Sheena's corner, A small thread to develop ideas Options

[Red Knight]

This thread will make more sense if you first have a look at Sheena's website and the diary in particular. I added also a dialogue preview and gallery section. It provides all the information I feel you need to know.

Sheena's lair

First, I'd like to say a few things about myself. What I do and who I am.
I am a humanitarian aid specialist and it takes me to secluded and remote corners of this world, places where hot water flowing from a tap, telephone lines, electricity are still slanderous rumors peddled by some people visiting from the west, or the north, and much to my dismayal I have to agree with them.
Anyway, my loneliness leaves me with a lot of free time during my evenings and week-ends, which serves me well developing an NPC for BG2 because there isn't much else entertainment available and I do enjoy writing, but the telephone line is at work and I can't really abuse it for the purpose of a hobby. I do abuse it mostly at lunch time, evening time and on a saturday morning and rarely more than 15 minutes at a time. If I have to respond, I'll prepare something off-line. If I want to read a lenghty thread, I'll download all pages at once and read them off-line, when I have the time. Bear in mind that I'm using taxpayer money from rich countries, maybe some of yours, so I really feel guilty and try not to overdo it. Well, if it is your dollar, pound, euro or yen, I shouldn't really feel bothered. I'm trying to pay you off with Sheena. Yes, I heard the: 'Well, she'd better be good then'. It is exactly the point of opening a thread meant to improve upon her personality and other aspects of this unique NPC.
I was very much tempted to ask Baronious for a dedicated forum but I've just explained you the reasons, I can't, so I'd like to keep this thread open, expressive, useful, ideally the place where people who liked playing Sheena can feed it's author with new ideas.

Sheena's personality. The current bottleneck explained:
Sheena is a young girl who lived a secluded life, unsure of herself because she dreads what other common races think of her, a half dragon, an abomination that has no right to exist. Therefore, her personality is reserved, cautious, restrained by her own fear of renewing with the prejudice she suffered. Except with evil characters, where she'll be agressive and confident enough to deal with them (Edwin, Korgan) but also in-game characters (mad cleric...).
All my troubles start now. Nearly 1500 lines of cautious dialogue lines are enough to convey the feeling that Sheena is a noble character (Mazzy - Keldorn) with a reserved demeanor towards everybody but careful nurturing has led to a romance with the PC. It is past time to reveal Sheena's true heart, the adorable young woman behind the veil of her fears. I want to open up her personality but slowly, like a delicate flower budding. What I recently wrote is either too Lolita (understand Viconia in a very very good mood - first LT in the diary) and completely unsuitable for Sheena or useless whining (understand Aerie- 2nd LT in my diary-I understand Avariels are located high in the mountains) that is leading me nowhere. I simply want to instill a more moving, sensual, confident person in her character without overdoing it. I've written five new love talks and not one of them fit her.

I'd also like to find again the kind of situation that led Sheena to literally give you her heart or declare her love in a genuine and naive way. If you have any idea of situations that would recreate what I lost, then please, I'd very much like to hear it. I used some of my own experiences to pull the romance story off, so maybe you could look into your own very good memories of a love situation you particularly found moving. I don't need to know it is your own life experience, simply sometimes real life stories can even be more astounding than any story an author can come up with. You can also contact me privately if you don't feel like posting: e-mail or PM me.


Quests+areas:
I have two new areas ex-IWD1. I've thought of using the Mad Cleric and Vinamar to start it off. Anybody who played Sheena think this is a good idea? It starts roughly in C6 like this.
Mad cleric: Ah! I finally found you my lady. I have been a faithful servant and accomplished the task you requested.
Sheena: You seem familiar but I can't recall your name. Have we met?
Mad cleric: Can't you remember, my Lady? Not so long ago, we met in the docks where you commanded me to start a church of Tiamat, queen and goddess of Dragons
The mad cleric serves the purpose of luring you into a trap set up by Vinamar in the cloud peak mountains but then why you would fully move after him remains a mystery and the reason it was not implemented.
I've also long thought of Sheena's abduction by Vinamar. He still has very good reasons to look for her if the mad cleric became a member of the cult of the dragon.
Which one would you like implemented?

If I was introducing Sheena's stepfather, what race do you imagine he would have? At one time, I thought to make him a firegiant but I don't have the animation and although it would have created the desired surprise effect, it is slightly stepping out of line.

Bodhi:
For a very good reason (the dragon heart ritual), she can not be abducted by Bodhi if romanced or do you think I should sacrifice some credibility in my own story to let Bodhi abduct Sheena?

TOB end:
All along (banter, romance) I hinted Sheena might become one day a full mature red dragon. Although, I am a bit unsure a half human half dragon could turn into one, I expanded on the fact that her own power of disguise is unatural. Should I go ahead writing it at the end of TOB (ascension installed) or do you think that will be too much fire power, even with ascension installed? I am aware she'd have incredible stats and retain her ability to cast all her spells, so that's a bit botthering and since I carefully avoided overpowering her, why do it in the end? Maybe a separate module would be more convenient?

This post has been edited by Red Knight: Mar 7 2006, 01:56 PM

[Cobweb]

Hi Red Knight

I have played through Sheena to the point where the LT is finalised with the love declaration. In many ways Sheena has the potential to breathe new life into what is now a pretty old but loveable and constantly replayable game. I honestly can't remember how many times I have played BGII & TOB over the years. Even with the onset of NWN and its many ad on mods and NWN2 looming on the horizon this has to be my favourite game.

The concept of a half dragon is a new one to me personally but not the transformation ability we first witnessed in BGII in the Silver Dragon's lair. In terms of developing the relationship between the PC and Sheena I am minded of Raymond Feist's (Midkemia/ Riftwar/Kelewan novels) development of Ashen Shugar/ Thomas and his relationship with greater dragons. Whilst the dragon intially came across as a servant the relationship between the two changed over time. Admittedly Thomas took an elven queen as wife but he always maintained a unique bond with the species. which allowed them both to maintain their guardianship of the world. The dragon's ability to transform into a beatiful human female allowed it to move freely amongst their kind and avoid detection and confrontation.

The development of Sheena as a good character I imagine is mostly due to the influence of her stepfather. Sins of the father and all that? Anyway what better example could a good PC have had than Gorion empowering him with the abilitiy to consciously shape his own future rather than follow the instincts of his kin.

What makes this particular mod so exciting for me is the potential for the development of the interpersonal relationship between two such powerful characters. The potential for great evil or great good in both is tremendous. The PC's choices with with the Slayer avatar at his disposal are identical to Sheena's if you choose to develop it in that way. For me it may be as well to give thought to the romance in this way. The struggle for them both to exert their own personalities so as to accept or discard their heritage can provide a unique bonding process which could even take them outside the destiny perceived by the gods. The level at which they can pursue a physical relationship probably needs to be in the human form, but the unity of purpose, duty and dedication to a cause must transcend this. There is of course the practical problem of dealing with the ageing process, dragons tend to live quite a bit longer and of course I have a slight predjudice for example about a whether a physical relationship between say a dwarf or a halfling and a dragon is a creditable achievement. (I feel a lot of old ribald jokes coming on). Is restricting the romance side to humans a bit too inhibiting?

In looking to develop a romance on the kindred spirit basis - united we can defeat the influence, Sheena's background and character can make her the PCs equal as she has no particular reason to stand in awe of the offspring of a god.This works only up to the point where he loses his bit of Bhaal and decision time is upon him. But do the Gods smile on them both?

It is probably as well to keep a pretty tight rein on Sheena's stats as she progresses through TOB or run the risk of making other party member's skills redundant. However, if you decide to propel the evolutionary bit to dragon form thus putting pressure on Sheena's and the PC's relationship you might consider losing her earthy skills like sword /quaterstaff wielding, and severely limiting her spellcasting abilities. We are then into the Dragon Lord scenario I mentioned earlier but this could create a completely new concept to Faerun

Sorry, I started off setting down some of my own thoughts and reactions to this great mod but I seemed to have rambled on a bit (a lot actually).

Anyway I hope that somewhere in this lot you find something of use.

Regards
Cobweb