Petyr

MC Name: drplat

Name: Pete

Job: Village Wiseman/Guru/Mushroom Gardener

This is the music that was originally in Dunwood when the server had a region-music plug-in. I think it's pretty fitting halfling music.

Halflings are often referred to as a race IC and elsewhere, but they're actually Half-breeds. The LMs have discussed this several times and we've decided that they should not be a full race.

Not that I actually care about what halflings are called, but a dwarf parent + human parent would not produce a halfling as known today. That's how the species originated, but lorewise, all current halflings are descended from other halflings.

what is this. WHAT IS THIS

Sorry that everyone was a bit jumpy, can't wait to see your new halfling!

It's no one's fault, Pete's kinda entered the mythology of the server, and it cheapens it if I just try to play it like a normal character at this point. I'll let him rest for a while.

I thought I'd continue playing as Pete, but I'm retiring him except for limited appearances or events. He's just too well known and has too much history, so much so that it actually impedes roleplay. Just too much baggage trying to log on and play as him

Instead, I'll be playing as Moon Brandybuck, a distant young relative, an outdoorsy halfling with the Brandybuck desire for mischief. He's also a cake artisan. 

You can destroy the small nature-burrow I made for Pete outside the town if you'd like, since I'll probably be wandering with my other dude.

:D

You actually got the halflings ones perfect. Thumbs up from Pete.

@Petyr: Oh well that's kind of the point with the whole thing. Trade with a miner or blacksmith to get iron or a hinge, and give him something from your profession. But I agree about having to use cobble for a workbench is unecessary.

I don't want to rely on other people to put a simple wooden door in front of a tiny home. In real life, I could probably make a functioning wooden door right now and I have zero skills in building or carpentry--it's simply not a complex task. Restrictions are fine for things like armor or weapons, which the average person with no skill could not make, but anyone should be able to farm basic foods and make basic things without a hassle. 

I'm not a fan of the UI or of messing with Minecraft crafting in general. It's fine to limit some crafting recipes to certain professions, and to make certain recipes only available at certain workstations, but one of the core tenets of Minecraft is the arranging of items in a 3x3 crafting bench to magically make other items. Don't take that away from me.

The system as it exists now just seems arbitrarily limiting, unnecessarily complicated, and simply un-Minecraft. I think it will take away from RP, and the plug-in is definitely making me reconsider how much I'll play on the 4.0 map (which I worked on and is beautiful). When I approach LotC, I just want to log on and RP, not figure out a foreign crafting system and grind out skills until I can do basic things. If I want a grindy game with nexuses, I'd sooner play LoL or Wildstar.

My character would never mine in roleplay. And yet, I need iron to simply make a wooden door to my humble leafy abode.. and I need cobblestone to make a bench to make the wooden materials.. merrrrppp. All I want is to make my mushroom soup in peace--oh wait, I need to make a spoon, a bowl, a cauldron, a napkin, some fence, a water bucket, imported china, a concealed arms license, and a pony before I can. 

For those of us with low aspirations and minimal material desires, this plug-in makes it oddly difficult to roleplay a modest lifestyle.

woah, people, check your zipper, your entitlement is showing..

Look for all of those cakes I lost in my journeys... A few (hundred) dropped out of my bag as I was traveling the lands. I'll strike you a deal: take a screenshot of any of those cakes I misplaced and it's yours to eat.

A few halflings sit in the tavern, sipping (or in some cases, chugging) away. The fire roars, the people laugh, and all seems well, for now.

"Aye, I truly love this brew, eh. It's got to be some special wheat or hops, right, Delbo?"

"Nay, lad, it's the wood, it's all about the wood. It's always been about the wood." Delbo takes a sip and continues. "The brew kettles must be made of fine, healthy, bright oak wood if you'd like to have a full tasting brew such as this one."

Across the table, another halfling spits out the ale in his mouth. "Are ye kiddin' me?" He slams down his mug. "Tha's a pile of sheep dung yer spoutin'. Every proper halflin' knows that darkwood must be the main component of a brew kettle. T'say otherwise is t'make a fool of yerself."

Both halflings roll up the sleeves of their shirts, preparing for a brawl. Both were stubborn; both were full of conviction. But only one of them could be right.

[[To be continued on the new map. A teaser--I've laid some groundwork there, and I thought it would be a fun ongoing thing to produce RP, interest, and laughs as we eventually head to yet another new map.]]

Petyrton? Petyrton... ahhhh yes, Petyrton sounds very nice ;)

I think "Halflington" might be more accurate though, as we used to kind of avoid using the word "hobbit"... but whatevs.

[LOL wtf how did I miss that]

I'd just like to comment that I really dig the size and aesthetics of the current burrows (most of them, at least). If the burrow is for one person, that's all the room you need. Not only do small, cozy burrows fit with the lore of the halflings, but it's good to have people want to leave their home because it leads to more RP around the town and less house-fiddling (which I enjoy some of, nonetheless).

I agree with the necessity of an inn and a burrow size limit. Make it a certain square blockage or something, imo.

HOW TO MAKE HALFLING RP SUCCESSFUL - A SHORT, UNORGANIZED GUIDE BY YOURS TRULY PETYR BRANDYBUCK

I think I've read most of the posts/maps on this server, and as someone who is not very active right now but has done his fair share of halfling-settlement-creation, I have very important advice. 

Let me start with the physical nature of the village, the actual construction. Here are some structures that are absolutely required:

Docks

Inn

Fields

Forest

Burrows

That makes up the core of any halfling village. I believe it's self explanatory. From my experience you should always have more fields, forest, and water than you think you need and fewer burrows and structures than you think you need. Any current Lenfarthing halfling should totally understands what happens when there are too many burrows.

I recommend no dedicated area for festivities. They will be empty eyesores for most of the time, and an Inn and Dock are perfectly fine for hosting festivities.

Don't plant too many trees around town; halflings are an earthy people, not a tree-y people, regardless of how many druids visit. To build off of this point, the field section of the town and the burrow section of the town should be as "open" as possible--it should feel as vast and wide as a burrow is small and cozy.

Town sections: I like making them distinct. It adds flair and personality to have a distinct forest, a section for burrows, the docks, etc. The best MMOs historically have had very distinct visual transitions between zones.

I think it's a fine idea to have the halflings be near the spawn and help new players; it suits their friendly nature. However, I think it is still important to maintain the atmosphere of illusion and removal that is so key to a halfling town. This can be achieved by having the primary entrance go through the forest. It doesn't actually have to be isolated by large distances, but if you're in the town, you shouldn't be able to see out, and if you're out of the town, you shouldn't be able to see in. I stand strongly by this point: someone passing by the road that leads to the halfling village should have to take the path (preferably unmarked) to see the inn/gatehouse/greeting structure. It can literally directly border Malinor, Oren, Spawn, whatever, as long as when you are in the village, it is visually and aesthetically distinct and remote.

Burrows shouldn't be too close to a mountain or to a forest. I'm not a fan of a spooky caves or whatnot, but if it must exist, point it away from the village; halflings would never build a village if they could easily see a scary, mysterious place. 

The village should contain at least fifty easter eggs. There should be at least one "big" tree of some importance. There should be a Petyr statue. There should be a mushroom cave. 

Structures should remain as burrowy as possible. I think we did that right in Lenfarthing: we got the style and aesthetic right. Circles, remember, avoid rectangles. DO NOT BUILD BIG BURROWS. Small burrows are better. Lots of small burrows. DO NOT BUILD BIG BURROWS.

DO NOT LET NONHALFLINGS LIVE IN A PERMANENT BURROW. I'm sorry, it just shouldn't be done. It's wrong. Expand the inn and make it not-shitty and let all other races live there for as long as they like. 

Have wacky things. Esoterically wacky traditions, buildings, whatever. Read all of the lore I've ever written and every stickied post. Do your homework. Typically, most hobbits should be pre-adventure-Bilbo-esque. Jolly, friendly, but not open to adventure or magic, really. Petyr himself was a poor example of that.

OOC: there should be a skype chat that *doesn't* get spammed 1k messages a day. No conversation, only updates and organizational things. Festivals are important, I guess.. but there are bigger problems to fix before that.

He sits on the cold wooden floor, waiting, thinking, dreaming.

Those who pass by Frerry Forest are now more than certain that something is up--parts of the forest are overrun by vast amounts of foliage. The halfling residents of Lenfarthing as well as the druids recommend that no one disturb it for fear of scaring (or provoking) the magiks that have descended upon the woods. These warnings have not stopped some of the more curious nature lovers and knowledge seekers from trying to locate the source, approaching from both below and above...

[[don't break the leaves.]]

The halflings of Lenfarthing have always told tales of strange beasts and spirits in the surrounding woods. It is difficult to tell which legends are based on facts and which on fiction. For example, many of the halfling children claim to have a seen a spirit halfling roaming about Frerry Forest; some adults admit to have occasionally spotted what appears to be a faint light and smoke in the woods; others yet tell of how they became dizzy and and sleepy in the forest, unable to find their way home. There are other more specific stories: one halfling claimed that he ate thousands of bowls of mushroom soup in a small burrow, while another claims that fish spoke to him as he crossed a small pond. Needless to say, neither "witness" could find the site of their experiences again, even in broad daylight.

Some druids who frequent Lenfarthing suspect that some sort of natural magic is at work, perhaps related to the Dream.  But if so, it must be a vastly powerful force, for even the druids who investigate the woods become disoriented and begin to make fantastical claims about dojos and aspects and soup and salmon and whatnot.

But of course, the stories are most likely exactly that: stories.

[[Lurking here. Funny little idea.]]

A slip of sheepskin parchment with green ink:

Friend,

I write on behalf of an ancient, respectable halfling family that would like to join and travel with your tribes.

I speak, of course about the Brandybucks, a clan of halflings that historically have always had a taste for adventure. The founder of our family, Grombadook Brandybuck, traveled many a land after settling the Brandybuck Burrow. And Old Petyr Brandybuck fled Dunwood to become a druid, wandering Aegis and Asulon doing Harvest knows what.

And now three younger members of the great Brandybucks would like their turn.

I am Boletus Brandybuck [drplat], a forager of mushrooms and toadstools. I seek the rarest and most precious fungi in the land, fungi that cannot be found sitting in a Lenfarthing burrow.

My uncle, Crawlylegs "Crawly" Brandybuck [iraqnid], is a notable woodcarver, famous for his pristine, deluxe, distinguishable yachts (halfling sized, of course.) He seeks strong and exotic woods with which to craft his goods.

And my cousin, Bodo Brandybuck [trocks614], is a fine fisherhalfling who wishes to wrestle the legendary coelecanth. He is also quite proficient at crafting bamboo rods. 

Do contact us at your earliest convenience.

Boletus Brandybuck

A slip of sheepskin parchment with a Brandybuck seal and green ink reads as follows:

Greetings,

I am Boletus Brandybuck, of a long line of halfling foragers (which are, of course, the best foragers.) I've foraged far and wide for precious rare toadstools and mushrooms; my stores are unmatched. 

You will not find such precious fungi anywhere else.

I will trade and I will sell.

Should you have rare mushrooms of your own, I would be glad to investigate, appraise, and trade for them. Don't try to deceive me. 

Should you try to law your grubby paws on my toadstools, you may come and offer a trade of your own. I am hesitant to accept minas... minas are not mushrooms, as my father used to say to me.

You might find me in the Underbelly. And if you can't find the Underbelly, I doubt you're the type who is seriously interested in fine fungi. 

- Boletus Brandybuck