I should amend what I said, because it's not entirely accurate:

One major 'omgshitisgoingdown' plot. There should be more major and smaller plots, but not multiple things (especially in the same region) that are threatening reality and stuff. It's overwhelming. Smaller plots should outweigh the larger ones I believe (that goes from ones that run from weeks/months with varying affects on the server, to one shot fun little mini-events) because that also helps to include people, especially those that doesn't want to be in the huge plots.


I said it before and I'll say it again. Man I love being a turtl- wait, wrong movie.

I gave up on Lucious partly because whatever he does literally doesn't matter. That's cynical, sure, but think about it. He's not a major player in the Reyes' plot (that's not a slight against the people that are, trust me, they earned those places over the past years) and if Lucious does or does not participate the end will be the same: Reyes' threat abolished. So I said 'screw it' and focused on other more important (to me) stuff. Which is all fine and dandy, though irksome sometimes, so I don't mind that much.


Two of my fave plots happened on hunting trips. One was in the troll caves, something was attacking underground, we ended up having to fight umberhulks, and eventually some weird beastie. Got a cool loot from that! And then in the Abyss, party got ambushed by some huge freaking thing and it was hectic trying to survive. Those were cool 'spice of life' things.

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Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play:
Salema Nefahri :: A penny for your thots
Zrae'a'stra'fryn :: That which nightmares are made of
Khasir :: From the East a storm is coming

That. I don't mean offense to anyone who are participating it and are in the heart of it, however, I did come to the same conclusion, it doesn't matter if I'm involved in it or not, the character simply can't contribute in any level to it. Divinations don't work and I simply don't know enough to make sound conclusions of anything. Better leave it for others to deal then and focus in some other stuff if they ever occur in Winya.

One of the best IC moments was to clear the library of all non-people in one event. I know we should be including everyone what else, but lets be real, it ain't happening in every plot no matter everyone is saying. For those who were there, it had nothing to do with you, but with IC arrangements done far before the blood thing took interest in Carass Ravana and thus the exclusion of everyone than non-people or Winyan's in this case. Just wanted to clear this OOC:ly so no one is suspecting me of excluding people on OOC basis, when it is not the case.

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http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/spells.htm

The end of the WKs came across as very, very depressing to me. The most depressing parts were two things; Being OOCly warned not to join the faction and watching the surviving WK's dissapear. I had and still have a character that's willing to interact with WKs (Mine even talked about joining the faction twice, once before Malatril's death and one after). This was a long time ago, but my message to all you WK players in the thread is that there are characters around that are still interested in you and your gang. There's ALWAYS the chance to return, get fresh blood and retake your stuff no matter what happened in the past. Me as a player would love to see that happen but I wasn't involved in any of the Ostland stuff(Despite there being OOC beliefs that I was - but that's another issue.) I hope that in time you'll give it another shot!

I will refrain from commenting on how server plots were ran that I have not been a part of. I think during my entire year here I've been a part of two events total, one being She'kat and the other the Outsider-hunter. If I am to comment on those two, I think those two were good. Both of them left lasting relationships between characters that mine knows and I think that is important for plots; There needs to be lasting and meaningful effects of the RP in events. I don't know what usually ran, but I think that smaller events are better. It's easier to produce meaningful and deep RP from that. I don't like it(And nobody problaby does) when there's a bunch of PC's just standing in a crowd and the DM facing the impossible task of interacting with everybody.

Summary:
I don't like railroading and the RP produced in events needs to be meaningful. Smaller, more manageable events makes that easier to accomplish.
Oh, and, WK's come back.

Pretty much in agreement with Magiros about Ostland, although I was lucky enough that my compulsion to be involved was mainly by the empathy of my PC towards PCs who were invested in it.
I've been observing the War Knight faction pretty much since I started here (I play a spy after all) but there's not really much I can say. I will say this - before the War Knights got invested into a physical part of the setting and received dedicated DM attention, they were in decline. Had been ever since the Banite Keep was blown down. I remember the leadership changing hands from Calin to Snobbles to Malatril in a very short space of time, few active members, no apparent direction and little influence (beyond having a reputation for fighting and looking physically distinctive). It might be said that an outsider's opinion lacks perspective, but a faction's influence should be objectively visible. While their activity did pick up in fits and starts, I saw the most activity prior to and into the Ostland plot. I think it's always easier to say it would've been better if things happened another way, but the pattern would indicate a slow, languishing demise to be the most likely.

Moving on.

One thing I want to point out is Silky's recent Golden Hunter plot - it was different in a lot of ways to many of the plots around, and I liked that about it. It was short - only two events, which is just long enough to be a plot rather than an event. It was varied - the experience of Galenson's High Security Udos Dro'xun and Dusty's war-ready Illithid City were different enough to keep it fresh, and props to those DMs (as well as others involved) for helping out. It was challenging to the extreme, BUT it managed not to be completely overwhelming - I think this is because we understood as players that it was a short, self-contained plot that wouldn't latch onto our PCs and wear out its welcome. That's not to say it's bad when plots carry on/leave long-lasting consequences, but it gets exhausting. If the Golden Hunter plot ran long, it would become one in a long list of concerns for our PCs - Cordor, Arcanum, inter-city politics, Blood Magic Fallout, intra-city works, just to name the common ones mainly focused on server A (to say nothing of the poor souls who also have commitments B-side). Quite exhausting if you play a PC that feels compelled to do all they can. But no it was a short, varied, heroic adventure.



Have faith, I think. Personally I think anyone with the ambition and the drive to do something (and a character who is also driven) has a chance to contribute, which is why I haven't shied away from having my character ICly nudge yours and a few others into doing things. Consider it a vote of confidence. It was said before in this thread - it's not about talent, but persistence. Luck helps though. Plus, I feel accomplished even if all I do is try to motivate people.

But as with any given plot, if it is a less fulfilling use of your time than other plots, forget about it and move on. If you feel forced by your character's motivations, contrive an excuse or play an alt for a while. While it's a foregone conclusion that Amia won't be destroyed (because that would make for a pretty boring story), the state it's in in the end may very well come down to individuals. The world will be saved by virtue of having at least a few people trying, but how saved? That's up to you.


Oh yeah, the library - I think of it this way. Enforcing the elven attitude of "only elves on sacred elven ground" made the elven PCs more relevant to the plot. They had a job that only they could do. We can't be said to be excluding people from the plot because the plot is a lot bigger than that one burnt-out shell of a room. There are other things to do while the elves do the elf job, and said job will ideally contribute towards the player advancement in the plot (ie any information found could/would be shared).
I too felt it was a "best IC moment" because it allowed the assertion of character personalities, and IMO characterisation is the best part of roleplaying. Facing challenges is great, but playing the role of a PERSON with feelings, beliefs and opinions, is an experience that you just can't find anywhere else. DMs, if you can include more of these, I (and maybe at least one other person somewhere on this server) will love you forever.

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@Thanatopsis#6293

+1
Being the last non-elf PC to leave the room, I just want to say there was/is no OOC animosity regarding that situation. It was fun! Now, I won't say what words may have been muttered IC, as Crow left the building, but Darby would be proud.

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Plots should be: 1.) more frequent, 2.) smaller in scope, 3.) more personal. All the folks saying this above are spot on, and in agreement with what seemed to be the consensus in the last two threads of this type. (Which is why I've been mostly neglecting this one until now: I feel like we're just repeating ourselves.)

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Winner of Amia's "Most Ethical Time Traveler" award 2026

Character Portraits!

And don't be afraid to get newer/weaker PCs in on the fun too with smaller plots and such. (Sure as hell makes balancing easier when you're dealing with level 10s instead of level 30s!)

From DM experience elsewhere my largest successes were character-focused pieces where combat, if it happened, was acknowledged as just a minor roadblock, not an attraction. Balance on the fly is impossible. People can get mechanical challenges from things the build team pumps out. Only DMs can give them personality challenges.

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GSID: TheWrathOfInnos
Plays: Ilaria Thilmos - Dirgesinger
I do LPs too!

I disagree. Before this plot, people used to complain that they needed to be bigger and more expansive. I think it's great what we have going. It fits the desires of certain players. Now, that said, I fully support the DMs that are happy to cater to the smaller, more frequent and personal plots. I love those too! But I would be sad to completely lose large-scale, full-encompassing lots like this. Every couple of years, a climax similar to it is nice.

That's not disagreeing. Nobody's talking about losing large-scale plots completely. What's being advocated is shifting the balance. Right now there's seemingly multiple world-shaping massive plots going on concurrently all over the place. We seem to have blown way, way past "every couple of years."

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Winner of Amia's "Most Ethical Time Traveler" award 2026

Character Portraits!

I've a few things to comment on since my first few posts in this thread and, seeing as some time has passed as we've had a few endings to plots, a few beginnings to plots, certain plots advancing and potential new plots beginning, I feel it's best to add a more developed viewpoint.

But no, I come with two nice juicy full buckets of good things and bad things of my view on recent plots.

I'd like to start with addressing "world-ending" events as, during the time, the "big one" being the Arcanum and Reyes plot seems to be drawing closer and closer to its pinnacle point, it appears we're in no shortage of these world-enders with another plot springing up with implications of shit getting real elsewhere. In the words of one PC involved in the plot: "We can't spare our attention too much here due to the threat of the Arcanum".

It's a trend I'm seeing over factions take upon any new plots coming up that seem to have any threat of battles or war, and while it's perfectly viable for IC reasons I know there's OOC reasoning behind it for not being involved with "too many big plots". I'd like to flip this retrospective to smaller non-main plot events, which have been popping their elusive heads out of the blighted mud to grant some much needed "spur" RP. Highlights would be amiss if I didn't mention the Bro-Dog saga, which introduced a couple of comic relief characters which, in my eyes, was a great thing to have to portray some "good" on Amia in light of all the darkness and struggles being thrown down upon nearly every settlement at the moment.

I've had a good few hearty conversations when people have brought up these things OOCly, but the majority have a worrying consensus of what people think can be done. "Well if we want smaller, one-off or just light-hearted events, do you think DMs would feel like performing more if we displayed an interest?" which is normally greeted by a "No" and upon asking why not an answer of "DM politics" is promptly replied.

"DM politics" being the next thing I bring up, it seems to be a tabooed thing to say player-side, like suggesting there's some long-winded invisible process to perform any action that is criticism either goes outright ignored by the majority of DMs or is quick to be "discussed behind closed doors" and never heard of again. I think one thing done right is Glim's reformatting of the IA forums, which is promoting transparency, however I know from the players I have spoken to that they want to see more. In a conversation that lasted OOCly an hour amongst RP was about "neutral" DMs. Would Amia benefit from one or two DMs that do not designate themselves an area to govern but merely fleet around the servers providing much needed spice? No one in the conversation said no and I'm sure the yes votes would outnumber the no if the DMs asked, but one player was quick to shoot the idea down:

(Psst, if you want me to take this down send me a PM!)



To which I agree. One such annoyance has been the constant fact we have to keep informing new players or returning oldies that, the very noticeable land they've probably been RPing in for the past few days, is blighted with blood magic and they clearly should have noticed this. No effort was made module-side to do something like change the fog colour or remove flora.

I'm totally cheering on the War Knights moving on, gathering numbers and being involved in things once more. Not having a member of the faction, I can only give an outsider's view, but it seems as if despite issues that seem to have been left unresolved by a DM have hindered them, they're moving on. I know we're doing the same in Bendir right now. But it leaves me questioning whether it's best to blindly include certain settlements in certain plots? The Treaty of Light and the Commonwealth of Cordor have had plenty of support player and DM side for their involvement with the Reyes plots, while other smaller factions are left straggling around trying to move on but are hindered by fleeting RP.

Being involved with the events of the Arcanum player-side during the attacks on Bendir, I saw no Halflings on during the attacks beside one who just stood there shaking their head rightly so not knowing what the hell was going on with a bunch of taller folk running to Bendir, then to the frontier, then back to Bendir again.

I know my bias of playing Hin come in to play, but if a DM plot is going to sparse across another settlement, try and actually get the people of the settlement involved! Bendir's rolling up their sleeves and making their presence heard and felt ICly right now with much hope of any big events coming toward Bendir are met with a player-base who actually want to a chance to fight back like so many of the large factions have had the chance to do.

Some things I want to summarise then:

-DMs should try their best to oversee damages their plots cause and not neglect them.
-DMs should take careful steps as to not overload the server with too many world-ending events.
-Maybe looking in to integral issues such as communicating with one another about player issues at a rate that will see benefits appear, dispersing the idea of "DM politics" which involve simply bringing a players concern forth with no action taken.
-Small events are good!

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I agree with these four points! However, I would just like to point out one thing regarding small events. I'm one of those players that don't like bigger scale events due to obvious reasons that they're often not that personal. For smaller events however I've noticed that they often and only cater to small cliques. Unless you're part of that clique, you're out. Small events are therefore few and far inbetween for most characters. That's the only real issue I see with small events; a lot of stuff is going to happen 'behind the scenes' that few people get to involve themselves in.

I really sympathize with players that don't get DM action often, and I think more smaller scale events will only make that worse unless it's done right. How do you balance that? Well - that is a good question. It certainly isn't easy!

I must admit I'm curious as to what exactly is wanted in a "small event" it seems to be a popular consensus that such events are desired, but I'm a little unclear as to what is meant by "small".

I've done a few "one off" events with resolutions obtained in a day or so, but I noticed that players were somewhat frustrated by that and wanted a longer and more epic conclusion.

Conversely, mostly with Othar and a comic relief style, I've done recurring little adventures with the familiar NPC, which seemed to get a positive response.

So I guess my question is, by smaller do you mean "Shorter" or do you want something akin to an episodic style plot with a familiar cast and lower stakes?

I would wager it means a story that has an ending. Maybe within a few days, a week, a month, something like that.

I think these two things kind of answer the question. Short and sweet, but not.."YOu walk into a Bar, and the bad guy is sitting there having a drink....". For me, it's something that can help push a characters development a bit...or maybe a group/factions development. Nothing big, just that little bit of 'flair' maybe, but something that can be resolved in a short time *See Yoss's comment*, and not something that requires everyone to go through a HUGE chain of people or events just to see one little facet moved on.

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I Am:
Derrin: 'Nothing to see here'
Beck: Hard working dwarf paladin.
Naela 'Widow': Wandering priestess.
Celinor Triellian: Paladin of Corellon.

I would tend to assume that as well Yoss, but the nature of a continually moving and evolving community makes that very difficult to achieve. The world doesn't just end, things simply change in one way or another.

My favorite DM event has to be when BoB announced she was free for a "custom" adventure for whichever hunting party wanted to step out of the ordinary. We were only three players, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. On the spot, unexpected, very nice. Short and sweet, which gives grinding another twist.

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Em'rae d'Ussen d'Vhid
No mercy for the kivvil
aka AgentOfLyumis

Fixed

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MuseReader: Aiseth Nosdivan- Master Enchantress

Heh, fair enough

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Em'rae d'Ussen d'Vhid
No mercy for the kivvil
aka AgentOfLyumis

Well...yes and no. I think what it requires is for the DM to sort of integrate these realities of the server into their style. I had a conversation with Mr. Hax about this recently over Skype, and admitted that although I think I did a lot of things well with Cordor related plots, it was too big for me to handle alone and went on longer than it should have under my action alone. The two events that I would put in my "DM portfolio" that I think went way better were both "shorter" events: the Son of Vodak event in the Triumvir, which lasted at most maybe a couple of months (my sincere apologies still to those players I unceremoniously had to drop because I have a threshold of players I can handle at one time in the Client, it was a poor DM decision on my part not to consider including the characters who had invested their time and energy into it instead of "first come first serve"), and the Seaside adventure, which took place over 2 or maybe 3 days and involved a lot of preplanning on my part but was executed I think very smoothly with a definite beginning, middle, and end. Unlike a lot of our typical plots we run on Amia, the Seaside one was very module-like in my head, but I like to think that didn't translate over to the players as much and they felt it to be streamlined well into a series of stories that came before and some which may yet come after with the hooks I left behind.

So, yeah, I think the smaller events can be done, but it depends on whether the DM likes to DM that way. Just like some DMs prefer to be spontaneous (Silent!) and others prefer some thought and planning first (me).

My own frustration as a DM who has tried to run small events, is that they turn into large events by efforts of the players. Sometimes-- not all the time.

As a DM, I remember well trying to make a small event. I think, if I recall, I had a couple of goons try to harass someone in the outskirts of Cordor. They were beaten by a Guard PC, and whisked away. What was intended to be a brief event should have stopped there-- at least, it was my intention to. However, folks began thoroughly investigating the source of the goons, digging constantly deeper and deeper. So what was once just simple ruffian interaction has now turned into a large criminal plot, requiring an underworld, criminal politicians, and more. Its really awkward as a DM to tell the player, "Stop digging deeper, the plot is over."

I'm not ascribing blame to the players either. The way it was set up (I wasn't forseeing it), and the way their characters were-- of course they would investigate further.

Plot resolution is a really odd thing. How do you end a plot, once and for all? Once this large plot is over, its not as if there isn't going to be roleplay and DM involvement stemming from that plot still, right? Political forces are going to move and try to fill power vacuums, alliances are going to decide to remain or split-- A plot very rarely just /stops/.

The same happens from smaller plots as well. Only when I perform a "You saved the town, and there was much rejoicing" do people tend to leave it. I dunno. I think its tricky! Or maybe its even me! Maybe I'm simply bad at concluding plots.

Some quests are easily concluded. I think this is what some of us are more after; quick conclusions. We do not all share the same schedules, and for myself, there is so little time I can invest into events and plots I tend to steer away from them. We need more "one-night stand" events. How does a one-night stand becomes and stays a one-night stand? Easy; both parties (DM and players) are in the know that it is for once, and then, that's it.

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Em'rae d'Ussen d'Vhid
No mercy for the kivvil
aka AgentOfLyumis

But what if we catch feelings, Mirvy? ;_;

Smaller events can often be good. Or simply ones with just less 'stakes' I suppose, I do think/

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Not everybody is made for one-nights :p

Small events do not need to be orchestrated too much, just a step out of the beaten path is just fine!

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Em'rae d'Ussen d'Vhid
No mercy for the kivvil
aka AgentOfLyumis

Sounds largely like the issue was you felt the need to keep feeding them something when they looked. Bandits, simple raiders, whatever. Group finds their hideout, kills em all, takes their stash. Done. If the players want to keep digging they can send you PMs about to which you can just answer with what they find, if its not to much work. Dont drag the plot out for the players, the plot ended, but maybe one dude is a little unbalanced and keeps looking and finding things that make him think there is some huge plot in the works! But there is not.

Small events to me mean mostly smaller in scale. Like.. 10-15 people at the very most. Smaller groups, more personal, lets the individual characters evolve more. Builds camaraderie among factions/cities/friends. No, you won't be known across the island for your deeds, but you will be a hometown hero. If the DM has issues keeping the groups small, take it OOC and ask that in the effort to keep things small and personal, you would rather X group did not bring a great deal of people into said small plot. These don't need to be one night stands, just 'lighter' in depth than Armageddon.

Huge events of 30+ tend to turn into Head figures and their support crew. Large scale events can be stifling and i've found it leaves you at a lose of what to do with yourself. When the world is at risk and huge armies and forces are moving, how can my char do anything but put 100% of his focus into that? Large scale is not bad, don't get me wrong. That is where epic events come into play and people actually earn their 'epic' badge. But it comes to a point where i ask myself, is it appropriate for my char to be pursuing the betterment of his home, while such grand events are playing out? Im not sure how else to explain it other than the feeling that its like being choked. Again, Huge Grand Epic Mega events are good! I dont know if its just me.

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House Auvrea'Kan Crafts and Services is now open and prepared to discuss orders.

Simple little trick to this: know the ending before you begin and remain dedicated to making it happen sooner rather than later. Or at least have an idea of the directions it is likely to go. This is possible to do without railroading players, I promise, it just takes some forethought. And to give people the hint that they can "stop digging" into it, make a big deal out of the resolution. Make certain it is a clear resolution and that, if people want to pursue it, that will be a separate story that is not getting a focus right now.

I suppose that's my major hang up really, I dislike having a preset ending to a plot and a smaller event really necessitates it in most cases.

Likewise. It ultimately ends up an awkward mixture of wanting to provide a small quest for someone, and also wanting to cater to their desires to investigate further. Killing a bad guy, solving a mystery-- these things tend to be clear conclusions. But there are others that can end up becoming a small storyline for an individual player or two.

I'm also not saying these things as a "I will never perform small quests."

I more wanted to present some struggles from a DM perspective, for food for thought.

This was always the most terrible part of any DM plot. Hooray for making the players feel like they have no input at all and are just pawns in your narrative.

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Remember when I knew a boxer, baby

I can understand the disagreement. Sometimes a player chafes at the knowledge that the GM has an end in mind, even if he or she is willing to alter it due to player actions. What the GM should be dedicated to, as I said, is ending it period, whether or not it ends the way the GM planned.

I would not see it entirely as that, Derk. Having been a part of Yoss's more controlled narratives (The Seaside event), I knew that there was an end that was ultimately desired by the players involved and the DM alike. But this 'end' was prone to failure or success, and was more felt like a direction, rather than railroading.

There's something to be said about creating an end and a direction, and then guiding and working with the player's initiatives to reach that end. Not once in his small plot did I ever feel forced into an outcome. I think, if I were to really evaluate it, it was the fact that he had a working direction that enabled him to more creatively attend to the desires of the players during the actual event itself.

In addition, I wanted it to be the opposite of a big epic event. I did what I said there and dedicated myself to finishing it within three sessions. I think we did it in two over two nights in a row.

If the DM is willing to alter the story due to player input, that's great. That's how it should go. Going in with a preordained resolution is awful, though.

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Remember when I knew a boxer, baby

Some stories allow for that. Some DMs are better at thinking on their feet. But for those who are not, having an imagined end in mind helps to focus players when they are lost and need some direction. (Some players admit to needing that at times, for sure.)

Guess this is a matter of taste, I don't really need to know my actions affect how the plot ends much, and I am content with being a part of the ride if the plot is good. I like to see at it like this: the advantage of a game compared with a movie is that the player can interact with the story, how much this is possible is up to the ones that makes the story, and how much you are a pawn of the story or not is not what makes a good or bad story.

What I think is nice and would make Amia more enjoyable is if the events were more faction focused, if the DM's of the factions get's to know the players and characters in them then the DM's can make events that contribute more to character development. The smaller and more limited number of characters will make it easier for the DM's to balance the events for the faction, and if the faction don't have a wizard you can make a plot that won't require a wizard to finish it. This way the DM's can also give characters that usually don't get to shine that much a chance to be the hero of the day, where they usually would end up as one of many pawns.

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Character development stuff is great for multiple reasons - it's rewarding in and of itself, by being able to explore the interaction between world and character, and unseen facets of their mind. Being able to change the world is great, but having a chance to let it change "you" is just as rewarding. Another reason is that it gives everyone an opportunity for the spotlight, or to at least feel like they have attention, which a lot of players are quite starved of.

However it's also difficult to pull off well. For one, it takes time and very specific focus, and there are far more players than DMs, and the player will often want to further explore it. It's also hard to know if a given plot will successfully influence a character, or if it is actually working once things get underway. It's a bit of an "alignment of the heavens" kind of deal, where various factors have to be just right in order for it to work out. But I think based on the chatter here, DMs should definitely try to reach for more character development opportunities.

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@Thanatopsis#6293

Playing the devil's advocate here as well--

Character development is indeed difficult unless you know the character well. Most of the characters that DM's know best are the ones who have interacted the most with them, whether as players or in DM plots. For example, I could feel much more comfortable making a character development styled plot for a 5-year character than one who just popped up a moment ago. This is part of a perceived favoritism that frustrates players.

Its a tough balance, is what I'm trying to highlight.

Character development plots are the pinnacle of the DM's craft. I come from a server background where the worlds were homebrew, invitation only, passworded servers. To receive the password, our players were required to submit an application, with backstory, personality, appearance, goals and intended build for even the most mundane character. These applications were then used to ensure RP quality across the board, and provide customized DM interaction for the playerbase. Whenever I DMed I usually had the applications/bios for the characters involved open in different tabs, where I would continually add notes so that the DMing would be consistent even across multiple DMs.

Amia's culture is significantly different than this, but perhaps some of the ideas could be utilized. Offer the ability to players to submit such an application and have a DM in charge of reading and signing off on them, with his/her own forum for storing them and collecting comments. I imagine this would work double well if integrated with Glim's "reputation system". Having an application on file merits a sort of "premium" tier of DM service since they have more information to work from. These applications should be criticized with the same level as any other special character, even if the backstory is a relatively mundane farmer-fighter.

On another note unrelated to the above idea, but related to personal development, I feel that divine servants should be a much more common phenomena. A cleric serving the will of XYZ is kinda lost if they have to make up and BS what XYZ's will is. I'd love to see minor outsiders, or even just visions/hallucinations providing small nudges to devout characters to either keep them in line or provide quest/RP opportunities. I understand divine contact should be rare, but traditionally in Forgotten Realms story telling the servants of the various deities are told very unambiguously what they're supposed to be working on.

What makes me sad about my last post in this topic and what has come since is that noone acknowledged that what is currently happening server wide is what was asked for. I have been around for a long time now and I've seen a lot of these topics-- it's great for transparency, but I suggest some of those who want changes realize they're a little newer to the forum outlet of communication. That's not to say newer players' opinions aren't worth anything-- they are! It's just that noone seems to be taking the fact that they're newer or haven't contributed much to these discussions before into account. That's obviously going to take time and behind the screen discussion for them to implement-- and to see if it matters.

Despite that, I think this discussion is amazingly fruitful in terms of your honesty in DMing styles (Yoss, Hackums and Ego) and players being relatively receptive and calm. Way to gooooo.

If I could be so bold, and perhaps controversial, would you players who want short term plots to happen more/to you be willing to list your names/handles/characters and some detailed information about them in a topic/PM to a DM? Perhaps even stating whether you prefer a serious or humorous side quest and if you have something going personally already (for example the war knights or Bendir)?

-- I think Ninja may be on to something and it may be easy to do-- similar to Glim's idea of a reactionary index.

I don't see much reason to complain about DM plots or much of anything really. Plots, small or large are great fun and not all are end of the world. I'm against less inclusive this simply because it screams "favortism!" In a server where DM attention and giving players an opportunity to shine literally translates into _mechanical advantage_ (in the form of dream coins), then restricting players from participating is pretty much just playing favorites.

My only real issue is you should be so lucky to have events to complain about. Amia Elsewhen (timezones other than American) so very rarely see DM presence that many folk have never witnessed a DM event unless they log in at their 4 am because they can't sleep. (But we do love our DMs when we see one!) If you work strange shifts or live on the other side of the world, earning enough DCs for a simple familiar reskin can be a herculean task and the only way to experience events mostly is reading about them on forums.

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Rashad the Azure, Zakharan Merchant-lord Most Fair and Master of the Desert Wind
Loremaster Tukson Devers, Oghmanyte Wrestler of Knowledge and Child of the Passive Voice

(No tells for Rashad while I'm playing other characters please.)

This is so true, the last two months I think I have taken part in just one event, and I feel like I am missing out on a lot of fun being European.

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I am not weird, I am limited edition

This x2. I get that there would be plenty of complaints of favoritism or being forced into a certain kind of RP, but the latter can be worked out between the player and the DM. It's disappointing that the gods are so silent, and often so blind, towards their followers, especially Clerics, Paladins and Divine Champions. Visions, omens and certain manifestations (like Eilistraeeans experiencing a sudden cold breeze if Eilistraee disfavours them, or Gorm Gulthyn manifesting as a gauntlet to strike shields so he can warn his followers of an attack) would be a step in the right direction, it'd be in-line with canon, and it'd dispel the notion that the gods are distant and oftentimes useless when it matters most to their followers.

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I play...
Mihaela-Luminița Sămășescu, Paladin of Torm

I vote for more Euro DM's (who aren't insomniacs)

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Jys'zyne Do'larn

Man, this account is over 10 years old. Where do I get my old man beard?