Closing Islands ?

[Qyasogk]

The whole time I was reading this thread two ideas came to me:

Númenor, also called Elenna-nórë or Westernesse, is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was a huge island located in the Sundering Seas to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was known to be the greatest realm of Men. However, the inhabitants' cessation of the service to Eru Ilúvatar and rebellion against the Valar led to the downfall of the island and death of the majority of its population.

We could have our very own Numenor. The gods are angry at the crimes of men. Players have the option to emigrate to another island (thus no ones characters are forced to die if they leave). Your character has the role play equivalent of being from Atlantis.

Someone also suggested dragons.

My idea was for dragons to be a third spawn option for hordes (in addition to regular monsters & undead.) The number of dragon spawns can be set by the devs. But unlike normal hordes, dragons are not so easily slain (maybe Heroes can start earning their titles?), have a very large appetite for gold (I.e. YOUR gold) and are difficult for an ordinary army to kill.

You can also have an icon on your map that stands for "Here there be dragons!"

It makes perfect sense to have the world grow a little wilder as humans are fewer and less able to tame the land they live on.

[Tom]

Tom did you check out the "precise interest" feature?

No, that didn't seem to be available when I checked.

Before running that campaign, we should add some more general interest posts to the FB page, though. Right now, most are island events that make no sense to an outsider.

[Chenier]

I know this is going against the general trend, but I actually think freezing an island would be worse than sinking it. Looking at the example of the War Islands, players migrated elsewhere in a bid to continue their realms and religions, resulting in things like Everguard and Torenism on Dwilight. Closing another island may have that same effect on the players there, not merely increasing player density but also adding another interesting element into game play as players from the closed island try and rebuild elsewhere. Furthermore this kind of migration may allow cultures and groups from the closed island to continue, albeit in a different form.

Now perhaps it is the pessimist in me, but I don't see a frozen continent ever being re-opened barring a sudden miracle. However by giving players the vague hope of re-opening we will ensure that nowhere near enough will be willing to migrate to allow the continuation and spread of cultures that would occur from a closed island. This essentially means that the end result will be the same as closing an island while banning immigration- not only are game cultures and histories destroyed (an inevitability regardless of which option we choose) but there is no chance of said cultures surviving elsewhere in the game.

I tend to agree.

[pcw27]

No, that didn't seem to be available when I checked.

Before running that campaign, we should add some more general interest posts to the FB page, though. Right now, most are island events that make no sense to an outsider.

If you email me about it some time I'd be happy to help optimize the facebook. I already admin two facebook accounts for a small film company.

[Geronus]

If you email me about it some time I'd be happy to help optimize the facebook. I already admin two facebook accounts for a small film company.

I for one would be more than happy to donate to a FB campaign. I've donated several times in the past. Given the reach of Social Media these days, I feel like we could really draw in a significant number of new players. Think about how many players this game managed to attract at its height without much in the way of advertising.

[Geronus]

No, that didn't seem to be available when I checked.

Before running that campaign, we should add some more general interest posts to the FB page, though. Right now, most are island events that make no sense to an outsider.

If we're going to run a FB campaign to attract players, we probably do need to rethink the current FB approach. The posts we put up now don't necessarily make sense unless you know the game and the politics of any given island. They tend to lack context. Maybe we just need to approach them from a bit more simplistic (even crass and materialistic) standpoint. "Latest news from Atamara: Rebellion in Silnaria! Many positions could be available, but who will you support? The Loyalists or the Rebels?"

[pcw27]

I read them over and I don't think they'd be all that confusing to an outsider. When I read news from continents I don't play on the narrative makes sense for the most part. At times some additional context might help eg instead of "Rebellion in the Astrum" it could read "A rebellion has started in Astrum, the largest military super power on the continent".

I think oversimplifying the posts isn't the best idea because as they are they advertise the complexity and level of intrigue that's possible in Battlemaster.

[Wolfang]

I liked the idea of freezing two continents and then starting a new one.

Why?

Because this would create entirely new dynamics, as a new player it's sometimes hard to break through on these continents with people that have been playing and scratching each other's backs for years. I also think this would re-create the atmosphere people want of 'recolonising' an island filled with monsters, like on dwilight.

[Tom]

I liked the idea of freezing two continents and then starting a new one.

There will be no new continents, period. Why is this point continuing to creep up? It is not going to happen. No new islands. Do I need to write that in 100px bright red bold?

[trying]

There will be no new continents, period. Why is this point continuing to creep up? It is not going to happen. No new islands. Do I need to write that in 100px bright red bold?

Yes put it in the thread title too.

[Chenier]

Ideas I'm a fan of:

Increased rogue spawns
Pro: Their effect depend on players' effectiveness, as organized realms will survive better than poorly-organized ones.
Pro: By turning regions rogue, they force theirs inhabitants to seek a home elsewhere, thus raising the noble density in said regions.
Pro: Players can choose their priorities and decide what to defend and what to abandon, it isn't decided arbitrarily by GMs.
Pro: It grants players some control over their own fates.
Con: Could bring back a higher PvE element on islands where it is brought as some characters will inevitably make it their sole purpose to fight the rogues (good for them if they like it, though, imo)
Con: Could distract and disrupt ongoing or pending conflicts (no worse than closing or freezing islands would)

Multiple lordships
Pro: Allows lordships to be given to those who actually care for them (I find pretty much all lordship elections to be very depressing, considering how the candidates never really seem all that interested in winning)
Pro: Would allow a higher title concentration, thus increasing the number of people without titles
Pro: Because of the higher title concentration, those wanting lordships would need to actually make an effort to get it (because all of the people who care and who are already lords wouldn't be excluded) and value is returned to the title
Pro: Successful low noble density realms would have more opportunities to continue expanding for as long as their success allows, increasing noble density in the realms they take regions from.
Con: Would require appropriate mechanisms to prevent some large realms from being turned into 1-ruler/1-duke/1-lord realms.
Con: Would reduce turnover (which is kind of the point, given how its too high and makes titles pointless right now)
Con: Being a simple knight gives people less to do overall, so it'd take away things to do from more people (but that's also the point, as a higher noble density, and thus more knights per lord, is what's being saught)

Continental merger
Pro: Realms on the edges have long been isolated from everyone, by putting the continents close to each other and reachable by sea zones, everyone would suddenly gain a number of new neighbors.
Pro: Continents lost, for example by increased rogue spawns, could still be reachable by the nobles that used to live there but that were forced to move away. Intercontinental coalitions would become possible to fight off any NPC invasion (be them scripted or otherwise).
Pro: On continents where there is a diplomatic gridlock, it would open up new possibilities
Pro: By reducing the number of realms that have almost no neighbors and almost no venues for war or other interesting activities, player retention should be improved
Con: would require a massive overhaul to the DB and to various mechanics

[Poliorketes]

I don't know... I think the best way to close a island would be to progressively increasing the rogue spawns (x2 every week or something like that) and give some kind of reward to the 'survivors' every day (or week): Gold, Prestige, Honour, items, scrolls or any other thing.

In the end all the island would be destroyed by the monsters, but the nobles who resist more weeks before left the island would have some important advantages.

It would be a way to compensate the lost of their island, and make a kind of 'survival competition'.

[Dishman]

Here's what we do. Take whatever continent you want to sink, pop a 999k daimon army in the middle. Give the players a little while to freak out, RP the end days and all that. Then, after a week or two of silence, the daimon leader addresses the continent and proclaims that humanity is weak and the daimons are holding a 'proper tournament'.

Then, a series of tournaments are held. Tournaments are to the death. After half the continent jumps ship, you'll have what few die-hard characters left to have a blow-out RP session (fame points all around). Once the tournaments are finished (and the continent champion is declared), the winner fights the daimon leader. If he wins then through some black juju he is transformed into a daimon lord. Plop him on Dwilight with GM abilities and have a rival daimon faction.

[egamma]

Here's what we do. Take whatever continent you want to sink, pop a 999k daimon army in the middle. Give the players a little while to freak out, RP the end days and all that. Then, after a week or two of silence, the daimon leader addresses the continent and proclaims that humanity is weak and the daimons are holding a 'proper tournament'.

Then, a series of tournaments are held. Tournaments are to the death. After half the continent jumps ship, you'll have what few die-hard characters left to have a blow-out RP session (fame points all around). Once the tournaments are finished (and the continent champion is declared), the winner fights the daimon leader. If he wins then through some black juju he is transformed into a daimon lord. Plop him on Dwilight with GM abilities and have a rival daimon faction.

I find your icon, combined with your post, highly suspicous....

[Eduardo Almighty]

I think it becomes obvious that Tom already discarded many options, but they are still cited.

Freezing is terrible. The best idea I heard so far is to choose a continent and prevent new characters to start there, letting the continent lose its nobles and allowing the characters to continue fighting for hegemony or for mere survival in a world being devastated. With more players, you can allow them to return and help to save the day or use it like BT, just with some people trying to emmigrate... or just being banished there by the Judges of another continents, creating some chaos and improving the history without destroy everything built for a long long time. This way you don't need demons, dragons, nuclear bombs or whatever. You don't need GMs, you even need to blight regions, because they will become rogue without support and will stay there for eventual reconquest. Nor you need to change the maps. All you need is a plague like the death of the firstborn or any other craziness that fits well in the concept -- and this is just pure roleplay like it must be.

I believe this is the fairest course of action to leave an island to die without spit in the entire history and without throwing away the characters. Also, this is the best way to continue with a good island when we reach more people, because after all, if you change the maps or sink an entire islands, I doubt we will have the opportunity to play there again, like we don't have the chance to play in war islands anymore.

BM need more players, not less opportunities to play.
Just my opinion.