67 replies to this topic

[berelinde]

I like the orb. It adds character. And I don't care if it does anything or not, it's still cool.

Maybe Tal gets visions and he attributes them to crystal-gazing, which makes him very fond of this particular orb. So what if that particular orb is about as magical as a grapefruit, if he thinks it works!

[Solstice]

Besides, Tal doesn't care if he's insulted as long as nobody aims barbs at his sister - that's the one thing guaranteed to make him mad. But he's absolutely tickled pink that you care Tal Sees a beautiful friendship in the making, I think.

Don't be so sure. I'd happily take both Darian and Tal in a party just to see one of them, probably Lonnie, maybe Darian, lose it and see it all end in violence. Though a 2v1 wouldn't be fair, so I would have to help Darian.

I'm not so sanguine about the crystal ball. I can handle a homosexual Avariel prostitute wizard okay, but a homosexual Avariel prostitute wizard who can see into the future... I guess I'm starting to worry about a very unusual sort of Mary Sue Syndrome. A prostitute with a heart of gold is a cliche that admittedly hasn't been done for BG yet, but MSS is actually why I was kinda glad to see Darian being a pompous, bigoted jerk to Tal (no offense, Tempest, I mean it in a good way!)-not because Tal deserved it, which I don't think he did, but because it showed a very unpleasant side of a character who can at times come across as Gary Stu.

Now, I will admit I'm prone to not seeing flaws in some characters and thinking them to be casualties of MSS, but there are some mod characters who were made with the best of intentions, yet have no unpleasant character aspects, bad habits, or annoying quirks. They don't even have to run roughshod over every Bioware npc *coughchloecoughtsujathacoughkelseycough*-they can simply be flawless individuals. I know I'm not perfect, and neither is my hubsand-I am impatient and overly quick to judge, and I make a bad first impression. My husband sometimes lets power go to his head at work, and can sound like an overinflated windbag.

Not saying I think Tal or Lonnie will be a Gary Stu, but I'm just giving you a heads up.

[berelinde]

If premonitions are about as accurate as a fortune cookie, I think it would add to the NPC's character, not detract. I'm thinking along the lines of.

"Wait! That key! I've seen it before, in my crystal! Now, what was that again? Oh, yes, the usual: the hand holding it was bathed in blood. Don't know whose hand it was. Sorry, these things are never that precise. Just try to be careful, OK. Or stock up on plasters."

[Clarion]

The crystal ball was a gift from a friend, who was an absolute charlatan that used the ball to fool her audience. It was a joke from a fake to a real Diviner. Tal's visions are discombobulated past-present-future amalgamates, and he doesn't always know which is what, and trying to scry with the useless crystal ball makes it worse, but it's got sentimental value, so Tal keeps the ball anyway.

TAL: I see betrayal, but not on all sides. Hmm, I see someone betraying you, oh, two or three times. Don't worry, you're not a bad judge of character - you just won't have a choice. Now, if the vision was nice enough to tell me *who*...but no, visions are never that nice. Oh, and I doubt you should trust the mutton at the Coronet, and...

LONNIE: Oh, give it a rest. What's the point if you can't tell past from future?

Tal's visions are generally accurate, but they're never precise. Imagine making three picture flipbooks. One for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. Alone they'd all make sense, but shuffle the pages of all three together and then try to make sense of 'em. That's how Tal's visions work. A really shuffled flipbook with pages from other flipbooks thrown in for good measure.

[Clarion]

'M not dead! Just running into technical difficulties right and left, which has left me unable to do much more than think about coding. Plus, class at the local community college and my teacher pointing out that I'm dyslexic.

TAL: My visions are usually of the past, not the future, but I foresee that being a big problem when it comes time to code us.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Tal. BTW, you've had an alignment change to Neutral Good and your wisdom is being raised to 16 because that's the minimum for Diviners. Idiot I am, I thought it was just Necromancers had that particular quirk.

Lonnie, you're still a prickly kitless fighter unless you're drunk, in which case you're a marshmallow. Nothing's changed.

As far as concept goes, the one thing I'd need serious help with (aside from the coding, which I could probably do if I managed to focus hard enough) is working out banters between canon Bioware NPCs and my guys. I develop a twitch when I have to try to put words in the mouth of someone else's characters.

TAL: And how's about that interjection with the gate guardsman who originally told us we didn't have enough money to *leave* Athkatla? He is, after all, why I'm swallowing my dignity and self respect.

LONNIE: That ain't all you're swallowing!

TAL: Keep in mind, Lonnie, if I vomit with disgust, I'll be vomiting on you. I'm having a bad day, and you're not helping much.

Oh, right, that. I can word for the guard. He's not an actual character.

But, if anyone could start dialogues like Tempest did with his characters, just so I could feel out how Valygar/Anomen/Haer'Dalis/Jaheira/et al are going to react, that would be so totally awesome beyond expression

[berelinde]

Anomen: What are you insinuating, Tal? There is no fee to leave Athkatla. The city guard are a fine body of men, far above the petty bribery you attribute to them, even if they are baseborn, almost to the man.

Yoshimo: My armor-plated friend meant to say that he fears you may have run afoul of some duplicity. The guards of the City of Coin are all too eager to show those without gold the gate.

[Clarion]

TALASPHIR: Ahem. I knew that to be the case, but they still wouldn't let us through. There are good guards, and there are the guards who shouldn't *be* guards, like the ones who accept bribes not to notice the slaves being illegally dragged by them in chains. I was sorely tempted to turn the man into a squirrel, but then I'd have made my way into cell right beside CHARNAME's Imoen. The men manning the gates when Lonnie and I tried to leave insisted that we had to pay them for the privelege of leaving the city. Even Lonnie could figure out we were outnumbered, so we went looking for work. Nobody wanted to hire us, thus my turning to the last *legal* recourse, prostitution.

Anomen, I do know that most of the guards are fine men, finer than most nobleborn. But there are those few that give the rest of them a bad name.







CLARION: Thank you berelinde!!! Exactly what I need, though I don't think Anomen would be shortening Tal's name like the rest of us do. Regardless, you may have just written a banter

[Clarion]

'Kay, perhaps replying to myself is bad form, but I had this random inspiration over a chocolate chip cookie regarding romance conflict between Lonnie and Anomen, assuming CHARNAME is a paladin of some sort.

Toward the end of a particular LT that I can't remember the number of, when Anomen asks if CHARNAME would be inclined to join the Radiant Heart, and she replies (possibly, at least) that if the offer were made she would take it, and then Anomen gets all miffed and says something (yes, it's been a while since I've romanced Anomen. Bear with me) along the lines of not just anyone can be a knight of the Radiant Heart. Struck me as a little out of place when he said that to Kassandra, my paladin who was *already* a knight of the Radiant Heart, and I think Lonnie should have something to say on the matter. So, after Anomen has just told off the Bhaalspawn for wanting to join the Order:

Something like this, to be later rewritten, taking place after Anomen's LT because I can't remember it too well and I'm too lazy to look it up right now...

LONNIE: And just who are you to decide who is and is not worthy, Delryn? Because honestly, all I see is a pompous knight-wannabe who's too *pathetic* to be a real paladin like CHARNAME. At least *she* has the spine and the mettle to do what needs to be done!

(if Tal in party)

TALASPHIR: Lonnie! That was out of line, even for you. I suggest you apologize. You do dishonor to CHARNAME and Anomen both, speaking so.

(And here we realize that this idea is less than half formed and needs much further consideration, like how to form Anomen's reply to Lonnie's venom, and possible ways for CHARNAME to react, as well as looking up the lovetalk in general. Sorry, Ano fans, but he is the kind of guy who would indeed push Lonnie's jackass button. Especially if they were fighting over a pretty woman )