Neverwinter Campaign Setting

The book contains an introduction and four chapters:^[1]

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Jewel of the North
  • "The first chapter, Jewel of the North is only about ten pages and it tries to cover the entire history of the Neverwinter region in that span".^[2]
• Chapter 2: Character Options
  • "Chapter Two, Character Options is far meatier and it runs nearly seventy pages. The chapter can be divided into four sections: Character Themes, Racial Backgrounds, Warpriest Domains, and finally, a brand new character class known as the Bladesinger".^[2]
• Chapter 3: Factions and Foes
  • "Chapter 3, Factions and Foes is about fifty pages long and the title kind of says it all here. This is where you'll find a lot of plot hooks around countries or organizations that will make up the majority of your antagonists in a Neverwinter setting".^[2]
• Chapter 4: Gazetteer
  • "The final chapter of the book, Gazetteer takes up half the pages contained therein [...]. However the section doesn't spend much, if any, time talking about the past – everything is in the present".^[2]

The Neverwinter Mass Adventure was released to attendees of GenCon 2011 as a preview of the book and a push towards Neverwinter themed products.^[3] On August 6, 2011, shortly after GenCon, local game stores could participate in Neverwinter Game Day with the adventure Gates of Neverdeath before the 223-page hardcover book was released on August 16, 2011.^[3][4]

Shannon Appelcline commented that with the sixth season of Encounters, Lost Crown of Neverwinter (2011, 14 weeks), "Wizards used Season 6 to highlight their newest (and last) campaign book for 4E: the Neverwinter Campaign Setting (2011). They made a big deal of it, kicking it off with the Gates of Neverdeath adventure at D&D Games Day (August 2011), and then continuing into the 14-week series of Forgotten Realms Encounters."^[5]: 194 Appelcline noted that even while Dungeons & Dragons 4E was showing increasing signs of weakness at the time, "they changed up their campaign-a-year format with the release of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting (2011), which returned to the Forgotten Realms rather than breaking new ground."^[5]: 197

Appelcline wrote about the Neverwinter Campaign Setting being launched as 4th edition's first major multimedia release, noting that the city setting spawned four novels by R.A. Salvatore called the Neverwinter Saga, a comic book, and a board game called The Legend of Drizzt (2011), as well as two video games - the Facebook game Heroes of Neverwinter and a MMORPG called simply "Neverwinter."^[6]

Laura Tommervik (Wizards of the Coast marketing team) explained the approach: "We use Neverwinter as the connective tissue across multiple product categories. The transmedia campaign is an opportunity for fans to experience the brand however they choose to".^[6]