Arelith

A number of recent threads and conversations have brought to my attention that new players are having a hard time assimilating with Arelith's setting and culture. We've long since diverged from FR lore, and have a history of our own now, which is becoming more and more complex and difficult to grasp with every passing day. This leads to false expectations and misunderstandings about how things "should" be, especially where it pertains to the treatment of characters with certain ideologies in certain places.

It seems to me that this could be ameliorated by providing a brief and broad history of the island, easily accessible from a very low level, and parts possibly during character creation, so that new players have a better sense of the IC social environment that they're entering.

A simple example, pertaining to one very visible issue, would be a brief explanation of the historical treatment of Warlocks and Necromancers in Cordor, so that new players of these classes/paths can enter the setting knowing that they may face persecution, rather than being blindsided by it in a tense player on player confrontation. Of course, that is not by any means the only source of confusion.

Back when I first got here in the 20s, the general consensus seemed to be that Arelith was an island lost in the mists of the Trackless Sea, happened upon by chance and misfortune, but I think that it's reasonable to expect after more than a century that incoming travelers will have heard at least rumors about what Arelith is like, and that could be expressed through providing some limited general lore.

I have been thinking about the same thing, and tempted to use a bit of free time on a weekend to come up with a guide like I had done for the UD, but for the surface. At least a sketch of it, to see what people think.

Because I do believe it could be useful, without being spoilery ( I am a fan of foig, after all)

Late 40's early 50's guy here. Gosh it's been a hundred IG years since I've started? How many reworks of Cordor have I seen and missed I wonder.

But if you want any help writing stuff down / discussing the matters, I'd be happy to help.

I'd like to mention that a bit of general info about the place could also be useful. Like, is Cordor a kingdom? Who's the king? Has there been any major wars or other big-time events that could possibly affect a background story, things like that

Thanks!

But that is quite the thing. There is no real need to get very granular about history and timelines and all that.

Following some simple structures and templates, one could do an overlook of settlements, demographics and religions, enough to inform and inspire new players without spoiling anything.

Hm.. i know the drow have a similar thing for the 'old' houses in the library, essentially a listing of most of the old drow houses and what they did. Maybe having a library-esque place on the surface would be good.. maybe something akin to a 'old rulings' book? to keep tabs on what happened in what time

:shrugs:

Borin Drakkmurl wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:54 pm Thanks!

But that is quite the thing. There is no real need to get very granular about history and timelines and all that.

Following some simple structures and templates, one could do an overlook of settlements, demographics and religions, enough to inform and inspire new players without spoiling anything.

I agree with this!

I wanna make a small note:
Part of what my character (Astra Starlock) did IG was to try and encourage people to write about history, and things that happened over the servers history, where it could be put into books she could read out at lectures, thus while teaching a language, also teach about the islands history.

Biggest problem i've run into is people who do know about it, have already rolled their characters involved, and or all characters involved have rolled or players have left the server, thus there is no way for the book to be actually written IG, unless i somehow got an Ooc lore writing group together to make said history books, with some weird excuses of how they got it.

Atlantahammy wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:45 pm

Borin Drakkmurl wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:54 pm Thanks!

But that is quite the thing. There is no real need to get very granular about history and timelines and all that.

Following some simple structures and templates, one could do an overlook of settlements, demographics and religions, enough to inform and inspire new players without spoiling anything.

I agree with this!

I wanna make a small note:
Part of what my character (Astra Starlock) did IG was to try and encourage people to write about history, and things that happened over the servers history, where it could be put into books she could read out at lectures, thus while teaching a language, also teach about the islands history.

IC stuff is cool, but that's for the more veteran players more than the new players. If I want to find some information pertaining to a character concept I'm considering, I don't really want to have to find it in-game.

I think ths is a great idea, but I'd very much suggest keeping it 'braud' and 'shallow' if that makes sense? Especially if it's for new players. To use an example:

'The city of Benwick, now ruined in the woods, was destroyed in the Rifts Crisis when the Kobold Vippin took advantage of the maddnes, Thomas Miller, the Captain, and the planar instability of the environs to break the seal upon the gate, thus releasing a hoard of devils...'

This is a bit too detailed. Maybe just

'Deep in the forest there are the devil ravaged ruins of the Benwick, once a keep of paladins, set to guard a gateway to the hells. Unfortunatly due to the machinations of evil, the gate was breached and the fortress overrun with devils some years ago.'

Avoid too many mentions of specific characters. Stick to a very wide, 'shallow' overview so as not to bog people down with nitty gritty. If people want to know more of the exact situation reguarding the fall of Benwick, for example, they should do that research In Game.

The EA could be used to fill this, it could be added to IG books, or I can start updating the wiki to give general, broad lore info about Arelith and its various places.

Certain NPCs already give some arelith knowledge IG to this end as well, and more could be added. I keep forgetting to work on one to recall the Spriggan war

I may or may not have started writting something up.

And I might have a rough draft ready soon.

And this may or may not be the littke bit of structure I sketched up so far:

A Player’s Guide to Arelith

Introduction

Dark clouds, pregnant with snowstorms, hang heavy around jagged mountain peaks. Icy rivers cascade down grassy foothills and into deep forests. Waves crash back and forward on golden beaches. Drums echo in shadowy, secluded groves. The winds whisper of scaly wings as they blow through ancient pillars. The nights are welcomed by a harmony of cruel howls.
Against these dangers rise marble hewn walls, holy temples and arcane wards. Sword, shield and spell march bravely through paved roads and dusty halls, seeking glory, adventure and the ever shifting frontiers of fate.

Welcome, to Arelith.




Geography
Climate, Flora & Fauna
Time
Date & Calendar

Peoples of Arelith
Humans
Halflings
Elves
Dwarves
Gnomes
Half Orcs
Half Elves





Cities & Settlements
Demography
History
Politics

Religion
Death

Magic
Artifacts & Enchantment
Warlocks

Crafting & Resources
Materials
Professions

DM Titania wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:18 pm The EA could be used to fill this, it could be added to IG books, or I can start updating the wiki to give general, broad lore info about Arelith and its various places.

Certain NPCs already give some arelith knowledge IG to this end as well, and more could be added. I keep forgetting to work on one to recall the Spriggan war

There is a lot of stuff on the EA which is very interesting and detailed. People should read more, it's a great tool, because you'll search something related to the lore, and stumble on something else, and read it, and so on.

So, as I had mentioned before, I decided to write up a brief sketch of what could be a guide for new and perhaps old players.

Before I keep going, though, I thought I'd share what I have worked on so far and see if there would be interest in me doing the whole thing, or if I would just be wasting my time.

I never shared docs like this before, so let's hope this works and nothing melts:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SFt ... sp=sharing

To anyone who goes through it, here is a question:

Is a format like that better than what I had done before in the homebrewery platform?:

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1ygx7Iqx

Or should I eventually convert from one to the other?

Also, just as a note, the Wiki does have a lot of good info, even if some small bits of it are outdated.

And as a last PS: No need to get nitpicky just yet with any glaring mistakes I might've made. I am just poking you all to see if this would even be worth doing to the end.

Borin Drakkmurl wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 2:21 pm So, as I had mentioned before, I decided to write up a brief sketch of what could be a guide for new and perhaps old players.

Before I keep going, though, I thought I'd share what I have worked on so far and see if there would be interest in me doing the whole thing, or if I would just be wasting my time.

I never shared docs like this before, so let's hope this works and nothing melts:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SFt ... sp=sharing

To anyone who goes through it, here is a question:

Is a format like that better than what I had done before in the homebrewery platform?:

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1ygx7Iqx

Or should I eventually convert from one to the other?

Also, just as a note, the Wiki does have a lot of good info, even if some small bits of it are outdated.

And as a last PS: No need to get nitpicky just yet with any glaring mistakes I might've made. I am just poking you all to see if this would even be worth doing to the end.

That's looking pretty great, I like the formatting. You can very much pick and choose what to read about, no need to go through all of it to find that info you were looking for, for you next character

Borin Drakkmurl wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 2:21 pm https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SFt ... sp=sharing

To anyone who goes through it, here is a question:

Is a format like that better than what I had done before in the homebrewery platform?:

I like it, so far. There are some minor changes I'd make to the text itself, but it's a great start and going in the right direction. I'd stay focused on the content for now. Presenting it to the community will ultimately be a collaborative effort with the staff, so choosing a format can wait.

Cool! I will focus on just putting mind to page and then later perhaps open the document itself for coments, so people can give pointers.