676 Topic by Darkhawk

(2 replies, posted in Roleplay)

((these two entries were sent to the following people: Tinai, Wheri, Dagannys, Trevenni, Emaelle, Kendrus, Faeron, Dustie, Artash, Naetin, Kayleedawn, Victoria, Kalir, Shula and Paradoxis))

Perun's Travel Log, Day 0:

What a perfect farewell party! It is strange to think that it is only one and a half week
since I set foot in this camp. I had never imagined being together with homins would turn out
to be this good, but it did. When I announced that I would leave the camp, a farewell party
was suggested by the Trykers for me and all others who would leave this day. The party itself
was great, with Wheri and Tinai foraging for Sap, so we had the possibility to get thoroughly
drunk.

That worked out very well indeed, and I had a great time listening to stories and songs around
the campfire, with most of the people I have met here in the camp present. I tried not to
focus on the sad aspects of this - that I would be leaving newly met friends. It seems most of
us will try to meet up again, so there is no reason to be sad.

I believe a few in the company got a little too much to drink and wonder how they felt waking
up the next day - probably like Tinai described, feeling the sun was about to kill them. I
however woke up with a great happiness and a desire to see the world - but also with a great
pleasure in knowing I've made friends in this short time in the camp. At least that is half
the reason I woke up in a happy mood, the other half was still present beside me.

To all that this travel log reaches, I wish to say I am glad I got to know you. I had
never thought my life would turn out this way, and I hope to see as many as you as possible,
as we make our way to Zora.

- Perun

Perun's Travel Log, Day 1:

A good day, but not without sadness at what I left behind. Still, the future seems bright. I
was teleported to Yrkanis by the Karavan, and my first expressions of the city were confusing.
So many new people and customs. I managed to find Naetin quickly though, and also a friendly
healer of The Order of the Dragon Blades named Kian shi. Interestingly, he was a Zoraí and
seemed accepted in the city. 

After a quick look around, Yrkanis does not seem that big. Surprising perhaps, but then again,
it is a young city, like every city here in the new lands. Not at all like the stories about
the old lands I heard from my family.

Apart from some personal business here of mine, Naetin and I have decided to stay for a few
days, getting to know the area and the people here, before we attempt to get to Zora. The
beasts in the wild here are much more vicious than at the refuge camp, but nothing a good
warrior can't handle alone - as long as it is one on one. There are Kitin here, and they are
stronger than those I encountered before. There definately is challenge to be had here and I
know some of you will be glad to hear that. Overall it seems the Matis have things under
control in the areas I have visited. There are several small villages and many guards. There
are roads that are somewhat safe for all, if you look out.

I have been busy carrying messages, fight Kitin and look at the sights around Yrkanis today. I
have seen a strange flying Karavan vehicle patrolling an encampment, dead trees reaching into
the sky and Matis everywhere. I have even dared to sit on the chair of the Matis king when no
one was looking. Don't tell anyone of course!

As I write this, I am ready to sleep in the wilds as I've done so often. I haven't found a
place to stay here, and I don't think I will either. When I have concluded my business and
Naetin and I feel ready, we will try to reach Zora, a capital I very much look forward to
seeing.

I hope you are all well and doing things that pleases you. I am, and the world seems a place
full of promise. 

- Perun

Go to forum: Roleplay

677 Reply by Darkhawk

(3 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Hey, great links smile

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

678 Reply by Darkhawk

(54 replies, posted in Games Discussion)

PvP if properly executed is not bad. PvP just for the sake of it, with an immature audience, is rather bad. We'll see.

Go to forum: Games Discussion

679 Reply by Darkhawk

(5 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Well, whether you can read or not is obviously your own, individual choice. Perun can read and write. Whetever others decide for their own chars is fine by me, it all adds colour to the background. And if you really want to be able to read, although your background might not make for it, then you can just say you were taught so at the camp. No big problem.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

680 Reply by Darkhawk

(54 replies, posted in Games Discussion)

Of course you can Nosyd smile And the game looks interesting, I'll be sure to keep my eyes on it.

Go to forum: Games Discussion

681 Reply by Darkhawk

(49 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Yes, there seems to be a sizable minority who either do not want to play SoR, or play, but do not have their heart in it. There are also a good deal, around 10-15 + 3 or so new ones we managed to meet, that do enjoy the game. Both was to be expected of course. The important thing is to still be one community, no matter what we play. As for NWN, I think NWN2 has very good potential for us, but it will require some time and effort from the GM's (be they amongst us or among the general NWN community). Still, NWN2 I could see as a great place to RP, given the right world.

Also, URU Online, which launches this December will be highly interesting looking into, which I will of course do. So there should be alternatives to SoR coming up shortly. It would still be great to collect most or all of us in one game - it might be unrealistical after Seed, but let's see. For now, there is RP in SoR, and that means almost everything for me (it is certainly better than the alternative, which is nothing right now).

Anyway Sandling, you'd better stay around. Or else!

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

682 Reply by Darkhawk

(5 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

I think this is fine, especially since this was how I have already used the system. As to how quickly messages pass back and forth (very speedy couriers), let's just ignore that, and use this system.

However, for some it might be relevant to consider whether they can read or write. Otherwise, they'd have to get others to read them their letters, which could also present interesting RP.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

683 Reply by Darkhawk

(57 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Well, as I said, I'm ok with OOC inside (()) and doing what we can to limit it/hide it away in /tell if possible. That does work for me. I might have gotten a bit carried away due to my passion for this, but as long as this is combined with a sensible magical communication system, I'm fine. I just need an IC explanation as to how we can use the /tell, /team and /guild channels.

If people are ok with the magical communication system, we can try to develop that ingame. I also tend to agree with Ahnion that a 1-200 level range is a bit too much, and I do understand what Wheri says about it too. So how about we tweak it so everyone can be satisfied with it, and then say we have a solution?

OOC in brackets, hidden away in /tell if only to one other. A magical communication system we RP establishing now . And then we just go with it, no fuss and all smile  That works for me.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

684 Reply by Darkhawk

(49 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

About grinding and being in teams, it might not be that crippling for us. It's true that there is a difference in skill. For some, it is quite a lot. Also, it's true that most of us like feeling we're following the others in skill.

However, there are some factors that can be made to work with this. First off, if you specialize in on field, fight, magic, crafting or harvesting, you will have a much easier time reaching a high skill level, while others who specialize in 2-4 fields will need to spend 2-4 x the time to get there.

Also, since we do RP, there are points where you need others to help you accomplish something (kill bandits, kill Arken, kill Reitzak, etc.). At that time, you need the help of someone who is somewhat skilled, or it won't work. You can't manage alone, and you can't manage only with cannonfodder (well, maybe you could, but that would go against most chars to bring along cannonfodder wink). Also, I do not team with non-rp'ers to get something done. Therefore, at certain times in the missions, you need to 'wait' for others to catch up somewhat, in order for you to progress. That's made some good RP, as we have scouted the area, talked about how to do it, trained those who were not able to, and so on. The satisfaction when you then succeed is much greater.

And as for needing to speak OOC on skill levels in game, I can't see the need personally. It is of course efficient to do so, but not that much fun. Better to not know the skills of your comrade, beyond what your char himself can gauge. When RP'ing, you have to think and see yourself as the char you're playing. Would he or she be able to know someones precise skill level? No. And that's enough for me. It's all about immersion, not about doing things most efficiently. I can also imagine the RP that can arise when someone claims to be a really good warrior and then gets the party beaten up.. For instance wink Well, we have to see opportunities, not limitations in what we do. But anyway, this was a little besides the main point of this posting, which was about the grinding.

We'll have to accept that some chars will be further ahead than others, and use techniques to even this out as much as possible. However, those that are 'better' than others might be especially talented at what they do, or they might just be exceptionally lucky and devote a lot of time on their training (which they do). That's an explanation as to how the skill gap can grow between two who started at the same time, with the same things. I don't feel it is that important, ingame. And of course that's easy for me to say, because I have some rather nice skill levels. But I spend most of my time ingame RP'ing and not grinding, so if you really want to catch up to the most skilled chars, one day of solo-grind would go far, especially if you specialized in one field only.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

685 Reply by Darkhawk

(57 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Well, it seems like we have people in favor of each of the 3 options I came up with, with a slight overweight of people preferring '2' or '3'.

The ones preferring '1' have a good argument in wanting to be able to ask meta-game questions without switching screen to IRC. This could be handled beautifully if we had an /OOC channel separately, that questions could be asked in. We thought we did not. But actually, we DO have such channels, and ingame they (officially) serve just that purpose. I am talking about the /region and /universe channels, which have this function and which can be turned off/ignored. Would it be acceptable if those who preferred '1' used these for metagaming questions and such?

If we remove metagaming questions, what might be left OOC (besides the occasional important OOC thing that could be inside (()), is social smalltalk perhaps. This does not seem to be an issue for us, and all seem to agree not to have that in our channels as such? If this is so, we have the outlines of a possible system in place.

Now, if you need to ask something OOC to one player, you can easily use /tell with (()). The same goes for /team or /guild if it is important and cannot be asked in any IC way, or to one person only via /tell.

As for the IC on the team and guild channel. This is the point of contention between '2' and '3'. However, I did test a possible solution with Wheri, and that strikes me as a workable solution to bring the two differences of opinion together. Feel free to correct me if you think otherwise, of course.

What we need the talk on /team and /guild to achieve is the following (provided the metagaming questions go elsewhere):

- To find out where the RP is, and go there.
- To be able to send somewhat descriptive messages to each other for coordinating
- To be able to call upon someone and arrange a meeting
- General talk to improve RP and the feeling of 'togetherness'

Tantavalist, being the thoughtful ex-TM'er that he is, has come up with a workable system indeed. As I said, Wheri and I tested this. This system fits in with the world (attunement through Atys, though this is more Kami than Karavan), and is vague enough to allow for misunderstandings and interesting RP to develop. On the other hand, it is also vague enough to limit at least the last point we might want to go for on the list.

Still, I think it is the best suggestion so far. And I'll suggest we put such a system to the test in /team, /guild and /tell (when it is not whispering. /tell can double both as whispering and magic communication). Here're my thoughts:

0 in Magic ability - possibility to receive communication, but not to send.

1-50 in Magic ability - limited ability to send. No thoughts, clear images, sound or smell, but emotional states and vague descriptions of where they originate: 'a rushing panic fills you, and there is a sharp pain in your side, as you get the impression of a huge, hot place far away'

51-100 in Magic ability - No thoughts, better images, some smell. 'a rushing panic fills you, and there is a sharp pain in your side, as you get the impression of looking at a hazy jungle, and a huge, flying bug in front of you. The air smells of rain.'

100-150 in Magic ability - No thoughts, but otherwise seeing, smelling, hearing and feeling (emotional and to some degree physical) what the sender experiences: 'You are in a jungle, fighting Kitin and slowly panicking. Your left side hurts from the huge wound there, and your swordarm feels heavy. You desperately wish someone would come and help you. Strangely you seem focused on the smell of the rain which is pouring down, rather than at the Kitin in front of you. Your vision starts to blur' (ok, by the time the sender finishes that description, he'd be quite dead wink)

151-200 in Magic ability - Possible to broadcast thoughts. 'Arrghh! I'm in the Kitin jungle, past the tunnel from the lake, and I'm getting beat up. Please help me!'

Well, a battle might have been a bad example to use, but I guess you can see where I am going with this. What do you think? It would of course take accept and some discipline for us to pull off this system. It might not even be the best system, but it is a system, and it has its benefits I believe. Of course, we can test it for now, on the basic stages, or you can come up with modifications to my quick fleshing out of this.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

686 Topic by Darkhawk

(49 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

I think the time is approaching where we have to decide whether we want to continue playing SoR and consequently, if we want to, begin to look towards travelling to our capitals and getting in the RP in camp needed to meet up later again.

SoR might not be a game for all of us, but personally I believe it is the best game we can play at the moment, and that is enough for me, as long as you are there beside me. Therefore I'll go on and gladly pay the monthly fee, if most of you will do so too.

I have already established bonds with around 4 or 5 people that would make my char want to seek them out again later, and do something with them. However, I and we haven't really broached the 'create a guild with a mutual goal' thing yet. We might not need to do that before we leave camp, but we do need to agree on meeting up somewhere again, all of us. For my char personally, he really wants to see the people he's met stick together and meet up again. I guess the same could go for most of the other chars as well. So now might be the time to work this element into our RP, before some start leaving alone for their capitals. We can also arrange for who travels with who then, as it is logical that we travel in groups to the capital.

And, as for my general impressions of the game so far:

- There is a lot of grinding
- You need to focus a lot on actions where you do not have time to write/RP that much
- The skill system is rather good and thoughtfully made (but it means grinding)
- Graphics and atmosphere are quite good (try removing all your clothes - you're left with sexy underwear. Great, huh?)
- The emotes suck
- There are many small, nice details about the game you take your time noticing, but which make the overall impression better
- Great RP can easily be achieved with a little effort

I've had good and not so good moments with the game. When out hunting and completing quests alone, spending hours levelling up, it feels empty and pointless after a while. When together on quests with RP'ers, it feels much better, as we take our (sweet) time RP'ing situations. Same thing at the campfire, though we've spent way too much time at that one location (which is natural right now).

Yesterday I had my best day in SoR, and the day before that was good too. So I'm starting to get into it, establish connections to other chars and to get to a point where I can RP at least 50% of the time I spend ingame (which limits my powerlevelling, unfortunately wink).

All in all, I am pretty sure SoR can work for (most of) us, if we want it to. What say you?

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

687 Reply by Darkhawk

(9 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

I can also recomment creating a character with some form of backstory that ties in with others. It needn't be much, it needn't be anything as 'invasive' as sharing the same background (family). It can be a chance meeting the characters have had in the past, that has influenced them. When they then meet each other again, they have a hook to launch their RP from.

Such a hook is not only a tremendous help in fleshing out your character and getting the first RP started, it also makes it easier to get a deeper relationship going with some of the other players. And it needn't be much, it can just be that you met, had a positive impresion on each other and then left again. Something like that would enable you to start a friendship and go adventuring together when you meet in the camp. Of course, you could also make a darker, more complex mutual background and see where that took you. There are many possibilities.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

688 Reply by Darkhawk

(12 replies, posted in Sava's Garden)

It's interesting to follow this thread and see if someone mentions a really promising game that would be well-suited for us. And it's also interesting reading about all your experiences with MMOGS.

It seems to me that there is no game that has been mentioned, that would be suitable for us as a group at present, and that our choice of SoR in general wasn't so bad, considering that there are no alternatives.

Of those mentioned, I myself believe that the right, ambitious NWN2 persistent online world might be the best roleplaying environment. That is still half a year or so away (it takes a while for players to create such a world, and the game needs to get out first too), but I'll be buying and testing NWN2 at least.

Looking at other games that are up and coming, Age of Conan might be interesting, as well as several others. What we need though, is a new game where the developers place some emphasis on RP, where the players are a bit older/more mature, or/and where there is a good environment for RP'ing. Let's keep our eyes open and continue to post our impressions here.  smile

Go to forum: Sava's Garden

689 Reply by Darkhawk

(5 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

http://www.ryzom.com/newcomer/game-down … anguage=en

See you smile

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

690 Reply by Darkhawk

(14 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Yeah, all of this sounds good, somewhere out in the future. But let's not rush it. We are all in the starting area yet, and we'll have plenty of time to get to know the game, ourselves and the others, before going for this.

And when we decide to leave the training area, I guess we should announce it some days earlier, so all who play as the same race can gather up and prepare. Should be good RP over these days as the characters prepare for a long trip too.

And yes, do remember to add all of us to your 'Friends' list, so we will not lose sight of each other smile

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

691 Reply by Darkhawk

(11 replies, posted in Floatbed Dreams)

Tsk, tsk.. Such a cheap way to enhance your posting 'score' all of you.. RAAWWWRRR!

Go to forum: Floatbed Dreams

692 Topic by Darkhawk

(57 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

I'd like to take the chance to start a discussion about the actual conventions we use when we RP in SoR. This should not really be seen as a way to force anything on anyone, but more of like a discussion about how we want this to be.

First off. We seem to use the system we also used in Seed. IC as much as possible, and then (()) when OOC. That goes for our talk in /around and /tell. Now, there is also the /region and /universe chat channels. These, I recently learned were meant to be OOC. There is a terrible, immersion breaking cacophony of noise coming from these channels, so when I was told how to close them, I happily did (rightclick in the opper bar of the chatwindow, and select what channels you wish to be able to hear). That improved atmosphere enormously, as you can then only hear those close by, which is realistic. I can only recommend all to do this.

As for /tell, I use it to whisper things to others, certainly not as an universal, instant telepathic connection.

Now, then we have the /team and /guild channels. And these are the channels I wish to speak about here, mainly.

We can do the following things with these, to fit in RP:

1. Use them as they seem to be intended, for OOC coordination and chat
2. Come up with an ingame explanation as to why we can hear and speak across distances with Team/Guild members, and keep both channels IC
3. Completely ignore the existence of these channels.

I am quite opposed to '1' myself. It breaks immersion and goes against the RP we want to create. It is a known thing (and made fun of in The Noob wink) that RP'ers are much less effective than other players at getting things done. They have to stand and talk, sometimes for hours, before anything gets done. Even in battle, they have to do what their char feels like, not what is most efficient. Coordinating atttacks, travels, 'resurrections', or whatever, OOC in such channels just feel deeply wrong to me. Personally I want an atmosphere where I am only my char, without metagaming for efficiency or ease of things. I want things to be hard too. A lot of RP gets stripped away by having OOC organizing channels.

So, that was my arguments against '1', and I hope most agree. In any case my char will not by using these channels like this.

Now '2' is the sensible diplomatical solution to the two extremes. Esme suggested for instance that our magicians established telepathic channels, and that's the IG reason we can communicate with eachother over /tell, /team and /guild. Other IG reasons, like finding an artifact, could explain this. Then, we'd have channels that were IC, where we could RP and coordinate IC. Rather like /ring in Seed, at least where TM was concerned, as we used that heavily for private speak and organizing, all IC.

Solution '2' is workable, we will retain some efficiency, and we will have a lot of RP and a feeling of being together in this.

And finally '3', the most realistic solution. Never to use those channels. I've always been an elitistic RP purist, so this does appeal to me. But it is very difficult, and truthfully it will place some hindrances on RP, particularly when we are in a guild. Imagine organizing things and informing people. We'd have to call meetings for people to attend, and if we had to change orders we'd have to send runners out, looking for people, etc.  Yes, this does actually sound appealing to me, but the problem is: There is a lot of RP we won't have then, and we might lose the feeling of basic 'togetherness'.

Not surprisingly, I am in favor of '3.' if most others are, in that we can then make this work in a challenging way. It's alright I have to be together with people to be able to talk to them, also since there is no IG explanation that is immediately usable for the telepathic communication network.  There are good points to both '2' and '3' I feel. It's a question about what we want, and how we want that.

If however this is too extreme for people, I do understand that, on basis of it limiting RP. Then I'll happily go with '2.'. Just not '1.'. It's a fallback to OOC, and we can use #Seed for that.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

693 Reply by Darkhawk

(10 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

Yeah, hmm.. Resurrection. OF course it takes a lot of tension out of the game knowing you can do anything with impunity. However, there is an added RP thing in regards to the Kami and Karavan. Being resurrected by them is like chosing sides or getting 'stained' by having to be resurrected by someone you hate.

Anyway, I'm RP'ing it as the following:

When you get trashed and fall over, you're mortally hurt, yet still alive (you can talk - there is opportunity for RP'ing moans and cries for help as you lie there dying). When you get to the point where you actually pass away, you can 'chose' to be magically/technologically teleported to a Kami or Karavan enclave, where you are then quickly healed. No dying therefore. This also means that in places where there is no Kami/Karavan enclave (like the wilderness you came from) you do actually die. Besides. You can heal someone up from the 'dead' state by just 'healing' them. That must indicate they are not dead, but just mortally hurt, lying there.

This has the following benefits: We do not die, but you CAN chose to die in a battle if you want (delete the char). We can RP a few extra things to spice up the whole deal. And it just seems like the, for me, best way to explain all of this and retaining sanity. That we can be teleported in this way.. Well, magic and technology can do a lot of incredible things in this game, so..

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

694 Reply by Darkhawk

(28 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

I'm playing Perun, a young Matis who apparently hasn't been told much about the world.

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

695 Reply by Darkhawk

(13 replies, posted in Saga of Ryzom)

I think we should not meta-plan (out of the game) too much, as a big part what we like, the RP, evolves around meeting people, making decisions and being surprised at what happens. If we know already what will happen in game for the next month, following a tight plan, much of the 'excitement' of the RP will not be there (at least not for me). Without risk of RP resulting in things you don't really want it to result in, it's not nearly as fun/intense.

That said, we do need a structure to build on. It is not enough that we meet up and just decide to 'adventure together'.

So, we should make interracial bonds here and there. My char has a tighter bond to 2 of another race, that I'll work into his background. And we should have chars that are ready to bond with who they meet and talk with initially (lonely refuges, in a place where nobody talks to them.. But then, someone does. Of course you'd usually like that. usually). Maybe also ready to establish something like an interracial guild, working for the good of all. And Scattered Seeds is indeed a name that might be appropriate. So would Seeds of a new World be if we were slightly more organized, and so on.

As for guilds, they can be neutral, but will technically have to be Karavan/Neutral or Kami/Neutral, which might present a challenge for keeping us together ingame. But how about we solve this, ingame, when it is relevant and our chars discover this? And how about we let the RP develop freely in the directions that is natural, based on us meeting each other? If we just keep some openness in regards to bonding and willingness to wok multi-racially together.

What I think will happen is that we, being refuges, will bond and make friends. We will risk our lives (ahehm, we're effectively immortal though) on the island, help each other in tight spots. Then we will agree to travel and meet uo probably. That's when our chars learn more of the world and might start to drift from what happened in the ranger camp. Or they might strengthen the bonds they got, based on what happens to them. How about each player takes responsibility for that, and then we see what happens, and who we are, when we do meet up again?

Go to forum: Saga of Ryzom

696 Reply by Darkhawk

(8 replies, posted in Floatbed Dreams)

As I originally thought, she was an undercover supporter of New Eden. A really interesting and probably fiendish ring opposed to TSR that we were investigating.

As for KDS and TM, she was loyal to us actually. The story about telling TM she spied for us, when she did spy for you, she had to tell you because Arash made that incredibly bad mistake of sending the wrong /tell.

And Thosam, I thought as much about Kidd. We expected you two to do something like that - so maybe you didn't do it because you knew it was too apparent? Did you invent blockers and the committee yourself when you were talking to Neshor?

Go to forum: Floatbed Dreams

697 Reply by Darkhawk

(8 replies, posted in Floatbed Dreams)

But Tantavalist.. You know we had spies in all rings and knew exactly what they were up to.. We already know all their dark secrets!

Apart from that, it's fine by me to reveal a few secrets. Also, there might be some texts on our TM boards that I would like to save, and these will go somewhere on this forum instead.

For now, here's a link to quite a few dark secrets: http://seed.dtschupp.de/index.php?

I'd be interested in hearing just WHAT Kidd was suggesting to help Thosam with, and just what info he gave him about blockers. Care to share Thosam?

And Kryigerofe, maybe all in here, including TM members, don't know your dark secret. I hope you'll share (otherwise I will wink)

Go to forum: Floatbed Dreams

698 Reply by Darkhawk

(12 replies, posted in Sava's Garden)

I've played a few MMORPG's before Seed, like EverQuest, Entropia and EVE Online. The latter two I betatested.

EVE is indeed a great, atmospheric game, especially when you loved good old Elite and all games in that vein. I was into roleplaying in Eve, as much as I could, and there are pure roleplaying guilds there. Good guilds too. However, the game is massive, and most of the time you will be flying around alone, in a very big universe. Also, there is not that much to roleplay about, it feels more like a tacked on element, not an integral part of the game. Still, the best online game I've played before I found Seed, and I might return to it someday. It's not a game I recommend we focus on as a group though. Also, EVE and Seed are the only games I know of, with a skill system that eliminates level/skill grind. This is good, that means more time for roleplaying.

Entropia is, or was fresh. It gets updated quite often, has a somewhat changing world, a reasonable (grind) skill system and several interesting features. I did not meet many roleplayers during the years I kept checking in on it. However, the biggest problem is the mentality that is created by this game's economics I think. It is not all that healthy. It does have some good points though. I'd not be opposed to playing in this universe, although I know if I played it seriously, I'd spend money, possibly a lot, on this.

There are a great many MMORPG's around. We spent 1 day looking for what we thought was a good starting MMORPG to gather the community. Eventually, Saga of Ryzom was selected. We'll see where that takes us. However, we're not bound to that game unless we want to be of course. Ideally, we're looking for a game close to Seed. Where roleplaying is built into the game from the start, not something players must try to get in themselves. Where roleplaying and an older audience is catered to, and where GM's are actual GM's, playing NPC's and moving stories along, while players are the driving force. Other games like this, not just Seed, must exist somewhere, or will get to exist. We should keep our eyes open.

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699 Topic by Darkhawk

(4 replies, posted in Data Fragments)

Here's a link to the seed screenshots I put online:

http://seed.dtschupp.de/index.php?

Thanks to Quanto for making it possible.

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700 Topic by Darkhawk

(0 replies, posted in Data Sets)

06:23:10: I finally have time to record what has happened today. I have made my peace with the past as well as was possible, and sent the last letters to those I care for.

The Tower is largely quiet - TAU recalled all seeds to their floatbeds. Most obeyed TAU, either out of habit, or trusting in it to know best. By fluke of a buggy subprogram or an actual sound plan, it has decided to take back responsibility of the mission.

Quite a few of us felt that obeying TAU might amount to a death sentence for all, and an end to the mission. TAU is badly broken and confused - it does not seem to know about the virus spreading with the fungus. It cannot withstand the storms, and it still does not seem to know its top is missing. Trusting TAU to take care of problems it couldn't even handle when it was working properly is 'optimistic' at best.

Therefore, I have assembled a team to increase our overall chances of survival. A small, dedicated team that is just now busy reconfiguring a few floatbeds to be outside of TAU's control.

The team consists of the following people:

Arash of The Mission
Dustman of The Network
Mehken of The Mission
Miho of Evolution
Nuala of Biology and Health Unit
Shaun of The Mission
Tantavalist of The Mission
Tin of Tau Divers

We will retreat to Recspace with our resources and tools. There, we will work on a cure for the Corona Virus, to be injected into the floatbeds. We will find a way to remove the fungus, and we will monitor the tower for critical problems. We will, in short, help make sure both the tower and the seeds in extended floatbed rest will survive.

In theory, that is the plan. In practice, TAU will probably remove most life-support from the tower aswell as power from the factories. Our necklinks might go inactive or chimbots might attack us on sight. Of course we will try to solve these issues - but apart from that, 8 seeds keeping an eye on the whole tower is an almost impossible task. We know we are not likely to see our friends and loved ones again, but we can hope and we can work.

I better mention that we found another seed outside her floatbed today. Esperance of Nova Gaia. She decided to try to go outside, and we have not been able to find her since. Sadly, we think she chose to end her life outside, rather than to go to the floatbeds.

Apart from her and us, we believe all seeds are now inside their floatbeds. I can see the realization that we are now responsible for their well-being beginning to dawn on the team. They seem determined however, and I have a feeling we will work well together. Time will tell, but I hope that one day someone will be here to read these notes.

- Arash, of The Mission

((Picture of the team leaving for Recspace after a last look out of the tower: http://madcowclan.uw.hu/Seed/leaving.JPG))

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