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Messages - Edge

#1
General Discussion / Re: Underdark Slave PCs
Sep 19, 2024, 04:08 PM
You both are replying to a thread that is almost a year old. Please do not reply to long-dead threads.
#2
Please do not revive long-dead threads.
#3
Admin Announcements / The End of an Era
Aug 19, 2023, 06:06 PM
It's sometimes hard to believe CD has been around for nearly twenty years now. More than half my life has been spent in this community, and the majority of that has been spent as a part of the Admin team, working alongside FireWraith, Vincent, and some of the other admins we've had through the years - Belladonna, SirVen, WhiskeyDingo, and many more - to bring this server to life and keep this community running, friendly, happy, and growing.

Nothing lasts forever, though, and as with all things there's a time when it's right for an ending. As of today, I will be stepping down from my position as Admin on CD.

There is a lot going on and that has been going on, stressors and occupations and situations I'm dealing with - in NWN and the CD community, as well as in my life and well-being as a whole - that combined have made the past year less than stellar for me overall.

As a result, and with some advice, I've decided the easiest way to cut back on some of the stress and expectations is to step away from the responsibilities of the Admin position and to simply focus on my quests and storytelling and playing alongside the rest of the community as a regular DM, at least for now.

This decision was not one I came to lightly, nor one that was done rashly or quickly - I made the original announcement to the other Admins and the SDMs in mid-July, and to the DM team at the beginning of August. I stuck around through the usual end/beginning of month wrap-up to help take care of the usual bookkeeping that comes with each monthly changeover, helping one last time to wrap up the necessary duties of my position and leaving the team with a clean slate to move into the next month with. As with all such things, these took time and the diligence of the upper staff to work through and complete, but now my role in those is done and I can step away without interrupting any ongoing important business or burdening the remaining staff with excess unfinished work.

In addition to remaining on the DM team and continuing to run plots, I will also remain/continue participating with the dev team and build team, as I'm still helping work on things like class design and balance and the long-awaited loot items update. :SOON:{tm}

Maybe some time in the future when my life has calmed down and some of the external stressors have abated I can step back up as an SDM or even an Admin again if needed, though I don't imagine that'll be any time soon, a year or so at minimum but probably longer. Until that time I'll be happy to focus my attention on telling stories and making plotlines and treasures for the community to enjoy.

I strongly urge everyone to not see this as in any way a judgement on the other Admins nor a complaint or condemnation of CD as a whole. While I did seek encouragement, advice, and suggestions from several of my peers that aided in making this decision, it was not in any way due to any grudges, complaints, or problems with the staff or community. I and the other Admins are still on exceedingly good terms and will continue to work together - both as storytellers and as developers and builders for the server - in the years to come.

I'll continue to see everyone both in-game and topside, telling stories and filling my vault up with more and more weird ECL characters and continuing to participate as a part of the DM team and a citizen of this community.

See you all clientside. :)
#4
Condolences and best regards for your family. We'll be here when you're ready.
#5
General Discussion / swordmage unite
Jul 20, 2023, 10:08 PM
Tempest is not related at all to Swordmage, and combining them is not recommended. Tempest is a class that focuses on dual-wielding, and as you said SM needs to keep one hand free to use their abilities.
#6
When: Saturday, May 6; 3 PM Eastern/7 PM GMT

Where: CD discord - AMA channel

What: Doing an Ask Me Anything in the aftermath/epilogue of The Hand That Feeds. Questions on the plot and general inquiries welcome. Feel free to PM me with questions in advance, or if you won't be able to make the AMA time/location - if the latter be sure to note as such and I'll do my best to send the response to you as well as answer it in the AMA.
#7
It's been a long time coming, but I want to take this opportunity to give a MAJOR thanks to all my assisting co-DMs throughout the past year of running The Hand That Feeds.



I could NOT have managed a plot of this size without your assistance and cooperation.
#8
Player Announcements / An Apology
Feb 20, 2023, 08:09 PM
In light of the events of the last week, and in tandem with the posting of the new updates to the rules regarding behavior and conduct on Discord, I am also taking this opportunity to address my own part in the current situation and the necessity for the new rules.

As is probably a surprise to no one, I have been particularly active and vocal within almost all parts of the community Discord, and most of the opt-in areas of discussion are no exception. I am highly involved with the community and with the various goings-on and conversations that happen there, and in many ways and many cases I feel it is an important part of my job as an admin to serve as a participant and representative to the community in many of those discussions, to be an example and a present point of communication to the player base and all participants in the community.

However, in the past week, that has been a task I have not accomplished successfully. And in the process of failing to meet that standard, I crossed some if not several lines that were neither acceptable nor tolerable for any participant in the community to bypass, and especially not someone in my position. I failed to set an example by my behavior, enabled those who likewise were taking advantage of an under-moderated cooperative discourse, and crossed boundaries that are absolutely necessary to keep upheld for the well-being, safety, and health of our community, and hurt several people in the process.

Disagreements are part and parcel of some of these places of discourse, which is an extremely important reason many of the ones in question are opt-in only and why the new rules are so thoroughly focused on keeping the boundary between these discussions and the open-participation majority of the community server intact and respected. The process of airing those disagreements and engaging in discussion and debate about them, however, must be handled in a respectful manner, both towards others participating in the discussion and, more importantly, with regards to those who have chosen to exclude themselves from the discourse. And by choosing to overstep those boundaries and engage in discussion and commentary that crossed those lines and broke the separation between the opted-in portion of the community and those who have chosen to remain outside those conversations, I not only violated that trust and respect but also as an admin encouraged others to do likewise by my example.

I owe the community as a whole an apology for failing to live up to the standards expected of our staff and of those who participate in this community, and an expression of understanding of why and how what I did was wrong and unacceptable and how that is working to be remedied in the future.

In addition to my contributions toward the new rules updates that have been posted, I have accepted a time of being banned from the opt-in discourse on the Discord, as a recognition of my failure to abide by its rules and restrictions and live up to the expectations of a participant in the discussion.

As an admin of this community, it is my responsibility to serve as an example for all of our community members, in my behavior as a member as well as in my duties as a staff official. I will be taking this experience to heart and memory going forward, both in the creation of the new rules updates as well as my daily interactions on the Discord and the community as a whole, to ensure this sort of misstep never occurs again, and that I can continue serving as a representative of this community in years to come.
#9
In light of the past week, the admin staff has considered the addition of and better explanation of the rules of the community Discord, especially with regards to the contents of debate/discussion and opt-in community channels and activities. These are intended as expansions and clarifications of the existing rules, rather than replacements, meaning all prior rules and restrictions remain in place and effect.

Opt-in content is to remain opt-in. What this means is that what happens behind these doors remains behind these doors, and what is outside them remains outside. Discussion in opt-in areas should not be addressed to, about, or in consideration or critique of people who are not opted into the discussion, whether directly by name or in more oblique terms. If conversation with people outside the discussion is desired, approach them in an open channel or personal direct message, or contact an SDM or Admin to arrange an arbitrated meeting.

Likewise, conversations that occur within the opt-in discussion areas should not be transported out of those areas - through copy-paste, screenshot, or other distribution methods - to people who are not part of the opt-in discussion. Not only does this break the designed limitations of the opt-in nature of the discussion, but also introduces further complications in the risk of taking these discussions out of context or in an incomplete manner. An exception is obviously in place when a concern or complaint is being raised to a staff member regarding the discussion in question; as always, please use the complaint and concern form on the forums for reporting such incidents, or speak with an SDM or Admin directly via Discord. We cannot help with issues we don't know about.

The reason we do not typically ask players to go to any DM, but just upper staff, is that we don't want our DM staff to get burned out, stressed, or otherwise upset by dealing with server social issues. They are all volunteers and have come from the playerbase, just as the sDMs and admins have.

To put it simply: Please try to avoid speaking about others where they cannot explain themselves or their intentions/rationale/etc.

Secondly, while the conversations within these opt-in areas may become contentious and highly opinionated, first and foremost a level of civility must be maintained. While we may disagree very strongly on certain ideas, beliefs, philosophies, and positions, we ask all participating members to focus on the content of said discussions and avoid degrading, demeaning, or insulting comments toward the people themselves. In these areas, all opinions are on the table for discussion and debate, but we are all fellow humans and should be treated with a level of respect. Ideas are to be weighed and valued, discussed and disagreed upon, rather than the worth or lack thereof of the people involved in the discussion. This is, unfortunately, an aspect of the conversation on all sides of the lines that we have not been particularly adept in keeping to, even among the staff, and one of the primary parts of these rule clarifications we are looking to improve upon going forward.

We also wish to clarify that, as always, these rules apply to all members of staff - admins included. We are members of this community as much as our players, and just as beholden to its rules. If at any time you feel any staff member has stepped outside the allotted rules of the community, the complaint forms are no less viable. As with all our other rules, the process remains the same - if there is a problem with a DM, sDM, or Admin, please send it in to the Admins and sDMs. We work as a team. Since there multiple of us, we try to keep each other in check.

In the end, we are a community here for the purposes of sharing the ability to play this game, and not all members of this community wish to be involved in discussions that can become highly contentious or divisive. It is always their right as part of this community to simply not be involved in such discussions, and to not be dragged in by either inside conversations being held without their involvement or ability to respond or defend themselves, or to have the contents of those avoided areas being dragged out beyond their borders. As such these rules exist to further establish the level of separation expected between opt-in areas of the Discord and all-members conversations outside them.
#10
"Kill the babies!"
#11
Dame Kestal is a paladin/hospitaler/knight errant in the Red Lady's service and an affiliate of the Swordhaven temple.
#12
I think this thread has more or less run its course. Going to go ahead and lock this one down.

Those who have provided useful and helpful feedback, we appreciate it. We are always looking to improve the server and community and every bit of constructive criticism is part of that. If you have further concerns, critisims, or comments, please send them to the SDMs (Fox, Nokteronoth, and Melody) and Admins (myself, FireWraith, and Vincent) via PMs using the form provided here: forums.cormyrdalelands.com/index.php?topic=10353
#13
We're in the process of building a fully self-sufficient Underdark now as well, so this shouldn't be much of an issue once it's ready. It's just a time-consuming process.
#14
Druidry is just not really a thing that jives with dwarven culture or the majority of their pantheon, and Thard Harr is a strong exception because of how different jungle dwarves are from shield and gold dwarves.

Most dwarves that aren't jungle dwarves and/or don't have reason to worship Thard Harr but still find themselves drawn toward druidism would probably be inclined most toward Grumbar, who's been added along with the other elemental gods as an available druidic patron.
#15
snorriht Avatar
Equipment suggestions:
Obviously these suggestions will need to be tweaked for balance.
So above impossibilities aside, we try to avoid balancing classes through the use/availability of items. If a class needs an improvement, we try to do it through adjusting the class itself, not the gear that they have available to use. In Paladin's case, the primary focus right now is on expanding their spell list, possibly swapping their casting stat, and improving their class abilities.