Reflections/Construction

Now that you've all tried out the MUD, this is the perfect time to reflect.

1. What were the positive things that you saw in the MUD? i.e. The things you want to stay exactly as they are.

2. What were the drawbacks of the MUD? If you found some of these, offer us a way we might be able to fix the situation and make it more manageable.

3. Do you have additional ideas not covered by the questions above? Let us know!

I particularly enjoyed the setting! Grimey, cold, damp outpost life was buckets of fun! I sincerely hope this aspect of the game isn't completely lost with the move.

The game in general was fun, commodities you expected to be expensive weren't worn by every single person (everyone in bright'n'shining chainmail would kind of ruin the Outpost), coin wasn't something you generally had buckets of, foraging and hunting were primary forms of breadwinning.. Keep these aspects up, and I'm sold!

I really thought the relative freedom of being a freelance character and still having some things to do and ways to eat (or, early on, starve) was great entertainment. It was fun to try and build myself up from nothing in the middle of a vast wilderness that completely dwarfed the little bastion of civilization of Hule's Outpost. Not being dependant on an organization for my stew and survival and still being able to meaningfully RP, raise money (through hunting) and interact with people and groups was nice.

The setting is great, both overall in the First Age and the outpost specifically, and if the Outpost stays I'm definitely going to be coming back there from time to time, especially with woodsy characters. Being able to just kick back and explore the dangerous wilderness and occasionally find completely new things was very fun and occupied a good chunk of my time.

I really liked the combat system and look forward to seeing more of the special maneuvers. I didn't get to a high enough level in any of the other styles besides Shield-Use to try out their special moves, but Bash seemed to be more of a drawback than an advantage, as a good portion of the time it left you on the ground and vulnerable to whatever's attacking you for a relatively small trade off of some crushing damage if it hit - And if you're a shield-user you're probably being attacked by several opponents at once, so I didn't use it in any serious combat for fear that I'd get unlucky, stumble, and that'd be all she wrote. The extra bashing attack really wasn't worth the chance of tripping and being hacked to death/eaten/whatever. I found, in practice, that it didn't do enough damage even with high Str to cause any status effects in opponents. I briefly entertained the thought of getting a shield with sharpened edges or spikes, though. I think there's a lot of potential in the maneuvers system, and like the idea.

I also loved the storytelling. The plots and characters were really well put together, what few I came in time to participate in, and I'll remember them for a long time hence.

To be honest, I'd continue playing indefinitely just with the elements present in the Outpost and the occasional plot now and then. So those're definitely keepers.

A few more things for each profession to do definitely wouldn't go amiss, maybe with a focus on things for the individual or small bands of characters to do early on (I think I read about guarding and raiding caravans for NPCs, for example, I think that's a great idea). I also liked what little exposure I had to the barter system.

Come to think of it, really, building on the existing elements and adding more diversity's really all that needs to be done. The current setup, in my opinion, is a solid foundation. I think it'd be cool for elements to be added to allow player organizations, like mercenary companies, merchants and their retinues, and groups of bandits and so on, to spring up through interaction, though I'm not sure how feasible that is other than that's what I was trying to do with my character with some success. The stumbling point in my case was the lack of things for small groups of relatively inexperienced warriors to do without coming to an early grave, and I fell back on hunting to afford gear and generally not starve, which is probably realistic to some degree.

Overall, though, I had a lot of fun and would definitely do it again.

Alright, as far as the outpost went I think it definitely had a -lot- going for it. Just some points i think made me fall in love with the outpost.

- It was an extremely tight knit place. Everyone was close to each other (figuratively and literally) and we all in essence had to work together to survive through some harsh things. Which brings us on to point 2.

- A harsh, unforgiving environment. The place was extremely rugged and untamed, which I think gave a lot of life to it. Just the room descriptions remind me of what I think of when I picture a vast, untamed expanse of land. Untamed forests, realistic wildlife (no rabbits with arrows in their head running around... for the most part anyway.. darned throwing), and believable landscapes. The one -minor- drawback was that, with 90% of the room names being identical it did get fairly easy to become lost at times, though that itself is realistic considering not -everyone- will always know where they are at any given time so going through 10 or so rooms of the same stuff is rather realistic.

- Rules. For the most part in the outpost, you could do just about anything that other players let you get away with without an iron fist hanging above you demanding that you stay in line or else face the executioner's axe. If you allow players to pretty much regulate themselves, there's not going to be this vast feeling of unfairness by the players when suddenly they find themselves at the wrong end of an angry mob.

- Combat. Combat here is -way- more brutal than that -other- mud that we all know about, and i think that just makes it more enjoyable. There's a clear cut distinction between the armor and which is better and for what reason, the same with the weapons. Now there's actually a lot of room for tactics and the like to be played out in combat, so much so that a poorly equipped/led group of opposing soldiers can easily be outdone by a cunning leader with well trained troops. Not only that, but there is a definite clear cut difference in fighting styles that all -work-. There's no longer a preset mold that will guaranteed grant you the best possible fighter since each fighting style has its strengths and weaknesses.

- Interaction. And this i think is the most important key of all. The staff actually -interact- with the players. Much more so than on most games I've played. Staff here aren't afraid of wading in and giving a player a bit of RP experience if they're alone, nor do they shy away from large groups either. Having player run events is fun, yes, however no matter how awesome the players are, they're never going to be able to make a troop of orcs accidently stumble across you in the wilderness, or have an orcish ambush waiting for you when you go on your daily patrol.

Now for the drawbacks that I felt in the game, not that there were really that many.

-Economy. Quite frankly, the economy left me wanting, even though it was a small outpost. There wasn't much available in the local shops, nor did the 'merchants' really have all that much either that didnt cost an arm and a leg. To top it off, the only real way to make money was really hunting. There were other ways you could make -some- coin, perhaps enough to live off of but no real way to make enough to actually have some spending money. 10 bits for a 2 day timer as far as healing goes, and while you -could- just log out until the craft timer was up to try again, still, at such a rate to be able to afford even the basic healing supplies is a bit of a stretch. Not to mention food and drink, and a room at that. Not only that, but there's almost no market for healing PCs as with a high chance of failure, pcs are more likely to go to the npc healer who almost -always- treats expertly.

-Crafts. While i think it's awesome that the game -is- made to be a more combat oriented experience for some, i do think there are some highly sought after crafts which would easily tie in with the genre of the game. Metalworking, woodcrafting, mining. Though opposed to some games i think if there -were- a crafting system put in game, that I'd prefer it to be 100% player run, no shops to buy needed supplies from and so on, though at the cost, crafts should be available to almost anyone with the time to invest in it.

Just a few of my thoughts on the matter, some things that could possibly use some tweaking and revisions to make things go more smoothly.

Oh! One other thing I'd like to see... More quilted armour!

Yes, I know it sucks.

Yes, I know even wolves would likely take a bite out of you fast.

But it's -CHEAP-. Having that socioeconomic difference so strikingly visible is fantastic, especially with the move elsewhere. The elven lords trotting by in gleaming mail versus the throng of tithed beormen in grimey quilted armour, with the occasional piece of leather.. much win.

Mithrandur wrote:-Crafts. While i think it's awesome that the game -is- made to be a more combat oriented experience for some, i do think there are some highly sought after crafts which would easily tie in with the genre of the game. Metalworking, woodcrafting, mining. Though opposed to some games i think if there -were- a crafting system put in game, that I'd prefer it to be 100% player run, no shops to buy needed supplies from and so on, though at the cost, crafts should be available to almost anyone with the time to invest in it.

I think, if it's allowed, I'll be focusing on crafts before the re-opening. I agree that we need to get a more established craft system in there - and I LOVE what Kith did with the herbalism suite already. So I'll try to work on it, and drag Kith in on it, too. >.<