Ordinance
Yesterday I found out about Ordinance and what they're used for. I've been picking these things up and keeping them in my inventory since I started, but had no idea what they were for. One of my characters actually threw away a large batch of them, which I now kick myself for doing. Anyway, it turns out they are used to purchase the siege equipment I'm so fond of playing with.
My character (also called toons by some) is now in what's known as Tier 2, Rank 11-21 roughly, and is gaming in Troll Country and Ostland at this time. Now, what I know about RVR is just about nothing. As I've said, I follow everyone else in the warband and start slinging spells at destro (Destruction) outside keeps and anywhere else. Inside a keep, I always go up the stairway to the right and wait for the enemy NPC champions to get pulled out one by one. Right now I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing.
I don't know why we go to certain keeps or battlefield objectives at certain times, or why Destro does the same. There is some kind of timing and you can earn victory points for the zone you're in based on a number of things I have no clue about.
Next item of business, figure out how all that works. I wonder if there's some kind of guide to playing WHOL that I need to find and get. The answer is probably yes and yes.
Warhammer Online
I've been playing Warhmmer Online for abit, about to weeks now. I started because of the free trial. Mythic Entertainment had a good idea, IMHO, making a free trial that never exprires, though it has created some problem players, (more on that later). The reason I started was actually because I ordered WOW from Best Buy and it was on backorder, so I started playing Warhammer Online while I waited (I'm still waiting, incidentally).
On the Volkmar server, I started with an elven archer named Sywyn, named after one of my characters on NWN/FRC. I got him up to 10th level (the limit in the free trial), and managed to start three other characters, two elves (Archmage and Swordmaster) and a human Bright Wizard.
I've tried both WoW and Everquest II (the free trials), so I have a fair bit of beginners experience in MMORPGs. Regarding gameplay, user interface and mechanics, they seem pretty similar. I think people expect things to work a certain way in any of this type of game and Warhammer delivers on the basics. Of the three, I prefer WoW and Warhammer Online because they are native to Mac. Unfortunately, whenever I wanted to play Everquest, I had to boot to Windows on my Mac. The game played just fine, but if I have to choose, I'm going with one that's Mac compatible. I understand Warhammer Online only recently made a Mac client, but since I only just started that really doesn't affect me.
They all have quests, leveling happens in a timely manner, no too fast or too slow. In WHOL I like the storyline, that you start in the middle of a war and are put to work in the war effort. I started a destruction character as well on Badlands server, and you are similarly thrust into the invasion effort.
So far, Order is my favorite side. They seem to be outnumbered and outgunned by Destruction players at my level. It seems (from what I'm hearing) that there are free trial players who have been playing the same character for months and months, and who have incredible equipment which makes them much more powerful than the typical Order character of the same rank (10). I have to say I've experienced this, being on the receiving end of incredible amounts of damage from a Squig Herder and only being able to reply with about a third as much damage myself.
Still, that one thing aside, I'm having fun.
What I like -
1. Backstory - Warhammer is a very old franchise and has a rich history with incredible detail. I bought the Warhammer RPG after being aware of the miniatures game from Games Workship, and liking what I'd seen of the background story (this was way back in the late 80s and early 90s, he says, dating himself incredibly). The Warhammer RPG was full of interesting information and backstory, including characters. It was the first game with prestige classes (as far as I know, could be wrong). Your character's career branched in and out of different classes, such as Witch Hunter, Templar Knight, etc. I was never able to play Warhammer RPG, but I still have the original book.
2. RVR - I like that player vs player fighting is team based. Everything about it encourages you to form Warbands (extended parties) and go take objectives and keeps from the enemy rather than just pointless arena fighting. I'm a little frustrated at the so called "twinks" who seem to be everywhere on the opposing side, but we probably have the same twinks on other servers. I like sieges, the rams and other siege equipment you can operate, dropping oil on the players as they try to batter down your keep door, and all of that. It's a lot of fun, even though I have no idea what the hell I'm doing at this point. I'm sure I'll know later.
Quit Destroying the World
Recently the persistent world I play on has seen the return of an old DM. Many As One (MaO) was a popular DM with some players. Now he's back and I have mixed feelings. Like all DMs on FRC he has strong and weak points. If there's one thing you can count on when MaO runs a plot, it's that failure to stop the bad guy will result in the end of the world as we know it.
To be completely fair, he's not the only one. Several other DMs are firmly in the epic end of the world plot corner. "Why is this a problem anyway?" you may ask. Who doesn't like a nice high stakes adventure? It gets the blood pumping, right?
Well… not after the fourth time in a row, no it doesn't. For several reasons.
First, it overshadows every other DM plot that doesn't involve the end of the world/galaxy/universe/plane of existence as we know it. I have personal experience with this. I came up with a plot in which political intrigue played a big role. The plot didn't involve the end of the world, just some minor but important local changes. The plot was dropped and/or put on permanent hold because….
A VAST ARMY OF DEMONS AND ORCS WERE INVADING WITH THE GOAL OF DESTROYING THE WORLD!!
Suddenly, a minor political intrigue centered around one small country wasn't all that important, and players blew off the plot to join this other one. The main features of the world ending plot were wave after wave of monsters, treasure, magic items, and wave after wave of monsters. Note that this was not one of MaO's plots.
Second, if the PCs fail, someone else (an NPC) will have to step in and save the world, because you can't really let the universe be destroyed. Nor can you allow the kind of sweeping changes that failure might entail even if the world doesn't explode. Guess what? The players know this, too.
Third, if you save the universe and all you get is a lousy T-shirt, there's a big let down. Seriously, if the PCs win and save the universe, what reward can you give that fits what they did and still allows them to play? They just saved the freaking universe and you're giving them a magic cloak? Really? No kingdom of their own? No entire planet or demi-plane full of nubile, grateful, semi-clad and horny members of the appropriate gender? No elevation to demi-god status complete with worshippers and temple bureaucracy in place? Dude… they saved the world/universe/plane of existence/whatever.
Fourth, during these plots, the local starting village is usually overrun by units of the mad halfling's evil teddy bear/vampire army. Now, characters can't go there and adventure, and nowhere else has areas appropriate to their level. Not everyone will have the opportunity to get involved in these plots, especially lower level characters, but they have to deal with the bad side of it. In three of four world ending plots I can think of off the top of my head (which actually occurred in this world) the starting area was overrun by the bad guys and effectively became off limits to certain PCs who were in no way involved in the plot.
What's the lesson here? Quit trying to end the world! Your plots can be interesting and draw in players without threatening everything they know and love. In fact, you should probably not do them at all unless you involve the whole DM team. We've had no less than four major, server wide, world ending plots in a row on FRC and I've heard PCs literally yawn and say "Again?" when a major bad guy surfaces and threatens to destroy the world. There's a major loss of suspension of disbelief.
My advice? Find a way to scale it down. If you want to challenge a group of adventurers, have another group move in and start supplanting them, for example. Have a small local bad guy do something a group can oppose. Alternatively, have a small group of good guys move in and start to make things difficult for the local Team Evil.
You can keep it small scale and still keep it interesting. Just make sure something is at stake that a particular group of player characters value.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!!!
A very happy birthday to the love of my life.
I know I'm not good at doing birthday stuff, but I love you and hope you have a very happy birthday.
~ Atlas of Calendria for the Year 2010 ~
~ Atlas of Calendria for the Year 2010 ~.
An extremely cool site for those of you who like maps or calendars. A very unique and original idea.
Tired? Yes. Cranky? Yes. Why? 4 a.m. game session.
Playing Neverwinter Nights (the original, better version) on the FRC PW. I'm the head of a player guild and we have some Australian members who never get to join in our semi-regular get togethers in game. So, this time I scheduled it for 4 a.m., which turns out to be a normal time for them. Anyway, I finished my Friday night gaming session around midnight, and had to get up for the 4 a.m. session, which I would never have done without the sadistic very helpful aid of my wife, who made sure I got up in time to get a cup of coffee and log on.
I think I'm still getting over that. It's not like when I was a kid and staying up all night didn't affect me at all. I suppose it wasn't so bad then because I could always just sleep in, whereas these days I never get to sleep in. Ever. No really, never ever do I get to sleep in. Weekdays, weekends, no difference.
It was an interesting experience, but I doubt I'll be doing it for a while.
Too Big To Fail?
Too Big To Fail.
I've heard this phrase a few times, referring to some banks and auto-makers and I thought it was something of an indicator of a way of thinking. A collectivist, statist mode of thought where organizations are more important than individuals (pretty much the definition of collectivism, anyway).
In my perfect world, no company is too big to fail. No "industry" is too big to fail. Why? Because of a simple law. This is not a law made by governments, because if they had their way, I think they would want to repeal it. The law I'm referring to is, of course, the Law of Supply and Demand. As long as there is a demand, someone will supply it.
Example: A major car maker goes out of business. Almost happened, but government intervention prevented it by making all of the rest of us pay them. Why are they going out of business? They can't compete. Someone else makes it better, faster, cheaper, with better quality. Or, they are bad managers. They use all their profits to line their pockets with golden parachutes and sweet bonuses even when the company is doing badly. Really, it doesn't matter. The point is, they should be allowed to go out of business.
Will the demand for cars suddenly drop now that our hypothetical car company goes out of business? No. People will still want cars, and the same number of people will want cars. The demand won't drop, because there's no reason for it to drop. So, now you have the same demand, but the supply dropped significantly. What will happen?
Prices will go up? Possibly.
Production by remaining car-makers will go up? Probably. They want a some of that stranded demand.
Ex-employees of the defunct car-maker will start up their own companies? Probably. I think it's entirely reasonable to think some of these smart engineers and managers will start their own companies and make cars they always wanted to make but couldn't.
Ex-employees will be hired by the remaining companies to help meet the demand? Probably.
So, what's happened when we let the company fail? Some people are out of work. Well, 10% of Americans are already out of work. New companies start up, requiring workers. Other car-makers increase production, requiring workers. If I seem callous about job losses, I'm not. I've been laid off more than once, so I know what it's like. I thought it was the end of the world, but it wasn't. Sometimes I did better than I did before, other times I did worse.
My point is, it won't be the end of the world. People will still make cars. People will still buy houses. People will still want all the things they've always wanted. The difference will be that the ones providing them are now the ones who can deliver better, cheaper, faster, or with higher quality.
Is that so bad?
It’s over
We got the phone call over dinner that Tiberius is dead. He was doing alright earlier in the afternoon, but died in between their visits.
Please Don’t Leave
I felt a warm gentle fire once.
At first a small warm spot
It spread to cover me with love
Gave me a capacity I didn't know of.
You moved around hesitantly, little paw
feeling ahead over any gap.
Not quite seeing what was in front of you.
Your eyes were broken but we loved you so very much
We laughed at your little paw feling ahead of you
Not cruel laughter, it was the laughter of love
How much we loved you, doing your silly little things.
Now you're sick, lying down, trying to breathe
You don't understand, you just miss your mother's touch
You miss snuggling with your sister. Now you think
about a far land where you were once happy.
She comes to see you every day. Warm, soft hands
show how much you are loved. I hope this is what you
think about. We miss you so much, lying alone
with no one you know around you. My heart breaks for my little one.
It was you, little one, your warmth
You who expanded my capacity for love
That irrational math that fills a space even as you pour it out and empty it.
Please, little one. Please don't leave.
I know this life is painful, but I love you
and I'm so very selfish
Please come and sit on my lap again.
Purr and make me warm and calm.
I'll love you back, I promise. Just like
I did when you were here before.
Hopes Dashed
Hopes dashed. I went to the vet to pick up Tiberius and she brought me in to an exam room to talk about his case. Last night and into today he's been developing something called FIP. It stands for Feline Infectious Peritonitis, and turns out it is even deadlier than Feline Distemper. He's going to stay in the hospital over the weekend, and we'll have the results of blood tests. But, he may not survive until Monday. I was forlorn when I heard this. I went home quickly to give Anne some time to visit.
They close at noon today because of the New Year holiday. I stayed home and tried to keep my mind on other things. I finally broke down and cried when Anne got home. I was so distraught. They will give us daily calls on this status. Anne said he was doing worst now. She gave him one chance in a hundred. We're now not even sure he'll make it until Monday. I went back to work but I'm not really able to do anything constructive. I don't know what to write about now, either.
For now we wait and hope some more.