Forgotten Kingdoms Forums

Limitations of current Drow RP.

Over the last few months there has been a general effort to push the Drow as a race by myself and others. This has i think been in general successful in that there have been more Drow on for longer periods than for quite a long time previous. However it has also shown up some of the limitations of the Drow RP environment.

Firstly the game environment for Drow is now the best it has ever been in the time I have played this game (too many years for me to mention.) Whilst there are issues with availability of components and some trainers this is really pretty minor compared to how it used to be.

What i want to do is open up this post to have a discussion about the current limitations of Drow RP , and if we can come up with some constructive ideas for making the whole RP experience better for everyone. So any ideas and issues welcome !.

I will start the ball rolling with my own thoughts..... which are all of course opinions..

Communication:
It is very hard IC to arrange anything because there is no IC means of communicating other than in person. And with the relatively small player base for Drow not everyone is playing at the same time.

Constructive solution:
A Message post in Menzo and preferably Ched Nasad and Skullport as well this would allow IC commuication amongst Drow and possibly if there was a post in Skullport to Drow from other interested parties..

Lack of competition:
The essence of the Drow race is competition both against the rest of the world and internally in the society. Currently with the stagnation of the top levels of Drow society there is nothing to compete for. This is i think one of the primary reasons players of high level Drow stop playing them.

possible solutions:
Firstly sort out the faith issues (see below). Secondly make the society more dynamic by setting up some spurious titles that the various players can compete for. Like First Mage of house Tlabbar, Weapons master of a house Baenre etc, and then some biggies like Weapons master of Menzoberranzan, heads of the various parts of the academy etc. Some of these would be appointments by the Matron mothers or there designated seconds, but many would be by out and out competition between all the houses giving a reason for advancing the character in both an RP and game sense. By competition i do not just mean PvP combat, a post could well be decided by a vote, thus allowing a lot of fun politics. Making it so that the positions are regularly re-competed for would also keep the higher level Drow on there toes. Maybe even allow challenges for position at any time as long as there was a suitable witness i.e. a priestess.

Faith issues.
At the moment the Faith managers of Lloth are the Matron mothers this is correct and would work well if they were played more. What this means is that any non priestess Drow who wants to follow Lloth has one hell of job doing so and has to apply to even get a quest. Personally i think that the competition for rank within the church with its several levels would also enhance the RP environment considerably.

Possible solution:
Promote 1 or more priestesses to an FM level or just below IC position. Preferably choosing who by some sort of competition giving the priestesses something to vie for. My favoured position would be high priestess of the academy a non house position that could be occupied by a priestess from any house. Making it an in game position would allow the IM's to appoint or dismiss the player in a suitably arbitrary way (Lloth would like that ). This would then allow the faith to work like the other faiths in the world while retaining the individually Drow elements like Matron mothers to be used by the IMM's as needed.

Bregan Darthe
Bregan Darthe is an integral part of the canon description of the Drow giving commoners a possible route to advancement and survival in an otherwise incredibly hostile world. It does exist in game but due to the fact that its primary character Jarlaxle is an auction character and is effectively away on one of his long journeys it is basically inactive.

Solution:
Leave Jarlaxle in charge and useable by the IMM's to guide the organisation but appoint 2 or 3 PC's to the organisation and let them run it from then on. By making it multiple players there is more of a chance the organisation will continue. I would happily expand on this idea if it is thought worthwhile.

Duranamir still a Drow and still loving it !

The root of the issue is the size of the player base. Without a significant increase, there will continue to be a disparity between drow rp and surface rp. There are disparities on the surface as well between some races. If we REALLY want increased drow rp, the only way to get it without taking away from surface rp is to significantly increase the player base.

There is always the option of, opening it up. I think that is far more likely than us doubling our numbers for years and years. That's just not feasible.

Not that it shouldn't be strived for.

The root of the issue is the size of the player base. Without a significant increase, there will continue to be a disparity between drow rp and surface rp. There are disparities on the surface as well between some races. If we REALLY want increased drow rp, the only way to get it without taking away from surface rp is to significantly increase the player base

Very true and i and others are trying to make Menzo a more lively place for all and therefore encourage more Drow, this does seem to be working to a degree as there are more newbie Drow than i have seen in a long time.

However i think that pherhaps worse than any other race Drow suffer from a stagnation at high levels. Even if we do get many more players they will suffer the same fate of the many high level Drow that have come before and dissappear into the night.

The reason i opened this post is to see if anyone has any bright ideas on how to keep being a Drow fun for longer and to hopefully bring back some of the many older Drow that players have in there closets.

Duranamir

-I love the idea of a message post/delivery service down there! (Wasn't this discussed before? *senility*)

-Competition should be player-driven, and high-level drow should use their energy to please Lloth by organizing these contests themselves and helping to strengthen the drow nation....as they have been on Fridays, so good work! (And sorry my work schedule prevents me from logging on then to help. )

-I strongly believe the Matron Mothers should remain sole FM, if for no other reason than to encourage them to log on. They should be the drivers for RP in drow society! I understand they are no longer auctioned characters and I do not know how they are now being handled...but perhaps logging into them could be opened up to more players to make them more active? Their personalities are well-defined (and in helps) I do not think RP consistency is an issue here.

-The Bregan Darthe is a nest of heretics and should be wiped out immediately.

Currently, the Matron Mothers have no players. I would be all for an active drow priest being given Faith Manager responsibilities.

The problem with this idea is placing so much of a burden on one (or even two) players. See what happens when a Surface FM goes inactive? Multiply that times twenty in the Underdark. At least now we have four FMs who any imm can jump into when the situation warrants. I'd be ok with adding a FM or two in addition to the Matrons...though I fear that will give the Matrons even less incentive to log in.

I see on the faith list that some fairly recent drow have managed to get themselves faithed...which tells me the situation isn't as bad for drow as it is for some Surface faiths.

There's currently a note board in the Underdark, its just not in the main drow cities, though drow can access the place to view it.

There is always the option of, opening it up

This is EXTREMELY unlikely.

I'd also like to add that I have been heavily influenced by surface rp of half drow in any consideration of opening drow roleplay. Seeing half drow openly walking the streets of Elven enclaves and cities like Silverymoon does not make me think that we're ready to open up a great deal to surface travel or other interactions The temptation to go against rp or alignment or race my prove to strong. Just my opinion on that one aspect. Otherwise I don't mind expanding drow rp in the Underdark.

Alright, my little two cent about opening it up.....why not make it open but basically impossible to pass? As noted before the drow dont have access to the same spells and/or components. Perhaps make the only passageway a complete warzone, shrug, just an idea. I know players here are resoureful but give me a 30 room tunnel and i could make it just about impassable to anything. This might give a jump in drow, and give them something to strive for, and a route to gain an active leader because they would need to work together. Tha being said, it kind of demotes the whole idea of drow society and as said earlier would pull players away from surface rp, we just dont have the player numbers to support both.