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A Fresh Discussion on The Black Hound

King Crispy

Too bad I have no queen.
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Achievement Unlocked: You have had a reasonable exchange regarding RPG's with Lesifoere.
 

Jaesun

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Coyote said:
May Farrow and her gang of raiders have spent weeks tracking down the black hound, the essence of May's guilt for unleashing a great evil. The player character is resting by the firelight in an old barn to hide from the storm outside when a black hound arrives and after being shot twice by an arrow, it cries one last time before it dies on the player lap. May almost kills the player, accusing him of being in league with the dog (meaning she thinks your another essence of her guilt) and almost kills you before the Riders of Archendale save you. They question you, take you to the magistrate, who question you further and inform you not to leave the areas of North Sembia, Archendale, Battledale and Deepingdale. Whenever the player then approaches somebody with great guilt, the black hound appears to him and eventually the players actions make the player the essence of guilt throughout the four areas mentioned above. As the player unravels more secrets, he learns that he cant kill guilt, thus he cannot kill the black hound or what he has become (the player can physically die, but people wont forget about the player did). Eventually he learns the tale of a widowed farmer's wife, taking great guilt in her husbands death as for some reason she believes its her fault, she tries to resurrect him. She succeeds but finds him to be an abomination and cannot stop him, despite him being very weak at the time. Through the course of the game, the farmer is growing stronger and stronger of the guilt absorbed by the black hound through the player. The player learns of this wife being May Farrow, who believes killing the hound would be a way to stop the farmer, the hound however latched its soul onto the player and uses him as a guilt tunnel.

Someone re-write this as if it was done by BioWare please. I could use a good laugh today.
 

King Crispy

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I can see that from the standpoint of how it's written, but there's no more reason to think that BGIII wouldn't have been a party-based game (like virtually all other D&D titles) than all the other BG's, NWN's and others were as well based on their plot descriptions.

Hell, BG1 was essentially a single-character game. Just depends on how you put it.

The IWD's and ToEE are the only exceptions that I can think of other than the obvious bomb that was Undermountain.
 

Coyote

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Jaesun said:
Someone re-write this as if it was done by BioWare please.

I gave it a go. Kind of TL;DR, but I can't be arsed to edit it down.

Bioware® Corp.
Black Hound Story Outline


[Note: to avoid offending LGBTQIAFFON employees, the player character will be referred to by the gender-neutral pronouns “hir” and “ze” throughout this document.]

May Farrow and her gang of raiders have spent weeks tracking down the black hound, the essence of May's guilt for unleashing a great evil. The player character, commander of an elite squad of PETA members, has been wounded and separated from them in an ambush by the dog-fighting guild, and is resting by the firelight in an old barn to recover when a black hound arrives and licks hir wounds, causing them to visibly heal. The player can, at this point, speak to the dog, with dialogue options that lead to it wagging its tail and barking happily doing other friendly dog things in an endearing way, you know the drill. Fade to black several times between conversations to give the sense of time passing and the dog developing a bond with the player character. But then, tragedy strikes: May shows up and kills the dog. [Designer’s note: this should be a very emotional and moving scene, with the player character letting out a silent scream and running in slow motion towards the hound while a Sarah McLachlan-esque piano tune reaches its peak in the background. End scene on a meaningful shot of a single tear intermingling with the rain or the dog's lifeless eyes or a flower wilting or whatever.]

May attempts to kill the player character, too, but is driven back when two members of the player’s PETA squad (a bisexual male fighter with a loyal, protective personality and a bisexual female mage with a sassy, cynical personality) show up. Meanwhile, the player character collapses, having been infused with the power of the dog (which allows hir to see other people’s guilt – see below – and gives hir an AWESOME new battle move). May, who is alone for some reason or another (lol plothole), flees while the other PETA members stay behind to tend to the player; when ze wakes up, they inform hir that none of the other PETA members survived the ambush, thus adding another layer to the player's quest for vengeance.

While heading towards the nearest town to seek information about May, the two run into the Riders of Archendale. They question the player character and take hir to the magistrate, who informs hir that May Farrow and her raiders are known associates of the dog-fighter’s guild, which is run by a mysterious figure known only as “the Hunter”. They are suspected of illegal activities but the magistrate cannot do anything without proof. The player is then let loose to investigate the four areas of North Sembia, Archendale, Battledale and Derpingdale, each of which hold one piece of evidence that can, together, be used to pursue justice against May and her mysterious boss. Each area also involves a major decision that we’ll totally take into account in the sequel. Totally.

While investigating the four areas, the player will encounter various other characters who can be recruited to the cause, including

  • a bisexual male dog-catcher-turned-mage who left his post when he learned that the dog-fighting guild was using the dogs he caught for evil and wishes to repent for the suffering he has caused. The player can help him in this struggle, ultimately convincing him to either come to terms with his past, leading to a gentle, loving sex scene, or that he cannot be redeemed, leading to a rough, aggressive sex scene. [Designer's note: that's right: multiple sex scenes per character. Shit like this, gentleman/ladies/trannies/other people who don't fall into traditional gender roles, is why we continue to lead the industry in innovation.]
  • a bisexual female member of the local PETA chapter who’s also a fighter with a comical duality of being meek in dialogue but fierce in battle. If the player romances her, ze can convince her to become more assertive, in which case she’ll take on a dominant role in the sexual relationship, or tell her that ze likes her just the way she is, in which case she’ll take on a submissive role in the sexual relationship. [Designer's note: our marketing research suggests this could increase sales among the BDSM community up to 300%.]
  • a heterosexual male rogue with a grudge against May. Sarcastic and aloof. If the player romances him, ze will eventually learn that the grudge comes from May having killed his puppy in front of him when he was a young child, scarring him for life. [Designer's note: pathos]
  • another woman. Gaider can flesh her out, do I have to do all the work here? MUST be heterosexual to balance out the love interests. Her class is of secondary importance. Let’s say… rogue. Yes, that works out quite nicely.
  • an unromanceable dwarven fighter. Likes drinking, mining, and fighting. Or possibly does not, subverting audience expectations and making him an original, unique character.
  • an unromanceable elven mage. Arrogant, poetic, likes nature. Or possibly does not, subverting audience expectations and making her an original, unique character.
  • [DLC character] an unromanceable old druid who is the most likeable party member in the game (more DLC sales that way).

Whenever the player then approaches somebody with great guilt, the black hound appears to hir. If the player chooses to exploit the guilt, ze will absorb it and the combat ability gained from the hound earlier will follow the “crippling guilt” path, which generates paralysis, bleeding, poison, and negative stat modifiers on enemies when used. If the player chooses to help alleviate the guilt, the ability will instead follow the “soothing balm” path, which has a chance of charming some enemies and provides regeneration, damage reduction, and positive stat modifiers to allies. The hound will also change in appearance over time depending on what the player does, becoming more ragged and fierce-looking if ze chooses to cultivate guilt and more regal and noble-looking if the player chooses to alleviate it.

When the player brings the gathered evidence to the magistrate, he takes it and gives hir the location of the Hunter’s base, which he has learned in the meantime. After fighting through dozens of dog- and cock-fighting enthusiasts, the player reaches the lair of the Hunter. However, in a shocking twist, the Hunter turns out to be the magistrate, who has used the player character to obtain the evidence against his organization so that he could destroy it and lured the player here to kill hir. He then leaves the player to fight his guards while he flees, leaving behind a journal giving the location of May, who is his most valued lieutenant. [Designer's note: try to work in a way for the base to explode with the party escaping just in time. Maybe kill one of them off to show that this is srs bsns.]

As all hell breaks loose for some reason, the player fights an epic series of battles on hir way to May, who reveals in her dying breaths that the Hunter has an evil plan involving the player character, the titular hound, and a farmer – a plan that could mean the end of the world as we know it. End on a shot of the hound howling at the moon. As the credits roll, the player is left to ponder the fact that ze’s just spent $60 on a twenty-hour advertisement for the sequel.

End of line.

Edit: Oh fuck, I missed some pronouns. The docs are gonna have my ass for sure.
 

lightbane

Arcane
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Dec 27, 2008
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10,156
Coyote said:
awesome stuff

Not enough use of the words "dark", "gritty", "mature", "grim", and "emotionally challenging" :decline:
Besides, you forgot the special Collector's edition, the Dark Hound, that includes some unique gear like the Plasma Pistol (yes, it's shameless advertising from Mass Erect, but that makes it even more awesome, right?) and new skins, for the small price of 120 $.
 

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