Avalon Soul's Fireside Chat Notes

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The GrumpyCat
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Avalon Soul's Fireside Chat Notes

Post by The GrumpyCat » Fri May 06, 2022 2:54 pm

Of late Avalon Soul has been putting out some Fireside Chat talks over discord. At the last one the players asked if we could put up notes from it, for those that couldn't make it. Here is the notes of his most recent chat which is reguarding events.
i've made a few tiny alterations, but it's pretty much just his notes, so likely didn't cover everything in the chat, but covered some of it anyway.
Again, dispite the fact I'm posting this, it's all Avalon's work.


Events and you: Genres of Events, and more information about them and how to request them.

First Main Point:
Events come in a variety of types that echo the pillars of Roleplaying in a Paper and Pen environment, albeit differently carried out in the environment of Neverwinter Nights.
Event Types:
Action: Generally a lot of combat driven events would fall into this category.
Exploration: "What's this over here?" , events that generally take characters to locales not commonly visited to learn more.
Mystery: "Something has happened , we need to work out what before it comes back to bite us." , events that generally are a reaction to an unknown happening or series of happenings.
Social/Intrigue: "Some day, and that day may never come... " , Events built around socialization and interaction, usually associated with political circles but could be more straight forward such as interpersonal relations.

Also please note: Individual Events can blend multiple styles as circumstances dictate

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How this affects you as players?
Style of Events can influence people's enjoyment, especially if they are adverse to one for some reason.
Example: A player who enjoys the Dungeon crawling experience mostly might find Action and Exploration events fun, but Mystery and Social/Intrigue events may not have much draw for them.
Additionally, when requesting an event or when you are about to get into an event, barring a circumstance change or a situational change


When Requesting Events:
Keep in mind typically, there is likely one DM who is preparing said event (which does take time) , and up to 10 or more players, especially if the event happens to be in a major area. They may well be quite stretched thin in what they are doing. It would be ideal if either ample preparation time was availible to them, as well as awareness of the number of intended characters involved (this is something only so calculable but best effort is wise).
Enjoyability of the event can be affected by a number of factors to keep in mind if planning to request an event.


Event Inclusiveness:
Whilst every Character has their own story and their own arc to follow, that will certainly come to light as time progresses. A massive part of inclusiveness, is to create a situation in which their are clear objections to aim towards. Because, whilst lazy isn't the right word, a lot of players enjoy knowing that what they do can actually acheieve something. Whether that be a PC Faction of Orcs, where the leader orders the tribe to slay a rival tribe, or to get the head of Dragons to show they are strong.
Where possible, unless the event is very small for a specific reason, more opporitunity for people to be involved is strongly encouraged. However, in the case of Combat or Adventure type events, mind that larger numbers can become unwieldy.
A sub point on this topic more relevant to when actually in the event: Splitting the party can be difficult if you have a single DM running the event, please keep this in mind especially if one of the groups in the split is holding at an area where the DM's attention will not likely be for extended periods.
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Event Flexibility:
An event which is more open ended to a DM and their creativity is an event that is more likely to recieve a lot of attention and allows the DM to be particularly ingenuitive. Having a very scripted experience is not a good event, and is a way to see something "Railroaded." (Following a strict path without deviation)
While railroading is not wholly a bad thing (and, in fact for very specific things can be nescessary if the plot is for a specific purpose) , flexibility in how an end goal is achieve ultimately gives more options

(Closed event = 'I want an event where I meet a a demon and I kill him and then I kill his followers and then I find their base and I loot it and get a sword and then I leave the base and go to Cordor and they hold a parade for me.')
Open Event = 'My character hates demons, could you run an event where I fight some? Perhaps they could be a cult of them somewhere in Guldorand?' (This may perhaps be a little too open ended, but you get the idea.)


Event Limitations and things to consider:
Dms CANNOT make perminent changes to the module. If your event is 'Destroying Bendir' or 'Saving Benwick' even if someone runs this, then it'll all likely be back to normal after a reset. This is something to keep in mind for requesting events, something that'd make a temporary change might be a better approach, then persistent.
This isn't to discourage people asking for events like this (though I'd advise 'attempting to attack/attempting to fix) but it's good to set expectations when asking for events.
While the option to 'Hire' NPC factions to raid a target is a consideration some might be inclined to, due to factional issues inherent in the code of NWN, the faction attacking a target area would ALSO be attacking you and your comrades if you also wished to join in.
The reward or result sought will definitively determine the difficulty faced in the event. Event solely intent on acquiring large amount of items or similar are not likely to be considered, nor events that are solely intended to affect PCs (Such as a Bank heist to steal from player accounts) , are also not likely to be considered.
When working with a DM to schedule an event, please keep in mind that having to rely on the schedules of a lot of people is going to likely hinder times available to run the event itself. Having a good idea of the times you are wanting to work in for setting up the event would help the DM be able to plan scheduling around it.


Events and wishing not to be involved:
For any number of reasons it is entirely reasonable that a player or PC may not wish to be involved in an event. This is a fairly easy matter to avert in most cases, and even if not, a DM is more likely than not willing to come up with a reason why a PC isn't present when something happens by in large, or leaves/is pulled out of the line of fire
However, I do also ask it be born in mind that Arelith is a Persistent and living world. Things are going to be happening a person may not wish to be involved with, but others will want to. Please allow the players and DMs wanting to be involved in such events to enjoy them.


And to leave you the most important point:

"Sometimes, the Dragon just wants a damn Snowglobe."
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)


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