The idea that the world should move on without us from a GM perspective is absolutely frustrating. In instances where we have done this in the past we have copped an absolute hammering by players saying its not fair, they didnt get any input, they didnt get a chance to act. Now you are saying why isnt it happening? I prefer not to be called stupid no matter what we do. *throws hands into the air* You can't have your apple and eat it too sometimes. You have to accept and work with what you've got and I feel like a broken record on that point.
I need to know, please, who rules the world. Does Queen Mouring, for example, matter? Does she make any decisions for Trelania? Is there a government there, or do people just sit around pretending to do things? Are they allied with Brelin? If some tragic event befalls one, with the other act with the force of a whole kingdom?-OR-Do adventurers rule the world? Do all major events require the interdiction of a PC? Will Queen Mouring, for example, do nothing, ever, unless there is interaction with one of our characters? If a tragic event befalls Hlint, say, will the Queen act, calling in resources from her vast kingdom or is it up to a handful of adventurers to make anything at all happen to help Hlint?Is the world alive or dead? Is there a realistic background with a sensible hierarchy, or are we playing tiny, powerful demigods who tell kings and queens where to go? Yes, it would be bad if everything happened without the opportunity for player input, but it is equally bad that everything requires player input. Why is everything always all-or-nothing, black-and-white? Find some middle ground.
To add another layer...what happens when we (the GM Team) make reasonable, logical, "middle ground" decisions on behalf of some realm or faith or whatever....and some of you (the players) disagree?
yes, kings and queens should be growing old and dying. So should a lot of PCs. We're not going to enforce that strictly. The reasons should be obvious on the PC end of things, and for NPCs, well, the issue is that time in NWN is far, too accelerated for us as a game world to really keep up with in a meaningful way. We'd have to be doing this as a full-time job to do so, and all but the most active players would get left in the dust.
I'm sorry, but this is an example of the all-or-nothing mindset. "If we do it, we have to do it on schedule for everyone, so we won't do anything." No, man. Calm down. Imagine Row is taking care of Trelania. She decides that Calwhatever in Hlint is retiring and has him replaced with a new pawn NPC. Maybe there's a party. Maybe it just happens quietly. That's all. No worry about time scales. No pressure for anyone else to be replaced. Just a little change. Done. It's not all and it's not nothing - middle ground. Easy.
Some very good points and well explained, even though it was getting late *nods to Dorg *A lot of the GM team has been absent for some time due to RL pressures and whatnot and that has also resulted in a lessening of events. Would it be out of the question to take on some more GMs to help spread the (game) load and perhaps to even be given some responsibility for some areas/countries to develop stories?I will put myself forward to start the ball rolling
Or faction. Along this line of thinking, maybe there should be some sort of non-metaplot country/area/faction development quests.
Oh. Then why are you discussing so long? My apologizes to ignoring the usual chain of reading-thinking-thinking again-posting. Shot from the hip, without insight on how the GM team works: ask for volunteers that handle certain factions, create a form to handle DM requests for a faction development quests, create a list of faction NPCs and PCs that took CDQs to enter said faction or could be assigned to the faction after speaking with the player. Create a node/branch system to manage power distribution and influence for each faction; calculate available resources and create a plot/story with that in a top-down approach (e.g. faction wants to reinforce influence in area xyz, and with the use of resources rrr they want to go about it that way...spawning storyline A), let somebody check it for unwanted metaplot influences and go.