Tavern UGC

Hi NW Foundry authors,

We’re looking for active and successful authors to participate in a weekly podcast.  This podcast would be similar to the format of a Star Trek Online podcast, called “The Foundry Roundtable.”

Click on their banner to listen to their latest podcast:

The show’s format is pretty simple.  A group of 3 or 4 authors (often along with a guest) get together to discuss:

• Any news or updates
• What they’re currently working on
• What they’ve played recently
• Any special topics relating to the Foundry community

This has been a great podcast for the STO community, so we’re looking for folks who would like to do it for NW.  We can help with hosting, if necessary.  We will do all that we can to promote and support your podcast.

If interested, then please email admin@tavernugc.com or stop by our chat and talk with Cerberus or Drogyn.

We can help a host with the technicalities of recording a group Skype call, along with other issues.

Reposted from official site news:

This week’s spotlighted quest is “Part 1: Crypts of Carnage” from the campaign Dungeons of Dread” by chili1179!

Quest Type: Hack and Slash/Dungeon Crawl/Light Story/Minor Exploration

Average Duration: 20-30 minutes

Amount of Combat: High

Starts at: Protector’s Enclave – Guard Frinko

Mission Summary:

You see a flier posted to a job board that reads:

 

“Come one come all, test your skill

Can you survive or will you be killed?

Take a chance, dance with fate

Seize the prize before it’s too late!

Many have come and many have perished,

To claim the riches that many more cherish!

Are you the next hero, or loser instead?

Why not come see, in the Dungeons of Dread!

 

Speak to Guard Frinko for more information!”

continue reading…

If you have not seen it, then there is a new “Foundry Dev Blog” by Rob Overmeyer.  Here is a short excerpt:

There are very few limitations when it comes to the content an author can make in the Foundry. Whether it is a quick rescue of a drunken dwarf in the Chasm, or a deep delve into the history and lore of the Forgotten Realms, authors can create an array of different quests. We support this creativity with tools that allow you to customize the look and feel of everything, from friendly contacts to the critters players will fight. Our costume editor allows for nearly endless customization of every person or thing you’ll come across in a quest. Within the quests you can really tune the experience for players by having elements of your quest be special for players with specific skills. And this is just the start; there is so much more that can be done with the Foundry.

Read the full post: HERE.

Good Samaritan by @Adderal
ID - NW-DCJ4NY4CU

This mission looked like it could be a good story mission, but ended up turning into a fairly generic combat mission.  The mission is a good with most of it being explained  but it’s unfortunately still a standard hack and slash mission against evil cultists at the core.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course, but it did have a promising start.

3/5

The Beast Within by @Celantra
NW-DLO2ZA4DG

This is a fairly involved story mission with a lot of text that delves into the history of Neverwinter, Lord Neverember and the Nashers.  There’s a lot of reading involved as well as a decent amount of combat, but the combat doesn’t detract from the rest of the mission.  The missions final end left me wanting more from these characters, so I hope this is the first in a long campaign.

4/5

Greetings, I want to take the time today to share a review for a fantastic set of quests that are easily some of my favorites.  So I will be calling this a Spotlight.

The follow review is actually a detailed review for the second quest in the Dungeons of Dread Campaign, called Labyrinth of Lunacy, however, I played the first two quests back to back and much of the basis of the review takes this into account.  Simply put, you must play the first quest for the second to make sense.  And it was Epic.

As always if you wish to leave feedback on the Authors forum page click here

If you wish to check out the full listing of my reviews, submit a request for you own content, or help out with reviews, check out the first page of my forum post here

Quest:Labyrinth of Lunacy NW-D59SX98WX
Author:@chili1179
Forums: chili1179
Reviewed by @jedensuscg
Forums: hercooles130uscg
Authors Trailer can be watched here!

In one paragraph: A story driven quest that is light on reading, balanced on combat and a load of fun. A play through of the first quest IS A MUST however for maximum enjoyment.

Mission Graph
These are NOT ratings but are indications of how much I personally experienced while playing the quest. They do not necessarily jive with the authors intent or other players experiences.

Overall Ratings
Overall 5 out of 5
Fun Factor – 5 One of the few quests where I did not anticipate getting to the end.
Story 4- Take a dramatic turn from the previous quest. Well written.
Combat 4 – Fun, balanced, and not in your face.
Puzzles 3 – Maze of a map combined with simple explore to find the needed and hidden object
Exploration and World 4 – Not only forces you to explore, but also encourages it.

continue reading…

This was originally posted on StarbaseUGC, our sister site, but it applies to Neverwinter as well.

We want you to make mission trailers. Plain and simple. We want you to make them and post them on this site. Trailers are cool and fun to watch, but “I don’t know how to use demorecord” is a consistent complaint that we hear. Then we say “There are tutorials you can watch”, but people are still intimidated by it. “There is sooo much to it. Where do I possibly begin?”

I’m here to tell you that it’s so easy, even an old coot like me can figure it out. Most of the features that scare the crap out of you, don’t even NEED to be used. I’m just going to tell you what I do.

A quick explanation of demorecord:

Ok, to begin, let me just point out that the demorecord function of Star Trek Online is not working quite as it was intended to work. Since it was developed it has suffered with subsequent upgrades to the game. It will no longer display custom NPCs. Any NPC one has made in the Foundry costume editor will not be visible upon playback. Nobody at Cryptic will repair it because they claim it was never meant to be used by the general public and the guy who programmed it is no longer an employee. That being said, I will attempt to get you started on the simplest way to use this mechanic.

continue reading…

Last night’s patch notes revealed the following:

Foundry

• Kill XP limiters have been improved and relaxed.
• Reporting Terms of Service violations can once again only be reported after completing a Foundry quest.
• Encounters in Foundry quests that use the “Feign Death” behavior are now targetable once the encounter is active.

Hi NW Founders,

Tavern UGC would like to advertise your missions at the top of our site.  We need you to submit banner ads of your missions in the following dimensions:

Please visit this page for more information.

Greetings and cheers fellow tavern goers.  I am Hercooles130uscg (the Herc) and I am here to tell you a little tale by the fire.  I will be bringing you my detailed reviews to you here at TavernUCG alongside the Official Forum version.  If you would like the up to the minute posting of all my reviews, or information on how you can help me review or get your content reviewed you can stop by my Neverwinter Online Official Forums Post.

Some information on how my little process works.  Every quest I review is submitted to me via an online form, tracked in a database, and I play each one in order.  I try not to play favorite, even with authors I know and respect.  My criticism is based on personal opinions only and reflects my play style.  However, I do try to be objective when it is necessary.

To start things off, I will present you with TWO reviews done for the Campaign Planescape – The Skeleton Key by @Drakedge2

Feel free to visit the above link to leave feedback directly on the Author’s forum post.

Quest: Prologue NW-DUPGY7BWX
Author: @Drakedge2
Forum Name: Drakedge2
Reviewed by @jedensuscg
Forum Name: hercooles130uscg

In one sentence: A solid first quest from an author that promises good things with future updates.

Mission Graph

Ratings Out of 5
Overall 4 Stars
Story 4
Combat 3
D&D lore 4
Puzzles N/A
Exploration 3

continue reading…

Today I set off on my journey to discover the best the Foundry had to offer, and I’m sorry in advance to all  my future reviewers, but the bar is set, and the bar is set high.

A Friendly Reminder by @jkpark
ID - NW-DAQN7H5GO

This is a fairly short mission that is more story than combat, the mission is centred around a murder and a local lord who was a friend of the deceased.  The mission is fairly straightforward unfortunately due to the golden paths if you choose to follow them, but overall it’s a good mission and well written.

The only flaws I found in the mission would be moving the respawn point in the next to last map as the fire in the corner looks fairly bad, and changing the searching the mansion quests into parallel objectives.

Overall the mission is fairly short but well written with a couple of difficult combat encounters near the end with a satisfying conclusion.

4/5 Stars

<Picture to come>

The Lanaar Legacy by  @TiLT42
ID - NW-DAY4LSV6V

This is the sequel to The Hidden Blade which many of you may have played in the Closed Beta weekends and answers some of the questions that mission brought up.  The mission is well written and whilst it is long (45-60 minutes) is packed with exploration and objects to interact with and give backstory and in jokes, and the final section of the mission is well done and excellently written.  Here’s hoping that the future installments of From the Shadows live up to the reputation that the first two have built up.

5/5