First, check the ammo works.. fuck, piss, twat bollocks....

All present and correct and probably a few people impressed despite what the guide/rules say!

Right sop my road test topic here is where can you get the best PvP. Now my answer is not a devils advocatey piece of crap, this is really my opinion, so call me out if you think I am wrong. I think the LT is still the best place for PvP potentioal. Now there are 2 reasons I still think LT has over Malestrom and one of the reasons also gives it the edge over Cp. The first is Scale. quite simply i'm a scale junkie. I like to have lots of different possible enemies or allies and still have a big enough playerbase that those disparate enemies/allies can still number 2-300 each (or twice that if your the dragons). Quite simply maelstrom and Cp cannot offer that. At maelstrom I think the number of colonies/churhes/houses/native means that these groupings get mostly watered down. sure there are some that can muster 50+, but there are too many colonies of a handful!

The second reason I think LT has the most potential for PvP is that it's looser background leaves people frrer to move there faction in different directions. It's almost like we are playing with a mostly clean board and we can move it as we want to as opposed to what someone wrote happened 50 years ago in a non roleplayed encounter.

So there you have it, whilst I love maelstrom for it's immersion and quality of roleplay and system (1 sec rule excepted) I think LT still has more PvP potentital

Stu

RL: Stuart Maher
PD: Stuart Maher in a frock coat
LT: Stuart maher in orange hi-vis
Omega: Stuart Maher in a rat mask
BUTT: Stuart Maher in various crap costumes
EOS: Stuart Maher writing plot

EOS - Book now, thank me later.

I was going to copyright my posts... but then remembered this is an LRP forum!

Firstly, the loose background system which you present as an advantage (i.e. a largely undefined game world) robs players of background motivation for interaction. You could argue thats a good thing as it means motivations for PVP are based on time-in stuff only, but in practice it seems to mean the main motivation is that the NPCs and plot team have decided faction X does something bad to faction Y. Enough players could affect this, but only slowly.

Secondly, the LT is sometimes a bit "time-ish" and IC PVP gets construed as an OOC grudge. I do remember when I was there, one group decided to go all out to kill another group because they were plainly dodgy, and got told to stop by the refs because it was upsetting the group OOC.

Thirdly, greater power concentration than most systems means that most players dont have anything worth taking, and those that do are very powerful and difficult to take on by most players.

Fourthly, the ability of players to affect the overall status quo is quite limited. Imagine you wanted to wipe out a faction or guild, completely, as a player. I dont think it could be done.

I appreciate that due to its size and need to appeal to as wide a playerbase as possible, the LT has to have a strongly controlled IC environment, but this does have a bit of a "kid gloves" effect on PVP.

Mark.

Awww, its no fun when you admit it!
-But it is when I make the salad dressing!
(Weebl & Bob)

Not many players I have talked to prefer PvM over PvP, so it's simply a case of wanting it hard enough for it to happen.

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"People say violence in the last resort. That's why I use violence as my first, and cut out all the other options that would have failed." E.D.Gav

On that comment, I would say that LT does have the potential for good PvP but it is not due to its scale. An individual's experience of any given Gathering event can vary wildly from 'Really good, best event ever' to 'absolutely boring, I found taking a c*ap more interesting'. If you can be bothered to go out and find something to do or know people who are involved in plot that is going or make something up for you to interest yourself then you can have a great event. If you turn up with a 'story led' attitude of 'I'll sit here and wait to see what plot happens' then chances are you will lose out.

The same essentially applies to Maelstrom and I suspect that it largely depends on who you hang out with or how self motivated you are.

But I think it largely depends on what you want out of an event. Personally, for really intensive interaction, PvP plot and complex interaction I would go to neither Maelstrom or LT or CP but to a smaller event - an NWO, Blood red roses, Gall saga, Vikings, Artificer. But that is just a personal opinion.

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The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God...

Ruins of Empire

1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester

Most (should be all) faction and main plot teams should be prepared to throw out most of there lovingly prepared plot if players get off there backsides and make the world turn. This has happened in the past. I watched 200+ encounter sheets get binned during the dark/light alliance wars in 2003 (or was it 2002) which were 100% player led. Still best gathering we've had!

scripted plots are a neccesary safety net if the players do nothing (their choice, they are players, they do what they want). If the players act and turn the wolrd ther is no need to script the world turning

I'd love to know details on this as certainly during my time at the LT it was not what I came across, however I do not in any way deny it happened. The key word was potential. To achieve that both the players and the staff need to be prepared to ake it on.

Difficult.. or a challenge. but that is an yeasy thing to say when I am not ingame facing one of these groups, so feel free to disregard it. The power levels of the LT have long been an issue that the LT have tried to counter. The removal of immune to normal being a great example of a field leveller. This year the cataclysm should (should, this is an inititiave started after I wnet back to playing so i know nothing about it other than any other player) also go a long way to redressing that balance as it is putting future power levels as an in game character choice.

It could be done.. but it should be just as easy as me trying to single handedly bring down france or mc donalds. remember a faction is more than just the 200 players who turn up so at an event you're more liklley to heavily dent a faction than to eridicate it. This has happened in the past and was all player led. The Light alliance was a player led occourance as was the retribution on the jakals and bears.

I can see where you see that from, with the advantage of scale comes a lot of disadvantages, but I think the advantages outweigh them. A lot of this can be handled by players having a biyt of flexability and sometimes being prepared to accept something that is not an ideal IC occourance for the gretaer good of the game. However this should not be an excuse for flange, which it does become.

Stu

RL: Stuart Maher
PD: Stuart Maher in a frock coat
LT: Stuart maher in orange hi-vis
Omega: Stuart Maher in a rat mask
BUTT: Stuart Maher in various crap costumes
EOS: Stuart Maher writing plot

EOS - Book now, thank me later.

I was going to copyright my posts... but then remembered this is an LRP forum!

I know a lot of people who know for a fact that is utter crap!

RL: Stuart Maher
PD: Stuart Maher in a frock coat
LT: Stuart maher in orange hi-vis
Omega: Stuart Maher in a rat mask
BUTT: Stuart Maher in various crap costumes
EOS: Stuart Maher writing plot

EOS - Book now, thank me later.

I was going to copyright my posts... but then remembered this is an LRP forum!