Posts Thanked By User

841

General Discussion / wont be around for the next few days

« on: March 16, 2011, 05:57:36 pm »

Wont be on Thursday to Sunday. See you all after that.

842

Important Layonara Announcements / Periodic server downtime over next few days

« on: March 16, 2011, 02:57:35 pm »

Hello again folks,

We are reworking our server structure over the rest of the week to prepare for the coming excitement of the plot quests and to cut some costs.  One of our development repository and team collaboration servers (silkwood) is being transitioned to run on the same server as our forums and lore server (garent).  We don't expect this to cause any change in the performance you see from these sites but it will mean some occasional downtime for the forums and lore as we add some additional web server capabilities.

Once this transition is complete and silkwood goes offline we will be using the cost savings to temporarily support a second server for NWN to run quests when needed. Hat tip to Dorganath for offering to pay for the difference to support the windows server for this and for the idea in general.  To support this capability there will need to be a time for us to temporarily take down the nwn servers to properly mirror the database and the character files over both servers. We'll try to perform this late at night/early morning when things are quiet. Exact date and time is not known but I will follow up in this thread when we decide upon those details. We estimate it will occur some time in the next week.

Feel free to ask any questions should you have them.

-orth

843

Layonara Server / Update coming tonight

« on: March 16, 2011, 08:47:03 am »

Hey all,

I have a small update ready to load in tonight. Unfortunately it does require a HAK update, so I thought I'd give you all the link now so you can prepare.

http://nwn.layonara.com/downloads/files/layo_ctrlv3r11.rar

As usual, this goes in your "hak" subfolder under your NWN installation. You can download and extract this at any time. It will not interfere with your ability to play before the update, and it is required for the new version.

844

Layonara Server / Connection issues

« on: March 12, 2011, 06:07:58 am »

Hi all,

I have to post to my questers this Saturday. I got very very bad latency on my connection...I am not sure why. Very embarrassing.

It comes and goes and is driving me crazy when it comes.

I am going to defer the time to next week. Same time

845

Just for Fun / New Spell...

« on: March 10, 2011, 04:30:00 am »

Puppies!

Caster Level(s): Internet 2
Innate Level: 2
School: Youtube
Component(s): Textual
Range: Short
Area of Effect / Target: 6d10 individuals, Contagious (See description)
Duration: Until successful will save
Save: Will
Spell Resistance: No

The caster presents a set of hyperlinks on a forum or internet post.  These links may be raw, or prepared via the use of magical URL shorteners (1d6 minutes to prepare).  The first will save (DC 20) is required for someone viewing the post to resist clicking one or more of the links.  The second will save (DC 40-60, variable) is to prevent feelings of delight, entertainment, and brain-melting cuteness at the resultant videos.  "Cat-people" get a +5 circumstantial bonus to their save.

Those who fail their saves will find themselves overcome with a variant of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and be unable to think of anything serious for 1d4 minutes.  They will also be seized with a mild compulsion to pass the spell's effects on to their friends.

Enjoy!

YouTube - shiba inu white pupy
YouTube - Golden retriever Puppy falling asleep
YouTube - beagle puppy howl
YouTube - Golden Retriever Puppies eat boy ALIVE ~ William Lavinger
YouTube - Siberian Husky Puppy - That's my Slipper
YouTube - Cutest Mishka Video Ever - Talking Husky Dog

846

Forum Discussion / PMs - two suggestions

« on: March 04, 2011, 10:31:45 am »

Is it at all possible to increase the number of people who can be included in a single PM?

And can we please please pretty please get a "reply all" button, if it is possible?

~ycleption

847

Rumour Has It / The Hit.

« on: March 03, 2011, 05:05:04 pm »

Sederan refugees pour into the bordering kingdoms. Tales of death, dragons, and lost loved ones fill the eyes and roll off the tongues of the scattered desert people. Each story is more devastating than the last. Some question the truth of the stories, but then, the refugees just keep pouring in and officials don't seem to be taking the situation lightly. Troops from around the world shuffle around villages that have never seen a real army, not even in the days of Bloodstone. That something is happening cannot be denied.

The refugees' stories of loss spread like wildfire, the latest gossip in those places untouched by the GDC, fuel to the fire of those that are. Amidst the stories, the gossip, the tales of people swallowed whole by dragons, a song is heard, cropping up in as many taverns across the world as the rumors bleeding out of Sedera and Hilm and Nesar. The song has been heard before, but when it first appeared, the war had only barely begun, the atrocities not yet real. But now people take notice, the melody as subtly haunting as the words. Now the refugees carry the song like a banner, singing themselves to sleep with it.

It is a song of the massacre, and the wanton taking of life is so heavily laid upon the listener as to cause a discomfort, a desire to bring an end to the source of the slaughter. Despite this, the request for the song grows, and it has of late become a regular sound at the end of the day.

Various musicians and bardic talents take credit for the material, but a few admit that they learned the song from a worn bard called Willie.


[SIZE=18]"Say, Petey, you hear that new song Ugly Bart's been singing down in Hurm?"

"That the one all sad-like, bleeding and fading and whatnot?"

"Aye, that's the one. You hear what that song is supposed to be about?"

"Well, no, but I imagine you're about to tell me, eh?"

"Pits, Petey. Now I ain't, not if you don't want to hear it."

"Bah, you old fart. Don't be like that, Jake. I want to hear it, okay?"

"That's what I thought. So there's this Cult with dragons and dragon-men, and-"

"The song mentions both a Cult and dragons. I thought you were going to tell me something about the song I didn't know."

"Gods blast it! If you already got it all figured out, why am I even talkin' to ye? Ye cut me off. I was prefacing."

"Alright, alright, my fault. Go on."

"Right, where was I?"

"Dragons?"

"Dragons! I heard that the song was first sung by a fellow who survived one of them dragon attacks we always hear about out of Sedera. He was havin' this concert in the oasis, and them dragon-people came in and killed everybody! Women, children, too. Bart says he could see it in the eyes of the man taught him the song. Real visions of death."

"Uh-huh."

"No lie! A real eye-witness to a dragon massacre."


"If it was a massacre, how is it he survived?"

"I dunno! Maybe he's one of them stonebound."

"Or maybe it was all made up. They're called 'storytellers' for a reason."

"Well ain't you just the cynic of all cynics. You gonna tell me all them things we hearing about from Sedera and Boyer and Sucession- all sides- be just made up?"

"I'm sure some are true, and I'm sure there are many an entertainer looking to make a coin or two off the plight of dead men."

"Bah, you got no faith, Petey. None at all. Bart told me this fellow was willing to pay Bart to teach the song, not the other way around. Bart said that after hearing the song, the truly haunting melody, he just couldn't take the poor man's money."

"It is well written, I'll say that much. I just don't like all this talk of doom and gloom. Are things really that bad?"

"Maybe not for you and me, what with the likes of the Sabre and Morgensen and Red Bear around, but I tell ye, if the stories are true, them Cultists don't care who ye are or what yer doing. We could be sitting here drinking a pint and them dragons just swoop in and make us crispies for the fun of it, I tell ye. I don't know about you, Petey, but that song makes me want to pick up an axe and have a go at the rotten creatures what done such a thing and would do such a thing to any old person just having themselves a normal day."[/SIZE]

848

The Dragon Storm Campaign / Rise of the Long Storm

« on: March 03, 2011, 02:00:16 am »

Above the skies of Audiria, not even a day after the Cult dragons attacked the walls and main gates of the beleagured city the alarm bells ring yet again. Black smoke drifts above the desert sands creating long thin trails into the upper atmosphere in the clear bright morning sun from buildings still burning from the attacks the day before.

The bells ring loud and clear, those brave enough to venture out on the streets that morning run quickly for underground shelters in various buildings around the city that still stand. Once again pikemen, nervous and sweating already from worry and stress move to positions designated around the city to mount what minimal resistance they can offer against the sheer power and brute force of the Cult dragons that have brought their nation to a standstill and killed or made refugees of thousands of their countrymen.

A Synod Cabalist, one considered to be amongst an esteemed order of the elite of the Sand Sea Synods forces waits beneath the overhang of a building with thirty pikemen at his back. He waits with his hand shadowing his dark eyes against the already burning morning sun as he seeks the tell tale specks in the sky that will signal the position of the attacking dragons.

Soon he has them, coming from the west. He watches as they descend from up high a number of miles out from the city over the desert itself. He watches as they gather momentum tucking their wings into their bodies for greater speed generation. In that moment he cannot help but admire the sheer natural power and grace of the beasts but nor can he ignore their potential for destruction. Glancing back at the men behind him he can smell the fear in them. Many had not eaten properly for days, some had lost family and friends already and most were simply not trained for war such as this. Motioning for them to wait and stay hidden he continued to watch the west soon losing sight of the Dragons behind the city walls. At the speed they were coming he estimated it would only be minutes before they would reach the city walls and the attacks would resume.

Closing his eyes the Cabalist called on his ancestors to be with him and prayed as he had done so every day for the last few weeks as if it would be his last day on this world. Touching a sacred relic of his family to his forehead and his lips he walked from the place in which he had hidden and stood to the middle of the dusty street. He signalled his men to stay hidden. There, alone in the middle of the street he called on the Al'noth, words of power that wrapped and twisted around him in currents of energy and the flow of magic that he believed came from his ancestors.

Deep into his castings he heard the first roar and glimpsed the flash of a dark shape as one dragon hit the western wall and rock and debris, men and dust exploded into the air. Fire filled the air in the street ahead and more buildings burst into flame. Then there was a second flash as the other dragon landed on top of the temple to Azatta and breathed fire into the streets around it setting more buildings alight.

Within moments the morning had been shattered in a cacophany of bells, dragon roars, flying debris, fire and the sounds of the wounded or dying.

The Cabalist spoke words of power and ice fell from the skies striking the dragon breaking through the cities western wall. That wall held the gate to the desert road that led to North Fort. Then, more words and harsh crackling lightning arced out in raging blue tendrils to wrap around the creatures neck and wing.

The dragon roared its fury and launched heavy boulders torn from the walls itself at its attacker. The rocks thundered into buildings around the Cabalist and he glimpsed quickly that one struck the place where his men were waiting. He could hear their screams in the dust that now filled the street but forcing his mind to the task at hand their cries become just part of the background noise as he released himself to the magic and cast everything he could summon at the dragon.

Some attacks fizzled and brushed off the dragon, others ran like rain down its skin while others seemed to cause the creature harm. Enraged it advanced on the Cabalist down the street taking time to tear down and destroy everything around it, buildings were smashed into pieces, people who ran into its path were torn apart, the road was clawed into jagged chunks, and clouds of dust and sand were raised by the massive wings as the creature slowly advanced.

At the same time in another part of the city the other dragon that had caused destruction from atop the temple had moved into the streets and was systematically hunting for any people it could find, buildings were either torn down or turned into raging torrents of fire in its rampage.


All the while far into the desert to the west a storm was rising. Winds picked up across the desert and slowly formed a maestrom that rose slowly and gradually until far in the west the sky was filled with a tall whirling tornado of sand particles. All around it hot winds sucked cold air from far above, drawing it down into the spinning vortex at its centre. The sudden condensation causing an intense build up of electrical energy within its core that was realised by sharp and jagged flashes of lighting and deep peals of thunder. The storm gathered strength building higher and higher, wider and wider and then it began to move eastwards.

Oblivious to the rising storm the Cabalist watched his death advancing on him. The massive enraged Cult dragon had allmost reached him and been able to shrug off most of the energy he had thrown at it leaving him nothing in reserve. Waiting for the inevitable he closed his eyes as the dragons claw moved towards him and its violent roars filled his years.

Then...far above the storm from the desert broke over the city, the sky darkened all at once and the spinning vortex of sand enveloped the city. The violent wind blown sand cut vision to no more than a few feet, and the winds howled through the streets, lighting lashed out and struck at any object that rose above the main level of the city and thunder roared within its depths.

Blown off his feet the Cabalist was flung against a building by the force of the sudden wind, sand lashed at his exposed skin and forced its way into his eyes and mouth. The Dragon that had been about to strike him tried to leap into the whirling maelstrom to escape and was all at once smashed into the ground as two smaller forms tore into it. The Cabalist fought to blink away sand and fix his gaze on the confused images, his mind barely able to adapt to the sudden change in the air around him and the battle before him. Awe and shock filled him, disbelief rose in his heart and then the thought that his prayers to his ancestors had saved his life filled his mind.

Struggling to see or even move in the vicious sand storm he could barely make out the shapes tearing and ripping into the larger dragon, blood splattered on the ground as the larger dragon tried desperately to escape its attackers and gain some height. The combat was ferocious between the three combatants but it was clear the two smaller foes had gained the element of suprise over the larger. The Cabalist fought to regain his feet fighting against the fierce winds as the larger dragon managed to break away from its attackers and leap into the air. There, a massive discharge of lightning thundered into the creature and with a stench of burning flesh and a loud thump its lifeless form hit the ground. The shockwave from the blast sent the Cabalist back against the wall again where he collapsed unconscious.

Meanwhile the other dragon had noticed the approaching storm and leapt into the air to evade it. The storm seemed to surge towards the fleeing creature and just as it reached it a huge blue skinned shape emerged from the storm. Lightning issued forth from its open maw along with hundreds of tendrils of electrical energy from the storm it had created. The massive discharge enveloped the fleeing Cult dragon and when the flash dissipated dust and ash, all that remained of the dragon drifted slowly towards the desert floor.

With a deep throated roar the Long Storm circled the city, the storm he and his kin had created starting to dimish, leaving a thick layer of sand over the entire city.

With another deep roar, answered in kind by two smaller dragons, a gold and a slate coloured one that rose from the city to join him. The three dragons headed west once again.

And as the dust settled, the people emerged to behold the wonder of their salvation from the Cult dragons.

849

The Dragon Storm Campaign / State of play on the War

« on: February 25, 2011, 06:28:37 pm »

//Over the last few 10 months of the war the following has occured in sequential order. Some of course have taken more time than others to complete but this is the general state of play and order of events.


The Blackford War Council implodes then reforms without Moraken to continue the role it was formed for,

Sederra has negotiated an alliance with Rael and Sucession and now faces destruction or being saved by accumulated forces on Dreger,

the Cult fleet bears down on Audiria,

two dragons keep Sederra locked down,

allied forces are busy sailing to Alhon and then marching to battle lines drawn up by the Blackford council and those on the ground in Hilm itself including Sir Lance and Lord Alexander,

Nesar has thrown off the shackles of the Cult with the help of the Corathites and Pyrtechonites,

PC forces seek the location of the Broken One,

the Cult Army in Vilsa with Cyn Chen marches on Nith,

a small Cult force drawn from those that marched on Sundance march towards Fort Miritrix,

the Sederran navy that left Audiria are smashed before even reaching the Cult fleet,

Cult forces secure southern Hilm and move towards the Fort of Last Hope from Sundance and Briardusk,

A very large Cult army has reached the border with Hilm having marched from Swarm lake and rumours are that Molvaren has been seen in this army.

A secondary Cult Army being led by Commander of the Drachs, Jaedan Siphe have marched from Briardusk towards Hilm Castle slowly so they can secure the lands north of Fort of Last Hope. Running battles have been occuring constantly with forces deployed from Hilm Castle to slow these advancing forces down. Heavy casualties have been taken on both sides but the allies have steadily lost ground to this army as it advances north.

Hilm castle has been preparing for the inevitability that they will be under seige within a few months by Cult armies from Swarm lake and those advancing northwards from Sundance.

Fort of Last Hope has also been preparing for Seige as Cult armies form the south secure southern Hilm and armies form Briardusk begin to cut off supply from all avenues except through the moutains to the east. This avenue only possible due to agreements made with the Shindalerians to guide supply ships through the reefs to shore near this location.


At the end of ten months;

Fort of Last Hope is about to beseiged (within the week),
Nith about to be attacked (within two weeks),
Fort Miritrix about to be attacked (within the month),
Audiria about to be attacked by a Cult fleet (within two weeks)
Castle Hilm about to be advanced on (over next 2 months)
A PC led assault on a place within Kuhl will be undertaken (2-3 months away)


// Please note time on layo for all intents and purposes of the PLot has slowed somewhat and may be out of sync with different events. This post is to try and give you some perspective on the time lines as they are ongoing. Any questions or things you feel should be added please PM me. As we move into the final stages time will slow even more in an ooc sense otherwise things don't make a lot of sense in the overall scheme of the war going on, if you know what I mean!

850

General Discussion / Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand

« on: February 25, 2011, 08:32:45 am »

As some of you might have heard you might have heard of the Earthquakes that have hit Christchurch.

Just to let you know that I am safe, I am in Wellington so no injuries here.

However Christchurch earthquakes have been really bad to the city.

To date there are 100 or so casualties including some  two young 6-7 month babies.

The city buildings are very badly damaged. Christchurch is experiencing aftershocks.

I have three videos that you may watch if you are wanting to find out whats going on (combined an hour in total of footage):

YouTube - Christchurch Earthquake Special: 60 Minutes NZ - How it Unfolded - Part 1

YouTube - Christchurch Earthquake 2011 - widespread damage, multiple victims and many unaccounted for

YouTube - Christchurch Earthquake Special: 60 Minutes NZ - The Saddest Story - Part 2

Our international friends from USA/Australia/Japan have brought along search and rescue teams and helped out tremendously.

I just thought you might like to know whats going on in more detail just in case you saw on the news there.

851

The Dragon Storm Campaign / Wren goes to see Steel

« on: February 23, 2011, 10:33:11 am »

It was a long trip back. I hope Raz has already spoke with you. But in case he did not make it. I wanted to let you know, we found it. Everyone did a great job, we got in and out without them knowing we discovered its location. Jil, Drexia, Ferrit, Raz, Viper, and I it was a good team everyone worked well together. Your Viper did a great job, by the way. Is the strike team ready?

852

The Dragon Storm Campaign / The Triple S: Dragon Hunting in the Desert

« on: February 21, 2011, 03:53:38 pm »

Messages go out to known members and supporters of the Triple S. Willing members are requested at Blackford of Trelania to prepare for a trip to Sedera in order to engage the rampaging dragons. Further details to be provided upon arrival.


/// Feel free to PM me - this event is not set yet, and it may simply become attached to the Sederan defense quest coming up, but get out your dragon-slayer swords and your best armor. You're going to need them.

853

Rumour Has It / A treaty between dwarven clans

« on: February 21, 2011, 11:30:59 am »

Rumour has it that a treaty has been forged between the dwarven clans of the Rhugal, located on Molten Isle, and the Runic Anvil, located on northern Dregar below Mount Norand.

Due to this treaty it is now possible for voraxian warriors to train at the best and hardest war academies in all of Layonara. No place breeds tougher and more ferocious warriors than the war academies of the Rhugal, whose warriors are used to fight Fisterion's spawn from the surface, and the hated deep dwarves ever massing from below. None but the strongest survive here.

Only voraxians, so it is said, may apply. Voraxians, however, be they dwarf, man, elf, halfling or gnome, can apply at the Runic Anvil. Every couple of months a delegation leaves on a treck to the Molten Isle. Many clans dwarves of the Runic Anvil are said to be training at the academies of the Rhugal. In turn they serve in the army of the Rhugal for an equal number of years.

854

Rumour Has It / Kitchen open for use

« on: February 19, 2011, 01:15:22 pm »

*a notice is tacked up in many of the craft halls and kitchens of Mistone*

[SIZE=18]The Twin Dragon in recently remodeled their kitchen and have opened it for public use. We do ask though that you are respectful of the tenants and clean up after yourselves.

The kitchen is located in the Twin Dragon Inn, 137 Leringard. The door to the kitchen is on the north wall of the main hall, near the bar and shop area.

There is also a crate for giving and taking of extra supplies you may have, along with a crate for finished food products that you wish to share with fellow cooks and tenants of the Inn.

My Thanks,
Tyrian Baldu'muur
Proprietor of the Twin Dragon Inn[/SIZE][/B]
[/FONT]

855

General Discussion / Happy Birthday willhoff

« on: February 19, 2011, 05:02:09 am »

Happy Birthday!  It's been great playing with you and davidhoff.  Hope you have a great one!

856

The Dragon Storm Campaign / Azattans withdraw

« on: February 18, 2011, 05:34:42 pm »

Birds, summoners, parchments, and so on are delivered to as many Azattans as can be reached.

In Hilm, Azattan leader of the Hospitalers Core of 400 now helping in Hilm Council member Mari Jentre, has announced that the Azattans are leaving the campaign.

While they regret their decision to withdraw it is imperative that they tend to a most urgent matter occuring within their faith.

Questions and demands of the Azattans as they leave are met with fear and trepidation. They refuse to answer questions and seem most urgent in reaching their centres of worship as quickly as possible.

Those on Dreger begin to assemble outside Northfort since they are unable to reach Audiria safely.

Stunned forces depending on the immeasurable aid the Azattan healers had brought to the battlefield are wondering why they have been abandoned in their hour of need.

Aeridinites, Toranites, Rofireinites and other faiths with lesser roles have tried to fill the gaps but they are strained to breaking point and in Hilm, the loss of the large healing core has hit hard with morale dropping on the front lines already.

857

Implemented Ideas / Change Silver and Titanium Enhancement to work on slashing weapons

« on: January 27, 2015, 11:10:18 am »

This suggestion thread was originally started in the "Bug Reports" forum as it was discovered that Silver and Titanium enhancements were not providing slashing weapons with the extra damage as intended due to slashing damage not stacking. The suggestions to correct this problem (as more detailed described in the provided thread) were as follows: 1. Create a new version of the Silver and Titanium Enhancements that does Bludgeoning Damage. So, now there would be two types of these enhancements, one that does slashing and one that does bludgeoing. The bludgeoning could be used on slashing or piercing weapons and the slashing could be used on bludgeoning or piercing weapons. This would resolve the stacking issue. Important to note that due to mechanics, the damage provided by the enhancement would take on the damage type of the base weapon (ie, adding a silver slashing to a bludgeoning weapon would convert the slashing silver to extra bludgeoning damage). This fix would allow all weapons the ability to be enhanced with titanium and silver and would not cause any overbalancing issues. 2. Change the Silver and Titanium to do elemental damage, not slashing. Suggested elemental for silver would be fire, suggested elemental for titanium would be cold. This would still allow someone to put an elemental on their weapon for base/non-vs damage, as long as it was a different type of elemental damage (ie, could have a Mithril Battle Axe with 1d8 Silver (fire) damage for vs undead/shapechanger and a 1d8 Acid damage). If you have any comments or suggestions or want to thank me that's ok too:)

858

The Dragon Storm Campaign / Nesar capitulates

« on: February 14, 2011, 05:41:35 am »

For days terror rules the streets of Arnax, the horror spreads into nearby farmlands as well and there is not one person who will not forget the two days of horror when the Corathites and the Pyrtechonites destroyed the Green Dragon Cultists that had surrounded Tower Veroer for so long.

At the end of it, when the dead returned to their graves, when the nightmares subsided, the screams faded and the blood stopped flowing, that was when Queen Maillard sent messengers to each quarter of her kingdom with the following proclaimation.

"On this day, on this hour, we do proclaim that Nesar no longer stands in the shadow of the threat of Kuhl and the Green Dragon Cult. No longer do we fear their dragons for we have shown there are those amongst us able to overcome such a threat.

We declare that Nesar will return to nuetrality and cease to participate in any actions, or allow any actions by Kuhl or the Green Dragon Cult or those who would ally themselves against them to occur on Nesar soil.

We have the word of those who have liberated our nation that they will stand with us to prevent any and all who would seek to use our lands again, or attempt to subjugate us. Be they Kuhl and the Green Dragon Cult, or those that oppose them."

859

Layonara Server / Version 3.30.2 is online!

« on: February 14, 2011, 12:20:35 am »

[SIZE=32]Version 3.30.2 is online![/SIZE]

This one took longer than expected for the sole reason of me not being able to get to things as quickly as I'd have liked.  My apologies to those who have been waiting on some of this.

There are no downloads required for this one.

Changes:

• Minor fix to 121 Leringard Arms
• Functional kitchen added to 137 Twin Dragons Inn
• Full remodel for 165 The Silver Buckle
• Cat added to 150 Krandor
• Kelin's Inn in Krandor now under new management
• Furniture set up in room used for the Blackford War Council, for convenience
• Rename Fort Gorge back to Fort of Last Hope.  Just pretend it was always called Fort of Last Hope.
• Changes to Fort Vehl to reflect Coalition GCDQ outcome
• GM Placeable Objects (signs, etc) will change their examined descriptions now along with their usual mode of operation.
• Fancy Fountain housing placeable will give water now like the Fresh Water Keg does
• Adjustment to a CNR area (no, I'm not telling which)
• A few area changes due to plot reasons. You'll know them when you see them.
• A couple GM-only things I'm not mentioning here

Fixes:

• East gate in Hlint now properly auto-closes
• Fixed activation of one of the powers of Alandric's WLDQ reward
• Fixed offset ground tiles in Port Hempstead, Crimson Eagles Memorial
• Adjusted PvP settings for Port Hempstead
• Pickpockets in Lor should no longer affect invisible or G. Sanc'ed PCs

That's it!  Thanks to Alatriel, RollinsCat and whomever else may have contributed to this but about whom I've forgotten.  

Enjoy!

860

Ask A Gamemaster / Tournament for a house?

« on: February 13, 2011, 10:42:47 am »

After the realization that I really haven't played Bjornigar for many RL years, I am preparing to delete the old codger in order to make room for some new blood.  What to do with his house has been a touchy subject for me.  While Willy does live there, my roommate never actually plays Willy, and Willy never paid Bjorn any rent, so why should he get a house for free?  To me it would be muling to hand a house over to the guy on the couch, and especially wasteful if that guy on the couch is never actually played anymore, in essence just another one of those "Zombie houses" out there that gather dust and bear the name of some guy nobody's ever heard of or seen logged in for the past 3-4 years.

I then considered simply vacating the house upon my deletion and putting it up for sale on the open market.  But then somebody with a whole lot of gold who really didn't need a house would buy it up, decorate it and never use it.  Somebody who already has multiple houses gathering dust.  Somebody whose only claim to it was that he had lots of cash on hand and was lucky (or well informed) enough to know exactly when and where it was going up for sale and buy it right there and then.  Or I could auction it up and the guy with 15,000,000 gp in his account and 5 houses to his name would wind up winning it.  I find just about every open-market option equally detestable.

SO it dawned on me to MAKE the new owner earn the house, and hold a player event tournament in the arena!  The most under-utilized, awesome thing we have on the server.  But single competition would be much the same result as the above options, the guy with 40 levels and 90,000,000gp in gear would win, and add to his 5 houses.  So I'm thinking... mixed team competitions.

What I propose is a tournament for Bjorns house in which teams of 3 must sign up.  These teams of 3 could be any class combination, except that they must be limited to levels 5-20.  Anybody less than level 5 shouldn't get a free house, anybody over level 20 should have enough money/resources/connections/oldfriendsoraltcharacterswhoneverplayanymorethatlettheirzombiehousesgatherdust to go buy their own.  Or at the very least characters over 20th level should have enough gold already to rent one of the many vacant rooms in the Open Arms Inn right across the street.

What would be the feasibility of running this?  First of all, would a prize as valuable as a house be allowed to be won in such a matter?  Since it was my own house, I immediately disqualify ANY of my own characters from the competition.  Also I would like to disqualify anybody who already owns one as well from being able to win it.  I want to see active players who would actually use it have an opportunity to earn it on as open a court as possible.  And most importantly, I want to see some spectacular arena competition with team tactics.

This is why I want teams of 3, levels 5-20.  This is so that mages don't have unfair advantage nor do fighters; there are enough combinations for infinite ways to win.  We could set the tournament months in advance, so people could actively recruit and train their teams in preparation, scope out about the competition, try to figure out their tactics in advance, etc.  Hopefully this would also give a goal for more people to actively hunt on the server, training in a most rocky balboa fashion.  Also to breathe life into forgotten characters of those of us who play epics.  "Level 21+ is disqualified you say? well let's see, there's this guy I made long ago..."

When the top team is victorious, they will be given 5 minutes in game to decide which character will bear the title of the house.  This can be done through negotiation of subletting, or combat AT ANY TIME during these 5 minutes.  This is to ensure added drama to the event, where you must pick your team from those you trust, or agree in advance to go last man standing route.  If at any time during the 5 minutes a vote is unanimous that one shall hold the title, then he does and is declared Number 1 Contender.  If they fight, then the last man standing is the Number One Contender.

The Number One Contender then must face the winner of the Losers Battle Royale!  This will be when we fill the ring with all the entrants to all previous bouts in the tournament, and let them go at it at the count of 3 for the last man standing.  Should all die at once due to massive area effect, then whoever is luckiest to be the last one fallen in the server battle-text will have one.  This person who shall wins the Losers Battle Royale then faces the Number One Contender.  So then the final match would be, one-on-one.

What are your thoughts on this format?