FAQs
General
What is Ardan Nights?
Ardan Nights is a project which is making modules set in Arda and Middle-earth for Neverwinter Nights.
What is Neverwinter Nights?
Neverwinter Nights is a new Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game from BioWare, developers of the wacky 3D action title, MDK2, and the wildly popular Baldur’s Gate role-playing series. Throughout their history of hit titles, BioWare has become well-known for their eye for detail and their commitment to rich and evocative storytelling in their games. Neverwinter Nights raises the bar even higher, with the official campaign drawing its players into an epic and unforgettable tale of faith, war, and betrayal along the windswept Sea of Swords. (Taken from the NWN FAQ at The Neverwinter Nights Website.)
What is a module?
A module can be looked upon as a group of areas, or more traditionally in a computer game, a group of levels.
What is Arda?
Arda is the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, in which most of his books are set.
What is Middle-earth?
The great continent on which much of the Silmarillion and the adventures of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are set.
What is roleplaying?
Role-playing is a style of gaming in which the participants takes the part of a ‘character’, participating in a fictional adventure. The nature of the adventure is set by a referee, called by many names such as Dungeon Master, Game Master, and Storyteller. The referee determines the background and plays the part of any ‘characters’ not controlled by a player.
Can I play with my regular Neverwinter Nights character or will I have to make a new one
You will have to register and play a specific Ardan Nights character since the NWN classes and races have been replaced.
Ardan Nights
What is the goal of Ardan Nights?
The goal of Ardan Nights is to create a role-playable Middle-earth faithful to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, by bringing together enthusiasts of Tolkien and supplying them with the resources to give them the opportunity to create their vision of Middle-earth from any Age.
How can I join Ardan Nights?
You can join by registering at the Ardan Nights OpenID Store or using any OpenID account that you already use. You can then use this to log in at the Message Boards or the Red Book wiki.
Once I have joined Ardan Nights what should I do then?
Once you have joined you should participate in the discussions on the forums and join one of the Groups under the Hildorien forum heading. These groups discuss the different aspects of Ardan Nights and further information about them can be found in the Ardan Nights Charter.
Will I be recquired to write an application for my character or will you accept everyone?
Yes, you will have to complete an application form for all characters that you wish to create. This character will be looked over to ensure that it conforms to Tolkien’s works and once everything is ok, will be created for you and placed on the server.
Will Ardan Nights be a ‘role-playing only’ server?
Yes. All of Ardan Nights’ modules will be role-playing enforced.
In which Age will Ardan Nights’ modules take place?
The persistent world that we are focusing on will take place a couple hundred years into the 4th Age. Eldarion, Arwen and Aragorns’ son has just died. Ardan Nights’ modules (modules made using our custumizations), however, will have different ages depending on the setting.
Will Ardan Nights be only one module or will it be several linked together?
Ardan Nights’ modules will comprise of both stand alone modules and modules linked together. The modules linked together must be of the same setting and time.
When will Ardan Nights release a module?
Our first module should be launched online by the end of the Summer.
How will modules be used in Ardan Nights?
Modules will either be linked together to form entire areas or played as single player.
Will Ardan Nights be building modules in teams or will everyone work independently?
Ardan Nights intends for team module building but independent module building is allowed.
How will modules be hosted with Ardan Nights?
This is still under consideration but we hope to use computers with a speed no slower than cable modem.
Will I be able to play any famous characters from the books?
Unless a module is made to follow the exact storyline from the books with the intention of allowing players to be the famous characters, no. The intent of Ardan Nights is to play an ordinary character whom becomes involved in epic quests.
Will there be ‘Gods’ in Ardan Nights’ modules?
At the moment no, but if there will be then they will be NPCs only.
What races will be allowed in Ardan Nights?
We have our own races. We have Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits and in the future Orcs will be allowed. There are various subraces belonging to the different races that allow for further diversity.
Can I play a Half Orc in Ardan Nights?
No, but you should be able to play an Orc in the future.
Middle-earth
Will there be super cool magic items that I can use like in other games?
No, Arda is a magic item rare, if not devoid, world. Items having specific magical values will show up only with Dungeon Master approval and moderation.
Can I play every D&D 3rd Edition Character Class in Ardan Nights?
No. Middle-earth is a land that does not transfer into the D&D concept very easy. Only a few classes from D&D are back in Ardan Nights (Fighter, Ranger, Barbarian) and they have been heavily edited. We have of course added many new classes to replace the others.
How is magic addressed in Ardan Nights?
Magic in Middle-earth is extremely unlike that of D&D 3rd Edition magic. Magic will be very rare and heavily moderated by Dungeon Masters, but we also have our own magic system, called Songs of Power, that is available to every Singing class (Generalist, Scholar, Loremaster, Minstrel, Ranger). Warriors and Barbarians also have special powers: warcries.
What Character Class can I play then?
We have 11 character classes to choose from. When you create your character, you will have only 3 choices. They are: Generalist, Scholar, and Fighter. After meeting the requirements, you can then multi-class to these classes: Barbarian, Warrior, Ranger, Craftsman, Healer, Minstrel, Loremaster, and Scout.