Andrew Park
Managing Editor

Enough about skateboarding. Let's talk RPGs.

I'd say that my favorite non-skateboarding games are probably role-playing games. I admit I started playing TSR's Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper games at a very young age, and I haven't really stopped. But in 2000, Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast introduced the 3rd Edition rule set (and also dropped the "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" moniker), and to a stodgy conservative like me, its new rules, like positive armor class and base attack bonuses, seemed weird and scary, at least back then. But one thing about the 3rd Edition rules is that they make player characters a lot more interesting, thanks to new features like heroic feats and the new multi-classing rules. In a lot of ways, 3E is a lot more complex and more tactical, and it seems like it'd be much more work to implement the new rules in a computer game. But ultimately, the new rules seem a lot better suited to computer games. (And yes, I'm saying that in spite of last year's disastrous Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, which was the successor to one of my all-time favorite computer games.) That's why I'm looking forward to two upcoming RPGs in particular, Icewind Dale II and Neverwinter Nights.

Icewind Dale isn't just inhabited by humans, dwarves, and elves anymore.

			What's your favorite aspect of role-playing games? Elves Goblins Swords Sorcery Experience points 20-sided dice

If you're a fan of Black Isle Studios, the creator of such classic RPGs as Fallout and Planescape: Torment, you may have visited the company's message boards, where you can generally find lots of lively (and sometimes overly dramatic) discussion about Black Isle's RPGs. Thanks to a lot of back-and-forth between the designers and fans who read the boards, as well as to internal discussions that the Icewind Dale II team has had, Black Isle has decided to make Icewind Dale II more or less a full-fledged 3rd Edition game, with feats, multi-classing, and 3E classes like sorcerers and barbarians. I can't say I'm too happy about the designers' decision to get rid of custom character kits (like the votary paladin, avenger druid, and others--similar to the character kits in Baldur's Gate II), but even if Icewind Dale II turns out to be as linear as the original game, I'm sure that between all the new 3E stuff and the new playable races (which include interplanar species, like tieflings and aasimar), I'll have enough cause to play through the game at least once. Or, more realistically, waste lots of time generating new characters.

Can Neverwinter Nights possibly live up to its potential?

The other 3rd Edition game I'm looking forward to is the same one everyone else is looking forward to: Neverwinter Nights. I used to think that Neverwinter Nights was both exciting and frightening--the game isn't just supposed to have a comprehensive single-player mode, but also a multiplayer mode that will simulate playing a tabletop game. I was even afraid that Neverwinter Nights would kill off single-player and tabletop gaming, though realistically, that's not going to happen. But if it at least delivers on its dungeon-editing construction kit and online play modes, you can bet I'll be running my own custom campaigns online. Neverwinter Nights has looked decent enough the last few times I've seen it in motion, but we'll just have to wait and see how the entire game turns out.

Watch GameSpot PC's video preview of Neverwinter Nights--which features BioWare's Trent Oster--courtesy of GameSpot Live.

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