Okay, i'm a bit worried about writing this thread, because i don't like the notion of an A-B-C being made on how to play your player - it's YOUR character, and no one has the right to tell you that you're playing it 'wrongly'. Some people just like questing casually. That said...

This is a simple set of opinions that i personally have on how to get the most out of playing the module. There's no 'hard and fast' guidelines within. This doesn't necessarily reflect the opinion of any of the other administrators, it's just my own, and take or leave the advice as you will. Okay, first, about yourself as a player, and what you can do. Player plots

First things first : Get a faction if you can. Either join yourself into one of the DM factions, create a new one of your own with it's own forum as a rival/seperate entity, or join one of the offshoots. For one, you'll instantly have some connections you can use for information, or even simply some buddies to quest with when all's quiet on the Western front, and for two, DM's are a lot more likely to collar you to further something of their own design if you're with an organisation.

Second : If you have an idea for something you think your character should be doing that requires DM loving (E.G. your Talonite wants to poison a lake, your Ilmaterian wants to distribute his wealth among the poor in lower, or ~whatever~) then please, please send us a DM message. If we're busy, we might say wait five minutes (or longer), but in general, we'll eventually get to what you want doing. The main exception, (well, for me personally), is when you're trying to utilize a specific NPC for some random information, because i find that works better in a letter. All the other DM's can see it, and that helps no end as a reference. Also, it's hard to remember how Sergeant Bonnybriggs is supposed to talk and act, and adjust your roleplay accordingly, so you might end up getting a schizophrenic NPC! Also, i mislike changing the NPC's on quests, because you can redo the quest again, and the lizardqueen won't remember that she'd brokered a deal with you last time you did the quest.

Third : If you have something MAJOR you want to do with your group, I.E. will affect the server (for instance, blowing up a building) best to let us know about your plans well in advance. Your only limit is honestly your imagination. No one is going to punish you for being creative. There's an infinite number of things you can do to change our world. Feel free to try. The disclaimer on this is, of course, everything depends on the DM's opinion and whether they think it's a realistic goal. If you're determined enough, believe me, you'll get a shot, though. Budding level 2 gnomelichs take note.

I'll think of a fourth point soon enough. DM PLOTS

Two simple things because i think it's all really common sense. If something OUT OF THE ORDINARY drops on a DM run quest, it's blatantly a hook. You find some note with weird writing on it? Okay, it doesn't make any sense now, but it was there for a reason.

And also, ask the DM involved oocly if somethings happening with it, if they say yes, then ask around. Gotta stop writing here.

Oh, perhaps i should add as a sidenote - if you ever wish to get to the (nearabouts) epic levels, this is the sort of stuff you'll have to do if you want to impress me. I'll gladly drop HUGE amounts of experience on people who come up with creative and plausible player-related activities, and have done so in the past.

Perhaps a tip of mine I should add;

Keep looking for new friends. Sticking with the same group will prove fatal in the long run, since characters die, or players just quit their characters. Before you know it, your character is all alone. I've had this problem, and I know for a fact others have as well.

Bump. I still don't see people using the DM channel often enough. Even if you're simply roleplaying in the Rock Bottom inn, and want a DM to hear your character tell a story - i want to know about it! I want to hear so many ideas that i get sick of them! That's what i like doing, and what i want to do :)

And did i mention, you'll probably get experience for it? Every powergaming bone in your body should approve!

I'd like to do a more thorough versions one of one these in the meantime, but a tip for the day --

Extend yourself to new players/characters! Work to involve new characters/new players straightaway, and you'll not only have an ally, but it really means a lot to that person and will encourage them to stay on the server.

Additionally, if I see it happen, I will be very impressed + happy, and actually make a mental note about trying to make sure your character gets some nice custom loot as a reward for that.

As a further question to this DMs, are we supposed to get on the DM channel and say, "helping a new character" ??

Or do DMs just bop around the server and frequently randomly reward such things?

Once I got 100 xp from a DM for taking some newbs through Mary's and getting the group out alive when Chosen kept popping up on our way out. Very satisfying to me as a player. And very cool as well. Great twist by whoever DMed that one.

But that was long ago and hasn't happened since. Not sure what I'm doing/not doing to cause that as Craddoc was the interactive Welcome Wagon for any new dwarf character that he saw for about 5-6 weeks. Even had Gruff mock Craddoc one time saying "I'm an Alaghor, join the Clan". Prick :D

Really not trying to sound like a whiny bitch for once, although it may come out like that - but just trying to get a better idea of how the server, RP experience, and this most recent suggestion works.

Craddoc has converted a half-orc to the worship of Clangeddin, performed "Cleansing" rituals in the Hold on evil dwarf characters to (hopefully) convert them back to good and taken oodles of new dwarves around town and through scripted quests, and haven't gotten even a small XP bonus or DM feedback.

Really don't care about the XP, but see it as a DM positive reinforcement for good RPing, which is/was what I was wondering about.

So since you DM peeps brought it up, do we need to send you a heads-up on the DM channel when we do this stuff? Or just hope you guys see it without bothering you.

Gwydion

So since you DM peeps brought it up, do we need to send you a heads-up on the DM channel when we do this stuff? Or just hope you guys see it without bothering you.

Absolutely! Otherwise, how do we know it is happening? We can't be everywhere at once. If every DM is on, you're pretty safe in assuming that DM's are watching everything, but that's not always the case.

The worst that'll happen is, you'll get a "I'm busy, can you wait 5 minutes?" if a DM is on, and silence if they're AFK, far too busy to reply, or not on at all.

I guess a lot of new layers are timid when it comes to meeting/calling for DM's. I've done tons of stuff, like making my little gnome be the worst mental case of all sanctuary, or my monk be a footloose private investigator, and not once did i think about calling a DM to say "Look at what I'm doing"

I'm wondering now that if you encourage people to tell you, you will have everyone suddenly trying to get lots of RP xp. Maybe that's a good think RP side, but won't it cause conflicts( ie "why did he get X amount of Xp and me only Y amount, Not fair !") ? Won't people try to make you come every twenty seconds saying : "Hey look at how awesome my roleplaying skills are."

I truly hope i'm wrong though, and I do know that most of EfU players are sensible people.

Aekula I'm wondering now that if you encourage people to tell you, you will have everyone suddenly trying to get lots of RP xp. Maybe that's a good think RP side, but won't it cause conflicts( ie "why did he get X amount of Xp and me only Y amount, Not fair !") ? Won't people try to make you come every twenty seconds saying : "Hey look at how awesome my roleplaying skills are."

I truly hope i'm wrong though, and I do know that most of EfU players are sensible people.

Oh, no, no, there'll be nothing like that. If you feel people are 'hogging the limelight' or something along those lines, speak with them, and if you get nothing, then go to us.

And i'd love people to come to me every 20 seconds to show me how awesome they are, but of course, there are limits. I would certainly have enjoyed seeing your monk try to investigate such-and-such matters, and i know the other DM's would have too. That's why i made this post, i know it's scary, because we're authority figures here - and we hand out the bans, we deal with cheats etc. That's not all we're here to do though, and i would personally much rather be dealing with the positives of peoples play, seeing it every day, seeing them develop... you know what i mean :p

Ah but, Howland is the one on when I play. Does he want me bugging him every 20 seconds? :wink: And I thought a gnomelich was a great idea. Gnome lich illusionists are common in the realms. (ok, so I made that up, sue me)

Luckily a couple of other players persuaded me to ask a DM to play an NPC, and it worked out very well. Which is actually going to lead me to interact with a lot more characters. I really was under the impression that only major events that were entire server effecting, were what you contacted a DM for. I am glad to see this, and to learn that is not the case. Cool!

It is one of my personal goals to respond to every DM message that is phrased as a question there is when I am online as a DM. If a message was just not responded to, it generally just means that no DM is on or available (or AFK, sometimes I go AFK for long periods of time). There are times when I get so many DM messages, and am so involved in something, that I can not adequately help everyone.

However, I am certainly very receptive to these kinds of messages:

(1) I and a group are going to explore <area> looking for <something>

(2) I am sending New Player A on <scripted quest> for <this objective>

(3) I would like to speak with <NPC>

I personally would not necessarily be interested in receiving a message everytime a veteran player greets a new character. I imagine it happens a lot, and sometimes the volume of stuff can be overwhelming and difficult to sort through. However, projects like organizing some new characters and giving them a little mini-quest or some other project where DM assistance could be of use is certainly a legitimate and encouraged use of the /dm channel.

This sounds great,

I play a character that spends alot of time working with new people that arrive - particulalry ladies - always trying to find potential recruits for the Sanctuary Sisterhood.

Will try and remember to drop messages to the DMs more often.