RP superthread developing in PS now!

[Monk_]

[OOC:]mm.. dark army is controlled by the good army? right.. this is getting rather silly now. People who take part in the closing of the portal "people who have a specific RP role which requires you to not to fight/die" are totally immune, so the forces of dark cannot actually triumph.nge the rules a bit, we may try again, but unless you cant live with the fact that you may get wiped out. then we just cant do it can we?
[/OOC]

The Dark army is not controllled by the good army. Seargant Shadowlight is an OOC presence there to help coreograph a war which will be filmed and, also requires both sides to have certain OOC preperation which cannot be done without some co-ordination. And FYI dark forces did help plan this battle, with the ambush style strategy.

Once again the Dark Army can win this. They can wipe out the Light Army. That's entirely unfixed. The party entering the underdark does not spell victory for the Light Army - it just means the RP doesn't end here. Winning the battle willl give the Dark forces significant advantages in the continued plot.

[Karyuu]

[ About the filming - I'm already experiencing quite a bit of lag on my side, with so many entities, and I rather forgot to take into consideration how much of my attention will need to be spread out, to make sure things in the background go smoothly. So I'm a little unsure if that will be possible afterall, though I'll certainly try. However, it may become too much to handle, in which case just enjoy the event as it is, and recall it with others later. ]

[Bebel]

ok the dark side didn't use potions at this battle... Some died in HONOUR !

[i have fraps too, it's impossible to use it with PS ]

[Aradia]

It's not nice to use poeple like npc just for your RP...

* Monk_ wonders what Bebel is referring to.

Do you understand now ?

At frist I didn't understand either, but I think I do now.

Monk_, you say that the battle wasn't fixed. Okay, I give you that. However, why would you ask repeatedly that the Dark Forces come back to fight after we retreated? You said to me that you were more geared towards letting the Dark Forces win. Why? So you can just use them like NPCs to continue some RP story that you have planned out? Well, they had a strategy. The strategy was to retreat as they knew it was impossible to win the battle. Yes, it was impossible. I'm not saying it was fixed, but it was impossible.

The fact that the Dark Forces used the retreating tactic only opens up the chance for this RP to continue, with a little more creative control on their end. A retreat wasn't expected. It didn't ruin the RP, I personally think it made it better since nobody was expecting it. It opens up windows of opportunity. Now that we know that there IS indeed a solid network of "bad guys" in Yliakum... well it just create more options.

For the most part, I think this battle went rather well. It wasn't a total flop. I thought that the /challenge system would leave out the element of surprise, but it seems the Dark Forces always have a trick up their sleeves. :-D

[Sargeant]

you say that the battle wasn't fixed. Okay, I give you that. However, why would you ask repeatedly that the Dark Forces come back to fight after we retreated? You said to me that you were more geared towards letting the Dark Forces win. Why? So you can just use them like NPCs to continue some RP story that you have planned out? Well, they had a strategy. The strategy was to retreat as they knew it was impossible to win the battle. Yes, it was impossible. I'm not saying it was fixed, but it was impossible.

The fact that the Dark Forces used the retreating tactic only opens up the chance for this RP to continue, with a little more creative control on their end.

It wasn't "geared" for the dark forces to win. I just would have enjoyed to see that most, personally, but I did nothing to favour either side, only tried to balance it. The good guys had to deal with ulbers and all the monsters first, and then the bad guys were outnumbered so I said they could return from the DR twice, while the goodies could only return once.

However, when the dark forces didn't come back more than once, I tried to find out where they were. A couple of people told me they weren't coming back because they were annoyed at people not accepting challenges etc. (which everyone experienced), and other OOC reasons. I was trying to convince them just to come back and have fun (and I was at the Valley of the Face at that time and because good guys were being possessed and killing each other I could see the bad guys could very well have won, if they had kept fighting). However, the moment I learned from Aradia that the bad guys had retreated as an IC tactic, I did not pursue the matter any further.

[Aradia]

However, the moment I learned from Aradia that the bad guys had retreated as an IC tactic, I did not pursue the matter any further.

And for that Sarge, I salute you. *salutes* 

[Sargeant]

Here it is, the play-by-play on the battle!

With an unprecendented Army, the brave citizens of Yliakum marched to defend their cities.

In the hills, the forces of darkness waited in strategical positions, ready to defend the will of the Shadow, and help it destroy Hydlaa and usher in see the so-called "Age of Balance".


Once organised, the Army of the free cities charged on the Valley of the Face. They were determined to make a way for the Party to reach the Stone Face for a chance to end the threat of Shadow in the Hills - at any cost! With deadly precision and overwhelming strength they crushed the monsters which the Shadow had summoned to defend the Stone Face. Morale was high, cheers could be heard from the troops.

But then - ambush! From all around the dark warriors of Yliakum fell on the Army. Blood and death was everywhere, as troops on both sides fell. The numbers of the Army of Light  were great, but the Forces of Darkness were determined and strong. The battle raged for some time. Soon.. something strange started happening in the ranks of the Army of Light - screams for blood could be heard, against their own allies!

Expecting to see the Dark Forces continue their attack, they were faced instead with unexpected foes on every side. The Dark Forces laughed from the shadows as the Light Army began to tear itself apart. Only a handful of men left alive by the time the trumpet was sounded to retreat. The Dark Forces had been clever in their trickery, and despite of being heavily outnumbered by the Light Army, one might say victory was theirs that day.

Meanwhile, the 7 specialized members of the Party had managed to make their way, battered and bloodied, into the Stone Face. They descended through the decaying tunnels of the Funeral Well, and found their way to the portal leading into the Underdark. And so they entered. What became of them? Will they be able to close the portal leaking darkness into the Hills? Will the demonic invasion of Hyldaa be stopped? Yliakum holds her breath..

[JohnB]

Once organised, the Army of the free cities charged on the Valley of the Face. They were determined to make a way for the Party to reach the Stone Face for a chance to end the threat of Shadow in the Hills - at any cost! With deadly precision and overwhelming strength they crushed the monsters which the Shadow had summoned to defend the Stone Face. Morale was high, cheers could be heard from the troops.

Hmm...  An alternative take on the build up to the battle, from one of the foot soldiers who was there...

The volunteers gathered at the top of the ridge, ready to fight against the forces of darkness, and awaited orders.  But there was confusion amongst their leaders.  Rumours filtered through the ranks that some of the main party were missing, and there was noone to lead the troops.  Some of the main party who were there tried to get the army organised, but without any clear leader, chaos ensued.  There was much complaining and the army looked like it might disband and go home before the battle started.

After this had gone on for some time, someone managed to get some semblance of order to the right-flank of the army [the Sergeant], but the left-flank still had no leader.

Eventually, it happened!  The left flank broke, and streamed down the hill towards the Valley of the Face.  The right flank, seeing this, ignored the Sergeant's order to hold, and streamed down after them.

The rabble fell upon the enemy in the Valley of the Face...

[Under the moon]

*evil grin* I was encouraging the Dark army to attack the Light -on the ridge-, before the fight. Now that would have been a fun surprise.

On a side note, the haunt/demon/Untar story has come to a close. Untar (posessed by the demon) came forth from the DR to wait for the rest of the shadow to come through the portal, and try to take vengence on Zorbels. He strode untouched though the battle, the Dark seeing the demon in him, and the Light knowing him as a friend. No one would strike him down. As he came to the portal, he saw Zorbels, but could not come near enough to put a soul banishing spell on her.

Then, the demon in Untar felt a pressence, and heard a whisper on the wind. He turned to see the haunt (Untar's true soul) standing at the face, waiting for him. The demon laughed at the haunt, knowing it had no power against him. He began to prepair the soul banishing spell again, this time for the haunt. The haunt called for aid, knowing it would not win.

Irick heard this plea, and had seen the haunt before, so knew it had no ill intentions. The haunt told him to kill itself quickly, as it was about to try something. Irick did not understand, but readied his weapon. The haunt merged with its own body just as the demon cast the spell. The spell then backfired, casting the demon out of the body, and into the haunt. Untar was once again whole. He called to Irick to kill the haunt, as in that moment, the demon began to take form and become solid. Irick stuck a mighty blow to the haunt/demon killing it were it stood. The demon had no body to carry it to the DR, so vanished into nothing.

The Dark forces saw the demon destroyed, so knew now that Untar was now on the side of the Light. Untar was no warrior, so fell to a mere clacker. But now, his body and soul are one, so he will return...as soon as Nurahk can lead him out of the Realm of the Dead again.

Side side note: Krook kindly asks you all to stay off his hill from now on. You all smell worse then the teffs.

[Peacer]

the experience learned, /challenge isn't a good optino, /guildwar is better. Some used autodecline to use the system oocly to kill the good guys, while i experienced no one from the dark side having autoaccept on as many from teh good force did, however the lag was to extreme and you oculd easily get killed by an uberlag because of autoaccept.

i myself thought i had put on autoaccept but... it was on aprooval instead, and couldn't open my options list down there, besides i became group leader and had to /invite in the meantime.

So if this is ever going to happen again, do guildwars not /challenge... this won't bring the stupid group confusion we had to use an hour to get organized with, and we can just put on autodecline at that time, we won't have to /challenge the bad guys becuase we always are in combat with them.

and for thoose no-good potion users, go to hell 

as for when we entered the mouth, we had fun down there although it became latey before it was time to sleep

[Osmo]

[I apologize before hand cause this reply is all ooc, I didn't know where else to post this.  Considering all the screen shots I took were of this event, I felt this place was the most appropriate to post the links to the screen shots.  After looking through the many ss I took, I noticed Elvis was there.  Yea I know it was a chance happening of the two characters standing next to each other, but still funny.  My opinion of the event was very low.  The concept was beyond brilliant, but the execution was poor.  It took me at least two to three minutes of real time to actually get down the hill.  The lag was so bad, that I could hardly walk.  It might be harder to organize but more practicle to pull off if the groups went down 5-10 people at a time.  Or those groups can be fighting for different places of interest.  The game simply cannnot handle over 50 people trying to battle.  On to the screen shots.  Einnol was the most photogetic, simply because he was standing by himself and can clearly be indentified.  Due to the lag, any ss of the battle were not taken.  By the time I got down there, most the fun was over anyway.]

Blood Red Sky #1
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2820/1good6rz.jpg

Blood Red Sky #2
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9654/2good3pk.jpg

Nice one of  Einnol
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/861/3good2dr.jpg

The Fog Rolls in
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5160/4good7ey.jpg

Hello Aelfwine
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/3006/5good0fo.jpg

Waiting on the hill
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/1540/6good4nx.jpg

One of my favorite SS of the event.
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/7969/7good5mm.jpg

Einnol again
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/5605/einnol1ct.jpg

Hey, It's Elvis
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/8031/elvis17jf.jpg

Ready to go!!
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/7098/good4xc.jpg

Overhead view as the group starts to assemble.
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/7463/good18jq.jpg

Nice view of the horizion.  I tried to get ss so people can see their names.  This one is good.
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/5691/good24tz.jpg

My favorite SS of the event.  Reminds me of Braveheart.
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/126/good63ro.jpg

Almost the same as the last, but longer shot.
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/682/good79hj.jpg

[Herleva]

Ready to go!!
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/7098/good4xc.jpg

Heya, pay attention to the upper left of the screenie!
Can you see the grey spot under the label?

That was our spy, a dwarf grateful that the Army of Light exchanged informations in shouting. 

Greetings

Herleva, Freelancer

[Anfa]

That was our spy, a dwarf grateful that the Army of Light exchanged informations in shouting. 

Greetings

Herleva, Freelancer

Oop!!! you had only one?!? Well heck...we had more than that!!!

And I thought you guys were suppose to be the bad guys?!?!

Anfa blows a kiss to Herleva....

Cheers
Anfa
Watcher for the Scions of Wyldewood

[Lanarel]

[
I posted my screenshots (including the army running down the hill and in battle) in the screenshot thread http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=23241.msg258870#msg258870

I just want to add that I had a great time, despite some things that could have been better (already mentioned in the posts above, although I did not mind the group idea).
I thought it was funny seeing the attempts to organise an army. 
It was great seeing everyone storming down that hill (even at 0.1 fps).
It was exciting killing all those rogues and shooting at ulbers, with the enemy looking down from the hill tops.
Adrenaline level was high in the few minutes that I was able to participate in the battle against the dark forces (even though I only got one challenge accepted before I was banned to the DR by Talad or Laanx).

Thanks to everyone who organised this. 
]

[Monk_]

I just want to add that I had a great time

Thank you very much for the positive feedback, Lanarel

I thought it was a blast. Despite of the predictable difficulties, whatever you can say about it, it was remarkable - if not from a gameplay perspective then definitly for RP. I think it is to the biggest commendation of the PlaneShift project when an RP born out of the backwaters of players imaginations can blossom to become a community-wide event encouraged and supported by developers, even to the point of the sky going red! What other MMORPG would you ever see that in!?

I would like to thank gratefully the GMs who got involved and committed their time and talent, and to all the players who have been involved in this really wonderful piece of Communitive Storywriting. Thank you, everyone!


I think if I had to recommend a setup in future for a big battle where /guild leaders are not present to make it a guild war, I would suggest just leaving /challenge on "confirm every time", simply having a rule that they must be manually accepted. This would allow players to at least know who/how many they're fighting, and click yes in gaps between lag. Of course, anything like this is horrendous to organise without specific game-elements built to do it, and players have to be willing to overlook their gameplay dissapointments and just throw themselves into the fun as much as they can.

As far as players complaining about potions being used and such, I thought that was a little funny - this was war, not a practice duel. There were no combat conditions stipulated. The goodies at least were distributing good weapons and potions to their guildmates and friends. The most ironic part to me is how most such grievances were coming from the baddies side!! Who would have thought they would be complaining that the goodies weren't chivelrous enough   !


For your information, this thread is generally for organisation and reports of IC Roleplay. It is good we have a few posts here to give an idea of how it went, but there is another thread called "Shadow in the Hills critque". Please post all further criticisms, ideas and discussion about OOC organistion here:
http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=23364.0