A Land Far Away

Idea for discussion:
Could you please commit yourself to making an ALFA wide (perhaps on website?) announcement or series of announcements on the major 'news' that have occured in the western half of Faerun every month/3 months.

I believe that a world 'campaign' no matter how slow or epic or whatever adds a real flavour to ALFA rather than just server level quests. The times in ALFA 1 where world evens happened were great. I think even from an outsider looking in and wondering if this was for them, a hint of a story unfolding wouldf be an attraction.

Now, i KNOW that there are difficulties in pulling something truly cross server off (eg the shadewar), but i think if the 'story' was put out there through IC type events it would allow players and DMs to feel part of something. Even if the DMs 'know' of an ongiong plot behind the scenes, many players, especially at lower levels, do not and therefore may not feel part of a large and important campaign.

The 'updates' or tales dont haveto revolve around players and/or player DMed events (which would be great, but is difficult) but could just be part of a the Story of ALFA.

By having a set 'announcement' it ensures that there is at elast some progress/drive towards implementing the Story.

IC - There are bards, town criers, merchants, sailors, mercenaries and servants who listen to their masters conversations and then discuss things with others.

for discussion

I believe Dorn has an absolutely excellent idea.

I haven't seen any world plot stuff at all except for jayde and mirabai since I got here, I wouldn't count on any announcements.

A grand plot that spans several servers sure sounds great.

However, for my part, I don't believe DMing a plot "by committee" is really going to work too well. So it seems to need a clear "lead DM", willing to make the commitment to see the plot through (and not vanish in the middle due to RL or whatever and leave the rest of the DM team cleaning the mess to maintain a minimal level of IC consistency). Someone chairing the group DMing the plot, and who in the end has the final say.

Even bigger question seems to be whether there are people who want to be "assistant DMs" in playing out parts of the grand plot. Kids to play chief are often easier to find than the indians.

If there's a committed and enthusiastic group of DMs willing to run a plot like this, then yay! A committed DM, or even better a group of them, is after all the gold standard of anything and everything in this game, and as always I believe the first task of the community is to enable and encourage them. Shouting around for other people to commit and be enthusiastic clearly has its limits, though

And then for the red tape part:
What does the "World Plot" mean for "Don't DM where you play"? DMing being limited to "only" server-wide is crucial in DMs playing on other servers while maintaining a hard barrier from making DM decisions that affect your PC. Obviously the "World Plot" breaks this, so should the lead DM of a world plot (or all of a committee running it) not be allowed to play on any of the servers affected? Personally I don't much care for the hard "don't DM the server you play on" rule, but obviously a crumbling of that rule around the "World Plot" should be considered here.

The IC forums, when getting into rumours / news, especially as posted by DMs, fulfills this in part. It could certainly be taken to the next level by relevant DM teams, stick something on the ALFA homepage and/or even things like the Facebook page, whether in addition to, or as an alternative to, those IC threads.

Doesn't necessarily take "world plots", but people who play in campaigns often get a kick out of seeing their names in lights for sort of "open, non-secretive" campaigns, or as a vague "who were those masked men?!?!?!" recap if it's one of those wrong-side-of-the-law type arcs that some DMs are quite good at.

The old Selgaunt Herald was a source of much fun back in Sembia days, mostly DM authored with some ghost writing now and again, the IC forums are a sort of successor to that, people enjoy that stuff, so highlight it.

The last one I heard of involved Xujja, Corio, Rathlan and many others saving the world. It never was documented (alas.)

My reccomendation, find a classic FR module that is world spanning and promises world changing events and run it. Insofar ive found that riffing off of Ed Greenwood and the elaborations all ready written down are really enjoyable.

Also ive started my own little back and forth with BG. Often I send players on trips to BG to pick up supplies or sell things there as well as telling Paazin I am sending them for a visit. We havent taken this much further but there is always that.

Our biggest drawback: Not being able to play on servers we DM on. Many of the players are DMs and we have one server that is basically dead space for our PC.

I might also note that Slyvanie, Trapper, Lanaria, and Madeline are all the highest level characters currently in Alfa. With Jendari and Rani behind us we could have a whole lot of fun.

Adanu wrote:I haven't seen any world plot stuff at all except for jayde and mirabai since I got here, I wouldn't count on any announcements.

This one didn't work out very well, either.

Sandermann had his Underdark campaign that called upon PCs from the two servers that were up to respond, but that's not very worldly since it still remained on the one server (unlike the old roaming campaign Mikayla had made back in ALFA 1.0).

The issue with world events is a) it is incredibly hard to include enough people on a regular basis to really make it feel like a world event and b) it takes an incredible investment of effort over a lengthy period of time by a small number of DMs.

The latter is the biggest concern, as DM burn out is a regular occurrence and if the driving force of a world plot burns out, that often means the plot goes a bit off the rails or just loses its steam and eventually stops altogether.

World plots are not as simple as just upscaling regular DM sessions.

Our biggest drawback: Not being able to play on servers we DM on. Many of the players are DMs and we have one server that is basically dead space for our PC.

This is also a large concern since we only have 3 live servers right now. The amount of conflicts that could come in if a DM is running part of the plot on one server and playing in it on another cuts down the eligible players quite a bit.

Or a world plot can take a long time, like a war brewing... so all servers implement new but similar encounters along normally safe travel routes... like a barbarian horde has risen in the north, so small war bands are seen everyhwere. Varying power hostile barbarian encounter groups are spawned about, could be "scout" groups so not TOO tough, etc, but sets an initial theme... DMs when they pop on, set up larger and tougher warbands of barbarians planning to storm a small town to take it, shouts go out of locals calling for militias to form and/or adventurers known for helping the past to travel to "small town" that's being sieged, etc, etc. Sneaky PCs might also be asked by small town mayor/head-mans to infiltrate a camp somewhere and spy... just across all servers, DMs agree to follow along a vague theme for a "few weeks or months" until it builds and builds.... until a war starts somewhere and a host of babrs attack one of the major cities, DMs spawn a few dozen guards and drop barbarians all over the place, when a large group of PCs are about... *shrugs*

Substitute Orcs for Barbs if wished.
Or goblins and kobolds, etc...

Regardless about how BLAH the plan abovemight seem, it becomes a global common goal by everyone, and something else to talk about.

Even better: People might make a few Gray Orc PCs and join the OTHER side.

shouts go out of locals calling for militias to form and/or adventurers known for helping the past to travel to "small town" that's being sieged,

Done it. Annnd the town is still razed to this day despite efforts made LAST summer to rebuild it. Was a fun experience just as one DM.

As per world events, there has been the "saving the world quest" and previous to that "the war with Obould Many-Arrows" on TSM as detailed in canon lore.

I could see an undeground intrigue thing working with the harpers or the thieves guild across sever.

This has been discussed at length with some measures taken, but we currently lack the DM resources to follow through with such a proposal at the moment.

CLoud...that is the strangest avatar I've seen in a while. Props!

Nyah Cat, Bubblescat, and Taco Dog
http://youtu.be/QH2-TGUlwu4

I guess some have missunderstood and reasonably so given previous world events that were mamoth undertakings of Dm/multi-server coordaintion.

I guess what i'd like to see is a world-story for ALFA.

The Lead DM determines what the world-storyis for the next year+ (perhaps in consultation with otehr ADmin, perhaps after a competition on story ideas from the alfa community)

HDMs commit to at least giving it in principle support tot eh world-story and encouraging their DMs to work within the story.

DMs run quests that they and their players would enjoy. Preferably with some plot relationship to an overaching world-story, but not mandated. If 40% of plots relate....then that would make a trend i think!

These could be multiserver whatevers, normal regular DMing, ad-hoc sessions. Whatever.

(tool, a central DM thread for plot ideas that the Lead and DMA can comment on through PMs to the proponent to advise on how it could be better aligned - admin being the only people who know the totality of the world-story. Perhpas even a few plot ideas posted by thte lead/DMA in those forums for some Dms to pick up and run with)

A regular (1-3 monthly update on the 'latest news' on the website (and a forum thread) on news about 'the world'. Maybe some spoilters, maybe some read herrings...who knows? Often wont relate to any PC/DM action at all...just filling in the gaps of what's going on in the world and keeping it alive.

Towards the conclusion, more targetted requests from LEad/DMA to particular DMs to run 'finale' events. On whatever scale seems practicable at that time.

End result?
A story for ALFA
No mandatory plots for DMs to get disgruntled about
No hard to coordinate cross-server wars (which TOTALLY rock btw.....yay shadewar)
IDeas for new DMs to get existed about.
Something to identify with for new/prospective players
The potential for major stories to be sovles by low levels and not just high levels through careful selection of the right world-story and components.

I think THIS is the stuff of Lead Admins personally.
Not neceessarily the creative juices to come UP witht eh story, but to give ALFA direction.

I really like the idea of global plots, and even more so I enjoy a good narrative arc to tie the various people playing together. It's awesome for immersion if you get the feeling of consistency and "sense" when you see that different people get a similar experience to what you're experiencing.

Practical implementation, of course, is another matter. Some plots you just can't be a part of (and in fact have to ignore if you want to maintain some sense of belief) if you are in a weird timezone. I know, I've been in that situation - where it would be IC to help save the world, but, uh, the times you can play don't match up with any part of that.

Of course, if it were a truly global thrust, where all stories somehow tie into the main "theme", this could be remedied. The experience would still vary depending on DMs.

Sadly, the "creative stuff" - coming up with story suggestions and ideas - would be the only way an LA could help make it happen. Inspire the DMA or DMs with a story arc so irresistible, they'll gladly adopt it. That is of course a challenge in itself, because just as we have a caleidoscope of player and character interest and alignment, we have a caleidoscope of what things are fun to DMs to game with. For instance, we once had a "server" plot on BG... where the "high level" DM was a friend of gritty, simulationist realism, but the "low level" DM a narrativist who preferred to tell stories of epic proportions. The result: the level-apart groups ended having the "high levels" deal with things that aren't quite as glamorous or heroic, while the "low levels" saved the world.

This is not a problem per se, but highlights that different DM and play styles are entirely valid. But all the more complicated if both have to be part of the same "story arc", which makes it that much more difficult to suspend your disbelief and compartmentalise what plot is in effect at what time of the day (which DM is online). And here, some may have seen it coming, we come into the territory of one of ALFA's fundamental debates: Campaign play vs. 24/7 ad-hoc world.

That said, if the idea can be pulled off and something inspiring be fabricated that DMs feel eager to include in some of their gaming sessions, I'd wholeheartedly welcome it, and support it as I can (which is limited - the charter is pretty clear on the limitations of the LA, it's just not really an in-game affecting Admin).

What I can promise to do, however, is to brainstorm this through the Admin and DM channels and see if some good idea can be hatched. That may not be the "taking charge" you were hoping for, but the LA is not "der Führer", it's kinda the supreme court in a single person .

In the meantime... what would you be willing to do help make this happen, everyone? Could I count on "player multipliers" to spread the story? To give tasks to newbies and lowbies? Regular IC posts and rumours? Help for your DMs willing to participate to multiply their impact?

Cheers,