Ask the Storytellers

[CodeMaster]

Interesting, thanks Rahnevyn!

The language help files are some of my favorites - they contain historical accounts that you don't see mentioned in the game's chronology and speak of other interesting legends.  Some questions (and of course I don't mind if the answer is "this is too sensitive to reveal at this time", or even "we can only speculate"):

- According to the help files, there is a written form of heshrak.  Do there exist any non-virtual documents in the game written in heshrak?

- The allundean helpfile suggests the Dragon was building a (now lost) library.  Does anyone know how it was lost (and was it lost to the Dragon, too -- all his efforts in vain --  or did it just disappear from the Known?)

- Mirukkim almost became extinct, but it is suggested it was only through the effort of the dwarven population that it managed to survive.  A written form exists, but did it survive this period of near-extinction?  Given this, is written mirukkim in the hands of dwarves (i.e. do there exist dwarves who can write), or has it since passed into the hands of (probably mostly human) scholars?

[Cerys]

My staff room doesn't have my name in it! I built it when I was learning how to make rooms and didn't know the trend.

In A Moonlit Garden [E, W, Save]
 Draped in perpetual nightfall, this garden is by no means dark.  A
constant glow, which seems to come from the earth itself, suffuses
everything in silver light.  Surrounded by high, lush hedges of green ivy,
the garden is densely populated with trees, bushes, and other plantlife.
The scent of flowers fills the damp air.  A plush green lawn slopes gently
upwards towards a pagoda made of glowing white stone.  In the dark sky
above, a ravaged desert planet hangs, surrounded by stars.
 The babble of a stream sounds from somewhere nearby.
 A yellow post-it NOTE has been stuck to the pagoda.

And this is me:

O KANK FLY
Cerys, the blight on the garden is in excellent condition.

<floating about head>    a golden halo
<in hair>                a gleaming pouch of silver, spidersilk and Kadian tears
<neck>                   a magnificent sunburst tattoo
<around right wrist>     a grey-edged, ebon silk sash
<around left wrist>      a blue-stained, vestric-carved bracelet
<secondary hand>         a bright pink and yellow rubber chicken
<on right index finger>  a diamond-encrusted, gold wyvern signet ring
<on left index finger>   an old obsidian templar ring
<on left middle finger>  a plain black bone ring
<on feet>                a pair of knee-high, tawny-winged sandals

[Cerys]

<snip>

Actually, I learned something today.  I had no idea the language help files were so mysterious and hinted at such interesting history.  Unfortunately, I have no idea about the answers to your questions, but it's awfully fun to wonder about all these things.  Maybe one of our other staffers knows more? 

There was a nobleman in Allanak who managed to learn the rudiments of Heshrak many years ago.  I always thought that was neat.

[Norcal]

*ignores nyr*

An example of something I'm doing is working on creating more desert elf and/or human tribal clothing/armor/tidbits that will eventually be available in the desert elf outpost.

Sweet!!!!  Can we help?!!!

[HavokBlue]

I think one time I stepped on Cerys' avatar in game right after it shouted O KANK FLY.

[Cerys]

That wasn't me, in fact.  It was Genesius.  I was there, though.  I changed my description in his honor.

[Nergal]

What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?

I'm working on the Critter Creation project. I am the one responsible for silt hawks, dune vultures, wild chaltons, angks, kagors, and city rats. I'm constantly watching these creatures, seeing how PCs interact with them and whether they need adjustments. I like the idea of a more active, vibrant, and dangerous outdoors - and so there are more creatures to come.

[HavokBlue]

Is 'gaj' slang for 'gajak' or are they different creatures?

[DANCE COMMANDER]

When did you start playing, and what is one of your favorite memories as a player or a staffer?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?

I'm working on the Critter Creation project. I am the one responsible for silt hawks, dune vultures, wild chaltons, angks, kagors, and city rats. I'm constantly watching these creatures, seeing how PCs interact with them and whether they need adjustments. I like the idea of a more active, vibrant, and dangerous outdoors - and so there are more creatures to come.

I hope that means scripting routines and alterations into them to boot. Even if it doesn't, yes, I love that. If you need any input on that, let us know. I know we have some clever ideas out here in player land. But again, loving what you've done so far, and looking forward to what's to come.

[Nergal]

Actually, I did get the idea of the rats from a random post on Random Armageddon Thoughts (rat idea from RAT... it's a conspiracy!). And most of the animals have different behaviors and patterns which players of hunters and such could learn IC.

[Talia]

I hope that means scripting routines and alterations into them to boot.

Just a side note: Most Storytellers are not also coders, so we don't tend to do a lot of scripting, although there are some of us who can do more. E.g., I've tweaked some scripts and made some new ones and played around with stuff on the test port, but we have other STs who don't read code at all. It's not a requirement for Storytelling (nor any level of staffing). So, often, there are things that would be cool to do with code that we have to find other ways to do, or just to give up on doing for a while, because we don't have the coding resources. However we're pretty creative and can do a lot of stuff with existing scripts.

That being said, the stuff that Nergal did with the chalton is really cool and I will be eager to see if any players figure it out.

When did you start playing, and what is one of your favorite memories as a player?

I started playing less than ten years ago. I first came on staff a bit over four years ago.

My favorite memories are all moments with other players. I think over the years of play I managed to see some pretty interesting "secret" stuff about the game, code, locations, and plots; but while all that stuff makes a nice backdrop, I find that it's the interactions that really me laugh and cry. Ultimately, players are the part of the game that is most unpredictable, most risky, most rewarding. And that's why I need to keep playing myself, because if I am only always just watching, then I start to feel kind of bummed and resentful that I'm missing out!

[Talia]

Is 'gaj' slang for 'gajak' or are they different creatures?

IIRC these are different. I recall having that same question myself; I think gajak are a type of beetle, actually. I'd have to look in game to confirm and I can't do that right this moment.

"Gaj" is actually short for "Holy fekking mother of Tek everyone run." Although gaj get slaughtered pretty easily by a whole gang of pretty buff PC gladiators, alas.

One of my favorite staff memories is running the 2012 gladiator games. Italis and I were working on that together. The AoD had been doing ride-outs and there were some RPTs before that (unrelated) and I'd been throwing a lot of spiders at them because spiders are creepy, and so I think it was my idea that we should have a giant, bloated spider as one of the opponents for the gladiators. And then we decided the spider should burst upon death and send baby spiders up into the stands. And THEN we decided that some of those baby spiders got away...and that was the Ratsucker plot. (Obviously we had Producer approval, after I wrote up a plot proposal. But the ideas came from Storytellers just bouncing things off each other.) I was actually the "project leader" for Ratsucker. I feel pretty proud of that, even though I had to go off staff in the middle.

"Ratsucker" as a name for the plot was totally a player creation, though. I love it when players put names to what is going on in game, because staff side we name plots like "Allanak Spider Infestation" which is way more boring and cumbersome.

[Xalle]

Gajak are beetles, yup.

I started playing in 2003 and came on staff Summer '13, but had to take a hiatus after a few months because I had a really difficult, gruelling pregnancy and didn't feel it was fair to the players I was staffing to do a half-ass job, and later I couldn't even look at a computer screen without feeling nauseous. One bouncing, happy and healthy baby later, I felt the pull of Armageddon, and was reading the GDB and thinking 'I want to help and help make that happen!'. Luckily,  the Producers wanted me back too, so here I am.

As well as clan, plots and request tool stuff, I'm currently mainly working on new clay recipes/objects, mostly that you guys kindly sent in, various elements of Tuluk such as the shitification (in an awesome way) Euke mentioned, fleshing things out, changing descs etc, a proposal for an idea I can't tell you about yet and lots of brainstorming.

My lair consists of Xalle's Salle , whose description tends to be my test board for how things will look in IG, Xalle's Salle de Bal, and Xalle's Salle de Douche, where I keep my NPCs and objects I'm working on.

I look like:
<floating about head>    a tiny blue dragonling
<in hair>                a green-scaled irrig beetle
<on face>                a pair of red-lensed, thick leather goggles
<around neck>            a glossy-black, leather-winged cape
<about throat>           a candy necklace
<slung across back>      a steel greatsword named 'Immortal Slayer'
<primary hand>           a bright pink and yellow rubber chicken
<around body>            a plush, bright pink snuggie
<on legs>                a pair of green silk bathing trunks
<on feet>                a new pair of bronze boots

[Talia]

Since Desertman asked about craftable/ownable wagons and both Adhira and Nyr said some stuff about it, I will do a little clarification, since I'm one of the two Storytellers who was working on this previously (it was indeed Rathustra and me).

We had the entire crafting structure for wagons pretty much mapped out, and they were/are going to be based on silt skimmers. I did some tweaking of the skimmer script and some testing on the test port, but for whatever reason I couldn't get the wagons to actually be pilotable on land. There's something in the underlying code which requires a high-powered coder to handle.

And then there was a loss of some information which I had stored on the wiki--the whole plan, actually. So at this point I need to re-find all the objects we had already built in the database (not that difficult) and then figure out and build all the objects we hadn't gotten to yet. I'm pretty careful about documenting as I go along, but when the documentation gets lost, well...that makes things extra-difficult!

We also will need NPCs for storing wagons, talk scripts about wagon building, and other stuff. Rathustra and I had done a ton of brainstorming about this.

It's a very big project and I'm not ready to get back to it yet, but I will do that at some point and I'm hoping we'll have coding resources available too. So that's one of the things that is indeed written on my projects list, but I'm not working on it actively very much right now, because of the reasons stated, and because there are other things that are more necessary to get in place right now.

[Xolotl]

l me


A totally cool kinda guy. 
An Axolotl named Xolotl is in excellent condition.

<in hair>                a green-scaled irrig beetle
<around right wrist>     a strand of opalescent beads
<as belt>                a simple rope belt
<hung from belt>         a glowing humming blue bladed lightsaber
<around body>            a pure white robe


look

Command Center of an Orbital Platform [2375]  [INDOORS IMMORTAL] [N, E, S, W, U, D]
  This command center sprawls out in a very wide sphere.  The walls are
adorned with large display screens, each screen a scene from the desert
planet below.  Various consoles are strategically placed, with a number of
colored buttons with strange markings.  A circular dias is placed in the
direct center of the room, with a large, plush chair which can swivel about,
surveying all of the center with relative ease.  Many vestric move about, in
some sort of controlled frenzy, giving this room a sense of busy activity.

I tend to live here, it was left over from a previous staffer and I've been considering updating some of the rooms to add scripts to help build NPCs and such.  Plus it looks cool.

[creeper386]

Does anyone love me?

Actual question, and I don't know if it belongs here or elsewhere, but am I just missing it or is there no information on basic laws in the city states in the documentation? That's easiely accessible. Should there be if not?

[Talia]

am I just missing it or is there no information on basic laws in the city states in the documentation? That's easiely accessible. Should there be if not?

This is where it is in the old documentation: http://old.armageddon.org/general/misc.html I'm not sure about the new docs, but the old docs still apply. The basic crimes are murder, theft, and treason. Nobles pretty much aren't going to get in trouble with the law for murder or theft, though they might have political issues. Templars don't murder, they execute; and they don't steal, they fine. Treason is extremely bad for anyone to do.

In Tuluk, criminal acts are the same except that it's not murder if it's a licensed assassination, and it's not theft if it's done by a licensed thief. Those things are art! Unlicensed activities are still murder and theft, though.

If you have more specific questions or want to know how stuff applies to your PC, send in a clan-related question/request and your Storyteller can help you out.

[bcw81]

Does anyone love me?

Actual question, and I don't know if it belongs here or elsewhere, but am I just missing it or is there no information on basic laws in the city states in the documentation? That's easiely accessible. Should there be if not?

http://armageddon.org/help/view/Crime%20and%20Justice
http://armageddon.org/help/view/Templars
http://armageddon.org/help/view/Tuluk%20Details - See Government
http://armageddon.org/help/view/Allanak%20Details - See Government

You can also normally find some very basic laws as one of the first few posts on the in game boards. I know in Tuluk it's called Bakah or something.

[Malken]

Does anyone love me?

No.

Oh crap, forgot to log under my Storyteller username!

Just kidding, I'm not a Storyteller.

Well, that's probably what a storyteller who forgot to log under his storyteller name would say, dammit.

FINE, I'm really Halasturd, hahah, you guys thought I was gone for good, hm?

[Xolotl]

Does anyone love me?

No.

Oh crap, forgot to log under my Storyteller username!

Just kidding, I'm not a Storyteller.

Well, that's probably what a storyteller who forgot to log under his storyteller name would say, dammit.

FINE, I'm really Halasturd, hahah, you guys thought I was gone for good, hm?

Go home Nyr, you're drunk.

[Talia]

Does anyone love me?

No.

Oh crap, forgot to log under my Storyteller username!

Just kidding, I'm not a Storyteller.

Well, that's probably what a storyteller who forgot to log under his storyteller name would say, dammit.

FINE, I'm really Halasturd, hahah, you guys thought I was gone for good, hm?

Go home Nyr, you're drunk.

Now everyone will stop teasing me about that time recently I logged in drunk.

[Xolotl]

Now everyone will stop teasing me about that time recently I logged in drunk.

No.  No we won't.

[bcw81]

Does anyone love me?

No.

Oh crap, forgot to log under my Storyteller username!

Just kidding, I'm not a Storyteller.

Well, that's probably what a storyteller who forgot to log under his storyteller name would say, dammit.

FINE, I'm really Halasturd, hahah, you guys thought I was gone for good, hm?

Go home Nyr, you're drunk.

Now everyone will stop teasing me about that time recently I logged in drunk.

Dear Talia,

Please select a Storyteller with knowledge of the aformentioned incident and have them recite to us a story of your drunken shenanigans.

Love,
Bcw81

[Kol]

Lets assume for a moment you're taking a nice romantic walk with a breed in the rinth under the starry night. Obviously, this starry night is obscured by sand clouds and buildings, because this is the 'rinth.

You stop off in the watering hole, have a few laughs, then head to a local orphanage and child dump to participate in the oldest of traditions, Dorf kicking.

Finally, you get him/her (it's a breed, lets just call it it.) back to your place, that collapsed building that was once a shop/house but kind of resembles a dilapidated Half-giant taking a turd.

Things are going well, and you're finally ready to surprise it with your big finale.

How DO you kill it?

Detailed responses please.