Monsters

[Ignus_Draconus]

come on guys: family forum

[Corsair5]

What family would visit this forum? It's a stronghold of pure madness!

[Reish Vedaur]

They all tend to harp on the one thing, don't they? lol

Someone mentioned earlier about a more-organized, more-intelligent kind of faction of goblins.  Thank you for saying it, whoever it was, because I've been thinking of that for awhile too.

Anyway... there's always a plethora of creatures to choose from, especially if you go from a certain mythos.  Failing that, make something dead walk.  Failing that, make some of the flora and fauna walk.  Failing that, make something inanimate walk.  All been done?  Well...... yeah, pretty much, can't help you there lol.

But one thing I must make a plea for is technology.  With the inclusion of Dr. Brain from QfG4, it has been shown that perhaps this world has a bit more technology than previously believed.  Now, perhaps they do not quite match the intellect or (al)chemical know-how of Dr. Brain and others such as the apocetharies, but it would not be far-fetched to think that someone has a number of gadgets at their disposal, would it?

Thus I call to mind something else from the story I posted elsewhere on this forum -- http://honorguard.uberclan.com/temp/freswinn.txt -- about the spring-loaded bolt launcher, which is essentially a compact crossbow, and trip wire for traps and the likes.

Now, here's the reason I bring it up HERE of all places...  Perhaps at some point in the game there are very large beasts that you must bring down, like much-aged minotaurs or perhaps a relative of our favorite frost giant... Reminiscent of QfG2's elementals, it could be perhaps a task of yours to stop these beasts in their tracks by setting up traps, having recieved training in doing so by some other character in the game.

Perhaps it removes the high-fantasy element of the game and pushes it into one of the misnomers of "steampunk" or "clockpunk," although it would certainly create an interesting, fifth character class if you took that route.  Trapper, or Hunter, or something along those lines.

Anyone who can't tell, I'm something of a fan of steampunk and clockpunk, so obviously I would be a bit prejudiced to believe this is a good idea.  Others who aren't might care to smack me about a bit with the blue herring (that's the one that embodies logic, not trickery).

[Corsair5]

Yeah, steampunk is pretty cool if implemented right. I just don't want to see someone waving around a flintlock or something.

[Reish Vedaur]

Agreed, even if they are classy.

EDIT: What I mean to say is, games that do things like that, giving you a weapon just because it looks good... they lose the heart that made them what they were.  Final Fantasy is terrible nowadays because of it.  If you have an entire military force with an air force and navy and they're all using rifles.... why in the world would you have a sword?

[Corsair5]

I get exasperated with every main character in a game using a sword. I mean, use a spear or an axe for once!

Yeah, that is weird. You've got guys using jets and bombs, and infantry with rocket launchers and assault rifles, but you're using a normal sword? Energy blades I understand..but just a sword?

[Silverbolt]

Yeah, but did you see the SIZE of those things?  

Plus, I'm quite partial to swords also. Guns run out of ammo and break down, but give me a katana and...whooo!!!

[Corsair5]

Yeah, but one bullet in the right place, and all the sword skill in the world won't save you. And we're talking about automatic weaponry. Spray you up and down, and it won't make a difference that you're the best swordsman in history.

[Reish Vedaur]

Even up until the needlegun, the sword was still a somewhat viable weapon in combat; but really, the flintlock rifle and bayonette were what took it out of widespread use outside of the navy.  And even there, it changed things.  That's when rapiers, sabres, cutlasses and main gauches took over the part of the broadsword, heater shield and chain mail.  A good sabre or cutlass was still useful even in the American Civil War, if you could get close enough to use it obviously.  The needlegun increased the rate of fire and efficiency of powder to the point that swords were completely useless.

You know, the gatling gun was used only twice in the Civil War, as well as the first Browning machinegun in one battle.  I believe only the Japanese military used the gatling gun as a ground weapon more than three times or so; until they were installed on aircraft, they were virtually never touched.  It actually has its routes as the very first revolver, called the pepperbox, which was the first cap-and-ball weapon as well.

Blah blah blah blah.

[Jafar]

Spray you up and down, and it won't make a difference that you're the best swordsman in history.

Not in RPGs.  

[Reish Vedaur]

Spray you up and down, and it won't make a difference that you're the best swordsman in history.

Not in RPGs.

That was the point, lol

Standing across from some guy with a high-powered rifle, he shoots you and it deals how much?
6 damage.
Your turn, you slash him with your sword.  It does how much?
150 damage.

[Silverbolt]

Guns are too impersonal. Nothing like charging up on an enemy and swinging your sword shouting: "BAAATTLEEEECRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!"

[Corsair5]

Yeah, but then you get shot six times by a guy with a USAWS Automatic Shotgun, and you've got a series of holes as big around as a basketball.

COURT!

[Reish Vedaur]

Well, there are a few examples of the sword and shield overpowering an army of men with flintlock rifles, mostly Scottish.

See, the Scots had developed a system for fighting against the Brits.  They'd charge forward until they prepared to fire a volley, then they'd crouch with their shields up and the bullets would mostly just ricochet right off of them, and they'd get back up and charge again and tear everyone apart cuz they didn't have the weapons the Scots had.

But they had seen something before that was really devastating to advancing armies and decided to implement it: the pike square.  I can't remember which army did it, but they armed about 100 men with 12-foot pikes and marched them out in a square formation, and no matter what direction you came at them, they could turn and maneuvre and spread out like a porcupine and you couldn't hardly get through.

So they took this idea, making every other soldier on their front line a pikeman.  Problem mostly solved.  Later on, they came up with the bayonette, and now everyone had the best of both worlds.

[Ignus_Draconus]

whoever came up with the idea for the square was a fan of history. roman phalanx, anyone?