What will keep you in ALFA2?

[Ithildur]

Bring tears to our collective eyes Rumple; we cannot wait.

You go.

[Ronan]

I really don't know.

My vilquari campaign was my ALFA magnum opus. It certainly wasn't the best campaign that could be run, but I thought it was close enough. The motivation to try and do better just isn't there, even if the players were.

I do have a mini-campaign in mind....

[Rumple C]

We'll take what we can get.

[Ithildur]

I really don't know.

My vilquari campaign was my ALFA magnum opus. It certainly wasn't the best campaign that could be run, but I thought it was close enough. The motivation to try and do better just isn't there, even if the players were.

I do have a mini-campaign in mind....

DOO EET

[jmecha]

King of the Ring

[Rumple C]

King of the Ring

Yesssss.....

[Brokenbone]

I haven't been paying close attention to ALFAdom, encouraged though to hear of what sounds like a lot of play.

I may yet dip in a toe again, it'd probably be in BG since it sounds like that's where people are congregating recently (and frankly, I know that landscape the best).

An observation: I am pretty sure we still have the 30 day "stay off each others' turf" thing going on for those trying out two PCs. Pretty sure that policy belongs to the PA.

How about that wait period gets removed, though with all the other meta type restrictions in place? Sure, go ahead, your cleric can walk onto your recently logged out fighter's turf, but he's not there to pick up where the fighter left off or heal your fighter buddies or whatever. Although again with low density, it might be "this small group of characters will all eventually know each other anyhow, be friends or foes or whatever..."

I'm a little personally interested just because I think BG is the potential "lifeboat" for ALFAdom. Everyone pile in if that is where game happens to be. Some other month maybe MS will be hopping, or TSM, whatever, if there is game in some spot, the idea of saying "oops your fighter is going to be the star there though this is such a wizardly plot, your wizard would have been a more fun option... unless you forbear from play 30 days." In my case I know I have not logged in with Rhaggot the h-orc since October, so I could have Bamshogbo the Chultan pop onto BG as soon as today, but if then I noticed "whoa, Tempus plot, past allies of Rhaggot roaming around, bla bla bla" I might be regretful and stuck with a 30 day wait where I can't play Bamshogbo if I eventually want to play Rhaggot.

Rules that DISCOURAGE play, at all, are good candidates to cut. Rules that discourage certain kinds of play (i.e., metagaming, Rhaggot knows where the dungeon is, Bamshogbo shouldn't bee line to it), are fine.

[Swift]

Do we still have the "Can't play where you DM" rule? If so, I still maintain it should be tossed.

Apart from a few, players tend to prefer to DM what they know, which often means they need to make the choice between playing their character or DMing on the main server they know which, obviously, most players do not want to have to chose. I still regret moving my character off TSM to step up when it was the only server I had any chance of encountering regular play on. Apart from my timezone, I can pinpoint this rule as being one of the main things that has ensured I have not played in ALFA in a long, long time.

[Twin Axes]

3. Make ALFA easier for level 1-5 and progressively more difficult and lethal over level 5. A low level meat grinder is frustrating and sucks. Character turnover after PCs have had a chance to develop their story is healthy and keeps things fresh and new. Making it to level 6 in ALFA should not be that hard. Making it past level 10 should be really, really hard.

I love this. I'd say make the cut off at level 4, but whatever.

As of yesterday we are now trialing increasing XP awards to PCs up until they hit level 5.

Great!

4. Changes to our ruleset and build that remove obstacles to gameplay: 1) Remove or drastically reduce the wait time for travel between servers 2) allow for rest more times per day than once within 24 hours (how about every 8 IG hours? Seems more realistic to me?)

Last night we lost a player because we had to wait 20-30 minutes for our casters to rest. I had been logged on for 5-6 RL hours already, so it wasn't exactly power gaming. We were gathering steam to go back and finish up a quest, but it was getting close to midnight IRL so time margins were tight. On that subject, let me toot Zelknolf's horn, we were doing the Ruqel orc quest cycle, it's the closest to DM'd gaming without a DM I've had. Fantastic! Considering the time and effort that must have gone into it I don't however expect it to be too common.

[HEEGZ]

the alternatives for daily [healing] spells are consumables: potions, scrolls, wands

[Twin Axes]

the alternatives for daily [healing] spells are consumables: potions, scrolls, wands

We needed more than just healing. Besides, my level 5 PC had used all his healing spells plus his 4 CLWs on himself and his companions already, and with 3-400 gp cash there just wasn't that much margin for buying more consumables.

[Ithildur]

So, rejuvenated and inspired in no small part by a bit of Ronan DMage I received late last night, I DMed today. A bit of a one off ad hoc, with some ties to existing bigger plot/background stuff, nothing fancy, but it was fun and rewarding. My RL situation is what it is and there's limits on long term planning/time commitment, but I decided to not let it stop me from just logging in and doing something simple and quick... and the player and I both had fun; would've been even moar fun if the other two folks stayed on.

There's a lot of us saying 'moar DM coverage' would be the biggest incentive to play more. There's also a lot of us that have at least some experience on the DM Client. If at least say half of us some of the time considered logging in to DM, even with very modest goals as far as time/energy/planning etc, it's an improvement, and collectively it can be a significant improvement when enough of us do it.

There's also a lot of tools now to make a lot of things easier/automated. The Infestation mechanic alone looks really fun and promising, and has gotten a lot of positive reviews from even the most jaded and cynical folks.

What will keep you in ALFA? I believe the core key to rejuvenating things is actually simple; people willing to not only consume, but give a little, as much as they can. And have fun doing it along the way; you have to have fun! I hope this becomes a key factor in what keeps us all involved.

I also would love to see folks that have been contributing significantly and consistently for a length of time (the Zelknolfs, HEEGZs, Ronans, Rumples and such) get more recognition, love, props, in game support/DMing etc. I was never a big fan of ideas like 'give xp/IC rewards to folks that DM/build/do tech work' before, but I now strongly feel there's a time and place for finding suitable methods to recognize and reward folks properly. We're not paying anyone salaries; if you want to re-infuse momentum and activity/life in the place you have to find creative ways to keep folks going 'yeah, this is worth it.'

*throws gauntlet down*

[Xanthea]

If you're only DMing/Building/Scripting for ALFA because you feel obligated to contribute in some way then you're going to have a bad time and burn out. The only long lasting reason to do any of those things is "because I enjoy it".

People shouldn't be slaving over a hot DM stove to cook fun for everyone else. They should be doing it because DMing is fun for them. This is a game, for all parties involved.

[Zelknolf]

I'm not sure that a "only do the things that are fun" viewpoint is going to get us the results we want.

We have a tangible goal-- a persistent world to have some immersive roleplaying in-- and that doesn't come without effort. Shrugging it off as surely being resolved by someone else who will find it fun doesn't work; you instead get a person who's willing to "take one for the team," and then they work until burnout and leave. Some will be more resilient but that just makes the whole cycle take longer, and it remains completely unsustainable.

[Ithildur]

No one's suggesting doing anything out of a teeth gritting feeling of obligation Xan. But many humans I hear actually do believe that overall enjoyment in the long run of a volunteer community/project/hobby/thing, especially one that involves more than a single person, improves vastly when people chip in. Voluntarily. And from time to time, a volunteer community/project recognizes the need to ask members to chip in in whatever ways they can/are willing. Not everyone can or wants to, certainly not all the time, etc., sure, that's implicitly understood I think by all of us.

Nothing outrageous, unreasonable, strange, or oppressive about that.