Neverwinter: The Maze Engine – Portobello’s Campaign Event Announced

A new event for the Dungeons & Dragons-based free-to-play MMO Neverwinter is slated to take place on March 31st. Titled Portobello’s Campaign, it will star character Portobello DaVinci, the alter ego of D&D principal story designer Chris Perkins, who will offer adventurers a campaign of his own, inspired by the Acquisitions Inc. live D&D games hosted at PAX Prime 2015. Note that this event is only available for PC players, and there is no mention of an Xbox One version at all in the press release. It’s not your regular event, I’ll give Cryptic and Perfect World that much:

A New Dungeon Master Enters Neverwinter!

Portobello DaVinci now joins Respen Durothil with his own (marvelous) game in Neverwinter’s newest event Portobello’s Campaign. Chris Perkins, principal story designer for Dungeons & Dragons, joins the cast of Neverwinter as adventurers play through an all-new Dungeons & Dragons tabletop experience inspired by the popular Acquisitions Inc. live games presented by Wizards of the Coast and Penny Arcade. This brand new event will be available for Neverwinter PC on March 31.

In the effort to bring the best Dungeons & Dragons tabletop experiences to the digital space, the content in Portobello’s Campaign is heavily inspired by the Acquisitions Inc. live game from PAX Prime 2015. Dungeon master Portobello DaVinci brings adventurers to the Burrow Dawn Inn to participate in a brand-new, super-meta tabletop adventure. The new MMORPG campaign brings a cast of new characters including Flabbergast and his cat, Mr Snibbly, as well as two gargoyles that appeared in the live game. A full replay of the PAX Prime 2015 live game can be found here: https://youtu.be/LA3VbDqj7C4

Cryptic Studios has included a full-fledged, in-game campaign for the month-long Portobello’s Campaign that will give players progression through the content and more rewards than previous iterations of the event. These rewards include a new artifact item and companion, including the Apocalypse Dagger artifact and Staldorf modeled after the items from the live game.

Here’s the trailer, which sets the tone for what players can expect out of it: