What would be a good possible storyline for BG3?

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4e has really wrecked all potential here (in my opinion it wrecked the whole of FR).

If we continue along the pre-4e line of thought here. You'd have to be careful that what you do could actually have been done. For any past or present English students here: You have to effectively use the gaps and silences in a novel. For example i don't remember any gods taking up bhaal's portfolio, making the storyline of baldur's gate possible. Any assasins (still alive) when bhaal died probably would have converted to Mask (was mask still alive before 4e?, I'm trying to remember what happened in the Avatar Series.).

If we attempt to steal another god's portfolio, that raises some difficulties. Myrkul's dead now anyway, His portfolio has been taken over by Kelemvor.

And is it really plausible that the Character would even want to engage in all this stuff again? He/She had the opportunity at the end of ToB, and there was a split ending.

P.S. I didn't like Fable I either. But Fable II is really good. Even after you complete the game you are let loose on the world to do more quests and stuff. It's like a single player WoW. Finishing the game is half the fun.

 

The story wil be set 100-200 years after the events in the BG games, to keep up with the current d&d products. They skipped a few years ahead. So unless the Pc was a dwarf or an elf, he\she is dead by now. Most likely the game will be BG in name only. Probably a brand new story set in baldur`s gate. And it will feature that 3d overland map they used in the new nwn2 expansion. You will probably start off at level 1, and have some sort of destiny to sort out.

 

I think it should involve Boo and the Bhaalspawn Bunnies.

 

... Unfortunately, I'm thinking BG3 will reflect BG: Dark Alliance more than anything BioWare ever did. Too bad.

 

I don't care much about who what and when. I like to see a start whit no destiny and certainly no amnesia.

 

Try Drakensang. I have played it for quite awhile now. No destiny stuff at all yet. And no amnesia either.

 

All new storyline: someone has discovered a "little" something (perhaps an artifact, a spell,a ritual, a vestige, or for all anyone knows just some little quirk as result of present D&D happenings) in present times that no one else has noticed (probably because of the Spellplague and all). With it he can potentially become the most powerful being in the realms, or perhaps even can kill a god. He chooses the latter - he does not want power, or he thinks mortal pursuits are far too fleeting or he's reserving power plans for later. Now this man is probably old, decrepit, or dying (or to spice things up he was just doing it for someone he loved, probably an enchantress, a city, or some being he loves who is dying because of the spellplague or some other result of present troubles) so naturally he turns his attentions to the "official" god of death - Kelemvor. The PC might have been the man's acquaintance, someone who has just learning to deal with the effects of the spellplague or somesuch - the student of some small guild who had been teaching people new skills to cope with present events and who just happened to have regular contact with the old man - when he happened upon a bunch of clues - scraps of paper, strange requests, etc. that lead to the old man's plan. Before the PC can confront him, however, the man is gone. Whether the PC chooses to pursue the man to gain that power for himself, to just stop the man from using that power or just because that power will cause unprejudiced destruction in any hands anyway is up to him. You meet allies and enemies and all kinds of quests along the way and its up to you whether you want to tell them your intentions or no. There are little setbacks - a magical storm or a vicious attack by strange little creatures, and perhaps along the way he gets trapped in a village/forest/town with its own little sidestory (ghosts? magic gone wild? something creepy) and is forced to help (even evil PC's, although there would be minor tasks to allow him to remain evil while doing it) or die/be trapped eternally/some-other-horrible-fate. After getting through that he thinks all hope is lost when he learns that the man had been having troubles of his own (perhaps in an attempt to complete the ritual or to obtain something necessary for the power to work, he needed something that delayed him). Somewhere around the middle part of the game they finally get to confront each other, and in a series of dramatic events (it would be really nice if the man was not really evil at all but simply had no other alternative to save his love) he dies - and just when the PC has access to the "something" he learns that not all gods had been as dense to present happenings as he thought them before - one particular deity had noticed the events unraveling and who'd better to play the part than the "lord of tyranny "Asmodeus?
Retrieving the something Asmodeus thanks the PC most graciously before releasing his devils on him - and the result is a chase that ends when the PC jumps inside one of the portals Asmodeus had conjured to transport his devils, enchanted so it would lead to "anywhere but here". So... Sigil, anyone?
After a whole and lengthy "where-the-hell-am-I-and-I-need-to-be-somewhere-else" part of the game it turns out there was a way to meet with the Lady of Doors... and that there were some means to please or force her to grant a boon to these particular wanderers (naturally, with a price. the sacrifice of your romantic interest, anyone?), transporting them to where Asmodeus was eagerly trying his hand at completing the ritual on his own. The chase leads them to Baldur's Gate (we needed the game's name to be somewhere, right?) to retrieve the particular item/scroll/vestige/"dramatic-name-here" of one who once sheltered a piece of the god of murder in his soul - and rejected it. (sorry godhood/evil choice choosers)
Guess who's in Baldur's Gate?

After some serious walking down memory lane (besides a very pressing quest) the PC soon manages to appear right before Asmodeus completes the ritual/artifact and flees to Kelemvor's realm (summoning more powerful devils or whatnot beforehand). After minor adventures (some great sightseeing an glimpse of what happened after NWN 2) they reach an audience with the deeath god, only to find him helpless, weak and dying before Asmodeus, his bastard sword shattered. Before he is gone completely however Kelemvor uses his last remaining powers to aid the PC, and promptly vanishes. What happens next is a battle of titanic, epic, cataclysmic proportions, with an ending that should not be mentioned lest should it spoil the game.

I was bored.

Quirks:
-The game starts with a narrator saying... "There was once a man...", in reference to the man who originally started the events.
-25% of game is based on chasing the "man", 20% chasing Asmodeus, 10% Sigil, 10% Baldur's Gate and 10% the creepy village, and the rest around Kelemvor's domain and miscellaneous settings. One should expect encountering dungeons along the way that the man had entered/passed through. These may be forest settings, and it's possible the PC got lost at some point because of the magical storm/little strange creatures attack. He may meet travelling merchants, an old hermit in a cave with a story of a Berserker and his space hamster, and other stuff along the way that leads to the introduction of new NPC's. There should be LOTS of little plots to encircle the main plot - a tiefling who had been lying in wait waiting for someone to pass by so he/she could steal from him who can become a romantic interest, the fact that one party members thinks *he* should get that power and not the PC, a dark elf (not drow, the new race) cleric who got lost in the creepy village and could also be a romantic interest; some random ones like a person who believed the moon was falling and who sang of the cow who jumped over it, and buffed you with Bard spells if you told him the funny tale of the wizard who enchanted a dish and aspoon who ran away and started a turnip farm in Beregost, and others.
-One should not overwhelm new players with old stuff or old players with nostalgia
-Drizzt will NOT be making an appearance
-I lied, you encounter him outside Baldur's Gate and when you start searching for the original Bhaalspawn's effects
-Elminster, however, TRULY will NOT be making an appearance
-I lied
-I'm lying that I lied
-You get to enter Fall-from-Grace's old brothel, which is now in ruins and where now runs a puppet show about a man who killed his wife, threw away his own baby, killed the police, killed the judge, and in the end even killed the personification of all sin and evil, is playing. The one door to the realm of the Lady of Doors is the puppet - saying "Adan" in front of it (you mention that out of frustration after an old hag whom you helped along the way - a very strange and wicked looking old lady indeed- was saying it again and again somewhere along the lines like "Ahhh... would that Adahn be here to see your generosity" or "HA! Even Adahn wasn't that clever" - always kept referencing to someone named "Adahn") will open the door.
-You get to meet Nalia. She is old now, and is dying. Asmodeus had tricked her into revealing where the original Bhaalspawn's something was. She was once one of the council of six...
-There is a ranger on your way to Kelemvor's stronghold that is standing around confused. Apparently something inside the stronghold is happening and somehow the wall of the faithless was weakening. The ranger then spitefully shrugs you aside and leaves. You have the option of killing him. (DIE SHANDRA HATER!!!!)
-There's a new religion around, and they're sprouting shops almost everywhere. You encounter some on your journey. These people keep talking about "knowledge being key to power" and "exercising it with control to obtain what you want". Or some other jumble I'll think of later.
-Guess how Asmodeus got wind of your quest?
-Jan Jansen's Trendy Turniporium sells good items in Baldur's Gate (or the ruins of it or whatever).

My creativity is sleepy now.

 

He who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it. Swipe the Illiad.

 

Lets not get into that epic stuff anymore. No more chosen ones, demigods and dragons at every streetcorner. Level 20 is nice, but for me the best part are the levels in the middle of the spectrum. Just get it to 14 or so and to 20 in the expansion.

Just a player with a party and a lot of questing, fighting, banter and different willing elven priestesses.

 

A whole new storyline, starting at level 1 would be great. Also, the more NPCs the better, with tons of interactions, the best part of the game. They could also add different plot lines, depending on Race and Class. You are playing a Elven Fighter, why not have a Moonblade appear into the story? A Ranger? Add a nice animal companion. 2nd edition rules would be fine as well...

 

The rules do not matter 2.0, 3,5 even 4.0 It is falls and stands with developers daring to do it the D&D way.

Dragon age will most likely be everything thay boasted to be, but never a spriritual successor to BG2. Only a BG3 can do that.

Just like Fallout 3 does it to some extend whit Fallout, and Diablo 3 most likely will whit Diablo. If the franchise is difficult to handle, make icewind3, Torment2 or even ToEE2 to test the rules and or the mechanics.

 

The thing about the word "epic" is that it tends to lose its meaning when you're walking around with +12 weapons and taking on dragons by yourself. It is true that it would be great if the next game would not feature rules or gameplay that would allow human to rival the dragons and even gods... some of these people really need to learn how to make a game more challenging or make level progression rewarding without going overboard. Nevertheless, the next game must indeed be "epic" if it intends to be the spiritual successor of the series, yes? Notice the paradox. This is one of the reasons why sequels are very hard to make properly. BG2 got help because among other things it continued the story and expanded on the BG1 universe.
If BG3 is to be made the story must be "epic" as well. But whether it is enjoyable or not or just plain cliche is up to its execution. The BG series' son-of-an-evil-god-or-some-other-dark-past arc is actually a very old and well-used plot, but its execution was such that the game transcended its main plot and branched out in so many ways that the RPG-lover would only have to relate to some of it and then fall in love with or come to appreciate the whole. That is how you make a good game, since it was through this that I came to love BG2.

Interactions, dialogue and story were only part of what made the BG series great. Loved the Viconia romance? Do you really think it was all because of her grisly dialogue? I wouldn't think so. Viconia's theme, the haunting BG2 opening theme, very surely helped make that romance special, as well as Viconia's voice and speech. The strength of personality, the assertiveness, the pride in that voice did a lot to make her backstory and dialogue all the more memorable. Lilarcor is not even mentioned in the BG2 story, but because of the sword we love BG2 even more. Minsc and Boo play near-neglible roles as far as the totality of BG2 is concerned, but many players remember them the most fondly whenever the word "BG2" is mentioned.

Simplifying the rant, a good story does not necessarily have to have entirely new content. Even you people who keep praying for a new BG keep hoping or expecting that some of the "old stuff" that you loved would be carried over to the new. If not, it's probably because the thing you liked best about the old BG2 was the novelty... and in any case you'd want that attribute carried over too. Execution matters _alot_.
In the end all good stories are still an "Iliad" or "epic" is some way ... execution is what makes it a political story for one who likes such things, a story about life for those who are interested in those things, an adventure to those bored-to-death by current events, a D&D dissertation for those who love PnP etc etc etc.
"He who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it", and yet you can't play bowling with a chicken egg. A good RPG needs an "epic" story, better execution is just needed to actually make that story work.

 

I dunno, give me a sling and some balls and I'll make those bowling pins drop, you don't need the usual epic bowling ball to play the game, you can use a new "spin" to mix things up, wether you be a god, or a spawn of a god, or an apprentice to a dark mage or maybe your just a stable boy/girl that has a talent for killing things by throwing horse shoes it doesn't matter, an RPG is an RPG and just requires an indepth story line, the character will mean very little at the end of the day because 8 out of 10 cats will project themselves into the game rather than think they are "The Slayer" etc etc etc...

 

That new "spin" is what I meant by execution. A stable boy at a normal day in the barn is a normal "story" but when you add "he has a talent for killing things by throwing horse shoes" then that becomes an epic. That's a journey towards self discovery right there, or perhaps some similar "adventure" epic. Better execution will yield more parallels or "branches" until you can finally start the relating to it and then appreciating it.
Going back to my point and with BG2 as an example, the son-of-an-evil-something story becomes the game we loved because of Minsc, Boo, Lilarcor, Jan Jansen, nifty dialogue etc etc etc.
BG2 succeeded where games who attempted something similar failed because the quality of the execution of its story was better. You could see the effort poured into the game, the creativeness, resourcefulness... and the developers tackled almost every possible way a player might attempt relate to a game in their execution. Sights (graphics and artwork), sound (music), an appreciation for wordplay (dialogue), a eye for details and fine print (item descriptions, vivid narrations), novelty (Minsc and Boo), appreciation for complexities and tactics, eccentricities (Jan Jansen), limits (Arkanis Gath will 1 hit you no matter what you do, and some side quests were meant to be very difficult but optional like Watcher's Keep) and etc were all covered.
Some newer games fail because despite having good stories execution was poor. Icewind Dale 2 is an example. Personally I think IWD2 had one of the best main story of any RPG (ambiguity between good and evil).

 

Hmm Fallout 2 was a fairly good example, I know its pretty much made by the same people as Baldurs Gate (Interplay/Blackisle) but the basis of the story line demanded that you were no better than anyone else, but you developed into a hero, nothing epic just somone who wanted to save his village...

 

Nothing is epic about carrying a piece of jewelry somewhere else either and yet LOTR is well praised as an epic because of the Nazgul, Gandalf etc. The tale of Fallout 2 is an "epic" as well (unless you skipped every other quest in the game), as the "hero's" experiences were nothing to sneeze at.

I understand you are simply trying to say that a story can start with something simple and ordinary and end with something simple and ordinary; but with the right "twists" or "spins" you can end up with something extraordinary.
What I'm trying to say is that by adding "twists" and "spins" to a story you're already trying to make it into an "epic". In BG 2 those "twists" and "spins" that the developers added in are what I consider as the story's "execution".
I also agree with you that epics can suck. Proper execution is what prevents that. Avoiding a start that can overwhelm a player too much, or a setting that could kill a player's wanting to tackle unknowns, or a setting which would make a player feel that everything he does is redundant and everything is already laid out in front of him (except battles... games like this will go on to become hack n' slash games) is part of proper execution.

 

The fact that the vault dweller develops and become something more is what makes the story epic.

 

Huzzah, first post....and to throw in my two cents: If they were to make a third BG game, why not have it follow the ending you picked? require the player to load up an old BG 2 save game to see where they ended and what characters were involved and have something plausible happen from there. Example: I'm pretty sure that if you go God, Viconia becomes your first priestess...be you good or evil. You could have the entire game center around the child of the bhaalspawn...be it another little godling 'produced' from Aerie/Jaheria/Viconia/Anomen. And I'm pretty sure that the romance endings for staying mortal all present the character settling down and/or having kids with their person of interest. Well, that's a place to start as well. Or hell, to make it really fun, have it be based on zany misadventures of Minsc, Aerie (his new witch) and Jan Jansen. Then throw in playerX as a student of academy (insertnamehere) that has managed to tag along for whatever reason. The game could be fun from the ramblings of the gnome alone, let alone the insanity of minsc and his miniature giant space hamster.

more plot ideas:
Minsc, for whatever reason, wants Boo to be able to settle down with a Giant Space Hamster. The object would be to find a mage with the right spell to enlarge little boo to rediculous proportions. Insert Godzilla attack as needed.
Jan Jansen wands to make a Turnip cannon to write his name on the moon. Need I say more?
Aerie...finally invests in a regeneration spell to get her wings back.
Wait, that should have happened in BG 2.
Anomen is said to lead a crusade in Matzica...why could there not be a game about that alone? Other than people not liking him.

Only now do I realize that these are more of individual quest ideas than something you could make a full game out of. Well, except for Anomen's crusade. But that would be better done as a real time strategy.

Sadly, I don't think they would make a BG 3 where you get to play the Bhaalspawn running around murdernating things in the 4th ed version of forgotten realms.

 

From what I have read I like all the ideas posted thus far, but I haven't read them all I am kinda having an issue with a game I need resolving first.

My concepts are, simply have the game take the place in the same time as the original games but offer a difference source of conflicts. IE: Amn as the Kobolds messed up the Iron, have the PCs begin a journey north of Amn towards Baldur's Gate, essentially flip flopping the areas and game time lines, and include references to both! Amn's city can look different because the Necromancer's layer isn't destroyed leaving the Bazaar fine. Baldur's Gate can have Luskan problems arise, or a resurgence of the Wars referenced to in the Baldur's Gate games for PS2.

Another idea is mixable to both. The Times of Troubles made ALL Gods walk the surface of Toril. Any Progeny of other Gods, Bhaalspawn, and agents of other Gods content for powers and sway. Much like the first game, except per se, Tyr or Helm clerics gun for the Bhaalspawn or Myrkul/Cyric and others try to hinder a good party. Etc etc, my ideas are endless but this is a good concept for those In Charge who may get some creative juices! MORE MINSC!

That is all

 

Interesting Neil Gaiman reference.