for my players to TPK

 

[delericho]

You're in the minority: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/310633-rate-neverwinter-campaign-guide.html

Unfortunately, polls of this sort can't be trusted. Not everyone who has voted has actually read the book (and even fewer have actually used it). Also, there's an unfortunate tendency for people to stuff the ballot on polls of this sort.

In any case, I found a long time ago that just watching the consensus of popular opinion was a poor indication of whether I'd like something or not. I found it far more productive to find a reviewer who tended to like the same things as me, and accept his guidance.

(None of which really has anything to do with Neverwinter - I haven't read it. My DM seems to rate it highly, though... but he tends to be a lot more easily pleased than I am. )

 

[Dead Scribe]

I picked up the NWCS from the used bin at my FLGS last night for about $14. I'm not sure if it was a good buy. (I would've been really disappointed had I paid full price.) It seems mostly a collection of plot hooks with nothing immediately useful. There are a handful of stats for NPCs, but mostly it references you to the other monster resources. There are no dungeon maps, sample encounters, etc.

As a collection of adventure hooks, I find it a little bland compared to a setting like Dark Sun, which seems chock full of great ideas. Instead, NWCS seems vague and uninteresting. Such as "So and so may or may not be affiliated with group A. If the party is seeking a magic item that does blank, so and so may or may not have it. As DM you should decide the role that so and so may or may not play in your campaign. If he does or does not have a keep is up to you to develop it and all of its traps and guardians that may or may not be there. It's your campaign."

Theologically speaking it is the Limbo of gaming products, a lukewarm and neutered tome, that rare speciman of gaming book that apologizes in advance for wanting to suggest that the writers would like to contribute something to your game.

Did I miss the point? Was there a point?

I would say you missed the point--why would you expect to find a campaign sourcebook filled with maps, magic items, monsters, and encounters? We already have oodles of all those things. I'm really not sure what what make you expect those things. Particularly since we already have two more general Forgotten Realms books.

I thought that the Neverwinter Campaign Guide was great as a very focused setting with very clear and easy ways to involve the players directly in the setting. One of the most difficult things for me as a DM has been how to involve players in a setting. Lots of players (the majority in my experience) do not read campaign guides very much, and aren't particularly familiar with settings. That's what the themes in the book excel at--they tell the DM and the player who their allies and enemies are. When your players have all picked their themes, the DM already has a pretty good idea of what the campaign is going to look like.

And the factions are all very easy to work with. Each faction has a very clear and understandable feel, while still being flexible enough that they can be used in different ways. I find a table of various monsters across different levels to be way more useful and space-efficient than the 'example encounter' that some previous campaign books used.

And it really doesn't seem fair at all to criticize the book as being crunch-free. The Themes are equal parts fluff and crunch. There are quite a lot of new powers. How much more is needed? This is a heroic-level campaign book; it's not an adventure, nor a bestiary or a "Forgotten Realms Power" book.

 

[Imaro]

Yeah, I don't think NWCS is necessarily bad... But I checked the book out and honestly think Hammerfast, at $15, is a much better deal as a sandbox setting, than the NWCS at $40. Just my opinion though.