A Land Far Away

The Dungeon Master Administrator is obviously an important position within the ALFA community, because as is noted time and time again, our community thrives on Dungeon Masters creating thrilling adventures and dangerous challenges for our player base. The DMA is in charge of the oversight of these Dungeon Masters and in making sure they are properly trained not only in the more technical aspects of the Neverwinter Nights 2 Engine, but adhering to the ever evolving rules our community has created for the system we play in, AND proper balancing of the encounters, treasure, and overall experience players expect from ALFA.

I have served under the DMA's portfolio on and off over the past few years I have been involved with ALFA, from a Dungeon Master trainer at the end of Curmudgeon's term/the beginning of Castano's term, to offering what I can form my experience with pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 combined with ALFA's own set of rules based on that d20 system.

In the last two years, ALFA has been evolving with new content, fixes to glaring bugs, and polishing of systems previously left untouched due to a long standing stymie on progressing the additions ALFA includes in its toolbox, so to speak. I would like to continue to progress the approval of additions, while also being careful and evaluating the content we add to make sure it works in the grander scheme of our role playing community.

I welcome any questions and I will do my best to answer them in a timely and concise manner.

Have you done much ALFA Dming?

I did some a few years ago yes, though in truth I have mostly helped with opinions and offers of training )under castano's administration). I keep myself apprised of the rulesets that are to be followed the the etiquette involved in the job.

How much can Zova bench?

FoamBats4All wrote:How much can Zova bench?

1040 pounds.

SwordSaintMusashi wrote:

FoamBats4All wrote:How much can Zova bench?

A warhorse.

Fixed that for you.

Also, medieval warhorses were light. Or modern horses are fat. Or both.



... probably both.

Zova OP.

More seriously though, what sort of things do you want to get done if elected? Is there anything that you think ALFA needs, in terms of DMA?

Do you prefer a heavy or light touch to managing HDMs? Why?

Do you work well with other admins/contributors?

Why is Wynna awesome?

Do you think it is the domain of the DMA to police or determine all in-game content?

what sort of things do you want to get done if elected? Is there anything that you think ALFA needs, in terms of DMA?

I would like to mostly keep up the trend I have seen of new content being added through the ACR updates and various additions to our box of tools in game. While I know it is Tech that implements these designs, it has been a problem in the past where too much has been prevented in the name of balance. At the same time, I do not want to become a "anything goes, anything flows" kind of DMA and let too much content in that would upset the balances we do have in place, or change rule arbitrarily without consulting the other administrators - after all, it is a team of admin, not one admin to rule them all.

Do you prefer a heavy or light touch to managing HDMs? Why?

I prefer a light touch, I would say. The HDMs we currently have are very passionate about their servers and what makes it on to it, and in that regard, they are not people that need 'policing' or being told what to do.
That being said, however, I would like to work with the HDMs to make sure the updates and options we add to ALFA are implemented across all servers in a timely and synchronized manner - nothing is more jarring than having access to certain options and systems on one server, then moving to another server and finding it to be out of date. It doesn't mesh well into the central idea of ALFA, that being: All the servers represent one world of Faerun, instead of four different servers each with its own level of updates from the options provided.

Do you work well with other admins/contributors?

That is more a question for the other administrators and contributors, but I would like to say yes. I often chat with those adding content to ALFA to see what they have on the plate coming up, and working in a computer background myself, know that "simple additions" as they are often lauded are not always as simple as they would appear on the surface. Politeness, willing to understand the effort involved, and compromise are key.

Why is Wynna awesome?

She is a talented DM and kind person who puts a great amount of effort into every ALFA project she does. Her story telling narrative is akin to what I wish the actual OC of NWN2 had released with, and you never leave a session of her DMing feeling frustrated - only intrigued and excited to see what happens next.

Do you think it is the domain of the DMA to police or determine all in-game content?

A tough one. The DMA is classically in charge of our now outdated "Standards" team (a black hole of content ideas that I am not very sad to see fade into antiquity). However, it is important to enforce the duties that do come with the job: Item compliance, game balance, and overall content addition. I believe with anything added there will always be unforseen events that make someone question "huh, this was a good thing to add at first, but now with x, y, and z problem cropping up, was it worth it?"

And I will always err on the side of "carefully considered content that was added to enrich and expand the options of our game world will always be worth it." If problems arise that were unforseen, they can be dealt with thereafter - but stopping all content in the worry that one addition will cause a problem is not a way to progress.

Because Warlocks were worth it.

danielmn wrote:Because Warlocks were worth it.

That wasn't an addition to NWN2, that came in shipped with the game itself. And while yes, it is an example of poor balancing and implementation on Occidian's part, it still leaves me in the boat of "I'd rather of have tried it then taken it out than not have tried it at all."