115 *NOR/News 20yrs!! of Dungeons and Dragons Online

Hail *NOR/!

This month marks the 20th year of Dungeons & Dragons Online as a tried and true veteran of the MMORPG genre. This article and in-game screenshots acknowledge and celebrate the New OutRiders’ presence within DDO over the past two decades and its tenure as NOR’s current longest-running active duchy. NOR recognizes each and every guild member who has washed up on the shores of Xen’drik as a level 1 player character and braved their way from Korthos Island to the City of Stormreach and beyond.

On February 28, 2006, in connection with Wizards of the Coast, Turbine, Inc. released Dungeons & Dragons Online to the public. DDO was set in the Eberron campaign world and utilized the 3.5 edition of D&D’s core rules. The New OutRiders guild continued its presence from the DDO beta testing period of 2005 and hit the ground questing at breakneck speed by dungeon crawling all of its fresh content on the Fernia server. Lords Emeritus Abin and Ayeone co-helmed the realm leader position; Lord Emeritus Sarmaran spearheaded the branch; Contessa Lakasha heralded in the new recruits; and DarkJustice, Rad, Asrana, Trebble, Mathais, and Tallanor rounded out the DDO leadership. In the first two months, the branch had over 100 members. Squire Gsling was the first guildie to make it to the initial level cap (10) within a week of DDO’s release.

When Update 3 “The Vault of the Night” landed in 2010, the New OutRiders entered the fray to conquer the new four pre-quests and two-part raid. After several attempts where the guildies were either wing buffeted from The Plane of Night or ended up as dragon chow, NOR victoriously became the first guild on all servers to defeat Velah, the Red Dragon to the fanfare of the NOR guildies and DDO forums, alike. 2010 was also the year DDO conducted server merges, and NOR migrated from Fernia to the Ghallanda server until 2025, where DDO moved from Ghallanda to the new 64-bit Thrane server.

Along the way, NOR/DDO appointed four branch leaders (Sarmaran, Yavool, Nerate, and Skorj); logged a peak of 243 unique accounts and players; adapted to DDO’s pioneering of the free-to-play business model in 2009; utilized the new reincarnation system in 2009; upgraded to the best-in-game guild ship in 2010; explored epic levels for the first time in 2012; took on legendary quest content in 2014; enjoyed the new artificer class in 2015; adjusted to Standing Stone Games taking over DDO from Turbine, Inc. in 2016; accepted the challenge of the permadeath Hardcore leagues that began in 2018; engaged in deeper and more complex gameplay with the releases of Mists of Ravenloft and Masterminds of Sharn in 2019; welcomed the overall population surge in DDO that the pandemic provided in 2020; mastered the revamped epic destiny system in 2022; survived DDO’s performance issues which ultimately led to the 32-bit servers shutdown and introduction of the 64-bit servers in 2025; and navigated eight level cap hikes, with a ninth coming this summer, 2026 to level 36.

NOR’s presence in DDO has not been without its difficult in-game moments, especially as it related to guild members who left DDO to move onto other games, those who went MIA, or guildies that took an indefinite LOA. The pinnacle of disheartening moments happened in 2010 when NOR/DDO experienced a significant defection of over 75% of its guild members when an officer refused to comply with NOR’s multigenerational family-friendly orientation, communication, and playstyle. In a secret coordinated action, the officer in question had guild members disband from NOR and join another guild, the Misfit Toys. Through this adversity, the mettle of the remaining NORbies shined through and those who were true to NOR’s mission “to have fun and help others do the same” became the hallmark of what it meant to be a guild member of the New OutRiders.

As the years roll by and seasons shift in turn, NOR/DDO’s traditions live on. From the historic use of the diplomacy skill on an unopened treasure chest for better loot drops to the /dance and /roll d100 ritual to determine who opens each chest encountered; and from emoting /lfh (looking for ham) for guild screenshots, to the use of the hot springs and dance floor on the guild ship, the light-hearted and fun-loving spirit of the guild runs deep with the New OutRiders in DDO.

As Dungeons & Dragons Online charts its course for the future, the developers show no sign of slowing down with regard to releasing new content, providing ongoing quality of life improvements, and rewarding loyal players for their continued commitment to DDO. The leadership of NOR/DDO aspires to continue enrolling new players to join the DDO branch, collectively engage in all in-game events and experiences, and host future DDO guild unity (GLUE) events.

On behalf of the Dungeons & Dragons Online branch of the New OutRiders, we thank DDO for giving us a wonderful and dependable game to revel in for the past twenty years. We thank the New OutRiders for inspiring a safe space for connection and community for the gaming world at large since 1992. We thank each and every New OutRiders guild member that has been part of the NOR experience in DDO since pre-release beta testing in 2005. Lastly, we hope that everyone in NOR will take a moment to download Dungeons & Dragons Online in 2026, pay us a visit as a new or returning guildie, and join the NOR/DDO group for a quest!

See you in-game!