Competition D:OS 2 Fundraiser: Design the Codex NPC!

[Bubbles]

Tags: Codex Original Sin 2 Fundraiser; Divinity: Original Sin 2

After months of grueling back-and-forth with Larian's shrewdest negotiators, we have finally pinned them down on a character outline for our Original Sin 2 NPC. The Codex community raised over 10,000 bucks for this NPC, so we knew we had to make it a good one. Behold:

A unique red troll you meet in the game as a minor villain/ally, who recurs a few times [see: trollish regeneration] and has a certain "annoyance factor".​

Isn't that fantastic? You'd better like it, because I poured all of my creativity into that concept. In any case, Larian have accepted our outline and are now requesting details. Will the troll be male or female? Crimson or burgundy? Moustached or neckbearded? Kindly or aggressive? Does he have a name? Is he more of a villain or more of an ally? Will he have special interactions with certain party members? How often will he appear? Will he give us a quest? Will we give him a quest?

All of these questions are YOURS to answer! [subject to staff approval [subject to Larian's approval]] Please post your cool ideas in the comments below! You can either offer a whole character concept or just a particularly clever and Codex-appropriate element, which we will hopefully be able to shoehorn into another concept later on.

Please keep in mind that D:OS2 will be a more mature, grittier kind of game than its predecessor, so more "realistic" submissions will be preferred. Maybe your troll is suffering from a terminal disease, or an old trauma that surfaces in a moment of supreme tragedy? Perhaps he's a desperate drug addict, or he's searching for a long lost love who destroyed his life? You get the idea. Silly stuff is also welcome, but it has a much slimmer chance of getting past Larian's censors. And then we'll end up with an NPC designed by Infinitron.

The deadline for this contest is the 6th of December, around the time when the Europeans go to bed; our secret panel of judges will crown the winner a few days afterwards. The best submission will receive a very special prize!

 

[Haba]

we'll end up with an NPC designed by Infinitron

OH GOD!

NO!

GOD NO!

 

[Sitra Achara]

6th of December, around the time when the Europeans go to bed

Kz3r0 what does this mean for our troll?

 

[Kz3r0]

Kz3r0 what does this mean for our troll?

????????

 

[Bubbles]

Natal chart please.

Our servers are in Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

[Iri]

Shitty tavernkeep.

 

[Night Goat]

Will the Troll be male or female?

You already know the answer to this.

 

[ntonystinson]

A non violent troll who avoids humans and never attacks but always prefers to escape. Basically he never defends himself even at the cost of his life

 

[SmartCheetah]

A male troll who thinks that he is in female body, while he's obviously a male fugly fat neckbeard dressed in some really pretentious shit.

 

[Wayward Son]

Will the Troll be male or female?

Male, but with a certain effeminacy to him

Moustached or neckbearded?

Neckbearded obviously

Kindly or aggressive?

Aggressive as hell

Does he have a name?

Colin Dex, Tormented Keeper of the Gates Where the Icewinds Blow and Wielder of Might and Wizardry, Charter of a Wasted Land... (basically just throw as many references in as is physically possible to older RPGs) but you may call him Co'Dex for short

Is he more of a villain or more of an ally?

More of an ally, but will turn hostile/enraged at certain story choices.

Will he have special interactions with certain party members?

He will interact with female characters by questioning if they are truly female.

How many times will he appear?

As many as possible without it getting overly ridiculous/atmosphere breaking

Will he give us a quest?

To retrieve the Oldest Scroll in order to cure a deep case of long-running schizophrenia.
Edit: Also, to regain his lost honor from the Exiled Far Gone One

Will we give him a quest?

Yes, but they may only be fetch quests or quests that can affect the world state on some noticeable way.

 

[Abu Antar]

Grog the Grognard

 

[Zombra]

Grog is actually a pretty good name.

Recurring villain. Always has a dialogue with the PC, and no matter what the PC says, he gets angry, contradicts him, and attacks. Important: dialogues may be simple, or they may be very complex, but there is no winning in conversation with him, except perhaps to ignore him and walk past. He will always attack. He may be lucid and even eloquent one sentence and rage-fueled incoherent the next.

The PC can never kill him but eventually he will "rage quit" and give a monologue about how he's too smart and cool to hang around here any more and he's leaving for good. And then he stays right where he is and the PC can come back and fight him again at any time.

Example dialogue:

Grog: Hey, you. Is day night?

1. Yes, day is night.
Grog: Day isn't night, you idiot! <attacks>

2. No, day is day and night is night.
Grog: Of course day is night! Fuck you! <attacks>

3. What a stupid question.
Grog: What are you doing here if you don't care about day and night? Infidel! <attacks>

4. kingcomrade
Grog: I don't even know what that means any more. <attacks>

 

[vortex]

Troll who

1. doesn't scale to player's level.
2. asks various "philosophical" and edgy questions regarding the Source
   
3. if you don't answer correct, he will leave but will troll you in various boss fights in some specific way
   
4. he hits on your party members during meetup with him
   
5. name: Trolldex (troll + codex)
6. he dreams ultimately to troll/taint mysterious energy known as Source from the world of Rivelon
7. whether he "succeeds", it will rest upon player's shoulders
8. he misses some of his teeth
9. he's not some usual troll; he is troll incarnate

 

[deuxhero]

Agreeing that Grog is a good name for a troll.

Prehaps he deals with someone who is obsessed with balance, either literal (with a scale) or the druidtype "balance" of good/evil/law/chaos/kethup/mustard?

 

[Bohrain]

Male
Neckbeard
Insults the player on lower difficulties for being such a baby.
Insults the player in the highest difficulty for seeking artificial difficulty.

 

[Orobis]

Obese tranny troll with a pink and red skrillex haircut and a neckbeard forever searching for his long lost enchanted wooden spoon. Evil of course.

 

[Q]

Twoheaded troll with one head of bubbles and one head of jarl.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

An anti-social male Troll who constantly reminiscences about the olden days, where everything was better. He's also against progress and new ideas.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I'm trying, but I just can't think of a better personification of the Codex Hivemind than one that already exists - Gollum, as played by Andy Serkis (i.e. not simply the book character - Serkis's line delivery is a large part of what makes him so feel so Codexian).

"But...Obsidian is our friend - The Codex HAS no friends! Nasty Fearghus, nasty no-fun Sawyer and his balance autism - But balance autism can be good - Sawyer's balance autism RUINED Pillars of Eternity, nasty evil kickstarter remaking nasty evil Infinity Engine games - I liked the Infinity Engine Games - NO! ONLY PLANESCAPE:TORMENT WAS A GOOD INFINITY ENGINE GAME! Evil Bioware, tricksty turning of great crpg genre into real time with pause mess - But we vote BG2 into our top 5 games every year -TRAITOR! Codex will pay price for that, Codex afraid - MCA will protect us! He's the greatest developer ever, and he's a freelancer now! - MCA IS A HACK! Codex very very afraid. Codex afraid great eye of Cleve Blakemore is watching, will find Codex, will torture Codex! Big suffering comes for liking BG2. Must find isometric Fallout again otherwise bad things happen to Codex..."

 

[Koschey]

Disheveled looking even by a troll's standards, Grog was banished to the hellish realm of Koh'Dexar the Prosperous because he annoyed the rest of his tribe. He managed to escape the demon's clutches, yet attained a lust for forbidden knowledge during his banishment and now roams the land in search for more. While he acts aggressive towards the pc, a skilled negotiator might avoid a fight by bribing Grog with grimoires or similar sources of eldritch lore. This is only a temporary recourse though, as Grog grows more and more unhinged with each subsequent encounter; finally, his mind will have grasped what trollkind was never meant to know. With his face transformed into an indescribable caricature of his former self he hurls himself at the pc. There is no way to talk him out of this.

Spoiler

 

[SausageInYourFace]

^ Maybe Grog has a split personality then?

Maybe he is hunting down a judge (balance, scales, get it?) whom he has a grudge with for some reason (a wrong judgment in the past?) but the other part of him secretly loves.

Edit:

Twoheaded troll with one head of bubbles and one head of jarl.

I'm trying, but I just can't think of a better personification of the Codex Hivemind than one that already exists - Gollum

Maybe Grog has a split personality then?

This would actually work pretty well together. Not the most creative idea ever to be conceived but who cares if it works.

 

[Icewater]

I like the idea of the troll engaging you in dialogue and being sarcastically and humorously insulting no matter what option you choose. That's all I have to add.

 

[vortex]

10. MCA could write troll character and story/quests around him

 

[Zed]

would be funny if the character would appear in a different disguise for every encounter like a doppelganger, while obliviously revealing himself with some stupid catchphrase or something stupid, and to finally in the last encounter reveal himself as the troll -- someone you've never met before

example encounter:

"Halt, adventurer! Nuh-nu-nu! I'm a..." the person before you appears to inspect himself "Farmer? Uhh.. Nuh-nu-nu! Farmer turned bandit! Give me your valuables!"
​

he'll re-appear throughout the game , maybe in a crypt or some shit and it'd be like:

"Go no further! I am here to... Uhh..." the person runs his finger along his teeth "Oh yeah. Nuh-nu-nu! Suck your blood!"​

and in the final encounter:

coughs blood "It was me all along! Nuh-nu-... argh... Shnyyrk, the troll trickster!" he writhes in pain "I tricked you!"

- [intelligence:1] "Doppelganger, I've recognized you from the very first time we met. Why did you pursue me?"

Schnyyrk the trickster dies in gurgle before you get an answer​

 

[Kev Inkline]

Grog the Grognard

Or, if his name would simply be Grog, he could carry a nard board with him and would at times challenge the player to play a game of nard with him, just to bail out claiming that the rules are so sophisticated and complex that the player with his mundane taste could not appreciate such a prestigious challenge.
After all, it's better that he spares the player from embarrassing himself.

Nard (or nardshir, or narde, Persian نرد) is a tables-style board game for two players in which the playing pieces are moved according to rolls of dice. It is similar to backgammon in that it uses the same board, but it has different initial positions and rules.