UncleBourbon

I'll be frank, I want something like the illithid. Dwellers of the deep, dark parts of the world with great magical abilities. But I think something to set apart would be that they're not so much dark manipulators and brain-noodlers, but more just a few holdovers of a forgotten time, looking upon the future generations with both fond recollections of their time in dominance and fear for the young race's seeming strive for self-destruction. More or less illithids meet Kosh of Babylon 5. Clearly, though, this would be a stupid advantage for PCs. So maybe this race is simply people who were contacted frequently by this other race, and thus have certain magical advantages. The metaphor for this would be the genestealer/human hybrids of Warhammer 40k - for all intents and purposes, human, but with just a bit of bred-in influence from another, greater race.

Good looking out! I had thought I missed this opportunity.

Glad to hear it. The simply answer though, is where is slavery legal, and by the Paladin's code is it alright for slavery to persist. Especially if the slaves are being mistreated or abused beyond being indentured servants. But yeah, this is the sort of moral dilemma that can draw out what was meant to be a thirty minute encounter into a two session in-party debate I had a similair thing happen when a party I was with was debating capturing and dissecting/studying a troll (as they were at war with our home kingdom), and the ethics of it. Is it more ethical to stun a relatively non-sentient troll, and keep it alive but flayed for study, than a more intelligent one? Is it okay if you keep it numbed up? Does the common rock troll have the capacity to be mentally traumatized? If the total intelligence score of creatures saved as a result of this live autopsy would exceed a thousand times the intelligence score of the aforementioned rock troll, does that make it acceptable?

I imagine uncondoned mind control or magical compulsion would be relatively unique to the setting. Death varies by means of ressurection, as low fantasy settings might make it VERY hard to bring someone back, even in a weakened state. As far as I know, 3.5/pathfinder incorporate a sort of dual slider; different levels of physical destruction require different and more potent methods of ressurection. For instance, an arrow to the head and death might mean raise dead can bring you back, but if all you have is a hand or finger, you need ressurection or greater ressurection, though the latter works with even ashes, iirc. Of course, things like disintegrate or maze or somesuch makes it much harder. The thing is, the punishment should fit the crime in the setting, but in a medeival setting, it means a weight added to crimes committed against higher caste individuals, most likely. Destruction of remains reservered for ressurection would probably be rather unique, at least until we can clone people from a few well preserved cells. I know Kelemvor in Fearun thought the defilement of one's death via necromancy or corporeal defilement was worse than murder. Maybe something like it will be in project eternity. After all, one god seems to have condoned the bombing of another god's followers, a mass murder incident (though this could just be radicalism). I think it is certainly an aspect I look forward to learning about this new world. On another note: I imagine any method of containing a soul and preventing it from moving on would be seen as at least as much a crime as murder. I know the soul hunter in babylon 5 was treated as such.

I do think most townsfolk would flee, but I just want that sort of option to resort to violence if my character would reasonably do it. And I do think there should be logical, reasonable consequences. As to what Falkon is saying: from the setting, there has been a large bomb detonated, over a religious dispute. But yeah, I might a Paladin of Crom might do that, or maybe a cipher goes through a town and is attacked by strange acting townsfolk, but his cipher mind powers enable him to know they're being compelled to attack him by some force. This would give him the option - or perhaps the option would be there anyway - to incapacitate the townsfolk and seek out the cause. I dunno, I want violence and subdual to be incorporated as ways to roleplay, but I understand they may be hard to implement. Also: I imagine any Paladin order of Crom would use this as their primary hymn, and be feared and renown throughout the known world.

Yes. A dozen times yes.

I remember deciding to dredge through the original NWN2 campaign the week or so before MotB came out. The terrible thing wasn't just running over the release date - oh no. It was that I got to the end boss fight for NWN2, and it bugged out. It wouldn't trigger the dialogue and scene to initiate the final combat. Made me quite mad. Then I played MotB, and wished I had spent the week previous doing something else entirely.

Sounds deligtfully perilous! I was thinking of how it would be neat to have the "reality-ness" of the dungeon become more and more threadbare as the party ventures deeper, but in the context of project eternity. A DM could make it really personal for the party though on a whole different level.

You are female, right? Because that statue is of a male creature... What does his/her gender have to do with foot fetishism? Because I have it too, but I'm surely not looking forward to see the statue's feet Though it was mostly a ploy to discover if JayDGee is a guy or a girl. Of course, JayDGee might have been using the non-erotic definition of fetish. Maybe the giant, underground statue is their character's deity. Heck, maybe that is what happened to Eothas. Or maybe the whole construction was an attempt to create some dark god using the souls of thousands of unsuspecting workers.

Ah, well that's pretty easy stuff, can't imagine why this would be a concern from Obsidian. I too, think it won't be as much of an issue for the developers, Sigillite. That said, the balance of broad content versus PC specific dialogue is a careful balance. Simple things like titles is one thing, but in building the dialogue it would, as far as I know, mean basically including two lines, one for each gender, and then perhaps more for certain races or origins.

This might not fall into the initial purview of this topic, but what are people's thoughts on the true mortality of non-hostile NPCs? I know there was a post floating around, about the ability of plot NPCs and all, but I mean, does anyone else think a homocidal NPC - or perhaps a diehard roleplayer who finds some crime against their god/race - can basically kill off a town? I could easily see a small town that employs slave labor in their local mine ticking off my paladin enough to have him first try to convince everyone to start paying them wages or something, and then if they're being mistreated or something going conan on the townspeople (clearly a paladin of crom). I don't think it should be by any means easy, but theorhetically possible, with great costs.

It came across to me like NWN2's campaign did. It had some improvements over NWN, it had some nice looks, it had some voice acting issues. I miss some of the more classic sort of things (the dumbing down of character building and skills) as well as the Agoraphobia filled design of the game. The complete backseatedness of DA:O choices bummed me a bit, too. That said, if DA2, or I suppose DA3 were to it what MotB and SoZ were to NWN2, I might have some confidence - not that Dragon Age games will become conventional, classic RPGs, but that they're still worth some money.

I think there is plenty of evidence to suggest EA has nowhere near enough humanity to end it quickly.

One mechanic I would like to see is a genie with the option to ask to be whisked deeper into the dungeon, with the caveat that you appear in the middle of a congregation of all the mobs from all the floors you skip. Or maybe to wish all the treasure from the bottom floor to you, only to find it is out of phase with your reality.

Considering that he already ended up having to do 2 more levels (3 maybe? I forget) while in the middle of the countdown party and already under the effect of said vodka, that's totally understandable. Maybe I shouldn't have had that extra bottle sent to the offices... I can only hope, as a matter of form, that the last two or three levels are designed while under the influence. Maybe actually implemented while hungover.

The Tarrasque, despite being a dragon mentioned in the story about Saint Martha in France, is a monster I think of as very D&D. And as this is not D&D, I am not sure if I agree. I do agree to having an incredibly powerful monster that is optional to kill, but give great rewards if you do, though. I think this is the more desirable situation. Kind of like the liches in Baldur's Gate, or the dragons in Dragon Age: Origins. I would like some story signifigance, even if it is just some after scene talking about unfortunate adventures dying while trying to best the legendary foe for generations, or instead that the success in besting the creature only added to the fame and made many think the hero was only a fairy tale. Also: Anyone thinking demi-fiend in Digital Devil Tuner saga?

I indeed hope for something like this. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed Dragon Age 2 to some small extent, and it wasn't so much the things mentioned that took away from the experience for me as much as the lousy writing did. Well, that, and the abandoned DLC/expansion, and... Anyway, I think the direction DA2/3 and many cRPGs are heading is akin to Japan's visual novels, where there are multiple routes, but largely it is a point and click adventure expanded to have some combat minigames. Good for a playthrough, maybe, and if you're lucky, two. I have high hopes for project eternity, wasteland 2, and a couple of other soon to come cRPGs, but I think I'll also enjoy some of the others, just in a different fashion.

I agree that the world should react to female player characters, but I think many developers shy away from having a major difference in gender reaction, for fear of being considered sexist or somesuch. Examples would be the bisexual nature of just about all companions in recent cRPGs, meaning the player's gender doesn't affect relations with them. The chance to become queen in Dragon Age Origins was a touch, and Sten's dialogue was a nice touch. But I think developers need to create a stance on charname's [class/race/gender here] internally, implement subtley in the game (with some noticable events, but hopefully not too cliche) and then have them react to you like that.

Well, depending on the extent to which mythical materials are implemented, they could add things like mithral or ironwood, lighted yet still sturdy counterparts to the typical iron or steel or what have you. I could see weapons having some endurance cost parameter, which a better material might modify it to either lessen the endurance cost, or increase it and the damage done.

The breasts are there, blacksmiths are just not pounding metal into special breastplates to show them off. That said, I mentioned monks earlier - the general concept in tabletops is that monks employ martial arts techniques, or something akin to it, to avoid or deflect blows rather than absorb them. That, and extreme fitness. Sometimes settings also employ a certain amount of ki/chi or energy techniques, or divine/infernal intervention. I usually have a monk go around wearing robes of some sort, but the issue is what kind of martial arts are being used? Many schools discourage lengthy hair, hanging apparel or long/loose sleeves because they can be grabbed and you can be thrown, or pinned, or simply injured. That said, the typical bare-chested monk flexing those super-pecs-and-abs has been around since the very early renditions of monks in Dungeons and Dragons, iirc. Yes, it is in a way sexist and such, but I don't know anyone who is uncomfortable in seeing them, or feel it objectifies the monk. After all, those are muscles well toned from years of discipline and work, not slabs of fat they were lucky enough to be born with the genetics for. Granted the monk is probably pretty well off in genetics, but still. As for consistancy, there is an issue here. I don't think all monks would be super muscled men dodging around blades and bullets and punching things to death. I liked the orders system in most pen and paper codices, where some monks specialise in one thing, like improvised weapons. That is kind of hard to implement, I imagine. But basically the revealed monk character is clearly muscular, and I imagine the eye tatoo along his torso has some deeper meaning. But sure, I'm not against a revision with his portrait being remade to him standing quietly with a robe or somehing. Then again, we are simply assuming he is a monk - he might be a barbarian of some sort. In which case I don't mind seeing him wearing some padded armor, or maybe a chain shirt. Realistically, monks - at least, senior monks - should have some prodigous abilities akin to seasoned warriors, as they've spent years training and meditating, sharpening their skills and minds.

I'm a fan of jRPGs myself, but I can see how it would be frustrating. Maybe a character or two will be recruitable despite normal circumstances for some reason or another on the second play through - just to spice things up. I could only really see this being logically implemented for prognostic or "seer" type characters, with some sort of vision convincing them that maybe they should travel with you, despite maybe having a reputation of being too good/evil for their liking.

Honestly, I think there are plenty of things that tend to give varying experience rewards in games, and which could be handled perhaps better - or at least more realistically - by awarding bonuses or stat modifiers (likely conditional and potentially temporary) to a character. Granted, this poll is a bit trolly, but if it were serious, I don't think you should be motivated to talk to anyone your character him/herself would not do if they were autnomous. That is what role-playing is about. My first character, if possible, will probably be a recluse of some sort, who won't approach anyone for discourse unless spoken to, at least at first. It will likely be an interesting course of events.

Of course, as mentioned already, there was a divergence of parade pieces - from fancy, less effective armor, to decorative spears made of more impressive, but more malliable metals. Additionally, the mechanics of momentum for two-handed weapons is something that I always thought lended credability to the cleave mechanic. The slight delay in wind up means the target, if they're nimble and such, have a smidgen better chance of dodging/readying, but the idea of slashing through two or three kobolds at a time, or the ever comical (and probably purely fictional) tornado spin attack was a nice variation from the single-handed weapon and shield or somesuch. From what I can tell, however, is that such wild swinging was more of a liability to friends than a threat to foes. Given the engine, I thankfully think project eternity will lack the stylised executions and overkills of some more recent cRPGs. I do think there should be some special-case, weapon appropriate kill animations, however.

It seemed it, but it was all secret weaponcraft checks, as it turns out, and half the party ended up using splintered bits of wood because they destroyed their weapons. But yeah, weapon designs had to be flexible and situational because there weren't conventional, common firearms that simply outdid whatever they were put up against. As to appearances and such, Lionheart is again one I would say presented a pretty good basis (to my knowledge). The game itself never really sold well, iirc. It was another Black Isle/Interplay game, set during the crusades, with a general plot of the arabian warriors and the crusading forces charging at one another, but before they could clash the gathering of energies tore open a portal to the ether/underworld, and unnatural, magical creatures (jin mostly) poured out. This convinced king Lionheart and the arabian forces to put aside their differences and quell the invaders. http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/PC/lionheart/screens.html Plot aside, the design was essentially meant to be as true to the timing of the third crusade as possible, and a mix of european and arabian designs. I recall a sprite much like the yellow suited man in the game, but I can't find a screenshot of it.

I always liked the illithed rising threat, or maybe the godchildren of Eothas appearing and decidings to incite a holy war.