| General Discussion If you have anything off topic to say or you are unsure where to post, this is the place to do so. |
| Welcome to the Layonara forums!
Layonara is so much more than a game. We started off as a tabletop Dungeons and Dragons campaign more than a decade ago. Since then we have developed into a fantasy world with as much compelling and engrossing detail as you will find anywhere.
Our current showcase is a Neverwinter Nights version of Layonara, where our world comes to life in a finely polished persistent world which you can play free of charge. These forums are set up to support and accentuate our player's experiences, but it goes far beyond that.
After years of passionate effort, our world is so well developed, so detailed, so refined that any of the handbooks, maps, historical accounts, legends, descriptions of artifacts, creature reports, character biographies, short stories, novels, movies and original art which populate these forums can surely serve as resources or inspiration for your own fantasy endeavors, whatever they may be. And our world is endlessly evolving, so resources are frequently added and updated.
There are also years of sage advice and commentary on role-playing, gaming and online community development stored in these forums. If camaraderie is what you seek, we offer that too. Our community is as active and supportive as you're likely to find on the internet. In short, these forums are a resource for you to use for whatever purpose or project brought you here.
We're confident that you will find what you are looking for, and likely, substantially more.
Please be our guest and browse around the forums which are available to you. As you do, keep in mind that you are sampling only a portion of what Layonara has to offer. Membership in our community is free, and allows you to establish a Layonara identity to pose your questions and share your thoughts on the forums. When you join you'll also be able to communicate privately to other members (PMs), establish and respond to polls, upload and download content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. So please. join our community today!
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06-24-07, 04:35 PM
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#1 | | Gamemaster Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Back in L-town
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|  The sweetest thing.
This is a reply I made in the "I know some people have been quiet of late" thread, and aside from tooting my own horn, I really feel what I have to say in this reply is hugely important (forgive me; it's pride week). Are you here to "beat" a video game, to level up and explore colored pixels and follow along a pre-set path of +1, to +2, etc.? Or are you here to create story? Are you here to quest? Quote:
Hmmm.... seven people on each server at a time? Sounds like the perfect quest party size. =)
That's why I stuck with Layo, and that's why I'll stick with Layo. Quests. Genuine story adventures. Player-run (like story-telling nights) and GM-run (like CDQ's). And even better, Layo has an over-arching world plot that affects and is affected by us crazy adventurers.
Honestly, I'd only ever log in for the quests (and have before in the past when my time was even more limited), if it wasn't that I need to go through the tedium of crafting and business to get my characters' hands on the gear they need to make them better adventurers.
Sure, you can find RP on other servers, other places even than NWN, but I have yet to find any online presence that has the depth, quality, and number of quests offered here. The NWN version of the world, indeed, the whole DnD construct is just a platform upon which to run adventures, to run quests. Truly, I care little about the platform so long as the quests themselves are quality and interesting.
Just for clarity, here's my definition of "quest," as it pertains to role-playing games:
A quest is a plot (a selection and arrangement of events), complete with story and characters, but missing that final and unpredictable piece of the puzzle known as the player character. A quest is planned in advance, and carefully constructed like any work of art. The best quest designers know how to incorporate the classical dramatic forms (tragedy, comedy, and melodrama) and fill their quests with recognitions and reversals. A quest is a free-form drama, not unlike modern comedy improvisationals. However, a quest holds much more meaning for its audience and its characters, and includes more dramatic elements than a comedy improv sketch. These are the quests that make role-play fun and what makes RP a work of art.
It's that definition that has kept me from applying for a quest GM position many times, as I feel I must have the time to really develop and plan each quest I run. As it stands, I've been GMing pen and paper RPG quests for years, and I barely have the time to do that anymore.
As long as Layo is built around story and quests, I will be here. I hardly care about the community drama, the platform (NWN) issues, or how Layo's custom NWN enhancements compares to other NWN worlds.
I'm here to create stories, to be told stories, and to have adventures. The only drama I care about occurs in-game and in-character.
My only hope is that there are others like me (and I think there are) who stick around to keep the story going.
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"You may call me... The Cat Witch!" ~Sahala
Last edited by miltonyorkcastle : 06-25-07 at 08:47 AM.
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06-24-07, 05:57 PM
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#2 | | Gamemaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: In the cold.
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| Re: The sweetest thing.
"The only drama I care about occurs in-game and in-character."
Hehe, I like it. Can I have that on a T-shirt? *Smiles* Thanks for the post Milty.
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"People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"..open an enormous welcome in your heart for the messy, unpredictable sweetness of life exactly as it is." | | | | |
06-24-07, 06:27 PM
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#3 | | Mind Flayer Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ohio
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| Re: The sweetest thing.
You don't post often enough, Milt. Everything you say is always realistically positive and worth reading.
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06-24-07, 09:18 PM
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#4 | | Ancient Dragon Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Look at me still talking when there's Science to do...
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| Re: The sweetest thing.
*Smiles.* I don't think you quite get the idea of " pride week," but... That's a totally different subject. 
Anyhow... Aye. Quests are what make this server great. DMed, player-based... It's all about the RP, and Quests are what truly set this server apart from others.
They're the biggest reason I log on; the only, when my time is as limited as it's been for the past few weeks. I've gotten up long before dawn, and stayed up past it from the night previous, just for these thrilling and character-changing occurrences.
The quests I've been on, and what they've meant to me, are what made me want to apply to be a quest DM myself (especially considering that my time's opening up considerably, soon). As to whether I'll be chosen, I don't know yet. Maybe, maybe not. If so, I'll do my best to enrich the experiences of the players with RP that immerses and challenges them in ways a player can't... If not, I'll keep on doing what I've loved to do for two-plus years: Roleplay.
Roleplay is what makes this server great, and Quests are what make quite a bit of roleplaying that's otherwise impossible, happen.
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