Quickstart Guide to the new Neverwinter Connections

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Carlo
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Quickstart Guide to the new Neverwinter Connections

Post by Carlo » Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:28 am

The best way to check out the guide to the new NWC is via the live link:

https://neverwinterconnections.org/pages/quickstart

I'll also periodically post the latest update here, if there are any significant changes.

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Carlo
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Re: Quickstart Guide to the new Neverwinter Connections

Post by Carlo » Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:00 pm

How to use the new Neverwinter Connections - Quickstart Guide

The below guide contains everything needed to navigate and begin using the new NWC site for your Neverwinter Nights games.

Members and Characters

Registered members should immediately update the home time zone in your account settings, if necessary. Then the calendar will automatically display all scheduled events at the correct local time. Otherwise, times will display at the site's default time zone (GMT -5).

Members can create characters on the site and provide stats and descriptions for them. These character profiles are then used when signing up for open games, or can provide useful background information for their participation in other types of games. Your member profile has a Characters tab that lists all of the ones you have created on the site. Characters can either have a DM (Dungeon Master) or Player role assigned to them. Here are examples of both DM and Player characters.

DM certification and ranking has been implemented as a feature, in order to recognize the time invested in DMing a game and to encourage new DMs to take the plunge.

Both the full site Member and Character rosters are separately visible and searchable.

Finding and Scheduling Games

The calendar box on the home page below the site news has a zoomed-in display of the current week's events, while the sidebar calendar displays a full month. On the sidebar, days having scheduled events are highlighted and clickable, showing the selected day's events below; by default, the next five upcoming events are displayed below the sidebar calendar. To go to the main calendar page, click on the "more" option at the lower right corner of either calendar, or on the "Events" button in the main top menu.

Game types displayed on the events calendar can include Application (Blue), Open (Gray) and Invite Only (Red).
  • Application games require sending a message to the organizer to be added to the roster. On the calendar, you can see an example Application game. Organizers of application games normally will update the event page's player roster and privately message participants with the server login info, prior to starting.
  • Open games can be signed up for by any site member. When creating an event, it can be set to enable signup either by member name or by a selected character (PC) name. The latter option can be helpful for organizing play, since each PC's characteristics (level, classes, background) can then be seen by other participants. Other useful options also exist, for example customizing the desired time window for signup. It is not recommended to check the "by role" or "by group" options, unless you have a large, action-style event. View a model Open game where you can even add your own character as a test.
  • Invite Only games are typically created by existing groups, including ongoing long-term campaigns and members-only PW servers, to help organize playing sessions using the events calendar. This automatically adjusts for different time zones and provides a central location for information on the game. Open or Application games that require multiple sessions to complete normally become Invite Only games after the first session, when only the same group members are participating.
Scheduling a game is as easy as going to the Events page and clicking the +Add Event button. The form prompts you to provide a name for the event, add a custom photo/graphic, select a category (Application/Invite Only/Open), provide a game description, select its date/time, and the options to make it reoccurring or enable signups (for Open games).
  • The NWC Game Creation Template provides a pre-created, complete format for all game types
  • Persistent World (PW) events are encouraged to use the prefix "PW:" in the title and to make sure their PW name and connection info is listed, at minimum.
PROTIP: When entering text descriptions (of events or characters), you can drag the lower box edge down to give you more space to write.

PROTIP: For custom content, Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (NWN:EE) has the NWSync feature, which allows servers to automatically download custom content to players. See the NWSync user manual for details. However, this requires a certain level of technical skill to set up, and for very large HAK file downloads like CEP and Project Q, it may still be best to simply link to them in the game description and let players do this well in advance.

Known issues:
  • When creating a game, two extraneous categories appear in the menu choices: Alliance and No Category. These are hardcoded and can be safely ignored.
  • When signing up a character to an open game, the extraneous word "Damage" will appear next to their name. I believe this reflects a hardcoded default "role" for the character which is suppressed in the creation menu. This extra text has no functional effect and hopefully can eventually be eliminated.
  • If you change the time of a scheduled event, its comments section is wiped. You should therefore put any necessary additional information into the game description before changing the event time.
Hosting your game

The NWC Multiplayer Connection and Hosting Guide has a step-by-step walkthrough of how to connect to multiplayer games and also how to host your own game using your computer's NWN:EE client or dedicated server application.

The NWC Public Server, running a dedicated NWN:EE cloud server, is also available for checkout by DMs and gaming groups. Click this link for details on how to reserve it.

Neverwinter Connections Discord

The NWC Discord serves as the community chat hub - many thanks to Ranan for originally setting it up and welcoming integration with the new Neverwinter Connections site. Anyone can use the channel for real-time communications in game, for chatting before or after a scheduled session, and for connecting with others across the Neverwinter Nights community.

**Click this link for a Discord channel invite**


Neverwinter Connections Forums

The NWC Forums are again open for business, having originally been created in 2008 as a backup for the first Neverwinter Connections site (2002-2012, RIP). Thanks go to forums host/admin Venture for having maintained the NWN Campaigns site for so long, to the benefit of many Neverwinter Nights DMs and players. Player groups can also get their own campaign forum! Click here to go to The Player Connection and see how.

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