What kind of content do you find the most enhancing to your gameplay experience?

[Saulus]

I played Baldur's Gate 2 the other day, and it brought back fond memories of many long hours invested in that game many years ago. It occured to me that there were many captivating elements that stayed with me on that particular game and its entire series.

What is it that you find helps make a world more interesting from a multi-player & single player RPG perspective?

[Myrddin]

Players in to have a vested interest in the game world, they need to feel that not only are their characters a part of it, but after a certain level. They, too, are the movers and shakes of the land, not Kings, Queens or Arch-Bishops or Archmages to the Crown, but minor nobles and clergy, such as Earls, Barons, knights of the realm, Prelates of the Church or one of the councilors to the Archmage. Slaying the Orc Army of Chief Manyaxes can be fun, but there needs to be a balance with the more mundane things of everyday life as well.

Let players be landowners, that does not have to mean they have their own castles or mage towers. To be honest, I have become anti-player housing since my time in being a staff member of a NWN 1 server. Player estates can be Role-played as even more easily as having them be areas in the module.

In either Multi-player or single player, players want their characters to make a difference to make an impact on the course of world events. Whether saving the Kingdom from The Undead Army of Necros the Damned or delivering a letter to the Queen, players need to feel they are making an impression.

If you going to chastise a player for the actions of his or her character do it IN CHARACTER, and make their penance an in game quest, not just personal, but one where they can call on friends and allies to help them complete the it.

If you are going to allow an open forum of races, classes, prestige classes, and alignments DO NOT take them away in the future. It hurts the server, upsets players and brings in a host of ill-will. Decide first off if you are going to have any limitations and start them first off. If you are not going to allow familiars or animal companions in your cities and towns, start that in the beginning and not later on.

Allow players to join guilds, but DO NOT allow them to create them. Players come and go over time, a NPC guild master is forever. This does not mean that a group of players cannot petition to have a guild, but it should require them to have a DM sponsor it and the staff being willing to be the Guildmaster.

[Ben]

Allow players to join guilds, but DO NOT allow them to create them. Players come and go over time, a NPC guild master is forever. This does not mean that a group of players cannot petition to have a guild, but it should require them to have a DM sponsor it and the staff being willing to be the Guildmaster.

I disagree, but myself and Myr will probably never see eye to eye on that one.

Whatever else he said I agree with and support. Players also love getting unique loot, things you can't get when killing everyday creatures or in casual hunts.

Special events granting unique items to certain players who earned that right are always a refreshing breeze and incentives for the player to progress and help the community advance.

Custom created creatures are always fun aswell. Mythical creatures you've read about in the books but never got to encounter in game. In my old NWN 1 mod I've created Banshees instead of your casual undead, players loved that.

A crafting system is more than welcome. Keeps the players busy when there's no one around to RP with and makes the land's economy lively and interesting.

[Myrddin]

From the Moors, Downs and Forests of Viridale

A crafting system is more than welcome. Keeps the players busy when there's no one around to RP with and makes the land's economy lively and interesting.

I would add that if you can craft in City or Town A, you have to travel to City or Town B to sell your items. Getting Fancy Dresses in one town is all fine and good, but if you want players to truly make use of the world and the goods within it. You need to spread them around, so players have to go to different towns for better buying and selling prices. For example, Player A might sell hides in town A for x amount of gold, but then learns that town B gives more gold. And, while town B may give more gold, goods there cost more than say in town A or town C.

If you're going to have an Arcane University in the City, then you might want to have a Bardic College in one of the outlying towns. Not only do you split up where scrolls may be sold or found, but you add RP possibilities for the community. The Arcane University has knowledge about the things that go bump in the night, but the Bardic College has all the books and scrolls about the legends of the Night Bumpeth Fiend.

As for my stance on guilds, it is because I've seen for too many start only to fall apart even before getting started. Guilds want meeting halls, which I am against. Such things can be a lost of area resources as a guild starts up, only to fade away just as the hall gets in game. Better to let players from Adventuring Companies that can live and die as players come and go, then to lost forum and area space to Guilds that come and go fast than grass passes through a goose.

I am sorry, but for me the cry should be, "Ask not what Sundren can do for your character, but what can your character do for, and bring to Sundren and the rest of the playing community."

[Kaybrie]

Kill magic item drops, make crafting important.

Why? Because magic item drops make no sense... Why the heck should a goblin carry a +1 bastard sword? Or a scroll of cloud kill that it'd more likely use as toilet paper then throw away. Zombies with these artifacts that a vampire would tear away from in a heartbeat... Players should have to go to players for enchantments above +1 IMO... It adds to the realism and it makes it harder for people to accumulate the 200,000 gold we were seeing at the closing days of sundren the last time. *Nods*

*Vanish*

[undeadsteak]

bah, misclicked onto the wrong one. I like custom treasure drops and character devolpment and the such. Custom treasure always makes fighting monsters much more interesting, seeing as all the other loot is usually crappy. But i'd rather prefer the really good loot in DM events only, or treasure chests that'd require a rogue or the such.

[Lockindal]

Allow players to join guilds, but DO NOT allow them to create them. Players come and go over time, a NPC guild master is forever. This does not mean that a group of players cannot petition to have a guild, but it should require them to have a DM sponsor it and the staff being willing to be the Guildmaster.

I agree on this. I think guilds create player separation and elitism due to their very nature.

NPC guilds make much more sense.

[undeadsteak]

I don't know, i like people having a major impact on the community and characters becoming like.. Captain of the gaurd, or guildmaster. But I feel that it makes DMs focus on these players too much and they get all the attention, which i don't like one bit.

[Lockindal]

But I feel that it makes DMs focus on these players too much and they get all the attention, which i don't like one bit.

Exactly.

[undeadsteak]

But being the guildmaster of something isnt the only thing thats going to effect that. its just more.. DM's will have their favorite players, no matter what they say, IMO. They'll enjoy running events for certain players. and oh yeah, people who make weird strange characters or handicapped chars like blind or deaf, will usually get noticed by DM's much more.

[Esteten]

Why the heck should a goblin carry a +1 bastard sword? Or a scroll of cloud kill that it'd more likely use as toilet paper then throw away.

They found it on a hero they killed and it looked shiny so they took it and kept it for status within the group and hierchy of goblin tribes?
Even great heroes fall sometime, and even great heroe's weapon-carriers drops weapons from time to time *rolls eyes*
"Me got shiny human sword, me be strong and hit hard!"

[Raksha]

I voted "storyline", and to expand out a bit...

The thing I like best is a world that hangs together and makes sense, requiring as little suspension of disbelief as possible. This was one of the reasons that I adored old Sundren -- the goblins were not "random goblin area to be farmed by lower-level players", they were the Spittlefist tribe that had clashed with Sundren's forces before and were currently being puppeted by the Banites to stretch out Exigo's resources. And there was a clear reason that they had been bottled up in the area -- the pass, which was guarded by the camp. The Necropolis was not "the zone of high-level undead that drop blue items", it was the fortress of a tangible and frightening evil, and no character would ever venture inside without the thought crossing their minds... "Maybe this is the time that Kurglimich is around..."

By the same token, I prefer the PCs to have a considerable impact on the world, but at the same time I dislike it intensely when the world seems to be centered around them or catering to them exclusively. They should be one part -- an important part, yes, but only one -- of a broader and more involved world.

As far as crafting and drops go, I love the idea of crafting playing a bigger role. ^_^ Kasso has a point, I think -- it's believable every now and then for something good to show up on a goblin, it should be -quite- rare... and especially in a zone where there are larger, stronger enemies who would just bully the items from the goblins. Say, in the old Shaharan Hills, the cultists would be the only ones to drop anything better than a potion or healing kit or 3rd-level scroll since they'd be taking anything especially "shiny" that the goblins procured. Besides, crafting leads to a lot of fun opportunities and increased ability for non-combat characters to actually be useful for something.

And finally, having seen both ends of this, I strongly agree that all guilds should be controlled by NPCs. Players can be trusted lieutenants and the like, but player-run guilds are unstable and can be rather thoroughly wrecked when the guild's leader drops off the face of Toril.

[Kaybrie]

As far as crafting and drops go, I love the idea of crafting playing a bigger role. ^_^ Kasso has a point, I think -- it's believable every now and then for something good to show up on a goblin, it should be -quite- rare... and especially in a zone where there are larger, stronger enemies who would just bully the items from the goblins. Say, in the old Shaharan Hills, the cultists would be the only ones to drop anything better than a potion or healing kit or 3rd-level scroll since they'd be taking anything especially "shiny" that the goblins procured. Besides, crafting leads to a lot of fun opportunities and increased ability for non-combat characters to actually be useful for something.

Words sapped out of my mouth even as I was typing them... Again.

Players can be trusted lieutenants and the like, but player-run guilds are unstable and can be rather thoroughly wrecked when the guild's leader drops off the face of Toril.

*Cough* Kai *Cough*

[undeadsteak]

*Cough* Kai *Cough*

Lol. QFT. Yes, i think it might be better to leave the guildmaster things with NPC's, but i don't know.. It'd be fun to start a guild or the such, but, you need dedicated players who aren't going to run off.

[Belwas]

Lol. QFT. Yes, i think it might be better to leave the guildmaster things with NPC's, but i don't know.. It'd be fun to start a guild or the such, but, you need dedicated players who aren't going to run off.

or more than one, a leadership structure should be able to overcome a loss or two.