septembervirgin

I cannot believe this is growing so fast. If it gets up to five million or more, do the game designers have the slightest idea what they'll do with the money? What's your guess that they'll do?

We must keep in mind that *layering* armor is also an important concept. Padding, chain mesh, metal plate is sometimes the order of the day, although hardened lacquered leather can go over a cushion as can wood and specialized ceramics (as can be found in some Chinese infantry armor). Cushioning can get even more complex, with even old style "moisture wicking" coming into play, however I think it might be too complex to permit cushion layering as a customization. But more on selecting the right cushion: putting a certain type of cushion under armor can drastically protect a person. Silk cushions can assist in removing arrowheads, just as an example. Hemp fibers, mulberry fiber paper, and steam compressed spiderwebs are other forms of padding. Twenty-fold mulberry paper armor can stop arrows (not longbow arrows, but arrows fired from normal bows of its period). The theory is that it's hard to penetrate a thick book even with an arrow. Some forms of sea fauna has also shown to be an archaic form of padding and if treated with the right tanins it isn't very smelly and works as a rubbery form of underpad. Rubber wasn't unknown to some ancient cultures but it is unknown to what full extent it was used for domestic and military purposes (often it was used for shoes); some forms of rubber would make an excellent medium between sheets of padding. The actual armor itself, whether it is bamboo, wicker, or metal, is not usually as unwieldy as role-playing games insist. Full armor has always been made with mobility of the wearer in mind. In rare cases that armor has excluded swift movement, it is usually not a good representation of warfare armor of the period. There are depictions of knights leaping in advanced plate armor (that is, armor made in high renaissance and after) and the armor manufactured at the height of steel plate armor technology (up into 1727 or then about) was truly divine in structure. As to hitting an armored person: hitting is not always easy, as armor can be contoured and someone who is familiar with armor can subtly maneuver in such a way to assist contouring the blow off the armor. This, without moving the body too drastically, hence permitting return attacks without handicapping the riposte. Some role-playing games do understand that armor not only prevents direct strikes but also assists in deflecting dangerous weapons that might otherwise penetrate. Steel armor usually cannot be penetrated by melee weapons, to my knowledge. Anyone who has put an axe-blade through a cool steel plate (or dents cool steel with a swung hammer) without significant mechanical assistance, please let me know! As such, I think that steel armor should be rated for completeness and where it covers the wearer, it would render the wearer fairly invulnerable to direct damage by melee weapons. This is not a fantasy game trope, I'm aware, and probably won't be a feature in the game. A piercing weapon through eye holes or any weapon bared unto an unguarded face could prove usefully lethal, however.

You may be reading the forums and contributing usefully and amusingly, but with a small sum of money, you can feed six obsidian workers on ramen and aluminum packets of dry spices. Even better, you can help fund a computer game that hundreds of thousands of people will purchase and play. Right now, we've surpassed the 1.1 million mark, but with some extra cash, the designers can implement the best role-playing game ever made, a game that your parents or guardians would secretly have wanted you to play. They care about you. We care about you. Obsidian cares about you. "Bob" cares about you. So please donate. Whether or not it's one dollar, forty dollars, or ten thousand dollars, you can be sure that a little piece of you will live and breathe in this computer game we're all going to be playing. We'd like to intimate that a small purchase will spiritually upgrade your computer, so you can be with your loved ones even if they're far away or otherwise not normally accessible. I must comment here that I'm not hired nor officially speaking for Obsidian and I have not been paid by anyone to make any statement. My commentary on this bulletin board does not reflect Obsidian nor anyone besides my own personal beliefs and outlook. Furthermore, I'm very poor and can hardly afford internet access, let alone a new computer that will permit me to play the game I'm trying to help in its process of becoming real. I've got a psychiatric illness and am medicated occasionally. http://www.kickstart...roject-eternity Click on that link and make your heart whole again. We can't give you more love than we're already giving you, but we can try.

Runequest is an excellent game that's now entering its sixth edition through Moon Design Publications, with Steve Perren again at the helm. I second your suggestion that Obsidian study resources for Runequest cults and devise interesting pantheons from an informed standpoint.

What if you can get the same quest from a number of people? It doesn't make sense that you'd have to go to the quest giver or some guy standing in an alley all day. Even villages have bureaucracies, even villagers have reliable friends. Surely, the mayor will be contacted by her underlings about a resolved quest, even if he's out getting some milk.

Background play before "the event that changes your character" would be possible!

Sadly, they already have a warrior type class: the Ranger. So it's Wizard, Ranger, and ... The ranger can fill the niche for a rogue-like character too. So we need a front line fighter. Soldiers are everywhere and probably are a Commoner with an extra level or three and some perks representing their training. I'm assuming there's an NPC "class" already, otherwise we'll have a bunch of zero level characters -- and that won't be functional against some play-styles. No, it's unlikely they'll populate a city with adventuring classes and it's also unlikely they'll all be zero level characters. There's either a few distinct NPC classes or Commoner class. And the monsters might fall into "Commoner" class with a few extra abilities and stuff. It would be odd for there to be no heavy armor class, and those who wear heavy armor are usually knights. The best knights in any culture were usually those that asked their knights to *learn* and be able with the arts. In Europe there was an initiative to induce knights to be "the flower of manhood" and to be educated, to attenuate the arts, and to behave with chivalry. This initiative, in the form of a few manuals, could be said to have fallen flat in the general case. Yet I think it would be attractive if knights were expected to like music, art, and literature (even if some might be of low intelligence or education scores).

Tie-ins could be sprinkled through their typical offers of increase of area and NPC. Yet maybe it is best if they add more interactive possibility to increase variety and immersion, such as an interactive economy, card games, a sport, an aggregating hypertexted lore encyclopedia (aggregates lore as the character learns more), combat options, greater facilitation of cities, wider use of skills, etc.

I like the idea of in-game item rewards. I think it's a kindliness. We'll all be seeing it eventually though, right?

Well, if you note there are two classes already mentioned, ranger and wizard. Neither of these classes is "warrior". A ranger is a specialized form of warrior, if you wish to call it something generic, but so is a knight. If you feel there should be no specialization of heavy armored fighters, then perhaps you feel there should be no specialization of long ranged hunting fighters. I really don't *have* to donate a dime to make a suggestion. I think this is probably what they're already doing, to be honest, but I thought a certain style and take on the concept of a heavy-duty fighter would be useful. I will be donating money, but that's an unnecessary brag; I really shouldn't be such a braggadocio, and I won't be donating more than I can afford.

I think with a bloody two hundred thousand dollars they could start a magazine about their game world with short stories and cultural articles and personality profiles, a PnP role-playing game hopefully working with Steve Perren and Moon Design Publication (they've just republished Rune Quest in a sixth edition), and maybe even an official fan club with actual assigned designation and duties.

I think that we'd have to include several levels of fatigue for this to be markedly workable. A six member party won't permit everyone to get their sleep in a day's operation, especially if there are interruptions. Therefore, a permissible level of fatigue might be constant while traveling through the wilds or on the roadside. The trick to efficient guarding is dependent on finding a good campsite, a well hidden vale that permits covert vigilance of approaches. However, this is rarely done in games because for some reason, the best path is already known and not scouted out. One scouts out further good campsites too, in real life. The yield of this method, while slowing progress, is invaluable on uncertain journeys through both wild and urban regions. However, if they are already knowing of good campsites, assuming they were previously informed or secret markings were left by prior visitors, they need only fear those others who might know of such markings -- bandits don't prey upon wilderness wanderers but they do make their territory known and respected. Actual feasibility of resting in the wild and maintaining health absolutely depends on experience in the wild, expertise in remaining sanitary as possible, know-how on obtaining nutrition and clean water, and avoiding bad insects and toxic growths. It's not automatic, if you've been camping before it might seem that way, but it isn't. The actual wilds want to eat us while we roam the wilds trying to eat it.

It sounds like they're using Reputation as a sole regulator, but perhaps a person could have a stronger reputation among the rich of a city through adornments and accouterments, aromatic oils and many friends.

I think I'd like to see someone who has athletic skills that aren't normally applied to combat but would mark that character as a great warrior. An excellent dancer and instructor in dance, this character has studied anatomy and movement to better the art of dance. This character has a very few magical talents, narrow but focused, to increase speed and agility. He operates as his own patron, due to a grant by parents who were successful adventurers but now are quite elderly (albeit able and mentally apt). The character will coincidentally appear in a great many situations (usually right before a battle) with a variety of scripted statements of surprise and excuses. Eventually, this devout dancer will request meeting with the leader (or with a charismatic party member) and give through unintended innuendo that the character is a very crafty and capable spy and wishes to defect to the party. Overhearing the innuendo (and making a predictable misprision) will be an actual spy who thinks this dancer is their contact -- and later, when passwords and references aren't matching, will assume the dancer is a counter-spy trying to catch her. The dancer's studio floor will be poisoned, and their students will fall ill from arising vapors and quit their studies under this character's tutelage. Once the situation is investigated by the player character and party, the matter could be brought before city officials (who have no evidence of the actual spy's misdeeds), the dancer (who is enraged and wishes the party to assist a vengeance), the actual spy herself (who will try to evade contact and try to trouble the party through planted evidence), and/or the ambassador of the government the spy works for (who will attempt to get the spy replaced with a more responsible agent). Of course, the party might just try to trap and kill the spy, which might work. The dancer, if thrilled by the party's capability (even if they fail) and overall mission, might join. This character has disadvantages (unaccustomed to any weapon, distaste for blood) but can be useful in battle through his prior focus on perfecting his physique and grace. Agility and some physical skills might be easier to learn with this character in the party functioning as a tutor. This dancer's personality leads them to speak of his ambitions and hope of eventually marrying a dancer, various dance forms and appreciation of music, his love of cities, and more his future than his past. Any reference he makes to his past is usually couched in terms of potential use in present tense or future tense, or is about idyllic moments spent luxuriating in urban climes. Other companion ideas might be a member of a magical co-gender fraternity (that also operates as a party-going charitable society), a largish beggar who can sometimes get jobs as a laborer and operates as an "urban ranger" without advantageous skill in ranged weapons due to blurry vision, a beauteous female hermit who sleeps in a disused well that is occasionally thought to be a "spirit haunting that hill over there", a toy-maker who was once a mariner specializing in off-shore diving (and scouting for warning signs of a giant monster that plagues his village), a polite and jovial serial killer who has no particular preference for prey but is remarkable at concealing his hobby, a master door-maker and illustrator of the same that has power and prestige in a carpentry guild and who has horrifying mystical visions and frightening insight, an heiress to a brothel that has no more employee and she's used funds intended to restore the brothel instead to study magic yet yearns to manage a successful high-class brothel (and is leaning into a life of crime), a two-fisted hard drinking musician who has sealed a pact with evil forces and seeks to make further deals... well... ... alot of ideas.

I feel a kinship with the sacred knight. This is sad for me, this attenuation I have with paladins. I'm impoverished and shy usually, but we all have dreams. In your dreams, are you poor and rude? Or are you capable with word and wealth, with armaments and social discernment? Are you a metal shelled Oscar Wilde bedecked in platinum and precious stones? Is it that you might sometimes want to cross the chessboard in an L jump? The knight might be what you are, in dreams and eventually in Project Eternity. I can just imagine you, yes you, gliding serenely in pale muslin robes, your scabbard a diagonal line from your slouched chain-link belt, enchanted ceramic hilt protruding in want of your grip. And you do get that bonus in communicating with soldiers and nobles, no matter the price increase on goods purchased from commonplace merchants. And guns come easily to your hand, granted by no less license than the crown. In Project Eternity, two classes have been described at this date and we're thankful for these swift-coming descriptions. Wizards and Rangers promote two distant forms of battle, both excelling at ranged skirmishing. However, there's need for a silvery barrier that doesn't fall from a sulfur-perfumed volley. The knight might be armored against bullets, arrows, knives, and spear-tip. The knight is one for standing firm and catching all who attempt to surpass his guard, not with shouted taunt, but through arc of steel blade, thrust kicks, wrestling for mere seconds before tossing an interloper to the ground. None pass him to assail his friends. I suggest the knight be a tank that operates to block enemies through quick martial arts. Armored, yes, but never slow. Clad in ceramic-steel alloy armour that's been enameled in spell hardened rubber, with alchemical spiderweb cushioning, this knight is the high technology tactical servant of the Project Eternity era. While thoroughly flesh, blood, and soul aneath the armor, the knight can move like a whirlwind and kill like an enraged lion. A charge of knights is not met with resistance, guns flaring, swords glistening, spears jutting. While lesser beings cow before sea monsters and nightmarish evil, knights stand with vim against any foe. High hitpoints. Swift. Armored. Rich. Their weak points is they often eschew the study of magic and strange lore for more aesthetic pursuits. A knight must be expected to please as a courtier as well as achieve victory on the battlefield. Poetry and painting are their second war and one without mercy. Knights can be of non-excellent aim with a gun: they are not marksmen but they are known for firing amass at an enemy before charging with melee weapons. They are conservative in outlook albeit tolerantly so. No defender can afford to despise their wards, and nobility can be eccentric in the extreme. Their strict and solemn paradigm is that law is kept reasonably whole, that good is eventually done, that no battle is against the defenseless and innocent. And they tend to be a bit snobbish and elitist without knowing, right? So we do need a knight, a samurai, a paladin, a gardener of the steel wind. How about it, Obsidian?

If flying can be considered "floating very swiftly" then this could be done. Agile flight might be beyond present budget and nostalgic interest.

I think hand cannons and spear-tip rockets would be quite the sight!

One thing I'd love to see is NPC talk to eachother in dialogue trees. So if the player has done something or said something significant, the NPC effected by this will alter their dialogue. An NPC with altered dialogue will talk to other NPC and trigger a dialogue option from them that normally wouldn't trigger without the deed or statement. If, for example, I were to utter, "Free P***y Riot!" in a crowded subway full of elven emigre, they would go to the elven dormitories at Harvard (where the elven fraternities and sororities have been outlawed) and talk about the punk rock band that was imprisoned in Russia for performing at a shrine. If I happened through the dorm on my way to visit my dear friend and activity partner, her dialogue with another elf might differ from the norm and so would his. If he turned to talk to another elf, their talk might also change. And some dialogue would change invisibly if I wasn't privy to a moment. So elves at Harvard and Smith and Radcliffe, not to mention BU and MIT and UMass might all be discussing P***y Riot. Similarly, if you come up with suitable ideas for restoring fraternities and sororities to the Harvard campus, it's likely you'd be mentioned in some esteem for a half-decade or so. This would seem like emergent behavior but it could be plotted out with some care.

I feel that certain options are unlikely and so decided not to explore these options, but largely these are possibilities and I feel they can be brought into the game. Please make decisions based on what you'd really, really want in this story from A to Z, o spice people.

I think in a way you're right, they should keep adding companions, areas, and such -- but I also think new features are warranted and possible. I especially would like to see an ANSI rogue-like come of their design house. Maybe a paid-for text-based MU*.

Thanks again for taking my advice on the mercenary groups!

1. I would like to see a fifty level dungeon with most levels spanning several screens on maximum zoom-out. It should be awe inspiring and a legend in its own right. I want a dungeon I'll be able to brag about seeing on my deathbed. There should be secret levels. There should be exits throughout the land represented in the game. Expansions to this game should include expansions to the dungeon. There should be paid content to add extra levels. There should be spin-off games based entirely around the dungeon and not just on mobile. It should be increasingly devious, even with living levels, bottomless pits from which terrible things fly and slither, flooded levels, entire cities, and magical scrolls composed of hallways that wend in the shape of runes. 2. I think the story of the dungeon itself should slowly reveal itself as part of the story, should be a possible "home of the gods" and have the histories of hundreds of adventurers who perished therein. An undead being might populate a library with journals of perished adventurers, with manuscripts gleaned from the confessions of captured adventurers. 3. I would support a mega-dungeon if it diverted resources from the main game. I mean, it would be a stretch goal, right? I suspect it would be and I support it utterly. 4. I would love to see it as a set of stretch goals. I even made such a suggestion in a separate thread.

I actually faint dead away when someone says DIY. Try it sometime. Walk up to me and say DIY. Then carry me to a questionable massage parlor. No better place to wake up in. I think that Arcanum crafting would make me faint too. I had a devil of a time remembering what components to use, with my rulebook fluttering around the room and singing in strange tongues. The best crafting system by far IMHO would be found in Everquest 2; that game could've been so wonderful if it had primarily emergent gameplay that didn't depend on player populace. Yeesh. Quests that I despised, people that I found inept and boring, but otherwise many good concepts lurked in that game.

Children should be heard about, not otherwise sensed. Surely they should not be targets.

How about undead souls? Souls that died and were brought back to life by a meteor crash that leaked radiations. Now they eat the brains of other souls. RAAAR. Seriously, what about dead souls? Are some people born with dead souls? What would they do? How would they act?