Well, third new topic already.. This one will be about a plan i have for a long time now.. I am planning to work on a game myself. It will be a fantasy RPG/adventure, but totally different from BG2. The problem is that i cannot seem to find any lists of magical creatures anywere.. Any advice on this (and on my "future 100% rated game" will be most welcome.

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

Try finding the monster manual, I cant remember where you get it from but if you ask memnoch i think it was he who said where it was in the first place

------------------
http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/No.../azurewolf.gif

"I was born of darkness. My fathers eyes closed before mine opened. I am not of this world or the other, and I have the right to be what I am..."

Try going to a Comic book store in the area. If they don't have a monster manuel, the people working there should know where one is. http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

BK

Hmmm, do they have comicbook stores where you are, Link? Will look online. . .brb.

BK

You can buy one from Amazon.com, but I didn't see any freebies . . . someone help the person out . . .

BK

Well.. i thought i'd bring this one back to the attention. I am doing some research on the book thing (of monsters and stuff). I'm pretty far with the story line, but it needs some quests and stuff like that. I've drawn the map already, anyone who's interested can ask for the story so far.. Not too sure about everything: hints 'n' tips are most welcome!!!!

P.S. Lilargor rocks!!!!!!

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

Hmm there's tons of beastiaries on the net but i don't know where. There are a few tolkien ones i know of so try searching in that direction. As for Forgotten realm monster manuals i can't help you there sorry http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/frown.gif . Ask Memnoch he should know. Getting your hands on Balders Gate 1 and 2 and Pools of Radiance 1 and 2 could help. Also the forgotten realms books can help.

------------------
ShadowMaster of the Theives of Darkness. I'm also an ice cream man!

Why don't you give me the story so far. Im pretty good with storylines so ill try to help.

------------------
ShadowMaster of the Theives of Darkness. I'm also an ice cream man!

Actually I quite good on monsters
tell me what kind of monsters you want and I send them to you



------------------
Simon defender of Avelorn

Yeah OK. Storyline first:
My idea is to create some sort of link between this world (earth and stuff) and a parallel world. The story so far, is that you and two others (might lose the two others, cos otherwise you'll have to have them in your party anyway) are doing research on an ancient temple, somewhere in the rainforest. Somewhere in that temple you find a secret entrance. The three of you walk through the entrance and end up in a long hallway, with magnificent painting on the walls. They illustrate a story, you think but you're not sure. Following the paintings you see an island being destroyed (that would be Atlantis) , and on the other wall you see the dinosaurs being exterminated. Then it appears you have reached the end of the hallway, and you enter a big circular room, with some sort of an altar in the center of it. The three of you walk to the altar and there's a book on top of it. The presence of you makes the book open, and inside it, it says nothing. When you try to read it, the book suddenly slams shut. The front shows a weird mark, and as you touch it, something odd happens. The room begins to shake and turn, and suddenly a bright blue light surrounds you.

When you wake up, you're somewhere else, but you don't know where. You're in a forest, and nearby you hear some people yelling. You stand up, and walk closer, and see an elven village. Suddenly a group of trolls arrive and kill all the elves and take one man with them. When the trolls are gone you enter the devestated village, and everyone seems to be dead. You look around, not realizing what is going one (Note: you are human: elves don't exist, and trolls don't exist either). Suddenly you hear some twigs snap. Afraid that the trolls might have come back, you run for it, and hide in some bushes. But it's not the trolls but an old man. He stumbles closerby, and tells you to come out of the bushes. How he knows you're there, you don't understand. The old man (not an elf!!!!) is badly hurt, and makes clear you have to come closer. He tells you a prophecy:

" Every 6000 years a person must come from Earth and save this world. He has to do that, so the demon empire cannot come to Earth. The world you are in is some sort of a portal between the demon empire and Earth. You are the Chosen One, the one who must defeat the Upholder of the demon empire, and thus save Earth, from evil and despair."

Then the man dies, although you try to revive him. You figure that is one piece of the puzzle you have to solve, a puzzle which can bring you back home....

has a similar story line to the Everworld series by K.A applegate. I usually find that bringing humans from the real world into the fantasy world doesn't mix that well but who knows? Its orignal i'll give you that but the story has no background to it. In BG you had the whole: you and imoen growing up in candlekeep with gorion as you foster father and you being the child of bhaal and all. Still very imaginative and maybe you can make some changes to it.

------------------
ShadowMaster of the Theives of Darkness. I'm also an ice cream man!

Hi Link!
Well if you are in need of monsters, check up old mythosis, like ancient greek, roman and egyptian lore. Check the old western sagas.

There are alot of material out there if you want to create it from descriptions only.
If you want a hint you should check out some other games monster manuals or bestiary.

Check online at the Webrings, acsessed through among others www.wizards.com dod game.

------------------
http://wolfgir.najk.net/name.gif
WOLF WINS EVERY FIGHT BUT ONE, AND IN THAT ONE, HE DIES

Yeah thanks, Black Assassin: i'm not finished yet!!! I mean, this isn't the entire story! And about importing characters from the real world into a fantasy one: at least it gives you a good motive to continue: you gotta get back home. Still very open for suggestions : make things up yourself!!!

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

Thanks Wolfgir: appreciate your help

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

yeah its a good idea i justy personally like keeping it too the fantasy world. i mean what if you had i pistol in your backpack as you got transported? no one would stand a chance. still i await to see the improvements, good job.

------------------
ShadowMaster of the Theives of Darkness. I'm also an ice cream man!

Well if you had a pistol in your backpack and were transported to a fantasy world, you would empty all your rounds in to the first ghost that appered!

Tough time to get new ammo eh? http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif

------------------
http://wolfgir.najk.net/name.gif
WOLF WINS EVERY FIGHT BUT ONE, AND IN THAT ONE, HE DIES

Right. I agree with Wolfgir. Besides that: if i'd let my character be born in the fantasy-world, that leaves me with some sort of Zelda-like story, and that isn't what i'm looking for. I think i'll stay with (at least) the basic magical creatures like Skeletons, Ogres, Gnolls, Goblins, Kobolds etc. As for the story. I figured out some quests, but the main one will be of course to destroy that Upholder. I don't know how that can be done, whether or not you need a special sword or so to do it. What i do know, is that there will be some sort of a dragon control device (dragon flute), with which you can control one dragon (being one that disturbs the rest at a certain island (Jo'Mun Isle of Silence; this is a sacred island, where no word can be spoken. This is also the home of the Priests Of Athrab, but they have spread out over the entire world. On this island a dragon has appeared, and many fighters have tested their skills against this beast. Apparently nobody has been able to kill the dragon. If the dragon is not killed soon, a great evil shall rise on the Island. That evil was kept in place by the Priests of Athrab, and can be awaken by breaking the eternal silence -> this of course will happen: the creature will wake up, and this will resolve in another quest...)
So far i guess i've made up quite some things. I agree with everyone who thinks i'm far from done, i know that myself: the story needs a good fix, and i need to make up some quests.

What i do plan to do ( it is a RPG), is not to restrict the number of people in your party. It will be your own choice: a bigger party will draw much attention, and is harder to control. A smaller party will remain unnoticed to most of the people, and will be easier to control.
Second thing i want to do is the so called combat mode: you can chose between letting the AI fight, or join in at combat mode. Combat mode enables you to make several moves (slashes, etc.), but you cannot cast any spells in combat mode. I thought that was a pretty good idea, but i will need you suggestions once again!!! Thanks!!!!!

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

Combat modes..

OK, if you are to let people to different attacks and such, I suppose you´re going for a full 3D environment?

If you are, check out Vampire, and Diablo 2, Summoner and games like that, the most important thing with thoose games are the Click-mania, and bad vs good camera angles..

If you are to go for a 2D world, I think it is better to have hmm, well kind of special hit probability.. I.e 25% of all chances to make a critical hit, to make a any kind of special move, then you can just let your character attack the opponent and have the chance to do some special things which in turn will increase due to experence..

Well some rough thoughts..

------------------
http://wolfgir.najk.net/name.gif
WOLF WINS EVERY FIGHT BUT ONE, AND IN THAT ONE, HE DIES

My game will be RPG; that means that you'd have to click where the characters must go. In a fight, however, you can access Combat Mode, and then you'd get a different camera angle (from behind or something, i guess the camera angel like Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine). And normal, it would be like BG2, but BG2 is too far from my point of view (i mean that the characters are pretty far away.

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

I still have a monster manual lying around, its about 4mb.
I can mail it to you if you put you're e-mail available.

this reminds me of the Thomas Covenant series. I know one of those books was called Lord Fouls Bane. I think there were 3 books in all and they started out pretty well but it got more and more boring as it went along. By the time I finished the third book it was by shear force of will. I hated reading all those hours to quit 50 pages from the end and not know how it finished. IT SUCKED.

As for not limiting how many characters you can have in the party youre going to run into some serious problems on that. I think if you limit it to about 8 members youll have a decent level of control. Realisticly you wouldnt be able to manage 100 or even 20 very well. Maybe not even 10. If you want big battles it will turn into a strategy game and lose all its RPG characteristics.

Im a little unclear as to whether it was just one guy who got sent through the portal to the alternate Earth or if his friends went with him.

You caould always try it like this: your party gets sucked through the portal.
As the story unfolds you have the chance to gather new party members (keeping it an RPG) then 3/4ths into the story your party members will become Generals each with his or her own talents and skills. Those party members will ahve to lead 10,000 troops each into a huge pitched battle against the forces of evil.(this would take on the strategy feeel of the game.)

Do any DEFECT to the other side???? How many???? What was the outcome of the battle???? Was it all just a distraction so that your core party could make it to the gates of hell then battle their way to Satan and termintate him???

Were all the Dragons Satans minions to distract the hero??? I could give ya more ideas than you could count. (Im a schizophrenic Gemini hehehehehe)

One more thing and its a biggie. If you use an AD&D monster manual
YOULL GET SUED FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. if you use any creatures from any of their books youd better make some changes. OR youll have to get permission to ususe their stuff and I'd have to think that would cost millions. Plus they will want Royalties. Im sure you could get away with using common names like Ogres and Minotaurs but make sure you change the HP and attacks... know what I mean??

------------------
IS THE PIZZA HERE YET????
WANNA PASS ME A BEER??? THANKS!!!!!!

Online Monster Manual:
http://tinuviel.mizi.co.kr/~tolkien/ADD/mm/MM00000.htm

Offline Version:
http://tower.onego.ru/text.html

Thanks Atomizer
That could come in usefull

------------------
http://www.tgeweb.com/ironworks/bald...w/tge_024l.JPG http://havak.db-forge.com/portraits/clcm80L.jpg

OK first of all:
- Email me at michieljonkman@hotmail.com; don't play any tricks at me (viruses and stuff).
- Party amount: it would be your own choice. Of course there won't be hundreds NPC's, but you can take them all with you. I know it can be risky, but it will be something new, and different comparing with all the other games. Because you can chose the amount of NPC's coming with you, you can find the perfect balance (in amount). This way you can say: well, I'll take (for instance) 10 people in my party, and live with the consquences (being noticed pretty often, etc.) On the other side you can say: well, i only take 4 NPC's with me, and live with those consequences. Again: All the things written (??? typed) down here are just ideas, i don't know what to do with them just yet, and i consider all of your advice well.
- I am not sure either, Earthdog. I don't know yet whether to send just you through the portal, or you and a couple of friends. The problem lies with the fact that the Final Quest is to return home. If you're alone, that's no big problem ( save the world, and you can go). When you go with more people than yourself, then you got a problem. You cannot simply toss them out of the group, cos they need to get home as well. The solution you gave me was something i thought of earlier on. Battles were something i planned to use eitherway, and that would be a perfect solution for the one-or-more-person problem. Thanks!
- Other sides. Yes, i know. I was thinking about letting the gamer chose between good & evil. That means you'd have two different campaigns (for good to conquer evil, and secure Earth for another 6000 years, and for evil to get rid of the Chosen One, and conquer Earth). To let a person in your group be defected to the other side is a pretty good idea, and very good for the storyline. I guess i'll have to chose between good & evil, and that one, cos both won't work ( advice most welcome on this one!!!!)
Somehow a choice between the right and the wrong path must be available, cos that's what gamers want. Not everybody wants to be the good guy only!! Bad rulez for some (probably a load) of them.
- Thanks for the rest of the ideas, more of those are welcome Earthdog!!
- I know about the monster problem. It's not good to have just 30 different monsters. That would bore a gamer in no time. Dunno what to do about that one. Might ask Memnoch about this.
- Thanks very much Atomizer!!!

OK. So much for all the questions. Keep sending in, and I'll try to answer them all, and work on the rest of the story/ inform you on new ideas!

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

Something I just thought of concerning your monster problem without infringing copyrights is to create your own. I cant remember if its in the AD&D dungeon masters guide or if its in one of the monster manuals but theres a section where you can create your own monsters and it tells you how to do it along with stuff like if the creature has any special attacks. The more special attacks it has the more XP it will be worth and so on. I used to dungeon master games games for my brothers and friends and it got to the point where they were such high level and they had killed everything but the Tarask(sp) (cuz you cant kill a Tarask) so I had to start creating monsters just so theyd have something interesting to fight. So that might be a way for you to go.

As for npc's defecting it could be something like Yoshi in BG2. How many that defect is up to you. If you put 50 npc's that could possibly join your party you need a limit on how many you can have in the party. That way when the defectors leave you can go back into town and pick up some more npcs to fill your party back out. Also when it comes time for the huge battle you can have your trusted npc's place next to the questionable ones ready to attack them.

I have to ask if youve read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan??? Ill try to get an email to you sometime tonight or tomorrow. also once weve exchanged emails and if you have it we can add eachother on msn messenger to discuss this a lil more quickly than through email.

------------------
IS THE PIZZA HERE YET????
WANNA PASS ME A BEER??? THANKS!!!!!!

Wheel of Time?? With that person that is the dragon and should wake up, right??? Yeah i read it, in Dutch version alright! (BTW: i also read the books written by David Eddings, Terry Brooks and of course Tolkien) And I do have MSN Messenger, so we could chat. You could add me to Messenger at the address michieljonkman@hotmail.com...The only problem we'd might face is that I live in the Netherlands, and you in Australia. The time and stuff might be a problem. I'll try to be online in the morning (here in Netherlands) that will be evening in Australia.
I have this little idea as well. You'll probably know that if you create a pretty large world (more gaming fun), it's definitely not good to let them walk all the way. So i made up this Portal idea. All across the land are Portals. These portals can be activated but the spell (or something like that) is long since lost. You find the spell, and can activate the portals. That allows you to travel a lot quicker, and it is a new quest.
(Involved in the Portals is some sort of Head Portal, which transports you the The Necropolis: the city of the Dead. Destroy the evil skeletons and stuff.. That would be some sort of super quest or something. It would also explain why the portal spell would be lost. Some kind of mage got rid of it, because that Portal brought skeletons in the world....That stuff is good for the story!!!)

Another idea i got, is some sort of Cloud City (yeah, i had some inspiration from Star Wars!!). The idea about that is not yet finished but i'll keep ya informed.

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

[This message has been edited by Link (edited 05-18-2001).]

I had thought of the portal thing too. I think its a good idea. Finding the spell that would take the party to the Necropolis would need to be a super tough super quest.

I read the Books by David Eddings too. The Diamond Throne was good but i prefered the books with Garion and Belgarath. Also theres a series by Raymond E. Feist called The Riftwar Saga. The first book was called Apprentice Adept i think. In this series its abouta young boy who is trying to learn the art of magic. only problem is he cant learn it. something happens and he finally successfully uses magic--- but its not the kind hes been taught. He's discovered a whole new magical system. If you could work someting like this into the story where your normal human being is transported into another world it would enable that character to become a magic user. I dont knoqw if it will work but you could give it some thought.

btw i added you to my msn messenger and you can also add me too earthdog_65@hotmail.com

i sent my last post about 30 minutes ago i think and i just read your reply.my messenger is on if youd like to chat. Take it easy.

Link I'm not completly sure what you mean with a new game
You mean creating a whole new game or a BG2 Mod?

Anyway if you need any help I'm creating a whole new realm based on AD&D
So if you need help SCREAM

And Yes BK holland has comicbookstores

------------------
http://www.phpshop.net/images/rikard/rikard2.gif
<A HREF="http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/NonCGI/Forum10/HTML/000743-3.html" TARGET=_blank>Help me create A Fantasy Realm with your imagination
</A>

I guess i owe everybody some replies, so:
- Nice ideas. I agree on them, especially on the magic user stuff. It's pretty obvious that you can't let someone from Earth have magic abilities, although one could say that because he is the Chosen One, those abilities are destined to be his. Comments on this one pleaz.
- Rikard: it is my goal to create a game, not a mod. Hope you understand now.

As for new ideas. Yeah, well, new ideas. I'm a little empty on those, but i'm thinking very hard, and that's a task in itself, right?? Don't worry, you can bet on more things to come!!!!



------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

If a someone on Earth could cast magic all depends on how you define magic. Is is a power you are born with, or is a power channled from the land, or is it just a power that we all have but people on earth have forgoten it and so on.

By the way if it is going to be a compleat game what are you going to program it in?

Yeah that's the main issue allright. I dunno whether to get myself some equipment, and (try to) make it myself, or work everything out, and sell it to some game producing company.
About magic. The forgetting thing is a good idea. I thought of it myself, but haven't been able to work that one out. That everyone on Earth forgot to use magic gives me a problem, when saying that the Chosen One is special. If he's special, then he should have a special ability ( like using magic). It doesn't really matter, cos i had this plan that you'd need a very special sword to kill the Upholder of Evil. You need to gather the Sword Jurin, which is devided in several pieces all over the country (kinda remembers you guys of the Equalizer, but i assure you: this idea was originated long before BG2 was released!!!!). It needs two special gems as well; that will activate the hidden, and unrevealed powers of the Sword. Those powers must come from two things: the Stones, and the person itself. If the person is the Chosen One, nothing will happen, but if he's not, he will be disintegrated by divine fire (or something like that: it would be a super thing to happen in the game, and also a good thing to get rid of one of the party members that have travelled with you to this world!!!)
So much for the sword, hope you like it and please comment on this one. Thanks!

BTW: Earthdog: any new ideas from your side are most welcome.

------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

Earthdog, you CAN kill a Tarrasque, but you just need to finish it off with a wish spell after chopping it into tiny pieces, and if even a piece of it the size of a grain of sand remains it will regenerate.

Hey Link look for the topic called "Monster Manual" in this forum and check out the second link I posted for a downloadable MM.

------------------
http://angelfire.com/rpg/castletainly/gifs/ps5.gif http://kung_lao.tripod.com/blade.gif http://angelfire.com/rpg/evermeet/wingedsword.gif

http://www.forgottenrealms.dk/

Alot of good monsters here, usable for any DM tired of the PCs thinking they are unstoppable!

------------------
http://www.dewa.com/animated/7.gif
Larry, a Loyal Guardian of the OHF

Link, I've read some wonderful ideas on this thread, and I would like to help you with the game as much as I can. I'm not very good on computers but I have a rich fantasy http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif, as well as a good knowledge of English and assorted things that might come in useful (such as lore/mythology for creating a realistic world/monsters/etc)
Mail me at the_new_helen@hotmail.com, and I have MSN as well!
En ik ben Nederlands, lekker makkelijk! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif
Sarah

------------------
Melusine, Archbabe of the Order of the Holy Flame and the Laughing Hyenas, &
Official Entertainer Elf of the BG2 Bar
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/memnoch/mel1.gif
Your voice is ambrosia

The sword idea is fine(a very old symbol),but i think that if its this avatars destiny to wield the sword ,first he/she must earn the responsibility to use that power ,yes? ....by means of a spirit guide/teacher who will tutor and test the avatar.Communication mainly takes place via dreams (like the Imoen/soulside dreams),or maybe more than one 'etherial' teacher?...they could impart their power/abilitys IF the avatar keeps them sweet and passes their tests(real world requirements).
.....anyway,just my thoughts on the sword thing.

I appreciate all of your help, guys thanks!! And as for Melusine:
"Altijd welkom, nieuwe hulp. Ik had trouwens al langer gezien dat je Nederlands was, maar dat doet er niet toe. Hoe vind je trouwens mijn verhaal in de bar? Best wel lachen he?"
For those of you who aren't Dutch: do not, i repeat, do not try to read the sentences above, you won't understand!!! Well I hope you all like the things so far, and i'll keep all of ya informed. BTW: i trust all of your intentions with my ideas are well, i don't suspect anything, but one has to be certain of these things...


------------------
In the foul darkness one figure will emerge to save the world from evil and despair.... Light flashes as his sword comes down, and thunder rolls through the sky when he points his sword up to heaven to signal his victory....People whisper his name as he walks by, evil tries to hide as they sense his presence nearby.... His name? Link......

If you are thinking of programming it your self here are some programs languages that are designed for game programming:

http://www.div-arena.com/
This is a language made just for programming sprite based games, it is easy to use this is for the English, but I think there is a Dutch version of it. I have been using it for a few weeks and you could make a good RPG on it.

http://www.darkbasic.com/
this is a language for 3d games, I have not really used it but it seems quite simple to use.
Both have demos to download.

Also there are a lot of programs for making console based RPGs,
the only one I have a link for is the Official Hamster Republic RPG Construction Engine it's only in it beta stage but it might worth a look:
http://hamsterrepublic.com/html/ohrrpgce.html
Also take a look at Dungeon Craft it should be a link on the ironworks page. It looks quite good.


As for the sword, give it a mind of it's own. That always makes things fun.http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

Link I think the Forgetting is a very good idea. Youll have to work it out as to who and how the Hero is trained to regain the magic ability. you could make it to where this is really the first quest or just an early one. Once the Hero gains the use of magic it will give say the "tribal elders" a strong insight to the fact that he really is the The Chosen One. Now If he has his 2 friends go through the portal with him they could also learn the same thing of you could have to do Quests for them to also receive abilities. One could be a cleric and the other a theif or something like that. or just highly skilled fighters. vary they quests that they can undertake and you allow the user to change things up.

I think this could be like a family tree type thing. Theres the first Branch and what the user decides to do with his first character in a way manipulates what the others can do. If the main character decides to undertake the mage quest then that eliminates the possibility that other others can do it too. one would then be able to learn the art of the druids for example. or clerics. or theives. if you include some bg2 type classes 3 guys with the ability to choose what they become would really make the game replayable.

If the user changes one thing on the tree it changes the game entirely from that point on. Maybe not drasticly but enough so that you can really never play the exact same game twice. This is the really difficult thing to decide on. its not like bg2 where you decide what you are BEFORE you go through the portal. The PC has to BECOME what will shape his destiny.

Then of course, you can also add the types of NPC's that you need to balance out the party. Maybe even add instructors that will accompany the party t okeep them alive long enough to get to where they can survive and then say " Ive taught you all i can. My time with you has come to an End." Only to have these instructors rejoin the group near the final battle. Is one a traitor?? Did he really teach his pupil everything he knew???? My bet is that he didnt. But the pupil learned some tricks that hadnt occured to the instructor/ traitor. Hero wins. and gains more power for killing the instructor.

You could play with this idea forever. Dont be in a rush to get it done. Any writer will tell you that it takes almost as long to outline the story as it does to actually write it. Keep in mind that if you rush it you will surely screw up and leave something out. but by the same token if you try to do too much detail you can still screw it up just as bad.

Look at the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. It could have been a really good story but he spent too much time describing Guiled this and Guilded that, He even talk about how they had Guilded fish at an inn one night. i dont think he knows that guilded means Decorated with gold trim, basiclly. So they had gold laced Fish??????? gimme a break. he got too caught up in describing crap and forget about telling the story. Who really cares if there is gold enamel on a door??? whats the story line Mr Jordan??? duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

oooops sorry kind of got away from me there LOL http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif anyway Link get back to me on thar and let me know what you think. take it easy.