aron.

High up in the heavens, a long deceased, admittedly lustful, and regrettably stupid King reads the memoir of his former sworn shield.

"Accurate. Rest easy, Lord Campos" 

((Glad you're keeping the lore alive Snoop, great read. I don't usually log in when I come for a trip down memory lane, but wanted to let you know I appreciate it. In defense of my decisions regarding Salvus, all I can say is it's what you get when you let a 14 year old run the show. 🙃 ))

I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Solace (Salvus) has only lived in my head for, what 8 years now? I spent more of my teen years in Asulon than I did in the real world, and lame as it may sound, that build is a home away from home for me. Never dreamed I'd see it again. Thank you. <3 

7 hours ago, SquakHawk said:

as a gm running a few open campaigns you should be prepared a lot to improvise. Come up with dialogue thats engaging and building characters that players can be emotionally manipulated or attached to. Learn to multitask efficiently and split your brain into cores of where you can consider improvisations, how the players are interpreting your actions, what youre actions are meant to interpret, and how your actions are coming off. I found roleplaying is extremely good for the prior mentioned, if you get really into it; you should aswell get to know the characters before and during the campaign to write dialogue that may prod or engage them. If a player merely shows up with “Big Chungus” the fighter, then they may; but for the person who designs a character with clear thought and an open story, you can provide a lot that may develop them and cause them to become a lot more in love than initially thought. Aswell, provide hooks. An extremely important thing to do is that given “Unlimited ways to tackle a situation”, players will pick the most direct out of cautiousness typically. I found that providing hooks, or leads, into different options of how to tackle a plan is a splendid idea. Perhaps while you’re stalking a noble your group plans to secretly kill, the questgiver encourages “learning his routine” or “hes got a terrible cough, i think he takes medicine for it”, and provide options that are hidden from the easy-eye but a prying-eye would find such quite easily, it really makes the players feel smart, and I feel that is the most rewarding feeling playing tabletop. 

Overall
Invest your players in the campaign
invest your players in their characters, and your characters
make the players feel smart, and like they have ultimate control over their surroundings and the world around them
use writing that allows you to improvise and think of ways to connect point A to point B, and as an aftersession consider what their actions may lead to if they divert from course 

Best of luck GMing, I hope my advice helps- im currently gming 3 homebrew-setting pathfinder sessions, and these are points I take a lot from; alongside others, like quality writing and storylining, etc

Thanks for the advice, it's very helpful. My goal right now is to amass enough hooks, so that my party can do virtually whatever they want, and I can just roll with it. I like the idea of presenting an open book to problem solving. My most satisfying moments as a character have all been from figuring out something on my own, and getting innovative with spells or other means. 

How do you go about making hooks serve a larger narrative? I dont want to railroad my party on a larger quest without giving them room to explore. I also dont want a series of meaningless mini plots that only serve to keep them busy? Maybe I just turn smaller hooks into full fledged plots if I find they are investing in it?

6 hours ago, Zarsies said:

My absolute favorite reference for DM insight is the brilliant Matt Colville’s series Running The Game (yes it’s very long, pick and choose if you like) which covers numerous broad and specific areas of DMing and is chock-full of helpful wisdom; I taught a friend and my brother to DM through Matt’s series and occasional reference of Web DM, a similar channel.

 

BNK (❤️) covered a lot of things that came to mind but some additional threads could include:

 

-The rise of necromancy, the first resurgence of some kind of dark magic after Iblees’ fall in Aegis (not counting Asulon’s event-grade blood magic) which is therein unrelated to Iblees and is far less fiery and much more gritty and black. Its appearance quickly sparks conflict with the Tahariae clerics and over time their arms race leads to the creation of necrotic wraiths (nazgul-esque) and itharel (Diablo-esque angels, i.e. Tyrael) who clash repeatedly for centuries to come. Eventually ghouls (player zombies essentially) are engineered as better undead than truly mindless temporarily raised zombies and grow in numbers while liches (note that at the time liches couldn’t be necromancers so they were always highly potent Void mages) become somewhat more popular as well. Both served under the wraiths and the necro-cleric conflict leads to a large increase in tension and damage in Malinor since the necromancers were hidden in a barrow east of the northernmost tip of Malinor.

 

-The Perfectionist, a deeply mysterious mute mime murderer (unintentional alliteration) terrorizes various human settlements before disappearing for a time and resurfacing as the first user of newfound necromancy and leader of the necromancer coven. By strange pact-like terms he is ‘friends’/allies with the aforementioned Knox as well as a small handful of other deeply insidious murderers in an underworld society called ‘the tea party’ rooted in Abresi.

 

-Apparitions are discovered, those being incredibly powerful ghost-like entities comprised of many souls formed from a single mass death event such as a cave in, battle, ritual suicide, etc, who lay still in dark places near their place of death like a crypt or cave and attack those who disturb their peace. The most intelligent yet encountered has its residing pillar destroyed and in the night it flees north wherein the Black Scourge (maybe Glurtzfolok at the time, hard to remember: the antagonists) commune with it and it enters their ranks.

 

-At one point the Black Scourge take their flying citadel and seat it over Cloud Temple and kill monks and Descendants and eventually push them out, destroying the temple which is then relocated eastward by the main road. The citadel gets chained to the ground and from it the Harbingers and various minions descend from it to dredge out a mine underneath the temple to find the Door of Eternity, the path to the Fringe.

 

 

There’s plenty more but I can’t recall it al

6 hours ago, Zarsies said:

My absolute favorite reference for DM insight is the brilliant Matt Colville’s series Running The Game (yes it’s very long, pick and choose if you like) which covers numerous broad and specific areas of DMing and is chock-full of helpful wisdom; I taught a friend and my brother to DM through Matt’s series and occasional reference of Web DM, a similar channel.

 

BNK (❤️) covered a lot of things that came to mind but some additional threads could include:

 

-The rise of necromancy, the first resurgence of some kind of dark magic after Iblees’ fall in Aegis (not counting Asulon’s event-grade blood magic) which is therein unrelated to Iblees and is far less fiery and much more gritty and black. Its appearance quickly sparks conflict with the Tahariae clerics and over time their arms race leads to the creation of necrotic wraiths (nazgul-esque) and itharel (Diablo-esque angels, i.e. Tyrael) who clash repeatedly for centuries to come. Eventually ghouls (player zombies essentially) are engineered as better undead than truly mindless temporarily raised zombies and grow in numbers while liches (note that at the time liches couldn’t be necromancers so they were always highly potent Void mages) become somewhat more popular as well. Both served under the wraiths and the necro-cleric conflict leads to a large increase in tension and damage in Malinor since the necromancers were hidden in a barrow east of the northernmost tip of Malinor.

 

-The Perfectionist, a deeply mysterious mute mime murderer (unintentional alliteration) terrorizes various human settlements before disappearing for a time and resurfacing as the first user of newfound necromancy and leader of the necromancer coven. By strange pact-like terms he is ‘friends’/allies with the aforementioned Knox as well as a small handful of other deeply insidious murderers in an underworld society called ‘the tea party’ rooted in Abresi.

 

-Apparitions are discovered, those being incredibly powerful ghost-like entities comprised of many souls formed from a single mass death event such as a cave in, battle, ritual suicide, etc, who lay still in dark places near their place of death like a crypt or cave and attack those who disturb their peace. The most intelligent yet encountered has its residing pillar destroyed and in the night it flees north wherein the Black Scourge (maybe Glurtzfolok at the time, hard to remember: the antagonists) commune with it and it enters their ranks.

 

-At one point the Black Scourge take their flying citadel and seat it over Cloud Temple and kill monks and Descendants and eventually push them out, destroying the temple which is then relocated eastward by the main road. The citadel gets chained to the ground and from it the Harbingers and various minions descend from it to dredge out a mine underneath the temple to find the Door of Eternity, the path to the Fringe.

 

 

There’s plenty more but I can’t recall it all at this moment.

l at this moment.

The perfectionist! Forgot about that guy! Used to terrorize us in Salvus. Also decided I'm going to run with the bohra, I think that's a good plot device. 

Do you or anyone remember Dokahns character The Lion? That guy was badass, I am totally gonna add him in. 

23 minutes ago, Knox said:

Anthos is entirely under water though. . .

I'm just taking the source material and moulding it to a campaign. Pre exodus anthos is the setting, white rose as a possible antagonist. The empire will still be unified under Godfrey. Does king Heinrik approve?

@BrandNewKitten

Thanks for all the lore, I want the over arching story to do with the return of iblees in some capacity. Ideally, while they waste time squabbling in inter race politics, the real menace grows in the north. So everything GoT should have been ?. I was on the ET during the antagonist events but I forgot most of the lore, that's super helpful to have. 

As for magic in the world, I gotta take some creative license because I want it to play like a traditional dnd game. Magic wont be abundant, but every kingdom will have its court mage, and a few battle mages to boot. Elves will be the highest magical authority, high elves especially. I'm gonna keep Haelun'or locked from them, and have the rest of the map mostly explorable. Ideally I'll steer them towards humans and salvus since that's where I'm most comfortable.

I love the idea of a conflict between helves and dwarves about golemancy, thats exactly the kind of hook I'm looking for. Also was thinking of a murder dungeon plot starring Slic3mans Jester character. For salvus, I want Kingston to be the hub players think of as home, and if it does get destroyed I want it to be as a cause of their actions. Possibly in doing quests to help out the white rose, or quests to help out the orcs. Or even vice versa if they decide to ally with other sides. For global politics, I think the WR will be my catalyst, with their toll roads by lenfarthing, attacks on malinor, and general military prowess.

One of the ideas I'm really toying with is having them ally with the halflings, since people generally gravitate towards their kind. I could have Knox the murderer posing as the pumpkin lord, and even do a religious rift plot with newer halflings worshipping the tater lord. 

Also gonna be adding a migrant race of lizardfolk in the swamps down south. I'll shoehorn in any DnD lore to best suit the game. I'm not even gonna include Asulon, the whole of history will be in Anthos. 

Good to still see you kicking about BNK, thanks for the ideas.

Hey everyone, hope you and your loved ones are well amidst this quarantine.  

I'm looking to spit ball ideas for a DnD campaign to run for my friends that takes place in Anthos. A few of them are past players, and a few of them aren't. For those of you who played Anthos, what are some story hooks you think would translate well to DnD. For those who didn't play back then, do you have any ideas for a smaller campaign to start, that would then lead into a larger world ending type arche. 

Also, any DMs in here that have advice for writing compelling, non railroady campaigns? I want them to interact and build there own story similar to what makes the server so great. But I also need things for them to do. 

I'm familiar with my source material here, and I want the first campaign to take place predominantly in the human realm. I have a good cast of characters I'm familiar with, and location wise I already have a lot written down. If I ever get this ambitious thing done and it goes over well with my players, I'll be sure to share it here for you to run with your friends, imaginary or otherwise. 

Cheers, love you. 

7 hours ago, ski_king3 said:

I also think having RP at spawn is horrible for player retention. That probably sounds counter-intuitive, but last map the RP at spawn was so bad and tremendously OOC-ridden that no new player would join and consider LotC an immersive roleplay experience or anything of the sort. If anything about spawn is to be amended that encourages RP, the use of L-OOC should be strictly moderated and punished for, as should poor quality roleplay at a level much higher than it is anywhere else.

I agree completely, L-OOC is used in such abundance everywhere, its a problem that affects more than just the spawn. What do you think of Asulon's spawn there ski? I was constantly able to find roleplay there, but it was so compact it didn't really encourage lingering too long. If you wanted to get stuff done, you inevitably needed to leave spawn. A tavern's sole purpose is to be lingered in, no wonder it makes for an OOC cesspool. 

On 1/15/2017 at 10:23 PM, AGiantPie said:

If you're gonna have a tavern at spawn, then the entire area should be open to player interaction. Taverns or other limited "RP centers" in an area where players are not allowed to own or affect the land aren't helpful.

I agree with this. 

and I'll add, in Asulon, the Cloud Temple was the hub to meet up at. It was a good central spot with the docks near by, you could almost always find something to get involved with there. It didn't, however, encourage lingering. The platform was small and cramped, and quickly splits 4 different directions. 

Objectively, I think Asulon had a perfect Cloud Temple. 

Are you allowed to wander into the warzone without plans of scavenging gear? I just went and chilled at the campfire last night, and folks just let me be. 

On 12/9/2016 at 2:16 PM, iMattyz said:

I've come to think maps only play a small part. The demographics of the playerbase are the more dominant, and unchangable factor. If the same playerbase and staff team had been constant across all maps, I doubt there would have been a difference.

 

People make the map fun, not the other way around.

I read this and thought to myself, who is this guy, I agree with him. Well put there, matty. 

Victory! 

much spook, updoot quick 

1 hour ago, iMattyz said:

 

I was given that link, it wasn't anything to do with me

 

so not really no

ya sure

from the guy whose profile pic is arthur dayne . 

but yeah, you're right. As a filthy casual, professions have drove me off the server over time because I just can't be bothered to put in the work.

The way I see it, the server is trying to take nation RP seriously, and it's never going to happen without legitimate competition for land and resources.

Think early Japanese rice empires. Kingdoms are born through surplus, generally agriculture, but in minecraft it could really be anything (mines, rivers, plains, forests). Add resources back to the actual map, give nations a legitimate reason to contend, and you shouldn't even need a shitty skills plugin. 

16 hours ago, Guck said:

 

It's a legitimate inquiry. When do humans get an actual buff, or when will their buff get fixed? Please respond.

You get a privilege buff for being a white male 

Here's my 2 cents; I'll keep it brief. 

When I was rolling on 120k minas, there wasn't a thing I didn't buy. I'd pay 500 minas for a 2 mina beer. I hired a table guy, and payed him a 2500mina  weekly salary. I had farmers, lumberjacks, maids, and guards. Pretty much, if you walked up to me and asked for a job, I'd find you some bullshit busy work, and pay you for it. My reasoning was, when I started the server, Redbaron and Agnub did the same for me. Me and my 2 mates show up in Salvus, and they gave me the farming job, my one friend the librarian job, and my other friend the job as head guard. like, **** ya. 

Here's my point; what drives an economy? Jobs. If you don't have **** for people to do, people wont do ****. Find stuff for the plebians to buy with their money (food is worthless at this point), and start holding the nation leader accountable for creating roleplay. 

edit: but good on ya' for addressing it. You'll never make the economy into something functional, but you can at least mold it into something conducive to good rp. 

On 3/15/2016 at 9:11 PM, Chumpchump said:

I do miss the old robberies/heists even though I was always on the receiving end of them

This, honestly. Asulon was ripe with criminal scum, trying to kill me, and by the time Anthos hit I was one with them. Draeren and I loaded up on stone in the white rose castle before the chests were locked. It was risky **** if we got caught, but it was a fun time all the same. 

and then you burnt my house to the ground.. 

22 hours ago, Telanir said:

 

 

 

I am not including a cooldown to be fun and enticing. This may be a controversial matter but what I know for certain is that chat on Lord of the Craft is far too cluttered. Like give me a break, the moment you have more than a few people speaking in a group it is difficult to even comprehend what is going on and catch up with the flood of text. Being able to read things from top-to-bottom and know that every individual section is 1 person and not 3 interrupting one another is very important.

 

Say that you've got an issue you want to cover but you can't do it in one line. You don't press enter after one line and keep typing because very soon your message will scroll all the way up and be eaten by waves of text. Use continuity and append your message, send your message when you are ready. (5 seconds, is not a lot).

I would have lead with this in the OP, because I actually agree with you. Although this really ***** with how I present myself in roleplay, and cooldowns suck ass. Give it a month, see how things go. Hopefully some of the changes reduce the ooc in roleplay chat. 

3 hours ago, Telanir said:

defcon 5 mode engaged, enforced by urasept

You do know how the defcon system works, right tel?

McName: Joey_Sakic

RpName: Duncan Keith

Skype:(Pm if you desire.) aidanhd500

Profession: Farmer

TeamSpeak:(Not required but highly encouraged.) yeah I have it

Time-Zone: central

i was all pumped because i thought you were gonna allow horse theft globally. lol nope. 

Very... Accountable. +1 

yee +1

someone should make you a dev. 

MCname: aidanhd500 / sugaryhobgoblin

Forum Name: Aron

Skype Name: aidanhd500

Timezone: Central Canada

Do you feel you have a solid grasp on our lore and an understanding of the standards we have for applications? I do feel I have a good grasp on both. 

Why do you want to be an AT member and do you have the ability to work with others?

   I want to be an AT member because I enjoyed reviewing and completing applications last time I was on the team, and have been eager to resume ever since. I think I did a good job in my previous tenure as an AT member, and I've only since got better at working/communicating with others.

Something I prided myself on was how I followed up with denied applicants; after responding with a myriad of ways to improve their application, I'd follow in game or in private message, because I believed it went a long way toward player retention. When you accept a player to the server you're adding to the bulk of the server that has yet to settle in and become accustomed to general roleplay conventions; that means it's imperative to player retention that new players are comfortable and roleplaying as much, and as soon as possible. As an AT member, I'd strive to do as many applications as possible, while collaborating wherever possible; I always have input.  

Do you recognize that you will be given extra responsibilities such as working on the LoTC wiki, assisting the AT in creating guides and helping new players with their questions upon logging into LoTC?

 Absolutely, and both are things I look forward to. I've wanted to contribute to the wiki for a long time- I haven't added much to date, but that's not for a lack of material. In the realm of player assistance I have a lot to offer, and coaching minor hockey these last 4 years has helped me a lot with instruction, and at dealing with inexperienced players . I'm at very least easy to get along with, and I like to leave a good impression. 

Is there anything else you would like to add? I really hope my application is read, and that I'm considered a genuine candidate this time around. I'm active- always have been. Once again, thank you for taking the time to review this application. Peace.

A salvian man salutes, however briefly.