Red Storm Revamp

[Gentleboy]

Hi all!

If any of you know me, you know I love Red Storm.

However, how many years has it been since the village itself went through a revamp?

Yes, yes, I know. "Red Storm is just for bandits and criminals". Okay. But not active bandits and criminals. Some would be retired, trying to redeem their life and hunt. Some people aren't running from the law and are silt skimmers and silt sifters. Spice is good money.

Even IF all Red Storm was just a hideout for criminals, then canonly, I don't see much a reason why Allanak with all its power wouldn't just sack and take over. Regardless of helpfiles.

AND in the helpfiles, the reason is mainly economic. Okay. Economy, right on.

The economy is doo doo. Shops will barely buy anything. They sell garbage too. Nothing interesting or specific to the culture of Red Storm. Culture? What culture? The culture of covering up from silt, scrimshaw from bones, pearls, the sand king and what he deems fashionable (I would assume).

I love Red Storm. I accept that it has a low player base. I do not accept that Dune Traders are the only guild unable to craft anything from The Sand Lord's Bounty. I cannot sell any clothes to Kadius nor any stoneworking, that the dangerous alleys are dangerous for no gain or reason, and that the culture is practically just Allanak's hand-me-downs in term of gear/available items.

I'm sure a ton of you will answer that it's not supposed to be flourishing or what-not. But, then, what is? JUST Allanak? Tuluk is gone. Red Storm will never be a bustling city, but at this point, it's borderline unliveable in a realistic sense due to a lack of tools, furniture, and materials.

[John]

It is poorly thought out to have apartments in a settlement without a furniture store.

[triste]

I agree Red Storm can use a little love. There have been some improvements to crafting in Red Storm over the years I've played on and off. You can make some fancy bandeaus and loincloths out of RS sand cloth!

Players can be the change and create more custom crafts to help alleviate some of the issues here, but it's up to Imms to make these items purchasable by the Sand Lord. So good post. It would be awesome if there was at least one item representing every crafting skill that the Sand Lord will buy. This would also have the effect of introducing more unique RS items which is nice.

[triste]

It is poorly thought out to have apartments in a settlement without a furniture store.

There is a furniture shop in Red Storm, it is just rarely stocked.

[Lizzie]

There is red-storm specific armor, clothing, utility gear, and weaponry already. They're available at a couple of the red storm shops, and they load up with them every reboot.

There is a buyer npc who will buy anything made from the materials sold at one particular shop in red storm.

I didn't know about the furniture shop but that's pretty cool to know. Maybe make a piece of furniture and see if he/she buys it, or if it's just supposed to be a load-up only shop and if always empty, then bug it or add it to a request.

As for the other NPCs, maybe send a request to the staff asking if they'll look at the frequency of inventory changes. They should be eliminating random stuff from their inventory on a schedule, which frees up the "slot" for people to sell to them. If they're not doing that, then request or bug.

For new RS-specific stuff, maybe your master crafter should make one!

[mansa]

As far as I know, Red Storm Village has at least 2 coded clans, the ability for Player Created Clans (aka Warehouses).  It has 2 apartment complexes.

It has an NPC that only buys crafted items. (and I think it buys it at unlimited amounts)
It has an NPC that only buys grains of spice that you sifted from foraging outside.  (I think it buys spice at unlimited amounts)

It has mobs around the village that can be farmed for raw goods that can be sold inside the village.

What more "things to do" can we add to the village?  More NPC merchants?   Maybe a way to collect items to make the flour and then turn it into flour?  Maybe a transport to Allanak to move large volumes of grain there?

It has a silt skimmer you can use to explore the silt sea.

[John]

It is poorly thought out to have apartments in a settlement without a furniture store.

There is a furniture shop in Red Storm, it is just rarely stocked.

Alright. Guess you got me. Here's an adeendum: A consistently unstocked furniture store is only slightly more useful then no furniture store. And a settlement without a furniture store is poorly thought out.

[Brokkr]

However, how many years has it been since the village itself went through a revamp?

Following the devastation wrought by the tremendous wave of silt in Year 25 of the 20th King's Age, Red Storm Village was gradually rebuilt by the Sand Lord and his people, with help from various groups.

In 2000.

[HeeBeeGB]

I dunno if Red Storm needs a 'Revamp' per se. It's had many additions since 2000 -- Apartments come to mind, player clan holdings and other clan holdings, spice paymaster, some shop tweaking.

It's a strange balance. You can't make Red Storm too big or appealing, or it will be more of a safe haven than it already is. It has to have downsides and be somewhat undesirable to play into its nature as a refuge for criminals and scum.

I could see more automated jobs or means to facilitate interaction. Maybe in addition to apartments it has automated 'clan holdings' that could be rented, to facilitate a more Byn-Automated-Approach to crime organizations and antagonists. The holdings could be 2-3 rooms with separate locked storage, a NPC guard, and a general meeting/sparring chamber. As another option, shop stands with a backroom can be rented with an NPC guard and NPC shopkeep, prefab, utilizing the random NPC generator that seems to be making a splash in the last year (Randomly generated soldiers). This could apply to Red Storm, or any and all civilized centers.

In my opinion, I think the less we rely on years and years of effort to achieve something like described above, the more out-of-the-box antagonism and conflict would be seen. Other MUDs provide you the means to purchase companion NPCs that are not overly powerful or gamebreaking. Other MUDs provide you the means to purchase housing and customize it to your heart's desire, and it is not overly powerful or gamebreaking. Other MUDs provide the ability to rent shops or even entire businesses as part of your PC's backstory, or something that can be achieved IG, and it is not overly powerful or gamebreaking.

I do think fitting with the themes of Zalanthas, such things would need to be more rare and perhaps approached differently, as it is not a place of plenty -- But the infrastructure or the lack thereof presents core challenges to both longevity and willingness to 'play the game'. By the game, I don't mean the MUD itself, but the hours and days of time to achieve very simple quality of life increases beyond skills and coded functions that can be gained personally by a PC. To play a game that is more macro than micro.

The current 'Player Clan' model obviously does not work the best. Not only is it difficult to achieve each stage, but it is difficult to prescribe to as a functional system. Goalposts appear both out of sight and constantly shifting as they are not automated and based on many mitigating factors -- currently interested players, PCs that last, PCs in power that are interested and last, riding a line of twinking for profit and RPing for the sake of enjoying an RPI, and more. Payments made to one Templar PC are forgotten by another Templar PC, new goalposts are installed, and the cycle continues until the PC or group of PCs is exhausted, dead, or otherwise disinterested in pursuit.

I was pretty pleasantly stunned when the PC Clan Model was introduced -- Strangely I've seen the most successful variety thrive in Red Storm, personally. I'm inclined to believe this is due to a lack of meddling of Leadership PCs, cutting out the middle people, and only interacting with Staff and NPCs. This isn't to blame Leadership PCs in Allanak or Tuluk (RIP), but that by adding more cogs to the machine, it makes it more unwieldy and difficult to manage in a timely fashion. Red Storm seems more suited to PC clans than Allanak, and that seems somewhat flawed to me.

This is from my limited perspective as a player of the game, and I am sure (positive) that Staff has a more vast point of view on player clans and places of play in general and their general moods/upticks/where Player Clans have worked or not worked. These are meant as opinions, and not as facts.

[Gentleboy]

HeeBeeGB, you are a very eloquent and smart writer.


I think a big problem for myself is that while Red Storm is known as a criminal hideout- not all who live and work there are criminals. The affiliation sticks, yes. As it should outside the village, but inside, that leaves very little for those who don't pillage and assassinate to live daily within the walls without twinking the system.

You sift or you sew sleeves (as long as you aren't a Dune Trader who is not allowed to sew anything till they build 2000000 tents) It's disgusting how much money you can make in one day.

The Shopkeeper you sell the crafted materials bought from their affiliated shop for the Sand King, only accept ten of each item. Great, I got four different colors of fabric. Can craft ten of each. Buy each length for 15, sell for 22. 880 coin in one day, potentially. Which means, there are many wealthy tailors in red storm. Too bad the GMH's do not travel South very often.


I am proud of the players keeping Red Storm alive and active. I just think there needs to be more incentive to others to travel to the village who are not criminals. What would be worth risking getting raided for?

[HeeBeeGB]

I think culturally and flavor wise it should have a bit more than it has now. Here are ideas off the top of my head that don't exist now, but might make it a destination for those who aren't criminals.

-Rumors that the substance of Silt itself (removed from the sea) is somehow beneficial or anti-aging. Have a public bath-house where you take a dip in a Silt bath for a premium fee. Create items (Silt deposits of 3 or 4 varying qualities, silt buckets) that can be used for an automated job via foraging in the dangerous Silt Sea. As to whether or not the Silt Bath has any coded benefit? Nah. Just RP for City Dudes/Dudettes with money to burn and cultural phenomena to maintain.

-A Natural Landscape Icon that is nearby or in the center of Red Storm. Perhaps it is used for pilgrimage by the Sun Runners or other tribes, a femur of a long dead Silt Giant, or the husk of a Silt Horror. This sort of thing would provide a reason beyond selling arrows to go to Red Storm.

-An overhaul to spice. If grains decayed quickly, provided more benefit, but were more addictive, while refined spice provided slightly less benefit, with slight less addiction. Or if refined spice provided even more benefits, and less addiction/decayed slower. In any case, currently, spice as a natural resource (grains) is rather useless except to sell in an automated sense. It doesn't pay nearly as well as it probably should, and other jobs (Tailor, Arrow Seller) pay much better and are less risky overall. If Spice were a desired resource, even in its nasty natural form, there would surely be more of a reason to go to Red Storm to get it.

-Magick wasn't legal, per se, but laws against Magickers were more lenient. It would still be illegal to cast in public, have spell effects obviously in the open, and crime-code would remain the same (So if you are somehow seen casting in your apartment, yes, you would still get crime-flagged). However -- Culturally -- Red Storm accepts that there are Elementalists living there, and they can live there openly as long as they do not flaunt it. Psionicists, Defilers, and perhaps Nilazi would still be not tolerated, and perhaps the Sand Lord has developed systems of detection for such creatures. Or perhaps it is simply left to the populace to determine who is the dirty Psion in their midst (Witch Hunt). This would make for a striking difference with Allanak/Tuluk/Luirs, and a reason for people to risk going to Red Storm.

-Rare commodities that would make it worth the trade trip. If Silk only came from Red Storm, or if Linen only came from Red Storm, you would immediately see an increase of reasons for people to go there.

-A haven to mutants. Along with previous points, that Red Storm doesn't care if you have three arms or four eyes. As long as you keep your hood up, don't cause trouble, and make yourself useful, you are welcome to stay. This would also provide a difference to Allanak, which in contrast, could become even more stringent on what mutations they accept and don't.

Just a few ideas.