Monthly GM Events

Renfail

For those following along, in episode #13 of Mondays In MMORPGs we talked about our focus on bringing GM events back to the forefront. In fact, our title focuses more on GM events and live roleplaying than it does on traditional static quests. Where many other games tout "5000 quests and more!" with each new release or expansion, we're launching with less than 100 quests in the game. 

Why? Because we don't believe in fetch quests (what I call "milk runs") and there are zero quest hubs in our world. Instead, the static quests we have are campaign-level events, meant to take players at least a week or two on the short end, and a month or two on the long end, depending on their amount of playtime. 

Also, quests don't give experience points in our world, as experience points don't exist. You do quests for lore, faction, coin, and gear. 

Instead of static quests that never change and can be repeated over and over and over, we're focused on live GM events. We might flood a zone, knock out a bridge, cave in the entrance to a dungeon, burn down a village...and we'll be running regular roleplay sessions with our community members as part of our ongoing commitment to keeping things as true to a tabletop world as possible. 

This also ties into our plans for an ever-evolving world that is currently only planned to take place over four volumes, with content that disappears as the world evolves over time. 

To get folks primed and ready and back to the roots of the genre, we recently started monthly GM events in our early access. The third session kicks off July 28th at noon central in our pre-alpha. More information can be found here. 

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Renfail

blueturtle13 said:

That's what I am talking about. Very cool stuff you guys are doing and have planned. 

Thx  

Scot

Firstly to check if there is no XP, I assume there are no levels?

How do players who are not playing in a group at the start of a campaign level quest, fit in later? In other words can you join the campaign late and get any benefits?

How do players get a feel of where they should be, for example I log in, is there a GM event going on, if so how do I find it? How do I find campaign event starters, or for that matter how do I work out where is best for me to go. You have to assume here that this is someone unlike myself who reads everything and anything about the game he is about to play.

Renfail

Scot said:

Firstly to check if there are no XP, I assume there are no levels?

How do players who are not playing in a group at the start of a campaign level quest, fit in later? In other words can you join the campaign late and get any benefits?

How do players get a feel of where they should be, for example I log in, is there a GM event going on, if so how do I find it? How do I find campaign event starters, or for that matter how do I work out where is best for me to go. You have to assume here that this is someone unlike myself who reads everything and anything about the game he is about to play.

No levels in our world. No classes, either. 

Masteries & Abilities to progress, yes, but levels? Nope. 

Also no hitpoint bloat, similar to old-school tabletop. You'll start with 20-30 hitpoints, and progress to a max of around 40-70 depending on your Constitituion progression as you expand your character through the game. 

You may get some added to that via gear, but we envision a maxed out character in full raid gear having at most having 150-ish hitpoints. (WIP; not set in stone). 

As far as how players should know where to go/what to do...they will have to pay attention A good starter on how we are working on things can be found in Episode 5 of Mondays In MMORPGs: Storylines. 

There's more in the episode on No Content Updates in the Patch Notes, and our episode on why we don't have minimaps in our game. 

Renfail

coretex666 said:

This is how it looks when an MMORPG is made with a vision and passion. An MMORPG can be so much more than just a "product". It can really be an art form.

Something that corporations or large gaming companies pretty much cannot create due to their profit orientation.

I think it is awesome that there are still teams making games like this. Very excited about your game.

Thanks  

Scot

Renfail said:

Scot said:

Firstly to check if there are no XP, I assume there are no levels?

How do players who are not playing in a group at the start of a campaign level quest, fit in later? In other words can you join the campaign late and get any benefits?

How do players get a feel of where they should be, for example I log in, is there a GM event going on, if so how do I find it? How do I find campaign event starters, or for that matter how do I work out where is best for me to go. You have to assume here that this is someone unlike myself who reads everything and anything about the game he is about to play.

No levels in our world. No classes, either. 

Masteries & Abilities to progress, yes, but levels? Nope. 

Also no hitpoint bloat, similar to old-school tabletop. You'll start with 20-30 hitpoints, and progress to a max of around 40-70 depending on your Constitituion progression as you expand your character through the game. 

You may get some added to that via gear, but we envision a maxed out character in full raid gear having at most having 150-ish hitpoints. (WIP; not set in stone). 

As far as how players should know where to go/what to do...they will have to pay attention A good starter on how we are working on things can be found in Episode 5 of Mondays In MMORPGs: Storylines. 

There's more in the episode on No Content Updates in the Patch Notes, and our episode on why we don't have minimaps in our game. 

So players have to do a bit of work to find out what they need to do, nothing wrong with that.

Amathe

Suppose I log in at 10 p.m. EST one evening, only to discover there was a GM event 3 hours ago and I missed it. What then? I maybe can do a quest next month?

Renfail

Amathe said:

Suppose I log in at 10 p.m. EST one evening, only to discover there was a GM event 3 hours ago and I missed it. What then? I maybe can do a quest next month?

Yep. 

I sometimes miss out on sales at the grocery store. No skin off my nose...I'll catch it the next time around. 

Meanwhile, there are still hundreds of items for me to choose from at the grocery store, so it doesn't really affect me. I can still get food, and go home and have a fine dinner. 

delete5230

Renfail said:

Amathe said:

Suppose I log in at 10 p.m. EST one evening, only to discover there was a GM event 3 hours ago and I missed it. What then? I maybe can do a quest next month?

Yep. 

I sometimes miss out on sales at the grocery store. No skin off my nose...I'll catch it the next time around. 

Meanwhile, there are still hundreds of items for me to choose from at the grocery store, so it doesn't really affect me. I can still get food, and go home and have a fine dinner. 

Love it.  Love how you say "Yep" to this  

Nothing against you or Amathe, but the confidence you guys have in saying people will miss out at times but theirs's always something else to do. 

Amathe

delete5230 said:

but theirs's always something else to do. 

But that's really my point. If the emphasis is on live events, and if those events come once a month and can be missed, what's left (quest-wise anyway) is "we're launching with less than 100 quests in the game." 

Maybe they have lots of other cool stuff to do that is not questing? Maybe those quests are really challenging and take lots of time? I dunno. /shrug 

Renfail

Amathe said:

delete5230 said:

but theirs's always something else to do. 

But that's really my point. If the emphasis is on live events, and if those events come once a month and can be missed, what's left (quest-wise anyway) is "we're launching with less than 100 quests in the game." 

Maybe they have lots of other cool stuff to do that is not questing? Maybe those quests are really challenging and take lots of time? I dunno. /shrug 

Open world. Sandbox. Emergent gameplay where YOU, the player, dictate the terms and decide WHAT you want to do.

You are only limited by your imagination. Static quests are maybe 1% of what you can do in the world. 

Want to craft? Go craft. 

Want to meet up with friends and search for a new dungeon? Go forth and explore. 

Want to roleplay? Roleplay. 

Want to harvest hides? Go forth and kill wolves and bears and things that drop hides. 

Want to get together with a few strangers and see what lies south of your current outpost/city? Go forth and explore. 

Want to prep supplies for your Friday/Saturday/Whateverday campaign session with your friends/guildmates/static group? Prep supplies. 

Want to research lore? Research. 

Those are just a FRACTION of the things you can do in between GM events and campaign quests. 

p.s. the once a month schedule is only for the pre-alpha. No idea what it'll be once we launch live  

Amathe

Fair enough. The world needs more sandboxes.

Renfail

Amathe said:

Fair enough. The world needs more sandboxes.

That it does. There are more than enough themeparks out there for now!

MadFrenchie

I kinda wanna pledge just to join the monthly role-playing sessions I read about.  I'm gonna do some more digging into the details surrounding those events first, but if I can get access to those for 40 bucks, I might consider that worth it alone.

I never back a title that's not launched unless I feel what I get warrants the pricetag when I pay it.

Renfail

MadFrenchie said:

I kinda wanna pledge just to join the monthly role-playing sessions I read about.  I'm gonna do some more digging into the details surrounding those events first, but if I can get access to those for 40 bucks, I might consider that worth it alone.

I never back a title that's not launched unless I feel what I get warrants the pricetag when I pay it.

They are pretty basic events at the moment, as our game is still fairly "feature lite". It's lots of text-based roleplaying and using your imagination as opposed to having interactable items/content within the game. 

Mostly, we're just giving our existing early access members a chance to log on monthly and have a little fun together for 3-4 hours in between our quarterly builds. 

Better to hold onto your cash for sure until you are 100% sure, as we wouldn't want you to join and be disappointed; I answer questions a lot more frequently over on Discord, FYI. 

Here's our video from part 2, which was during the R10 release a couple of weeks back. It's from my perspective streaming, and you'll notice that we aren't doing any roleplay in the voice chat, just typing and the like (you'll have to pay attention to the text in the video in the bottom left; whenever I stop talking and start typing, that's when there's something important going on, lol).

I'm also doing a ton of screenshots during this event, which you'll hear from time to time as a camera snap =P 

This gives you a glimpse of our current pre-alpha...it's very basic combat at the moment, without a lot of fluff. Boring, to some people, in other words. 

MadFrenchie

Renfail said:

MadFrenchie said:

I kinda wanna pledge just to join the monthly role-playing sessions I read about.  I'm gonna do some more digging into the details surrounding those events first, but if I can get access to those for 40 bucks, I might consider that worth it alone.

I never back a title that's not launched unless I feel what I get warrants the pricetag when I pay it.

They are pretty basic events at the moment, as our game is still fairly "feature lite". It's lots of text-based roleplaying and using your imagination as opposed to having interactable items/content within the game. 

Mostly, we're just giving our existing early access members a chance to log on monthly and have a little fun together for 3-4 hours in between our quarterly builds. 

Better to hold onto your cash for sure until you are 100% sure, as we wouldn't want you to join and be disappointed; I answer questions a lot more frequently over on Discord, FYI. 

Here's our video from part 2, which was during the R10 release a couple of weeks back. It's from my perspective streaming, and you'll notice that we aren't doing any roleplay in the voice chat, just typing and the like (you'll have to pay attention to the text in the video in the bottom left; whenever I stop talking and start typing, that's when there's something important going on, lol).

I'm also doing a ton of screenshots during this event, which you'll hear from time to time as a camera snap =P 

This gives you a glimpse of our current pre-alpha...it's very basic combat at the moment, without a lot of fluff. Boring, to some people, in other words. 

Thanks for the information!  I may stay a fly on the wall for a bit longer, but I have been searching for a more interactive multiplayer experience, even if that means lower production values currently.  I recently looked into Pulsar: Lost Colony, but found that the content was very static and limited, and not enough of it currently to make me feel as if it would hold my attention long-term.

Keep chugging along, man.  I respect that none of you are taking a salary for an unfinished project, and that you literally have a page to make arguments on why players should wait and only back when they completely understand what they're backing and why.  As such, I wish you guys the best!

Renfail

MadFrenchie said:

Renfail said:

MadFrenchie said:

I kinda wanna pledge just to join the monthly role-playing sessions I read about.  I'm gonna do some more digging into the details surrounding those events first, but if I can get access to those for 40 bucks, I might consider that worth it alone.

I never back a title that's not launched unless I feel what I get warrants the pricetag when I pay it.

They are pretty basic events at the moment, as our game is still fairly "feature lite". It's lots of text-based roleplaying and using your imagination as opposed to having interactable items/content within the game. 

Mostly, we're just giving our existing early access members a chance to log on monthly and have a little fun together for 3-4 hours in between our quarterly builds. 

Better to hold onto your cash for sure until you are 100% sure, as we wouldn't want you to join and be disappointed; I answer questions a lot more frequently over on Discord, FYI. 

Here's our video from part 2, which was during the R10 release a couple of weeks back. It's from my perspective streaming, and you'll notice that we aren't doing any roleplay in the voice chat, just typing and the like (you'll have to pay attention to the text in the video in the bottom left; whenever I stop talking and start typing, that's when there's something important going on, lol).

I'm also doing a ton of screenshots during this event, which you'll hear from time to time as a camera snap =P 

This gives you a glimpse of our current pre-alpha...it's very basic combat at the moment, without a lot of fluff. Boring, to some people, in other words. 

Thanks for the information!  I may stay a fly on the wall for a bit longer, but I have been searching for a more interactive multiplayer experience, even if that means lower production values currently.  I recently looked into Pulsar: Lost Colony, but found that the content was very static and limited, and not enough of it currently to make me feel as if it would hold my attention long-term.

Keep chugging along, man.  I respect that none of you are taking a salary for an unfinished project, and that you literally have a page to make arguments on why players should wait and only back when they completely understand what they're backing and why.  As such, I wish you guys the best!

No rush We'll be here!

Renfail

Rhoklaw said:

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for housing? Any? Instanced? Community built? 

Not in Volume I. Housing is a long-term goal and will be player-created/community built. We envision a Star Wars Galaxies type of housing. 

But it won't be in at launch. 

Renfail

Rhoklaw said:

Renfail said:

Rhoklaw said:

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for housing? Any? Instanced? Community built? 

Not in Volume I. Housing is a long-term goal and will be player-created/community built. We envision a Star Wars Galaxies type of housing. 

But it won't be in at launch. 

Well, I think it's safe to say SWG's community building was one of it's successes in the MMORPG scheme of things. I don't think I've seen an MMO yet that has offered anything close, so best of luck to you in that endeavor.

We also really love aspects of Vanguard's housing system. 

We also contemplated the EQ2 style of instanced housing (which, IMO, and many of our team's, is quite possibly one of the best out there for instanced versions), but at the end of the day we didn't want to go the instanced route. 

When it's all said and done, what we have in mind is something complex enough that we just don't want to rush it, and when we started focusing on "what makes it in at launch" versus "what gets rolled out between Volume I and Volume II" and "what comes in Volume II or beyond", housing was one of those things, because it ties into our long-term plans for crafting, which is an ongoing work in progress. 

We talked a bit about the long-term plans for crafting in this AMA video (there's multiple segments talking about crafting, and they kind of wander, so it's a bit of a ramble to get to, if you are interested). 

Scorchien

Stop taunting me Renfail

Renfail

Scorchien said:

Stop taunting me Renfail