Go back to previous topic
Forum Name The Battlefield
Topic subject(DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Topic URLhttps://forums.carrionfields.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=117284
117284, (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Death_Angel on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Sun Oct 6 09:10:47 2013

At 6 o'clock PM, Day of Deception, 9th of the Month of the Dark Shades
on the Theran calendar Drond perished, never to return.
Race:arial
Class:thief
Level:47
Alignment:Evil
Ethos:Orderly
Cabal:None, None
Age:48
Hours:314
117391, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Dacagais on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I wasn't the Immortal who interacted with Drond, but I will offer my $0.02 as the only active Empire IMM for anyone who might be interested.

As far as the demotion goes, all I'm going to say is that it was legitimate. I don't know which way I'd have leaned had I seen the event(s) in question go down, but to claim that Drond broke Imperial Law (#8) is in no way a stretch. As an Imperial, you're taking a risk in associating with a Scion for any reason, even if it's self-serving or in some way benefits Empire.

On a related note, I think there might be some ambiguity with regards to the Imperial inners (e.g., the Imperial Assassin) and their place in the "chain of command". Was it appropriate for the Imperial Assassin to reprimand Drond? I think so. While we tend to think of the chains of command within cabals as only including PCs, whether it be a codified chain of command like Tribunal or merely a members vs. leader(s) arrangement, generally speaking if a cabal inner asks you for something or reprimands you for something, it goes.
117392, Disagree (don't give a #### about Drond)
Posted by Tac on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
If the chain of command in the Empire doesn't go Imms, Emperor, Sect Leaders, etc. then that really is a completely different cabal. The same is really true in any cabal. The Big D might have a voice in the village, but they are hardly the Commander.

The only logic behind it is purely OOC, in that you (the player) know the inner is in reality an Imm. I assume any Imm can either talk as themselves or as nearly any voice they want over cb. The laziness to speak as the assassin inner instead of "Immortal Lord of Empire" or whatever makes it bad RP. If I can get anath'd for knee (back when it was an emote) instead of kneel, Imms really should be held to a higher standard than a PC would.
117395, Whoa, hilarious.
Posted by Murphy on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You meant to humbly kneel but instead hit the emperor in the groin? That's kinda like stumbling on a parade, only worse.
117402, Not me. But an old classic log of it exists somewhere.
Posted by Tac on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
knee Zulg I think.
117393, Please stop the ambiguity, who was the IMM?
Posted by wareagle on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Who came to Drond as the Assassin and demoted her to bloodoath and who came to me Raijik, even though he didn't demote me because I was respectful, scolded my ass and eventually, luckily, was just demoted by Merf?

I'm curious, being that you are the only active Empire IMM for anyone who might be interested.
117400, I'm thinking THAT fact is something that is wanting to be revealed in time.
Posted by Aglaron on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
In game story-line.
117401, RE: Please stop the ambiguity, who was the IMM?
Posted by Akresius on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
If you look in the immortal comments for Raijik, it gives a pretty clear hint as to who interacted with him as Blademaster. If you didn't, well, it was me.

You will note that I don't actively run a cabal, but that gives me a chance to keep an eye on just about all of them. I like interacting with players as various mobs, including cabal inners. Before you ask, yes, I have played Empire.

Please also note that I didn't give Raijik any in-game penalty whatsoever. I could have demoted him for what I (my interpretation of the Blademaster) saw was a huge mistake, but it's not my cabal to take such an action with. What I tried to do, and what I like to do with other cabal inners, is turn it into an RP moment.

In this case, the Blademaster told Raijik that he was ok with the War Master's actions, but as a consequnce the Empire was made much weaker. I asked Raijik to send a note to the Immortal Lords of Empire as to how he planned to make the Sect strong again. Again, no punishment, as it's not my cabal to run. I was planning on throwing down an edge or a title or some imm xp if this lil' "mini-quest" was performed well.

As it turned out, Merf logged in later that evening and excercised his perogative as Emperor and demoted Raijik, who then deleted.

I've taken up enough of this good-bye thread. If anyone would like to discuss further, please pose a question on Gameplay Forum.
117394, For what it's worth...
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I've been fighting other people and had rager1, rager2 or rager3 (not mentioning names), jump in to try to cranial or bash/trip me down like 4 times in the last month or two. There's also a certain goodie who has been owning good-aligned NPCs with area spells for quite a while now.

You guys really need to be consistent about how you deal with various cabals in terms of punishment. If an Imm is going to step into the inner and boot someone for breaking cabal creed - that should be consistent across the board.

The playerbase isn't going to be happy with taking the underdog cabal and kicking them in the junk, providing no immteraction other than demotions/anathema and then watching their enemies get away with murder for months at a time while getting tattooed and titled for it. Especially because, it's fairly clear from the Shadow Sect rules what the priorities are.

In this particular case, Merf wanted him demoted but couldn't, so I don't really see a problem with demoting him but in the larger sense, there's definitely some cabals where you can do almost whatever you want and others where you can't even do what the cabal rules say you're allowed to do - so that inconsistency should get cleaned up.
117396, RE: For what it's worth...
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
And regarding the inners, they really shouldn't be telling you much of anything.

That automated code where they talk out of their ass (hey lone Imperial, why haven't you returned the codex from the 16 people guarding it?) kinda makes that obvious by itself. I actually didn't even know that was automated when I started in Empire and almost got myself rocked thinking an imm was talking to me.

Let the inners be the inners, Gods be Gods and leaders be leaders, it's way too confusing otherwise. I'm getting old, I can't tell anymore whether I'm being asked to RP or being dealt with in a pseudo OOC manner. Make it easy for me and talk to me as a God if that's how you want to be treated.
117397, The consequences were fine.
Posted by vargal on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It was just poorly handled from what I've seen.

I really have to say that you guys are pretty horrible at picking your moments. Unless of course the intent is to be detrimental to specific players experiences. After all, nothing really crushes the desire to play like feeling as if the officiators are actively working against you.

You may be players as well as administrators, but you really need to wear the kid gloves in the latter role. That is the price of maintaining a wall between yourselves and everyone else. We don't know you, or interact with any of you enough to trust you, or vice versa. Nor does your laissez-faire attitude toward so many of the things which go on in your sandbox make you seem less draconic and exploitative.

You guys seem to roll your eyes at uncreative or repetitive things, and push players to be more creative. Players respond by spending hours writing roles and doing serious research on them... Meanwhile, there is little to no thought put into interactions which have massive impact on PCs. You just grab a mob and get it over with, like a cop tired of walking a beat.

If this kind of thing were done with some flare? Some panache? This kind of thing could be *awesome*. You could have players come out of experiences like this saying "That added to my character. That was a positive, fun experience."

You deal with players like you're tired of them.

I address this to no specific immortal, as my interactions with any Imm at any point in my long playing history have never lead me to believe that I was seen as anything but an annoyance.

Yet you continue to go in a direction you apparently collectively hate and have no enthusiasm for. So I ask... Why?
117399, Literally a way more eloquent summation of my thoughts. NT
Posted by TMNS on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Awesome job
117405, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Illanthos on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I've always operated on the unwritten rule that members of the Shadow sect could break Imperial Law - so long as they were not caught by mortals. I'm not sure when things changed, but I find myself a little disappointed.

Theft, assassination, and shady backdoor dealings are the backbone of the sect. To expect the same level of adherence to Imperial Law as Blades are demanded cheapens the sect, in my opinion.

117406, Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!! n/t
Posted by Lhydia on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
gr
117413, +1 +1
Posted by Scrimbul on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
The few Shadows I played operated this way, as did several other Shadows who are still active and doing precisely this type of behavior.

Nepenthe and Akresius are wrong.
117415, RE: +1 +1
Posted by Akresius on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM

>Nepenthe and Akresius are wrong.

About what?
117385, You had some good and some bad
Posted by Destuvius on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Whether you like it or not, you broke Imperial Law and were busted for it. If I saw the Emperor do it, I would have slapped him down all the same.
117386, Hahaha! You still lied. Congrats though...
Posted by Lhydia on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
But please familiarize yourself with the Empire sect rules all around and probably read the helpfile too before encouraging people to make horrible decisions.

Out of curiosity have you played an Imperial before?

Also, will Empire be losing its player driven focus at this point?
117412, If he played Empire before...
Posted by Scrimbul on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It would require more time and effort than he has at the current point to hack it in the current environment, no matter how epically skilled he is how or well he weighs his options on RNG. His skill might be legendary.

But the problem isn't that he'll die, the problem is he's not going to reach his usual numbers against the katamari that is Fortress right this second, and if he was going to attempt at all he'd be in Scion because his allies in Empire are categorically useless and/or trying to be him.

Nep's playstyle is also the epitome of the solo killer which is not only wholly ineffective right this second against Fortress in particular but completely and utterly useless to helping Empire remain strong as a cabal in the current environment. A solo killer cannot kill 2 healers 2 paladins and one conjurer in the span of 30 minutes, he needs six hours for the others to drop their guard.

Empire right this second the past six months is doing this to themselves as much as the sheer constant 30+ numbers of the Fortress cabal have been kicking them in the teeth the past 2 years. Drond was never logged in enough to affect this one way or another, he simply found the one reliable way to shave some extra CON off the players who deserved it.

If Nepenthe could single-handedly 'fix' the current problem in Fortress and get 200 kills with 300 hours on the character without rolling a Malice spamming shaman (which admittedly is what he ought to be doing otherwise at the moment), I'll eat my hat because right now the game isn't terribly fun as anything at the moment. He won't get anywhere near fixing the problem by sitting in the 30's like he usually does, but he doesn't have to powerrank to hero with 75%'s either.

Twist managed to single-handedly break Empire. He also had to play Dupmasione to do it, and ignore virtually all his administrative responsibilities to the Empire cabal as his alt Gurgthock at the time or he'd have caught me sooner doing things Enlilth was allowing freely prior to the Emperor seat being filled.
117389, Please don't treat us like fools.
Posted by Aereglen on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It really hurts.
117353, I realize this isn't the best place for this...but...since everyone is reading it..
Posted by Sarien on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Any chance to make ghosts immune to poisoner #### so griefers like drond don't ruin poor newbies day by poisoning their armor from their freshly made corpse?

Thanks!
117354, Already done:
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=17&topic_id=20217&mesg_id=20222&page=

Griefing averted! Wooooo!
117362, Yup, fixed
Posted by Arvam on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
In all honesty Drond is the main reason this was pushed. Poison thief has some cool options. Poison thief also has some tools to be a complete and utter prick to a level we don't need to enable. Being able to kill ghosts or as you mention, out of range newbies doesn't really need to be a thing in CF.
117363, Griefing is not "evil"
Posted by crsweeney on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I hope that I am misinterpreting Gedunthos's post, that he felt these things were a positive example of Drond's RP. Doesnt bode well for empire if its leadership is encouraging this kind of BS.






117365, RE: Griefing is not
Posted by Arvam on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Drond did a lot of things beyond the griefy poisony thief stuff. She was just the most recent example of this. There would be no stopping a neutral or goodies person for doing this kind of stuff.

So we made this change because of Drond since she was the most recent example of something we don't really wanna encourage, but this wasn't the entirety of what the character was about.
117368, Fastest way to bug fix? Exploit the #### out of it...
Posted by Tac on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I wish this wasn't the case, but it has been true on every online multi-player game I've ever played.

I often considered creating characters for the express purpose of nuking things that are stupid, but rarely have the time and/or am willing to put in the effort to do so. It is frustrating to see it must be taken to a certain level to be so though.

As a for instance, I could create a hero level shaman and ruin any short-lived race character's life by running around being a wither monkey. It wouldn't be that hard to RP it well enough to stay empowered, and I'm pretty sure after 2-3 enemies died at 200 hours, wither aging would be changed, but until then it will continue to be a completely stupid mechanic that punishes a long-lived character unfairly for being caught without saves or getting unlucky a couple of times.

There are other examples, but this isn't the appropriate place.
117373, RE: Fastest way to bug fix? Exploit the #### out of it...
Posted by Drag0nSt0rm on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Pretty sure I got that changed doing that very thing around 06? (Wasn't my intention, just lots of dumb people wearing + save items vs a human shaman)

I know I haven't seen anyone age die to wither recently.

No 55 hour humans/arials dropping dead suddenly despite the surge of Shamans these days, I'd guess it is still fixed.
117374, I don't think this is true...
Posted by Tac on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
But I can't prove it any more than you can.
117384, Was that your Fire Giant in Scion?
Posted by TMNS on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I liked him.
117388, RE: Fastest way to bug fix? Exploit the #### out of it...
Posted by Daevryn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I don't think wither has changed significantly since the 1900s. (Unless you count adding the wither edge.)
117364, Sure it does!
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
That's just me though. Should be open PK range or something and just not count as a kill if they are out of "traditional" PK range. Teach newbies to talk smack or heroes to talk smack to an army of newbies. Man, that would be a crazy CF.
117372, You might have enjoyed something my old mud did:
Posted by KaguMaru on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Totally off topic I know, but there was a month long competition following a pwipe during which every character created was forced to take the 'true life' option (first death = automatic deletion) with a gradually widening PK range which eventually got to the the point where heroes could kill level 11s. The imms even gave the only guy who had heroed (and was keeping things that way) a unicorn pendant for good measure.
117351, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Onewingedangel on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Very well played shadow. When I was sezeal, I was scared ####less you'd sneak in anywhere and get those maggots on me again.

Sucked, too. Lost 2/3 of my eq and the rest went up in chromatic flames.

I don't think it was a #### move though, you gotta do what you gotta do.
117347, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Ekaerok on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Ah, the fun times of you knocking me out on eastern and stealing every single thing out of my inventory. I'm pretty sure you couldn't even carry it all, but decided to steal it and drop it and sac it anyways. In some ways I should thank you, you were the main reason I stopped using anything but my two main swords as I couldn't keep anything else.
117340, Same gripe as I had with Flaaayin.
Posted by Murphy on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Either you stand and spam "apply knockout inhaled victim", or you get attacked, flee and do it with zero fail chance. Absolutely no fun to fight, you weren't much of a stealing douche though so no hate.
117349, Yeah, Flaaayin was ridiculous
Posted by RiderOfStorms on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I do hope things have been toned down since then ...
117336, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Gedunthos on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Best. Elite. Ever.

Had a blast with you, and to all of the haters of poisons: that was the idea. Not sure Drond is going to post, but she was keenly aware each time that it was a #### move, and not only reveled in it, but was encouraged to revel in it. Darkness and Order, right? We're bad guys, remorse is frowned upon, doing really horrible nasty things is good. Drond wasn't overly deathful by my reckoning, and more than once I saw her with no vulns dieing in two wraths and stuff like that to the Fortress horde. We seemed to be in agreement that she should never, ever ever, stop being such a prick. Someone had to look like the bad guy, even though there are no good guys in the Cabal. I'd consistently do very heinous things, and blame Drond, and she'd be happy about it. Took it like a champ!

There are things in the game that make people have less of a fun time, and it isn't limited to poisoners as has been said. No need to point out the examples, but being the type of character that she was, I also saw her eat full loots with a SMILE a dozen times. Knew exactly what she was doing by my eye! So all of you could stand to take your knocks a little better. I am biased to thieves, though..

Excellent character, very evil, very nasty. Said IC multiple times that people didn't have to worry about me, they had to worry about Drond, my Enforcer... quite nasty. I am sad that you didn't stick it out after the Demotion, I would have had you back to Elite in a week and just told you never to break the law of association with scions again... But your play time seemed to have dropped anyway. Plus my greedy ass is Shadow Lord again, so ICly, oh well another soldier gone!

Can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this character, and I hope all of you continue to hate her long after she's gone. GLWYN
117348, There was a point when...
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
...and maybe this is still the case but I'm not sure...but there was a point when if you summoned out of range NPC's to assist an NPC to kill someone out of range you could get severely punished for it by the imms. So as an example, if you summoned a paladin that was aggro to evils and it wiped out a level 20 guy while you were level 50, you could get in a lot of trouble for it including losing your empowerment.

To me, contact poison on gear dropped at a corpse feels a lot like this and it's hard for me to see it as anything other than OOC griefing. Never happened to me but I can't really fault people for taking it the wrong way. There's a vague line where there's clever use of class mechanics and abuse of class mechanics that people will get pretty irate if you cross. Out of range kills, killing people who are ghosts and using "insta-kill" tactics like maggots are good examples. I'd much rather boost thieves up to a point where they don't need to do things like that and remove those "griefing mechanics" (one of which is already gone, thanks Vil!) rather than have people roll up chars to exploit that sort of thing.

The confuse effect on vertigo hypnotize is a good example of a potentially game changing skill against some types of opponents and some situations (if you imagine for instance, a necromancer trying to sleep his healer buddy on accident to start a fight or a conjurer lashing his elemental). I think it should be able to be initiated while out of combat and made more easily available to more thieves. I'd really like to see a lot more of that sort of tactical battle control and a lot less of "I poisoned your gauntlets after you died so that you'd die again".
117309, My characters legitimately feared you.
Posted by Zephon on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Good job. ^_^
117306, Thanks for playing Empire when no one else was.
Posted by Kraldinor on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Before I was Emperor, it was always reassuring to be heading into a fight then see a nod or something and know you were around. I have some idea of how long it took you to recover when someone took your prep bag, so #### whoever is bitching about Maggots. Besides, it isn't like you coded them.

Don't know the details of your ouster, but I personnaly think it is time to bury the Empire/Scion hatchet w current numbers and how players choose to align themselves now. Either that or just kill scion and nexus and bring back Masters so Empire has someone decent to run with and get things more aligned to the old order/magic vs nature/chaos fight with three cabals on each side (with their own interna squabbles of course).
117310, RE: Thanks for playing Empire when no one else was.
Posted by ORB on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Imms broke up the cabals that way to make sure Evil has a much harder time coming to power by splitting up the classes like that. Problem is, good has been getting the Monty haul treatment(Monty haul: A pun on Monty Hall (the former host of Let's Make A Deal), when equipment, abilities, and other rewards get out of hand.) for so long combined with the history of nerfs to evil and lack of a very present evil Imm you have the lopsided madness you see today.
117301, Way too harsh IMO
Posted by Nabor on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Outlander can defend fort all day, group with orderly dwarven paladins and orderly conjurers, Tribs can defend fort, I've even seen Imperials defending Fort. Work with a Scion once in 300 hours to get the codex against opposition you couldn't handle alone, immediately part ways and get instantly de-leadered and heck practically uninducted.
117304, RE: Way too harsh IMO
Posted by Daevryn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You'll probably be happier if you can get past the idea that attacking your enemies regardless of where they happen to be or what they happen to be doing at the time somehow equates to trying to defend an enemy cabal.
117307, RE: Way too harsh IMO
Posted by Nabor on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
There are hundreds of ways I could be happier, that's not the point, but I've actually had an Imperial tell me directly that 'yes I'm camping redhorn so you can't have a nightwalker'.

Which is beside the point.

If Drond was going to be booted for this she should have been booted after the conversation I had with her when I was level 15 or so (Did the imm coming down on her know that background? Why these two in particular might have had a different relationship than they'd have with any other member of each other's cabal?). She didn't really help me with getting the scepter back, I was the one with ABS tanking the lone defender. The scepter was coming back either way, she just used her wits charms, and previous investments to ensure that the codex was going to the palace too.

I'll stop here for now lest I draw any more negative attention to my own character.
117311, Poor RP is poor RP
Posted by Iklahn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I imagine if there were other instances with such blatant disregard for Imperial Law while someone is watching, that there would also be pretty heavy consequences. When you were lvl 15, were you in Scion? If not, then its not such a big deal. You now being in Scion however makes it a big deal for Drond to try and be pals with you.

There are a lot of things Drond could have done differently in this situation. Hell, even trying to pk you as soon as the Codex got back instead of just waltzing away might have had this end up differently. Being demoted down to oath is a less harsh punishment than anathema, which probably should have happened for the way things played out.
117312, RP
Posted by Nabor on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It wasn't poor roleplaying, at all.

I'm not going to go into it any further til I delete - there's a lot I have to say but it would be compromising my own character to do it. For now, I'll just have stated my opinion.
117314, Imperial Aiding Scion
Posted by Iklahn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Its a direct violation of Imperial Law. That is what makes it a poor move on the imperial side. You are more than welcome to your opinion on it, but it is either poor RP or an RP choice that is in direction violation of the cabal views. Either way, it won't end well for the Imperial when it occurs and there is someone around to do something about it.
117315, So is letting fort have the codex nt
Posted by Nabor on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
nt
117319, What?
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Please don't tell me we have another up and coming pro-cookie-cutter immortal. As in pro-choice, not pro Pro. Please do tell me the demotion was done by a player and not by an non-Empire immortal, or that he was at least reported by another Empire character.
117321, RE: What?
Posted by Iklahn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I'm not really sure what that first part means. Basically, this would be like a Fort guy grouping with an evil Outlander using a Nexus bridge to go get the orb back from the Palace just because the Fetish was there to. Its not good RP, and its not something that should easily be brushed under the rug. You can't disregard the aspects of your cabal that are inconvenient for you when you think no one is watching. Or if you choose to, you should be willing to accept the consequences for it.
117322, Yeah, no.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
That's exactly what I'm saying. Those two situations are no where even NEAR close. Evil is not good and good is not evil. Different rules apply. This isn't team blue vs team red.

Add to that the guy is SHADOW SECT and SHADOW LORD to boot, he should absolutely be disregarding aspects of the cabal that are inconvenient for him when no one is watching. That is what shadow sect IS.
117323, and that can have consequences
Posted by Iklahn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
he took a gamble and lost, at least he didn't get anathema over it
117326, Right,
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
So does that mean it was an imperial immortal or the Emperor that demoted him? Those would be the only two cases where it would be an acceptable punishment. From the context clues though, I gather that it was not how it went down. Best case scenario is then that a lower ranking or similarly ranked imperial reported him? Is that the case? I hope so, because anything else is ####ty and as mentioned elsewhere, a double standard. A double standard in various ways. Which tells me too that Drond must have not been played by an immortal. Only immortals are allowed to get away with non-cookie-cutter role play.
117327, It was done by an Imperial Imm n/t
Posted by Iklahn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
n/t
117328, Fair enough.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
The way the thread was playing out, it didn't sound like it. Guess the overseeing immortal is the overseeing immortal.
117352, Looks like...
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I was right. Way to be a liar.
117357, Rayihn was an Imperial IMM for a little while there wasn't she via Kraldinor's reign...maybe that is what he meant. n/t
Posted by Lhydia on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
gr
117361, Touche.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Touche.
117378, Read the comments more closely - forthcoming imperial god
Posted by crsweeney on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>Touche.

As it's been posted in Drond's pfile I dont believe i'm playing spoiler here there is potentially a new imperial immortal on the rise.

117379, Iklahn still lied. =P n/t
Posted by Lhydia on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
gr
117380, Eh,
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Soon-to-be, is not "being." One would assume "soon-to-be" might still have some things to learn (and clearly they do) about the lore of the cabal. That, or they intend to change some things, in which case it is unfair to punish for things that have not yet changed. Dacagais, Enlilth, or new Empire overlord uncloaking and kicking Drond in the lady parts would make sense. I do wonder how it went down.

Yes, I know it sounds petty to worry about "how" it was done when the result is technically the same. I would argue that "how" it is done is integral to the spirit of CF RP, to which I admit I have a high standard of for immortals.
117324, I don't know, sounds like a double standard.
Posted by Anti-Hero on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You have a orderly good cardinal conjurer that was not only hanging out with, but grouping with and pking other people with a outlander sunwarden. If were going the black and white route, than that sunwarden should have absolutely been kicked out and ex communicated from the cabal because conjurations are absolutely unnatural nomatter which way you cut it or how you roleplay it. But since they roleplayed, they were able to get away with it, for a long time too. Its not like she didn't conjure around him either. She straight would tesseract around with him with conjurations and gank people. Tesseract being another unnatural spell.


Sounds like an evil shadow lord tried to roleplay making a shady alliance with an evil scion as a means to an end, and someone stepped in and smashed on it.


Why is one ok and the other isn't? Just playing devils advocate here, but either there is a standard line that can't be crossed, or there isn't. Don't reward one group that crosses their cabal dogma lines and punish the other, that seems really unfair to me.
117325, Empire isn't Outlander
Posted by Iklahn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Outlander isn't built around a strict set of rules for its members to abide by. Empire is. Warden's are often given wiggle room in terms of who they choose to hunt and not hunt, especially when it comes to other good align characters. And big picture, good shouldn't ever be trying to pk other good chars. Evil doesn't have that same "team" mentality.

There are a lot of things that could have probably been done differently by Drond that would have had a completely different outcome for him in this situation. I would guess he picked the one and only avenue that got him to this point.
117344, Evil also doesn't like getting curb stomped all day.
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
If anyone is going to bend a rule because they have to in order to survive, evils are those people.

It's kinda like when you talk about Scion requiring all this hoop jumping to get in...I have a really hard time believing it's in the best interest of their dark pact to get their teeth kicked in day in and out because there are like 2 people in the cabal (it's not this way anymore but was for a while).

If anything, putting some vague beliefs above your own self interests is the epitome of bad roleplay for an evil person.
117403, Double ####ing standard
Posted by Blkdrgn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
That is all
117329, RE: I don't know, sounds like a double standard.
Posted by Daevryn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
What's different is that, basically, in one case you have a series of leaders doing what their cabal imm told them to do and in the other case you don't.
117330, Gotcha
Posted by Anti-Hero on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
However, anyone outside of that direct small group isn't going to know that. It's just going to look to the playerbase like the "fortlander" unspoken thing has just been all but solidified.

So to the general playerbase, it looks like people are just stepping on cabal rules. It's easy to see how someone could think they might be allowed a little leeway to test the waters themselves when they see other cabal leaders/members able to sidestep what were generally the basic rules of their cabal.

I guess if any imperial was aiding a scion, I could see an anathema coming immediately. But since it was the shadow lord, you would assume he was supposed to be up to stuff like that. Guess it just backfired in his face, sounds like it was a risky move in the first place.
117337, RE: Gotcha
Posted by Daevryn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>However, anyone outside of that direct small group isn't
>going to know that. It's just going to look to the playerbase
>like the "fortlander" unspoken thing has just been all but
>solidified.

Absolutely. Generally speaking, I'm not shy about giving people my opinions about what they do with their cabals but at the end of the day the choice is theirs.
117343, RE: What?
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I'll somewhat disagree with that (in a huge way). Orderly evil judging that one imperial law is more important than another is not the same as a Fortress grouping up with an evil. Not even the same planet.

Just because you took the oath does not mean you're a diehard believer of each imperial law. It's common place to be bribed into joining the Empire and while there's the potential for demotion/etc I think there should also be the potential for the Emperor to look the other way if that's what he wants to do...when evil is grossly outnumbered.

If you're going to do this then you should be un-inducting ragers who break parity (which there's been like...4 logs of from one character in the last 30 days?). In fact, that makes a lot more sense to me, since there's no mechanical reason why anyone should care that two evils band up against the massive fortlander hug fest.



117332, RE: Poor RP is poor RP
Posted by ORB on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Nevermind, not worth the breath
117358, RE: Poor RP isn't necesarrily poor RP
Posted by Finley on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I once played an imperial thief who viewed the shadow sect in modern terms as being like the likely romantic view of the C.I.A. or even better the FIB (ha! just got it...fib, like lie lol) in GTA 5.

Basically as some people have pointed out, shadow sect should be able to RP being 'above the law' as long as they can do so without getting caught - by other players.

The problem I have and have always have with being overtly policed by the Imms isn't the fact they police but that it pretty much kills any form of RP plans I have that involve as another person pointed out a non-cookie cutter role.

My imperial thief got demoted for stealing a shield potion from a fort warrior in town when nobody else was around and I didn't even get caught. Basically either an imm was watching or the fort player was an imm character. I deleted right then and thre, not for being demoted but because I realized in that moment that I would be unable to play my character as I wanted to and influence (hopefully as shadow lord) into turning the shadow sect into a CF version of the CIA.

Taking that view, it is permissable (and typical) in the real world for 'official' enemies to be 'unofficial' allies at times. That's just politics. Obviously where the line neeeds to be drawn is when things start going public...exactly why if a person is caught through normal means and not by an imm-spy then they should be punished publically and cruelly for going being a traitor...

To me and a few others I believe if I get the gist of some posts in the past and in this one, there are people who want the shadow sect to not be so policed so it can be a true covert intelligance arm of the empire able to do what is necessary (under the shadow lord) and not the hamstrung entity it is right now...that being said, props to Drond and Ged for being two of the best shadows in awhile.




117360, Good post.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It's bad enough you can hardly do anything a bit different than the norm because log board will have everyone up-at-arms in seconds.

Admin staff is admin staff in order to FACILITATE roleplay. Not dam it up behind a wall of steel.

Yes, that changes when you are In Character as a god/goddess. A character's role needs to be taken into account more than "I don't like this lady, so I want to ruin her char."

I guess only immortals can play roles outside the norm, and Shadow Sect is soon to be Blade Sect with different classes.

Hope everyone likes Vanilla.
117308, I understand this...
Posted by Vonzamir on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
but it has just been a very frustrating situation for anyone who is not part of Fort or Outlander for most of the last calendar year. Looking at cabal war stats recently, it looks like the only thing going on hero wise is Fort Taking and Holding Scion and Empire's items and everyone else just finding their niche in this with nexus/battle and trib outlander not having a lot of steam right now. Maybe it will shift in a month or two, or maybe it won't.
117313, This reminds me of back when I was playing Itholin.
Posted by Zephon on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Empire was really strong. It must have had 6 good players on their team or so at hero range. They literally would steamroll 6 fortress guys. But when there were less Empire people on they generally got away. Damn you Draktel! XD I was so bad. lol. I do not think that Empire right now is any different. Just number wise, I think if they were logging on they would be steamrolling Fort. Cannot retrieve if you never log in. But hey, that is my opinion. Maybe I am wrong.

Also, I thought Nexus was the balancing cabal. So, why is it not balancing out? I keep hearing this point being made in multiple places.
117382, Atrocious roleplay from the immortal via the log on Dio's.
Posted by TMNS on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Care to comment? I know the answer, figured I'd be a #### and ask though ;)
117387, RE: Atrocious roleplay from the immortal via the log on Dio's.
Posted by Daevryn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It is what it is. The person(s) that have been running Empire behind the scenes for a while aren't ready to reveal themselves yet and that doesn't mean that an insistence upon having the last word renders one immune to consequences.

Edit to add: To me, the best times of Empire were when it was more of a high risk high reward cabal, where you could get a lot of juice quickly for being cool but also could get slapped down like a ####er for doing the wrong thing. The only way this ever happens again is if Empire gets active imms and stops being an orphaned cabal again.
117398, I disagree with nothing you have said.
Posted by TMNS on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
However, I got the sense from the log on Dio's that the Imperial Assassin was RP'ing more of an Immortal who knows Imperials shouldn"t do that as opposed to how you would actually imagine the Assassin to act.

We can all play the game of "what I would have done" but I still feel like it felt more like an administrator slapping someone on the wrist there as opposed to the Assassin strangling Drond and calling some angry imperial mobs to impress upon her the folly of aiding in any way those betrayers. Or mentioning it as the Assassin then coming down as an Imperial Imm and laying the smacketh down.

Just felt kinda lazy. From everyone really (though I was impressed with Drond's attempted ass-saving self-serving RP FWIW).
117300, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by ORB on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Well played character, always enjoyed our interactions. Thought you made a crafty shadow lord.
117290, Ignore the haters, you were awesome.
Posted by Aereglen on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You were awesome in so many ways, and did so many things that to me are worth major style points. Those maggot kills are gnarly, and anyone who is so quick to up and bitch about you using them obviously doesn't know what work it takes to play a poison thief, so kudos to you man. My only wish is that you would have been around more, but we all know real life comes first so I hope you take care of whatever it is that seems to be taking up all your time and get back into the fields. Good luck in life, and I'll also say with the hope you do roll up something else GLWYN.
117287, give maggots / mind control poison / eat maggots
Posted by Hrilifaxi on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
I dont think I was a #### to you, but boy did you manage to be one to me with the maggots. Destroyed 2/3's of my EQ including my prep sack. Good job on just being annoying and a total ass to other players with the use of game mechanics. You proved your knowledge of obscure CF game mechanics was better than mine and made me waste 5 hours regearing, while receiving no benefit to yourself other than not having anyone to oppose you, oh wait you werent doing anything but trying to get me to fight you by constantly attacking the maran and fleeing? Hope this was an isolated incident, but I get the feeling this was the whole point of Drond, you found out how terrible annoying the poisoner path was to other players and you rolled this thief to piss people off by abusing it.





117288, Did you die?
Posted by Artificial on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
If so, he pk'd you. Deal with it.
117289, No way dude.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You aren't allowed to PK Fort.
117292, Died, no PK for him, lost 2/3's of gear
Posted by Hrilifaxi on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>If so, he pk'd you. Deal with it.

Ah well the fact is he didnt PK me. No killing blow for him. All he did was destroy 2/3's of my equipment, ruin my day, and remove me from being available for him to PK in that time period. He wasnt trying to retrieve, raid fort, etc. He proved he knew more about an obscure mechanic than I did, which I stated in my post.




117293, Looks like you got PKed to me.
Posted by Artificial on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You don't get to complain to someone in their death thread because you got outplayed.
117295, Actually I do
Posted by Hrilifaxi on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>You don't get to complain to someone in their death thread
>because you got outplayed.

I waited till he was dead, so I can say whatever I want within reason. It's a #### move, equivalent to a full loot/sac for no reason. The maggot mechanic will only work on newer players, discourages them from playing after their death. Did he know an obscure game mechanic and "out play me", sure, I said that originally.

There is nothing 'fun' about the poison thief in my opinion, it's right up there with running around throwing rot on other players and then teleporting away, finangling game rules to kill other players out of level, multikilling, or level sitting a multikilling bash warrior who full loots/sacs opponents repeatedly. You can do any of these things within the rules of the game, if your idea of playing a game is ruining the experience for others, poison thief should be right up your alley.


117296, Know whats also not fun?
Posted by Artificial on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Playing against bandwagon players 7 deep in the fort.

But that's the way it is. Learn from your failure and move on.
117297, Outed yourself
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
By editting. This will cover you. You're welcome dirt bag.
117298, RE: Outed yourself
Posted by Hrilifaxi on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>By editting. This will cover you. You're welcome dirt bag.


What the hell are you talking about?
117302, Outted.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
When you edit an anonymous post, until someone else posts, you can see who did the edit. Like when you click "read new" and it gives you the list of recently editing/posted on topics. It says who was the last to edit. When I posted it changed to "last edited by tsunami."
117305, not particularly concerned with anonymity
Posted by crsweeney on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>When you edit an anonymous post, until someone else posts,
>you can see who did the edit. Like when you click "read new"
>and it gives you the list of recently editing/posted on
>topics. It says who was the last to edit. When I posted it
>changed to "last edited by tsunami."


Ah well thanks for explaining that. I however have no need to be anonymous, no idea why you are calling me a dirt bag though? Seems totally out of context. I posted under my then character name to give the context to Drond of the pc I played at the time he pulled off the maggot trick on me.

My PC was dead and gone long before the current Fortress domination of cabal wars and I do not have a Fortress character currently. He was my first hero in many, many years and I found Fortress to be a good way to learn some of the changes to the game, among them being the total waste of all players time that poison/maledictions which are incurable out side of healer healing sleep is.




117316, No problem.
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It was totally out of context. My tone did not translate, clearly. That or my humor didn't. Usually doesn't I guess.

EDIT:
I suppose I should also tell you what it meant. "Dirt bag" because you outted yourself. People have been banned for it, it was a jab not at you, but the ban hammer swingers.

However, had it been directed and meant for you, I still don't see how someone's opinion of you being a "dirt bag" is anymore odd than you're opinion that someone is an annoying asshole ; ). I do remember well Drond's name screaming across CB when he was around. Glad I never crossed him while in PK range.
117299, This isn't a place to insult or call people names nt
Posted by Rayihn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
nt
117303, Oh I forgot,
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
We are in kindergarten.

"Dirt bag" is no worse than "You were an annoying ass." At least my insult was swear free. God forbid Clint Eastwood ever play this game.
117333, Tell it to the chair punk! n/t
Posted by Frequentplayer on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
sfgb
117356, Unless that person is Drond, right?
Posted by robdarken_ on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Because you sure didn't hop on Hrilifaxi for calling drond's player an "annoying ass".

But dirtbag is horrible right?

There are no gold or red auras to discriminate by in real life. Just thought you might need the reminder.
117376, You see what you want to see
Posted by crsweeney on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>Because you sure didn't hop on Hrilifaxi for calling drond's
>player an "annoying ass".
>
>But dirtbag is horrible right?
>
>There are no gold or red auras to discriminate by in real
>life. Just thought you might need the reminder.

I took Rayihn's comment to be directed to both of us to a certain extent. However if you read my original post, I described the behavior of Drond's character in game "as being an ass to other players" much as Rayihn did in Drond's immortal comments as "douchetastic".

Tsunami on the other hand flat out called me a dirt bag. Later explained to be an attempt at humor, which it seemed neither Rayihn or I realized given our responses.

117383, You are a dirt bag. Or dirt collector.
Posted by TMNS on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
We all are. Ever shower and see the water after?

It's sad if these are the insults people are getting upset about. What about the old-fashioned "pig####er" and "griefing no-roleplay ####tard"?
117345, RE: Outed yourself
Posted by Eskelian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
If you think he's me, he's not. Lots of people edit posts.

For what it is worth though, I also think maggots is one of those things that should not be in the game. I'd also use them every chance I got against people I had no shot of killing. I mean its there to be used. But it's still kinda a ####ty mechanic.

Edited to add : I should have read more of the thread before responding. Pretty lame that works that way.
117294, Killing blow?
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Dead is dead. No PK stat doesn't mean you didn't die. CF /= scoreboard.
117291, This is on you.
Posted by Aereglen on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
For this trick to work on you, you have to be one of three things. Either you were afk, that's CF's stairway to heaven by the way, or you were not paying attention, or you're slow.
117286, Thumbs up
Posted by Tsunami on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Weird dude in the shadows and one of the first people I interacted with on Aster. Really weird, creepy guy this one. Well played.
117285, RE: (DELETED) [None] Drond the Secret, Spymaster of Blackclaw, Bloodoathed of the Empire
Posted by Vateras on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
You totally gave me these flippin maggots or something this one time in the woods after stalkin me down, next thing I know Im turning into a zombie..very creepy man very creepy.