This thread is for players to ask Storytellers the things they've always wanted to know. We have a bunch of new and returned Storytellers on board, with differing perspectives on the game, staffing and what they've discovered.
Be warned, just because you've always wanted to know something doesn't mean you will get an answer! We will try and answer what we can, while still preserving things that are ICly sensitive or that might reveal things that other players wish to discover in game.
We will do our best to answer respectfully and honestly, in return we'd love it if you asked your questions in the same light.
We'll keep this thread open for the next few days and invite you to enter into dialogue with us.
First time caller, long time listener.
If you could pick just one clan that you would douse with a fiery rain of terror, lava, and irony, which one would it be, and why is it the Tan Muark?
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
Right now I'm working on building claypits for Allanak so that Tuluk isn't the only source of clay in the world. It's still in the planning stages, but I'm hoping things will be all linked in and approved by the end of next month.
Plotwise, well...I'm having a lot of fun with that right now, too. ;D
Quote from: Nyr on October 27, 2014, 11:09:27 PM
If you could pick just one clan that you would douse with a fiery rain of terror, lava, and irony, which one would it be, and why is it the Tan Muark?
Stop trolling or face the banhammer of Cerys.
Quote from: Nyr on October 27, 2014, 11:09:27 PM
First time caller, long time listener.
If you could pick just one clan that you would douse with a fiery rain of terror, lava, and irony, which one would it be, and why is it the Tan Muark?
nyr, nyr stop trollin me. pls.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
I've been making some new critters, and I've been helping out with some stuff that Enthemu was doing too, but I'll let him talk about that. I don't have a 'pet' project really at this point, I'm still learning things. I did make some irrig bugs, and I'll probably start making other little changes like that to help bring color and life to the gameworld in general too.
I've also got those charms to make, but I fell behind a bit due to some RL and other stuff that came up. So look for new charms in the near future!
*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.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
My incomplete todo list as of now, disregarding plots and general clan-related stuff like character reports:
- Finish adding the tattoo submissions you guys sent in (thanks!)
- Add a couple rooms added to the Fale and Oash estates to represent stuff they both should probably have but isn't coded
- Find a way to foil Cerys and her fish of doom
- I just finished a brand new Who's Who document for House Fale, now I need to go back and update NPC backgrounds to match
- Need to start on a Who's Who for Oash
- Do a couple updates in Allanak to reflect some consequences of plots that have been going on recently
- Help with those southern clay pits so we don't have to treat clay as a valuable strategic resource (lol)
- equip all NPC soldiers with sword-chucks
Quote from: Nyr on October 27, 2014, 11:09:27 PM
If you could pick just one clan that you would douse with a fiery rain of terror, lava, and irony, which one would it be, and why is it the Tan Muark?
Ooooh,
burn.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
I just looked over my list and I have a lot of plot and project stuff I really can't talk about. Some of it's pretty high on my priority list.
But I can talk about this: Sponsored leadership roles are my pet project. Specifically, for quite some time (started this when I was on staff previously) I've been looking at what is good/bad, playable/unplayable, fun/unfun about sponsored leader roles and thinking about it and talking about it with other staff, and I've been looking at the retention rates of the different roles. I'm not sure I can really talk about most of my conclusions, but I hope I'll be able to put out some stuff in the near-ish future (with the help of other STs) that will be useful documentation for those taking on these roles. My goal is to make these roles more fun, more playable, and more sticky for players.
I think I can say that it's pretty clear from the analysis that southern templar is the most fun sponsored role in the game. It is also one of the most dangerous! Southern templars die a lot. (So do Byn Sergeants.)
Cerys has just reminded me it isn't a fish of doom, it's a bright pink and yellow rubber chicken of doom. How could I forget.
Quote from: Rahnevyn on October 27, 2014, 11:20:55 PM
- Find a way to foil Cerys and her fish of doom
Just haven't killed you often enough lately. FIXED.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
Hi! First time poster long time listener here:I'm actually working on a few different projects at current.
1) Working on implementing rooftops for all the lovely buildings scattered about a certain southern city-state.
2) Assisting Seidhr in bringing some fabulous new desert wear to the Tablelands.
3) Working on adding recipes for existing clay objects in game.
This is a question for the returned Legend Storytellers. What was your motivation to return? I know you can't cite specific but what are your hope to achieve now that you're back?
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 27, 2014, 11:35:05 PM
This is a question for the returned Storytellers. What was your motivation to return? I know you can't cite specific but what are your hope to achieve now that you're back?
I love contributing to the game. That sounds like a total bullshit answer, but it's not. I used to have a lot of time to contribute as a leader (and I loved doing that), but I don't have that specific sort of time anymore; because playing a leader effectively means, usually, lots of hours logged in paying actual attention. When I'm on staff, I can idle if I need to, and the things I need to respond to aren't immediate, in-game things (usually).
What I'm doing differently for myself this time around is that I'm trying to maintain my own sense of fun. Kind of like what Adhira mentioned in the other thread. I need to keep a focus on having fun. I do really enjoy building stuff, animating, running plots, and helping players enjoy the game. But I also want to be in the game, playing, because that's where a lot of joy is. It keeps me close to the heart of the game.
I didn't come back on staff in order to achieve anything in particular, although as I mentioned above, sponsored roles are a big area of interest to me. (I can't play them anymore, but I can try to make them better for players and the game!) There is one other near-term project I'm going to be doing that was an objective for the southlands...and a long-term maybe project. Can't really talk about those :)
And I really enjoy working with the staffing team. They are fabulous people and we have a lot of fun.
Just a side-note on animations: For some reason, I think I'm not very good at doing them, but then when I let myself do them, they generally end up being a lot of fun. I very much enjoy animations that are just "hey this NPC is chilling with you." Animating bosses kind of sucks because usually someone's getting yelled at and that makes me :'( . Lately I've been doing a lot of building/animations/echoes for a particular plot thing, and a lot of PCs have been
puking in response to stuff I've written, and that makes me :D so hard. I think I've finally found my niche! I have a talent for the disgusting, I guess.
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 27, 2014, 11:35:05 PM
This is a question for the returned Legend Storytellers. What was your motivation to return? I know you can't cite specific but what are your hope to achieve now that you're back?
I've been back a while but I guess this still technically applies to me too, right?
I was cold turkey on Armageddon a long time, while I went out and got pesky things like a job and a wife and a life and so on. Last year my life had started to settle down, and some friends contacted me and convinced me to get back into Armageddon again. So I did. Now I'm hooked once more. CRACKAGEDDON, as they say.
I think Armageddon offers a kind of experience you just can't get anywhere else, with any other technology, new or old. We're able to blend the coded mechanics of tabletop roleplaying games with the persistence of an online virtual world, with the sort of immersion and depth you can achieve from reading a good book . Roleplaying in Armageddon will always be superior to a graphical MMO because we can harness the full power of a player's imagination, and the medium allows us to change and reshape the world with much greater ease and less expense. I can see Armageddon surviving and thriving as long as there exist roleplayers with internet connections who want to take part in, and help shape, that sort of experience... in other words, a very long time. I joined staff, and came back to staff, because I'm excited and proud to be a part of that.
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 27, 2014, 11:35:05 PM
This is a question for the returned Legend Storytellers. What was your motivation to return? I know you can't cite specific but what are your hope to achieve now that you're back?
I have wanted to return to staff for a while, but the cards weren't aligned for me until this last call. I first staffed from 2007-2009ish and it was fun, and the feeling I have now with our team is similar to the feeling I had then - that there are a lot of really invested, happy people volunteering to improve the game. It's a good feeling.
My motivation for this game has always been to entertain others rather than myself. I've never felt completely comfortable in the spotlight, I'd rather help other people's game experiences stick in their memories for the rest of their lives. Making the game a rich and fun experience for the players is very important to me. I love it when I see players immersed in the world, scared out of their wits, or experiencing intense emotions about something that happened in the game. It's a feeling I have not experienced with any other game.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
What is each of your pet projects, disregarding plots?
I've recently done a LOT of plot-related building. It's been tons of fun. I also really liked doing the GMH specific apartment building revamp in Allanak and would like to continue with that project and bring it north, too.
One of the things I'm also working on is making Tuluk a little grittier, a little harder to survive in, and a lot more dirty. I'm hoping people are starting to see the affects of some of the work Rathustra, Xalle and I have been doing already.
Who's Who docs for the Noble Houses in Tuluk are high on my priority list. I think that having a richly described cast of npc and vnpc characters can make the Noble House experience feel much more real and immersive.
Quote from: Eukelade on October 28, 2014, 12:03:29 AMMy motivation for this game has always been to entertain others rather than myself.
I'm not a "returning legend" or anything, but I wanted to say that this statement really resonates with me. In fact, I even have a note in my staff room that I wrote up when I came on staff that reminds me of this exact thing. I'm here to entertain the players. That is my purpose as a staff member of this game. That sentiment is what drives me, and that is what I love to do.
It's all about you guys! <3
Tell us about your staff rooms! Or what silly outfits your avatars wear!
Rahnevyn's Sanctum [33245] [INDOORS IMMORTAL LIT] [Save]
This seems to be an office suite on the executive floor of Tektolnes'
Tower. As on the outside of the structure, the entire room appears to be
constructed out of pure gold, from floor to ceiling. The northern wall is
partially open, revealing a majestic view of the cityscape (and beyond that,
a not-so-majestic view of the crumbling Labyrinth). A shimmering green
force field blocks sand and debris from getting in to dirty the immaculate
golden immaculateness of the chamber. A whiteboard hangs on another wall,
scribbled with all sorts of reminders and thoughts and designs from things
ranging from "World Domination" to plans for "how do we move the jail closer
to the criminals?"
The expansive chamber seems to have plenty of room to allow lost souls
who have somehow found their way here to mill about for a bit. A cute,
fluffy bunny sleeps in a corner beneath a potted tree, making the sanctum a
bit more welcoming to Tulukis.
Quote from: Voular on October 28, 2014, 12:45:18 AM
Tell us about your staff rooms! Or what silly outfits your avatars wear!
> look me
Her lips are red. Her thoughts are free. Her eyes as black as her soul.
Her skin as white as leprosy. The Nightmare Life-in-Death is she who quicks
men's blood with cold. Pale veins protrude. Deep scowl persists. Her
hated borne upon her face. Her demeanor seethes of insane bliss and casual
disgrace.
Upon her forehead is a large red circle with 'OK' in the center.
Talia the Everywoman is in excellent condition.
<in hair> an elegant tiara of shiny black glass
<face> a brown and black ring tattoo
<in right ear> a diamond earring stud
<around neck> a dull black gem
<about throat> a ruby-petaled, obsidian rose
<across back> a leather-strapped, sable etched baldric
<on torso> a fitted, floral-embroidered black dress
<on left shoulder> a half-stitched, severed human arm
<on arms> a deep orange silk shawl
<hands> a shattered jade cross within a desert storm
<secondary hand> a diamond-capped, polished silver pen
<on right index finger> a shimmering shadowy diamond-set, gold and copper ring
<on left index finger> a plain black bone ring
<on left middle finger> an amethyst and jade silver signet ring
<as belt> a twisted ruby red silk scarf
<around body> a plush, bright pink snuggie
<on legs> a sheer pair of black silk stockings
<on feet> a pair of black leather thigh-high bootsThe description I am using actually came from our bank of awesome rejected apps. The wearables and tattoos are mostly related to the different clans I've staffed in and/or played in over time.
Talia's Greenhouse [13870] [PLANT_HEAVY INDOORS RESTFUL_SHADE NO_MOUNT IMMORTAL] [Save]
You are on the inside of a green house. Everything is green. The
curtains, the rugs, even the walls. The couch even has a strine-green
stripe pattern.
A shadow falls over the area, driving off the uncomfortable heat.
A sprig of scarlet flowers climbs another plant here.
A low-growing plant creeps along in the shadows of the rocks.
A graceful, white-flowering tree stretches its limbs here.
A narrow-leaved plant wavers upright in the breeze.
A towering agafari tree with leafy branches and peeling grey bark erupts from the ground here.
A web of interlacing ivies is strung between the trees.
A ginka vine with red leaves slithers across the ground here.Rathustra wrote the description for my room when we started as Storytellers in 2010 and I've never changed it, because I'm lazy. I filled it with plants because plants in game are one of my favorite things.
This is what my room looks like. I am almost never there. I just use it to store NPCs that I inhabit from time to time, have a place that I can mess up and not feel bad about, etc.
Seidhr's Room [3472] [NO_NPC SAFE IMMORTAL LIT] [Quit, Save]
Seidhr does stuff here. Presumably.
Here is my description and leet gear.
Carrying little excess bulk, this willowy elven male is remarkable in
that his smooth, caramel skin is streaked with jagged lines of natural
pigmentation of varying widths and colors, almost geometric in appearance.
Intensely violet, his two eyes seem oversized on his face, the almond-shaped
irises contrasting vividly with his base skin tone. His limbs are long and
sinewy, even for one of his kind, accommodating only a sparse musculature.
His arms end with elongated hands and nimble-looking fingers that would
likely be treasured by most any musician. Thick hair, a shiny dark brown in
color, completes his look.
Seidhr, the clueless elf is in excellent condition.
<floating about head> a tiny, red devil
<in hair> a glowing humming limp rolled tube of spice
<slung across back> a bloodied six-foot steel greatsword
<as belt> a thick pouched belt
<hung from belt> a bloodied solid bone skinning knife
<around body> a glowing humming black, hooded templar's robe
Yeah that's right. You're jealous.
seidhr, why is your GDB name not capitalized? Are you secretly a dorf? Do you desire to destroy all capital letters? Do you just mock me with your lowercase s? Is it to signify that you're so quiet and stealthy that you can't have an uppercase S, because it's too loud? Did all of Tuluk's subtly go into your s? Did Armageddon steal so much of your soul that only a lower case s was left? Are you secretly British, and so really your name should start with a z, but you added a random s instead? If your name started with a z, would it be a capital Z? What does your name mean anyway?
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 01:21:13 AM
seidhr, why is your GDB name not capitalized? Are you secretly a dorf? Do you desire to destroy all capital letters? Do you just mock me with your lowercase s? Is it to signify that you're so quiet and stealthy that you can't have an uppercase S, because it's too loud? Did all of Tuluk's subtly go into your s? Did Armageddon steal so much of your soul that only a lower case s was left? Are you secretly British, and so really your name should start with a z, but you added a random s instead? If your name started with a z, would it be a capital Z? What does your name mean anyway?
...Yes.
Quote from: seidhr on October 28, 2014, 01:23:18 AM
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 01:21:13 AM
seidhr, why is your GDB name not capitalized? Are you secretly a dorf? Do you desire to destroy all capital letters? Do you just mock me with your lowercase s? Is it to signify that you're so quiet and stealthy that you can't have an uppercase S, because it's too loud? Did all of Tuluk's subtly go into your s? Did Armageddon steal so much of your soul that only a lower case s was left? Are you secretly British, and so really your name should start with a z, but you added a random s instead? If your name started with a z, would it be a capital Z? What does your name mean anyway?
...Yes.
I'm going to call you Zeidhr now, and use it as a word to signify the affirmative, after a pause. Just so you are prepared.
Does anybody know what a "shedyu" looks like? I've seen a pretty basic item in game made of its hide.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 28, 2014, 02:42:15 AM
Does anybody know what a "shedyu" looks like? I've seen a pretty basic item in game made of its hide.
There are "shedya beetles", which are basically just normal Zalanthan beetles by appearance, but nothing called a shedyu I can find.
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?
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
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 28, 2014, 03:37:49 AM
<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.
Quote from: seidhr on October 27, 2014, 11:19:39 PM
*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?!!!
I think one time I stepped on Cerys' avatar in game right after it shouted O KANK FLY.
That wasn't me, in fact. It was Genesius. I was there, though. I changed my description in his honor.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
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.
Is 'gaj' slang for 'gajak' or are they different creatures?
When did you start playing, and what is one of your favorite memories as a player or a staffer?
Quote from: Nergal on October 28, 2014, 06:12:10 AM
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 27, 2014, 11:13:47 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: The7DeadlyVenomz on October 28, 2014, 08:14:56 AM
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.
Quote from: DANCE COMMANDER on October 28, 2014, 08:07:41 AM
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!
Quote from: HavokBlue on October 28, 2014, 06:40:42 AM
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
Quote from: creeper386 on October 28, 2014, 01:05:13 PM
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.
Quote from: creeper386 on October 28, 2014, 01:05:13 PM
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.
Quote from: creeper386 on October 28, 2014, 01:05:13 PM
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?
Quote from: Malken on October 28, 2014, 01:44:34 PM
Quote from: creeper386 on October 28, 2014, 01:05:13 PM
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.
Quote from: Xolotl on October 28, 2014, 01:55:14 PM
Quote from: Malken on October 28, 2014, 01:44:34 PM
Quote from: creeper386 on October 28, 2014, 01:05:13 PM
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.
Quote from: Talia on October 28, 2014, 01:57:57 PM
Now everyone will stop teasing me about that time recently I logged in drunk.
No. No we won't.
Quote from: Talia on October 28, 2014, 01:57:57 PM
Quote from: Xolotl on October 28, 2014, 01:55:14 PM
Quote from: Malken on October 28, 2014, 01:44:34 PM
Quote from: creeper386 on October 28, 2014, 01:05:13 PM
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
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.
Quote from: bcw81 on October 28, 2014, 02:02:24 PM
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.)
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 02:05:40 PM
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.
Quote from: DANCE COMMANDER on October 28, 2014, 08:07:41 AM
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.
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 02:05:40 PM
How DO you kill it?
With a massive bone cleaver.
What is the most entertaining thing you have ever seen while monitoring players (that you can talk about)?
Quote from: Talia on October 28, 2014, 12:04:35 PM
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.)
Left or right handed?
What's your favorite npc?
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 02:30:58 PM
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.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 28, 2014, 02:36:59 PM
Left or right handed?
Right!
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 28, 2014, 03:10:18 PM
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.
Quote from: Desertman on October 28, 2014, 02:35:28 PM
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.
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 02:30:58 PM
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.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 28, 2014, 02:36:59 PM
Left or right handed?
I'm somewhat ambidextrous. I mouse with my left hand, type with both, write with my right.
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 28, 2014, 03:10:18 PM
What's your favorite npc?
Desert spiders.
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?
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 28, 2014, 03:10:18 PM
What's your favorite npc?
the violet-scaled, tatter-winged humanoid
If she could only find someone to patch up those wings for her.
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 03:36:44 PM
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.
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 03:36:44 PM
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.
What one thing do you wish the players understood about your work as a Storyteller?
Quote from: Taven on October 28, 2014, 03:36:44 PM
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...
(http://i.imgur.com/eyc8Ece.gif)
...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)
What's your favorite IG dish?
Quote from: Voular on October 28, 2014, 12:45:18 AM
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
Quote from: whitt on October 28, 2014, 04:02:00 PM
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.
Quote from: seidhr on October 28, 2014, 06:27:13 PM
Kalans.
If you're wondering whether he meant this the naughty way, yes, he did.
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 02:05:40 PM
How DO you kill it?
Call it mean names until it cries, and keep it crying until it dehydrates.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 28, 2014, 02:36:59 PM
Left or right handed?
I'm a lefty.
Quote from: Molten Heart on October 28, 2014, 03:10:18 PM
What's your favorite npc?
I got a few pieces of my staff equipment from Muk Utep. Yes, even the bra hat.
Quote from: whitt on October 28, 2014, 04:02:00 PM
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.
Quote from: Iiyola on October 28, 2014, 06:22:51 PM
What's your favorite IG dish?
Chalton steak washed down with a fine glass of cleaning fluid (which staff can drink safely).
Quote from: Nergal on October 28, 2014, 06:53:49 PM
Call it mean names until it cries, and keep it crying until it dehydrates.
Best answer yet.
What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?
WHO was responsible for
> e (dragging their kill behind them)
REDACTED
:o
hahaha, Rathustra covering his trail.
lolollllllllllllll seidhr got redacted
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 07:07:21 PM
What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?
I've done some dumb stuff here and there, but nothing on a global level. The logging in drunk thing was the funniest. See, I also dropped my mouse on the floor, which made my client go wonky, and every time thereafter that I switched windows it spammed the last thing I typed into immcomm. This resulted me saying "you guys are awesome"...quite a few times. And some other stuff I don't remember.
Thank Tek I don't log.
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 07:07:21 PM
What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?
I doubt anyone noticed, but I accidentally renamed all of the dust-colored facewraps in the game to something else entirely for about 3 seconds.
Twice.
Quote from: Norcal on October 28, 2014, 04:54:30 AM
Quote from: seidhr on October 27, 2014, 11:19:39 PM
*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?!!!
Yes, come to think of it! See http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,48291.0.html for details.
Quote from: Xolotl on October 28, 2014, 09:15:31 PM
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 07:07:21 PM
What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?
I doubt anyone noticed, but I accidentally renamed all of the dust-colored facewraps in the game to something else entirely for about 3 seconds.
Twice.
What did you re-name them to?
Talia, will the Publicity be started up again?
Quote from: Taven on October 29, 2014, 01:04:50 AM
Quote from: Xolotl on October 28, 2014, 09:15:31 PM
Quote from: Kol on October 28, 2014, 07:07:21 PM
What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?
I doubt anyone noticed, but I accidentally renamed all of the dust-colored facewraps in the game to something else entirely for about 3 seconds.
Twice.
What did you re-name them to?
A new mastercraft I was trying to make. But the way I tried to change it, since I was making a new object, meant that every single iteration of it on the mud was suddenly something new.
I also switched into an NPC to talk to someone, then transferred myself (AS THE NPC) into the middle of a completely different clan's compound with PCs around. Fortunately the NPC had a very generic 'this is just a guard' sdesc, so I quietly walked somewhere unpopulated and transferred myself back to where the NPC was supposed to be located. And nobody seemed to notice.
Quote from: Barsook on October 29, 2014, 05:52:28 AM
Talia, will the Publicity be started up again?
I think we'd need to have a specific plan for what to do with the Publicity forum in order for this to be useful. My feeling about publicity/marketing right this very moment is that what we really need to do is figure out how to convert and retain new accounts better, as well as draw back veterans. If we raised our conversion/retention/re-attraction by even, say, three players per month...that would make a big difference over the long run. (Especially since, I believe, having more players is a factor in retaining current players. Partly psychological, partly "can I find someone to play with.")
Quote from: mansa on October 29, 2014, 01:16:51 PM
In a text-based game environment, it is so easy to change the descriptions with a few words, yet some of the pre-written world hasn't changed in decades.
What is the current process to change some of the world that we see each day?
This question wasn't directed to the Storytellers, but it brings something to mind. I'm not sure that players are aware that when STs are building objects, NPCs, and rooms, we are using the same text editor that players are using for writing rumor board posts or books/scrolls. So we are subject to all the same vagaries of the code: dropped lines of text, errors in formatting, inability to edit something in the middle, and the fact that when you're in the text editor you can't "see" the rest of what is going on in game.
It's not like using a word processing program, so it's not actually easy to change anything with little effort. We don't have a sekret magickal web editor to do this stuff for us. (If we had something like the web bio tool, but for objects/rooms/NPCs that would be literal fucking heaven.) There's really no "few words" when it comes to building new portions of the world or tweaking old ones. There are STs who vehemently dislike the building aspects of staffing, and I have to believe it's partly because our tools aren't great.
I know that the Producers and coders want us to have better tools to use and stuff has been done and I'm sure stuff is in the works, but where we are right now it's basically what players have. By way of example, I finished building eight objects last night, that have taken me the last week to build. And I am an extremely fast and competent writer, I enjoy building, and I'm good at the details. If any of those things were not true, building would be very daunting. I really sympathize with any staffer who doesn't like building because of the tools at hand.
If you want to know how much of the world is being changed "daily," you can keep a watch on the weekly update pages. Categories such as NPC Approval, Object Approval, Room Approval, Shop Approval, and Crafting Approval reflect the changes that we are making. (It's not a one-to-one ratio; a single approval may have multiple items under it, e.g. the 8 objects I just submitted were under 1 object approval request.)
On a final note, there are lots of things in the game that have been the same forever that there's no compelling reason to change. Players aren't going to notice if I tweak the descriptions on Caravan Road, and if they do notice they won't care; it won't add anything to anyone's game. Change for the sake of change is pointless, IMO.
That makes me a little sad for you guys. I always assumed you had a different editor/processor for building/staff-stuff. :(
That gives me a whole new level of appreciation for the effort you guys put in. I hate writing my own character descriptions and backgrounds in game for new PC's. Creating entire areas and crafting trees in it....damn, just damn.
Quote from: Desertman on October 29, 2014, 02:58:10 PM
That makes me a little sad for you guys. I always assumed you had a different editor/processor for building/staff-stuff. :(
That gives me a whole new level of appreciation for the effort you guys put in. I hate writing my own character descriptions and backgrounds in game for new PC's. Creating entire areas and crafting trees in it....damn, just damn.
I seem to remember that I also thought, before coming on staff, that there would be a better editor for staff to use, and then I was a little horrified to realize that the text editor and I were now basically married.
The crafting recipe tool actually IS through the website but it's sort of painful in its own way. It's extremely detailed and easy to screw up when you start with it. Mostly because as STs we have to put the recipe in, hope we've done it right (there's no way to test it before submitting for approval), then it gets looked over by our Admin and...well, something probably wasn't done right. It's like typing with a blindfold on.
Jumping in on someone elses thread.... Thanks for bringing that up Talia. I never realized that players might not realize that we were using the game text editor for everything we build, alter and so on. This goes with changing character descriptions etc too, which is why we do have restrictions on who can edit Players info/file. It's really really easy to screw it up and sometimes not so easy to fix. (Like if you accidentally change a PCs name then their whole file is screwed).
Quote from: Talia on October 29, 2014, 01:37:20 PM
It's not like using a word processing program, so it's not actually easy to change anything with little effort. We don't have a sekret magickal web editor to do this stuff for us. (If we had something like the web bio tool, but for objects/rooms/NPCs that would be literal fucking heaven.) There's really no "few words" when it comes to building new portions of the world or tweaking old ones. There are STs who vehemently dislike the building aspects of staffing, and I have to believe it's partly because our tools aren't great.
This sounds like a problem that if fixed could add an enormous surge of productivity for staff. The same tools could be used for PC character creation as well I suspect, which might improve conversion rates! What if we crowd sourced a bit of funds for the staff to outsource this project (or ones like it), to give the game a jump start on tech/tools?
I spoke with someone who runs a software tools building team and explained the general problem. He said that a great option that he's suggested to small start ups or anyone on a tight budget is to post projects up on sites like www.freelancer.com where coders (mainly in China/India) take on projects at pretty low rates. For instance, a small project like this may be only $250-$750 USD for an experienced coder to tackle (won't really know until you post it up for people to bid).
Just a thought?
I'm at a work conference this week, and attended a reception last night where I totally did not take too much advantage of free drinks, so excuse the belated replies, please.
Quote from: DANCE COMMANDER on October 28, 2014, 08:07:41 AM
When did you start playing, and what is one of your favorite memories as a player or a staffer?
I started playing over a decade ago. Some of my favorite memories include the Copper War, the two Allanaki Senate RPTs I've taken part in (one as player, one as staff), and some stuff that's probably still too recent to mention.
Quote
What is the most entertaining thing you have ever seen while monitoring players (that you can talk about)?
I won't name names, but there is or was a certain character who is/was normally a fairly intimidating person, but could get
extremely overdramatic and melodramatic in moments of solo roleplay. I sometimes read over the logs and imagine them in William Shatner's voice and drive myself to chuckles. But mostly I don't monitor players to be entertained, I monitor to make sure
you guys are entertained and so I can stay abreast of events and think of new and timely ways to enrich the world around you.
Quote
What's your favorite npc?
I actually have several. I don't currently have an avatar, so NPC animations are sort of my way to enjoy roleplaying and bring the world to life at the same time. I actually had to kill one of my favorite NPCs off not too long ago due to IC events, which made me really sad, but the story called for it and the death was too fitting to pass up. Armageddon Extra Hard Mode: when you have godlike powers and could completely save your favorite character's life but choose to let them die anyway.
Quote
What one thing do you wish the players understood about your work as a Storyteller?
That we're not omniscient. As much as I'd love to, I can't be online on the game 24/7, and even if I could I couldn't monitor every single player in every one of my clans, and even if I could I can't see what your characters are thinking and feeling if you don't show me, and even if I could I don't always know how you or other characters have interacted with NPCs unless I've been animating them or keeping up on clan updates. We do our best to keep up with these things, and typically we do pretty well, but sometimes a bit of extra context can help out. On that same note, Storytellers can't check the run logs, so when we get wishes like "Can I ask this NPC if he saw anything unusual 2 hours ago?", we may or may not be able to answer timely. Sometimes we do know what's up, but often someone needs to get an Admin to check a run log.
You know...for anyone having problems with the in-game text editor...someone who got bored at work may have tried to help you out (http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,47185.msg810875.html#msg810875) there. Just saying. ;)
(Admittedly, the downloadable version is better than the web-based version, and both are far from perfect. But, they do allow you to input text in a text editor of your choice [Word, etc], copy your whole text, paste it into the text limiter program, click format, and *poof*, text you can take and paste directly into the game editor! [And since it already has the line breaks in it, you can paste a whole 'page', or 2000 characters, worth of text into your client's input window at once, because it will basically hit 'enter' at the end of each line for you.]. FWIW).
More belated answers...
Quote
What's your favorite IG dish?
Flame steak on kaipha.
Quote
What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?
On more than one occasion while animating NPCs, I've accidentally said things with my staff avatar rather than the NPC. This can be pretty jarring and freak players out, as they think someone invisible is there spying on them.
Quote
I've done some dumb stuff here and there, but nothing on a global level. The logging in drunk thing was the funniest. See, I also dropped my mouse on the floor, which made my client go wonky, and every time thereafter that I switched windows it spammed the last thing I typed into immcomm. This resulted me saying "you guys are awesome"...quite a few times. And some other stuff I don't remember.
Thank Tek I don't log.
I log everything, and could be bribed to provide relevant logs for the right price. Just sayin'.
Lastly, on the building sidebar, I am definitely one of the STs that doesn't enjoy building as much. The tooling is, as Talia and Adhira have said, not great. But also, descriptions don't come easy to me and I'm far too critical of my own writing style to be a prolific builder. I'd rather focus on the things I enjoy and feel like I'm stronger on: plots, player communications, NPC animations, and so on. Other staff members definitely feel differently about building than I do, but even for them it probably isn't productive nor a good use of time to go around and edit all the descriptions in the world just because.
Strangely though, my aversion to room and object building doesn't extend to NPCs, at least as far as backgrounds and minor desc updates go. I tend to connect to the NPCs in my clans, I guess, or tweak them and invent new ones until I connect better.
What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?
I'm a software/web developer with a little spare time on his hands. What kind of tool are you guys interested in? What kind of features? I could throw together a quick demo and host it somewhere where you guys could check it out. Then maybe we could talk further.
Shameless self-plugs: my blog (http://heyjavascript.com), and my projects page (http://kniiight.com/) (neither of which are really up to date with my current projects, but hey, whatever).
PSA: Storytellers aren't the right folks to ask about helping in terms of development, so you may want to post in the Ask the Producers thread instead.
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 29, 2014, 04:09:11 PM
What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?
We can switch in to an NPC, at which point it's almost exactly* like playing a PC, and we can set a prompt to show us the NPC's hp and so on as well. We can also control NPCs while not switched into them with commands that execute a command as an NPC rather than our avatar, which is easier when animating multiple NPCs at once.
*Some stuff PCs can do, NPCs can't, and vice versa. One time I tried to change my tdesc while switched into an NPC, and the game crashed when I looked at myself. So there's that.
Oh, right, my bad. I'll cross-post over there, then. Danke schön!
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 29, 2014, 04:09:11 PM
What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?
We actually have a few different ways of controlling NPCs which we might do in different circumstances. When we want to enter an NPC to animate it, we take on the view of that NPC just as if it was a PC. If the NPC has a skill, then we have it at that point. If we type "skill," we see the NPC's skill list. (Side note: I never type "skill" on my staff avatar because I have EVERY skill in the game and it's a neverending list of spam.) Stat and score work the same.
Prompt is different, though; I see sort of an odd prompt that includes the NPC's coded name and number, which is very helpful to remember that I'm switched in and what the hell I'm doing. I stop seeing health/whatever/stun, though...so if the NPC is Waying a lot it's possible I could make them pass out, hah.
We can also make NPCs do things by forcing them, depending on what our game permissions are. Sometimes that's convenient to do, or it might be a situation where one staffer is animating 2 or 3 NPCs, in which case there's going to be some forcing happening (because quickly switching between the bodies of NPCs can be really confusing).
About coded stuff: I appreciate the offers, you guys, but I'm just a Storyteller telling it like it is :) Whether/when to increase or change coding staff resources is a Producer-level decision. I know there has been a ton of work done on the website and our web tools since last time I was on staff (I think I've said before that the request tool is my favorite thing ever), and my understanding is they've really been concentrating on making the basic staffing job easier, and will continue to do that. But that's all I know!
What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 29, 2014, 06:53:32 PM
What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?
I actually picked up zMUD again for its automapping feature (huge help for building). For notes? I use Google docs.
How about you guys? Anyone have an awesome automapping client that works well for the MUD? I've gone through about three so far and have settled with zMUD for the time being.
Quote from: Talia on October 29, 2014, 01:37:20 PM
This question wasn't directed to the Storytellers, but it brings something to mind. I'm not sure that players are aware that when STs are building objects, NPCs, and rooms, we are using the same text editor that players are using for writing rumor board posts or books/scrolls. So we are subject to all the same vagaries of the code: dropped lines of text, errors in formatting, inability to edit something in the middle, and the fact that when you're in the text editor you can't "see" the rest of what is going on in game.
One solution of which is to do the edit in a notebook window, then cut and paste into the command window.
In fact, I remember including commands in the notebook window too, so that I could define rooms, objects and all of their details offline and then just paste it all in a single go.
I think I can honestly say I've never tried to use an automapper on any mud, including Arm.
How many assassination attemps have you witnessed that were linked to mudsex somehow either during/after or used as bait etc etc? LET'S GET TO THE JUICY STUFF PEOPLE.
Quote from: Iiyola on October 28, 2014, 06:22:51 PM
What's your favorite IG dish?
Allanaki flame cheese! Oh, and those kuraci cakes,
you know the ones.Quote from: Desertman on October 29, 2014, 02:58:10 PM
That makes me a little sad for you guys. I always assumed you had a different editor/processor for building/staff-stuff. :(
Actually, before you get too sad, let me (be the first to?) say I don't mind the text editor. It's sort of like a clunky old car I've been tinkering with for years and the quirks don't bother me anymore. If someone changed it, I guess I'd rejoice. Nicer building tools would be awesome. But I wouldn't say it's an obstacle...since returning to staff less than a month and a half ago, I've built 50 rooms, 40 objects, and 11 npcs. I'm not stopping anytime soon, either - there's a lot of projects waiting, and I love to build!
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 29, 2014, 04:09:11 PM
What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?
1) Looks pretty much normal, but with hidden imm vision type stuff like seeing room flags and names. 2) Yes. 3) Yes. 4) Full exorcist style possession or remote puppeteer, both are valid options.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 29, 2014, 06:53:32 PM
What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?
Mushclient, google docs, notepad, and notepad++
Also, the amount of color triggers I have for organization purposes makes Armageddon look like an episode of My Little Pony (but only if you squint.)
Quote from: Voular on October 30, 2014, 04:09:44 AM
How many assassination attemps have you witnessed that were linked to mudsex somehow either during/after or used as bait etc etc? LET'S GET TO THE JUICY STUFF PEOPLE.
I'm not going to give a number or anything, (because who has time to keep track of the number of deaths in Armageddon, amirite?), but...there's a lot of relationship-related death in this game.
Talia (and anyone else who wants a work-around down and dirty cheap and easy editor):
Notepad. Wordwrap OFF.
Type the entire thing in one line.
Size notepad to fit Arm's text editor's max character line length, MINUS 1 character.
Hard-return each line at the far right of notepad.
Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V into the Arm editor.
Finish with a .f to reformat, which usually results in a fairly flawless paragraph.
Make sure that the font and size you use in notepad is the same font and size you use in your Arm editor, or the results will come out weird.
Edited to add: This used to also work in dosedit, but I'm pretty sure it no longer exists on anything later than win95.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 29, 2014, 06:53:32 PM
What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?
I hopped back onto CMUD from MUSHclient for the automapping feature. Also I know it really well because I used to use it for other MUDs and such. The only real issue is that it will randomly eat a command I'm trying to send so I have to send it twice. Fortunately, I can survive even walking straight into death rooms or a hundred bahamets now!
For organization, I tend to use a Word document that I started, with NPC numbers, item numbers, etc. that I'm working on. It would be incomprehensible to most people, but it makes sense to me.
Sublime Text 2. You can set the word wrap to character length. Remember that Armageddon's formatted text has two spaces after each period. Just hit a hard return at the beginning of each line, paste the whole chunk in, and you're golden.
I'm using MUSHClient with triggers for highlighting and to log stuff. I don't really have need of an auto mapping feature. For organization and notes, I use Google Docs so I can easily share them with other staff members I'm working with.
Quote from: Lizzie on October 30, 2014, 09:04:34 AM
Talia (and anyone else who wants a work-around down and dirty cheap and easy editor):
Notepad. Wordwrap OFF.
Type the entire thing in one line.
Size notepad to fit Arm's text editor's max character line length, MINUS 1 character.
Hard-return each line at the far right of notepad.
Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V into the Arm editor.
Finish with a .f to reformat, which usually results in a fairly flawless paragraph.
Make sure that the font and size you use in notepad is the same font and size you use in your Arm editor, or the results will come out weird.
Edited to add: This used to also work in dosedit, but I'm pretty sure it no longer exists on anything later than win95.
Hey, just a thought, this and the other idea on how to "editor offline and paste" are really neat. I imagine we all use different platforms and different editors offline, so for those that are code savvy and itching for a project, how about this:
A simple web editor that gets the precise format right so that you can then just cut and paste that right into the mud client editor. Hence, something like:
1. [in mud terminal] change tdesc
2. [in web browser] goto armageddon.org/ersatz_editor.html
3. either paste what you have from the mud terminal and edit, or just edit from blank.
4. when done, you could save it (if fancy fancy) or simply just have a button that says: paste this into the buffer in the proper format.
5. [in mud terminal] Paste and hit .f. Boom!
Maybe it wouldn't work technically, but, if I'm at all clear, it'd be a neat workaround. I know that when creating a new PC or changing tdesc or writing on the board or writing up a SCRIBBLE (maybe other cases too) all the problems mentioned above with using the in-mud editor have been super headachy. Hence, if we could use an editor offline (but provided on the website so we don't have to figure out the settings ourselves) and then paste that into the mud, that'd be, like, the awesomest. Could even add to the in-mud editor helpfile or echo a link to the url to the offline editor.
Or I could just figure out what you are all talking about with line breaks and how to set up my own editor locally to do this, but frankly I'm totally lost on the technical side of things.
Nauta - this might do what you're hoping?
Quote from: James de Monet on October 29, 2014, 03:55:40 PM
You know...for anyone having problems with the in-game text editor...someone who got bored at work may have tried to help you out (http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,47185.msg810875.html#msg810875) there. Just saying. ;)
(Admittedly, the downloadable version is better than the web-based version, and both are far from perfect. But, they do allow you to input text in a text editor of your choice [Word, etc], copy your whole text, paste it into the text limiter program, click format, and *poof*, text you can take and paste directly into the game editor! [And since it already has the line breaks in it, you can paste a whole 'page', or 2000 characters, worth of text into your client's input window at once, because it will basically hit 'enter' at the end of each line for you.]. FWIW).
What's more interesting to animate: gith or mantis?
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 30, 2014, 01:08:24 PM
What's more interesting to animate: gith or mantis?
I really prefer animating any NPC who can
troll taunt talk to you in a language you speak. I mean, I'm not saying that it's
always my intent to make PCs angry or terrified or horrified or confused or sad...Yeah, actually, it is.
Also, have I mentioned how much I love spiders?
Quote from: Talia on October 30, 2014, 01:22:21 PM
Also, have I mentioned how much I love spiders?
You feel a crawling sensation on the back of your neck.Uh, yeah, maybe, I think you have. . .
Should we be worried when the tarantulas begin to trash-talk us?
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 30, 2014, 01:08:24 PM
What's more interesting to animate: gith or mantis?
Given a choice between the two, I'd pick mantis, because you can do so many weird things with them (like wiping off their independently-rotating eyeballs with a spiky forelimb) and they're scarier, to me at least, than gith.
Quote from: Enthemu on October 29, 2014, 07:23:39 PM
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 29, 2014, 06:53:32 PM
What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?
I actually picked up zMUD again for its automapping feature (huge help for building). For notes? I use Google docs.
How about you guys? Anyone have an awesome automapping client that works well for the MUD? I've gone through about three so far and have settled with zMUD for the time being.
I haven't played around with any automappers for years, but I remember being really into finding a client that could do it right. Sounds like zMUD/cMUD are the best around.
The other day I was wondering whether I could mine some of my logs from the game, offline, to build a map (I have tons of data of me moving around between various rooms, so maybe...?).
But even with direct access to the .wld file, mapping strikes me as a really challenging and interesting problem, demanding scaling and rearrangements that least distort N/E/S/W orientations (probably NP-hard in general, but easier if it's guaranteed to fit on a grid). I think, even now, zMUD requires a user to figure this puzzle out his/herself by manually dragging rooms farther apart to preserve layout.
I will admint that it is a little easier to use z/cmud to automap as a staffer, because we get room numbers. I tried using it as a player and just gave up, but now that I see this -
Beginning of Salt Flats [52034] [NONE] [N, E, S, W]
The rough, uneven ground here has an underlying reddish-brown color, but
the surface is coated with a thick layer of whitish-gray crystalline salt.
An occasional clump of sickly-looking brown grass pokes its way through the
corrosive layer, preventing the terrain from looking totally barren. Dusty
plains stretch out in all directions, the horizon shimmering in the intense
heat sent down by the crimson sun far above.
Rather than
Beginning of Salt Flats [N, E, S, W]
The rough, uneven ground here has an underlying reddish-brown color, but
the surface is coated with a thick layer of whitish-gray crystalline salt.
An occasional clump of sickly-looking brown grass pokes its way through the
corrosive layer, preventing the terrain from looking totally barren. Dusty
plains stretch out in all directions, the horizon shimmering in the intense
heat sent down by the crimson sun far above.
It is a lot easier for me to configure the automapper and make it work.
Quote from: CodeMaster on October 29, 2014, 06:53:32 PM
What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?
I use cMUD when I'm staffing. There is a lot of screen spam of potentially useful information, and cMUD makes it easy to put that stuff in a side window. And I plan on trying to set up an automapper as I delve into room-building. As for keeping things organized, I use Notepad++ for myself personally, but the back-end of the Request Tool and other staff tools are really advanced and helps us keep track of lots of stuff.
Quote from: Voular on October 30, 2014, 04:09:44 AM
How many assassination attemps have you witnessed that were linked to mudsex somehow either during/after or used as bait etc etc? LET'S GET TO THE JUICY STUFF PEOPLE.
None yet, but I feel I will shout "Achievement Unlocked" when this happens.
What's the shortest amount of time, out of y'all's current batch, that folks played before getting added to the wizlist?
Quote from: Kronibas on October 30, 2014, 04:22:35 PM
What's the shortest amount of time, out of y'all's current batch, that folks played before getting added to the wizlist?
I checked all the mortal accounts of current Storytellers, and the newbiest of us started playing in 2007. We had one 2006er and a bunch of 2004-2005 folks. One of us created his mortal account in 1997 and another has an account created from the time before accounts even had years in their created dates.
If you're asking about the shortest amount of time between when a player account was created and when the player was brought on staff, it looks like 2 years, but the average seems to be around 4 to 5.
Quote from: Voular on October 30, 2014, 04:09:44 AM
How many assassination attemps have you witnessed that were linked to mudsex somehow either during/after or used as bait etc etc? LET'S GET TO THE JUICY STUFF PEOPLE.
Falling in love and/or agreeing to have sex is the #1 most dangerous thing you can do in Zalanthas. Mul mix ought to be renamed "murder mix."
(Anyone I see calling it murder mix in game gets karma. Not really. But maybe. But probably not.)
When you became an Immortal what was the first thing you looked up about the game because of personal curiosity?
(http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/159772028-boy-looking-at-bug-with-magnifying-glass-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=UbPo%2FKkmkNjLEJiTiIIAhQkiNDSEaLoaRW0%2BJKiXZqw%3D)
Was it an NPC's background? A distant corner of the Known? Some secret history on the Staff Discussion Board? A rare item? Something else completely different?
I think if I ever become Staff I would look up the Sand Lord since I love Red Storm so much!
Quote from: Nyr on October 31, 2014, 02:48:43 PM
Only if you don't mind every staffer intentionally mangling your name on a regular basis.
Pet names for other staffers:
Xolotl = Xolotlololololol
Enthemu = Emu
Nergal = Nerd
Nyr + Adhira = Nyrdhira
Then there's Rath, Rahn, Ness, etc. Pretty basic.
Quote from: Bushranger on October 31, 2014, 05:41:23 AM
When you became an Immortal what was the first thing you looked up about the game because of personal curiosity?
Was it an NPC's background? A distant corner of the Known? Some secret history on the Staff Discussion Board? A rare item? Something else completely different?
It was a while ago now, but I don't think I really looked much up in the world or in the documentation about the world. IIRC, what I did first was read all the recent stuff for my assigned clan(s) at the time (I started on Indies, specifically the Byn) in the request tool, so that I could be up to date on who was who and who was doing what. Stuff players are doing has always been a lot more interesting to me than game lore, anyway.
After that I think I spent a lot of time reading on the IDB, making sure I understood processes and rules, current plotlines and projects, and so on. And then some time delving into the wiki. I think there was some object stuff I took a look at--things from years past that were nostalgic for me and so on...plus, I mean, you gotta look at all the metal stuff in the database, I'm sure everyone does that.
I got my hands on an item that was somewhat metal. Was the most exciting like five-ten minutes before I died. I've decided that was the whole reason for an HRPT. My death.
Is it exciting to wipe assist in wiping out tons of players in large events? Would you rather try to keep things from being PC blood baths? Are you all secretly Halaster clones?
Quote from: Bushranger on October 31, 2014, 05:41:23 AM
When you became an Immortal what was the first thing you looked up about the game because of personal curiosity?
(http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/159772028-boy-looking-at-bug-with-magnifying-glass-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=UbPo%2FKkmkNjLEJiTiIIAhQkiNDSEaLoaRW0%2BJKiXZqw%3D)
Was it an NPC's background? A distant corner of the Known? Some secret history on the Staff Discussion Board? A rare item? Something else completely different?
I think if I ever become Staff I would look up the Sand Lord since I love Red Storm so much!
Other than just absorbing the sheer magnitude of what all I was responsible for, for self-spoilers, I explored the silt sea and the Grey Forest. I can't tell you what's out there, or I'd have to kill you. ;)
I prefer Nyr + Adhira = Adhnyra. Only a couple letters difference!
Do you ever look through old reports, looking for mentions of your old characters by other players?
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 31, 2014, 05:36:59 PM
Do you ever look through old reports, looking for mentions of your old characters by other players?
They don't need to look through them all in hopes of spotting their characters when they have FULL searchability of all requests. Ever.
Quote from: Adhira on October 31, 2014, 05:50:57 PM
Quote from: BadSkeelz on October 31, 2014, 05:36:59 PM
Do you ever look through old reports, looking for mentions of your old characters by other players?
They don't need to look through them all in hopes of spotting their characters when they have FULL searchability of all requests. Ever.
This is true, and very cool! Sadly, I played all my important/interesting/long-lived PCs prior to character reports moving to the request tool. That happened actually right before I came on staff. So there aren't any old reports in the tool that mention a burning desire to kill one of my PCs :'(
I have a few more. I don't
think any questions along these lines have been asked yet, though I could have missed them.
- Do you still play a mortal PC, or does staffing take up too much of your time?
- If you play, is it usually mundane or magicker/bendy?
- What sort of restrictions are put on your play? (for example, it's safe to say you can't play in a clan you oversee)
- When you play, do you ever get staff echoes, and is that ever weird? xD
Quote from: Taven on November 06, 2014, 01:03:23 PM
- Do you still play a mortal PC, or does staffing take up too much of your time?
- If you play, is it usually mundane or magicker/bendy?
- What sort of restrictions are put on your play? (for example, it's safe to say you can't play in a clan you oversee)
- When you play, do you ever get staff echoes, and is that ever weird? xD
I try to keep playing a mortal PC because it helps me feel part of the game. I start to feel a little frustrated and pent-up if I'm not playing a mortal PC actively too. Staffing is awesome in certain ways, but there is nothing like playing a mortal PC and not knowing what is up with the PCs around you, or if whatever you're encountering is going to kill you dead. For example, I did some animation of some NPCs in the recent Allanak RPT, and it was super fun to interact with the PCs who were there--but I was totally blase about whether my NPC was going to die. Yes, I do put effort into building and animating NPCs, and they have relationships with the PCs around them to a certain extent, but it's just not the same.
When I do play a PC, it's usually mundane. I enjoy PCs who can have a lot of social interaction and that's simply harder to do with most non-mundane PCs. That being said, I have stretched myself to play some non-mundanes because I think it improves me as a player to try things I haven't before, and it also grows my understanding of the game. But non-mundanes aren't really my bag. (I'm really appreciative of the fact that we do have some staffers who love non-mundanes, because we need a full understanding as a group. Likewise, I have specific areas of knowledge that I contribute in.)
Staff cannot play in the clans that are in the clan group we work with, nor can we play closely with the characters in that group. So, for me, that's southlands clans; I'm the primary ST for the AoD, but I also can't play in or with any of the noble clans. Staff are also limited as to how many spots we can take up in a capped clan, for example any of the tribes, or Bards of Poets' Circle, etc. That is to say, staff CAN play in those clans, but if there are deemed to be already too many staffers in those roles, no other staff can start one. Just like any other player, if I want to play a role in a clan that requires a Role Application, I send one of those in and wait for a yes or no from the clan staff. Same thing goes for special apps.
Oh, also we can't play any sponsored roles, but I think that's common knowledge.
I've never noticed my clan staff echoing just for me, but I have had instances where clan staff were interacting with the group as a whole through animation or echoes and I got to participate in that. If my clan staff did echo just for me, I imagine it would be hilarious, because it would probably be some kind of really obnoxious echo since they would know that I would know :P (Like an inside joke.) I think for the most part we tend to concentrate on making things special for the other players in our clans, though. Then when we're in our immvatars, that's when we harass and tease each other.
Quote from: Taven on November 06, 2014, 01:03:23 PM
I have a few more. I don't think any questions along these lines have been asked yet, though I could have missed them.
- Do you still play a mortal PC, or does staffing take up too much of your time?
- If you play, is it usually mundane or magicker/bendy?
- What sort of restrictions are put on your play? (for example, it's safe to say you can't play in a clan you oversee)
- When you play, do you ever get staff echoes, and is that ever weird? xD
I don't have a mortal PC at the moment, but I'm not against the idea of playing one. It's just that staffing is fun enough for me that I don't feel like I need to play one right now. But maybe in a month or two I'll feel differently about that! If I were to play though, I would mix it up between mundane and magicker, and in general just try to keep things interesting and fill in any parts of the game that need filling.
Quote from: Talia on November 06, 2014, 01:28:22 PMI try to keep playing a mortal PC because it helps me feel part of the game. I start to feel a little frustrated and pent-up if I'm not playing a mortal PC actively too. Staffing is awesome in certain ways, but there is nothing like playing a mortal PC and not knowing what is up with the PCs around you, or if whatever you're encountering is going to kill you dead.
Quote from: Nergal on November 06, 2014, 02:04:43 PMI don't have a mortal PC at the moment, but I'm not against the idea of playing one. It's just that staffing is fun enough for me that I don't feel like I need to play one right now.
Quote from: Nyr on November 06, 2014, 02:02:07 PM
I don't still play a PC. I have a finite amount of time for this hobby, and unfortunately, it is not enough to allow me to play.
Quote from: Adhira on November 06, 2014, 02:33:10 PMEvery six months or so I try and make a PC and join in the fun. What I find is that I just don't have the time to play a PC that gets deeply involved in storyline, and that makes me frustrated.
I can definitely understand all three of these views. Since staff all start as players, I imagine the urge to play is still there, especially to have deeper interactions then just NPCs can have. On the other hand, you are devoting time and effort staff side to make other sorts of changes, which is also a good thing to focus on. I think if I was ever a staffer, I would be very challenged to try to have a PC, though. I spend too much time on Armageddon as it is!
Talia answered most of your questions pretty well.
For myself, I'm coming up on my one year anniversary on staff next month. In that time, I've played a few PCs. They were all supporting roles, nothing major, and a variety of types -- mostly mundane, but one magicker. Right now I don't have a PC, I'll probably get around to making another one when life and staffing gets a little less busy. A lot going on right now on both fronts.
As far as echos or animations, we don't treat other staffers' PCs any differently than anyone else. But I will harass the heck out of other staffers when we're on our imms. RIGHT TALIA!? :P
I haven't played a PC since I came on staff. Entertaining the rest of you is just too much fun, I can't stop! ;D
Quote from: seidhr on November 06, 2014, 04:37:20 PM
As far as echos or animations, we don't treat other staffers' PCs any differently than anyone else. But I will harass the heck out of other staffers when we're on our imms. RIGHT TALIA!? :P
This troll right here is indeed who I was apparently-not-subtly-enough referring to!
Quote from: Taven on November 06, 2014, 01:03:23 PM
I have a few more. I don't think any questions along these lines have been asked yet, though I could have missed them.
- Do you still play a mortal PC, or does staffing take up too much of your time?
- If you play, is it usually mundane or magicker/bendy?
- What sort of restrictions are put on your play? (for example, it's safe to say you can't play in a clan you oversee)
- When you play, do you ever get staff echoes, and is that ever weird? xD
I don't play a mortal PC and haven't since I rejoined staff. I have plenty of fun just by working to make Armageddon an enjoyable experience for you guys, and that's enough for me. When I really want to roleplay, there are a half-dozen or so NPCs I enjoy animating across my clans, so I can always jump into one of them and cruise around a bit. Now and then I have an idea for a character concept, but invariably I either just find a way to work elements of that concept into an existing NPC I can animate, or I decide playing the concept would take up time I'd rather focus into staff work.
If I had time I'd love to play a mercenary or a shopkeeper. I tend to stay away from playing karma-required roles, mainly because I don't want to embarass myself at them in front of all my staff colleagues. ;)
I like that staff don't treat staff differently when they're on their characters. After all, all I'd want to do, if I was a staffie, is immerse myself in the game and trust the Dungeon Masters to aid in this immersion, not crack silly jokes when I'm trying to be a badass hunter out on the range.
Quote from: Rahnevyn on November 07, 2014, 03:49:57 PM
Quote from: Taven on November 06, 2014, 01:03:23 PM
I have a few more. I don't think any questions along these lines have been asked yet, though I could have missed them.
- Do you still play a mortal PC, or does staffing take up too much of your time?
- If you play, is it usually mundane or magicker/bendy?
- What sort of restrictions are put on your play? (for example, it's safe to say you can't play in a clan you oversee)
- When you play, do you ever get staff echoes, and is that ever weird? xD
I don't play a mortal PC and haven't since I rejoined staff. I have plenty of fun just by working to make Armageddon an enjoyable experience for you guys, and that's enough for me. When I really want to roleplay, there are a half-dozen or so NPCs I enjoy animating across my clans, so I can always jump into one of them and cruise around a bit. Now and then I have an idea for a character concept, but invariably I either just find a way to work elements of that concept into an existing NPC I can animate, or I decide playing the concept would take up time I'd rather focus into staff work.
If I had time I'd love to play a mercenary or a shopkeeper. I tend to stay away from playing karma-required roles, mainly because I don't want to embarass myself at them in front of all my staff colleagues. ;)
Rahn plays the best face-in-the-crowd PCs ever.