Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Gaming vs Gamesmanship

« on: May 17, 2022, 11:37:54 PM »

Wordless FDs and zero-role play robberies are not encouraged in EFU as you are perfectly well aware, Jasede!

There is something about EFU where people seem to remember the incredibly rare incident where things go sour, or perhaps when new players are too hasty or clumsy with PvP, or otherwise where things don't go ideally. But the general culture of the server is not like this as best as I can tell, and if it is then players need to communicate issues to DMs so we can take steps to address issues.

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Announcements / Discord Moderators

« on: May 08, 2022, 11:52:03 PM »

Dear players -

With the hopes of contributing towards a more positive and relaxed atmosphere in #efu-main, I'd like to invite players to reach out to me to volunteer for a new Discord moderation role. Discord Moderators will be asked to:

- Be a good example for the EFU community
- Be helpful to new players
- Ensure that #efu-main exists as a positive and welcoming place. Unpleasant subjects or disagreements between players should be worked out through private messages or with the assistance of a DM
- Communicate to myself or another DM when there are problems in the community or issues that need to be resolved

Discord Moderators will have the ability to "quiet corner" Discord accounts, however this  should generally be used sparingly and the role is instead more appropriate for someone with a knack for re-directing toxic conversations and defusing problems.

Please contact me on Discord if this is something that you think you would be a good fit for.

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Suggestions / Re: Reduce Customisation Restrictions

« on: April 30, 2022, 05:40:43 PM »

I just really like having my outfits match my RP and help tell a character's story, so it's utterly jarring to find a server that seems to be pushing me to put on a brown bin bag and a janky polygonal boar helmet and give up on that ridiculous notion.

We want the the equipment to tell the story also.

Which means, for a while, your character might be using odd pig-helmets off a dead goblin, or might be painstakingly collecting bits of cloth from piles of garbage to painstakingly sew together a "Trash Picker's Scarf", or making an amulet from all kinds of useless little trinkets you find.... but then perhaps join a faction, or start your own, or plunder your way across the Rings and acquire dazzling ornate robes from some distant land....

To really drill down, I hope these aren't asking the server to 'adjust its core principle's....

- Can the in-game tailor please add robes to cloth outfits, just like the New Character Area tailor can.
- Could the in-game tailor also maybe sell a few scarves and cloaks.

I was puzzled by your remark, but it turns out that whoever set up the Peerage tailor (which was relatively recently) neglected to add the variable to permit the tabards. So we'll fix that at some point.

We will also look into increasing the availability of scarves and cloaks.

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Suggestions / Re: Reduce Customisation Restrictions

« on: April 29, 2022, 11:03:36 PM »

With all the love - if it's an issue that's regularly raised by new players, is it possible that it's one of the things that's putting people off, and making it hard for them to enjoy the server on their arrival? Is that it's bought up so often perhaps a suggestion it might have been a bad decision that could due with some reconsideration? After all, for every person who's willing to raise an issue, there's a dozen that sit in quiet resentment, or give up and leave.

I think I more meant that this is something new players are sometimes surprised with. Even that to be honest isn't quite right, maybe one new player every couple of years will comment upon this issue in particular but as far as I can recall everyone has grown to understand and embrace our ways. It's ultimately an extremely trivial thing, and I think what I hoped to accomplish with my post is helping you understand that with time almost everyone gets used to how the various quirks of EFU works and begins to either appreciate it or realize this isn't the server for them.

I mean - we also control where new PCs can rest, and don't allow unrestricted sales of ambient loot to NPC merchants (gold control), and we don't have mechanical parties... these, and many other things, require some adjustment. I understand that and we do want to make the learning curve of EFU easier. However, we're also not interested in fundamentally changing our core principles just to attract new players. We may have too many players as it is, given the limitations of the DM team. It's more important that for EFU to continue to prosper that we attract the right kind of players.

With regard to that, would you consider allowing the following at tailors?

 - The ability to make a statless, plain cloak, the appearance of which you can modify to create the various half-cloaks, scarves, and so on.
- As above, for hoods and helmets.
- Robes to be added to statless, plain clothes.

Most of the cloak models aren't appropriate for EFU, but certainly the standard cloak models + scarf should be available if they aren't already.
Hoods is just a matter of typing a voice command.
Most helm models are available, we do restrict many of the more interesting ones.
As far as I can recall tabards can be added to standard clothing via the tailor.

As an anecdote - on many servers, you can walk into the starting tailor, and turn your helmet into an ostentatious lich-king crown with giant sparkling gems on every point. It's a bizarrely high-fantasy appearance that would be inappropriate in almost any setting. I've seen this crown available on many servers. You can make a level 1 PC and stomp out into town looking like Glam Metal Sauron.

And I've never seen anyone using it. Because when people are given total, limitless freedom with their outfits, just as they are with their characters speech and actions, they try and do things that support and enhance the setting, not damage it.

Okay, well, I can guarantee you that if we had the fancy crown model (which we do not in fact reserve pretty much exclusively for ONE specific actual important plot item that most characters will never even see) people would absolutely wear it and the model's significance would be damaged.

Overall, it is true that we are sparing in our assets. If you see a PC wielding a fancy weapon, or a glowing weapon, or have a jeweled crown, or have wings, or glowing-eyes, or a tail, you know that this will be significant in some way. This general philosophy of restraint is not something we are going to change.

But certainly, if there isn't a mundane scarf model available in a shop somewhere we will be sure to add it.

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Suggestions / Re: Reduce Customisation Restrictions

« on: April 29, 2022, 02:04:02 PM »

Thank you for your feedback. I completely understand your perspective. In our 15+ years of existence, this has been a common issue that has been raised by other new players over time.

Allow me to explain our general policy -

1) After a few days, most new characters will have the resources to make an enchanted set of any armor type to their aesthetic preferences that will be basically as good as anything they're likely to find on their own (faction loot / DM loot / some very rare specific items being the exception as these items are usually the best in their class)

2) We don't like to permit customizing existing ambient loot (sometimes they can be dyed), because generally these items are specifically designed by a DM to have a look (and indeed sometimes even being "balanced" by having good properties but otherwise being ugly or bad looking). I am personally particularly opposed to having full-plate that has an appearance identical to (for example) the Cleric's Robe, as that can be misleading to other players in PvP situations. Unless it's a very rare item, full-plate should be visibly full-plate. NWN's graphics aren't good enough to convincingly represent robes over bulky armor. Tabards are implemented as appropriate on some armor models, but frequently they are used to represent slightly superior items and not just the first random trash you find from some dead goblins.

All that said, I think most EFU veteran players rapidly do learn how to get the look that they want after a couple of days and indeed many find it a pleasing challenge. Looking good isn't something that will happen on day one, but is another thing to work towards and is really just part of the game.

Get a ragged, dirty looking scarf, rather than a billowing, full-length magic cloak.
Get a simple cloth hood to hide my elfiness, rather than an ornate, enchanted, polygonal metal helmet that are so common I find them in charity boxes and trash.
Make a ragged outfit with a skirt out of the remains of my character's arrival clothing. This is entirely impossible, because skirts aren't possible to modify, since they're robes.

There are many scarf-items (cloak slot) with useful properties that can be found. You don't have to wear a billowing magical cloak.

There are a wide variety of useful invisible head slot items (earrings, necklaces, etc.) that can be found (or some cloak slots that are slightly better but don't allow you to equip a helmet). It's also quite common among many players to just not wear a helmet until or unless they find something that they like. It's a slight but very manageable mechanical sacrifice. We are working to increase the variety and availability of invisible slot items. When supported by models, you can type "/c togglehood" to have a hood.

Not sure I understand exactly what you mean in terms of adding a skirt, but again if there's a look you want you can probably make it. Perhaps in a perfect world we would implement some modest customizability for existing items, but again NWN's armor models are rather clunky and it's just easier to turn off the option altogether rather than see egregious and implausible modifications that don't respect the original theme of the item. We have many thousands of items, and identifying specific items according to their look is also something that experienced EFU players will come to be able to do.

I appreciate your passion about this issue. I genuinely think that if you choose to continue playing EFU you will get the knack of achieving a great aesthetic for your character and will come to understand as we do that our policies are for the best. It is a real achievement to unlock or acquire the best outfits available in this ancient game, and this is something that should not be available to a day one PC.

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General Discussion / Re: Diabl0658's inane questions for the DMs

« on: April 25, 2022, 12:41:01 AM »

Yes

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General Discussion / Re: Diabl0658's inane questions for the DMs

« on: April 14, 2022, 10:39:43 PM »

My immediate reaction is that this probably isn't a great idea.

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General Discussion / Re: Prejudice in EFU - 2022

« on: March 23, 2022, 03:24:09 PM »

Players who want to get in touch me should just PM me on Discord.

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General Discussion / Re: Diabl0658's inane questions for the DMs

« on: February 04, 2022, 04:31:38 AM »

If it's in service to some kind of legitimate IC plot purpose / rivalry, then sure. If it's just random bored griefing, then no.

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Announcements / Clarification for PrC Applications

« on: February 02, 2022, 07:54:50 AM »

Dear players -

At some point it is very probable that we will somewhat rework how PRCs applications work in EFU, but for now I'd like to clarify some details about them if you wish to submit an app.

You should not expect us to allow you to completely rebuild your PC (i.e. no keeping high levels - we will be glad to de-level you though)

Please submit some details of your desired build for us in your application, including level split, so we can keep an eye on what you're planning. Weird or highly optimized build plans will likely be more challenging applications.

You will not lose any perks that you have sufficient levels in your base class to keep - i.e., you will not 'lose' a perk because of multi classing into a PRC. But you should also not expect to retain perk bonuses if you don't have sufficient levels in the base class - so, for example, unless you are keeping 8 rogue levels you won't get to keep your level 8 rogue perk.

In a perfect world, prestige classes would be mostly earn-in-game. Your character should have made significant progress to develop the prestige or acquire the knowledge necessary to pursue these alternate paths. Some prestige classes  absolutely requires the successful completion of specific accomplishments (i.e. an assassin completing a contracted kill). Players wishing to play prestige class characters should anticipate a potentially slow ride towards actually being able to take these classes.

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General Discussion / Re: Prejudice in EFU - 2022

« on: January 25, 2022, 12:52:11 AM »

Here: is a very old post that, while somewhat out of date, might still be useful.

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General Discussion / Prejudice in EFU - 2022

« on: January 25, 2022, 12:32:48 AM »

I’d like to take a moment to clarify EFU’s position on the issue of prejudice against or about other kinds of creatures.

In the real world, I and the DM team believe it is important to behave in a respectful, tolerant, and non-prejudiced manner towards other human beings. This is an enforced standard in all OOC channels.

EFU is not the real world, and contemporary understandings and norms do not apply to in character attitudes about the sentient beings of other species. Terms such as “racism” really should not ever be used IC.

Prejudice against different human ethnicities is generally to be avoided in this current iteration of EFU as they would not really make sense in the City.

Prejudice against Demi-humans such as halflings, elves, dwarves, etc. does make sense and can be optionally a useful source of conflict and interesting role-play. Indeed, this is the basis for many of the attitudes of the Peerage Ward. It is important to remember that in our magical settings these different demi-human races are not ethnicities but really something closer to different species that possess immutable biological differences. Non-evil races such as genasi are another edge case where any prejudice is largely dependent on the character (i.e. a cosmopolitan resident of the City may be comfortable with them but other characters may be frightened by a plane-touched being).


Monstrous creatures such as goblins, aberrations, undead, etc are inherently evil; “evil” in EFU is best understood as a metaphysical force that both encourages and is enhanced by evil actions. “Evil” is not a subjective term as such, it is at the bottom of things something real and definite. That is not to say that we want your characters to necessarily think that way - indeed, shades of grey and difficult choices and nuances is where some of the best role-play can come from. But it is important to emphasize that in EFU "evil" is inherently different from the real world.

Creatures such as tieflings are more complicated, and these (rare) beings are where interesting stories can indeed come from the complexities of portrayal of a being that may be driven towards evil actions but also has capacity for good - again, there is room for plenty of complexity here.

That said, “tieflings” by nature are still evil in EFU. They are descended from beings of evil, and thus they are by nature tied to this force.

I will also add that, 100% of the time, part of the DM approval process for an evil sub-race such as tiefling is for the player to explain how they will portray their character’s evil tendencies. There is plenty of room of nuance and twists-and-turns here - but basically, at the core of things, we expect monsters to have a monstrous nature.


Players are free to portray the attitudes of their non-monstrous characters towards monsters as they think best, but continual association with evil beings (such as the undead, aberrations, and - indeed - even tieflings) does lead to potential corruption of the soul such that an evil alignment may gradually become a more accurate reflection of the character.

Enlightened or modern attitudes being crudely applied to the radically different environment of EFU should probably be pretty rare or reserved for particularly naive or low-wisdom PCs.

Previously there was a post “Races & Reactions” that described common attitudes towards many of the different species in EFU but I can’t seem to find it. If someone can it might be useful, although it should likely be updated somewhat.

I am happy to clarify further issues, address questions, or speak privately with any players who are concerned about these issues.

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General Discussion / Re: Quest Level Range, Accessibility, and Balance

« on: October 30, 2021, 09:02:16 PM »

Our goal is to have known locations where players know where they can find a quest of certain level range. So groups can form out and head out somewhere and, while they might find something better along the way, they certainly know there'll be something they can do when they arrive. More work needs to be done on this. And more feedback and opinions for the ideal questing experience for EFU is always welcome.

Temporarily decreasing levels sounds silly and probably won't happen.

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Off-topic Discussion / The Passing of Diz-e

« on: October 30, 2021, 08:35:02 PM »

I am very sorry to pass on the news that beloved player Diz-e has passed away unexpectedly in his sleep. He was with us from chapter 1 I believe, and was absolutely a cherished member of our community. He frequently played druids, necromancers, and all manner of exiles. His characterization and role-play was on point. I was always happy to see him in-game and participating in OOC discord channels or whatever else. I respected his sense of judgment and style a lot, and admired the way he approached EFU.

Above all else, I think we could really tell he was overall just a wonderful human being and we were lucky to have had him.

I know that a lot of players were really close to him and will really miss him and the important role he played in our community. I certainly will.

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Suggestions / Re: Muck Boy camp layout - PVP

« on: April 06, 2021, 10:37:40 PM »

Sure.