Amn PC's

[Matti]

Don't really know what would be a good idea here. Bringing a character sheet from a different game and asking for an "import" to this game, it almost sounds like a case-by-case decision, but once you do it for one person, would need to have a "fair" way to provide access to further applicants. Extraordinary PC like in its way. Strange stuff.

Well said indeed so +1

Requiring a submitted bio for the characters with any additional items, wealth and other points of interest the administration should be able to provide good yes and no answer case-by-case. Acceptance and distribution of wealth and xp should be handled carefully and the current balance between existing players should be taken into account as these are processed.

ALFA does have working guidelines for accepting exceptional characters with unusual backgrounds and classes, but as these new applications require careful consideration perhaps specific team should be chosen for the handling of these applications.

[Ronan]

Items are stored on bics, so they'd all pass over.

Correctly? Who knows. As with feats, skills, and other things, it depends on Exodus's 2das, and I have not looked at all of them. Most likely a lot of bic editing would be required.

I am not as pessimistic about this as Zelk. Logging support for old PCs being used in new GSIDs is probably something we should add anyway (e.g., "XP Gain, Rebuild"). But going over the bics could easily be a huge pain and I am not volunteering at this time.

Assuming the items are compatible (the majority probably are), it would probably be easier to rebuild the PCs ALFA-side, then log in with the Exodus bics and swap gear over. We'd have holes in our logging ("where did this PC come from?") but I've done this as a DM in the past and never seen anything actually break. Of course I don't remake PCs with leading or trailing spaces either, I-KP

I don't know anything about Exodus, its ruleset or its similarity to ALFA, so I am not voting.

[Adanu]

Requiring a submitted bio for the characters with any additional items, wealth and other points of interest the administration should be able to provide good yes and no answer case-by-case. Acceptance and distribution of wealth and xp should be handled carefully and the current balance between existing players should be taken into account as these are processed.

I can get behind this. Just submit a request for it. If approved, make the character with his/her original name. Get XP from DM, gold or gear from DM possibly imprted from original bic. Flag for unusual circumstances. Done.

That would be all I ask, nothing hugely special. Essentially a remake under ALFA.

[Zelknolf]

You do, of course, realise that you are asking for something special, being that failed ALFA splinter projects are a dime a dozen. Exodus is unique in its especially-long death rattle (core folk in splinter projects usually shutter the windows sooner) and that a couple of its DMs are trying to convert the server to the ACR (and, in so doing, demonstrating exactly how incompatible the worlds are; I would note that we didn't just put Amn on the new haks and fling it into live).

Usually, if you like your failed splinter project PC and want to play them in ALFA, you adapt the concept to our world and ruleset, cut out the parts that a level 1 PC couldn't do, and start fresh.

[kid]

without a doubt its a special request.
Its not anything we would offer to any other game other than exo.
I dont know much about exo, but i do have a faint memory about us being sister projects and there were talks about uniting ALFA and Exo long ago.

well... seems like instead of that ALFA swallowed Amn, just as good as far as in concerened but... i see no harm in offering such consideration as offering old amn pcs the chance to play on ALFA (with some adjustment), more so now when we actualy dragged thier server over.

but yes, it must be done on a case by case and with some sort of application that will be reviewed.

[Adanu]

You do, of course, realise that you are asking for something special, being that failed ALFA splinter projects are a dime a dozen.

I said hugely special. I know it's a special request on it's own :p

[I-KP]

ALFA could always take this as an opportunity to integrate players of a similar play style that stuck by the sister project, as a special case, rather than get all haughty about it and brand them as being failures. We're not talking about many players here and it may even bring a few back into the fold, as Rumple righty points out.

I expect T-Ice and Bogs would be performing the grunt work on any non-standard stuff (which will be few and far between), they'll probably oversee each rebuild up from ALFA lvl 1 and no doubt they'll also ensure that corners aren't cut and that less than ideal build choices aren't reallocated - essentially, keeping everything sensible. ...All assuming that the character is approved to begin with, as Kid points out.

Concerns about XP reports being knocked out of whack may very well be founded to some degree but lets face it, this is hardly reason enough to junk what would be a rather marvellous gesture. No small amount of trust would be asked of such players in return, and I'd like to think that they're worthy of such trust. (They were when I was last there.) "Thou shalt not farm," which isn't anything that we don't ask of everyone who plays ALFA now. (Even those who trickle under the radar by means of the white space cloaking device.)

As for the other 'tech fires', perhaps if we knew what they were a flexible approach could be devised to mitigate them; however, if the problem turned out to be a killer then rebuilding Exodus PC's in ALFA Amn would have to be a solid no.

Amn is an ALFA server after all. If it benefits Amn it benefits ALFA by extension.

[Adanu]

rather than get all haughty about it and brand them as being failures.

I've been seeing that in IRC, it's rather sad.

[I-KP]

rather than get all haughty about it and brand them as being failures.

I've been seeing that in IRC, it's rather sad.

It is sad. It's bitter, petty, insulting, and ultimately rather self-destructive given that good players of NWN2, players of the nature who we award the title of 'Roleplayer' and welcome herein, are an ever increasingly rare commodity. We should be breaking down barriers, not building more; and yes, we should make an extra special effort every once in a while - such acts are good for the soul of this community as well as being good for our game.

[CloudDancing]

Being I am one who actually played in Amn, I believe many Amn PCs (which were played by dm interchangably as players on the servers) would make excellent PCs. Yet I would encourage them to consider Dming there instead of bringing over an Amn PC.

Using Leto it is pretty easy to take a bic, make a new bic, and edit it to work on Alfa.

But there are at least two PCs I know that are major players in the Amn/Exo lore, own businesses, have families, and serve in governance positions. I think they are great but they really are of NPC caliber not for playing.

Mostly this was because the "Mary Sue" factor I found on one or two pcs in Exo that were played by dms. They could do not wrong and like an comic book hero pretty much always came out on top. And that just does not fit with the bone crushing and soul withering failure and destitution that Alfa Dms try to dish out. Then again it would be amusing to see them try to keep Mary Sue or Gary Stu down.

[t-ice]

The logic here would be that having a PC or two immersed in the history of Amn's narrative would make ALFA:Amn that much more immersive on day 1. The key is stories and narrative, character sheets are far secondary. Amn comes with a rich history that is an asset that I think is unique among starting NWN2ALFA servers (though it can also be a challenge to have "baggage"). Trying to re-start a PC at lvl1 while keeping a long and succeful Exodus:Amn narrative just would be metagaming. However, this isn't supposed to be a source for free XP on ALFA. If there is a lvl7 PC at Exodus, no harm done to the narrative if he ends up at lvl5 on ALFA. (Though for reference, I'd estimate lvl7 to have taken at least one year worth of very active playing at Exodus - even with the lvl3 start.)

My proposal would be to offer a "rebuild" for old Exodus players with ALFA PCs: If you're considering to retire your current ALFA PC, you can pick up your old Exodus PC's narrative at the level of your current ALFA PC or lower, as fits the narrative. If your ALFA PC is level 2 and your old Exodus PC was level 8, well, unfortunately then it won't work.

Assuming anyone is interested, that would mean building a ALFA PC from scratch, and giving that PC enough XP to reach the appropriate level. Since this XP would be one big DM award, I wouldn't think it would break infra reports, even? DM awards are exempt anyway when the PA considers farming etc? Then the PC would be given items from the ALFA palette to qualitatively match the gear the PC had at Exodus, and to put her at low/medium ALFA-appropriate wealth. I don't think any Exodus PCs had unusual property -items that they simply must have ported over in the exact shape to keep the PC's narrative.

That way we might transfer some narratives, but no-one would be motivated to transfer due to XP gain. Unfortunately I don't think we'd be looking at old forgotten Exodus players coming to ALFA assuming they could thaw their ancient PCs. (Or at least not at DMs looking forward to juggling those long-gone narratives live again.) I can think of a grand total of one PC whose narrative would be recent enough to "salvage" and whose player is not currently playing at ALFA (Glassrain/Trujek). That said, once we're live, I think we could and should coax javajutsu to send one mass email to the "Exodus players since start" list of addresses.

[I-KP]

Mostly this was because the "Mary Sue" factor I found on one or two pcs in Exo that were played by dms.

Allowing DMs to have PCs (on the same server): that was a highly controversial decision at the time, IIRC; a measure implemented to help combat lean times. Personally, I don’t think it worked; it was nigh on impossible to avoid a conflict of interest given the heavily interwoven nature of the player base at that time. Either way, its historic now and none of those PCs should factor into this little initiative, so as engaging as the matter is I don’t think it should be allowed to influence the decision to permit the rebuilding of other Amn PCs because it really isn’t relevant.

[Swift]

I voted no.

While I think it is great to have Amn coming to ALFA, I simply think that it should be a fresh start in all areas. It is ALFA: Amn, not Exodus: Amn, and thus the narrative of the server should start fresh, which also means the PCs should start fresh as well.

[t-ice]

I simply think that it should be a fresh start in all areas. It is ALFA: Amn, not Exodus: Amn, and thus the narrative of the server should start fresh

Welcome to the Amn DM team if you wish to have your say on how the server's narrative should go or not

[kid]

I voted no.

While I think it is great to have Amn coming to ALFA, I simply think that it should be a fresh start in all areas. It is ALFA: Amn, not Exodus: Amn, and thus the narrative of the server should start fresh, which also means the PCs should start fresh as well.

While I understand the no, and it would be a no brainer for any other server other than Exo, seeing how we are alegadly been working togather for a few years now, seeing how we have many a people from the server, both admin and DMs and players and seeing that the offered players before to choose between thier Exo PC, and thier ALFA PC long ago...
(debates on how we would approche it were had back then etc. two toons, one on each server, just one, etc) It seems to me, that on a case by case basis, it would be a nice way to welcome the new server to ALFA, including its own rich history.
my 2c. (: