[SpiritWarrior]

Strategic Chess? Nice analogy which I think is befitting in describing any turn based combat system quite common in RPG's even today. Wizardy 8 even the horribly misnomered Ruins of Myth Drannor. (PoRII?) feature a similar feel to combat. There are obvious subtle differences of course.

This is it. Turn based does not translate well in CRPG's. Real time is the most popular (and most favoured) format for combat systems, just look at the BG (or any IE game) and NWN's series. The D&D preferred system is real time. With a turn-based system you have something like a chess game, and with these older SSI's they had no animations for combat, spells etc. like they do now, so I guess it was the only thing they could do at the time.

But I don't see how this detracts from an RPG experience nor how strategising in a methodical chess like fashion can be considered 'un-rpglike'. It all goes back to one's own personal definintions I guess, aswell as the games we played as a kid.

Well an RPG is ideally a real-time life you are playing. It does not consist of pauses and initiative waiting, you think quick on your feet in the face of danger and the pace is usually quite fast. This is what sells RPG's, the sense of adventure, danger, haste. Unfortunately in PNP we can only play RPG's by breaking them down into systems & rules and turns. In the D&D DM guides dm's were always advised to never get bogged down by rules and always "keep the pace going" so to speak.
The reason why BG was so popular with non-D&D fans is because the creators did just what the DM guide advised. They developed one of the first working D&D real-time systems that would allow almost anyone (newcomers included) to play the game freely and see it all happen before their eyes without pausing every round to decide action. The pause feature was there if you needed it but otherwise events would transpire, your character would keep on fighting/walking/standing and the game world went on. It was almost like a movie but you're in it and that for those of us who have only imagined up 'till now, was priceless .

We'll agree to disagree then, eh?

Yep, no worries [img]smile.gif[/img] . In fact, the newest D&D game out, ToEE is only turn-based and with the graphics, engine and animations of this day and age, works quite well from what I hear so perhaps you might like it.

Incidentally, Perhaps someone has already made a NWN module for the Dragonlance fans out there? Any takers for remaking any of the Dragonlancee goldbox series for NWN? That I'd like to see!

There is a massive project going on known as "The DLA", a conversion of NWN's to Dragonlance, it should be almost finished by December. I've been suggesting some music over there at the forums.

[ 10-09-2003, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: SpiritWarrior ]