52 replies to this topic

[Aeryn]

Thanks, Kulyok, I'll add that into the next beta. Much appreciated!

What he said!

I'm thinking the only way for the PC to make it perfectly clear that "no means no" and she's not interested is to insult Haer'Dalis' pride or beliefs. And I'm not talking something childish or minor like "Your Doomguard ways are just stupid!" Something more spiteful, though I haven't had my coffee yet and can't think of an example. Aside from blatant rebuffs, I love the idea of him pursuing a not-quite-sure PC even if she's with someone else. Or even a PC who is sure and says "No, I love _____, I don't want your attentions." He'd be good for a fling whenever the PC needs a stress relief.

So far, my plotting is leading me down three different LT tracks. One for a more reserved/shy/reluctant/disinterested PC who HD must pursue. This could be anywhere from a PC already in a relationship, to a PC who is very Aerie-esque. Two would be for the PC who wants to pursue him, and I can easily see HD playing hard to get depending on how hard she pushes. Three is something I'm still debating, but it would be for a bard PC. Or, rather, a like-minded bard PC who has similar ideals/desires. A kindred spirits type of thing. Which one of these tracks the PC takes could be determined by the first dozen LTs (early stage) and how she reacts to HD's questioning, etc.

I'm glad I posted my rambling thoughts because I'm getting a better perspective on this. And I want to write it even more now. I need to do some deep poking into his past and see what I can dig up.

[Azkyroth]

Three is something I'm still debating, but it would be for a bard PC. Or, rather, a like-minded bard PC who has similar ideals/desires. A kindred spirits type of thing. Which one of these tracks the PC takes could be determined by the first dozen LTs (early stage) and how she reacts to HD's questioning, etc.

You might consider extending this to all non-lawful rogues, not just bards - I can see Haer'Dalis in a similar situation with a swashbuckler, for instance...

[Deva]

YES. This would be modsex.

I've wanted to do it myself, only I sort of didn't want to play a HD romance I'd written myself. That, and I knew I'd never finish, so I'm very, very VERY happy about this. Also, your perspective on Haer seems pretty in line with mine, so fab.

Once more, YAY.

x

[Aeryn]

Three is something I'm still debating, but it would be for a bard PC. Or, rather, a like-minded bard PC who has similar ideals/desires. A kindred spirits type of thing. Which one of these tracks the PC takes could be determined by the first dozen LTs (early stage) and how she reacts to HD's questioning, etc.

You might consider extending this to all non-lawful rogues, not just bards - I can see Haer'Dalis in a similar situation with a swashbuckler, for instance...

The more I think about it, the more I'd likely go with anyone who expresses a desire to travel, perform, see the planes (not all actors are bards I have to assume, borrowing from HD's training of Aerie). I want to write this in such a way that any PC can try to be what he wants, but alignment and perhaps even class will come into play as to how much he actually believes the PC's sincerity. I think that made better sense in my head... An example would be a LG paladin (not trying to pick on the paladins, I swear) who says, "Yeah, I'm a real rule breaker! Let's go party!!" Roleplaying wise, sure you could say that. But is HD going to buy it? I doubt it.

Regardless, I'm going to do some writing the next few weeks and try to get a skeleton for this. As I discovered with Sarevok, that's the hardest part.

[Cal Jones]

Cool. H'D is one of my least played NPCs but I'd definitely pick him up if there was a chance to romance him.
I don't see the problem in having a variety of epilogues - Nathaniel's got 8 or 9 I think - so long as you are happy to write them. (Not saying he needs 8 or 9 - but more than two is good!)

[KIrving]

I have wanted a Haer'Dalis romance since my first play through of BG2. After all the failed attempts and the rearing up of the 'Haer'Dalis Romance curse' over the years I'm somewhat fearful to keep on hoping.

I like your ideas very much. I also like that you will not be expanding the Aerie/Haer'Dalis romance or adding in a conflict. I would really like to have a situation that stops that romance from even occurring as I've always felt that it was added in mainly to give more flavour to an Aerie/male pc romance.

The more I think about it, the more I'd likely go with anyone who expresses a desire to travel, perform, see the planes (not all actors are bards I have to assume, borrowing from HD's training of Aerie). I want to write this in such a way that any PC can try to be what he wants, but alignment and perhaps even class will come into play as to how much he actually believes the PC's sincerity. I think that made better sense in my head... An example would be a LG paladin (not trying to pick on the paladins, I swear) who says, "Yeah, I'm a real rule breaker! Let's go party!!" Roleplaying wise, sure you could say that. But is HD going to buy it? I doubt it.

I hope that class doesn't play too much of a part, especially in epilogues. I rarely play bards, however something that most of the pc's I play have in common is a love of travel and adventure. I like the idea of an epilogue that shows Haer'Dalis and the pc travelling (even to Sigil if possible) and having adventures together. (a different type of 'happily ever after' perhaps )

I'd also like to see a mild Anomen conflict.
Also would there be any possibility of a chance to upgrade Haer'Dalis's personal weapons in the mod?

Edit - Also hot flirting options please! Good luck with the mod!

Edited by KIrving, 09 July 2009 - 04:46 PM.

[Azkyroth]

A thought. Haer'Dalis is apparently accustomed to seducing women he fancies into one night stands; perhaps giving the PC an option to put him on the receiving end of that sort of treatment would be one angle for developing the romance - the role reversal would be something he would have to come to terms with and would probably intrigue him.

[Epantiras]

Looks very interesting but I stopped reading after the first posts, I want to be spoiler free (about the mod content, not about BG2!)
BTW I hope you'll portray his Doomguard belief well ;-)

Post Scriptum: forgive my ignorance, what's your "current project which is in its final stages"?

Edited by Epantiras, 10 July 2009 - 06:12 AM.

[Aeryn]

Post Scriptum: forgive my ignorance, what's your "current project which is in its final stages"?

Sarevok Romance for ToB.

I'm going to do some digging to see what kind of "real" facts about HD's past I can find. So far, my search has turned up few results, so I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of filling in the blanks myself. I don't mind that, but I like to be careful about creating a conflict between my writing and anything that might already be known about him.

[Meira]

I'm going to do some digging to see what kind of "real" facts about HD's past I can find. So far, my search has turned up few results, so I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of filling in the blanks myself. I don't mind that, but I like to be careful about creating a conflict between my writing and anything that might already be known about him.

If you haven't already, you might want to search the Unfinished Business forum in PPG to see what they have gathered up about him. I don't think that Unfinished Business mod itself implements any of Haer Dalis' stuff back to the game.

[yarpen]

Yup, there's nothing in-mod, but at forum there are sketches of two quests. In my opinion they aren't best-written, and HD already has his own, very extensive quest already. But maybe dialogues and new characters can be helpful.

[Kulyok]

I feel these non-finished UB quests are jinxed, myself. Besides, it requires hours of mundane work(everyone knows that writing NPCs is a much more interesting part than endless "What do I have to do?" - "Do you have it yet?" and "Well done"-s.), high levels of coding and testing(we're talking about existing game material here, not brand new quests, so our possibilities for full compat with other mods are limited - are you sure you want that?) - and, of course, as yarpen said, Haer has a cool quest of his own already.

(whisper) To be *completely* honest, writing PC-initiating flirts is quite boring, too, compared. (sigh) I mean, writing romance talks is *interesting*, but ten "hold his hand" responses? From my experience, not so much. So, yeah, when I think about quests, I know that I have PC-initiated, NPC-initiated flirts ahead of me, plus romance-related conflicts, banters and obligatory romance events for SoA, and all ToB content, so it may be possible I just won’t have the strength for the quests – as it happened with first versions of Xan, for example.

Then again, maybe it's premature to even talk about it - I mean, it's only started, and ToB part is still in project. I seriously wish you best of luck with finishing this thing - I know good writing takes serious time and dedication, and I just hope real life allows it.

[Epantiras]

I'm going to do some digging to see what kind of "real" facts about HD's past I can find. So far, my search has turned up few results, so I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of filling in the blanks myself. I don't mind that, but I like to be careful about creating a conflict between my writing and anything that might already be known about him.

It could be useful to do some researches about Planescape/Sigil lore and/or play PS:T if you haven't yet. Lots of things, like H'D's obsession with Entropy and Doom, make more sense after playing PS:T imho.

[Aeryn]

To be perfectly honest, I'm not all that keen on trying to resurrect someone else's ideas as far as incomplete quests, even if they are the ideas of the original creators. In my limited experience, it then becomes more of a chore and less of an enjoyable experience.

My goal, if it can even be said that I have a goal this early on, for the moment is to get a completed romance arc (or four) in rough draft form. It will take a lot of time. But, if I can do that, I know I can do the rest because it's merely filling in the holes from there. I'm not even going to think about quests or additional content aside from a romance until I get to that point because it will bog me down and distract me and probably make my interest fade away. I don't want that to happen.

And I guess I'm weird because I like writing PC initiated flirts. It's the NPC initiated ones that are bleh for me. They always end up too long and look more like LTs than flirts.

[witya]

In short: this would be lovely. ^^

[Meira]

I don't know if these help, maybe you already have this info, but I put here the links I used when I researched the planes/tieflings/factions/etc. for Amber. It can't hurt!

Lady Cage's Mush
A Tiefling's Exultation
Brix's Guide to Sigil
Planescape: Sigil's Factions

Edited by Meira, 11 July 2009 - 10:13 AM.

[Aeryn]

Ooo that is helpful! Thank you. I'll look through it in the next few days and try to immerse my brain in HD's midset. (The shift from Sarevok to Haer'Dalis is...somewhat painful. ) Since my husband is on vacation for the next week and will be entertaining the kids, I might actually be able to do some heavy duty plotting...

[xdeathplanetx]

Since my husband is on vacation for the next week and will be entertaining the kids, I might actually be able to do some heavy duty plotting...

wow how lucky u are! i know this is out of the topic but any ideas to suggesr me to do the same wiht my bf? a week all alone... is heaven!

[Aeryn]

wow how lucky u are! i know this is out of the topic but any ideas to suggesr me to do the same wiht my bf? a week all alone... is heaven!

Bribery works for me.

I want to throw this out there and see what people think of it. I'm absolutely not saying this is what I intend to do - I'm just seeing what the response is to it. What would you all think if bringing Yoshimo to Spellhold was required? I'm not going to elaborate beyond that, but something popped into my head and I kind of like it, but I'm flexible and I'd rather see what people think before developing it father than "random idea" status. I'm not fond of requirements personally, but this particular one just seems very convenient.

[Azkyroth]

Since my husband is on vacation for the next week and will be entertaining the kids, I might actually be able to do some heavy duty plotting...

wow how lucky u are! i know this is out of the topic but any ideas to suggesr me to do the same wiht my bf? a week all alone... is heaven!

Have you tried detailed descriptions of what he'll be coming home to? If done right, that certainly might work on me...

I want to throw this out there and see what people think of it. I'm absolutely not saying this is what I intend to do - I'm just seeing what the response is to it. What would you all think if bringing Yoshimo to Spellhold was required? I'm not going to elaborate beyond that, but something popped into my head and I kind of like it, but I'm flexible and I'd rather see what people think before developing it father than "random idea" status. I'm not fond of requirements personally, but this particular one just seems very convenient.

How are you going to make it clear to people who don't necessarily read readmes that they'll need to do that? Or do you care about them? (Bluntly).

Edited by Azkyroth, 11 July 2009 - 11:44 PM.