And especially so if you wish to play a bard type! I have some fun planned for bard lovers who deserve more support in ALFA than they tend to get; very handy that Silverymoon is known for it's arts and lore and the Fochlucan!
Otherwise, this still mostly holds true:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpBB3/view ... 93&t=49007
Just a few quick things that may be helpful to avoid uncertainty or confusion
1. Please be patient when things don't seem to be moving quite quickly; I tend to have longer area loading times than many folks, as well as having plenty of room for improvement on the client. Plus the Chooser and Creator bring my system to its knees.
2. Trust that I'm not out to intentionally screw anyone if things seem to be going south; I will strive to be as fair as I possibly can be while providing opportunities, possible risks, and consequences good or bad.
3. I generally encourage use of skill checks even when I don't call for it; you might've thought of an angle that I've not considered. Just make sure to let me know what/why you're rolling exactly. I'm generally quite open to PC's solving things by thinking outside the box/outside the game engine or doing something unexpected, and not having to juggle a large group facilitates this much more readily. However, refer to #1, and also please understand there are limitations due to the fact everything simply will not be 100% like PnP (i.e. polymorph, summon, etc might get you a few things beyond what the game engine allows if you provide in advance stats on something non crazy already in our game and compliant with the SRD/comparable to NWN2 default options).
4. I do utilize occasional secret rolls as well as 'dummy rolls' from time to time, especially when it comes to things like Bluff, Sense Motive, stealth, spot etc. Sometimes I'll ask for a straight d20 roll without specifying what it is, and take your modifier plus any circumstantial bonuses/penalties into account for the result. Refer to #2, this isn't to pull one over on you, but rather to keep things that are better kept as mysteries/unknown to you as just that, until/unless you (or your PC rather) pieces things together. If your character gets bonuses that are not reflected on your character sheet for whatever reason (i.e. rangers' favored enemies) please let me know ahead of time what those are.
So if you're asked to roll xyz or see a series of rolls being rolled by me... don't assume things oocly! You might end up quite surprised...
5. Ask questions if something's unclear oocly, as opposed to ICly; there will be times when your PC isn't quite sure what's up and it's intended, but ooc confusion is a different matter I'd prefer we try to get cleared up asap.
Just want to remind folks a couple of things with me DMing:
1. taking 20 for applicable skillchecks might not be a bad idea if you've a bit of time to work with. Taking 20 on a search check on a small area/item/corpse takes a couple of minutes, and might mean the difference between success and failure.
Or take 10 if not threatened just to get an average result if you believe that should be good enough for the job.
2. Sometimes I will use out of game engine traps. For these you often need to FIND a trap/trigger/switch/device before you can attempt to disable it, i.e. you generally need to search a specific area or areas for it; trap mechanisms are usually hidden well enough that a simple spot check will not reveal the means to disarm it (if it can be disarmed), and the more difficult traps require someone with rogue training to have a chance to find them
And yes, you CAN take 20/take 2 minutes to search a specific location within 5 to 10 square feet (canon is 5 foot square but I think a bit of leeway is fine especially since it's hard to figure out exactly how big/small 5 feet looks like in the game engine, just think relatively small area or single object of reasonable size/complexity); if you suspect that the stairstep you just stepped on is what might've triggered the trap, easy enough to thoroughly search that step for 2 minutes/thoroughly to find the hidden pressure plate or whatnot.
However, you can NOT take 20 on Disable Device.