What would modivate me!
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//I know this could go into the suggestion,,but I want to see responses and other ideas on this so please leave here.//
After reading and commenting on the poll for DM factions it got me to think of something. What would motivate me the most to make the best character I can make.
Remember that hafeling that founded the adventurer's guild and latter became an NPC? That is what I want to strive for.
When we players or factions basically do such great things. I would love to retire them to a life of NPC in the server.
Like example the three or four player factions that rebuilt East Way into Easthaven. Let us have the option then to retire the characters that made this possible to be the town. Like my gnome was an alchemist let her sell potions there as an NPC. the Dwarven trader faction, let some of them be a blacksmith there. Let our characters live on till a player destroys them.
Like now with Tafari, best Alchemist, if he chooses let him retire to be an NPC that has a shop selling items. If another player comes a long and outdoes him, replace him.
If just a faction let them remain as NPC's that can give a quest to new characters. An evil player cult that leaves their mark. Let monster spawn random some of the cultists that flocked to them then.Like with the old mage guild. The best player can retire as the Archmage.
Those that dies have a hall of heros and a hall of villians. Where the greatest characters played as and died can have a memorial of them and what they did.
Like with my character now Sara Farthy. After seeing the old archdruid. I want to strive to become the next archdruid when he dies. So latter down the line I can see her come to aid or kill my character I will be playing then.
What do you all think on this?
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During V5 development something…. sort of like this was actually discussed in depth, it never made it into the current version (mostly as the way it worked makes no sense in the current setting) but the basic idea of it could be re-worked.
The thing is, you can already do this anyway though. It's happened in the past, like with that halfling you mentioned, and has happened since. (Kresswell, anyone?) and it will happen again.
I think what you are essentially asking for, is for it to be vastly more frequent. Which has pros and cons. The pros are, lots of PCs get to feel all fluffy and warm when they have an NPC in the module.
The con is, no one really ends up feeling that fluffy, because everyone has one.... plus, a tonne of work for the DMs.
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I have seen it happen a few times in the past, three things usually have to happen based on my observations,
1 the said player becomes a DM.(this is clarified in a later post by Moloch, DMs characters are not suppose to become NPC's and it is corrected if someone is not aware of the error)
2 the said player does something remarkable and lives to tell the tale.
3 the said player is very close friends with a person who became a DM and they have had and have tons of fun together no matter which side the alignment fence they happened to be sitting on(opposite sides).
bottom line…it will involve a lot of work for the player
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I'm of the strong opinion that the bar for leaving a physical mark on the server should be much, MUCH lower.
If it's a small plaque in the Spire, a shield or weapon getting hung in the Hardcastle Estate, or something else small like that. That kind of stuff should be MUCH easier to accomplish. Not so anyone can do it, but how many characters in V5 have even left a physical reminder of their characters and deeds? (Its none)
That seems really silly to me. Ezekiel, Three Quarters, Cole, Pale Sands, these characters did so much to bring fun to the server, and they're not even remotely recognized for it ingame. The bar should be lowered for small recognition. Not saying everyone who comes through the city should get a statue, but something small would be just fine.
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I'm of the strong opinion that the bar for leaving a physical mark on the server should be much, MUCH lower.
If it's a small plaque in the Spire, a shield or weapon getting hung in the Hardcastle Estate, or something else small like that. That kind of stuff should be MUCH easier to accomplish. Not so anyone can do it, but how many characters in V5 have even left a physical reminder of their characters and deeds? (Its none)
That seems really silly to me. Ezekiel, Three Quarters, Cole, Pale Sands, these characters did so much to bring fun to the server, and they're not even remotely recognized for it ingame. The bar should be lowered for small recognition. Not saying everyone who comes through the city should get a statue, but something small would be just fine.
i agree with you, many good points :)
but i do like to think i am doing my part to immortalize a few characters, it is a pity i miss many because of time zones, and i have been as of late only doing drawings based off of in game encounters, while drawing the pictures while my character is in game (mostly afk in the library, as that seems like a good place a character would finish sketches in game)
not everyone can get this recognition, even though i would love to have every character in arabel drawn.
my solution for the ones not in my time zone or who want to be drawn? simple….shoot me a pm on the forum(even for ones in my zone, ones who i have not drawn a picture of their character yet), but the criteria i draw with now, means, even though we have not met in game, i had to have seen you at some point to make the drawing (have a good idea what you want the picture based off of, and send it to me or link it)
i can make allowances as well for anyone who wishes to make donations to the server, if they were to want a drawing, and have recently or are going to make a donation let me know (heck, even let the dms know it is a donation for a drawing thing)
does this mean i will not draw for people not donating? of course not, many are not in a situation where they can (like me) so we have to rely on the kindness of others and try to bring something to the game to make the ones who donates time worth while, of course, anyone who does donate and makes mention of it as a donation for drawing, will jump to the front of the list
the drawings are of course not a DM thing, but they will persist hopefully a long time as long as the server and the forum are still around
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I just realized that I miss the old version of Arabel because of all of the little marks that players left on the server. The clean slate kind of wiped out that feeling of a place that has a real history. I'm probably afflicted with old timers disease, but I liked seeing Miyara Shadowmoon in the Tymoran temple, Novo in the adventurers guild, the pictures in the mages guild, etc. There were a lot of little personal touches that took years to accumulate and they got flushed with the v5 transition. Maybe that kind of stuff will accumulate again… Maybe not.
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I'm personally of the opinion that the most satisfying way you can end a character is for them to be killed by another PC. Retiring as an NPC, as great as it might be to see something you worked hard at stick around, is really rather dull.
I remember a post somewhere about "the transfer of awesome", which I really like. Your PC, Awesome Dude, works hard to tell a story, develop friends and allies and bitter rivalries. Awesome Dude eventually should end up at some sort of climax which for most people would lead to an awesome and satisfying death, hopefully at the hands of some sworn enemy you've clashed with time and time again. And now that hated enemy is carrying on your story. He's "The guy who killed Awesome Dude." And then someone else becomes "The guy who killed the guy who killed Awesome Dude". And so the awesome your character acquired is transferred to someone else. Sometimes the effect of a character is still felt waaaaay after they died, even if it is hard to see how.
That, in my opinion, is WAY cooler and more rewarding than turning into an NPC who has one line of text he can say when someone accidentally clicks on him.
You can be memorable without having your character turned into an NPC. Retiring as an NPC haults the transfer of awesome.
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That said, I think adding in loot inspired by past cool characters is great. If anyone has suggestions please send them to me.
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That said, I think adding in loot inspired by past cool characters is great. If anyone has suggestions please send them to me.
The Armor of Eliphas.
lvl 18 awesomeness guy.
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Getting killed by another PC or executed is the way to go. Then again I usually play bad guys and celebrate when team good MUTILATES YOUR CORPSE. Good times.
Seriously, if you want bragging rights about having a NPC on the server, you must do something extraordinary. Otherwise it is not worth anything. Several of the most awesome characters are in the module though. As opponents in the Lady's Challenge, not just as NPCs. These are guys who provided a lot of entertainment to other players. Just completing DM plots is not doing a lot, it is doing what you are expected to do to get perks. To get immortality in the server, you have to do stuff yourself.
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That said, I think adding in loot inspired by past cool characters is great. If anyone has suggestions please send them to me.
Something like this was never done in the past because everyone will think they have a past cool character deserving of a nod, and those left out would feel a bit embittered. Can't cover everyone.
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There is a whole quest which is full of player characters deeds, and also books! I know I am a bit of a library/book maniac but books shares your characters experience over YEARS of CoA, which can even be found IG and on the forums. Honestly, I think that is something amazing, more characters should write down their experiences into books or pay other characters to do it. It is a nice mark for your PC, but also it inspires and broadens Arabel's lore for everyone else :) Plus you get paid for it IG
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Characters played by other people is what I meant.
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Sadly, that library quest is a little bit of a death-trap the last few times I did it, though it might have been changed, was months ago!
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Not sure why people go into this game thinking they have to change the world.
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What I take from this is that having PCs-turned-NPCs floating around as shopkeepers/questgivers/whatever could be more interesting than talking to bland NPCs that we don't know anything about, have no history, etc. It might bring new vibrancy to Arabel when we get sick of seeing the same old faces around. I think this is also sorta related to the "dm factions should have to work their way up too" debate that was brought up in the poll.
Of course, this comes with the understanding that not everyone can be immortalised…
Also Tafari will not be an alchemist shopkeeper, but the new Sanders.
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Also Tafari will not be an alchemist shopkeeper, but the new Sanders.
LOL do you really want to try and catch the Chickens raised by Tafari? That would be more of a lvl 7-12 guest.
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@Broken:
Not sure why people go into this game thinking they have to change the world.
@Unicron:
I will give you a new body, and new troops to command.
You will find and Win Coa for me. It is the one thing. THE ONLY THING. That can stand in my way.
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One of my characters has changed the world in a tiny way.
Burt contributed to the CoG base in Flynn, so I take a wee bit of credit for those golem parts way up north.
And you know what? Every time I pass that place, it gives me a really, really fuzzy feeling.It's not a huge deal. But it's a placeable I had a hand in.
As for this:
@Broken:Not sure why people go into this game thinking they have to change the world.
It might not be that people go into CoA thinking they have to change it so much as the people who want to play a game where they can change the world, play CoA.
In other words: NWN, and specifically CoA, is one of the few games where a character can significantly impact the world in a way of their choosing. In almost every other game out there, you're either one of the masses or your actions are strictly scripted. So, on one hand, people who are looking for that would gravitate to NWN multiplayer, and on the other, once you're here not taking advantage of the unique possibility is a waste. -
There is a large difference between changing the game world and leaving a mark on it. The former should be extremely difficult, but the latter should be much easier in my eyes.