Monte Carlo

heh. I recall that thread but I left soon after it was opened. The last couple of pages really devolved into... dafuq did I just read? And Metiman's posts were eye openers, ending in Bird Cages. I won that thread, too.

Meanwhile, in Edmonton, a Bioware intern gets to work... http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/teenage-love-poet-wondering-what-rhymes-with-boner-2014021483604

I'd swear you're wearing straw-colored glasses lenses or something. 8P All "you put niceness coins in until you get rewarded with sex" implementations are romance options, but all romance options are not "you put niceness coins in until you get rewarded with sex" implementations, to put it simply. Dragon Age - give Morrigan jewellery - she bangs you, sure, but you missed out how your sexual prowess also boosts her magical powaz. That's right, the player is rewarded for having sex with NPCs - it also makes them more powerful. Your argument is bunk, to put it mildly.

Meanwhile, in Russia...

In which case you are probably one of my readers.

double-bloody-post.

This isn't working out quite as well as I imagined.

Manchester and Liverpool has different slang. For example, police in Liverpool are known as 'Bizzies' and people from Liverpool are known as Scousers. Deffo means definitely and Divvy is an idiot. I learnt this from (a) watching a soap opera set in Liverpool called Brookside and (b) working with one. Scousers are widely stereotyped as benefit-scrounging thieves. Their accents aren't accents, but in fact speech impediments. Here, try this on for size... http://thehouseofscouse.weebly.com/scouse-dictionaryslang.html Mancs are a different kettle of fish. Despite being literally just down the road they sound completely bloody different and think they are the coolest people on earth. They have, admittedly, produced their fair share of awesome bands. The city is a dull testament to the efficacy of Prozac, built of dark red brick that sort of encloses you after ten minutes walking around the town centre. Slang - Dibble (police) madferit / upferit (mad for it / up for it as in going out) and keks are trousers. Hey, this is on the money. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/mancunian-sayings-guide-common-words-6465030 I know, I'm awesome.

It's pretty wet here at the moment. My neighbour floated off down the Thames yesterday. My house is still dry *crosses fingers*

None, you cheeky bastard. As and when I publish Beta readers will get (a) a free hard copy or download and (b) a mention in the 'thanks-for-being-awesome' blurb at the back.

Shrapnel is pan-British, widely used dahn sarrrffff.

No. I think the developers have made it clear that this isn't the case. I am sure the NPCs will have deep, almost PS:T-esque story arcs. Read my post (it's long, I'm sorry). Romances complicate those story arcs, ironically by not having to worry about the different permutations of story arcs impacted by romances you might actually see *deeper* NPC interaction.

^ Thanks HH. 'Preciated. Look at Dragon Age: Origins. A triple A RPG. Yet the only romances that converge significantly are Morrigan and Leliana (sp) where you get called out by one or the other (there might be others). This is partly for the reasons I describe. Dave Gaider is a competent writer who knows this stuff backwards and won't bite off more than he can chew... and still DA is too modest on the romance front for the fans. When you compare that to a smaller game like PoE it's a no-brainer.

Hello Way Off-Topic community. I'm about twenty thousand-or-so words into a fantasy novel. I usually write military thrillers but always wanted to do fantasy, inspired by Michael Moorc0c k initially (darn language filter) but latterly by the likes of Joe Abercrombie. So imagine grimdark science-fantasy with a twist. Black humour, low-magic sort of thing. I'll probably publish via a small indie outfit. I'm looking for some discerning fantasy fans to beta the initial work I've done in case I've gone horribly wrong. The peer reviewers I'm into write the same sort of stuff as me and possibly aren't best to comment. I'd prefer to use people I 'know' on here and who won't splurge my r/w ID everywhere, as this forum is my off-duty hangout and I don't pimp my writing here (I doubt any of you would have heard of me anyhow, I am small fry. Paid-for-writing small fry, though ). PM me if interested and if you want to pitch in on the process / pitfalls / **** you like about fantasy novels let me know.

Sry, I think I get your drift now. 'Northern.' Well, for me anywhere north of Trafalgar Square is northern but I'm a (south) Londoner. North, technically, includes Manchester and Liverpool (has it's own specific slang), Yorks and Lancs (ditto), the Northwest (qv Withnail and I) and of course the Northeast (Geordies, Mackams and all that from Newcastle, Sunderland and Tyneside). I once went for a drink with a bunch of Newcastle FC fans. The offered me some 'Geordie Tapas,' by which they meant potato chips. Ha ha ha ha.

Sorry? Was that aimed at Nonek's missus from t'land of ice and snow?

^ Yeah, I honestly think people imagine writers do this stuff for free, either that or they don't deserve to be paid much (which, generally, they ain't). Edit: Sry Auxilius you Ninja'd me, it was the post above yours.

One of my jobs is writing. I write novels. I've never done a screenplay but I've written dialogue strings for a few mods. My post here is only marginally about romances, but more about the process of creating content and the technical aspects as I've experienced them. Apologies in advance if I'm teaching anyone to suck eggs. Writing a novel isn't easy, but it's easier than writing a game. Why? Well if I've got two characters having a conversation it's fixed. RPGs, by their very nature are dynamic. Even the smallest change in detail creates a potential domino or butterfly chaos / theory effect around all your subsequent dialogue. I'm sure MCA and the like have tools to track this stuff. I ended up with a giant piece of paper covered in a migraine-inducing dialogue map. So now we already have two issues: 1. Writing quality. You want the writing and dialogue to be good (duh) which is one part of the skill-set. You want a writer that can do fantasy, understand the lore, the vibe of the game and company house-style rules, the characters you've been given (because unlike your own novel where you create all your own, as a RPG writer you'll get given characters to work with) and all the rest of it. The reason why so many mods suck (and why the ones that don't stand out) is because this isn't easy. 2. Technical ability. If early in the story character 'A' steals the whatsit of power from key villain 'X' then this will reverberate around the game forever. Your writing, both dialogue and otherwise, will need to factor that in. NPC 'B' might think stealing the whatsit was cool. NPC 'C' might think it was unforgivable due to her belief in the Curse of Whatsit (this is another story arc you're tracking). On top of that NPCs 'D' 'E' and 'F' have their own divergent views. And the Whatsit of Power is one story arc and plot device out of, I dunno, twenty? Now there is one thing America isn't short of, and that's lawyers and wannabe writers. You find a writer who can do all of this and is half-decent. You say to them "oh, remember the Whatsit of Power quest?" "Yeah?" "CHARNAME, we've decided, can romance NPC 'C.' Can you get on that?" "Er, NPC 'C' would never get involved with anyone who dared mess with the Whatsit!" "* sigh * I know, but hey, this is games development, right?" Let's go back to our divergent views. Not only do the NPCs have their own views on the Whatsit (which I've decided is a voodoo doll of a Promancer) but they'll certainly have views on CHARNAME getting it on with 'C.' At this point your rolling your eyes. Of course it can be done, or should have been planned from the start. That doesn't change the fact that you want this to be quality writing, right? It's got to feel compelling and gripping but segue effortlessly into the medium. Oh, and you need three or four potential LIs all with different agendas and dynamics and inter-party relationships impacted by (literally) dozens of different CHARNAME decisions? I'm getting a cold sweat just thinking about writing this. I really, really don't want to write for games. So when you think "it's just a romance" it isn't. It's dozens and dozens of hours of writing and content that could make another quest, another NPC, another explorable area. So, please bear that in mind when you ask for content like this.

Being British and from London I can help you. However you are being extraordinarily vague. You just quoted some contemporary 'text-speak' for example. Slang from the UK is a big subject (Scotland and Northern Ireland have some extremely good slang, for example) and you need to narrow it down a bit. Do you want London rhyming slang? Some Irish traveller-influenced slang from Kent? West country rural slang? The fact that in Wiltshire a wood-louse is colloquially known as a 'Chucky Pig?' Please elaborate and I shall provide.

^ Like all 'liberals' Bruce, you're very keen on enforcing what other people can say.

NanoPaladin, the ignore function is your friend. Use it.

That's fine, I'm not going to worry about it then or participate in discussions on RPGCodex because I can see myself getting very annoyed The only reason I raised it was because I was under the impression that RPGCodex was the realm of the hardcore RPG elitists and I assumed that would mean they could conduct themselves in a mature way without being derogatory. I'm also surprised that the Mods there allow people to talk like that, I also doubt they have many female members It's a gonzo mad-house of insane grogs and the mentally-disturbed. It can be fun, but you need to know what you're getting into. It's not really my cup of tea, but hey, it's a great resource believe it or not. Many years from now cyber-anthropologists will be writing PhDs on the place.

^ Yes. Because you are wasting bandwidth. This conversation was had months ago. Use the search function. You have necro resurrected a dead, dishwater dull argument that is now settled. Your post, sir, is butt-hurt. I am merely pointing it out. If you find that immature, then ponder this: I'm not the one who wants a pretend girlfriend in a bloody videogame.

I like the chicken familiars / animal companions those gun-wielding rangers have.