Posts made by gryphter

@Rucket I suppose it comes back to what sort of power level people want to play, and in tandem with that, what level of control a character or organization would be able to assert on the world.

There are so many groups and organizations in WoT, from your Andors and Cairhiens to the Tinkers and Illuminators, White Tower, Black Tower, Darkfriends, Black Ajah... the list could go on. The way that Arxcode would empower those groups to feel real and wield real power over the world, as well as compete with and influence one another, feels like a fit to me.

This of course assumes people would want such a thing, where they pick a nation or a group and pursue whatever the goals of that group are. To me it sounds great. We could really organically rewrite the plot based on the actions (@actions?) of the players and orgs of the game. But then, as stated above, I greatly enjoy the feeling of being in a realistic civilization simulator, a thing I realize is not universal.

I think if you were mindful in the approach, you could balance the way you use these systems so that the people who enjoy those elements as part of a sort of civilization simulator (guilty) can engage them, but those who really want to focus on the granular RP and largely ignore those systems should be empowered to do so without consequence. This would take careful thinking to achieve, but could be done if it was maintained as a focus point through the planning and creation of the game, imho.

Evennia and the Arxcode base can be very flexible. At Ithir for example they made critical changes to the systems; they gutted prestige and social clout and social rank from the code because it didn't work for their setting. Similarly the creators of a WoT game could tweak the elements of the system to streamline it to the intended use, and the removal of unnecessary parts could help to relieve some of the heavy systems lifting in the player experience.

I say all this very blithely as a non-coder, but I know there are some geniuses out there who love to do this stuff and help people get and keep games up, particularly if they can get some compensation for their time and effort.

@krmbm It's an interesting question. Both extremes would be fun to play, and the latter would be much more fun to code, I think. However, Moiraine is such a BA at the beginning because she's the only channeler we've encountered. Once we start to meet others, the sense of power really changes -- yes, our principal characters begin to grow stronger, but we're also treated to a view of the world where channeling is increasingly common and the things Moiraine did in the EotW become downright pedestrian in comparison.

So I would argue that the sense of power we have as readers at the beginning is a false, forced perspective. It's not really true to the setting and we have to mostly ignore the movements of larger powers and outside forces. Although the Dark One and his Forsaken are only beginning to stir, there are still many powerful Aes Sedai out there doing things, and we do already have people attempting to fulfill the prophecies and assert themselves as the Dragon Reborn.

I do like the idea of playing out the salient events of the novels in an alternate timeline with new PCs or NPCs emerging as the big players -- your Amyrlin Seat, your Dragons true and false, your ta'varen.

I suppose what it boils down to is I love WoT. If a game exists that isn't a sand box, I will show up, no matter the details. I would love love love to see it in Evennia rather than Ares, though that seems to be a minority view, but I like the Arxcode base for WoT in the way it handles orgs and economies of resource, as well as other things. The higher complexity of the code is a factor, true, but I'm not being coy when I say I would be a contributor financially to seeing this exist. So like, if someone is out there seriously considering a WoT build on Evennia, we should chat. I would back this. I don't know if my wallet feels so freely about an Ares build, just because I've never really felt attracted to the interface and elements that come out of the box. Ease of connection while on a VPN for remote work is a huge factor for me also, and Evennia nails this with its web portal client.

Food for thought, and stuff.

I've always liked the idea of a world that picks up where the novels left off. Nobody knows what happens and we'd be free to let our world evolve as we see fit. I think the heavy hitters from the novels need to be present in the world, but not played; they should be busted out, as suggested above, for course correction and background flavor. Maybe Perrin is building Manetheren while Mat is in Seanchan with Tuon, etc. Rand is just... out there somewhere, wandering, doing Things.

It would be a lively world inclusive of all the things and details we read about. I like the idea of a setting focused in Tar Valon, perhaps a short while after the end of Memory of Light -- this would give us the opportunity to have some sense of stability return to the world. I imagine we could play out the integration of the Black and White towers. Again, Logain and Egwene should be carefully-handled NPCs.

Bonding raises an important and sensitive issue, whether we're talking Aes Sedai to Warder or Asha'man to Aes Sedai, and it's a place where some careful thinking and rulecrafting needs to happen to prevent abusive situations. High potential obviously exists for the creeps and dweebs of the hobby to really assert control over others in concerning ways, and this is not limited to bonding -- there's already been mention of binding with air, etc.

With careful handling of epic NPCs and rules to prevent weirdos being weirdos, this could be a rich and satisfying game to play.

I would love to see a Wheel of Time game of any stripe running on an Evennia engine, personally. I might even consider throwing real money at such a thing to see it happen.

I always used MUSHclient, and still go to that when I need to log or if I know I'm going to have a lot of windows open, but I greatly enjoy the convenience of web browser clients.

@auspice If we can all get on board with what the unique vision and aspects of this game are -- and I think for the most part we're all there -- I think we can have a really great time building something singular and buzzworthy together.

In the elseMUs of my activity the weight of my decisions has drastic import for other players. Everything I do has to be properly mindful of the downstream effects and carefully vetted for soundness and unforeseen consequences. Being able to engage in something different and really surrender to the sense of a temporary character whose most meaningful part in a story might very well be their death... it's actually very freeing.

We're all there together with a focus on playing in this moment right now, rather than hoarding resources or carefully politicing for a long life and a powerful position. It's a fascinating change of pace, and it keeps me coming back because I think I'll value being able to say I was part of this.

Now that I've shed my name and become an archetype again following the death of my character (Jonas) and my SCs, I am so excited for metaplot in the Facility and gearing up for the next story.

The current story has been imperfect, certainly, but it would be hard to deny how unique and entertaining playing on this MU is. After all, this was only our first one; the test bed, if you will. Now we as players know what to expect and how to prepare for it, and likewise the staff has learned lessons that will enhance the experience going forward.

The defining moment for me was rolling an ungodly critical success on the attempt to hack us up a way to reach the outside world. The result was unintended by TD but she rolled with the punches and readily steered the story in a new direction.

That says a lot to me about the collaborative nature of the storytelling environment we find ourselves in here, and I like what I'm hearing.

Now in my mind, there's validity to the view that some roles didn't translate well into heavy participation in this story. If you didn't have an official 'job' on the island on the Wellson payroll and were just an attendee of the festival, there was an uphill battle to become involved and important. My particular role was destined to a moment in the spotlight simply by virtue of that role's narrow and rare skillset, but this wasn't the case for all. TD acknowledges this and I'm excited to see how she addresses it in the next story. With what I've seen so far, I have every confidence in the outcome.

I'm just blown away by how amazing it is to be really pretty excited to have died. Like what? Can we just talk about that for a second? Reading logs at work like YES I DIED, can't wait to log on!