Karranthain

I've been meaning to write this one down for quite some time now : CULTURAL EQUIPMENT I've touched upon this topic before, but I think it warrants a more in-depth look. To start off - I think that many cRPGs make the mistake of rendering magical items utterly mundane; after all, if you practically trip over them since the very beginning of your journey, they do lose their charm a bit, don't they? On the other hand, using nothing but ordinary trappings doesn't sound too exciting either. What if PE offered players cultural equipment, while making magical items truly rare? Instead of finding just another +1 longsword we'd, for an instance find : 1. Aedyran sabre : 2. Glanfathan sword : Both would fit into the same basic category, but there'd be a sense of progression both in their effectiveness (as if you just had replaced a +1 sword with a +2 equivalent) and appearance (as the items could look wildly different). But what of magical items? I think that they should truly extraordinary and rare. Finding them should really feel very rewarding - and their level of power should absolutely reflect that. But there's more that you could do with cultural equipment. Let's use two different PE cultures as examples : Free Palatinate of Dyrwood Due to a long history of conflict, all denizens of Dyrwood are accustomed to constant warfare and to hardships - as a result, they are practical people. They value discipline and uphold strict laws. This could be reflected not only in the equipment they use, but also in the way they fight : 1. They fight as a group, supporting each other, often using reach weapons and trying to keep enemies at bay. 2. They favour heavy armour over mobility. 3. Instead of firearms, they prefer longbows. You'd not only be able to who you're fighting (due to their specific cultural armour & weapon designs you'd be able to spot right away) but also how to fight them. Let's make a second example : Vailian Republics Being merchant people, the citizens of the Vailian city states value style over substance and like to let everyone know that they're wealthy. Their armies consist mainly of well-paid mercenaries, who tend to uphold the same values when it comes to fashion. Vailians are known to be strong ndividualists. 1. Vailians are individualists and this is reflected in their fighting style - they often fight as duellists, seeking personal glory. 2. They eschew heavy armour in favour of mobility. 3. Avid users of firearms. To recapitulate : I'm hoping that Obsidian will go an extra mile with the work that goes towards fleshing out various cultures. Each region should be unique, whether it's in clothing, weaponry or even battlefield tactics. That'd not only make the world of PE a truly immersive environment, but would also allow for very varied combat encounters.

That's where cultural backgrounds would be handy (fairly sure I've seen Obisidian mentioning that those will be in the game, but can't find the relevant post).

A rogue is, however, a very broad archetype. It could mean a simple street urchin or a rich nobleman seeking the thrill of adventure; an assaasin or a brigand etc. So I could very well see both designs being suitable.

Indeed, they draw a lot of inspiration from historical sources, while putting an original spin on it. Some other rogue-ish designs :

I think this design would work reasonably well for a rogue-ish character : Not the most stealthy perhaps, but handy in actual combat.

I suspect that there are more firearms present, though.

I promised more "adventurer" type designs, here's another example (the plumes don't hurt either) :

Just leaving it out there... (even though I hate the shoulderpads).

Indeed, good point; I'll try to find more of similar designs. Also, I'd like to point out - THE PLUMES, MAN!

And now for something more fantasy-flavoured (interestingly enough, both pieces remind me of Justin Sweet) : I'd say these designs would be just about perfect for a ranger character. Practical, grounded in reality and nicely nuanced. Not carbon copies of historical equipment, but clearly inspired by it - and that just about sums up my preferred stance. I like the simple longsword the second character uses.

Some more examples of what we can expect as far the armour & weapon designs are concerned. I must say that I'm very satisified Brigandine's my personal favourite.

Love it. The character modles do stick out a bit, but it's relatively minor. They are quite detailed, however.

Jose Daniel Cabrera Peña - you can find his blog (which features his works) here : http://brujulacromatica.blogspot.com/ Here's another piece :

Two very interesting pieces that I'd like to share:

And this, I think, is the ideal approach (and one that has been advocated by many people posting in this topic). I can't tell you how happy I am that you went this route.

Bit outside PE's timeline, but could work with some adjustments, the Jacobite Highlanders : Would love to be able to play as a similarly lightly armoured skirmisher type of a warrior.

I'd be careful around them...

And now for something completely different : Could definitely picture Glanfathan elvish berserkers looking similar.

Good point. We might come across less developed civilizations, but I'd expect the Vailians to be exceptionally well equipped. And to be quite fashionable!

Some probable Vailian designs :

Here goes : That Akolouthous has some really impressive armour; love the colouring.

My point exactly. As an owner of the higher end of said semi-professional equipment, I reiterate that it really isn't that simple. Even if I record something and someone else uses the exact equipment I do, there are still going to be large differences in the acoustics. To a lesser or greater extent these can be taken out in the mixing stage, but on the balance of probabilities even with good mixing there is going to be a noticible (and likely immersion-breaking) difference between the two. Not feasible in that case, thanks for the clarification.

But that'd be a huge amount of work just selecting them which'd be a waste. I'd imagine I'd be cheaper to hire an actor in that case That said, I wouldn't mind outsourcing that to the fans - provided they can record their lines using (at least) semi-professional equipment.

Incantations were indeed great, I loved them; would be nice to have more variety, however.

Definitely, the West meets East feel that the Eastern Romans had would work quite nicely. Case in point : Speaking of which, I've found an interesting painting; I think this design would fit a wizard perfectly : It does look rather stately, doesn't it?