Monte Carlo

Josh how difficult would it be to implement destroyable doors / locks / items?

Are you worried P:E is being developed by RPG hipsters? Only occasionally.

Hmmm. So having dependable villains is a cliché? I worry, as per my initial post, that the swan-dive away from "cliché" risks ending up with too-cool-for-skool pretentiousness. It matters not if they are barbaric savages, humanoid tribes or whatever, but a race of dependable mooks is a standard and, in many ways, helpful gaming trope. Subvert it, sure, give it a twist, liven it up. But... nonsensical?

On the day I was born the milk soured and herd animals miscarried their young.

Love all of the Elric, Hawkmoon and Corum stuff, especially Hawkmoon. Any villain who is the Baron of New Croiyden is OK by me.

You... you've... changed. *sobs*

Just for you, Sir... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corum_Jhaelen_Irsei#Corum:_The_Prince_with_the_Silver_Hand

^ Hmmm not a number cruncher but a 1% chance of a 1% chance of something happening shouldn't be a too frequent problem. But when it does it's awesome.

Some good points, but perhaps you need to factor in the crafting mechanic we know PE will have. Some of the loot will therefore not just be good for selling, but also for forging items.

Last time I was in Snowdonia all I saw were herds of terrified sheep.

Yes, that could work. The idea of accidentally smashing an NPCs head in appeals, as does insta-chunking a powerful opponent a la the Hargrave table (critical hit plus a 99-00 roll equivalent). Company of Heroes, although an RTS, does this *very* well. All units have a random crit hit chance that can make for some rare, but fun, moments of awesomeness. Even the lowliest American rifleman can, if he is *very* lucky, take out a lumbering Tiger tank with a sticky bomb.

Clearly the only solution is to avoid the cliche of snubbing cliches by embracing cliches. Thus, surely, creating a cliche vortex that will destroy the universe.

We all have our little peccadilloes. This one doesn't bother me, personally, but I can understand why someone with a bit of physical geography knowledge might get a bit bent out of shape. Personally, I'm pretty happy with the "hey, it's fantasy" kind of explanation.

^ That's a very good point, perhaps they could change it with a context box for that ability?

Because it's the Internet, and the Internet never changes.

Sure, just thought a bit of a 101 as to where folks were coming from on the topic might be helpful, except that Brownypoints outlines content that seems to me very "Bioware Romance."

Bg2 had four very unobtrusive, text-based romance sub-plots. Completely avoidable. Next-Gen Bioware: * Fan-service emo romances * Overt sexualisation * Deus Ex Machina plotting * Over-blown cutscenes * Console friendly * MMO feel / silly manga-weapons and armour * Squee-laden fan base * General feeling of nausea.

There are a dozen ways to do it. You can have fun with it. For example, write a sequence with lots of stuff happening in it. Don't explain WTF is happening, just write the scene. Then chop that scene in half. Start at the second half. It might be an argument, a sword fight, a car crash... anything. Start your novel there and frame the narrative from that point onwards. Let the rest back-fill naturally. This will work better with some genres than others. The other one I use all the time is to write three chapters then switch them around, a variation on a theme. My latest submission does this (I swapped chapter two for three and got rid of a whole lot of exposition). If you send me a chapter I will happily read it as a completely impartial observer.

Welcome. Please realise that a lot of us against romances harken back to the original precursor titles that the developers told us were the inspiration for PE. If I thought that it would include the type of content you propose (which the originals didn't) I wouldn't have sunk a considerable amount of my money into it. Happily, I trust them. Edit: You have just described a dating simulator, a next-gen Bioware thing. Am not being rude, just suggesting that DA2 / DA 3 might be your thing.

My dusty, heavily armoured squadron of doughty warriors storms into the enemy, blades flashing with viscera and gore... And in the background?

These forums are chock-full of folks, like me, who pretty much view the modern iteration of EA/Bioware as a malign and borderline satanic influence on half-decent gaming design. Glad to clear that up for you.

Is doing double damage, which is then deflected by a helmet anyway, really the best manner to celebrate the pure awesomeness of rolling '20'? (or whatever the PE version will be). I think not, my friends! I think not! Ditto rolling a natural '1' with the buttock-clenching prospect of utter disaster this can herald in a pen and paper game. Here is the famous Dave Hargrave critical hit and fumble table from Arduin... So, do you like the idea of critical success and failure being deep, shallow or not represented at all?

Are we talking about 4E? Weapons do damage dependant on their type / size. Y'know, 1d8 for a trusty longsword, 1d6 for a short-sword, 1d4 for a dagger. Stuff I like: * Different critical hit ranges for different weapons, making in certain circumstances and in the right hands, smaller weapons as powerful as big ones * A blend of weapon type and user strength & skill to calculate damage * The idea that some weapons are better against armoured opponents than others * Some critters having better resistances to weapon 'X' than weapon 'Y' (always agreed with the idea that undead, for example, were more resistant to piercing weapons). I am easy as to, mechanically, how this is achieved as this isn't a pen and paper game. But as a template, you could do worse than 3E / Pathfinder.

Am surprised nobody has mentioned any Joe Abercrombie. I haven't read any fantasy for ages, picked up The Heroes on Kindle and boom! I'm hooked. Now reading The Blade Itself trilogy (started ass-backwards) and finding it very much to my taste. Gritty low-fantasy with lots of violence, swearing, torture and double-crossing. Just like a day at the office. http://www.joeabercrombie.com/

As long as you get the chance to Enslave Nations with Necromancy at the end, then I'm good.