Gromnir

look, you seem confused at to what is in which documents, and the relevance of such info you does know. declaration were written by jefferson and signed by a bunch of angry colonists... were not a democratically elected body that authored or signed. you wanna use simply as indicative of Foundy Fathers pov? fine, but so far you took 2 shots at "we the people..." and you missed both times. first mistake were maybe understandable... but the second, the one in which you post the linky, now that is funny. you post link w/o even realizing that your quoted material ain't even in the document in question. maybe you should review which, witch is which... get the material straight in your noggin first. HA! Good Fun!

"we the people" not appear in declaration... that is preamble to the Constitution. the declaration not have a preamble, but regardless, we the people is Constitution. if you is gonna quote, then quote right. HA! Good Fun!

however, is not the declaration that goes "we the people..." you is still on wrong page. HA! Good Fun!

well, at least you caught your Bill of Rights mistake... one step in the right direction. HA! Good Fun!

"The conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution. " THAT is the preamble to the Bill of Rights. you ain't even on the right page for chrissakes. and again, so what? so what if blacks and women were excluded from the political process back in 1791, 1787 or even 1776? is a terrible thing that blacks and women took so long to get proper recognition... but so what? what point you got that is relevant? HA! Good Fun!

"There was no inalienable right unless you were part of the elite when the consititution was written. " ... so what? *shrug* at the time the Constituion were first penned, slavery were an accepted part of American culture. argue that it were unjust or inhumane if you wish, but notions o' personal liberty has been 'round probably almost as long as has slavery. notions o' personal liberty and the practice ho' slavery has both been 'round FAR longer than has the US Constitution. regardless, when culture and notions 'bout slavery changed in this country, so did we change the Constituion to more accurately reflect the change in pov. is crappy reasoning at work in this thread. if you conclude that Founding Fathers were all hypocrites that does not in anyway invalidate the value o' their Constitution and the nation they sought to create. is the notion o' freedom o' speech nullified 'cause blacks and other minorities weren't given free speech rights way back in 1791? *snort* The Constitution, as interpreted by the US Supreme Court, requires that any law which seeks to categorize or discriminate based 'pon race or religious preference needs pass a Strict Scrutiny analysis... which for all intents and purposes means that the law will be struck down. maybe we dump that standard simply 'cause original Founding Fathers were, some of 'em, slave owners? nonsense. btw, the notions o' personal liberty and DEMOCRACY is also in conflict. but so what? HA! Good Fun!

Nothing wrong with relying on hundred year old values as long as they are good values. The US constitution ,howerver, among other things guarantees a slave owner one vote mandate per 1/3 slave he owns which makes all the other high browed talk of freedom and rights hypocritical in context. wrong. Constitution does not provide for slavery. the amended Constitution strictly prohibits slavery. Amendments is part of the Constitution. Bill o' Rights is all Amendments to Constitution, and each o' those Amendments can be altered by a subsequent Amendments. the Constitution ain't 300 years old even if we use original date o' authorship, but even if it was, the Constituion has built-in feature allowing for updating. slavery is no longer good for USA? fine, abolish slavery. women should deserve right to vote? ok, add that to Constitution. but why makes some laws part of the Constitution? after all, wouldn't it be grand if we coulds kill freedom of speech or religion with a simple majority o' Congress vote? you realize that we would now have a prohibition 'gainst flag burning if that were the case. all you folks who seems to thinks republicans is evil might wanna reflect on how many years in past 5 decades we has had republican controlled Congress. the Constitution makes it very difficult for Congress to mess with Fundamental & Specifically Enumerated Rights. the Constitution is a check on the whims o' fashion. Founding Fathers thought that speech and religion and jury trial and right to bare arms were important 'nuff that they amended the Constitution to add those fundamental rights to the Constitution. if times change and we needs a different set o' Laws, we can always Amend the Constituion. and next time you go get drunk, recall that you is able to do so 'cause the Constituion can be amended... heck, you kiddies who gets to vote at age 18 might also be thankful that in 1971 the Constituion were Amended. seems to be some confusion 'bout the workings o' the US govt. am glad we is here to clarify for folks like mk who obviously is more than a little ignorant o' the process. HA! Good Fun!

have a close friend (is a famous person and you would ooh and ahh if we name dropped) that insists that he works out almost daily. his workouts consist of the following: whenever the notion of excercising pops into his head, he rolls over on couch until the notion goes away. HA! Good Fun!

Fun fact: the forums have an auto censor which makes it so everytime you type "RPG Codex" in the message field, it will be automatically converted to "I really love Oblivion". I'm not kidding. that is pretty clever. is too bad that bethesda can't get such humor and cleverness into their games. HA! Good Fun!

suggestion for bethesda: during registration for fallout3/bethesda boards, potential applicants should be asked if they is frequent posters at rpg codex. those who answer in the affirmative should be transfered to a more appropriate venue. wouldn't do no good, but at least bethesda would be able to get in a first shot. HA! Good Fun!

vtu is an excellent school... for engineering. HA! Good Fun!

am not a fan of handguns. Gromnir not own a handgun. 'course, the honest reason why Gromnir not like or own handguns is 'cause we gots crummy aim with handguns. is inexplicable too as our accuracy with rifles is somewhat better than average. an educated populace is the bestest check on extreme abuses of govt... but a well-armed populace is gonna rank in top 10. USA is a revolutionary governmentt. so we maybe have some anachronisms lingering that not seem all that important today, but woulds be vital if things changed and govt. became less democratic. trial by jury is a check on govt. excess. you thinks your average jury is more fair than your average judge? HA!. not a chance. juries is peopled by the old, government employees, and people too dumb to get out o' jury duty. if you honestly want fair, then chances are you don't want a jury. 'course if a government is corrupt and the judges is simply a tool of the state, then being able to rely on jury trial of peers is an appealing alternative. what if tomorrow there were legislation passed in the USA requiring all southern baptists to report to internment camps? you thinks maybe a few o' those southerners might resist... forcibly? am still amazed that the japanese didn't put up a fight. Gromnir grew up at and near Pine Ridge. you thinks feds like to visit Pine Ridge, even today? our Grandfather once joked that God made wasichu so pale so that they woulds be easier to see and shoot at a distance. more than one bia policeman or fbi agent went into Pine Ridge and never came out again. personally, we gots no problem with an amendment that would prohibit or limit handguns, but second amendment is a revolutionary amendment. people who mistakenly assume that sole purpose of 2nd were to makes US government not to have to pay so much to arm soldiers is deluded. 2nd amendment assumes that an armed populace is as important a check on government tyranny as is freedom o' speech and jury trials, and while many may thinks that such a notion is misguided (you may be right too,) it not change fact that the Founding Fathers had a different pov. btw, crazy people and fanatics can always finds ways to kill large numbers o' peoples if they really wish to. the 9/11 guys used planes filled with jet fuel to kill thousands... not need guns. you wanna stop the impulse mass murderer by taking away an easy and obvious and deadly tool? ok, we understands the motivation, 'specialy in light o' tragedy, but if you want significant and serious gun control in this country, then you better use an amendment. HA! Good Fun!

"Anything can be implemented if they do take time for it" duh. the point were that psionics is no different than d&d magic insofar as complexity is concerned... might be more complex. so if time is The factor, and this is just an expansion... dunno. the problems seem more obvious than your optimism. as for mounts... stephen amber didn't make sound appealing. haste? big whup. personally, we want 'em to do well or not at all... which is another reason why we think that this is a feature not appropriate for an expansion. publishers and developers look at expansions as if they is free money. a smaller group o' folks than worked on original game contribute some relative less number o' hours to an expansion that will provide 1/2 or less hours o' gameplay as original and 'nuff groovy new features to entice people who were already fans o' the genesis game to buy the expansion. horses and psionics is big... man hour drains. is stuff that maybe mighta' been appropriate for nwn2, but for an expansion? where is the pay-off for obsidian and atari? after all, less people is gonna buy the expansion than bought nwn2. that is Always the case... less buy expansion. HA! Good Fun!

we got some short stories that is based on characters/stories from Grimm & Russian fairytales set in contemp settings. charles delint, neil gaiman and johnathan carroll's modern fairytales rely heavily on stuff that has been written by the Grimms. is rich fodder. however, as we got no interest in modding... HA! Good Fun!

"Not really, as a game its all about numbers and the implementing to a game," ok... what do you mean? josh complained 'bout how much effort went into the warlock, and they did a damned poor job on the warlock. was anybody really happy with the warlock implementation? psionics would be more troublesome to add than would adding warlock to nwn2... and this is a mere expansion. not only that, but what is chances that they coulds add a complete new magic system to an expansion that would seem profeshnul? is 'nuff stuff missing from base 3.5 that the devlopers could occupy selves with and still never have time to even consider psionics. am simply not seeing the cost v. benefit factor o' this... 'less they has been working on since they started nwn2 and simply couldn't complete for nwn2 release. "Wyvern crown basically gave a mounted rider "haste" speed, which in itself was sorta nice. And there were some nice aesthetics." ssssoooooo.... haste and it looked kewl? am understanding there were also a jousting min-game? *crickets chirp* am not getting all tingly with anticipation. if ferret were wasting resources on such stuff, then Gromnir is glad to see that he ain't running the show no more... and the obsinaties can simply wash their hands of the situation and claim that the departed weasel boy were making promises that obsidian couldn't keep. HA! Good Fun!

"I guess you didnt play Wyvern Crown of Cormyr" nope... and we doubt psionics classes would be added... 'cause you gotta complete add an entire new magic system to accomodate. far too much effort for an expansion. HA! Good Fun!

2 out of the bunch might be making game better for Gromnir: - Make a separate Mode Bar for bard commands (see xUI) - Make a separate Mode Bap for party commands (Follow, Attack Nearest...) 'course reason we wants #2 is 'cause o' the crappy nwn2 ai. is probably easier to give Gromnir a convenient/gamer friendly way to overcome ai than it is to improve ai. the other stuff is so minor (minor for Gromnir,) that we wouldn't gets no measurable increase in enjoyment from nwn2 if such were implemented. HA! Good Fun!

curiousness makes Gromnir ask the following: if horses were added to nwn2 so that they functions same as they does in oblivion, would you continue to desire their inclusion in a nwn2 game? horsie combat that genuine adds another level o' tactical sophistication to game is great, but personally we would rather not have 'em if they is gonna suck up resources just so that obsinaties developers can claim that they too added horses. HA! Good Fun!

Doubt that'll happen as it isn't as marketable. of course it ain't marketable, but as Gromnir won't make a dime off of nwn2 expansion sales, we has luxury to ask for and even demand what is gonna make game better rather than ask what will make more marketable. *shrug* most gamers, given half the chance, will build the bestest and baddest character they can... even if they is aware that by doing so they will makes game so easy that it ain't fun no more. gamers is kinda dumb, no? maybe the problem is that we thinks o' these things as games. you plays games to win, no? no. crpgs can be beat by any 11 year old with ADD. beat game should not be THE goal. the clown at wotc who cames up with prcs at 11th hour o' 3e development deserves some special place in gamer's hell. lawyer's gots this thing called an attractive nuisance. is used to overcome reasonable person standard for tort law. would a reasonable person know better than to play on construction equipment? sure. attractive nuisance is only useful in cases dealing with children and the retarded... 'causes those is the folks deemed to be so stoopid or weak-willed that they cannot rely on common sense. maybe add gamers to list? HA! Good Fun!

red wizards is munchkiny... and am not sure that obsidian has overcome all the prc issues regarding casters so as to make possible anyways. prcs is bad for game, but if you is gonna do 'em, then stick with the neverwinter nine types... campaign specific custom jobs. HA! Good Fun!

btw, if Gromnir were the kinda person who put stock in omens and portents, we would observe that news o' the nwn2 expansion reached us same day that nwn2 1.05 patch went down in burning ruins. HA! Good Fun!

does josh have to work on this? it not seem like the kinda chore he would choose... but maybe that is why they calls it a job. in any event, from the presser we cannot predict good or bad... is far too general... which is what we expect from such pressers. an expansion to a fr d&d game that got us to 20th level? sure, we were gonna have game set in the popular forgettable realms, and we were gonna get epic levels... those were givens. the rest is simple puffery. ... am hesitant to mention, but Gromnir kinda agrees with vis 'bout the suckage o' d&d epic levels. 'course Gromnir is one o' those gamer snobs that hates d&d past 'bout level 12 ( 'cause you might as well throw 'way your dice at that point,) so saying that we not like epic is kinda redundant, eh? #1 thing Gromnir wants from expansion just ain't gonna happen, and that is too bad. since nwn the cleric domains has been a complete joke. nwn domains don't work like d&d pnp domains, so developers can't use excuse that they is staying true to d&d to explain their horrible implementation o' domains. that being said, if you is gonna deviate from d&d, then you gots no excuse to be doing even worse than wotc did 'em. domains is still unbalanced and generally vomitous... but fixing 'em is not an efficient use of resourcesm is it? in any event, expansions typically see player having less tangential and optional side-questage than were in original product. makes sense from a development pov, but as nwn2 had almost 0 such fodder we suspect that developers will be hard-pressed to makes the expansion even more critical path focused. oh the sleepless nights trying to streamline what not got no excess to begin with. am not envying obsinaties. HA! Good Fun!

oh great, another reply/quote yutz. first of all rambo did indeed gets hit a couple o' times and kept on going... most adults groaned when this happened, but you is correct. how many times is you gonna get hit in a typical crpg? hundreds of times? thousands? your notions o' "exact reality" and the distance a crpg would fall from that point is... amusing. stalker, btw, is more a fps than anything else and it gots cheap magic to boot. where science becomes stoopid, it is no different than magic... and stalker gots that kinda crap. also, the stalker weapon progression ain't "realistic"... is more like fallout. ain't nothing wrong with fallout, but ain't realistic, is it? Gromnir can gets his hands on an ak-47 within days if he wishes, but you gotta start off with a relative crummy handgun... which shouldn't be as crummy as it is. btw, magic gots nothing to do with story being failled. is a quaint notion though. gabriel garcia marquez gots himself one of those nobel prizes for lit. toni morrison as well. both is considered to be writers of the magic realism sub-genre... which is simply fantasy for snobs. dickens and shakespeare used overt and subtle magic in their works... those hacks. heck, even nathaniel hawthorne wrote a fantasy book. updike has used magic a few times, but he only gots pulitzers, so is easy to dismiss him? am not sure how lewis carroll coulda' written alice in wonderland w/o magic... so am not seeing how it were an "easy out for a failed story." homer used magic, and so did the unknown authors of beowulf and sir gawain. you see different 'tween magic in myth and magic in other stories? serves same purpose... an regarless, somebody had to imagine the magic into the myths somewhere along the way to make 'em the story we knows today. john gardner liked to bully his stuents early during semester... he would use socratic method to get some clown to parrot the oft-repeate refrain of "write what you know." gardner would blast the poor sod... went into his lecture 'bout writing being the realization o' a living, vivid and continuous dream. gardner thought that all great fiction were ultimately fantasy... imagined up stuff that never did happen and probably never could. a close friend o' john gardner were frank mcconnell. is doubtful you recognize the name, but frank were near as influential as were harold bloom. heck, frank were the chair of the pulitzer committee for fiction. if you get the chance, takes a look at neil gaiman's lengthy dedication in american gods. is the same frank mcconnell. frank loved and hated sci-fi and fantasy with equal vigor, but if you had ever suggested that magic were simply an easy way out of a failed story we doubt you woulda' gotten a meaningful response; frank had the occasional fit o' apoplectic laughter when people said particularly stoopid things. as for being behind times... we doubt it. is simply that you lack perspective. the plethora o' current apoc scenarios is all pretty tame for those o' us who endured the cold war period at its height. Gromnir fully comprehends the possibility and plausibility o' multiple world killing scenarios (already noted above, but ignored by mk,)... but they is nowhere near as real and immediate as were the nuke stuff. even folks who were certain that soviets and USA would never launch nukes at each other still would have the nuke nightmares from time to time. am just glad tht Gromnir didn't have to watch and wonder during the cuban missile crisis. is biological or environmental apoc scenarios real to mk and gromnir. sure, but you just don't get how the nuke stuff were so part of everyday culture. HA! Good Fun!

is getting wacked with a sword just as likely to cause death as an ak-47? probably, but most o' us is brought up on movies where the hero and villains trade blows w/o getting dead until it is appropriately dramatic to do so... and for crpgs we throws in magic to explain away any lingering obstacles to suspension o' belief. magic explains why player can has leather armour that seemingly wards off battle axe blow to the noggin and it explains why people can gets instantly healed even if they does gets hurt. most people recognize just how lethal a ak-47 is. is not much fun to play a genuine lethal crpg. pnp? yeah, you can do a lethal pnp without much combat and wherein combats is deadly, but crpgs gots lots o' combats, and it not look like that model is gonna change anytime soon... besides which, makes a lethal game and it not matter if you is talking swords n' sorcery or ar-15s. is not the swords... is the swords and sorcery dynamic that makes work. got a modern day analog to the sorcery bit? nope. is why we typical sees super-science thrown in if you want modern weapons... need special healing kits or injections. also keeps in mind that gaining experience and gaining better 1007 is part o' the modern crpg and is so integral we not see who is gonna buck trend. if you start game with ak-47, then by end o' game you is probably gonna need disintegrator rays, or handheld railguns. gaining experience is only part o' the experience... as with diablo and d&d and fo and most other crpg rules, you gets better weapons and protection as you progress through game... is part o' the reason peoples play these games... as ridiculous as it seems. heck, there is a reason why uncle fergie added random weapon/1007 drops to iwd... with some ridiculous powerful stuff avialable at end o' game. people wanna see their characters get better, and finding increasing powerful 1007 is 1/2 o' the scme. sadly, modern weapons not got the appropriate kinda curve for both offense and defense insofar as mano y mano combat is concerned. btw, Gromnir is not really a fan o' any of the post apoc settings. dunno, but post apoc just not do it for Gromnir the way it once did. part o' the problem is that Gromnir grew up when cold war were at its height. is difficult to explain to folks nowadays, but pan global nuke war seemed terribly probable. have never met somebody who grew up back then who were unfamiliar with the nuke holocaust nightmare... all of us had the nuke nightmare. ... can't recall the last time we had the nuke nightmare. is apoc due to disease or biological weapons or environmental disaster as likely as ww3 nukes? possibly, but is just not the same. no meteor or greenhouse gas nightmares for Gromnir. anyways, from design pov, our 2 fav settings is low magic 100 years war or American fronteir (circa 1850s.) magic makes anything possible... for science to do same it has gotta be advanced 'nuff so that setting is no longer quite as familiar... and some people will still see stuff as scientific impossible. magic is a trump card for the impossible. HA! Good Fun!

is a little know fact that fergie and Gromnir is tight... kinda likes third cousins who mildly dislike each other based 'pon the 2 or 3 times they has met at reunions or funerals over past couple decades. real tight. anyways, the 40k stuff is smoke screen. fergie has always had a favorite post-apoc license that he has wished to devotes millions o' dollars and thousands o' man hours to realizing... combines magic and tech. linky am not always on same page as obsidians, but we thinks this one gots real potential. HA! Good Fun!