So... I'll start off on knowing that this day has been coming, for a long time.
I'm one of the first people I know who broke the code on using colored text (before pin to text was a thing) and it was a tedious, cumbersome but ultimately awesome thing that added a lot of flair, and beauty into created items when used properly and responsibly. With the introduction of pin to text, it made this insanely easy and I have known eventually this would be leaked.
I am a crafter and passionate creator at heart. I love the persistence and on many, MANY threads, I'm sure if you've read my opinions and my views on things, I'm very into the nature and flair of Arelith's and the proliferation of persistent items that you can leave personal touches on. It is something that is fairly unique to Arelith and to NWN, but Arelith in particular.
With that said... as
This thread puts knowledge out there and that never goes back into the bag,
Unfortunately, that bag is opened now. I did not make this information public, because I did not want threats like these made:
I'll be keen to just remove the ability to do so, in all honesty
Don't make us have to enforce or mechanise anything. Thanks.
But... now that the secret is out there, Let me share what I know and what I've come up with so far, and how to refine the use of these codes to something tasteful, because there is ALOT that Arelith just can't handle, and some of it looks god awful. I would like to keep this feature, intact, as it is. But it takes those of you who know of it, who use it, to respect this tool. And I'll be the first one to say from the players who have used this up until now, please don't ruin this for the rest of us who have been using this and have kept the secrets until this thread was made public. There was a reason it was kept secret, don't prove us right, please.
Coding
The code is simple. It is a <c000> code, where the three 000s are RGB hex codes. These can easily be found on any RGB color picker and they are represented by the numbers 0 to 255. Arelith represents these as Unicode symbols. Anyone who has done basic art studies and digital art will know, this scale is a sliding scale of dark -> Bright, with 0 being the darkest possible color, and 255 being the brightest.
The NWN engine does not recognize all symbols as typed, and there ARE tools out there that can assist with creating color tags but they need to be used with care. some of them are a bit clunky, others are just broken or outdated.
Personally, as a tool to help with the coding of the cells, I have created an Excel spreadsheet that can produce a code that I use for my own uses. I'll make that available here on the website if it would help or can give an easy to use template that can streamline the process. In fact, I'm more than happy to do it, just to make it so everyone who want to do it can do so without a major headache and we can avoid Developer intervention with turning off parts of the code to disable it.
I have it customized with preconfigured colors (about 30) that look good, and give a good spectrum of colors to choose from that are legible. I also have it built so you can write your text in excel, and have a literal copy+paste solution to paste directly into the pins, to cut down on the amount of back and forth "what symbol was going where-ing".
The End Code, is a standard coding </c>, which ends parsing of a code. This MUST be at the end if you do not want your entire message being that color. In the past, people have seen that tag as the way to do it, when in reality, all text is already colored. That end code was just ending the system text color, and reverting to the text default of NWN which is that blue color you will see.
Etiquette of Use
Personally, I have several rules on what colors I use, and how.
1) Situational themes. When I'm trying to keep with a theme, or say, write a note in another language (If anyone saw Dregan's Riddle Board, this is how I made the languages appear in their correct color as if spoken).
2) Less is more. Trying to read through someone's bio and it's got 7 different colors, it's really difficult when entire paragraphs flip back and forth. You have to understand, NWN parses color based on the tag that is shown, if you scroll up or down, the color tag will turn off. So I prefer to only do small sections of a bio or page, or Headers when separating out sections, titles of documents, or stamps. So as you scroll through a bio or read a page, that color is going to be flipping all over the place. Try not to write with too large a paragraph either, or the following happens.
3) Avoid individual words. As much has already been said, and I can say that in my early days learning how to put in the code before pin to text was made available, I was guilty of doing this myself. However, now that it is simpler, it is no excuse to just highlight a singular word. It looks tacky, and while there may be situational reasons why something may be of some use of it, in most cases, it's just annoying.
4) Avoid just using it just because. Give it a purpose. Don't just flagrantly use a color token because you can. It takes a lot of the special meaning behind it away. Use it for a special mark, Use it for a book heading on a custom book you wrote in game. Use it on a custom item or fixture to highlight something. Use it sparingly, so it adds to your magic, not taking away from it. Does your character have a house seal? a Coat of arms? House Colors?
Solutions for Abuse
I wholeheartedly, and sadly admit that I know this, like many things is going to be abused. It hurts to think that, and I believe that losing this on the bad actions of a few would just stifle creativity of the many just to punish the few. I would always advise against a wholly mechanical system to reject the use of color tags or see it pigeonholed to a few base colors.
The system already does not allow for text to be spoken in color, so it will never be an issue there as far as abusing it while speaking. It only works when the words are written either into a description, onto an object, or onto a paper.
However, considering that may eventually be the case, I would propose 1 of 2 solutions. First it being a DM-authorized action if abuse and misuse became too rampant. For those crafters that do use color tags tastefully, allow them to apply for some form of token authorizing them as such, and agreeing to essentially a code of conduct by applying for and accepting the token. If found abusing it, it can be handled on a case by case basis, but ultimately losing whatever privilege is entailed.
Second, and the harsher of the two, would be to mechanically restrict it. This would be hard to do, because each color would essentially have to be hard programmed in, and it would ultimately probably not work as intended... or at all. Also, trying to strip out the color token may have unintended consequences on the overall chat structure as well.
