How Neverwinter brings the classic Dungeons & Dragons heroes and villains to life

For the past eight years, Xbox players have been able to enter the Forgotten Realms and experience the world of Dungeons & Dragons through the free-to-play MMO Never winter. Now that Neverwinter is completing its Menzonberranzan arc with the latest release, The Demonweb Pitswe sat down with Elliot Minner, Neverwinter’s Lead Content Designer, to talk about the last decade of adventure.

“The Forgotten Realms” is a classic setting and provided that Never winter Team the chance to bring classic Dungeons & Dragons characters to life and let players interact with them. This allowed the developers to explore some of their favorite heroes and villains.

“We were fortunate to bring some of our absolute favorites into the game,” said Minner. “Antagonists like Strahd von Zarovich and heroes like Drizzt Do’urden and the Fellowship of the Hall. In fact, we recently got the chance to work with RA Salvatore and his son, Geno Salvatore, to create an original story about Menzoberranzan and Drizzt.”

Many of Neverwinter’s updates, called modules, are based directly on the modules that Wizards of the Coast released for the last two installments of Dungeons & Dragons. Minner says that when turning these stories into gameplay experiences, they make sure to follow the original plot but give it their own twist.

“We’re trying to stay true to the character and the story, but adapt it to the needs of the game,” explains Minners. “So we often change or add abilities to make a cool fight, or place the characters in a different version of the storyline because we can’t follow the module one-to-one. In everything we do, we work with Wizards of the Coast to ensure it fits their vision and they are very supportive when we put our own spin on the IP.”

Of course, bringing beloved D&D characters like Jarlaxle to life also comes with a responsibility of your own. Players can have their own vision of these characters that has literally lived in their minds for decades. While no version can be perfect, the team are all huge Dungeons & Dragons nerds and are working to get as close as possible.

“Our content writers sit down, think about the characters and their storylines, and write about the characters’ story,” says Minner. “We have a huge bookshelf of Dungeons & Dragons novels in the office in case anyone needs a reference to a character’s established voice. We then send the letter to our talented audio team, who staff the right person for the job and instruct them to perform satisfactorily.”

Never winter isn’t the first Dungeons & Dragons game, nor is it the first to bring these classic heroes and villains to life. Asked which sets Never winter Aside from other games in the Forgotten Realms, Minner says, “As an MMO, Neverwinter is all about playing together. You can meet Elminster with your friends and interact with him as a group. I love the feeling of bringing a group of friends together to fight one of our epic bosses like Lolth himself.”

When asked about a character he would add on occasion, Minner laughs. “Bahamut, definitely,” he says. “The Dragon God of Justice. I mean how cool would that be?”

Neverwinter’s The Demonweb Pits is available now on Xbox consoles.