FAI

[LISA100595]

I find the post above offensive on so many levels, it is disgusting, can we get this post locked please at the very least?

And FYI this is what is being used to produce the FAI, Not your disgusting description.

[burbles]

Begging pardon, and I somewhat exagerrate (gambling was mentioned, though), but if it's not your intention, there realy is nothing to be offended of. PnP description clearly states that FAI is very small and uncrowded, and not an adventurers hub.

[Ivan38Rus]

People can get offended by pretty much anything they want, stopping discussion because of it is not productive in anyway.

I don't see any malice in the posts above.

With that being said, I don't believe this thread can offer anything new though, there's nothing being said here that wasn't discussed before.

I personally dunno. The reason for FAI's popularity is convinience, I honestly don't believe that FAI switching places with another location will somehow change the RP, which is the main culprit, as far as i can see, anyway.

[DM Golem]

I think all on staff do welcome views as to the wants and needs of the playerbase, and this thread has been useful for that. But I would ask that when giving those views, consideration be given to the hard work that the dev team puts in to maintaining and developing the server.

I'd ask posters to respect the forum rules, namely this one:

2. No flaming. Personal attacks, disrespectful, derogatory, threatening, insulting or negative comments will not be tolerated. This encompasses "Trolling" which are posts that intend to do any of the above or disrupt the discussion.

I am not saying anyone has not done so, but I'd ask that ongoing discussion is productive and civil. If it can't be, then the thread will have served its purpose and be locked.

Golem

[Snarfy]

What the FAI really needs(and I might only be saying this because PvP was occurring both of the times I decided to go near the FAI campfire in the last two days)... are actual guards up on the walls, or a script of some sort, that auto-target players who PvP near the FAI and... WHAMMO!!, improved-critical-crossbow-sniper-one-shot them for 500hp damage into the dirt.

And not KO them either, but send them to a sectioned off part of the fugue where they have to pay 10,000 gold to respawn, which would represent them paying a fine to Bently for acting like psychopathic clowns near his establishment.

Wishful thinking, I know, but that kind of a feature would make me a very happy camper.

[Eldebryn]

What the FAI really needs(and I might only be saying this because PvP was occurring both of the times I decided to go near the FAI campfire in the last two days)... are actual guards up on the walls, or a script of some sort, that auto-target players who PvP near the FAI and... WHAMMO!!, improved-critical-crossbow-sniper-one-shot them for 500hp damage into the dirt.

And not KO them either, but send them to a sectioned off part of the fugue where they have to pay 10,000 gold to respawn, which would represent them paying a fine to Bently for acting like psychopathic clowns near his establishment.

Wishful thinking, I know, but that kind of a feature would make me a very happy camper.

Agreed... It doesn't make sense when we have loading screen messages and dialogues implying that the FAI guards are there to monitor and prevent acts of violence and use of weapons when they don't actually do anything about it in-game...

[Ivan38Rus]

What the FAI really needs(and I might only be saying this because PvP was occurring both of the times I decided to go near the FAI campfire in the last two days)... are actual guards up on the walls, or a script of some sort, that auto-target players who PvP near the FAI and... WHAMMO!!, improved-critical-crossbow-sniper-one-shot them for 500hp damage into the dirt.

And not KO them either, but send them to a sectioned off part of the fugue where they have to pay 10,000 gold to respawn, which would represent them paying a fine to Bently for acting like psychopathic clowns near his establishment.

Wishful thinking, I know, but that kind of a feature would make me a very happy camper.

and like 70% of others would not be happy at all

[thids]

"a fortified waystop on the coast way in territory often endangered by brigands and raiding bands of orcs, kobolds, bugbears and even trolls"

I highly doubt Bentleys guards would bother with anything away from the entrance. They especially wouldn't try to act as some sort of peacekeepers at a campfire occupied by vagrants who can't even afford a drink at his tavern.


Last thing we need is more areas covered by the blanket "guards" which prevent RP to develop naturally. Having a huge metropolis, one of the largest cities in the setting in fact, treated as a "safe zone" 99% of the time is more than enough. When there is no sense of danger, or even worse when that danger needs to be forcefully suppressed, the RP that remains is usually one big circlejerk.

[DM Pun Pun]

Last thing we need is more areas covered by the blanket "guards" which prevent RP to develop naturally. Having a huge metropolis, one of the largest cities in the setting in fact, treated as a "safe zone" 99% of the time is more than enough. When there is no sense of danger, or even worse when that danger needs to be forcefully suppressed, the RP that remains is usually one big circlejerk.

This is my personal opinion, but I do agree with you. I do think, in a perfect situation, there should be more danger in zones that are perceived as "safe". But after countless abuses and poor rp form, measures were put in place to keep the integrity of the setting safe, not so much the players.

There was a time in Baldur's Gate you could brandish a weapon without having a guard toss you in jail. However countless people running around with weapons out in the middle of the streets became immersion-killing and a negative regarding the lore of the server, especially since there was always a law about wielding a weapon in Baldur's Gate. The players even asked for something to be done about it. And that is why you have Baldur's Gate the "safe zone" you believe it is today.

The same goes for the Friendly Arm Inn. Considering its a hub of RP and trade on the server, its also the place where villains feel the need to do acts of villainy. I would say more PvP happens on the FAI map than any other map on the server because of this. And looking at it through lore, Bentley would have no business if he couldn't guarantee the safety of his patrons. There is law in this region and there are guards that carry out those laws. And a lot of what has been done is because people break these laws thinking there is no recourse or that the guards will simply ignore what they are doing.

In short: Respect the setting, Respect the Server Rules, and your actions will be respected in return.

Perhaps we should just challenge villains to become creative with their schemes, because I will tell you right now anyone doing PvP or doing heinous acts at the FAI Gates or inside the walls will be getting permastrikes. The same applies for anyone else that believes the guards are invisible.

[Aelcar]

In short: Respect the setting, Respect the Server Rules, and your actions will be respected in return.

This is very well said, and the entire post was overall well structured and insightful. Thanks DM PunPun. Allow me an observation, though, and give your opinion if you have a moment to spare:

Perhaps we should just challenge villains to become creative with their schemes, because I will tell you right now anyone doing PvP or doing heinous acts at the FAI Gates or inside the walls will be getting permastrikes. The same applies for anyone else that believes the guards are invisible.

I agree that sometimes, villain become a tad bit overenthusiastic (not rarely because something OOCly annoyed them, and they kind of OVERreact IC), but if memory serves me well, In Baldur's Gate (the game) I arrived at the FAI (almost died like 2 times on the road, because it's dangerous...) just to find out the killers preceded me, and barely made it out alive. Because I KILLED them. Nobody helped.

Sometimes, the integrity of the setting calls for less "black and white" evaluations about the relative safety of environments (hello UD!). For instance, while I agree the inside of the FAI should be pretty safe (not 100%, though...), I can't see the guards protecting square miles of radius just because some travelers MIGHT become customers. I can, however, see travelers SCRAMBLING for the relative safety of the FAI's gates.

It's not so much as Solonor and Shevarash working for Bentley and shooting people dead (though I agree it would be fun to watch, Snarfy )...It's more like the guards keeping the FAI as safe as they can, and pointLOLing the imbeciles who get stabbed outside just because they couldn't be bothered to get in and buy themselves a drink

[Steve]

...bands of orcs, kobolds, bugbears and even trolls"

Why not just put these back on the greater Area Map, and then make the FAI itself—including courtyard—another Area map?

The random spawns will deter PCs from loitering on the outside...but will also provide an area that if violence between Toons breaks out, it would be fitting (more or less).

The greater Area map—which includes OSR and Gibberlings—would or could contain the facade of the FAI, but the drawbridge would be a transition point.

Essentially, your PC is either in or out, safe or not...and we apply a small OOC device to make it so.

[burbles]

I think this is super cool, Steve!

[ShineDown]

Why not just put these back on the greater Area Map, and then make the FAI itself—including courtyard—another Area map?

The random spawns will deter PCs from loitering on the outside...but will also provide an area that if violence between Toons breaks out, it would be fitting (more or less).

The greater Area map—which includes OSR and Gibberlings—would or could contain the facade of the FAI, but the drawbridge would be a transition point.

Essentially, your PC is either in or out, safe or not...and we apply a small OOC device to make it so.

This was the case for a short time last year or the year before when the campfire was stamped out before moving and it has been mentioned in the past. One thing people complained of was that their pcs were 'forced' to spawn inside the walls (ensuring safety) after resets, crashes, etc. For some reason people complained that it wasn't ic for them to be in the inn so rather than deal with transing out, the spawn point was changed back and the open drawbridge reinstalled. It was much better the other way and that people ought to have dealt with the big old 2 seconds of time it took to turn and trans out.

I doubt spawns will happen more than the random bandit encounters currently in place. It's sort of like one of those 'safe spaces' you hear about in universities except it includes psycho pcs. Oh and then you get the people who rp dr00ds, ranjah outdoorsy types who just won't go inside a courtyard of civilization and they need a hub, hence the firepit.

[thids]

Last thing we need is more areas covered by the blanket "guards" which prevent RP to develop naturally. Having a huge metropolis, one of the largest cities in the setting in fact, treated as a "safe zone" 99% of the time is more than enough. When there is no sense of danger, or even worse when that danger needs to be forcefully suppressed, the RP that remains is usually one big circlejerk.

This is my personal opinion, but I do agree with you. I do think, in a perfect situation, there should be more danger in zones that are perceived as "safe". But after countless abuses and poor rp form, measures were put in place to keep the integrity of the setting safe, not so much the players.

There was a time in Baldur's Gate you could brandish a weapon without having a guard toss you in jail. However countless people running around with weapons out in the middle of the streets became immersion-killing and a negative regarding the lore of the server, especially since there was always a law about wielding a weapon in Baldur's Gate. The players even asked for something to be done about it. And that is why you have Baldur's Gate the "safe zone" you believe it is today.

The same goes for the Friendly Arm Inn. Considering its a hub of RP and trade on the server, its also the place where villains feel the need to do acts of villainy. I would say more PvP happens on the FAI map than any other map on the server because of this. And looking at it through lore, Bentley would have no business if he couldn't guarantee the safety of his patrons. There is law in this region and there are guards that carry out those laws. And a lot of what has been done is because people break these laws thinking there is no recourse or that the guards will simply ignore what they are doing.

In short: Respect the setting, Respect the Server Rules, and your actions will be respected in return.

Perhaps we should just challenge villains to become creative with their schemes, because I will tell you right now anyone doing PvP or doing heinous acts at the FAI Gates or inside the walls will be getting permastrikes. The same applies for anyone else that believes the guards are invisible.

I understand all of that perfectly well, and I understand the reasoning behind this situation, especially with the amount of griefing that has supposedly been going around lately. I even begrudgingly agree with it, I just don't like it. I think that in general the train of thought should be moving towards better solutions whenever a discussion like this comes up rather than just throwing guards at the problem. And it's not about heroes and villains either, things should not be so black and white.


Anyway, this has moved way beyond my original post. But I suppose I got my answer in these 3 pages so if people want to drive this discussion elsewhere I don't mind.