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Welcome to version 14: the hollow crown!
IP: 2.25.88.132
Posted on August 18, 2017 at 01:31:49 AM by aspelta

Welcome to Version 14!
plot
Welcome everyone to version 14!

They say a lot can change in 24 hours, and they really weren't kidding!

The pirates raided the settlement at the Peaks and were met by Alliance and Royal forces. There was fire, there was a battle, there was chaos! The royal and Alliance forces eventually claimed the day as the waters receded and the pirates became stranded.

Meanwhile the Lady Morgana managed to put the sea monster Therait to sleep, ending the Shaman-wide flood. The waters are now gone!

Later, Pirates managed to break into the Castle and in the mayhem King Arthur was murdered! His brother, Lord Mordred, has now been declared King. His son, Tristan, formerly Prince, is now hiding in the Kingswood and is gathering a rebel force of outlaws.

Bills have started to appear throughout Shaman; some bear the name of King Mordred, the King in the Castle, and others the name of King Tristan, the King in the forest. The text of these messages can be found on the homepage!

It is up to you and your characters how much they know, and who they believe! They might not want to get involved at all, or, they might be looking to take advantage of the situation in any way they can.

Anyone who actively wants to sign-up with Tristan, should make themselves known in the Kingswood; this is where the outlaw camp is. Think of it as a chance to play Robin Hood for a while!

Anyone wishing to side with King Mordred can do so at the Castle. Remember, he has all of the resources - so if you want things, he can probably be the most help to you!

Each camp will issue further instructions in the next fews days/weeks, with tasks/activities/prompts etc. for you to get involved in!

Any further questions can be directed to either Merlin or Aspelta.

Happy playing, everyone! Check out other site changes below!

new boards
Adventure, Silver Coast: The old Silver Cove and Apeliotes Caves boards have been combined with the Open Ocean and Reef of V13 to create a general coast/ocean board. All threads set out to sea or on a beach can be made here. As well as a general ‘meeting’ board, seafarers can have their ships listed here as either docked in the royal/pirate docks, or as sailing the open waters.

Adventure, Saltrock Peaks: The mountain peaks of V13 (formerly Vista Mountains) have been renamed Saltrock Peaks in honour of the great flood. This land also encompasses the old Augury Vale and is prime hacking, hunting and foraging territory. It is also the home of Esther-May, the immortal soul thief.

Reside, The Stone Dragon: Shaman’s first tavern! The Stone Dragon has both a bar and an inn, so characters can pop in for a drink or stay as long as they need to. This is an ideal spot for the temporarily displaced and looking for a home, but also for travellers who spend most of their time on the road.

Reside, Elysium Forum: The old Pantheon was sadly destroyed in the flood, but the deities have returned to re-build it as a vast temple complex. The forum now contains temples for each of the original fairies as well as headquarters for major fairy religions, offices for the Alliance, Divine Scribes and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and residences for ordinary fairies who are employees of the Council of Originals.

Two new villages, Oliford and Laketon-on-the-moor: In the aftermath of the flood, the fairies of Shaman banded together to build two new villages. The old commune was reconstructed into the pretty little village of Oliford, while Dragonbone Moor acquired a small town of its own, Laketon. Characters can live or work in either of these villages.

Reside, Kingswood Forest: This is the new base for supporters of King Tristan. Those fleeing Mordred can also seek protection here.

live, learn and work
We have said a permanent goodbye to the old Academy and implemented a new way of characters gaining professionalism. This new system was already trialled in V13 on the castle, so should already be familiar with people.

Characters can be added as an employee or resident of any board at any time. They can hold down multiple jobs and live and work in separate places, so your character could live in Oliford but commute to Laketon for work. If you don’t want your character living in one of the main villages and prefer to have them live as a hermit in the mountains, they can also be added as living/working in Saltrock Peaks or the Silver Coast. To add a character as a ‘feature’ (resident/employee) of any board, simply post on updates any time with the character’s name and what role you would like them listed as having.

In this vein, characters can also be listed as students or apprentices of any profession on any board at any time, and can then ‘graduate’ whenever you like. Graduation prizes are no longer offered, but the new system has the following advantages:
Characters can be listed as apprentices/students of any profession you like, not just the ‘set’ ones.
Characters can ‘graduate’ and move from apprentice to professional whenever you like.
Characters can automatically ‘start’ as a professional and do not have to go through the apprentice/student stage.

In addition to the usual employment options (barkeep, maid, soldier etc), characters can now join any of the deity organisations (Alliance, Divine Scribes, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, fairy churches/cults, Lieutenants of Death) and be listed as students/employees for those on the Elysium Forum board.

Last version we also introduced bullet points at the bottom of each board to give an indication of things which exist in that place, e.g. cafes or docks. These will be staying, and I would like to emphasise that players can have any businesses and the like which your characters have set up added to any board at any time by posting on the updates board. So if your character wants to run a restaurant at the top of Saltrock Peaks, just post on updates with the name of the restaurant and a brief, 1-2 sentence description to be added to the board. Manor houses for noble characters or slum areas for poorer ones can also be added.

You may find that your characters are not yet listed where you want or are listed in places you don’t want them to be. This is just where things got messy switching the layouts/updating the plots. Please submit your updates for residencies and employment on the updates board!

revamped worldbuilding section
The worldbuilding/guides section has been revamped to be more user friendly and just… yeah, better. Some of those pages hadn’t been updated in a long time xDD These can also be found under the ‘help’ page.

Deity Organisations: this is a new page this version with information about the Alliance, the Divine Scribes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lieutenants of Death, the Star Chamber and the Council of Originals.

Geography: this is the old ‘world of Shaman’ page. All of the Shamanimals and Shaman-unique plants are now listed with click to view menus to make them easier to see.

Religion: totally revamped, check it out! All the deities now have their own pages with profiles, epithets, cult info etc. On the main religion page we also have a section for other deified beings, myths and other religions. If you play a demigod or an Immortal One, you can get them added to the ‘other deified beings’ section by posting on updates. They can also get their own shrines, temples or cult followings put up in Elysium Forum IC too.

Contemporary Earth: now has a ‘current affairs’ section.

changes to impetus
The impetus board was a trial last version. We’ve reviewed it with the help of player feedback and decided that we will be keeping it, but with some changes moving forward.

Players will still be able to request prompts for all sorts of different things, but we will be running a new style of explorations. This new system of explorations combined the current impetus system with the old exploration system. Like the current impetus system, the new exploration system is prompt-focused. You post for an exploration prompt as normal, but in your original post you need to list any assigned items or powers your character has which may affect the generators. Staff will then:
> Roll to see how many prompts your entire exploration will be. This is 1-2 unless your character has certain assigned items or unless something happens later in the exploration to extend it.
> Roll to determine what happens on this prompt/part of the exploration. This could simply be things for you to write about, or they could be things which have an ‘effect’ on your character. Effects can be positive (such as finding an item or gaining a power), or negative (such as sustaining an injury or illness).

You then can choose to write out the prompt or pay in doubloons to skip it. If you only have one prompt your exploration will end there, but if you have multiple prompts then staff will repeat the process until you reach the end of your exploration. Because you can gain prizes from each individual prompt, you can still be gaining prizes 6, 7 etc prompts into your explore, unlike normal impetus prompts where the prizes stop after 5. At the end of your explore, you submit a big update with all of your new goodies.

Due to the fact that this is a new system and a little more complicated, currently only staff can issue exploration prompts and prizes. Anyone can continue to issue other prompts, however.

For this week only (until x), all characters participating in explorations will receive one free extra prize. This is to encourage you guys to use it so you can get a sense of how it works!

This new exploration system is still in its early stages. We’re hoping that if it’s successful we can build it up to include more different prompts, different prizes, and have more items or abilities which affect the generators. If you have suggestions for these or any other ways to tweak the system, we welcome them! Please submit on updates or contact an admin.

There is one final change (for the moment) to the impetus board. Due to the creative strain involved in generating prompts, we now ask that players can only request four prompts per real life week, whether these are new thread prompts or additional prompts from within a thread.

In the near-ish future Merl and I will also be reviewing the prizes being given out. My gut feeling right now is that they may be a little generous, so I’d welcome your input as well on this. Just drop me or Merl a message to give your thoughts on how challenging you think it currently is to acquire prizes from impetus and how challenging you think it should be.

changes to banks, archives and shops
The character archives board has been removed, although it is still linked from the ‘deleted’ section and from the old sites so you can collect anything off it that you may want.

Instead, each player has been given their own B2G board, linked under OOC. This board contains that player’s bank, doubloon and spare point balances. On the board, you can store anything you like - character layouts, profiles, posts, extraneous writing, useful links, etc.

Inactive players’ banks have been saved in the ‘archived players’ section beneath the new banks. If an inactive player should return, they will receive an upgrade to the new style of banks.

tax break for y’all
Every player, active or otherwise, has been given a lump 2,000$ free. This has already been deposited into banks so no need to claim on updates. Happy spending!

Full list of site changes
> Guide updated to reflect site changes.
> Rules updated (rule about territory changes removed, since it is no longer relevant).
> Links from ‘Shops’ moved to OOC.
> Detailed character profile template added and linked under OOC.
> History page moved to Help and renamed ‘Site History’.
> Landmarks removed from history page and posted directly on boards instead.
> Direct link to Plot History under Help.
> Rare items renamed Collectables and price variations published.
> Character edits and familiar edits separated in shops.
> Potions and post enhancers separated in shops.
> Gift shop added to shops.
> Relevant exploration items moved to post enhancers and irrelevant ones deleted.
> FAQ updated to include new questions and a ‘who is’ section, as well as recoded to make it easier to find Q&As.
> Random traits and Fireworks Crates prizes added to Staff Resources.
> New deleted content.
> Impetus Prizes page added under Help.
> New exploration system for Impetus.
> Exploration generators added under Help.
> ‘Current affairs’ section added to the Contemporary Earth page.
> ‘World of Shaman’ page renamed ‘Geography’.
> Deity Organisations page added.
> Individual deity profiles added to Religions page.
> Information about other deified beings, including Immortal Ones and demigods, added to Religions page.
> Myths added to religions page.

Probably some more things I’ve forgotten D:


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