December 2000

D&D Online Alignment Test
Posted Thursday, December 28, 2000 - 22:47 CET by Sorcerer

What Alignment Means
Alignment is central to a D&D character’s personality. D&D uses two measures to determine a specific character’s ethical and moral attitudes and behavior.

The moral axis has three positions: good, neutral and evil. Good characters generally care about the welfare of others. Neutral people generally care about their own welfare. Evil people generally seek to harm the others’ welfare.

The ethical axis has three positions as well: lawful, neutral, and chaotic. Lawful people generally follow the social rules as they understand them. Neutral people follow those rules find convenient or obviously necessary. And chaotic people seek to upset the social order and either institute change, or simply create anarchy.

Take this short quiz "in character," answering the questions as your PC would. The results of the test will suggest an alignment for your character.

I always play a chaotic good character, but after taking this test my alignment seems to be lawful good. Hmm, maybe I should start playing paladins instead. ;) -Ed.

More Awards!
Posted Thursday, December 28, 2000 - 22:03 CET by Hexaruz

Short notice:
Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale made the Gamespot UK's Game of the Year nomination list for the RPG category.

Last Week's Poll Results
Posted Wednesday, December 27, 2000 - 22:52 CET by Sorcerer

Yea, yea, I know. I'm running late with the results, but give me a break. It's the Xmas season after all. ;)
I'll have some more site updates coming up soon, so stay tuned.

What we asked in last week's poll:

Q: Which of these games have you played the most?
(475 votes total)

Baldur's Gate II (200) 42%
Baldur's Gate (156) 33%
Planescape: Torment (71) 15%
Icewind Dale (48) 10%

Now that's what I call a surprising turnout!
The winner of the poll was known in advance I suppose... Baldur's Gate II, this year's finest RPG has obviously conquered a lot of hearts and therefor won with a vast majority of votes.

Second most played game was the original Baldur's Gate with 33% of votes, a surprisingly high number as well.

Third place is where I was surprised the most. I was certain that Planescape: Torment would win the last place in spite that fact that it is one of the best RPGs in existence, mainly because it didn't sell all that well and many people are unfamiliar with it.
Obviously not so here. Maybe it's just the visitors of Sorcerer's Place (whom I have been constantly urging to try the game), or maybe it's the fact that many people have replayed Torment at least three times to try out all of the available classes (mage, warrior, thief).
Whatever the reason, I'm glad that people have given Torment at least a bit of the recognition it deserves.

Last place goes to Icewind Dale with 10% of votes. Don't ask me how the game that practically everybody was replaying over and over again came to be the last in this poll. I really couldn't say.
Possibly because the time playing it seemed to flow faster than with Baldur's Gate? Or because you can only take so much hack&slash until you get bored if you repeat it?

The result above would suggest that Icewind Dale sold very few copies, but it most definitely did not. In fact, it sold MUCH better than Planescape: Torment, one of the reasons that the folks at Black Isle are putting together an expansion for it dubbed Heart of Winter.

Polls can sometimes be surprising indeed.

Best RPG Awards at GA-RPG
Posted Monday, December 25, 2000 - 11:33 CET by Sorcerer

Here we go again...
GA-RPG, which will hopefully return to full-time news coverage with a vengence soon, has posted Best RPG of 2000 awards.
Most of our all-time favorites are there, including (but not limited to) Icewind Dale and, of course, Baldur's Gate II!
To see which game won the first place, check out the link above.

Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor First Look at GA-RPG
Posted Sunday, December 24, 2000 - 21:51 CET by Sorcerer

The guys over at GA-RPG, our mothership, err site have scored a preview of Stormfront Studios' upcoming 3rd Edition D&D game, Pool of Radiance: RoMD.
It provides a good amount of info about the game also a couple of screenshots, so be sure to check it out.
A short snippet from the preview:

"Stormfront plans to implement the new feats associated with different classes and races in POR2 that are covered in the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. POR2 started as a second edition game and was converted over to conform to the new rules, so they had to make some hard choices about what they could implement, gameplay-wise.
Most Feats made the cut, but a few will not be supported. They decided to incorporate 17 feats, ranging from combat ones like Cleave, Blind Fighting, and Power Attack to passive ones such as Lightning Reflexes, Combat Casting, and Improved Initiative. Using these feats will allow the players to shape the character classes as they want to play them, which in turn is what role-playing is all about."

Preview on HoW
Posted Sunday, December 24, 2000 - 12:11 CET by Hexaruz

Merry Christmas to you all!
Yet one more of them previews on HoW (Heart of Winter IceWind Dale expansion) This one's from Ironworks and you can read it by clicking here!

"Heart of Winter is an expansion pack add-on for Icewind Dale that is nearing release in the 1st Quarter of 2001 which is being published
by Black Isle Studios and Published by the guys at Interplay.

Heart of Winter promises up to 20-30 hours of added adventure, along with this add-on comes an updated gaming engine, which adds a great deal more support for pathfinding; higher resolutions up to 1024x768 (800x600 is supported); drop away interface and a few tweaked battles in the 'old lands' of the cewind Dale game as well!"

Another Win for Baldur's Gate II
Posted Sunday, December 24, 2000 - 12:02 CET by Hexaruz

Baldurs Gate 2 wins the Gamespy RPG of the Year! Well I guess we couldn't expect other right? Now go and read it!

"For over twenty-five years, Dungeons and Dragons has been a popular and dominant franchise for fantasy role-playing. Two years ago, the Forgotten Realms adventure Baldur's Gate from BioWare appeared in Christmas stockings and went on to win computer RPG of the Year."

No more Black Isle D&D games?
Posted Saturday, December 23, 2000 - 0:42 CET by Calis

Remember my news post about Infogrames acquiring Hasbro, owner of Wizards of the Coast? Well, Gamespot's RPG guru Desslock has posted another update concerning this. Here's a snippet from his editorial:

"What does that mean? It means that Interplay's Black Isle Studios is unlikely to be able to make any more D&D games after the terms of its current licence expire. Infogrames could licence other developers to make D&D games, and since BioWare Corp recently announced a publishing deal with LucasArts and therefore is no longer obligated to work exclusively with Interplay it presumably could enter into an agreement with Infogrames, but that's just speculation. But since Interplay is a competitor publisher, Infogrames is extremely unlikely to permit Black Isle to publish additional D&D games, in spite of the success that the company has recently experienced with the licence."

Merry Xmas And All That
Posted Friday, December 22, 2000 - 21:34 CET by Sorcerer

Ahh... It has finally begun snowing around here. I was getting afraid that we won't have a white Christmas, but it seems my fears were unfounded.
I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year and hope all your wishes for the next year (and finally, millennium) come true. Thanks for your continuing support, good ideas, comments and criticism. (Right, o Wise Grey one? ;)
We couldn't have done it without you all. A big thanks to all people who are/were directly or indirectly connected with Sorcerer's Place (you know who you are), and to all members of the SP Crew (especially Sylvus), plus all of our fan community!

BG2 Online Solution Update
Posted Wednesday, December 20, 2000 - 22:09 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

Hail brave warriors, I greet you with a bow and smile to all readers who have helped with their e-mail input as well as those on Sorcerer's Place Message Boards. I have gotten caught up with two months of back logged e-mails and updated the Baldur's Gate 2 Online Solution to reflect your comments, BATTLE TIPS and would like to thank everyone who continues to participate and read what I work very hard to bring you, the gamer.

On that note, Brynnlaw is now online and Spellhold is just around the corner.

Thanks again for all your comments. Without you guys, a full Baldur's Gate 2 Online Solution may never have been possible!

16 New Heart Of Winter Screenshots
Posted Wednesday, December 20, 2000 - 21:48 CET by Sorcerer

Earlier today, sixteen new screenshots of Black Isle Studios' expansion pack, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter were posted at RPGPlanet. The screenshots were taken from a press preview of the expansion which is estimated for release in the first quarter of 2001.
Check them out here.

Heart o' Winter Preview
Posted Tuesday, December 19, 2000 - 16:23 CET by Hexaruz

GA RPG (Gamers Alliance) has posted a grand preview of Ice Wind Dale: Heart of Winter!

"Ah expansion pack, in the past that term was enough to make me cringe. I’m not a fan of the concept; I’d rather just have a full-blown game than one or two missions tacked on. Most of these
expansions haven’t been worth the price, and I personal viewed them as nothing but a second attempt to cash in on a successful title. Black Isle Studios (BIS) may be able to change that notion however with the recently announced addition to their Forgotten Realms line-up, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter."

12 screenshots of HoW
Posted Tuesday, December 19, 2000 - 16:17 CET by Hexaruz

RPGVault has posted 12 more of those darn lovely Heart of Winter Screenshots! Go check them out!

Site News - New Additions
Posted Monday, December 18, 2000 - 22:18 CET by Sorcerer

Subsection Updates

After three days of "downtime" (lightning fried my modem) I'm finally back. Well it's not in my nature to stay idle no matter what, so I made the best of the extra time that I didn't spend on the Internet.
Erran, a devoted member of our message boards and (now) a contributor to the site has sent me a ton of material regarding the religion and deities of the Realms which I converted to online layout and added to the Fantasy Worlds/Forgotten Realms subsection.
You'll find a general overview of the pantheon of the Realms there, plus a detailed listing of all human gods.

The two other subsections of that part of the site (Other Worlds and Fantasy Movies) are in need of some more coverage, so if you have anything that you think would fit there, please contact me and I'll add it there. Especially Fantasy Movies section needs at least a short report regarding the D&D and LotR movies, so if you've got an hour or two of free time and would like to contribute to the site, contact Sorcerer for more details.

Among other news, our official chatroom is now called Friendly Arm Inn, by popular demand. I hope to see all of you there eventually!

Sylvus has also been working on his Baldur's Gate II Online Solution.
Three new areas have been added to it today; The Temple District,The Government District and The Planar Prison.
I've been adding the finishing cosmetic touches (mostly grammar checks) to many of the areas lately and will continue to do so until I catch up with Sylvus' writing.

Direct Links.

Last Week's Poll Results
Posted Monday, December 18, 2000 - 21:51 CET by Sorcerer

What we requested:

Q: We need you to help us out by picking a name you think would be the most appropriate for our upcoming chatroom. The winning entry gets to stay permanently as the official name of our chatroom, so choose wisely!
(404 votes total)

Friendly Arm Inn (99) 25%
Smoldering Corpse Bar (63) 16%
Burning Wizard Inn (57) 14%
The Copper Coronet (55) 14%
Elfsong Tavern (43) 11%
Other (Suggested answers) (35) 9%
Den of Seven Vales (20) 5%
Snowdrift Inn (18) 4%
Winter's Cradle Tavern (10) 2%
The Marketplace (4) 1%

I must say I was quite surprised with the turnout of this poll. Although it ran for about 20 more hours than usual (thank a certain lightning bolt who found my modem so attractive it decided to pay it a close visit), the number if results it got is still quite high, especially because I set the security on it as high as it goes to prevent cheating. (I.e. you could only vote for one choice in the whole week).

It seems that the name most people liked most is Friendly Arm Inn (from BG1) which is now also the official name of our chatroom. A square 25% of people voted for it.
Smoldering Corpse Bar (from PS:T) came in second with about 16% of votes.
Burning Wizard Inn (from BG1), a personal favorite of mine (and Syl's), received almost 15% of votes, a bit of a disappointment since it was in the lead for a while.
The Copper Coronet (from BG2) was also popular with only two votes less than Burning Wizard Inn.
Next in line is the Elfsong Tavern on the 5th place with 11% of votes.

There were a total of 9% of votes for Other (that is, suggested names). We could see quite a few cool names among them so I'll list some of them here in case you missed them:

Burning Sorcerer (-ed. ouch, hehe)
Sorcerous/Sorcerer's Sundries
Three Liches Inn
Elven Arse Inn (-ed. BG1 joke here)
Night Shade Inn
The Inn of the Last Home
Indigo Sun
Inn of the Last Word
Mage Guild
The Half Uttered Oath
The Leaky Tankard
Red Dragon Inn
Sorcerer's Surprising Saloon (-ed. LOL)
The Wizard's Vault/Sorcerer's Sanctum
The Halls of Rivendale
Icewind's Ales
The remaining 4 entries all received less than 5% of votes each. It seems that Icewind Dale taverns weren't all that popular.

Thanks again to everyone for giving us so many great alternatives, even though I picked FAI in the end. I was quite tempted to choose one on the wizard/sorcerer theme to stay in line with the rest of the site, as one voter suggested we should. But hey, who says sorcerers can't go to the Friendly Arm Inn anyway? ;)

Special Broadcast of 2D+3 devoted to Dungeons & Dragons
Posted Monday, December 18, 2000 - 21:39 CET by Sorcerer

We have been informed that on Thursday 21 CanalWeb.net (French) will be conducting exclusive interviews with the director and lead actor of Dungeons & Dragons movie.

"To celebrate the release of the major motion picture “Dungeons & Dragons” the team of 2D+3 sits down with the film’s director Courtney Solomon and the film’s lead actor Justin Whalin.
Displaying his true passion for role playing games, Courtney Solomon discusses the various scenes that were cut during production of the film (exploration of the dungeon, a battle with a beholder in a parallel universe, the film’s ending which was re-shot on the request of New Line Cinema, etc….) and the reasons behind each change. He explains why he did not use an official universe from the Dungeons & Dragons game and why no clerics appear in the film. Finally, he reveals elements from “Dungeons & Dragons 2” which is currently in production."

You can find more information about it here.

Interplay releases - Feb 9th
Posted Monday, December 18, 2000 - 16:35 CET by Calis

Eurogamer reports that Baldur's Gate 2 has been named "official" D&D movie game. Thank god. This means nobody will be trying to make a game based on the (by all accounts extremely crappy) movie. Coinciding with the UK release of the movie, which is February 9th 2001, Interplay will be releasing a Baldur's Gate 2 Collector's Pack, available in Europe only. Although Interplay has yet to announce the exact contents of the pack, it will be D&D movie-themed. Eurogamer also reports that Heart of Winter, the expansion for Icewind Dale, and the DVD edition of Baldur's Gate 2 will be released on the same day, February 9th 2001.

Derek French of Bioware on a DVD version for NWN
Posted Friday, December 15, 2000 - 15:57 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

"A DVD release is completely up to our publisher, Interplay, and we have very little say in the matter. We always build our install packages for CDs first, and DVD later if Interplay requests it. This was the case for BG1, although I am not sure of the delay between CD and DVD versions. There may even be a DVD version of BG2. Or there might not. It is for Interplay to decide."

Rob Bartel of Bioware on starting points for NWN
Posted Friday, December 15, 2000 - 15:56 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

"We haven't decided whether or not we'll explicitly support multiple start locations in the toolset. Even if we don't, however, you can start everyone in a small area that has no specific links to the rest of the game world. From there, you can do all manner of things through scripting. If they're supposed to join separate teams (in a capture-the-flagon module, for instance), you can either dictate that for them or allow them to choose for themselves, either through NPC dialog or by exiting through a specific door, or whatever. In your example, you could just script the area to teleport the first player to the carnival, the next to the apartment, etc."

Rob Bartel of Bioware asks for player input for NWN
Posted Friday, December 15, 2000 - 15:55 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

"We've been compiling the placeable object lists lately and sorry, no bridges (though we are putting doors on bridges so you can grant and deny access across them in that fashion). For pathfinding reasons, placeable objects will typically be limited to a footprint of approximately 2x2 meters.

With that in mind, are there any placeable objects that you'd like to see included in Neverwinter?"

Rob Bartel of Bioware on roads in NWN
Posted Friday, December 15, 2000 - 15:54 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

"Here's the deal. Roads are tiles like any other. Like all the other tiles, they can be painted down quickly and easily. Just select 'road' and drag it across grass. All of the grass tiles automatically get replaced with road tiles that match up with each other in a logical fashion.

As for the ability to paint diagonally, we don't have time to include the necessary tiles in the initial release. Maybe in an expansion. In many ways, though, we've been finding that, while we miss diagonals when in the zoomed out view of the toolset, it doesn't seem like such a big factor once you're actually in-game. The artists have done a great job with the tile variations and have included designed a lot of organic shapes into the system. Many of the buildings and features are subtly skewed within their square tile. Also, with the ability to rotate your camera, you don't feel as gridlocked as you do with tile-based 2D games."

New Neverwinter Nights review at PC.IGN
Posted Friday, December 15, 2000 - 15:53 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

PC.IGN has a new preview of NWN up based on a visit they took to Bioware. It notes some differences from the demo given at E3 this year. No new screen shots and the video there is on the BG II CD (though the combat shots are wonderful). Informative and short, so head on over and check it out!


Multiplayer modules can be built incredibly fast with the 3D paint tool that lets you define environments with a swath of your mouse. Trent built a quick level in under three minutes before our eyes. Sure, it wasn't complete, but it gave us a glimpse at how easy and fast the Aurora Toolkit should prove to be. After you have your world built, you can set the rules system in each game to fit your particular world, so you have total control over how the game plays. “It’s basically the freedom to set up the world you want to play in,” Trent told us.

Baldur's Gate II International Patch
Posted Thursday, December 14, 2000 - 20:54 CET by Sorcerer

Just spotted this at Bioware's site. They have released the international patch for Baldur's Gate II which, surprisingly, is only 6MB in size. (That's 3 less than the English one).
Weird, since the international one for the first Baldur's Gate was two or three-times the size of the English one...
Anyway, you can download them both here.
If anyone has any idea how the intl. patch came to be smaller than the English one, drop me a note.

The Rules of Pool of Radiance
Posted Thursday, December 14, 2000 - 20:11 CET by Nazgul

By Chuck Yager, Associate Producer, Pool of Radiance: The Ruins of Myth Drannor

With the release of the new rules in August, players got to see how much D&D had changed to adapt to a new age and yet still retain its flavor from the "good old days." Many new rules became available for players to explore and we were thrilled to be able to incorporate a host of these new changes into Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor.

One of the first things we implemented were the new feats associated with the different classes and races in the game. Bearing in mind that Pool of Radiance II started as a second edition game and was converted over to conform to the new rules, we had to make some hard choices about what we could and could not implement on this front. Feats were a no-brainer -- they had to be in, but how many and which types was another matter.

Because the game supports the bulk of the exciting new D&D rules, it allows players to explore the translation from tabletop gaming to computer gaming while still maintaining the integrity of D&D and Forgotten Realms world. Look for it in Spring!

You can find the full article here.

Neverwinter Nights preview
Posted Thursday, December 14, 2000 - 15:15 CET by Hexaruz

Those guys over at Action Trip have posted a preview of NWN (Neverwinter nights).

"After the notorious Baldur's Gate series, BioWare and Interplay will hit the market with a new RPG. And not an ordinary RPG this time; Neverwinter Nights (NWN) is an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) RPG with 3rd Edition rules. It has been designed specifically for online multiplayer environment using latest 3D technology. It also allows you to experience all the magic of pen-and-paper Dungeon-Mastering on your home computer."

Infogrames buys Hasbro... and D&D
Posted Thursday, December 14, 2000 - 14:36 CET by Calis

I can't believe I missed this, earlier this week! That's what happens when you scan through the news on someone else's computer. Anyway, Desslock reports that Infogrames has acquired Hasbro, the owner of Wizards of the Coast which, of course, owns Dungeons and Dragons. The price? $100 million. This will mean some serious competition for Interplay (and SSI) in the D&D cRPG arena. Hasbro has been working on an online D&D game for a while now, but according to Desslock, they couldn't come up with anything that could top Bioware's upcoming DM-mode oriented game, Neverwinter Nights. This move makes it even more likely that Hasbro will not be granting the D&D license to other publishers in the future, letting Infogrames take full advantage of the license.

Heart of Winter cinematic stills at RPGVault
Posted Thursday, December 14, 2000 - 12:42 CET by Calis

RPGVault received 10 screenshots from the opening movie of Heart of Winter, the upcoming expansion for Black Isle's masterfully executed dungeon crawl, Icewind Dale.

Game of the Year!
Posted Tuesday, December 12, 2000 - 15:59 CET by Hexaruz

Gamespy has opened the voting booths for the Games of the Year contest and both Baldurs Gate 2 and Ice Wind Dale are running up for RPG of the Year! If yer still reading this stop it, and go vote at Gamespy.com!

Site News - New Additions & Opening of Chatroom!
Posted Monday, December 11, 2000 - 20:29 CET by Sorcerer

Site Changes

As you might have noticed, there's a new feature at Sorcerer's Place. After a short testing period I have decided to open our first chatroom which has yet to be named, so check out this week's poll and vote for your favorite name!

I will frequently drop by with the nick Taluntain, and Sylvus will be a regular visitor as well. I will also try to lure here any of the remaining people from our old channels on EFnet, so I expect the chatroom to grow swiftly.
If you want to drop by and say hello or you might have any questions about any of the games we cover, please visit us!
On a side note, the chatroom is written in Java so you need to have Java enabled in your browser's preferences.
You can access the chatroom from the main panel above or from the Community section.

Subsection Updates

Extensive changes have been made in the entire Community section, so check it out. The section now reflects the fact that there is an online chatroom up, plus lists all of our message boards more coherently.

The whole About Us section has also been redone so that it now contains only the people who regularly contribute to the site.

An addition to the Baldur's Gate II section has also been made; I have prepared a heavily modified version of the unofficial Gamespot's monster guide. It can be accessed through our Baldur's Gate II Online Solution in the Foul Beasts section.
It is a complete list of all monsters with extensive listing of strategies on how to beat them. I've added my own to most of them. ;)

As always, check the Site News section for direct links to all updates mentioned above.

Last Week's Poll Results
Posted Monday, December 11, 2000 - 20:12 CET by Sorcerer

What we asked:

Q: How are you going to play Neverwinter Nights?
(283 votes total)

Single player (offline) mostly (140) 49%
Multiplayer (online) mostly (81) 29%
Multiplayer (offline, LAN) mostly (40) 14%
Multiplayer (online) only (14) 5%
I won't play it (8) 3%

Now this poll has certainly shattered some of the ideas many people I know have been having...
It seems that NWN will still be played mostly offline by far.

Almost 50% of people who voted in the poll have stated that they will mainly play Neverwinter Nights offline, in single player mode.
Hmm, it seems that we'll have to redefine that thinking that continuously places NWN among online-only and MMORP games. Maybe the developers should think about the offline part of the game a bit harder. And possibly reveal some info about the story, since we still know next to nothing about it.

Almost 30% of people have voted for Multiplayer (that is, online) as their prime choice. Not that small a number, but certainly a lot smaller than we'd have expected.

Another entry that can be more or less combined with the first one is Multiplayer (LAN) mostly. About 15% of people prefer this way of playing, without any lag or server delays.

Last (and almost least) is Multiplayer only. Only 5% of people have said that they will play NWN exclusively online.
Heh, there goes the persistent worlds idea. I just hope that there aren't more DMs and enthusiasts with their servers than people willing to actually play on them.

Although this poll got a scarce amount of votes (poll server problems), the situation after the first 150 votes hasn't changed substantially so I think that these results are valid nonetheless. Who knows, maybe it's still too early to make such predictions when NWN is still more than half a year away.
Nevertheless, the results are something to think about.

You can check all previous ones here and vote in this week's over there.

Neverwinter Nights first look at GA-RPG
Posted Monday, December 11, 2000 - 18:14 CET by Calis

My First Look at Neverwinter Nights went up yesterday at GA-RPG. It comes with new screenshots. Go read 'n stuff.

Icewind Dale site updated
Posted Sunday, December 10, 2000 - 14:52 CET by Calis

The Icewind Dale site has been updated with a short blurb from QA supervisor Harold Kim. Strangely, it deals with the expansion, Heart of Winter (which has its own site!).
UPDATE: Sorcerer has informed me that I am, in fact, an idiot, and that updates get posted on both sites nowadays (as you can see for yourself)

New Icewind Dale: HoW designer diaries
Posted Sunday, December 10, 2000 - 14:47 CET by Calis

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter Designer/ part time PR Monkey J.E. Sawyer has been writing some more designer diaries. You can find one on bugs & balance at RPGVault, and one with no info whatsoever at Gamespy.

D&D movie reviews
Posted Sunday, December 10, 2000 - 14:42 CET by Calis

As Sorcerer said in his post below, most people seem to hate the Dungeons & Dragons movie. Just in case you think this is an evil conspiracy to keep you from seeing the movie, I dug up two reviews:

• This one at Evil Avatar
• This one at DailyRadar, stating it "fails its saving throw against sucking ass" (ooh, witty!)

Odds and Ends at Sorcerer's Place
Posted Sunday, December 10, 2000 - 10:24 CET by Sorcerer

We've had another misfortunate day of CGI being down all over the site yesterday so no one was able to use the message boards. (And neither could I post news here).
Well it seems to have been fixed now, but I won't know for sure until Monday when the staff at eUniverse gets back to their offices where I can start yelling at them why haven't I been moved to a better server yet.
Ah, sometimes I wish Charm, Command and Mental Domination could be used on certain individuals responsible... ;)

Anyway, although there hasn't been much news reported around here site-wise, things are definitely going on behind the scenes. I have been testing the web-based chatroom here for the last two days and I'll probably be finished modifying it today. Keep your eyes open for an announcement about it's opening here and on the boards. Of course, once I'm sure it's working as I want it, a link to it will be added to the main menu below the Sorcerer's Place graphic on this page, too.

The D&D movie has hit the cinemas around you (in USA anyway), and I seem to hear more negative reactions to it than good ones. What do you think?
Express your views on this matter at our forums.

Special report
Posted Friday, December 8, 2000 - 14:51 CET by Hexaruz

Greetings all!

RPGVault has posted a special report on BG2SoA (Baldurs Gate 2 Shadows of Amn :)

"Until several months ago, your life had been simple and peaceful. Growing up in the citadel of Candlekeep, you knew nothing of your true background, only the wise and loving counsel of your stepfather, Gorion. However, that life was destined to be shattered forever. Beginning with a hasty departure from home and the ensuing death of your mentor, you found yourself thrust into the sweeping series
of events that comprised Baldur's Gate, the AD&D-based hit from developer BioWare and publisher Black Isle
Studios that was easily 1998's consensus RPG of the year."

HoW preview
Posted Thursday, December 7, 2000 - 21:34 CET by Maverick

Oh happy day!! The first preview of Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is on the net with a collection of screenshots too. Read it and enjoy it!

"Even though it was released on the same day as Diablo II, Icewind Dale was quite successful in the marketplace, selling somewhere in the vicinity of 400,000 copies. Games that are that successful tend to warrant an expansion pack, and that's exactly what we can expect from Black Isle in the next quarter. Titled Heart of Winter, the game continues the adventures started in Icewind Dale. All five of the major new areas are far to the north of the original game's locale, and none of them will be easy."

Game of the Year
Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2000 - 22:15 CET by Maverick

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn has been named Game of the Year by MSNBC in their holiday gift guide.

"Cinematics and opening storytelling aside, Baldur’s Gate II is unparalleled in the breadth of its story and the variety of its races and spells."

Have a nice day!

Baldur's Gate II Online Solution - City Gates Area Added
Posted Wednesday, December 6, 2000 - 20:32 CET by Sorcerer

And yet another area of our fine Baldur's Gate II Online Solution has just been added.
This time it's a small but interesting area where most of us have encountered their first lich... The City Gates District!

As always, the credit goes to Sylvus, our illustrious Exclusive Solutions Scribe.
Be sure to check it out, because you won't find a more detailed solution anywhere on the net! Guaranteed!
Tell it to the others and get no credit of whatsoever! :p

Baldur's Gate II Online Solution - Graveyard District Added
Posted Monday, December 4, 2000 - 19:47 CET by Sorcerer

Another area of our fine Baldur's Gate II Online Solution has just been added.
Fresh from the typing oven we bring you Graveyard District!

Another masterpiece by our Exclusive Solutions Scribe, Sylvus Moonbow. (aka Ye olde fountain of knowledge).
Now if I could just get him to fix those NPC tables ALREADY... ;)

Last Week's Poll Results
Posted Monday, December 4, 2000 - 19:45 CET by Sorcerer

What we asked:

Q: Which area in Baldur's Gate II is your favorite?
(303 votes total)

Underdark (94) 31%
Athkatla (79) 26%
Trademeet (21) 7%
Windspear Hills (20) 7%
Suldanesselar (18) 6%
de'Arnise Hold (17) 6%
Umar Hills (17) 6%
Asylum (13) 4%
Druid Grove (9) 3%
Other (8) 3%
Temple Ruins (7) 2%

If anyone voted rather late in the week (from Friday to Sunday), you probably noticed that the poll was either down completely, or displaying errors if you tried to vote. The fault is (as usual) with Pollit, the site our polls are running on.
The problems seem to have been rectified*, but it cost us about 100 votes in the process.

Nevertheless, here are the results, all neatly sorted by percentage.

Underdark has won the first place in the poll with almost a third of all votes (31%), with Athkatla coming in second with only 5% less.

Underdark is certainly a unique experience (to say the least). While some people have found it depressing and too evil to suit their tastes, it seems that a vast majority loved it. Athkatla is the second favorite. With so much to do at the city and so many interesting sights, it's no wonder.

Other 9 options combined got 43% of all votes.
The third favorite is the city of Trademeet with 7% of votes and next Windspear Hills with just as many.

Same story with Suldanesselar and de'Arnise Hold; they both got roughly the same number of votes. (6%).

Asylum wasn't a very popular locale and therefor received only 4% of votes. Druid Grove fares even worse with 3%.

Also, 3% of voters have stated that their favorite spot in the game wasn't one of the listed ones.

Finally, the least popular place of all are the Temple Ruins.

*Scratch that. It seems to be down again. *sigh*
New poll site, anyone?

2 Heart of Winter Hi-Res Images at 3D Palette
Posted Monday, December 4, 2000 - 17:02 CET by Sorcerer

We have been informed that 3D Palette has posted 2 high resolution images (originals, not scans) of the Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter Ad that is currently appearing in magazines. If you've seen it, you'll know it's a real beaut. The image is available in 2 sizes:

Target NWN Release Date Announced by Bob McCabe of Bioware
Posted Monday, December 4, 2000 - 4:50 CET by Sylvus Moonbow

"As for a release date, BioWare has tried to stay firm in its "when it is done" stance, because issuing a release date has been traditionally (for the industry in general) little more than tossing a dart over your shoulder... blind-folded... after spinning in circles for a half-hour... while drinking large quantities of alcohol...

But for the people who have so much money invested in our game, we try to give speculation, based on our current planning. I believe that schedule would have a Q2 2001 date attached to it.

How's that for clarity?! ;>"

Special Effects of Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie
Posted Sunday, December 3, 2000 - 16:20 CET by Sorcerer

An interesting article has popped up at WoTC recently...
As the title implies, the article is about the upcoming D&D movie (December 8 for USA), especially focusing on the CG movies throughout the film.
A snippet:

Dungeons & Dragons: the Movie is a spectacular feat of special effects. Dragons, beholders, a sprite, and other mystical, magical, and monstrous creatures come to life as though lifted straight from the pages of your favorite D&D creature compendium, in this full-length feature film from Sweatpea Entertainment and New Line Cinema. The movie is full of groundbreaking special effects -- no fantasy film has ever been made with as many computer generated (CG) special effects as this one. Some scenes are entirely CG, with no live action footage at all.
Other scenes contain dozens, even hundreds of creatures, all moving and interacting seamlessly.

Read the rest here.

Site News - New Additions
Posted Sunday, December 3, 2000 - 11:30 CET by Sorcerer

Subsection Updates

Minor:

5 New Heart of Winter Screenshots at Baldur's Gate Haven
Posted Saturday, December 2, 2000 - 19:54 CET by Sorcerer

The guys at Baldur's Gate Haven have let us know that they have 5 new screenshots from the upcoming expansion to our frozen favorite, Icewind Dale.
Barbarians, undead and new spell effects can be spotted if you look carefully.
See them all here.