Diogo Ribeiro

Oh, yes. It's Goucha's program

They are doing a show about the subject on the 16th of December (broadcast by TVI) and I guess they decided to look for videogame sites to talk with actual gamers. I was writing for a videogame website, and my email was there. Other people on the same site pointed out they received that email as well, and I suspect other sites must have been contacted too. That's pretty much the only explanation I can find, really.

Ok, today I've stared at my laptop screen, not knowing what I should do. Because I've received an email from a journalist. Asking me if I was available to talk about videogame dependency. On television. WHAT. THE. DEALIO.

I just noticed. That first Hulk image makes him look like that Batista wrestler guy.

Neither. It's doughnut. Not sure if Pidesco spotted this one but in Portugal, a chain of supermarket stores called them "Dawnuts", at least for a period of time.

the "young" snake was the protagonist in Metal Gears 1 & 2 and Solid 1 in Metal Gear solid 2 Raiden was the protagonist, then they went back in time 30-40 years to the 70's and did a game about Big Boss (who's the spitting image of Snake) the story is convoluted to say the least Also, if you ever feel like playing the really old ones - for curiosity on how the gameplay evolved or the story and characters were - avoid the NES games like the plague and go for the MSX versions. While the NES Metal Gear is fairly spot on in comparison to the MSX title, the second was an atrocious action shooter that had nothing to do with the series. And with a villain called Higharolla ****amamy, you can guess why.

Uh, no. I only used the Role-Player nick over there. But it really does get to me, for some reason.

Wonder if my post on the Fallout 3 thread prompted this? Like I said, I had seen it used many times before, but to the best of my ability always used dialogue since that was the spelling I learned as being correct in my younger days. I propose senate hearing to ferret out the culprits. If it works, then we can move on to other areas of concern, such as "rogue" and "rouge" (a pet peeve of mine).

Just call it Vodkaspeak.

Portugal's true name is "Booty Call". Fact.

Your face is a nerd. In seriousness, today I didn't go to work; had to take care of some health issues at the hospital for a family member. I found public transportation is great for two things - appreciating that mankind has put effort into inventing deodorant, and thinking about elements for the adventure. Since I've began work on this, I've been thinking about giving plenty of opportunities for all classes and prestige classes to shine. Problem is, would people expect this to be applied to the community's own PRCs? There are many, and considering venues for each and every one would be taxing for a one man train wreck in progress. On the other hand, by sticking to the base classes and PRCs, it would allow me to develop a lot more options.

I've also seen it spelled without the "u" and "e".

Thanks a bunch, Sawyer The Nelanther Isles seem like a perfect fit for what I had in mind, and the pirates serve as one of the plot hooks to reach the island. I'm still not sure of a proper timeline, though. With that in mind, I think I can talk about this a bit more in order to discuss and refine some of the ideas behind the project. This adventure is actually two projects in one; two NWN modules that didn't see the light of day. One was mine, which I talked about in the past and was being spearheaded by me and Volourn. The other was a project Monte Carlo had, where I was also briefly part of the team. Suffice to say, neither really took off for some reason or another. I guess the main pitfall was one of the reasons espoused by Sawyer in an article he wrote about module development - ambition without the means to see through it. Now that the above left me feeling like a one man Troika, I think it's safe to say I'm looking at this in a different way now. It's still an ambitious adventure, but while some of my past ideas are still present, the scale is definitely on par with what MC envisioned. Rather than an almost new setting, I'm trying to put most of the Forgotten Realms' lore to use. It's also set on a large dungeon, with an equal measure of combat and role-playing; in particular, I am looking into exploring party dialogue mechanics like those seen in Icewind Dale 2 and introduce events and consequences tailored to a players' choice. One area in particular is meant to be generated based on the PC's class, making it a different kind of challenge for different players (although I still need to learn how to have NWN recognize what class to opt for when a character is multiclassed). That's also my choice of platform, for better or worse - I know NWN2 is the superior engine but at this point in time I have absolutely no way of making modules for, let alone play, NWN2. And the original NWN seems to have a bit more player support for it as well, like the CEP. The reason I'm talking about this at the Pen and Paper Gaming forum is that I intend to release as many notes as I can about the module on release, possibly resulting in enough documentation for DMs to use in game sessions. Since this is becoming too long already, the basic outline of the adventure is this. In the past, four arcanists arrived on the Nelanther Isles (thanks again, Sawyer ), negotiating with the ruling pirate lords and constructing a tower in a nearby isle, the Black Isle. The tower served their needs for reclusion and study, and nearby trade with the pirates allowed them enough supplies and research materials to stay there. The high, jagged cliffs also offered some degree of protection against other means of intrusion as well. Over the years, however, they became more and more secluded, to the point of cutting off all deals with the pirate lords and never venturing off the tower again. The pirate lords saw their self-imposed exile as a possible threat and decided to investigate but all their efforts were thwarted, either by the impenetrable walls of the obsidian tower or the magical traps and wards in place. Eventually they gave up, in part because of repeated failures, and also because the various races that compose the bulk of the pirate forces in Nelanther were too busy among their own faction wars and raiding nearby shipping lines. One day things became worse. A large, thunderous sound was heard coming from the Black Isle and suddenly, magical energies started flowing uncontrollably from inside of it. Various weather phenomena began manifesting, from raging currents to gale force winds. Several pirate lords saw their valuable raids utterly lost as several ships were pulled towards the island's gravitational forces, crashing into its cliffs. When these effects subsided, came the worse - the island became the afforementioned magnet of magical energies. Not only did it began interfering with common trade routes and the pirate lords' raids, but also with almost everything around it. Anyone casting the smallest of cantrips found themselves teleported to the island's grounds, with very slim chances of escape. The weather and magical phenomena destroyed some of the magical defenses in place, allowing the pirate lords to send in men to scout the area, but almost none returned. Those that did return spoke of destruction and madness, but also of riches untold. Whether they had been manipulated by the wizards into giving these informations is unknown, but the pirate lords do know that something happened inside the tower. And they want to know if they need to fight against it or if they can profit from it. This is where the PCs come into play, as rumors of the tower spread quickly along the trade routes of the Trackless Sea. The starting point could be either Nemesser or Irphong, although I think there’s some kind of curse in the latter regarding pirate ships. Players would arrive on a ship and perhaps investigate a local tavern in search of information about the island, along with possible means of transportation to reach it (although I am thinking of exploiting that magical magnet to teleport the PCs there). Level layouts for the island and tower are a bit nebulous at the moment, not because I haven’t planned them, but because they’re undergoing revision in regards to enemy placement and combat, since I want it to be a bit more challenging than vanilla NWN (again, looking to IWD2 for inspiration). The tower eventually leads into a central area connected to a large set of caves and passages, the latter having been used by pirates in the past. Several areas within the tower and the island are derelict and destroyed, with certain floors collapsing into the ones below; while others are rich in encounters and traps – from resilient golems and undead, to portals that take you places you wish didn’t exist. And each mage is meant to have its own “token” area. Whether they are still in the premises is a mystery, though. I’m trying to set up some of these encounters with other factions in the Realms in mind. Since the Black Isle started to draw attention, certain groups and organizations have tried to investigate the place, which means it’s possible you come upon a handful of Thayans looking to take advantage of the situation or a paladin order of sorts that could feel the stench of undead miles away. Anyway, I feel like I wrote too much and said nothing of worth.

But even with the absence of death - and the inclusion of a chance to retry at almost zero cost, such as the time necessary to jump back into the fray - you're still left with goals to overcome, which may be intensive or not within the framework of the game. If you're close to saving someone from being killed but die yourself in the process, for example, that's still demanding of players. Also, you *can* die in certain areas of Torment. Of course, these are very few and operate more as alternative endings to TNO's path ( ).

Same here. But then I started thinking "man, the shipping costs aren't worth it". So I just put them under the tree, and on Christmas Day, I'll just look at them with surprise. As if the gifts I bought weren't all for me in the first place.

Yeah, just like Fallout 3 should never have been made either. You just never learn anything, huh? Should have Quantum of Solace been made?

Sometimes, I wish I was nerdier.

Thanks. Mine is pretty much like yours, except it's a Core Duo at 1,83 GHz and a Mobile Intel 945 Chipset graphics card. The card seems to be the real offender on my side, though; sometimes the first NWN chugs, and that's with stuff like Grass disabled.

Out of curiosity, what are your laptop's specs? I'm also without a proper gaming PC at the moment, and avoided NWN2 because my laptop would probably cry itself to sleep if I tried it.

Your face is a bug.

(With sincerest apologies to Monte Carlo if he sees where this is going) Not exactly sure this should go here but since it concerns D&D 3.5, it's perhaps better suited. If not, I'd appreciate if a moderator pointed me in the right direction. So, there's this guy who thinks big and does mediocre. Short story, I'm planning a bit of the ol' adventure creation routine but need a bit of D&D lore. While I could do without specific places and certain concepts, I was aiming for some measure of adherence to the realms themselves and something that's possible within the scope of the rules. The adventure is meant to take place on a remote island that acts as a magical magnet of sorts; anyone using the slightest spell within a certain radius is instantly teleported to the island without any means of escape; teleportation spells would just fizzle or place PC within the island's confines. Among its jagged cliffs stands an obsidian tower, which the PCs need to explore if they hope to find the means to leave the place. Now, what I'm looking for exactly are some FR places where such an island could be located; I could say it's a hundred miles off the Sword Coast or somesuch, but I was looking for places where an island with this kind of magical properties wouldn't be too out of place. Plus, I was wondering if there is something more convincing than "magical magnet", both to explain the peculiarities of the island in regards to magic as well as to come up with reasonable explanations on how such an effect could be bypassed or completely dispelled. Could a device affect the tower? Could a series of incantations do it? If the means to deactivate it are too complex for non-spellcasters, what could be a good alternative - runes for mechanical devices, maybe? Note that I'm not asking for story hooks that explain the island or the tower, its possible inhabitants or even how the players get there - just for some good, old fashioned D&D "rules lawyerism" that explains something like this.

I think Daggerfall had more bugs than all the Gothic games put together. Did any of them had more than NWN on release, though?

Had my hopes of buying a new PC dashed because of other financial priorities. Had to watch two of my family members come down with a nervous breakdown. Had my registration over at Mistress' Lair rejected for some reason. Had my Hordes of the Underdark save corrupted, for no apparent reason. My laptop's battery died on me, taking with it a 20 page design document for a NWN module. Had an argument with the girlfriend. Some days, it's just not worth it.

Yeah, Amelissan remained as a spirit in the Forge and through sheer willpower absorbed all of the Bhaalspawn essence becoming the new God of Murder. But know she wants to create an empire and this is where you come in. Welcome to Baldur's Gate 3: Civilizations!