That was nice...

[Tiefling]

What a nice, warm giddy feeling...

As usual I was grinding bandits in the caves when I noticed I had dropped rather low on my health points. As I was also out spells to cast - I headed outside only to notice bandits in their camp. As well a trapped chest of treasure.

Somehow, I outlived the bandits and claimed the content of the chest.

It was my first trap to disarm, first lock to pick. Made me feel like a proper Rogue.

Kudos for DM Eldur for the best event ever.

[DEV Akavit]

I got a tell from Malkar regarding a identical "spawn and run" event in the same location. He was afraid at first that he accidentally destroyed a DM's event in progress so he'll be glad to know that was not the case.

When the server gets traps, dungeons and locks working properly I'll make a rogue of my own. Of course true to my style it'll probably end up being some sort of weird and twisted multi-class.

We've got a great assortment of DM's here to offer us events from the "enormoustes gargantaunly huge" to the small and subtle. Thanks to all of them for the added flavor.

[Zealote]

Yeah man DM Eldur is a great find.
Spawns!
Fixes!
Traps!
RP!
Lore!

By the union of your powers he is DM Debug! Go Debug! ;D

[eldur(retired)]

Not everyone will be happy with the bandits hanging out in their camp.

I may put 3-4 bandits in the hideout, and some people think because they see something unusual, it's a DM event.
This leads to the "Oh, I can stand here and fight and get a free ressurect" mentality and people will neglect the tactic of running when things look grim.

This is a mentality that must change.

RUN!
Grab a friend if you must, but don't count on a DM looking over your shoulder for that free heal or rez.

Sure it may happen, but please oh please don't take it for granted.


I've heard the excuse "Well, my character is stubborn and doesn't know when to run."

I love this one, because I say, well, take the experience point loss, because it's a lesson the character needs to learn if they are to survive.


I would love to enhance other areas and "run" from time to time as well, but a lot depends on how players feel about out of the ordinary enemies and traps.

Are they willing to accept the risk and the loss (or gain) associated with that risk?

If so, you'll see a lot more of this when I just have 30 minutes or so to jump online.

These "enhancements" may involve a treasure of some sort at the end as well since I won't always be there to hand out rewards.

Just beware the lock and trap!

[DM blessedone]

I think that is a great idea! Aarmon has and will continue to run when things go bad.....he will leave those fools there in a heartbeat and dissapear without thinking twice! (He ain't no fool!) Aiden, on the other hand, will fight smart.......until he gets really angry and then it is like trying to move a Dwarven Defender!

[Tiefling]

Well, I'd like to see more things like this, it efficiently breaks the tediousness of the usual grinding.

And as if I'd run from bandits... I've killed them more than it is humanly healthy.

[DM Sir Carnifex]

I say go forward with it. I remember having a lot of fun trying to get by that hill giant jlf2n spawned in along the Lion's Way with my level 3 or 4 rogue. I lived...but barely!

[broham1]

Man O Man! That was cool as hell! I hope to see more of that scattered across the PW!!! Finally I get to use my thief! Plus if you start lockin and trappin it will slow the grindin down! EVERYONE! SEARCH MODE ON!!!!!! LOL!

[DeathlessFigure]

Foinus to Bandit : Bah, me ain't scared of ye damned trick traps ye good-fer-nuthin' *snap 200 acid dmg* COWARD!!!

Seriosly we need more stuff like this to stop the grinding mania, kudos to Eldur keep it going man

[DM mithari]

We are grateful for even the smallest of things that happen. We (I, at least) are more than willing to take the risk, as long as there's a fair chance to complete the "situation" through combat, talking, skill use, simply fleeing or outlandish creativity.

However, I humbly request the DMs that do these should keep three things in mind (you probably know this already, having been granted DM status, but anyway. Might help my fellow players too).

- D&D combat is inherently swingy, even with maxed HP as NWN2 does it. A bad crit with a x3 weapon can easily turn you into paste with little to no chance of doing anything about it.
- The XP penalty is *harsh*. At high levels it can easily chip away half a level worth of XP.
The reimbursement is a very fine line indeed, and expecting it just because a DM is about is obviously wrong.
On the other hand, people might eventually get afraid to even consider combat (even if it's the only way out) unless they're certain of victory. Granted, this would be in line with real life, but I think many of us play it to escape the dreary squishiness and dullness of real life.
Of course, I'm not saying that it should go away. My point here is that certain classes have a hard time gaining experience killing monsters on their own, and losing their hard earned gains to a combat only situation is probably nothing short of frustrating (again, something we probably get enough of in real life).
- AI-controlled monsters metagame and like to gang up on low AC/max HP players, even if they would not have the intelligence by far to distinguish any clues to indicate such things.

I'd also like to suggest that brief DM situations be given priority for people playing classes that have a hard time with face to face combat, where they get a chance to defuse/abuse situation through trickery or skill use. Such events are harder to plan out quickly, but should be no less rewarding than combat.
These are also an interesting way to let players show their characters in roleplaying, and seeing how they react in different situations.

Finally, should a DM need a nameless drow for any such quick thing, I'd be glad to be at disposal.

[eldur(retired)]

Keep in mind, these type of things with no dm supervision will have no "talking" involved.
They are simply monsters hanging around in the middle of an area.

If you are careful, you should be able to avoid them all together.

I would never drop monsters into a location unattended if I did not feel the players had a fair chance to either avoid the combat by not engaging, or by running away.

If a player is caught transitioning into these enemies, they can always send a message and we'll discuss an xps refund. (we aren't completely heartless)

I'm a little concerned about the bandits because they hang out just outside of the bandit cave transition and I notice that people will fight until they only have a few hitpoints left and make a run for it outside of the cave only to find a group of bandits waiting for them.

In my mind, this takes advantage of monsters not chasing you through transitions. If you are in the middle of a hostile bandit area (the same with the orc camp), I think transitioning with low hitpoints is just a bad idea.

I happened to watch a player do this near the bandits.
Because I was there, I healed them to full while they melee'd the bandits, not once but twice.

They did not bother to run. I did not heal a third time as at the rate they were going, I would've healed them at least 10 times for them to have a chance taking on the bandits 4 on 1.

That is what prompted my original post.

Dec 1, 2008 9:36:12 GMT -5 DM mithari said:

We are grateful for even the smallest of things that happen. We (I, at least) are more than willing to take the risk, as long as there's a fair chance to complete the "situation" through combat, talking, skill use, simply fleeing or outlandish creativity.

However, I humbly request the DMs that do these should keep three things in mind (you probably know this already, having been granted DM status.

- D&D combat is inherently swingy, even with maxed HP as NWN2 does it. A bad crit with a x3 weapon can easily turn you into paste with little to no chance of doing anything about it.
- The XP penalty is *harsh*. At high levels it can easily chip away half a level worth of XP.
The reimbursement is a very fine line indeed, and expecting it just because a DM is about is obviously wrong.
On the other hand, people might eventually get afraid to even consider combat (even if it's the only way out) unless they're certain of victory. Granted, this would be in line with real life, but I think many of us play it to escape the dreary squishiness and dullness of real life.
- AI-controlled monsters metagame and like to gang up on low AC/max HP players, even if they would not have the intelligence by far to distinguish any clues to indicate such things.

[wildelf]

I would agree that the XP penalty can be somewhat harsh. Something like a Soul-jaunt sickness affect that reduces stats for awhile or perhaps a smaller 1-2% XP loss would be better. Sometimes, being put back at the Elfsong is an inconvenience in and of itself.

On-topic: I love DM-Eldur's subtlety. If I were ever a DM for this PW, that's exactly how I would do things. Nice little "easter eggs" are very fun to find and definitely break up the potential monotony of the same old area.
And of course, having random NPCs talk to you is always fun.