rjshae

Interesting, hope it makes it goal. It seems to be doing much better in this run; they're at 56% ($28k/$50k) with 22 days to go. Good for them.

Then that would probably exclude Morte.

Castoff's Labyrinth is looking like a forgotten slice of birthday cake left in the fridge too long. I guess they're imitating the Endless Paths in PE.

It was a nice idea, but perhaps it was too much of a niche genre. Perhaps it needed a more, umm... perilous setting?

It might be interesting if somewhere during the game you run into your former master... and he/she can still teach you a trick or two.

Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to tax my mattress.... Need to find a new place to hide my money.

Perhaps, upon return to the area, the corpses should all leave a mysterious stain behind with drag marks leading off toward the exits? I enjoyed the way they did it in the old Warcraft games where an animation caused the corpse to decay into the ground.

The demi-plane of stretch goals; also known as Pilates, the plane of optimistic expectations...

Fun Kickstarter stats.

Bunny trails.

Good use of light and color, although his shadows seem subdued. Both his human and animal art are nicely proportioned. I think we can expect some very appealing character portraits from Mr. Kaz, if that is indeed his task.

Yes the players may not need to travel to different planes in order to enjoy variety. But that doesn't mean that the setting needs to disallow dimensional travel. It depends on other factors. Thus, do the deities inhabit other planes? Does the soul travel to another plane before returning to the world in a different body? According to the religious mythology, do you travel to the plane of your deity after you die? Do the wizards draw their powers from another plane? Do they travel to other planes in order to enhance their power and knowledge? Once you allow for the possibility of other planes, and allow for residents of the setting traveling to those planes, then I think you need to allow for the possibility that the writers will want to use those planes in the story.

Perhaps for the hardcore mode where you can't reload the game.

The writing seems a little too polished for a 9-year-old. Hmm... Ach, Oner beat me to it.

More diagrams and illustrations would be nice, yes.

I used to play M&M back in the day, and found them okay for passing the time but never really that enthralling. As soon as I played the group tactical combat screens in Ultima I realized that's the way to simulate combat, and the GoldBox games only reinforced that preference. I'm not sure I want to go back to the first person click-fests of M&M and Wizardry. Only if there isn't something better available.

This is a redicio ad absurbum argument since no game can possibly explain everything about a setting. Creating little or no lore makes a conventional setting shallow and mundane. Ergo, having meaningful lore adds depth. Adding more lore adds more depth, although I'll admit there's bound to be a point of diminishing returns. Some people will want to see more lore than others. Hence, you please the most people by accommodating the those who want a lot of lore. If you don't like all the lore, nobody is forcing you to read it. While I'm not disagreeing at least entirety of the point, I must point out you're now doing the same reductio. It's really not like people who want less wordy explanations are going to be happy with huge encyclopedic volumes, by cleverly only reading 10% of each book, or only reading every fifth volume or whatever. The solution would only serve those who either want the maximum amount of lorebooks, or no lorebooks at all. Now it might actually be the group in between is a tiny minority, but it might also be otherwise. Well not exactly, but okay. Perhaps a solution is to provide a thesis statement for people who are in the tl;dr group, then a longer and more colorful discussion for the other extreme. Those in between can then judge which ones they want to explore in depth.

This is a redicio ad absurbum argument since no game can possibly explain everything about a setting. Creating little or no lore makes a conventional setting shallow and mundane. Ergo, having meaningful lore adds depth. Adding more lore adds more depth, although I'll admit there's bound to be a point of diminishing returns. Some people will want to see more lore than others. Hence, you please the most people by accommodating the those who want a lot of lore. If you don't like all the lore, nobody is forcing you to read it. Hence, I'm not still seeing a problem here.

To me an interesting aspect of having different planes is the point where they join together. Each plane has its own physical properties that sets it apart from the others. Thus a surface where two planes meet represents a discontinuity of sorts; a tear in the fabric of each universe where the properties of one universe transition into another. This represents a potentially calamitous physical discord that can cause severe disruption in the immediate vicinity of the two planes. Perhaps then the deities guard against this possibility by means of a mezzanine zone; an intermediary plane where the physical properties of space and time vary, creating a safety buffer between each of the realms. The gateways into this mezzanine zone may be warded by guardians that protect it from significant disruptions. Wanderers entering into the mezzanine zone will need to understand the ways to placate these guardians and seek their guidance before a different realm can be entered. Those who fail to do so will draw down the wrath of the guardians upon their heads; a risk that should not be taken likely since these are potent divine creations. With the exception of deities and their servants, these guardians will naturally limit movement between the planes.

I read the thread title and my eyes rolled so far back into my head that I can see the optic nerve. Hmm, interesting...

Social events at your stronghold where the behavior of the guests is modified by the wealth of the furnishings and the impressiveness of your displayed trophies.

Have a gander at the Chaos Chronicles media page. Hopefully PE will be just as nice...

We could set aside February 30 to celebrate i day, but I suspect that wouldn't catch on nearly as well.

The real world doesn't hand you exactly the information you need, and only that information. You get bits and pieces of data, some of which may be relevant, some not. But I do know that feeding you only the information you need to play the game isn't a sign of respect from the writers. It's a sign that you're being treated like an idiot who can't filter the information.

You can't avoid that; the player is a stranger to the setting so they need some background lore. If you don't like it, don't read it. Others enjoy that type of lore and I think it helps to breathe life into the setting. It'd be a pretty disappointing effort for a RPG if there wasn't background material.