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Methuseleh

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Everything posted by Methuseleh

  1. How about a condition for armor: unfitted vs. fitted. Unfitted causes some relatively minor, but annoying inconvenience while fitted is normal. Any armorer can change the condition to fitted.
  2. The Darklands-style health / stamina bars do factor into the armor discussion. Using a shield to block costs some stamina. Getting hit with a club would cost health and stamina. Armor would change this. Some health damage might be converted to simple stamina loss and some of the stamina loss which would otherwise have been sustained may be blocked altogether. Now that practically begs for armor integrity to be degraded over time, however let's leave that issue alone for a moment. Armor choices thus vary between lighter versions which cost less stamina over time, but may provide less damage protection and heavy armor types that can take a pounding but require massive stamina to move and fight in. Hit an unarmored individual and they are taking physical damage which is bad. Of course, if they run away, they may be hard to catch. Hit an armored knight and they're probably barely gling to noticethe as they wallop you with a zweihander. In short, there is a reason why peasants ran when they saw knights approaching... and why knights preferred to ride horses.
  3. Remember why different types of weapons evolved and armor then counter-evolved. Leather and padding is decent against slashing and can be relatively good against impact. Chain is poor against impact (without stiffening plate) but highly resistant to slashing. In response to the advent of early, relatively low-velocity firearms, armorers deployed thick plate. This stopped big slow bullets, but eventually proved so unwieldy and fatiguing that it was abandoned as weaponry went a different route altogether into smallswords and rapiers.
  4. Did you ever notice that a) no CRPG ever allows you to negotiate for your reward in advance, and b) rivals never appear to competitively bid against you. Imagine: you are sitting in the Meister's antechamber negotiating a price for the rescue of his favorite neice from durance vile. You are just about to put quill to parchment when Belloq and his goons show up and offer to do it for less! Conversation options: 1) If you let this man touch your neice, you'll never get the smell off of her! 2) (Reputation) You know we'll get the job done. This man is unreliable. (counter-reputation check) 3) (Bluff) Ask the souls of the last people he tried to "rescue" if you can find their graves. Their parents never did. 4) Fine, we'll do it for 5,000 gold. 5) We'll take the job and do it right for 4,000 but not a copper less.
  5. It may not be possible to be commercial and entirely avoid the cliche, but perhaps it can be limited to one of the big cities, while the other is... different. With souls playing such a major role, I tend to think that family honor will be more significant. Think the death-masks on the walls of Sevillia's home in Rome with the talking pictures in Harry Potter. Not literally, of course, but family crypts or mausoleums, hallowed ground of all types would be widely used and well-populated. Many shades will be of the "You're RUINING THE FAMILY FORTUNE dimwit!" or "HOW DARE YOU PROFANE MY HOME WITH THAT HARPY!" variety. I think it likely that the recently dead or even long-departed may play a much larger, although passive, role than in other games of this type. Negotiations would be more interesting too because few incorporeal beings can actually deliver monetary rewards. What, exactly, they might deliver will probably depend on how well developed non-combat skills are... or even classes. Mind you, this shouldn't turn it into Grim Fandango with everybody and their uncle dead, but it sure would explain why nobles like to go to their country estates fairly often. Most of the time there aren't a bunch of cranky souls lurking in the bright sunlit corners.
  6. I wonder if we can get a mini-gate so we can throw in loot and have it land in the courtyard of our stronghold, piling it up like some scaleless dragon until the entire area is a mass of dinged and dented armor, a staggering monument to vanquished foes. Then we can invite the local merchants over to pick through everything and make us an offer. After all, it would be civically unresponsible to leave weaponry lying about unsecured where brigands or children might get hold of it.
  7. Second the comments about leaving the low-density explorable areas intact - or mostly intact. There is no reason they can't change in-game for dramatic purposes. Also (and I know this is a forlorn hope) please remember that not every thing must revolve around "save the WORLD!" People take heroic actions for their friends , for their families, communities, countries every day. Some do amazing things for love. Heh. I guess others turn into stalkers too. The point is: great storytelling can occur without world-altering consequences. The journey of the Nameless One was largely personal for him and his companions. Heck, I still love Da'akon's line "Endure... and in enduring grow strong." Finding ways to upgrade all of those great characters was really cool. Think about it please.
  8. Might require deepfeel or thoughtful play, oh no! Srsly folks, Obsidian has MASSIVE experience with game design and how to have fun with a crpg. If you have concerns or doubts, fund to a level where you can participate in the beta and provide as much feedback as you want based upon actual gameplay.
  9. I flat-out love the Darklands-style stamina system. Please keep KS open until I get home tomorrow night. I will up my pledge for all the cool stuff added, promise!
  10. You forgot the Monday night sweet-spike. I know you've got something up your collective sleeves to drive us all over-the-top INSANE just before Kickstarter ends. I know you do! What is it? Dancing swords? Dancing puppies? Powered armor? The unspeakable fate of Glast the Unwary? Tell me now because I have to travel Monday and Tuesday and don't want to miss out. Or is it your evil plan to leave me guessing and hoping I have contributed enough? Argh! Okay, you win. I'll look again tonight and see about upping my contribution. Sheesh. So pushy! ; )
  11. Not to be repetitive, but very nice! As for the stronghold: I am really looking forward to it. Suggestion: you don't need and probably wont want to design one for every profession. A place is more about who and what you add to it. An abandoned / haunted / infested caravanseri can be adapted to any number of purposes. Nearby fields could be made into training grounds or an entmoot or a temple. The basement could be a magic lab or a gym or a brewery. The tower could be a weapons station, a soul sanctum or house an astrolabe. There is a lot you can do from a single base.
  12. @ Loki: I think addition of classes is a relatively minor thing given that IE already supported many similar classes. It would be highly doubtful to me that adding a class would actually cost $100k. I doubt it would cost $10k. It required some basic animations and tinkering with game mechanics and not much else. Point is: most of the rest of the money will get plowed into other development angles which would include art, story, npcs, areas etc.
  13. Cyberarmy's idea re a new world campaign is awesome but would probably need to be an expansion or stand-alone. Still, imagine three trading companies that have info on a new continent with natives and resources. One plans conquest. One plans to overawe through magic and tech. The third intends to try cooperative expansion. Quests would be woven through all three. The possibilities are breathtaking...
  14. At $3m I think we should get an epic seige fight where we can rally troops and resources to fight on either side or try to carve out a kingdom for ourselves. Or maybe a dukedom. Or, we could get radical and go extra-planar. Or do something really cool with spell-duels. Or... Or maybe Obsidian could up-staff to move the delivery date forward by a quarter. Now THAT would get me to double my contribution
  15. Mages didn't go to mage school to learn to sling rocks. Just as warriors practice swings over and over again so their arm does not tire in combat, so too would mages practice to cast simple spells, damage, confusion, conditions etc. Huge works of magic, just like really elaborate attacks, will be the exception rather than the norm and that's just fine.
  16. Thought: Cipher => human spirits Druid => plant / animal spirits Cleric => divine spirits / sun Mage => mystic / ?demonic? spirits Warrior - stone / fire Ranger - earth / water Rogue - air / celestial / night More?
  17. I'd like to see situations where the main party must split to achieve different objectives. Let's face it: when there are a bunch of npcs that can join, many are under-used or almost totally ignored. Players miss out on a lot, but not everyone has time to replay with different companions. This would keep companions active and expand the game experience. I would also like to see the "menace meter" I mentioned in another post. Otherwise, how does the player really sense what the pcs are sensing? Finally, for something completely different, I'd like to have low level characters that aren't complete pushovers with tissue-paper armor and sharpened twigs for weapons. That artifice is one of the main reasons why I tend to min/max: it is a question of survival at low levels. Ps: it doesn't need to be a cosmic save the world mcguffin either.
  18. That sounds... really impressive!!! Still, don't over-commit. I'd rather play Eternity sometime in the next 14-18 months, then have an expansion shortly thereafter than have to wait almost 6 years for a game I want to play right now. Reloaded TOEE last night to soothe the jonesing. Better hurry though...
  19. I don't want: 1) Developer Mallet of Doom forcing decisons which are not consistent with what has gone before. Rational consequences = OK. "Because I, the all-seeing, all knowing dev feel like it and you're just going to have to live with it" =/= ok. 2) Players starting out with toothpick weapons and the durability of wet kleenex. Get real: nobody willingly goes into a fight with substandard anything. Similarly, nobody seeks out fights which they *should* lose or in which they are seriously out-gunned or out-matched. Let players get a strategic or tactical edge if they work for it. It cannot and should not always be "OMG, you survived impossible odds -- AGAIN!" Impossible odds call for a hasty retreat and regrouping to come up with a better plan where tactical or strategic superiority can be achieved. 3) Limiting players to 1 PC at a time - use BG approach for MP or IWD / TOEE to let players develop more than one PC - if they so choose. Why use multiple classes (again, classes = boo!) if they player can't fool around with different ones to see how they group and work together. 4) NPC interaction that is more onerous than a RL job. Seriously, if I wanted to keep a needy significant other, I would do that instead of gaming. I am really not going to spend my scarce gaming time being hassled by NPCs whose needs are more compelling than my own. 5) DO NOT CUT the non-combat skills!!! They make a huge difference in story-telling. Fire up an old game of Darklands if you want an example of how knowing formal languages can get you skills, prayers, or knowledge which is not available to grunting shield-bashers. Consider the difference that a knowledgeable alchemist can make in terms of burning off locks or enemies or selling their works for cash (which can then be used for, well, anything!). Let players choose between spending their time or money on an old sage's promised Foozle of Woe Unto The Foe or additional training in Devastation 401. 6) Don't forget the heroic element. Couriers are a dime a dozen. Pretty much anyone can get on a horse and ride a letter from one town to the next. People who are willing to run into danger, navigate court treacheries, risk dark alleys, negotiate treacherous swamps and ruins, rally commoners, lead a charge, slay dangerous beasts, then seek out even bigger challenges are both scarce and valuable. They may be courted by multiple parties, beset by "better" offers, and subjected to misdirection and treachery, both mundane and magical. All of these surely factor into their karma, but, really, what does delivery of a fedex package demonstrate? On time? Reliable for non-challenging tasks? Whoopee. If people wanted to farm, they'd play Farmville. If they wanted to build random things, they'd play Minecraft. You're building something for people who seek more than mundane. You know this and have already shown it, just stick by your guns.
  20. Classes in general - boo. If you must have classes... well... don't. But if you really, really, can't do without the archetypal classes, then specialty kits or evolutions take some of the sting out of being channelled.
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