Thangorodrim

I think reaction should best be a function of several things Charisma (or equivalent) - a character attribute that indicates personality and outgoingness (the natural born politicians at the high levels) Alignment - if you are good then you would be less inclined to interact with an evil person and vice versa Reputation - as the game progresses news of your actions would spread and people might actually be aware of you (this could help or hurt you depending on which side the person identifies with) Appearance - good clothes or armor might bump your charisma up a bit Companions - you might have people in your party that make NPCs like or dislike you due to their own preferences or prejudices That would work better than just using appearance, in my opinion. You might also have options like intimidate or flatter that could help or hurt your interaction when it starts.

I definitely enjoy good narration for the key sequences ... if you do get a good professional narrator for the audio book you might be able to use him or her for the game narrations also ... might save a little that way I would love to see a nice intro to the Mega dungeon with a good narration giving us some history on this ambitious and dangerous attempt at the depths we are about to pursue

I think that computer games are just a different media to convey the classic hero quest. In centuries past it was the oral storyteller, which then transitioned to the written word, which has now expanded to include the visual media (movies, TV, games, etc). Although there are degrees, the Hero Quest does tend to follow a standard pattern: 1. Call to Action/Adventure - all stories have a beginning. Whether you are Beowulf, Hercules, or some generic bystander you must start in the normal everyday world and then some event or intervention thrusts you into the strange and mystical world of the adventure. Whether it is divine intervention or pure chance doesn't matter; it is only the choice of whether to join the adventure that is important. 2. Trials/Adventure - if you accept the call in step 1 then your trials and adventure begins. This could be just the standard activities of day to day living or the epic hero quest of computer game and literary fame. The key to this stage is growth. The protagonist is growing and developing as the story/trial progresses. 3. Ultimate Challenge - In some adventures (as in life) you are presented with some ultimate challenge (Beowulf vs the Wyrm, Prometheus stealing fire, the Buddha facing the three trials before enlightenment, etc). Although not every story has the same level of ultimate challenge, this is typically the denouement of the story where all the roads converge and you leave the crossroads truly changed (for positive or negative) or you die or you run away (fearing to face the challenge) 4. The reward - if you succeed in the challenge you receive a reward (Godhood in BG2, Enlightenment for the Buddha, etc). This reward is usually life changing and gives the hero great authority or standing with their peers (winning the game ). 5. The return or apotheosis - once you have received your reward you can either return to your fellows and share the reward or you can take the money and run (Apotheosis) ... although the epic hero quest uses this final step it isn't generally used for games (although the different final endings for BG2 definitely give you this choice, even if there is no gameplay subsequent to the choice; to a certain extent the original ending for Fallout 3 kind of met this requirement as well) I see nothing wrong with using the tried and true hero quest model. How you enter the quest and progress is strictly an artistic device. I look forward to see how PE handles the epic hero quest for our character

One of my favorite Quests in an RPG was Shadow over Hackdirt in Oblivion ... it was a decent quest and had the nice homage to HP Lovecraft ... the only thing is I would have loved to have slain a Shoggoth or something but the quest was great even without that

Ron Perlman has done some audio books but I am not sure how pricey he would be ... there are some excellent readers besides the actors although there are also many actors who do book readings (Will Patton has a good voice for reading) ... given that I would prefer them to keep most of the budget on the game I think they can find some of the new readers who might be more affordable (which is why I proposed Alessandro Juliani since he doesn't have too many books yet) ... if there is an actor who is a big fan and has experience with audio books I would be all for that ... after thinking about it more and seeing the suggestions I would also support a cast recording using the folks who do voicing for the game ... either way I look forward to listening to the PE audio book on the treadmill or my bike ride to work

Unless the author is capable of doing extended readings I think they should stick with the pro or use their internal voice folks and do a cast recording ... since only your hardcore fans usually go in for game tie-in audio books it never hurts to stick with the atmosphere of the game. Some of the good game audiobooks I have heard recently were: Bioshock: Rapture - decent narrator and the backstory provided enhances the game play ... it actually had me going back to Bioshock for a second go at it Diablo: The Order - again a good narrator with good voice range and able to replicate the immortal voice of Deckard Cain Some good standard audiobooks: Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy - they released them for the anniversary of the novels and they used music and sound effects from the movies for good immersion. The excellent narrator was able to handle a wide range of voices. An approach like this for PE novel would work since they could use some sound effects and music from the game and select game voices to achieve good tie in with the game Dune - a full cast recording of the Dune novel gives good immersion and takes the pressure off a single reader to do too many voices. Also, makes female voices easier since they can be voiced by women. Chronicles of Amber - I have only listened to the first 5 books from the original chronicles but they are definitely higher quality and more immersive than the author read ones that were done years ago. The other five books have a different narrator (Wil Wheaton of Star Trek NG notoriety) but I haven't started into that series yet. Good luck with your choices. I am looking forward to the game and the audio book. :D

Not sure who you had in mind and who would be in your price range for the professional audio book reader in the stretch goals, but you might look into Alessandro Juliani ... he was the reader for the new recordings of the Chronicles of Amber that were released on Audible ... he did an excellent job with the various voices and gave the characterizations very good variety ... you might also consider using your in-house voice people from the game and doing a full cast recording for the audio book ... those are very nice and it would provide a nice alternative to supplement the professional reader or replace him/her if they are too expensive

I would settle for an intro cut scene as well ... I just like extra quests ... Baldur's gate was fun because your origin actually was the main quest ... But with most games it's incidental ... Oblivion you are just some dude in a prison cell ... Dungeon siege you are just a random villager who gets attacked by goblins ... Although diablo 3 has many flaws they actually did provide some context on why you went to new Tristram to start your quest ... I would settle for either the quest or cutscenes

One thing that has often been lacking in RPGs is some explanation of how your character ended up in the starting position ... Baldur's Gate did a good job with this but there wasn't much variation by race ... it might be interesting to have a short intro quest for each race that also works as a tutorial (even though most of the supporters are experienced RPG gamers there might be other purchasers who are not). It wouldn't need to run more than 5 or 10 minutes and could give you a relatively safe zone to practice the skills of your race and class (maybe some rats or beetles or something to fight) ... after you run through your short introductory quest (that also explains why your character left their village or zone to adventure) you could start everyone at the main quest starting location. Unless you plan an epic storyline specifically tied to the player (along the lines of BG) this could make a good introduction to your character and the game. Looking forward to this game and glad to be a supporter.