Dungeons and Dragons is a game that can be as epic, silly, or terrifying as the PCs and DMs decide to make it. Groups that want a horror experience while playing the tabletop roleplaying game have tons of creepy monsters and environments to choose from to help set the tone and keep players on the edge of their seats. The same can be said for Neverwinter’s world, as well.
Fans of Neverwinter, the Dungeons and Dragons-inspired MMO will experience humor, high fantasy, and all kinds of horror as they work through the game’s campaign and decide which environments and dungeons to revisit at max level. Many of those zones are full of frightening monsters that come straight out of the TTPRG’s Monster Manuals and other sourcebooks.
Neverwinter has been growing since its launch back in mid-2013 and the development team has had years to weave in tons of DnD’s scariest enemies from creepy Redcaps all the way up to TPK causing dragons. During a recent interview with Randy Mosiondz, Neverwinter Lead Designer, Game Rant had a chance to discuss the fall/Halloween festivities in the MMO and some of the scariest monsters and characters that have made their way from sourcebooks into the game…
Mind Flayers
"There are a lot of monsters you fight that are more on the horrific side (in Neverwinter). One of my favorites are the Mind Flayers. They are controlled by an elder brain and it verges into fantasy horror elements. Even the way they control people, using sluglike creatures that crawl into your eye and merge into your brain... Yep, that's pretty much body horror."
Strahd Von Zarovich
"We've got a whole zone based around Ravenloft and the vampires who dwell there. The storyline of Strahd and his unending question to recover his lost love, who keeps getting reincarnated in different forms as he tries to seek her out. Of course he's a horrible monster and he creatures other ones, as well. Castle Ravenloft is full of his consorts and all kinds of creatures that he's creatured or enthralled. It's definitely gothic horror, but it's horror nonetheless."
The Atropal
"When we worked on the atropal we knew it was digusting and scary, but it was a great D&D story. They're kind of unfinished immortals, so they look like a shriveled undead god baby thing. In one of our storylines we had an ancient wizard that was trying to bring it to life and birth a new god of death out of this creature and the player actually get to fight this creature. Setting up the situation was really interesting - figuring out the game mechanics. It screams and thrashes and just really feels like something that should not be born into the world, because it would just kill so many people."
Hags
"There's a story based on three hags trying to seize power. Hags themselves are great horrific elements, kind of the classic Grim's Fairy Tales. We took three types of hags for this story, a night hag, a green hag and an annis hag. The annis hag is big and brutish, the night hag is technically a Fae creature but spends a lot of time in the lower planes, and the green hag is one of the cruelest of the hags."
Undead Liches and Dracoliches
"Undead liches and dracoliches are another great group of scary creatures. Dracoliches being a nice combination of traditional dragons that are undead, but still intelligent. Anything you apply undead too can just get really interesting."
That's really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the massive list of monsters featured in Neverwinter. DnD fans who haven't given the free-to-play MMO a shot yet may want to take some time to jump in this week and see what the Hallowen festivities are all about. Be sure to check back in the near future for more Neverwinter strategy guides, news, and updates.
Neverwinter is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.