Player retention and you: brainstorming

[Eurynomos]

I've said this before, but I also think one simple thing that might help things: adding a 'Staff Feedback' feature to the Report Tool, where you could:

o Debrief about your experiences playing in area X (like an exit questionnaire).

o Have a non-public dialogue about play experiences.  (So it avoids the rhetoric of the gdb forum, or the public shaming if you suggest that, say, maybe elves or gemmed might need more love.)

I suppose this falls somewhere between 'Idea' and 'Staff Complaint'.  ETA: The idea is to have a space where you and staff can chit-chat about the 'play experience' -- from sponsored rolls, to the RPTs, to the level of conflict, to the level of boredom, and so on.

We actually do this / have done this in the past. We open up a request (typically clan related question/request) and have an exit discussion with them about their play. It's had middling results. It's lead to people rage quitting, and it's lead to good discussions that have sparked even better discussions staff side. I think the onus is on Staff as to whether or not to engage in that discussion. Our time is finite, and if we think it's beneficial to have that conversation with a player, we pursue it. If we think the player is experiencing burnout, jadedness, frustration, we invite them to speak with us. If we notice a player vaguebooking on the GDB about their sponsored role, or other things of this nature, we have a chat with them. Nothing close to reprimand, just touching base, seeing how things are going, and so on. So I think this does occur, now.

[Lizzie]

I've always considered it 100% playable as long as my primary stat was something higher than just "average" and the others were at least average.

If you're playing a character who ends up with a crap primary attribute for their guild (like poor strength on a warrior for example), and prioritizing it during chargen didn't save you, AND reroll self didn't save you, AND it's not the result of the age code adjusting your base roll, then you can submit a request to have the stat brought up to play-ability.

We don't want people to have to deal with a character that is unplayable.

Pretty much, this. I've had stats below average, but the rest of the roll looked decent so I took the below average and ran with it. My character was still playable, it was just more of a challenge to overcome. I've never felt the need to store due to bad stats, and I haven't ever sent a request for "playability" changes.  I realize some people will have an unplayable main stat, but as Jave said - there's recourse for that: requesting to become playable.

The only time I've ever felt at a significant disadvantage was when I played a naturally-lower-strength character with below-average strength and only average agility. I couldn't find a bow that was "appropriate" for my character. It still was playable, because my character didn't need to rely on a bow to survive. But it did limit what she was able to do, codedly.

[Norcal]

Eury it might be worthwhile to split the stats discussion off into a separate thread.

I appreciate Javes arguments and data does indeed trump theory.

However, Harmless brought up another good point;

What about when stats impede you from being able to progress with skills? Poor wisdom not letting you progress past jman in some skills?

I have no idea if this is a real thing or not, or how people end up knowing this stuff. Yet if true, there is a solid argument for some stat changes based on the guild.

And if stats are so  unimportant, why have them at all? 
And if you think they are important, why not allow players the freedom to customize and change them without all the steps listed in a post somewhere up above?  Let the players choose how to spend a certain amount of boost points, like CGP.

If you do not like the idea of some kind of point system that players can use to boost stats, then allow four rerolls instead of one.

And please do not look at my posts as complaining. I still love the game, play regularly (too much most likely) and have no intentions of leaving. Well, almost none.

[Jave]

However, Harmless brought up another good point;

What about when stats impede you from being able to progress with skills? Poor wisdom not letting you progress past jman in some skills?

I have no idea if this is a real thing or not, or how people end up knowing this stuff. Yet if true, there is a solid argument for some stat changes based on the guild.

This is, not a real thing.

As far as I know, skill caps are determined by race/guild/subguild selection, not attributes.

Low wisdom might make it take longer to master a skill, but it won't effect the raw potential for how competent you can ultimately become.

[Eurynomos]

However, Harmless brought up another good point;

What about when stats impede you from being able to progress with skills? Poor wisdom not letting you progress past jman in some skills?

I have no idea if this is a real thing or not, or how people end up knowing this stuff. Yet if true, there is a solid argument for some stat changes based on the guild.

This is, not a real thing.

As far as I know, skill caps are determined by race/guild/subguild selection, not attributes.

Low wisdom might make it take longer to master a skill, but it won't effect the raw potential for how competent you can ultimately become.

This is correct.

[Desertman]

However, Harmless brought up another good point;

What about when stats impede you from being able to progress with skills? Poor wisdom not letting you progress past jman in some skills?

I have no idea if this is a real thing or not, or how people end up knowing this stuff. Yet if true, there is a solid argument for some stat changes based on the guild.

This is, not a real thing.

As far as I know, skill caps are determined by race/guild/subguild selection, not attributes.

Low wisdom might make it take longer to master a skill, but it won't effect the raw potential for how competent you can ultimately become.

This is correct.

Truth. In my experience you are usually fine with prioritizing wisdom last anyways if you have the ability to keep a character alive.

Why?

Wisdom only makes you learn more slowly.

When you are at 50 days played, you won't care that it took you 20 days instead of 15 days to master something. You will care that your strength and agility are both exceptional however.

(Combat characters take note.)

[Alesan]

Truth. In my experience you are usually fine with prioritizing wisdom last anyways if you have the ability to keep a character alive.

Why?

Wisdom only makes you learn more slowly.

When you are at 50 days played, you won't care that it took you 20 days instead of 15 days to master something. You will care that your strength and agility are both exceptional however.

(Combat characters take note.)

I don't know about other people, but I try not to build characters with the assumption that they'll last 50 days played. You have a valid point, but it doesn't really apply to everyone, I think.

[Desertman]

Truth. In my experience you are usually fine with prioritizing wisdom last anyways if you have the ability to keep a character alive.

Why?

Wisdom only makes you learn more slowly.

When you are at 50 days played, you won't care that it took you 20 days instead of 15 days to master something. You will care that your strength and agility are both exceptional however.

(Combat characters take note.)

I don't know about other people, but I try not to build characters with the assumption that they'll last 50 days played. You have a valid point, but it doesn't really apply to everyone, I think.

I agree.

But, Harmless was specifically talking about making characters that last. So I am assuming they are wanting to plan for a character that will "last" and be very long-lived.

[nauta]

I've said this before, but I also think one simple thing that might help things: adding a 'Staff Feedback' feature to the Report Tool, where you could:

o Debrief about your experiences playing in area X (like an exit questionnaire).

o Have a non-public dialogue about play experiences.  (So it avoids the rhetoric of the gdb forum, or the public shaming if you suggest that, say, maybe elves or gemmed might need more love.)

I suppose this falls somewhere between 'Idea' and 'Staff Complaint'.  ETA: The idea is to have a space where you and staff can chit-chat about the 'play experience' -- from sponsored rolls, to the RPTs, to the level of conflict, to the level of boredom, and so on.

We actually do this / have done this in the past. We open up a request (typically clan related question/request) and have an exit discussion with them about their play. It's had middling results. It's lead to people rage quitting, and it's lead to good discussions that have sparked even better discussions staff side. I think the onus is on Staff as to whether or not to engage in that discussion. Our time is finite, and if we think it's beneficial to have that conversation with a player, we pursue it. If we think the player is experiencing burnout, jadedness, frustration, we invite them to speak with us. If we notice a player vaguebooking on the GDB about their sponsored role, or other things of this nature, we have a chat with them. Nothing close to reprimand, just touching base, seeing how things are going, and so on. So I think this does occur, now.

That's great to solicit feedback now and then, especially in the ways you describe it.  However, I suppose I was thinking that unsolicited feedback might also be something you'd want.  (But perhaps there's a reason for not wanting it.)

[Timendainum]

Sorry, I probably shouldn't even post.

I used to play Armageddon a lot YEARS ago. Like the 90's (when I was in college and Armageddon was hosted in Iowa City). I remember a dwarven character, Thain, Thrain? Something like that, he was around in those days.

Anyways, Armageddon is one of my favorite games ever, but I don't play. Probably never will again. I tell people about this game all the time, every few months I come here and read what is going on in the forums. I've tried to get back into it over the years several times. I bet I have a character that is alive now (assuming I could even remember my login info, but I think I've created one in the last year or 2).

The reason why I haven't been able to play is because honestly I was bored off my mind. I found finding people hard. The game is pretty boring when there is nothing to do besides emote to NPCs. Admittedly, I probably haven put in the effort I should have, but an hour or so a wandering around 'nak without seeing anyone I got bored and played Skyrim.

One of my stints trying to play I did end up hook up with some guys from the Byn. But, of course a leader wasn't on, so there wasn't much we could do, so again, got bored and moved on.

I hope you guys figure this out, and are able to keep a good population playing. I love this game!

[Eyeball]

The reason why I haven't been able to play is because honestly I was bored off my mind. I found finding people hard.

Here is one problem in a nutshell. Closing Tuluk has helped somewhat, but there is still too much of people all compartmentalized off in their compounds, apartments, estates and so on. Long gone are the days when Flint's Tavern and the Trader's Inn were the center of all the action.

I don't really have a suggestion on how to improve things, except for a vague "motivate people to visit taverns more somehow".

[ibusoe]

The reason why I haven't been able to play is because honestly I was bored off my mind. I found finding people hard.

Here is one problem in a nutshell. Closing Tuluk has helped somewhat, but there is still too much of people all compartmentalized off in their compounds, apartments, estates and so on. Long gone are the days when Flint's Tavern and the Trader's Inn were the center of all the action.

I don't really have a suggestion on how to improve things, except for a vague "motivate people to visit taverns more somehow".

I think we all owe Timendainum a huge round of applause.  This is not easy for someone to tell us, but it's the exact sort of feedback we need from the actual target demographic we're looking for.

I disagree with your proposal Eyeball because most player characters simply can't get along with each other.  Any difference in attributes or opinions over several vectors including race/religion/criminality/tribe etc. will prevent most characters from having meaningful interaction.

There's a very easy solution to this:  The Byn.  When the Byn is firing on all cylinders, it serves as a catch all for people looking to jack up their characters, people looking to make friends, people looking to have crazy adventures and people looking for something to do.

When the Byn fails though, we all fail. 

[Eyeball]

There's a very easy solution to this:  The Byn.  When the Byn is firing on all cylinders, it serves as a catch all for people looking to jack up their characters, people looking to make friends, people looking to have crazy adventures and people looking for something to do.

When the Byn fails though, we all fail. 

Move the Byn closer to the Gaj then. Why is the main mercenary bar three quarters of the way across the city from the main mercenary compound?

[Lizzie]

There's a very easy solution to this:  The Byn.  When the Byn is firing on all cylinders, it serves as a catch all for people looking to jack up their characters, people looking to make friends, people looking to have crazy adventures and people looking for something to do.

When the Byn fails though, we all fail. 

Move the Byn closer to the Gaj then. Why is the main mercenary bar three quarters of the way across the city from the main mercenary compound?

I always wondered this.

[CodeMaster]

There's a very easy solution to this:  The Byn.  When the Byn is firing on all cylinders, it serves as a catch all for people looking to jack up their characters, people looking to make friends, people looking to have crazy adventures and people looking for something to do.

When the Byn fails though, we all fail.  

Move the Byn closer to the Gaj then. Why is the main mercenary bar three quarters of the way across the city from the main mercenary compound?

I always wondered this.

It used to be longer, before Adhira (I believe) nip-tucked some of the roads in Nak.

From a gameplay standpoint, I wonder if the ideal city layout would force characters from different castes to walk along the same roads around the same times of day.  Crossroads are good for player interaction.

The optimal path between the Atrium and Red's seems to have limited (if any) intersection with the optimal path between the Gaj and the T'zai Byn compound.  I don't think they even intersect by one room.

[Harmless]

Wisdom slows down your progress, this is a key problem. If you're expected by 2 years to be an amazing warrior in your clan, but you're not, because you have below average or average wisdom, then you will find yourself being asked to perform impossible feats of combat prowess before you're ready for it, and you'll die.

If you don't have a great stat roll to back up the below average wisdom, you'll be killed even faster.

Jave states that they pitted a high-skill, avg stat fighter against a max-stats, low skill fighter.

A key difference between these two PCs is, in reality, they'll be crossing blades after having played for many days. After a full byn year or two of training, the fighter with higher wisdom will have gained much more skill than the one with lower wisdom. Because skill levels are directly derived from wisdom (and due to differing rates of failure, other stats as well), stats DO matter, moreso averaged over a period of time advancing.

They don't matter only in the artificial scenario you've created, which is to have one totally untrained fighter go against a trained one without any crippling disadvantages.

Basically your scenario is unrealistic. Pit a warrior with journeyman levels in everything against a warrior with journeyman to advanced in everything and exceptional strength and agility, go ahead. Watch the results, though I don't need you to tell me what those are, I already know.

The period of building skill is perhaps one of the most agonizing aspects of the game. You're insignificant, a nobody. As a merchant you can't craft things people want, yet are totally dependent on others. As a fighter you still fail in all your basic combative duties for years, looking like a fool. having low wisdom throughout this period sucks. That I have had to endure this phase in basically every PC's life I've played and never enjoyed that sweet feeling of success at being reliably alive and useful and wanted, is why I don't play anymore. I have no desire to keep LOSING when other people not only win, but rub it in the losers' faces (both in game in an IC manner and here, on the GDB, where attitudes about stats, karma, and skill grinding/character building have been condescending for as long as I can remember playing).

[Malken]

Why not pit a high strength, high agility warrior with journeyman weapon skills vs a shitty stats'ed warrior with journeyman weapon skills and then tell us how it goes? That's the reality of any serious Armageddon combat character study.

[Harmless]

correct.

Anyway, why do I harp on stats? Because people care about it. It's not the focus of RP but it determines the outcome of competitive RP, and all RP in Zalanthas is competitive, in order to be interesting. It matters who wins and who loses, and why they won or lost. To state that stats don't matter and skills alone do, hence all players have equal chance at success in this competitive, murderous world, is really disingenuous. You're pretending that it ISN'T annoying to be fucked over by the RNG ten months ago and therefore lose that promotion/duel/fight for your life to escape from death scene. For the 30th time.

[BadSkeelz]

Your merchant did take a surprisingly long time to die, Harmless. Even then, I don't think you'd have walked out of that particular incident if she had better stats.

If you have a PC with bad stats or skill levels, don't put yourself in positions where those numbers are going to become important.

[Dresan]

There only a few instances in the game where I think stats might matter.

1. Arena competitions. However, the longest lived warrior in the game is usually the ones that win this anyways. Mostly because its defense/offense skills that decide the match, with agility and weapon skills(yours vs your enemies) probably being the other deciding factors. Before the defense nerf long lived warriors could fight on for days without touching each other, they usually had to rely on wrist razors, and other scripted attack gear to hurt each other. So yeah defense skill is op.

2. When killing someone. Stats like strength and agility decide how much damage you are doing and how fast. However, if you are planning to do this...perhaps some preparation might help. That said, I really hope the changes to spice make it more convinient and tempting to use...assuming you have the sid for it. If they change that, then stats really become even more moot. Its really hard to kill someone in straight combat outside of a locked room, unless you are much much better than them. Again qucik reflexes, flee and defense/shield skill usually are better than pure stats in these situation.  But if all else fails, buy your self a shield...a shield made out of meat preferably.

3.  General Survival. Stats help here I suppose, but against NPCs I think fast reflexes are much better and defense/offense will eventually allow you to fight bahamets regardless of stats. At the start of the game, new warriors with riding skill and shield should be able to survive long enough to flee against something nasty. While a  new ranger, should also be able to move and then shoot it down, like a proper hunter (without having to spend a month training for it).   So instead of stats, you might just need to type flee faster or be quick enough to move before something attacks you.  Other than that though I've had amazing agi and master climb and I've still fallen to my death in pits.

Stats do make some things more convenient, strength vs encumbrance being the most glaring thing, which I wish they would re-evaluate slightly.  I can't really say stats matter that much otherwise, certainly nice to have but not really that important.

I think improvements to spice (make it more last longer, a solid ic day would great start) would make stats even more of a  moot points. If you have the sid, going on a dangerous journey, sniff some spice and poof you are ready to go for a day or two. How strong and quick you are just becomes a measure of how much sid you make.  I also think you should be able to discretely sniff spice if you have the sleight of hand skill or if you are hidden(never actually tried before though).

Otherwise, who gives a damn who wins in the sparring ring, they'd still die easily to a couple poison arrow or knife to the neck anyways and then you can get that promotion. I'm pretty sure duels in zalanthas are settled by who can bring more people to a fight. For example if your warrior brings his sword, while the merchant bring his buddy the templar,  it can pretty much make you super high stats and years in the sparring ring seem pretty pointless.  

[Harmless]

"Don't put yourself in situations where.."

It is true that surviving requires this outlook, but I think this creates stagnation and feelings of powerlessness. To some it is obviously a problem (me included) that some PCs are so clearly "haves" and others are "have nots," and that a defining difference between them is rooted in playing style: rolling the dice until you have a good result, being extremely conservative and choosy with your interactions to avoid deadly conflicts (especially early on), profit. It may takes months. It's not fun. It's agonizing, in fact. That's 500+ hours of work at stake, once you have built the character. Being totally averse to all risk is sensible. But is it interesting?

Now, I agree that permadeath is here to stay. Clearly, I never wanted it to leave (why else would winning or losing conflict matter at all?). I am just asking that when I see mantishead, it was because I made bad decisions, but not because one of them was to play out my character's goals with a sub-par stats roll and a suboptimal guild/subguild combination for that character's activities. I want all of that aspect of the game de-mystified and made flexible, so that when we die, we know why. We made the wrong enemy. We trusted the wrong ally. We had the wrong idea. We lacked key information.

Do I want to play a mush, though? NO. I want this to be a game also. Suggestions that take the game out of the experience are mostly disliked; that's why Adhira's suggestion to just give everyone a straight boost doesn't fly with the majority (of GDBers and staff). Having some more control would be nice, though, to reduce the helplessness. Another simple example would be to have your character start with four attribute rolls, unassigned: Very good, good, average, below average. Now, you get to pick where they go. Plop those on, then apply your racial modifiers and guild modifiers, and you're in game. If you were given absolutely incredible, average, average, poor, you will likely make a very different selection than with the first roll. Now you get to start your character off knowing what you'll have to play like, and you won't have to suffer a reroll either, because they fell in the order you actually wanted them to be in.

[Harmless]

Dresan is right that there are only a few instances in the game where stats might matter, and they encompass every combat situation (duels, murder attempts, surviving (i.e., all combat against NPCs in the wilderness). Yep, stats matter in those situations. Wisdom matters for all of them in determining how far you've progressed until that point (barring the 100 day PC who maxed all his skills years prior).

In all of those situations, a PC dies. Or perhaps, they are seen to be a superior fighter and receive rewards for it; promotions, recognition, fame.

When all your PC has is their life and their reputation, then stats matters for everything that matters to them (and by extension, you).

I'd say the key exception to all of the above is the merchant who has access to all the mastercrafts they need to impress others, templars, nobles, born leaders (or special apped leaders). For them, stats never matter. Pretty much, only them, however, and that's still debatable. This must be why Badskeelz brings up a merchant I played in the past (not even sure who he refers to or what situation that was, btw). It's true, for merchants, stats don't matter much at all. For the struggling warrior/hunter though, they certainly matter. For the exceptions, it's more a political game and patience. (and having enough staff trust or leadership experience in advance of character creation to be given those roles by staff)

[ibusoe]

There only a few instances in the game where I think stats might matter.

1. Arena competitions. However, the longest lived warrior in the game is usually the ones that win this anyways. Mostly because its defense/offense skills that decide the match, with agility and weapon skills(yours vs your enemies) probably being the other deciding factors. Before the defense nerf long lived warriors could fight on for days without touching each other, they usually had to rely on wrist razors, and other scripted attack gear to hurt each other. So yeah defense skill is op.

2. When killing someone. Stats like strength and agility decide how much damage you are doing and how fast. However, if you are planning to do this...perhaps some preparation might help. That said, I really hope the changes to spice make it more convinient and tempting to use...assuming you have the sid for it. If they change that, then stats really become even more moot. Its really hard to kill someone in straight combat outside of a locked room, unless you are much much better than them. Again qucik reflexes, flee and defense/shield skill usually are better than pure stats in these situation.  But if all else fails, buy your self a shield...a shield made out of meat preferably.

3.  General Survival. Stats help here I suppose, but against NPCs I think fast reflexes are much better and defense/offense will eventually allow you to fight bahamets regardless of stats. At the start of the game, new warriors with riding skill and shield should be able to survive long enough to flee against something nasty. While a  new ranger, should also be able to move and then shoot it down, like a proper hunter (without having to spend a month training for it).   So instead of stats, you might just need to type flee faster or be quick enough to move before something attacks you.  Other than that though I've had amazing agi and master climb and I've still fallen to my death in pits.

Stats do make some things more convenient, strength vs encumbrance being the most glaring thing, which I wish they would re-evaluate slightly.  I can't really say stats matter that much otherwise, certainly nice to have but not really that important.

I think improvements to spice (make it more last longer, a solid ic day would great start) would make stats even more of a  moot points. If you have the sid, going on a dangerous journey, sniff some spice and poof you are ready to go for a day or two. How strong and quick you are just becomes a measure of how much sid you make.  I also think you should be able to discretely sniff spice if you have the sleight of hand skill or if you are hidden(never actually tried before though).

Otherwise, who gives a damn who wins in the sparring ring, they'd still die easily to a couple poison arrow or knife to the neck anyways and then you can get that promotion. I'm pretty sure duels in zalanthas are settled by who can bring more people to a fight. For example if your warrior brings his sword, while the merchant bring his buddy the templar,  it can pretty much make you super high stats and years in the sparring ring seem pretty pointless.  

Unfortunately the facts don't support this.

[roobee]

Add more places like shops to the directions command. Was super frustrating just getting around as a new player. Also this map http://armageddontools.searchlightsj.com/AllanakMap.html would be very helpful. Also, moving the ask a helper tool to a command in-game would psychologically make more newbies use it.

[Wyrmboy]

Where to start ....I've been playing this game off and on since 1998 taking time off for different reasons some in game some real life. I'm not the best role-player but I am not the worse either, but looking over some of your responses (not all of them) I think I can say you all share the passion for the game that I feel, I think we can say all the staff has that desire (or had it at one time) I am sure we test their patience all the time

I look back at the past and I try to compare it to today and see what has changed. I can some it up in -one- word.

CONFLICT!!!!!!!
These stories are from over 10-12 years back I hope it is ok to post them.

Not just staff created conflict (though that is lacking too) but player driven conflict. I am not saying kill everyone you meet, but be a little moody once in awhile, we all want an experience to remember so let's help each other create it. Here is a stroll down memory lane for you. My first character in Arm way back when decided to join the Byn (like the docs says) I was a human warrior nakki, I scrubbed shit, made friends, sparred, made a few coins, bought some nice gear. I remember we had a contract to go to Tuluk and for some reason I got left behind (had to log out for RL) so I log in the next day and I am sitting at the bar, some PC comes in and starts talking to me, we start drinking, he asks me if I want to make some quick coin (In my mind I am like oh no) but my character had is eye on a new sword he had seen in a tuluk shop so he was like tell me more, the player buys a couple shots for us from the bar and we go talking in one of those alcoves you can draw the curtain closed (I am sure some of you know where this is going ). He gives me a shot of whisky as we are discussing what I can do for him to make some coin, I drink the shot and immediately pass out, he slits my throat and my first Mantis head : ) !! The funny thing is I make a new PC and log in join the damn Byn again and guess who I see all decked out in my gear, yup the assassin who killed me. I remember laughing so much and to this day I still laugh when I think about it. That second pc became good friends with the pc who killed me, you have to create these characters with the mind set you are going to die, not to live, if that makes any sense to you.

I also had a desert elf warrior who had a small tribe of 3-4 of us called the Bloodfeathers we were asses if we caught you outside the walls we would try and kill you. We once found some roundear in the mantis lands, after a quick chase we slaughtered him and my elf took his sword as a trophy, As we were running back to the pah, I found out the sword was made of steel and magical, it would randomly make me contact a Templar and throw random insults at him, which was awesome!!! Now I don't know if this guy with the sword was a Imm pc that he planted there or was some player pc who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but it was some fun roleplaying and a lot of conflict resulted.

I could go on and on.

Do you know what a character with high stats does? one of two things.
first it makes you feel invincible so you go outside before you are ready and a spider or beetle slaughters you or two You play so timidly you don't do anything because you are afraid to lose your Super Stat character. (I've done both and I am sure so has everyone else). Maybe there should be two systems of stat generation you can choose from in character creation the standard system which is the only system that will allow you pc to get an Exceptional or AI stat or a point system where you get so many points and all your stats start at avg for your race and you can add has many points to bring a stat to a certain level (the cap being very good or extremely good or whatever is decided on giving the player the ability to customize his or hers character or take a chance and maybe get something better?

In my opinion we need to bring back more fantasy into the world, I am sick of political plots, where Mr. fancy pants, is butt hurt over Mrs fancy skirt's rejection. I like politics but it only applies to a limited few, now if a rumor started that a steel sword was seen in the hands of a gith or mantis, or maybe some PC found a magic ring on a dead body in the rinth, or what's that? a ash bringer has been seen in the salts? lets get a party together and go see if we can bring the bastard down. I love Nilz and the undead as story plots there is soooo much to choose from but it seems we limit ourselves for some reason these days (maybe there is a reason I don't know about).  

In my opinion the thing about being on staff and I am going to compare them to me being a game master for path finder and D&D (yup nerd alert here) writing a story and telling a story are two different things right? I could be wrong but the limited stories I have been a part of they seem static one directional player A you do this player B you do that to complete the story I have written. Now telling a story is fluid, you have a starting point and a goal, but how you get there if you ever do is up to the players involved let them make the decisions (now you can drop hints to them, so they can't say I died because I didn't know that) then you can say, oh really what did you think this hint was for . I know as a GM I had to learn early that no matter how much detail and work I put into a gaming session there was going to be someone that night that was going to do something unexpected, and you know what those are the ones that made the story better, once I learned to adapt and let the story tell itself.

I am sorry if this makes no sense, I sometimes have trouble expressing what I want to say clearly, but this game has so much history in it, some of you aren't aware of just how much is actually out there.

Focus on having fun! If I see you in game I am going to try and do a better job of getting you involved like it or not.

I guess I could of put this in the conflict post too!