There is no escape from the realm of Dungeons and Dragons!

Cryptic are having a bit of early April fun in Neverwinter. The announcement of Dragons as a playable race was a fairly conventional jape, and news of a Gelatinous Cube mount seemed to be along similar lines, but no: it really exists as an in-game… thing. You can buy one from the store, and it’ll schlupp up your character and transport them around with an 80% speed boost while making strange glooping noises.

The centrepiece of the whole business is Respen’s Marvellous Game, a really rather splendid event in which you find yourself transported to a strange dimension…

Don't look now, but I think we're being watched...

Don’t look now, but I think we’re being watched…

Yes, it’s a pen and paper D&D adventure! The players all adopt their best Heroic Figurine Pose and glide around the map on fixed bases. A dungeon masterly wizard briefs you on your quest, investigating a dread dungeon or enchanted forest, and provides further narration and convincing NPC voices as you progress.

Tow 'er?  I hardly know... no, that doesn't work...

Tow ‘er? I hardly know… no, that doesn’t work…

The mechanics are fairly conventional, you use your standard abilities (with animations), but there are plenty of nice touches, like the DM being a bit short of monster miniatures and using dice as stand-ins:

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’

There’s even a Dread Gazebo:

Don't worry, I have a +3 arrow

Don’t worry, I have a +3 arrow

With two basic adventures, each with several randomised encounter elements, there’s a lot to enjoy in the event, especially if you can run through it at a relaxed pace with a group of friends. Completing the event gives a chest of rewards with a chance for a couple of uncommon items, and the lustre wears off slightly when blitzing through at high speed with a PUG for the 19th time, but c’est la MMO-vie. The event is running until Friday 4th April, so if you’re reading this before then and have a level 6 character in Neverwinter (or the spare hour or so it takes to run through the tutorial to get one) it’s well worth a look.

4 thoughts on “There is no escape from the realm of Dungeons and Dragons!

  1. pjharvey

    That is awesome. This is how D&D Online should be implemented!

    Also, I understand that the Gelatinous Cube mount was possible and used by lazy weirdoes who wanted a pimp ride, casting acid resistance or regeneration or something on themselves so they would survive.

  2. Zoso Post author

    It is rather nifty, pity it’s a limited time event, there’s probably scope for some sort of a spin-off version of the game.

    Ahh, resistance/regeneration, presumably coupled with water (/slime?) breathing, that would explain the transport potential. And you could really save on gel or other styling products too…

  3. Telwyn

    Yes, this little event was a delight. I don’t mind that it is so time limited, or that I didn’t get the slime companion – something for next year hopefully!

    The DM’s voice-overs were priceless, when I could hear them over the combat sounds. Shame about the usual “zerg to end NOWWWWW” mentality of the pug groups as you can easily miss talking to the NPCs or other little details.

    A fun event though for sure!

  4. Zoso Post author

    Absolutely, some great DM narration, especially his female NPC voices! So many nice touches like rescuing a “fighting man” and his “sudden and inevitable betrayal”, though I did go a little crazy with repeat runs to get enough crystal dice for the pocket pet so got a bit zerg-happy after a while…

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