Allanaki City Elves

[Patuk]

This thread is about city elves. If you want to join the general dead tribe reverence the gdb has, fine, but do it elsewhere.

[maxid]

A few ways to fix elves that likely won't go anywhere and, obviously, have a few issues of their own.  These could be taken as a whole, or separately, it doesn't matter.


1.  Change the 'elves hate riding' to 'desert elf tribes hate riding' and have them look down on/sneer at city elves. City Elves are always poor riders (like, mid level cap no matter the guild, even ranger, sort of an inverse of half-elves.  And no taming.)

2.  Change the elven 'ideal' somewhat, from 'thieves who always steal steal steal omg always' to something more like Jewish stereotypes.  They're skinflints, they work together to screw over nonelves, they secretly steal your babies and sell them to the butcher.  The thievery part is in there, but it's tied into them being tight with money, and looking to rip you off. Also they'd need some sort of positive racism in there too - they're really good at making stuff, they've got great storm vision so they make good guides, they have a really good eye for quality, etc. etc.

3.  Just give celves delf run, but codify it that celves don't really like to be out of the city a lot, unless they're with a specific type of 'tribe'.  See: Byn, Kurac, etc.  Delf run is not as OP as people seem to think it is, and I understand the argument that separates two members of the same race into Those Who Can and Those Who Can't run, but it sort of makes them shitty to play in any role that isn't celf sneakthief. 

[SmashedTregil]

Way to fix elves: Remove elves and put in humans.


Stealing can mean different things. Very much including what you described in your 2nd idea.

[HavokBlue]

I honestly don't care about coded benefits if I can have RP opportunities (ie tribes/clans) to match elven documents.

[CodeMaster]

I have been reading the city elf docs closely.  One problem is you are encouraged to play tribal but, since your tribe is "virtual", the other elves you interact with will always be strangers.  Playing to the docs makes it hard for elves to get along with strangers, so one can end up being more FOREVER ALONE than a half-elf would be.

Add that to the fact that there are way fewer people playing elves in this game than I would have thought (I am on character #1, and have made a lot of mistakes) and it's just hard to fit in, even if the game world is very well done.

Please bear in mind I might be suggesting bad things because I'm so green at this.  But here's my ideas:

Make it cheaper for a city elf to get an apartment in a "city elf housing district".  Perhaps this exists already in the Rinth. I don't know.  Make it really cool, with lots of little passages and roofs.  Allanak is just covered in soldiers so maybe there could be fewer soldiers here too so you could get away with more.  But, I wouldn't want to recreate the Rinth. I just can't comment on the Rinth yet actually.

City elves SUCK in the desert!  This bit me hard.  But, they are pretty good at running in the city in terms of stamina loss, which is fun but maybe they could be better.  Maybe if you run two rooms in a row in the same direction, "You reach your stride." and you can run even faster continuing in that direction.  Or maybe they could get "sprint" movement type that is even faster but costs stamina in rooms that have no stamina.

[Barzalene]

Just because you're green doesn't mean you don't have a point.

[Synthesis]

City-elves already run fast enough in the city.

It's actually one of the pretty big advantages, since almost nothing but another elf can shadow you for more than a couple of rooms.

[HavokBlue]

City elf run is nice, until you are crimflagged and thrown in prison by a Templar with nothing better to do, at which point you'll probably be tortured, interrogated, and generally treated like you just tried to assassinate a senator.

[Malken]

One of my most hilarious time on Armageddon was when I played a pickpocket that nobody had probably ever seen, and my pickpocket was -really- good. I would steal shit left and right inside the Gaj and each time a poor lone and newbie elf PC (Because at that point there was really no other elf PCs left alive in Allanak except for my nearly perma invisible one) would walk in, they would get their backpack searched and often interrogated as if they were the ones who had stolen from everyone.

I would hear things like, "Well, you might not be the thief we're looking for but surely you know of some other elf roaming the streets that you could tell us about, hmmmmmm?"

[RogueGunslinger]

One of my most hilarious time on Armageddon was when I played a pickpocket that nobody had probably ever seen, and my pickpocket was -really- good. I would steal shit left and right inside the Gaj and each time a poor lone and newbie elf PC (Because at that point there was really no other elf PCs left alive in Allanak except for my nearly perma invisible one) would walk in, they would get their backpack searched and often interrogated as if they were the ones who had stolen from everyone.

I would hear things like, "Well, you might not be the thief we're looking for but surely you know of some other elf roaming the streets that you could tell us about, hmmmmmm?"

Yeah... Brings back some bad memories.

[Riev]

I think a future character is going to be "the grey elf", who I will play as though an automated NPC. Walking from the Gaj, to standing outside a tenement, with a changed ldesc, and only responding to looks/queries on the rare occasion. During the night, he will steal half the treasures in the Known, and return to his normal behavior come morning.

After 6 RL months, people will just be used to him being around, until one day his clothing has changed to all silks and diamond jewelery. Nobody will still notice because at that point, people won't look at him.

[Barzalene]

I think a future character is going to be "the grey elf", who I will play as though an automated NPC. Walking from the Gaj, to standing outside a tenement, with a changed ldesc, and only responding to looks/queries on the rare occasion. During the night, he will steal half the treasures in the Known, and return to his normal behavior come morning.

After 6 RL months, people will just be used to him being around, until one day his clothing has changed to all silks and diamond jewelery. Nobody will still notice because at that point, people won't look at him.

Sounds neat but not fun.

[Narf]

I think a future character is going to be "the grey elf", who I will play as though an automated NPC. Walking from the Gaj, to standing outside a tenement, with a changed ldesc, and only responding to looks/queries on the rare occasion. During the night, he will steal half the treasures in the Known, and return to his normal behavior come morning.

After 6 RL months, people will just be used to him being around, until one day his clothing has changed to all silks and diamond jewelery. Nobody will still notice because at that point, people won't look at him.

Sounds neat but not fun.

You could break it up with occassional rp with passerby. Most people would dismiss it to animations as long as you used change ldesc in random places.

[Malken]

I think a future character is going to be "the grey elf", who I will play as though an automated NPC. Walking from the Gaj, to standing outside a tenement, with a changed ldesc, and only responding to looks/queries on the rare occasion. During the night, he will steal half the treasures in the Known, and return to his normal behavior come morning.

After 6 RL months, people will just be used to him being around, until one day his clothing has changed to all silks and diamond jewelery. Nobody will still notice because at that point, people won't look at him.

Sounds neat but not fun.

You could break it up with occassional rp with passerby. Most people would dismiss it to animations as long as you used change ldesc in random places.

Or think that you're a Staff animated NPC and then everyone would gather around you and wear their best possible emotes.

[Suhuy]

I've always felt it would be nice if more were done for city elves as an overall race. But it need not necessarily be in coded changes to the race itself.

City elves are given their name for a reason. If you want to go explore -- or really leave the city much at all -- you are well advised to choose a different race entirely. City elves are, by and large, ghetto dwellers, victims of the system who rely on their cleverness and street smarts to get by in a world that largely shuns them. They are definitely not travelers. Almost none of the major organizations in the Known World will hire them, and almost no city elf should want to join a group of untested, untrustworthy people anyway. Its only natural therefore that most elves will seek haven in the seedier parts of the city. With all of that said, I see no reason to boost their stamina so that they can unrealistically travel outdoors. Besides, spend 5 minutes zipping around Allanak as an elf, then go try the same thing as a human and you'll see how advantaged they are when it comes to stamina. That is when it comes to stamina in their natural environment: the city.

It's also going to be difficult to accommodate every variety of elf in the game world, given the size of our playerbase. The main concern here with city elves is their inability to interact with many people. I think coding a city elf tribe in Allanak but outside the Rinth would be worsening this situation. Tuluk has a city elf tribe in their commoners quarter. The Warrens are not an exact parallel to the Rinth since it is not a lawless area like the Rinth is, which makes the Akai Sjir more out in the open. So I'd say each city-state has something to offer, one in a lawless area and one not. Make any more tribes and you wind up playing a city elf who only has NPCs as companions.

So what's to be done to make city elves more attractive to players and gives them something to do at the same time? I think enhancing their "territories" would be a wonderful start. And because I've long felt that Tuluk has been given more than its share of building projects and attention in the past several years, I think the Rinth more than takes precedence here. Additions to the elven market and access to black market commodities that other races don't have access to would make elves desirable in such a way that non-elves still dislike them, but also seek them out to buy the things they're after. It gives them a purpose and makes them useful, while still ensuring they are the scorned and frowned upon race that they should be. No need to boost city elves, I say, boost their territories.

[i love toilets]

I love city elf running. It turns me on.

[Chettaman]

One day now that I feel I've mastered the game-ish...
Armageddon   (advanced)

I'm going to roll an elf and see what I can do. (southern elf = hard mode)
A dwarf too.
A half giant especially.

I really really wanna play a halfling.

anyway. I like the idea of a southern tribe suddenly springing up for people to be able to join or whatever no matter how meager.
That said, I want to say a tribe is like ''family''. You can have in it whoever you want. For an elf this is different, I imagine. You must test your family before you consider them worthy of the title. It could be anyone. Not just another elf.

[FantasyWriter]

I want to play a gith.

[Barsook]

I want to play a gith.

[Zoan]

Gith are just desert elves with an even flimsier excuse to PK whatever they come across (and that's impressive given d-elves need zero excuse).

[Patuk]

I want to play a gith.

[HavokBlue]

Gith are just desert elves with an even flimsier excuse to PK whatever they come across (and that's impressive given d-elves need zero excuse).

It's okay because you effectively never have to worry about desert elves in 80% of the known world.

[Patuk]

Gith are just desert elves with an even flimsier excuse to PK whatever they come across (and that's impressive given d-elves need zero excuse).

It's okay because you effectively never have to worry about desert elves in 80% of the known world.

How do your PC's magically know that of all the tribes there's two that have elves who are a threat to them in some manner?

[HavokBlue]

because there are no documented desert elven tribes open or closed living in 80% of the world

I guess you can say my PCs should be worried about a virtual, unnamed, never-before-heard-of desert elf tribe in the red desert or the salt flats or the scrublands but I think we can both agree that that's kind of silly?

[Chettaman]

I'm more afraid of the fire-breathing spiders born from the magickal fusion that happened because of the movement of the volcano. And they ride on bahamet.