A few reminders

[Mort]

Hey guys, there are a few concerns from current DMs about player behavior in these times that should be touched on.

While for the greater majority of the time, we see people enjoying themselves with little need to intervene on the rule-side of things. There is sometimes time to remind people who become lax in certain situations or might not be aware that their behavior is frowned upon.

1. While dividing loot on a quest is a IC matter, keeping an unfairly large portion of a quest's spoils in OOC greed is heavily frowned upon, by both players and DMs. A warrior with no skill in sleight of hand (pickpocket) will not be able to freshly acquire a giant cache of supplies and equipment, then conceal this with complete ease.

While it can be acceptable, even very cool to play a thief persona on quests, it's strongly recommended to emote something relevant to your pack suddenly enlarging. Even considering this, how it impacts the fun of your peers should be a far greater concern than how you are going to "skim" more than your share of loot. Skimming is not enjoyable and greedy, while playing a REAL thief is. Someone who gives hint of his crimes. Of course you have to trust the players around you to react fairly when you do give these hints so if you show that you are NOT there to just hoard items through a Diablo 2'esque behavior, but more to play and roleplay interesting situations and characters
 (Diablo 3 is almost out to fill that need and I heard its going to be awesome).

2. Roleplaying attributes seems to evade quite a few players recently as well. Having a score of an 8 or 9 in an attribute demands some sort of poor portrayal of the relevant stat. The link here (http://www.escapefromundeath.com/welcome/building-character) is an excellent tool to familiarize yourself appropriately. Playing a strong build is perfectly fine, though embracing what weaknesses come with it is required. Those who ignore this may find that they will encounter penalties accordingly. This is important! Some people are under the impression that you can only succeed with an optimized build, but really, do the math. 20str to 16str is only +2 ab, +2 dmg...  Just drink a bullstrength potion or find another way to fill in that measly +2 and you'll be just as fine with a 16 str character than you were with your 20str optimized character... 20int is an extra spellsplot and DC... Not that important in the grand scheme of things. It's only 1-2 high level spells more and +1-2 to the DC of your spells. Sure, you want the DC of your spells to be as high as possible, but ... 1-2 extra points aren't that big of a deal. A Luxury... You can succeed in the gameworld with any type of build, and you're encouraged to be creative. That being said, it's absolutely FINE to have 8 in a stat, but its extremely easy fo rus to discern between those who do it in order to roleplay that weakness and those who do it because they just maxed out all their other stats. The former is good, the latter is ... bad.

3. Regarding AI behavior and metagaming... Our current system which spawns monsters/animals in wilderness is easily understood by the majority of the players from an OOC perspective, HOWEVER, do NOT translate the behavior of these monsters as a direct reflection of the gameworld. What I mean by that is that even if you dont see it, animals hunt, animals run about, animals fight, everything you see 'lives' offscreen. Seeing an animal that you spotted in a path be dead or gone the next time you pass by is NOT an IC hint that somebody went through there even if you the player takes it as such... That animal could have easily moved, been attacked by another animal and so on. If you take the time, WITH A DM, to confirm the cause of death of the animal, then it can be work, but do not simply assume. Similarly just because an animal acts more lively than the AI animals doesn't mean its a druid or a lycanthrope... You know as a player it is, but your character doesn't, please give the benefit of the doubt.

To end on a positive note, overall, EFU:M has been a pleasure to watch unfold so far, and we encourage you all to keep it up and have fun. I've been working on several new quests and retouched a few old ones to widen your chances at adventure, I'd encourage you to try them out;

 - The Poisoned Well;
 - Tangledroots of the Muskroot;
 - Withered Battlefield;
 - The Mist Hollows;

Retouched:
 - Goblin Cult Quest;
 - Orc Invasion part I / part II