Escape from the Underdark

One of the main reasons many gamers play games is to indulge in escapism, and I've found no better escape than Escape from the Underdark, at least where video games are concerned.

This server for Neverwinter Nights is a mass story-telling project with hundreds of new features scripted in to breathe new life into an aging game. While most online games focus on the violent dispatch of hundreds of goblins, dragons, and fellow players, this server pushes all that off to the side a little to focus more on story. A team of moderators introduces the "hooks" for various plots (often woven together by virtue of a few key characters shared), and players jump into the mix with characters of their own creation, sometimes made specifically for a plot, but more often just along for the ride as the various stories come and go. This is a game that really appeals to the storyteller in me as much as the gamer.

You can play ...






... a dastardly anti-hero ...











... a dejected poet ...











... the cowardly little cohort ...








... or anything else you want. Characters controlled by players on this server have risen to the lofty heights of lordship, sunk into the depravity of a vile mad scientist, built up merchant empires, torn down totalitarian establishments, and so forth down the list. This is about as immersive as gaming gets.