rjshae

kickstarter ain't no business - you're donating because of good will and you will recieve a reward. this reward is just a goodie and should not reflect the amount you pledged. The t-shirt might be thought of as a "talking point"; in one sense it gives you a certain conversation piece where you can talk about your experience of contributing to the Kickstarter. Handled right, that might even lead to more people contributing and playing the game.

Is the goal to spend more on goodies and less on the game? Just curious.

Where are the "Let's let Obsidian decide what's appropriate for their story and setting" options?

A thought occurs: posting XML files with embedded mercenary information. Somebody can just maintain those on their gaming web site for others to download. Need to be careful with security issues though.

Link ball. Useful in Geoff's Cantrip of Coat Tail Cleansing.

Fixed Well it's not stupid; I just thought that would balance out the poll. Thanks.

There's no "Whatever Obsidian things is appropriate for the setting" option.

My understanding was the focus would be on the single-player experience. Several of your suggestions would require maintaining a server presence on the internet, which would add to the costs and be an ongoing expense. You'd need a subscription model or advertising in order to maintain it. I'd rather not see either. Other than that though, I do like the notion of fleshing out the Adventurer Hall experience.

I've seen this implemented as an "Adventurer" class. IIRC, it's basically the combat skills of a cleric combined with many of the non-combat skills of the rogue, but with little or no spell-casting ability. You could get something similar by multi-classing as a Fighter/Rogue.

Whatever will you folks do with yourself once this KS is over?

I agree with 2 & 3. But what I really want to see is an immersive, plausible setting with plenty of depth that breathes of things happening and people living their own lives. Some games come closer than others to this than others. I can live with some of the unrealistic shortcuts implemented in the name of gaming enjoyment, but I really dislike it when I go to an in-game city and it just feels like an empty shell.

My thinking is that the impact of magic on the economy may not be accurately portrayed in RPGs. Even a low end +1 weapon is far more expensive than what the average Joe can afford, so why would a bunch of those be on sale at ye olde weapon shoppe? Wizard guilds likely play a more important role in the economy than is normally portrayed. Lower level Wizards may act as commissioning agents that are aware of the goods available and serve as retailers, while higher level Wizards manage and control the availability of items. You go to a low level Wizard retailer, talk to the sales agent, select an item you'd like and put down a payment, then the item is transported (teleported?) to the retailer and you can pick it up a day or two later. In turn, high-level Wizards in cities have access to master artisans that can build the items, with the Wizard instilling them with power and transporting them to the retailer. There may be multiple Wizard guilds that have different item specialties. The stock that a Wizard retailer has available depends on the guild they belong to, and their ranking and influence within the guild. Most rural Wizards would only have lower level items available, while an influential city Wizard gets access to better goods. The better connected Wizard retailers may also be able to arrange access to auctions for the most powerful items.

For all we know there is something unusual about the nature of this setting that prevents those of a pure soul from dying in combat. Call it the will of the gods, if you wish. The meddlesome gods choose to intervene in the lives of the blessed by this means, restoring the victim back to full health. However, the recipient of their blessing is left marked in some manner. "The Mark" is like a divine IOU; the character must perform a penance or divine service of some form before it will go away. The specific act may be revealed, for example, by a vision, or it can be resolved with a cleansing spell from a temple. If the character forestalls this act for too long, then he begins to suffer the most rotten luck; taking a penalty equivalent to a curse spell. "The Mark" can be made permanent by the game, causing it to apply retroactively if the player does a restore to an older save. Characters can receive multiple marks and the effects will grow increasingly unpleasant. At worst it can result in a horrid, lingering death after suffering from leprosy.

Personally I think it's been a splendid discussion, despite a lot of grumbling and fretting. Sure there are differences, but you can also recognize some strong commonalities as well. They obviously picked up some popular trends like the Adventure Hall and recent class additions from the discussion threads. I hope (and expect) where they will follow their own advice is in the development of the world setting and the plot. That includes the companions, the magic system, the native inhabitants, and so forth.

Hmm... I could see something like alcohol being a palliative for a broken soul, at least on a subconscious level. Perhaps many alcoholics in this world suffer from a broken soul but don't quite realize it, so they seek a temporary solace in a bottle, or with certain mind altering drugs. A related effect may be to make it harder to manipulate the souls of people under the influence of alcohol, but that also makes it more difficult for the inebriated to draw upon their own soul energy. There could be certain circumstances when that is advantageous for the drinker, such as when they're facing a Cipher.

Umm... really dumb question: am I supposed to be able to order just the T-Shirt through a separate $25 PayPal pledge? Or will that just be a 'gear' option in the aftermath?

It's not just a job, it's an Adventure Hall.

It must be at least 40K, nothing to do with being half a million. Oops, you're right. Long day and all that...

More good news! So the PayPal tally must be around a half-million then. This project may make US$3million yet.

Yup. An Area of Effect centered on the caster.

We're men... we're men in tights We roam around the forest looking for fights. We're men... we're men in tights. We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that's right. We may look like sissys, but watch what you say or else we'll put out your lights.

ToEE let you have eight: five you generated and three you recruited. It didn't seem to hurt the game too much.

Yea, I should have added one, but I did not think at the time and given my opinion is to drop martial arts and have a different kind of monk entirely, that would have coloured the poll a bit. I think the community is slightly divided on the subject, some like and some dislike, Obsidian has no hope of satisfying everyone with this class. I'll bet every class except the core four have some opponents who would love to see them gone. It's a compromise.

Depends on the depth of the combat system, but yeah, different weapons for different situations. A rapier for unarmored foe versus a whacking great sword for an armored knight. If you are disarmed, or the weapon breaks, then you can switch to the mace. Against somebody with a shield, then a flail.

I guess the developers could encode information into the maps that describes whether a particular unwalkable area provides partial cover and allows adjacent ranged fire to pass through it. The AI could then compute line of sight to the target, check if it intersects an unwalkable area, then have the creature behave accordingly (crouch or whatever). Fire around corners would be a little more difficult to implement, I think.