Nonek

Disguise a al Pope Joan if choosing the Knight class? Certainly add an intriguing aspect to the game, and would not deny any budding Brienne's from playing, but I don't wish to derail the thread with the usual arguments. Edit: Rogue and Bard shouldn't be a problem I suspect however. Also just as a matter of clarification Joan of Arc never fought in a battle or killed anyone, she served as inspiration and a living banner for the French forces. I'd personally cite the D'Homey Amazon's, though I don't know if that's spelled correctly.

No Elves, take my money good sirs. I like what I heard in the Pitch video and have pledged, though I hope we have the choice of character creation (with female options for those whom play them) as the default gentleman is the usual ho-hum protagonist archetype, middle of the road in every sense. Also let a grinder show you how to use a wheel and float a blade properly.

My dear misguided Nonek, it's a common knowledge that green tea is superior in every way to the ovestated earl grey. And please, don't even start with it's being suitable for a refined gentleman - I heard that already and the fact I'm foreigner (thus supposedly accustomed to the bland tastes of green tea) doesn't make your unreasonable opinion any more valid Diclamer for those unfortunate enough (as I bet Nonek understood the joke): GO PLAY ARCANUM :D And I love earl grey. Coincidentally I'm sipping one at the very moment. Hmmm... I doubt he gets it, he is English and you NEVER joke about tea with them My dear Sir, how could one concievably fail to peruse Tarant's finest purveyor of oddities and otherworldly's that is HT Parnell's? Why the gentleman has on display a two headed cow, along with the Mr. Thelonius Remmington Garfield the Third that we are currently discussing.

I don't mind scouring and exploring the gameworld for quests, nor new quests opening up due to my actions, if the gameworld is interesting and reactive enough then to do so should be a treat.

When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps? The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there." Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that. Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there. It worked for Robert E Howard, classic. Personally I too found myself as an unproven and ambitious GM crafting great worlds, mythologies, pantheons and constellations. However my campaigns slimmed down over time, becoming smaller, far more detailed and reactive with the players being known and having a background within the settings. My last really great campaign was set in a small crumbling rural barony, with an idyllic village as the players home, slumbering under the half ruined remains of an ancient watchtower, and all about a great sea of swaying golden wheat ripening in the sun. I used a lot of Vaughan William's and Elgar to enhance the mood of the setting, and changed to more Wagnerian and Orff themes for when the players were involved in more dramatic passtimes, visiting the Watchwall Hills nearby where the ancient dead slumbered uneasily, the lonely wind whistling Ironmoor an accursed and barren battlefield of antiquity, the cool and dusty virgin forests of the Canthawud or the Ten Tall Men henge that arose in the midst of the great Goodmeadow Plains. It was an attempt to make a setting of massive detail that the players felt responsible for, that they felt was worth fighting to preserve, and by and large it succeeded. There was literally no end to the detail one could cram into that setting, and yet it only covered a few leagues of land.

Does Earl Grey count as a drug? If so I shall be a vicarious abuser.

Personally I don't find pixels attractive no matter what their design, whether stylised as hyper masculine or feminine, I know some people do fixate on their virtual attachments but one should certainly not cater to that type. As i've said previously i'd rather the characters show a strong personality, keen wits and self motivation rather than being decided by commitee or the arbitrary checklists of the time period however, which are forever mutable anyway. That said the game that sparked the debate is just an outrageously designed world anyway, and hardly the place for a serious debate.

DM boot camp? YOU CALL THAT AN INTRIGUING QUEST HOOK MAGGOT? DROP AND GIVE ME D20! Show me your Waaagh-face maggot. WAAAGH! Outstanding!

If not implemented in the travel system what about an annotated map in ones stronghold/house, perhaps even maintained by a well travelled cartographer? Click on the map and one may discern clues or rumours pertaining to the pertinent location, according to a skill or stat? I always liked the maps of Ultima Underworld personally.

Personally I don't particularly care what characters look like so much, more what they do and how their character is portrayed, if a character is pro-active, intelligent, self motivated and driven with an understandable and logical motive then i'm more likely to empathise with the individual. I only really object to clothing and vulgar displays of sexualisation when they ring false, for instance when the character is involved in heavy and repetitive melee they should wear armour or be dead or hideously scarred and inactive for long periods of time convalescing. Or for instance if a character wears impractical clothing in cold climates, they should obviously spend most of their time passing out from hypothermia or losing blackened body parts. For instance Marcus Fenix's bare arms have always sparked a dissonance in me, or the bare head of Captain Titus in Space Marine, though after his acquisition of the Iron Halo that is not so much of a problem. Personally i'd have just had him clip his helm on to his belt during cutscenes, or simply hold it in the crook of his arm Diablo 1 style. As for stifling the variety of protagonist's and npc's or making them adhere to a set list of commonly percieved (not correct by any means) politically correct limitations, then i'm against it. Obviously form follows function in terms of armour and armaments, but stylisation has its place as well, and what i'm more against is the vanilla, dull and tired representation of every aspect in gaming. From the dark haired and blue eyed caucasian protagonist with some amount of facial hair (always pretty) whom is simply an unquestioning unmotivated janitor for higher powers, to the blunt, crude and demeaning adulation with which he is invariably treated no matter his deeds by all and sundry.

Wonder if we'll get sneaking animations, or whether it's too late to implement. Personally I found the animations they added to NWN2 in some patch or other were quite pleasing, very atmospheric. Edit: On further reflection I suppose one could merge a pose of readiness and wariness with a sneaking animations, if these are implemented. Shield raised, sword readied along with a slow purposeful gait etcetera.

Who is Amber, and how did she hear nakedness? I've seen it but never heard it. Jokes supplied by Shoreditch Graveyard, please rebury once used.

Point of fact I don't really know, I assumed that it would be since the game is catered for the players of the IE games, but Mr Sawyer may have other plans.

I think that's fair, and certainly the enormous usefulness of web, hold person and all of the various Druid spells in Icewind Dale (for instance) is one way to go. There's an enormous amount of satisfaction in a well made plan being executed, and the success being solely down to your own tactics, though one could argue that good preparation is a valid part of those tactics. But yes such warding might be a little too easy. Edit: Perhaps this kind of warding might only be applied to the Wizards own Arcane Veil to protect himself?

Reading about the confirmed attributes and one thing struck me about spell AOE, what if the Wizard who manipulates the damage can mitigate its effects on his companions? One assumes that the Caster is in control of his creation, or else how can he shape and direct it, so why not have him proof his companions against these effects? Obviously there should be a price for this, as a matter of strategy and balance, perhaps a daily or per encounter ability is burned up in the casting of these wards. Would this totally unbalance the game, and destroy the usefulness of various protection spells, or would the fact that it is only the allied Caster's spells that are warded against and it does not affect the enemies spellcasting one jot make it more palatable? Well ladies and gentlemen, is this heretical thought crime that eliminates careful tactical play or careful preparation by wise players and blessed by He On Earth?

Rogues were introduced in 2nd edition AD&D weren't they? Or was that the group term for both Thieves and Bards, I forget.

So you can't backstab people and you can't steal from them except in scripted sequences? Great. Well, you can backstab, but you won't be stealthed while you do it. I suppose they could implement some sort of short detection delay so you can try to run in for the stab before you turn visible. Just so long as we don't have the hideous teleport behind an enemy as was used in DA2 i'll be happy, but more and more the Rogue is sounding like just another form of (albeit more skilled with weapons and armour) Fighter, I still think the chap should be renamed to reflect this.

Ah my mistake.

Godlike race and Cipher class sounds like what you're looking for, they're the Spellswords of Poe. Edit: Check out their update for yourself Mr Cybus: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64452-update-65-ciphers/

Ah well thank you for the information Infinitron, a pity to abandon such a great mechanic from literature and film, but there you are one can't have everything.

Personally i'm in favour of fine witticisms, ribaldry and the cut and thrust of barbed and subtle wordplay. Not so much a fan of the broad squeeing humour that one finds in most games of the current period, it quickly grows tiresome. I thought the introduction of Gannayev was very well done for instance, while intensely disliking Veronica's constant cutesy cries for attention, and that painfully nasal whine. I prefer the deeper characters rather than the endless repetition of desperate one liners.

Erm, sorry to ask but how do I go about sneaking up and slitting opponents throats (cosh, hamstring, slit femoral artery etcetera) do their backs have to be turned for us to avoid their detection circles? Or do we have to use disguises and such in scripted sequences, similar to Torment's Dustmen robes and Zombie facade?

I would pick up Expeditions: Conquistador if I were you Mr Miyagi, I believe the funding lay around the eighty thousand mark and the game they've made is absolutely stunning, somewhat like King of Dragon Pass in implementation. I was very satisfied with it, though obviously opinions vary.

Is that the one where the mountainous body of a dead god divides the gameworld? Looks more Darksider's than Dark Soul's from what i've seen so far, but I agree Thomas Gop makes it worth keeping an ear open for news.

I'm happy with them, but I was happy with the older iteration as well and foresee no problems playing with either. Of course they're not ideal, but unless you design your own system nothing is, and they certainly beat 2nd edition AD&D. For instance I can't see the sense in physical might governing spell damage, but it's not something that will unduly phase me.