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[A note arranged in accordance to the specifics of the advertisement, put somewhere to be found:]

To the Upstanding Gentleman,

Quaint pseudonym, hopefully you are not some paradigm of irony, but the genuine article.

I will divulge one detail regarding my character, and leave the rest anonymous, it is this:
I hate puns.

For one thousand and six hundred dinars I would have silenced indefinitely whatever wastrel uses the bellows for to quip highly irritating, rote, and plebian pablum on such subjects as the nature of camels or the transactions of archaeologists.

For another five hundred, you would leave his body berobed in the attire of a jester, crucified outside the Gate of Coin, with some derisive jest of your own. As I despise witless humor, I will not prescribe the specific message. I hope you have a creative streak. If my seneschal finds it amusing, it will suffice.

The due will be paid in the private room of the Sultan's Head by a servant when the rubric is met, the next full moon after the deed is publicly noticed.

[Prestige Stores]

Hello everyone.

A lot has changed in the political landscape of the Peerage since much of the v5 content guidelines were published, and things have been added or removed piecemeal, and the Ward has become the main hub for the entire setting. It's time to tidy things up a bit!

Updated House association and NPC profiles (based on content within the association private forums) for each association are now updated and posted in public forums for everyone to consider and review when thinking about concepts or comparing notes about the trajectory and unique tone of each House.

Furthermore, the regional profiles are now tidied up to match, and provide a useful at-a-glance for new and seasoned players for the hub areas and environs (including newly introduced areas). Hopefully this is helpful, and any questions regarding clarity are welcome, and we can expand those posts if necessary.

House Moonspear has undergone a reorganization in tone, aim, and leadership to more properly suit the Peerage Ward setting, and to encourage creative exploration of aspects of the Peerage's history.

House Orza and House Moonspear now have the option for players to engage in low-consequence PvP in their faction HQs without DM oversight, despite the presence of blue NPCs. This is intended to accentuate their bellicose natures, and encourage more player duels. Note that this is not for sparring and not for serious PvP. Full damage, yank pack, blackout, and other high-consequence PvP behavior still requires DM oversight in these areas. Please respect the intent behind this exception to our rules, and make the most of it!


Prestige Stores

All four Great Houses are receiving sweeping updates to their equipment stores. This is a comprehensive update intended to diversify build options, suppress undesirable imbalances, create equivalence across all four stores in terms of cost and power, articulate each house's flavor better, and properly evaluate Prestige points.

1) I'm excited to announce the return of Prestige Wager items. They are now House-specific. These items are meant to be tools for RP related to duels, gifts for exceptional aid, or donatives for serious favors. Selling, looting, or gifting without strong IC reasons is discouraged OOC and IC. Please use this system respectfully so we can keep it around! Note that prestige point redemption value is 90% of the cost for these items, to reflect IC depreciation and to prevent exploitation.

2) The stores now offer a cloak item that can be gifted to any PC not affiliated with the House, other Houses, or other DM factions or associations. They are intended to be tokens of favor to allies and federals of that House who are not retainers, and wish to fly the colors.

3) Full plate is no longer an introductory uniform option, and must be purchased at the store. Breastplate (medium, 5/2) is now the heaviest introductory uniform.

4) All armor types have a MW upgrade, and cloth has a separate option for spell slots. MW Plate is now significantly more expensive. MW cloaks have been discontinued. DI items and other elite equipments are now limited and are only available as DM handouts. Each store has several unique items, consumables, and flavor options. More may be in the pipe!

5) Not all faction gear is in the store! Some of the best equipment is available as rewards from DMs for exemplary or interesting roleplaying as a retainer. These are on display in trophy cases.

We will not officially be offering refunds or exchanges for current prestige equipment. Some items have been improved, others have been nerfed. If you think you have a special case, please contact DM Secutor, I'd be happy to discuss. The exception will be current House Moonspear PCs, which I will contact via their discord channel. If you notice any issues with the new store items, please contact DM Secutor.

You will also note that several items are no longer in the store. Some of these have made their way to an Elite equipment case in each HQ, and can be considered earnable DM loot, a la the Royal Huntsman or the Arenas. I haven't finished populating these inventories as of this post, so please keep an eye on them for new and returning gear!

Please use your best judgement regarding the IC vs OOC-retroactive natures of these changes. House Moonspear, for instance, is undergoing massive tonal changes in accordance with IC shifts in leadership, so their new armory would be completely IC. Other Houses, seeing an influx in new retainers from the increasing population of the Ward, may have decided, IC, against offering Full Plate right away to fresh recruits. E.g. Velstra is reserving its supply for winter; Glitt is rolling out new equipment, replacing the equipment tattered from years of neglect; Lord Anders and Kristoff implementing more rigorous standards... Etc.

Other things like less DI on armor should be considered OOC, and an act of game balance. We won't nitpick these points, and trust players to do their best to maintain immersion and setting coherence.


Some final qualitative notes regarding Houses and expected conduct for PCs:

1) Houses aren't enemies, they are rivals. Peerage politics are complex, but in the current state of the plot, only House Sunpurse/Senuspur is an enemy to all. The other Houses function in high-friction, non-cooperative, dysfunctional rivalry and one-up-manship. House members will be rewarded for amplifying this conflict, but will likely be squelched by the betters for implying notions of inter-House war until IC events dictate otherwise. Going full bore over Dispensaries, IC-justified FDs, and waging pitched fights upon outposts outside of the Ward are also encouraged under the umbrella of dysfunctional rivalry.

2) Each House isn't a bloc. Intra-House conflict is welcome and encouraged.

3) Don't hesitate to notify the DM team if you feel your PC has conducted Prestige-worthy deeds. PC notes and screenshots assist in this. We are happy to reward House PCs with these points in lieu of XP.

4) If NPC leaders discover that PCs are doing things like hanging out in the ponds or the moil, or questing with changelings Prestige will be deducted or they will expel that PC from their House.

Hello!

I am looking for sartorialistes to arrange some nice outfits for NPCs to create color and variety for in-game appearances.
This is an open invitation to submit armor pieces, predominately cloth, suitable for the COR setting: from foppish baronet to druther-scum waif, gilded campione of the arena to  deep ring gut-ripper.

You can download the .hak files in #player-workshop on Discord.

Please submit a screenshot and an .erf file (export from your toolset creation) to #fashion-police.

Please be mindful of model gender, and add [Male] or [Female] to the item name if it is intended to be only for that gender. Massive cleavage is discouraged unless thematic... I know that limits things.

And have fun!

I will be running a prelude for 2-5 non-alt PCs. Evil, human, and antagonists. You will start at a reasonable level and with reasonable equipment. It is not likely to be a long-term commitment, but it should be intense with PvP and plot beats.

Please send me a discord message only if you are sure you are interested, rather than with clarifying questions.

The prelude will happen ASAP depending on applications and other factors. Thanks for your interest!

Edit: All timezones are welcome, but US timezones will be best supported.

Hello, I am looking for a volunteer to write a canonical book based in the Peerage. It is intended to be a romantic recount of chivalrous or cunning deeds. Please send a little sample of your writing to me on discord if you are interested.

Of course, I'm happy to make some nice loot for your PC after completion, if your work is selected.

Hello! Simply I think that the spell Ironguts makes a lot of sense of the Ranger spell list, especially as a low-level, high utility, survival-oriented option (which is best for many ranger builds).

Thanks!

I think it would be neat if the spell Amplify allowed PCs to hear whispers at a further radius than normal. Though it is a Bard-only spell, it could make for interesting items, if it had this property.

Using Bror's Bulky Heavy Crossbrow on Blannis Pike, I receive the folloiwing message when I try to grapple vertical or horizontal with the Unique Power Self Only.

This climbing tool cannot be used to climb up down, or across treacherous spaces. Target the top of bottom of a cliff instead.

When I attempt to use the targeting Unique Power as instructed, I get the message that it is unsafe.

I believe the door exiting Ring 90 does not lock automatically or is not locked in general.

Character is Blannis Pike. I experience, often when idle or shortly after resting, a random loss of 3 to 7 hp, that does not come up in the feed (no damage). My character simply goes from uninjured to barely injured without any notification.

http://youtu.be/xtxMOwUlbAA?t=11s

Does anybody run one of these? Does anybody play NWN on it?

[Your goals are not a justification for your perk.]

Hey guys. I've been reading applications lately and I have a few thoughts for you. Recently, there have been some very good apps and, frustratingly, some very borings apps. There is a fine line between a "boring application" and a "bad/inappropriate application". The latter is exactly what it sounds like, and will be rejected or require reworking before approval. The former gives us no reason to vote "no" other than its complete lack of impressiveness, and that just puts us in a bind. If we approve these applications, we flood our setting and factions with unimpressive characters, and give them perks that they probably would not utilize in any exciting or innovating fashion. If we reject them, we do not have a good rationale to give you for turning you down, and that's not a place any of us want to be in. It leaves you frustrated with us for being jerks, and us frustrated with you for being a lumpy, banal clod.

So! For the betterment of everyone's personal-well being and the setting's scale of excitement, here are some things I would be ecstatic if you kept in mind when thinking about and writing an application.

0) This comes before anything else. Your goals are not a justification for your perk. Please, never ever click Submit New Thread in the Submissions forum if your goals include obvious, obligatory fluff.
[hide="Examples"]E.g.: A Stygian whose goals consist of "destroying all enemies of the Armada" and "showing off his martial prowess as a warrior", a druid of the Stewards who wishes to "protect the balance" and "learn as many herbal remedies as possible", or a werebeast who intends to "strike fear into the heart of the colony".[/hide] These are all ENDS, your goals should describe your MEANS.
[hide="Examples"]E.g.: The Stygian shall defeat his enemies by acquisition scandalous or implicative information about his opposites via his PC spies which he uses to blackmail them for their wealth, then denounce them into exile. The Steward will preserve the island's balance at all costs by uncovering ancient, lost druidic lore to use as a terrible weapon against the colony, that creeping, hateful blight that will soon destroy what he holds so dear, even if it costs him his soul. The chaotic-aligned werewolf will do his cunning best to prevent any to link his two identities, using his human shape to cultivate an impending sense of fear among the people masquerading as a retired werewolf hunter, and his beast forms to challenge roamers of the wilderness; killing some, cruelly sparing others, and befriending a few.[/hide] Go beyond the basics of your class and what you are applying for.

1) Get fucking imaginative! I mean this as peppy, enthused, and unphased as possible! Take a faction, a subrace, or a simple concept (cultist, archaeologist, merchant) and carry it outside the box. Waaay outside the box. I know you guys can do this. Memorable Watchmen are secretly slavers, famous gang warlords are as flamboyantly gay as they are terrible and powerful, distinguished scholars raise armies of the dead just to prove the benefice of necromancy, and bohemian freedom fighters run illegal gambling and smuggling operations in the back rooms of their stew shops. Don't get silly though: monster races are evil and acting outside of a faction's prerogative requires slyness.
Futhermore, don't be afraid to make sacrifices just for fun. Gaining levels, money, and loot falls under "boring" to me. Don't save, use! [hide="Ejemplos"]Your death cult calls for you to kill yourself and your new recruit in the initiation process in order to form a bond through a "true death". Your robin-hood-esque vagabond bard heroically attacks slavers and gluttonous merchants who will unerringly kill him should they catch him, shouting some warcry or his own name to onlookers before disappearing under invisibility, just to promote himself or his cause. Your scheming archaeologist makes gifts of rare artifacts to powerful benefactors to protract their good will in order to reach some perilous goal with their needed aid, instead of donating those finds to the museum.[/hide] Some of these are a little ridiculous! but you get the picture. Do what people don't expect, get yourself out of the normalcies of your character's function in the gameworld, as a certain class, as a politician, or as an advocate of this or that cause.

2) Make your goals as player-friendly as humanly possible. DMs love to help you make sweet characters, reward you, and run you quests and plots to make you problem solve and allow you to showcase your amazingness. What we don't like to do much of (or don't have time for) is the daily intrigue, socialization, haggling, and character bonding that makes roleplaying that much deeper in a persistent world. You, as a player, will probably be logging many more hours in game than most DMs will. So will many of your fellow players. Use that to your advantage. Figure out methods to pursue your goals with and against other players. You will get bored if you do not. Finding new ways to make non-DM supervised EfU:A interesting to yourself and everyone you involve yourself with is probably one of the most impressive things you can put on an app. Applications can be boring to us because we may foresee them boring you. That is the sole reason we promote player conflict as much as we do, to keep you interested when we are busy building, preparing, or taking time off. As much as I would like to be in game every day for hours, possessing beggars to throw their turds at your pretty adventuring mugs, I have a busy life.

3) Look back at your application after you finish it. Stop pondering about how sweet it would be to play this character and consider what you would think of it were you a DM and had this in front of your face.

4) If you are unsure of your concept, ask opinions from fellow players and DMs. Get feedback questions like: "do you think I will have fun with this concept?", "do you think others will enjoy playing with this character?", and "is this going to capture people's imaginations?".



To long; didn't read: In your applications, especially in your goals section, make the readers as interested in the concept as you are.

Ramblin' Man (visuals irrelevant)
The Dodos

Throw down some tunes.

Hey guys.
I'm trying to do toolset work on the computer I'm using now, but I experience "abnormal program termination"s often enough to make it frustrating. These abortions usually occur when I'm working with creature inventories.
This laptop runs XP and an intel graphics card which I assume is just part of the mother board.
Any thoughts? Google isn't turning up many useful options (most of these issues are on people's vistas).

Hey folks. Just a friendly reminder!

When interacting with DMs during a quest, spice, or event, keep in mind that we are usually multitasking and trying to keep everything smooth and interesting. That being the case, we love to cater to the actions that your characters wishes to take, but we need you to be very clear with each other for everything to work out!

We cannot hear whispers, so if you have a plan that you are about to execute in the heat of the moment, you should send a tell or a message on the DM channel briefly explaining what you want to do, and maybe your motives if you have the time. Please do not leap into action without forewarning, either through tells or through RP, and then a confirmation from the overseeing DM when they're ready. It may seem bold to you to just buff up and have a go at the bossmonster before it finishes its soliloquy, but it can be real frustrating to us (you may be missing important info)!

Also, know that DMs are at liberty to bend mechanics to further the story. Don't get frustrated at this! The limitations of the game, and the nature of the real-time combat make it so that we may need to improvise clunkyly what might be very smooth in a story-telling medium.

You people are lovely. See you IG.

Courtesy of Daniel.

As a general disclaimer, this post is of my own opinion and observations, and doesn't necessarily reflect those of the rest of the DM team.

---------------------

You have successfully applied for a DM faction and are now inducted. Congratulations. Your first step is to look over the aims, prerogatives, goals, and possibly motives of your faction. The next step is to do your best to carry them out in the setting as a member of the faction.

There are more steps - but sadly so many stop there.

As a Player Character in a DM faction, you are not reduced to being a drone for DM-contrived conflicts or aims. The point of such factions and perks is to furbish you the player with an interesting angle to do what you want. Your PCs goals and the factions goals do not need to perfectly coincide. In fact, it is better if they do not. Inter-faction conflict is just as interesting as intra-faction conflict, keep that in mind.

Applying for these factions is not an excuse to have a cool character with unoriginal goals. It's just like a subrace with stat boosts: you get perks, like NPC support, free rest, equipment, and prestige to further your aims. Be that as it may, you can't get away with being totally off-kilter within the faction and ignore completely its founding principles, but it is your responsibility to bring the faction to life, to flavor it as you see fit, and to actively further its aims and yours instead of languishing about, waiting for directives from HQ.

So, think about it this way, you are not in a "DM Faction", you are in a "DM-supported Faction". You are not free from the responsibility of taking initiative to have fun, include others, and plot.

Now, the next steps: Find something that interests you about the faction to exploit. Invent interesting ways to do day-to-day faction stuff without a DM looking over your shoulder. Press your goals on other PC and NPC groups to spark conflict. Press your personal goals on the faction's to spark internal conflict. If you can and if you want, get powerful enough to change the very nature of the faction or even the server, at least to some degree - leave your footprint.

You guys are all capable of this. There has been some really cool intrigue going on recently, and it needs to proliferate the server's nooks and crannies. So go to.

Now that I've building for EfU, I'm wondering how many of you play with NWN music on. I try to keep it in mind, but since I play with it off, it tends to be something I forget or spend very little time considering. I love the music, but I don't think half of it fits anything other than the OC or the PM that the new tracks are for. Anyway, just curious. If an overwhelming number of you DO play with the music, I'll put much more consideration into it when in the toolset!