First KotB dialogue underway

Well I had to work late tonight, and after the kids were in bed it was just me and the house Celeron for the last couple hours, so I powered up Notepad and got hacking at the first lines of dialogue. It was for the Watch (the guards what wander the Keep) who will hopefully actually be wandering around the map when the starter pack goes out. Starting writing I didn't have much in mind, just a few "move along" lines to get me going, but it was one of them moments like in Finding Forrester, you just start writing and you get in character and it takes over. Next thing I knew I had gone from inane crap - "where can I find accomodation in this here Keep?" - to a whole bunch of offshoot ideas, trying to bribe the guard, trying to get him to let you into the Fortress (on the pretext of attending services in the Chapel of Kord), cunningly getting him to talk about less well known things like the dungeons beneath the Keep, getting on his good side so the Seargant of the Watch will have a better reaction to you, and various alignment- and skill-related variants to these. These was just the 'off the top of my head' ideas. I also worked on a script to randomise his reaction to bribery, from accepting it thru rejecting it to telling you he will inform his superiors (depending on game state of course - if the PCs have been on a killing spree and the Keep is under Martial Law but they have not yet been identified as the culprits, the guard will still chat to them but will not be bribed under any circumstances). The random element reflects the randomness of which sort of guard you may be speaking to, a scrupulous one or a more mercenary one.

It was rip-roaring good fun to throw these ideas out and then just follow them wherever they led. I really do recommend people think about signing up if you have any sort of imagination and desire to see KotB come to fruition.

Back to working on the Keep map tomorrow.