What should a ranger NPC bring to the party?

[ericp07]

Would it be wrong if I asked why her first name isn't capitalized?

 

Not wrong at all, and I'm glad you noticed, as this is intentional. It's a convention in Tolkien Elvish not to capitalize a person's name, and that's the language I give D&D Elves. Among non-Elves who aren't familiar with such things, she's sometimes referred to as Shalyn, Shayleigh, and other approximations.

 

- E

[Icendoan]

Could you write a script, so that within a forest area she has double movement speed and a + 25% to Stealth?

 

Icen

[theacefes]

Would it be wrong if I asked why her first name isn't capitalized?

 

Not wrong at all, and I'm glad you noticed, as this is intentional. It's a convention in Tolkien Elvish not to capitalize a person's name, and that's the language I give D&D Elves. Among non-Elves who aren't familiar with such things, she's sometimes referred to as Shalyn, Shayleigh, and other approximations.

 

- E

 

So, do other elf NPC modders know this?

[ericp07]

Would it be wrong if I asked why her first name isn't capitalized?

 

Not wrong at all, and I'm glad you noticed, as this is intentional. It's a convention in Tolkien Elvish not to capitalize a person's name, and that's the language I give D&D Elves. Among non-Elves who aren't familiar with such things, she's sometimes referred to as Shalyn, Shayleigh, and other approximations.

 

- E

 

So, do other elf NPC modders know this?

 

I don't know. The only mod NPC I've seen who uses the same language is Kivan, but I don't recall seeing him using the convention. I realize that Tolkien Elvish isn't canon for D&D, but it's a well-developed resource that can be used to great effect, IMHO

 

Happy modding,

Eric

[berelinde]

Elvish in the Forgotten Realms is loosely based on Tolkien's Elvish, but it's quite different. For one thing, cannon elves in the Forgotten Realms rarely seem to have names that would actually be given to elves in Middle Earth. Sure, maybe they have private names that they don't use on a daily basis, but the ones they use in public don't seem to have much to do with even the Forgotten Realms. Kivan, Xan, Ellisime, Jonaleth, Bodhi, Elhan, Demin, Rillithane, etc. Please note that these are all capitalized.

 

Also, look to the the Lord of the Rings itself: Elrond, Galadriel, Haldir, Glorfindel, Luthien, Arwen. All are capitalized. Sure, if you were writing in tengwar, they wouldn't be capitalized, because tengwar doesn't have any capital letters, but when the names are used in the text of the book, they've got capital letters. They don't seem to have ' too often, or not that I've noticed.

 

By the way, I did use a Tolkien name for my elvish NPC, Haldamir, but I'm going to capitalize it. And Haldamir is from Cormanthor, too, unfortunately, although he's an unkitted fighter, and he has a severe distrust of non-elves.

 

(Coincidentally, that's why my screen name isn't capitalized: it's a 10th century Saxon name, and the script for that time period didn't have capital letters.)

[theacefes]

Mine's not capitalized simply because I am lazy.

 

On the topic of the name, I am not trying to purposely pick at you and your idea, but when people play this mod, I suspect that many will simply think you are incapable of proper grammar and wonder why her named isn't capitalized.

[Domi]

I am positive that the elven names table generators borrowed from Dragon magazines capitalize the names. I am all for exotic additions, but her name not being capitalized is something that you will have a tough time weaving into a conversation to explain (since as a player you read the texts but the talking characters do not capitalize in their speech), and something that relies on a non-canon lore (or an addition to the FR lore), and a no-canon lore that is not a common knowledge (as berelinde wisely mentioned elven names are capitalized even in the Tolkien's books).

 

I'd aslo just stick with one name for the character, unless someone specific gives her a pet name, ie the PC in romance. There is a limited amount of dialogues available, and unless you go on the repetitive amount of banter that explains why Korgan calls her Shale and Aerie - Shayleigh, etc, it will be most likely percieved as a mistake rather than a feature

[ericp07]

Please note that the punctuation symbol ` (found on the computer keyboard on the same key as the tilde) is used to join nouns in Elvish, and should not be confused with the symbol ' (apostrophe). I'm trying to find the Web resource where I first read about these things. Now that I think on it more (and based on some of the commentary in this thread), it may be that the lower-case convention is restricted to written Elvish in espruar characters. In that case, the error is mine, and I'll change the case to Shae`lina. I must admit that doing so would likely remove any confusion

 

Speaking of espruar, I'm wondering if it's possible to visibly display a word in the game written in that script, using a graphic representation rather than text (because any player who wanted to see the font in text would have to have it loaded on the computer, and I wouldn't want to make that a requirement for the mod). Just curious as to whether or not this could be done.

 

Diolch,

Eric

[berelinde]

Unfortunately, the game only comes with one font. You can, however, incorporate espruar runes in item bams, although it's tricky to pull off in something 24x24 pixels.

[ericp07]

Found it! http://members.aol.com/semberholme/espruar.htm

 

Indeed, there's capitalization, as the above resource mentions that a crescent is placed at the upper left side of a letter to indicate importance, as in a proper name.

 

I have been schooled, and am humbled Henceforth, I'll use Shae`lina rather than shae`lina.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[theacefes]

Basically what it comes down to with IE modding (or any modding for that matter) is that you are creating something that you want others to play. That's the whole point of having a public thread, a hosted forum, download locations, etc. So yes, you are modding for yourself, but you are also modding for the community. Since this is the case, a modder would normally want to try to make their mod true to their original idea, but also understand the game, its limitations, and how the IE gaming community sees gameplay, stats, etc.

 

This is not to say that one cannot turn their idea into a mod, but simply that in order for a mod to come out of an idea, sometimes edits have to be made. But these edits turn out for the better and help you avoid arguments, long and boring drawn out threads about something silly, etc etc.

 

Hope that helps.

[ericp07]

Could you write a script, so that within a forest area she has double movement speed and a + 25% to Stealth?

 

Icen

 

I like the idea. I suppose I'd tie the abilities/effects to areas. These are significant abilities, and I'm wondering if they'd be considered fair, or unbalancing.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[ericp07]

Basically what it comes down to with IE modding (or any modding for that matter) is that you are creating something that you want others to play. That's the whole point of having a public thread, a hosted forum, download locations, etc. So yes, you are modding for yourself, but you are also modding for the community. Since this is the case, a modder would normally want to try to make their mod true to their original idea, but also understand the game, its limitations, and how the IE gaming community sees gameplay, stats, etc.

 

This is not to say that one cannot turn their idea into a mod, but simply that in order for a mod to come out of an idea, sometimes edits have to be made. But these edits turn out for the better and help you avoid arguments, long and boring drawn out threads about something silly, etc etc.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Indeed. This is much like taking one's own character to a DM for the first time, to submit for inclusion in his or her game. Changes here and there are to be expected, and establishing consensus for clarity and consistency and whatnot is always a benefit. I don't want to try to force anything, but rather to take my source material (the character and her experiences) and tailor it to fit the game...and, of course, to appeal to a wider audience So, I welcome questions, corrections, and other criticisms that will encourage the development of a mod that will be the best it can be.

 

Thanks!

Eric

[Icendoan]

What I meant was you could have a perma-movement speed option, like the Boots of Speed, but still only in woodland areas, there is an opcode for simple movement increase.

 

Icen

[ericp07]

What I meant was you could have a perma-movement speed option, like the Boots of Speed, but still only in woodland areas, there is an opcode for simple movement increase.

 

Icen

 

That would be good, I think, and appropriate. I'll have to see about how to tie it to the right areas. I was going to give her the boots, but she's already got several items, and just last night I stripped her of some gear that appeared excessive Next will be to bring down some of her ability scores...

 

Thanks,

Eric