Conclusiones: la pertinencia y necesidad de un análisis discursivo de la hegemonía

An Introduction to AD&D® Rules

There is as much to be said about the world as there is about the laws that govern the world.

My glory days are beyond me, but there was a time when I was ignorant of the ways of combat and weapons — if anyone is said to be truly knowledgeable about such things, then they have the sense of a village idiot. Within this section lie definitions of some of the mechanics of the world you find yourself in. If something perplexes you during your adventures, refer to the index or to one of the passages in this section, and it will shed light on your questions. The following information may seem daunting at first, but do not be disheartened. Persevere, and your blade shall guide you even when your mind is clouded.

—Hrothgar, Easthaven

About Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is a roleplaying game system that allows players to explore worlds of fantasy and high adventure. One of the myriad AD&D settings is the Forgotten Realms, the world in which Icewind Dale takes place. It is a complex place, but it is said that in other worlds, artificial assistants called “computers” may be invoked at times to simplify things. Defining such a vast realm in even a series of tomes would be difficult. For the sake of brevity, we have summarized things in the span of a few pages. This is by no means easy, but below you will find some major features of the rules and how they may be interpreted by “computer” scribes detailed.

You don’t have to know the AD&D game rules to play Icewind Dale (the “computer” takes care of that for you), but it can be helpful. Accordingly, most AD&D rules have been summarized here or their revisions for Icewind Dale explained.

How Icewind Dale Uses the AD&D Rules

Icewind Dale uses the same weighting system for spells and weapons as the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. We have applied the same concept of the initiative round to individual monsters and characters rather than to the party. Instead of a group-based turn in which first one side then the other performs all actions, every character or creature acts in real-time mode on a personal initiative round.

Personal initiative rounds are six seconds long, representing a ten-to-one reduction in the 60-second round time in the AD&D rules. This time scale is consistent with the reduction in global game time.

Most importantly, you can pause (or unpause) the action by hitting the space bar (for PC and Mac versions of the game only) or by clicking the clock icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen. When paused, you can assign actions to any character, and then resume the game. This pause feature allows fans of turn-based combat to effectively play the game that way. It can also make some of the fiercer battles simpler, letting players consider their actions and tactics.

Note: In the Gameplay Options menu, you can instruct the game to pause automatically when certain events occur so you won’t miss them.

Character Actions

The basic actions characters can perform are simple. You can wander the landscape, speak with its denizens, and occasionally swing a sword or two. These actions are described below, along with a few effects that may modify these basic actions.

Movement

There is one constant movement rate in Icewind Dale. Your characters can move more quickly under the effects of a Haste spell or while wearing certain magical equipment. You can group select characters and move them into various formations. This is described in more detail in Chapter 3 of this guide.

Dialogue

Killing everything you meet eventually leads to problems. You’ll never finish the game’s quests if you kill everything—no one will be left to tell you what you need to do.

Sometimes the best thing to do is talk: casual conversation, hardball negotiation, jovial rumor-swapping, or intimidating threats can all yield different but interesting results. Not everything you meet, human or otherwise, is out to kill your characters. Help often appears in surprising forms. Thus, it often pays to take time to talk to people or creatures.

Note: When you initiate dialogue with NPCs, they will address the character you have selected to speak with them. However, when NPCs initiate dialogue with the party, they will always address the party leader. This is the character whose portrait is in the topmost position in the right sidebar. You can change the party leader at any time by clicking and dragging another character’s portrait to the topmost position.

Fighting

There are times when you don’t want to or can’t run away. There are also times when talking is not a good idea. Sooner or later, you will have to fight. The trick is in knowing when to fight and when to talk or run.

Effects of Fatigue

Your characters have to rest every so often, both to memorize spells and regain their strength. If your characters start complaining that they are tired, it is prudent to stop and make camp for the night. Go to all characters’ priest or wizard spell pages, configure any spells you want to memorize, and click on the Rest icon. You will rest for eight hours, unless your sleep is interrupted, and awake refreshed. If party members are injured, they’ll gain a few Hit Points each time they rest.

Note: Characters resting in rented rooms will heal more or less depending on the room’s quality.

Effects of Encumbrance

Each character has a certain number of inventory slots free, along with a number of slots associated with a paper doll representation of the character. One item may be placed in each slot. In addition, how much weight a character may carry is based on the Strength of that particular character; see the tables at the end of this book.

Effects of Intoxication

Many establishments serve a variety of intoxicants. Drinking to excess will, of course, impair your characters’ abilities to function in combat. Sufficient drink bolsters the morale, but the tradeoff in effectiveness hardly makes it worth it. The number of drinks a character can have before suffering penalties to their rolls is related to their Constitution, though recovery is uniform. Regardless of the amount, a good night’s sleep will negate all effects.

Effects of Poison

Poison is an all-too-frequent hazard for adventurers. Bites, stings, deadly potions, drugged wines, and bad food await characters at the hands of malevolent wizards, evil assassins, hideous monsters, and incompetent innkeepers. Fortunately, there are many ways to treat a character for poison. Several spells negate the poison’s effects. Note that Cure spells do not negate a poison’s progress, though they can heal damage already inflicted.

Reputation

The party has a reputation score that influences how other characters treat them. Reputation ranges from 1 to 20 and is initially based on the alignment of the lead character. Merchants will sell goods at cheaper prices to parties with higher reputations.

Alignment

Alignment has less effect on gameplay than reputation. A character’s starting alignment determines initial reputation, as displayed in the table below. Alignment is the backbone of who a character is and what they represent. Reputation is the practical application of those beliefs. If your reputation does not match your alignment, your character may suffer consequences.

Players of Paladins and Rangers must watch their reputation carefully. If at any time the party’s reputation falls below 6, Paladins lose their class abilities; if the reputation falls below 4, Rangers lose theirs. In either case, if the reputation of the party falls below the acceptable level, that character becomes “fallen.”

Note: Blackguards, a Paladin class kit, are not subject to this restriction and may have as high or low a reputation as they desire.

Alignment Starting Reputation

Lawful Good 12 Neutral Good 11 Chaotic Good 11 Lawful Neutral 10 Neutral 10 Chaotic Neutral 10 Lawful Evil 9 Neutral Evil 9 Chaotic Evil 8