History Videogame / NeverwinterNights

** And then there's the fact that the name of your true love, and the name of the Sleeping Man's true love, are both chosen at random when you ask the Knower of Names who they are. There's the possibility that your henchman (or henchwomen, if you're a male with the two females) is in love with you and you with them, but the Knower of names reveals your true love to be someone else, and this same person is also the true love of the Sleeping Man, who is loved by the Knower of Places. The Knower of Names herself could also be someone's true love and she's in love with [[spoiler:Mephistopheles]]. Ultimately, almost every conceivable permutation of TriangRelations can be achieved by some combination of characters, or even multiple combinations at once, all thanks to the RandomNumberGod.

** At lower-to-mid levels this is mostly played straight. When you rest any spells you've used up are recharged, and you can rest anywhere as long as there are no enemies around, even on the third floor of an ancient ruin. The result is that after only a few levels, Wizards becomes much more powerful than Fighters, with area-of-effect magic to take out enemies and powerful status spells to cripple boss-type foes and protect the Wizard, and they only need to stop for a few seconds of real time to sleep and recharge their spells. Their utility Spells Knock and Find Traps are also amazingly useful, virtually elliminating the need for a Rogue skillset by automatically unlocking all locked containers and doors, and detecting and disarming all traps, in a large radius around the Wizard. Finally, there are numerous side quests and extras like crafting magical items that only spellcasting classes can access; by comparison there are no quests exclusive to melee classes.
** At the very late levels though, it starts to get inverted. There's a limit to how many spells of each level the Wizard can store, and most spells have a hard cap on how strong they can become (the signature Fireball for instance maxes out at 10d6). However, enemies will continue to level scale with you and thus a Wizard will need to devote more and higher-level spells to take out even trash mobs, and need to stop to rest to recharge their spells often. On the other hand, melee classes can keep raising their Strength higher and higher and get increasingly powerful weapons with bonuses to hit and damage along with other special benefits, and they get Feats like Great Cleave, Improved Power Attack, Devestating Critical, and more, that let them tear through enemies like paper. Their inability to cast spells is eventually nullified too -- the campaign (and especially the expansions) provide increasingly steady access to magical items that let you cast spells for free, any time you need to cast a spell to advance a quest the game usually hands you a wand or ring for it, and you can just buy and stockpile wands from stores.

* ChainmailBikini: The Valsharess' armor, black and spidery, deliberately made to resemble a dominatrix outfit made of metal -- she even uses a whip as her WeaponOfChoice. If you pause the game right when she dies, you actually have a small window of opportunity to loot the Valsharess' armor. Interestingly, if equipped by male PC or your companion Valen it STILL looks like a spiky bikini.

* NonCombatEXP: In addition to Quest EXP, ''Neverwinter Nights'' and its sequels include a few instances of XP beyond combat. Some conversations have bonus XP nestled in them for "roleplaying" options, there are times where ''avoiding'' the combat encounter will grant as much or more XP than fighting through it (if you're over-leveled for the fight). One notable quest involves visiting a ''brothel''. You gain experience points, for, um, ''[[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow sweet-talking]]'' a staff representative. If you're a halfling male, you get another opportunity to avenge a staff member's stalker.

''Neverwinter Nights'' was the first RPG by Creator/BioWare to be made completely in 3D, and their first game based on the third edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. There are several things that ''NWN'' is known for. One of them is the official campaign, which takes place in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' universe, or more precisely the Sword Coast, in and around the titular city of Neverwinter.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: [[spoiler:After raising the adventuring companions from the dead, you can decide you're bored with them and kill them again.]] They will even lampshade the absurdity of it. [[UpToEleven Then you can raise them again and kill them again.]] This is a quick easy way to shift to an evil alignment if you wish.

* ChainmailBikini: If you have opposite-gendered henchmen in the expansions, you can move the same suit of armor between your inventories and watch its icon change to reflect the gender of the person currently holding it -- female armor is usually more revealing, and occasionally includes AbsoluteCleavage.

* PetTheDog: Pet The Kobold, as the case may be. Persuading Tymofarrar to release Deekin from his service will have him give you an old childhood doll as proof that he's freed him. It also has an attached note from Tymofarr telling Deekin to follow his dreams and wishing him luck. Coming from a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil White Dragon]], this is a remarkable display of kindness.

* DecoyVillain: [[spoiler:Both J'Nah and Tymofarrar. They cooperated on the plot to sack Hilltop and steal the artifacts, making them the most visible antagonists of Chapter 1. However, J'Nah is ultimately just hired muscle, and Tymofarrar has no particular involvement or interest in the setup beyond wanting to collect some new shiny loot. Heurodis, the ''real'' BigBad, doesn't show up until later]].

* PetTheDog: Pet The Kobold, as the case may be. Persuading Tymofarr to release Deekin from his service will have him give you an old childhood doll as proof that he's freed him. It also has an attached note from Tymofarr telling Deekin to follow his dreams and wishing him luck. Coming from a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil White Dragon]], this is a remarkable display of kindness.

* PlatonicProstitution: It's a T-rated game, so Madam Ophelia's women (and men, and [[TakeAThirdOption Halfling]]) get to take a break (if that's what you want, anway - you still get the option to [[UnusualEuphemism rock the establishment]]). This is given a HandWave in-game that what Ophelia is doing is technically not fully legal, so it's a case of plausible deniability. You pay only for the right to enter a private room with a bed to see one of her workers for a short time. What you ''do'' during that time is between the two of you and none of Ophelia's business. No one said anything about brothels or courtesans.

!!''The Wailing Death'' provides examples of the following tropes:

[[folder:A-K]]

[[folder:M-Z]]

[[index]]
[floatboxright:The ''Neverwinter Nights'' series
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNightsAOL''
* ''Neverwinter Nights''
** Expansions:
*** ''NeverwinterNights/ShadowsOfUndrentide''
*** ''NeverwinterNights/HordesOfTheUnderdark''
*** ''Kingmaker'' (see below)
** Premium modules:
*** ''Witch's Wake''
*** ''Shadowguard''
*** ''Kingmaker''
*** ''Pirates of the Sword Coast''
*** ''Infinite Dungeons''
*** ''Wyvern Crown of Cormyr''
*** ''Darkness Over Daggerford''
*** ''Crimson Tides of Tethyr''
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''
** Expansions:
*** ''NeverwinterNights2/MaskOfTheBetrayer''
*** ''NeverwinterNights2/StormOfZehir''
*** ''NeverwinterNights2/MysteriesOfWestgate''
* ''VideoGame/{{Neverwinter}}'']
[[/index]]

Two {{expansion pack}}s ''NeverwinterNights/ShadowsOfUndrentide'' and ''NeverwinterNights/HordesOfTheUnderdark'' stepped away from the original campaign and focused on character development, roleplaying, and the intricate storylines for which [=BioWare=] is renowned (although only ''Hordes'' was actually made by [=BioWare=]; ''Undrentide'' was instead developed by the Creator/{{Looking Glass|Studios}} expats from Floodgate Entertainment, led by the LGS founder [[VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld Paul]] [[VideoGame/SystemShock Neurath]]). These proved to be more popular with fans.

Creator/BioWare additionally released a number of "premium modules" as paid DLC. Short self-contained adventures, many of which were created by community members hired by [=BioWare=], the premium modules became deeper and more complex as designers familiarized themselves with the engine and new tools were developed. The first three, ''Witch's Wake'', ''Shadowguard'' and ''Kingmaker'', were compiled into the third expansion, ''Kingmaker''. Three more were made: ''Pirates of the Sword Coast'', ''Infinite Dungeons'' and ''Wyvern Crown of Cormyr''. While the modules themselves were well received, they required a constant connection to the Internet as DRM; the modules in ''Kingmaker'' do not have this feature. When the premium module initiative ended, several projects were left hanging, though ''Darkness Over Daggerford'' and ''Crimson Tides of Tethyr'' were released for free later. [=BioWare=] stopped selling the premium modules in 2009.

* DayOldLegend: Averted here, where a weapon or piece of armor made by in-game will have the flavor text describe it being made by the specific blacksmith, in the current year and for the current campaign [[http://www.gamebanshee.com/neverwinternights/equipment/images/runehammerplus1.jpg but in the same style as the "ancient" equipment]] so it feels like the player is crafting their legend for future adventurers as they play the game. This is played straight in ''Hordes of The Underdark''. The game take place only a few months later and you find the über version of those same items, only they have [[{{Retcon}} new backstories]].

** At the very late levels though, it starts to get inverted. There's limit to how many spells of each level the Wizard can store, and most spells have a hard cap on how strong they can become (the signature Fireball for instance maxes out at 10d6). Enemies will continue to scale with the Wizard's level, though, and thus the Wizard will need to devote more and more spells to fighting even trash mobs, and then stop to rest more often to recharge their spells. On the other hand, melee classes can keep raising their Strength higher and higher and get increasingly powerful weapons with bonuses to hit and damage along with other special benefits, and they get Feats like Great Cleave, Improved Power Attack, Devestating Critical, and more, that let them tear through enemies like paper. Their inability to cast spells is eventually nullified too -- the campaign (and especially the expansions) provide increasingly steady access to magical items that let you cast spells for free, any time you need to cast a spell to advance a quest the game usually hands you a wand or ring for it, and you can just buy and stockpile wands from stores.

* WithThisHerring: Despite working for the Lord of Neverwinter to save the city from destruction, and risking your life against all sorts of horrible creatures to do it, you're given little to aid you in your quest except for some VendorTrash equipment at the Academy in the ForcedTutorial. This despite the fact that the shops around town have lots of high-quality gear that would surely be of help to you, and even Aribeth herself has stuff on-hand she'll be happy to [[NoHeroDiscount sell you instead of letting you have it]].

* KleptomaniacHero: Leading to some MoralDissonance considering you can effectively steal from the poor and desperate--in the original game this caused no penalty, in the expansions unlocking the doors and chests of towns shifts your alignment towards Chaotic.

*** ''Darkness Over Daggerford'' (free)
*** ''Crimson Tides of Tethyr'' (free)

The full game, including the premium modules, is available at Website/GogDotCom. For the original AOL MMORPG from 1991 that shared the same name, [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNightsAOL it now has its own page]]. In 2017, developer Beamdog announced ''Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition'', which was subsequently released on March 27, 2018 and, later the same year, ported both on Android and iOS.

!!The original campaign provides examples of:

* NowWhichOneWasThatVoice: Voice actors are only listed in the credits under "Voice Acting", with no further indication. Eventually it was possible, in the course of years, to reconnect some voice actors to their exact roles (and sites such as Website/IMDb have been updated accordingly), but for many characters (especially from the two expansions) the doubt remains.

The full game, including the premium modules, is available at Website/GogDotCom. For the original AOL MMORPG from 1991 that shared the same name, [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNightsAOL it now has its own page]]. In 2017, developer Beamdog announced ''Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition'', which was subsequently released on March 27, 2018.

* InfantImmortality: Horribly averted. Especially in the Charwood.

* WretchedHive: The city of Neverwinter. What used to be the "Jewel of the North" was completely brought to its knees after months of Wailing death raging in the city. Piles of corpses are found at every corner, some charred, others left forgotten to rotten open-air. The streets are overrun with gangs, zombies, thugs or citizens driven crazy by the epidemic. The city guard can and does little to keep order, and most people are left to fend for themselves. Only Blacklake district and the City core remain relatively safe havens, barricaded and protected from the surrounding devastation.