Suggestions

[Dorn]

SOme random spawns.

Walked from Rivermoot to Wintersedge and didn;t see a single beastie.

Now eithere theres a dire bear who ate everything for winter hybernation, or the savage frontier got tame!

Serisously tho, when you have time, beefing some danger would be good a few maps outside RMoot.

[oldgrayrogue]

+1 ^

In fact, the trek from Rauvinwatch to Quaervarr is supposed to be "Dangerous" would love it to be so. Same for Q to WE. Lots of howling in between but nary a wolf =P

[johnlewismcleod]

It would likely clutter the trail with bodies for a bit, but would encourage partying and RP.

+2

[Magile]

Remember last time we filled the server with spawns? We had ten thousand horses and numerous boars, bears and other such monstrosities that made it impossible to get to certain points (not to mention the packs of cougars, and I don't mean older, beautiful women).

I'm all for vitoing the added spawns, unless it's more specific as to how it's done.

[danielmn]

*Drops Dire Bear on Magile's Head*

[oldgrayrogue]

I have no idea how to write code for spawns, but if a system similar to the other set spawn points on the server were used and just applied to a roadside area on each map that would be fine with me. Doesn't seem excessive to me. If the spawn point could vary along the road and as to the type of spawn that we be even better and more realistic. Perhaps Wynna is ahead of us with her new roving bandits (which I have yet to encounter IG). Could that system be used for other types of spawns in other areas?

[AcadiusLost]

The spawning system is quite flexible, and can be "tuned" fairly well with a bit of practice. For a while, these areas were positively thick with spawns (40+ wolves/bears/wolverines/mountain lions in one exterior area, in one example), which was almost universally agreed as absurd, and was (hopefully, probably) due to some misunderstandings on how the configuration worked. I know we went through several revisions of the spawn points to balance them back down, but I wasn't aware of then being removed entirely. Could be a bug or missing a few group spawning scripts from a more recent update.

The other hesitation I tend to have with endorsing major changes to danger levels in frequently(?) traveled areas, is that they can really seem unfair to players who have a reasonable (IC) sense of the danger of a given route, only to be nearly instakilled by the "new, improved" version that sneaks in with an update, without any IC changes to justify the change.

I know for a while at least, Winter's Edge had only one way to reach the rest of the server, and it was camped with absurd spawns, which alternately provided 1) a trap for any PCs unfortunate enough to be based in/starting in Winters edge, and/or 2) an automatic and unavoidable XP source for higher level characters going to/coming from Winter's Edge. Neither were desirable, IMO.

I'll just make sure the spawn group scripts haven't gone missing; the DM team can ponder their position on elevating the moonwood/winter's edge danger levels.

[Dorn]

Just to be clear i didn't mean birds and horses. that might just load the server down as pointed out.

I meant screaming bands of Black Raven tribesmen charging around the spur.
I meand some of Oboulds scouts heading towards RM.
That wandering ogre.
The Lizardmen living in that underwater cave in the lake you stopped to drink at.
The warg whos range you walked into.

This is a hard land away from the legion patrolled highways.

As for 'new' danger. In the odl days TLR had some markings from local rangers had placed at the head of some dangerous passes warning people to turn back as there were 'giants and the like known to walk ahead'. Although a TINY bit OOC, they could be useful for any changes in an area.

Wouldn't the exp rewards be comensurate and therefore ok? IF mr level 7 walked through and killed 50 beasts everything he'd still only get 50 exp. Whereas if level 2 jagged it completely and beat the ogre he'd get 80exp in one shot. Plus beasties would run away from high levels using morale scripts. As long as they aren't being naughty and running everything down thorgin their endless supply of apparently weightless throwing axes at them it shoudl be ok?

Or even better, maybe if someones over a certain level it triggers a different spawn....wandering ogre becomes wandering ogre mage!@!!!

Thanks for checking the spanws AL.
Thanks for considering the above DMs

[Vintenar]

I am not sure of the tables in TSM but, I have been on several excursions throughout the area on small quests with different groups... So far, most of them have ended with an assortment of empty chests and barrels.

Who is going around leaving empty chests and barrels around in caves filled with undead/monsters and why is he so sadistic?

[AcadiusLost]

Empty containers are the remnants of an incomplete/indefinitely delayed random loot system. At some point I'd dropped the blueprints out to stop the empty barrels, chests, and crates from spawning, but that was a long time back and didn't seem to get the job done. It was later decided that it was better to generate loot on the creature blueprints themselves, so we didn't end up with the standard CRPG phenomenon of mysterious unattended barrels of loot by the side of the road/hills/etc all over.

And the problem I was alluding to with regular/heavy combat requirements on frequent-traveled roads is that it makes it can make it very difficult to distinguish a player whose PC has IC reason to travel between those points often (and thus ends up fighting the same batch of creatures, over and over), from someone who just wants to grind the same bit of combat for XP in an OOC fashion with plausible deniability, a style of play that is not terribly compatible with ALFA's goals. From the player side of things, how many times can one really slaughter the local wolf pack who has claimed road X as their territory, before it begins to feel like Groundhog Day? Variety and a certain amount of unpredictability are pretty important to keeping a "fresh" PW experience, I think.

[danielmn]

"Variety and a certain amount of unpredictability are pretty important to keeping a "fresh" PW experience, I think."

I always liked Terics OAS2 system of random roaming monster mayhem. Made things way unpredictable, never knew what you were going to see, or where for that matter.

[Vintenar]

I tend to agree Acadius.

Seems like it would be far better to have area X spawn X monsters from a list of reasonable possibilities. It seems perfectly normal to me that a character would patron a given area, say keeping it safe and fend off whatever happened to be there, rather than fight the same creatures at the same spawn all the time.


As for the chests and barrels, I just mean that it often is anti-climactic when two level one characters creep through the cave for half an hour and kill several skeletons and a zombie only to find an empty barrel. Even a pack of masterwork arrows or some mundane gear might be interesting and lead to even more RP;

*pulls out mundane longsword* I got this fine blade from the very bowels of a forgotten tomb. It carries no enchanters mark but it be as dependable a blade as any I have swung... *proudly swings it about a few times and sheathes it*.

[Dorn]

Yes I understand the difficult balancing act AL. Thanks for the response.

And yes i liked the wandering monsters back in ALFA1 as well dan.

[Riotnrrd]

Its worse when PCs never open crates, chests, or barrels because they know they'll be empty.

[oldgrayrogue]

Yes, the container issue, which has been discussed before, is immersion breaking particularly when players use the OOC knowledge to not even bother checking the containers. I prefer loot in the containers -- even if its junk -- because it promotes RP.