rjshae

Seems like it has been constant mis-management of their license by the D&D owners. They had the opportunity to own the CRPG market and reap in significant rewards. Instead they've botched it, time after time. As a result, game developers have steered away and developed their own IP, which now repeatedly tromps the D&D CRPG market.

I remain puzzled by this viewpoint. Once you know what your characters look like, how much time do you spend staring at them? I'll bet almost none. The only time they are of interest is when you need to select one of them to perform an action. The small icons should be more than enough for that purpose. What I imagine will happen is that larger views of the portraits will be used during conversations and when looking at your character information.

As an aside, I'm enjoying the texture of the rock faces. I live near the mountains so i know what they are supposed to look like. If there's one area for improvement, I'd say that adding in some scree slopes would help. Clean cliffs with a bare base should be the exception, not the rule.

Non-linear elastic properties combined with collisions and realistic rendering of a semi-transluscent material makes the GPU a busy little boy.

Flask of Mutable Destiny This unusual ceramic flask is filled with an oily liquid that glows with a faint inner light and has a nutty, slightly rotten odor, although it should be kept closed to avoid losing its potency. The oil is highly receptive to whatever material comes into contact with it, and will therefore transform into a specific potion in the presence of certain materials. Thus, adding the damp eggs of a tree frog will cause the oil to transform into a highly slippery fluid that can render an area of floor virtually impassible. Likewise, the tail of a desert lizard can transform the liquid into a highly combustible material similar to greek fire. The range of potential forms for this oil remain uncertain, although a number of tried and true recipes are available... for a price. Once the oil has been transformed into its final form, the flask becomes inert.

Bell of the Unseen Servant When rung, this small brass bell summons an unseen servant of the air--a weak air elemental that will attempt to follow your instructions. The servant can lift objects that are low in weight, drag slightly heavier objects across the ground, activate simple mechanisms, or provide a distraction. In game terms it can be used to perform the following actions: Retrieve a small object from some distance away, even if the intervening space contains a chasm, river, or a trap. Remotely open an unlocked chest or door. Trigger a simple mechanism from across the room. Activate a basic trap that is sprung by mild pressure, such as a tripwire. Briefly reduce the attentiveness of a creature. The servant is invisible to most creatures and is only harmed by strong winds. It is unable to perform any action that requires a skill check.

In order to foster a sense of exploration, you can't have an encounter around every corner. I think you still need to leave a good chunk of an outdoor map free of threat in order to cultivate a sense of drama. Otherwise it just degenerates into an action game.

Suppose your character has recruited N companions, and, of those, you can take along up to 5 on a particular mission. The remaining N - 5 are presumably standing guard over your stash. It would be interesting if those N - 5 guards (plus your hirelings) occasionally had to fight off some brigands, bandits, or scavengers. Not frequently mind you, but at least some percentage of the time and then only when you're on your way back to the camp.

Yep. Apart from the Faith and Conviction benefit (which apparently shows that the game will have comparable saves to D&D), the Paladin benefits all appear to bestow leadership qualities on the Paladin. If you go where he goes and fight what he fights, then you get benefits. That doesn't seem like a support role to me. The horse archer was a very effective weapon in the middle ages, so it seems like a legitimate tactic to shoot and scoot. I'd say it depends on how much of a movement increase the Paladin provides and how much time it requires to get off a shot.

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Gorget of Adra Sculpted out of the shell-like material known as adra, this gorget is reputed to provide some limited protection against the biamhacs, the spirit-wind phenomenon that scours the ruins of Eír Glanfath. Although of little value to those with strong souls, these items are sought out by weak-souled looters so that they can hunt for treasures amidst the ruins. Wearing the gorget for extended periods can result in disturbing dreams that leave the subject restless and weary. However, it does provide some protection against sleep spells and similar magic.

It might be interesting to have a weapon's properties vary depending on your status with a particular faction...

Must be the anti-paladin class.

Dry noodles; very nasty.

Still wondering how much space a character will occupy. It matters in terms of how effective these area buffs are.

I'd rather see class enablements than restrictions. That is, have an item more favorably complement the ability set of a particular class, but still be useable by others. For example, a paladin's sword could allow an additional use of Reviving Exhortation by the character. If you're not a Paladin, then that ability provides no benefit.

It all sounds good. Thanks for the update! A couple of questions: Could you explain 3m and 4m in terms of the space occupied by a character? Are they 2m circles, or something else? What happens when identical powers (such as Zealous Barrage) overlap with each other?

Yeah it's funny how often game cloaks end up looking more like capes.

True, but we lack sufficient information to readily fit it into the larger context so that task would need to be left to the game designers. Hence your point is moot. Now, do you have any interesting ideas for encounters?

One of the more interesting topics on the Wasteland 2 forums was a series of posts by the community on interesting encounter ideas. I think that might also be a useful topic here, so how about it? Do you have a brief but unique idea for an encounter or a short side quest in the P:E setting? It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something unique or memorable. I'll throw a quick one out there to get the topic rolling:

Looks intriguing, but some of the grammar has me a little concerned: Frozen State

Perhaps we should do like they did with Wastelands 2 forums and start a 'Quest ideas' thread to see what sort of original notions we can come up with? There's bound to be a nugget or two they could use.

COMBAT IS NOT WHAT MAKES AN RPG. If you can play a role in a story which reacts to your choices, it's an RPG. If it has a stats-heavy system and a well-defined, branching story, it's a CRPG/Western RPG. While combat-free CRPGs have been very rare to absent, it's not unknown in P&P, and the amount of actual combat encounters is generally smaller even in the ones with traditional combat system. This is true, but irrelevant. If I want a non-combat game then I'll deliberately pick one. For me the primary benefit of a party-based CRPG is to allow tactical options in combat.

Yes well that's the key factor isn't it: will any loot be dropped?

Exactly the point. Combat has a cost with no benefit. Ergo, it becomes an adventure game withe the occasional boss battle. Zzz...