Post by Fae on Jul 17, 2009 15:21:39 GMT 1
Hi guys,
Berdrin asked me to post the rules he would like to set out for the Ahn'Qiraj raid, which we will be doing on Weds and Thurs next week:
1 - The fact that we are venturing into a challenging raid instance is not to be overlooked. Some encounters will be made easier because of our relative levels, but most bosses remain "boss-level" mobs. Therefore a great number of their abilities will still affect level 80 players. There will be actual raid leading involved to lead us through the encounters, and that leads me to rule n∞2.
2 - We don't recommend any kind of downranking as far as gear is involved, at least not towards the start. If you want to include elements of RP gear to your outfit, that is of course understandable and fine, but please retain a semblance of level appropriate gear, allowing you to tank/dps/heal appropriately for your level range. This might be a bit pessimistic, but best to be wary from the start than to run up against an encounter we can't do because we downranked our gear too much.
3 - Since we have a relatively restrained time frame in which to act out this event, we recommend everyone familiarize themselves with the boss encounters in advance:
www.wowwiki.com/Temple_of_Ahn%27Qiraj
The bosses we will be facing are, in order of appearance:
* The Prophet Skeram
* Battleguard Sartura
* Fankriss the Unyielding
* Princess Huhuran
* The Twin Emperors
* C'Thun
We will not be tackling the optional bosses.We'll see how we do, but I hope that we will be able to get through the first 4, or 3, bosses, leaving the more challenging last two to the second day.
That's it as far as the more technical aspects of our in-game journey go. Now, for the gooey caramel centre, the RP and the GMing system.
4 - Berdrin will be Game Mastering this event, so as to provide an overall more consistent, structured and, hopefully, more interesting and pleasant experience to everyone involved. What this means is two-fold. First, Berdrin will be little more than an NPC, rather than an active character, who will serve the purposes as a GM rather than as a player. He will still participate in the expedition, and do what must be done to achieve the safety of all involved, but this will be a very minor part of his involvement on the two evenings.
The second thing, is that Berd will be transmitting to the players the manipulations, suggestions, insinuations and hallucinations of C'thun. How this will happen in-game is quite simple: he will whisper you with what is happening to your character.
5 - Something important that we must point out right now and insist upon: DO NOT REPLY TO THE WHISPERS. Act out what your character feels, or how he/she reacts to the whispers in-character, in /s or something. If everyone starts "replying" to C'thun, it will be impossible to manage on Berdrin's end. We will see in-game how the character reacts, or if he/she doesn't seem to be reacting much, and as GM that will affect how further manipulations from C'thun might appear.
The only case in which you may reply to a whisper of Berdrin's is if you seek clarification on its meaning, and then please clearly mark it as out of character (OOC), whether by preceding it by "OOC:", or by using those ((ubiquitous brackets.))
6 - Berdrin is not going to decide for you if your character becomes crazy.
What he will do is simply attempt, as C'thun, to warp their minds, thoughts, perceptions, etc...And to lay the groundwork for them to either become a non-threat, or a twisted ally of the Old God, whether consciously or not. Whether these manipulations have any effect is up to you, the player.
We would recommend, however, that the more whispers your character receives, the more likely it would be that they would slowly descend towards insanity. But, once again, this is only a suggestion.
The type and manner of insanity afflicting your character is also up to you. Violent paranoia, catatonic despair, mindless hysteria...Whether your character decides to strike preemptively at the people or person they think is out to get them, or runs off, arms flailing, is up to you. And remember, even if you are seeing someone else's character being afflicted this way, it will also affect your character's state of mind, maybe for the worse...
7 - How will he decide who gets the whispers ? Well, part of it will be random, part of it will be at my discretion. Depending on the amount of participants, he will roll some d10s (in front of his computer, as any good GM will tell you, you don't show your dice rolls to your players
) at predetermined points in the expedition, which will give him the number of a person in the raid who will become affected. As the expedition progresses beneath the sands, more dices will be rolled, and more people will start getting influenced. If a character's number comes up a few times, they will receive multiple whispers.
"C'Thun" will also whisper some players who, due to time constraints, difficulties to attend the raids or explicit requests on their part to be influenced by C'thun, may not be able to wait for their number to be picked out randomly. If anyone is in this situation, please feel free to tell Berdrin.
8 - What will the whispers contain ? Well, Berd will do his best to customize them, according to what he knows OOC of each character's background, history, personality, etc. If there is anything you feel he should know as a GM, that C'thun may use as a weakness, please let me know asap. He will be arranging the whispers in advance to be able to work more smoothly, so the sooner you let him know, the best he might be able to use it. He will have some "backup" whispers in stock, anyway, for those characters who turn up and who he's either not familiar with, or who have such a smooth background history and personality that C'thun would find nothing to sink his...tentacles into.
Remember, this is a way for you to make your character face their worst nightmares: themselves, their past, their fears, etc... It is literally character-building, and we want to make that as personalized as possible, so that your character truly feels the terrifying power of the Old Gods. And that, hopefully, as a player, you enjoy it as well.
If it is any concern of yours, he will naturally be using this information as a GM, and it will be strictly confidential and OOC in nature. Berdrin, or any of his other characters, will know nothing of it, and will not act upon it IC, ever.
9 - No killing. Unless Berd receives the explicit instruction from a player beforehand that they are willing/want their character to die on this expedition, there will be no IC deaths caused either through the encounters, or through the actions of other characters turning against other members of the expedition.
As such, Berdrin would like to request, as a measure of courtesy, if all violent action that characters may be led to take against other expedition members be toned down to an acceptable level where my magic GM's wand may turn it from a death-dealing attack to one that merely wounds. Any kind of IC combat will be heavily moderated, and kept short so that we might progress with the expedition.
10 - Know also that characters who become violent WILL be neutralised IC. Unless they run off into the winding corridors of the Temple. Either way, any character who becomes insane enough to start attacking other characters WILL be taken care of, and effectively be out of active participation with the Expedition.
The way this will happen is simple: soon after the violent tendencies begin to manifest, but perhaps not soon enough to prevent a strike by the character against his/her perceived enemy, Berdrin (remember, again, an NPC), will use a tranquiliser gun to shoot the crazy character, rendering them unconscious. They will then be taken out, with the aid of NPC reinforcements from the Cenarion Circle, and taken back to Cenarion Hold.
Remember, this is an instance where you will have to accept the GM's decision. Not doing so may disrupt the event as a whole and possibly affect other people's RP adversely.
***
We know having so many rules might appear a bit daunting, but in effect you will see very little of them at all in action when we get down there. We want the strings around this whole thing to seem as invisible to you, players, as possible, to allow for greater in-character immersion. Do remember, however, that if you wish to participate in this event, you have to agree to the rules and abide by them.
Remember, you can whisper Berdrin anytime if you have any questions, about these rules, or would like to discuss some aspect of your character's history, or their involvement within this expedition, that you feel he should know. Berdrin will try to read up as much as he can on character backgrounds, and if you are already a signed-up participant, don't be surprised if he whispers you himself
Berdrin asked me to post the rules he would like to set out for the Ahn'Qiraj raid, which we will be doing on Weds and Thurs next week:
1 - The fact that we are venturing into a challenging raid instance is not to be overlooked. Some encounters will be made easier because of our relative levels, but most bosses remain "boss-level" mobs. Therefore a great number of their abilities will still affect level 80 players. There will be actual raid leading involved to lead us through the encounters, and that leads me to rule n∞2.
2 - We don't recommend any kind of downranking as far as gear is involved, at least not towards the start. If you want to include elements of RP gear to your outfit, that is of course understandable and fine, but please retain a semblance of level appropriate gear, allowing you to tank/dps/heal appropriately for your level range. This might be a bit pessimistic, but best to be wary from the start than to run up against an encounter we can't do because we downranked our gear too much.
3 - Since we have a relatively restrained time frame in which to act out this event, we recommend everyone familiarize themselves with the boss encounters in advance:
www.wowwiki.com/Temple_of_Ahn%27Qiraj
The bosses we will be facing are, in order of appearance:
* The Prophet Skeram
* Battleguard Sartura
* Fankriss the Unyielding
* Princess Huhuran
* The Twin Emperors
* C'Thun
We will not be tackling the optional bosses.We'll see how we do, but I hope that we will be able to get through the first 4, or 3, bosses, leaving the more challenging last two to the second day.
That's it as far as the more technical aspects of our in-game journey go. Now, for the gooey caramel centre, the RP and the GMing system.
4 - Berdrin will be Game Mastering this event, so as to provide an overall more consistent, structured and, hopefully, more interesting and pleasant experience to everyone involved. What this means is two-fold. First, Berdrin will be little more than an NPC, rather than an active character, who will serve the purposes as a GM rather than as a player. He will still participate in the expedition, and do what must be done to achieve the safety of all involved, but this will be a very minor part of his involvement on the two evenings.
The second thing, is that Berd will be transmitting to the players the manipulations, suggestions, insinuations and hallucinations of C'thun. How this will happen in-game is quite simple: he will whisper you with what is happening to your character.
5 - Something important that we must point out right now and insist upon: DO NOT REPLY TO THE WHISPERS. Act out what your character feels, or how he/she reacts to the whispers in-character, in /s or something. If everyone starts "replying" to C'thun, it will be impossible to manage on Berdrin's end. We will see in-game how the character reacts, or if he/she doesn't seem to be reacting much, and as GM that will affect how further manipulations from C'thun might appear.
The only case in which you may reply to a whisper of Berdrin's is if you seek clarification on its meaning, and then please clearly mark it as out of character (OOC), whether by preceding it by "OOC:", or by using those ((ubiquitous brackets.))
6 - Berdrin is not going to decide for you if your character becomes crazy.
What he will do is simply attempt, as C'thun, to warp their minds, thoughts, perceptions, etc...And to lay the groundwork for them to either become a non-threat, or a twisted ally of the Old God, whether consciously or not. Whether these manipulations have any effect is up to you, the player.
We would recommend, however, that the more whispers your character receives, the more likely it would be that they would slowly descend towards insanity. But, once again, this is only a suggestion.
The type and manner of insanity afflicting your character is also up to you. Violent paranoia, catatonic despair, mindless hysteria...Whether your character decides to strike preemptively at the people or person they think is out to get them, or runs off, arms flailing, is up to you. And remember, even if you are seeing someone else's character being afflicted this way, it will also affect your character's state of mind, maybe for the worse...
7 - How will he decide who gets the whispers ? Well, part of it will be random, part of it will be at my discretion. Depending on the amount of participants, he will roll some d10s (in front of his computer, as any good GM will tell you, you don't show your dice rolls to your players
) at predetermined points in the expedition, which will give him the number of a person in the raid who will become affected. As the expedition progresses beneath the sands, more dices will be rolled, and more people will start getting influenced. If a character's number comes up a few times, they will receive multiple whispers."C'Thun" will also whisper some players who, due to time constraints, difficulties to attend the raids or explicit requests on their part to be influenced by C'thun, may not be able to wait for their number to be picked out randomly. If anyone is in this situation, please feel free to tell Berdrin.
8 - What will the whispers contain ? Well, Berd will do his best to customize them, according to what he knows OOC of each character's background, history, personality, etc. If there is anything you feel he should know as a GM, that C'thun may use as a weakness, please let me know asap. He will be arranging the whispers in advance to be able to work more smoothly, so the sooner you let him know, the best he might be able to use it. He will have some "backup" whispers in stock, anyway, for those characters who turn up and who he's either not familiar with, or who have such a smooth background history and personality that C'thun would find nothing to sink his...tentacles into.
Remember, this is a way for you to make your character face their worst nightmares: themselves, their past, their fears, etc... It is literally character-building, and we want to make that as personalized as possible, so that your character truly feels the terrifying power of the Old Gods. And that, hopefully, as a player, you enjoy it as well.
If it is any concern of yours, he will naturally be using this information as a GM, and it will be strictly confidential and OOC in nature. Berdrin, or any of his other characters, will know nothing of it, and will not act upon it IC, ever.
9 - No killing. Unless Berd receives the explicit instruction from a player beforehand that they are willing/want their character to die on this expedition, there will be no IC deaths caused either through the encounters, or through the actions of other characters turning against other members of the expedition.
As such, Berdrin would like to request, as a measure of courtesy, if all violent action that characters may be led to take against other expedition members be toned down to an acceptable level where my magic GM's wand may turn it from a death-dealing attack to one that merely wounds. Any kind of IC combat will be heavily moderated, and kept short so that we might progress with the expedition.
10 - Know also that characters who become violent WILL be neutralised IC. Unless they run off into the winding corridors of the Temple. Either way, any character who becomes insane enough to start attacking other characters WILL be taken care of, and effectively be out of active participation with the Expedition.
The way this will happen is simple: soon after the violent tendencies begin to manifest, but perhaps not soon enough to prevent a strike by the character against his/her perceived enemy, Berdrin (remember, again, an NPC), will use a tranquiliser gun to shoot the crazy character, rendering them unconscious. They will then be taken out, with the aid of NPC reinforcements from the Cenarion Circle, and taken back to Cenarion Hold.
Remember, this is an instance where you will have to accept the GM's decision. Not doing so may disrupt the event as a whole and possibly affect other people's RP adversely.
***
We know having so many rules might appear a bit daunting, but in effect you will see very little of them at all in action when we get down there. We want the strings around this whole thing to seem as invisible to you, players, as possible, to allow for greater in-character immersion. Do remember, however, that if you wish to participate in this event, you have to agree to the rules and abide by them.
Remember, you can whisper Berdrin anytime if you have any questions, about these rules, or would like to discuss some aspect of your character's history, or their involvement within this expedition, that you feel he should know. Berdrin will try to read up as much as he can on character backgrounds, and if you are already a signed-up participant, don't be surprised if he whispers you himself