ALFA's Faerun

[HEEGZ]

Excellent points. I'll try to quickly address them in the order introduced.

Unpopular though my stance may be, remove the 2 PC rule since you will be able to have a different PC on each platform/offering we have.

In my PA platform thread I mentioned that I was not a fan of the 2 PC rule. It has grown on me since then and I don't see us dropping the rule as it appears popular with the majority of players and DMs. The NWN2 Live servers will continue to be our core offering for members, with the options of 2 PCs. The NWN1 and NWN2 campaign server would be alternatives to the main game.

Revoking the 2 PC rule on NWN2 just because we want to do a NWN1 OAS doesn't seem very fair.

I agree, and no changes to the 2 PCs on NWN2 Live will be supported by me. There is a chance the NWN1 OAS may return, but we are planning to bring full servers back to an online persistent status.

I thought NWN1 was going to be a separate project from ALFA, and not change our standards/rules/policies.

They are not a separate project from ALFA, they are another persistent world offering for ALFA members outside of our main NWN2 Live offering. Our standards/rules/policies still apply to NWN2 Live. These side projects will be outside of the existing rules for Live, though we are still sorting out what the scope of that will be. In all likelihood the rules will be directly controlled by the DMs in charge. NWN1 looks like we are going to kick things off with WD and NC, and NWN2 campaign server may have a central port town/hub with cycling locations on Faerun for campaign usage by DMs.

I would not refer to the NWN1 plan or our NWN2 campaign server plan as OAS's. The NWN1 plan involves full fledged servers. NWN2 is based on a proposal Regas put forth a while back that we have now picked up to add more gaming areas to ALFA that would not require a full server team, just any DMing logging in to run sessions. None of these projects are separate from ALFA unless you consider the scope of ALFA to be defined by our Vault which I do not.

I agree completely.

On a related note, I was hoping to have the NWN2 campaign server be attached to our NWN2 Live servers, though the other admin seem to prefer to have it as a separate offering. If this is successful, I can see us adding more areas to Live servers for campaign use on them. This option already exists for our Live servers of course, but we need something that will kick start building for ALFA; or as Castano put it: incentivizing contributors. I hope these two new projects will have a domino effect and ultimately improve our NWN2 Live experience.

Other than that yes I do realize it would be unfair to put yet another rule change through on PC numbers on servers, luckily it's not a DMA domain.

If this is about the 2 PC policy, I am not seeking a change here as mentioned early in my comment. NWN2 Live and having 2 PCs there is still our core gameplay offering in ALFA.

It means you can't play there with your dude.
It means I can't play there cause I don't have nwn1.
It means separation of our tiny player base not only over servers but over different game engines.
It means more characters per player and means less DMing and games for those of us that stay on NWN2.

The NWN1 plan only works for people with NWN1 yeah. BTW, NWN1 Diamond is $9.99 on Good Old Games ( link here ). I am not sure if the other points you make will come to pass, but they are valid concerns. I think there is a good chance we will see more DMing and more opportunities for playing.

So personally I think it's a bad idea and would serve only a handful of us who are nostalgic about it and wanna have fun on the old servers.

I am optimistic that it will have a positive effect on the NWN2 Live servers by an overall net increase in active DMs and players in the ALFA community. If there are more opportunities to play in ALFA, I hope that some of this will trickle into Live play as well.

But by all means have fun, but I would disagree about it being for the good of ALFA, no disrespect intended.
Hopefully i'll be proven wrong and many aNWN1 players would join the new servers and then move to ALFA2 as well, enriching the gaming experience for all... or whatever.

No disrespect at all, this is exactly what I was looking for. I would like to at least pursue the two ideas. The NWN1 servers are already built and I've secured a host server and been assured that bringing them back has minimal tech hurdles. I can see it happening this month even.

The NWN2 campaign server idea has been kicked around by the Admin last spring, but nothing came of it. I have a builder interested in making the server areas so it seems like a good time to move forward with it as well. We still need a host for a NWN2 campaign server, so if you potentially have one please contact me.

When I ran for PA I started thinking of how to increase the number of members playing in ALFA. One of the key things I found is that we need more DMs and ways of connecting them with players. I believe and hope that these two new ideas will bring more active DMs, more active players, and a renaissance to ALFA.

[Swift]

My reasoning behind my opinion is that 2 PCs was brought in to give people more ways to play and more ways to spend their time in ALFA, which is exactly what these additional platforms would be providing. That is all.

Now if the goal is to turn the community into a more general purpose role playing community utilizing multiple platforms, that is a different thing, but if we are still trying to stick to the remnants of our core vision, I don't feel 2 PCs fit once you start adding additional platforms and ways to play.

[Castano]

I have a builder interested in making the server areas so it seems like a good time to move forward with it as well.

Grab the 000 server build stuff off the DM FTP then, good chunk of this proposal was built already, at least the overland map portions. It was going to be keyed to a hub town and have links to all the live servers and have swappable adventure areas so we could go to Thay for example, etc. I know this differs from the current Admin proposal but is worth considering.

[Ithildur]

I have mixed feelings on the NWN1 stuff after further thought; I think it will provide a lot of fun in the short run for folks who like NWN1 and prefer elements of 'old ALFA', but I do wonder about the impact long term on the project.

But hells... the thought of stomping around alfa1 WD with other old grumps definitely sounds fun.

[boombrakh]

I have mixed feelings on the NWN1 stuff after further thought; I think it will provide a lot of fun in the short run for folks who like NWN1 and prefer elements of 'old ALFA', but I do wonder about the impact long term on the project.

I agree with Ith here. Even more, the problem will be that it wont even be "old ALFA" seeing as "old ALFA" isn't around anymore. The mindset has changed, ALFA has changed and the people have changed. We should stop looking backwards to engage people and start looking forward.

[Ithildur]

Well the mindset, I think that's part of the idea; it'll be mostly alfa1 vets that are more excited by this idea and probably want to go for more old school approaches to playing. Being all low lvl again will help too.

A can of worms perhaps, but maybe we can even have old CvC rules for this. Hopefully folks involved will be mature enough to handle it.

But the issue of how we move forward is indeed something we probably need to revisit at some point; we have to find ways to refresh the project and it's ideals on a regular basis. Who knows? Maybe folks will come away from putting in some time on the NWN1 server with new ideas and clarity. Sometimes you do have to review the past to move forward, without getting stuck in the past.

[HEEGZ]

But the issue of how we move forward is indeed something we probably need to revisit at some point; we have to find ways to refresh the project and it's ideals on a regular basis. Who knows? Maybe folks will come away from putting in some time on the NWN1 server with new ideas and clarity. Sometimes you do have to review the past to move forward, without getting stuck in the past.

This is pretty much where I'm at. I was using the NWN1 toolset for a few hours yesterday. Today I found myself fiddling around in NWN2 toolset just for fun. It's definitely a factor.

Also, it remains to be seen how many players are actually interested in playing in NWN1. I've spent the past few hours getting all of the haks, modules, and files sorted out. I've had a look at the WD and NC modules and they are pretty awesome.

[Galadorn]

Hopefully if NWN1(ALFA) is ressurected... this below happens as the wise grayrogue puts it so perfectly (since it IS a clean slate, and the kiddies can stay on ALFA2 and PG as normal in uber high-magic gearz with 6 PCs on the same server):

My ideal PW would have no magic at all except in the hands of DMs as a rare and, well, "magical" thing. I would love to play in a world that had only fighter, ranger, and rogue as the playable classes, with 99% of the inhabitants being human. It would be a world for "gritty" RP where magic is a thing of legend and when "monsters" are encountered (be it a troll or a dragon or whatever) it is a most momentous event. Wizards, sorcerers and powerful clerics only exist in the hands of a DM, and live in remote towers or fantastic castles and temples. You might encounter an elf, but only in some remote and ancient magical forest, and possibly a dwarf and his horde, but only in some far flung mountain realm leagues from the everyday world. In this world, a magical sword is the object of a quest to defeat a villain, not the next thing on one's "to buy" list.

+1 Longswords should be an item a large group goes through peril to find deep in a very dangerous dungeon with Ronan DMing it! ;-P

That sword should have been handed down over eons, and hold a history that rivals any old librarian's memories.

Skill based items should never go above +2, but could be craftable and considered epic.

I think it could be a little more lenient that OGR states about elves and dwarves, wizards and clerics, but they should certainly be considered equivalent to PrC classes/races, with STRICT approval coming from a DM committee...etc.

I'd love that should a player be given the "chance" to roll an Elven PC, or a Dwarven PC, that just that race alone would garner unwritten "awe" among the NPCs of the whole realm not to mention the other players' PCs.

anyway, have at me *sigh*

[Ithildur]

And of course, the 'chance' to play a druid. Or any primary casting class really.

And... this thread has officially become a pissing contest of 'my version of FR is grittier than yours!'. Getting a bit silly, ain't it?

If we are going to be using ALFA's WD, why don't we, like, play it the way ALFA's WD was? Or something close; WD is pretty cosmopolitan no matter how you cut it, as far as standard DnD races. i.e. you won't see half dragons running around, but this isn't Gondor or Rohan.

This thread isn't really about 'what is your ideal PW?' btw. It's 'ALFA's Faerun'.

I think half the problem with ALFA right now is there's way too much 'my PW', 'my PC', 'my xp', 'my loot' stuff going on.

[Castano]

Galadorn those kinds of statement about PGing and 6 PCs per server are lies

ALFA has never had 6 PCs per server and there is far less PGing now than there was in NWN1 days, as you should well know. We still haven't had our first level 20 yet, how many did we have in the old NWN1 days. - 2-3 at least Hignar, Veilan's PC who else?

If it's gonna be accusations and lies and BS like this I will pull the plug on NWN1 tonight That's a promise.

[Swift]

ALFA has never had 6 PCs per server and there is far less PGing now than there was in NWN1 days, as you should well know. We still haven't had our first level 20 yet, how many did we have in the old NWN1 days. - 2-3 at least Hignar, Veilan's PC who else?

How many we had is not relevant, it is how long it took them to get there that is.

We are now a community that does not value the taking of ones time (at least, not until you are mid levels and 'safe') and we have actively facilitated shuttling people through the early levels compared to NWN1. There are the common causes of grips such as PGing and it still grinds on some people.

[HEEGZ]

I appreciate all of the positive comments that were made earlier. I feel like my goal of getting a better idea of our various member's stance on our community has been met. As the latest comments are serving little purpose other than trolling other members and agitating folks I am going to lock the thread. Thanks!

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