DM showing new additions

[Letsplayforfun]

Yesterday i want on a ressource discovery DM quest along with lots of folks, which in itself was a fine DM quest (thanks Mort, if i'm not mistaken).

But...

Although it's cool to show new module additions, such as areas, quests, and whatnot, i was a bit disappointed that this specific strategic ressource was shown to so many folks, most of whom (i presume) were probably just 'going on a dm quest' and not actively actually looking for such things.

Maybe it's just specific to what my PC is doing a lot: scouting the island, over and over again, for anything that he may find, may have missed, and specifically ressources such as ore mines or the like.

When i read the annoucement about 'controling the ressources', the first thing that poped into my mind was 'great, explorer pcs will gain intel which may counter-balance the already established faction'. I was thinking of rangers, druids, monstruous race-PC, mainly, not just my present pc (who's a dwarf crafter, so obviously ore finding is of interest to him).

But when all the folks were shown the more or less 'secret area', well, the most powerful guys tagging along just claimed territory (and there's certainly no blaming them, it's the right thing to do). Of course nothing is settled, as 'claiming territory' is more of a symbol than effective, but whatever.

I'm probably not clear, so basically, i just think some things are worth showing to everybody, others  are not (like faction plot related secrets), and that ressource discovery/claim/ type of thing should fall into the secret stuff.

That being said, went on a ride, talked and argued, fought our way to the place, pawned the slavers, and that was cool!

[Sternhund]

While I wasn't the DM to do this, I suspect the reasoning behind it was that these resource centers are good areas to contest. Keeping them a secret keeps them out of the game (in a sense), so to make things interesting and to encourage conflict, it's better that these areas become known. It's an easy way to spark player events quick.

Now, if the DM decided to show you our secret nuclear laser beneath the island, then we'd have a problem!

[Letsplayforfun]

Yep, i figured as such, and understand the aim is probably to have us fighting over ressources.

But: to echo the 'let people build' post, i dunno.. i guess i'm a bit annoyed by the choice to always seem to promote conflict as the base of PC interaction.

Obviously we're not playing a city-builder type of game, and yet again, EfUA offers great opportunity to build things, but if the basic interaction is always 'fight over that topic', the building really resumes to 'pawn the opposition faction before it's too late'.

It's a savage world... *sighs*

[Sternhund]

Every good story has conflict! Look at every major literary text. EFUA would be kind of boring if everyone worked together to build the perfect world.

[PanamaLane]

I mostly agree with everyone.

Ideally, I think certain resources should be "given" to groups for them to build upon and others should be fought over. The key is in balancing the two and not making those fought over worth more then those "given".

By "given" I really mean earned, through RP and so forth.

[sylvyrdragon]

*posted in wrong thread...* sorry....

[ScottyB]

I'd like to point out that conflict does not have to come to physical blows, and I'm pretty sure the DMs are a bit disheartened by how fast conflict descends into PvP (or at least, how fast it has in the past). There is ample opportunity for politicking, sabotage, hatemongering, compromise, bad deals... don't just build up your city. Build up your conflicts into something terrifyingly multi-faceted! Perhaps long after your Freddy and Melinda are dead, the factions they left behind will still be at each others' throats (figuratively speaking).

As for the most valuable resources: those are exactly the ones whose claims should be contested among players, because those are the resources that people will really, really want and be motivated to do something about! Opportunities to earn them should be available to endeavoring players, in player-to-player struggle or bargaining or whathaveyou, rather than striving for DM attention and then possibly resting on your (to opposing players) difficult-to-pull-out-from-under-you laurels.

[Disco]

But when all the folks were shown the more or less 'secret area', well, the most powerful guys tagging along just claimed territory (and there's certainly no blaming them, it's the right thing to do).

I guess this was me. May I remind you that there are alot of plots going on on EFUA and alot of things you do not know about. Enough said.

[p00d33m]

Every good story has conflict! Look at every major literary text. EFUA would be kind of boring if everyone worked together to build the perfect world.

Thomas wouldn't let us build the perfect world ...

[The Beggar]

I'm pretty sure the DMs are a bit disheartened by how fast conflict descends into PvP (or at least, how fast it has in the past)

Fully agree. While I understand many people (myself included) have been burnt by trying to make long term enemies, beating them down, and then having the FD hammer drop on them in return the next day it's well worth the risk. Really, it makes the game exciting, intruiging, and motivates the player base to take sides if you are proactive in recruiting to your cause.

To not get too off topic: It's an island (chain), and things close to the Zig would be pretty easily found IMO. Best to have them out in the open, and game on, rather than hidden away only for a select few.

[Mort]

Some stuff I will show to whoever. Some stuff I will show to a select few. To assume we only do the former is to generalize a bit too much. I do try to make announcement, publicize certain things in order to make sure that even the casual gamers can still partake and be aware of what goes on in the game-world.

[Mort]

And besides, the way, territories will work. It will not be a one-time claim and it's over. You will have to protect it / patrol it from time to time / make deals to secure them / hire bandits to covertly disturb the territories of others, etc.

It's not like when it's discovered, it's game-over. It's only starting the political intrigue and fun little power struggle that should be amusing to play (I hope)!