DM_Kev
31-12-2005, 14:01
I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I spent much of Christmas with my family, which I’m sure many of you also did. I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about the year gone by and how the community has progressed and also share some of our future plans.
As always, the year was full of ups and downs, though most of it was positive I’m sure you’ll all agree, judging by the substantial number of posts in the praise thread. But if you could ask me to think of some of the community’s best moments this year, from a development point of view, it would have to be the following (there’s so much I could mention, but these are my personal favourites):
- The Shire by Olorin. The quality of the areas Olorin made raised the standard of area detail considerably and all builders have been making the same efforts since. An important part of a good roleplay world is its ability to immerse the players in it and Olorins work does just that.
- The new community website by Olorin (he’s just brilliant, ain’t he). The site is just excellent. It’s an attractive, well presented resource for the community which we will certainly be looking to utilise more in 2006.
- The founding UTT2 module scripts by PureLojik and Longbeard. It was their hard work that created the backbone of the UTT2 module. Their work has been adapted in our efforts to perfect the system, with numerous additions and improvements made by Aule. It is because of talented scripters that we have such a unique module today. Final adjustments and additions are to be made in the first few weeks of 2006 by none other than Avalyn and myself (If you cant get the staff, you have to do it yourself!).
- Rivendell by a guest builder, Ptolomy. A fantastic first project for the community. I was so impressed by the proposed area he showed me that I let him do the whole lot! Rivendell looks so much better now and it’s nice to see players hanging out there more. With the Tirin Kormi guild steadily progressing, we can only expect Rivendell to become busier and better!
- Umbar by Luthianna. A brilliant job, which completely surpassed my expectations. The attention to detail is superb and the area is so immersive. It is from Umbar that we took on the idea of regionalisation – where items are themed towards the area they come from.
- Lothlorien by DM Lorien. A brilliant creation of a kingdom in the forest canopy. A lot of time was devoted to this project and I can say it was well worth the wait. The area has a lot of potential and I’m sure we shall see this in 2006.
- The “Mind of a Madman” quest in Esgaroth. Such a fun quest to create and it’s great to see players getting mixed up in this unusual quest.
- I’d like to show some grateful recognition for Trista Tanglefoot, who has made a huge impact on the quality of roleplay in the community. Trista’s events of storytelling and party games have attracted scores of players away from their regular activities and still continue to do so. The amount of praise for Trista speaks for itself and I would like to take this opportunity to give my thanks to Trista for her past and continued contributions to the community. You have my deepest respect and I look forward to the activities you have planned for 2006.
There’s a great deal which I didn’t mention which was also fantastic – my thanks to all those who have contributed to the community during 2005. It’s just over a year now that Untold Tales II has been online and it’s been a steady tale of improvements. The module has become more and more unique, setting it apart from other Middle Earth Roleplay worlds. It is because of the dedication from staff and loyalty of our players that I can confidently say that Untold Tales II is the one and the only Middle Earth Roleplay world that does its theme justice. In our efforts to create the right environment, we have been brave and bold enough to be different. To move away from the familiar default setups of NWN to our own fully customised system.
From time to time, we have taken some flack over rules and modifications to the game system, but I’m still confident that we have been doing the right thing. If we are to offer a high quality roleplaying environment that attracts serious roleplayers, it is necessary to create an environment that welcomes such players and deters those who are here to beat the game. I’m sure the majority of players here accept this is needed and realise that all our rules are merely based on common sense and maintaining the Middle Earth theme. I will, of course, listen to what players have to say in 2006 and review things if its necessary.
There have been the occasional confrontations and disagreements with players this year, something that happens in all communities, I’m sure. It is regretful when relations with players are strained, as we are here to entertain and have fun. On a few occasions we have suffered at the hands of outright abusive players who have sought to defame the community and slander the staff – one recent incident in particular you all know of. On a few occasions, I freely admit, we have got things wrong and certain players have felt wronged by the management of the community – for this I can only apologise and offer my assurances that you are welcome here and that lessons have been learned, which we hope to make clear in 2006.
We have learned a lot this year through the development of UTT2. We have learned new skills with the toolset and have discovered ways of creating ever better content for you all. We have created systems which have allowed us to do things which were previously impossible. All of this knowledge will be put to good use in 2006, especially when we begin the implementation stage of the NWN2 project. So now that I’ve finished highlighting the past year, let us look to the next one.
2006 is going to be a very different and exciting year from my view. First, we have the excitement of the sequel to NWN, NWN2, which by all accounts is going to be a big hit. Offering the functionality of NWN with more of what the community wants, it can’t go wrong, can it? We will have the development of what is provisionally titled Untold Tales of Tolkien III – a project I’m extremely excited about, an opportunity to better UTT2, that’s going to be a challenge!
But going back to UTT2, we are far from finished! We have lots of plans still to implement and it is a joy to know that most of them are plans for activities. The UTT2 game system is nearing its ideal setting. A few changes to magic are going to take place in January which will help to reinforce the theme of the world, address balance and better utilise the changes we made to the items. Once that is achieved, we will be concentrating purely on the gameplay – providing more activities and making areas more immersive and engaging. A series of new quests are in the works for higher level characters of good and evil alignment which will keep them busy up to our eventual max level cap of 28. We have plans in place to make areas more appealing to visit and to make the NPCs have more of an impact rather than just offering and ending quests.
Most importantly, in 2006, we want to give the players a stronger influence in some areas of development. It is my hope that players will engage in discussions with our player liaison team and see their ideas used in the world to enrich it. To show our changing approach to player involvement and management, I will be appealing to ex players who left under whatever circumstances to return to us and see how things have changed here – for the better. We want to offer you all the chance to be an important part of the leading NWN Middle Earth Roleplay community, which will continue to be so come NWN2. All players can play an important role here, you only need ask.
Over the next few weeks, there are going to be some fantastic updates, including the return of the regular Arena event with a new setup, which I’m hoping will go down well amongst you all. Some major work is set to begin on Tharbad which is going to be very popular, especially with those who have been involved in the many events taking place there of late. A new high level good quest from Rohan is nearing completion and it is going to be awesome. It will be using new systems we have developed to bring you the most intense and exciting quest yet!
Now I must sign off. I hope this new year message struck a chord with many of you. I want 2006 to be about the community and the people in it. That would be our new years resolution I suppose, more power to the community.
I wish you all a very happy and safe new year.
Comments welcome
Best wishes,
Kev
kevin.balmer@ntlworld.com
As always, the year was full of ups and downs, though most of it was positive I’m sure you’ll all agree, judging by the substantial number of posts in the praise thread. But if you could ask me to think of some of the community’s best moments this year, from a development point of view, it would have to be the following (there’s so much I could mention, but these are my personal favourites):
- The Shire by Olorin. The quality of the areas Olorin made raised the standard of area detail considerably and all builders have been making the same efforts since. An important part of a good roleplay world is its ability to immerse the players in it and Olorins work does just that.
- The new community website by Olorin (he’s just brilliant, ain’t he). The site is just excellent. It’s an attractive, well presented resource for the community which we will certainly be looking to utilise more in 2006.
- The founding UTT2 module scripts by PureLojik and Longbeard. It was their hard work that created the backbone of the UTT2 module. Their work has been adapted in our efforts to perfect the system, with numerous additions and improvements made by Aule. It is because of talented scripters that we have such a unique module today. Final adjustments and additions are to be made in the first few weeks of 2006 by none other than Avalyn and myself (If you cant get the staff, you have to do it yourself!).
- Rivendell by a guest builder, Ptolomy. A fantastic first project for the community. I was so impressed by the proposed area he showed me that I let him do the whole lot! Rivendell looks so much better now and it’s nice to see players hanging out there more. With the Tirin Kormi guild steadily progressing, we can only expect Rivendell to become busier and better!
- Umbar by Luthianna. A brilliant job, which completely surpassed my expectations. The attention to detail is superb and the area is so immersive. It is from Umbar that we took on the idea of regionalisation – where items are themed towards the area they come from.
- Lothlorien by DM Lorien. A brilliant creation of a kingdom in the forest canopy. A lot of time was devoted to this project and I can say it was well worth the wait. The area has a lot of potential and I’m sure we shall see this in 2006.
- The “Mind of a Madman” quest in Esgaroth. Such a fun quest to create and it’s great to see players getting mixed up in this unusual quest.
- I’d like to show some grateful recognition for Trista Tanglefoot, who has made a huge impact on the quality of roleplay in the community. Trista’s events of storytelling and party games have attracted scores of players away from their regular activities and still continue to do so. The amount of praise for Trista speaks for itself and I would like to take this opportunity to give my thanks to Trista for her past and continued contributions to the community. You have my deepest respect and I look forward to the activities you have planned for 2006.
There’s a great deal which I didn’t mention which was also fantastic – my thanks to all those who have contributed to the community during 2005. It’s just over a year now that Untold Tales II has been online and it’s been a steady tale of improvements. The module has become more and more unique, setting it apart from other Middle Earth Roleplay worlds. It is because of the dedication from staff and loyalty of our players that I can confidently say that Untold Tales II is the one and the only Middle Earth Roleplay world that does its theme justice. In our efforts to create the right environment, we have been brave and bold enough to be different. To move away from the familiar default setups of NWN to our own fully customised system.
From time to time, we have taken some flack over rules and modifications to the game system, but I’m still confident that we have been doing the right thing. If we are to offer a high quality roleplaying environment that attracts serious roleplayers, it is necessary to create an environment that welcomes such players and deters those who are here to beat the game. I’m sure the majority of players here accept this is needed and realise that all our rules are merely based on common sense and maintaining the Middle Earth theme. I will, of course, listen to what players have to say in 2006 and review things if its necessary.
There have been the occasional confrontations and disagreements with players this year, something that happens in all communities, I’m sure. It is regretful when relations with players are strained, as we are here to entertain and have fun. On a few occasions we have suffered at the hands of outright abusive players who have sought to defame the community and slander the staff – one recent incident in particular you all know of. On a few occasions, I freely admit, we have got things wrong and certain players have felt wronged by the management of the community – for this I can only apologise and offer my assurances that you are welcome here and that lessons have been learned, which we hope to make clear in 2006.
We have learned a lot this year through the development of UTT2. We have learned new skills with the toolset and have discovered ways of creating ever better content for you all. We have created systems which have allowed us to do things which were previously impossible. All of this knowledge will be put to good use in 2006, especially when we begin the implementation stage of the NWN2 project. So now that I’ve finished highlighting the past year, let us look to the next one.
2006 is going to be a very different and exciting year from my view. First, we have the excitement of the sequel to NWN, NWN2, which by all accounts is going to be a big hit. Offering the functionality of NWN with more of what the community wants, it can’t go wrong, can it? We will have the development of what is provisionally titled Untold Tales of Tolkien III – a project I’m extremely excited about, an opportunity to better UTT2, that’s going to be a challenge!
But going back to UTT2, we are far from finished! We have lots of plans still to implement and it is a joy to know that most of them are plans for activities. The UTT2 game system is nearing its ideal setting. A few changes to magic are going to take place in January which will help to reinforce the theme of the world, address balance and better utilise the changes we made to the items. Once that is achieved, we will be concentrating purely on the gameplay – providing more activities and making areas more immersive and engaging. A series of new quests are in the works for higher level characters of good and evil alignment which will keep them busy up to our eventual max level cap of 28. We have plans in place to make areas more appealing to visit and to make the NPCs have more of an impact rather than just offering and ending quests.
Most importantly, in 2006, we want to give the players a stronger influence in some areas of development. It is my hope that players will engage in discussions with our player liaison team and see their ideas used in the world to enrich it. To show our changing approach to player involvement and management, I will be appealing to ex players who left under whatever circumstances to return to us and see how things have changed here – for the better. We want to offer you all the chance to be an important part of the leading NWN Middle Earth Roleplay community, which will continue to be so come NWN2. All players can play an important role here, you only need ask.
Over the next few weeks, there are going to be some fantastic updates, including the return of the regular Arena event with a new setup, which I’m hoping will go down well amongst you all. Some major work is set to begin on Tharbad which is going to be very popular, especially with those who have been involved in the many events taking place there of late. A new high level good quest from Rohan is nearing completion and it is going to be awesome. It will be using new systems we have developed to bring you the most intense and exciting quest yet!
Now I must sign off. I hope this new year message struck a chord with many of you. I want 2006 to be about the community and the people in it. That would be our new years resolution I suppose, more power to the community.
I wish you all a very happy and safe new year.
Comments welcome
Best wishes,
Kev
kevin.balmer@ntlworld.com