1. ADVENTURING IN The Depths

1.1 What do I need in order to play on the server?
1.2 So just how important is questing?
1.3 How do I gain experience points?
1.4 How do fame and faction work?
1.5 How can I join a guild?
1.6 Can I play multiple characters?
1.7 How does the death system work?
1.8 What can I do with my quest tokens?

2. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

2.1 What alignments are allowed in The Depths?
2.2 What races and subraces are playable in The Depths?
2.3 What classes are playable in The Depths?
2.4 What are the custom prestige classes?
2.5 What is the APS custom feat system and how does it work?
2.6 Hang on, surely the "S" already stands for "system" so why do you call it the APS system?
2.7 Are there any changes to NWN2 default skills in  The Depths?
2.8 Are there any plans to implement custom crafting?

3. THE SERVER ETHOS

3.1 I've found a bug - where can I report it?
3.2 Is this a roleplaying server?
3.3 Is PvP supported on this server?
3.4 What is the code of conduct?

You need to have the game Neverwinter Nights 2 installed on your PC. Shroudworld generally keeps up-to-date with the latest official patch from Obsidian (give or take a day or two), so you will probably need to do likewise. It is highly recommended that you also have the game expansion Mask of the Betrayer installed: it may be possible to log on without it but you are likely to run into problems when you level up or when you attempt to enter certain areas.

You will also need to download a number of Shroudworld files including the PWC and two hak files. See the downloads link for the latest information on the files you need to play.

Very important. Shroud World is designed around the concept of doing quests, or other tasks such as exploration, to progress your character. You will also get a small amount of experience from killing creatures but the primary focus and most efficient way to advance is by completing quests. In addition, quests impact almost every aspects of your character; Prestige classes are obtained through quests, merchants become available through quests, guild membership becomes available through quests, etc.

By designing our world around this system of advancement, we have gained a number of advantages. From a design standpoint, it gives the builder more control of the advancement pace of the players. However, far more importantly, it gives the player a purpose for doing things. When a player logs on, he can check his quest journal and have a number of different things he can go accomplish. There is no longer any real benefit to going to an area and killing the same creatures for hours on end. Yes, you can advance in that manner but it is far less efficient than participating in the quests and the storyline.

The advancement system also makes many different strategies viable. If you can sneak in or use magic to avoid combat and complete your goal, you are going to receive approximately the same amount of reward as if you fought your way to the same goal. Our design intent is the challenge the playing skills of the player, not the character build.

Shroud World has its own quest journal, with a bespoke scripting system, making it easy for builders, DMs, and even players to contribute quests to the server. When you first join the server with a new PC, you will find a quest journal in your inventory: You can activate this journal to gain information on your quests, faction scores, fame tallies and other information.

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As this is a server driven by completing quests, the primary means to obtain experience is through doing quests. Experience is gained via the methods outlined below, however, this is not an all-inclusive list.

• Quest Experience – The bulk of all experience gained will come from doing quests. You can realistically expect that upwards of 75% of all your experience will come directly from completing quests.

• Exploration Experience – You gain a one-time experience bonus for exploring new areas or finding certain special areas. The bonus increases with the difficulty level of the area you are exploring.

• Major NPC Bonus – You gain a one-time experience bonus for defeating certain creatures. Most areas will have a creature or two that give this one-time bonus. The value of the bonus increases based on the difficulty of defeating the creature.

• Milestone Bonus – You will receive a large one-time bonus for reaching certain milestones. For example, you will receive a experience bonus when you complete your 100th quest (also at 200, 300, 400, and 500 quests). Other milestone bonuses will be added as we move further into development.

• Combat Bonus – You receive a small experience amount for killing creatures that are challenging to you. Creatures that are trivial to you may grant no experience at all. In most cases, it is far more efficient to complete quests than it is to kill creatures.

We consider level 15+ to be the “End Game”. Level progression after level 15 slows dramatically by design. New challenges and areas will be available only to level 15+ characters. You should be carefully about designing a character that is focused at becoming “optimum” at level 20. You will be levels 15-19 for a pretty significant amount of time.

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You can gain Fame (or lose it) when you complete quests and do other tasks for specific organizations. There are many different groups that are impacted by fame points. Your level of fame with an organization (that organization might be a village, a guild, or race of creatures) determines what quests area available, what merchants will sell to you, and generally how you are treated.

Faction directly relates to a NPC being Hostile or Friendly. If you have a faction score below 110 with a group, they are very likely to attack you. By doing various quests or by killing the enemies of a faction, you can become friendly with factions that would normally attack you on sight. The reverse is also true, if you kill friendly NPCs, over time they will become hostile to you. Many factions have an opposing faction, making it difficult to be friends with both factions. Gaining faction with a group can be a slow process; however, losing faction with a group can happen very quickly. Take steps to understand the factions of your enemies and you may be able to make them your friends.

Note: NWN2 handle factions very strangely (this will hopefully be fixed at some point). NPCs treat all players on a multiplater server as a single entity, which can cause erratic behavior. A single NPC at any one time will either hate or like all players, and this is a global state. If an NPC in one area is currently in a hostile state versus a perceived player, then all NPCs on that faction will also be hostile to player. If you encounter an NPC that should be friendly to you but is not, retreat out of their perception range and wait a bit for the perception to clear.

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1.5 How can I join a guild?

Each player character can belong to the Explorers’ Guild plus one of the 7 professional guilds. The Explorers’ Guild offers some general benefits including quests and services but does not offer the possibility of promotion. Membership of the 7 professional guilds is restricted by class and they are mutually exclusive.

You can read about the guilds in more detail in the Campaign Lore section of the website. The Order of Magilone requires members to have a minimum of 4 levels of paladin. Other guilds require only one level in one of the eligible base clasess: Bitter Union (rogue), Callobe Troubadors (bard), Lycium Magike (sorceror, warlock, wizard), Order of the Half-Sun (monk), Temple of the Four (cleric, druid, favoured soul, paladin, ranger, spirit shaman), Yeoman’s Auxiliary (barbarian, fighter, paladin, ranger).

You can progress through the early ranks of a guild by completing a series of specific quests. In general, it takes about twenty specific quests to achieve the rank of journeyman. After you have reached that stage, there is open competition for the upper ranks. The higher guild ranks are awarded to characters and NPCs with the greatest number of fame points: a theoretically infinite number of fame points is available via repeatable quests. These upper ranks will come with a variety of advantages, including at the very highest levels the ability to hand out quests to other player characters and NPCs within the guild.

Many of the guilds also offer some of their quests to non-members, and so it is possible to gain a degree of fame with a guild without actually joining, but it will obviously never be possible to advance through the ranks of a guild unless you are a member. Player characters can leave a guild and join a new one, but you should give this careful consideration. You can leave a guild and come back to it later, but once you return you will have to start again at apprentice rank, and if you have already completed the specific quests for the early ranks, then they will not be available to you a second time, so it will not be possible to progress through the ranks.

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Absolutely! In fact, players are positively encouraged to play multiple characters, should they wish. No single character can complete every quest on the server: many quests are dependent upon guild choices and the choices the player makes in-game regarding which factions to support at various stages. There are also some variations based on character race and some quests better suited to some characters builds than others, and there may eventually be quests based on Shroudworld deity selection, character gender and other factors too - not to mention the variety of different character builds on offer via the APS custom feat system.

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1.7 How does the death system work?

When designing the death system, we wanted something that would achieve two goals; it would provide a real incentive to the player to stay alive and it would not be overly frustrating or disheartening. We wanted to remove the punitive part of the system but still make the player very reluctant to enter situations where they would die.

You begin the game with a certain number of Death Tokens (also called Death Essence). Each time you die, a token is removed from your total. Should you exhaust your supply of tokens, you begin to lose some of your equipment. Not just any equipment, but one of the items you were wearing at time of death. Obviously, this is a pretty serious penalty so the player likely never wants to get into that situation.

You can obtain more Death Tokens via quests with the Temple, you can also gain more through large monetary donations to the church, and very rarely you might be awarded one as a quest reward or a loot item. Thus the player will have to expend time, resources, and energy to maintain their Death Token supply. If you die frequently, you may spend a lot effort maintaining this aspect of your character.

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1.8 What are quest tokens?

Quest tokens are given randomly as a reward for completing quests. You have a base 10% chance to acquire a Quest Token with each quest you complete. You can spend the Quest Tokens on acquiring custom feats via the APS system. These extraordinary abilities allow you to continue to progress your character over and above the normal feats you acquire at level-up.

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2. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

2.1 What alignments are allowed in Shroudworld?

Evil alignments are not permitted in Shroudworld. There are no restrictions in respect of law or chaos. Characters may occasionally follow slightly unsavoury storyline paths but the quests and background developed for Shroudworld don’t allow for outright evil behaviour.

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2.2 What races and subraces are playable in Shroudworld?

All of the races and subraces from NWN2 and the MotB expansion are playable in Shroudworld. However, certain alterations have been made to the ECL races: the experience tables for the default ECL races are the same as for standard races, but there is a flat rate experience penalty to all experience earned by those characters, and several of the higher-ECL races, have had their special abilities scaled down.

Shroudworld is not set in the Forgotten Realms so the lore written for the various races by Wizards of the Coast and Obsidian does not necessarily hold true here. You can read more about the history and lore of the various playable races in the Campaign Lore section of the website (see the menu on the left).

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2.3 What classes are playable in Shroudworld?

All of the base classes from NWN2 and MotB are allowed: none of the default prestige classes are allowed, but there are 9 custom prestige classes on the way, all of which tie-in directly with specific Shroudworld lore. Additionally the base classes all have a large number of extra custom feats and specialisations available to them as well as various other advantages.

Every character has innate natural regeneration ability. The amount you regenerate is dependent on your level and differs based on class. Fighter classes gain one point of regeneration for every 4 levels, Mages classes gain one point of regeneration every 6 levels, and all other classes gain one point of regeneration every 5 levels. Prestige classes do not factor in this calculation.

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2.4 What are the custom prestige classes?

There are nine custom prestige classes planned at present. Selecting a Prestige Class requires that you complete a short series of access quests. Eligibility for these access quests is in turn determined by the fame and faction scores of the player character: for example, in order to unlock the Vexian Bowman PRC, a player character must gain good standing with the Cear Vexia Rangers, after which they will offer the character a series of three quests: once the character completes the three quests he or she will be able to obtain a feat which effectively unlocks the Vexian Bowman PRC at all subsequent levels: however, the character must still also meet certain build requirements (for example, the Vexian Bowman will require a certain level of syrvival skill and the feat “weapon focus” in a bow).

The prestige classes currently in the pipeline are: Duskcaster Explorer, Far’hath Gladiator, Lore Dragon Disciple, Magilone Fugitive, Methbein Trickster, Murkbriar Chaplain, Trodding Hammer, Vexian Bowman, Witchwood Avenger. You can find out more about these classes in the Campaign Lore section of the website (see the menu on the left). It will be difficult to unlock most of these prestige classes until a character has reached the low teens. Owing to the numerous obstacles that must be overcome to obtain a prestige class, acquiring more than one might be very difficult. Prestige classes really are prestigious.

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2.5 What is the APS custom feat system and how does it work?

APS custom feats may be purchased with quest tokens and are entirely independent of the level-up process. Some of the APS feats are open to PCs of all classes, but most are tied to specific base classes. This allows base classes to specialise in ways that are somewhat similar to PRCs in conventional NWN2. For example, there is no Duelist PRC, but a set of special finesse warrior feats has been designed to give certain benefits to rangers and fighters who choose to specialise in daggers, rapiers or short swords. Here are a couple of examples of APS feats:

Tactical Flourish 2 - The Duelist who understands his own defense is better able to breach the armour of his foe. By activating this feat the Duelist can weaken the innate defenses of his foe; providing openings for himself and his allies. While the feat is in effect, the foe's loses all damage reduction. The effect lasts for 30 seconds and the feat can be used every 9 minutes. The following feats are required; 'Duelist Expertise 2', 'Weapon of Choice', 'Superior Weapon Focus' and 'Tactical Flourish 1'.

Cure Ill Type 5 - Cure Ill is an advanced form of first aid. It requires the user to have a Universal Elixir which he can then adapt to cure a specific type(s) of malady. Type 5 allows the user to cure himself or another of Ills such as Insanity or Fear. To be eligible for this feat, the player must have First Aid 2 and 7 skill ranks in Heal. The feat can be used once every 20 minutes.

The PC is automatically eligible to buy APS class feats for his or her primary class (that is, the class selected at character creation). In order to purchase feats for any secondary class the PC must have at least 5 levels in that class. So far all classes except clerics, favoured souls and warlocks have APS feats coded and in-game, and there are a number of general feats (available to all characters). You can find out more about APS feats by visiting the Oracle Tower in the Falgoon Gap overland area in-game: there is also information provided in the World Development section of the Shroudworld forums (see the menu on the left for a link to the forums).

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2.6 Hang on, surely the "S" already stands for "system" so why do you call it the APS system?

Beats me. I guess it just rolls off the tongue better that way.

2.7 Are there any changes to default NWN2 skills in Shroudworld?

Yes. Apart from craft trap, most of the default NWN2 crafting skills are redundant in Shroudworld. Eventually there will be a custom crafting system (see below). Several new skills have replaced default NWN2 skills: Battle Training (replaces Craft Armor) Tactician (replaces Craft Weapon) Use Artifact (attribute: dexterity; replaces Craft Alchemy) and Piety (replaces the non-active skill Discipline).

The new skills will be acquired in exactly the same manner as ordinary NWN2 skills - which is to say, you pay points into them at level-up. In addition, Use Magic Device has changed to a class skill only and is only available to bards, rogues and warlocks. Many of the custom APS feats rely on both new and old skills in order to work properly.

Because of the quest progression design, players will spend a lot of time interacting with NPCs. This makes those dialogue skills very useful and not having at least some of them can and will reduce the number of quests you have an opportunity to take: all classes now have at least one of the dialogue skills (Bluff, Diplomacy & Intimidate) available as an optional class skill.

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2.8 Are there any plans to implement custom crafting?

Yes. Having removed the default NWN2 crafting skills, there are plans to replace them with a more advanced crafting sytem. So far only two crafting abilities have been added to the game: mining, and a spell creation system which relies on the collection of components. the crafting system will be expanded over time.

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3. THE SERVER ETHOS

3.1 I’ve found a bug on the server - where can I report it?

If you can spare a moment please report any bugs in the bug-fixes forum in the Shroudworld forums (see the menu on the left of this page for a link to the forums). With the high volume of material and frequent updates, it is inevitable that there will be a few bugs: the sooner they are reported in the official bug forum then the sooner they are likely to be fixed, which is good for everybody, and all reports are very much appreciated. Player feedback on current or potential server features is also welcome (providing it’s polite).

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3.2 Is Shroud World a role-playing server?

I find this to be a really hard question to answer. Ask 50 people to define role-playing and you will get 50 different answers. When I began playing D&D back in the 70s, the term “role-playing” could not even be found in the rulebook. We want to create an environment where role-playing is encouraged but not required. Role-playing just differs so differently from one player to another that we do not want to be placed in the position of the role-playing police. If someone were to ask me about the basic nature of the world, I would say it is role-play lite, heavy on story, heavy on adventuring and exploring, and heavy on character development.

There are some general guidelines that should be followed. Using /Shout to ask questions is fine, especially for those new players. Try to refrain from having one-on-one conversation in shout; if a conversation can be taken to /tells then it probably should: overuse of the shout channel can be very disruptive for other players. If some players in a party are involved in role-playing, it would be great if the other party members can join in and be involved. However, we are not going to create rules that are punitive for people that don’t choose to role-play. For the most part, we believe that the issue of role-play is and should be driven by the player community.

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3.3 What are the rules for PVP?

The storyline of Shroud World is one of good (the players) versus pretty much everyone else. Character advancement is based on questing and many quests will require that you work with other players to complete them. It is this cooperative spirit we try to foster; we believe that PVP is counter to that aim. Shroud World is not a PVP server and we do not support PVP in any way: attacking or pickpocketing another player is not permitted and if you steal from or deliberately attack another player character (particularly one you don't know very well) is likely to result in punitive action. We will protect the rights of players to play on the server and be free of any sort of harassment.

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3.4 What are the Code of Conduct rules?

We keep it very simple; we have two very basic rules. Rule #1 is the golden rule, “treat others as you want to be treated.” Rule #2 is even simpler, “be good or be gone”.

The expectation is that players will be cooperative, fair, and friendly. This is a mature server, not mature in the “X-rated” sense but in the sense that players act like adults and deal with others in a grown up manner. We would rather have ten mature, respectful players than a thousand immature players; quality over quantity. We want the same type of people we would call friends in the real world to be our friends in our fantasy world.

If you follow another player into a dungeon, or meet them while you are there, it is good manners to at least say hello to them, and better still if you join up into a party: if another player has just cleared a room and is recovering, please do not rush straight past them after they have done half of the hard work for you. Please do not pick up the loot drops of creatures slain by a player outside your own party unless there is nobody else around or you have an agreement with the party opr player who slew the creature: loot-stealing is frowned upon by players and DMs alike and repeat offenses could result in punitive action.

One additional rule applies; conduct that would be inappropriate in the work place is also inappropriate in Shroud World. Racial or sexual harassment, excessive swearing, etc, are prohibited and will lead to a permanent ban. This is my 5th year of operating a persistent world and I can count on one hand the number of people that I have banned, so I am not really expecting any problems but I do want to set the correct expectations.

Segal Soulsaver (Lead-GM)

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