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Roleplaying / IC Opinions vs Server Descriptions - YAILWAP

« on: July 24, 2008, 11:06:14 pm »

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(Yet Another Incredibly Long-Winded Acacea Post)

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Hi. I'm not sure if this will do any good, but for those it might make a difference to, it bears reminding.

There is a big difference between something that is emoted, announced, or mandated to us, and what is spoken by an NPC. Obvious, right? Not always.

You see, there is very little time and manpower available to work on the module. There are many things that are great, many things that could use vast improvement, things that would have benefited from more personality or scripting. That is why write-ups, tidbits, summaries, and server messages exist. They give you a bit more to work with in order to roleplay a place or person properly. All of these show something as it is, as you are expected to perceive them. If a GM's server crashed and he has to resort to emoting that there is a huge, cascading waterfall, it is a bit mean-spirited to say IC, "Didn't someone say there was some kind of falls here? Must have meant to the ants!" or something. We make cracks about it OOC maybe, but IC, you see a waterfall.

NPCs, however, are biased. They have flaws, faults, opinions, and shortcomings. An NPC may say "There is a waterfall two miles ahead," may be quite mistaken, or a liar. He can insist until he is blue in the face, but the DM emotes that there is no waterfall. You don't see one. That's a difference between a server description of what exists, and an opinion given by a biased source.

Another example: In various writings and third person summaries of Mistone, Queen Allurial is written as being much loved by her people. She was by all accounts, benevolent, wise, and graceful. She was one of the Seven Sisters, Lucinda's Chosen, and yet even those with no love for magic came to greatly respect and love her. So she is presented to us.

If a DM, therefore, possesses her and emotes that she speaks with grace and kindness, but the DM his or herself is honestly not that great a typist, you may poke fun OOC. But don't start verses about the Queen's speech impediment - he does the best he can, and can only set the stage for you. Part of the game is being handed a cane and being told OOC "this is a hat, sorry." We ruin the game when we are unable to pretend that it is something other than what is shown. We could use more and better showing in many cases, yes! But in the end, it is our job as players to take what we are given and roleplay it, not tear it apart IC and "refuse to see a hat," simply because it wasn't a perfect representation. We are all guilty of this at some point, but it really takes the better player to bite your tongue and try not to ruin everyone else's immersion for it. We can take it OOC and remind the GM that there are really better ways to call a horse an ox, but leave it OOC.

Your character need not have loved the queen! You may indeed play someone who is not part of the norm. But there should be good reasons for it. If it is stated, under Allurial Mistone flourished, and kept safe, then should we be using the inability to have her involved in everything as a sign of her apathy, poor leadership, etc? Our characters may find fault with her. They may even believe things that are total lies, or have a twisted perception of events. They can spread it! But we, as players, should not be trying to convince other players of it. Our character's different interpretations should be delivered in a way that still represents what we were given as a server description and summary - that this one character has a really weird and messed up view of what was in reality a good and much loved queen.

I try to roleplay my character's general flaunting of authority and cynicism regarding its effectiveness. She still loved Queen Allurial, and might have gone MA Scout, had Milo not quit. It's not because I really had all that much interaction with her - that is how she was presented to me. I could latch onto all the OOC problems that existed in Mistone and go on tirades about how they were all her fault and what a terrible leader she must have been to allow it, but instead a surprising amount of us (surprising considering the amount of chaotic characters we have) still RP a general affection and respect for her, even if our characters are not exactly bending the knee in subservience.

By contrast, Port Hempstead is a mess. As a starting city on our server, it should be one of the best known and represented cities on Layonara. It's not. There are honest reasons for why it never quite made it up to par, but it doesn't change that it's still totally messed up, perception wise. An example of one reason, V3, as most remember, was not intended as a finale or anything, but a start. Its release was very rocky and with a lot of bugs and adjustments, but it was never meant to be the end. It wasn't supposed to stay a certain way. There were big plans, huge ones, remember the first announcement for V3? There was this grand plan about how it would continue on and things would change and all this stuff would happen. V3's initial release was built, not as a perfect representation of everything, but as something that set foundations for more to come. New haks, building tools, environments, these were major. A huge amount of rebuilding was done not for looks, but because of changes to tileset files that required areas that weren't even changing to be rebuilt from scratch or be screwed up.

Unfortunately, because of other projects, the module changed owners again in the middle of new stuff. It's not so much unfortunate because of the person, but rather because whenever that happens, often older things are dropped and new people have new goals. That's fine. More big plans! More grand schemes! Which also fall through, as new module op also leaves. Later, another new dev! Even better areas! Cool new challenges! Changes that start building again on what many of the v3 goals were about, such as lifting the magic level! ...But they're all new, epic based stuff for the most part, with few changes to core things. Fantastic new things, but the fact is, it is seriously unlikely that some place like Hempstead is ever going to have any serious new things to make it cooler or better represented. It's just a question of time and effort and information. Someone working at this stage has to really be pretty passionate about their project in order to keep it going, and that's not so easy with leftovers of other people's stuff.

So, what we have instead are 'server descriptions' and OOC summaries of these places. There are no NPCs claiming glory or justice. No GMs are using guards and leaders to boast about what the places are about, while emoting OOC the truth behind the lie. We are given OOC, unbiased pieces of information to aid us in our roleplay. The city's general ruling is NG. The Silverguard train with blunt weapons to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Deliar is a primary temple, who is CG and about freedom, trade, and luck. There are more guards than just those at the gate. Trent made captain at an young age because of his good heart in a time of darkness.

The port is not the only place with half blood issues, just the only one anyone ever uses for them, making it look far more contrasting and isolated than it is. Fort Vehl is not a haven of freedom and justice, its a pit of squalor. A half-orc is highly unlikely to be murdered in an alley in Hempstead. He might in Vehl. Part of the reason for the temple is fighting back against the nastiness that is all over the place in Vehl, not because it is a shining example of anything. They're there to fight what it is, not celebrate it. Their long struggle with it has jaded some of the clergy into believing criminals deserve "whatever they get," as well...

The port is led by a trade council, headed by the Vaerans, who are also good and in general supposed to be wise with a good head for the economy as well. Not necessarily a part of the description, but something the attentive might note - the Vaerans are not new to Hempstead, nor written for them. Anyone reading the Prunilla writeup can see the Vaeran sisters in the Dragon's Whisper... Harmony, the oldest is the one that was a driving force behind fighting the tyranny and darkness in Port Hempstead; her daughter leads the trade council now. Meadow, the middle one, is rumored to be the chosen of Prunilla, even though she never claims a title. Peace, the youngest, is the head priestess at Castle Mask on Dregar, having got the wanderlust early on. Anyone familiar with the halfling tribes in Mistone can easily recognize that the Vaerans are an entire clan, as well...

There are a lot of interconnecting things floating around. Is everyone expected to know these things? Of course not. That's silly, it's floating everywhere and half the GMs don't notice them, either. None of us is likely to see even a corner of a whole writeup of it until a few fabled handbook releases. But there is a difference in sincerely not knowing, and ignoring the GM telling you that there is a waterfall. If we have read OOC how a place is supposed to be, then we should be trying to RP ways that it meets that, not how it doesn't. Our characters may not like them, may disagree with them, but it should be presented in a way that goes with the props we were given. That's part of the game. Our characters are not living in the 21st century.

Kingdoms are not perfect IG, by any means. But just like we need to break laws and sneak into places with GM help, we don't decide that they have a completely different face than what is given us as a server description. The guards may very well slip up and let something else in perhaps... but we don't decide it happens for us. We don't stand in the middle of Prantz casting spells  because we can. Havoc is encouraged! Rebellion is encouraged! But you have to do it within the realms of the game. You can't say, "I strike him with this spiked cane!" if you have been told it is a feathered hat... nor emote that fat exploiting Froigrin cheated you out of thousands of gold in order to feed her growing hoards of millions. Anyone who has any understanding of what Deliar is about knows better. We have to roleplay the standard in order for the failings to stand out.

Likewise, please, the GMs are severely limited in communication and tools to represent every place perfectly. We have tools of our own that we can use, there is no need to be take everything harshly IC because of OOC circumstances. It is part of our role to help show how the environment is, according to the server, not create huge rifts in perception because of how we decide it is. There are things that completely do not fit, and times when GMs make mistakes - a Silverguard bullying with blades, perhaps, or referring to a queen of Brelin - but a simple tell may determine if it is just an honest mistake, or something intending to be a biased interpretation. Indeed, even the churches are pretty poorly treated in this way - character opinions and arguments are great, but too often tirades are made based on OOC information and opinion, and exist to attack a given OOC statement of the ideal. If they aren't meeting it, take it up out of character and see how the whole fares.

When you see something bad happen in a city announced to you OOC as largely good and fair, if it did indeed happen as the GM intended, then shouldn't it be treated as out of the norm. Shock! Dismay! Rumors of a Rael supporter amidst a city like Port Hempstead should be a huge deal... if you use the props we are given. If you decide your hamster is a dragon regardless of what GMs ask of you though, it's just a lot of confusion and only adds to the problem.

Why don't we help places become what they should be, instead of causing a rift in perception in order to deny what they are? There's no need to be silent about things that don't fit. Make suggestions. Point them out. How many rants have I gone on about how poorly the city is represented according to how it is supposed to be? That doesn't mean I take it IC. My character has met the Vaeran sisters... One of them is even the chosen of Prunilla... She helped destroy the Shadow Thieves... I'm not ruining all of the history and personality just because someone stuck a sign on the lawn. The day someone tells me, "The Vaerans have been forcibly removed from office and the city begins sliding into corruption again," or something, is when I will RP that interpretation, and I will certainly want to know more than that, since such a huge amount of stuff will be wiped out for the sake of it. I'm not going to force it because of accidents, though - I'd rather think of ways to make the inconsistent fit back in.

Otherwise it is like losing Ozlo to a faction mess-up. Or failing to stab Bloodstone in the spine, because when you rolled attack, the server lagged and spewed out 6 rolls - your first was a 20 and your last a 1, and GM decided to take the 1... Your PC uses a custom head and shows up headless, but try as you might to RP that he does in fact have a head, there's always a few people that refuse to acknowledge it IC, even after GM acknowledgment of head... This isn't about one city. Port Hempstead is just one huge part of a larger, core issue - sometimes we are told how a place is, but they just don't support it and come to bat. We can say, OOC, how hard would it have been for you to do X and support this better? Sometimes the answer is, "Very difficult," and sometimes "not very," but it doesn't happen, but either way, we play along. We can bring down empires with our characters, but not as players decide one doesn't exist. If they sometimes don't seem to do a perfect job in representing one because of mechanical limitations and time, we can still pretend - what is added to the module and GMing at this point is largely based on pure personal motivation and stubbornness at this stage in the game, so not everything is ever going to make it. It would be nice, but we can do a lot on our own with what we've got.

[/soapbox] Long. *Hides.*

2

General Discussion / Rumors -- Please read

« on: October 27, 2007, 07:00:18 pm »

The following is addressed to the entire Layonara community.  It is not directed at one person or any specific group of people. Please read it and understand it.

As a recent post has highlighted, there have been some ugly and hurtful rumors flying around recently. This kind of thing, though different people and different circumstances, seem to happen on a regular basis. Sometimes the target is one person, other times it's a group of people.  There are back-channel whispers, finger-pointing, and accusations flying around.  The GM Team gets reports of this-and-that but rarely does anyone have the evidence or guts to back up the claims. Some rumors fade, but there are always some waiting to take their place.  It's a continuous cycle, and it is getting really, really old.

I urge everyone to hear what I'm saying here and take it to heart.  Rumors are almost without fail caustic and poisonous to the community.  You may interact with electronic representations, seeing only words and artificial avatars, but there are people behind those things.  Real people.  Not all rumors are false, but most rumors are not nearly as true as some would believe them to be. Whatever the case, they're bad...bad for those who spread them, bad for those who are the targets of them, and bad for this community.

Without going into specifics, the most recent batch of rumors ranges from annoying to very serious with implications that stretch beyond this little community of ours.  And so I ask you all...

If you are involved in spreading such rumors, stop. If you have proof, then present it to a Gm.  If not, then stop. You're hurting people and you're hurting this community.

If you are engaged in activities in the game world/forums/IRC channel(s) that are the center of one or more of these rumors and those activities are contrary to what we have established here, stop.

If you are involved in or complicit in sewing the seeds of discord among all or part of the community, stop.

At this point, I am not overly concerned with what the "facts" may be in the case of the most recent events. There will forever be three sides to every story: "Yours, mine and the truth."  Since the last is often difficult to obtain, we're left with the word of one against the word of another.  As I said, it just needs to stop.

I want everyone to realize that these things are harmful, and they affect more people than just those at the muddy end of the stick.

In the thread about Layonara's future, there's a comment in there about the NWN servers and how long they'll stay up.  To quote Leanthar:

The NwN servers will stay up and running until it either a) gets to expensive for me to keep it running, so keep donating as this is important for NwN or b) the world or community becomes to much of a hassle in terms of time, effort, or headaches for the servers to stay online or c) we make it to beta testing of the new product which is still a ways away. Layonara is not going away, nor is it fading away; but much rests on the communities shoulders for how long the NwN servers remain online.

It is petty and dramatic things like rumors that are most likely to bring down the Layonara NWN community.  This kind of thing really drains the GM Team and Leanthar himself. It is frustrating, mentally exhausting and time-consuming. In some cases, it has taken hours of research and checking in on people, logs, actions, reports and so forth just to prove or disprove the allegations...time wasted and time not spent interacting with the community.

I don't want this to sound like a threat, but the fact of the matter is, there have been times, more than most of you realize, where the fate of the NWN servers has been close to a complete shut-down because of petty bickering, factional rumors and divisive words and actions.

It all needs to stop, people. I can't stress that enough.

Now, please...understand what I have written here.  Read it over, again if you need to, and really see what I am saying.  And then just think about it and remember it.

And also, please understand that when we take action as a result of things that go on here, be it a banning, a reprimand or some other kind of administrative action, that we do not do so lightly or on a whim. We are not targeting individuals because we don't like them or because we just feel like it.  The GM Team has, among its many duties, an obligation to protect this community.  It comes along with the job, and whatever people may believe, it is not a particularly enjoyable part of the job to ban someone who is acting contrary to the spirit of this community.

I do not really wish for this to become a discussion.  I don't want current or past rumors brought up here and presented with explanations, accusations or justifications.  I don't want people to post their opinions on the situation, be it the one most immediately at hand or any number of such things that have occurred.  Do not use this thread to confess or confirm.  I do not seek a string of "I agree" posts, nor do I particularly want any "Thanks" either.

I want people to read this and understand it.

I know a lot of people love this community and have developed very real and lasting real-life friendships as a result.  Keep that in mind please in all your future actions. Friendships are not formed of bickering and rumormongering. They're formed of a commonality of purpose and philosophy.  If you find, however, that you cannot continue to be a supportive and positive influence in this community, then consider stepping away from it before you contribute to events that may end up hurting those you call friends.

I generally have a lot of faith and respect for this community as a whole.  I sincerely hope that is not misplaced.

Regards,
Dorganath

3

General Discussion / Artwork of Plenarius

« on: September 04, 2007, 02:18:19 pm »

I had a commission done for Plen, I just thought I'd share the result with the community.

I'm glad I'll always have this piece to remember where it all started, a big thank you to everyone who has shaped him along the way...

The artist is Carol Phillips, I discovered her work while I was doing research for the t-shirt web site and we have been working slowly over the last year to come up with something for Plen. I'm very happy with it

-orth

P.S. No he is not done yet

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Layonara Server / Change in Character Development Thread Postings is Coming

« on: May 02, 2007, 12:29:18 pm »

I very nearly closed the servers down this morning, and I mean it was close. The only reason I didnt is because the teams are working so hard on projects that I just couldnt bring myself to harm them or destroy all of their hard work. NwN is old, it is ancient, there is little to no reason to keep the server going except to allow a rare few people to enjoy their time in a world that they like (the few left in the community that still play and still truly like the world). It is only a matter of time before they are closed down, but today just wasnt that day. These servers do nothing but cause me (and a fair few of the individuals on the teams) grief, hardships, frustrations, time away from family and friends, or a whole lot of money. They used to bring a ton of fun and enjoyment but that is no longer the case (for me at least). I now dread waking up and checking the forums because I know the mentality of a few in the community; those that like to rant and rave about how they are so wronged but that they could never do anything wrong. Oh but then when something goes wrong it is our fault (or perhaps more specifically my fault) for some silly or stupid reason; never the fault of their own. Have you wondered why not a whole lot of quests have been run in the plot or why I am not around as much? That is the main reason, at least 70% of the reason. Many on the GM Team cant bring our self to log in for spot quests or impromptu quests very often (myself included) because of all the childish and immature behaviors and attitudes. A few bad apples in the community have nearly burnt every one of us out. Sad isnt it?
 
 Five years ago I started this server off being very wide open to the public with little to no rules other than basic ones. Today look at the line of rules and the restrictions we have had to place on creativity and fun. It shows the state of online gaming and a lack of responsibility and respect in online and offline communities in general. I think it is a very sad thing indeed. It also goes to show why companies out there are moving away from having forums at all for their games, because a few of the very players that claim to love the world that they play in also seem to love to destroy that place. The emotional drama is childish and immature and does not do any community any good, and most certainly not ours.
 
 For various reasons we are going to be changing the way development threads are displayed to the public. We only have two options and I prefer the first but if we are not able to do it we will go with the second option. One of these options will happen over the next few weeks, as we get some time to work on it.
1) We are looking to make it so that a private development thread can be read by a forum member who is a friend (marked as a friend on the forums) of the original poster (thread owner) of a thread.
2) If we are not able to do #1 we will make all development threads private and only the poster and GM Team will be able to read them.
 
 I think it is very sad that we have come to this point but there is no other option. I refuse to continue to waste time, effort, and money watching the community blowup in rants and raves over meta-gaming or outright and blatant (IC) blaming of others in these threads. I put IC in () because a few players try to pull it off as an IC sort of thing when it is clearly not, but they feel we in the community are too stupid to see through that underhanded style of (play). Some players feel that they can point fingers at other players by posting under the pretense of (in character) in their CDTs because they know that certain individuals that meta-game read their threads. And they do it in a low and underhanded way; they are looking to give little jabs here and there and I find that unacceptable, demeaning to themselves as a human being, and just downright low. But I am also done fighting this sort of nonsense. It just drains everybodys will to play in the world, run quests in the world, keep the world servers running at all, or even be anywhere near the community as a whole. To fix the core problem of this sort of (play) that individual must understand that they need to change and then make that effort; there is nothing we can do to help them along.
 
 What is so funny is that some of the worst meta-gamers refuse to even see that they meta-game. It is a mind game that they play with themselves, let alone with all of those around themselves. Some of them know they do it but refuse to try and better themselves. To top it all off some of those same individuals rant and rave when things are meta-gamed back on to them. Its a vicious little cycle of self-denial or not wanting to improve oneself and I am not going to play that childish game any longer.

5

Layonara Server / Port Hempstead, Fort Vehl - Starting Towns and Attitudes

« on: April 03, 2007, 08:58:17 am »

[SIZE=13] I am going to try and set the "standard" for the two starting locations so that we are all on the same page when it comes to RP'ing the cities and the citizens and tolerance levels in each of the cities.
 
 Port Hempstead:
 This town leans towards "good" and by that I mean the commoners, peasants, merchants, and nobles in this city accept what would be considered "normal" in day-to-day life. They would not knowingly accept (or tolerate) creatures (or shape shifted creatures) in their town such as large cats, bear, trolls, and all of those. They would chase these things out of town or quite possibly kill them and/or imprison the humanoid ones. The guards are firm in their conviction carrying out the law set down by the nobles and carried out by the law of keeping the day-to-day life of living "normal". They do not tolerate evil in the city and if one is known to be evil they will be arrested and/or chased out of the city. If one is caught doing an unlawful or evil act they will be sent to prison and will stand trial and face the consequences of their action(s). Keep in mind that there are some evil aligned (by race for instance) heroes that are indeed now known to be good and are treated as such and even treated as heroes in some cases.
 
 //Do not shape shift in this town unless you wish to pay the penalty, and that penality can and will change over time and due to circumstances. Do not bring in your wildlife pets in to this town. Do not come in to this town if you are evil or have performed evil acts that is documented and/or known, you will pay the price eventually.
 
 Fort Vehl:
 This town leans towards "evil" and by that I mean that the rules are relaxed when it comes to creatures in town, evil humanoids, shape shifting in to animals or even trolls and such. But they do have a limit, they will not tolerate abuse to citizens or defiling (in any way) the city or the nobles or law in charge and in some cases the merchants. Peasants do not rank high on their list but commoners have a slightly better standing. They allow a little more flexiability (within reason) of the evil races and in some cases evil acts within the city walls. The punishment put down by the law and nobles in this town is quite often brutal and in many cases the consequences are death or public spectacle plus a long prison term.
 
 //Evil characters, those that like to drag their pets in to towns, and shapeshifting sorts can travel this town but even the guards and nobles in this town have their patience and their tolerance levels so keep that in mind. If you want to perform your "evil" or shapeshift theatrics this is the town to do it in, but be prepared to face the consequence if it gets out of hand. I.E. use common sense and always remember that the nobility have a city (a large city) to run and they will only allow so much. Please don't whine if you go over the line and the guards come after you. And be aware that the penalties in this town are quite often brutal. In some cases the "good" may be chased out of this town though that is not overly likely, but I can see it happening from time to time so keep that in mind.
 
 Final Comment:
 These are the two starting cities folks. Make sure you are in the proper city when RP'ing. Do not get carried away, there is always a line that should not be crossed, that line is different for each town. The cities are large and the nobility will keep things under control, or at least under control in the way that they feel it should be. If you get crazy or do silly things be prepared to pay the consequences of your actions. Keep in mind that there are 10's of thousands of peasants, commoners, merchants, and nobles in each of the cities and you can not see them due to engine limitations, but they are there and the nobles and the law will protect them against anything and anybody (including "heroes").
[/SIZE]

6

General Discussion / A small request for consideration....

« on: April 02, 2007, 09:13:57 pm »

Hey all,

There are a lot of courtesies we afford each other here as part of the Layonara community.  As members of a community, we are overall quite supportive and generally courteous to each other.  As part of a community we expect that we will be treated with the consideration and respect that we afford to others. For the most part, the community does a fantastic job of this, and really, it's a wonderful thing!

We'd like nothing more to allow uninterrupted play time to the community, but unfortunately the NWN technology is flawed, and despite our best efforts requires occasional resets to restore stability and performance. And so, during such times a GM will come on and shout to everyone that the server is going down, and he or she will request that everyone log out as soon as possible, or once a safe location can be reached.  This is a rather disruptive but necessary interruption, but generally it is relatively brief.

Twice now in as many weeks, I have had to actually confront players directly who either ignored the shouts or tried to get in one last thing. These individuals caused a delay in the shutdown and restart, which in turn takes more time and ultimately causes a delay in when everyone can get back on.  This is not very considerate to either the GMs or the other players.

For the vast majority of players here, this post is completely unnecessary.  For those few who don't quite understand, allow me to describe some guidelines.

When a GM calls for reset, it is OK to:
* get out of a dangerous location
* quickly wrap up some RP
* give parting messages to your group
* dash for a portal/ship

It is not OK to:
* continue gathering CNR
* level
* completely ignore the shouts

I realize that some people play with their chat windows down/minimized, and perhaps they even turn off such things as shouts from appearing.  We kindly request that you do not do this, as it eliminates an important communication channel between GMs and players.  

We also ask that when a GM comes on and requests everyone to log out that everyone makes an effort to do so as quickly as possible.  Anything you might think you have to do before a reboot you can surely take care of as soon as it's alright to log back in.

I apologize to everyone if my tone seems harsh or short, but after the server had been up for 4 days with 2 crashes, many people were calling for a reset due to extreme lag, and even posting on the forums to request one, it's not too much to expect that everyone would cooperate in vacating the server before resetting it.  I would also think that people would show consideration to others in such circumstances.  Individuals who do this delay the enjoyment of others waiting patiently to return to the game after a restart.

Again, as a whole, nearly everyone does very well.  I'm not making this post to make demands or to single any one out.  However, if one of the behaviors under the things not to do when a reset is pending, please consider not doing them.

7

General Discussion / Zelda1, Some Clarity, Layonara Balance

« on: April 01, 2007, 05:35:57 am »

Okay this is a combination of quite a few things so bear with me here.  For some reason I decided to keep them all together though it's kind of three posts in one.

Many of you were left wondering just what the heck was going with regards to this thread:

http://www.layonara.com/general-discussion/114789-messenger-bad-news.html

I've been in communication with Zelda1 and she had a few things to say and a few confessions at the same time and has asked me to relay them.  First off, in regards to the mentioned thread, she insists she has no idea where that came from and was no part of it.  So we're still a bit up in the air on just where that all came from.

But Zelda1 does want to clear the air on some things anyway and has asked me to relay them.  She originally came to Layonara and was instructed to pretend she wasn't as young as she is. She, like many of us have had at times, got a little too caught up with her character, but also the persona she had taken up and decided to take a break. She returned again but due to some more conflicts left once more.  She returned in V3 and the new forums under a new username to set the record straight on her age and who she was but that never came to fruition before this event with the alleged coma took place.

She is upset and sorry for the grief she may have caused for this mistaken identity, she didn't realize how caught up one could get.  I have asked that she focus on her studies and keep in touch, but she will not be playing.  I believe also she has a few friends to contact to set the record straight.

Layonara is going to leave this episode to those who are very closely involved and step away from it.



Now onto a few of my thoughts...

I thought about some things and while my initial anger probably was a fuel for the harsh tone I had in my post that closed that thread, I think in retrospect I should have handled it better.  Obviously there were some people who would be feeling great emotion if they have been going through this thinking it's the full truth and for me to "slam" the door with terms such as "sick joke" might not have been the best.  I think a more calm "Something is not adding up here and I fear some people are not hearing the truth as the evidence of this story's fabrication piles up" might have been a bit more sensitive.  So to those who I may have offended in that regard, I'm sorry.

I also want everyone to know that we have a protective nature here as well and are looking out for the best interests of the community and we'll use all the information that is available to us to protect Layonara and it's community.  

Some of you may not know but when you connect to the forum you leave a trace of your internet connection. This sort of information is viewable to the Administrators of the forum who can be viewed on the User Groups Page.  

When you're in game you also leave this information and Dorganath, OneST8, Leanthar, Nibor21 and myself have access to that information via the database and Pankoki and EdTheKet through server logs.

One person asked me about Forum PMs. OneST8 and myself have access to this information only via the database though, there's no "Read this person's Private Messages" or anything like that.  It's on a database, it has to be stored somewhere... But that's the risk you take when you submit most information over the internet.  That is why you should always make sure your network admin gets cookies.  With that said, we're not going to read your PMs.  Unless a law enforcement agency asks us for them or we have an extremely strong suspicion that you may be guilty of something illegal or very detrimental to the Layonara community.

All poll voting is private but the information is stored on a database so once again OneST8 and I have access to that information.

No one can see tells in game.

No one can see private IRC communications.

I want everyone to understand that even though to some it may not seem so evident recently, we do really care for the players here.  Our number one goal is for you to have fun and enjoy yourself.  We want you also to meet new and interesting people in a family friendly environment where the magic of our fantasy world can help us feel young and creative and for us to be able to take out some of the real world woes on monsters.  Emotions can flow in every single direction when a group such as our playerbase joins up.  Many relationships have evolved from Layonara; great friendships, confidantes, mentors, coworkers and even love.  

Alas these emotions bring along other ones though.  There is indeed a Balance to the Layonara community too (oh no here comes the Plen!), and things go on tilt. Scores of differing opinions rise, rumours flow, relationships end, people fade, deception behind the computer, envy, frustration pile up then to add to that, there has been a lot of change recently to Layonara.  Very balance upsetting!  I've talked to a few people who are concerned about this and I find a rather large irony in the fact that these people approached me much like I think characters would approach Plen. I as a person can do for the community what Plen has tried to for the game.  Because like the cycle of Layonara's Nature, there is the one with the Layonara community and I intend to help keep that balance in whatever capacity I can

-orth(y)

8

Roleplaying / An Ode to Rogues, or, a Rogue by Any Other Name

« on: March 28, 2007, 03:01:57 am »

Shall I compare thee to a common thief?
Thou art more complex and more versatile.
Rough hands oft do thy name much grief
And most make you a stealer with a smile.

Sometimes too great an influence, the screen
With roguish grins, lawbreakers are they all -
So we fall victim to the things we've seen
And in this stereotype you sadly fall.

But you've still chance to make thy choices known,
And 'fluence those with bios still unwrit;
And cast as scout, or aught of sim'lar tone
Into a new alignment snugly fit.

So when you make a rogue I pray to you:
Think not of theft - there's more a rogue can do!


The gist of the above is that I've seen a disturbing trend of people tarring all rogues with the same brush.. or, gods help them, referring to a rogue's (or their OWN) profession in-game by the line: "Oh, I/he/she am/is a rogue!"

Behaviour
To borrow from the handbook:

Rogues have little in common with each other.  While some - maybe even the majority - are stealthy thieves, many serve as scouts, spies, investigators, diplomats, or simple thugs.  Rogues are versatile, adaptable, and skilled at getting what others don't want them to get.  While not equal to a fighter in combat, a rogue knows how to hit where it hurts, and a sneak attack can dish out a lot of damage.

The gist of this is that there are no "typical" rogue activities, nor a "typical" rogue alignment.  A thuggish rogue would likely not waste any skill points on Pick Pocket, Disarm Traps, and the like, and would likely have more of his ability points in CON and STR than in INT or CHA.

Conversely, the acrobatic lithe fighter who darts in and out of combat can also be a rogue, with a high DEX, and likely a high CHA, as this would be the gentleman who would Taunt opponents as he dashed around them, slipping a dagger in where it hurts.

There's the scout, learning to hide and hurt the enemy for their noble (or ignoble) cause.

The diplomat, with a high INT and CHA - capable in a fight, but much better suited to a duel of words.

Any of these are more likely to be suited to a Rogue character than virtually any other character type.  The upshot?  As before, Rogues are a very difficult character class over which to generalize.

By Any Other Name... Please?

Of all the classes, this is the One Which Is Not Named.  A rogue may be a thief (though he's unlikely to advertise as one, unless this is what the hirer is after), a scout, a trapspringer... or any of the occupations listed above... but the word "rogue" would mean nothing in-game, save its original designation: a scoundrel, unreliable, deceitful, and untrustworthy... and again, who would advertise themselves as this?

Monks are.. well, monks.  They could perhaps be "practitioners of the arts of unarmed combat", but that's stretching the point a bit.  A fighter can be a sellsword, a mercenary, a soldier, a guard.. or, let's face it, a fighter.  Someone who can wade into combat, blades flashing.  A Paladin is just that - it's in their title.  Perhaps the appellation Knight can be given.  Calling someone a cleric is fairly reasonable, likewise Rangers, and certainly Druids, Wizards, Sorcerers and Bards.  Barbarians could be called fighters as well, but their name is not misplaced.  Rogues are really the odd ones out, as a loyal scout of Mistone could easily be a Rogue.. but not be roguish in the least, and certainly not deserving of the name.


In Summary, and I'm Not Makeup, Darnit!

Rogues are incredibly versatile, so if you're planning a rogue submission, don't pigeonhole them into the "thief" persona unless that's what you wish them to be - with so much selection, a rogue can take almost any place if she's written right.

Rogues are not called rogues, as those who are wouldn't advertise it, and those who aren't would be offended.  (Though it is permissible to call the wittily quipping rogue "roguishly charming".  It may just get you smacked by anyone within arm's reach who's reading over your shoulder. )

And, please, Rogues are not Rouges.  The one is a versatile fighter/scout/thief/smoothtalker/whatever, the other is a powder.  (Granted, the former can become the latter if mixed with mages or dragons, but one would generally not wish to apply the result to one's face.)

And that's that!

Cheers,
Darkstorme.

(N.B.  Yes, I'm biased, with a primary rogue character, but sometimes I weep to see what is done with my.. erm.. noble profession.  *chuckles*)

9

Forum Discussion / How To Use The Calendar For Proper Times

« on: March 25, 2007, 07:00:27 am »

Okay, I hope this is helpful for everyone.  This is how to set up a calendar event so the time is displayed properly for every one of our community members.


[SIZE=24]Step 1. Set Your Correct Timezone[/SIZE]

First off, make sure you yourself have the correct timezone set!  Edit Your Options and set your timezone to the proper timezone, and select Automatically detect DST settings.

 [SIZE=10]Figure 1. orth's Time Zone settings[/SIZE]


[SIZE=24]Step 2.  Add Your Event[/SIZE]

Once you're done that, you're now ready to set up an event.  Go to the Player Calendar. GMs can use GM Calendar, either way doesn't matter.

Now in the top right under the navigation bar click the Add New Event then select Ranged Event.

[SIZE=18]Okay now here's the tricky part. [SIZE=13]

[SIZE=18] If you are currently in Daylight Saving Time wherever you are, then put your star[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=18][SIZE=13][SIZE=24] [/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=18][SIZE=13][SIZE=18]t time at one hour before you want it started.[/SIZE] For example if you plan on starting a quest at 10:00am, then put it for 9:00am.  Once Daylight Saving Time is over you need not set it one hour before.

The Time Zone should be your Time Zone.

DO NOT CHECK THE MAINTAIN SAME TIME BY IGNORING DST. THIS IS IMPORTANT OR PLAYERS WHO DON'T HAVE DST WILL SEE WRONG TIMES.

The end time isn't very relevant as we all know how some quests you just don't know how long they will be, but putting an approximation of length does no harm.

In my example below I wanted the quest to start at 6:30am my time and since it's currently Daylight Saving Time here, I set it to start at 5:30am.

[/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=10]Figure 2. Example Event[/SIZE]
[SIZE=18][SIZE=13]
[/SIZE][/SIZE]

[SIZE=24]Step 3. Verify The Time Is Correct[/SIZE]

Okay, now make sure when you save the event, the start time appears correctly for you. This ensures it will display properly for everyone else.  As long as they've set their time zone that is :\\  If the time is not correct then please verify you've done all the correct actions in the first two steps.  You can edit your calendar event by selecting :: Edit Event from the Event Options dropdown in the bottom right corner of your event.

[SIZE=10]Figure 3.  Event time verification[/SIZE]



Hope that helps, please comment for revisions or clarifications.

-orth

10

Forum Discussion / Forum Update - HTML Cleanup & New Tables

« on: March 24, 2007, 04:07:46 am »

Okay, the HTML Cleanup went okay as far as I can tell, there are some issues here and there, in some cases all you need to do is edit your post and save it and things should fix themselves.  (I noticed this for bulleted lists).  

If you are missing anything please let me know.

Also the format of how you work with tables is much easier and I have converted the existing tables to use that new format.  To make a table you simply enter it like so:

Code: [Select]

[noparse]
[table=head]Heading 1|Heading 2|Heading 3
Row 1 Col 1| Row 1 Col 2| Row 1 Col 3
Row 2 Col 1| Row 2 Col 2| Row 2 Col 3
[/table]
[/noparse]
If you don't want a heading for the first row and just treat it as a normal row then you need not specify the =head part.

Now the real cool part... if you want to make these tables sortable, then specify which columns are sortable.  For example:

Code: [Select]

[noparse]
[table=head;sort=1,2,3]Spell|Level|Cost
Bless|1|460
Virtue|0|25
Implosion|9|7560
Resurrection|7|10000
[/table]
[/noparse]produces this:

[table=head;sort=1,2,3]Spell|Level|Cost
Bless|1|460
Virtue|0|25
Implosion|9|7560
Resurrection|7|10000
[/table]

Notice how you can click the headings and they re-sort?

Anyway I should post this so I can turn the forum back on O.o.

Once again, let me know if anything significant has been lost, and if you see a stray html tag and it's your post, try fixing it.  As I said sometimes just clicking edit then save will do the trick.

Cheers,
orth

11

Introduce Yourself / Who is Dorganath?

« on: March 12, 2007, 09:13:37 pm »

Hello all!

Behind the veil of semi-secrecy that the Internet and these forums provide, I am known as Dorganath, a Layonara player, GM and developer.  On the other side of the great electronic veil, I'm known as Steve, a 36 year-old husband to one, father of two and brother to one.  

I got my gaming start back in elementary school...hmmm...maybe 4th or 5th grade when my best friend introduced me to this D&D thing, and I've been hooked ever since.  I was at one time a proud owner of the "Purple Box", though sadly the only thing that survives of it are the dice...which I'm pretty sure are hardened against nuclear radiation. I also still have many of my old, 1st Edition AD&D characters. Over the years, we tried out several different PnP gaming systems but always heavily favored D&D.

Fast-forward several years, then several more...and probably add a few just to be safe...and some of those same people I used go game with got together and we started running through Icewind Dale 2 in multiplayer.  And then rumors of a new game on the horizon started to float on the wind this new game, Neverwinter Nights, that held the promise of being able to bring a tabletop, GMed gaming experience to a group of nostalgic old gamers who no longer live within a 15-minute drive.

Like most grand plans, this never quite materialized, however in late 2004, the very same friend, who first got me started with D&D and who GMed most of our gaming sessions in my early years, told me about this NWN persistent world called Layonara.  In October of 2004, I submitted my first character and I've been hooked ever since.

I played for about 8 months or so before applying to become a GM, and a couple months later (and just before the birth of my second child), Leanthar asked me to take on the module updates and maintenance tasks. To put it simply, I was excited by the offer, floored by the opportunity, and nervous as heck, but I did it anyway, and I've never regretted it.

So that's how I got to this point, at least.  As far as other things about me...Well, as I mentioned, I'm a father of two, both daughters and both quite naturally the cutest kids in the world. This has been certified by many committees, mostly imaginary. As cheesy as it may sound, I have to give my wife a boat-load of thanks, mostly for putting up with me and understanding my rather time-consuming addictions.  

For the job that pays the bills, I'm a mild-mannered Programmer/Network Admin./Tech Support/Server Admin./Workplace diplomat/Web guy/Technology Guru/Database Admin./Probably-other-stuff-I'm-forgetting Guy, which means on any given day I'm generally pretty busy and/or quite far behind.  

Living near Chicago but not being a native, I've grown accustomed to only having two seasons: Road Construction and Winter. During the winter,  I huddle inside being very glad I'm not out in the wind. During the Road Construction season, I engage in such outdoor activities such as lawn mowing, landscaping and "picking-up-after-those-darned-kids-throwing-trash-in-my-yard" *shakes a fist*.  

I also enjoy music, when it's not geared for people under 16, catching up with whatever I have recorded on my DVR at the time, or kicking back with a good movie with explosions and/or gratuitous fight scenes and/or any other assortment of "grown-up" themes.  More often, however, I hear the theme songs to "Blue's Clues", "Arthur" or "The Backyardigans", with shows and/or movies to match and where about the only thing that gets blown up is a balloon.

For those who are curious, the name Dorganath originally came from an NPC in one of my all-time favorite one-off adventures out of a magazine, which also got used as the name for one of my own characters. When I started playing NWN, it seemed an appropriate bit of nostalgia to that for my login name, and so it has stuck with me.

I suppose there's more, but it's time for me to slip back comfortably behind the curtain of pseudo-anonymity and let you all wonder about the rest.

*disappears to a Cheshire Cat grin*