A Land Far Away

Faerun
The sub-continent of Faerûn is set on the planet Toril, or, more formally, "Abeir-Toril." Faerûn is the western part of an unnamed supercontinent that is quite similar to real-world Afro-Eurasia. This continent also includes Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, and the subterranean regions underneath Faerûn are called the Underdark.

Faerûn includes terrain that is as varied as that of Europe, western Asia, and much of Africa is on our planet Earth. Role-playing campaigns in Faerûn can be set in a wide variety of locations, each with its own hazards and potential rewards for the participants. Likewise, the region that the players explore can determine what types of monsters they will face, which famous individuals they will encounter, and what types of missions they assume.

Northern regions Middle lands Southern nations Underdark The proposal
So, this is a really old proposal I made some six or seven years ago during ALFA1 which at time wasn't ready for it yet. Today though, we have NWN2 and we already see use of the general idea on The Silver Marshes somewhat successfully. What I propose is that if we are going to do it, we should do it all out.

What I am talking about is of course a bigger version of what we have on TSM. A server dedicated to travel and introduction of new element/locations that doesn't really fit within the "borders" of any existing server. Locations like Darkhold, Zhentil Keep, the Harbor of Waterdeep, or anything else we can imagine could be easily added or removed and placed back in storage until needed again.

The idea with this is to give a sense of the magnitude that is Faerun and allow everyone who is a DM access to create grand adventures by simply creating the iconic areas that they would like their players to travel to. The idea of real global plots would be a lot more possible and it would give higher level characters the possibility to go out on epic adventures.

The Map
The map would consist of large areas with seamless AT's where the natural terrain decides where it is possible to move and not. Class features such as Woodland Stride would give some characters a bigger freedom of movement than others. The possibilities are many and I am excited for nearly all of them. We could add sea travel, by changing the PC into a boat, which would increase the immersion we all strive for.

Static Content
There has been talks about creating dungeon crawls for people of all levels and this is a really good venue for doing that. In keeping with canon on the actual servers where people play on, there might be problems in introducing content that seems to only serve as a way for some players to have something to do. I am really just shooting out ideas here, I have no reason to be either for or against static quests seeing as this shouldn't be a server where people actually spend time playing on other than when they travel or during a DM event that started elsewhere.

The Team
You, me, everyone. We are all the team that will make this server work as intended. Castano has shown me the basics of the toolset and I am comfortable enough that I could pull the large bulk of the work myself creating the actual map. I do however, just as with Waterdeep, welcome any and all to help contribute to making this great idea into a reality.

Infrastructure
I am going to host this on a dedicated 100/100mbit internet connection. It will be here in Sweden and it will be hosted on a computer specifically built to host a server like Waterdeep would have been but now the Worldmap can.


Questions will be answered here or on the chat. I hope you all see the possibilities with this rather than try to see limitations. This will not be a server which will potentially dilute the player base, it will bring them closer together and that is our goal here, right?



boom out.

I like it


Will help if i can, somehow.

http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 49#p513349

SUCH a good idea for giving us an 'edge' and also more dungeon opportunities, variable spawns, wandering monsters and all sorts of stuff that would allow people not seeing DMs to see smoe more stuff.

Dorn wrote:I like it


Will help if i can, somehow.

http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 49#p513349

SUCH a good idea for giving us an 'edge' and also more dungeon opportunities, variable spawns, wandering monsters and all sorts of stuff that would allow people not seeing DMs to see smoe more stuff.

I like your like! Do you want to officially join my unofficial team and thus increasing team size by 50%? We will make greatness!

It's a nice idea. It could also be a good home for scrapped odds and ends lopped off existing servers, or for half-built things from betas that never made it all the way, if ALFA has copies or original authors consent. Same goes for anyone who wants to build dungeons I suppose, if they have a favourite one that doesn't fit into any current region.

Not volunteering... toolset is pretty annoying so far. But, "rah rah!"

I am constantly building dumb stuff that no one will ever use, so I would submit my creations to this place.

Perhaps for running campaign events, and possibly random encounters fired by scripts on map, too, the server would benefit from a small library of "Random/Generic X" areas. For times when the DM didn't actually want to build an entire area for a event. (Which, btw, takes several times longer than actually playing an event in the area, even if the build is far more half-assed than omfg-pretty). Or for times when the PCs went chasing wild geese instead, for one reason or another.

You know, like several generic caves/dungeons that can be fleshed out in a few minutes by a few placeables from the DM client. Roads going across several types of terrain. A forest, a shoreline, perhaps a generic village in Bumf**k, Faerun, and so on.

Brokenbone wrote:It's a nice idea. It could also be a good home for scrapped odds and ends lopped off existing servers, or for half-built things from betas that never made it all the way, if ALFA has copies or original authors consent. Same goes for anyone who wants to build dungeons I suppose, if they have a favourite one that doesn't fit into any current region.

Not volunteering... toolset is pretty annoying so far. But, "rah rah!"

Oh yes..we have lots of those!
The almost dreams of a thousand exotic places lay shimmering on a hard drive waiting (if the maker uploaded them that is)

Initial positive response. Let's just hope that "the powers" feel the same way.

I suppose one of the things that needs consideration is what happens when one IC place get doubly represented: Once on the Worldmap as well as a "detailed" server. Especially as the former ebb and grow. Or how to avoid such double-representation.

Im going to be honest here...

While this concept does indeed seem nice, I think Waterdeep, with its wealth of history/source materials/detailed canon, would have been more a boon to ALFA.

Still, if this is what the higher ups want, then all the more places to adventure.

disagree heero, this would allow for DMs to run adventures all over much easier, we really dont need anymore BIG servers that act as player hubs, this is a nice alternative!

t-ice wrote:I suppose one of the things that needs consideration is what happens when one IC place get doubly represented: Once on the Worldmap as well as a "detailed" server. Especially as the former ebb and grow. Or how to avoid such double-representation.

Easy: "Detailed" servers always get priority.

Make it so, boom.

One thing we could do pretty easily is allow any 000 DM to place a persistent server portal to their own servers. So if someone wanted a single town, dungeon, or what have you, they could tool it up and host. Hmm, though maybe I'd be the only one using this, due to the setup required to host in NWN2 ALFA. Instantiating areas from the database sounds like a better option, if its feasible.

... And of course this seems to test the "Don't DM where you play" -thing. Pretty much every PC needs access to Worldmap, and so does any DM on any server who would consider doing anything on the Worldmap.

I think the concept is brilliant, for what it's worth. But can it be proven wrong that ALFAs dinosaur bureacracy doesn't just exist to stifle change for the better when it's transformational as opposed to incremental. Can it also stir and mold itself to embrace change?

So could please someone with a hand and head deep inside the entrails of said bureaucrasaurus tell how is the way forward? Obviously first would be to measure whether the majority of the community supports the transformational idea- i.e. whether it really is "for the better". But how to do that "properly", so that the dinosaur awakes and takes notice?

(You know, the big deal why bureaucracy is so frustrating: Only those who work inside the machinery know what's supposed to be done to do things "properly", and then they feel free to push aside motions that are not filed in proper form. So I'd say at least as important to an Admin's task is to advice, even advocate, people how to go about "filing" things, as it is to "process" the "filing". This apparently being core to the previous falling in dead ears, and flat landing. And thus loss of drive and enthusiasm by members to contribute to the community.)

I suppose the bottom line for boom and any team in this, is that the concept is more transformational that it might seem at first glance. So unless people are prepared for an extended fight against the inertia of the status quo to change some of the rules underpinning ALFA, then this will be another exercise in futility. I for one think it's a great idea, and it would have my vote. But great ideas only go so far unless you, or someone, has the staying power to push through, boom, and yes, it can be a drag and drain.

If you have access to the BG builder forum, Boom, I would suggest the dynamic/ persistent content proposal there as recommended reading. It is much of what Ronan refers to (I believe) in his comment about instanced areas from the database, and its end state would at least significantly alter the shape of a server like this (but it would also offer significant support and resources to a server like this).