I think NWN is a remarkable game. I think it`s one of the best things,
along with 3e D&D to happen to roll-playing. I like NWN and I like
Baldur`s Gate - they`re probably my fave computer games.

I used to play Tunnels and Trolls. It was a fantasy dice-rolling game
which came out of the Steve Jackson group many many years ago. It made
no pretense at role-playing. NWN is a far more complex version of the
same game and just as much fun.

Make no mistake - NWN does not allow for the development of a game
personae!

And make not the other mistake - 3e D&D is EXACTLY the same! It`s focus
is on combat and power - on the development not of the personae but on
the development of the character to a more powerful and more capable
entity. This is not roleplaying! Can you roleplay ? yes, you can -- but
it`s very very hard to do so when the rules are focused against it.

I challenge some of you out there to sit down one night with your best
DM and a plot-line, without any dice, without any pieces of paper, with
just your imaginations, and play. No numbers, nothing to make random
decisions for you - the DM decides everything by his decision alone
without aids of any kind, purely arbitrary. That is raw primal
roleplaying.

===
These comments were made in April 1979, when there was a push to add new
rules to the AD&D combat system. An impassioned plea is made by the
original author to cease and desist from focusing on combat - yes,
Veronica - the munchkins ignored it then too.


There can be no question as to the central theme of the game. It is
the creation and development of the game personae, the fantastic
player-character who is to interact with his or her environment -
hopefully to develop into a commanding figure in the milieu.

Hacking and sleying should not be the first refuge of the
beleaguered player, let alone his initial resort when confronted
with a problem situation.

If in fact the D&D game was a simulation of hand-to-hand combat
....[list of initiative and other combat details] .., such detail
would be highly desirable. Obviously much of the excitement and
action is not found in melee, and even shortening the process by
adding in death strokes and the like causes an undue emphasis on
such combat.

My advice is to leave well enough alone and accept the game for what
it is [role-playing not hack-n-slay roll-play]. If you must have
more detail in melee switch to another game.

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