Aspire To?

[*Darkrob]

So the mod cannot stray from WoTC material? Planescape cannot evolve beyond the sourcebooks?

[*Mr_Otyugh]

I'm being realist. You are just trying to squeeze out direct no or yes. I'm saying change is possible, but it won't necessarily be permanent.


Regarding events, all carnival events will at least be open for all that can make it in time. I will try to handle more events like this, but they will generally be contest types rather than actual plots. Since I don't generally have too much motivation to run deep plots and storylines as DM avatar ;P I'm sure other DMs will make those as well and likely have few running currently also.

[*MadCat]

You know what's best fix for these? Quit being the problem and start being part of solution.

Start making factions more active by 'own example'. Not by words and casting the work on others. The problem is not DMs alone, we simply don't have enough manpower... the problem is also that players themselves are unwilling to DO something. Want to prove me wrong? Well start doing something and if that wont' work, then you can say I have been wrong. Not before.

I'm not being offensive, I'm being realistic. Because quite frankly, players will never be happy. It's not because inactivity of anyone, it's human psychology. Constant desire for more. When one problem is fixed, another problem arises... when that is fixed, another problem arises. No matter what I do, someone will always be displeased. Think that's fair? That I have to listen players lecturing me how to do my job while they do nothing themselves? I'm just lecturing like you are. I know how to DM, quit implying we don't.

If you want to make a complaint, make it in PM. If you want to make suggestion, make a suggestion and leave it at that.

[*Mr_Otyugh]

Also I want to add one more point. I am not saying DMs will do nothing about it, what I want to bring out with my words is that you can help us to help you with your own initiative. We're community, not just "DMs" or just "players", lets do some cooperation rather than dividing forces. I will try to bring more activity to factions and I hope some of you will as well.

[*Xynisto]

I understand Darkrob perfectly. He understands that in order to be part of the solution you have to know the problem and cause of the problem first.

The lack of faction activity made me ask a question about it too (in a thread somewhere). The explanation given was that the factions are still under construction. Since factions are important I hope this will be one of the important things of the new update. Until then, probably what Darkrob refers to as well, is that players are a bit clueless what is and is not possible in the current state of the factions on the server. It would help to know the current main limitations because not all factions are complete.

Becoming a factol should be difficult, but not impossible. Regarding one of the faction/cult leaders (maybe not even factol) I can say it will only increase the fun of the server if there are player leaders. Player leaders can give (mini) quests to other players and take some work out of the hands of the always busy DMs. It is a win win situation for everyone. Dms should not be afraid of being accused of favoritism, after all the server rules say

"3.1) Dungeon Masters (DM) word is law (..)".

If other players do not like the (new) leader let them handle it ic, then the intrigue/faction wars starts where it should take place, ingame instead of forum/pm's.

[*Ceremorph]

Becoming a factol should be difficult, but not impossible. Regarding one of the faction/cult leaders (maybe not even factol) I can say it will only increase the fun of the server if there are player leaders.

A player does not need to be factol to be a leader. An upper-level factotum's word is as good as the factol's so long as it's not something the factol would override as being against the purpose of the faction.

Since factions are important I hope this will be one of the important things of the new update.

Please note that quite a few more faction-tied locations now exist, most notably the Prison (mercykillers) and Gatehouse (bleakers). Additional ones are under construction. In addition, I personally am working on a project to get all the canon leaders and important personages of the factions in-game as NPCs, making it easier for DMs to take control of them (nothing quite so fun as having to spend half an hour customizing an NPC to meet my visualization of a factol... and then the server crashes and I have to start over).

Thanks for your input, Xynisto.

A good DM can gauge his player base, see who is doing what, and act accordingly...

Now this, I find rather insulting. Such a thing might work if I didn't have a job and spent my entire day monitoring what's happenning on the server, but that's not the case. If I find the time to log on as a DM, I'm not going to spend it lurking and eavesdropping on people to be able to custom-tailor quests and events to them; those are only going to come when people decide that including a DM in their planning is a good idea; if you sit back and wait, it's likely that all you'll ever see are "general" quests, or storylines that I think are worthwhile.

And again, it all comes down to knowledge. Yes, DarkRob, I knew from rare IC forum posts (three total, one of which was his death) that you were playing a mercykiller. But I never personally saw you (or the companion you spoke of) acting this out in server. So explain to me how I'm supposed to know that you're playing it out in-character constantly, or that you're seeking to advance in the faction?

[*Nimrod25]

My 2 cents?

Well, the most successful server i was ever on had a dm to player ratio in the region of 1:100. The way they handled things was to have a head DM lead all plots regarding a certain area of the game, with lower ranking DMs carrying out the plots on small scale, each DM would only know their part of the overall story. They also allowed for players to lead most things that could be done by a player. So if it was a faction, a player would be at the head dishing out orders, or if it was an NPC, it probably wouldn't be for long because a player would figure out a way to remove them from power. The most important thing about this server was that players could accomplish any goal if executed properly, hell, one of my characters nearly destroyed a city... which happened to be about 100 areas in size. Some became gods and whatnot. The strength in PWs comes from allowing players to effect change and variation from canon.

This server has the player base at the moment to accomplish a server as successful as that one, what there aren't enough of is active DMs and plot writers. In my time here i can remember seeing only a few DMs logging as DMs, and they are no doubt bombarded with tells from the min they log on.

If it were me, i'd say, screw canon, let players do what they want if they are good enough at it, that way you get a self sustaining world for the most part. I would also reorganise the DM staff, having those who have been on most and showing their dedication become head DMs, i would say for several factions each (allied factions) and get more minor DMs to handle personal plots. LastlyWhen i last ran a server, i spent most of my time not creating new content, but rewriting old content which had changed due to player actions.

Overall i'd say, i agree with the idea of player-driven change, imo, a module should not limit players but enable them. Still, i'll probably play a long time no matter what comes from this thread.

[*ManyFaced]

Been on this sever for a little two months, and I'm pretty amazed about how the Status Quo is enforced.

I've actually run into more believable RP situations in WoW. On this server, I've never seen someone die and stay dead. Death is a joke and always ends in "LULREZ". What's odder is the quests... you can do the same thing every single day. "Oh, I've been telling you that the obsidian was the portal key once a day for two months, thanks for another 100g. Later, going to let a woman know her husband is dead, she pays double."

The explanation seems to be is that it isn't "canon". But, as far as I know canon doesn't exist when it comes to PNP or servers. Every new source book and novel contradict the ones prior without any explanation. Any server prior to this DMs kept what they needed, threw away what they didn't, and that was it.

I understand that DMs are saying it could "possibly" happen, but it's difficult to believe. I've seen less events than I could count on my fingers. The first month there was one, the second there were a few more. The only ones that really involved my characters were a DM spam spawning things, forcing us from RPing in the area and running back to sit around the bar in Khazeets.

Maybe that's what "aspiring" thing comes down to. Each character has the same wild(or reasonable) hopes and dreams at the start of the episode, stuff happens, and everything is back to the same at the end.

This post had nothing to do with the balance of the zones, the well built mechanics, pretty graphics, interesting loot, or NPCs. These areas are all extremely well done... but something is leading (in my mind) to stagnation... hence the annoying "I've, I'm" before everything.

[*Mausman]

*Big Shrug*

I've seen this discussion pass by on nearly ALL servers I played/dm'ed on.

I agree with Mr O, players will never be satisfied.

There's plenty to do out there, not only relationships/friendships what so ever. It all comes down on what you would like to happen for your own char.

What makes me chuckle a bit, is the everpresent "lust" for power among players. But perhaps that is because I do not have that desire at all myself.

It is like Ceremorph stated though, if you manage to climb higher in rank, your char would have more influence gradually. But be sensible about it, we don't have enough manpower to constantly monitor your character NOR to spawn all kinds of buildings for it.

I am taking the liberty to speak for Admins: This place was created how they thought it to be best and it's still in development, personally having things being canon is something I favor, but to each his or her own I guess.

As for death being a joke, since I read that, nonsense.

It all comes down on how someone rp's death. I for one, tend to rp it out seriously and ressurection is a rp part which takes time. (unless there are means to do it quicker on the spot, that happens as well)

If you rather play your char dead after dying and not that easy to ress or possibly permadeath...your choice to make

It's also funny imho how people all directly aim at leadership among factions, why not initiate some more (not aiming at Darkrob's attempts as mercykiller) rp around it? make more posts in the faction forum's, give others AND DM's the impression stuff is going on and it will function as a catalyst.

In the end, it's the players that create plots and stories, NOT DM's...I wish people would stop thinking that. DM's are there to cater and support and implement lore related plots (and possibly on request cater for personal plots OR plots involving more people)

Be creative with common sense I say.

[*cryptc]

Ok I admit I only read first paragraph in this whole thread before answering, so apologies if I say something already said.

I'd love to have players lead factions on the server, and by lead, I don't mean having the Factol position (those are inhabited by lore npcs), but leading day to day operations, and being in charge of the faction as far as the server goes.

Problem is that not too much faction roleplay is going on, so it's been hard to promote players to ranking positions on the various factions... maybe in future this will change...