Firstly, I want to say this was an absolutely fantastic piece of writing, massive kudos to Valkyrja for writing it up. I really didn't expect such a huge change, personally I'm actually glad on an OOC level that the Dune Stalkers are gone, they were kinda just a hyper-iso clan that's whole thing was 'we're spooky and secret' in a way that wasn't particularly interesting, unlike the Red Fangs who had well written motivations and actually did stuff, which was engrained into a lot of other tribes.

I'm pretty excited to see that the tablelands is becoming an area to explore, rather than an area to avoid. I think in the past you were kinda dissuaded from going into the Pah as it was usually said that the SLK would just kill you even if you were playing a tablelands native human, because if you're getting attacked off-screen, I don't know how anyone is supposed to know if you're a native or not. I also really like the idea of human tribals and elves banding together against the gith, a common enemy serves as a good way to unite people and allows for deeper dynamics rather than "grr, hate round-ears" and "grr, hate knife-ears".

I also love the hint that cenyr might be getting more love, it's an awesome little hidey-hole and it deserves more attention. Although I do wonder how entire tribes would survive around the city when I don't think there are sources of water or food nearby, but I imagine staff have something for that. If there's some secret grotto or oasis in the area, that'd be pretty dope.

What does everyone else think?

I didn't write this update. I just post 'em to the GDB.

Knowing Valk didn't write it herself, I think its much better. <3

Really sweeping change, and a decent chunk of story as to "why". Pares down the amount of tribes out there, and I can only hope it opens up a little more actual PHYSICAL room for smaller tribes.

Anecdotally, one of my most fun RPTs was as a Bynner being on a contract to "subdue a tribe in the tablelands" for House Borsail. The idea that it was a small-ish tribe with a very specific function and still the entire abili'pah came to their defense was kind of cool. Tribes of 30-50 people virtually or even less can still have a profound effect on the game.

Quote from: Riev on May 29, 2024, 03:11:24 PMKnowing Valk didn't write it herself, I think its much better. <3

In this case I was actually sleeping when the newsletter was finalized and sent out haha

Quote from: Valkyrja on May 29, 2024, 03:06:41 PMI didn't write this update. I just post 'em to the GDB.

Well Kudos to whoever wrote it!

Quote from: Riev on May 29, 2024, 03:11:24 PMReally sweeping change, and a decent chunk of story as to "why". Pares down the amount of tribes out there, and I can only hope it opens up a little more actual PHYSICAL room for smaller tribes.

Sadly one of the biggest criticism of the Pah was the fact it had zero open human tribes in it, which lead to elves and the rest of the playerbase treating the pah as if it's 'elf only'. Sadly the pah is now kupunk, at least for being from it, but hopefully cenyr will become a hub of tribals and that'll open up a lot of interactions. I would want to say that Luir's was supposed to be the tribal outpost but staff have weirdly hated Luir's and opposed any development even if the players tried, I never understood that part and it really sucked, tearing Luir's away from Kurac was probably the worst decision that was made when it comes to that place.

I can also understand why a myriad of human tribes can be a nightmare to oversee. Which tribe has the "better" slingshot-masters? Both of these tribes claim they have ties with Kurac, but its only in the backstory. This tribe wants to be a REAL de-virtualized tribe, this one just wants to have it as a background. This tribes background is that they accept nilazi elementalists, should that have more background to it to justify why?

I do agree that it turned into "elves only", one of my major Labyrinth complaints had always been that while The Mantis was a "neutral" bar in "neutral" territory, it always had more NPC elves surrounding it so PC elves felt it was "their place". When the Pah was elves-only, a lot of times it was "shoot first" instead of "are they virtually from a Pah tribe".

Regardless, kudos to not-Valk-and-probably-AI (Is Valk AI too?)

Quote from: Riev on May 29, 2024, 03:43:55 PMI can also understand why a myriad of human tribes can be a nightmare to oversee. Which tribe has the "better" slingshot-masters? Both of these tribes claim they have ties with Kurac, but its only in the backstory. This tribe wants to be a REAL de-virtualized tribe, this one just wants to have it as a background. This tribes background is that they accept nilazi elementalists, should that have more background to it to justify why?

One thing I hope they do which would be an awesome idea, is to make Cenyr playable for people who want to play human tribals. Make Cenyr a center for multiple tribes, then make it a clan people can play in, and they can stick their virtual tribe inside the cenyr clan as a way to connect and rp with other tribals.

Quote from: Riev on May 29, 2024, 03:43:55 PMI do agree that it turned into "elves only", one of my major Labyrinth complaints had always been that while The Mantis was a "neutral" bar in "neutral" territory, it always had more NPC elves surrounding it so PC elves felt it was "their place". When the Pah was elves-only, a lot of times it was "shoot first" instead of "are they virtually from a Pah tribe".

It got a little ridiculous sometimes. I remember the times I played a pah-tribe human as a GMH hunter and I'd be told by my boss that I wasn't allowed to hunt in the Pah despite being from there. Yet you can hunt in the north, where the super-anal ATV will taint you over and over again. It's just a consequences of the lore implication of mechanics being perpetuated by players.

This update makes me think I should have stayed to be involved, but I thought it was just gonna be building southern things. :-/

Good setup for the season though, and good name drops of some pcs.  But I would have liked to see additional PC names, and see the delves trot out some elven sorcery instead of just getting owned. 

The dune stalkers were popular and had very player driven docs. I hope that if the RF ever become playable again that they adopt the cool DS interaction hooks that allow for trading, alliances, mage-hunting, and for being hired out. Otherwise the RF can only be hostile with the entire player base.

Fun fact: Dune Stalkers had trained pet gortoks. 

Quote from: Agent_137 on May 29, 2024, 06:28:12 PMThe dune stalkers were popular and had very player driven docs. I hope that if the RF ever become playable again that they adopt the cool DS interaction hooks that allow for trading, alliances, mage-hunting, and for being hired out. Otherwise the RF can only be hostile with the entire player base.

Fun fact: Dune Stalkers had trained pet gortoks. 

That sounds like a great idea for the future Red Fangs Storyteller! Thank you. 

I am glad this happened.

The area between luirs and allanak is huge and always felt needlessly barren. This might be my own perception but the pah itself always seemed to have ic constraints on going there as well, where if you went there you almost felt like an ooc twink.

A bit sad about sun runners, I hope the waterless lands just means redstorm east or something. As for the sun spire...while this game is inspired heavily by dark sun i hope it continues to take steps to remove certain dark sun specific elements as it becomes its own unique thing. Some the sunspire reminds me a bit of the pristine tower from dark sun where the sun wizard was born within the campaign.

Overall a good story, but just a small note that without the darksun and armageddon background some of the words and terms would go right over my head. I feel like some addition links to lore and terms definitions may be needed for a random bloke to fully grasp the story. Great none the less for those invested in the game.

Quote from: Dresan on May 30, 2024, 09:12:00 AMThe area between luirs and allanak is huge and always felt needlessly barren. This might be my own perception but the pah itself always seemed to have ic constraints on going there as well, where if you went there you almost felt like an ooc twink.

I personally think that the Vrun and the Red Desert seem particularly undeveloped when compared to places like Gol Krathu, The Grey Forest, The Tablelands and The Grasslands. This is a problem that's compounded by the Vrun being absolutely MASSIVE, without exaggeration it's something silly like 600+ rooms, and when that's 600+ rooms of mostly nothing, it feels extremely barren. Hopefully with the next season being focused on the south, that'll be seen to?

Quote from: Kavrick on May 30, 2024, 09:31:40 AMit feels extremely barren.

It's a desert, deserts are barren, that's the point.

Yes you can "spruce up" a desert a bit, and I'm not saying we shouldn't, but the original authors of those areas fully intended for it to be barren to represent a desert wasteland.

Quote from: Halaster on May 30, 2024, 10:24:37 AMIt's a desert, deserts are barren, that's the point.

Yes you can "spruce up" a desert a bit, and I'm not saying we shouldn't, but the original authors of those areas fully intended for it to be barren to represent a desert wasteland.

Honestly I do understand that, there's not a whole lot you can do with a desert. The only recommendation I could imagine is more caves, and caves that are more than just a couple of rooms. The sinkhole is honestly a super interesting place to explore (intentionally mind you), more stuff like that would be cool.

Sometimes, the shifting of the sands uncovers ancient tombs, catacombs, and bases from the Age of Man and before.

And then after that RPT, some Rukkian farts and the whole place crashes in on itself.

Quote from: Halaster on May 30, 2024, 10:24:37 AMIt's a desert, deserts are barren, that's the point.

With Cenyr housing some of the human tribes this areas will feel a bit less barren.

Thus, I don't think the issue is the scenery, but rather a lot of the cool content that was happening in the pah could have found a home in between these areas instead.

If a cave or two needs to sudden explode with water and life to create miniture gems to attract gith, human and  elves tribes so be it.

Additionally am a bit disappointed gith that arent going to be virtually putting constant pressure on the rest of the known. Forcing a need for constant vigil against swarms of gith attacking when you travel out of cities. With randomly roaming death squads keeping people on their toes. I do like the idea of non-magickal oppressive looming threats. But its a minor point, i am curious what the story has in story either way. 

Back when I first found out about Armageddon, I was super interested in the mantis as more alien humanoids rather than meth-head elves but it seems the times where the mantis were used has kinda passed, a real shame.

Quote from: Abaddon on May 31, 2024, 02:44:46 AM

Quote from: Dresan on May 30, 2024, 10:29:08 PMAdditionally am a bit disappointed gith that arent going to be virtually putting constant pressure on the rest of the known. Forcing a need for constant vigil against swarms of gith attacking when you travel out of cities. With randomly roaming death squads keeping people on their toes. I do like the idea of non-magickal oppressive looming threats. But its a minor point, i am curious what the story has in story either way.
 

Gith were so widely and commonly used that it now feels like a cheap copout. Even on the other MUD, half the 'big bad' plots are 'ooo the gith are coming!' or some variation thereof. It's so exhausting. I just stopped interacting with that after a time. The gith are coming? Yeah, buddy, they've been coming for the last nine hundred years.

In the last few years it was the kryl instead of gith. Kryl were more thrilling since there were different kinds and really deadly.
On the other hand, I saw a couple cases where raptors were the antagonists. They are real killing machines when come in packs.

You can replace gith with any random npc enemy to be honest. NPC enemies that are ignored could potentially now destroy other beloved spots like luirs, cenyr or redstorm(maybe). Posing some real ramification and consequence to players.

The only issue with kryl is that hunting them was soon just driven for a need for their shells rather than any real threat. I feel any mantis invasion would lead to the same.

Finally, Npc that carry weapons seem a lot more interesting to fight if only for the need to disarm.