Ask the Storytellers

[Talia]

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

I...don't remember who was there. (SHUT UP XOL.)

How DO you kill it?

My minions emerge from the shadows and block the way, both codedly and with some nice emotes, so the breed can't run off. I do some pacing, some interrogating/accusing, some looming threateningly. The breed is frightened. Then I back off a little bit, like I'm not gonna actually do the murder, the breed is relieved. I amp it up again with the emotion and make it clear with a cold glare and final words that yep, you're gonna die. From there it's poison, or a blade, or a poisoned blade, or all of the above, after a nod to my minions (they do the job, that's what minions are for). Minions split whatever proceeds there are from the murder, everyone is happy.

That's how I like to kill and be killed.

[Eukelade]

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

I started playing about a decade ago (oy vey)

One of my favorite staff memories is running the Gith Invasion.  I was the one who wrote the initial proposal and took care of a lot of the planning and building.  So if you died during that RPT, or didn't have fun, or disagreed with what happened, blame me!

One of my favorite player memories is being in the Byn and going on a big Sewer RPT with LT Raul.  It was awesome.

How DO you kill it?

With a massive bone cleaver.

[Taven]

What is the most entertaining thing you have ever seen while monitoring players (that you can talk about)?

[Desertman]

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.

You are now my backup wife. (American Dad reference.)

[CodeMaster]

Left or right handed?

[Xolotl]

Left or right handed?

Tertiary tentacled.

[Molten Heart]

What's your favorite npc?

[Eukelade]

What is the most entertaining thing you have ever seen while monitoring players (that you can talk about)?

One time someone drove a Kuraci argosy off the shield wall and I happened to be around to see it...the reactions of the players were pretty entertaining.

Left or right handed?

Right!

What's your favorite npc?

If we're talking NPCs I've written, probably LT Copper.

If it's any npc in the game, probably Globbuluk or the beggar that used to sit outside the Traders Inn.

[Talia]

You are now my backup wife. (American Dad reference.)

OK, but the wagon project isn't done yet. I suggest actual bribes. You get me. Hint, hint.

What is the most entertaining thing you have ever seen while monitoring players (that you can talk about)?

PKillings tend to be entertaining. If you guys wish up, and someone's around to watch, it's pretty guaranteed we will.

Every time I make a PC feel like throwing up, or actually vomit, or want to piss themselves in fear is my new favorite moment.

I love watching newbies who are really getting it.

Left or right handed?

I'm somewhat ambidextrous. I mouse with my left hand, type with both, write with my right.

What's your favorite npc?

Desert spiders.

[Taven]

Has there been any discussion of expanding the world and adding new, previously unexplored wilderness areas, or is that being avoided in favor of trying to keep players more centralized for murder, corruption, betrayal?

[Enthemu]

What's your favorite npc?

the violet-scaled, tatter-winged humanoid

If she could only find someone to patch up those wings for her.

Has there been any discussion of expanding the world and adding new, previously unexplored wilderness areas, or is that being avoided in favor of trying to keep players more centralized for murder, corruption, betrayal?

One the coolest things that I've witnessed since coming on staff is seeing how much building and creation is happening behind the scenes. Staff members are constantly working on new rooms, objects, critters, on a daily basis. The world is expanding in a variety of different ways and I think the way staff handles this, is great. Not to throw out any spoilers, but I think the players are going to fall in love with some of the expansion stuff that is coming down the pipe.

[Talia]

Has there been any discussion of expanding the world and adding new, previously unexplored wilderness areas, or is that being avoided in favor of trying to keep players more centralized for murder, corruption, betrayal?

This is really a Producer-level question. Storytellers concentrate first on our clan(s), then on our region, then on the world. We're smaller-picture and more day-do-day, Admins and Producers are bigger-picture.

I guess my own perspective is that I'd like to see the inside of cities be more fun. How can we get more MCB happening in the cities? More plot? More activity? Less tavern-sitting, more doing?

For example, the southern rooftops project was mentioned. That's not going to be a wilderness area per se, but it will hopefully add additional dimension (get it??) to roleplay in the city. There will be some explorability, it's another thing to do and see.

I have some other stuff on my list to add more layers of things to do within the city.

[whitt]

What one thing do you wish the players understood about your work as a Storyteller?

[seidhr]

Has there been any discussion of expanding the world and adding new, previously unexplored wilderness areas, or is that being avoided in favor of trying to keep players more centralized for murder, corruption, betrayal?

This is a good question but you might want to try in the Producers thread, because as Talia said, that's not really something that we as Storytellers are in control of.  Since you asked here though, it seems like the focus is currently on enriching the areas/cities/wilderness that we already have, rather than building...



...because it's healthier for the game in general if most of the players are congregated together in certain focal points (the cities, outposts, etc) rather than spread out and isolated everywhere.  (While still allowing for people to play isolated, if they wish)

[Iiyola]

What's your favorite IG dish?

[seidhr]

What's your favorite IG dish?

Kalans.

[Nergal]

Tell us about your staff rooms! Or what silly outfits your avatars wear!

Nergal's Abandoned Building of Doom [3987]  [NO_NPC INDOORS IMMORTAL] [Save]
  You are inside a small, run-down building of doom. Cracks of doom are in
the brick walls of doom. Abandoned tools of doom hang from the doomed
shelves and hooks on the wall. A doomed operating table is in the center
of the room for creating creatures of doom, while a doomed drafting table
has a doomed blueprint on it for making new rooms of doom. You are dead.

l me
This dude looks really cool.  He is shiny and as you look at him he
smiles and says, "You can trust me."   But as you begin to trust him you
feel you have made a horrible mistake.  Suddenly you are dead because he was
too powerful for you to look at.  Oh no!  
Nergal the Mildly Evil is in excellent condition.
<on head>                a lace-edged stringy and ripped linen bra
<around neck>            a sunburst decorated silk shoulder-cape
<about throat>           a fine, platinum chain necklace
<slung across back>      a old runed, ivory-hilted steel greatsword
<on torso>               a steel breast plate
<on arms>                an used bloodied pair of laminated sleeves
<around right wrist>     a leather wrist sheath
<hands>                  a tattoo of a six-pronged star
<on right index finger>  a thick band of pure gold
<on left index finger>   a thick band of pure gold
<on right middle finger> a thick band of pure gold
<on left middle finger>  a thick band of pure gold
<on right ring finger>   a thick band of pure gold
<on left ring finger>    a thick band of pure gold
<on right pinky>         a thick band of pure gold
<on left pinky>          a thick band of pure gold
<on right thumb>         a thick band of pure gold
<on left thumb>          a thick band of pure gold
<as belt>                a sable swordbelt with a silver buckle
<hung from belt>         a bloodied steel greatsword named 'Immortal Slayer'
<hung from belt>         a steel shortsword named 'Mortal Slayer'
<about waist>            a stained grease-splattered, sooty leather apron
<on legs>                a bloodied pair of black woolen pants
<on feet>                a bloodied pair of shiny black leather boots

[Talia]

What one thing do you wish the players understood about your work as a Storyteller?

OK, I had to think about this question for a few hours.

I wish that players would more often make a concerted effort to learn how to communicate and work constructively with staff in general and their individual Storytellers/Admins in particular. I see it as similar to being in college; one of the most important things you can do at a university to assure your own success is to learn the quirks of your professors, and learn how to work with them. The same thing is true in the work world.

We each have our own personal way that we work best and are most productive. It's easier for me to be more productive when the players I'm working with have taken the time to understand what I'm saying and adjust their communication or play. When I'm more productive, players are happier; when players are happier, I'm happier and more productive.

That felt kind of incoherent but I hope you understand what I mean. Mostly this is about learning the other person's style of communication and work, and adjusting to it. This is something I also have to do; if I want to work well with Nyr/Adhira (my Admins right now) then I have to learn and adjust. Same is true of my work alongside other STs.

Kalans.

If you're wondering whether he meant this the naughty way, yes, he did.

[Nergal]

How DO you kill it?

Call it mean names until it cries, and keep it crying until it dehydrates.

Left or right handed?

I'm a lefty.

What's your favorite npc?

I got a few pieces of my staff equipment from Muk Utep. Yes, even the bra hat.

What one thing do you wish the players understood about your work as a Storyteller?

That it's a labor of love. We do what we want, and we work together to enhance and preserve the spirit of the game. No one is held back from that, and I think/hope players are noticing that lately with the amount of new attention the game and its players are getting.

What's your favorite IG dish?

Chalton steak washed down with a fine glass of cleaning fluid (which staff can drink safely).

[Talia]

Call it mean names until it cries, and keep it crying until it dehydrates.

Best answer yet.

[Kol]

What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?

[Iiyola]

WHO was responsible for

> e (dragging their kill behind them)

[seidhr]

REDACTED

[seidhr]

 

[Reiloth]

hahaha, Rathustra covering his trail.