specialagent

I am going to do what I do every time I play through an RPG for the first time: Roll up a paladin and play as Don Quixote.

And the toolset and the multiplayer features are pretty much what made them fans. Perhaps they see it as the greatest because it allowed for the creation of persistent worlds to play in. I don't see why you imply that it wasn't a decent game - everybody already knows the OC was a repetitive slog. Besides, it isn't like NWN is the only game they play. To be on topic (and since I totally took the flamebait), and to take a cue from Caranthir above me, I think the only way for this project to fail - outside of not being able to deliver a game at all, which would make my wallet grieve over the loss, at least until the next paycheck came in - would be if the team churns out the next Dragon Age 2.

This. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would spend some time in the john to read the instruction manual after buying a game.

I know of a couple groups personally who game through Skype - the story being that they used to game together a lot in high school but what with the winds of change that growing up brings they've had to scatter across the country. They've been able to keep up their group with the help of the internet. It's certainly a lot faster than play-by-post forums, which tend to die. Not to say that actual face-to-face games don't die with the same frequency.

If they named it Icewindscape: Gate of Baldur's Torment Shadowrun Was Also a Pretty Good Game For The SNES, I'd have to buy another copy just on principle.

I was introduced to the hobby with D&D 3.5e (which I wasn't a big fan of for reasons that are not relevant to this discussion), and stayed in the hobby because I fell in love with 4e. I'm a little sad about all the misconceptions surrounding the game. But again, not relevant. Thanks to games like IWD and BG, I've been introduced to earlier iterations of the rules and after some reading around I've found that there is just something so charming about the Original D&D ruleset. The problem of course, is finding players who would like to give it a go. I've even tried to push for an updated retroclone (found here: http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/), but no luck as of yet.

I'd also like to throw in a recommendation for Roll20.net - there is a subscription option, but it is free to use for everybody and is a great way to run campaigns online.

And as your reputation increases with any given faction, their in-game respect for you increases. I know that this was a criticism aimed at Skyrim, where your accomplishments weren't exactly recognized by the general populace. Something else that could be limited could be exactly how many factions you could fully rise the ranks in. Would it be possible to be the head honcho of both the (generic example) Fighter's Guild and the (generic example) Assassin's Guild if the two sides hate each others' guts?

I think my main problem is that I come up with too many games and I don't have the time nor the players to run them all. I have nWoD books and a Mouse Guard book sitting on my bookshelf that haven't known the touch of a player's hands. And I'm looking at getting a Monsters and Other Childish Things book for myself this Christmas.

Well, I'm a little late to the party, but they were well-funded anyway. I listened to an actual play podcast by the folks over on Role Playing Public Radio and it seemed like a pretty grim, fun game. I felt like I was listening to a D&D Call of Cthulhu conversion.

I know this might garner me some hate but after all this is a cRPG - we need to use the fact that this is different from a pen and paper game and use what is available to us. On the subject of buffs, I think that Guild Wars had a pretty neat system when it came to them. Assuming that we are using mana pools, then each buff could slowly deplete the mana pool over the period of time that a buff is sustained. More buffs means that the mana pool depletes that much faster. Since that was an example of a magic mechanic that didn't annoy me, I guess I should post something more on-topic. I didn't see the point of using the Vancian system if it was an easy matter of resting 8 hours right after the fight. Don't get me wrong, I like the Vancian system, but if it is implemented, it shouldn't be trivialized by another mechanic.