Posts Thanked By User

81

General Discussion / LFG - You're invited!

« on: June 16, 2011, 04:11:27 am »

It's one of those rare nights. Not working, Mrs Pseudo is out and little Pseudo-ettes into bed on time.

Arkolio (and I believe Alandric) will be around on central at about 8.00pm AEST (2 hours from this post). What will happen depends on the strength of the party gathered (Arkolio's meagre combat skills will not, of course, be factored into this reckoning).




[SIZE=10]NB. Any characters attending should be prepared to be belittled and ridiculed and have Ark take credit for any good work they do and be prepared to take the blame for anything that may go wrong. Likewise, characters should be prepared to hear Ark boast endlessly when he happens to wipe off the final 5 HPs of the enemy despite the fact that you accounted for the other 995 HPs. Also, characters attending might reasonably expect to have their names purposefully mispronounced, their manhood questioned (both versions of the noun) and their partners propositioned.

Female PCs will probably reasonably think the males got off easy.[/SIZE]

82

Wild Surge Inn / Bounty Board

« on: May 31, 2011, 01:28:40 am »

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

It's a big world.  And even the Rofirienites can't be everywhere at once.  (Jennara can be in, at most, five places at once.)  So occasionally, local authorities will place bounties on the heads of those who have evaded the normal agents of the law.

In the theme of Mixafix's Last Stranger Standing, this thread will be the bounties posted by various regional authorities on those that they could not hunt down themselves, and now simply want dead.  When a bounty is placed, an NPC will be placed somewhere in the world (possibly alluded to in the bounty post).  To collect the bounty, a player (or group of players) must find the target, kill them, and return their ear to the authority in question as proof of the deed.  (When you have secured the ear, contact me on IRC or PM me so that the handover can be arranged.)

Be warned, however, that not all authorities are equal, and not all the bounties posted may be palatable to all characters.

Edit: After the first bounty, I had a brainstorm - a format for capture PMs!

Please format your PMs as follows:

Title: Bounty to Claim

[Name of Target] killed by [Name of Character] on [Date].

[Elaboration, at your discretion.]

Happy hunting!

///////////////////////////////////////////

83

General Discussion / Another Dezza enters the world

« on: May 23, 2011, 05:50:41 am »

It's with honour and great privilege that I get to announce the arrival of little Dylan, son of Dezza/Michbr.
This is their fourth son out of as many children.  I am now absolutely convinced that they're aiming to create their own football team.

From what I hear all are doing exceptionally well.  He's a 4.27kg whoppa and I'd like to wish them all the very best of health and happiness.

So if anyone is wondering where Dezza is...well...you now know.

Polak.

84

General Discussion / Kylie's CDQ

« on: May 22, 2011, 07:42:25 pm »

All of Kylie's friends are invited to join her for the CDQ. Just remember, it is a Berylite theme. The event is on the calendar. If you are on at that time and wishes to join, just message me .

-Kylie

85

Just for Fun / Grendola's bad day

« on: May 09, 2011, 02:03:16 pm »

Grendola was out shroom hunting in the spooky Krandor crypt and ventured a little further than usual. Some nasty undead attacked and she chopped off their  fixed grins with a shiny greataxe.

Feeling an urge she checked their pockets and found at least five trues and an old dusty book ful of scribbles  (  occ  no reading ability Im afraid)
she popped into the bank to take out her saving as she was off to buy an nice  lttle enhancement for that new addy greataxe.

Thinking about the book she excitedly she ran to Centre to ask Storold what he thought and with some advice from Duchess the three of them set off to the dunes past the halfling camp.

battling snakes and undead the made their way to the ruins but on the edge they were ambushed and eventually she fell to multiple attacks.

The soul mother , evil grin on her pockmarked face, rose out of the ground and snatched another starnd from the terrified butcher who fell lifeless to the ground.

Her purse fell open and 4k of trues rolled away into the sand dunes and she awoke in Centre.  She sat sipping water until the headache passed and then went back to knitting a pair of purple bloomers for an odd order from an elderly dwarf.

/occ  xp gain for loads of massive kills about 25xp total with Storold  ( i killed em all meself honest!!) , lost strand  ( 6 down), lost trues and nowt but a bronze sword ter show fer it lovvies........bad bad day.didnt even get ter wash me hair so i cant blame that.
Duchess, Storold, hope yer found the treasure otherwise depression could easily set in. Anyone finds any bacon butties in the sand they belong ter me right!!!

86

Ask A Gamemaster / Monstrous Submissions

« on: May 07, 2011, 11:01:47 am »

Back in May 2010, a hold was placed on monstrous submissions "temporarily, until the team catches up on submissions".  All of the submissions from May 2010 seem to have been completed.  Any ETA on bringing them back?  We're at the one year anniversary.

Monstrous submissions require little extra effort to approve than any other approval.  If anything, they require even less effort, since they can say that they "came from some tribe in the woods" instead of "he came from this city at this time, check the Lore, and this event was happening there, check the lore, and so and so was the queen of this land, check the lore, and he learned elven from his fathers friend, and dwarven from his mothers uncle...".  This is much more complex than say "Tog came from the woods, he learned the way of the warriors and talks with grunts, like most orcs do".

What I also find strange is that highly complicated races like Dark elves, each of which must detail their test, how they passed, their reasoning for leaving the underdark, how they cope with being topside in an alien world, etc. are fine, but a goblin who was raised in a tribe in the woods is more complex.  The suspension does not extend to wemics or fish elves, which are very monstrous and complex in their own right.

This is not to knock the submission/approval staff.  They have a tough and thankless job, very thankless.  The stress levels of dealing with all these hurdles can be frustrating.  But when regular submissions begin to take almost a month to approve, monstrous submissions have been denied for more than half a year, and we have massive blow-outs like what happened with Silvanne, and about 1/4 of the new players who submit a new character just wander off during the process and never return, then decidedly there is a problem.

We need more staff!  Maybe the time is right for a recruitment drive to bolster numbers on that front.  We need to lower the bar!  When I first got here, maybe 6-7 years ago, I admit the bar was too low.  Right around 2005-2006 it was raised to an appropriate level, I think.  But every year since then, we have demanded more and more from our players just to start playing.  It has gotten to the point where three grown men in their 30s have to meet 3x a week for over 3 weeks to brainstorm, rough draft, edit, etc. trying to find the secret codewords just to get a battle-rager approved in less than a month.  This is a family server, children are supposed to be able to play here.  How is a kid going to make a submission without tons of outside help?  Will children have the maturity to be told "no no no no" every time they want to try to play a new game?  We've had a grown man in his 30s snap and rage-quit over this system.  

Take a look around at the server numbers.  It's basically the same 10-20 people at peek hours, with 0-4 on any time less than weekend quest prime time.  Now you might say that this is simply because the game is old, then how come other servers far less incredible than ours that shall remain nameless are hitting 40-50/64 consistently?  I will tell you why, because in order to play a game, it has become work.  In order to alleviate stress, we fret and agonize about nitpicking little things in the bios.  I write awesome bios, so I don't have to deal with most of thise stress.  Luckily I can get my non-monstrous, mundane characters approved in say, 2-3 weeks.  I still think we can do better than that.

I love this server.  It has built many fond memories over the course of over 7 years.  Please, we have to stop starving it of new players in the name of law and order and meticulous structure.  I know I make this post every year, and every year now the problem has gotten worse and worse.  I do not fault the current submission team, but rather I commend them for lasting as long as they have and working as hard as they do.  But in the end, it's equally unfair to them as it is to the players to have the bar set so high.  

In short, we could use two things.  1) a staff recruitment drive among our tiny numbers to help speed things along. and 2) to lower this bar so that people less perfect and well-written than myself can pass the very 1st step.  We also need to lift the ban on monstrous races, because it isn't the problem that they are so complex, but rather WE are being too nitpicky with the mundane races as it is.  If every submission takes weeks and weeks, then a goblin or orc is not the problem, the system as it is working now is the source of the trouble.

I commend the team currently working hard to keep this awesome world running.  Just you're working too hard over a basic process that gets harder and harder.  The higher you set the bar, the more work you make for yourselves, and the harder your job will be.  I'd rather have lots of approvals green-lighted quicker and see you people in game, playing, than making an unpaid career doing paperwork 20 hours a week.  I would rather meet lots of new players new to RP in the world than a tiny handful of seasoned veterans that survived the overly difficult obstacle course it takes to get here.  We need more staff, we need more players.  More players mean more veterans that become staff, so don't turn away the players.

You incredible people work too hard as it is.

87

Just for Fun / Wild Weather

« on: April 27, 2011, 03:31:07 pm »

Yesterday in Syracuse we had a storm cell move in around 1:30 in the afternoon.  The worst rain I have ever seen up here.  We received 1.25" of rain in 30 minutes, golf ball sized hail and after it moved out of the area this cloud formation was spotted over one of the nearby lakes.  There was a report of a tornado, but no confirmation.

88

General Discussion / Flynn's End of the World Rant

« on: January 23, 2011, 04:04:37 pm »

*Flynn saunters into the Bulls Eye and pulls up a stool*

"Carrick, make it a tall one. And don't spare the kick"

*After being served, Flynn takes a long pull off the beverage then sighs*

"Carrick, let me tell you. This Green Dragon Cult could be the end of us all. I've never seen anything like them in all my years. Even our friend General Bloodstone could not amass the numbers and strength I have witnessed from this Cult. I fear there is no turning back, and there is only one way forward. I'm not even sure if we all threw up our hands and surrendered that we would be spared. Of course, slavery is no option for a man like me. I've lived too long as a free man. I would rather die. It will be war, and it will not end well I fear."

*Flynn leans back and takes another long pull and shakes his head*

"I suppose I could move down to Tilmar and bury myself in some cave down there."

*Flynn chuckles*

"Who am I kidding, I'd rather be a slave then leave the comfort of my Taverns. So be it. Then I will fight until the last of my breath or the Green Dragon Cult is destroyed."

*Flynn finishes his drink and gives Carrick a thankful nod, and leaves as quickly as he arrived*

89

General Discussion / A Fond Farewell

« on: January 08, 2011, 11:39:05 am »

Hi everyone,

I have to say ... it's been a great run! That said, this post is to let the community know that I have just stepped down as a GM. The decision to retire was actually some months in the making, but I stayed on a little longer to make sure my work with Center rolled out smoothly, and to finish off my last commitments to CDQ requests.

Time. If only we all could have enough! But with my university days over and my full time job becoming more full time by the day, I know in my heart that I don't have the time for the responsibilities of GMing anymore, and it is time to step aside.

My deepest thanks to the community. You are what makes GMing here worth the time we give up. So thanks, for your commitment and passion to the world, for your creativity on quests and during every day roleplay, and for all the support you give the GMs as we try our best to weave stories for you, puppeteer a dozen NPCs at once, and keep the monsters on a short enough leash that you can at least try to solve the world's problems in a non-combative fashion. Mine were always a little unruly, and apologies to whoever they took a swipe at accidentally during a quest. I do seem to recall a few strand refunds during my tenure ... ;-)

I can say with honesty, it has been my sincerest pleasure to eavesdrop on all your RP conversations, snoop through your character's backpacks and leave the occasional surprise, bash you on the head with the XP wand from time to time, and torture your characters through development quests!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

~Carillon

90

General Discussion / Happy birthday Dezza

« on: November 27, 2010, 07:16:42 pm »

I thought I was getting old ... until I remembered you again become a year older than me today! Ha!

91

Layonara Server / A note on future updates

« on: November 06, 2010, 12:41:47 pm »

Hello Layonara Community,

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm trying something different with the way I've done updates.  To put it briefly, I'm going to try doing smaller, more frequent updates.  Some of them may also be "stealth" updates, meaning that I may not announce them at all.  Others may be quick-fix updates, such as those I have done since 3.30 has gone online.

So what does this mean?

Well, I'm not making any guarantees, but simple changes and quick fixes will hopefully find their way into play more quickly. Also, I'm hoping to keep better pace with plot-relevant changes as well as possibly add some unexpected variability into the world. Such things may not be frequent, as it is still subject to my rather full schedule. However, this is my intent, and I wanted to let you, the community, to know what is going on, so that when you go on your "usual" and find bugbears instead of ogres, for example, you will know why.

We'll see how it goes, I guess!

92

The Dragon Storm Campaign / More meetings in Huangjin

« on: August 29, 2010, 10:08:15 pm »

Lady Daniella Stormhaven seems to be busy meeting people at the Citadel of Toran in Huangjin relating information back and forth with various different people.  Security is high, but things seem to be working efficiently.





//I'll have Daniella parked in Huangjin for a while.  If you would like to discuss things relating to any new information on the Green Dragon Cult, please send me a pm and we'll find a time to discuss what there is to share.

93

Rumour Has It / Information Sought on Dead Magic Area

« on: June 23, 2010, 11:52:28 pm »

*Adder tacks a small notice on the wall near the front door of The Harpy in Vehl and quietly leaves*

Seeking information on possible dampening of arcane magic in Krashin, particularly in the lower levels of a cave infested by kobolds. Will pay good coin for credible and tangible information. Leave word here for Adder.

-Adder

94

General Discussion / The End of a Warrior

« on: April 05, 2010, 12:38:12 pm »

*Ty tombs home with Trenton's body and quickly brings it to the Hospital desperately seeking aid...but there is none to give*

A warrior's death was fitting, his life in the service of the mighty Vorax.  He lived to fight evil and he lived to teach others to be strong.  Hopefully his memory will be lasting, his contribution to the safety of good citizens across Layonara remembered.  

His victory cry "Feel the Axe of Vorax!" should be written on his gravestone and his fellow warriors in arms should be honored to continue the good work, to fight the good fight.

//I've had a blast playing Trenton and I feel lucky to have had the chance to play him as long as I did.  Thanks again to the team for instituting the Graceful Plea system that allowed him to come back from his first permanent death.  Thank you to all those who enjoyed Trenton's company and who made it so much fun for me to play with you.  Your roleplay is superb and you all make Layonara the exceptional experience that it is.

95

General Discussion / You Will Be Missed

« on: March 16, 2010, 08:09:54 pm »

Jonathan Selmek aka Daren Valhaikor aka poohbear383340 died this morning in a fatal car crash.  

He was a great roleplayer and really knew how to throw you a curve. His characters were well known and quite diverse from each other.

You will be sorely missed.

96

Rumour Has It / In a cave in the Great Desert...

« on: March 11, 2010, 02:41:45 pm »

*Enzo and Storold takes their time studying the surroundings of the center of the Al'Noth looking for any clues as to what might have happened in the recent past of the location...*

97

The Dragon Storm Campaign / // Update!

« on: March 09, 2010, 06:32:45 am »

Hi guys,

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been around much for some time. The reason for this is that I am relocating to Mumbai in India together with my family. My company offered me an exciting position in our Mumbai office and we have decided to take them up on the offer.

I just arrived here a little more than a week ago and am currently coming up and running on the job as well as finding an apartment and getting to know the place (whoa - its a lot different from Denmark!). I've started out solo, until I have a place for us, and am going back to fetch my family in April.

Yesterday I moved into an apartment that has a 256Kbit/sec connection, so needless to say I am somewhat restricted internet-wise. Nevertheless I intend to try to get online sooner or later and hopefully I can at least play a little.
Plot-wise this means that I will continue the mini-series that I started - and hopefully soon. I will give you a heads up on that as soon as I've found out whether I can GM or not with my current internet connection.

I hope that Steel and his homies are currently recruiting for the next quest episode... they better be!

Over and out for now. I'll keep you updated.

Cheers, Harlas

98

LORE Bugs / Spelling and Punctuation Errors

« on: February 15, 2010, 12:28:25 am »

Inevitably, with the sheer volume of text we have in LORE, we're going to misspell something. So, when you nice people catch an incorrectly spelled word or a missing period at the end of a sentence, or maybe we just forgot to put a space between two words, please post your findings here and we'll get it fixed up in a jiffy. That's right, I said "jiffy."

99

Rumour Has It / Magical disturbance

« on: January 29, 2010, 06:49:20 am »

*Posted in Hempstead near the Raven's Guild and the fountian.*

Storold and others that are tracking and repairing the disturbances in the Al'noth,

I along with Hedessa's assistance managed to repair a magical disturbance located near Lake Dun in the trolloc infested part of the forest.

~Aerimor Lightbringer

100

Important Layonara Announcements / All Servers Back Online

« on: December 03, 2009, 08:47:52 am »

Greetings everyone!

After a bit of a struggle and a bad power supply, everything is back up and running across the entire Layonara domain. This includes LORE (which is doing a character update as I type this).

So, thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding during this time. It's sincerely appreciated.

-- The Management