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Messages - Alatriel

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21
Rumour Has It / Rumors of Dark Elves in Leringard
« on: January 16, 2014, 02:02:13 pm »
Some Leringard residents speak of an apoplectic elf pounding on the door of the Black Watch's barracks, yelling about the sighting of a dark elf at the Leringard Arms.
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22
General Discussion / Ice Storm rolls a natural 20... IRC takes the hit...
« on: February 29, 2016, 10:53:30 am »
Hey all,In case people weren't aware, the IRC services are down due to the ice storm happening in Toronto... or rather... down due to the annoyingly persistent power outage.Service will be restored as soon as things settle down and the electrowebbery is restored to the area.My apologies for the disruption,Cheers!
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23
Rumour Has It / Tremors in the Haven area.
« on: December 18, 2013, 08:45:15 am »
Happ Hazzard stops by the Wild Surge Inn in Hlint for a hot meal and a warm bed for the night. He talks to those willing to listen about recent events in the Haven iron mines... About a beautiful seer trying to help "her"...and tremors inside the mines...  Gnolls and a nearly overpowering stench of mold and decay inside the mines... About pools of foul liquid with flies boiling up out of them. He goes on to mention recently being in Folians vale of the Silkwood Forrest and even feeling the tremors there. He spoke to the local temple and they said the tremors were happening fairly regularly of late but they didn't seem to alarmed by them.
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24
Layonara Server / Urgent information about Layonara on NWN
« on: December 03, 2013, 10:08:24 pm »

Dear Layonara Community,

Over the years, NWN-based Layonara has undergone several evolutions and benefited from various sorts of contributions from our community. Among these in particular are the financial considerations of hosting this game world and the way in which they have impacted the make-up of the game world. One rather profound transformation lies in the collection of servers we have running the world. When I started, we had seven physical servers: four running individual modules, one running the database, one running the forums and one spare that eventually became used as the quest server. At the time we also had a pretty sweet deal for hosting them at a pretty major data center. That situation changed, however, and hosting costs shot through the roof and to a point where it was unrealistic for us to continue on with that configuration, so we had to make changes. Fast-forward to today, we have only two servers: one running the actual game across two modules and one for the forums.

Over the years we have asked for and welcomed donations to help with the server costs. We cannot require people to pay to play here, as it would violate the terms of the EULA for NWN. We also cannot offer in-game incentives and other game-related monetizations for the same reasons. For the most part, this has been acceptable for us, because running Layonara on NWN has never been about making money.

We have, unfortunately, hit something of a crucial financial point that requires attention. The two servers we have cost us an average of $268 CAD each month (NOTE: this is about the same in USD given current exchange rates). To break that down a little, the game server costs about $118/month and the forums server costs about $150/month. This cost is presently split by three of us, and but there has been a change for one who can no longer continue to contribute his share as he has been. This was hinted about in a recent devlog entry. In essence, we are in a situation where we either need to start bringing in regular donations from the community to make up for our shortfall or make some hard choices about the fate of Layonara on NWN. So in this context, we essentially have one question for this community:

Do you want to see NWN Layonara continue?

Our web site will remain; that is a cost we can and will continue to shoulder. Layonara as a whole is not going anywhere, and in fact, we have more than a few plans being set into motion. Whether or not the NWN game server will continue, however, will depend on the community's interest and the community's ability to donate regularly and sufficiently to keep the servers running. To be clear, we are not asking for a lot from individuals. If each member of our active player base could chip in even $5 or $10 USD each month, it would make a significant difference and allow us to continue on with relative ease.

Starting very soon, we're going to start holding some regular donation drives, though we would also welcome anyone who wants to regularly donate to the server fund. Clearly, we would welcome and encourage both. Any overages would, of course, be applied to future fees.

Ideally, community contributions and donations would fully fund the NWN server (approx. $118/month). If we could even get $100/month from community donations, it would eliminate the short-fall that will occur. This sounds like a lot for a single person, but when divided several ways, it's really not that much.

To potentially help with your decision, before this financial news came to light, we have been working on several initiatives for the game world. The Fortune system is the first of them, but also we have GMs planning some new efforts and collaborations. Leanthar and EdTheKet are working on putting together some new and (hopefully) exciting things. We have several things in motion right now, but if there is insufficient interest in the community for such things...or if there is just an insufficient ability or desire for you all as a group to contribute a small amount each month to keep the servers running...then there is little justification to continue on with NWN.

At the risk of sounding gloomy or dramatic, the sad truth is that the NWN server's fate will likely be decided by the end of the year if we do not gain enough in the way of donations before then. There's really no way to sugar-coat this, so I won't try. It's no longer a request; we cannot continue to support both servers without the assistance of the community.

So the choice is truly in your hands. We wish we didn't have to reduce this down to a matter of money, but unfortunately wishes won't keep the lights on, as the saying goes.

As this has all come to light somewhat recently, we do not yet have a resource set up to handle donations (please do not use the old links; these may be changing), but we anticipate having something very soon. We're just trying to figure out which of several possibilities will work out the best in terms of fees and overhead. For now, feel free to discuss and ask questions about this. We'll answer what we can.

-- Dorganath (on behalf of the entire Layonara team)

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25
Rumour Has It / Research... *Directed to Nimrod*
« on: November 30, 2013, 07:32:22 pm »
Stygian portals to The Great Library and begins research on his issues related to the "Luck Eater." This is after he stubbed his toe three times in a row, within the span of about 15 minutes, when he woke up this morning. His cursing was both loud and prolonged.//If you would rather me post follow-up somewhere else more appropriate, please move thread and let me know. Thanks man... :-) 
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26
Rumour Has It / Overheard at the tavern
« on: October 01, 2013, 05:16:23 pm »
Farmer Herdunkachud:"Yep....it was abert that time dat de wind dere sterted blowin sermthin FERCE! I wernt runnin' fer da house berfer I gert blewed clean erway. Were bert an hour berfer I could gert beck ert ta see der dermage. Yeh wernt buhlieve it! Mah dern cow werse jest a skelly all layern dere on da ground. meat done blewered clean erf. Ain't ne'er seen ner winds lerk dat befer!"  Mercenary Sileena:"I am not sure what all was said there sir but I believe I have seen similar occurences. I was asleep at the inn not a night ago when the hearth fire rose up and gave me a terrible toss. I tamped it out and all was well but it seems things have gone a bit mad."  
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27
General Discussion / Not in Kansas anymore
« on: August 29, 2013, 01:01:13 pm »
As some of you might have noticed Storold hasn't been around, probably ever since the forums vent offline really... The reason is that Storolds bottompusher is currently not at home, so he doesn't have access to a computer which will run nwn or time to play with all the amazing people at the moment. Right now I am on my change of research enviroment tour, which has taken me to Wako Sataima prefecture in Japan. For those who do not want to consult google/wikipeadia about the location of this place I can inform you that it is in what most westerners would probably just call Tokyo :P Although as I learned that is actually a rather geographically limited area compared to what I previous thought was Tokyo city. Hopefully I will be able to return to tell more stories from Storolds bench in november when I am back in Denmark. So everyone stay safe until then and don't do something that Storold wouldn't do :)
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28
General Discussion / Welcome back!
« on: February 29, 2016, 10:54:39 am »

It's been a little while! For some of us this has been the longest we've been separated from the Layo website for a very long time! We hope everyone got by alright in the mean time with our limited forms of communication.

For those of you just getting the details of what happened and why we were out so long here's the event in a nutshell: A few weeks ago the hard drive that housed all the data for the website, IRC and a few other aspects of Layonara suffered a critical failure. Evaluation of the drive later revealed that the drive suffered physical damage to the drive itself, and the failure wasn't just a matter of corruption or some other kind of software malfunction, as we're probably used to seeing. When this kind of thing happens, it becomes very difficult to retrieve any data. To compound matters, because the site was still being adjusted, off-server backups were not up to where they needed to be.

A poll/pledge was taken via social media from the community as a whole, as to whether or not we should attempt to have the drive rebuilt and the data retrieval attempted, given the steep expense associated with such an effort. This was met with a pretty resounding 'meh'; the community seemed willing to help if the cause was important, but since the data lost was mostly in forum posts, no one seemed particularly anxious about getting that data back. This is an absolutely fine decision and as such we have rebuilt the site from our last save point.

As an aside, it was asked earlier on via social media, whether or not any MMO data/work had been lost as well. We just want to reassure everyone that all of the MMO data that was stored on the same server was actually well backed up and none has been lost. This repository has since been restored. The NWN servers and all their data were unaffected. The bulk of the loss was suffered by the community in posts and our frequently used services. Several months of posts were lost, but in truth, it could have been much worse.

The latest backup seems to have brought us forward to early March (though the back up is listed with an April date for us). This means there will be a lot of necessary reworking on our parts as well as yours. We want to note a few things for you to keep in mind that will help us all get back to normalcy as soon as possible. First of all, there are a lot of tweaks done to the site previously that need re-doing, and as such you may see some slower load times, slower responses all together and things of this nature. Not all functions may be fully operational, and some things that existed before the crash may be missing. All of this really will be a process of adjusting will probably happen over many months (just like our original switch-overs from previous versions of our website) until we feel like it's as good as it can get. The immediate difference was noticed last time by the community when we moved over, so we wanted to point that out now to remind folks that this part will take some time.

As mentioned above, we have some other features that were lost or crippled in the data loss. The most noticeable of this is likely to be the NWN character imports though we are hoping to restore them in the near future. Right now we can't make any promises or give an estimated time frame, but we -are- hoping that the replacement coding will be finished soon. Everyone is working very hard in their available time to get things back to what we have become used to as 'the basics', and so that we can start moving forward into progress once again!

Another really notable issue is the loss of character applications/approvals during the time covered by the lost data. As was mentioned before, we're not going to rescind the approval of these characters but we need them resubmitted as soon as possible. We'll try to push those applications through as fast as possible so that it's no longer a concern for anyone. If you're unsure if youre character(s) might be affected, please do a quick search of the approved characters and see if your character is listed there with an approval. We will also be getting a list from the database to contact people directly but anyone who can get the process started sooner would be greatly appreciated. Please note somewhere in the top of your biography that you are re-approving when you submit! More information will be available on this topic in a later post but here is no need to wait if you happen to have a copy of the application saved and ready to post up.

So onto the other side of all that happened...

We did move our hosting services of the website server, which splits the website and NWN servers to two different places. IceDragonDuvessa was able to help us negotiate a great price on a dedicated server where she works with good services, data redundancy and online backups to protect us from a future catastrophic loss as we just experienced. As well, we've developed a better plan for the leadership team side of things to further protect us from potential losses, which we hope will mitigate the complications from any future event as much as possible.

For those of you who used the IRC service, it is back on-line as well. Everyone who has access to special, team-related channels will have to re-register their nicknames, as the IRC server had to be rebuilt from scratch. Remember that the command for registering is: /msg NickServ REGISTER <password> <email> (changing the relevant details). Here is the basic information you'll need to get reset up if you need it. It probably goes without saying you should not share your password if you do not wish to share your handle.

Anyone with needs for permissions in special channels (Ex. GMs) will need to register their handle before permissions can be granted. Once you have registered please /query Dorganath and let him know who you are (if necessary). You will need to do this for your alternate handle if you need for that handle to also have permissions to restricted or private channels (such as a log in from a work address). People who do not need permissions are not required to have their handles registered, though you are more than welcome to lock them down via registration.

Two really important notes! First, if you have your log in to Layonara's IRC channel set to auto log in, and you auto-log into permissioned channels before you have necessary permission, the server will ban you from those channels and Dorganath will have to release you from ban before the invite to special channels can happen. This will not stop you from registering nor logging into the main NWN channel, but keep in mind the process may take a few minutes depending on what Dorganath is doing at the moment. Secondly, make sure that when you initiate a query to him to handle permissions and/or ban problems, that you have a good amount of time available to wait, just in case! If people log in and ask for permissions and log out before response is made, we can't help you.

In other news, related to our return to the website: We'd like to make sure that you have had a chance to read our thread on the new Fortune System found here. This goes over in detail what the system does, how it works and some up coming additions we have planned for it's use. Additionally there is an FAQ going up for this system soon so please feel free to ask questions over there so we might build a better guide in the long run.

One more thing: We should all thank Dorganath, Orth and OneSt8 for the tremendous amount of work over the last few weeks getting all of this organzied and ready to go! They are still hard at it making everything work like we've come to expect (for good or ill) and a lot of kudos are deserved.

As always, if you have questions please reply here. Otherwise, welcome back once again and get comfortable!

~row

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29
General Discussion / Even Divas can have B-day's too
« on: February 26, 2013, 12:48:34 pm »
Feliz Cumpleaños AlatrielHope you have a wonderful one among your loved ones.
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30
Rumour Has It / Wedding of the year?
« on: February 08, 2013, 04:01:18 am »
// Because I couldn't resist!


Rumours begin to circulate through Tyr-Song and Westerngate of the impending marriage between a notable figure in the city and his equally ardent betrothed.


[SIZE=18]Sir Maxamilian De'Lourney, Knight Captain of the Wyrm, Servant of Rofirein, Instructor of the Code to wed Rofireinite Protector and Rofireinite Emissary to Taur'en, Samantha Merritt[/SIZE]


It is believed that the Merritt family of Westerngate and the De'Lourney family of Tyr-Song are going to invite many of the poorest families between the two cities to a celebratory feast at the same time they celebrate with their own friends and guests to share the love and joy of the occassion.

Sounds like an expensive affair but a noble one! Best wishes to them both!
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31
Rumour Has It / Treasure to be found!
« on: January 29, 2013, 04:41:01 am »
Somewhere deep in the Swamp of Sorrows on Alindor, a small Tower is rumoured to be found. Within this tower, guarded by fiersome constructs and likely some form of addled evil wizard, is a treasure trove of some kind.

If adventurer's were able to find the tower, hidden deep in the swamps, and fight their way past its guardians... who knows what ancient relics of chests of gold they might find.



( Hidden treasure for any low level group to find )
( Please no +20 lvl chars going to solo it. Aimed at low level groups )
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32
Development Journals and Discussion / Masks
« on: January 28, 2013, 09:32:29 pm »

Tobias lays in bed, eyes unfocused and distant. The elf next to him resting peacefully for now but, it wasn't one of her good days. Really there hasn't been many of the good ones in the last month. He blinks rapidly and leans over and kisses her softly on the forehead before sliding out of the bed. He combs his hair back with his hands tying up his hair back in a ponytail and quickly dresses.. Tobias glances back and looks over the sleeping elf , the words she spoke that night still haunting him.. " I don't know you.." Those simple words have brought so much fear to him as he truly doesn't know himself or what he stands for. Hells, he doesn't even know what he wants.. No. that's not true he told himself.. he wants to be with her but, what can he offer her? His love? His fears? A future? She deserves more, so much more.. He shakes his head and heads to the basin of water on the table and dips his hands in the water and splashes some on his face and looks up in the mirror.. He exhales. "Who the hells are you Toby..." He smirks at that.. even his name isn't real.. One lie on top of another.. So many lies and now he even doesn't know what to believe.
 
Doesn't she deserve to know everything? He tells her that he wants her to let him in and to share her fears and yet.. is he willing to let her in? He knows she senses that he is hiding something but, it's hard for him to say for even to this day it still brings back strong emotions that he is unsure he is ready to face..
 
It's strange concept for him to open up and become vulnerable. For so long he has worn this mask and maybe it's too late for it ever to be removed. In not telling her how he feels for her, maybe it's not only to respect her boundaries as he knows she is still struggling with so much pain and uncertainty but, it's also a way for him not to face the truth. And he doesn't know where he stands in her heart.. How can he step forward and confess everything only to be refuted. He did that once before and it left him broken and he sees it happening again with her..So he will build his wall.. and ask her to tear hers down.. His heart tells him to give love a chance but, his brain is telling him no, not yet..let her say it first, for if she doesn't then you can put on another mask and smile and tell her you will still be her friend. And slowly he can step away and let another fill the void he could not..
 
And how does she feel for Nym? There is a deep history there he knows.. The short time he spent with them he could sense that they care for each deeply but, they are from two different worlds yet they lean on each other for a chance at redemption. What right does he have to get in the way of that? Nym is his friend even if the feeling isn't mutual. He would gladly fight beside him and assist him with whatever he could..Should he stand aside and let Zarianna and Nym's story play out? Wouldn't a friend do that? Tobias shakes his head confused and unsure of what to do and his mind fills with doubt. What if she chooses Nym? Could he handle that rejection?
 
Tobias frowns slightly. Rejection... an old friend and he knows how to greet it and tuck it away behind a warm smile and a joke or two. There it will find a home and reinforce his wall. Still as he looks back over her sleeping figure finally at peace from the long day of pain and being sick, he promised and will not leave, can't break her heart..
 
Gods!.. Break his so she can love again.. He is willing to make that sacrifice. Darkness and loneliness are things he can endure and has endured for so many years.. But, to see her in that place tears at his soul. Maybe.. just maybe if he could help her out of the blackness. Perhaps there would be a way out for him as well.. He can hold out a hand and try to pull her up but, in doing so would he tumble further in to the void?
 
He lets out a sigh and rubs his fingers through his hair, searching for an answer on what to do. His hands shake steadily as he continued to search for an answer on what he should do.. He was so scared to let her in. To let her know everything and to be completely vulnerable.. He walks over to her side of the bed and strokes her hair gently. Time.. what he told himself, just more time to decide what to do.. He couldn't bear it to lose her even if he knows he has already lost her. He could at least enjoy the dream of having her, the hope of her loving him.. But, soon he knew that the dream would end and eventually he would have to open his eyes and face the truth. Love is a dangerous game and he feared the cards would always be stacked against him.
 
He adjusts his mask and wipes a single tear away from his cheek and flashes a false smile. There.. he told himself.. perfect...
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33
Guilds and Councils / Attention: Guilds and Organizations
« on: January 28, 2013, 04:17:25 pm »
Want to create an icon for your organization to be displayed as a badge for members under their profile?

The icon must be 32x32px and preferably having a black background unless the entire image takes up the 32x32 in which case the background is irrelevant. Please reply and attach the image in this thread.

Here's an example shot of some of my "badges" on the new system.




Also please note you no longer need to apply for membership to specific deity based forums or the druid one. The system will automatically know you have a character who follows that deity (provided your deity is correctly entered upon creation or a GM has set your deity).
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34
Hello!

Firstly, Layonara's servers will be renewed again for a year. Yay! So you can rest easy that as long as there are volunteers to keep the cogs greased the world will continue to run.

Secondly, there are about to be some significant changes to the sites. Every Layonara site and feature has been rolled into one all new site. That includes LORE, the forums, the gallery, the calendar, the character pages, the personal messages, the downloads, the devlog etc.

Let me say the new site is awesome. I can't begin to describe how many features exist. I think players will love the ability to tag anything with your character and then your character's page aggregates all this information. Whether it's a forum topic, a gallery image, maybe quest participation each "node" can be associated with as many characters as you wish.

Here's a current screenshot of the front page to give you an idea of the look and feel of the site.



Anyway, it's getting pretty darn close to being ready so I hope you share in my excitement for its new launch. I'm sure some of you will be a bit concerned with transitioning to a new system but we've tried to keep every single feature that exists already into the new site.

I'll be happy to answer any questions about the new site and we'll go through a period of adjustment I'm sure but moving forward to have the entire codebase in one place is a real benefit to everyone's end.

Also as you may already know, the servers are being paid for their annual renewal again and every dollar you can help to donate will ease my expenses. I've included the links to donate once again for your convenience.

Donate to Layonara in AUD

Donate to Layonara in CAD

Donate to Layonara in EUR

Donate to Layonara in USD

Thank you,
James
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35
General Discussion / Happy Birthday
« on: January 04, 2013, 04:35:54 pm »
To the dark elf who flirts with a soul, Dremora

Still can't come in the Buckle though.
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36
Layonara Server / Bonus XP Week....ish
« on: December 17, 2012, 11:34:38 pm »
Do I have your attention?  *grins*

It's time again for one of our famous bonus XP events.  Here's the details:
  • Begins on Saturday, December 22, 2012 *
  • 50% more XP from combat
  • 100% more XP from GM-led quests/events, RP rewards and Auto XP
  • Ends on Tuesday, January 1, 2013 *
[SIZE=10]* Start and end times will depend on when I get to it[/SIZE]


Bear in mind it is the holidays, and GM availability will be subject to other obligations first, but I've gotten assurances from at least some of our GMs for scheduled and impromptu events and the like.  



Rewards for RP are rated higher than combat, so remember to make time for it.  There have been several new characters lately from new and old players alike, so hopefully there will be some good opportunities for all.  Old faces are always good as well, of course. Make something happen!
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37
Layonara Server / On difficulty, randomness and changes
« on: December 08, 2012, 11:21:46 am »
All,

This post is born of a recent bug report thread which began to stray into a debate. The topics raised are something I seem to have to address on a regular basis, so here I go again.

For context, the debate that tried to start was over "random" spawns and apparently disproportionate, unexpected challenges.

There's really no such thing as a "random" spawn from a design  standpoint.  The closest thing we could have is where there are more  candidate creatures that could spawn than the maximum number of  creatures that could spawn (i.e. 10 choices but only 5 slots), but even  then the spawns follow a set of rules according to the parameters set in  the spawn trigger itself.  Those rules are set by NWN. We presently have no meaningful control over how they appear; we can only make suggestions.

Besides this fact, the world changes from time to time and there  won't always be warning or notice.  Deal with it.  The development and  GM teams will do their best to make sure that the new challenge is not  disproportionately overwhelming beyond the intended challenge, but we  are under no obligation to give anyone a detailed list of what changed.   We've never done that and we're not going to start now.  Unless an area  goes from relatively easy to ridiculously impossible, in which case we  probably would provide some sort of advisory, there may be no  warning when something changes, and there will almost never be any sort of detailed list of what changes.

Remember though, this is not a  casino; we don't have a vested interest in our players losing. People have mentioned how it's not "fair" when things change without telling people. It's  always assumed that the GMs/admins/developers here have it in for our players...that we're trying to kill them off or just make life difficult for them.  We are making things reasonably difficult for players, but only in the extent that we'd rather people not just walk right up to level 40 without breaking a sweat.  Otherwise, the notion that there's some plot to kill people's characters to the point of perming them is beyond ludicrous.

The intent for most things is that there is a reasonable chance of success provided that one falls within the intended level range of the challenge presented, and I would even suggest that PCs (as a group) have the advantage almost everywhere. Even when GMs make changes, this is the metric we recommend and strive to achieve.  Yes, mistakes are made, but they're exactly that: mistakes.  Despite how many times we try to communicate this to people, we still from time to time hear about "fairness" and things...or worse, it's the things we don't hear about from people making assumptions and gossiping. This is really unproductive and it doesn't help anyone.

As far as the bug report that started this, the poster did exactly the right thing.  He saw a possible issue or cause for concern and reported it.  Maybe it's as-intended, in which case, we'll say so.  Maybe it's not, in which case we'll review it and potentially make changes and other reasonable accommodations. Regardless, bringing it forward is the best way to find out the intent and get something adjusted.  

Hopefully, this puts some minds at rest and/or addresses some concerns that people began to voice in the bug report thread.  If not, there's space in this thread for questions.
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38
General Discussion / The time has come...
« on: November 11, 2012, 10:06:39 pm »
Greetings Layonara Community,
 
 It is with mixed feelings that I announce my retirement from the develoment of NWN-based Layonara after doing this for seven years and some change.  This is a move I have planned for some time (and almost did several times), and which has been needed for some time, but I am only just now making it a reality.  My development focus is now shifting completely to the MMO effort and Layonara's long-term future.
 
To keep NWN Layonara going in a development sense, I now officially pass the torch to the capable hands of Script Wrecked, who will now be responsible for all future fixes and updates.
 
 I know you've all heard this plenty of times, but...this is not a “good-bye” letter. I am still very committed to and invested in Layonara and its long-term future. I still like to play here even (when the stars align properly), GM here and participate in this community. I do not see these things changing.  My presence will remain, but my fingerprints will no longer be on the updates.
 
 There's not a lot more to say here, so join with me in congratulating Script Wrecked on his new position.
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39
Layonara Server / Version 3.31 is online!
« on: November 03, 2012, 10:38:22 pm »
[SIZE=24]Version 3.31 is online![/SIZE]

 I'm going to start this one out by thanking all the people who contributed first, because without them, this update would be a lot smaller...and a lot less cool.  So in no particular order, I'd like to give my personal thanks so Alatriel, Guardian 452, Script Wrecked, Honora, Xaltotun and mixafix for their specific contributions and/or initiatives. Specific contributions will be detailed below.  Similar thanks go to the members of the Project Team and GM Team who contributed to various efforts with input and perspective.  Lastly, a fair amount of this content comes from the community as a whole.  While some things may not seem like direct requests and suggestions, the original motivations for some come from the community at-large, so thanks go to you all for bringing forth your ideas, even if we've managed to twist them from their original forms.
 
As I mentioned within the last few days, there is an updated HAK and TLK file required for this update. If you haven't downloaded them yet, please do so now.

 [SIZE=16]Fixes:[/SIZE]
  • Fix Find Traps skill bonus     calculation
  • Fix heal kit static drop in Swamp     of Sorrows cave to be the correct version
  • Fix spelling and grammar issues on     discarded papers in Tomb of the Emerald Skull
[SIZE=16]Area updates:[/SIZE]
  • Updated –     Hallowlight Forest (A path! A path!) {1}
  • Updated –     Fieroz City, formerly Fort of Last Hope (now matches the description     in established lore) {2}
  • New – Siphe     Castle (interior) {2}
  • Updated –     Partial Great Forest facelift (adjusted spawns, new layouts and a     new cave...somewhere)
  • Updated –     Silkwood Spider Cave (adjusted spawns for density)
  • Updated –     Leringard, main city and docks (now more closely matches approved     description) {2}
  • New –     Leringard undercity (Yep! New mid-level adventuring areas with a     progressive difficulty) {2}
  • Edge tile fix     in a quest area {3}
  • Some extra     CNR scattered around in a few places
  • Added trash     barrel to Center
  • Vale and     Clover reflect recent attacks and destruction
  • Magic     returned to the Great Rift following several CDQs by Storold and     crew
  • Change start     point in Center to be away from the portal
  • More grouped     under another heading (below)
[SIZE=16]Armor Crafting updates:[/SIZE]
 There are some pretty significant changes to Armor Crafting, specifically for the metal armors, helmets and shields. This project was spearheaded by Guardian 452 and ultimately most of the heavy lifting was done by him, but it was definitely a group effort with significant input coming from members of the Project and GM Teams. In terms of specifics...
  • Metal helmets     reduced to one type per metal. Since each helmet variant differed     only in appearance, they were wasting valuable palette space.      Helmets can be customized to any of the other appearances. Recipes     are likewise reduced to one helmet type per metal.
  • Metal shields     reduced to one type per metal and size factor (small, large and     tower) for the same reasons as the helmets.  Recipes are likewise     reduced as above.
  • Redundant     Platinum Chain Shirt removed from palette
  • Added a     craftable breastplate for each metal type as a step between     chainmail and splint mail
  • Added     Platinum and Cobalt shields
  • Completely     reworked the properties of all armors across all metals.  Armors,     helmets and shields are designed to complement each other and work     as a set.  There is a more consistent progression between armor     types within each metal and upward through the metal types. If     anyone wishes to take advantage of the new properties, old metal     armors can be “oxed”. Anyone wishing to keep the old properties     may do so.
  • Tower shield     recipe ingot requirements reduced by 1
Specifications on the new armors, shields and helmets will be posted elsewhere.  They would make this post far too long.
 
[SIZE=16]Thrown Weapons:[/SIZE]
  • Weight     and cost significantly     reduced on throwing     axes
  • Crafting     yield increased on throwing axes
  • Stack size     for throwing axes increased to 100
  • Elemental     rods can now be applied to throwing axes, darts and shuriken
[SIZE=16]Loot!!![/SIZE]
  • Loot drops     updated with over 100 fresh items lovingly designed and created by     the Layonara Project Team.  These items replace a similar set of     100+ unique items you've all come to know and love over the last few     years. Special thanks to Guardian 452 for taking the time to create     the final items.
[SIZE=16]Shifter PrC forms:[/SIZE]
 A while back, we disallowed two Epic Shifter feats from being used due to some serious lore violations with the forms. Particularly, these were the Construct Shape and the Undead Shape feats.  It doesn't take much imagination to understand why constructs and undead are somewhat the antithesis of Layonara's Druids as we have represented them in lore.  Anyway, at the motivation of Xaltotun and mixafix, we started an effort to replace these forms with something more compliant with lore.  While the end result differs quite a bit from their initial proposal, proper credit is due to them for getting the ball rolling.  
 
The Undead Shape feat is now Nature Entity Shape, and the Construct Shape feat is now Manifestation Shape.
  • Nature Entity     Shape – The Shifter can take the form of one of three nature     entities: Nature's Warrior, Nature's Vengeance and Nature's Wrath.      These forms have new properties associated with them that are around     the same power level as the undead forms but more appropriate for     the forms that are represented.
  • Manifestation     Shape – The Shifter can take the form of one of three     manifestations: Obsidian Manifestion, Hematite Manifestation and     Diamond Manifestation.  These forms are basically re-skinned and     renamed, but mechanically the same as the Construct Shape forms.
For any who are curious, a “manifestation” is a concept from our MMO work that is formed around an entity out of whatever natural materials that are available, thereby giving the formless entity a form.
 
Full details for these feats will be available on LORE shortly.
 [SIZE=16]
General Game Features:[/SIZE]  
  • Ship captain     conversations updated to be a little more descriptive about their     destinations {4}
  • New     customization system.  This is actually a system GMs have had for a     while but which was never adapted for player use. It's easier to     use, better organized, allows cloning of appearances (subject to     racial/gender/type limitations), has easier-to-use coloring and is     always successful. That's right, there's no more DCs for modifying     equipment and no more wasting potentially hundreds or thousands in     True for all those failed checks.  A small fee still applies, but     it's far more reasonable. Thanks to Script Wrecked for adapting the     system for player use.
  • Updated math     for the Save vs. Soul Mother. *listens for the sound of jaws hitting     the floor* The new progression goes like this:
    • Levels 1-3:         Automatic success – no chance of Soul Strand loss
    • Levels 4-20:         DC = level / 2
    • Levels 21+:         DC = 10 + ((level – 20) / 4)
    [/LIST]In other words, below level 20 (and above level 3), the chance of losing a soul strand from dying increases by 1% for every two (2) levels.  Above level 20, the chance of losing a soul strand from dying increases by 1% for every four (4) levels. At level 40, that chance sits at 15%. {5}
    •     New system – AutoXP.  This system allows a new mechanism for GMs     to reward good RP. Rather than a single hit with a fixed amount,     this system will grant a small amount of XP, based on the     character's level, at regular intervals over a period of time as     long as the character is logged in, not idle and not in combat. {6}
    Low-level/New player experience:
    •     Adjustments to Center crypts and undercity spawns to be more     friendly to a solo, low-level adventurer
    •     Dirty Claw Kobold spawns tweaked
    •     Adjusted combat XP curves to give a boost to characters through     level 12. Formerly, this curve flattened out at level 3.
    •     Moved a Point of Interest to make it easier for the new player as an     introduction to the system
    •     New characters get more True to spend
    • Adjusted     combat XP calculation for parties to reduce or eliminate the XP     reduction when a character is below the average party level,     especially by larger margins. This actually affects everyone, not     just low-level characters, but the effect will be more profound for     this group.
    As an important comment, any items removed from the palette have been converted to dynamic items, so if they are put onto an ox, they will not be destroyed.
     
     I'll be making a few more posts related to this update soon, but until then feel free to ask questions that come to mind.
     
     Notes:
     [SIZE=10]{1} Primary credit to Guardian 452[/SIZE]
     [SIZE=10]{2} Primary credit to Alatriel[/SIZE]
     [SIZE=10]{3} Primary credit to Script Wrecked[/SIZE]
     [SIZE=10]{4} Primary credit to Honora[/SIZE]
     [SIZE=10]{5} Please note, this reduction in the Save vs. Soul Mother DC is a purely OOC change. Please do not RP or acknowledge any sort of change in this mechanic in any in-character way. There is not IC reason for it.  There's no greater purpose or mysterious shift in the Cosmos, nor have your characters become “stronger” somehow or the Soul Mother gotten “weaker” or “less hungry”.  This is simply me adjusting the curve, as we have done in the past.[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=10][SIZE=10]{6} This system is completely at t[SIZE=10]he discretion of the GMs, and they may[SIZE=10] enable or disable it for any character at any time for any reason. It is not an entitlement, it is a reward. Please treat it as such[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE].
    [/SIZE]


     Enjoy!
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    40
    Rumour Has It / As the dust settles... World update..
    « on: November 02, 2012, 08:09:59 pm »
    For many years now the realm of Belinara has been beset by enemies, an almost constant barrage of chaos and disharmony. But, as the dust settles from the latest engagements a relative calm appears. Perhaps it is more the case that the populations of those nations directly affected have had their full of uncertainty, of blood and of war, or perhaps its because there are few left willing to fight, or even simpler, the resources no longer remain and those nations need time to lick their wounds and recover.

    Whatever the reason, once the dragon wars are declared over Hilm begins the long and arduous task of rebuilding their shattered nation. In the north the lands ruined by Molvarens vast horde from the Cult invasion are slowly but surely reclaimed and resown, vast sections of the city outside Castle Hilm are slowly rebuilt, new trade lines re-opened.

    Around Briardusk Hilm establishes an active training camp, the goal to show Molvaren across the border in Kuhl that the hilmites have not forgotten their original mandate, to oust Molvaren completely and restore Queen Langovale to the throne, a goal however that seems more fleeting with each passing day as Molvaren shuts Kuhl down almost completely to any outside influences while he slowly and quietly regains his strength. So to the Raelites remain on land given to them outside Briardusk, by the Hilmite authorities for their service during the war and in protecting Briardusk from Molvaren during the Dragon War. They slowly build a settlement and keep to themselves mainly but their presence, over five thousand of them also gives cause for Hilm and Molvaren to consider them carefully.

    In the south, for years to come the Hilmite forces based in Sundance will be flushing out remnants of the Orsgaunt Horde from the civilised centres of the landscape and driving them back to the mountains or hunting them down. Their predations will cause the south to rebuild slowly and often face difficuties but, pending any further incidents they will recover and begin to work towards their former levels of conditions before Molvaren tore the nation apart.

    In the Siphe Principality, tensions between Lord Alexander and the fledgling nation will remain a primary source of concern that may in time be eased with the relationship that seems to have developed between the former Kuhl General and now Sovereign Lord of the Siphe Principality, Jaedon Siphe and the Commander of the Toranite armies of Belinara and Chamion of Toran's Divine Will, Daniella Stormhaven. Many hope there can be a reconciling so that all can work towards a common goal, time will tell. Certainly the actions of Sir Lance Stargazer, Commander of Hilms Armies and Second in command of Hilm behind Lord Alexander have shown that he is more moderate in his tolerance of Sovereign Lord Siphe and is trying to bring both parties to an agreement of mutual tolerance as well.

    And as the dust settles over the Roughlands, all evidence of Shadrixkayl's forces fade away but there are times when travellers, adventurers or hardy merchants are crossing regions of the landscape and an odd mist will arise threateningly and forebodingly before once again dissipating as if in warning of a time to come.

    Above the Orsgaunt mountains to the north east of the Principality, the lands now claimed by the Dread Red Dragon Ractrafiorez there is nothing heard of the great dragon. It was not present for the final battles against Shadrixkayl, nor seen any time thereafter. Rumours began that the dragon, severely wounded after the battle in the Cult war against the Drach Ori occupiers of Briardusk had finally succumbed to the injury and returned to his lair high and deep within the Orsgaunt mountains to rest and recuperate. Certainly any seeking the dragons treasure were met with fierce fire giants, far more powerful and deadly that any previously known to inhabit the dangerous peaks. These giants called themselves Ractrafiorens, servants of Ractrafiorez.

    Slowly, surely those soldiers of other nations stationed in Hilm following the end of the war with the Cult returned to their lands around the world to welcomes of varying degrees. The famine that had hit the world following the Cult wars had faded to some degree but not entirely gone away, many did not know if it was truly gone or simply held at bay for the moment.


    Many nations around the world still had their own domestic troubles to deal with;

    Boyer on Dreger is struggling to recover after infiltration by Pyrtechonite cultists and a deadly plague that decimated whole villages.

    Taur'en on Alindor was struggling to come to terms with its own internal upheavals.

    The Golden Alliance on Dreger was suffering badly from the predations of criminal elements undermining the safety and stability of the lose alliance of cities.

    Sederra on Dreger continued to struggle to rebuild their shattered nation from the debris left over from the Cult wars.

    Succession on Dreger has fallen into stagnation and the nations economy barely struggles to tick over. If not for the support from Rael there are fears the nation might dissolve into civil war in the not too distant future.

    Rumours from the distant Elven nation of Voltrex indicate they are struggling with a dark elven incursion in their lands and the attacks of a heretofore unknown black dragon.




    But it is not all doom and gloom, some nations have rebounded strongly after the Cult wars and while Belinara was still emrboiled in dragon trouble they had managed to slowly pull themselves together.

    Erilyn continued to go from strength to strength, their power growing on Alindor.

    The nations within Corsain and Tilmar have built in strength and power in their region.

    The nations on Mistone have recovered well since the war and each nation is stable and growing again.

    Liwich on Dreger, with the greatly diminished threat of the Silver Crescent has established strong trading ties to many nations and is once again becoming a hub of sea trade for the world.

    And of course Rael continues to do what Rael does and slowly but surely tendrils of influence reach out touching other nations.





    /// Please note this is not by any means a full and complete list of all goings on at present. But it is meant to give players an idea where varying places in the world are at currently.
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