Adding Immersion
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Write an App and join a DM faction. You get a base and support from the DMs for your plots, and what's more, the DM's don't mind if you're not as active as someone who logs on 24/7 as long as you do do something.
Problem with this is you'll never see the light of day if say you and your faction DM has different playing times and you'll never even see each other or talk to each other outside the forums
There are no faction DMs, so this is entirely wrong.
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I'd like to see players with huge great artifacts of uber power strapped to their backs emoting things relevant to such, for instance, every now and then, I see players emote a huge great-sword is strapped to her back, it gleams in the light, and several notches along the blade from previous battles can be seen but I hardly ever see you feel a strange magical hum about this person, something protrudes from their pack, and a faint magical green glow ebbs out, stirring the air about it
That'd be cool.
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More focus on story telling and less about Adventure and Intrigue.
Honestly, those two words are annoying me to no end. Not because of the message from the dms, because it makes sense, and it was long overdue that someone pointed out what they wish to see.
But in my honest thought, it has become way too much "concepts" and less "characters". What made Natasha and Melanie Rift awesome wasnt just that they adventured and did cool intrigue, but that the story behind such actions came to life.
I love stories, and I want to see more storytelling. I want to know WHY Bubba Blackguard is a vicious beast, want to FEEL him, his pain, why he became CoA's next darth Vader. I dont only want to see him killing people in the slums, and reigning supreme.
I want to see more mystery. I LOVE A GOOD MYSTERY! Maybe its because I am danish, and all we danes do is to read swedish crime novels. (Men who hate women anyone?). But I love a good mystery.
And I want these mysteries to be able to be told, as much as possible, without direct dm interaction. NOT BECAUSE I DONT LOVE THE DM TEAM, because they are swell, but because I am one of the week day players. Every weekend, i am either piss poor drunk, or hungover to a point where I couldnt log in anyhow. Because of it, in the last year I have missed at least 80% of the dm quests I wanted to go on, and could IC go on, all because I couldnt play either very late at night, Euro times, or because it was conducted on weekends.An easy example would be to place the next piece of the puzzle to the lore in the vast swamp somewhere, so I could discover these things without needing a dm. Maybe they are already there, but if they are I havent seen them in 7 years of playing here.
So in short, more story telling, more mystery.
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@O'louth:
So in short, more story telling, more mystery.
Someone's gotta say it, sounds a bit like like more adventure and more intrigue.
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I think allowing cyb0rz would increase the immersion for everybody. Nothing like opening a door in the Traveler and seeing a half-orc and a gnome going at it to bring a smile to your face.
Oh, and more dangerous spawns to appear more frequently in the wilds. Treks outside the city walls are too darn safe! Ambush type scenarios would be interesting as well, like: A group of gnolls leap from the treeline, rushing towards the group. or Several armed sahuagin leap from within the river bank.
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@O'louth:
More focus on story telling and less about Adventure and Intrigue.
Honestly, those two words are annoying me to no end.
I agree, they are two words that get on my tits.
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On player factions
I think player factions are great and they usually bust out with a lot more energy and visible purpose (or they're just around to get a group of people levels and loot fast) out of the gates than DM factions do. The issue does arise that the player factions often lose steam once one or two key players drop out or move on. I'm sure the DMs don't want to build something just to have the faction disappear a week later. Even if the player faction has a good group of PCs that have joined on, after the initial leader (and in some cases the next in line as well) disappears, the player factions often become pale shadows of the original faction.DM factions have the support, history and purpose outside one or two key players. They have NPCs to guide when no player in the faction is online and a presence felt when no one is around. I think the two work fine together as is. Player factions need to focus on what they're doing for the player base and they'll probably go further than those looking for a base of operations.
A base of operations isn't all that useful outside of persistent storage- if you're actually out doing things and plotting, I'd rather people had to find somewhere to meet, rather than behind un-pickable doors in their private clubhouses.
That being said; I have a real hard time finding player faction members when I need them.
Adventure & intrigue vs. stories & immersion
Maybe my expectations are a little low because I'm not very good at the RP stuff, but I see a lot of characters around that I've got glimpses of their personal complexity as well as the very interesting intrigue going on around them. People complain about 2d characters and lack of entry to plot hooks; but there still seems to be a lot of good deep stuff going on. I think we have fewer characters who lay about moaning about their horrible upbringings to any poor half-orc mercenary that happens to walk by, but if you ask the right questions, you often get a lot of cool insight.I will say I have a threshold for how much I'll listen to in one sitting and usually request people 'walk and talk' on the way to some sort of adventure so I can get some XP while psychoanalyzing them. I really don't ask every person I hang out with at the bar personal details about their childhoods the first 4 or 5 times we talk, so I'm happy to draw this stuff out slowly in game as well.
I think people sometimes confuse, "I wish characters were more complex" with ,"I wish more people would listen to my extremely complex and well thought out back-story." If you ask questions, you might find that not everyone is as shallow as you might think.
That being said: Although I quit playing once because of this sh*t; I sort of wish everyone got together at a big masquerade ball, or party or something on occasion. We've lost -some- of the benefits of having some normalcy to our characters' lives that doesn't include beheading other species.
On stuff I'd like to see changed
I'm fine with the CoG and people crashing airships, but if I hear SPELLJAMMING come up I'm out of here. -
On player factions
I'd rather people had to find somewhere to meet, rather than behind un-pickable doors in their private clubhouses.This. Definitely this. I mean, I don't think it would add to immersion, but I think it would be more fun.
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@O'louth:
More focus on story telling and less about Adventure and Intrigue.
Tell me a story while we're adventuring to find stuff to make intrigue. Don't send for me to sit for an hour in the Guildhall to tell me your life story. 8)
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@O'louth:
An easy example would be to place the next piece of the puzzle to the lore in the vast swamp somewhere, so I could discover these things without needing a dm. Maybe they are already there, but if they are I havent seen them in 7 years of playing here.
So in short, more story telling, more mystery.
This makes me laugh so hard.
You can figure out what happened in the Vast Swamp without a DM. Its a plot I introduced almost two years ago, no one has solved it. Someone came pretty close recently, then got ganked.
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You can figure out what happened in the Vast Swamp without a DM. Its a plot I introduced almost two years ago, no one has solved it. Someone came pretty close recently, then got ganked.
Wow. I know what this is. And I think I understand now why undead wouldn't work in the Vast Swamps. One of my former characters began touching on this plot and only now does it kinda make sense. 8)
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@O'louth:
An easy example would be to place the next piece of the puzzle to the lore in the vast swamp somewhere, so I could discover these things without needing a dm. Maybe they are already there, but if they are I havent seen them in 7 years of playing here.
So in short, more story telling, more mystery.
This makes me laugh so hard.
You can figure out what happened in the Vast Swamp without a DM. Its a plot I introduced almost two years ago, no one has solved it. Someone came pretty close recently, then got ganked.
I knew it! Honestly, I have never had the time to fully indulge in it. But as i have known you for several years Moloch, I could easily tell myself you had placed all sort of mysteries around.
Perhaps I should correct myself, and say "a bit easier mysteries for daft individuals like Olouth" hehe.
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I wish there were more areas like the Vasp Swamp in the module, where you turn up and go ''Cool, this area has some history / mystery'' It's not hard to see the Vasp Swamp has had a lot more time and thought invested in it that many many other areas of the module
I think Bhersken Point could do with more ''stuff'' - an area of cool potential and no real substance to it from what I've seen.
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@21:
I wish there were more areas like the Vasp Swamp in the module, where you turn up and go ''Cool, this area has some history / mystery'' It's not hard to see the Vasp Swamp has had a lot more time and thought invested in it that many many other areas of the module
I think Bhersken Point could do with more ''stuff'' - an area of cool potential and no real substance to it from what I've seen.
I could also see it as people go out and actually try to find out as much of the history as they can about places. I know we have had some Oghmites, why don't I have my books on Bhersken? I am pretty sure the DM's would oblige having some information gathering if it is still A&I.
I would really like to see, for instance in the future, mister Muscles who has been around a while, taking Mister Tiny, Alex McJoJo, and Slappy the clown out on an expedition and explaining the histories of places as they explore. It gets awkward for me when we go to bhersken and only say 'Oh enemies ahead' 'Be careful don't split up' and junk like that. I love filling the Silence of Adventure with as much RP as I can.
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@21:
I wish there were more areas like the Vasp Swamp in the module, where you turn up and go ''Cool, this area has some history / mystery'' It's not hard to see the Vasp Swamp has had a lot more time and thought invested in it that many many other areas of the module
I think Bhersken Point could do with more ''stuff'' - an area of cool potential and no real substance to it from what I've seen.
I could also see it as people go out and actually try to find out as much of the history as they can about places. I know we have had some Oghmites, why don't I have my books on Bhersken? I am pretty sure the DM's would oblige having some information gathering if it is still A&I.
If there actually is stuff to find out IG, and without a DM too (I only really see Cama and ULK online as DMs - and Cama has gone and gotten himself a woman which is going to dent his play times!)
At the moment the area looks to me to be just a lot of people standing very still. I may be wrong, but I don't think I am.
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For adding immersion I like small details that just ring out with the hum of everyday life. I played a module where pretty much every NPC had a day to day life that he lived. IE an NPC merchant would shut his shop at 7 PM in the evening, his bodyguards would then walk him home with the days takings, he may even walk to the bank the next morning depending on his previous days takings, that kind of thing really appeals to me, attention to detail (which CoA does not lack btw) really floats my boat. Other NPCs might be religious and make their way to a temple on a given day. You may get 2 NPCs in a market selling stuff and there's a percentage chance for different banter so it's not the same old same old, they may even rile each other up and have a punch up in the street. Little things like that I really like but I can completely understand how time consuming it is for CoA's builders to do stuff like this when more exciting stuff can be done for the wider community, and rightly so.
I do have time on my hands, my grammar is very good and I have a small knowledge of the toolset. If you CoA admin want some dialogue and waypoints etc set for some NPCs and you're happy to give some guidance then I'd be happy to spend a couple of hours each day doing this for you, any minor thing like this infact that you feel would build in player immersion I can give time to.
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@21:
@21:
I wish there were more areas like the Vasp Swamp in the module, where you turn up and go ''Cool, this area has some history / mystery'' It's not hard to see the Vasp Swamp has had a lot more time and thought invested in it that many many other areas of the module
I think Bhersken Point could do with more ''stuff'' - an area of cool potential and no real substance to it from what I've seen.
I could also see it as people go out and actually try to find out as much of the history as they can about places. I know we have had some Oghmites, why don't I have my books on Bhersken? I am pretty sure the DM's would oblige having some information gathering if it is still A&I.
If there actually is stuff to find out IG, and without a DM too (I only really see Cama and ULK online as DMs - and Cama has gone and gotten himself a woman which is going to dent his play times!)
At the moment the area looks to me to be just a lot of people standing very still. I may be wrong, but I don't think I am.
You're wrong, as usual. There are no fewer than four major plot hooks there that I put in too.
I don't add areas to the module unless there a few mysteries in it to resolve for people who notice details.
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For adding immersion I like small details that just ring out with the hum of everyday life. I played a module where pretty much every NPC had a day to day life that he lived. IE an NPC merchant would shut his shop at 7 PM in the evening, his bodyguards would then walk him home with the days takings, he may even walk to the bank the next morning depending on his previous days takings, that kind of thing really appeals to me, attention to detail (which CoA does not lack btw) really floats my boat. Other NPCs might be religious and make their way to a temple on a given day. You may get 2 NPCs in a market selling stuff and there's a percentage chance for different banter so it's not the same old same old, they may even rile each other up and have a punch up in the street. Little things like that I really like but I can completely understand how time consuming it is for CoA's builders to do stuff like this when more exciting stuff can be done for the wider community, and rightly so.
I do have time on my hands, my grammar is very good and I have a small knowledge of the toolset. If you CoA admin want some dialogue and waypoints etc set for some NPCs and you're happy to give some guidance then I'd be happy to spend a couple of hours each day doing this for you, any minor thing like this infact that you feel would build in player immersion I can give time to.
Two problems with this:
1). What you suggest would be very laggy on our module.
2). We don't let anyone have access to the module who isn't a DM.
Though we'll keep the offer to do minor things in mind for stuff that would not require module access.
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@21:
@O'louth:
More focus on story telling and less about Adventure and Intrigue.
Honestly, those two words are annoying me to no end.
I agree, they are two words that get on my tits.
Quite. It's beginning to become as meaninglessly soundbit-esque as Cameron's Big Society.
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I'm wrong as usual!
Time to climb back into my box and spend some time in Bhersken Point creating some A & I.