Story Arcs

Story Arcs

I imagine that when we finally have the world maps (ie the forums of the world map) for the continent Aran'niel on the site we will have numerous plot lines going on. From what I understand we as developers will create certain events or story arcs for role-players. Scenarios like the Conclave Crusade in Kailzimoth would be example of such an event.

While we would have the main arc of the Crusade success or failure we would have many other story arcs (such as discovering things about Nacatha for Vander and Douvel) which would be roleplayer made stories.

My hope is that all developer made events will have their outcomes heavily influenced by what choices the roleplayers make in the event. In turn I think we can all hope that role-players will have the initiative to start their own story arcs separate of developer events that have plenty of character impact even if they don't have as big of an impact on the world as developer events.

I also think we should categorize developer made events into four categories.

Local events are centered in a small area and originally have a small impact. This might be a pack of monsters that have infested a mine in the Black Mountains that players can clear, a local conflict between the Conclave and a rogue guild, or the rumor of a magical blade people can roleplay to compete for. These would likely be self-contained with only a few people and not have a major impact on the world outside of its effects on the role-players character. However, it's possible they could snowball into…

Regional events that can affect wider parts of a nation. Perhaps there is a plague caused by a mad sorcerer a role-player accidently let free or a town under siege by a hostile warband in need of defense or destroying. Several of these would likely make up….

Major events that impact an entire nations such as political struggle for the throne of Eadhaolin or the crusade in Kailzimoth.

Finally, there are epic events that span numerous kingdoms. These would have noticeable impact on the world and likely involve the entire role-playing community at some point. It would consist of dozens of story arcs and would be incredibly varied in their outcomes – though whatever outcome that would be would be significant.

Cool thoughts. This has always been my opinion on how such things should be conducted (With the end goal of having extremely competent players take on initiating local, regional, major, or even epic events), but there hasn't been anything formally written so far. That's taken care of now, thanks Crom.

Admin wrote: (With the end goal of having extremely competent players take on initiating local, regional, major, or even epic events)

I absolutely agree with this. More power to (good) roleplayers the better. And np.