Some questions

A few questions that I find tend to help define the server:

What is the level cap going to be? Thirty, I presume?

If the cap is thirty, do you plan on capping by level, or by xp? (that is, could an aasimar, for instance, ever reach level 30)

Any plans for crafting?

Any plans for player housing?

How fast shall leveling be, roughly?

How is permadeath going to be treated?

Will there be any race restrictions?

What of Slavery?

Treason wrote:A few questions that I find tend to help define the server:

What is the level cap going to be? Thirty, I presume?

If the cap is thirty, do you plan on capping by level, or by xp? (that is, could an aasimar, for instance, ever reach level 30)

Any plans for crafting?

Any plans for player housing?

How fast shall leveling be, roughly?

How is permadeath going to be treated?

Thirty. And by level.

Crafting is still being discussed but we have an interesting system we're thinking of implementing.

There are indeed plans for player and guild housing, merchant houses, and the like. While there is going to be a high cost, there is ALSO going to be an RP cost.

Leveling is going to move a bit quickly.

Pemadeath is -enforced- on a case by case basis. The decision will be made by the entire team after lengthy discussion, of course, and it will be very, very high risk decisions your character has made in the past and what lead to their death that will factor into the decision. It is going to be a permadeath server.

As for race restrictions and slavery, the only restrictions are -no- drow. We are still making decisions for what other races should be application only, though yuan-ti being application is confirmed. We are still discussing what elf races should be application, or if they should be application altogether--- because it is going to be VERY DIFFICULT to roleplay an elf here. Calishites frequently kidnap and enslave elves. They will have to be in constant hiding. So... there's your answer about slavery. Yes, there is slavery.

As an addendum on the permadeath rule, this is strictly concerning RP'd and PvP deaths. For those worried of the hardcore permadeath rules from some smaller servers, normal hunting is still fine to do and die in.

What kind of normal death penalty is being planned then?

For grinding? We wish to do an RP/Monster debt, no xp loss.

Terpenzi wrote:

As for race restrictions and slavery, the only restrictions are -no- drow. We are still making decisions for what other races should be application only, though yuan-ti being application is confirmed. We are still discussing what elf races should be application, or if they should be application altogether--- because it is going to be VERY DIFFICULT to roleplay an elf here. Calishites frequently kidnap and enslave elves. They will have to be in constant hiding. So... there's your answer about slavery. Yes, there is slavery.

That is a really silly reason for making any race app only. There are people who get many races wrong. The reason that it appears that more people fail at playing dwarves and similar races is because of the limited cultural spectrum when compared to humans, and because of that a badly played dwarf or elf is easier to notice.

Themistocles wrote:

Terpenzi wrote:

As for race restrictions and slavery, the only restrictions are -no- drow. We are still making decisions for what other races should be application only, though yuan-ti being application is confirmed. We are still discussing what elf races should be application, or if they should be application altogether--- because it is going to be VERY DIFFICULT to roleplay an elf here. Calishites frequently kidnap and enslave elves. They will have to be in constant hiding. So... there's your answer about slavery. Yes, there is slavery.

That is a really silly reason for making any race app only. There are people who get many races wrong. The reason that it appears that more people fail at playing dwarves and similar races is because of the limited cultural spectrum when compared to humans, and because of that a badly played dwarf or elf is easier to notice.

We are more concerned about players being absolutely clear on what playing an elf here entails, and less about elves being "played correctly" (DM intervention can and will handle those poorly played ones). We have been tossing around ideas about how to best get that message across, and the idea of an application did come up. It could also be something as simple as a note to the staff once the elf character is created that they understand what they're getting into - like a waiver of some sort.

At the very least, there will be large, red text for the elf player (and all players) to read before they hop IC. At that point if they are still ignorant, it is their own fault.

Nothing about elves is set in stone yet.

You might as well have a general message for all races. That role-playing means that you know some details of your character's origin and culture. And that where your character is from, or what culture he is from should matter a bit. It doesn't have to be completely obvious, but just a quirk or two.

If your character is from the nomad tribes of The Shaar, then maybe he has a love for open planes, and doesn't like confined spaces.

This is perhaps something that people forget. Role-playing means responsibility, for yourself, and for other players. The idea is that you are meant to breathe life into the setting, and what's the point of a character from The Shaar that can't at one point be seen as a character from The Shaar?

Themistocles wrote:You might as well have a general message for all races. That role-playing means that you know some details of your character's origin and culture. And that where your character is from, or what culture he is from should matter a bit. It doesn't have to be completely obvious, but just a quirk or two.

If your character is from the nomad tribes of The Shaar, then maybe he has a love for open planes, and doesn't like confined spaces.

This is perhaps something that people forget. Role-playing means responsibility, for yourself, and for other players. The idea is that you are meant to breathe life into the setting, and what's the point of a character from The Shaar that can't at one point be seen as a character from The Shaar?

This is true, and we will be doing what we can to make sure people understand the importance of a good background and thoughtful RP. That said, the Elves are a special case because they are, essentially, an enslaved race. The point of these measures is to make sure people are aware that IF they play an elf, that elf is very likely to find themselves forced into slavery.

We don't want people to start playing their favourite elf-character like on any other server, without being aware of the consequences of such a thing. It leads to unhappy players, and a tonne of complaints for the DMs, so we're trying to find a way to make sure they know before hand exactly what will happen to their character.

Any new news? I'm still keeping an eye on this.

Treason wrote:Any new news? I'm still keeping an eye on this.

We're still trucking along with building and whatnot. :)Builders are building, scripters and scripting, and grumpy cats are.... grumping?

Don't be discouraged if you don't see a lot of forum activity. We also use Skype a lot, and much of our progress isn't going to be visible on the forums quite yet.

I'm thinking of releasing some screenshots this weekend if I have time/don't forget to do it so keep an eye out for that.

Edit to add: We'll keep the "News" section updated, but personally I'm reserving it for milestones bigger than "I finished another interior today", because that'll get old real quick.

Good to hear. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about posting even just "Yes, we're still working" say, once a week. When these projects poof, they often poof quietly, so it's nice to know that at least progress rolls forth --even if it's quietly. *Thumbs up*