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Messages - Faldred

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General Discussion / Thanks and good wishes to Aragon
« on: February 25, 2008, 04:53:07 pm »
I'm not sure if Aragon made it a point of leaving in relative peace, but last night he came online to IRC to bid adieu to some of the team members until September as he ships out to serve his country.

If it were his intentions to simply fade away without any fanfare then I apologize to him, but I felt a showing of community support was deserved and could not let it pass.

Thank you very much for your efforts and hard work for the community and the future of Layonara Aragon and get back safely, we're going to be needing you again.

If you wish to share your well wishes of a safe and speedy return and thoughts for him, please do so without turning this into any sort of political debate.

Get home safe Chuck!

-orth
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2
General Discussion / A post to the community regarding DM encounters
« on: June 21, 2007, 05:02:45 pm »
Hello all,

Please note that this post is the opinion of me alone and does not represent what others on the team. This post is just to clarify something that I have noted while I have been on as GM especially when I have been providing custom encounters to the party. I would like to state that to me being a DM means providing an entertainment for players. This is either by quests or providing dynamic encounters through challenge.

I don’t have an issue of people requesting a Soul Strand. Nor do I have a problem with people thinking that "perhaps this encounter has unfair". That is in your player’s right to make a request or to have thoughts like that. What I have a problem with is when players have the mindset that because they have faced a losing situation or your character has died that the DM is out to punish them. I hear things like "What did we do wrong?" "Oh we must have got someone out there angry".

For me I would normally never use spawns or even overpowered spawns to police a situation or because I am angry at the players. Instead you are going to receive a tell saying that we need to have a little chat. Getting a GMs attention for 20 minutes filled with creatures encounters and mayhem or more at a time is a privilege  and not a punishment.

It is sad to see that the playerbase view the DMs in this way. I want to say that as far as I am concerned, getting a custom (harder) encounter from me is because I want to spice up an experience or because I feel happy of what is happening in regard to RP. You will also find that the encounter will be suited in for your tastes. If you are at the inn, during a player event, you aren't going to see monsters instead perhaps you are going to talk to the bartender or the waitresses or whoever...to make the experience better.

That is also why after each encounter where you are safe I will spawn in just to let you know that I hope everyone had fun *regardless* of the outcome and that is because I did it for your enjoyment. There are however times when we as DMs spawn things to keep things in the Lore of the World. But in those circumstances I will notify you about that too.
 
Much Respect,
  Tanman
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3
[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]
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4
Layonara Server / IMPORTANT: Forums/LORE/IRC/E-Mail Server Migration
« on: March 27, 2007, 09:59:39 am »
I'm pleased to announce that our new hardware will arrive sometime today and be installed at the Montreal data center (along with OS, KVM extension, reboot ports and etc) within 24hrs.

The new hardware consists of three new high-end machines for the explicit and dedicated purpose of handling the next three years of the Layonara Studios web presence. Even with the recent RAM upgrade to the current server, the overall load is rather intense and the hardware is constantly under moderate to heavy load due to the sheer amount of services being run on the single box.

One of these new machines will be dedicated as a webserver for both LORE and the Forums, another will be fore the databases and the third will be for IRC, E-Mail and such.

The migration process to this new setup will not be a short one and will most likely take about 2-3 weeks to fully implement, test and roll-out to the general public / Layonara community. During that time, the current site will continue to run as-is and no actual downtime is forseen though we must always keep in mind that Murphy's Law has a tendancy to interject some commentary on that topic.

For the curious, the machine specs are all roughly as follows:

CPU|P4 3.4 Ghz (Dual Core)
RAM|4Gb
Drive|160 Gb SATA
NIC|Gigabit Ethernet


At some point when we're actually switching over to the new hardware there will be a high potential for downtime due to DNS changes and general propagation issues though every effort will be made for this to be as seamless a process as possible. Again, Murphy's Law will most likely apply.

So far, we're looking at the following order of migratory events:
[LIST=1]
  • IRC Services
  • E-Mail & Webmail
  • Database(s)
  • LORE
  • Forums


Please note that when all is said-and-done, we're intending for all LORE features to resume 100% functionality at that time.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding in this matter.
-OneST8

PS: This thread will be updated with all significant stages and events of notable progress (and/or setbacks as the case my be).
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5
The Dragon Storm Campaign / New Forum: The Dragon Storm Campaign
« on: March 26, 2007, 09:02:47 am »
This forum can be used to roleplay in character discussions about the current major plot.

Thanks to Galen for the suggestion.
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6
Roleplaying / Emote your heart out!!
« on: March 19, 2007, 07:44:41 pm »
[SIZE=18]Tired of trying to type in battle?  Tired of repeating your introduction to the umpteenth person?  I have the solution right here![/SIZE]

Those of you that have travelled with my PCs were probably thinking to yourself, "That fellow can type up a storm!"  While I can do that, I've added to my repetoire by taking advantage of this nifty software:  AutoHotkey - Free Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program with Hotkeys and AutoText.

This free bit of software allows you to write rather complicated hotkeys and macros.  The nice thing is that it can intercept the keystrokes before they reach your game.

Take my paladin of Vorax, Wanark.  He had a dozen or more short blessings that he'd say (some in dwarven) when just prior to casting bless or equipping his waraxe.  Then he had longer blessings that even included him kneeling.  Finally, he had the entire Vorax paladin credo he'd use when he visited the temple.  All of these I had assigned to hotkeys outside the game.  Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?  Beautiful.

I'll give an example from my current PC that you can use to build your own set.  (Careful of line wrapping if you cut&paste into your own file.)
[INDENT][SIZE=16]
;; ------------------------------------------
;; A utility routine to say something
;;
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16]Say(s)
{
    global prefix

    SendInput {Enter}
    Sleep 250
    IfInString, s, /tp
    SendInput {Raw}%s%
    else
    SendInput {Raw}%prefix%%s%
    SendInput {Enter}
}

;; ------------------------------------------
;; This will send yourself a tell with some help
;;
::/o help::
    SendInput {Raw}/tp "Pen N Popper" name, description, wearing, ^f
    Send {Enter}
return

;; -------------------------------------------
;; Give your name
;;
::/o name::
    SendInput {Raw}rolan tennesen... *bows* sellsword in the employ of the freelancers
    Send {Enter}
return


;; ------------------------------------------
;; A random color emote of walking along
;;
^g::
    Random, num, 1, 5
    if ( num == 1 )
    Say("*hurries along at an uneven pace, pausing now and then to catch breath*")
    else if ( num == 2 )
    Say("*moves along at a steady pace*")
    else if ( num == 3 )
             Say("*hurries along, gaze taking in his surroundings*")
    else if ( num == 4 )
             Say("*marches along with quick strides, sounding a bit out of breath*")
    else if ( num == 5 )
             Say("*moves at a deliberate pace*")

    Sleep 100
    SendInput {LControl}
return[/SIZE]

[/INDENT]I save this to a file called "rolan.ahk" and then run it.  Ingame, when I hit Ctrl-g a random description of walking will be sent.  When I type in /o description the verbose description of Rolan is output.

You can see that this can have as much flavor as you can think of.  It is especially handy during battle when all I have to do is type Ctrl-f for a fight emote.  (I even have it setup to fill in which weapon he is using to the emotes are correct.)

Good luck!
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7
General Discussion / Stormcrest Guides: Pre-launch Announcement
« on: March 15, 2007, 01:52:46 am »
STORMCREST GUIDES
 
 
 Hello Layonara Community! I'd like to go ahead and announce a new project on the very near horizon with us standing at the introduction of v3 for Layonara. Nestled in the trees between Fort Vehl and Port Hempstead there will soon be a small cobble path that leads to a small rickety old shack built into a tree. This is the Stormcrest Shack, a cozy tavern at the crossroads of the server start cities.
 
 :) What is this shack and why is it there?
 
 It's a gathering point mostly. A group of characters have decided to participate in a guiding service. This isn't any grand guild or organization, it's a simple meeting place where sponsored guides will often just hang out, offering maybe to guide someone around, or to a particular destination your character may have in mind. They work for nobody, and pay no dues, so what they charge you is what they deem appropriate for the destination you have in mind. The tavern is owned by a one eyed dwarf some may know, though he's donated it up to just about any of the guides to make use of it to get a client, and the doors are always open to get a drink.
 
 Now, Stormcrest Guides work on a pretty free flowing premise: That the participating guides can work when they like, for whatever amount they like. Even if its just buying them an ale. That said, there are some rules:
 
 - A guide can't be contracted out for resources, or any other goals that are at an unreasonable challenge for your character. More simply, anything that seems to not be in good spirit of the server.
 - Distribution of gold and items found on your travels is at the guide's discretion for distribution.
 - That the only people working as guides are sponsored by Stormcrest.
 
 :) Who are these guides?
 
 Well currently the participating characters are:
 
 Talan Va'lash, Lalaith Va'lash, Varka Cleaveson, Jennara Creekskipper, Acacea Thistletongue, Quillwem Laylluanilm, Triba Gues, Jacchri Abianca, Ireth Telrunya, Ketilbjorn Svadi, Lillian Dartforth, Daeron Stormcloud, AnnaLee Ohtartel'selu, Kavil Yodin, Ozymandias Llewellyn, Connor Garvill, Rhizome, Bilvikki, Remiel Delmir, Rodlin Serim, and Katrien Hommel (with the full acknowledgement that she is apt to getting lost).
 
 More guides will be added perpetually as time passes. The requirements for getting sponsored by Stormcrest will be posted up in due time following the initial launch.
 
 :) So why does Stormcrest Guides exist?
 
 Well, for starters, it'll be fun. It's an easy way for everyone to meet each other. It's an easy way for us to find a convenient collection point for roleplay and good times. It's a means for anyone out there to walk up and ask to go adventuring with someone who has their footing on where things are, the lore of the lands, and generally the storylines all around you as you travel around. Playstyles can be shared between players that generally wouldn't party together because of level spreads or the like. It's just a good way for us all to get together and party responsibly, mostly. ;)
 
 :) So how do you get a guide?
 
 Well, the easiest way is to simply hang out in the comforts of the Stormcrest Shack, or lounge by the campfire at the pond outside. There is a torch outside the shack that will be lit when there's a guide about who is up for taking someone out. Alternatively, you can PM me, Chongo, to try and set something up in advance.
 
 :) What sort of things can you do when you get a guide?
 
 Once you get someone as a guide by hanging out at the shack and asking, there's all sorts of things you might do. It's really up to you as the character wanting to see or learn more of the world. You could wander local lands to get a handle on your surroundings if you're unfamiliar. Or you could travel to an exotic destination that you've been yearning to go but feel you could benefit from someone who can maybe show you around with a bit more flavor. Or maybe you want to be shown someplace so you can learn the lore shaping its history. It's really up to you as a character and what feels fun. Every character in this game has a lot to share, and getting a few of these older hands with lore up the wazoo on every blade of grass can be quite fun, especially when you're part of learning something new with them. The things we're not out to do is go get you high end items or resources. That's just against the spirit of Stormcrest, and while getting an emerald is fun, it should never be the spirit of the goal.
 
 
 Layonara has a wonderful community that is ever changing and still growing. Make use of the people around you. Come hang out at the tavern or at the campfire, at the crossroads of Fort Vehl and Port Hempstead. The sign will point the way there. Cheers.
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