Eminence: The Revolution in Roleplay
eminencerp.com
eminencerp.com
The project started back in 2002, when we were all players, DMs, or builders on the Neverwinter Nights server, “Haze.” Haze came to an end in ~2004, but it stuck with all of us as the most powerful, immersive gaming experience we’d ever participated in. We all reconnected in a Facebook group in ~2017.
In late 2020, a player made a YouTube video recounting her time on the server [1]. This spark inspired us to give it all another go. Eminence was born.
We’re opinionated on what makes for the best roleplay experiences, and have designed the game world accordingly.
Character death is permanent. Death is a part of any story, any world, and Eminence is no different. When your character falls in battle or commits a capital crime or runs afoul of conspirators or whatever the cause may be, your death becomes a part of the story. You’re free (and encouraged!) to roll another character. We’re low level. Your character starts at level 2. A truly legendary, extraordinary character would be something like level 9. It’ll take on the order of years to get there. We’re not going to be a server with level 20 demi-god paladins casually strolling through the world. Story, not loot, centered. We believe great roleplaying is a reward in and of itself. There are tons of other games out there that nailed the grind for phat loot and gear. We’re not playing that game.
Our player’s handbook spells out our philosophy and design choices in greater detail [2]. We know this gaming philosophy resonates with a niche, but sizable, audience.
So what exactly is Eminence? We’re a free-to-play module to Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (NWN:EE). We chose to make it as a module for NWN:EE because the toolset was well aligned with world building + supporting dungeon masters. For the uninitiated, dungeon masters (DM) are the volunteer staff who run events, spawn monsters, award XP, and generally add additional color to the world.
Your character will start out as a convict, shipped to the island penal colony of “Eminence.” A rare element, “vividium,” was recently discovered there. While you’re relatively free to move about the island and pursue your own goals, you are expected to regularly find and provide the “viv.” Failure to do so will have consequences.
Why was your character shipped to Eminence? What crime were they found guilty of? That’s the beauty of roleplay; you tell us! If you’re new to roleplaying, I encourage you to start with finding the answer to this question. From there, you should be able to begin to answer: What are your character’s goals? Their motivations? Their fears?
All interactions in the world of Eminence must be done in-character. If you’re new to roleplaying, that may sound intimidating, but you’ll come up to speed quickly. It’s how I learned!
You can join the Discord and connect with the team and other players [3]. Beta starts tomorrow Friday, March 12th at 6PM GMT.
[1] The video that got us going: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTEMfsAvqOc&t=371s
[2] 30 pg Player’s Handbook: https://c9bc5d1f-73dd-446f-88d9-5d4d5266da44.filesusr.com/ug...
[3] Discord: https://discord.gg/5c2XtWQSUm