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http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/ One month to make a game under one hour in length. $10k prize. Anyone interested? I was thinking of using RPGMaker myself; not the most creative, I know, but the proof is in the game that comes out of it.

Fellow RPG fans, hello! My name is Felipe, and I'm currently working on a crowd-sourced book on cRPGs. After organizing the RPG Codex's Top 70 list, I decided to expand that into a full blown book. The idea is to feature in-depth reviews of over 250 great cRPGs in chronological order, from Akalabeth to Might & Magic X, plus interesting articles on the genre and interviews. All that written by RPG fans from all over the world, compiled into a beautiful book with big a colored screenshots. It is a book showing what the genre has best, and how people enjoy them. A book that every review that you read you will see that it was important for the reviewer and want to play the game he just talked. So far I've got some big developers in, like Tim Cain, Chris Avellone, Josh Sawyer (Obsidian has been very supportive ), Ian S. Frazier and Colin McComb. I also got full support and access to the content of forums like the RPG Codex and RPG Watch (including some stuff from RPGdot), DJ Old Games, some indie developers like Iron Tower Studios, Sinister Design and Rampant Games, as well as bloggers such as cRPG Addict and modders like Durante and Wesp5. Here's a small WIP preview: The entire project is entirely non-profit, so the final e-book will be freely available for download, under Creative Commons and all that. And if everything goes well I intend to make a paperback print also available, fully colored and in high-quality print, for those that want one. Non-profit as well, of course, sold at cost price. My call for aid Here's the list of games that will be in: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t-49SyrsdP0M5re68sDH9cB2MrPqVKwQQiFF_54VibI/pubhtml I'm looking for fans willing to write a review of one or two of the listed games still unassigned. You can, of course, also suggest games that should be added. The reviews specifications: There are two kinds of reviews, the ones with one page and the ones with two. These are displayed on the list. If you think that the game you're writing about needs 2 pages instead of 1, contact me and we'll discuss it. But please note that not every game needs two pages, ok? One Page reviews have up to 2000 characters, one header image and 2 screenshots + descriptions. And they have room for one short side blurb or info-box. Here's an example of a 1 page review: http://i.imgur.com/AKINvJj.png Two page reviews have up to 4200 characters, one header image and 3-4 screenshots + descriptions. They feature a developer's quote and they have room for two or three short side info blurbs or info-boxes. Here's an example: http://i.imgur.com/LfZfHEw.png You can, but don't need to provide the screenshots (in .png if you do, please), just be sure to say what you think is important to show and write the descriptions for the images. They are a good place to point out things that won't fit the main text. The developer's quote will be handled by me (unless you know a good one already). The tone can be somewhat personal, talking about how you stayed up for a whole night trying to map that dungeon in Wizardry 4, but it’s very important that a reader that knows nothing about the game is able to understand what the game really is, its strong points and occasional flaws. Don’t say that “it has great combat”; explain why it’s great. BEFORE starting to write, please post on the thread about what will you do, PM me or send an e-mail to crpgbook at gmail.com. Someone might have already taken the game, or I might have extra details to discuss. Thanks all for your time and sorry for the massive 12/12 Wall of Text.

A Kickstarter campaign launched for Zaharia recently. They have a pre-alpha demo / prototype that you can DL. I think this game looks really promising and I'm always looking for cRPGs that are not in the standard generic Tolkien style fantasy setting. And it has turn-based tactical battles, which is my favorite. Some of the proposed features: • Real time stealth system, similar to the one of Commandos series. • Nonlinearity in the narrative and interpretative aspects, allowing the player not only to choose which quest to start from, without urgent obligations, but also to make a lot of choices and then solve a problem in more than one way; • A Fallout-like open world; • Lots of choices and consequences that dynamically influence the context of the game; • A huge variety of abilities and statistics to manage, in order to craft and personalize one’s own alter-ego in every possible aspect; • An original setting created from scratch, completely different from the usual fantasy worlds and inspired to the late Medieval Persia and Arabia; • Living NPCs, provided with an IA that allows them to react dynamically to the player’s actions and to create really deep interpersonal relationships; • No fillers, like useless fights, made to extend the game’s longevity in artificial ways; • Presence of mature themes like slavery, sexuality, racism, theology, philosophy, morality, politics, and so on; • Five main factions to choose, each one deeply characterized and different from the others; • Innovative magic system that turns mages into something different from just portable siege machines; • Fights are not mandatory in most cases, and it won’t be necessary to use a character who excels at combat to end the game; • Tons of multiple choice dialogues, in order to grant the player a large range of interpretations; • No moral dualism. I'm pretty excited about this game but worried they won't reach their funding goal.

Dramatic choice and true crossroadsIn most games there is are a lot of focus to preserve the world and making every quest as accessible as possible. This normally means that you can do every quest in the game whatever choice you make. I miss the feeling of being a part of the world in many game. Most of the time you get the illusion of choices but the outcome is always the set. If you have a more sandbox view of the world where it is set when you start but then as soon as you saga begins your decisions will dramatically change where it will end and what is available. Things that I always wanted but missed are as follows: Starting wars and be able to choose sides or backstab your allies. Burning/pillaging cities/countries that will change the appearance and the mood of the city/country. Choosing to support different kings/queens and factions and then see them evolve over time. The replay value would be enormous even if some player styles might half the available content just because of the choices they make. You should still be able to choose the middle way and the get the most content for it. But not all… Social appearanceI would like to see a game were what you actually wear make sense of what you actually is saying. I mean how many times have you not been armed to the teeth while attending the king’s ball. While all other NPC:s are dressed in their fines and not one of them comments on your enormous axe and orc/barbarian party member standing next to you. Same goes when you try to try to fool the guards that you are a beggar while wearing a mithrill dragon armor. This will also make you think of what you are wearing and not just what stats it gives you. I would love to see a casual set and maybe a formal set for your inventory to switch between. In additional to the adventure set. Investments and tradeEveryone want their own house or castell in the world, but why can you never play a more business guided character. Invest in business or work as trader. Set up trade routes and negotiate trade deals. To be a wealthy adventurer that does not have just a house, but an office, employees and a home in every corner of the world. I am an old table top player, and I think that there are a lot of quests that are not being created at the moment just because they do not involve combat. I like the combat element in games but the greatest memories I have is from the story I created in my head. Not always the main story line of the game. Please add your own RPG elements that you are missing in the games made today.

Hey, you! Yes you! The guy/girl reading this thread! Do you own a PC/Mac/Linux Thing? Do you like RPGs? Do you like H.P. Loveraft? Horror genre? Adventure games? Well, it just so happens that my team and I have been making an RPG-Adventure game over the past year or so, and we've been in beta testing for about... a while. We're just now waiting on all our VO to get in. When you are not paying anyone, people tend to take their time. It's not a Cthulhu Dating Sim. Don't listen to those that say it is. Anyhow. The good news is that the gameplay is 99%. All of the functions and mechanics are in. Art is 99% (UIs and title). I just need a courageous band of brothers for the final round of beta. I also have a few rules that I would be giving you, some would be following X in the story and others Y. You get the idea. Any takers?

https://www.humblebundle.com/doublefine Everyone needs to vote for Mega Ninja Troopers. Especially if you live in the Bay Area. Don't even bother paying for more Pen Ward's games. Great writer, but that's what he should stick with.

Pretty much the title...My gamer girl and I love experiences RPGs together even if we just takes turns playing but we discovered the greatness that is the Tales series (we've already played through Symphonia, Abyss and Vesperia) and now were addicted to CO-OP RPGs and hoping more exist so I figured I ask at a few of my favorite forums. So yeah we literally JUST finished Vesperia so were looking for another one, now we really prefer a standard RPG as opposed to something like Diablo but feel free to suggest anything also We'd prefer games on NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, XBOX, XBOX 360, Wii or Gamecube since I own all those systems but if there's an awesome enough game I might hunt down the relevant system (including PS3 since PS4s release will likely lower its price). So far I'm looking into Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Diablo 3 (Xbox360), Borderlands 2 (she might not like this one), and hopefully I can find the other tales games (would appreciate a list actually)but I'm sure theres WAY more than that so please lay your suggestions on me...vague, obscure, limited release I don't care as long as you think it would be fun. So yeah go nuts suggest away

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CBGhGymP8Y Official Website Steam Page So, anyone heard of Blackguards yet? No? Good, me neither, up until I saw an article by Rock, Paper, Shotgun a couple of minutes ago that said it was now out on Steam Early Access. What is Blackguards? It's a turn-based tactical RPG set in the world of The Dark Eye (the most popular Pen and Paper RPG in Germany/Europe), Aventuria. It's made by Daedalic Entertainment, the developers of Chains of Satinav and Memoria (two adventure games set in the same world) and other adventure games like the Deponia series or the Edna & Harvey games. They've been very successful and popular within the adventure game genre, is what I'm saying. Apparently, they now want to try out a new type of game. It sounds very promising: Short version: Your character is a convicted murderer who must save the world, facing many moral choices along the way. And you won't be able to win the game by always being nice. That sounds fresh and interesting. And in my opinion, the world of The Dark Eye is more interesting and more beautiful than the Forgotten Realms, so that's another plus. The screenshots are also great, even though I'm not a huge fan of all that fancy colorful magic (but it could be argued that any RPG can look like that if the screenshots are taken at the right time, so I don't know). It's out on Steam Early Access, so it's still in development but apparently not too far from release. My personal thoughts are mixed - it's an RPG by a company that mostly made adventure games so far. And while I loved those games, they were all a little too ambitious for their own good, and this looks to be one of the most ambitious games they ever made. So, what are your thoughts? Are you interested? Is anyone already playing this? Couple of screenshots:

Hey everybody I am SO hyped to discover that Obsidian are working on a new rpg especially one that ISN'T first person which leads me to wonder...just why did isometric 3D rpgs fall out of vogue? Darklands, Wasteland, Ultima, Dungeon Seige, Fallout, Planetscape: Torment all had one thing in common; they were isometric. I suppose you could argue that as technology improved it was a natural progression to move to first person; however, I disagree, why weren't the advances in technology applied to isometric 3D? This article indicates that the genre is back in a big way, so why exactly did it fall out of favour? Best wishes

Hi all, I know that this is a long shot at best, but I cannot think of a better place to begin than the deep-end. I know there are lots of game ideas out there, and that this idea might get ignored, but I do have a Star Wars RPG idea, based on a Star Wars character I have been wanting to RP in a pen-and-paper game. It is set between episodes III and IV, and it follows a Force User who witnessed the Jedi Purge. If I was to submit this idea, to say, you guys. What would be the best way to go about that? Hoping for feedback

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.

While I nonetheless expect this to be somewhat controversial, I want to start this off by saying that I appreciate Infinity Engine games for what they are, and this thread is not about what Project Eternity should be. Rather, I ask what Project Eternity is, which is very related to what Infinity Engine games are, or even more broadly DnD-based cRPGs. The reason is that I have noticed an increasing overlap in the past several years between the "action/adventure" and "RPG" or "role-playing game" genres, and it got me thinking about what the difference between them actually is. The obvious realization is that most players don't actual roleplay in any significant capacity when they play so-called RPGs, so where does that leave the genre? Certainly some of this apparent contradiction might have to do with the fact that different players define role-playing differently, but there are certain a substantial proportion of player who can hardly be said to roleplay at all. In some ways I think action/adventure games and role-playing games might exist along a spectrum, with the ideals of one genre at either end, and most games inhabiting the continuum in between. Where do Infinity Engine games, or Project Eternity, fall on this spectrum? I for one feel that the amount of combat focus (which perhaps just comes with any DnD-based game) is somewhat action/adventure-oriented, and at times the games feel more linear than some others that feature more open worlds. Additionally, certain aspects of characters are de-emphasized and the interactivity of the world is quite limited (ability buy property and so on). This leads me to believe that the majority of games marketed as RPGs are in fact action/adventure games glorified in certain manners, rather than games designed with holistic roleplay in mind. Please leave your thoughts on these questions and vote in the poll as I am sure the results will be quite informative to me.

Hi! The Free Camera Insight stuff is further down, starting off with Assassin's Creed thoughts. Some Endorsement So I began playing Assassin's Creed and wow, what an intense story. There is SO much that can be done interestingly. But anyways, enough endorsement of the story. I have not yet gotten very far in Assassin's Creed 3 but I think I need a little bit of a break or pause, the sudden jump in setting (and location) between Revelations and AC3 is a bit off-putting. I'm gonna have to play AC3 before I can make a full judgement. Thought bubble I was playing Revelations, and sometime very early in the game I felt "Hey, wait a minute, the animation for that block+counter is in the game. What if that sequence was decided by a dice roll instead?". This made me start to think about Project: Eternity, Baldur's Gate, Numenera. In "Top-down RPG's" essence. Assassin's Gate? *-* How well would an Assassin's Creed game work in a top-down environment in the spirit of Baldur's Gate-esque RPG's? (RTWP* to be exact) [closes eyes] yes, it would work amazingly well I believe. Having a group of 6 Assassin's+Pause button, perhaps being able to control a HUGE amount of Assassin's as well in an RTS-mode battle. When further playing Revelations and getting to a "Tower Defense" session I was mindblown on many levels, but I was a little bit bitter that I had to be stuck to Ezio (Developers should make more use of a Free Camera). Strategical Thoughts/Positioning/Team Management Positioning, climbing buildings, sneak missions with the entire team (and you are in control, it was so much epic in Revelations when you were running on top of buildings and the rest of your team is running in front of you, heading towards the palace, the only thought I had was "Wouldn't it be cool if I could control this & guide it?"). So much could be done that could re-innovate top-down RP and RTS genres. Fallout 3+New Vegas Thoughts on lack of Top-Down Take Fallout 3 or New Vegas for instance, how great a feeling wouldn't it be to just, zoom out, put your camera top-down and then pan the screen how you want and control the game like the old-schools? Imo, that would make both Fallout 3 and New Vegas so much epic better instantly. Like, putting the game in completely different perspective What do you think? If you could make Fallout 3, today as it is today, into top-down, would it be the same game? Would it be a better game? A worse game? Is modification or this intent possible? Is a Free Top-Down Camera Modification for F3+FNV a possibility, or too complex to adjust? (You can zoom out in F3+FNV, but it isn't the same thing as what I am asking about, you're still stuck to the characcter). F3+FNV: How to Mod thoughts/questions * How do you add a Pause Function? Very Easy. * How do you map the Camera pan (Map-Scrolling/Map-Panning)? Easy. * How do you turn off "Character Aim" or simply "center" the character aim? Easy. (You only need VATS+Auto-Pause to make Combat flow as the Player see's fit). * How do you remap the WASD controls into a Mouse-based Point+Click control? Very Hard. I base/assess "Very Easy", "Easy" and "Very Hard" on difficulty to implement if you are a professional team+have time for it. Talking about PC-versions. Free the Camera PC Propaganda! Personal input is, I think it would be a better game (by my own preferences). It would also give BOTH F3+FNV some lost glory and appeal to the nostalgia fan-base. I bet it would! Action Camera I've never been too fond of action cameras, they force the Player into a camera position "Hey, look at this cool perspective!" "Awesome!" [300 times later] "STAHP IT!". Dragon Age: Origins is fine, it doesn't force the Player into a specific perspective (I can still pause, move around the camera etc. etc, it does force the Player into slow-motion though). But games like X-COM and Fallout 3+New Vegas that suddenly "teleports" me (the Player) to a different view and locks me to that position is frustrating after Cinematicx300 times. Thoughts? * Real-Time With Pause

Hey guys, I was scrolling across Kickstarter recently and came upon a new project from the makers of the Original Dungeon Siege games, and several other games I grew up playing that seems pretty cool called Wildman! Wildman: An "Evolutionary" Action RPG From the creative team behind Dungeon Siege 1 & 2, Total Annihilation, and the Supreme Commander Series comes the next great ARPG with real-time battle campaigns… Check it out here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uBBDO82ZWXQ Imagine a prehistoric world. Your tribe is slowly starving and as their best warrior, they have tasked you to venture out into the unexplored world and find the resources that they desperately needs to survive. As you leave the safety of your tribal cave, you’re attacked by hordes of strange beasts and dinosaurs that want to tear you limb from limb. Leaping into battle, you smash and maul your opponents — leaving their broken bodies in your wake. Your tribe is finally safe and wants to enjoy the spoils of your victory. But not you. You don’t want to settle. You want more lands... more weapons... and even bigger rewards. You are Wildman. As you explore uncharted lands and battle new enemies, you’ll discover hidden treasures, powerful weapons, and jaw-dropping technologies, as you you battle through the ages You’ll gain new skills, weapons, and armor. And as you gain victories and experience, you’ll… Unleash The Power Of Your Own Prehistoric Army… Siege enemy cities and pillage their lands... Call upon war dogs and elite units to rip your enemies apart... Unleash powerful magic on your foes to shatter their defenses... Transform into animal forms and use primal melee powers to kill the enemy warlords… Get Ready To Conquer The World… What's particularly cool is Project Mercury, a brand new visionary tech tool for developers and modders that not only allow you to have very powerful modding tools for Wildman, but for any game or project you want to use it on. It's a little tricky to explain briefly, so check out this video update! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGdQqUhKD4 learn more on the the Kickstarter page, but hurry less than a week to go! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaspoweredgames/wildman-an-evolutionary-action-rpg

The economy of a game is, in my opinion, one of the least discussed and thought, but in many ways perhaps the most important element of maintaining the fludiity and enjoyment of early, mid, and late gameplay. This is for a number of reasons, but it really boils down to the fact the economy of any RPG is dependent on two factors: 1. The player and his current state in the game 2. The world and how dynamic or static it is I'm no economist, and I do not have a formal education in economics, so I base my ideas and concepts on my experience of playing many games and RPGS, MMOs, etc. with good / bad economies and my understanding of how economics should work to maintain the most important factor: An enjoyable game. First, let's make something clear. Gameplay in an RPG is exponential, so the economy must be respectively exponential to ensure a fun experience. Many games fail to realize that not only item stats need to be exponential, but the opportunities, costs, and circumstance of an economy must be equally exponential to keep the game's economy exciting and interesting for those who get involved within it. Second, the economy must remain in a good balance between fluidity and static "constants". This means that the economy should be flexible and dependent on what players (or even NPCs) do, but needs to have a baseline - think a floor and a ceiling, but with plenty of room for excitement along the way. In the long run, the game's overall economic pulse will be going up, but should keep some proportional floor and ceiling to ensure things remain enjoyable. Lastly, the player should actually have an influence on the economy. It is so depressing when the majority of games ignore the player's input. If he spends two straight days selling gold on the national exchange, the price is going to go down. If he buys every last turtle beak for his strength potions, the prices will go up. In retrospect, NPC agents should have similar influences to make the game exciting. A lot of fun "Space-esque" freelancer games (Evochron Mercenary to name one) that were popular in the late 90s and recently have gained hype focus on the idea of utilizing and manipulating an economy in your favor. I'm not asking for insane dynamics, just a fair balance between exciting economic events (floods raising prices, etc) that will make the player feel like they are in a real, more dynamic, and enjoyable universe that is actually effected by their actions more distinctly. To recap - Make an economy that is dynamic, fluid, and ever-changing within a proportional ceiling. Let the player figure out, if he really wants beets, that buying them in a desert will cost more (or sell better) than in the farmlands. Let the economy be unique to every play experience and let the player get as much or as little involved as they want. Most of all, the economy needs to grow with the player. Money should have real value, and I should be constantly deciding if an item is worth selling, keeping, or even looting, beyond the simple fact that money becomes an irrelevant element in many late-game experiences. I'd like to hear other people's input and thoughts on how the economy should operate at this fundamental level. There are more in-depth and concrete ways of approaching this, but I'm trying to stay mostly theoretical with respect to how the game should operate its currency and process of handling funds in a very complex, but rewarding way. If the player feels they are really engaged with the economy there is a lot to be gained in playability. Skyrim sucks in a way because it's got a low ceiling, and no dynamic economy. Sorry this is a bit of a brain-fart and thus poorly structured and organized, but there are a few truths within it worth reading.

Here is a Kickstarter that judging by its comments is being backed by a lot of the same people that backed eternity. http://www.kickstart...863/sui-generis I advise you keep watching till it gets to the actual game. The first half of his pitch I found slightly off, but the game itself backs him up well. EDIT looks like they updated the pitch video so the game is shown quicker.

I love role-playing games. I enjoying playing them but I prefer to run them. One of the most frustrating things about running games is never getting to tell the story. Sometimes your players will just go a different path and miss out on something you made this can be horrible but creates some great creative challenges when forced to rewrite a scenarios in your head. Sometimes the game just never happens. I have made scenarios, settings and entire worlds that players have never set foot in. I might go into more detail with that later Anyone else ever had issues like this?

If there was only one RPG to be saved in the world I would choose.... Baldurs Gate 2 What was your decision? Choose wisely!

Earlier today as I watched the Obsidian gang gather to watch the wonderful finally of the Kickstarter campaign I heard one of the Q&A responses that got my attention. I'm a huge Firefly fan and I heard Mr. Avellone mention what a big fan he was and how much he would love to do a Firefly based RPG. Honestly I can't imagine anything better than an RPG set in the Firefly universe with Chris at the helm. I realize for the next couple years the gang is going to be working on Project Eternity and I'm all for that (I'm a backer after all), but I would love to see a grassroots effort get underway to get people moving in the direction of delivering the rights to do a Firefly RPG at Obsidian. Does anyone have any ideas how us Browncoats can get something like that off the ground? Perhaps that idea can take root here and some other Firefly fans can help shoot around some ideas on how to make something like that a reality. I mean after watching something as miraculous as a crowd funded old school RPG get the all time record for support on Kickstarter should prove to everyone that anything is possible if we believe in it and work on making it a reality. Hearing Chris' enthusiasm for Firefly made me confident that it is someone like him who should helm a project like this. Great games are made by people who really believe in their projects. I heard that kind of conviction today even in the middle of all the celebration of PE.

So, yeah, was looking for a generic Kickstarter thread, but only found a new thread was made per project. Hence me making also a seperate thread, hope it's okay. It's not even my game, but it does pique my interest. Game in question; So why does it interest me (and would probably do many obsidianites)? * RPG. Always good * Tactical combat. I personally prefer that over a button mashing of a Witcher II. Resembles Jagged Alliance or a hex-based turn-based Baldur's Gate. Several movies are on that site to show off how the combat works to see for yourself if it's something you like. * Stories, choice, consequence. Always good to have in a RPG. * Randomness makes each playthrough slightly different. More replayability in my RPG? Sign me up. * Several of the people of Off Topic Production (The Nameless Mod) work on it. Fortunately, this wont take 7 years. But it assures me that I most likely get quality. After all TNM was the one of 2 games I actually found good enough to make a fixmod for (the other being TSLRCM obviously). So yeah, I would suggest everyone to check it out and see if it's "their thing". It seems the goal hasn't been reached yet in the slightest, so every little bit helps. Hence this thread. In the hope to get a decent RPG again after being dissapointed so many times by the AAA developers these times.

Hello all, After looking at how sparkly and clean Microsoft's knob was, dripping with "exclusive" content salivation... I was wondering what about the poor saps on the other platforms?

Hi I'm Zoltan Gonda, the author of the NWN1 module series, Tortured Hearts (I & II). Me and my friend DrHoo have been working hard on a stand-alone RPG which is loosely based on these mods and now we need some material help to get the graphic and sound content done. This is why we chose Kickstarter. The title is: Tortured Hearts: Or, How I Saved the Universe. Again. Storywise, the game is DONE. Here are the features: -TH satirizes RPG cliches -Light-hearted story of a jaded, thrill-seeking adventurer -No need to play the prequels beforehand, but ofc there are refs for those who have played them -6 playable races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-orc -Classic 6 person party (you can open their inventories for instance) -Non-linear gameplay, open-ended world with 3 choke points -Over 200 areas -Over 500 NPCs -Over 100 quests -About 100-150 hours of gameplay (just like the "prequels") -A long and complicated plot -A crafting system if you like to spend your play time working -Almost 500,000 words of dialog (including henchman conversations) already written, plus a journal to keep track of quests. -A variety of henchmen who contribute in an interactive way with the PC -A henchman relationship system which can lead to romance -A character development system, first used in Newcomer