Monte Carlo

Baking is a deal-breaker for me. If it ain't in then I'm not touching it.

Yeah, I don't think I actually have a top ten RPG list... Er, in no particular order I like all the IE games except Planescape, JA2 (borderline RPG) and Dragon Age: Origins. My other passions are RTS and Strategy, which is where I come from as a computer gamer. I could easily give you a top ten pen and paper RPG list, but that's a different kettle of fish.

I'd like to reiterate, my argument turns on re-engineering D&D ('D&DE') for the 'puter. D&DE would be different from any earlier iteration and would be D&D configured for the computer. The IE games were the other way around. Now, 4E has already done this. Sadly, it was to fit in with an existing trend / niche: MMOs. Although D&DE could support and MMO it would be different. Were I Hasbro I'd be fairly hands-off, I'd simply give some guidelines. For example, to keep it demonstrably D&D I'd want (a) the six iconic stats (b) alignments (I hate alignment as a mechanic, FWIW, but this isn't about me) and © class / race combos that match the D&D feel. Everything else would be up for grabs.

I'm pretty busy so can't test, but good luck and I'm going to buy it.

The second painting is clearly about PMT.

I remember a Pride parade in London where some of the behaviour really gripped my merde, yeah it was pretty "look at us!" Doesn't mean it should be banned. Freedom is a two way street.

Channel Four in the UK have done this two-fingers to Putin and I love it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6RID82Ru-k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The issue that exists with BG2:EE has been virtually eliminated in the originals, via various fan fix-packs etc. I've got my usual mod loadout installed in BG2 right now (have two games on the go) and its extraordinarily un-buggy. My usual mod loadout is pretty epic, btw. Although I now own BG2:EE out of idle curiousity, I detest the GUI and lack of mod support. It will get better, in fact once it supports one pixel productions GUI tweaks and all the older Weimer mods I'll probably get more involved. I wish they'd just open Steam Workshop for the game, tbh.

Fixed.

But this is what I call boob-plate!

Let's try and help some of the more po-faced members of the community dig where I'm coming from --- This is called REALITY. Capt. Sullivan is an attractive, clearly intelligent and liberated modern woman. I am humbled by her service. This is FANTASY. This is a fictional character who is not real. She does, however, add some colour and fun to the real-world, y'know, the one where humans find other humans attractive.

Fixed.

The EU budget has never been written off by auditors. Whistle-blowers are hounded out of office. Europe is pretty seedy. OTOH in Russia, whistle-blowers are fitted up with bogus charges, poisoned, machine-gunned etc. Russia is really, really seedy.

An extremely good point. This, IMO,comes back to Atari / Hasbro - they need to set the franchise free. Like many big owners of IP they seem to have a 'dog in the manger' type attitude towards it. The D&D versus rip-off bit comes down to: 1. The brand, and a computer-specific iteration that supports the brand (if you would like me to elaborate on what 'The Brand' is then I will, but I think you'll see where I'm coming from). In short, a new imagining of Dungeons and Dragons that unashamedly acknowledges the change to electronic entertainment but still captures the stuff of the original game. 2. The platforms. D&D is now configured for any number of franchises that follow the new iteration. (I'm going to call it D&DE... an electronic D&D). Just like in P&P days the brand stands for certain core values and quality - you know what you're getting. And that might be delivered via an MMO you jump in and out of, a larger classic CRPG or an action game like Diablo or Dungeon Siege configured for consoles. This new design is, of course, deeply cool, stylish, knowing and fun. It's D&DE and is about swords, sorcery, having fun with friends (or not, we love single player too) and staying up too late drinking beer / soda and eating pizza. 3. Variety. You can play a pared-down core game or you can play a super-pimped splat-booked version pumped full of DLC. Or something in the middle. This is delivered via licenced / franchisees who are given massive leeway in developing their own rules and settings within the brand. The sandbox game you can play solo or with friends might be in a different campaign setting with different powaz and stuff, but it's still recognisably D&D. I'd work on a system that encouraged cross-product benefits (buying content in splat DLC 'A' unlocks some bonus content in an unrelated D&DE product 'B' - Blizzard does this successfully). I contend, therefore, that the strength of the brand from the P&P version, and it's core values and quality, could easily translate into a suite of computer entertainment products. Easily. People collect DLC and play trading card games. Gamers are collectors. Dammit, you could have a D&D version of Steam to keep your D&DE collection with associated bonus. TL;DR --- convert the entire bloody game to the computer and set the franchise free.

This x 10. D&D, regardless of licence-holder, has been mismanaged since the mid-1980s. And before that even the most die-hard Gary Gygax fans (like me) will admit that TSR was a byword for hubris. WoTC / Hasbro, for example, seem to think they have the whip-hand with the franchise, not realising that the video game end of the deal is the most important. It makes me laugh how for years they nitpicked with developers and publishers about small details and protecting the brand then allowed (finally) the NeverWinter MMO which is nothing like D&D and has pets and crafting and hundreds of levels. The brand is still strong and not beyond redemption. If they had half a brain (which I seriously doubt) Hasbro would assemble a badass team of legendary D&D designers and writers, lock them in a room with a load of video entertainment mentats and ask them to create a video-game specific iteration of D&D that squares the circle between keeping the D&D feel while making a credible and fun video game franchise. In other words, put Sawyer and Monte Cooke in a pool full of jello and polyhedral dice and see what happens. Bolt on a campaign setting that would support a F2P MMO, a first-person sandbox RPG and a load of more 'trad' products that you can licence then release one a year (at least) then you have exactly what Infinitron astutely suggests. D&D, commercially, lends itself to the new DLC model of the industry. Games modules and spat-books were dead tree DLC, for chrissakes. If you made a core game with those bolt-ons, as I describe, I think you'd make money. Would it be 'AAA' enough to grab the suits' attention? Dunno, there might need to be expectation management and a slow-burn. But I can see a world where a core D&D 'puter iteration would make money supporting an ARPG, MMO, sand-box and Dragon Age-type products, as well as licenced smaller products (like dare I say it PoE) in a legacy ruleset that captures a new generation of fans. I might pen a business plan.

I read this post out of context and thought maybe you were sharing your gastric issues.

Went to work, picked up my kid from school, won a game of CoH2 and tried to write. Managed two sentences then goofed around on this forum for a bit. Am about to make a cup of tea and watch some TV with Mrs. MC. I have, despite myself, found myself watching Season Two of The Following. It's campy nonsense but for some reason I can't stop watching it. I've also got the new BBC Musketeers thing queued up on the planner.

^ Not a douche Sawyer said as much himself. It's just those KS rules.

^ Yeah, the cash was down the back of my sofa. It was no biggie.

Definitely. Take your time. I can wait, to be honest, as long as it takes.

Internet connection - £20 / month London Olympics - £8.92 bn Trolling insane Russian .alt on Obz forums - Priceless

Yes, it's a well-known fact that in Russia all problems are down to men spontaneously bursting into show tunes now and then. Nothing to do with rampant corruption and bigotry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10618744/Shambles-behind-the-scenes-at-Sochi.html So Sochi is a clusterphuck, half-finished and with the charm and warm-welcome we always associate with Mother Russia. Really love the kidney-bean breakfast and bees-in-honey. Oh, and the pictures of 'I'm not Camp' Putin in all the hotel bedrooms. He's auditioning for a Village People tribute act last I remember. By the way, the London olympics were a tremendous success. You're welcome. Edit: I know, Comrade, is western paranoia and disinformation!

I'm pretty sure I had a thing going on with Ruffie at university.

Clerics and divine spellcasters should be your primary healers, but not the sole owners of the ability to heal. In much the same way that the primary melee killer is normally your fighter, but all characters can use weapons and be effective. Just not as effective. However, mass healing, the ability to raise the dead and cure the most serious wounds and curses should be the preserve of the cleric and / or equivalents. Removing this thing to implement an entirely new system is what irks me. How? * First aid or healing skills - maybe tribal, maybe scientific but these should scale from a rough D&D cure light wounds to cure moderate wounds level. * Other class abilities - Monks and Ciphers look very interesting classes in PoE. They use psionics and sheer force of will. I'm sure it isn't beyond the bounds of credibility for those energies to be focussed, if the player decides to develop their character in that direction, as healers. Maybe a Cipher can share his powers with a third party to force fast healing. Maybe a monk can donate hit points in a sort of reverse-vampiric blood-rite. All interesting ways of developing your characters and configuring a party. Imagine a monk you develop as a hit point donor or a cipher who becomes a living reservoir of healing will-power for his party, enabling a hive-mind that restores health? * Technology and alchemy - maybe characters can make poultices, potions, ointments and drugs. These could range from Fallout style healing-with-risks to pseudo-scientific combat drugs with a range of benefits at higher levels. Developing a mage or wilderness character in this direction would be interesting. Thud the Barbarian, when not cracking skulls, is a dab hand at that tribal healing gunk that makes you as high as a kite whereas Brains the Mage is basically Walter White and makes drugs that do all sorts of ****, including healing. * Regeneration and high-level bad-assery - this includes healing surge type powaz, for say paladins who by virtue of their discipline begin to self-heal. Thud the Barbarian gets a high level wolf curse that enables him to regenerate while beserk but lose strength afterwards. Bob the Ranger, on the other hand, can donate / leech hitpoints from Fido the giant badger animal companion. This is on-the-fly stuff. It's different from D&D but still supports a simple HP / healing paradigm that's easy to understand. Sorry about the character names. It's early.