Neverwinter’s 27th module, Spelljammer, stands out as one of the game’s more unique modules despite the gamut of D&D settings available in the game ranging from the infernal realm of Avernus to the cavernous depths of the Underdark. This time around,Neverwinteris treading sci-fi territory with the Spelljammer setting, where players will travel aboard one of the titular spacefaring spelljammer vessels on a high-stakes quest to stop the star-spanning Xaryxian Empire from destroying countless worlds, includingNeverwinter’s own Toril.
In an exclusive interview with Game Rant,Neverwinterexecutive producer Brett Norton went into detail about the various challenges involved in bringing this unique and little-used setting into the free-to-play MMORPG. He talked about how the team approached the vast scale of Wildspace in terms of level design, as well as howNeverwinteris laying a foundation for future games that may wish to incorporate the Spelljammer setting.
How Neverwinter Tackles Space Travel In Spelljammer
A clear challenge involved with takingNeverwinterinto the vast Sea of Night is the sheer scale of the universe and the number of possible worlds to visit. TheNeverwinterteam took aMass Effectapproach to space exploration, in which players disembark at landing sites on various planets with smaller, more focused environments.
Wildspace is a vast, incredible space, but video games have to be much more specific about which locations we can visit compared to the tabletop game. We first contemplated having the module take place on the Rock of Bral, a massive floating asteroid in Wildspace that serves as a natural hub for a lot of tabletop adventures. But the Rock of Bral, while an iconic landmark when viewed from outside, has an actual surface that is similar to the cities and landscapes we’ve done inNeverwinterin the past. There’s nothing bad about the Rock of Bral, but if we spent all our time on just that, it wasn’t going to capture the feeling of getting out and exploring space. We wanted to see more, different environments than just the Rock of Bral, so our maps team came up with the idea of ‘Landing Sites’ instead.
The landing sites system enabled the team to hand-craft many considerably varied landscapes as opposed toNeverwinter’s past modules that normally included one or two larger free-roaming adventure zones, and the level design has certainly benefited from this approach. Players may find themselves in a dark, dusty desert world inhabited by ancient beings, only to later land on a vibrant jungle world or a low-gravity asteroidsprawling with illithid mind flayers.
Neverwinter Lays The Groundwork For Future Spelljammer Depictions
Another difficulty that theNeverwinterteam faced was the lack of the Spelljammer setting’srepresentation in other D&D games. The only other game to feature the setting was the 1992 MS-DOS titleSpelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace,and so the team looked to other sources for references.
We ran into a similar challenge with ourMenzoberranzanmodule, which despite being a popular location in the Forgotten Realms IP, hasn’t had much representation in video games (or recent D&D tabletop books!). In both the case ofSpelljammerandMenzoberranzan,we pitched some early ideas and concepts to Wizards of the Coast on how we would translate these settings into a video game, insuring we met their aesthetic and narrative needs.
The good news is that the lack of ‘canonical’ recent video games in those spaces meant we got the opportunity to define some elements for ourselves. We don’t know if future games will utilize how / whatNeverwinterchose to represent these settings, but we hope we did a solid job and future developers find our work useful if they’re in the same situation as we were.
Neverwinterran into a similar situation withits Menzoberranzan module, another setting that has had sparse depictions in past games. Once more, the team had the opportunity to lay a foundation for futureDungeons & Dragonsmedia that may wish to use these themes, and hopefully, thanks toNeverwinter, gamers won’t have to wait another 30 years before the next time they can step aboard a spelljammer.
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Neverwinter is the premier Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG experience, featuring fast-paced combat and epic dungeons. Explore the vast city of Neverwinter and its surrounding regions, battle its many enemies, and be a part of Forgotten Realms history.Experience Dungeons & Dragons Like Never Before - Neverwinter is an action MMORPG that bridges intense combat with classic D&D gameplay. Journey through the city of Neverwinter and the legendary subcontinent of Faerûn, and face off against the greatest adversaries from D&D legend.Build Your Own Legend – Bring your adventures to life through iconic D&D classes and races, advanced paragon paths, companions, and a remarkable range of customization options. Whether you’re hunting dragons and beholders within crumbling dungeons or battling other players in the icy reaches of Icespire Peak, you’ll discover why Neverwinter is the definitive Dungeons & Dragons experience.
