The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters

[Auspice]

Sharing the bbpost here. This was not the same person as DownWithOPP.

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(Formatting removed because it made things messy:)

Bennett Banned Leviathan
Announcements (1/23) Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:21pm

Bennett has been banned from the game due to breaking the TOS, specifically, for metagaming, for harassing another player, and for not seeing that his behavior was a problem when Staff talked with him about it.

[tek]

@tnp said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:

What's the story behind the ban? Inquiring minds wants to know. (Wasn't that name the same as on the BSG game where it got banned? No idea if the player was the same.)

A dude was super gross with me and when staff talked to him, he sent me a super gross non-pology. I believe he was also gross with other female players. It is not DownWithOPP. Different gross.

Edit: I posted this apparently at the same time as @Auspice. I didn't mean to talk over her.

[Auspice]

@tek

It's aaaaaall cool. I figured I'd post the announcement rather than share specifics. It's your call if you want to share your side (since it happened to you!).

[Auspice]

We have a page of Plot Hooks that may help both new and current characters find a place to get involved. Feel free to reach out to PCs on grid or put in a request to Staff (to investigate) if anything strikes your fancy!

[flahgenstow]

Is there swashbuckling? Also how filthy do you need to be? I understand pirates didn't bath but I like to bath.

[Seraphim73]

@flahgenstow It's definitely Hollywood piracy. Your pirate can be as filthy or not-filthy as they want to be (within -some- reason, no towering Louis XIV beehive hairdos every day). Swashbuckling is encouraged.

[SG]

@flahgenstow said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:

I understand pirates didn't bath but I like to bath.

Yar! Der wuz plenty o' bathin! BATHIN IN BLUD!! Only a scurvey ridden land lubber be worried bout smellin like rosewaters.

[surreality]

Welllllllllll... technically, most people had some general bathing regimen while on land, even if it wasn't anywhere near what we think of as hygiene today.

Access to fresh water while at sea made this something to put on hiatus until someone got back to land.

So if y'all are off on an extended sea voyage, yeah, by the time it's over, clothes will be standing on their own by the time you take them off, and possibly running away from the new and terrifying smells their removal will have uncovered. Otherwise? Well, not great, but not that horrifyingly horrible.

[ThugHeaven]

I think sailors did bathe and even wash their clothes. They most likely bathed with sea water and washed their clothes with rain water. It probably wasn’t a daily event and even when they were clean, there still wasn’t deodorant. Smelly? By our standards yes. Filthy? Probably not.

[boneghazi]

I was a bit hesitant to join at first because of the system but as it turns out it's a really simple, streamline system with great +helps and documentation. Beautiful MU with a lot of functionality without going overboard with commands. Beautiful Wiki. Staff some of the most friendly I have come across. The players helpful. The setting well developed and thought out. Nicely active. Very flexible and willing to work with quirky characters. I am really enjoying it so far.

[Auspice]

I want to share here for those who haven't been able to pop in / don't always remember to check bbs:

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Patience Please Scylla
Announcements (1/28) Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:31pm

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Hey guys! First of all: thank you. Thank you so much for checking us out, for sticking around, and for making this place a success so far. You have all been fantastic and I can tell you that we (myself, Kraken, Levi, and Oni) are all very excited to tell stories for you all. Hooray for swashing buckles!

However, as you've likely seen across a few posts of late, the holidays have been hitting your 8th Sea staff with a bit more than just the usual expected amount of "Real World"ness. So we just ask that you be patient in hearing back on requests: especially app responses. If you're not aware, two Staff members look at every app. We're doing our best to keep up with things, but it may take an extra day here and there as we deal with RL.

After Christmas, things should settle back and get caught up, so just give us a couple weeks. Thank you!
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[Arkandel]

@auspice Any advice for less-than-active players to get back into the flow? What's a good starting hook at the moment? Or should we weather the storm (har-har) until after the holidays?

[Auspice]

@arkandel said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:

@auspice Any advice for less-than-active players to get back into the flow? What's a good starting hook at the moment? Or should we weather the storm (har-har) until after the holidays?

Leviathan put up a whole slew of hooks on the Plot Hooks (bb 6) board, most of which can also be found on the 'Now' page: http://the8thsea.wikidot.com/now. Some are being looked into by PCs, but not all. If one interests you, just drop a request to Staff (this helps us to know what people are interested in and allows us and you to do some 'off-camera' work as well as give some guides to RP before any actual +events are scheduled).

The 'Monster of the Week' +events that Leviathan will be running (which will be at varying times as he has the most flexible schedule) are also a good way to jump in.

[Seraphim73]

We're back from our RL-crappiness-enforced slowness around the holidays. The crappy things are still crappy, but Staff is active once more and putting out events and plot hooks. We had a visit from the Krampus over the holidays, and we're putting out not just regular Monster of the Week events, but also some more player-driven ones.

Characters from the Santiago (and elsewhere) have expressed an interest in checking out the Rocher Plantation in the wake of something looking like Rebecca Rocher apparently turning into a toothy creature that tried to bite a sailor's throat out.

The pirates of the Reaver have voted to investigate the possibility of freeing the slaves on the Hembouco plantation to try to gain more fighters against the traitorous pirates of the Bachelor's Delight, Sea Lion, and Pelican.

The people of Tortuga have been assailed by troglodytes, a cipactli, chupacabras, a dingonek, loup-garou, kongamato, and there are rumors of something that is large enough to have sunk a sloop. What will be next?

And how in the HELL did they get to whatever spirit world or purgatory they have been cast into, and more importantly, how do they get out?

[Seraphim73]

We lost a lot of people over the holidays, and in the interest of improving the game and making it more fun for those either returning or still around, I want to reach out to those folks who have left the game to find out why they left. If you feel comfortable, I'd love to get a private message from folks who left for a particular reason to find out why that might be and what you would have liked to see instead. We've gotten some great feedback from a few folks already, and we're very appreciative of it.

[Aria]

@seraphim73 -- I never finished my concept because I got the feeling that staff was pretty 'meh' about it, and Smedley was there to play with me.

[Faceless]

@seraphim73 said in The Eighth Sea - Here There Be Monsters:

We've gotten some great feedback from a few folks already, and we're very appreciative of it.

I've been meaning to get around to making a character there, but every time I put my mind to it, I draw a blank on the concept. All that I can easily come up with is: Pirate Danny Trejo.

So, it's not you, it's me.

[fortydeuce]

@seraphim73 I haven't left but I'm idlish. Part of it is me having trouble getting into the character -- I think he might be coming off as more awkward in my head than he is to people I RP with -- and part of it is that nobody's IC except for plots. If I could log on and find more guaranteed RP, I would. Granted, I haven't banged the drum very hard to find it either, but as far as passive can-I-find-RP-if-I-want-it-without-trying, it's missing.

Also re. the character: I like him! I just don't tend to play space cadets. So it's taken me more than a little to find my footing, and since the bulk of my RP has been PRPs, that sort of social building-up-the-character element has been missing.

[Arkandel]

@seraphim73 I was very torn about the game. For starters it was clear this was a labor of love - there was an immense amount of detail, obviously staff had worked hard on setting up the pieces, and the code was cool.

Two things did it for me.

The first one was that old catch-22; there weren't enough people to play with, which makes it hard to get people to play with. At times I looked around and the who list was nearly empty - maybe you guys need a bit more momentum, inviting groups of people who come in together, more advertisement, etc.

Bursts of activity work better than trickles of it, IMHO, especially since you can then coordinate running events at the time these people are around - then if you keep them, you're back in business.

But the second factor was that I think I was looking for something different than what it was. I was kind of looking for carrots to work towards and couldn't find any; a gear or skill progression, a political ladder to climb, something to aim for. My character felt already... done. It's probably a personal thing, but I really like having stuff to chase in games - if a MU* gets me to make a spreadsheet planning out my spends, it's got me by the short hairs.

However that second factor is definitely not something you can do much about. It's only a personal preference.

[Ganymede]

@seraphim73

I liked my PC. Adrien was interesting in several ways for me to play.

But, like Arkandel, I found little to hook me in. There were events, yes, but I wasn't able to make them (through no fault of anyone else). There were stories being told, but I wasn't involved with them (through no fault of anyone else). And then other games started becoming more active, and I became more involved with them.

Then RL hit, and is still kicking me in the groin.

One thing: a game about pirates seems inherently PvP, yet there was so very little of that. I think you can have plenty of PvP without it going overboard.