Your Dream CoA
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I would choose a different name than Sanctuary, since it is used on EFU? But I like the idea.
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Basically hub/spoke system, but yes.
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Love this idea.
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I don't know what my Dream CoA looks like, but I've been thinking about what I like in a server. If I'm going to take it seriously, it has to feel... Grounded. Weird planar shenanigans can certainly feel that way, but in my experience that's the exception rather than the rule. I like my settings to feel like places, rather than plates on which plot is served. (This is the same reason I'd rather Morrowind to Skyrim - one is a world, the other is a themepark. Themeparks get dull.)
So, I'd probably shunt CoA forward, maybe a few hundred years for a truly fresh slate. Things have calmed the hell down, there's relative peace, etc. Technology and education have spread somewhat, becoming more than just the playthings of the idle rich or the insane. Basically, less Medieval Fantasy, more... Early Industrial Revolution? But magic and shit. Maybe even some democracy, if you're feeling risque. Have some nice potential interplay between Magic and science, druids and progress, nobility vs the nouveau riche, and how adventurers fit into it all. Maybe a bit tricky to pull off in NWN. Though there's always the possibility of pulling from the D20 Modern haks...
Other than that I don't have much concrete. I do, however, want to add the following potential Setting Modifier (TM) to the mix.
It seems to me like the DMs (and the playerbase, presumably?) want a setting that has a rather... Shades-of-Grey morality. While I don't personally care for that - it makes me paranoid, which burns me out - I especially don't think FR is suitable. So, if Shades of Grey is where we want things, I think we need to do away with Literal Actual Good and Literal Actual Evil. Toss out the Alignment Axes crap entirely. Hell, you can literally throw the city out into a Morality Free Zone if you want, and have Paladins unable to lean on the absolutes anymore (a traditional paladin in a setting without absolute Good is a goddamned monster).
Now, why would I suggest that at all if I don't like it? Simple! That's because I think it's all or nothing with this sort of thing. Half-assing makes the whole thing feel.. Hollow.
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I mean, colonizing a new world could be quite cool too. Get @TheTwistingWind in here to talk about her ideas for it, we were hitting that ball back and forth not long ago.
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Civil War style conflict between different noble houses and factions is awesome. I used to love the feeling in v3 of walking into a different part of the city that was controlled by a different faction at war with the others; with the guards being paranoid and wondering if I was dealing under the table with one of the others. If you're walking too close to the edge of the district, you might get caught up in a skirmish; and each faction has it's own unique flavor.
Dream CoA then would be like what others have said- GoT style breakdown where Noble Houses are at open conflict with each other. Maybe make Eveningstar and Eastway a little bigger and more interesting, and turn them into headquarters for two noble houses, and have Arabel in the hands of another, all evenly matched and vying for control of the North- maybe all of Cormyr. At the same time, make lesser Nobility easier to app for, and suddenly even PCs and player factions are in the fray, trying to build up a house that can challenge the larger ones for the same prize.
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@blankstare I love all of that.!
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@blankstare said in Your Dream CoA:
Civil War style conflict between different noble houses and factions is awesome. I used to love the feeling in v3 of walking into a different part of the city that was controlled by a different faction at war with the others; with the guards being paranoid and wondering if I was dealing under the table with one of the others. If you're walking too close to the edge of the district, you might get caught up in a skirmish; and each faction has it's own unique flavor.
Dream CoA then would be like what others have said- GoT style breakdown where Noble Houses are at open conflict with each other. Maybe make Eveningstar and Eastway a little bigger and more interesting, and turn them into headquarters for two noble houses, and have Arabel in the hands of another, all evenly matched and vying for control of the North- maybe all of Cormyr. At the same time, make lesser Nobility easier to app for, and suddenly even PCs and player factions are in the fray, trying to build up a house that can challenge the larger ones for the same prize.
Nice, I think that keeps close to the what CoA is about. A caravan city that is the focal point in the area and everything else branches out from there. Moving to the next step after both villages you speak of have been raised from the ashes. Maybe other larger Keeps could be built to house these Noble Houses.
Maybe returning the city to a one map area would help this, where the PD's are worried about city defenses then someone that carries a bloodstone or an odd item, so the city is known for its defenses and not its law keeping. Just a thought.
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Combine it with a Court Faction with representatives of all nobles, where those who revel in intrigue can get their intrigue on, and you have a sandbox for the next ten years of storytelling.
If I was dm in such a setting, I would give nobles keeps outside the city, and a single room for sleeping / meetings in the Arabel Palace, and you have a very solid foundation IMO.
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Corpses. Corpses as far as the eye can see.
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@gurb GURB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Oh crumbs.
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Returning player, so take this with a grain of salt as I have not played in some time.
Dream Server Concept:
An overarching plot that is designed to be modular but also guide the development of the server. Ideally this would be something grounded in an area of the FR. As mentioned above, planar explorations and the like would ideally occur but be special occasions.Dream Server Mechanics:
Character range of 1 - 11*. No hard caps but you are unlikely to get past 13 no matter what you do.My only two main requests are in the magic level department. First, +1 default weapons are pretty much non-existent for both players and NPCs. Instead you have items with bonuses to specific things and a rare +1 MW 1/Day. Reason for this is at the 1 - 11* character range it makes spells like Blur much more useful if everyone and their brother doesnt have a +1 weapon. This needs to hold for NPCs as well.
I remember one event I went on, we the players spent a lot of time coming up with a way to raid another factions base. Everything was carried out IC, we distracted the other faction's players; all good. However when we got into the base we were met with NPCs wielding holy avenger swords. That is great lore wise, but it sucks from a mechanics perspective because every time they hit you your character is hit with dispel. This pretty much screws over any chance you have of surviving as you can not buff yourself. Stuff like this is why I am such a fan of restricting the magic level for BOTH players and NPCs.
Second, request that spell resistance effect dispel magic. To add to this throw in an occasional 11 spell resistance item for high level equipment. This means you are not stripped of all your buffs by anyone with a dispel wand.
Dream Server Setting:
Somewhere in the FR, I feel like most players know the FR lore the best. Ideally somewhere near a major power center but not directly in it. This is to allow powerful NPCs to provide context to the server, but not rule over it. Example would be an outlying settlement on the edges of Arabel in the 1371 range. Arabel then becomes a place to visit, influence the community but you do not have the PD and WW ruling with a lovingly iron fist. -
Dream Server Concept (Expanded):
The more I thought about this the more I realized I did a poor job of fully outlining the idea presented in my post above. As stated above, a modular overarching plot that drives the server for years. Ideally one open ended enough that it could be supported forever (who thought we would still be playing on this server 10+ years ago ....). Some ideas to accomplish this, in my mind, are listed below.(1) Theme. Come up with an over-arching theme / story. The coming a majorearth shattering event, rise of an empire, etc. Determine multiple major factions that would be working for and against this event. Ideally these factions would be struggling with each other as much as they would against their opposing "side".
Basic example, a volcano is about to erupt and the local druids solution is to conduct a ritual using a willing human sacrifice to stop the event, local mages want to build a magical shield to funnel the explosion into the sea, and the lazy mayor of the local town wants to keep it all quiet because he thinks the signs are fake and people are panicking. Ideally the steps needed for each faction to "win" cause each faction to work against each other even though they are all on side "survive the volcano".
The key here is that these major power conflicts happen OFF SCREEN. In our basic example the players would be some small hamlet located near the local town but not part of it. The players would be recruited to support our three NPC factions to help that NPC faction's cause. The idea is that the main NPC factions are evenly matched and so they need the players help (much much weaker) to try and tip the scales. Since most of the conflict between the factions happens OFF SCREEN, players deaths / players leaving / etc doesnt kill the major over-all plot arc.
Last part on this, ideally some of the major factions that are working against the volcano (in this example) would NOT like the player's hamlet. It gives the DMs multiple "big bads" to force players to work with / work against while at the same time still having to deal with the main over-arching issue.
(2) Modular Chapters. Each chapter has a certain point and last a good long time (years+). In our basic example the point of the first chapter might be to solve the mystery of if the volcano is actually going to explode at some point. Ideally breadcrumbs that there may be an issue would be placed easily accessible to players on log in, but finding out more would require significant effort. This effort would likely entail exploration and IG mechanics (lore checks, questing, exploring, talking to faction PCs, etc). The idea is to give all PCs some basic thing that PC can always be working towards during that chapter. Something that all PCs would likely want, is very very hard to obtain, and can be approached from a lot of different angles. Good idea is to have the final couple of keys to finding said event be something DMs must support.
(3) Start Date and Mystery. When you come up with the plot arc start the server in the middle of the plot arc. A good example of this is Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Doing this lets you do two major things. First, it provides mystery as you aim NOT to tell players all the details of what has been going and what the main issue is. Give them just enough to details to have a rough idea and leave as much of it as possible to FOIG mystery. In my opinion its story that truly drives servers like CoA, give them a story to unravel and a mystery to solve. This also lets you tie in relics / powerful artifacts / powerful abilities that were crafted by the main NPC factions in times past and now can potentially make their ways into player hands. With our example above, you start out as a new arrival in the hamlet and hear some wild rumors about the mountain.
(4) Player Factions. The player factions would ideally be smaller factions that serve a purpose in the player settlement(s) and can potentially support or work against the moving / shaking NPC factions driving the story arc. With our example; hamlet town guards / local ranger wildlife group / merchants bringing in goods from the outside world / etc. Idea is that these factions can be kept unimportant enough to rise and fall without causing major disruption to the over-all arc of the sever.
(5) "Little" NPCs & Consequences. The goal with all of this is to continually provide smaller NPCs players can work against / for that is advancing the over-all plot of the server that is every so slowly being revealed. Ideally the actions for / against these NPCs would have consequences that fundamentally change the server. This lets you keep the server fresh (new player factions, settings, etc) while keeping the same overall plot arc. Key part of this is actions and consequences, the LG solution to everything should not be the "right" way all the time. In our example, oh you killed the horrible necromancer with a crypt deep in the volcano ... great he isn't raiding the hamlet to gain victims for his vile rituals ..... he also isn't keeping up his ward he was powering to try and keep the volcano quiet .... err doom is now more likely.
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I've always liked the idea of a northern confederation. Lords with small private armies being policed by an overstretched Purple Dragon garrison. The threat of open revolt a very real threat as alliances are made and deals brokered. A Township not just a simple village, but a potential Capitol for a minor kingdom if the right moves are made. Something which would really encapsulate the nature of the freedom loving north.
Why is there so much law and order in the rowdy north?!
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@people said in Your Dream CoA:
I've always liked the idea of a northern confederation. Lords with small private armies being policed by an overstretched Purple Dragon garrison.
We did have a plan to join a merge the Militia with the PDs in V6, it was going to be call the Northern Watch ( we had more details ). This would remove the two law factions into one and would fit into the second part of the of your post I guess.
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To me, a dream server has nothing to do with setting or story line, Those things are important, but really any idea could work or fail based on its implementation. My dream however goes toward server philosophy, and revolves around a few core points:
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Player agency. I think everyone has a slightly different definition of what this means, but at the core most see it for what it is. To me it means moving away from a NPC centered server toward a player centered server. A place where a thing like a DM plot may happen, but really is just part of the picture and the things that players are talking about most is what such and such player did to such and such player 2, and how player 2 reacted. This means players in positions of serious power, and DM's taking a back seat to what they do.
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A server that rewards solid roleplay but does not condemn players who want to just log in and smash shit. I don't know the exact ratio here, but while there were certainly players who started nwn with the mindset of roleplay more then 50% of us (at least!) logged in to bash shit and became good at the RP aspect over time. Chasing those players away by looking down on them before they grew into the server is essentially shooting the server in the foot in the long run.
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level ranges in the mid teens. We waste so many cool parts of the game by stopping around 10-12, such as viable multiclasses and cool (even if they might need to be tweaked for balance) spells.
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Hear me Out.
A mass Slave Rebellion breaks in Thultanthar as the City of Shade enters into Cormyr. Massive armies duke it out on the East Way, as the Shadovar Army pours in from Tilverton.
Attacked from within, the Shadovar are unable to fend off a massive near-suicidal attack by the massed War Wizards of Cormyr along with several Chosen of Mystra.
The Mythal of Thultanthar shatters under the combined might of the Order of Aster (Lathander), the Swords of the Lady (Selune), and the dubious aid of the Black Hand (Bane), and Thultanthor smahes over Arabel, crushing the ruins and flattening the sewers down upon it.
Of the city itself, parts of it survives, protected by the powerful wards laid upon it by Aldek and Maleen and many other previous mages, but it becomes part of the new ruins, the Ruins of Arabel, and the Spire of Maleen collapses from the raw energy used to deflect the force of the falling city.
Thualtanthar itself suffers irreparable damage, and without the Shadow Mythal to protect it, most of it is destroyed. Yet vast structures remain, and from within burst some 5'000 Shadovar survivors and over 500'000 freed slaves.
The Cormyrian Allied Armies and the Shadovar mash each other to a pulp in the East Way, and create a land salted by the blood of the dead. Nothing will grow in that unholy wasteland of forgotten valor. It is impossible to walk through it without stepping upon thousands of bones.
The sheer scale of death and the inability of anyone to cope has disastrous consequences. The Shadow Plague, bourne by the few survivors of the Dark War, spreads throughout the Daleslands, Sembia, the Moonsea Ride, Cormyr, and reaches even to the Sword Coast and the Far North. Entire villages are wiped off the map, and most cities are devastated by ruinous plague.
The War Wizards are reduced to a handful of protectors, guarding the Royal Court.
The Purple Dragons are extinguished, a mere thousand in Suzail, and a thousand more scattered throughout Cormyr.
Isolated villages survives, as do quick thinking towns, but most cities are devastated by the plague.
For Ten Years, the horror of the Shadow Plague feasts across the face of Toril, and both Shar and Talona grow fat on the dying. Yet in their greed for more suffering, more plague, and more loss, they soon discovered that they lacked people to actually worship them, and worse, by being unremitting in the plague, people stopped praying to the uncaring gods.
And so, like wolves who overhunt the local fauna, they begin to starve, and as they starve, they fall as Greater Powers, allowing the other gods to step in and finally stop the plague.
Cormyr is reduced from a grand kingdom to scattered city-states, each held by a baron, who owes only passing loyalty to the once powerful Crown of Cormyr.
Arabel itself is populated now by Cormyrians, Freed Slaves of every single race and religion, including Dalesmen, Zhentarim, Silver Marchemen, Orcs, Goblins, Bugbears, tieflings, Lizardmen, Drow, and many many more.
The Lordship of Arabel becomes a thankless, punishing job, more akin to a jailer than a ruler, as the current Lord attempts to keep some sort of peace on the relatively lawless streets.
Outside of the Lord's Palace of Justice, each section of the city, and each of the surrounding territories, are held by seperate factions, in competition with each other for resources, and barely maintained peace.
Northgate is held by a Half Orc Battalion of Free Zhentarim, along with a polyglot of other monster races. The Zhents prevent things from getting out of hand, but if the other races ever got together, not even the Zhents can put a stop to them.
Eastgate is held by a mix of Dalesmen, Sembians and Ridesmen, united (barely) by the fact that they are at least all human. Rival trade and mercantile interests dominate, as well as a several armed groups, barely above the level of gangs.
Southgate is held by the loyalists, the Cormyrite Braves who refuse to let things die. A single detachment of 50 Purple Dragons serve as the bodyguard for the Lord of Arabel, who maintains his own Household Guard as the City Militia. As the Lord of Arabel changes, so too does the City Militia change.
Westgate is held by no one. Lawless and uncivilised. Debased and horrid. It is not so strange to see a necromancer having tea with a demonologist while a drow trades slaves with a Thayan nearby. Everybody hates everyone else, and only one thing can rouse them to cooperation: the threat of attack from the tyrannical Northgate, or the Puritanical Southgate, or the foolish adventurisms of Eastgate.
In the middle of it all is Thulsgate. The entrance into the ruins of Thultantor. Haunted, decaying, and filled with malevolence, Thultantor is the gateway to all things delightful and deadly. A labyrinth of wonders and riches, of poisons and as-yet-unleashed horrors.
The Elves and Fae rule the Hullack, while Clar Banda and Shar vie for control of Eastway. Thunderholme has closed its doors and forbidden all to pass, seeking to escape the madness of the surface world.
The Werewolves, finally driven from the Hullack by the masses of Freed Elven slaves coming from Thultantor, regroup in the Redwoods, becoming even more feral, more deadly.
Dwarven Exiles reopen the Eveningstar Mines, building a new kingdom at the very borders of Eveningstar that stretches deep into the Storm Horns. Eveningstar itself is settled by colonists from Eltugaard and the few remaining members of the Order of Aster and the Swords of the Lady.
Punctured by falling Thulthantar, vast sections of the Underdark are flooded by the King's Swamp gradually over the next decade, finally draining the forest. Yet it is a poisonous mire, where the last vestiges of Loviatar's once fearful might still remains.
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I have a dream for the server, and it's harder to achieve than you might think. I want to see a server where people can make a sending and people actually come, or better yet, people aren't stuck standing around waiting for something to happen that never comes.