Messages

31

General Talk / Re: BattleMaster Thong

« on: March 23, 2011, 06:36:34 PM »

Need to get rid of unsold stock?

Re-brand them as the 'Official BattleMaster Slingshot' and sell them with a pack of Nerf Ballistic Balls.

32

Atamara / Re: Hail Norland!

« on: March 19, 2011, 04:48:37 PM »

Characters or players!?

Both sometimes

The zany side of Norland is over-exaggerated, perhaps because it's unusual and so sticks in the mind more than the more mundane things. Most people only occasionally flirted with silliness and most of the silliness could be rationalised as being the sort of army humour used to keep spirits up and encourage a sense of camaraderie. Princess Lucky was probably never actually used as a siege engine and likely didn't really eat an enemy scout when her supper was delayed.. but the thought she might have sure cheers you and your shrinking band of comrades as you march through another cold and muddy field on your way to another brutal battle. I doubt that human nature has evolved so much that people in the middle-ages did not have a sense of humour, and even a dark, silly and bawdy one from time to time.

Sure, the Viking culture in Norland was a caricature (though certain people had enough knowledge to add some authenticity) but most realms are a caricature of medieval culture to some extent due to the limits of players' historical knowledge.

33

Atamara / Re: Hail Norland!

« on: March 19, 2011, 04:54:55 AM »

Nah. Norland's time came and went. It was good while it lasted but Norlanders just wanted a good, simple, honest fight. Atamara is not the place for that now and has not been since Norland fell.

34

Atamara / Re: Hail Norland!

« on: March 19, 2011, 04:13:29 AM »

It did get increasingly messy towards the end due to attrition and desperation in some circles but thoe of us from the old-guard who were left did what we could towards the end.

I was a bit dissapointed as to how it all ended TBH but all's fair in love and war (and politics) so can't really complain about MI winning by doing things Norland wouldn't even have contemplated for religious/moral/ethical/cultural reasons. At least Norland kept it's soul to the end.

35

Atamara / Re: Hail Norland!

« on: March 19, 2011, 02:49:41 AM »

Norland was the most vibrant, amusing and above all FUN realm I have played in.

Yes it could be silly at times, deadly serious at others, but things happened, memorable characters emerged, insane stories developed and it was always entertaining. The atmosphere encouraged everyone, established and newcomers alike, to join in the fun.

Norlanders loved Norland but were still willing to risk it all to keep things interesting for everyone else, even if that meant fighting apparently hopeless wars (and, for a long time, winning them).

I'd go as far as to say that if it had not been for Norland I might have got bored of BM long ago and packed it in. One of the reasons I keep playing is the hope that I can find a realm like that again. Not necessarily that mad but that interesting and passionate.

36

General Talk / Re: The Movie Thread

« on: March 17, 2011, 11:16:15 AM »

Anyone ever watch movies online? Or do you consider piracy theft?

Ah.. one of my bugbears.. the entertainment industry calling copyright infringement for personal use piracy or theft (legally it's not either) or even a crime (in many countries it's a civil not a criminal offense unless you profit from it).

If I like something I'll pay for it. It's only fair to those who made it and it allows and encourages them to make more of what I like. If it's unfairly expensive (DVDs in the UK are twice the price than in the US, for example) I'll just wait for it to come down in price.

37

General Talk / Re: Music Thread

« on: March 17, 2011, 02:15:49 AM »

I enjoy anything with spirit and passion and tend to chose what I listen to based on my mood but gravitate by default to metal and punk.

Most played at this moment in no order.. Slayer, Fear Factory, Nine Inch Nails, Send More Paramedics, Voi Vod, Nuclear Assault, Dead Kennedys, Dirty Rotten Imbaciles, Bob Dylan, NWA, Napalm Death, Marilyn Manson, Lamb of God.

38

Helpline / Re: Region description

« on: March 16, 2011, 02:16:53 PM »

It is even explicitly requested that you do not colour the region description depending on what realm owns it. The description must be written in such a way that it can stand unchanged if the owner changes. Being too specific about current events is one reject reason.

Ah, of course, it says that in the guidelines when you edit a description. That completely slipped my mind this morning.

39

Atamara / Re: The Current War

« on: March 16, 2011, 02:07:45 PM »

.. A person is not their brother, and shame on anyone that plays their characters as such ..

.. Because being in an army means their word holds weight? That... leap is covering quite a distance ..

Agreed on both points but what I was trying to say (badly it seems, but it was late) was he might be listening to Norlanders already (or their sympathisers) or do so in future and not realise it. Not every character knows every other character's history or connections. Using speciifc examples just muddied the point I was trying to make as neither are particularly good examples for a number of reasons.

40

Atamara / Re: The Current War

« on: March 16, 2011, 05:03:05 AM »

Oh, we know that this war is fun. It's the most fun I've had on AT since I burned down Brackhead. I had fun with that, but Norland had !!Fun!!. This fun promises to last a lot longer than that. And I don't have to listen to Norlanders. (Well, not much...)

Bravo. I can't speak for Norland but as someone very heavily involved in it (albeit on the losing side) I had a ball.

The original Norland/MI war was started by.. um.. certain individuals.. in Norland (essentially OOC but with solid IC justification) because AT had stagnated and it snowballed from there. Sure it could have ended better for Norland but anyone playing with the right mentality would have had fun and losing is the risk of participating. There were great battles, epic RPs, betrayals, power-brokering, chaos, mayhem, blood, land, gold, glory and interesting times for all. It certainly shook up northeast AT the way I hope the current war will shake up the whole continent (wars are fertile.. they have children) and was some of the most fun I have had in BM.

The reason it was fun was because for a long time there was risk, action and uncertainty for those who got properly involved. While it is natural to shy away from these things when in positions of power sometimes you need to put the OOC hat on as a major player and say.. what the hell.. this will make things interesting, dynamic and fun.

As for not listening to Norlanders .. welllll.. the brother of the General who kicked the whole MI war off commands your homeland defense force and the Norland General who stood-up to the combined forces of Darka, BoM and Eston to the last (wo)man is now serving in your army. Who knows how the after-effects of that war have affected them? For better, worse or indifferent actions have consequences in BM which is, of course, the beauty of the game.

41

Other Games / Re: Proudest Gaming Moment?

« on: March 16, 2011, 03:27:19 AM »

Completing a 3-year story arc on BM that was so subtle, ambigious and diffuse than no-one realised what was going on (to be fair even I didn't decide the 'truth' of what was going on - that was down to the reader to decide) with cryptic historical and cultural references probably too obscure for anyone to spot (how many players know their realm's ancient history, are students of medieval nordic religon and are classic horror movie afficianados).

The story was hidden in RPs, in-game lists, character movements, battle reports and messages to small, but sometimes overlapping, groups of nobles and involved multiple characters and realms.

The cherry on the cake was that the finale of the story required a central character to die in a certain place, at a certain time and doing a certain thing. I am still not sure if, against astronomical odds, the fact that the game killed them.. at that time, in that place and doing that thing.. means that at least one person was following the story and tweaked probability in the favour of narrative or if it was some sort of glorious coincidence. Truth be told.. I'd rather not know but I suspect the latter as the former would require a hell of a lot of insight and some seriously quick and inventive intervention in the game internals.

The story (albiet without the subtlety or pacing of hiding it in-game) is concealed in my family wiki pages for those with nothing better to do but it requires some knowledge, some twisted thinking and some patience to find and, being out-of-game, lacks the impact is should have had if anyone had bloody-well noticed it going on first time round.

42

Helpline / Re: Region description

« on: March 16, 2011, 02:32:31 AM »

The wiki has no such restriction..

Stick it up there, ask for comments on wiki and ooc in realm and when the timeout expires make with the cut-n-paste magic.

Though I have seen no obvious rules on the subject I tend to write non-partisan descriptions with as much colour and implied richness as can be squeezed into a couple of paragraphs. It's better for atmosphere and when your enemy steals the region they are less likely to entirely remove your carefully crafted and researched hard work. (Worth keeping in mind if you are the invading party).

The best region descriptions do not just describe geography and landmarks but describe how they affect the people and culture of the region. People are more interesting than hills and trees,

43

Development / Re: Balance of features and functionality

« on: March 16, 2011, 01:55:27 AM »

Good riddance. BM is not the right game for people with a short attention span and need for instant gratification. They should go play something else.

I tend to agree with that sentiment but then again we understand Battlemaster; it is a slowly paced, long-term, social, character-driven game.

New players not used to this concept might not quite get it however much they might appreciate it if they gave it a chance.

I think we need to be a little more precise and targeted in how we promote BM on the JOIN page (and elsewhere on the WWW) to increase the chance of getting (and keeping) the sort of player we want by being clear what their expectations should be.. something like..

BattleMaster Is..

Lightweight: You can spend as little as 15 minutes a day and still play well.
Relaxed: The game's pace is measured in half-days, rather than seconds, minutes or hours.
Persistent: The results of the actions you take, the relationships you forge and the decisions you make can last for years.
Long-term: The game is most fulfilling when played over months or years. Some of our players have been with us for over a decade.
Immersive: The game is as much about developing interesting characters and worlds as achieving goals.
Depthful: There is always something new to learn in a richly imagined world backed by a sophisticated game system.
Social: Interaction between players is fundamental to the game and brings it's own rewards; it is the players who create the world.
Fair: We do not tolerate cheating, abuse, bullying or other anti-social actions in the game.
Evolving: We are constantly adding improvements, depth and subtlety to the game.

I don't think the learning curve and feature creep is a bad thing. Even after six years it keeps me interested as there is always something new to learn. The most compelling games take a minute to learn and a lifetime to master and BM fits that bill (and that's just the game system, you could spend two lifetimes gaining complete knowledge of every character, every realm, every religion). That is what keeps many people playing.

The key is to do what we can to make the curve as shallow as possible in the first week or so to fire the desire to learn and provide the reward of being able to learn.

In terms of encouraging interaction with new players.. how about every message to a player less than a week old has a "this message was useful" button. Clicking it counts towards a "Your support of new nobles has been recognised by your peers.. you gain x honour and y prestige" bonus for the sending noble. (With hints to this in the new player arrival messages to a realm). Alternately a limited supply of 'helpful' medals that new players can give other players who help them.

Incidentally.. I just realised that BM is only a lightweight game at certain timescales..
15 minutes a day is not much compared to most games. However.. 15 minutes x 365 days x 6 years = 497.75 hours*
How many games do people spend 500 hours playing in a 6 year period?
* the extra .25 hours assumes one leap-year in the six year period because someone would surely mention if I missed that ;-)

44

BM General Discussion / Re: Religions

« on: March 14, 2011, 09:27:14 PM »

One simple option to raise the profile of religion is to append a character's religion and their position in it to their message signature..

Severn Da Hadez
Count of Eurotan, Marshal of the Northern Guard, Sigrid's Warrior of Darkanism

I like the idea of having optional commandments similar to realm laws with a chance of getting caught breaking them dependant on the number of followers/temples/priests in the region. You would be reported to the Elders of the religion for transgressions. Priests could have a 'conduct inquisition' option where they have a higher chance of spotting transgressions occurring that day in the region.

Commandments could include things like resting on certain days, not duelling, not performing certain types of looting, not evading or retreating from battle and so on.

Nobles would have a 'piety' statistic. Religious elders would have a limited amount of marks (say 1 per member per week) with which to reward or punish members. The effects of good or bad marks on piety score would be related to how strict the religion is, making it easier for members to gain/lose prestige the stricter the religion's commandments are. Moving above or below certain piety thresholds would have honour/prestige effects for the noble

There is no reason the religion could not enforce additional commandments/requirements outside game mechanics though there would be no automatic reporting for those.

This would give players a tangible stake in their choice of religion and their adherence to it as well as adding depth to the religion and adding more potential for interaction between elders and members. It would also add another click-able thing for priests to do.

This could be added incrementally to the game (maybe add the piety system first then add mechanics for commandments),

45

Roleplaying / Re: One Post Short Stories

« on: March 14, 2011, 02:46:34 AM »

M'Kay.. I'll start with one of my most recent..

Roleplay from Janna Da Hadez   (24 days, 1 hour ago)
Message sent to everyone in your realm (74 recipients)

The sergeant-at-arms of the training yards in Azzal carefully reviewed his situation.
 
He was lying on the ground. That was a given because the cold of the flagstones was seeping through the iron of his backplate with some insistence. There was a tight, hot pain making itself known somewhere below his stomach.. which itself was trying hard to release everything that had been presented to it in the last day. His jaw felt as though it belonged to someone else. He decided he didn't want to be around when it found him.
 
There was more. Someone was lying on top of him. Probably his second, Barker, judging by the stench of cloves and vinegar and the sheer dead weight pressing down on his thighs. What else? Odd.. The yard was silent.. which was wrong because last he remembered the evening drill had been well underway.
 
He opened his eyes with trepidation.
 
There was a woman looking down at him.
 
Oh yes.. The Woman.
 
She had marched up to him bold as brass in her wrecked and filthy bronze armour and had demanded to inspect his best infantry recruits. She had said something about presenting her noble credentials. He had said something that, in retrospect, had probably neither been as witty or safe as he had imagined.
 
Now he was lying helpless on the ground under a fat man who smelled of foreign condiments and whom, it now seemed, also suffered from a distressingly weak bladder.
 
He heard her, from a continent away, barking orders in a husky voice that, even in his prone and soiled state, caused hairs all over his body to rise. Possibly in self defence.
 
"The ten best swordsmen in this yard will fall-in behind me now." the voice growled.
 
He could hear the urgent clatter of armoured boots, set against a rising background of what passed for whispering between men deafened by thick padded helmets. He felt a damp chill as the still warm rays of the evening sun were blocked from him by a line of men.
 
"You men will follow me."
It was a declaration, not an order.
 
The sergeant contemplated his position as the sound of marching men faded, leaving only the echoed murmuring of the soldiers in the yard and the occasional badly stifled burst of laughter.
 
As he tentatively rolled the still recumbent Barker away and freed his numb and soaking legs he decided someone would suffer for this outrage, though he was not yet sure who.
 
Ideally it would be someone without a punch like a siege engine, the speed of a striking serpent and a knowledge of male anatomy that would put his unreasonably expensive female acquaintances from the docks to shame.
 
Nevertheless; someone would suffer and there were drills to complete.
 
 
Janna Da Hadez (Freeman)