Maria Caliban

Spelling Buddy Sez: plagiarized And yes, toast it to heck.

It's nice that people make FAQs for those of us too lazy to look up the answers ourselves. It's unfortunate, however, that I'm too lazy to actually read the FAQs as well.

Memorial Day weekend.

It was evening on Manaan and the sun hung low in the sky, turning smooth, metal buildings of the city into mirrors of fiery reds and oranges. Davon Brok lay in the darkness of his hotel room. His bed was small but cool and soft and his eyes were half-lidded. Part of his mind was still going over the minutia of the day, the cargo manifests and the stubborn, lazy dockworkers he supervised, but the other half was falling into a languid slumber. He heard a soft clicking and a whisper of moving air but thought nothing of it. "A-hem." Came a polite cough. Brok groggily opened his steel blue eyes. There was a Jedi hovering near the foot of his bed, her arms clasped behind her ramrod straight back, her eyes stared straight forward. "Ahh?" Brok said. He wasn't quite sure if this was real. "Don't worry." Came a cheerful, female voice. Brok turned his head and spotted another Jedi methodically going through his drawers. "We'll be out in a bit." Brok sat straight up in the bed, "What the-?!" he began. "I'm just looking for anything valuable." The blonde, female Jedi continued. "I promise." Said the brunette in a crisp, aristocratic tone. "We will leave you shortly." Brok turned to the brunette in bewilderment, "What are you doing in my room?" She shifted on her feet uncomfortably and continued to stare straight head, refusing to look at his bare chest, "Official Jedi business." She finally said, though even she sounded unconvinced. The blonde had made her way through the drawers and now opened the locker at the foot of his bed, "Oh, these look interesting." She said, and pulled out a handful of glossy magazines featuring undressed T'Wileks. "I bet we could get some credit for these." The brunette glanced at what was in her companion's hand and blushed. "I think we should check on the crew Rev- ah, I mean Aurora. See how they're doing." "All in good time, Bastila. Here, hold these." Aurora responded and shoved the magazines into Bastila's hands. Aurora beamed at Brok and sat down on the bed. "So, any problems you want me to solve? Anything interesting happening?" Brok's mouth just hung open. Was this woman mad? He looked at Bastila, she seemed to be sane. Bastila just shrugged helplessly. Aurora continued to look at him expectantly. "Fine. Everything's peachy." Brok managed to say. "That's great!" the Jedi sat up. "Thanks for the magazines and don't forget to call me if you need anything. Come along Bastila." With that Aurora silently walked out the open door. Bastila turned to Brok, an expression of pure sympathy on her face. "You know

Sadly, only 118 lines long. I used NWN as an example because I know many people have played it and it illistrates a problem common to many CRPGs. BioWare gets a lot of flack for doing things the way the majority of gaming companies do but they still do put out good games.

At this point? Nope.

CEO. I'm gunning for you Fergus Ugunquatness!

This thread was originally a simple suggestion for a new combat feature but it grew into a long, rambling post about the light and dark sides. I've split it into parts for easier absorption and will post part 2 in a few days. Part 1: Jedi or Pathological Killer? On of the things that have always irked me about computer role-playing games (CRPG) is the pure amount of combat involved. The original pen and paper (PnP) games, the most famous of which is Dungeons and Dragons (DnD), evolved from war strategy games so its not surprising that combat was heavily emphasized. A hack and slash mentality was built into the systems. Killing, and only killing, was what gained you experience points (XP) and the vast majority of rules focused only on combat (Hit Points, To Hit, Armor Class, etc) so the actual role-playing was a function of the Dungeon Master's (DM) desires. During the late eighties and early nineties a new type of RPG emerged, the most famous of which was Vampire: the Masquerade (V:tM). Combat was still supported but XP was no longer awarded on kills and the skill system emphasized both combat and non-combat abilities. Even better, a large amount of material was devoted to helping the DM create interesting stories, settings, and themes and rewarding players who acted 'in-character'. CRPGs have largely followed the DnD mold: journey from A to B killing monsters, earn a bunch of XP so you can level up, and kill real strong monster at B. For many this is challenging, exciting, and fun and I think that's great but I don't think it's role-playing. The Final Fantasy games aren't role-playing and neither is Diablo and its ilk. An interesting story doesn't make a role-playing game, nor do stats, nor do classes. If I have to kill the Balirog it doesn't matter if I do it with a sword or a spell because I still have no choice when it comes to killing the Balirog. It should be fairly obvious that CRPGs can never be what *I* consider to be *pure* role-playing games. I'll say this again so no one gets their nose bent out of joint, "...what *I* consider to be *pure* role-playing

Jennai Star: "

If you used it before they never dropped in the first place. Has anyone started an NPC List? You know ~ Atton Rand Job: Construction Worker Special Ability: Able to get back up HP-D4 Job: Cute Droid Special Ability: Able to fix your ship White Lady Job: Jedi Special Ability: Telepathy Red-Head (Mira?) Job: Resident hottie Special Ability: Fan Service and Flame thrower Mysterious Lady Job: Enigmatic and stuff Special Ability: You will learn.. but only when the time is right. **Edited to add Mira's Special ability**

I want a Hut NPC. He'd be able to get me all my merchandise at discount. His special abilities would be to roll up in a ball to crush my enemies and spit out gobs of caustic acid.

What about Disco? Who wouldn't want to slaughter innocents to the tune of 'YMCA'?

Fun? It's not like you can save the universe every day.

I'd say 'cure' is a pretty useful ability as long as you use it before they drop. Random Factoid: My cat likes to eat both cheese and BBQ sause.

Why, thank you. And you're the most attractive.. er, blob of colors I've ever met.

Ha, proof! There's no way the designers can deny me now...

No, I like the left hand. It's nice you like the right one but we're not the same person. I know what you're talking about Omnifarious but I found that particular screen area sinister upon reflection.

It's pretty simple as suggestions go. You could make someone new do it every week.

Fan Art Competition Design an NPC Competition Design a Sith Competition Fan made quest Competition Design Obsidian's Logo Competition

Cain: "Painfull yes but then juhani doesn't sit much..." ...

There isn't even a demo for Knights of the Old Republic II out yet.

Yes, but I like yours so much I downloaded it as well.

The glowing, whacking part. I made an error in that I assumed that was your model for the entire lightsaber and not just the handle. Cain, I think Darque was suggesting that the pants are a tad tight. Even in a swimsuit there are parts of the female anatomy that usually don't get emphasized.

Rougefrog, Thank you! That's it. That's exactly what I was talking about. See what I mean? There's a feathery quality to the picture that the others lack. I think one of the problems is that she's wearing a garment traditionally meant for (male) samurai and it de-emphasizes feminine traits. I think that this is the only artwort that strikes the proper balance between the two.

Nartwak, No, that's not it but I like that one as well. While I'm not to fond of the face her left hand is wonderful, I like the way the colors aren't captured by the lines, and the way the artist captured various fabric patterns using color shading.