Frequently Asked Questions

What is Neverwinter Nights? How do I play Gnostica?

Does Gnostica have anything to do with gnosticism? What's with the name?

No, not really, nor does it have anything whatsoever to do with the Gnostica LARP or the Gnostica 'abstract territory based war game' (Although that does look interesting). I do love the idea of Gnosis. Lifing a bit from a website:

Aside from anything you may have heard or read about Gnostic "doctrine", Gnosticism is not, catagorically a doctrine. It is, rather, an epistimology. This teaching stands in sharp contrast to the standard epistimology of both orthodox churches and cults, Pistis: Pistis (Greek), root of: epistimology 1: believing by an "act of will", excluding all evidence to the contrary. 2: willing oneself to believe under threat of imminent and painful extinction or social ostracism. The emblem, or insignia, of Pistic teaching is: Believe and be Saved The emblem of Gnostic teaching is: Seek and you shall find. Ask and it shall be given. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

There is what could be called esoteric knowledge built into Gnostica, but it is not really of a 'spiritual' nature. More of an allegory.

What's with the level 27 soft cap for Characters?

I have always enjoyed lower-level campaigns of AD&D, and this is where most of my experience is from. For this reason, and because I wanted to make Gnostica a 'part-time' server, so that people who have other commitments on other worlds can play, I chose to create a 'soft' cap of Level 27 for characters. Why 27? Because it is 'name level' (i.e. 9th level) of all three classes for a multi-class character. This means if you divide your talents three ways you can achieve "name level recognition." in all your classes. The actual cap will be decided on a case by case basis, but no PCs will ever rise above Level 30 in any case.

When will it be ready to play?

When it is. :) Beta-testing going on now. Sign up on the forums if you want to beta-test or build. It is taking longer than I ever could have dreamed. May it last even longer than I could ever dare hope.

Where does Gnostica fit in the D&D universe?

You could think of Gnostica as a Demiplane of the Dream plane, Somneiros. It really is a homebrew world though. Try and distance yourself from 'what you know about D&D' and just experience the setting for what it is.

That NPC reminds me of... Did you base xyz on something in Real Life?

Disclaimer: Gnostica is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

That said... you might find a lot of coincidences :) The only real being in Gnostica is the goddess Eris, which everyone knows is real. (And no, Gnostica really has nothing to do with Discordianism, either, I just love Eris.)

Obviously, because this is NWN, most of the creatures are lifted from D&D mythos, but you should not rely on that, since the particulars can be quite different. Almost all the gods are a syncretistic hodgepodge, drawn from hither and thither, because it seemed more fun than making up silly names for them.

Why do the merchants only have one of ________? Or where are the merchants?

Many merchants spawn in different times and different places. Many items are not marked 'infinite' to reflect scarcity in the economy and to encourage seeking out other merchants. Some merchants will respawn items on server reset, others on a timer. Persistent merchants are planned, but they are still a ways off.

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- Oscar Wilde