Hormalakh

I wonder if the printing press never developed or if it was developing but outside forces suppressed the invention. I like to think of things that have happened fairly recently in human history with Beta Max and VHS and the whole controversy of mass distributing media. Perhaps the monks in this world (or maybe some other profession) had a lot to lose by giving up their profession. Except in this world, the monks are violent scumbags who have used multiple tactics including force to keep this world from developing these inventions. Those who dare defy them will have their souls shattered and scattered across the world.

Just in case the PcGamer site goes down: I'm thinking Polynesian orcs.

Monks in any country would have to defend themselves from outside attackers. But fighting is not the way of the monk: spirituality is.

If there are special effects, the probabilties of them actually occuring should be extremely low. Like 0.05% per crit miss/hit. Critical hits happen quite often (5%), but the special effects should not happen every time you get a crit. That's just too many status changes.

I don't think you sohuld need to pick up books and put them into a Codex to really gain anything. It should be more like what you read can help you in the game. I mean having maybe 1 optional quest that is related somehow to knowing something that you've read in a book somewhere can be interesting. If your character can't read books, then obviously you wouldn't really be able to play that quest. Thne when you replay the game as a different character, then you could get that quest. Games should be made so that they're never the same the second play around and that there is plenty for you to see again without it getting tired.

Someone want to make a poll for this? I'd really be interested in seeing what people think. I'm no good with this HTML/forum mumbo jumbo.

No Mary sues in this game....

Wow, very powerful. Two things come to mind immediately. 1- Some lies are unwitting. The person doesn't know that he or she is lying. They might be giving you information and you wouldn't really know that they're wrong because they don't know that they're wrong (the unknown unknowns). 2- Some of the best movies (Memento and Inception do a great job) out there are those that never really exactly tell you what is truth and what is falsity. I don't mean that they try to gimmick their way out. There is an objective reality, but the audience (the movie viewer) is given information through the filter of the protagonist. All information is filtered through the lens of the protagonist. At the end of the movie, the audience doesn't exactly know what to believe. But the story has an end and a finality to it - it's not gimmicky. Talk to anyone about that movie and people fall into two different camps - they have two differing answers. One is true objectively, but its hard to tell which is. It leads people to revisit the movie to look for more clues in finding out exactly what is truth and what is false through filters outside of the main protagonist. This would lead to an amazing story that people would love to keep coming back to.

Haha totally! And only those with good enough info-gathering skills could separate the good info from the proverbial chaff.

One of the interesting (and most overlooked) aspects of BG2 and many of the other really good RPGs were the items that were books and scrolls that gave depth to the environments and places that players were in. It was really nice to be able to have a library filled with books that you could read. Unfortunately, I spent all of 5 mins ruffling through the shelves looking for potions and the differently colored scrolls or books that I knew were quest items. To me, I felt really bad for the devs who spent time coding in those books and writing in those beautifully written texts. I wonder how many people actually sat and read through them. One thing that I always thought was, "Why don't we make these books reward the players who read them?" The best example I can remember was Baldur Gate 2's Sun God Amaunator books. You get plenty of hints about the role of the statue but you're never sure what to do. A lot of these hints come from books. I would really enjoy having maybe 1 or 2 "hidden" quests that really reward those players who can only find that information written in the otherwise overlooked tomes in P:E. Maybe have some of them give interesting tactics that players might not think about using against enemies. Then make the books random! You won't always find that tome in the same place in the world. You actually have to read the book! It makes replays totally worthwhile, especially for those of us who always love finding hidden gems in games we've owned for very long times. And I think this is a game that will be played for a very long time.

Lol tamerlane. I remember doing that before giving up completely. Elder Scrolls Arena if I'm not mistaken, right?

I think one way to rethink the whole "you should be able to pick up every dead person's armor and weapon" is that either it is fairly random or when you've killed the enemy their armor might be retrievable but it's so badly damaged (you did just kill the guy wearing it) that you have to spend money to repair it before you can use it. So in early-game you won't be able to get that plate armor from the guard just because you killed him because the repair costs are too prohibitive. However, later on you can repair the armor but at that point you've already got the plate armor and weight becomes prohibitive.

One of the things I really liked about the Might and Magic 3:Isles of Terra (the only game that came to mind, it's really old, but one of my favorites) and not BG2 game was that when I went to a tavern and drank something, I would be gathering information that I wouldn't to be able to find out otherwise. The information can help make the game deeper (maybe the barkeep or one of the customers knows how to best kill a creature or tells you a little about that dungeon right outside of town) and you'd have to pick whether you'd want to risk getting drunk for that next piece of information. Not sure if this would be in the devs design specs, but if you are going to put drinking in there, just make sure I want to spend some time and money on it.

Yeah, I'm really leaning (IF - and that's a big IF, we already have enough - we need/want another class) towards some sort of master craftsman/artisan/tinkerer. He might not be built for combat, but he'll build whatever you need for combat. You have the herbs? He'll make you a healing potion. Found some starmetal? Well his third-cousin removed from his mother's side was a swordsmith and taught him how to shape a few fine blades. He's like Vic from Fallout 2. He might not be a great shot, but he'll tinker your bow to shoot twice as fast.

Secret of the Kells, Avatar: two very good and completely different ways of considering the monk. To me, the monk signifies more than any other class, true devotion to soul and spirituality. While the priest prays to his god for magic, the monk looks into his inner spirit to bring out that which will aid him in battle and outside. I think if we start looking at the monk from a deeply spiritual being as opposed to this overly strong martial artist, we'll see that almost all monks throughout the world share some very striking similarities. 1- esotericism. Their abilities to live without much: this explains why a monk doesn't us armor or a weapon (for the most part). It is not that the monk cannot use a sword, but rather the sword covers a part of his spirit and soul. He cannot channel his energies through that which is not organic. Thus, they live simple lives without much and travel the world as beggars. 2- spirituality. Monks travel the world (or stay in monastaries) to better understand that which is within them and outside of them. They are the true travelers, as they travel the spiritual realms while treating the body as an organic shell. Thier strength comes from within. they know that we are all one (or something like that) in this world and thus they know that reliance only on self is futile because we share links to our souls. Thus they try to travel in groups of other monks. sometimes they travel with groups of other travelers to "feel" their souls and spirits. Like a cup of tea. Each tea is different. Jasmine, Earl grey, Red Roibose, white lotus, etc. They each have a "color" to the soul and this diversity both distinguishes us but also brings us together (tea is tea afterall). The goal is not to find the best tea, but to experience the different flavors. 3- Extreme devotion and discipline. While priests are devoted to their gods, monks are devoted to discplining their spirits and bodies. They fast to remind themselves of suffering. They punish their bodies to remind themselves that the material world is fleeting (as their pain is). They train their bodies to withstand any environment, so that their spirits can do the same. What do you guys think? Different enough from the paladin/priests that you all were thinking? Spiritual yes. Not necessarily religious. Edit: More thoughts that I had. Anyone seen the Avatar:Legend of Korra stuff? So there's this whole spiritual bending vibe to the show. The main character is an awesome fighter but she cannot tap into her spirituality and when she can she can begin to bend the spirits of her opponents. Maybe the monks in this world have learned things about the souls that wizards have not? Perhaps monks fight with what looks like martial arts, but in reality they are attacking the souls and spirits of their opponents? Armor does them no good because monks have disciplined themselves to withstand any sort of physical damage and what truly hurts them is a soul attack or a spirit attack. They do not wear armor and their attacks are not aimed at the physical bodies of their enemies but rather at their spirits/souls. They don't use weapons (or do - depends on where you're from? or what philosophies you've studied) to focus these energies against the souls of their enemies. Different monks know different things about the souls of the denizens of this world that many others do not. Different kinds of monks (celtic type monks vs. Asiatic type monks have focused on different aspects of the soul/spirit in this world and thus their attacks follow these philosophies)

Err I What games have you been playing? The same ones you have. I'm dumb and wasn't thinking. Edited previous comment. Carry along.

Edit: So I actually thought a little bit more about this and I think I'm over-reacting. There were plenty of ways to customize my players. I'm being silly. Don't mind me. I am not a white person. In fact, I am quite brown. I've always hated the fact that I could never place myself in the characters shoes because of all the portraits and moddings that I'm able to do, I can't really pick anyone who isn't white with blue eyes and blonde hair. Even in a medieval/high renaissance style Fantasy game that is based very loosely on human history, there were many more people in the world than Europeans! In all the previous IE games, if I wanted to play an Asiatic monk or a Middle Eastern Prince of Persia type character or Saladin or Aladdin or even a Assassin's Creed-type Altair whatever, I couldn't. Why? Well first of all, because dude is so out of place in DnD and secondly none of the portraits match him nor do the sounds. Except in the middle ages, there were those guys running around in Europe. I know DnD isn't human history, but it does reflect parts of human history and I think there's a lot more that can go into games like this without resorting to played out caricatures of cultures when it comes to creating new and awesome worlds. Please please please Obsidian, make it possible for those of us who love DnD but are not of European descent to make a character that we want. Afterall, an RPG should allow you to make ANY type of character that you want. Be s/he Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Polynesian, African, European, etc. The world your making is supposed to be huge. I find it hard to beelieve (as in all these DnD games) that everyone is white and speaks with a British/Scottish/European accent, unless of course, they're supposed to be this overplayed trope.

One thing that I did want to mention was memorization however. Even in lower-tiered spells like Levels 1-3, I don't think that each wizard should have access to every spell he's ever learned at his disposal. One of the many things that made BG interesting (even though it was a new way of thinking about magic) was that you had to consider what kinds of spells you'd need for the day and to plan ahead of time for contingencies. Especially with lower-level spells, I think this brings an added challenge to this aspect and it makes players have to continue to consider magic as something that isn't performed willy-nilly without forethought. It also keeps the game interesting as you continue to play because as you rack up more and more types of low-tier spells, then the challenge isn't "Did I learn the right spell to help me?" but rather "Did I prepare for these set of circumstances?" I think the best way to implement such a style would be to either 1) have characters memorize a set amount (4 or 5) of different spells for each level (1-3) for the day, and to use them as previously described and only be limited to those spells until they rest again for the character to spend time memorizing a new set of spells or 2) have characters memorize a set of spells for the day (same 3-5 spells per levels 1-3 or whatever) and then be able to cast the other "unmemorized spells" at a disadvantage, e.g. they take longer to cast, they cost more mana, it lowers the number of spells you can cast in that level until cooldown, etc. Like I said, it makes the lower-tiered spells still something that the player should consider ahead of time (what the whole BG spell memorization was meant to do anyway - it was supposed to be a tactical challenge for the player) without taking away from the flow of the game and the ridiculous resting that you have to do (I alwas hated playing Baldur's Gate 2 as a wizard because as a RPG, I didn't think that the player should have been able to rest while trying to escape from the first dungeon and it made it really difficult to do this while I had no spells prepared.) Sorry if it isn't clear. Let me know what you guys think.

TBH I completely agree with OP. If you spend the time and money now to develop a decent lore and language and world now, the next three PE games will just write themselves. Honestly, every time I find a universe that I find deep with multiple layers within it, it makes me want to come back for more. It's like how the great movie directors made their movies. Some put in so much detail and work that you just want to keep going back and finding all those little gems. Don't skimp on coming up with a good language structure. This world already doesn't have the printing press. How are people going to communicate without some sort of understandable spoken language that isn't just gibberish?

I grew up learning about a whole bunch of different fantasy creatures in my childhood: some from Eurocentric cultures (ala most of the dragons, goblins, orcs, etc in DnD), some from Middle Eastern traditions as well (Djinns, phoenix (simurgh), buraq, scorpions, karkadan, manticores, rocs) and some from the Eastern traditions (Chinese dragons, Cangjie, Chang'e, Sun Wukong, some of my favorite creatures actually come from Animes like Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away). There are also quite a few nice ones in the Mesoamerican myths that I sometimes like to consider (quezacotl, Ahuitzotl, chaneque, xelhua). I guess one thing that I would really enjoy is thematic monsters. Like someone else said, let the monsters fit the theme of the area that one is in. It might be interesting to see a dragon (if that is what we're going for) that is more Asian than what we are used to when we're in a area that might have been affected by that ethnicity. I mean obviously this is going to be a thoroughly huge universe and we won't get to see everything, but I'd really like to see the creative design theme really letting themselves be influenced by mythology from around the whole world when discussing monsters. It'll definitely spark some fresh ideas and it'll make for a refreshing new universe without so many typical zombies and vampires and dragons that we've all come to hate.

Hey guys, I've noticed a few threads on here about how excited people are about getting 20k likes on Facebook (and how some, like me, don't have facebook and can't help that way), or how they wish they could pledge more but are really short on cash. Well, this is for you guys. There are plenty of other ways you can help. I just found out about this project randomly on reddit (through the frontpage) and I've been reading reddit (not non-stop mind, you) for months now and it took me this long to find out about this. Well, there are other avenues where your gaming buddies might be that might not have heard about this kickstarter and the best way to get those pledge numbers up (and get that really sweet 2nd big big city) would be to do it the old-fashioned way: even more word of mouth. We've only got 4 days left and we need to maximize the number of people, like me, who haven't heard about this, but are absolutely willing to pay for such a game. Go out to your online forums, email your PnP buddies, facebook, 9gag, reddit, MySpace, whatever. If you want it, you can definitely do something about it. Spread the word and the money will come. Are you sure that everyone of your friends knows about this kickstarter?

Baldur's gate I and II. Fallout 1 and 2. Arcanum. Those games are games that defined my childhood and introduced me to RPGs and DnDs in the first place. I played my first DnD game after playing Baldur's Gate 2 for the third time (almost 5 years after the 2nd time). I told myself, "If these guys were involved in making those games, I am willing to pay money for a cRPG that they come out with." I haven't bought a game in over 5 years and PE is going to make me break that record - all because it's from the same guys who made BG2/Fallout and Arcanum. What I loved about BG was that it was immersive and HUGE. What I loved about Fallout and Arcanum was the idea that RPGs could be situated outside the played-out (at the time) medieval-type setting.

I really would enjoy some different instuments being used in this game, especially some used in different cultures with interesting tones. One would be the , the sitar, the . The TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender really did a great job with using the Neynava and adjusting it digitally to make a very interesting new sound and named the instrument the " ," an instrument that does not exist in the real world but just sounds so perfect. I am not mentioning the more common instruments just becaue I know that they will be found in the game (lute, flute, horn, trumpet, etc) but I am really hoping that the devs consider music instruments worldwide and allow them to influence their creativity whe it comes to locations and themes that can be found in PE. I think that music can really bring depth to any game: it's one of the reasons that games can become so immersive. I think it would be a big mistake to skimp on music for "more" content. Sometimes the right tone and atmosphere can be better described without pictures or words and with the right song. Just imagine your own favorite songs and the wonderful imagery it evokes in your mind whenever you hear it.