Search the Community

It's a considerable design change, but I like it because: It's more strategic. It's now harder to mindlessly max out a specific skill. You actually have to sacrifice a talent if you want to be maxed Mechanics, maxed Lore, etc. You can have more/deeper talents, focus on more/deeper skills, or find a balance. This is more interesting to me than deciding which guy is going to max Mechanics, which one Lore, etc. It's more logical. Linking talents and skills makes flavor sense--Hold the Line tying into Athletics, for instance. Having skills exist in their own vacuum, completely independent of talent selection, seems odd now. It's more fun. I don't miss the dull process of pumping more points into whatever skill I want to max in order to reach gated content or unlock chests. Let's see what you guys think. If you don't like it, how would you redesign it?

Hello everyone! I have a youtube channel where I've previously done lore videos and in-depth walkthroughs of Fallout New Vegas. Since I've been playing the beta for Pillars of Eternity I thought it would be interesting to do a new series about this new universe. This is why I'm bringing to you "Pillars of Eternity 101" where I intend to do pretty much the same things that I've been doing with New Vegas (detailed walkthroughs, character analysis, lore about the world,...). The first video is going to broadly depict the world of Pillars of Eternity from the general concepts specific to this world, to the different places on the planet as well as the current known history. "Pillars of Eternity 101 : What is the world of Pillars of Eternity" => I'll gladly like to hear any feedback and critic you would want to provide me ^^ p.s.: If you are allergic to my accent (i'm french) or have a hard time understanding me, there are subtitles available in both english and french

There was a discussion about lore and how, in reality, after the first game or after the strategy guides come out, the lore skill can be meta-gamed away and become a pretty useless skill (degeneracy alert, Josh Sawyer). As such, I've been thinking about a few ways to make the lore skill more interesting to use and a useful skill for players to try to invest points in. There are a few goals with my changes to the lore skill. 1- Maintain the current "game lore" behind the "skill lore." That is that the lore skill would still continue to be a skill that represents a character's accumulated miscellaneous knowledge and trivia. 2- As all skills should continue to be useful throughout the whole game, in regards to combat, this means that a character should become more effective in combat (as they learn the common "weakpoints" of enemies. For the player this means increasing their cyclopedia entries, but mechanically this should also mean improvements in combat. 3- As with all skills, each party member should have an incentive to want to invest in the skill. 4- This skill should be an incentive for players to want to engage in combat (instead of combat XP). That means that as players engage in more combat, the effectiveness of this skill should be more apparent, therefore making combat incentivized as opposed to utilizing XP as this incentive. THE IDEA: As party members fight and kill more and more of an enemy type, their combat effectiveness (e.g. attack damage/crit%/attack speed, etc) increases when fighting that particular type of enemy. The rate of improvement in combat effectiveness is based on an equation that utilizes each party member's lore skill as well as the number of enemies of that particular type that have been killed by the WHOLE party. So for example, let's say that if the party kills in total (all party kills) 25, 100, 300, 900, 1500 goblins, each party member will have an increase in their crit% against goblins of 1%, 2.5%, 5%, 9%, 15% respectively. How does the lore skill come into play? Well as each party member's lore skill level is increased, the number you need to kill is decreased by the equation CEILING(TOTAL ENEMIES/LORE LEVEL). So let's say you have 6 party members with lore skill levels of 1,2,3,5,7,9. Party member 1 (Lore skill 1) needs to have PARTY KILLS totals of 25(1%), 100(2.5%), 300(5%), 900(9%), 1500(15%) goblins for the respective crit% increases. Party member 2 (Lore skill 2) needs to have PARTY KILLS totals of 13(1%), 50(2.5%), 150(5%), 450(9%), 750(15%) goblins for the respective crit% increases. Party member 3 (Lore skill 3) needs to have PARTY KILLS totals of 9(1%), 34(2.5%), 100(5%), 300(9%), and 500(15%) goblins for the respective crit% increases. ... and so on ... Party member 6 (Lore skill 9) needs to have PARTY KILLS totals of 3(1%), 12(2.5%), 34(5%), 100(9%), and 167(15%) goblins for the respective crit% increases. So let's say that the party has killed 170 goblins in the game with the same party members as previously mentioned. Assume all players have base crit% of 5%. Their new crit% with the lore skills would be: 1: 7.5% crit chance 2: 10% crit chance 3: 10% crit chance 4: 10% crit chance 5: 14% crit chance 6: 20% crit chance -------------------------------- Different monsters can have different PARTY KILL TOTAL requirements. Other equations can be used as well as other combat effectiveness attributes (as mentioned above) to fine-tune the best range, rate of increase, and value for skill. This is a good way of incentivizing players to enter combat (as opposed to combat XP), each party member to invest in lore, will continue to give back value to the player over the whole game, and can fit within the current game lore. What do the rest of you think?

This isnt a mechanic thing, but a lore/customization thing. Because this is gonna be subject to opinions Id like to hear yours on this. Observe the map: That’s a lot of water. Ocean, rivers and lakes. We can see that coastal settlements are very common. Observe the Aumaua. An entire player race defined by their affinity with water. The dwarfs and elves who share many arctic regions. Then you have the Moon Godlikes. Observe the location origins available. The gulf nation of Rauatai, the Deadfire Archipielago, The Living Lands (which are in a large island), the cracked arctic The White that Wends...that’s 4 out of 7 origins and the Aedyr Empire is centered on a tropical equator. These are mostly locations one would assume to have many fauna that had an affinity for water; fish, amphibian, mammal and reptile alike. Then theres the whole Moon mythos and the Tides. The point is: Many of the cultures are located in places near oceans and large bodies of water. Druids and Rangers are the classes that deal more with the natural fauna of the world and which have a more tangible representation of this fauna for the player to interact with. Currently it is entirely comprised of forest and plain-based fauna. For the Druid´s Spiritshift they has these options: Bear. Boar. Lion. Stag. Wolf. For the Ranger´s animal companions these are the options: Antelope. Bear. Boar. Lion. Stag. Wolf. What I’m saying here is that for a world so filled with water fauna there isnt options that reflect that affinity. An Island Aumaua Druid from the Archipielago Spiritshifting into a huge Aligatorman or Walrusman feels better than the same fishface Druid becoming a Lionman. The Boreal Dwarf Ranger having a Polar Bear or a Moose as a companion would make more sense than him having a Boar or normal Bear (though that’s far more reasonable than the islander having a stag of course). So, I think it would be pretty neat to have more Animal Companion and Druid Spiritshift options to reflect the world better. These do not need to have new mechanics (though they could), they can simply have the same as the current options only with a visually different portrayal. An Aligator/Crocodile can have the Bear´s Damage Threshold or the Lion´s Roar. A Giant Gecko could have the Wolf´s movement speed. An Iguana could have the Boar´s Might. You could even have Giant Platypuses. You get the idea I think. And yeah this may be a low priority thing almost equivalent to "add more portraits", or something for an expansion but Id like to muse about it now and bounce ideas around. So, what do you guys think? TL;DR: World has loads of water-based fauna, races and cultures. Would like to see more of it represented/acknowledged in Animal Companion and Druid Spiritshift options since they are more fauna-based.

I'm keen to know more about the game world. My understanding is that the setting will be detailed in the Campaign Almanac, which was included in some of the backer tiers and available as an add-on. So as we are about a week away from the backer beta and in the final few months stretch before the full release, I'm wondering when we'll get a heads up as to when this will be made available for download? This is certainly something that I'd like to devour before actually diving into the game and get immersed with all the lore and knowledge of what's going on in the world. I suppose the same question could be asked of MCA's novella as well.

I just did some browsing on the P:E wiki (massive kudos to the people maintaining it, by the way). We know quite a lot about the world of Eora already, more than I thought really, since the lore has been coming out in dribs and drabs. I really like it. One thing that I thought was kind of "meh" about P:E back during the Kickstarter was that it seemed like very traditional pseudo-medieval western high fantasy. I've done that so many times, in games and books and movies, that I really wasn't all that keen to see another one. That's in fact the main reason I only backed at a relatively modest level (and why I backed T:ToN for significantly more). Now, however, it's clear that Obsidian's writers have put any number of really interesting twists on it. So much so that it's almost like it's only tradfantasy on the surface. Man am I digging it. Elves and dwarves. I didn't think there was a way to make them interesting again, but hey, they did it. Quite simple too, really. Stick 'em on the Antarctic ice cap. It's also arguably true to their origins, since Tolkienian elves and dwarves are to a great extent modeled on Nordic folklore. I'm especially digging the character concept of Sagani, and the notion of Pale Elves speaking an ancient language far, far away on endless fields of ice is exciting. Breaking the mold of culture=subrace. In tradfantasy, nonhuman cultures are monolithic. If there are different elven cultures, for example, they're different subraces, like the drow for example. Big points for breaking out of this mold, and making the elves of Dyrwood and Eír Glanfath the same subrace but different and antagonistic subcultures, and for the really interesting elven-human combined culture of the Aedyr Empire, complete with institutions like the haemneg. Social issues. Slavery seems to be an institution that the loremasters have considered carefully, since we know how each of the different cultures treat it -- practiced in the Aedyr Empire, abolished but lingering in Dyrwood, while the Vailians conduct a brisk slave trade. (I wonder if we're going to meet a Vailian slave trader? That could be explosive simply because they gave the Vailians dark skin... I hope we do actually.) We've also got a lot of information about the status of the Orlan, religious antagonism between followers of Magran and Waidwen, the complex relations between the Glanfathans, the Aedyr Empire, and Dyrwood, and so on. The aumaua. Polynesian-Japanese flavored semi-aquatic demihumans instead of slope-browed half-orcs with the occasional Noble Savage rising above his racial station? Yes please! Change. One standard trop in tradfantasy -- whether Star Wars, Tolkien, or D&D -- is that nothing much ever changes. Empires rise and fall, for sure, but there's no technological or real cultural change. If the possibility of change is present, it's always a threat -- a Dark Lord threatening to unravel the entire world. Fantasy, especially high and heroic fantasy, tends to be extremely conservative in its outlook this way. Obsidian did tell us that they were doing this from the outset, which I think was wise of them, since I think a lot of fantasy fans, perhaps especially IE game fans, consider this central to the genre. Firearms are symbolic of this -- I think a lot of the resistance to their inclusion springs from here: having them is a reminder that things are changing, which does break out of one of the most fundamental features of tradfantasy. I can understand that, even if I don't sympathize with it. Fantasy with change is much more interesting to me than static fantasy worlds where the Dark Lord rises, and is defeated, and Balance is Restored to the Force. Ancient history connected to the present. Okay, so we have to have a mysterious ancient lost empire leaving creepy ruins all over the place. It wouldn't be a proper fantasy game without them. Trope, yes, but a good one. I dig the twist they gave this too: figuring out what the creepy ruins mean for the people living among them. That they've become sacred sites for the Glanfathans, and a resource to plunder for the Aedyr Empire. (The former, by the way, nicely explains why the ruins we've seen look so clean and well-trafficked -- obviously their Glanfathan keepers have been taking care of them.) All in all, I've been enormously pleased with the direction Obsidian has taken with regards to the lore. The core tropes are there -- elves, dwarves, ancient empire, wizards, rogues, priests, what have you -- but just about everything has an interesting and new twist to it. This is much more interesting than, say, what BioWare did with space opera for Mass Effect, i.e. just put in all the tropes without examining and questioning any of it, which made everything incredibly predictable. I like it when writers keep me off-balance rather than feeding me something that's familiar and comforting. I'm getting increasingly excited about this game, and most of that excitement is because of the lore. Thank you for that, Obsidian.

Not sure the best way to go about asking these questions, so here they are. I'm working on finalizing my item submission and want to make sure the content is consistent with the world and lore. I've read through the wiki and while it is very helpful, it didn't touch on these (that I could see). Could someone (like an animancer) in the PoE world perceive a shattered soul cycle? Would it be possible within the lore for someone like that to know if this happens to another person? In the PoE world, is the construct of marriage similar to the real world? Particularly in The Dyrwood and Vailian Republics (as the item is related to animancy and the wiki mentions those nations as leaders in that particular field). Is the item appearance submission field text just to help describe the item to the devs, or is that field part of the final text? Can the in-game memorial name+content be related to the item? In my case there is a logical connection, and I think it would be neat to have that be referencing something in-world rather than too obvious of a 4th wall wink/nod. Pretty excited about getting my submission in ASAP, so I really appreciate any additional info you can provide!

Hello everyone! I was thinking to myself about all the information about Project Eternity. There is constant stream of updates about classes, world, lore, races, religions and many more things. There are however some of us (and there will be more when the game is released) that would like to know it all but instead of having to look around for it, to have it all in one place. Now don't get me wrong. I am fully aware Obsidian does not actually have lots of free time but hear me out. I think it would be great to have some Project Eternity PDF Compendium of sorts. That could get occasionally updated with new games and new information (if there are new games). It would allow many of us to indulge ourselves into lore-nerdinessy . Maybe even make it an online project instead of PDF, or both. I for one would be more than happy to know all the additional bits an' pieces that may not be thoroughly explained in the game. It would help players understand the world of PE better and get more out of the game itself. It would work as an additional background for the game and make it more alive, closer to us. Don't know if this has any chance of ever happening or if something similar was discussed/planned but I'm dropping it here. I am interested in hearing if anyone else would wish to see something like this made. EDIT: Just so you know. It would be a little different from the Wiki. I guess info from it would eventually end up on wiki too though.

So I had this idea for how I'd like the monster compendium/beastiary to work in the game: Monster Lore There are 3 components of monster lore to each entry in the monster compendium; you are rewarded with XP for each component you unlock and gold from a quest node for completed entries. 1. Initial contact with the monster Whenever you meet a new monster you get an entry in the Monster Compendium, concept art sketches of it and a basic description. 2. Extended familiarity with the monster Discovering a monsters attributes or killing a number of them grants you another entry on the monster, detailing its strengths and weaknesses. 3. Obtaining expert research on the monster The final entry deals with the monsters behaviour and ecology or possibly some relevant history. This can usually only be obtained by finding expert field researchers or rare books on the subject. Rare Monsters There should be a few rare monsters that can only be found through exploration to give the monster hunters something to chew on. These don't have to be completely new models, using an existing model with a different color and a different set of attributes would work fine. These monsters could only come out at night, or have some other condition that might make them harder to find. Completion Reward Finally, you are rewarded with a special bonus from a quest node for fully completing all monster entries. It could be simple XP/gold, an item, a skill, a title, a pet or something else. I imagine it to be like a book and you flip through the pages, I think having the concept art would look really cool in this context and fit in well with the idea that your party is sketching and writing the 'book' as you go along.

I'm trying to find out where and when the city of Neverwinter was introduced into Forgotten Realms. Anyone know this for sure? I know that Neverwinter appeared for the first time in a CRPG in SSI's "Gateway to the Savage Frontier" back in 1991. What I'm not sure of is if Neverwinter existed before that, or if it was something that was created specifically for that game. Thanks...

I've been thinking about a sort of "Search" skill which is both a "Narrative" joy for players and developers but also some sort of mechanical "Hub" for other skills, making it cumulatively better. What can you fit into a "Scholar" reference in my opinion? * Lore/Codex * Cartography * Search Are there any more? Basically I am thinking about ways to make it even more fun to explore not just the outer workings of the game, but the inner as well. Perhaps "Scholar" could be a skill that upgrades per how much you explore? (In another thread I speak about another "Experience" table for Non-Combat Skills, but could there be one for a type of [scholar] Skill as well?). Lore Basically, I found that book now I've got +1 Lore/Codex and can learn more Lore from items that I have. Cartography Exploring the world itself makes the character better at seeing (FOV grows per exploring?) as well as natural phenomena, getting to and exploring the Wyvern Nest gives us insight in a cave further down the game that we are about to encounter Wyverns (closely related to "Search"). Search Is defined by [Lore]+[Cartography] which determines "Search" level. Search is then in turn used to find Loot or exploring a dungeon level. Basically, what I wish to address with this topic is some sort of "Can a Skill have a simplistic function, at the same time as it has more than 1 function?", "Can you avoid complications for developer/player with a Multi-Purpose Skill?". Thoughts?

Hello, I was watching this the other day, where Tim Cain talks about movies, books, and other sources of inspiration for the first Fallout. I wanted to make a topic thread for everyone here and ask you, "What IMAGES you find inspiring your thoughts on Project Eternity?" I wanted to know what images you find yourself thinking about when imagining what the Project Eternity world to be, and I wanted you to post them here. Try to keep the text to a minimum and keep the picture sizes small (linking to them would be better). I wanted this to be a sort of "flipbook" for the devs to look at as inspirations for their own creativity when creating this world. Obviously, pictures you've taken yourself would be better than images you've taken from someone else. so... show them your pictures! Throw something up whenever it inspires you about something you know about the PE lore! This is, for example, what I thought of when Josh Sawyer was talking about the Vailians.

What I miss the most in recent rpg is the lack priotity put on the lore, every object is bland with +1 str +12 hp or whatever but no description at all and that makes them having unfortunatly no identity. But that is something that was found in great quantity in classic rpg like baldurs gate etc.. Every items in those games (even junk loot gems etc..) had a background story behind them. And then we had books if we wanted to learn more about the history of different civilizations in the game world, the adventures of some important character, or the story behind major artifact as well as maybe some clue to find them etc... Getting a glimpse at the world by just reading some items description was great and made those classic rpg game really immersive to me. Please bring back the lore to rpg with Project eternity.

Wondering if people are as interested/excited as I am about the possibility of a physical almanac. If it can't be included at higher tiers like 500 for free, then I am surely willing to pay a little extra in order to secure one. Up to $50 I'm willing to part with for a Physical Almanac. Interested in perspectives of all, but especially higher tiers of 500 and above and their willingness or non willingness to part with a little more cash for a Physical Almanac.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LtpG02bZDw The campaign is winding down folks, so it's time to bring out the proverbial big guns. In today's update, I'm going to be talking about a bunch of lore tidbits, a Campaign Almanac we'll be offering as an add-on, new BIG OL' stretch goals, and finally, a work-in-progress screenshot of an environment we're developing. As a quick reminder, we are getting close to 20,000 likes on Obsidian's Facebook page, which unlocks another level of the Mega Dungeon the Endless Paths – if you get the chance, please head on over there. That's a lot of stuff, so let's start with the... Lore After thinking about a variety of topics for today's lore update, I decided to describe some of the major (and a few minor) people, places, and things in the world of Project Eternity. I hope these elements help frame the landscape of the Dyrwood and Eír Glanfath. Though this corner of the world is not particularly large, the struggles of its residents will surround the heart of Project Eternity. Aedyr - People from the expansive Aedyr Empire and its former colonies, Dyrwood and Readceras. Aedyr literally translates as "Many Deer", but means "People of the Deer", referring to a 2,500 year-old tribe that became a kingdom 600 years ago. It merged with the elven kingdom of Kulklin in 2399 AI. Among the Aedyr, there is no significant cultural divide between humans and elves. Because of their close contact and integration in spite of physiological differences (such as longer elven lifespans), their culture and legal system have developed a variety of unique concepts such as the haemneg, or ceremonial marriage. Ethnic Aedyr (mostly humans and elves) have fair skin and a variety of hair and eye colors, with blue and green being common. Among other cultures, Aedyr clothing is known for being relatively simple in construction and often using large, colorful striped or checkered patterns for accents. Anni Iroccio - Year of Iroccio. This is the commonly-used calendar in and around the Dyrwood. It is only 150 years old and Vailian in origin, but has been adopted by the residents of Dyrwood and much of the surrounding area due to the hopeless inaccuracy of the Aedyre calendar. Though the Iroccian calendar replaced earlier Vailian calendars, the inventor, Iroccio, started from the same time as his predecessors. It is currently 2823 AI. biamhac - The most feared phenomenon of Eír Glanfath, biamhacs are "spirit winds" that rise up in cursed ruins, shearing souls away from the bodies of their owners. They appear suddenly and without warning, leaving victims little hope of escape. Strong-souled people are not harmed by biamhacs, but affected individuals are instantly reduced to a catatonic state. The discovery of numerous biamhacs in Eír Glanfath during its early exploration resulted in thousands of Aedyr deaths. Dyrwood - Strictly speaking, the forest northwest of the Bael River. Dyrwood, Free Palatinate of - The independent nation that was formerly a colony and later a large, remote duchy of the Aedyr Empire. Led by their duke, Admeth Hadret, the people successfully fought for their independence over an excessively burdensome campaign to colonize the dangerous ruins of Eír Glanfath. Despite the fact that they are no longer, properly speaking, a palatinate (nor a duchy), the people of Dyrwood continue to refer to their home as a "Free Palatinate" out of pride. Most residents of the Dyrwood are Aedyr humans, elves, and dwarves, but many are also culturally integrated orlans or children of Glanfathan elves. Despite having fought a war with the Aedyr Empire in the past, they are now trading partners and have maintained few grudges. Their one continued point of contention is exploration and colonization of Eír Glanfath, which Aedyr continues to push through official and unofficial means. Eír Glanfath - The name natives give to an indeterminately old elven kingdom that covered the entire forest southeast of the Bael River. Though they were not technologically advanced compared to contemporary civilizations, they had accomplished a number of architectural and astronomical feats that explorers and scholars are still trying to understand. Whatever the extent of Eír Glanfath's kingdom was, its ruins had been abandoned for centuries, possibly even millennia, before Vailians or Aedyr arrived in the area. The so-called "Glanfathan" elves in the forest seemed to have no cultural connection to the kingdom and were living in nomadic communities instead of the old structures. Eír Glanfath's ruins are not understood by anyone, and early misinterpretations over their significance resulted in two small-scale conflicts: The Broken Stone War and The War of Black Trees, the latter of which ended with a fire that consumed a vast section of the Dyrwood. Eothas - The Aedyran name for a god of light and redemption. While worship of Eothas is still popular in the Aedyr Empire and Readceras, the faith is outlawed in most cities of the Dyrwood due to events of the Saint's War that culminated at Godhammer Citadel. Though Eothas once communicated regularly with his faithful, he has not done so since the destruction of St. Waidwen at the Battle of Godhammer over 200 years ago. Hylspeak - An old dialect of Aedyran only spoken by rural communities and older elves in the Aedyre heartlands. It is grammatically almost identical to Aedyran, but contains a large number of archaic words that have either disappeared from contemporary use or taken new forms over time. Speakers of contemporary Aedyran can understand Hylspeak, but it can sometimes be confusing. Hylspeak is only commonly heard in folk songs and poems that have survived over the centuries. Some people associate the spontaneous speaking of Hylspeak with an awakened soul. As a result, superstitious folk are easily angered when they hear it spoken, believing it may cause their soul to remember a past life. Magran - The Aedyran name for a goddess of war and fire. Her priests commonly employ firearms and some helped construct the "Godhammer" bomb used to destroy St. Waidwen. Following the Saint's War, she became the most popular faith in Dyrwood. In Aedyr, her symbol is a flame, but in Dyrwood, it is a flaming bomb. Worship of Magran is extensively persecuted in Readceras. orlan - A race of people found mostly in northern, temperate climates but also as far south as the Dyrwood. Physically, they are notable for their small stature, two-toned skin, and exceptionally large, hair-covered ears. Due to their size, orlans have been victimized and marginalized by most of the cultures with whom they have come into contact. As a result, it is rare to find large communities of them and they have progressively retreated into heavily wooded environments over the last few centuries. Many orlan communities have also adopted brutal guerilla tactics including heavy use of traps and poison in the surrounding environment. As a result, even orlans raised in urban cultures often share their rural kin's nasty reputation. Readceras, The Penitential Regency of - The ecclesiastic nation that was formerly an Aedyre colony and later an independent theocratic dictatorship (the Divine Kingdom of Readceras). Two centuries ago, a popular religious movement took hold in the countryside, in part sparked by the collapse of the nation's vorlas (purple dye-producing plant) market, its resultant poverty, and general civil unrest. The leader of the movement was a farmer named Waidwen who claimed that the Aedyre god of light, Eothas, had appeared to him in the night and told him to punish the colonial governor for leading the people to ruin. Waidwen's success led to his apparent transformation into a living vessel for Eothas, after which he became the first and only "divine king" of the country. His rule produced a subsequent purge of heretics and followers of other faiths across the nation. Events related to this purge led to the Saint's War with Dyrwood, which informally ended in 2618 AI when Waidwen was apparently destroyed by a massive bomb north of Halgot Citadel (popularly renamed Godhammer Citadel). svef - Svef is the Aedyran name for a potent narcotic produced from the berries of small shrub that grows in the dry, distant mountains of Tal Kness. Svef produces hallucinations and, according to some, allows users to actually see their own soul. The narcotic was introduced to the Aedyr long ago, but it is used more frequently in the Dyrwood due to its heavy trafficking by Vailian merchants. Vailians - Most Vailians come from the Vailian Republics, a federation of independent city-states made up of former colonies from the Grand Empire of Vailia. They are a powerful mercantile force in the southern hemisphere, trading with more partners than any other nation or empire. Five cities are considered "grand" republics and have greater voting power in their electoral council: Spirento, Ancenze, Selona, Ozia, and Revua. The federation is widely known for its access to most major commodities in the world, including slaves, and for its habit of impressing (abducting) foreigners into service on their naval vessels. Ethnic Vailians (humans and a small number of dwarves) have dark brown skin and tightly spiraled, dark brown hair. They most commonly have brown or black eyes, but occasionally have green, hazel, or grey eyes. Vailians pride themselves on their well-made and intricately-decorated clothing, often made with rare materials and dyes to which they have easy access. That's a lotta lore! There's more lore where that came from, but to encapsulate all of the things going on in the world at this time, you'd probably need more space, like a book. Maybe a... Campaign Almanac Was that an awkward transition? A little. Is this actually an almanac? If you look at a "dictionary" to get "definitions", probably not, but that's what we're calling it. It's a PDF (and other formats) compendium of facts, figures, maps, lore and more about the world of Project Eternity. Looking to run a PnP campaign in the world of Project Eternity or just want even more detail on the world? This will be your first, of what we hope is many, "go-to" sources. And it will be a real (digital) thing that you can add to any pledge for $15. Also, if you've already pledged at the $50 tier or more, you get it for free! Big Ol' Stretch Goals You've asked for big stretch goals, and we're finally ready to give you some. These are mighty stretch goals, ones we're confident that a lot of people will enjoy but we know require serious funding to do well. $3.0 Million - Stronghold At $2.0 Million, your support funded a player house. Inspired by features like The Sink found in Fallout: New Vegas Old World Blues, the house is a convenient place to store gear, interact with companions, craft items (thanks to the $2.4 Million stretch goal), rest, and buy and sell from special merchants. Some of you wanted something that went beyond the standard player house, allowing you to take control of a full stronghold and its surrounding lands. Well-done strongholds provide players with the ability to make large scale changes, undertake special quests, customize the contents of the stronghold and the surrounding environment, and engage in light strategic gameplay between adventures. If we hit $3.0 Million, we will build a stronghold worthy of the title! $3.5 Million - Big City #2 Baldur's Gate and Athkatla are big cities. Spanning multiple large maps with a ton of interiors, characters and quests, big cities are a lot of fun. Like strongholds, they also take a lot of work to do well. We're going to have one big city in Project Eternity. Would you like two? If you take us on an exciting adventure to $3.5 Million, we will take you on an exciting adventure to another big city. Environment Screenshot Project Eternity's team of crazed environment artists have been working hard on developing our first environment for the game. Early on in the Kickstarter campaign, we told you that we wanted to make maps the Infinity Engine way. That is, we wanted to build 3D levels, render them out as 2D images, and then have our artists paint in beautiful details, highlights, and color-tweaks before they went into the game. Looking back at the levels some of us worked on for Icewind Dale, we were still thrilled with the quality that we could achieve with this approach. For Project Eternity, we're using 10 years of improvements in rendering technology and hardware to get the job done, but we still love what we can do the "old-fashioned" way. We hope you share our enthusiasm. 1920x1080 | 2560x1440 That's all for today's update! Thanks for reading. Update from Josh Sawyer

The first printing press, courtesy of Johan Gutenburg, appeared in 1450. This invention is right up there with penicillin, the Internet, the machine gun and all sorts of other, radical world-changing technologies and discoveries. The printed word allowed ideas to percolate up and down the social strata of societies in a way we might struggle to understand, or take for granted, right now. In fact, the written word was a vehicle of the Reformation, and later Fascism and Communism. Like the Internet, it was a force for both positive and the negative. It accelerated education. It was instrumental in the emancipation of the oppressed. In short: it was a Big Deal. Now in Project Eternity we have a world where, for some reason, technology has developed unevenly. Imagine how much more dangerous that world might be --- where guns and mighty galleons, a world where Gods can inspire the development of bombs, coexist with dark aged superstition and dogma? So this thread is about that. Start with a counter-factual if you wish, or perhaps how this fits in with the lore of the world. And I know that printing presses aren't as sexy as swords, spells and loot but in the context of the setting I think it's an interesting topic.

One of the interesting (and most overlooked) aspects of BG2 and many of the other really good RPGs were the items that were books and scrolls that gave depth to the environments and places that players were in. It was really nice to be able to have a library filled with books that you could read. Unfortunately, I spent all of 5 mins ruffling through the shelves looking for potions and the differently colored scrolls or books that I knew were quest items. To me, I felt really bad for the devs who spent time coding in those books and writing in those beautifully written texts. I wonder how many people actually sat and read through them. One thing that I always thought was, "Why don't we make these books reward the players who read them?" The best example I can remember was Baldur Gate 2's Sun God Amaunator books. You get plenty of hints about the role of the statue but you're never sure what to do. A lot of these hints come from books. I would really enjoy having maybe 1 or 2 "hidden" quests that really reward those players who can only find that information written in the otherwise overlooked tomes in P:E. Maybe have some of them give interesting tactics that players might not think about using against enemies. Then make the books random! You won't always find that tome in the same place in the world. You actually have to read the book! It makes replays totally worthwhile, especially for those of us who always love finding hidden gems in games we've owned for very long times. And I think this is a game that will be played for a very long time.

One grouse that I have with multi-classes and specializations is that there's very little lore to back it up. I always envison a multi-class as a truimphant achievement where the PC is able to take two very different disciplines and synergize them to achieve something unique. Since PE is a new setting, for each multi-class, I hope there's at least some lore, device and/or NPC attached to it. It doesn't really make sense that the PC can multi-class without learning this somewhere via some means. Originally, someone must have founded an order by learning two separate disciplines before fusing them together. For an established multi-class, learning to multi-class could be easily achieved via learning from books or lore. An established guild or small chapter devoted to the multi-class would be nice. For more exotic multi-class, it should only be allowed if the PC manages to achieve the objectives in a side-quest. A good example of this would be the Arcane Warrior for the mage in Dragon Age: Origins, where you learn the ancient secrets from the Elven Warriors/Mage via a memory gem. Other esoteric multi-class could be introduced by NPCs or companions or via some other means. This is largely what was done is specializations in Dragon Age Origins. Any thoughts?

Obsidian has said that there will be many complex and difficult choices that can make significant changes to your playing experience. So what is everyone's opinions on how big of an effect these choices should have? And how should they carry over to future expansions/games? Should you be able to cause major changes within a society? Perhaps by helping to liberate an underclass, or change their system of government, or maybe even set a civilization on a path to destruction? Should you be able to change the course of nations? Should you be able help an occupied nation overthrow its invaders or convince a nation to invade someone else? How should that play out in future games? If you help one nation or one major faction defeat another, then that has the potential to cause huge changes in a future expansion or game even if a sequel takes place in another part of the world. How fast should you be able to cause these changes? For example, if you're trying to help an occupied nation overthrow its invaders, you might not be able to completely succeed in one game. Maybe you can help liberate one city in the first game, then you can spread the rebellion throughout the entire nation in an expansion, then you can fully liberate the nation in a sequel, and in the third game, you can help that nation either rebuild or perhaps launch a counter-attack against their invaders. I would of course also love to hear how far the developers are thinking in terms of all the potential ramifications of the player's choices, their effect on the game world and future games.

A white haired man appears at the top of the next sand dune... ...he waves at you and your adventuring party, in a half bouncing, running motion he bounds towards you. You and your party look at each other, eyebrows raised. The man is wearing an oversized backpack, nearly twice his height, the bag is overloaded with swords, bows, poles, staves, and various other weapons. All sticking out from various pockets at odd angles. A flails head swings precariously close to the man's head. As the man reaches your party, in a single swift motion, he swings the bag round and it unfolds into a large blanket with all the weapons laid out perfectly. He spreads his arm wide and gives a big grin. "What can I do you for?" Your party all step closer cautiously, wary of a lone traveller in this dangerous part of the world, was this a ruse of some sort? After a few moments you determine he is genuine. All questions directed at him regarding his travelling are answered with winks and nose taps. "This is a fine sword you have here, but I'm after a named variant, The Biting Ishktar of Fellowmane, have you heard of it?" Asks one of your party members. The rest of your team is genuinely impressed with the goods on offer and some of them are testing the weapons for weight and balance. "Heard of it? I own one of the last three, it's in my shop" Said the white haired man, thumbing over his shoulder as if his shop was right behind him. "Where is your shop merchant? There is nothing for hundreds of miles around!" Replied your party member, equal measures of eagerness and bitterness in his reply. The white haired man reached into his pocket and brought out a huge zipper. Attached it to the air itself just above the sandy ground and pulled up. The fabric of this realm unzipped, revealing an opening to a new plane of existence. Like a tent flap, the white haired man stepped in. A few seconds later he poked his head out of the flap. "Well, are you coming to shop or not?" You and party members enter an 'Aladdin's cave' of treasure. Weapons, armour, magical trinkets and even a few cages holding exotic animals. You wander around with your mouth open. "Take your time! Browse!" The white haired man sat down and put his feet up on a counter, at the far end of the overly filled room. An intricate wooden sign hung above him - Elkay's Weapon Emporium. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- TL;DR Hello! This is a light hearted thread with two purposes. Remember our favourite magical items, be it from books, pen and paper games or video games. What magical item would you like to find in Elkay's Weapon Emporium? Or in Project Eternity? (Create your own magical item!) I love creating new magical items, not just the interesting properties, but the story behind it's creation and how it ended up in the current owners hands. I really hope Obsidian take great care in their items, randomized weapons can be fun in games like Diablo 3, but it really breaks immersion for me if there is no 'named items' with a good back story. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- So here we go... One of my favourite, most rememberable items would be the famous Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity from Baldur's gate. I must've been about thirteen or fourteen when I first played and I remember genuinely being upset that I turned my male warrior to a female. I'd love to see a bag of monster holding, similar to a wand of monster summoning from various D&D settings. The key difference would be that there would be a lot charges and potentially could pull out huge monsters, such as red dragons, beholders or giant trolls! Gist of the story would be a family of leather workers fall on hard times.Their son being creative and a bit mischievous with magic creates a bag of holding, the family shoot to great fame and wealth. The son continues to better his bags and eventually creates a bag which can hold, frozen in time, living things. The story would play out with the son getting trapped in the bag. Hey, maybe he could be pulled out as a part of an event and he could join your party? -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Lots of love, LK

I was wondering if flavor text is important to anyone else (lore books go along with this). What I mean is how magical items in games like Baldur's Gate and NWN have a sort of history if you right click and examine them. I loved getting a fantastic weapon and reading about it's history and learning how it ended up in my hands. It made the loot that much more interesting. This could remain in the form of examining the loot, or collecting and reading books. Or they could implement a codex feature popular in many recent games. What do you guys think? Are lore books and especially item histories important to you?

I've been thinking during construction of the game the project could also create a series of short stories to: help to introduce us (and future buyers) to the world; help shape our understanding of the world, its lore, the main characters and events; and keep us all interested as the project unfolds. What do you think? If you think it would be a good idea what sort of stories would you like to see?

How important is lore fluff to you? Is it important? Do you feel it is unimportant? Personally, I love finding books and other such items that you can read to find out more information about the history of the realm, other nations and people. I feel it really adds to the polished feel of the game and depth of the environment. Having said that, I always collect books and think of it as a mini game in a way. I like having somewhere to keep my collection.