I've been off-and-on for a while now, more off than on, lately… between RL work and Star Trek Online, not a ton of extra time... but I still have the COA hak downloader on my desktop for that moment when I get an itch to play again. I've been guilty, in the past, of being the guy that stirs the negative anti-DM pot... and have left for an IG experience that caused RW tension. Still, I do always come back because, well... Arabel is the closest we have to what I would build for myself if I had the time and skill to do so.

Having said that, there are a few things I think could be done to retain the players that remain, and to get new blood to fill the server back up. Some have already been mentioned, but are worth repeating...

Advertisement. This is your number one key to success and the ONLY thing that can be GUARANTEED. Everything else is nothing more than suggestions, take it or leave it. But advertising is a MUST. Just as in sales, it's a numbers game. For every 100 eyes that see your add, 10 will log in... for every 100 that log in, 25 will stay logged in after the initial introduction... out of every 10 that stay that first time, maybe 1 or 2 will return.... The more eyes you get in front of your ad, the more people you'll have playing. 1000 pairs of eyes, that's 5 new players.... 5000 pairs: 25 players. I would even go as far as to suggest paying for it... FP "sponsored" posts are only like $5 or something, relatively cheap. You can get your 5000 eyes right there. Do that once a month... who knows.

Consolidate maps. Fewer maps = fewer empty spaces = more crowded places = more player-to-player interaction. With the exception of Arabel itself, I'd say no more than a single 32x32 map per major feature. Inmersea, 1 map. Hullack forest, 1 map. King's swamp, 1 map. But at the same time, don't hide features inside a bigger map. Eveningstar should have it's own map area (albeit smaller than 32x32) and not just 3 or 4 buildings placed inside the High Road map. For the city itself, since it's the main focus of the setting, I'd suggest 3-6 maps, depending on the size of the areas. Most "dungeon" areas should be a single map... two if it's a big area. Expansive places like the Underdark should be maybe 3-5 areas... You can use creative placement of doors, area transitions, and multiple elevations to make each map seem bigger than it is... but the actual map areas themselves need to be limited.

More to do inside the city. It's the primary focus of the server, it IS the setting. It should be the primary focus of most plots and story arcs... not just a way-point to stop between adventures elsewhere. This will have the additional benefit of having more to do closer to the starting areas so that potential new players can jump right in and find something to catch their attention immediately.

This next suggestion, I can't stress enough. It took me a very long time to learn this as a DM in my own tabletop games: DUNGEON MASTERS MUST LEARN TO SAY YES TO PLAYER REQUESTS. The whole idea of submitting an application for a character background had been turning people away, and will continue to turn people away in droves. And you won't know that you've lost a player. They won't submit an app. They simply will say "EFF that" and go somewhere else, you'll never see them and will never know how many players you could have had. If a player can't play what he wants to play on your server, he WILL play it on another one. Tell one of COA's players 'NO' and you are giving some other server a brand new player. IF a player concept, or background, or special permission, or whatever causes a problem... deal with it AFTER the problem has been identified--don't deny the player his fun just because something MIGHT become a problem.

Speed it up! A week of real-time is a near-eternity in game-time. Player comes up with some plot idea, if he doesn't see results, he will drop it and leave... but not before complaining about DM favoritism and lack of attention to anyone who will listen. Player plots should be acted upon in the same session in which the DM becomes aware of the player's interest. Progress should be made within a few days, and conclusion for most plots within a week or two. Faction plots should last between 1-3 weeks, maybe a month if it's a real big one. Big server-wide world-changing plots shouldn't take more than 2-3 months.

Focus on the solo's. Yes, group interactions catch DMs attention. You want player-to-player interactions. So when someone gets a group together, sure, by all means, pay attention to that group... but they're already a group. They've already created player interaction. Adventure and intrigue already exists. That solo guy... he needs help. Give him a REASON to interact with others. Nobody can intrigue by themselves. The group will appreciate DM attention, but the solo guy NEEDS DM attention.... or he will leave.

Change it up. I'm aware of how time consuming it is to create new quests. Writing, designing, scripting, balancing monsters and treasures... it's a lot to do. But you can reuse and recycle just about everything. Take Myron's cave, for example? Its a classic. Everyone knows it and could probably solo-run the whole thing blind-folded. Maybe it's time for Myron's friend to finally get rescued for good? You can then use that quest with new NPCs on a new map, a few minor dialogue edits... and voila! You have yourself a brand new never-before-ran quest with minimal effort. There are literally THOUSANDS of published modules and side-quests that can be quickly edited and adapted for use by CoA with 90% of the work, including plot and balancing, already done. All you have to do is build the map, type in the dialogue, and fill it up with scripts and pre-balanced monsters & treasure for CoA's already existing spawn and treasure tables.

Documentation. As a new player, I want a one-stop-shop. Single-click solutions for all my character creation options, hak-paks, setting background, server-specific backgrounds... if I have to spend 3 days scanning through ten years of forum posts just to get an idea of what the server is about... I'm going to log out permanently when the server doesn't live up to my expectations and wow me right away after I took all that time and effort to figure it out.

Cater to the casual. Most people who might be interested in playing have real lives to live. Work, family... We might only have 20 or 30 minutes a day to play. They don't want, and should not have to, take a week or more to earn enough wealth and experience to raise to a "survivable" level. Sticking with the level 10 soft-cap (which I REALLY like, BTW) progression should be very rapid from 1st to 3rd... Easily raising a level in that single 20-30 minute play session. If someone has the time to spend an afternoon playing... they should be able to make 3rd of 4th in that first day. Then it should slow down until about 5th or 6th (which IMO should be average level for most "typical" players)... after that, a huge progression slowdown leading up to 10. This way, the casual player can feel like he's making an effort. He's contributing, he's advancing... and doesn't have "newbie" syndrome because he's the only 1st level guy surrounded by a bunch of 5th level characters... but at the same time, the non-casual players get a big reward for making that extra effort to make it to 8th or 9th and higher. Short scripted quests, quick one-off DM quests. Jump in, have fun, jump out.

CoA is NOT a professional MMO. We don't have micro-transactions to pay developers and DMs for their efforts. There's no Pay-to-Win or cosmetic "game Barbie" mechanics... While it is a popular suggestion, I think player-customizable housing and player-led factions (with short-term exceptions for specific plots) is wasted effort. There's already so much to do, prioritizing cosmetics is only going to cause more problems when the "big ticket" items don't get enough attention... not to mention that isolating PCs in their own private homes is only going to SEPARATE players from each other, not bring them together. Having a private house, while nice, isn't going to keep me coming back to a server--DM attention and good plots will. Not having a customizable house for my PC isn't going to make me leave a good server--no new quests or player interaction will.

PvP supports itself, don't need DMs for that. PvP is great for big US vs THEM mass combat war games... In D&D, for the most part, our PCs are heroes. Even if we're not good... or decidedly evil PCs... we're all playing the role of a hero, or a reluctant hero, or an antihero... PvP will happen on it's own anyway as character interaction and divergent plots intersect. There's no need to spend extra time, energy and effort focusing so much on PvP, when that time could be spent doing other things which will have a more direct benefit to the server as a whole.

Less forum, more Game. If I only have an hour to play today... I don't want to spend 20 minutes of my limited time on the forums getting updated on the most recent rumors and plot advancements since the last time I logged in. While a great place go AFTER I'm done playing, or in between play sessions, anything that happens in game should be in-game. You should be able to get rid of the forum completely and not miss anything. Rumours, Scrawls and Word of Mouth in Old Town, Announcements from the City, Declarations from the City... They should all be in-game, awaiting the daily reset, shortly after, if not before, they get posted in the forum.

More DMs. As mentioned above: easier said than done... but beyond advertising, DM attention & interaction is what will keep players coming back day after day after day. You can't do that without enough DMs to provide 24-hour coverage. In the beginning, it'll be hard... you might even have more DMs than players from time to time. But as player growth and retention takes hold, it will balance itself out. Just as in business... you have to invest into your company and risk taking a short-term loss in order to build for big long-term gains. Invest in CoA--hire more DMs. 3rd Edition D&D was built around a 4-PC party with a DM... that translates into 20% of your entire active player-base being DMs at any given time. Not only that, with the changes and suggestions mentioned above, by myself and others, you'll need that many... when they're not running quests, they can be building areas, designing new quests, creating named NPCs, writing adventure hooks and rumors for unnamed NPCs to give out. What's your target goal? 25 players online at the same time? Then have 5 DMs ready to take care of that level of activity before you get it. If you don't, someone will be left out and won't return. Prepare for what you want to have tomorrow--not what you had yesterday... if you don't, your virtual "sales" will never increase. And, business analogies aside... the players are CoA's "customers". Cater to your customer and you will attract more customers.

Issue seems to have been resolved, almost by accident. Adjusted compatibility mode to WinXP SP2 (as opposed to SP3) on ONLY nwn.exe and nwmain.exe, and my desktop shortcut to nwn.exe, but not the ancillary programs. What difference that made, IDK, but the freezing stopped. C'est la vie.

I've been having an issue the past few days that is making my Arabel fix a bit difficult… Intermittent freezing (program not responding) and unfreezing of NWN, seemingly by random, for a few seconds at a time. Occasionally it crashes, but not every time. This happens from the moment the Atari splash screen loads (which leads me to believe it's an issue with NWNmain.exe). It happens regardless of multiplayer or stand-alone. This is a new issue that I didn't have the last time I played NWN on a regular basis (approx. 5 mos. ago), despite having no significant system changes during that time.

I've done everything that I can think of from clearing out Overrides & haks to a complete reinstall--windowed & full screen mode, every available resolution; changing audio settings; running through Virtual PC XP Mode; changing Client CPU Affinity; turning Threaded Optimization off in my NVidia control panel... I'm out of ideas.

I'm running an HP EliteBook 8560w with Win7 Pro 64-bit on an Intel Core i7-2720QM at 2.2 GHz with 8GB RAM with 71 GB free space on my C partition, and an NVidia Quattro 1000M with 2GB dedicated video RAM. Needless to say, the obvious answers like XP compatibility and Admin have already been taken care of.

Any new suggestions or ideas?

Having trouble thinking up a name for your newest character? Here's a trick I picked up from an article in Dragon Magazine many years ago… Roll the Dice!

LETTER: Roll 1d6
1-2 = Vowel
3-5 = Consonant
6 = End Name (reroll if under 3 letters or no vowels)

VOWEL: 1d6
A = 1
E = 2
I = 3
O = 4
U = 5
Y = 6

CONSONANT: 1d20
B = 1
C = 2
D = 3
F = 4
G = 5
H = 6
J = 7
K = 8
L = 9
M = 10
N = 11
P = 12
Q = 13
R = 14
S = 15
T = 16
V = 17
W = 18
X = 19
Z = 20

When you end up with an unpronounceable name like "Zzglywgol", just try to fumble through the pronunciation, saying the sounds at different speeds and emphases, until you have something that almost sounds like a real word… and then spell out, phonetically, the word you've just said: Sigley Whigal.

Pilum Balteus excitedly enters the library asking about where public records might be found, specifically related to the lands where Eveningstar once stood. Is it still owned by the Winter family, or has it reverted to the Crown? If it is still Winter lands, who is the current noble, and how he/she might be contacted.

Most of us are familiar with the basic alignment definitions. A 3x3 grid of nine alignments, and a character fits within one of those nine squares and no others. This system works perfectly fine… if the campaign setting is a black-and-white story-book morality play--or the original published Forgotten Realms setting. However many campaign worlds, including CoA, is very much a "shades of gray" setting, not unlike the real world. There are rarely, if ever, any absolutes, and there are nearly always mitigating circumstances.

Any discussion of alignments within a shades-of-gray setting should take these factors into account. You might compare them to political ideologies. Are you Lawful or Chaotic? Good or Evil? Democrat or Republican? Liberal or Conservative? Labour or Conservative? Well--like so many things in life, the answer is All and None at the same time.

Alignments, like politics, are often perceived on a one-dimensional sliding scale. Forgive my incredulity, but NO! That's WRONG!

Despite being shown as a grid, the alignment system is really TWO separate and distinct sliding scales. We usually call them "axis" as a matter of convenience, but if you look at the history of how the alignment system developed... and how they've been played (regardless of the finite definitions given to them)... The Law-Chaos Axis is fulfills a completely unrelated game function than the function that the Good-Evil axis provides. If we can think of them separately, we might be able to, together, as a gaming community, build a wholly more believable, and altogether dramatically improved, story in which to immerse ourselves.

Law-Chaos is visible. It is a character's behavior. It can be seen by anybody who spends a significant amount of time around you. Although a lawful character might occasionally do something impulsive, for the most part he is structured. He has a daily routine. He plans, makes lists, always arrives at appointments 15 minutes early. The Chaotic man is rash. He sees something, he goes for it. He might be self-serving, greedy, or hedonistic... he might be hyper, rambunctious, or simply bored. Whatever he is, one thing is certain: You never tell him the odds! One thing the Chaotic man and the Lawful man have in common? They both will nearly always follow the law, customs, and traditions of the society in which they are a part.

But… but... he's not LAWful. He doesn't follow the rules!!! You are confusing nomenclature with definition. Yes, it's likely that the chaotic might be perceived as more likely to be a law-breaking criminal because of his rash behavior… that perception doesn't mean that he will. The studious, neurotic, dope-smoking, bow-tie wearing, OCD college Philosophy professor is VERY lawful... but he's breaking the law. The wild, crazy, happy-go-lucky, teen heart-throb, daredevil musician is just as Chaotic as the professor is Lawful... but he's never broken the law.

The Neutral (on the L-C scale) guy, which I think most (all?) of us would agree should be 90+% of the entire world, isn't neutral because he's in between Law and Chaos... he's not undecided... he's not standing rigid to the cause of balance, enforcing a law for each chaotic act made--and breaking a law for each lawful act made... He, like the rest of us, simply have qualities of both. This hypothetical Neutral guy is introverted and loves surprises; he never plans, but hates when things don't go as expected; ne never intentionally breaks a law, although he is rarely ever early for a meeting; he is shy, yet opinionated. He is... you and me.

The Good and Evil axis is a completely different beast. It is vague, undefined, invisible. It is motive. It is intent. It is desire. Lord Hardcastle is CLEARLY Lawful. We know this because of his behavior. What we, the players, don't know is if he's Good, Neutral, or Evil... Why? Because his behavior doesn't betray his intent. Our characters can guess and speculate... we can initiate intrigue based on what we THINK his motives are but, excepting the DMs, not a single one of us really know--nor should we.

My own character, Balteus, is clearly of the Neutral variety. You can see this by interacting with him. He is a strong force of presence, convinced beyond all reason that Hardcastle is a devious, corrupt, power-hungry tyrant, and he doesn't keep it a secret... but he loves his home and his King. He is a loyal citizen of the Crown and demonstrates a great deal of restraint precisely because Hardcastle--corrupt or not--is a legitimate noble of the realm. For his allies, he is nearly always the voice of reason between the Lawful and the Chaotic. Without him playing middle-man those two factions would likely not remain allies for very long.

But... is he Good or Evil? Maybe he's Neutral. Is he genuinely purely out for the betterment of mankind or is he an evil power-schemer, playing politics, angling for a position of authority on whichever side ends up winning after the simmering heat between OT and Citadel explodes into a raging boil. Is he trying to make that explosion happen--forcing a Civil War, or does he simply see it coming with no way to stop it?

None of you know. Not one*. Why? Because Behavior can be observed. Intent can not. Think about that next time you consider how you're playing your character's alignment... and what you ICly say about other character's alignments.

*Okay, theres two or three of you that know because of OOC casual convo… but that doesn't count. My point is still valid. :mrgreen:

After some time browsing through shelves and rummaging through bins of maps, not finding what he was looking for, Balteus finally asks Scholar Oompha for some assistance in locating any existing maps of what Arabel looked like before the fall of the Primordial and construction of the Citadel–specifically any that might indicate where official buildings were located in relation to known modern Citadel/Old Town landmarks.

He also inquires about the ruined library in Old Town, and how "a friend of mine" might get access to further "his" research studies.

Thanks to the intense Politically Correct environment of today's military, I've taken more conflict resolution, active listening, customer service, and effective communications courses than you can shake a stick at. There's one skill I've picked up from all this, though, that has truly made a huge difference in the quality of my roleplaying and game mastering:

Use in-character feedback to encourage roleplaying. Incorporate your players' words and player characters' actions into your narrative.

Everybody likes to be appreciated and valued.

• Use the specific words and actions the players use during your encounters.
• Have their words and actions actually affect the play beyond what the rules dictate.

Do this and you provide fantastic on-going feedback and encouragement. Plus, you'll find that the quality of roleplaying in your sessions will shoot way up too.

For example, here's two versions of player/DM interaction during a combat scene:

SCENARIO #1 - No Feedback"
@DM:

The kobold measures you up and down, snarls and draws his short sword!

@Player:

What?! How dare he assault Gilthor the Mighty! I raise my two-handed axe high up in the air over my head, unleash a blood curdling scream and charge headlong at the foolish creature!

@DM:

OK. Roll initiative…You win, roll to hit...Great hit! Roll damage...The kobold dies horribly!

SCENARIO #2 - Feedback & Reaction:
@DM:

The kobold measures you up and down, snarls and draws his short sword!

@Player:

What?! How dare he assault Gilthor the Mighty! I raise my two-handed axe high up in the air over my head, unleash a blood curdling scream and charge the foolish creature!

@DM:

The kobold flinches at your blood curdling scream. He nervously brings his sword up to parry your headlong charge. The creature is so intimidated that you automatically win initiative. Roll to hit and add a 1 bonus because of your mighty overhead swing…You land a mighty blow! Roll damage...The kobold is cut down in one blow with your two- handed axe. The poor thing didn't even have time to beg for mercy as, at the last moment, it sorrowfully realized that it was completely outmatched trying to defend its poor mate and 2 little kobold children. Great attack! How do you feel?

As you can see, I hammed it up at the end to try to make the player feel a little remorse–undeserved or not it's always great trying to draw a player reaction--but the essence of the point is there. The player gave such a great attack description that I had the kobold react cowardly and gave the character a couple of perks by way of the automatic initiative and attack bonus.

This rewards the player for good roleplaying and creates a better quality roleplaying experience for everybody at the table. And don't just do this for combat either. Anything and everything the players and characters say and do can be embellished, reacted to and rewarded (or penalized if the action was foolish).

Have more fun at every game!

I'm working on a side-project–a module that can be used as solo, group, or PW. I'm not a scripting expert (in fact, I have no experience outside of making minor edits to Lilac Soul's Script Generator). Now, I'm not asking for CoA's script archive--I know that's rather taboo... but some advice or tips would be helpful.

I'm using HCR 2.4 for most of my basic recurring functions. As-is, the Fugue scripts create a PC corpse, drops their equipment, and transports the PC to the fugue to wait for a Raise... Upon receiving a Raise Dead, or Resurrection, it takes you back to your body, destroys your PC Corpse, and applies XP penalties based on the spell used. HCR doesn't contain a respawn option.

I would like to add a few options to this basic script: Whitelight and Respawn, much like what CoA uses. In addition, I want the dead PC to be able to quest in the Fugue (my version is called Limbo) for the chance to come back to life with smaller XP penalties--accepting the risk of perma-death if they fail the quest.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Way back when we old folk started playing D&D, there was a special rule… one that largely got ignored and eventually forgotten then dropped from the rulebooks. But, it was a good rule.
@D&D:

Title: Your fighter should use this title when talking with other characters. Instead of saying “I’m Fleetwood, a Second Level fighter,” the character should say “I’m Fleetwood, the Warrior.”

Each level for each class had it's own unique title. A 1st level Fighter was a Veteran, a 3rd level Fighter was a Swordmaster, etc. Naturally you can see why this was not a rule that wasn't commonly used, but it proved a good point. We, the players, are aware of everything on our character sheets… but our characters aren't born with magic scrolls telling us everything they are, or aren't, capable of doing. They don't know their own level any more than they know their BAB.

For the most part, avoiding this kind of meta-gaming is so far beyond obvious that we don't even think about it, we just do it. I've noticed recently, however, that it has it's limitations. Class, for example... everyone immediately knows who is playing a Paladin. Why? Are they carrying a scroll identifying their membership into a holy order? How do you know they're not a Fighter/Cleric instead? Maybe... just maybe, this Paladin (by class) is nothing more than a devout worshipper who has no formal religious training and was simply "called" to service. By-the-book, he's still a Paladin. In-character, he would NEVER be seen as one. He's not been schooled in Church doctrine. He hasn't been properly trained in combat. He hasn't joined The Grand Holy Order of Generic Stereotype Paladins. He's not been sanctioned or recognized in any way by the ecclesiastical authority of his Deity. In-character, he is NOT a Paladin, no matter what the "class" block on his character sheet says.

Another one is magic items. Take a nice piece of in-game loot: the Cormyran Orcthrasher. In game-terms, it's a Longsword+1, +2 vs Orcs. Simple, right? So… how does everyone refer to it, IC? "A magic sword with special enchantments against orcs" To me, at least, that sounds like a vague paraphrase of the sword's game-stats. Wouldn't it be better to describe it as "a finely crafted blade made from the highest quality steel, lightweight with excellent balance and a well-honed edge, perfect for slicing through the fleshy bellies of those damned orc brigands pestering the countryside"? This description has the benefit of being more interesting, it also accurately describes it's function without a single mention of the magic or enchantments which the common non-magic-using lay-person would scarcely understand or even be aware of. Remember, unless you've been specifically informed of it's magic by someone with who understand the properties of magical enhancements, the item has intelligence and telepathically speaks to you, or it has a visible aura (such as 'White Light: 15m'--even then you can explain it away as being highly polished so that it reflects and magnifies even the slightest bit of light that hits it) your non-spell-casting character SHOULDN'T KNOW IT'S MAGICAL! (Admittedly, since NWN never implemented the 'Detect Magic' spell, this last part can be largely washed over, but please don't act like a magic expert if you're not playing one. Please? For me?!?)

Similarly, what is the difference between an Outsider and an Aberration? A studied mage, or a veteran planes walker would learn the nuances and differences… but to that 2nd Level Fighter Warrior entering Gilmore's Tower or the Gladstone Estate for the very first time, they're all "big scary monster things!"

And please… Please. PLEASE!!! For the love of all that is good and holy, find some new IC reason to search for the hidden portal at the back of Myron's Jell-O Cave. "Wow, take a look at this big mushroom!" is so old it just doesn't work anymore. Stop doing that!