Planeshift War

[Geoni]

For a reason:  we could make this WWI style and have somebody fairly important be assassinated then alliances follow and soon the whole of Yliakum would be embroiled in a big war. 

There are so many characters in the game that aren't in guilds, or are in guilds where they are pretty much the only person in it that is active. So there wouldn't be such a militarized war like WW1 was. I could understand where it'd get violent, but the guards would step in if it were in Hydlaa, and peacekeepers would step in if it weren't to take place in PS.

I'm not big for pre-planned RP's, so I'm not all that liking to the whole idea of a massive guild war. Of course, the few active guilds can decide whether they like the idea or not.

[Vakachehk]

Yes I know "not without reason"

But what I am saying is kind of like this: Outlaws and Kore Irka Clan have been at each other for sometime, so if they go to war then lets say House Cheshire join in, then other guilds who are close to Kore Irka Clan and House Cheshire, lets say House of Trayus join in, then every guild who is close to them join lets say Elemental Light and Enlightened Path join then Klyros Junction, Felines Lair and The Warriors, then 4 more then 5 then 6 then 7 then 8 more and so on. Then other guilds such as bad ones like Prophets of Chaos, Dark Warmongers and The Roving Raiders join in on Outlaws side, there we have 2 side with loads of guilds. Please note I was making an example not who WILL join in if it happens.

About everyone saying people will leave, well no you are in fact wrong, if anyone leaves well there is no reason to leave the war will only be a mechanic, so others who are not in guilds don't get effected, but to those who don't want to be guilded you don't have to be ICly but if you don't mind OOCly well sure whats to lose? About you thinking it being on EZPC well no it won't be an OOC war it will be very IC not so IC that we will have battles on BDroad but that there will be people everywhere and which on team takes one spot then it changes and so on like the 100 year war between England and France. But what I was meaning about mass murderings in Hydlaa, is from outlaws so they will do it secretly and the RP will go on from there. But that was just an idea. I am asking who is interested and who has ideas not just "not without reason", give a reason please.

[Vakachehk]

Id love to see those pics Elvi

[Akkaido Kivikar]

Well I was thinking a evil guild takes a city hostage (like Gugrontid) and begins doing mass murderings in Hydlaa...

Yes, and Ojaveda can be the Good side's base. I think such a war is a fun idea, if it is well RP'd.

[Elvicat]

Id love to see those pics Elvi

i'm sorry to say this but most of the pics are lost as the orginal site went... poof :/
the only i found where in the thread allready http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=26159.msg293145#msg293145

[Geoni]

But what I am saying is kind of like this: Outlaws and Kore Irka Clan have been at each other for sometime, so if they go to war then lets say House Cheshire join in, then other guilds who are close to Kore Irka Clan and House Cheshire, lets say House of Trayus join in, then every guild who is close to them join lets say Elemental Light and Enlightened Path join then Klyros Junction, Felines Lair and The Warriors, then 4 more then 5 then 6 then 7 then 8 more and so on. Then other guilds such as bad ones like Prophets of Chaos, Dark Warmongers and The Roving Raiders join in on Outlaws side, there we have 2 side with loads of guilds. Please note I was making an example not who WILL join in if it happens.

Only half of those guilds you just mentioned are active. And even some of the ones that are somewhat active only get on to partake in events or if something new is implemented. I think it all depends on whether or not people will actually get online or not. I also think that it could turn out to be a swarm of dueling instead of RP fighting, in which, only the powerleveling guilds would win. 

[Illysia]

I think the biggest reason for complaint is not so much that people dislike the idea Vakachekh, but they are worried about it getting out of hand and what could have been a reasonable RP will degrade into lols, random spam duels, chaos, and the lost of any semblance of a RP event (and there is the potential for only the mechanics dependent RPers to be able to really get into it similar to what Geoni said). I can understand the fear as Laanx being overrun by loling PLers would in fact run off more RPers. If you doubt this can happen, check the in game player count and then read all the forum complaints about loling PL. Many older RPers did in fact abandon this game because of that.

As much as Laanx needs players, just any player will not help the RP environment. For instance, if attracting newbs is your goal, keep in mind that you will need a way to more or less train them to RP as most have no idea how. What happens in the cities in other MMOs would not be acceptable in PS, i.e. cursing, loling, spam dueling the first person they come across. However, this is what many will expect is tolerated when they first come in.

Also, as much as you may find small talk boring, dialogue will be very important as otherwise your event will get lumped back in the "without reason" category and that will get thrown in your face far more than you will get support. Action in the form of battles is all nice and good, it serves a purpose to, but you can't quite do action in PS like a movie full of explosions and gun fights that has very little character interaction aside from that. The reason you can pull that kind of stuff off in movies is because you can get an impressive visual out of it, PS... not so much.

Part of the tendency to be clingy to those all out text sessions is that certain things just aren't that interesting to watch in PS so reading about it is as good a substitute as we get. Actually, now that I think about it, this part will be very important as you will need not only a compelling storyline but a good IC reason for guilds to be outraged enough to take matters into their own hands. Keep in mind that anything done in or to a city is more likely to to be left to the city guards so your plot will need to basically be out of their jurisdiction but still heinous enough to get people to care. And will honestly probably need to include the misuse of magic to do that.



On the topic of suggestions for the event, I would suggest "setting up" a base of operations in the wilderness somewhere. As nice as it would be to have Oja active, it doesn't make as much sense in light of the aftermath of the rogue invasion there. The rogues still have a considerable influence there as evidenced by Kistol not having been strung up by his thumbs by Bhurral yet. It's unlikely that any kind of Alliance would be able to focus on the task at hand as I am sure the rogues would be making raids on them and whatnot. However, if you set up your own little village area, you would have more control over what goes on there.

Also, don't base the war off of good vs evil, so often that degenerates in to Lawful Stupid vs Stupid Evil. It's unfortunately too cliche these days. Let people choose which side they want to be on regardless of the "good/evil" status of their guild. Bonus points if your plot happens to be complicated enough to where "good" and "evil" are not clearly defined and you could have people on opposites sides of the issue of law fighting together against people who would normally be considered "good".

Many conflicting interest among the instigators of the war might be good as it can help keep one character's death from shutting down the whole works. As I said, you will need a lot of contingency planning as you don't want 1 maxed stat/skill character, or one super awesome character coming in and shutting down the show from the beginning.

You might also want to toss in RP props as plot devices. Not a Sword of a Thousand Truths per se but something everyone might want to get their hands on. Also plan on finding ways of pulling in the guilds you want, it will not happen on it's own. I'm not saying force RP, but tailor issues to target the guilds you want to suck in and give them specifically a good reason to jump into the fray. In most RP wars people see a ton of people getting sucked in and immediately start steering clear of the matter out of suspicion, quietly lure the players in this drama into the story before they even realize it.

[drJack]

Some opinions for the ones who want to create a war.
I've to say that I love wars (only in game and fiction obviously) because they are complex and they sustain conflict (the base of every good story).
BUT, as I said, it is really complex. And if you do not take care of every details a war could really get out of hand.

Here some ideas.
First, I agree with Illysia: Good vs Bad is an old fantasy cliché, there are many people that are tired of it.

Yeah, I'm the bad guy, I want to kill you all.
Uhm, why bad guy?
Because I'm EVIL!
Ohh.

I prefer to be a little more creative.
A real war is pretty tied to the setting and to the elements of the society, if you do not look to them the war could be, not natural. Some history examples.

Flower's war (middle america - Aztechs).
It started because of famine, then it became a ritual war of the Aztech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_war
I do not like very much this type of war because it was full of rules, and the soldiers respected these rules...Example, they always fight during daytime.
Damn... I think that wars are a place where people fight with all resources, like surprise attack and all the rest.

Medieval wars (europe).
A little more interesting. But short ranged. Too power in few hands. Many times it was personal interest of some noble.

Reinassance (europe).
The best for me (for a fantasy setting), many more interest are on board. Guild interest in creating monopoly of some resources, bankers who want rulers to spend their gold, city who want freedom from the rulers, rich families who fight each other, poor people who start rebellions. And much more. Anyone have to take in mind all of these interest. And these wars usually developped on multiple levels. Economic, sieges, open air battles, court intrigues, assassination, also the public opinion started to matters.

Someone used the example of the WWII, well, I think is a little too far away for a fantasy setting. Nationalism, mass media and industrial revolution took a too big part in the world wars. I think that they're not expendable examples for a fantasy war.

Elements that create wars (Be careful, there's a difference between real causes and formal pretext):
Food and famine.
Resources.
Successions.
Trade routes.
Expansion.
Indipendence.
Religion and way of thinking (but is more a pretext or an instrument than real causes).

And remember to answer the question: why a key characters of the plotline want the element? (Ex. why the king want to expand? Or why the banker want so much gold? To show himself? To save a lady in distress? To give a legacy to all of his fifteen sons? For Vengeance?)
To be really accurate, also every player could need to create a motivation for his character if he want to partecipate. But well, that is not always necessary. The important thing is that the key characters (players and/or NPC) have a believable motivation.

Often the wars born from some kind of improvise scarcity.

[Akeera]

* Akeera hands Kore Irka a tiny lil damn cute war in a small green box to cuddle with in cold dark nights

[Zytorr]

Sorry, but war is war.    ...and what is this bit about no magic?
If there is a threat to Yliakum or its people, some SHALL defend and protect at whatever cost.
...and some only fight with magic.
So such a conflict SHALL have unpredictable results and likely not go according to any prearranged plans.
smiles

[verden]

I have to agree with the point about magic. If you are going to start a war in game, you have to deal with the mechanics as they are. No magic and no potion type of rules don't make any sense at all. If you start a fight, you have to deal with the consequences.

[bloodedIrishman]

When people make the rules of "No magic, no potions" it's because the magic and potions in Planeshift make no sense.

[Geoni]

When going into war, make sure your guild is prepared. They need to be well trained, in roleplaying.

[Irick]

I can't support any sort of large scale war that doesn't have a large RP base surrounding it. Build up is necessary, it is a big event, making it a random "we fight you now" for guild after guild after guild just degrades the event.

Generic, random, Forces of Good vs Legions of Evil is so entirely two dimensional that i truly could never support a war based on it in RP. Now, if you instigated some genuine inner-guild RP shenanigans, kidnappings, assassinations, grudges due to disrespect, then i could support the resulting war.

We've done things like this before, I only got the pleasure of participating in a couple of them, but i know the players pulled them off. If you can really spark the community into organically creating a conflict situation i'd endorse it 300%.

There simply has to be something for the pure RP players to do, it is fine if you involve mechanics, but you need those who are trying other methods. Diplomacy, espionage, etc. Set goals, maybe a game of "Capture the flag" would allow a guild to obtain information about the plot, or the venue of the next game.

The methods can varry, but in some way you need a truly evolving RP to encompass the war, something that would effect the lives of the characters and cause a buzz in the streets.

[Falcon Avian]

How about a Black Flame war