Messages

EFU is a labor of love for everyone. In the end our love and our time is the force which animates EFU, which makes it real and makes it fun.  I am deeply, deeply upset about something which has occurred, it has ruined the experience for me and I do not want to participate any longer. Do not message me for details. However if you are one of my friends and want to get in touch with me to share contact information or say goodbye or something like that, I will hang around on IRC for a few days.

Thank you to everyone I had fun with over the years. Goodbye.

If I recall correctly, there is an OOC note promising doom to anyone who has not earned a medal on the box.

I think this may be a case of miscommunication.  Tala (and presumably other DMs) thinks medals can and should be given out.  Players think only a DM can authorize them(other than the service medals for time).  Pentaxius clearly thinks so, I assumed that as well.

Service medals for time don't get given out because PC Watchers don't know about them, don't ask or don't log their time.  PC clerks don't hand them out for the same reason.  For any clerks reading this who didn't realize, you absolutely can hand out the "time" medals.

I like the powers on them. To address your valid concern, how about a "bronze" version of medals which can be given out by PCs without a DM or PC director? They can be upgraded at the discretion of some NPC official.

The rumor thread may be a good idea.  Also I am totally biased, but this could come in handy too:

http://www.efupw.com/forums/forum/in-character-forums/public-board/648771-the-dunwarren-daily-news-sheet-published-issues

I barely knew him buy he seemed like a great PC, rock on!

#knowledge on irc!  We are still a thing!  Its true!  We may not have a FANCY official DM faction or anything but we exist!  We even see action and adventure, in fact three of our numbers were at the Battle of Mutulakt!  Join us in #knowledge and get your Knowledge on!

If you play a character who wants to pursue knowledge, lore and the like, be it mundane or magical, arcane or eldritch, archaeology or anything of that sort and you have some affection for the House of Knowledge, this is the place for you.  My favorite parts of EFU are delving its deep mysteries and lore and there is no better place to do so than in #knowledge !

To address the concern in the original post, another approach.  What about applying or getting DM permission, on a target by target basis, to waive the "no pvp with NPCs around without a DM" rule.  Tell the DM exactly why your doing it and what areas you want to try to grab them in.  Restrictions would be placed so that you don't go after them right next to NPCs but if you try it in more isolated areas it is okay.  Or you may be required to flee after X many seconds, under the assumption that NPCs will swarm and get you?

One of the sorcerer perk lines has you roll from a chart and a variety of random effects, some good, some bad, some character ending.  How about something similar but thematically appropriate for a Red Star Defiant?    Abusing and denying magic may have some odd side effects...

Is there a script to detect population?  If so, that would be a must.  The rewards could be decent potentially and it would not be good for it to be farmed when the server is empty.

Passing off the slaves is a problem, someone with more knowledge than I of module building and scripting have an idea?

I see absolutely no reason others can't collect it.  Indeed they can!  If they want to risk being caught dealing with Ascensionists!  A way to help drag people into the cult war.

[Idea]

Idea:
Similar to the current caravan from the gates to the Mound, a sending goes out that "Word spreads among some merchants in the market that the Mound is looking to hire guards for a group of slaves to be transported to Fort Mur".


Implementation:
A.  Similar to the current caravan, a player puts down security money, but now gives it to a Mound NPC. The amount asked for is significantly more than the current caravan, perhaps 600 gold or 700 gold.

B.  A "slave caravan" NPC spawns after the gold is paid.  It is a single NPC titled "a group of [race] slaves". What race it is varies.  Most are surface races but not all, so orogs, kobolds, deep gnomes and goblins could be mixed in, those are much cheaper to escort.  Human slaves cost more.

C.  The NPC moves at a glacially slow pace, representing a group of manacled slaves marching.  This requires a serious time commitment and guards to move them.  This also gives would be attackers time to get a group together to assault it!  The NPC cannot be made invisible.  A sending goes out that "-A caravan slowly marches away from the Mound-" when it begins. The NPC has poor armor but a fairly beefy amount of HP, the threat comes from players killing the guarding players, not from mobs.


Results:
A.  If the caravan is successful, the player who lead it gets an appropriate amount of gold, XP and perhaps favor for a Mound favor-store, though setting one up is additional work. The leading player is given a 5 point alignment shift to evil.

B.  The player leading the caravan is given a token. If he is killed (or looted, intimidated etc) a person who loots them gains control of the caravan.  We can't change allegiances of summons on the fly so the new owner uses the token to spawn a new one.  It can then be lead to...
I.  The Ooze Cult Base as sacrafices for an appropriate reward! A 5 point alignment shift to evil.
II.  The Sacred Cave, where they become new acolytes and a reward is given.
III.  The Church of the Ascension, where they are freed and a reward given. A 2 point alignment shift to good.
IV. A player who does not want to lead them anywhere can set them free, for a single point "good" alignment  shift and no other reward.

C. A counter is included.  If too many caravans fail, eventually, the Mound gets upset at Sanctuary.  That is outside of the scripted system.  None of that is automatic and there is no set "fail" threshold, the DMs eyeball it and decide when a response is appropriate.

Purpose:
The intention of the system is to give players something new to fight about and flex their ideological muscles while fostering the cult wars and Upper v Lower tension.  Actual rewards help foster the conflict and since the friendliness of the Mound is tied in, it could have long term effects.




One other thought.  Instead of one route, the Mount to Mur, perhaps from the Mound or Mur to some freshly spawned NPC randomly placed around the map may be better, but that would require extra work. The caravan is lead to a waiting buyer somewhere, the buyer just spawns for the quest.

How about a bounty system for the Ascension, similar to the Watchers and Society ones?  Who does the Ascension go after?
*Slavers of many races
*Drow
*Murder bandits and Duergar
*Some minor Dread forces
*Chosen

How would it work?  Pretty much the same as the Watchers or Society bounties.  Periodically monsters spawn of those descriptions using the same system for Society bounties, tweaked and retooled a bit. I assume they are still in the module?

Since the Ascension has limited resources, perhaps supplies are given instead of gold?

Getting beaten into poverty is not as much of a problem if there is a more uh... gentle climb out.  I can appreciate how rough it must be to die, be deleveled and have no supplies.  I think getting rid of all second tier dissipating items and making them non dissipating may be a good idea.  So lower level PCs have a fair amount of low level healing?  Is that a problem? Are cure light wounds and cure moderates a serious balance issue? They have no real influence in PvP and won't matter in a tough DM quest.  Maybe take dissipating off all low level buffs besides the blurs?

Thoughts:
1.  That was awesome.
2.  You are awesome.
3.  I hope we get more Thralls!
4.  I hope they are half as awesome as you were on Troy!

And indeed, a month on, we do still exist!  Join us in #knowledge !