As regards #1, conversations can be interesting and amusing without necessarily being competitions with "winners" and "losers". Cernd and Jaheira would tend to be very supportive of one side of Chrysta while Korgan, if he tolerates her at all, would at least be an exemplar for the other while Edwin and Haer'Dalis might, respectively, have a fourth and a fifth take on her, none of which (except Edwin's) would involve winning and losing.
Also, no modder is equally familiar with or has equal respect for all the official NPCs. So, to the degree that a mod NPC is permitted to shine too extensively at the expense of the official ones, it's very often because the modder either doesn't know or heartily dislikes the official NPC in question. If you recognize such a situation in your own writing, that's a good time to call for volunteers for the other half of the banter. You would still, certainly, set the framework for it but getting help from someone else who does know and like the other NPC tends to produce a livelier talk on both sides.
Hendryk's Content
There have been 74 items by Hendryk (Search limited from 29-May 23)
#193812 The Chrysta Code
Posted by
on 18 March 2005 - 05:14 AM
in
Chrysta
#193817 The Chrysta Code
Posted by
on 18 March 2005 - 05:29 AM
in
Chrysta
As regard to #5, I sort of doubt you will take that so seriously as to under-write Chrysta's story. Still, should you be so tempted, please remember that hardly anyone here would play BG2 again without a new and interesting mod to make it worthwhile. So if the focus seems to you, at times, to shift a bit too firmly to Chrysta, bear in mind that your target audience will be perfectly ok with that.
#192783 TC Idea
Posted by
on 12 March 2005 - 08:03 PM
in
IE Mod Ideas
Iggwilv's daughter was a charming girl. Killed a couple of my favorite henchmen over her.
*sigh* Guess all I can do is wish renewed health and long life to your 'puter.
*sigh* Guess all I can do is wish renewed health and long life to your 'puter.
#192778 TC Idea
Posted by
on 12 March 2005 - 06:52 PM
in
IE Mod Ideas
Ah, the real ToEE; the slavelords; tomb of horrors, against the giants and then the descent to meet the queen of the demonweb pits. Iuz the Old, Ivid the Mad and Mordenkainen, Tenser, Rary, Otiluke and too many other delightful mages to count.
I do hope you set it before the sad events of the Greyhawk Wars. To me, it was a far more charming place prior to the enforced political cohesion that occurred then.
I do hope you set it before the sad events of the Greyhawk Wars. To me, it was a far more charming place prior to the enforced political cohesion that occurred then.
#214922 stoopid $15,000 requirement
Posted by
on 12 July 2005 - 04:46 PM
in
IE Mod Ideas
The PC isn't the only adventurer in Amn. If a quest is deferred too long, another group could take it up and succeed. The other group (doing the Unseeing Eye, DeArnise Keep, Umar Hills and/or Trademeet maybe) would be of opposite alignment to the PC, higher level, better equipped and completely obnoxious about succeeding at something which the PC hadn't dared to attempt.
As for Immy, another choice (since she somehow gains a million + XP in Spellhold as is) would be to make her more powerful, the longer the PC waits to rescue her but also either TN or NE. In either of those alignments she wouldn't be the chirpy, faithful "little sister" anymore. In fact, NE Imoen might do something like turn coat and fight the party along side Bodhi in the Spellhold dungeon, having been converted into a willing bait for the PC by her kind host.
As for Immy, another choice (since she somehow gains a million + XP in Spellhold as is) would be to make her more powerful, the longer the PC waits to rescue her but also either TN or NE. In either of those alignments she wouldn't be the chirpy, faithful "little sister" anymore. In fact, NE Imoen might do something like turn coat and fight the party along side Bodhi in the Spellhold dungeon, having been converted into a willing bait for the PC by her kind host.
#193049 On the roof of the Duchal Palace
Posted by
on 15 March 2005 - 01:40 PM
in
Mega Mod Help
It's not a door. It doesn't highlight, for instance, when you initialize cheats and then CTRL-4. From the x-y coordinates, it seems to be a Closed Vertex - whatever that is - for Dor01081 to the ducal palace. Just got misplaced somehow. It exists at the same location in BG1 but I don't know if it would change the cursor there
#198024 Non-vindictive Mod Rant & Praise thread
Posted by
on 04 April 2005 - 06:27 PM
in
Chrysta
Another important thing for me is that the character was well-grounded in Faerunian reality. I prefer it over dropped-in characters and characters with hard/impossible-to-believe storyline or origins.
An excellent point and one I largely share. However, one does have to admit that "Faerunian reality" does include an awful lot of critters that weren't born/hatched/cloned/spawned/sprouted on Faerun. Where this sort of "dropping in" is just an excuse for an Undead/half-dragon/half-beholder/paladin/sorcerer/who-turns-lycanthrope-under-the-full-moon NPC, well...yeah. What you said.
Otoh, an alien NPC who isn't overpowered and who does have a plausible reason for being on Faerun and cooperating with the PC isn't automatically a poor choice just because he/she/it is of non-standard race. It depends on how thoroughly the background is worked in, how consistently it's applied and on how interesting or amusing it is. In other words, it all depends on the imagination and skill of the writer - and that's the case, too, for the standard cleric-next-door.
#197250 Non-vindictive Mod Rant & Praise thread
Posted by
on 01 April 2005 - 07:44 AM
in
Chrysta
You forgot "manages to intimidate Korgan"
that's worse than the others, in my opinion.
Heheh. You beat me to that one. It's certainly right up there with reducing Jaheira to awed acquiescence and out-talking Edwin or Jan.
Couple things though. First, nobody's going to write an NPC if the author isn't interested/amused by that NPC. So some bias in favor of an NPC is almost inevitable because the author is going to try to make the NPC interesting to others also. The most an author can do is be aware of this syndrome and at least consider the objections of others regarding the most serious failures to self-edit. But you have to accept, too, that there are so many others with as many particular points-of-view that no one, not even the author, is ever going to be perfectly satisfied with the result.
Second, some NPCs will normally out-shine most, or even all, the official ones within the area of their particular expertise. For instance, I once wrote some dialogues for a character, now, alas, defunct, whose backstory included a long tour of duty in the New Lands. Because of this experience, no one, not even Viconia, was thought better able to discuss the effects of culture clashes in the game world, though the character in question was otherwise neither a great intellect nor outstandingly empathetic. The point is that general injunctions to the effect that "you can't do this" or "never do that" can and should be broken in individual mod NPC cases for specific reasons. Even if an author produces an ubermensch NPC; one who is in fact superior to all the official ones in all ways and whose actions and banters confirm this superiority, if the rationale is appropriate and the official NPC characterizations are respected, then really the only valid criticism is that such a character is not to your taste.
So, while all these lists show a great deal of thought and concern and make their quite valid points, they shouldn't, I wouldn't say, be regarded as a check list against which to grade a mod or all mods. Authors write NPCs for fun. If the scope for permissible fun is drawn too tightly, then there will never again be a new character for the game and that would be a greater pity than infraction of all these rules together.
#198216 Non-vindictive Mod Rant & Praise thread
Posted by
on 05 April 2005 - 03:59 PM
in
Chrysta
I think it is - or close enough that it does not matter
Naah, I just saw a Romance Mod that gets you lovin' a Kobold NPC, I kid you not. I'm not positive, but I think the Kobold was blue, too...and if that isn't unlimited, I don't know what is.
Drat! I've got a female PC that I've been saving up to romance a kobold. But she wants a purple kobold monk who is psionic. Still too limited for me.
#197286 Non-vindictive Mod Rant & Praise thread
Posted by
on 01 April 2005 - 09:56 AM
in
Chrysta
I'd submit that characters have been designed with that rationale in mind and it has proven largely unsatisfying to a large segment of the player base. Saying "My character is more awesomer because he had this really awesome background and was born into a family of awesomeness and trained for awesomeness at an early age and has a special Awesome Master kit which gives him the great abilities of the ancient Awesomes" means that you have created a character with a "rationale" that explains why they're so awesome, but doesn't at all explain how such a character can really be taken seriously in a game alongside rather less awesome peers.
You can explain away anything you like, but after a while, credibility is stretched pretty thin for a lot of players. It's not necessarily enough to simply explain why somebody is the Second Coming--some players are rather puzzled why such a thing belongs in the game in the first place.
No argument. I wouldn't bother downloading a "superhero" mod myself. In fact, my personal list of modding do's and don't's is quite extensive and almost all of it appears here in one form or another. I was merely suggesting that no consensus of player opinion, no matter how well thought-out or grounded in past experience, should be construed as an a priori straightjacket for any conceivable mod. If someone tries such a thing and, in popular estimation, fails, that still shouldn't absolutely prohibit the next person from trying.
Put prospective modders on notice as to what has hitherto been found most generally acceptible? Certainly. Establish a pretense that Moses bore a recently rediscovered third tablet from Mt Sinai bearing these injunctions? No.
#196710 Non-Spoilery Draft of Chrysta's Joining Dialogue
Posted by
on 30 March 2005 - 02:08 AM
in
Chrysta
Well, another cover for that is a statement in the read-me that the Chrysta experience will be greatly diminished if the PC is a dunce, a fool or an uncharismatic lout.
#196724 Non-Spoilery Draft of Chrysta's Joining Dialogue
Posted by
on 30 March 2005 - 02:53 AM
in
Chrysta
Provided we add a disclaimer that the same limitations do not necessarily apply to the mod leaderWell, another cover for that is a statement in the read-me that the Chrysta experience will be greatly diminished if the PC is a dunce, a fool or an uncharismatic lout.
What, then, shall be disclaimed on behalf of followers of that leader? Evolution?
#192776 Need Help with Aran Linvail's Quest
Posted by
on 12 March 2005 - 06:29 PM
in
Big Picture
Then check the globals 'AranJob' and 'LassalVampires'. Each should be set to 3. If they already are, or setting them there doesn't work, then one of your mods would seem to be interferring.
#192687 Need Help with Aran Linvail's Quest
Posted by
on 12 March 2005 - 09:03 AM
in
Big Picture
To finish the first visit to Bodhi's lair, you must stake the southern-most of the three coffins in the room where the golem was. If you can't, that means that you haven't killed the vampire that occupies it. Make sure you killed Tanova and Lassal in the room of blood and blades. IIRC, it's one of them that retires to that particular coffin.
#200976 My modding team is useless
Posted by
on 18 April 2005 - 06:15 AM
in
Chrysta
True, but this is a conversation, not a learned lecture; therefore, a reference or so, rather than the full catalogue, is more appropriate.
#200988 My modding team is useless
Posted by
on 18 April 2005 - 07:00 AM
in
Chrysta
Heheh. First, reserve your prefix for variable names. Then the avian species for HD. Ah well.
Considering its habits, I had thought that the cuckoo was actually the best choice for Chrysta but it has a strong and undesirable connotation of frivilous insanity, at least in the US. And nomenclature like Hairy Western Nuthatch doesn't trip too felicitously from the tongue.
Greater Titmouse anyone?
Considering its habits, I had thought that the cuckoo was actually the best choice for Chrysta but it has a strong and undesirable connotation of frivilous insanity, at least in the US. And nomenclature like Hairy Western Nuthatch doesn't trip too felicitously from the tongue.
Greater Titmouse anyone?
#190828 More accurate paperdoll animations
Posted by
on 01 March 2005 - 10:03 AM
in
IE Mod Ideas
Since the robe or armor is an integral part of each character's basic animation, a list of problems for the easy way would include:
Halflings have no mage animation at all.
Half-orcs and female dwarves and gnomes have a mage animation but no paper doll.
Male human and half-orc animations acquire, rather noticeably, a mage's beard.
So the graphic-intensive version would be to copy the BAMs out, erase the heads, hands and feet from each frame and then try to get it function in coordination with the normal avatar as though it were a shield or helmet. Along, possibly, with an actual shield or helmet.
No thanks.
A question though. If you just erased the beards as necessary, would the game accept an icon of type A5 or M5 if that's how you decided to name the new avatars? Or is there another way to get an additional set of character BAMS to work without overwriting an existing set?
Halflings have no mage animation at all.
Half-orcs and female dwarves and gnomes have a mage animation but no paper doll.
Male human and half-orc animations acquire, rather noticeably, a mage's beard.
So the graphic-intensive version would be to copy the BAMs out, erase the heads, hands and feet from each frame and then try to get it function in coordination with the normal avatar as though it were a shield or helmet. Along, possibly, with an actual shield or helmet.
No thanks.
A question though. If you just erased the beards as necessary, would the game accept an icon of type A5 or M5 if that's how you decided to name the new avatars? Or is there another way to get an additional set of character BAMS to work without overwriting an existing set?
#190791 More accurate paperdoll animations
Posted by
on 01 March 2005 - 05:40 AM
in
IE Mod Ideas
The item animations exist already. Why wouldn't a character with a fighter avatar look the same in a mage robe as a pure mage? It would seem that it would be a matter of adding to the game parameters to allow different classes access to the different paperdoll wardrobes and avatar outfits.
I have no idea how this is controlled by the game unfortunately but it wouldn't seem to call for any new graphics at all. At most renamed copies of the existing files.
I have no idea how this is controlled by the game unfortunately but it wouldn't seem to call for any new graphics at all. At most renamed copies of the existing files.
#200375 LONG Suggestion: Affairs
Posted by
on 15 April 2005 - 06:09 AM
in
Imoen Relationship
Ah, that's why I never heard of it. Don't like the touchy-feelie stuff myself.
#212285 Lets all FAQ Chrysta
Posted by
on 26 June 2005 - 05:15 AM
in
Chrysta
Ah, he's around somewhere; just distracted. Supposed to be back in a week or so.
#198276 Keldorn <3
Posted by
on 06 April 2005 - 01:00 AM
in
IE Mod Ideas
Our RL manners and morals are not those of Faerun. And Keldorn is, besides Good, also highly Lawful which means that the structure and customs of society, including expectations of and about the nobility, would also have a very strong claim upon him. Keldorn certainly couldn't just brush all that aside merely to avoid a painful choice for his own case.
#195322 It is Good to be Neutral
Posted by
on 24 March 2005 - 05:48 AM
in
Chrysta
There are also two distinct types of Neutrals. The philosophical Neutral (aka, Jaheira) sees Neutrality as a positive reconciliation of all conflict; as something good (small 'g') to be upheld for its own sake. The indifferent Neutral simply doesn't care, in that abstract, about Law or Chaos or even Good or Evil. It's simply the default alignment that's left over after any positive commitment has been removed.
As a newly-minted, sentient creature, Chrysta would probably fall into the latter camp of Neutrality.
As a newly-minted, sentient creature, Chrysta would probably fall into the latter camp of Neutrality.
#210068 It is Good to be Neutral
Posted by
on 14 June 2005 - 01:24 AM
in
Chrysta
There's a practical aspect, too. As noted, druids are charged with the natural, ecological balance while the moral and ethical imperatives of other alignments are merely human concerns. Specifically, civilized human concerns. So experience would have shown the druids that whenever Law or Chaos, Good or Evil predominates in human society, then the natural environment will be more subject to stress from that society than if the human elements were balanced and could be played off against one another. So it's not a matter of core faith for the druid, just "practical politics" to keep human civilization balanced also.
Such druidical concern would apply even to the hardest test case of other alignments, NG. If a society were overwhelmingly NG, it would increase in numbers so rapidly as to overwhelm the wild lands within a few generations. So druids would have to prune it back to save what their care is.
Such druidical concern would apply even to the hardest test case of other alignments, NG. If a society were overwhelmingly NG, it would increase in numbers so rapidly as to overwhelm the wild lands within a few generations. So druids would have to prune it back to save what their care is.
#195675 It is Good to be Neutral
Posted by
on 25 March 2005 - 08:01 PM
in
Chrysta
While I see a lawful good pc being deeply saddened about killing the drow-hunting party, they don't plan to do so and are merely defending themselves, so I don't think it constitutes an alignment problem.
I guess. It would've nice if Bioware had included at least the appearance of an RPing option to talk one's way past it. As portrayed, just smack down another random encounter in the UD without a word, it'd be problem.
I suppose Bioware would say they didn't include anything like that because it would've just been unavailing chatter and they had word-count limits to observe and deadlines to meet. Still about the suckiest thing in the game from a LG perspective though.
#199894 It is Good to be Neutral
Posted by
on 13 April 2005 - 03:28 AM
in
Chrysta
In BG1, Edwin wants you to murder Dynaheir as the price of his joining the party. In BG2 he orders you to murder the mage, Rayic Gethras, as a part of the MaeVar quest that is required before he will join. An NPC who suborns the assassination of rival mages for two games running ain't NG.
