Fluffle

Now, let's try to find a solution for Chilloutman. @Chilloutman Would you consider making a PayPal account? Or would you rather not do that? Out of my head I don't know an alternative way, but I will think about it. Maybe someone else has an idea.

Yes I did. And I wrote my answer in this thread because it might happen again.

As a note: I will note remove certain poll options just because they MIGHT clash with some other backer content. The poll is there that people can express their preferences. I already said in the F.A.Q. that Obsidian is not bound by the results of the poll. So this poll is for people expressing what they would prefer. IF that becomes reality is a whole different matter and that will be decided by Obsidian Entertainment. And even if I removed specific poll options now, people could still vote for "other" and then choose that removed poll option as their comment. So I would even have to remove the "other" option. I will not take away the people's voices. And I will not meddle in a running poll to that degree. I already said that I would only change the poll as rarely as possible. It is not the job of the poll to avoid any possible conflict with other backer content. No, that is Obsidian's job after they get the poll results to which they are not bound anyway.

That link "continue" can lead you to a page though where you are asked to create a PayPal account. It doesn't really make sense... That said if you have a credit card it should be very easy to set up a PayPal account with it

Oh boy, I hope this doesn't "take away" money from the other crowd funding campaign. First off, I love the idea of giving our pirate crew a very valuable additional item. We would need to decide on how the player can acquire that. Does the player have to fight the pirates for that? My idea would be that the item was some kind of weapon or armor made of... *drum roll* obsidian! Obsidian weapons do exist in our world btw, just google image "Obsidian knife" Very fancy! I think the timing of this initiative here may be a bit unlucky. What if, in the end, the additional money for this would be about the amount of money that we would miss to reach the $5000 goal for the pirate crew? I would have preferred you posted this after we had raised more money for the pirates. But let's see how this works out

That is basically the plan, yes. If you read the F.A.Q. and the other text in the opening post I think I made it clear that we will present "rough ideas" on our pirate crew and let Obsidian work out the details. We can hand in suggestions, yes, and we should! But at the same time Obsidian is not bound to them, just as they are not bound to the poll results. I made that also clear in the F.A.Q. There are mainly two reasons for this approach: 1.) Backer content has been repeatedly criticized for not fitting into Pillars of Eternity 1. And I would really like to make sure that the Black Isle Bastards do fit into the game. I would dislike people to remember the Black Isle Bastards as something that did absolutely not fit into the game. Therefore I would like Obsidian to work out the details and make sure they fit! 2.) For us as a community it will be far easier to agree on general outlines and rough ideas than to have a vote on every single detail. That could easily blow up. In my eyes, our actual goal is that the Black Isle Bastards are represented in some way in the game. And that is far more important than the actual way in which they are represented. Which is also why I would support all poll options so far.

We should discuss that in the other thread. This thread should be about the BIB badge.

Oh that! I got news on a part of this! Sorry I forgot to mention it. The crowd funding of the pirate crew will NOT end by the end of the Fig campaign. I'm really sorry I forgot to mention this lol. There is no set deadline yet until which we need to have reached the $5000. I will ask Aarik on a deadline, but he already told me that the deadline for the crowd funding of the pirate crew is NOT the deadline of the Fig campaign! Likewise, I will inquire if you will be able to purchase the BIB badge through the backer portal after the Fig campaign has ended. Be assured Obsidian would very much like our pirate crew to make it into the game!

That could very well be. It was not my decision. In fact at first I did try to combine these two projects. In the end I guess the aim is to maximize the overall donations for Obsidian. Not everyone who likes the badge would also like to participate on crowd funding the pirate crew and vice versa. But it certainly would have been possible that combining the two ideas would have had a stronger impact, I agree.

Thank you, all of you, for you generous donations so far If you would like to additionally help out you may consider to spread the news about this on other communities and maybe take it to Twitter or Facebook. PS: @Osvir I totally think you should Obsidian let know about your song! They should hear it, absolutely!!!

OMG that is AWESOME! That is you? :D WOW!!! I love it!

@Osvir Could you try to upload it here? http://vocaroo.com/

way better than Doesn't sound so silly. I try to generalize from ideas. "The 'bastards' are a cloistered, wealthy group of bored individuals that naively romanticise piracy" is too concrete already in some points in my opinion. They don't have to be wealthy for example. Or bored. Or naive. There are a lot of details already. That's why I usually try to generalize. The gist, the main idea, is that they are some kind of failed pirates in the sense that they don't know what piracy actually is about. And for that they don't have to be wealthy, bored or naive. Nor cloistered. If you find a better general description, let me know. However, I would dislike to change the poll options too often.

Better to stay out of romance discussions...

What I'm still missing is, the fate of the Black Isle Bastard's ship and its design. There have been only few suggestions. I know that there are some in other threads. It would be nice to collect the ideas of the ship in this thread here. Of course we could also leave the fate and state and design of the ship to Obsidian. But why not collect some ideas on it here?

See point 8 in the F.A.Q.

The thing is, every game world needs to treat non-heterosexual characters the same way that they are treated or were treated in this world. Also the percentages of the different sexualities of this world need to be applied to any fantasy game world. For example let's say we would agree that 10% of our world's population was not heterosexual. Then by logic that means the same must hold true for Eora, Thedas, The Forgotten Realms etc etc.

Okay as a note: I will sometimes update the poll options. I will try to not do it too often because this would lead to wrong results. Please come back here and check regularly the poll options, and check whether your vote is still valid. You might want to change it. Also updated the OP with this information.

Yeah well sometimes I pester you and Feargus about the same thing at the same time, and you don't necessarily know that So sometimes I get information from one of you of which the other one doesn't know yet

I said so in the opening post that the options are not necessarily mutually exclusive. If some options do make sense combined I would propose that to Obsidian after consulting with you guys on this. However ultimately it is Obsidian's decision. But, yes, it is clear that you can combine certain options.

New F.A.Q. item has been added showing our current funds. Will be updated irregularly

The badges will most likely given out only some time after the Fig campaign has ended.

Every dollar counts!

Greetings everyone, Obsidian Entertainment will give us a "Black Isle" for free in the game. They also supported us in founding a pirate crew on this community called the "Black Isle Bastards". And this thread is about making the "Black Isle Bastards" come true in the game. One of the biggest points of criticism of backer content has always been that it breaks immersion and does not fit into the game. To avoid this, we will give Obsidian Entertainment only a very rough idea of what the Black Isle Bastards are about. We will let them then work out the details to make sure the Black Isle Bastards do fit SEAMLESSY into the game. And in order to decide on that "rough idea" that is what this poll is for. The options in the poll are not necessarily mutually exclusive and yet I do not allow multiple options because I would like to see the most favorite options. Also the vote is not anonymous because I might consider the votes of members who actually pledged for this cause to be more important than the votes of those who do not support this cause. Note: I might sometimes update the poll options. I will try to do it as rarely as possible. But please make sure to come back here regularly and check if your vote is still valid! Before you donate for this cause, be absolutely sure to have read and understood the F.A.Q. at the bottom of this post! Feel free to pose questions any time! Also the F.A.Q. may be expanded upon, so be sure to check on it regularly. Disclaimer: I am the sole person who is collecting the funds and who is responsible for the donations. Obsidian Entertainment is not involved in these donations in any way, however they are fully supportive of this project. Donating here will NOT give you a copy of the game (an exception may apply for one of the most generous donors as specified in the F.A.Q.). (Note: The purpose of this image is only to support this crowd funding. Obsidian Entertainment alone decides on the design of the Black Isle. And it is going to be a much much smaller island. The map was created with: http://fantasynamegenerators.com/map-creator.php Credits for the font used on the map go to Raymond Larabie: http://www.1001fonts.com/vinque-font.html#license Credits for the kraken in the image go to lolien on the Beamdog forum) F.A.Q.: 1.) What exactly would I be pledging for? A: You would be helping us to crowd fund a pirate crew who call themselves the “Black Isle Bastards” for Pillars of Eternity 2. Donating here will NOT give you a copy of the game (exceptions may apply as seen under question 9, 10 and 11). 2.) What does the term "bastard" mean in the lore of the game? Has that term even been established yet? A: The term "bastard" has not been established yet in the lore of the game, however, it would have the same meanings as in our world. 3.) How do you make sure that your backer made content fits into the game world and does not break immersion? A: We are going to give Obsidian only a rough idea on our pirate crew. We will let Obsidian Entertainment then work out the details themselves to ensure that our pirate crew fits seamlessly into the game and its lore. 4.) Will there be a Black Isle in the game? A: Yes, that has already been confirmed. 5.) How large in size is the Black Isle going to be? A: It is going to be a tiny island. And it would only be able to support one structure on it at most. A ship does count as a structure in this context. 6.) I saw that there is an option to pledge an additional 8$ to get a "Black Isle Bastards" forum badge. Is that money used to crowd fund the pirate crew in the game? A: No, it is not used that way. The "Black Isle Bastards" forum badge is funded independently from the "Black Isle Bastards" pirate crew that we would like to incorporate into the game. 7.) Why do the $8 for the BIB forum badge not count for the crowd funding of the Black Isle Bastards? Originally we had planned on crowd funding an island. We would have had to raise $5000 for the "Black Isle" but then Obsidian decided to give us, their community, the "Black Isle" for free, as a gift. The BIB forum badge serves as a token of appreciation and a thank you to Obsidian for giving us an island for free. 8.) How much money do you have to raise to incorporate the “Black Isle Bastards” into the game? A: 5000$ 9.) What happens if you reach more than 5000$? A: We are going to try to fund an item for the Black Isle Bastards for which we need to raise additional $750. If we don't manage to collect these $750, then we will use the surplus money to buy additional game copies and put them into a lottery for our donators. 10.) What happens with the other rewards (other than the pirate crew and the ship) on the tier "Build a Pirate Party" on the Fig campaign? A: By default we will pass up on them. Only if there is a very generous donor to our cause who donates considerably more than any others then he or she will get all the additional rewards. 11.) What happens with the other rewards on the tier "Create an Item" on the Fig campaign? The additional rewards from that tier go to the donator with the second highest amount. If there are multiple donators who are close to be the second highest donator they can share the additional rewards but only if they can peacefully reach a agreement on who gets what. 12.) Is Obsidian Entertainment bound to the results of this poll? No, they are not. The results of this poll serve as suggestions. However, Obsidian Entertainment can deviate from them if they think that that would be to the overall advantage of their game. 13.) How can I pledge for this? A: Have a look here You may need a PayPal account for this. 14.) Is there a deadline for when you need to have raised $5750 ? A: Yes, the deadline is 25th April 2017 23:59 PM (GMT+2) 15.) What does Obsidian Entertainment think about your project? A: See for yourself: 16.) How much money have you raised so far for your cause? Base goal: $5000 / $5000 (100% funded) Stretchgoal ("Create an Item"): $414.68 / $750 (55% funded) overall: $5414.68 / $5750 66 backers biggest donation: $1665 donation on average: $82.04 17.) Will there be any ingame recognition for the donors of this project? Currently, that is up for discussion. We are looking for creative, easy to implement ways, to give our donors recognition in the game while that must in no way break the fourth wall/immersion. Feel free to share your ideas on this! 18.) How are you going to contact the donors of this project? For cases, that I need to reach donors specifically, I would send an email to the email address the donors provided on PayPal. If you have donated please make sure to always check that email address until this whole campaign has ended!

Well it seems that the name BLB will stick with you for... Eternity I already get the feeling this is going to be an inside joke in the future