A Fly on The Wall

[Vala Rift]

One of the benefits to being a rogue with high hide is that you get to see things that people normally wouldn't show; we should open it up further and give access to the general player base, as well.

I have, on numerous occasions, RPed something that I wouldn't normally RP when I didn't know anyone was looking. Like prepping for a performance on an empty stage, in an empty room.. Only the damnable rogue hiding in the corner sees your whole display in front of the non-existent audience. It was quite hilarious in the end - but we two were the only ones who were able to enjoy it.

I've been thinking, and I would love to see DMs using Fraps and recording intimate RP on the server when no one knows they are looking. It would be much better than relying on the players, as it has the potential to ruin RP. It would also add a bit of suspense, as you would never know if/when you were being recorded.

Of course, the DM should contact the players in question so they can watch the movie first and confirm its okay to post (there are some things you may not want others to know about, even OOC).

Just a thought... What do you think?

[Lollercide]

While I think it's a good idea, FRAPS is a pay-to-(legally)-own program and is a pain to compress the massive raw video data.

Furthermore, I couldn't think of anything that would ruffle player's feathers more than having intimate, and otherwise secret information being leaked out in this manner. I mean, can't you imagine the fuss?

"Aww come on mang, how did [x] find out about [y]?"

"DM [z] told him about it."

"That's not fair -- we were at this place, at this time, and it was dark and quiet! Also, my character would have totally checked every nook and cranny before saying [y], because he knows [x] would be after him!"

*Sends his frustrations from player to player via tells for the next few days before it's addressed to a DM.*

[Vala Rift]

Oh.. That's unfortunate.. I would watch those kind of videos to death. xD
But then again, I'm weird.

I still think it would be possible, with DM and player(s) agreement before it's made public. And Fraps is just a suggestion, any recording software would work, in theory.

In any case, thank you for your input Lollercide!

[Phantom Lamb]

Well that's what DMs are for sometimes-exercising discression. We can't stand metagaming and would be very sensitive about what was posted if this was used.

I like the idea, but we'd need to adjust the interface for recording. Reading NWN2 textboxes in video format is pretty hard to do. It would take some prep time from the DM to adjust their UI for this.

[Vala Rift]

I can help with the prepping; it may involve the DM reducing their resolution as to increase the text boxes (unless text size can be increased through another means) - but I'm sure it could be done. I'll make a few samples myself and see how it works, when I get home today.

[EDIT]

Oh, 2 seconds and I found it.. Was probably what you were talking about anyway, Phantom Lamb.

Go into Neverwinter Nights 2\UI\default.
Open fontfamily.xml in notepad.
Edit the pointsizes for NWN1_Dialog and NWN2_Dialog.
Save.

I'll use both methods and see which works the best.

[Lothoir]

One idea that had been floating around in my head for awhile, was a Fly on the Wall item or spell. It would basically create an invisible (or maybe visible) object that has an OnListen script to parrot whatever it hears back to the PC that created it. Or maybe it stores what they say, and the PC has to retrieve the item again to hear it.

And an AOE spell or Dispel Magic would destroy it, while a Detect Magic spell would reveal it. Maybe even allow an Arcana check to trace the PC it came from.

[Vala Rift]

Haha, I really like that idea!

There are a lot of different ways it could work, some more functional in a RP setting than others. A 'magic' radio-like device would be best, that way non-casters could utilize it as well (perhaps just with the UMD skill). Perhaps only casting Identify on the thing would trace it back to the player that was using it. Would definitely be interesting!