This idea is for the NGoL (Next Generation of Layonara), though it would work in NWN.
Although the Layonara systems currently in place far outshine anything else I've seen, there is still a lot of story that is not disseminated widely enough. It is nice to play in a world where there is an overarching storyline that can encompass everyone and tie them together in RP. The question is how to involve everyone in this story.
Involvement is a pretty broad term, but at a minimum I'd like to say that it means, "Everyone knows the story and the details are available ingame." The story is the uniter of the players, the thing that holds everything together.
So! After that rambling, here is my idea.
A PC can write a story on a parchment ingame. They can then "use" it to make copies. When a parchment is copied, the copier's name and date is placed on it. These copies can also be used, thus appending a new name and date on it.
Now here's the fun part. This is sort of like a "pyramid scheme" by which the parchment copiers towards the beginning of the chain get rewarded more and more depending on how many people are below them in the chain. So if the originial writer hands it out to ten PCs and those ten hand it out to ten more, that's 110 PCs that have had the chance to know the story.
Some details off the top of my head.
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- A parchment may be brought to a post office and "used" on a special device to give the player their reward. This may be done repeatedly. So after the first week, if there are 15 people that have the message they'd get that reward. If the next week there are 50, then they'd get the reward for the new 35.
- Parchments never expire. They are, in fact, the ingame recording of legend and lore. (It saddens me to hear that the newsletter I write is read then tossed into the trashcan. What good is history if it is not shared?)
- There is a way for a player to question the value of a parchment (ie. report abuse). I don't think there should be judging of quality or content, but there ought to be some way for abuse of rewards to be determined by player feedback or database oversight. Hopefully the "good" writers become more popular and their articles coveted.
- A parchment folder would need to be available, but I'm assuming all the great systems in NWN will be available and working in the NGoL.
- The reward must be enough to encourage the behavior of sharing information ingame.
- Bards should get a leg up on the rest either through special systems or higher bonuses. Or perhaps it is like CNR where you get "better" at doing the job of sharing. A cleric sending out a regular church newsletter is just as valuable as a bard sending out an updated tavern menu.
Reward the behavior you want to encourage. In a level based world, RP is not its own reward.
