Monte Carlo

One of my favourites from 1E AD&D (Dieties and Demi-Gods)

Yes, undoubtedly cool... http://youtu.be/sMjkfZ3q8tE

Hmmm. Good point Ape, I hadn't considered missile weapons for this thread. I find the use of missile weapons in CRPGs a bit silly, i.e. rates of fire and the ability to use a bow at virtually point-blank range.

Dude the promancers aren't overly interested in fact. They just want romances. And they only take 6-9 days to write.

I increasingly like the idea of a 300-style unarmoured fighter who has elite shield skills to make up for it. I also want to be able to use my shield as a last-ditch missile weapon!

Probably by the annoying-insecure-Knight faction. And damn it, where is that biodrone sketch when needed! Let me assist.

Nobody is advocating that, if you read the whole thread. We are only talking about influences, not diktat. Furthermore, it's a cool thread for the military history geeks on the board (mea culpa) to have a romance and gender-free cave.

^ I suspect that you might be onto something there, Doc.

Hey, General, when is the holy day so I can offer a prayer up to you. (p.s. please don't destroy my planet with your awesome powaz, and where do you buy your jumpsuits?)

If they don't post an update soon I am going to make one up myself.

This thread is for fighting classes. If you are a spell-caster or psionics weenie then start your own thread. Fighting styles please? Tank? My thoughts here are --- can we speed up 2H weapons please? Am bored of the slow-moving tin can idea of a tank fighter. How about fighting with shields? At least Dragon Age: Origins tried to do something interesting with shields... I think that a character with a lot of skill with a shield can eschew heavier armour, perhaps, and still keep a good armour class. What do we think about different shield metrics (i.e. only effective against 'x' number of enemies, variables for missile attacks etc). Should certain weapons be especially symbiotic with shields (i.e. short spears, longer weapons?). Ah... two handed / DW Where are we with weapon sizes / penalties? Do we want to see the ridiculous but (if i'm honest) munchkin-heaven Monkey-Grip type feats? Lastly, (for now) the Swashbuckler / light fighter (a favourite of mine, along with the Uber-Tank, I seem to like either / or builds). Am loving the idea of an Errol Flynn character, lots of movement, dodging, quips and (yes!) pistols. What feats / skills / coolness should we try to capture with a high-medieval style elegant swordsman character? Discuss, and lastly...

Back in the day Judge's Guild did a spoof Sam Spade fantasy adventure, 'twas pretty cool.

Balance! Balance in all things!!!

* BUMP * Look what happened --- 15 levels later!

I just think that European gamers are seriously into CRPGs, especially the Germans, Brits, Scandies and Eastern Europeans.

JesusIi've been trying to ignore you, but seriously you know nothing about writing. If you care to go back a few pages I've done you the courtesy of a brief explanation of why you are staggeringly incorrect. I'd be interested in what you think about it. And, yes, I suppose our brains are wired differently. I'll give you that.

Not to urinate on the parade, but it's kind of a strange counter-factual you are proposing. Plus, like it's a binary choice (to publish, or not to publish). Obsidian have the option to offer a number of brands and services to both customer and publisher --- i.e. a mainstream development model (like the SP game they are developing) and a niche, indie brand like P:E. Of course, P:E might go nuclear but again it's simply too early to call. What I'm saying is that you can live with both. That's better. You need to look like a publisher as a logistics powerhouse you opt to make a trade-off with. On the one hand, you get serious marketing fire power, you get distribution, you get folks putting crates of physical product into a truck and driving it to stores. in return you sell a bit of your soul, but then again you shift more product and make more money. For creative people this might be a bind occasionally but would you rather pay the rent or not? The eternal dilemma. If you self-publish then that can work. But the writers you see on Amazon, for example, putting their own novels online for two dollars, are all (well, most of them) waiting to be snapped up by a publisher. Why? Because although you get more click-through dollar from Amazon you sell more product through a publisher. Harper Collins will physically put your book in Wal-Mart (at about 50-70 cents a copy to the author). Self-publishing models can't. It's about volume. Plurality is the key, and it's why the internet is such a brilliant new tool for all business models (hell, look at Kickstarter). Like anything else in life, a publisher is a choice you make depending on what you want to achieve. Both sides want something and both sides get something. The old "But publishers are the gatekeepers of culture which is why it's so dumbed-down" argument has some truth (evidently, given the state of gaming) but indie models can work too. What Obsidian's adventure is about to test (very excitingly) is how self-published, niche gaming can work as a marketable proposition. I think they will, but enough to kick the big publishers up the arse? I just don't know.

Amen brother. Mind you, do you think souls will have a cool-down mechanic?

Don't you already have an account over there? Yeah but (a) I haven't posted there for about four years and (b) I've forgotten my password and it was on an ancient email address that has been zapped.

This is clearly a BSN thread with BSN moderating standards. I might have to defect to.... The Codex.

Jesus just ban me already.

Obsidian Entertainment. It's their IP. I doubt it. Are you published? Have you written anything before? Have you put anything online, perhaps? Hell yeah. Well look at it from their POV --- are you the next JRR Martin or are you a fan writing fan tic then do the math. Sorry to be harsh, but there ya go. So you want to write a fantasy novel but don't want to do any world-building? The Force is weak in this one. OK, some heartfelt advice. There are two years to go, we don't even know much about a setting. It's great that you want to write, so crack open your laptop / get a notepad, hide someplace quiet and write. You are, if I'm honest, approaching the endeavour ass-backwards. If you are in fact JRR Martin posting in pseudonym, apologies in advance.

I used to love the dizzying numbers of polearms in 1st Ed AD&D. "Bec de Corbin?" LOL. Anyhoo, I found this....

Interestingly, the only debate about Brave here in the UK was that it was hi-jacked by Scottish Nationalists. Of course, the Nats would hi-jack a small sandwich if they thought it would help their cause, let alone a *very* American animated movie.

This is definitely a generational thing. I'm in my mid-forties and I'm sure, by some of the standards here, a sexist dinosaur. I am untroubled by Xena warrior-princess tropes (which are more knowing than some give them credit for), admit to liking sexually appealing imagery of women (and, having been married to one for twenty years, very happily, puts that into context) and find some of the comments in this thread the sort of cringe-inducing Gramscian BS I had to endure at university in the very late 80s'. It was BS then and it is BS now. Because folks will always be attracted to other folks, of any gender, and an idealised version of that attractiveness will exist. But... and but. I watched a James Bond movie with my son last week. Roger Moore. The Bond I grew up with in the seventies. The sexism was awful. Having not seen that movie for ten years I was unprepared for it. I'm hardly thin-skinned or politically-correct... but I didn't want my son viewing women like that. That, whether you like it or not, is progress in the real world. It takes time, little incremental steps. So everybody chill. Women will make choices about their sexuality that feminists will blame on external socio- political pressure. Fine, but it don't make it true because politics is about power. It has been since Eve plucked that apple, baby, and always will be.