Post by cereal on Jun 6, 2018 22:26:00 GMT
This is going to be a wall of text. The main storyline of events has caused a handful of characters to abandon said storyline temporarily (or perhaps forever.) This sounds like a shit-show just on the opening statement but I'll address all questions that may lay fault in my decision and hopefully you'll have a better understanding of some of the underlying issues.
This thread will address a personal issue that has been raised by Madcombat, and it will also address all balance changes made to the IoM to encourage niche-party based participation and improve and distribute rewards evenly amongst participants for maximum fun.
1. Inquiry raised by Madcombat
The characters involved in the departure are Hideo, Ayu Tomura, Chihaya Tatsuki, and Alfred Havlyn. (Viridis is involved, however not in the departure.)
Due to the straining relationship between this party caused by actions of the Brightlord, these four individuals have decided to abandon the main storyline to seek an alternative storyline that may perhaps, in the future, recollect back into the main events. In summary, these four people have left Karrack to devote their lives to clearing the Isle of Misery in a desperate search for power.
There's an issue here. Hideo is my character, and he's involved with this. I am also a GM. Here are some frequently thought up issues that you'd probably see with this.
I can use the Isle of Misery to launder items, power, and money.
I can use my own content to create a powerful character and control the server.
I am using my power as a GM to benefit myself as opposed to benefiting the playerbase, and would this not interfere with your regular event schedule?
I'll address all these issues 1 by 1, making it easy to read so you'll have a full understanding on how I'm going to turn these into non-issues.
1. Laundering
Yes, the IoM can be used to launder items and power for my own character, however there will be a log of all the events that happen in a dungeon run for Madcombat and players to see. Although I am the GM, my character is not free from the risks faced that players have when they participate in the IoM. He has as much risk of dying and being permanently killed as much as you do-- and during the time that he is present in my own content, another player (most likely Octavia) will be controlling him. I've no other way to tell you that there will be no bias present in my own GMing, other than simply providing you statistics and logs for you to formulate your own consensus based off of the events happening. All parties that participate in the IoM related events will have something called an After Action Report, which will tell you all of the enemies killed- loot gained, injuries inflicted, and other statistics that can be important or interesting to look at.
2. Controlling the Server
This is a little bit simpler. The reason why our characters abandoned the main storyline was because of the in-character climate. They left because they had conflicting views with the main character leading the storyline and wanted to forge their own paths. That's simple to grasp. The next part is even simpler. I cannot control the server with my character growth for this simple reason: If our characters become stronger than the playerbase, or scale too far ahead, we are not allowed to come back (even if the story warrants it) until the active playerbase is caught up. That means there's a chance you may never see these characters again.
3. Benefiting Myself, not the Server. Interfering with GMing in General
Actually believe it or not, you're allowed to do the same thing I'm doing. I whole-heartedly invite you if you want, but there's consequences, risk, and a system. If you have a party set up and you're willing to take that risk, you can join this system but however- you will not be able to play your character anymore unless it's for roleplaying in the dungeon, or when we are able to come back. Secondly, this won't get in the way of me doing content for the server. Simply put. I'm running this on the time that I'd be passiving on my character. I wouldn't let it get in the way of my regular content schedule or event requests.
2. Balance Changes, Participation Changes, and Rewards
Now that all the disclaimers have been brought out of the way, I'm moving onto the most important part of this thread. The way the dungeon will function now will be completely different than the two introductory events I ran in the beginning.
Party System
You will only be allowed to enter the IoM at a requested date, with a party with the maximum size of 6 people. Why? The answer's pretty simple. The risks are supposed to be insanely high, and the rewards are supposed to be high as well. Allowing large parties into the IoM at a time kills this risk and also kills certain mechanics I'd like to employ. It also adds decision making into the teambuilding before you enter the dungeon beforehand, adding more depth to the system.
Participation Changes
At the end of every encounter and boss fight in the IoM, your progress will be constantly logged for everyone to see. An After-Action Report will be posted on the forums after your run is complete (or failed) and each encounter and boss fight will reward a specific amount of attributes and loot (based on RNG) for all participating players in that party. For example, beating an encounter (group of mobs) may give 1 attribute per victory. If you have six encounters in your run, you will get six attributes after the dungeon is completed or failed.
Rewards
Loot is being reworked. Instead of the use of the Mark of Vitallion, a new system will be implemented to ensure that all participants in your party will acquire an equal share of loot (more so chance, due to RNG drop tables.) There will be no more 'a single person gets to open chests and decide who gets what' unless a player wishes to abuse their nobility status in a dangerous dungeon where their friends can easily just turn on them and kill them, and lie about how they died afterwards.
If you have any questions or issues about #1 or #2, specify in this thread.
This thread will address a personal issue that has been raised by Madcombat, and it will also address all balance changes made to the IoM to encourage niche-party based participation and improve and distribute rewards evenly amongst participants for maximum fun.
1. Inquiry raised by Madcombat
The characters involved in the departure are Hideo, Ayu Tomura, Chihaya Tatsuki, and Alfred Havlyn. (Viridis is involved, however not in the departure.)
Due to the straining relationship between this party caused by actions of the Brightlord, these four individuals have decided to abandon the main storyline to seek an alternative storyline that may perhaps, in the future, recollect back into the main events. In summary, these four people have left Karrack to devote their lives to clearing the Isle of Misery in a desperate search for power.
There's an issue here. Hideo is my character, and he's involved with this. I am also a GM. Here are some frequently thought up issues that you'd probably see with this.
I can use the Isle of Misery to launder items, power, and money.
I can use my own content to create a powerful character and control the server.
I am using my power as a GM to benefit myself as opposed to benefiting the playerbase, and would this not interfere with your regular event schedule?
I'll address all these issues 1 by 1, making it easy to read so you'll have a full understanding on how I'm going to turn these into non-issues.
1. Laundering
Yes, the IoM can be used to launder items and power for my own character, however there will be a log of all the events that happen in a dungeon run for Madcombat and players to see. Although I am the GM, my character is not free from the risks faced that players have when they participate in the IoM. He has as much risk of dying and being permanently killed as much as you do-- and during the time that he is present in my own content, another player (most likely Octavia) will be controlling him. I've no other way to tell you that there will be no bias present in my own GMing, other than simply providing you statistics and logs for you to formulate your own consensus based off of the events happening. All parties that participate in the IoM related events will have something called an After Action Report, which will tell you all of the enemies killed- loot gained, injuries inflicted, and other statistics that can be important or interesting to look at.
2. Controlling the Server
This is a little bit simpler. The reason why our characters abandoned the main storyline was because of the in-character climate. They left because they had conflicting views with the main character leading the storyline and wanted to forge their own paths. That's simple to grasp. The next part is even simpler. I cannot control the server with my character growth for this simple reason: If our characters become stronger than the playerbase, or scale too far ahead, we are not allowed to come back (even if the story warrants it) until the active playerbase is caught up. That means there's a chance you may never see these characters again.
3. Benefiting Myself, not the Server. Interfering with GMing in General
Actually believe it or not, you're allowed to do the same thing I'm doing. I whole-heartedly invite you if you want, but there's consequences, risk, and a system. If you have a party set up and you're willing to take that risk, you can join this system but however- you will not be able to play your character anymore unless it's for roleplaying in the dungeon, or when we are able to come back. Secondly, this won't get in the way of me doing content for the server. Simply put. I'm running this on the time that I'd be passiving on my character. I wouldn't let it get in the way of my regular content schedule or event requests.
2. Balance Changes, Participation Changes, and Rewards
Now that all the disclaimers have been brought out of the way, I'm moving onto the most important part of this thread. The way the dungeon will function now will be completely different than the two introductory events I ran in the beginning.
Party System
You will only be allowed to enter the IoM at a requested date, with a party with the maximum size of 6 people. Why? The answer's pretty simple. The risks are supposed to be insanely high, and the rewards are supposed to be high as well. Allowing large parties into the IoM at a time kills this risk and also kills certain mechanics I'd like to employ. It also adds decision making into the teambuilding before you enter the dungeon beforehand, adding more depth to the system.
Participation Changes
At the end of every encounter and boss fight in the IoM, your progress will be constantly logged for everyone to see. An After-Action Report will be posted on the forums after your run is complete (or failed) and each encounter and boss fight will reward a specific amount of attributes and loot (based on RNG) for all participating players in that party. For example, beating an encounter (group of mobs) may give 1 attribute per victory. If you have six encounters in your run, you will get six attributes after the dungeon is completed or failed.
Rewards
Loot is being reworked. Instead of the use of the Mark of Vitallion, a new system will be implemented to ensure that all participants in your party will acquire an equal share of loot (more so chance, due to RNG drop tables.) There will be no more 'a single person gets to open chests and decide who gets what' unless a player wishes to abuse their nobility status in a dangerous dungeon where their friends can easily just turn on them and kill them, and lie about how they died afterwards.
If you have any questions or issues about #1 or #2, specify in this thread.
