Comments on NWN2: MOTB ...

[melancthe]

Well, I finally finished Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer. It's fairly short, but it's far better written and more satisfying than the Original Campaign (henceforth "the OC"). The story is far richer and more involving, even if it's a little obvious at times. A few people have compared it to Planescape: Torment, but I think that's being

Comments

[satanicharisma]

The makers of D&D were definitely Vance fans, but you probably know that already.

"The Moon Moth" .. ah, what a cool story that is.

DO you ever burst out with "BY no means!" when somebody tells you something that you vehemently don't agree with? It's one of Vance's more endearing quirks.

[melancthe]

My personal Vance favourite is to sneer at any question I don't feel like anyswering and say, with an appropriately curled lip, "The question is nuncupatory".

Sadly, it's never had quite the effect that I would have liked. :)

[satanicharisma]

*laughing* .. Hm, that one is such a trademark that I'd instantly sniff out anyone who used it as a fan. Vanceian turns of phrase ... so good! And so much fun to read aloud.

[zorkfox]

When Gary Gygax was writing the original Dungeons & Dragons, he wrote to Vance and asked for permission to use the memorization system for spells. You might also note the presence of certain other Dying Earth magical items as IOUN stones, though D&D ioun stones have more uses than simple spell (which equates to memory) storage.

Interestingly enough, I never heard the D&D spell system called "the Vancian System" until long after I had discovered Jack Vance. Not once during all the years I played and read D&D was it ever referred to by that name.

There is an article about it in one of the issues of The Excellent Prismatic Spray, which I will attempt to find for you when I get home. I need some kind of Dying Earth icon. Seriously.

[melancthe]

I started playing D&D many years after I became a Vance fan, so I'd already heard about the Vancian spellcasting system/IOUN stones/Vecna then (actually, that was kind of why I wanted to play D&D).

*squint* What's that in your icon?

Forlorn

[zorkfox]

Those are two sections of concrete pipe I found languishing in the woods at a local park. I like ruins, and they were the closest thing I saw that day. I thought they looked lonely, so gave the icon the key word "forlorn".

[windrider_09]

Somehow, the title of the villain: The Faceless Man is more sinister then say Darl Lord.

[speakr2customrs]

I still haven't finished MotB. I played in every spare moment until I hit the Spirit Eater curse and then... stopped. I found that it took all the fun out of play. I like to keep the full-size map up (I can't make sense of the little round map and I'm currently playing a Ranger so the map gives me a huge amount of useful information) and it covers the Spirit Meter completely. There isn't anywhere else that I can move it to where it wouldn't obscure my field of vision. Having to keep remembering to close the map to monitor the meter just spoiled my feeling of immersion. I might download the cheat to auto-suppress sometime but until then I won't be playing. There are plenty of modules on the Vault that are almost as well written and don't have that annoying admin work to detract from the fun

[erik_karlsson]

Glad to see you've finally finished MotB! :D Can't say I can say the same thing about me though, since I still haven't finished it yet! :B (I've been too busy playing Knights of the Old Republic 1)

I agree with you that MotB is far better than the Original Campain. It just didn't feel compelling enough to me. But I really like the characters & story in MotB.

Since I haven't finished MotB yet, I'll not read your spoiler tag just yet. :D A question though, is there a lot left of the game once you've revieled your special ability? (I think you know which one I mean and if you don't, feel free to ask me)