Overplotting and recruiting people
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I don't see the fun for anyone in that. Except maybe laughing at the insane guy who thinks he's a king when he walks down the street, that is.
I can walk out into the street and pronounce myself king of Ghent. I would not become king of Ghent. I would become an inmate in an insane asylum. Why should we expect a character who pronounces themselves king of RandomCity to receive any other treatment?
He actually worked for it. I'll let one of the players who were involved in that venture explain what it was and why it was fun. We wouldn't have put a town in the Helmlands if there wasn't something to what he was doing. Ask the dozens involved in one way or another if they had fun before you dismiss it.
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Yeah, I'm negative-mined. True.
Relonor, would you mind giving names? I don't know a thing about what happened around here before I came here so I only vaguely know what names I should look out for.
Oh, and… I and my newest character goal (which was practically handed to me by a DM, too) were turned away only as recently as yesterday, so I wouldn't be too sure about it.
The problem I have is not "failed".
It's "failed to begin."
I can deal with being unable to do anything for a week, I speak from experience. I can deal with being disliked. I think four characters on the server like my characters, maybe five, and most of them I hardly ever see, and it's okay. I am perfectly okay with trying something and failing after putting up a fight. Heroes are forged in the fires of adversity and all that.
I don't mind having to turn back halfway down the road, or having to stop beside it for a while. What I mind is not being able to find any road at all. The only option seems to be to tell people you're heading somewhere while you're spending time and effort going in circles and making no progress whatsoever for an indefinite amount of time. Until a bored DM looks your way and has nothing better to do.So, Fireblood, if you want this Blood Ruby of Uberness, expect to go out searching for it high and low on the server. Take people along with you and make it fun for them. Make a sending on the DM channel saying what you're doing and why a few times as you adventure, and leave it to them.
I'd like to hear the IC reasoning behind just "searching high and low" without the least bit of IC information to go on. Because to me, it really sounds like, "For my entire life, I have been searching for this mythical Ruby, and today, my quest continues! I will surely find it… uhh..." spins a bottle "in THAT general direction, for no good reason at all! To battle, my trusty allies!"
Frodo got a map before heading to Mount Doom, he didn't just walk out of his door and move on straight forward until a powerful monster spawned and with its dying breath told him to turn right.
Why should my Frodo, searching for his own Mount Doom, do any less than getting informed before sticking his head into the dragon's (possibly) proverbial maw? -
I'd like to hear the IC reasoning behind just "searching high and low" without the least bit of IC information to go on. Because to me, it really sounds like, "For my entire life, I have been searching for this mythical Ruby, and today, my quest continues! I will surely find it… uhh..." spins a bottle "in THAT general direction, for no good reason at all! To battle, my trusty allies!"
Did you ever send a PM to a DM saying something along the lines of this: "My character has been looking for X and I'm out of ideas. This is what I've done so far . Can you give me some more ideas or some IC leads that I can use as excuses to get other people involved? I'm not asking for a promise of spawning something for me- just for some rumors to follow which I know may be baseless."
Or maybe say on the DM channel "I want to go and do X. I know nothing is there, but is it OK if I say I heard that X was at Y when I overheard a conversation at a caravan stop?" If we're on, 9 times out of 10 we'll say "sure". If we have the clarity at the moment, we'll probably make a post in your PC thread saying what you're doing.
Excuses to adventure are easy to find, and we're more than happy to approve them on the spot.
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Actually, Frodo got a simple instruction to head to The Prancing Pony. The part of the message that said he was to meet Strider never actually reached him. Frodo and his friends made their own plans because it was not safe to stay where they were. They had no real idea of what to do or where to go, except get to Rivendell. That's an easy plot to self generate as there are loads of threats round Arabel.
There is nothing stopping you inventing a map in a journal. Perhaps your Father gave you such a map when on his death bed before he passed away. Perhaps, whilst travelling to Arabel on the Caravan, you stole the map from a Wizard who was bragging about finding the Jewel of Uberness. You don't need a DM to give you the map, just make it up. You could even write up the map IG so you have something to carry around with you to show others and back up your story. Hey, you never know, another person could check out the map for you and then call you a fraud for creating the map yourself, but you create intrigue by doing such.
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Look, the message in this topic is that Frodo was a twat and CoA is basically a server where you make your own fun and story and the DMs are here not to run the show but to enhance it. It's that simple.
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@HarryMcScary:
Or maybe say on the DM channel "I want to go and do X. I know nothing is there, but is it OK if I say I heard that X was at Y when I overheard a conversation at a caravan stop?" If we're on, 9 times out of 10 we'll say "sure". If we have the clarity at the moment, we'll probably make a post in your PC thread saying what you're doing.
I did this yesterday. I got a "no".
Also, sneaky link. Not bad.
There is nothing stopping you inventing a map in a journal. Perhaps your Father gave you such a map when on his death bed before he passed away. Perhaps, whilst travelling to Arabel on the Caravan, you stole the map from a Wizard who was bragging about finding the Jewel of Uberness. You don't need a DM to give you the map, just make it up. You could even write up the map IG so you have something to carry around with you to show others and back up your story. Hey, you never know, another person could check out the map for you and then call you a fraud for creating the map yourself, but you create intrigue by doing such.
Actually, there is. Word of DM.
I asked about this, and was answered I shouldn't because it would lead to confusion because it may seem I was given this thing by a DM-controlled NPC, which did not happen. From what I understood, it shouldn't be more concrete than "I once heard some guy mention there was this shiny stone around here that…" etc. -
I find it difficult to believe that a DM would tell you no to making up a rumor for the express purpose of going on an adventure without expecting anything from him. Unless that rumor involved a major NPC, or a faction, or anything else that made it something other than an excuse to go adventuring.
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@Broken:
Look, the message in this topic is that Frodo was a twat and CoA is basically a server where you make your own fun and story and the DMs are here not to run the show but to enhance it. It's that simple.
Were Frodo and Sam gay, discuss?
More interesting than half the discussion that's gone on given there have been very, very clear posts about how to go about being awesome on CoA.
If in doubt, come speak to me. I'm SUPERB all the time.
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Go and adventure and DMs will pick up on that sort of thing. I personally have little interest in picking up on "My character is looking for a goblet of Lathander in the Swamps."
I am however interested in seeing someone being an awesome worshipper of Lathander, crusading against Undead and the like. That kind of stuff will snowball into glory.
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@21:
If in doubt, come speak to me. I'm awesome all the time.
I can verify this statement with bold certainty. 8)
Too bad you don't play anymore. :wink:
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Yeahchris,
I think you're still missing what the DMs actually say.
We're just making the point that if you want to interact with DMs, it is a two way street. You need to have ideas that we'll enjoy.
Just as you won't want to interact with us if we don't have ideas you'll enjoy.
I don't get the complexity some people see here. If DMs or players aren't having fun, why should one party or the other stay involved? The server is still big enough for everyone to enjoy their own styles of play.
There's no malice in any of that, just simple observation.
DMs will do what we enjoy with the players who enjoy what we enjoy. We tell all manner of stories and will involve ourselves with any player who approaches us with a fun idea. If you want to betray your comrades, just ask us. If we offer you a chance to betray your comrades, just ask us.
There is a very baffling notion that you need to fill out "paper work" to do anything in Arabel. That is not true at all. That–and I'll be blunt--is a easy excuse for people who want to be involved, but for some reason can't get as involved as they want, to justify why they are not involved. "I didn't fill out the TPS reports for the bureaucratic DMs" or "I won't be button holed to a list of goals". The real problem is, they're probably just not talking to the DMs who are almost always happy to let you pursue any kind of story you want.
We, as DMs, just can't sit and watch the forums while people spread misinformation about our policies and what we seek to do.
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Go and adventure and DMs will pick up on that sort of thing. I personally have little interest in picking up on "My character is looking for a goblet of Lathander in the Swamps."
I am however interested in seeing someone being an awesome worshipper of Lathander, crusading against Undead and the like. That kind of stuff will snowball into glory.
Allow me to disagree with you, for the following reasons:
1. "Consider the consequences of your actions so that your least effort may bring the greatest and best reward." - Lathander's dogma.
An 'awesome worshipper of Lathander' would be more devout by finding one Goblet and having it cleanse all undead in one holy sweep than killing 500 out of 10.000 of them while generally aimlessly wandering about.2. How is just camping a bunch of NPCs more adventurous than braving challenges in unknown territory the find a holy relic?
3. My character kills undead for fun. "Killing undead" is not really a quest or a service to any deity for him, it's a hobby. Therefore he shouldn't be getting anything for it.
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Get in line. My token number just came up.
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Can we get back on topic please?
Charlton has some very valid points to discuss.
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Actually, there is. Word of DM.
You're just misunderstanding what I said.
Having taken quite a bit of time to explain it, its understandable you may still be confused.
But honestly, negativity won't help you understand. If you're frustrated or confused, I'll clarify–but I know I never "shut down" your ideas. I've given you quite a few ways to pursue what you want to do. I'm happy to try explaining it again in a different way since you're still lost.
But I think someone else here said it very well: @Broken:
CoA is basically a server where you make your own fun and story and the DMs are here not to run the show but to enhance it. It's that simple.
That is why we make areas to explore, why we hid clues to literally dozens and dozens of plots all over the module, and create all manner of scripted quests. When we log in, its to enhance what we see players already doing because there is no way to run a server the other way around if you want it to last.
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But honestly, negativity won't help you understand. If you're frustrated or confused, I'll clarify–but I know I never "shut down" your ideas. I've given you quite a few ways to pursue what you want to do.
No, you didn't. I didn't mean you.
Not getting the things I talked to you about off the ground was my and some unfortunate circumstances' fault.Anyway the 'turning away' bit happened once and I never meant to focus on it. Sorry about the tangent. Until the topic is back to plotting in general and not my own failures, Carlton out.
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Is this thread even on topic anymore? Feels like a bad Jerry Springer episode.
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Considering not a single reply here has answered any of my questions, but turned into a chainrant, I suppose it warrants a locking before we have to see anymore people berating others and the DMs telling them they're wrong.
In advance, thanks.
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Locked