WL character quests

[Dezza]

In game currently there are still a few remnants of quest RP instigators from previous WL's. The first one that springs to my mind is near Vale when you are told to seek out Plenarius for the whole story.

The idea was that when you found Plenarius and asked him to tell the story he would use the WL xp wand and give that player a reward for doing so.

It never really took off but I think it is a really great way to bring attention to those characters that took the extra effort to go the extra mile to really make something of their characters in a world sense. I know people might say well my character makes an impact too and I didnt do a WL but there are only a few WL's and its a huge effort I think we can use and recognise.

I am proposing those NPC's are tweaked so that we have a starter NPC in a location that tells the player they have to seek out such and such to hear their story. Then they have to travel somewhere that is specific to the WL and find the NPC version of that WL in game that gives them a dialogue about their story and gives them a token. The PC then returns to the original NPC to present the token and earns a XP bonus.

I think it's a great way to keep some of these WL's and their stories alive in the world!

We already have their summaries in their forum we can tweak to suit.

[Dremora]

Just a question I think related to this but.. the quest Wisdom of the Great Oak. I was told requires finding the WL PC so he can grant the quest finished. Am I to assume then that there is actually an NPC version of him hidden somewhere?

[Lance Stargazer]

That the one you got on Vale?

[Dremora]

Dunno, it was on west. some druid lady gave it to me like a RL year ago. TO find RHizome

[Lance Stargazer]

Trying to put an end to the hijacking . of the thread and return to the intended path by Dezza.

Its in my understanding that there is no NPC's that will give you the token for finishing WL story quests currently, to get the Plenarious one, Plen had to give away the Token to be presented to the completation of the quest.  

*Puts the thread back in track*

[Alatriel]

While I like the idea... I do have an issue with it.  Mostly, I don't like having an NPC version of my character in game when I'm not there.  The reason is this:  My character doesn't actually usually discuss what it is she did on her WLDQ with just anyone, and especially not with people of certain faiths, etc.  So that would make it a bit "wrong."  Now, I don't have a problem with some Toranite historian NPC telling the story.  Then at least there wouldn't be a bunch of PC's out there saying "Oh, yeah, I met Daniella Stormhaven!" and I have no idea who they are because I've never actually met them.


But if you want to just put someone in the Citadel that tells about her story, absolutely.  Go for it.

[Dorganath]

Two things:

The stories that were told by these prominent PCs (who were not necessarily WL characters at the time) usually did not have anything to do with their WLDQ/ECDQ, but rather was some story related to them in some way (through their faiths, for example) that is historical and important in some way.  Plen's story is about Katia when she walked the planet as a mortal, and I guarantee you Plen was not around then (though he is getting pretty old *winks*). So there would be no, and should be no, need to divulge the WLDQ story through something like this.

*****HUGE DISCLAIMER*****
This next is not a "here's why we can't/won't do this. It's informational only.
***** END  DISCLAIMER *****
2) The key reason why this system floundered and died was that the characters who were the focus of these quests became hunted down and often pestered to tell their stories so people could get the quest ticked off their journals and that little bit of XP, much to the fatigue of the people who were to tell the stories.  Now that WLs have XP wands, this system is almost unnecessary, except maybe to let people know who to talk to.  As a secondary thing, the system is clunky and requires a module update for any changes.

For what it's worth, I sympathize with not wanting an NPC version of my character in game persistently. I'm sure we're not the only one.

Perhaps a better idea, which is subject to WL cooperation, is to have a forum where WLs can post their willingness to relay a particular story if met in game.  This could maybe be part of the Rumors section, and so ICly speaking, the rumor of Such And Such knowing about That Thing could well be somewhat common knowledge or at least...whispered about.  

Just a thought.

[Dezza]

I hear what you are saying Dorg but how many WL's are active?

Daniella and Leisa are the only two i can think of immediately out of all the ones we have listed. We are loosing touch with Lore due to not enough of the 'older gen' being around to help relay it.

This is a good way of bringing some of that Lore back to life and bringing these characters back to life. I like the idea that they recount a story of their choosing and maybe we dont have to use a NPC version of the character in game. Maybe its an NPC Aragenite Scholar who tells the PC a story about that WL? That way the PC's wont get hunted down but maybe, just maybe, a player who logs in and sees one of these people they heard about in game is on, they might actually seek them out to chat with them?


I suggested it because very few if any GM's beyond myself include WL's in their quests or impromptu's anymore and the WL system was an important part of Layonara and its history and character development and incentive for others to RP in such a way that maybe they too could one day become part of the fabric of Layonara with their character.

[Dorganath]

I'm all over your intent here Dezza.  Just trying to offer some alternatives/additional ideas for implementation so that it doesn't go stagnant.

[Lance Stargazer]

*cough * thaaaaank you very much Dezz .. I love you too  

*Puts back on trail*

[Rowana]

I hear what you are saying Dorg but how many WL's are active?

Daniella and Leisa are the only two i can think of immediately out of all the ones we have listed. We are loosing touch with Lore due to not enough of the 'older gen' being around to help relay it.

I think the quoted text might be based on situational or circumstantial observations. Bris and Connor are temp locked in Famine related stuff, Lance is all over the place, Kat has been in and out as her player's schedule has allowed (the player herself is hardly 'inactive'), Angela and Alantha team have peeked in recently, Enzo's been around off and on (though his player has been doing more with other stuff lately), Ni'haer's been around. Plen's been taking part in the Famine quest via forums off and on, Storold's been back around doing his thing after his quest related (and RL) absence. I wouldn't be surprised to know of others who are active that I'm not as aware of.

I get it about the system in question but I don't think it's fair to say our WL are in active nor combining the two issues. It may feel like they are linked at the moment. I know holidays and re-start of school tend to drain the play time out of people, a lot of these WL are available to be contacted and will even come in game when there's a need to have them there. There's not a loss of lore happening at the rate that is implied here. They just all have stuff. A significant amount of it is stuff for Layo.

Honestly that system for giving the tokens/reward exp is obsolete, and it's been a problem for the reasons Dorg already stated. There's been talk about pulling it completely, about sprucing it up to usable, to updating some of the stuff and WL involved. It's just one of those things that hasn't been a high priority. However, the system and the Lore that is in the heads of WL are two different issues really, at least the way I see it. The Lore they have isn't really that far gone and the system... well the system is it's own problem... There's threads on this on the back end side of things and it might be a good idea to read those over for the in-depth discussions that have been had on the topic, maybe pull it up back there again and see if the project team wants to take a stab at it.

Even though I don't have a WL character, I have to say that having NPC versions of WL that are still active seems like a pretty bad plan, no offence. I can see a lot of ways that the RP will become problematic, in the same ways we sometimes have to correct RP with major and minor NPCs already in existence. It's a headache for GMs to deal with and I think that similar problems for WL would probably not help overall.

Anyway, kind of babbling about this now. I'll echo the others on the sentiment above about understanding some of where you're coming from, but I think it's a layered issue that really needs to be picked apart on the back side. We need to see if it can be fixed or if the NPCs that give the quests can just be pulled so people don't have to twitch about having incomplete quests sitting in their journals annoying them. I totally get that sort of irritation, I'm allllll about lists and checking stuff off! But the answers for this issue just haven't been small or even medium fixes.

~row

[Dezza]

*coughs* Sorry Lance!

Let me begin again. I have play tested a few other servers over the last few years while remaining staunchly loyal to Layonara. I have found that some of the most interesting places had Lore inbuilt into the game. NPC's that spoke about certain events or places, signs that conveyed information about the lands the player was in etc. We have tried this on layonara with some areas you enter and a text box comes up with some information on the area and of course we have made a great attempt with the Bydell castle idea and the Green Dragon Cult war information.

But...we have such a rich Lore base that could become more of the fabric of players and their characters lives by representing more of it in game.

Imagine entering Port Hempstead Fields and the text box comes up saying "After travelling for several days you enter vast sprawling farmlands interspersed with stone and timber structures and small corner markets. In the distance the walls of a great city can be seen. Port hempstead of the Kingdom of Brelin, population...."

The idea of a NPC given quest to go to another NPC to hear a story about a WL is simply another way of keeping information about prominant figures in Layonaran history valid and present. It doesnt have to matter if the character is still active or not in the world for that history to be present. We did it for Blood and Molvaren I think its important we do the same for player based efforts as well.

If there is talk about sprucing the system up so its usable as Rowana indicated then I am suggesting that maybe this is something that could be considered.

[Dorganath]

You know we're not really disagreeing, right? *smiles*

It's all in the implementation though, and what sort of implementation(s) make sense.

We have an idea for WLs telling stories.  How do we best go about that? Several alternatives have been suggested. I would suggest, if this is strongly desired, that a discussion be started in the WL forums and get feedback from GMs and WLs as to what would be acceptable, what level of participation people may wish to give, etc. The only way this is going to work is with WL cooperation, and learning from past mistakes. You absolutely cannot turn WLs into XP dispensers.  They will resent you for it.

We have an idea for scattering lore in-game in various ways. How do we best go about that? For some of it, the Magic Mouth system I made and put into place in Bydell can be used, and maybe we have other mechanisms too, but we (the GM team primarily) need to decide what and where, and these are no small things. As you note, we have a ton of lore, and inserting even a small fraction of that into the game is no small feat, so there needs to be thoughtful planning. Since most or all of the "technology" needed to do something like this already exists, it becomes an implementation thing, at which point the discussion needs to be moved to the Project Team area. Otherwise, it's just a "put some lore out there" request, which is amorphous and guaranteed not to cover what the requester is wanting.

[Dremora]

Personally I like the idea of gathering a list of WL's talking to them OOC and then sorting out a quest where in you find an NPC who then tells you a story about a WL's history or exploits.
Ammending that, you could have the 'seeking out' part be visiting a place that was affected/important to (or whatever is applicable) to that World Leader where an interactable item can be placed.
In essence the idea is you visit a place that was the site of something important and meditate there for awhile get an XP boost and both the NPs and the item itself can come with LORE attached for players to read up on and use IC/OOC where ever appropriate. The items themselves can have historic descriptions placed on them for players to read while they're character visit these landmark places, and all the IC info relating to the story and the WL can come from the NPC.

Though shooting my idea in the foot, for character like Ni'haer or Hardargh.. some areas which were the foci of their ascent to WL may be GM areas and not accessible. Regardless the whole story-teller quests around the world part seems like a good idea rather than purely relying on the Mouth and the Criers.
As for what is told.. it may not always be accurate; it may be embellished, biased, untrue. Thats pretty much how things happen in real life with celebrities, historical events etc. Players who do then run across a WL may get the chance to ask them about it and the WL themselves may learn a little something abou what some people think of them.