BBeast

Dungeon Keepers

We need to start from scratch. Our world is too big, and the scope of our planned plot is too broad.

I've already had ideas for the next DK milling around in my head (I don't have any ideas for a Keeper, though, as Calvartem would not nicely fit a model requiring live humans). For setting, I'm thinking a small patch of land, no more than a few hundred km across (like a European country), bordered by ocean, tundra, mountains, and desert. Its inhabitants are split into four nations, each with an affinity to particular branches of magic and augmentation (current plan: fire/strength (like Annointed of Caldor and Paterdomans), earth/defence, water/life (Like Disciples of Unda and Biomancers), storms/speed). Keeping with the idea of scarcity of resources, each nation has an abundance of a resource that others mostly lack. Fire: cement/construction, Earth: metals, Water: food/wood, Storms: ???. Barbarians inhabit the borders. Each nation would also have their own religions. There would be a simple web of alliances and enemies between the four nations.

GMs would need to play these four nations, at least for major actions. To prevent a conflict of interest, their Keeper and their NPC nation(s) should not be in the same area.

Any feedback?

Dungeon Keepers

Cyclone said
BBeast, you just said that this would need less GMs but you're asking for a collaborative PM discussion to figure out the plot. I wouldn't mind doing that, but if I know the entire plot wouldn't that make me a GM?

That is true. It was more a matter of if there was to be discussion on further details it would need to be by PM so as not to spoil any surprises for everyone else.

Cyclone said How many GMs would be ideal, anyways? If just one of us has to update the Compendium, design the entire plot, answer questions, and control plot characters then it would be too much. Maybe two is a good balance. In the end I think that it's a proportion; the more players we could attract, the more GMs we could get away with having.

Two is probably a good balance. One demands a lot of work from one person. Two allows sharing of responsibility and accountability of ideas and variety in plot NPCs and someone to take charge if the other is away. Some discussion on how to divide responsibilities and roles would be required, of course.

Dungeon Keepers

Ah, now that's getting somewhere. A common resource, of course. Basics of population dynamics: if there is no competition over anything, then no struggles for survival. Human slaves is a good choice. The need for workers is universal to Keepers, so simply removing imps (which we can get away with easily since we've just hopped dimensions) brings that demand for humans in without having to change anything else. And if/when humans are sparse, Keepers will have to capture slaves from other Keepers.

Humans also need to be fed and housed and cared for, otherwise they die, which adds an extra layer to it. Unless you dedicate a large amount of infrastructure, resources, and workers into caring for your humans, your number of slaves would slowly diminish, demanding continual expansion. The willingness of your slaves is another factor too. If you take the guise of a benevolent overlord, then your human underlings would happily work for you and you would get maximum efficiency out of them. If, however, you overwork them, or if you've had to massacre all their family and friends in front of their eyes, they would be pretty poor at working, although you could probably compensate by just getting more. But, of course, if you get more, you have to feed more, which means you need to assign more as farmers. At this point the functions of demanding tribute (or forming trade alliances) become relevant. For example, you would be able to obtain food without having to expend your own workers. Or metals means you do not have to invest in a mine and miners. Etc.

This could work.


P.S. Cav, we roped you in because you were one of the originals and the Horsemen were your characters and we valued your input.
Next time, we need to figure out some plot which actually works well in the context of DK. Personally, I think the Ripper plan, while cool, on the whole lacked relevance to the individual Keeper and Dungeon. Something along the lines of those heroes and titans Trapezoid mentioned (but tweaked and fleshed out some more, of course. If its a good idea we can elaborate in PM), or something like an extension of what was happening with the Annointed of Caldor, would form a better plot for our Keepers to get tied up in, because it happens where they are not in some distant place.

Sanctuary

To the best of my knowledge there aren't any fraternities here either (of course, I could be wrong).

Dungeon Keepers

I don't have time myself for quite a while to do anything along the lines of a comeback.

If/when we do remake this, we will need to overcome the trouble of having our world too sparsely populated by player characters. Sitting in isolation for months is not really in the spirit of RPing. A smaller world, perhaps. Maybe the start is restricted to a (relatively) small landmass. Greater player interactions would result, and as such a high chance of the RP surviving. I'll have to find some other use for Elysium.

We also need fewer GMs. Otherwise, the story is bordering on collusion.

Sanctuary

*Insert witty GIF here*

Dungeon Keepers

I agree with you, Cav. Our world is a bit large for our present player base, and some of us (if not all of us) are quite busy IRL.

Even if we didn't want a break, it appears to be happening anyway.

Dungeon Keepers

Calvartem and Shadowmane made it to the graveyard in a blur of speed and came to a stop in just a few paces. Calvartem glanced at the walls, eyeing the defenders moving to be able to shoot him and swivelling around a cannon, but they were quickly masked from view by a tall wall of fire conjured by Conquest. Not being able to see the defenders meant the defenders could not see him, and such a manoeuvre indicated that Conquest was quite intelligent. A valuable asset.

While the defenders could not see him now, they had seen him before, so he had Shadowmane trot over a few metres before he dismounted. As he did this a thud shook the ground beneath him and an explosion of dirt and gravel erupted from where he had been standing moments ago. Calvartem was quite unfazed by the cannonball, since it didn't hit him so it was of no concern to him. That shot was a guess, and any following shots would be no better.

Despite the shield of flame, Calvartem did not stretch his luck or Conquest's endurance. He struck the ground with his staff, and dozens of ethereal black tendrils leapt out and skittered across the ground, searching for a corpse. They sunk in at each grave, and in seconds dried, rotten and skeletal hands clawed their way out of their coffins and through the earth. The corpses lifted themselves out of their graves and stood in the cemetery, their eyes burning with darkness. The hoard numbered 200, with fifteen of them being Gremlins. More corpses were buried deeper and further out in the graveyard, for it had to service quite a large town, but Calvartem needed to keep some of his strength for the fighting.

The emergence of the 200 corpses, followed by their footfalls as they rallied along the ahead of Calvartem, would have alerted Conquest that Calvartem was finished. The hoard surged forwards, going around the man of flame, with the Gremlins jumping onto the rooftops as soon as they were past the wall of fire. The defending soldiers around the corner were not entirely prepared for the sudden surge of undead, but they were able to fall back into a more stable position to fight back the Walkers from. However, their formation set to defend from one side left their rear open to assault from the Gremlins, who jumped from the roofs and took advantage of their element of surprise to shatter the soldiers' formation. While they may have been able to fight the Gremlins on their own, the hoard of Walkers remained, and they were swiftly overwhelmed.

Astride his imposing steed, Calvartem trotted through the throng of undead. A casual wave of his staff reanimated the just-slain soldiers, adding a few Walkers and a couple of Gremlins, all armed and to an extent armoured, to his ranks.The sound of musket fire from the other direction caught his attention, and he turned to see a line of soldiers who had futilely attempted to disable oncoming Walkers with a few high-velocity lead pellets. A fire priest in their ranks threw up a shield of fire, and while that hurt the Walkers passing through it hardly deterred them. This squadron was larger, and reinforcements could be seen coming. A line of armoured warriors made the front lines and were managing to cut down the Walkers which approached. They had also learned from their fallen comrades across the street from them, and as such they were prepared to counter the ambush from above of the Gremlins. The first Gremlin jumping down met with the spear of one of the infantry, although a few hacks with a short-sword were required to fully disable it. The others on the roof were shot by arrows and fireballs, damaging them. A couple more Gremlins jumped down in an attempt to scatter the soldiers, and while they managed to kill one ranger and wound a spellcaster, they too were cut down. Calvartem signalled the rest of them to not jump off, for he could see the futility.

To shatter this band of stalwart defenders would require more force than his undead alone could deliver. He raised his staff and said, to no one in particular, "Ripper, I call on your power." After a slight delay the shadowy flame in Calvartem's eyes was replaced with a flaring crimson fire. A ball of crackling red energy formed at the head of his staff and he hurled the ball overhead at the wall of soldiers. It exploded in their midst, a violent blast of destruction, and those it didn't turn to dust it threw across the street, some broken and dead, others still alive, although they didn't last long now that they were vulnerable.

Calvartem's eyes remained red, though, for he still had one more spell to cast. The graveyard he had just visited lay outside the walls, but he needed to get him and his horde inside the walls. Advancing his hoard around a corner brought them within view of the gate. It slammed shut on seeing them, and a cannon was fired, blasting a few Walkers apart, although Calvartem hardly cared about a few Walkers. He pointed his staff towards the gate, and a jet of red energy leapt out of the end and dissolved a large hole in the steel and wood of the gate.

The undead began to pour into the hole to attack the soldiers on the other side, who were still mostly dazed from the blast. The red faded from Calvartem's eyes as they returned to their normal pure black. He spotted the defenders on the wall attempting to reload the cannon, so he killed them with a swift bolt of shadow. He then advanced behind the hoard towards the entrance to the town. He turned his head back to Conquest and said, "Ensure my hoard can advance to the crypt."

Sanctuary

I'm up to exam preparation. The big ones which determine my fate for the next few years. Posting from me may remain scarce for the next couple of months (I still have time to read, though).

But if anyone sees Godfather, let me know, because I can't really go far without interacting with him (unless I just leave the sonic bomb in his shed and walk out without telling Matthias Winters about it, but I don't want to do that).

Dungeon Keepers

This is true. If I start a post and not finish it I put it on Notepad, but I suppose using it to write in small chunks is also a good plan.