RP-PvP Storyline

Hello there! Ladies, gentlemen, northern infidels - I am Akhbat; douchebag generále, smug egocentric Stygian and soon-to-be an enemy!

Now, as we discussed earlier... Let's pop some ideas of the rp background and how we'll start things off here. I'll post a few ideas tomorrow, but now I need sleep I'm afraid.

The current idea looks like this and anything can be changed if need be.

Quote :

Prologue

Southern Juma, a few millennia ago

The hail of burning stone came crashing down along the coastline. The steam from the water covered a circular formation as the rocks hit the surface. The local savage population saw the event as an omen, the herald of their enemies' doom. When the steam and debris had settled, they sent patrols to uncover the mystery of this omen.

The blackened, exo-skeletal lifeform they found carried no treasure, much to the people's disappointment - only a mysterious amulet and a burnt tome. The men, however, were too afraid to claim it as their own. In the village, the witch doctors of the tribe claimed it to be a God, sent to them by the most vengeful of elder gods - to devour their foes; the cannibalistic tribes of modern-day Bakala.

But no appraisal to any God could help them. The little village along the coast of Juma disappeared from human memory for all eternity, except for one man. Matumbe, strongest of his tribe, fled the onslaught in terror. Carrying with him the burnt tome, he fled through the dense jungles.

In his mind, he carried with him the whispers of his tribes' bane: Azmodan, the devourer.

*

<insert the rest for the server forum post after we have met IC>

OOC:

Next happening: Akhbat arranges a meeting IC to discuss the location of the Gospel of Azmodan which he seeks (more details at the end of this page). Having sought through the Tarantian archives the humble librarian pointed out your archives and thus I'll meet with you IC and discuss this. After that, again as said on the bottom of this page, we'll make the storyline public, and the first battle could be we ambush/attempt to capture a few on you for info. No rush on that one though.

The Stygians, the Shahaabi, are not a guild per se. Note that this faction welcomes aquilonian and cimmerian mercenaries.

The PvP itself will be kept in even numbers and in good sportsmanship, ie. equal strength, making sure everybody is ready.

When can Akhbat meet you IC?

Hey! We have Stygian infidels in our ranks too! Ehm.. I mean... what infidels!?

Well, as they say, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, so welcome Akhbat!
I assume you'll start by summarizing everything that has been discussed up to and including yesterday's meeting?

Hmm I'd like to have a recap of what has been discussed yesterday as well, since unfortunately I couldn't be at the meeting, before starting to throw off ideas or make suggestions.

Aye, the basic idea is that the Shahaabi are going to for their own evil reasons be doing something that seriously pisses the Templari off. Kidnapping/murdering a Templari seems like the most obvious option - as per the suggestion above.

The goal is to provide a constant strife between two enemy factions which will enrich all our RP plus provide good IC reasons to go out and fight PvP in the borderlands. We'll simply set up scenarios there that make sense and develop the rest of the roleplay as we go along. Perhaps let the PvP results also dictate the next period of roleplay, and so on.

And to those who missed it: Akhbat updated his original post here with a first suggestion for how the whole thing could be sparked and suggestion for a post on the official forums.

What we discussed yesterday was briefly about the actual structure. A few things we agreed upon...

For all the RP (whenever we are not attacking each other) numbers does not matter.

For the PvP (whenever we are pressing our buttons to conduct spells and combos against each other) numbers matter as we all are interested in keeping it fair and in good sportsmanship. If a side brings lower levels we can find a good system for that (apprenticeship doesn't do much in pvp)

For the PvP, if either side is larger than the other they can switch people in and out over the course of the evening.

This is how I see a pvp event working (and how I've done in the past). Let us imagine it is a straight forward battle (but many other forms are doable. Objective-based, capture the hostage, ambushes... Imagination is the limit :> )

Date X, time X in zone X. The two forces gather their men and the battle takes event... First, there'll most likely be some RP. This is where numbers will not matter. When things come down to battle, both sides make sure they're as equal as possible. Then the both teamleaders makes sure their goonies are ready and then consult each other. When all seem ready, the battle starts. Here numbers matter.

During the battle, goon X died. So he stays dead until either side merges victorious. Both sides (if need be) ressurrect at the respad and walk to their respective gathering spots and RP may be in place (tend to the wounded, etc). But it's not over. Perhaps the side who won struck that first blow may want to push back the defeated? Perhaps the defeated are not so very defeated after all and launches a second wave?

And we keep going for a little. This above example is very simple. Objective based roleplayed pvp is fun. Back in the days we had a lot of different things of this nature we can elaborate further on as time goes by.

Hopefully the battles will affect the storyline and vice versa. Anything is possible, really!

PS. I want to point out that hopefully there will be RP outside the planned events too. Again, the possibilities and random rp based upon the events here are limitless.

Much love,

Akhbat-shmackbat

Akhbat wrote:

PS. I want to point out that hopefully there will be RP outside the planned events too. Again, the possibilities and random rp based upon the events here are limitless.

A very good sumary, Akhbat, and the quote above is something I want to emphasize again.

The RP-PvP is a very nice bonus as I see it - but I'd indeed like at least much focus to be on the RP outside the PvP events to involve as many people as possible.

And of course we should have "non pvp" planned events too regarding this war, with roleplay and, if necessary, emoted fights. Generally we agreed that emote fights should typically not involve more than 4-5 people (enough to resolve smaller conflicts in the plot roleplay) - any more and we would be better off making it a roleplayed PvP session in the borderlands.

Aye that's indeed true.

A very off-topic question, however... Why do I get mails each time someone replies here? I did remove that in my profile but keeps sending :s

Akhbat wrote:

A very off-topic question, however... Why do I get mails each time someone replies here? I did remove that in my profile but keeps sending :s

I'll leave for the techsperts to answer that one. I for one like the emails since i browse from work and the forums looks like sheit here with white red crossed fields all over. So the emails helps me realise i have new messages or there are replies to posts.

*goes back to topic*

So.. let's first of all discuss: What are the Shahaabi about? Why would they catch and kill a Templari? Or maybe this isn't important? I'm just thinking if we wanted to brainstorm the killing not being so random. Then again, you know what the Templari are about, and that's enough for you to cook up reasons.

Oh, and I think maybe I'll let Rhonius live (for now at least). So unless someone else wants to sacrifice a Templari player character, the victim would indeed be a fictional Templari character.

The Shahaabi may be changed into Khaled's guild if he starts that up soon. So far they'll be a loosely affiliated band of... Scumbags. People are affiliated for whatever reason they may find - but Akhbat runs it to gain a strong foothold with the Stygian society to purge Stygia from infidels, foreign as well as Stygian. A good example of the latter would probably be Serpents Ascendant whom he looks upon as filth. Ic of course.

The affiliates of the Shahaabi may be anything from thieves to priests, basically. As long as they're of use.

While it may not be as immersive with the shahaabi not being a guild, depending on numbers it may be the only option. Let us say we'd be 10, from different guilds. Noone can be expected to leave their guild and nor will they be asked.

I suppose it may be like if a non-templar would be hired or asked to spy on an enemy, or something of that nature.

I'll attach a bit on Akhbat's personality here, might help to understand the ic point of view here.

Quote :

Year 43 of King Ctesphon's reign

"Rashid." it was a command, rather than a question.
"Yes, master?" the shorter man replied with his eyes fixed on the larger, hooded man.
"How is your search progressing? Is this offender found yet, he who is damned by Azmodan and Set?"
Rashid's determined and resolute pose seemed to drop to a much more subjugated one.
"Master, I am sor-.."
Akhbat sighed and turned around.
"Your failure, maggot, is not only a failure in my eyes, but also in his. He who grants you power, makes you rise above the common worm. And he is tired of your failures. As am I."
Akhbat placed the palm of his hand on Rashid's chest and closed his eyes.
"Damnation is your reward... Maggot. Azmodan speaks through me. This is his will."

*

As the slaves removed Rashid's paralyzed body, Akhbat laughed. It was such a pity. Rashid had been strong and he had been willing to learn, since he swore the oath of damnation in Pteion. But he would suffer now. Akhbat turned to one of the slaves.

"You, maggot. Ready my wagon and send a messenger to Khaled. I must visit Khemi."

___

[ooc]
Akhbat is tall and broad, bald on his head save for a whip of hair with a pair of malicious looking eyes.
He is arrogant, mean and lacks compassion. He is egocentric and believes that his goals justifies any means. While cunning and ruthless, he claims to be a devote follower of Set. Whether this is a clever front or not, is yet to find out.
As most Stygians, Akhbat looks upon foreigners as maggots. However, he looks upon most Stygians as worms as well if he sees them as weak. Unless a man is of use to him, he is worth nothing.

Another nice write-up Akhbat, and one that explains a lot. Should we hold off starting everything up until you know more what will happen with Khaled's guild, etc?

Hmm, alright I get it now.

I think it's all pretty much well explained and organized, and I do agree with Leoric that for the emoted fights it's better if the numbers involved are low, to avoid utter confusion in the chat.

As for the RP-PvP part, when it came to that on SWG we forbid the use of specials and set the weapons level to 20 to have the battles last longer and be more enjoyable. Forbidding the use of combos here is out of the question since it would mean that the casters will not be able to fight. I believe we might do something nonetheless to make the battles last longer and avoid them to become a combo spamfest: we could leave people the freedom of using wichever weapons they want (level wise) but we could put up a restriction to the combos/spells useable, like for example limiting them to the 20-39 range downwards. This way characters that are lower in levels could enjoy the battles as much as the others and we will still have a variety of strenght values on the battlefield as a lvl 80 would be tougher than a lvl 50 even with the low tier combos.

On the lore side, how would the Templari get to know one of them has been sacrificed to Set? She was not alone and one companion managed to escape the capture and get back to the Keep? I think it is unlikely that the Shahaabi would send a letter to the Order stating "hey! we just sacrificed one your lasses to Set the other day. You guys want to come to the South and try to bash our skulls for vengeance?"


Just doing some late brainstorming here

I think there's no need for that, Leoric. We'll see what has happened with that when we're finished with the preparations here. I'll talk to him though, in the mean time.

As for the other, in my experience battles tend to last long enough anyway. Even if I'd use a low level combo the +finisher damage still scales with level. That means a level 40 might get obliterated fast anyway. Different for 60+ perhaps, but that can be made up in numbers. Plus, if we downrank spells then we'll have to remove healers, pretty much. I've tried downranking against a PoM, who in turn didn't use any offensive abilities. After 15 minutes we still had no winner

I'm not very skilled in the arts of emote fighting I admit, but I'm always willing to give and take (which is crucial in emote based fighting).

@Akhbat: you probably updated the notify option in your profiale after you made the post so it was turned on. I guess you figured it out yourself by now, since it's turned off now

Acredius wrote:

On the lore side, how would the Templari get to know one of them has been sacrificed to Set? She was not alone and one companion managed to escape the capture and get back to the Keep? I think it is unlikely that the Shahaabi would send a letter to the Order stating "hey! we just sacrificed one your lasses to Set the other day. You guys want to come to the South and try to bash our skulls for vengeance?"

Another reason to keep your oath about our crystals

New idea of the catalyst, the background of our coming conflict...

Quote :

Prologue

Southern Juma, a few millennia ago

The hail of burning stone came crashing down along the coastline. The steam from the water covered a circular formation as the rocks hit the surface. The local savage population saw the event as an omen, the herald of their enemies' doom. When the steam and debris had settled, they sent patrols to uncover the mystery of this omen.

The blackened, exo-skeletal lifeform they found carried no treasure, much to the people's disappointment - only a mysterious amulet and a burnt tome. The men, however, were too afraid to claim it as their own. In the village, the witch doctors of the tribe claimed it to be a God, sent to them by the most vengeful of elder gods - to devour their foes; the cannibalistic tribes of modern-day Bakala.

But no appraisal to any God could help them. The little village along the coast of Juma disappeared from human memory for all eternity, except for one man. Matumbe, strongest of his tribe, fled the onslaught in terror. Carrying with him the burnt tome, he fled through the dense jungles.

In his mind, he carried with him the whispers of his tribes' bane: Azmodan, the devourer.

*

Okay, now for a few "facts" about this and how it would have anything to do with us... Again, anything are subject to change at will : > All pointers and suggestions are indeed welcome. This is just a suggestion like the ones above.

Akhbat claims to be the disciple of this Azmodan, a demonic creature I made up based on the lesser devil Azmodeus from Jewish mythology (also featured in Dante's Divine Comedy). I wanted something perhaps a little less... Known than Xotli.

This tome mentioned in the above prologue is what Akhbat seeks. This tome, the Gospel of Azmodan, would give him more power & knowledge of the even darker arts of the world - or so he claims.

Depending on how one chooses to look upon it, Akhbat is either flat out crazy, or whatever a character chooses to see it. However, this isn't really something Akhbat would tell anybody IC. Anyway, back to how these events affect us present.

I was planning we could meet IC by accident. In an inn, in a city - anywhere. I would act the good host and as the conversation goes on Akhbat would believe perhaps you had this tome, or clues to its whereabouts. This, I hope, can be done IC. It'd provide a good feel of each other IC and perhaps give a more cunning feel to the conflict.

As in, we meet. Akhbat acts "nice". Akhbat starts to believe you possess sacred artifacts and things of the like. We part ways.

And perhaps we ambush you - or something in that nature. This can be the first RP battle, and we can keep it small just to try it out once. Gives us a good feel of that too.

Between the first IC meeting or the second event, the first fight, we'll post the storyline on the server forums and invite other people to join our storyline.

Thoughts?

Hmmm, I think this looks way more intriguing than the first proposal, and a similar 'setting' would leave more space for non-combat RP I believe. There are plenty of ways such a background could be put to good use before escalating into open war: spying, subterfuge, information gathering... I like it more than the first idea, I also believe it fits better with the "Keepers of relics" concept of the Templari.

That sounds pretty damn good. And the thing is, there probably *would* be some references to this book in all the ancient scrolls and tomes that the Templari keep in their library. I like this. We just need to set up a time and circumstances in which Akhbat will meet some Templari then.

@Acredius
Aye I do too. It's good that we can scratch and begin anew until we're settled on an idea.

@Leoric
I suppose I could be in Tarantia, or so, looking for it. Unless you would happen to make your way to sunny beach, aka Stygia, where life is great.

Perhaps Akhbat has been inquiring at the Tarantian libraries, and the kind and helpful librarian there only has a brief reference to what he speaks of. Reference leads to a different book (not THE book, but a book that speaks more of it) the librarian happens to know is in the possession of the Templari. She directs him to speak with us. So he sets up a meeting.. perhaps in the temple gardens or such?

That sounds very very good. As would be likely, with Matumbe fleeing north - he'd be captured by Acheronian slavers - and the Gospel lost in Acheron. And there is much writing about Acheron and its mysteries.

I'll go ahead and update the first post then

Oooo, that sounds intriguing indeed.

Sadly I have just learned that Akhbat has just heard he will be taking 6 months away from AoC to work on a kibbutz. He wanted you to know. Drat.

Okay, thanks for letting us now, Ankh.

Ouch! I hope he has left someone behind to organize things? Or will this be left on hold until he can get back?

Acredius wrote:

Or will this be left on hold until he can get back?

That was my impression. Seems rather sudden.