Layonara - View Single Post - MMO Objectives Discussion

vgn · 10-25-07, 06:17 PM

I love you post Acacea and would like to point out a few things about the current Layonara and they also apply to future versions and other games.

For well over a year now, Leanthar and other world building people have encouraged GMs to incorporate Epic/World Leaders in their quests, not as part of the main party, but actually more as a resource and potentially even a protagonist. Few GMs end up actually doing this, but it has been done.

I think what is really needed is a few things:
1. An actual structure in place to make it worth everyone's time and investment. If an epic character is included in a quest in this fashion they need some kind of gain for it. I believe they get xp as usual, but perhaps this needs to be considered revisited a little. This also goes to your other post about the ridiculousness of epic level characters coming along on a quest that is "open level" but really geared towards lower levels. It provides a nice alternative and makes more sense.

2. For a very long time layo had no or very few evil characters. This is beginning to change, but except for some instances where non-evil characters had drastically opposing dogmas there was not enough friction to pull off political struggles and other truly epic issues. Now evil is actually an option and I think with it comes a lot more opportunities to see exactly this. A player can be a true villain.

3. With some GM support there can be power struggles between PCs as quests now become one powerful PC recruiting lower level resources to go after another powerful PC. There is no reason why at this point in layo's evolution that WLCDQs should not contain multiple World Leaders often pitted against one another and they cannot all "win."

Leanthar has always long been in support of players making lasting changes and differences in the world. I think he would be very excited to see his GM staff run with some of these ideas and through team work (GM pairs, etc) actually breath some realistic life into the world of Layonara.

Finally I'll pose a few thoughtful questions for consideration by both GMs and players:
1. Is there any reason why a player could not assume a true political role in the world? Titles, realms, etc?
2. Is there anything stopping a GM from instead of randomly making up some powerful quest giver (you know the ones, the convenient folks that have a problem only the adventurers can solve), using a powerful PC to play this role and perhaps working with him or her find out some real motivations for something to occur?
3. Is there any reason why an evil character of any level cannot be used as the villain in a quest?

10-25-07, 06:17 PM	#3
vgn Gamemaster Characters Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 808 Thanks: 2 Thanked 52 Times in 24 Posts	Re: MMO Objectives Discussion - The Constantly Lifted Level Cap I love you post Acacea and would like to point out a few things about the current Layonara and they also apply to future versions and other games. For well over a year now, Leanthar and other world building people have encouraged GMs to incorporate Epic/World Leaders in their quests, not as part of the main party, but actually more as a resource and potentially even a protagonist. Few GMs end up actually doing this, but it has been done. I think what is really needed is a few things: 1. An actual structure in place to make it worth everyone's time and investment. If an epic character is included in a quest in this fashion they need some kind of gain for it. I believe they get xp as usual, but perhaps this needs to be considered revisited a little. This also goes to your other post about the ridiculousness of epic level characters coming along on a quest that is "open level" but really geared towards lower levels. It provides a nice alternative and makes more sense. 2. For a very long time layo had no or very few evil characters. This is beginning to change, but except for some instances where non-evil characters had drastically opposing dogmas there was not enough friction to pull off political struggles and other truly epic issues. Now evil is actually an option and I think with it comes a lot more opportunities to see exactly this. A player can be a true villain. 3. With some GM support there can be power struggles between PCs as quests now become one powerful PC recruiting lower level resources to go after another powerful PC. There is no reason why at this point in layo's evolution that WLCDQs should not contain multiple World Leaders often pitted against one another and they cannot all "win." Leanthar has always long been in support of players making lasting changes and differences in the world. I think he would be very excited to see his GM staff run with some of these ideas and through team work (GM pairs, etc) actually breath some realistic life into the world of Layonara. Finally I'll pose a few thoughtful questions for consideration by both GMs and players: 1. Is there any reason why a player could not assume a true political role in the world? Titles, realms, etc? 2. Is there anything stopping a GM from instead of randomly making up some powerful quest giver (you know the ones, the convenient folks that have a problem only the adventurers can solve), using a powerful PC to play this role and perhaps working with him or her find out some real motivations for something to occur? 3. Is there any reason why an evil character of any level cannot be used as the villain in a quest?