Setting immersion and...things

[DM Foresight]

You win some, you lose some, such is the nature of life, just because we play hero's makes it no different.

[Domovoi]

Pyotr, when seeing and hearing strange things like that always has the same answer: "Is all probably just illusion."

[metaquad4]

Some of the best RP-around-it answers I've heard were people who killed the White Dragon saying they "managed to fight it off until it backed off for a moment then grabbed some treasure and escaped".

This is actually really interesting answer. And I think this is 100% enforceable with mechanics.

For bosses, one could do this -
1) After you get them to 0 HP, they are (cut-scene paralyzed).
2) They then drop their gold. Any player in the same party as the person who dealt the finishing blow will get the gold divided among themselves.
3) The boss is paralyzed for 5 minutes, long enough time for the players to loot any chests and RP a frantic escape.
4) The boss chests (all the chests in the boss's "arena") will all be locked until the boss is paralyzed, at which time they become unlocked.
5) After the paralyze wears off, the boss comes back at 100% health.

Players can loot the boss chests and the boss once per reset.
HOWEVER,
each boss chest is guaranteed to drop a +3 named (not random) item or better. In addition, the boss will drop 4x the gold that it does now (you could normally kill a boss every 30 minutes for its gold).

-------
Anywho, to address OP:

1. The age of the PW and its looooooooooooooong history
-Yes. You'll have characters who have literally both survived the planes of Hell and the Far Realms on this server (DM Events). So you'll get some interesthing stuff.
2. The existence of an abundance of level 30 (or close) characters
-I'd say it is more because of the existence of an abundance of (in the FR world) high-tier monsters.
3. The underlying game mechanics resulting in a world where you kill the king of the giants every Sunday
-Yes. It is a video game, and the video game medium has its differences. One of those is replayability, and what we have is people RPing that replayability.
4. An abundance of characters who want to be the One™ taking on the biggest and baddest (it is a fantasy world after all; no shame in trying)
-Yeah, and usually this doesn't end well for the player TBH. People get inflated egos, they start irritating people. . .it devolves into toxicity. People need to accept that we are all side-characters in Elminster's story.
4. Boredom? (See 1)
-Yes, and yes. People do campfire RP because they log in, see a bunch of bored people around the fire, think "oh look people" then they go to the fire and sink into the mud themselves. And those original bored people probably just finished a quest, an event, a boss run - whatever, and didn't have anything better to do.

The best way, is to be the change you want to see. Stir some shit, go DO something that'll give some of those campfire dwellers a reason to venture into the world.

Easiest way is to play a villain character (with a powerbuild so you don't just get rofl-stomped in 5 seconds, leading to them becoming bored again). And remember not to just start out on the stage. Build some tension first.

Set up a shrine to your evil god. Sacrifice a few people. Get noticed and start building some animosity.

Get some other players beside you. At that point, people will start to notice you. Talk in the campfires might shift from casually killing balors to your character. This is a good sign, it means people are engaging with your RP and disengaging with boredom.

Ask the DMs if they have any evil deeds you can perform (and temper your expectations - always proceed expecting you'll get a no - treat as yes as just a bonus).

Make sure your character has a specific goal, a cause. That'll give you a target. That could be forming a temple, carrying out a specific duty to a god - or even something more mundane, like revenge against a specific NPC or organization. . .anything long-term but not overly long-term. If you accidentally complete it, you can always make another.

Your build-up phase might last months, or years. This is fine, though. Slow but steady - as long as you keep people engaged, then you are doing a good job.

And remember, DON'T GET KILLED. Getting killed does ruin the mythos of your character a little. Not too much, but it can have consequences. Don't get greedy, flee if you need to. But stay alive, and build your character up.

People will come to challenge you. And that'll start generating RP in and of itself. Eventually, that'll start generating motives and new activities for you to do as well. Once your RP has started self-generating future RP, you are in a good spot.

And above all, don't fret if your character is eventually killed. Don't try to get them killed, fight getting them killed. Because your character getting killed means the campfire RP resumes. But if it happens, no sweat.

Don't make a new one immediately. Maybe spend time grinding another build up - that'll be just about the amount of time people need to cool off from your (or someone else's) last one.

If you notice other people RPing similar - join up with them. Support is good, and it helps build momentum and drive the RP forward (which in turn drives everyone else's RP forward - a larger group is much more exciting to RP fighting than a small one).

So yeah. It is tried and tested - and it does get people away from the campfire a bit. In the end they always return. . .but if one draws them away for even a little bit, then it is worthwhile.

[c2k]

You can change some of the boss death scripts to have the disappear animations and then send a message that "X has retreated for now". It was much cleaner to do in NWN1 however.

[Max Hatchet]

Some of the best RP-around-it answers I've heard were people who killed the White Dragon saying they "managed to fight it off until it backed off for a moment then grabbed some treasure and escaped".

This is actually really interesting answer. And I think this is 100% enforceable with mechanics.

For bosses, one could do this -
1) After you get them to 0 HP, they are (cut-scene paralyzed).
2) They then drop their gold. Any player in the same party as the person who dealt the finishing blow will get the gold divided among themselves.
3) The boss is paralyzed for 5 minutes, long enough time for the players to loot any chests and RP a frantic escape.
4) The boss chests (all the chests in the boss's "arena") will all be locked until the boss is paralyzed, at which time they become unlocked.
5) After the paralyze wears off, the boss comes back at 100% health.

Players can loot the boss chests and the boss once per reset.
HOWEVER,
each boss chest is guaranteed to drop a +3 named (not random) item or better. In addition, the boss will drop 4x the gold that it does now (you could normally kill a boss every 30 minutes for its gold).

These sound like great suggestions to me or some variation of them.

Or a simpler version - that for any big boss when they are killed a message comes up saying "Xxxxxx is badly wounded and retreats, allowing you to loot his treasure". Certainly the idea that players dont actually kill the bosses is the way to go.

[Ahku]

How about these options for scary changes?

1) permadeath - raising the dead can only be done by clergy (no scrolls) and at GREAT cost.
2) no mulling.
3) at death drop inventory (if permadeath, lose inventory - unless recovered by friends or it gets stolen by the foe that defeated you, or merchants claim your goods or it's taken by the kingdom, etc...
4) only one character playable at a time.

Hard resets tend to change the way people RP.

(I'm anticipating the venomous PM's now) ;-p

Having one or more of these changes happen during the time of troubles would be interesting.

[Bobthehero]

Right, remove all the RP that's been done in the past years and ensure everyone's story is bad lag spike away from being snuffed out, brilliant.

[Almarea90]

I agree that true resurrecting someone should be hard and come at a great cost. I can also agree on a cost for material components for simple resurrection spells. However, there are few points that don't convince me:

1) If the character dies at the top of some gods-forsaken mountain I can't really see the peasant venturing there to claim their loot.
2) If the character dies and is immediately resurrected by their companion, why should all their belonging vanish into thin air?

On the other hand, for plot deaths (for example assassinations, or death issued by a DM during an event) I believe the resurrection should only happen if there is actually someone who is willing to go the extra mile to resurrect the character. If someone is playing a deranged killer who attacks everyone who crosses their way, then is finally killed by a group of people, it doesn't make much sense that this person comes back, especially if this happens times and times again. That, or come up with some exceptional event that can also be a chance for development and imho should be dm approved and obviously not be a regular occurrence. For example the aforementioned character is killed and is resurrected by divine intervention as a celestial of Ilmater saw fit to resurrect this person and guide them through the path of redemption or by some fiendish intervention where they become pacted.
What really breaks immersion, I believe, is when someone keeps being killed and comes back for unknown reasons without being true resurrected and keeps acting the same way over and over again.

[Hoihe]

How about these options for scary changes?

1) permadeath - raising the dead can only be done by clergy (no scrolls) and at GREAT cost.
2) no mulling.
3) lose everything (inventory and bank) at permadeath, it gets stolen by peasants, merchants or taken by the kingdom, etc...
4) only one character playable at a time.

Hard resets tend to change the way people RP.

(I'm anticipating the venomous PM's now) ;-p

Permadeath (do-me) Rp with a rusty bayonet where the light doesnt shine. No sane person commits the resources to make relationships with people who might disappear at any moment.

i know i dont reach out to people irl who might disappear in 6 months. Why would i torture myself with this on a game i play to avoid the grimderpness of shitty earth for?
if you want permafeath, play earth. I hear it does everything you want. Including scarring for the most bullshit reasons like a coworker bumping into you and knocking you onto hot metal forever ruining the look of your arm with burn scars.

if i wanted to experience dying for good, and losing everyone i love - grimderp earth has trains and traffic to help me. No idea why would i want to RP the experience when it is so easy to replicate irl even for me. And while it has been rather tempting this past few years, i have no interest of doing a test run.

[Steve]

1. There is already a Permadeath Mechanhc in place. Talk to the Death NPC in the Nexus next time you make a Character.
2. You can already choose to not mule items.
3. You can already dump all your items in a campfire and permanently delete them at whim. You can spend all your coin at a NPC merchant then campfire burn.

That said, any risks or greater challenges should only be enacted upon the entire player base if equal-to-greater rewards are implemented as well.

[Kaybrie]

I wish more sadistic DM's would notice me and drag my characters through the mud. My number one immersion breaker is winning all the time. Quickly followed by bad things happening just being a dream. Closely tailed by any consequence of note being my direct decision (usually off-screen in the form of a forum post).

Winning without losing first is meaningless. I don't remember any given 15 steps I take, but I'll probably remember tripping on a crack and cutting my lip on concrete for months. (And probably taking more care with walking for a while).

[Hoihe]

I wish more sadistic DM's would notice me and drag my characters through the mud. My number one immersion breaker is winning all the time. Quickly followed by bad things happening just being a dream. Closely tailed by any consequence of note happening to my characters being my direct decision (usually off-screen in the form of a forum post).

Winning without losing first is meaningless. I don't remember any given 15 steps I take, but I'll probably remember tripping on a crack and cutting my lip on concrete for months. (And probably taking more care with walking for a while).

Our current DMs are practically that.

I'm here wishing we've had DMs whom I could trust and relax in their events, rather than be constantly worrying on just how they intend to ruin my ability to enjoy my character, or ruin my ability to interact with characters I enjoy. I might even be able to interact with people beyond my my handpicked group of characters who I know will also avoid kneeling before mandates like unhealable injuries by DMs wanting to see people suffer when Heal and Regenerate and Gr. Resto and Tr. Res exist.

[Kaybrie]

Our current DMs are practically that.

I'm here wishing we've had DMs whom I could trust and relax in their events, rather than be constantly worrying on just how they intend to ruin my ability to enjoy my character, or ruin my ability to interact with characters I enjoy. I might even be able to interact with people beyond my my handpicked group of characters who I know will also avoid kneeling before mandates like unhealable injuries by DMs wanting to see people suffer when Heal and Regenerate and Gr. Resto and Tr. Res exist.

Send them my way, I eat that stuff up.

As for me, in the last three-four years every event I've been involved in has been some variation of the things I listed. Even so far as when I deliberately threw a character up into a perma event I was still handed the choice on whether or not she died at the end.

[Hoihe]

Our current DMs are practically that.

I'm here wishing we've had DMs whom I could trust and relax in their events, rather than be constantly worrying on just how they intend to ruin my ability to enjoy my character, or ruin my ability to interact with characters I enjoy. I might even be able to interact with people beyond my my handpicked group of characters who I know will also avoid kneeling before mandates like unhealable injuries by DMs wanting to see people suffer when Heal and Regenerate and Gr. Resto and Tr. Res exist.

Send them my way, I eat that stuff up.

As for me, in the last three-four years every event I've been involved in has been some variation of the things I listed. Even so far as when I deliberately threw a character up into a perma event I was still handed the choice on whether or not she died at the end.

And the choice should be the player's and the player's only.

Alas, some DMs do not leave the choice of scarring, of mutilation, of disfigurement of being cursed in a way that leaves you exiled from your home due to shadows constantly showing up, of mind-break, of crippling disease up to the player. I've had characters I loved interacting with become a slog to RP with, or have the RP I had going with them utterly changed into something the opposite of enjoyable. Those should also be a choice that the player, and only the player can decide if those should affect their PC, and how long such effects should linger.

[yyj]

Our current DMs are practically that.

I'm here wishing we've had DMs whom I could trust and relax in their events, rather than be constantly worrying on just how they intend to ruin my ability to enjoy my character, or ruin my ability to interact with characters I enjoy. I might even be able to interact with people beyond my my handpicked group of characters who I know will also avoid kneeling before mandates like unhealable injuries by DMs wanting to see people suffer when Heal and Regenerate and Gr. Resto and Tr. Res exist.

Send them my way, I eat that stuff up.

As for me, in the last three-four years every event I've been involved in has been some variation of the things I listed. Even so far as when I deliberately threw a character up into a perma event I was still handed the choice on whether or not she died at the end.

And the choice should be the player's and the player's only.

Alas, some DMs do not leave the choice of scarring, of mutilation, of disfigurement of being cursed in a way that leaves you exiled from your home due to shadows constantly showing up, of mind-break, of crippling disease up to the player. I've had characters I loved interacting with become a slog to RP with, or have the RP I had going with them utterly changed into something the opposite of enjoyable. Those should also be a choice that the player, and only the player can decide if those should affect their PC, and how long such effects should linger.

Death is part of the setting like it or not. Yes there is resurrection, but still, our current DMs do a lot of hard work and these comments are a disservice to them, everyone has a different playstyle and it should be respected because we are simply different people. DMs dont force permadeath , but RP should have consecuences, otherwise things are boring and get stale.

"No sane person commits the resources to make relationships with people who might disappear at any moment"
This is literally what life is, people come and go all the time, everywhere, loss makes you stronger don't be afraid of living.