Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Here's a topic where we can plop some ideas on how to get things moving again.

I don't know about the rest of you, but to me it seems like everything has gone rather stale (RP-wise, adventuring, and event-wise). I've also noticed at least 20+ new players arriving in the last month or two, and I kind of feel bad for them, as all they seem to do is run around and grind/loot/level, and with minimal RP.

My main suggestion is this:

MORE ONE OFF EVENTS from DM's. And, preferably, for characters who are not level 30.

Give all those new characters some adventure and, perhaps more importantly, something to talk about. Small events can really help players develop their characters personas. Half of my favorite memories on this server had to do with that time DM So-and-So had the farmers daughter kidnapped and needing a rescue, or when they dropped a big baddie that needed slaying at the end of dungeon X. Or something similar. Events like these don't even need to be complex, they just need to happen, period.

And, speaking of events: less grandiose over-arching multiple plots, please. If they need to happen, maybe make it one at a time, and make them inclusive to characters of all levels(if possible). Imho, and quite frankly, the level 30's of the server do not need more(or all of the) events or DM attention at this point. No finer example of this would be how the ToT played out. Say what you will about the Time of Troubles arc, but when one segment of the population gets twice as many events as the rest of the entire server(... or maybe I'm out of the loop, and didn't hear about more than the 3 or 4 events outside of said segment), it does nothing to foster overall activity on a (much needed) wider scale.

Lastly, some players have been creating their own events and festivals, which is a great way to drum up excitement. Hopefully this can continue, and also hopefully the DM's are able to spice them up if they're able. This is not me trying to rag on the DM's or anything, as I'm not really aware of how active they really are(maybe more plots are happening, but I'm going off of what I see in game, and how much the DM's post).

So yeah, those are my ideas. Like I said, simple little stories and events can go a very long way, and even more stories can be created out of them. And, perhaps most importantly, they give players the ability to evolve their characters into something more than what the xp'ing/looting aspect of the server has to offer.

If anyone else has more ideas, please feel free to share.

Join our guild, Snarf-o. Then you'll be happy.

I am not a big fan of DM events as a/the primary means of driving the server... they are too few and far between. Rather, I would like the staff to design and communicate an enduring geo-political story line that allows every character to align to... or against. Just like RL, there are enduring themes and narratives that any person in any community would know and interact with.

For example, we know OOC the ToT is over; yet, our characters are not as fortunate. My question is this... how have the populace/ local communities adapted to the ToT? What new laws or policies now dictate daily life? How are adventurers viewed? Is it favorable or not?

Plot lines come and go... but enduring themes and narratives provide every character rich RP fodder to draw from.

Cheers!

My Reasons for Loving the ToT Event-

1. It gave me much to talk about - Like the author of the thread mentioned, it was nearly every 2 weeks, a DM Rumor Post was made and gave players to come around to gossip about it. And I got to spread the same gossip around and often times there were alot of PC's that didnt know about the rumors. Not even OOC.

2. The weather effects - red skies, earthquakes, magic going wild and the system narrated an effect to rp like my PC"s hair falling out. It really broke away from the normal stuff and refreshed the atmosphere somewhat.

It nearly reminded me of Events like the Nightingale Vampire event. Over all it gave something to Rp about and your own gossips and rumors can turn the mindset of things. As of current...well...I myself feel like the good juicy rumors got new breakpads or something. My timezone sucks but I still manage to find myself in some small events. It helps break away from some of the norm. But I surely aint getting big gossips or rumors.

I know its holidays for some, and some DMs are real people too. Prayers to the ones in bad RL situation as well. But somethings to talk about or go about speaking about would be helpful on the Rp side of things. Some Dm's that I have worked with know I do try to pass the fun around to new faces or lower levels. And like the author of the thread said, unless Im out on the loop of things, it feels like much has came to a sudden halt.

Hell I be more than happy to start my own rumors! This server lucky I dont know how to DM I'd make you all suffer anxiety!

Rather, I would like the staff to design and communicate an enduring geo-political story line that allows every character to align to... or against.

While I get that this is something you personally would want, I have to ask: Is an enduring geo-political story line at this point really going to draw a lot of players in, or even gain any traction at all? Especially for new players. Do you think they would be more eager to jump into a political drama, or go chase down some half-ogre bandit leader and his pack of feral owlbears? Given the amount of agency that characters seem(?) to have, I think it might be more prudent to get back to the fundamentals. This is after all a Dungeons and Dragons game. Political RP has it's place, for certain, but it's not something that is going to get peoples blood pumping the way that a well thought out story in the form of 'adventure' will.

MrSmith wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:05 pm My question is this... how have the populace/ local communities adapted to the ToT? What new laws or policies now dictate daily life? How are adventurers viewed? Is it favorable or not?

Honestly, I didn't participate in anything ToT-wise really. I caught the end of some event with mages being persecuted near Nashkel, and read the DM forum posts about gods dying and such, but none of it really felt like any of my characters were impacted whatsoever. I did like the red skies and earthquakes though and seeing that smoldering temple. Apart from that, ehh... let's just say that the in-game "feel" did not necessarily align with what I was reading, which I understand was limited by this ancient beast of a game engine(not being able to cast my spells was ooc'ly frustrating as heck too).

That all being said, I wasn't recommending DM events as a sole means of driving the server, just that there be more small events as a means of facilitating some activity for newer players, or at least more activity that falls outside of the typical circles/guilds/higher level cliques.

It's strange - we get suggestions to do one-offs, but a lot of us are already trying to do more one-offs. Ink, for example, does a lot of them. But then we get requests for follow-ups, as if they weren't one-offs, and the one-offs turn into overarching plots not by our design.

It depends a bit on what you mean by one-offs too. Events that happen effectively in a vacuum doesn't make sense in a persistent world. Those I personally am not a huge fan of. There's no depth to them, nothing to really grow on. It's just another band of goblins raiding a merchant caravan. Happens all the time on the Trade Way. You know?

But I do enjoy doing spontaneous things. But not big, spontaneous things - so no server shouts from me. Unfortunately it is also a bit difficult because a lot of people (as statistics have shown in the past) tend to solo and so there are several people online, even within similar level ranges, off in different corners of the server, doing solo stuff. Or even if they are in a group, it's difficult to drop something in front of them while they are sprinting across a map.

We really do try though. And we sometimes succeed!

Perhaps one-off is a bit off the mark. They can two or three-offs as well

DM Ghost wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 6:27 pm Events that happen effectively in a vacuum doesn't make sense in a persistent world. Those I personally am not a huge fan of. There's no depth to them, nothing to really grow on.

But there might be, for the players involved at least. Like you say, quite often players will be off soloing(such as myself) and maybe just want to be left alone, so a spontaneous or one-off event makes little sense. With a group of runners that might not be the case. I suspect these types are a little conditioned towards just going through the motions, likely because things rarely get sprung on them. Sometimes if I'm lurking nearby with my PC, I'll loot a container and drop some items near them just to see if they react. The same could easily be done for DM's, just plop down some bait and see if they bite. If not, oh well. More often than not you're likely to get a reaction.

The other day I saw about four characters in the level 10'ish range(all new players) go into the abandoned temple north of Beregost. As luck would have it three of them went down, and the fourth was struggling to cart their bodies out when my character intervened.. mind you the cadaver carrier got incapacitated by the imps outside when he exited but I remembered I had a healing ring at the last moment, gave him some smelling salts to raise the strongest of the bunch, and so a hero was born. Wouldn't you know, they actually mustered up some RP before racing off to bring the rest of their group to a temple. And while it wasn't much to grow on for my character (because I am an utterly hopeless case), it might have been for theirs (and also, at least the 3 being carried didn't get zonked by the 4th dying, with no hope of being rez'd, lol)

DM Ghost wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 6:27 pm It's strange - we get suggestions to do one-offs, but a lot of us are already trying to do more one-offs. Ink, for example, does a lot of them. But then we get requests for follow-ups, as if they weren't one-offs, and the one-offs turn into overarching plots not by our design.

I think this happens because everyone is thirsty for something to RP about. A buzz for when the event is over. Some meat for the group to chew on. If the one off events weren't so few and far between, maybe requests for follow up RP and storyline wouldn't be so frequent. We as the players, just want to interact with you, the DMs. When we get a taste of it on our plate, we always want to go back for seconds.

Genuinely Spurious wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:17 am

DM Ghost wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 6:27 pm It's strange - we get suggestions to do one-offs, but a lot of us are already trying to do more one-offs. Ink, for example, does a lot of them. But then we get requests for follow-ups, as if they weren't one-offs, and the one-offs turn into overarching plots not by our design.

I think this happens because everyone is thirsty for something to RP about. A buzz for when the event is over. Some meat for the group to chew on. If the one off events weren't so few and far between, maybe requests for follow up RP and storyline wouldn't be so frequent. We as the players, just want to interact with you, the DMs. When we get a taste of it on our plate, we always want to go back for seconds.

Pretty much, yeah. If a random goblin raid is the most interesting thing to happen to someone in the past month, it's understandable that they're going to try to investigate where the raiders came from, talk to the families of the victims, etc., because they'll have plenty of time and energy to devote to dealing with it.

At the same time, sometimes the events resonate strongly enough with a character that they might want to make the time and energy to deal with it, minor or not. Like Virin and that kobold she freed in a random Glundrothi encounter last year.

I would honestly love to do more one offs, and especially more events that incorporate a ton of different types of characters. A lot of the time I run things I get into an infinite spiral of follow up. Then I move on to another event line while continuing the follow-up from the events before. The new one offs become an additional spiral of endless follow up. Then I'm trying to work on requests while running nearly endless follow up events. This usually comes out to me only logging on to do follow up and requests. This is why there is a great lack of impromptu events from me.

Just to be clear, I love working with everyone here. Its been nothing but a pleasure to run events, follow up, and work on collaborative story telling. I'm just thinking what can be done to free myself up to do more. I think the alternative is I will need to add into my rule set that I will only do a maximum of 1 follow up event for any one off I do. If the specified goal is not accomplished in that time space the event is officially closed. This should speed up my write up process and allow for me to move on to the next one. It also should prevent a one off from becoming a 6 month thing. (They have in the past)

Larger storylines will be a case by case basis, and I am thinking of putting a cut off on those as well with a few exceptions.

I think I'll start this and begin wrapping up these extra events. I think this should improve my ability to get back to DMing some of the new ideas I've had but just havent had time to run.

As much as I love our DMs and what they do, I usually find myself avoiding them ingame. Sure, part of it is that I feel others deserve their limited availability more than me, but mostly because I think we should be making our own fun. You can create one shots, you can be the one who creates conflict. I personally am a big fan of personal development. Therapy, almost, with how it's connected to mentality of my characters. When they stop growing or changing, I consider their story told. I move on. I liven things up for myself. I recommend trying out new characters for new stories. When there is no more unknown, no more surprises, things get stale and it might seem that a random adventure will change anything. It won't. Not in a long shot. Anyway, that's my take. Do what is fun for you to do. Create your own fun.