Cairn

[Chongo]

GM Name: Cairn
Forum Name: Chongo
IRC Names: Chongo or ChongoBongo
Email: chongo@layonara.com
Character Names: Ketilbjorn and Abiorn

Timezone: MST
Profession: Ski and Climbing Guide

About Me: I'm 29 years old, married, with two dogs and a cat. I've lived on the east and west coasts of the United States, Germany, and now Wyoming. I was schooled on the east coast, went to college in Boston and in Germany, and have both forgotten German and anything I learned in my studies. I was a paramedic for a few years in the general San Francisco area, and I worked with the military for a little while as well. After all that, I've settled in a nice town my wife and I are thrilled with, and have since taken a more leisurely approach on life. Most of my vacation time is spent on climbing trips/ expeditions, I've spent a fair bit of time in South America in the Chilean, Argentinian, and Peruvian Andes, a good bit of time in the Alps and Dolomites, and a good bit all over North America. So who knows, maybe I've been through your hometown.

I started playing NWN when it first came out. I began playing on servers skeptically about... 6 years ago? I didn't know who you internet people were, and was inherently suspicious. Over the past 6 years I have played on Lands of Acheron, Exaria, Vives, Urath, Amia, Arelith, Avlis, and a few others here and there. I ran my own server for a little under 2 years, and with all the names I tossed out before, Layonara has taken up more time then any of the rest combined. It's truly a great place to be.

GM Style: Well, this is always going to be somewhat of a moot point to state, as anything outside of scheduled quests will have you guessing at which of the GM's you're dealing with. If there are a dozen GM's, there are a dozen opinions on what's best, how to create atmosphere, and what Layonara should be like. But, for my quests and impromptu's, I will say you can expect the following general points to be true. I really dislike seeing players die, and I do not consider myself a punitive individual. If I could have my way, we'd all be a big happy group of team players, and everyone would be comfortable with everyone else. You know, trust.

So as far as my quests go, the golden rule is just going with the flow. I am out there to make sure you think Layonara is better after the event. If things seem bad, you just need to stick with it. If tragedy strikes, you just need to hang on to the idea that you can trust me to make the overall experience positive. I will always be looking out for the players, and will never be out to get you... even if I don't like you. So trust that during events. Play your characters, roleplay them with confidence, and always have fun even if things seem to be going poorly. If you stick it out, if you just keep roleplaying... things will almost always work out wonderfully.

I tend to like providing good long lived challenges in the ways of enemies, and mechanics and wit-wise, you can always expect some good battles. I am a firm believer in adventure roleplay. This is a fantasy world based on heroes and heroines. Adventure is a major aspect to our world, and the roleplay should exist in this. Good versus evil, travel amongst the most fantastic of places, the strange descent into the deepest and darkest tunnels... these things should bring out a lot in your character! I love expeditionary campfires/ camps. I encourage everyone to use them to slow the pace, get out those characters, and immerse them in the quest. But yes, always pursue the roleplay during adventure. You do not always have to sit down to roleplay, and some of the best things come out while you're out and on the run. Adventure and RP aren't separate, it is always ongoing.

On quests, my preference is going to be towards smaller groups, as I think it's the best way to have roleplay meet the pace of an event. We have a pretty hefty playerbase here though, and I'll do my best to make sure everyone gets fair inclusion. I also prefer little things like walking when not trying to get somewhere fast (why run in a city where you've just arrived?), dispelling buffs during long NPC interactions, not casting spells preemptively if you feel there's going to be a fight (I will take it into consideration and try to buffer it - but understand buffing during a tense talk is akin to notching an arrow and aiming it at their eye). Pretty basic common sense. Don't worry about respawn tempo, I'll curb it if there's an issue in your pace versus what's needed for roleplay. And always stay IC, same old rule that you should be following in game as well. In fact, we'll go no OOC. no //afk's, brb's etc. RP it, sit down and close your eyes, whatever. If needed, PM me. But ooc breaks roleplay tempo. Just don't use it.

Anyhow, just remember the golden rule. It'll make your events a heck of a lot more fun if you can have faith in a positive experience.