End of the Week with Major Mal Drizzt Edition

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

1979.
Summer.
That was the first time I saw a Drow.

I was introduced to DnD the year before by my mum on vacation. We had a good time, my mom as the DM, and the rest of the people on vacation playing various classes. I was an Elf. Yep, Elf as a class. I think I died being bit by a poison spider.

Everyone else went on with their normal lives, I became an addict. Those AD&D books are burned into my mind from those early years. Every picture memorized. Every list known, and usually I can still remember what page they were on. Lucky for me we had a great bookstore in my hometown that had a huge game section. My DM bought G1-3 (The giants series) and D1-3 the Drow series. A Drow? What was that? Evil elves that hate everything good in the world? Sparks the imagination. Imagine Elrond not only bad, but super powerful and EVIL, not just evil. Finally a villain worthy of my hero Lannon's time. Remember this was the days of dungeon crawls, not high drama or 'storytelling is king' that the game has evolved into.

On it went, defeating the Drow and their nefarious plans, traveling the Underdark for about a year, Kao-toa piercers, Shriekers, Xorns, a purple worm (who ate our human paladin), mind flayers, and other nasties. Then Q1 came out. Waaait. We are going to fight a goddess? On a different plane, in her home? And she has a AC of -10?!? We all gleefully died that afternoon, and even though a year of a good character was lost, we had a ton of fun.

2012.
Forgotten Realms, really?
Pinch me!

Lolth is back in my life, little Drow are running around the office, and our destination is the Forgotten Realms? Seriously, this is a dream come true. I have to chuckle about all the arguments I had with my parents back in the 80's about wasting my time with D&D and designing my own games and worlds. I guess I won those arguments 25 years later…

So now you know why we have been busy, and hopefully some confusion of what we have been doing is clearer.
In the short term, we are wrapping up a bugfix-only patch hopefully today for next week, and tromping along with Update 13.
Most of the patch will fix things we broke in December. There is some fixes to Challenges, loot and lag. And that is about it.

Maj

EDIT: See how excited I am? Go Patriots! I feel so ashamed. Well, on the day after the anniversary of the Snow Bowl when all of NE fell in love with a kicker, and all of Oakland was wondering what a tuck rule was may we as fans get a fantastic game on Sunday.

[stainer]

This pleases Lolth (All Hail).

[grodon9999]

All hail Lolth.

[TheDearLeader]

I just hope the new FR "Drow" that we fight at higher levels don't have the insane SR that Epic Drow in eOoB/eBoB/eTTT have, and more like the Epic Drow in the challenge quests. High, but possible if you actually invest in Spell Penetration.

[Elegorne]

All Hail Lolth.. /genuflect

(and +1 to grodon, just for the sig :D)

[Qezuzu]

All hail Lolth....

[NytCrawlr]

1979.
I was an Elf. Yep, Elf as a class.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I started with 2nd ed., but we tried the D&D Rules Cyclopedia version of the game for a bit after some burn out. Despite its simplicity, I think it was one of the versions I enjoyed the most.

http://greywulf.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cyclopedia.jpg


Keep up the good work.

[Captain_Wizbang]

Thanks fir the update.

Awesome stuff to hear about your mom as DM.

Good to know us old hippies had a positive impact on someone other than whale watchers.

[GoldyGopher]

The All Mighty CUBE is not pleased with all this worship of the Blasphemous Demon known as Lolth or Lloth in Drowish.

Throw aside this impure She-Spider and join me in the worship of the perfect being.

All Hail the Cube for it is perfect on six sides.

[stainer]

The All Mighty CUBE is not pleased with all this worship of the Blasphemous Demon known as Lolth or Lloth in Drowish.

Throw aside this impure She-Spider and join me in the worship of the perfect being.

All Hail the Cube for it is perfect on six sides.

/wiggily fingers smiting the blasphemer

[ComicRelief]

Hmmm...if the "Forgotten Realms" are remembered by so many, how can they (still) be forgotten?

Oh, for the good ol' days of the (original) Unearthed Arcana! {Talk about 'forgotten realms'....}
;)

[grodon9999]

The All Mighty CUBE is not pleased with all this worship of the Blasphemous Demon known as Lolth or Lloth in Drowish.

Throw aside this impure She-Spider and join me in the worship of the perfect being.

All Hail the Cube for it is perfect on six sides.

Get a rope, some pliers, and a blowtorch.

[SardaofChaos]

The All Mighty CUBE is not pleased with all this worship of the Blasphemous Demon known as Lolth or Lloth in Drowish.

Throw aside this impure She-Spider and join me in the worship of the perfect being.

All Hail the Cube for it is perfect on six sides.

Seven sides.

[blkcat1028]

This is the one I started with...

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb343/nazgul748/dnd_BasicRule_s.jpg

My copy was published in the late 70s though.

[GoldyGopher]

/wiggily fingers smiting the blasphemer

Thy Cube will protect Thee from thy lowly incantations for thy irreverent Demon for she means nothing to Thee.

[Rhysem]

So the funny thing here to me... years ago I played Asheron's Call. Leafcull, in particular. And the guy who recruited me into the game was in a monarchy... of displaced drow. Now drow come to DDO, the Turbine game I'm currently playing. The circle is complete.

Also, that's why I couldn't make heads or tails of lol-this-coming.com as a domain they registered. Who? What? Lolcats in ddo?

[Thrudh]

1981 for me.

We did G1-G3 Against the Giants (my favorite) and D1-D3 that summer.

I never made it to Q1 because we all died in D3 (or maybe D2?)... :)

Looking forward to finally defeating Lloth.

Edit: My ranger's name was Aragon. Man I was original... I sure loved that +1 damage PER LEVEL against those giants... He wasn't nearly as awesome against the drow... :mad:

[Scraap]

Eight legs good.
Six sides bad.
baa ram ewe.
Thanks for the update maj.
That physics upgrade comes up next update, not next patch then?

[Uska]

yeah but originally the vault of the drow was in greyhawk a much better world but thats ok I am excited we are getting a hopefully awesome expansion even if it includes the I wish they were forgotten realms and oh yeah I started playing june 1975

[DANTEIL]

Oh now you have gotten me on a bit of D&D nostalgia -- I started in 1979 or thereabouts and I have all those modules in a box somewhere. I never had a consistent enough group to play through them all, but loved pouring over them and reading all the details. I can't wait to see what you guys do in the same world.

AC -10 yes!

[smatt]

Nice Maj.... :)

[sephiroth1084]

Any chance of you guys finally fixing the bug with items that grant extra uses of Turn Undead, Rage, Uncanny Dodge, Action Boost?

To be clear, if you take the item off, or die, you lose however many charges it would grant. That makes sense if you're at max and it is just restoring you to what you would have had without the item, but it does so every time. If you Rage and die, you essentially lose 2 rages. If you die again, after being raised, you lose another. If you swap gear a lot, you can bring yourself to zero charges.

[Missing_Minds]

This pleases Lolth (All Hail).


All hail Lolth.

As stated before, unslimed heathens! This is not Faerun, she can not save you here.

For.. These... Are... FORUMS!!!!

Where the Cube is the mightiest of all.

[stainer]

As stated before, unslimed heathens! This is not Faerun, she can not save you here.

For.. These... Are... FORUMS!!!!

Where the Cube is the mightiest of all.

You will think Cube when her reign starts, light dweller.

[CanuckWisdom]

Any chance of you guys finally fixing the bug with items that grant extra uses of Turn Undead, Rage, Uncanny Dodge, Action Boost?

To be clear, if you take the item off, or die, you lose however many charges it would grant. That makes sense if you're at max and it is just restoring you to what you would have had without the item, but it does so every time. If you Rage and die, you essentially lose 2 rages. If you die again, after being raised, you lose another. If you swap gear a lot, you can bring yourself to zero charges.

I dont think Ive ever seen the extra turns. I havnt really been looking tbh, but its because Ive never noticed it work in the first place.

[gloopygloop]

Most of the patch will fix things we broke in December. There is some fixes to Challenges, loot and lag. And that is about it.

Maj

This makes me very happy. It's tough to get a company to make a release that only fixes things and makes existing products better instead of introducing new things to sell.

Kudos for making a bug fix patch.

[Havok.cry]

When we face Lloth the first time, please have her eating drizzt. Not eating him alive, I hope for him to already be dead, his body consumed and her eating his soul so that it would take a miracle/wish spell that is not in the game to bring him back. Maybe even start things this way (with all the other uber NPCs getting eaten too) kind of like the whole acute delirium situation.

Also I imagine this will involve alot of spiders/driders. I request spider climb boots/spell. Not for the climbing part as I do understand that it could break the game, but for the immunity to web part. You have items that cover all the other parts of FoM so I wouldn't think this would be too much to ask.

Edit: Some of my most memerable games involved a high grass plain that was inhabited by bullettes and purple worms... I hope we get a wilderness that has mosters that will swallow us whole, them are the good times (our strategy involved feeding them kobolds or other expendables till they were full and went away. Of course our GM was throwing em at us at lvl 1 onwards lol)

[waterboytkd]

But why Forgotten Realms? Why not have Lolth be an archdemon bound to the abyss during the Age of Demons, whose influence has been spreading through the Underdark (aka Khyber), specifically to the drow tribes living in the deep caves, and now she must be stopped?

Why take us to a different world entirely? There's so much more in Eberron that could be explored and played with, yet it feels like Turbine is just abandoning it. FR has been around a long time, and Drizzt made it huge, but really, what does FR offer you in terms of story that Eberron does not? This feels like a loss of focus in the creative elements of the game just to cash in on a bigger (and in my opinion, much more bland) brand.

And the worst, it seems to be influencing mechanics! Why would drow get a new and improved Tempest that adds in scimitar specialization as a racial tree, when it's very clear in Eberron lore that Valenar Elves are the undisputed masters of the scimitar. It's like mechanics decisions are being made to pander to a Drizzt model for character creation, and established lore in the game's (now primary, I guess) world is simply ignored.

Not a fan.

[parvo]

1979.
...On it went, defeating the Drow and their nefarious plans, traveling the Underdark for about a year, Kao-toa piercers, Shriekers, Xorns, a purple worm (who ate our human paladin), mind flayers, and other nasties. Then Q1 came out. Waaait. We are going to fight a goddess? On a different plane, in her home? And she has a AC of -10?!? We all gleefully died that afternoon, and even though a year of a good character was lost, we had a ton of fun...

Warms my heart :D:mad::D:mad:. Only with the risk of loss comes such heroics and ultimately a memory that lasts a lifetime.

Stay Hard MMP
-parvo

[oradafu]

But why Forgotten Realms?

Whether you like Forgotten Realms or not, it is THE D&D setting that most people are familiar with. It's like Star Trek with Capt Kirk and Spock: it doesn't matter if the quality of the writing/acting/effects are individually or collectively better on the other incarnations of Star Trek, the original will be the one people clamor for. Forgotten Realms is the same way.

Personally, I don't have a problem with this. Heck, this will pump a bit of more juice into the game. If this works out fairly well for all parties, there might be additional planes: Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Dragonlance...

[RedDragonScale]

This is the one I started with...

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb343/nazgul748/dnd_BasicRule_s.jpg

My copy was published in the late 70s though.

Same here. My first character was a Magic User (I forget his name). My second one was a Thief named Raúl.

Ahh...the memories. :)

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

This is the one I started with...

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb343/nazgul748/dnd_BasicRule_s.jpg

My copy was published in the late 70s though.

Yep "In search of the Unknown"

[waterboytkd]

Whether you like Forgotten Realms or not, it is THE D&D setting that most people are familiar with. It's like Star Trek with Capt Kirk and Spock: it doesn't matter if the quality of the writing/acting/effects are individually or collectively better on the other incarnations of Star Trek, the original will be the one people clamor for. Forgotten Realms is the same way.

Personally, I don't have a problem with this. Heck, this will pump a bit of more juice into the game. If this works out fairly well for all parties, there might be additional planes: Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Dragonlance...

Yeah, I get that. Still bums me out a bit.

However, if there was a jaunt to Dark Sun, with Thri-Kreen (and maybe Half Giant and Mul) added as player races, and a couple new trees added to the classes (Gladiator, Defiler, Preserver), and maybe even Psion added to the game, I would forgive just about any foray into FR. Hell, I'd even forgive a giant Fanboy "I <3 Drizzt" quest/quest chain/entire adventure pack in exchange for Dark Sun...

[Urist]

Whether you like Forgotten Realms or not, it is THE D&D setting that most people are familiar with. It's like Star Trek with Capt Kirk and Spock: it doesn't matter if the quality of the writing/acting/effects are individually or collectively better on the other incarnations of Star Trek, the original will be the one people clamor for. Forgotten Realms is the same way.
Generally, people clamour for whatever version they first experienced. TOS was never all that relevant to me, because I grew up with TNG. I've never really gotten deep into any DnD lore, other than the passing familiarity you get (to FR) from playing DnD-based computer games, so I don't really consider myself invested in any particular DnD setting.

It seems to me that DDO is going to try and compete for the DnD nostalgia money, ignoring any consistency or story which has made DDO unique up until now.

The shark-pool is ready, ramps positioned, and motorbike fuelled up.
Now I'm just waiting.

[Natashaelle]

This is the one I started with...

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb343/nazgul748/dnd_BasicRule_s.jpg

My copy was published in the late 70s though.

Heh -- mine too :

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AZnzpOe4_m0/Ts54ZrB5EFI/AAAAAAAABQQ/t75opVjVWnU/s1600/runequest-second-edition-1979.jpg

...

though to be 100% honest, I actually started with :

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/tolkienboardgamecollecting/SPIWOTRBakshi.jpg

[MeliCat]

Any chance of you guys finally fixing the bug with items that grant extra uses of Turn Undead, Rage, Uncanny Dodge, Action Boost?

To be clear, if you take the item off, or die, you lose however many charges it would grant. That makes sense if you're at max and it is just restoring you to what you would have had without the item, but it does so every time. If you Rage and die, you essentially lose 2 rages. If you die again, after being raised, you lose another. If you swap gear a lot, you can bring yourself to zero charges.

This one is probably the one I want fixed the most :(

Great to hear your 'misspent' youth is paying off, Maj Drizzt Mal :P

[RedDragonScale]

Yep "In search of the Unknown"

Yeah. That's the one that's not fully populated. They left it up to the DM to finish it up.



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AZnzpOe4_m0/Ts54ZrB5EFI/AAAAAAAABQQ/t75opVjVWnU/s1600/runequest-second-edition-1979.jpg


I won a hardcover version (only about 2,000 ever printed) at the first RuneQuestCon in Baltimore, Maryland about 20 years ago. It was in awesome shape and I still have it to this day!

[Vargouille]

http://greywulf.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cyclopedia.jpg

This was my first version, and that same book sits on my desk at work.

[GoldyGopher]

Not to say that I have played a while.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jjohnson/images/dnd%20rules.jpg

I hope the Cube finds it worthy.

[ahpook]

Heh -- mine too :

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AZnzpOe4_m0/Ts54ZrB5EFI/AAAAAAAABQQ/t75opVjVWnU/s1600/runequest-second-edition-1979.jpg

...
I know this is d&d crowd and all but I have to say right now that I heart natashaelle. I still have that book in a box in the basement.

[waterboytkd]

It seems to me that DDO is going to try and compete for the DnD nostalgia money, ignoring any consistency or story which has made DDO unique up until now.

The shark-pool is ready, ramps positioned, and motorbike fuelled up.
Now I'm just waiting.

This is my sentiment. We have a deep and rich world still left largely unexplored in Eberron, yet we're going to break that just to give people a spoonful of nostalgia.

With so much more in Eberron left to do, it's way too early to jump the shark.

[Dark-Star]

1979.
Summer.
That was the first time I saw a Drow.

I was introduced to DnD the year before by my mum on vacation. We had a good time, my mom as the DM, and the rest of the people on vacation playing various classes. I was an Elf. Yep, Elf as a class. I think I died being bit by a poison spider.

Everyone else went on with their normal lives, I became an addict. Those AD&D books are burned into my mind from those early years. Every picture memorized. Every list known, and usually I can still remember what page they were on. Lucky for me we had a great bookstore in my hometown that had a huge game section. My DM bought G1-3 (The giants series) and D1-3 the Drow series. A Drow? What was that? Evil elves that hate everything good in the world? Sparks the imagination. Imagine Elrond not only bad, but super powerful and EVIL, not just evil. Finally a villain worthy of my hero Lannon's time. Remember this was the days of dungeon crawls, not high drama or 'storytelling is king' that the game has evolved into.

On it went, defeating the Drow and their nefarious plans, traveling the Underdark for about a year, Kao-toa piercers, Shriekers, Xorns, a purple worm (who ate our human paladin), mind flayers, and other nasties. Then Q1 came out. Waaait. We are going to fight a goddess? On a different plane, in her home? And she has a AC of -10?!? We all gleefully died that afternoon, and even though a year of a good character was lost, we had a ton of fun.

2012.
Forgotten Realms, really?
Pinch me!

Lolth is back in my life, little Drow are running around the office, and our destination is the Forgotten Realms? Seriously, this is a dream come true. I have to chuckle about all the arguments I had with my parents back in the 80's about wasting my time with D&D and designing my own games and worlds. I guess I won those arguments 25 years later…

So now you know why we have been busy, and hopefully some confusion of what we have been doing is clearer.
In the short term, we are wrapping up a bugfix-only patch hopefully today for next week, and tromping along with Update 13.
Most of the patch will fix things we broke in December. There is some fixes to Challenges, loot and lag. And that is about it.

Maj

EDIT: See how excited I am? Go Patriots! I feel so ashamed. Well, on the day after the anniversary of the Snow Bowl when all of NE fell in love with a kicker, and all of Oakland was wondering what a tuck rule was may we as fans get a fantastic game on Sunday.

Your best post ever.

I remember being in my single digits sneaking a flashlight and the Players Handbook, Monster Manual and eventually Dieties and Demigods under the covers, pretending to be asleep, but all the while memorizing every spell, picture and word in those books. Some giants had 25 strength, TWENTY FIVE?! That's like.... way better than 18/00.

Athlete and part time bully during the week, undercover nerd on the weekends with those four-eyed kids from down the street that went to private school, running D&D campaigns until the wee hours. Some things never change...

Can't wait for this expansion. Way to step it up Turbine.

[Vengeance777]

I don't mind the campaign setting crossing especially since devs confirmed they will be developing content for both settings now. I can't wait for this summer. Campaign setting crossovers are big parts of D&D's history, Spelljammer and Planescape especially. And some of my favorite times playing pen and paper have involved traveling the planes to other settings. Traveling the Planes is usually a major part in Epic campaigns so makes sense for DDO to do it.

This isn't the first DDO campaign setting crossover either. We have a Mindflayer from Spelljammer navigating the higher level guild Airships and there's probably a lot more easter eggs as well.

If done right there could be some interesting concepts to explore. I really want to see how Lolth, Vulkoor and their Drow worshipers interact for example. The civilized Dragons of Eberron and the usually lone dragons of the forgotten realms interacting would be interesting. Would the Argonessians welcome them or wipe them from the planes? The Underdark and Khyber interacting has a lot of potential as well.

[red_cardinal]

I have to chuckle about all the arguments I had with my parents back in the 80's about wasting my time with D&D and designing my own games and worlds. I guess I won those arguments 25 years later…


You're lucky that you connected the dots sometime in the future. It finally paid off. My guess is that there isn't
anything better than realizing your childhood dreams.



Most of the patch will fix things we broke in December. There is some fixes to Challenges, loot and lag. And that is about it.


Good stuff.

[quijenoth]

This is box that I popped my D&D cherry on...

http://blog.jetwolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/dndredbox.jpg

Think I was 9 or 10 at the time, good times...

[Culver.Civello]

All Hail Lolth!

You say that now...

Then when the expansion comes out, you'll all be knocking down her doors to get a piece of her and steal her valuable loot. Which reminds me... I'm really excited to see what kind of loot will come out of these epic quest. :D It makes me all giggly inside. ^-^

Then it makes me sad because I'll probably be going without water for a month because I have to pay for the expansion instead of my water bill... Let the nerdy basement good times begin. No body open my basement door. It will smell like a bunch of dead Driders down there.

[WizardMerrick]

The All Mighty CUBE is not pleased with all this worship of the Blasphemous Demon known as Lolth or Lloth in Drowish.

Throw aside this impure She-Spider and join me in the worship of the perfect being.

All Hail the Cube for it is perfect on six sides.

...because there's always a 10x10 room for Jell-O?

[Aesop]

I'm really hoping that we get a shot at Tiamat at some point... I mean come on badass Dragon God with a temper

Aesop


ps: I also hope that we'll be able to bring sub 20s into FR. I haven't been playing in the upper levels in some time started new characters on a new server (or 3) and been soloing slowly since. I only play once in a while now and on my new home of Orien the highest I have is 11... of course I have 19 characters on Orien and try to spread my time around among them.

[stainer]

Thy Cube will protect Thee from thy lowly incantations for thy irreverent Demon for she means nothing to Thee.

GoldyGopher! Mighty Lolth (All Hail!) has sent me a vision.

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/37/79568346_281f233428.jpg

I can only assume this cube of yours is shaking like a bowl full of, well, Jello.

Stainer, Prophet of Lolth

[brightfang]

I'm really hoping that we get a shot at Tiamat at some point... I mean come on badass Dragon God with a temper

Aesop




/signed however many times it takes for me to fight Tiamat! (In my opinion the best boss ever.)

[MnaSidhe]

I just hope I dont ever run into Drizzt, or Elminster. been doing that all the time since at least the BG series of computer games, and its not much fun any more!

[herzkos]

it sucks to be who??????


http://my.ddo.com/herzkos/wp-content/blogs.dir/83991/files/my-gallery/dmg-166-blog-09.jpg

yay for the dmg.

[yawumpus]

Hmmm...if the "Forgotten Realms" are remembered by so many, how can they (still) be forgotten?

Oh, for the good ol' days of the (original) Unearthed Arcana! {Talk about 'forgotten realms'....}
;)

Unearthed Arcana? I bought that out of early nostalgia as I was no longer playing much AD&D.

New Classes:
Barbarian. Plays poorly with others. Won't play at all with magic users, eventually (I think level 2) tolerates *clerics*. Think about it. Barbarian. won't party with clerics.

Cavalier. I liked this one, and played one after it came out in the Dragon. Still, won't fight tactically with others (one rule you *know* will only be followed by accident). Overpowered (compared to fighters, nobody talked about "balance" in AD&D except player/monster balance). Try sneaking in a 18/73 strength in on a DM who doesn't know it is going to be 18/00 by level 4.

There were other rules, but it seemed pretty pointless. I'm sure there were plenty of munchkins excited about the possibility of +6 weapons instead of +5 (wait, I ground for those cove cutlasses to, didn't I?). Most of the book was a reprint of Dragon articles. This was pretty bad considering you could get just about everything in it, much more stuff, (including a lot of how stuff was published before making its way into the DMG) by buying the Best of the Dragon #1,2,3,4(more?) for roughly the same price.

[jillie]

Not to say that I have played a while.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jjohnson/images/dnd%20rules.jpg

I hope the Cube finds it worthy.

I started with that set too. While it's vanished, victim of many moves, I remember it fondly.

[Socio]

If done right there could be some interesting concepts to explore. I really want to see how Lolth, Vulkoor and their Drow worshipers interact for example. The civilized Dragons of Eberron and the usually lone dragons of the forgotten realms interacting would be interesting. Would the Argonessians welcome them or wipe them from the planes? The Underdark and Khyber interacting has a lot of potential as well.

I would much like to see something along the likes of that as well, Eberron may have much left to explore, but I am hoping for some cross planes Conflicts, Enemies uniting for a common goal against the hero's of DDO, Or even Vulkoor's and his drow, conflicting with Lolth and her drow. Maybe the Daelkyr seeing these strange new paths to new realms as a chance to escape khyber and rule over new land *Seeing We left a bad taste is poor ole Belashyrra's mouth :p*

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

[gloopygloop]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

It took you that long to finally post about the South Carolina primary?

[noneill]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k130/nedoneill/photo-13.jpg

[bradleyforrest]

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k130/nedoneill/photo-13.jpg

It's not often that you see a D-lineman as the player of the game, but he deserved it. Wilfork is a BEAST

[voodoogroves]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

As I sat with the wife watching the game, I said "Kick? Are they crazy? I hate single elimination games where they play for a tie ... win or go home. If you go for the win and fail, you're gutsy. If the flip happens and you fail to tie, you're a goat. That's a ton of pressure on a kicker."


It's like I'm a prophet.

I wonder if there's a hotel room somewhere with a kicker in it with a Tebow stance....

[smatt]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!


Yes... TY Pats for the lose against the spread AND for the under.... :D I was sweatin' that under... It was a VERY good day.... And not even a shiny peeny on the late game.... :o:D

Now it's time for them to get their pattooties handed to them by SF or MAYBE the Giants... But with the score at with 2 left in the 3rd.... I think it's SF.... :p

[Dawnsfire]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

Looks like you get to face the Giants again. . . :p

[noneill]

Looks like you get to face the Giants again. . . :p

They are going to be tough but we got even with the Ravens for beating us last year now time for some revenge on the Giants for the beating us in the Super Bowl.

[Captain_Wizbang]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

An Epic battle is coming!

The G-Men vs. the Pats!

[Willibold]

New Kit coming to a DDO store near you:

+5 flyswat of drow slaying,
+3 tin of raid
+1 rolled up news paper of spider swatting, and the daddy of them all
Tin of spray varnish..stop the b*****ds in their tracks.

New Spells:
Shriek- party makes a saving roll vs will Pass...+1 to hit, fail...run away in fear and trembling,to find a stool asap.
Spider walk- Party able to walk up walls, no more pesky jump skill to worry about.

[waterboytkd]

All I have to say is....

Yessssssss!

I don't care who you are, what team is yours, or whether you even like football: you have to feel bad for that kicker...

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

I don't care who you are, what team is yours, or whether you even like football: you have to feel bad for that kicker...


A real life Ray Finkle. LACES OUT!

[Norean]

You guys are making me feel jealous. My dad wouldn't let me play pnp dnd because he thought it was satanic.

[Darkrok]

I don't care who you are, what team is yours, or whether you even like football: you have to feel bad for that kicker...

That was my first reaction. I really dislike both of the teams playing but it was a really good game. Then came the kick. All I felt was sick to my stomach at that point.

[twiliteslayer02]

I feel for lewis myself, gys got 13 probowls, and played his ass of, even tried to break Brady's back, and the F -in kicker misses a 34 yarder??? thats worse than norwood.


his career is gonna be over, and his name will be forgotten after a tremendous flaming for sure.

GO PANTHERS!

[Solmage]

You guys are making me feel jealous. My dad wouldn't let me play pnp dnd because he thought it was satanic.

That's only at the advanced level. Beginners can get away with just worshipping random pagan gods. :cool:

[Stanley_Nicholas]

A real life Ray Finkle. LACES OUT!

Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is Finkle! Einhorn is a MAN!!!

[Meat-Head]

A real life Ray Finkle. LACES OUT!

Nearly wet my pants the first seven times I saw that movie. Soo much better than the second one IMO.

[Schmoe]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I started with 2nd ed., but we tried the D&D Rules Cyclopedia version of the game for a bit after some burn out. Despite its simplicity, I think it was one of the versions I enjoyed the most.

[IMG]http://greywulf.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cyclopedia.jpg[IMG]


Keep up the good work.


I picked up the Rules Cyclopedia a few months ago from my friendly local game store, because I had thrown away my basic/expert rules long ago. Just started DMing my son through some old basic modules, and it's a blast. The simplicity of the system is perfect for introducing youngsters to the game. We have a ways to go before the GDQ series, but that's ok with me. Many fun adventures ahead. :D

[GoldyGopher]

GoldyGopher! Mighty Lolth (All Hail!) has sent me a vision.

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/37/79568346_281f233428.jpg

I can only assume this cube of yours is shaking like a bowl full of, well, Jello.

Stainer, Prophet of Lolth


The Cube is perfect your spells only effect the imperfect false idols on my god, and there are many.

However you love of the Spider Demon.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jjohnson/images/Lolth_the_Spider_Queen.jpg
I do not understand.
Won't someone, a halfling even, just step on her?

[KreepyKritter]

Won't someone, a halfling even, just step on her?

I don't know... these guys looks mighty terrifying to ME...

http://gallery.rptools.net/d/71201-2/Drider.png

...

http://th02.deviantart.net/images/150/large/indyart/anime/half_drow_half_drider.png

Okay... maybe not ALL of them...

[stainer]

Lolth (All Hail) is tracking the blasphemers. She also says the Giants by 10.

[Missing_Minds]

The Cube is perfect your spells only effect the imperfect false idols on my god, and there are many.

However you love of the Spider Demon.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jjohnson/images/Lolth_the_Spider_Queen.jpg
I do not understand.
Won't someone, a halfling even, just step on her?

If you remember, a group of teens and less than teens dropped Lolth down a deep chasem without too much issue.

Heck, even Venger was thinking "how pathetic".

in other news... I really should pick that up. Wife may enjoy the unicorn in it.

[Melcena]

As much as I love and respect the FR over EB, I know that there will be a large group of people who are going to demand that more and more of FR be accessible. To use a metaphor, this expansion shall become a floodgate. One we release it...it will be hard to reign in. Also, I sincerely hope we dont have to deal with epic spell resistance on those drow, or else casters will cry.

[waterboytkd]

A real life Ray Finkle. LACES OUT!


Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is Finkle! Einhorn is a MAN!!!

That Dan Marino should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell. Cookie, son?

Look...little footballs!

Laces out!

[smatt]

You guys are making me feel jealous. My dad wouldn't let me play pnp dnd because he thought it was satanic.


Wait.... It's not???

There's goes my fun :(

:D J/K

[Thrudh]

A real life Ray Finkle. LACES OUT!

I'm in Psychoville and Finkle's the Mayor.

[Veriden]

I am disapointed to see 'drizzt' attached to major's forum thing....

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

I am disapointed to see 'drizzt' attached to major's forum thing....

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

[Kaish]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

I know :I

[goblean]

and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

I think this will explain what happened. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM&feature=player_embedded

[Entelech]

So...when will we be seeing the Powerpuff Girls getting their own DDO expansion?

I detest the Forgotten Realms. While R.A. Salvatore's Drizz't stuff isn't bad, there is a lot of other truly horrible tripe that's found it's way in there. Are we getting Spellfire in U13 as well? Will Elminster be parking his eldritch backside in the Wayward Lobster and singing 'The Ballad of Mary Sue?'

Will we be having a moronic upheaval of the pantheon where Aureon dies for no good reason and Cyric joins the Dark Six?


We already have Drow. There's nothing stopping anyone from playing a (delusional) Llolth worshipper with an emo haircut and two scimitars.

The name of the game is "Eberron Unlimited", not "Generic Fantasy Setting 003127B Unlimited". I really don't feel the need for Elminster, Llolth, Drizz't, or a "You have had sex with Mystra" enhancement costing 2ap.

[Veriden]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Personally, I found Drizzt to be a very narrow character, I couldn't get into the books very well despite trying. Drizzt's popularity really doesn't center on what -should- make him popular. Yet, this is opinion very few people truly see eye to eye in such matters as characters as readers and role players.

Green day post dookie is not so bad up to the album they did after the american idiot one, only a handful of metallica really spoke to me. "One" to be more precise. Didn't watch simpsons or the alien movies, sci-fi really doesn't do it for me personally. Artificers to be exact are about the most 'sci-fi' thing I've delved into and thats ONLY on this game.

[irivan]

So...when will we be seeing the Powerpuff Girls getting their own DDO expansion?

I detest the Forgotten Realms. While R.A. Salvatore's Drizz't stuff isn't bad, there is a lot of other truly horrible tripe that's found it's way in there. Are we getting Spellfire in U13 as well? Will Elminster be parking his eldritch backside in the Wayward Lobster and singing 'The Ballad of Mary Sue?'

Will we be having a moronic upheaval of the pantheon where Aureon dies for no good reason and Cyric joins the Dark Six?


We already have Drow. There's nothing stopping anyone from playing a (delusional) Llolth worshipper with an emo haircut and two scimitars.

The name of the game is "Eberron Unlimited", not "Generic Fantasy Setting 003127B Unlimited". I really don't feel the need for Elminster, Llolth, Drizz't, or a "You have had sex with Mystra" enhancement costing 2ap.

I am glad you dont, good for you, I feel the need big time. Not that i think they are going to be running with Drizzt and Elminster all over the place, but what ever the case, my opinion is that Forgotten Realms rocks all over Eberron. I detest Eberron, and thank god the expansion is called Menace of the Underdark..i.e.which is in the Forgotten Realms.

Biotches!!!!!!!!!

[Aelonwy]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Let me start by reminding all, I'm female so my opinions will differ vastly.....

Drizzt - Kind of boring actually, Entreri - dark, but intriguing.
Green Day - I can listen to that just fine, its POP music that makes me gag... its soooo repetitive.
Metallica - Not my cup of tea.
Simpsons - Still classic.
Alien (Any) - Despite having such strong female characters, I'm totally turned off by the artwork/design of the aliens themselves.
Star Wars Prequels - Watched just once. Pretty humdrum, well except maybe abit of the last one. Star Wars Sequels?!?! Now that I could watch!
SciFi in general - Why oh why did Firefly only get one season?! But tween soap-opera stuff like Buffy and Angel goes on forever?

[Entelech]

I am glad you dont, good for you, I feel the need big time. Not that i think they are going to be running with Drizzt and Elminster all over the place, but what ever the case, my opinion is that Forgotten Realms rocks all over Eberron. I detest Eberron, and thank god the expansion is called Menace of the Underdark..i.e.which is in the Forgotten Realms.

Biotches!!!!!!!!!

Actually, the Underdark is a bit more generic than Forgotten Realms, if you go back to where the term originated.

But, quibbling aside, We seem to be in agreement that the feel and flavor of Forgotten Realms differs greatly from that of Eberron. My concern is that allowing the two flavors to mix will end up being like pickles and ice cream, rather than like chocolate and peanut butter. Especially given the track record of Turbine's marketing geniuses.

[GeneralDiomedes]

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Actually I did try watching Episode II about a week ago (for only the second time) and it was nearly unbearable due to Hayden's bad acting, and that's not hyperbole. It was even worse than I remember. I'll probably never see it again.

I have not watched Episode I since the theaters, and I have no desire to do so again. Episode III, if I'm really sick or hungover on a Sunday, it may happen again as that was the best of the three.

.. The Clone Wars cartoons on the other hand, those are eminently watchable, first rate.

[waterboytkd]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

First, liking something popular. I'm with you there. It's become cool or smart or something to hate successful stuff. I can't tell you how many people I've met who hate Harry Potter...and they've NEVER read ANY of it. Not one paragraph. Not one sentence. Never even watched any of the movies. Nothing.



and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

This, I need to harp on. And it's not just Star Wars 1-3, it's the Drizzt thing also. The term pulp is apt with drizzt, to a point. But both Star Wars and the early works by Salvatore, the ones you called outstanding pulp, are actually **** ^, not necessarily because they're pulp (nothing wrong with pulp; it's fun), but because the presentation is low quality for the medium. And this is a problem with Sci Fi and Fantasy in general. We exalt garbage, poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed garbage as the pinnacle of our genres, and the wonder why outsiders consider it substandard and for geeks only.

^This word really needs to not be filtered. It's not really offensive.


Let's go to Star Wars first (it's the easier to hate). The acting in those movies is ATROCIOUS. However, I won't blame the actors for this (except Lloyd Jacob, and maybe Hayden Christiansen--I've heard, never witnessed, but heard he's actually a good actor). No, I blame the directing. And maybe the casting. But really, the directing. I mean, my god, Samuel L. Mother****ing Jackson comes across as wooden. Sure, Jedi are supposed to be calm, but for Christ's sake, he's Samuel L. Jackson! You don't cast him if you're going to force him to NOT EMOTE.

Then, there's the dialogue. Just watch Anakin try and put the moves on Padme. It's utterly painful. And not in that "teenagers are awkward with romance" way either. That can be easily done without being awful to watch. In fact, those moments should be ENJOYABLE to watch for the audience. Truth is, everyone loves a love story. But Anakin and Padme caused me physically manifested pain.

And the writing. Look at major villains. Darth Maul: badass and cool. Killed right away...there's 3 movies, and he dies immediately...Then there's Christopher Lee (a great actor): Lucas got smart and kept him alive through the second movie...only to kill him immediately in the third! And General Grievous? First, where the hell did he come from? Second, what's with that name? I mean, there's pulp, then there's that. Who are his subordinates? Major Mean? Corporal Crabby? Last example of terrible writing: the love progression of Anakin and Padme. It makes no sense--it's the opposite of how stuff like that would go. The cooler he is, the more she hates him. The more demented and creepy he gets, the more she's into him. It's not a bad-boy thing either. Turns out, creepy murderous stalkers freak out EVERYONE.

Anakin: Hey Padme, despite my poor pickup lines, the moment's right and I've been into you for a while.
Padme: Sorry, Anakin, it's not happening.
Anakin: Well, I'm gonna stalk you anyways. Hang around, throw dark, hungry stares at your uninviting back...
Padme: Well, you might not be so bad...
Anakin: And I just killed a bunch of Tuskan Babies.
Padme: Take me, man meat!

As for Drizzt, he's the opposite of a good protagonist. He's static. He's above failure and temptation (maybe he feels it, but he never ONCE gives into it). He's the ultimate boy scout, and in him I see everything bad about the most recent Superman movie (especially when compared to the X-Men movies). A protagonist who not only never fails, but never seems in risk of failing is bland and boring. The best moment with Drizzt? When he finally drops his balls and picks up Cattie-Brie, takes her to the bedroom, and bangs her brains out. Oh, who am I kidding? Drizzt didn't have the fire in him to bang her brains out. I'm sure it was missionary position, and was probably light and fast.

Then the writing. Yes, Salvatore can do some cool action choreography. But when something dies, it can just die. It doesn't have to fall into the blackness of death, or something like that. It's an attempt to be literary, to add in flowery prose that's as fun to read as the actual content, but it's so flat and generic, it lacks any kind immersion, that it's just plain bad. And, also, it becomes pretty hard to believe that anyone is going to die when it seems like every other book, Bruenor dies, only to not actually die and still be alive. Reading the Ghost King, I was impressed that it seemed like Cadderly's blond dwarf friend (not the druid brother) had been stomped to death by a dragon. BUT NOPE. Heroic escape...I was actually embarrassed with myself thinking Salvatore did something ballsy with his characters (like killing them).

And Cattie-Brie? She spent how many hundreds of pages dying? And then, when she finally kicks it (thank god), it's this peaceful, final, goodbye to Drizzt...that turns Drizzt into a hardened, heartless rock? I mean, the end of that book...it made NO sense.

But this kind of ****, if it wasn't Sci-Fi or Fantasty, would die the horrid death in a slush pile that it deserves. But because it is, fans of that genre exalt it, hold it up as something all writers should aspire to. And it brings the genre down. How great would Star Wars 1-3 have been if an A-class writer and director did it? If they just said to George: "thanks for the world, now go home and collect your massive paycheck". But no, it won't happen. Because there are too many people that are fans of this genre that will LOVE terrible work, just because it's in the genre, because it has a cool looking D&D character (that's the only thing about Drizzt that's actually good: he's kind of sweet looking in the mind's eye).

So, to address the last sentence in your post Maj, no, no I do not watch SW 1-3. I will not endorse that garbage. I will not give Lucas the impression that that **** is even worthy to be produced. Similarly, I would never buy the Blue Ray 4-6, either. Have you heard that voice-over on Vader at the end of Jedi, when he throws the Emperor into the pit? Shameful. It's almost like he's actively trying to drive the quality down. Similarly, after Ghost King, I have forsaken Drizzt and Salvatore. The way he ended that book, and the way he ended the Entreri series (surprise, the scarred chick is secretly still hating him and planning on killing him, Basic Instinct-style!), he's probably doomed to the nine layers of hell. Only the Cleric Quintet will keep him out of the ninth layer.

[Roland_D'Arabel]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Emphasis in red.

/signed

[waterboytkd]

SciFi in general - Why oh why did Firefly only get one season?! But tween soap-opera stuff like Buffy and Angel goes on forever?

Because there's no justice in the universe? There's no kind of loving god? Firefly is an example of excellent Sci-Fi. Strong stories, fantastic writing, intriguing, even complex characters. It's simply amazing.


.. The Clone Wars cartoons on the other hand, those are eminently watchable, first rate.

I need to see that still. As Lucas made it clear he was turning the Star Wars franchise into something meant for 3 year olds, I was a bit skeptical of a cartoon. But I've heard too many people call it watchable. Need to check it out.

[katz]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

I liked Drizzt and really enjoyed the series. Entreri makes an excellent foil... just as skilled, and just as evil as any drow from Drizzt's homeland.
that being said, i kinda hope i DON'T see him (or anyone else big in the lore... Elminster, Mystra, Wulfgar, Bruenor, etc) in the game. it would be... weird? (dunno how else to describe it)

Greenday... eh. never listened to em
Metallica - i know a *few* songs, mostly because my husband likes them
Simpsons - don't watch it that much. occasional eppisodes
Alien 2 was my favorite.
Star Wars prequels weren't horribad. i watched them, and would likely watch them again.

[Solmage]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

You lost me on the pre-quels. I COULD maybe make myself watch parts 2 & 3, but one? Nope. Also, I don't think he's insane, I think he sold out to selling toys a long time ago though, roughly around the time he split away from his co-creator friend over "artistic differences" (aka not selling out, heh)

[smatt]

It's ok to like something that becomes popular.




Emphasis in red.

/signed

It's also OK to like something that IS popular even if you found it afer it's popular. There's no accounting for ones taste in entertainment. To each their own....... Even if it is **** :D

[bhgiant]

SciFi in general - Why oh why did Firefly only get one season?! But tween soap-opera stuff like Buffy and Angel goes on forever?
The internet will forever mourn the loss of Firefly.... At least we got Serenity :). I think I might roll up a female halfling duel weilding dwarven axes and keep her starting rags. I hope the name River isn't taken...

[Natashaelle]

and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

hmmm, the semi-de-JarJar-ified bluray version of the Phantom Menace is actually a vast improvement over the earlier versions ; because to have JarJar just standing there looking completely stupid while Liam Neeson delivers some rather strong acting performance (instead of JarJar jumping all about in front of him and waving his hands about and basically just ruining that performance) corrects one of the major flaws in that film.

[Norean]

The best Star wars movie was Empire Strikes Back. It had the best lightsaber fight of the series (Han Solo vs. Dead Tauntaun). Past that it had such memorable scenes as the boom mic reflecting in Luke's goggles, the stick coming up out of the ground to knock over the AT-AT, and the part of the big Luke / Vader lightsaber fight in and around the carbonite freezing chamber where Luke jumps off the side onto a trampoline and his head pops back up in the bottom left corner. How can the other movies compare to that gold? It did however have the flaw where the script writer decided that it should be Luke instead of Vader who jumped off the whatever that was to certain doom when it came to light that the 2 were related... Still the best though.

[mystafyi]

The name of the game is "Eberron Unlimited", not "Generic Fantasy Setting 003127B Unlimited".

Actually, it has been stated recently that the name of the game will change. It wont be DDO: Eberron Unlimited anymore.

[Targonis]

and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Actually, no, I don't. Episode 3 was good, 1 was horrible, and 2 was generally bad. Popular does NOT mean better, or even good. The Pet Rock was popular back in the day, and all it was was a packaged rock. People make the iPhone out to be fantastic, when it isn't FANTASTIC(it's a good device, don't get me wrong). Having all the apps is what makes many people love the iPhone, since without 3rd party apps, the Palm Pre Plus would have seemed like a much better device compared to the iPhone when it came to USING the phone.

Think outside the box, like what you like, dislike what you dislike, and go from there. The problem that many have with some of the characters from FR is more about how they are used and copied by people with a limited imagination, rather than being original. Poor use of these characters in various games over the years has also annoyed some people.

[voodoogroves]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Don't you know you're not supposed to talk about politics or religion on the internet?

[PookaWitch]

Wow, that was a lovely way to put it. ^_^

To be honest I didn't notice the FR update until last night. Why? Because Friday was my birthday, and for my birthday every year my husband and I have an intense D&D game. :D And of all things, this year was the finale to a long running, Forgotten Realms/Planescape plot that was started on my birthday 14 years ago... all based around my drow cleric of Eilistraee that I've played for nearly 20 years now. :D

It made my seeing this update feel so much more unreal for me. I've heard about people saying that they are afraid that they're dreaming before, that something seems so perfect that it honestly feels unreal and they're honestly worried that it's a dream. This was the first time I ever, fully, encountered that feeling.

I've been basically playing D&D in one way or another since 1985, but wasn't able to get into an actual campaign based group until 1991 with 2nd ed AD&D. This was back when it was an uphill battle against sexism to actually get into a D&D group. I couldn't believe the amount of times that I was ignored or dismissed with the attitude of 'a girl wouldn't understand this' or 'if you're going to play just have a cleric, stand back and heal us, don't try to do or suggest anything else... heck, don't talk... oh, and your character has to wear a bikini' type of groups. -_- Although I did tend to quickly put them in their place, often by shocking them with my knowledge of the game (years of reading the books and just daydreaming of playing D&D because my older brother wouldn't let me really paid off), and my fresh perspective on the puzzles they were facing.

The best was when I became pretty hot in highschool and refused to date anybody except rolepayers. XD (Imagine the gothy/punk girl who just wanted to hang out in the computer room and play D&D. XD )

Nowadays my marriage is based so strongly around D&D that my husband even buys presents for my characters. (ie. on valentines day he saw a themed box of chocolates that suited one of my characters so he bought it for me. ^_^) and my yearly birthday present is an intense D&D game. :D

I'm really obsessed with the drow of Forgotten Realms, especially with Eilistraee. I mean, I have an 11 inch tall tattoo of Eilistraee's holy symbol between my shoulder blades... now this is FR/drow fandom. ;) (or maybe just insanity. lol )

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s34/PookaWitch/Photos/GEDC0030.jpg

[sweez]

[rant=on]


<3

[katz]

The internet will forever mourn the loss of Firefly.... At least we got Serenity :). I think I might roll up a female halfling duel weilding dwarven axes and keep her starting rags. I hope the name River isn't taken...


it probably is, because it's been done (http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/knicker/) (awesomely :D ) and he says he couldn't get River, either. but who knows, maybe it's free in your server.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/giles/king_writing_060708/river_tam.png

[Full_Bleed]

Whether you like Forgotten Realms or not, it is THE D&D setting that most people are familiar with. It's like Star Trek with Capt Kirk and Spock: it doesn't matter if the quality of the writing/acting/effects are individually or collectively better on the other incarnations of Star Trek, the original will be the one people clamor for. Forgotten Realms is the same way.

I get your point. But with D&D, Greyhawk is TOS, and FR is TNG. Darksun, Planescape, Dragonlance, Eberron, etc are like the ST spinoffs. Flavorful, but only surpass the originals in the minds of a few. Most Star Trek purists will take TOS over TNG, and most will take either over the spinoffs... but let's face it, TNG had a larger audience and got a lot more seasons so it has a larger fan base. And so it was with FR, not necessarily "better"... but it was shinier and, well, it appealed to the next generation (of gamers.)

DDO is making a very smart business decision tapping into that vein. I'm impressed and fully expect this to be a big WIN for them.


That said... As for the FR/Salvatore/Drizzt novels being the best D&D novels... yuck! I'll cast my vote for the first 6 Dragonlance and the *entire* Gord the Rogue series for that honor.

[Aeolwind]

and I don't think George Lucas is insane.


So, was Gredo shooting first a good or bad idea?

Your answer decides the fate of the world!

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

So, was Gredo shooting first a good or bad idea?

Your answer decides the fate of the world!


My answer is I don't care. See, picking on star wars is far to easy. I look for bigger targets that are far more challenging.

[knightgf]

Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).


You worked on the Thief game series!? Those games are amazing! Well, at least the second one anyways...the third was playable but despite some of the unique mechanics, it wasn't 'as good'. The best one, by far, is the second. Good quotations, unique storyline, unique characters, and graphics that appealed for its time. And to think they developed the levels before they added the storyline...risky move, if you ask me.

Well, if I ever see noisemaker arrows, gas arrows, glass scrying orbs, The Master Builder or the like in this game, I'll know who was behind it all. :D

Beware the dawn...of the artificer age. Oh wait, that's not right, is it? *Clears throat* Beware the dawn...of the metal age.

[maddmatt70]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).
.

R.A. Salvatorre is great at writing combat scenes. Literally one of the best at that. I agree Artimis is cool..

[Natashaelle]

The best Star wars movie was Empire Strikes Back. It had the best lightsaber fight of the series (Han Solo vs. Dead Tauntaun). Past that it had such memorable scenes as the boom mic reflecting in Luke's goggles, the stick coming up out of the ground to knock over the AT-AT, and the part of the big Luke / Vader lightsaber fight in and around the carbonite freezing chamber where Luke jumps off the side onto a trampoline and his head pops back up in the bottom left corner. How can the other movies compare to that gold? It did however have the flaw where the script writer decided that it should be Luke instead of Vader who jumped off the whatever that was to certain doom when it came to light that the 2 were related... Still the best though.


Episode 3 was good, 1 was horrible, and 2 was generally bad.

Revenge of the Sith is *brilliant* (though it certainly has an extremely unorthodox plot structure), and one common saying about Attack of the Clones is that if you don't like AOTC, then you don't like Star Wars. hmmmm not entirely sure about that, but it is undeniably the most straightforwardly Star Wars-like of Episodes I-III.

Actually, the lightsaber fight between Han and the Tauntaun is fairly comparable to Luke's lightsaber fight with the Emperor (Luke simply doesn't bother, and just throws his weapon onto the ground instead) :D

If this current bluray version of The Phantom Menace had been released in 1999 instead of the original theatrical version, well many of the fans would still have disliked it, but I'm fairly sure not to the same degree. Lucas has even changed the colour palette in the film to make it look like all of the scenery and furniture include a certain amount of dirt and dust, instead of the squeaky clean cartoony colours of the original release.

But I know that it can be hard to rewatch films like this in these new editions with anything like a fresh eye ...

(though I must say, it's bizarre that the very same fans who complain how awful the prequels are supposed to be are up in arms whenever Lucas changes something in these films that they supposedly hate :p)

[Cauthey]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

I'm with you on thinking that George Lucas is not insane. I submit a more likely scenerio about his jumping the shark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM

:D :D :D

[whereispowderedsilve]

I'm with you on thinking that George Lucas is not insane. I submit a more likely scenerio about his jumping the shark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM

:D :D :D

OMFG!111 That was great! ROFL! LOLZ! AHAHAHAHA! Oh man 2 funny! still LOL! :P! :)!

[GoldyGopher]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Going to cover George Lucas first, I think he is a horrible director and an even worse screen writer, that said I know why he is directing and he is writing the screenplay (if you don't stop b!tch!ng).
In terms of Modern Film Making and the Theatrical Experience we owe George a huge debt of gratitude. George (and James Cameron) have spent incredible amounts of time and money improving the process of film making (New Cameras, lens, sound recording devices, modern booms, on sight playback, Digital Editing, Models, Green Screen Techniques, and on and on) that are used in virtually every major budget film today. George Lucas, amongst others, also spearheaded creating guidelines and standards for movie theaters (THX, Dolby Digital, …) that cover things how many speakers, where speakers are placed, the amount of bleed through sound from adjacent screens and background noise, screen location, seat orientation and the list goes on and on and on.
It is also the attention to detail that George demands, making sure to digital add that frosty exhales of breath for the Hoth scenes, or sweat on an actor’s hands or ..

On to Drizzt, as for the first nine being outstanding Pulp….
In terms of Science/Fiction and Fantasy it is kind of iffy to make that statement as there are dozens of other works that while outside the D&D Property are much better reading materials. However in comparison to like works five (or so) of the first nine would make my top 50 for Fantasy Pulp. On the other hand I have read hundreds of works I would like to put in my bottom 50, if it were possible. And some of those on that list are well respected and like authors who happened to write a bomb.

As for “Homeworld”, “Exile” and “Sojurn” being the best works in the D&D Property, I cannot agree with that. Heck I would argue that “Darkwalker of the Moonshae” is technically a better work than all three in the Forgotten Realms series of Novels, but that is a discussion on a technically level, talking about scene design, story arcs, perspective and so forth. I don’t think “Darkwalker of the Moonshae” has held up as well 25 years later however as the writing style was a little too rigid for today’s casual reader.
In my opinion on the top works in the D&D Property are “Dragons of Winter Night” and “Outcast”.
I was going to list Quag Keep, but…

[Thrudh]

You lost me on the pre-quels. I COULD maybe make myself watch parts 2 & 3, but one?

The fight scenes with Darth Maul were pretty sweet (well except for the very last part where Darth Maul, who had been moving like a karate master before that, stands and stares at Obi for 3 seconds straight without reacting and of course gets cut down)... Bleh...

But those first 20 seconds when Obi bursts into the room and the two of them go at it full-tilt... Those 20 seconds ALMOST make the movie worthwhile.

[Thrudh]

But this kind of ****, if it wasn't Sci-Fi or Fantasty, would die the horrid death in a slush pile that it deserves. But because it is, fans of that genre exalt it, hold it up as something all writers should aspire to. And it brings the genre down.

Comic Book Guy: Worst. Movie. Ever. I will only watch it 3 more times today.

:)

[Havok.cry]

Honestly when I watch the prequels I skip to the fight scenes. This allows me to watch all 3 in ~20 minutes.

[Failedlegend]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.

Ok I gotta step in for this one...I own the Drizzt series up to book 13 and I loved it but honestly Drizzt probably only landed about in the middle of the list main characters for likability maybe even a bit lower. My Favorite Characters being Regis "RumbleBelly" the Halfing, Thibbledorf Pwent the Dwarf Battlerager, The Harpells & Belwar Dissengulp the Svirfnebli with Jarlaxle being my favorite "Villain"

Honestly I always felt..for lack of a better term...that Drizzt was often relegated the being "The Cameraman" and honestly beyond the not being evil thing Drizzt didn't grow much as a character..Regis probably takes the crown with that one.

[Fanatic_Guru]

Because there's no justice in the universe? There's no kind of loving god? Firefly is an example of excellent Sci-Fi. Strong stories, fantastic writing, intriguing, even complex characters. It's simply amazing.



I need to see that still. As Lucas made it clear he was turning the Star Wars franchise into something meant for 3 year olds, I was a bit skeptical of a cartoon. But I've heard too many people call it watchable. Need to check it out.

The Clone Wars has gotten more mature as the show has gone along. Clones and Jedis are not perfect boy scouts anymore. When the series started pretty much only Droids got destroyed. Actual killing got glossed over like in GI Joe when a helicopter would get blown up but then you would see everyone floating down on parachutes. Now they usually don't show the actual killing wound but they make it very clear that the Jedi just cut someone down and Clones are walking around after a battle executing wounded enemies on the ground. They are worth setting the DVR to record.

Someone above said they had seen none of the Alien movies. Everyone that is even remotely geeky (if you are reading this forum you are) should see the Alien and Terminator movies. Alien 2 and Terminator 2 are action sci-fi classics.

[LeLoric]

stuff

So you attack lucas for killing off characters while then accusing salvatore of not killing off characters? While some of your points are valid this is kinda contradictory. I agree Salvatore could use some change in his characters either through killing a few off or something similar but truth be told he is probably better than Greenwood who likes to completely reshape the world every 10th book. Consistency has some merit.

You can attack the acting in the prequels all you want but fact is it pales in comparison to the acting jobs done by Carrie Fisher and Mark Harmon in the first 3. Even Harrison Ford was subpar here compared to much of his other work. Sad that Alec Guiness got killed off as he gave the only real acting job in the first three movies. Truth be told you don't watch any star wars movie for the great acting. It's relative value as both entertainment and historical value is still evident in many movies today. Star wars was the first in a long line of great special effects poor acting box office hits. Why do you think Bobba Fett became one of the most liked characters in star wars, he never had enough lines to make him come across as cheesy.

I disagree with your assessment of Mace Windu in the prequels too. His character is one of the more intriguing to me. I would have liked to have delved further into his character as he was in reality a mirror to Anakin in that he was impulsive yet tempered through jedi training. He contolled what Anakin could not except at the end when he choose to kill off Palpatine versus bring him to trial a move that in itself pushed Anakin over the edge. His failure in his Jedi training was just as important as Anakin's in what came about.

I think S.L Jackson was a good cast here just through our perception of him. His normal fiery impulsive attitude that we are used to led us to believe that a calmed Mace Windu has that within him.

[RedDragonScale]

R.A. Salvatorre is great at writing combat scenes. Literally one of the best at that. I agree Artimis is cool..

Salvatorre's writing and describing combats in *excruciating* detail are the worst things about his novels.

He needs to take a lesson from Robert E. Howard in this regard. The writer of the original Conan stories made combats last a mercifully short time and the descriptions were equally brief yet I got the idea of how the combats looked in my head well enough.

[countfitz]

and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Oh, wow. Just wow. These movies RUINED OUR CHILDHOOD. How? Just how? I mean, RUINED. OUR CHILDHOOD.

I just can't explain. Okay, I could, but it's just too much.

I'm, I... I just... speechless.

[countfitz]

hmmm, the semi-de-JarJar-ified bluray version of the Phantom Menace is actually a vast improvement over the earlier versions ; because to have JarJar just standing there looking completely stupid while Liam Neeson delivers some rather strong acting performance (instead of JarJar jumping all about in front of him and waving his hands about and basically just ruining that performance) corrects one of the major flaws in that film.

NO! The major flaws in that film were the fact that we... OMG! I can't even begin!

Anakin - As a boy BUILDING C3P0, who couldn't act (nor could his teenage counterpart) that was basically JESUS, that "brought balance to the force" but Lucas wouldn't admit "Balance" means killing all the good and bad force users...

Qwi Gon - Shouldn't have been there at all. Obi Wan... Just read the Cracked.com article on it

And OMG women's rights/lib/the overt sexism. A woman, who began her life as a QUEEN then SENATOR to an entire planet, dies because she "lacked the will to live"?

Analyze the originals. Princess Leia is in fact the actual hero/Skywalker that saved the universe. Luke did NOTHING. Leia steels the plans, gets Obi Wan to destroy the death star with Han Solo and some pilot and Wedge Antilles, leads the rebellion to Hoth, off of Hoth, regroups with Mon Mothma (another female leader) and then leads the 20 person raid on a planet to take down ANOTHER death star, once again with Wedge Antilles (the real male hero this whole time) and Lando, while Luke is 1) crying 2) pretending to play swords and 3) dealing with Daddy issues. Female empowerment and then some.

The only saving grace of the prequels was Luke and the actors who played Anakin were both crybabies, and therefore seemed related.

[WolfSpirit]

Good to know us old hippies had a positive impact on someone other than whale watchers.
~
Some watched the Stars too ya know.
-

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, .
~

Artimis Entreri was an excellent Bad Guy for sure.
Those were super books.
The Icewind Dale Trilogy That one primed my mind for all things to come.

I will NEVER forget the power of a true Artifact like The Crystal Shard was. So Intelligent... So Hungery... So Driven... So Alluring...

I Was totally freaked out by that Sentient Mineral I think I STILL wonder what some "things" are thinking.
lol

And THEN it was all Just getting started!

NY Times Best Selling Author Robert A. Salvatore.
Thank you Sir!

-edit:
What was the subject again?
Maj, your like an other enity twin.
'Cept Im (AFC) Buffalo since 85ish & (NFC) Carolina since 95.
And also you were born with better work ethics. :-)
Im coming over to your place for some PnP! Ill bring Pizza, you tell the storys.
Rock on Man.

[WolfSpirit]

~~

[SardaofChaos]

I like Drizzt. The first 9 novels are outstanding pulp. It's ok to like something that becomes popular.
Homeworld,Exile and Sojurn are the best novels written on a DnD property ever. Artimis Entreri is an outstanding bad guy, one we almost copied for Thief III (when it was still a Looking Glass game).

I also like Green Day after Dookie
Metallica Black Album
Simpsons post season 10
Alien 3
and Star Wars prequels, and I don't think George Lucas is insane.

Note on the last one -The are not great, but I'll still watch them over most other crappy science fiction, and be honest...so do you.

Finally, someone in a position of (relative) power who isn't a complete fanboi(anti-fanboi?) makes these statements.

Of course, I can't comment myself on metallica or simpsons.

[Produktion_Malphunktion]

You worked on the Thief game series!? Those games are amazing! Well, at least the second one anyways...the third was playable but despite some of the unique mechanics, it wasn't 'as good'. The best one, by far, is the second. Good quotations, unique storyline, unique characters, and graphics that appealed for its time. And to think they developed the levels before they added the storyline...risky move, if you ask me.

Well, if I ever see noisemaker arrows, gas arrows, glass scrying orbs, The Master Builder or the like in this game, I'll know who was behind it all. :D

Beware the dawn...of the artificer age. Oh wait, that's not right, is it? *Clears throat* Beware the dawn...of the metal age.


You know what's funny, for the first time in 10 years i miss water arrows, moss arrows and light bombs while playing Skyrim.

[Ganolyn]

You know what's funny, for the first time in 10 years i miss water arrows, moss arrows and light bombs while playing Skyrim.


I still fire up Thief II occasionally. It's one of the most immersive games I have ever played.

[irivan]

I still fire up Thief II occasionally. It's one of the most immersive games I have ever played.

Yeah I loved the Thief games, I really loved the quest designs in those games, and the way they handled stealth, as well as the total ability to manipulate your environment as well. I really loved climbing walls, and ambushing enemies, and the AI programming was brilliant, they really should hire whom ever put all of that together here at Turbine for this game.

[red_cardinal]

You know what's funny, for the first time in 10 years i miss water arrows, moss arrows and light bombs while playing Skyrim.

You know what's even funnier? DDO doesn't have any of it. I thought you guys knew how to make Hide and Move silently work and be skills which matter in gameplay. I thought wrong.

I know that putting out torches with water arrows (frost arrow/bolt) is out of the line, and that moss arrow is out of line, etc. but truly the THIEF build doesn't exist in this game for two reasons:
- no pickpocket,
- stealth doesn't matter much as a gameplay concept.

Sure, you can go and disable that trap while no mobs see you, but you can't open a door or pull a lever or pickpocket or do a sniper shot KILL. When I went with DWS I level 6 ranger into Searing heights and used sniper shot on one mob (there were 2 there around the camp fire), none got killed by it, I was fully visible and even if I went into stealth after triggering Sniper shot, they didn't stop chasing me no matter where I went.

Seriously, fix/upgrade stealth combat. It's not about how many class combinations are viable, but how well it works when some character uses 'tools of the trade'.

[voodoogroves]

You know what's funny, for the first time in 10 years i miss water arrows, moss arrows and light bombs while playing Skyrim.

Are you going to make grenade-like weapon attacks a realistic option for bypassing threats?

[MeliCat]

Salvatorre's writing and describing combats in *excruciating* detail are the worst things about his novels.

He needs to take a lesson from Robert E. Howard in this regard. The writer of the original Conan stories made combats last a mercifully short time and the descriptions were equally brief yet I got the idea of how the combats looked in my head well enough.

Instead he took lessons from Tolstoy... fortunately you can skim read both Drizzt battles and cannon and infantry battles.

I greatly enjoyed Salvatore's books mainly for the internal battle - the difference in alignment making him such an outcast. A very D&D way to set up a tension to resolve for a good story. The fantasy environment was fun too.


Oh re stealth: my guildie was telling me the lengths he went to to get the elite stealth optional of Blockade Buster solo on his caster. So you could argue that it's there but not a big part of this game. Which you could argue is reasonable as there are many other things the game is trying to do and it was appropriate it was a fundamental premise of Thief. I'm having an interesting time with aggro management with my first dark monk with the shadow fade wiping aggro (and any hireling i've bothered bringing gets it) and finding it interesting watching when are assasins are played full stealth (and their insane out killing) ie the game is more active and less strategic stealth unless it's very quest based? Have people put in requests for more strategic stealth Pre AP in the enhancements thread? I am only just starting to learn this aspect of the game (I capped a barbarian first - that should tell you what my friends thought I was more naturally suited to :P )

[Vormaerin]

Seriously, fix/upgrade stealth combat. It's not about how many class combinations are viable, but how well it works when some character uses 'tools of the trade'.

Pick pocketing is incredibly lame in adventure games. If you want to wander around the market lifting granny's pension money from her purse, you don't need DDO for that.

And you want a ranged instakill effect at lvl 6? Even necromancers don't get PK until lvl 7. And it has 2 saves and is completely negated by immunity to fear & deathblock/deathward.

Stealth gameplay doesn't work in DDO only because its nearly impossible to get a group where everyone actually uses it. You can do all kinds of interesting things with good stealth. Admittedly, opening a heavy dungeon door without being noticed by mobs within line of sight is not one of them for some reason....:rolleyes:

[Aesop]

Pick pocketing is incredibly lame in adventure games. If you want to wander around the market lifting granny's pension money from her purse, you don't need DDO for that.

Not about walking around the Market picking pockets.

Think wandering into a boss mobs room where all you need is a key that only drops when he dies. Instead of having to kill him you sneak up and pick his pocket for it. It could also have the ability to pick other mobs pockets for normal stuff like things you get from breakables or collectables even. It could open up new options.

Aesop

[LightBear]

NO! The major flaws in that film were the fact that we... OMG! I can't even begin!

Anakin - As a boy BUILDING C3P0, who couldn't act (nor could his teenage counterpart) that was basically JESUS, that "brought balance to the force" but Lucas wouldn't admit "Balance" means killing all the good and bad force users...



I'm totally derailing the thread here but ok.
Anakin did bring balance to the force by killing off the excess of "good" wich was spreading throughout the universe.
The good side misinterpreted the prophecy; thinking that they would be rid of evil for ever.

[Entelech]

I'm really hoping that we get a shot at Tiamat at some point... I mean come on badass Dragon God with a temper

Aesop


ps: I also hope that we'll be able to bring sub 20s into FR. I haven't been playing in the upper levels in some time started new characters on a new server (or 3) and been soloing slowly since. I only play once in a while now and on my new home of Orien the highest I have is 11... of course I have 19 characters on Orien and try to spread my time around among them.

Tiamat is actually officially in Eberron already. According to the 4e setting books, she's imprisoned (as most of the mega-evils from the Age of Dust are) at a location on the continent of Argonessen.

[azrael4h]

Oh, wow. Just wow. These movies RUINED OUR CHILDHOOD. How? Just how? I mean, RUINED. OUR CHILDHOOD.

I just can't explain. Okay, I could, but it's just too much.

I'm, I... I just... speechless.

Ok, how exactly did a series of crappy movies ruin your childhood? I don't like the Bayformers movies either, but they didn't affect the G1 Transformers that I grew up watching. I even have them on DVD so I don't have to tolerate the Bayformers/Prime ****.

[stainer]

Hey Maj, could you let us know what is going on with Madstone boots?

[jellyfish21]

Characters kill monsters. They should be wanted if they kill humanoids. Dark-elf is a humanoid. Lloth is a Deamon. Kill the Queen and convert the drow. Pass the word.

Jedi and Sith both kill humanoids.

Create a game which follows this rule.

Corellon Larethian created all elves, including the Drow. Drow rebeled and worshiped Lloth.

[Entelech]

Apologies for the mild case of thread necromancy.

I've been thinking about this issue a bit, and I think that the comparison between the Star Wars franchise and the Forgotten Realms setting is, at least to me, very apt.

George Lucas started out creating a wonderful world, a wonderful story, and it became wildly popular. Then, in an effort to cash in on his earlier success, he went back and ruined everything about Star Wars that anybody liked.

I feel Ed Greenwood did something very similar to this with the Forgotten Realms.

I actually own the original PnP 1st edition AD&D boxed set, and I have the Dragon Magazine articles from the '80's where Elminster first started dispensing his wisdom. Back then, it was really cool.

And, like Gary Gygax and Mordenkainen, Ed Greenwood's Elminster was that most annoying of creations, a character the DM uses as a surrogate PC in his own games. The term in the Fanfic community is the "Mary Sue."

Unfortunately, Greenwood's obsession with Elminster's coolness led to Elminster appearing in virtually every module, every adventure, and every novel based in the Forgotten Realms. It reached heights of frenzied literary masturbation Gygax never approached. Gygax's forays into bad fantasy novels at least starred a character other than Mordenkainen.

In Greenwood's Elminster Saga novels, Elminster starts out a noble, his parents are killed, he becomes a street orphan, levels up as a Rogue, then starts over as a Fighter, then again as a Cleric, then once more as the Wizard. Oh yes, and he also has time for hot sex with the Goddess of Magic herself, Mystra. This is all in the first book, BTW. There are sequels.

Yes, that's right, Mystra let Elminster touch her boobs. Anakin only got access to Natalie Portman's

Then, of course, an endless stream of novels got spewed forth in an effort to cash out the franchise. Some were good (most of the Drizz't stuff) and some were unutterably horrific (I think Jar Jar Binks actually appears in the Forgotten Realms novel "Spellfire" -- or maybe it's Manshoon. They're about equivalently clever.)

Also, Drizz't and Darth Vader share a common problem. They were super-cool and awesome at one point, but now they've been drooled over by so many fanboys and copied by so many hacks that they've become trite and annoying. Whether they channel the power of midichlorians or Mystra's mammaries, they just don't thrill me any more.

[Entelech]

Corellon Larethian created all elves, including the Drow. Drow rebeled and worshiped Lloth.

Incorrect.

Actually, Llolth was imprisoned ages before the Drow were created, along with the other Lords of Dust. In Eberron, the ancient Giants captured and enslaved a group of Fey beings, and eventually turned them into the modern Eberron Elves.

They also performed magical experiments on some of their favored Elven slaves, fusing the supernatural essence of demons and elementals into their nature, in order to empower their trustees and favorites. Thus, the Drow.

Llolth wouldn't recognize an Eberron Drow if it smacked her across the face with a plush scorpion doll and asked her where its' Giant masters had gotten to.