My suggestions (you know it had to come)

[jrizz]

Well after 3 months of play, I know this is not a long time but I have years of XP in PnP and developed my own system, I have to say the all in all I have really enjoyed playing here. But I do have some suggestions so I will jump right in. I am sure you hear from all new players about the XP reqs I feel that the XP reqs are well thought out to promote RP, but I would change leveling a little. Perhaps with the many XPs it takes to level there should come a little more reward in the process. What I mean is there could be a few more attrib points, spells, feats, skills with each level,, not much but a little more then the standard NWN. I am not suggesting a XP to skill ratio to match NWN but just a little more. Say a extra attrib point every three levels, a 12th level character would only have 4 point to work with (that is not much). Maybe a couple of extra skill points per level and one extra feat. Seeing that a 10th level has some where around 640,000 XP a few extras above the standard is not much.

The next is in active GMs, in three months of play I have encountered a GM during random play only once (and it was great!). This means to me that there are too few GMs for the vastness of the world. My suggestion is to bring in a few more GMs (JRs) who are tasked with running around the world enhancing play randomly and furthering storylines set by SR GMs. The world could be divided up both geographically and temporally among these (non-quest) GMs to serve this purpose. They could be watched over by random visits from SR GMs. This would spice up some of the things that have become mundane such as Haven mine runs, sielwood runs, high forest oak runs, hickory runs, broken forest runs, and so on. These things that have become mundane would now be varied and a little more interesting By the way I would give up 50% of my playtime to do this. As a PnP GM I derived much enjoyment from running the storyline and RPing the NPCs and interacting with the PCs. I can think of many ways to make a visit to Haven Mines quite fun and challenging. This method would also be a good training ground for new quest GMs. Say you had a JR GM who had just Haven and its surrounding area. From this limited area a new GM could take the time needed to get good with the tools. This idea would give these areas (I would suggest that the main cities and towns be off limits) new personality and challenges as well it would solve some of the CNR issues that seem to be coming up. The GMs could set a throttle on resources while at the same time give the players a more fun time.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Cheers,
John

[LoganGrimnar]

I was interested in doing a GM thing like that as well, sence i have lots of free time, i work about 8 hours... and only sleep about 4 hours a day, so all that other times is spent on layo, or whereever. I was told to wait tell they put out aplications again for GM positions. And im still waiting. I have no xp in dming, or how the nwn dm system works, but id love to learn just so i can sit around and help add the random things that would encounter in a world, random encounters with larger groups of monster, answereing to the prayers of pc's to there gods and the such, and also to supervise that the rules are being followed and there is no cheating or the such happing. BUT we gota wait for the positions to open up before we can get the job.

[Dorganath]

Just as a point of information, as a player, I have been on 2 separate Haven mine excursions where a GM upped the stakes a bit and made things more interesting for our group.
  On another occasion, as a GM, I did just that to a party who was deep in the Haven Mines. 
  So things like this do happen.  And we do run impromptu things.  Unfortunately we can't do it all the time.
  I'm not sure if you're implying that the GMs are "inactive" somehow by your wording, but it's kind of coming across that way.  Like everyone else, the GMs have RL obligations, as well as in-game obligations.  There have been a lot of CDQ requests recently that have tied up a lot of time for the GM team in general, and that's on top of the other quests we try and run each month.  So we do what we can, but we can't be everywhere, and just because you're not seeing impromtu events doesn't mean they're not happening.

[twidget658]

DEEEP!!

We were at the bottom, just barely started our way out when...[big]BLAMOOOOOO!![/big]...ogres everywhere. We would get done with one group and...[big]BAM!![/big]...another group would spawn right behind them. We made it out though. The pucker factor was very high. I had to release my chair to stand up.

Lots of fun.

And then there was one time in seilwood forest. Eight legged creatures were everywhere. One spawn right after another. I hate fighting spiders in the first place. It wasn't real difficult but it was fun. The GM just sent a tell afterwards saying something like,"Hehe, just having some fun, goodnight." For some reason, I was looking over my shoulder the rest of the night.

And then there is Rhiz. He is pretty daring. Stole an emerald right off of Rawkwin. We had to track the thief to a pirate ship in Fort Valensk, fight the pirates, and get the gem back from the thief. How he came up with something so quick is beyond me. That was great!

And the mess Rodlin is now in was an impromptu quest. It has been going forever. Mostly because I have been slacking on it. He keeps reminding me, though. Hide-and-seek around the bank in Hlint was the latest.

You never know when and where the GM's will strike next. It may just be a goblin asking for directions in the middle of Hlint or a dragon accusing you of stealing his silver.

[LoganGrimnar]

my point wasent that the gm's dont do these thigns enough, im not struck by these random things often, but that is fine, id just like to help fix the proablem insetad of complaining about it. id love to see more random factor, and i find myself wanting to follow invisably more often then not, so id rather just be a dm and cause a little terror, and id be one many hours a day. sence i find more satisfaction in the rp of others, listening and watching, helping them if there in combat (casting haste and such) and not letting them know im there, id think it would be better to be a gm then a player.ive lost most intrest in killing, i like watching the show though lol.

[Frendh]

Attribute point as in Ability stat? Like Int, Agi, Wis,
Str,Con, Cha? Getting that every three lvls is a bit
too good. You would be able to get Dev crit or
Dragon Shape at lvl 27.

[LoganGrimnar]

you make level 27 sound so easy... but more to the point, the extra power you gain would be to much, it is fine how it is and that would really be unneeded proablems...

[FlameStrike]

Having characters gain one point every 3 levels would cause everyone to relevel, and i don't think the Dev Team currently has the time for that...
 
 I agree, it's just fine the way it is.

[jrizz]

You miss read me, and I apologize if this came off in anyway negative, this is in the spirit of construction entirely. On this point I hope I am clear. What you state only illistrates my point though, you guys are busy. With the on going quests and CDQs as well as your own play time there is little time to build short scenarios and camp out waiting for player to come along. I know the GMs do roam about in their free time (of which there is very little I understand) and that fits into the model that I propose. The JR GMs would have very specific areas to cover and would need explicit permission to move out of that area, where the SR GMs roam where they needed to. This could create some very cool encounters for players. The SR GMs would know the areas and times when JR GMs will be active and can enhance (or oversee) any encounters therein.

[jrizz]

I understand your points on the leveling issues that I raised (meaning that the development time and the retro effect would be challenging to manage) In light of those two challenges I don't think I will spin revs on trying to purse a solid argument to support the idea.

On the Other idea of non-quest GMs (JRs). The points rasied or examples given only further the the idea as a good one. This kind of randomness is good and addes more (I am not saying there is none just more in this case would be well recieved) flavor.

[jrizz]

I would like to reiterate that there was no ill intent on my part, only as stated the promotion of an idea. So to revisit I understand the difficulty with the leveling suggestion (I am in the technology business and know the pains of development and prioritization). As for the idea of non-quest GMs both to add more random encounters and as a training/weeding out process for new GMs, please see my above reply.

(For ease I will paste the main points here)

1. Jrizz: The next is in active GMs, in three months of play I have encountered a GM during random play only once (and it was great!). This means to me that there are too few GMs for the vastness of the world. My suggestion is to bring in a few more GMs (JRs) who are tasked with running around the world enhancing play randomly and furthering storylines set by SR GMs. The world could be divided up both geographically and temporally among these (non-quest) GMs to serve this purpose. They could be watched over by random visits from SR GMs. This would spice up some of the things that have become mundane such as Haven mine runs, sielwood runs, high forest oak runs, hickory runs, broken forest runs, and so on. These things that have become mundane would now be varied and a little more interesting  By the way I would give up 50% of my playtime to do this. As a PnP GM I derived much enjoyment from running the storyline and RPing the NPCs and interacting with the PCs. I can think of many ways to make a visit to Haven Mines quite fun and challenging. This method would also be a good training ground for new quest GMs. Say you had a JR GM who had just Haven and its surrounding area. From this limited area a new GM could take the time needed to get good with the tools. This idea would give these areas (I would suggest that the main cities and towns be off limits) new personality and challenges as well it would solve some of the CNR issues that seem to be coming up. The GMs could set a throttle on resources while at the same time give the players a more fun time.

2. Dorganath: I'm not sure if you're implying that the GMs are "inactive" somehow by your wording, but it's kind of coming across that way.  Like everyone else, the GMs have RL obligations, as well as in-game obligations.  There have been a lot of CDQ requests recently that have tied up a lot of time for the GM team in general, and that's on top of the other quests we try and run each month.  So we do what we can, but we can't be everywhere, and just because you're not seeing impromtu events doesn't mean they're not happening.


3. Jrizz: You miss read me, and I apologize if this came off in anyway negative, this is in the spirit of construction entirely. On this point I hope I am clear. What you state only illistrates my point though, you guys are busy. With the on going quests and CDQs as well as your own play time there is little time to build short scenarios and camp out waiting for player to come along. I know the GMs do roam about in their free time (of which there is very little I understand) and that fits into the model that I propose. The JR GMs would have very specific areas to cover and would need explicit permission to move out of that area, where the SR GMs roam where they needed to. This could create some very cool encounters for players. The SR GMs would know the areas and times when JR GMs will be active and can enhance (or oversee) any encounters therein.

[Leanthar]

What Dorganath stated... I whole heartedly agree with him.
  On the jr/sr gm thing.  This is not going to happen.  We used to have something like that way back in the early beta.... sadly I had to remove 1/2 the team (way back then) because of rampant cheating/abuse etc.  It seemed that a few jr members did not truely understand what we were trying to do and they were doing things for their friends etc.  I vowed I would never do that again.... There is more to being on the gm team than just a name and running a few things for a few people/the world--a lot more and by the time the jr member made it through that training they would probably not be happy. 
  At least for now, and for the forseeable future, this is how it will remain.  Good idea, but difficult to implement with the nwn engine/dm engine.

[jrizz]

Ah yes I suppose the temptation for misuse would be high thus causing a greater load on SR GMs to police the JR GMs. Thank you for taking the time to look at this and explaining the history to me. For myself I will spend time learning the DM tools and await a call for new GMs.

Cheers,
John

[Acacea]

I typed something here several times but never really felt like I got enough of a point across to bother- but hey, that's never stopped me before!

While I love the spontaneous quests and general RP enchancement, even if it's just a "Yo" from an NPC or something, you don't always need DM intervention for roleplay or to get things done. There are some people out there that make things like "laps in the mines" feel like anything but. I'd like to see more player driven RP in those kinds of situations- it doesn't have to stop once you leave town.  

[jrizz]

yes!!

[Tedulas]

From reading the first post...The characters would be wayyy too [R] Strong[/R], and getting super high strength and the like. Also, it would make your character too independant, too quickly. I think they are fine now...

[Nook]

FlameStrike - 10/11/2005  7:38 AM

Having characters gain one point every 3 levels would cause everyone to relevel, and i don't think the Dev Team currently has the time for that...
 
 I agree, it's just fine the way it is.

How about every 4 or maybe 5 levels, get one?  But only in their prime req. field.  it would show that they are building on their main abilities (you fight & live long enough, you would grow stronger; same with a mage, etc.)  It would also be a well deserved bonus for the character.
I do agree that every 3 levels is too close together, but it shouldn't be ruled out entirely.
 Just a thought.

[darkstorme]

Well, the other principal problem with this (other than applying it retroactively to all those people who didn't have the advantage) is that there's no way to increase the "base" stats of a character and keep it legal - so stat bonuses would have to be applied to skins.  The problem with THAT is that skin bonuses count as item bonuses, and you can only ever get +10 on any attribute through item bonuses.  So if they managed some very, VERY complicated scripting to edit the normal level-up process, high-level players would eventually be stuck anyway, with no way to further boost their stats.