And if you need help with something or just want to discuss mods from a mac perspective, there's a nice forum at http://ire.mainecoon.net/yabbse/ which is well worth a visit.

(you windows-using people can of course visit too, if you like. I know jcompton has posted there a couple of times, and it doesn't seem to have hdone him any harm...)

JPS

Just a small note about quarter staves: I don't think the animations need to be changed at all. According to historical sources, skilled quarter staff fighters used thrusts as often as strikes:

And here is to be noted, that if he fights well, the staff man strikes but at the head, and thrusts presently under at the body. And if a blow is first made, a thrust follows, and if a thrust is first made, a blow follows, and in doing of any of them, the one breeds the other.

from Paradoxes of Defence by George Silver, 1599

This is of course only applicable if the creature you fight has a vaguely human anathomy, but that's the consequence of messing with scary things like reality.

(By the way, according to Silver, a good staff should be quite a bit longer than they are in the game, but I don't suppose anyone is ready to start editing the bams just to make me happy... )

Alright, then. I remembered someone talking about "poking with a stick" in another thread, but I guess it wasn't one of you guys.

I second Cernd as the indian (or should that be "native Maztikan" to be politically correct in Faerûn?) and repeat my suggestion of Jan as the guy with the screwdriver.

By the way, is there any way for us mortal users to upload pictures here or do we have to host them somewhere else?

By the way, is there any way for us mortal users to upload pictures here or do we have to host them somewhere else?

As of now, thanks to Neil, all users are able to attach files to their posts but ONLY within FanArt. Have fun!

Whee!

Umm... care to tell me how?

Right. I swear that wasn't there before you told me

Now I'll just have to find a scanner that works. And draw some pictures, of course, but that's a minor concern... Until then, I'll leave you with this, the hitherto unknown love child of Aerie and Mazzy:

That's just brilliant! And I didn't realize that the main character's initials were "PC" until he said it.

One small thing, just because I'm picky: at times the story shifts from the main character's perspective to one of the other characters. It seems to happen a bit too irregularely to be intentional, and I really think the story would have a better flow without it.

I'm especially thinking about the card game, where I think you could get the same thing across (Eddie feeling superior) by having him talk to himself instead. That's probably not the best of habits for a professional gambler, but it would fit the character and you could avoid the sudden shift.

Well, as I said; I'm picky

Looking forwards to the next part.

The HD romance over at G3 is on hold--some RL issues came up for the authors.

Perhaps someone would venture forward and offer to lend a hand

Well, I had plenty of people helping me, but it didn't... er... help.

I don't mind having it on the list, of course, but might be a good idea to mention that it is inactive right now, just to avoid giving people the wrong impression. "Currently on hold, work will begin again in June 2004", or something like that would be nice.

I like it a lot as well. I haven't played ToB much, but I didn't like how the Jaheira romance was handled ? it made her too insecure and dependent, and basically gave her lots of issues that seemed a bit out of character. I might of course be reading too much into this rather small piece of writing, but personality-wise, I think it treats Jaheira more like she was towards the end of the SoA part of the romance. Which is a good thing.

And now the number of posts having something to do with the original post has suddenly doubled. See, kids? Sarcasm really does work.

Well, I didn't mind the shifting point of view this time. It could be because the main character had actually left the building, or it could be because I got my nine hours of sleep last night.

I wasn't sure about Jaheira to begin with (probably because Keldorn could patronize her like that and live to tell the tale...), but towards the end she acted more like I expected her to.

Well, I didn't mind the shifting point of view this time. It could be because the main character had actually left the building, or it could be because I got my nine hours of sleep last night.

I wasn't sure about Jaheira to begin with (probably because Keldorn could patronize her like that and live to tell the tale...), but towards the end she acted more like I expected her to.

Isn't is amazing what a decent night's sleep will do? And, I am envious of your 'nine hours'....

As for Keldorn patronizing Jaheira.... Please keep in mind this is something of an alternate universe that first developed as a lark, so you will not always see the characters 'acting' as they do/would in the game. The interchange between Sheriff Keldorn and Jaheira is more along the lines of the old western b-movies, just as many of the phrases, actions, etc., are lifted directly from that genre. In short? I would recommend that you don't take it too seriously and you may enjoy it more.

MG

Don't worry, I'm enjoying it plenty already

As for crossovers; the only fanfic I've come close to writing owes a lot to both Raymond Chandler and H. P. Lovecraft, so I'm not put off by non-standard interpretations as such...

I think the banters are suitable for Yoshimo as he is presented in the game, and I really don't see why the kit description would be more important than that (or important at all).

Since I did most of the work, I think I can safely steal it (finding a hamster head that was big enough took me ages. Well, minutes, rather, but still):

And once I've started invading Grim's thread, I might as well continue.

EDIT: I decided that I wanted my own thread, so I removed he picture. Now Jester's next post will make even less sense than he usually does  

EDIT 2: But then I changed my mind and put it back up. Now I'm going to go to bed before I do any more strange things.

Chloe objects to Yoshimo because he flaunts his reputation as a thief,

Except that he isn't, which we just established. Were you paying attention?

Well, you established it. There's a difference.

We don't know anything about what Yoshimo did in Athkatla before he was "hired" by Irenicus. And after that, when he's working with the party, he does exactly what the player tells him to do (usually disarming traps and opening locks, which might not be "thieving", but it certainly isn't "bounty hunting" either).

The only thing that tells us that he is a bounty hunter and not just any kind of thief is his character record, which Chloe obviously hasn't read, so all she has to work with is what he does and what he says, and from that she draws the conclusion that he's a bragging thief, which she thinks is stupid and potentially dangerous. I don't see the problem, really.

JPS - Give me an example of Yoshi bragging about stealing something. Not about being very good at picking a lock, sneaking through the house, getting his man and getting out... but about being a good "Thief".

"And after that, when he's working with the party, he does exactly what the player tells him to do (usually disarming traps and opening locks, which might not be "thieving", but it certainly isn't "bounty hunting" either). "

From which we may imply that whatever his banters and character record conspire to tell us, Keldorn is actually really into slaying commoners with his Casrsomyr...

And yes - it is established that Yoshi is a bounty hunter, not a thief. It is established that if and when he boasts, he boasts about being a successful and capable hunter, whose name strikes fear into the heart of criminals.

Until someone gives some solid evidence to the contrary, this remains a fact.

What this really comes down to is this: you think that Chloe's banters with Yoshimo are unsuitable, while I think they're not. Anything either of us "finds" in the game is going to support the opinion we already had, and none of us is likely to change our mind.

The reason that I got into the discussion to start with was that you seemed to base your argument on the name of Yoshimo's class, and I tried to point out that not everyone would see that as a solid starting point. I still think your arguing is a bit shaky (in BG II terms, a bounty hunter is a thief, so "he's not a thief, he's a bounty hunter" isn't really an argument as much as a contradiction in terms), but I really don't care enough to keep this going. Good night.

Yes, you're right. My last post was rather pointless and if I had taken time to think it throught I wouldn't have posted it at all. You did two of the things that tend to annoy me most in discussions like this ? claiming that "we" had established what Yoshimo is or is not, and claiming that your interpretation of the game can "prove" something about another person's work ? but there was no need for me to be rude. Sorry.

I still don't agree with you, though

You'll have to ask JPS for permission to use the ones that aren't mine (Minsc with the silly eyes and hair, and the Minsc/Boo combo)...

Well, it's not like I can do anything about it  

(That means "permission granted", by the way)

You'll have to ask JPS for permission to use the ones that aren't mine (Minsc with the silly eyes and hair, and the Minsc/Boo combo)...

Well, it's not like I can do anything about it  

(That means "permission granted", by the way)

You could infect his computer with a copy of the WeiDU based virus that changes everyone's name to Noober...

Quiet! Don't tell them about my Sekrit Project!  

How far from Amn is the Gnoll Stronghold? Not too far, is it?

It's in the Cloudpeak mountains, isn't it? At least it's towards the bottom of the world map just like Beregost and the cloudpeak area with the dryad's tree.

Thinking of including it in Lands of Intrigue? (if not: why not include it in LoI? )

And regarding entering the fort: perhaps the original entrance has been destroyed, and now you have to enter it through one of the caves? It would probably be less work than editing the map to include a door.

The purple lips/yellow eyes one is very nice. I can't say that I've ever played with Valen, so I don't know if it fits her, but it's a very good picture.

How does it look in 38x60 pixels, by the way? That's usually the biggest problem with the portraits I make (those that are actually meant to be used in the game, that is) ? they look great in 210x330, which you only get to see for a moment in the epilogue, while the small ones that you end up staring at for hours tend to look a bit blurry...

Not too bad, if you ask me; in order:

Yellow eyes, red lips:

Yellow eyes, purple lips:

Purple eyes, purple lips:

I think the yellow eyes/purple lips looks best of these three. On my screen (12 inches, 1024x768, brightness on the lower side) the purple eyes don't really look purple at that size, they just look dark, so the yellow ones are definitely better at getting across the message of "there's something weird about her eyes".

The same thing is true for the lips (but the other way around, of course; here it's the purple ones that I like): the red ones just look like normal lips, more or less (possibly with too much lipstick...), while the purple ones show that something's going on here.

The third part! Yay!

And there will be a fourth part! Yay again!

With that out of the way, there's a thing that I've been wondering about. You rate it PG-13 for violence, horseplay and language, and I can understand that (wouldn't want children to read about talking animals, now would we?). The first part, however, is only rated for language. I admit that I'm not an expert on your strange American system of ratings, but do you really have to give a warning if you're actually using the word "expletive" as an expletive?

(and a somewhat related thought ? is it really necessary to warn about anything else than language in a written story? The only way you can include violence, sex and so on in writing seems to be through language...)