Flayeriv

Yeah, realistically the arc is going to be pretty much invisible by that point. I mean, we often don't even notice the arrow wobble from archer's paradox (which it does for the first thirty six metres due to travelling around the bow) and we're right at eye level with it. That said, I agree with the notion of ranged combat taking so little of the screen being of issue. To be perfectly honest, while I totally get in every respect why it has to stay within the screen (and frankly wouldn't want it to change), I would, however, prefer if it at least covered the distance of most rather than 'half' of the screen. Ranged weapons that have nearly equal effective range of a throwing knife (IG) concern me as if I want to do a tactical weapon switch, or I deliberately want to keep my ranged characters at a distance it's hard to maintain, and I lose out on the strategic element of 'setting traps'. However, mechanically speaking, so long as bows have greater range than most spells I'm reasonably happy. It makes me feel like bows are superfluous when they can be 'out shot', so to speak, by a concentrating mage.

I've always loved the idea of backgrounds shaping some of your character's skills. Culture may shape ideology, but your previous experiences shapes your skillset, it's a rule I like to bring into my own RPGs, if you have skill points, you'd best have an explanation for them. What I'd love to see though is your culture/background interracting with the actual game. If I declare I'm from a foreign culture, or a local who used to be... say... a brick layer, having minor NPC interraction that reflects those points to me is amazing. Maybe certain merchants prefer locals over foreigners, or somemerchants will prefer foreigners because of the chance of obtaining a foreign prestige good or 'making a tourist sale'. I like this because it's basically the same logic as "your choices will shape the story" except in minor ways (whereas plot choices are major).

Awesome, I'm taking a good look now, loving the fact that you guys have put in links to theprevious incarnations too.

I honestly think the best thing bout BG2 is the way they handled quests. Not just the how, but the when and what too. Someone above mentioned the fact that most people just want to skip Irenicus' after the third play through, but that to me is actually a sign of success. The first dungeon was straightforward, direct, had a couple of side things you could choose to do or not to do (do I release the genie? What's this demon in an orb -wait, let's not release him), but above all it sets the main plot. Chapter 2 gives you a totally open world you can explore and even if you feel a little 'rushed' to save Imoen, the fact is that you've effectively got a moment of downtime to explore, after the main quest has been firmly established. I actually don't want to see side quests thrown at me in chapter 1, I want to get my bearings then explore. The fact that the game later lets you come back after significantly advancing the main plots is another great thing about the game. The best thing about it though is that most of the quests aren't thrown in your face. That's got to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen here and elsewhere, quests being thrown at you and distracting you from the main quest. BG2 can be played start to finish without engaging in much more than the necessary quests, but there are over a hundred quests available to find. And to me that's the key, they're there to find. Most of the mods I've installed for BG2 all come with additional quests. Sure, AI improvement mods are nice and some of the added characters (*cough* Xan *cough*) are fantastic, but things like the assassin's mod giving you a bunch of extra quests are the things that I am most attracted to, and every one of those mods are 'hidden' somewhere in the game world. The desire to want to go back and explore literally every nook and cranny is intense when you know that every nook and cranny might actually yield something, you don't get this feeling if the quests are thrown at you, or if you feel it's 'mandatory' to do some side-questing, or if the sidequest is somehow integral to the main plot and thus not really a side-quest or (and this is actually probably one of the worst culprits for destroying my interest in a game) games where the main plot is treated like 'just another side quest'.

Link 1 showcases a number of currently existing products on the market: http://www.esterline.com/interfacetechnologies/AboutUs.aspx Link 2 briefly mentions a number of 'breakthrough' technologies from last year (but more importantly has people you can email). http://ict.usc.edu/news/usc-showcases-breakthrough-technologies-for-holographic-projections-and-realistic-digital-doubles-at-premier-computer-graphics-and-animation-conferences/ Link 3 is specifically on VR tech, with a further link that you should be able to trawl through to find more. http://www.ercim.eu/publication/Ercim_News/enw57/ronkko.html And I'm pretty sure if you google things like 'top 10 futuristic tech predictions' you might find something to supplement. Now wake me up when someone breaks us out of the Matrix.

Today I ran a game of Werewolf set in german-occupied-Poland during World War 2. I believe I have upheld the 'players should have fun and be terrified of their GM' mantra.

I'm a bit booked with local games at the moment, inc one Werewolf and one Vampire, so I might pass on this one. However if you start another one up in future time permitting I'd be up for it.

Heh, as much as I want to see this game out as soon as possible, I don't mind it taking a while. I'm concerned my current laptop won't be able to deal with it and the longer I can push back the upgrade the better. Also it gives me more time to settle into the community before the sudden 'game release' explosion.

Heh. I join the forums and the first thing I find is the pointy thread declaring itself dead and pointless. Also, I am definitely abducting that image to throw in as supporting imagery for my thesis. I already have enough from German manuals but that one just illustrates the point I make at one point about historic interpretation perfectly. Assuming that is an actual historical source, any idea where that image is specifically from so I can give it a proper reference?

Oh man, this thread is making me go down a nostalgia trip. I was in single digits when Atari was a thing, I still remember it fondly. Excuse me while I haphazardly try to reinstall every old game I used to own and/or find emulators for the ones on console.

Hey all. Figured I'dintroduce myself in the the vague hopes of finding someone to show me the ropes. I've played a lot of RPs including, both pen and paper and computer including, of course, the old classics Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape, Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights and so on. However I've never really gotten huge into the forum communities, not since forum based RPGing was a huge thing and I stopped playing regularly on NWN RP servers. So, little about myself. One, I'm a historian (predominantly military). Two, I used to teach Western Martial Arts for a living and have studied several medieval and renaissance manuals. Three, like every RPGer on the planet I've been a GM for countless games (even briefly professionally) over the last 14 years. Four, I've just finished my Masters Thesis and now have a lot of time on my hands which I figured I'd commit at least a portion of that to investing in a community of something I love (RPGs) coupled with something else I love (something vaguely resembling human interraction). Recently I applied for work with Valve as a historical consultant (because hey, I've got to bring all this historical knowledge to the community somehow), so I'm hoping that maybe I might be able to find a way to become useful somewhere along the line. I'm going to take my time exploring this forum and learning the ropes, but if anyone happens to want to take on an internet protege and or point me in the direction of threads I'd like/might be useful to, please feel absolutely free. It's a little daunting to try and join an already active internet community, especially when you're not sure if everything you have to offer is already catered for, but hey, can't hurt to try.

... This is easily one of the most fantastic things I have read in a while. Thank you for being so generous and posting all this.

Hey all. So, like many people I've been a RP gamer for a while, done a few betas and run roughly a couple hundred pen and paper RPG games (and been a player in about half as many). Like a lot of said people, I get ideas for games and plots all the time and while usually I use these for my tabletop games, sometimes I can see the difference between what would make for a good group game, and what would be more enjoyable as a PC game. With my work as a historian dying down, recently I've been feeling the need to explore the modding community and, if possible, use this as a stepping stone to learn the tricks of the trade in order to get into game design (and with any luck my future income through running archaeological digs in Romania will fund a more certified approach). So, as someone who's version of modding is thus far limitted to altering starting stats and unit distribution in the game Rome: Total War, can anyone recommend me good starting points through which I can learn how to implement some of these ideas, maybe create a small portfolio of game ideas out of modded games to take as a 'proof of concept' to larger businesses? Many thanks.