Trollsbane... what happened?

Al'tian · Post by **Al'tian** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 2:34 am

Errr... What happened to Trollsbane it's all overgrown and junk...

Rackere Diplomatre · Post by **Rackere Diplomatre** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:04 am

According to what Rackere heard when I just logged in, this state is present for about a week.

Devrah Liioness · Post by **Devrah Liioness** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:05 am

Yes indeed. Some kind of quest thing though. Best ask IG.

Nop · Post by **Nop** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:54 pm

I have heard that the quest has been finished. When will the map be restored to a playable state again?

Please clean up that overgrowth soon. Most of it doesn't even look like rampant natural growth anyway, but rather like straight lines of deliberately placed roadblocks, strategically cutting off important pathways. All it does now is obstruct gameplay. I'd love to help clear them, but most of the items are non-choppable, non-passable anyway.

Olar Dessautus · Post by **Olar Dessautus** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:57 pm

I want to burn down the forest. Ill PM Arien (if i feel like it) and see if it is possible.

Quinasa · Post by **Quinasa** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:11 pm

My GUESS is that the town is going to have to work to restore the town, not just have someone put all the trees back in a bag. Thats usually how things get done around here...

Japheth · Post by **Japheth** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:48 pm

My GUESS is that the town is going to have to work to restore the town, not just have someone put all the trees back in a bag. Thats usually how things get done around here...

Bingo. I think it was a wonderful quest, with a real sense of worry and urgency involved, with characters evacuating town because of the overgrowth.

Kudos to Aegohl.

Llama · Post by **Llama** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:54 pm

Could you just BURN the trees down...and leave the city with holes, destroyed buildings ect... caused by the fire?

PS: not everyone left.. the elves like it...

Nop · Post by **Nop** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:23 pm

Well, for another opinion: I hated that quest. Or rather I experienced only its backside. Though IG every day, I did not see any trace of that fairy. Neither did any of the other characters I asked every day. There was no announcement that would have enabled you to get online at a suitable time. The only thing was growth that does not grow randomly, but was placed in artificial lines in the most annoying places. And a growing sense of frustration about not being able to do anything about it.

Well, me and my char would be most happy to take out his axe right now and help freeing the town from the growth, but the primary roadblock of Naldor trees and hedges are unchoppable and tree trunks are still unpassable obstacles and will just regrow. So how do you work IG to remove impervious objects?

I like the idea of burning down all that stuff though.

Fooser · Post by **Fooser** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:26 pm

I think the idea and emotion was good, it really seemed like a bad situation, unlike others, which seemed bad, but you didn't really get a whiff of it. Here everyone actually saw the effects, and even had to leave at the end.

But I do have to agree with Nop about the overgrowth, it started out alright, then it seemed to turn into "Ill just place some trees in this pathway."

Ziel Oden · Post by **Ziel Oden** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:31 pm

Estralis Seborian wrote: Trollsbane: Arien Edhel

Annouy this GM for responce

Al'tian · Post by **Al'tian** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 2:08 am

Yeah... I logged in from mining because I had to go in a hurry and what do I find? The path from the mine to the store was... GONE (man I'm glad this is general forum and not RP)

Pendar · Post by **Pendar** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 2:55 am

No dont annoy Arien, It is Aeghols quest and may i say a damn fine idea.

I really liked it, for numerouse reasons it was nice to see a quest actually get in everyones face and cause us all some trouble. The damage to town will need repair. It also caused some of us to actually move and rp a little outside our walls.
All in all really good stuff it suprised me not just being another demon attacks, or find item afair.
Cuedos aeghol and dont move those plants till quest is complete
Brian

Ziel Oden · Post by **Ziel Oden** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:18 am

Pendar wrote:No dont annoy Arien, It is Aeghols quest and may i say a damn fine idea.

I really liked it, for numerouse reasons it was nice to see a quest actually get in everyones face and cause us all some trouble. The damage to town will need repair. It also caused some of us to actually move and rp a little outside our walls.
All in all really good stuff it suprised me not just being another demon attacks, or find item afair.
Cuedos aeghol and dont move those plants till quest is complete
Brian

Let me rework this into truth of the majority...

No dont annoy Arien, It is Aeghols quest and may i say a one hell of a mess..

I really dislike it, for no reasons was it nice to see a quest actually get in everyones face and cause us all some trouble. The damage to town will need hard hours of arrowkey pressin' and axe slashin' instead of RPing. It also caused some of us to actually move and walk for hours, not rping a bit outside our walls.
All in all really murky water. It suprised me not just being another demon attacks, or find item afair, or Ziel's Character's hunt.
Crutons Aeghol and PLEASE move those vile weeds when i burn the damn things down.
-everyone else.

---

I had to get that out.

NirAntae · Post by **NirAntae** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:02 am

Ziel Oden wrote: Crutons Aeghol and PLEASE move those vile weeds when i burn the damn things down.
-everyone else.

EXCUSE ME?!?

WHEN was it exactly we voted you the Representative of Everyone on Illarion?!?

How dare you speak in the name of 'everyone else'??

Personally, I had a *great* deal of enjoyment with that SL. Yes, it was frustrating that the weeds just seemed to keep growing without being able to find the fairy and do something about it. But the GMs are human too, they have to eat, and sleep, and they have jobs in their 'real lives'. Several of them no doubt also have signifigant others they want to spend time with. They can't spend 24 hours a day on the game, on the off chance someone feels like going on a fairy hunt.

Also, the quest lasted not even a full week if I recall correctly, or if it did, just barely. Personally, the Adron's Goblet quest is FAR more frustrating, as it's been going on for like a month now, with just as little way for the average player to get involved. The only difference is that, besides talk, there is no tangible effect. Why should the average person on Gobaith care if some maniac is shut up in the inn for a few weeks? On the other hand, almost everyone cares that TB is overgrown. So which quest did a better job of encrouaging involvement? (please don't take this as a knock to the Adron's Goblet quest, I'm just comparing to make a point.) I've seen a lot more good RP arise from this one than Adron's Goblet, because, in some way or another, it *is* affecting *everyone*. Quests *should* have repurcussions. If you don't solve it in X amount of time, Y will result.

I agree that the 'second half' of the quest to get the growth removed needs to move apace. But I don't think bashing a GM who came up with a quest and implemented it all really quite quickly is called for. The only thing that sort of attitude will do is guarantee that the GMs will have even *less* desire to make quests for people to enjoy. And I, for one, love the fact that there are quests, and that 'normal' people, not just the 'high and mighties' that have been playing for years, can get involved in them, not just hear vague rumors that 'something's going on' like most other games I've played. Yes, some of them can be frustrating. Yes, they can have consequences that strongly affect people that had nothing to do with the quest itself. But, that's life. You can't set up a good, in-depth, strong quest and not have it affect people.

Ziel Oden · Post by **Ziel Oden** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:07 am

1. Since i said so.
2. Im trying to make a point clear - i cant find anyone on the map. Im in vashikar and ive searched greyrose up. Now i have no will to plya as the stupid ass walk down to weedsbane is long. God spare me and send my pittifull soul 40 minuites of holding down the left and down arrow keys!

Aegohl · Post by **Aegohl** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:45 am

Nop wrote:Well, for another opinion: I hated that quest. Or rather I experienced only its backside. Though IG every day, I did not see any trace of that fairy. Neither did any of the other characters I asked every day. There was no announcement that would have enabled you to get online at a suitable time.

I dislike announcing quests for a number of reasons.

It makes the server lagalicious as thirty people mob a single point.
It makes it more difficult to react to players effectively with more around.
It causes unnatural situations.
It makes villains much too easy to beat, and thus we end up knocking our NPC stats up the wall to assure a fair fight, and that's just not reasonable.
It unfairly rewards the players who have time to keep track of quests and quest times and obsessively look for quests.
It unfairly rewards players who never enter the game but for quest time.
It causes a situation where the server is quiet when there isn't quests.
It makes quests that involve thinking entirely worthless, as players, when in groups of 20+ have a tendency of entering a hive mind in which they rush and kill anything that looks threatening and beg for information from anything that doesn't.

I'm sure I could list more. In any case, most of this quest was done after I got home from a hard day's work and wanted something to do. Thus, it was mostly in the wee hours of the morning. It was my attempt to have the quest feel as natural as possible, and the only way to do that, really, is to pop in with the NPC now and again and see what happens, just as any player would pop into the game now and again.

As to the blockages, those that have seen the Plane of Earth (and yes, there was once a quest to the Plane of Earth run by Estralis) would understand. The Plane of Earth is not just a random and natural jungle. It's most literally a maze. It was the intention that over time the overgrowth would grow into one cohesive hedge maze with assorted cover to get you lost, that is, if the players ultimately failed for a prolonged time.

The thing that was most important to me in this quest, however, was that there was no quest items to be found, no monsters to fight, no riddles to solve--the only way to "win" this quest was to converse and think, and one player eventually met the criterion.

Towards the end of the quest, Slasthulphus was hidden away in a spot by Caitlin Fergus, and so I only entered game with him if I was aware someone a: knew the location of him and b: was actively looking for him. Thus, this situation, created by a player rather than the story itself, made it more difficult for those who didn't already have some previous knowledge to get in contact with the fairy.

Overall, from the point of view of witnessing things as an outsider, on my player characters, I found it quite a bit enjoyable. I didn't have trouble finding people, as they all seemed to camp out by the Graue Zeflucht or near the pigs.

What really amazed me was that I found characters who were actively thinking about survival. This amazed me and made me very happy, as a player rather than a GM.

Well, in summary of my feelings about the whole thing, as much as I'd love to take the criticism to heart, from my end of the monitor this quest was a lot of fun, both as a Gm and as a player, and some of it's elements will inspire future quests (such as that it involved no combat or searching for quest items, which has become cliche). I won't be creating a massive garden in Trollsbane. That's for sure. But I also don't feel there was anything wrong with doing it once and watching the reactions of players.

To most of you, well played, I have to say.

To Maggie, good work. I feel guilty that the only reward for "winning" this quest was the roleplaying experience, rather than some treasure. Ah well. Perhaps another day.

Cheers,
Aegohl

NirAntae · Post by **NirAntae** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:57 am

I feel guilty that the only reward for "winning" this quest was the roleplaying experience, rather than some treasure.

As far as Maggie the character is concerned, I doubt gold or riches would have meant any more than that sun herb.

As far as the player goes, what are we here for aside from RP? As I said, this quest engendered some great RP, both directly and indirectly. And, I've 'met' yet another fabulous player, which is much more common here than most places, but still so very precious. So, what, exactly, is there for me to complain about?

>^.~<

Dónal Mason · Post by **Dónal Mason** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:27 am

Ziel. You are not a representative of anybody. Those were your views, not ours.

Personally, I found the quest a little but frustrating, but otherwise rather good. Then again, it isn't possible for the GMs to be monitering us 24/7, checking to see if we're fairy hunting.

Nop · Post by **Nop** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:53 am

Well, I'll just have to believe your words about the good side of the quest. I liked the idea and the beginning. Just couldn't find any of it in spite of searching every day while having the annoyances forced on me, so interest turned to anger.

I did not like the way the growth turned from really convincing wild nature in the beginnung to mischieivious roadblocks in the end. That felt like the traffic department, not earth force.

But my main point is: Like the quest or hate it - it is over. Please give the characters a chance to remove all that mess. And do it soon. In RL they all could just grab their axes and get rid of it now that the magic driving it is gone. The game mechanics prohibit that. So please GM up a solution.

If you want a temporary change to the game mechanics that allows players to chop down hedges and Naldor trees for good, just say so. I will be more than happy to provide the required script.

Erart Ridoc · Post by **Erart Ridoc** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 11:23 am

Ha, just popped into tb and I bumped into so many diffrent things. I have no clue what the quest is but from what I have heard so far there was a Troll attack and the town was overrun. A Fairy or something put it all there. I probable wont be around to see the finish of the quest but Ill see what I can do. Oh its so annoying finding new path ways, dont bitch about it people just work it into your rping lives. Besides I think their is already some type of villainy at work using the strange growth to personal gain.

Oh Kamik really loved the troll story

Aegohl · Post by **Aegohl** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:43 am

Yes. Powers are at work to remove the blockages.

Here is a summary of the quest for those who were in the unfortunate position of not being a part of it:

Several months ago there was a quest in which several people went to the Plane of Earth, seeking the element of pure earth in order to craft a fire axe (then a much rarer item).
Slasthulphus, the fairy gardener, escaped the Plane of Earth in the guise of an elf along with the players.
Slasthulphus spends his time since then building a garden specially imbued with his fairy magics so that he may grow rare fruits and also observing mankind and their habits, quietly.
Slasthulphus begins selling these rare fruits as a merchant. People are amazed to see bananas and tangerines.
The Elder Tree makes his way from the Plane of Earth and inhabits the large tree in front of the market (when the Elder Tree appeared in the Plane of Earth quest, which was part of the Astral Eye quest, it was one of the first times that players had seen the large Naldor), asking the players to seek out Slasthulphus and convince him to come home. He says that the parts of the garden in the Plane of Earth that Slasthulphus once cared for have become rampant, and as the two planes are coexistant, this means danger for the plane that the players inhabit.
The players first bump into Slasthulphus and find that he has no interest in going back, having found happiness and freedom in the life of the merchant.
Upon returning to the Elder Tree to explain to him the situation, they found that as he sleeps plants grow about him, and this is how the gardens and mazes are formed on the Plane of Earth, with the Elder Tree "dreaming" up large swathes of nature, and the gardener fairies cutting them down into the beautiful mazes they become. Here is where things become desperate.
One day while Slasthulphus is walking through town, trying to sell rare fruits, Donal warns Slasthulphus of a man who is hunting him and tells him to stay put, since there is someone who will help.
Before Donal returns, Gerard makes the scene, threatening who he believes is Slasthulphus with an axe (it ends up that Slasthulphus was hiding behind this man). Just then, Lennier brings Caitlin, who then hides him in the woods.
The players go to the Elder Tree to find out where Slasthulphus is hiding and the Elder Tree says that one among them knows, but he trusts her wisdom. If it is safe for someone to know the location of Slasthulphus, she will tell them.
Marius and Maggie find Slasthulphus in the woods, where Caitlin said he would be and attempt to talk to him. At first their talks yield nothing more than a debate and Slasthulphus explaining a bit how nature, the plane of Earth, and the Plane of Mortals, as he calls it, works.
Finally Slasthulphus gives them an ultimatum: If they can tell him how buying and selling herbs, unrelated to any business of the "old tree," hurts people, then he will leave. Otherwise, he stays.
After some discussion, Maggie comes to the solution: Economics, in it's very nature, creates a system by which there is the haves and the have-nots. Some succeed, living a life of wealth, while others strive and slave to make even a few coppers, and yet others starve to death. Slasthulphus now knows that his involvement in such a system, especially as he has no need for food and shelter, is hurting others.
With tears falling down his face, he says a final farewell, and then demands a tree (by name) to open a portal to the Plane of Earth, leaving. Soon after, the spirit of the Elder Tree also leaves the plane, but not without a few words of thanks to the mortals.