Elven Eldar Lady Forcythia kidnapped by the Orcs!

The Phoenix hovers above Magik Castle... the goal of the Orcs. They eventually reached the steps, but the Elven prevented takeover... and the Phoenix was set to guard the door.

All the warriors present and accounted for. This picture represents about 1/3 of all those who participated over a three day period.

The Eldars embrace as the Orcs release their captive. They don't regret losing the queen as much as the cookies!

Let the Orcs enjoy their self-proclaimed "victory"... the Elves are content to settle for a few more decades of peace.

Players... can you find yourself in one of these two tavern pictures? Prizes were awarded to the ORC MVP, the "Baddest Orc", and the first Elven to unravel the mystery. You can barely see on the right the phoenix poking its head out of the hearth. What better place for a Phoenix to roost than the fireplace?

The tavern from the opposite angle.

The "dirty deed" is re-enacted. Who shot the Orc with the Elven arrow? Read prior posts for the surprising answer!

Elven and Orc alike gather at the drum circle for a celebratory dance. Who was the true "victor" of the battles? The Orcs have their "deed". The Elven have their peace. You decide!

All are invited to a newly-designed Celtic human hovel for a celebratory line dance.

Elf Clan knows how to have fun! Were you one of the 3-day-long RPG participants? Keep an eye on future events for the next Clan RPG!

HOW IT TRANSPIRED-- A "behind the scenes" look at the first Elf Clan Grand Melee/RPG

(details updated and corrected as feedback pours in. )

(Note: I'll sometimes speak of meself in 1st person and other times in 3rd person-- "Wayfinder" or "GM" as the situation warrants.) Note that I functioned as "GM" only when absolutely necessary to maintain game conduct, and shared that role with four other people-- Chuina, Schlitzie, Xolu and Forcythia, in varying degrees. This game was made successful through the efforts of many people, of which I was merely one. It was a fantastic group effort.

I thought everyone might enjoy learning how some of the things went behind the scenes of our recent major melee/rpg. How was it planned? How were the scenarios built? How did some of the players become part of the plot? Lots of fun stuff here...

THE INITIAL PLOT
Chuina Asturias (orc) and Forcythia Wishbringer (elven queen) spoke one evening of how much fun it would be to hold a great orc/elven battle scenario with the orcs invading ElvenGlen and kidnapping the elven queen.

THE SUPRISE ATTACK
Next day: Wayfinder (yours truly) and Forcythia log on next day, to find the neighboring Orcs waging "Waaagh!" on Elf Clan (Waagh is kind of "war" with an orc attitude added for good measure). When one orc gets ticked-- ALL orcs get ticked.
Chuina had started things off with a somewhat unexpected bang and the Eldars found themselves on the receiving end of a full-scale orc attack.

THE ELDARS ALMOST PANIC
First thoughts that went through my mind:
* I'm not going to actually take part in this. I'm going to let the Clan have the fun and see how they do against the orcs.

* Someone is going to need to moderate this thing and set some ground guidelines or these sims are going down for sure.

So I got with Chuina and we started forming some "battle plans" and guidelines as all good GMs do. In typical Orc fashion Chuina admits, "I got no scenario. Me start fight! That scenario!" LOL. Later that day, chui did have a scenario, but by that time others such as Schlitzie Martini, myself and Forcythia had gotten together and pounded out some plot. Schlitzie had been busy putting "clues" throughout the elven sims and an actual storyline was beginning to form. So we put our heads together, absorbed Chuina's plot into the clueline, and continued to play.

WAR OF THE WORLDS SYNDROME
Of some amusement was what we came to call the "War of the Worlds" syndrome; new players logging on weren't sure whether this was an RPG-- or whether the Orcs really were trying to take over elven lands. So they came to the game armed to the teeth. The battle raged. People were pulling out weapons only seen on the other side of griefer battles. Hapless RPG players were being "spelled" 5000m into the air repeatedly. Missles were being fired, bombs going off-- all of which were against basic sim rules. So how were we going to conduct a mass-melee and still ascribe to the promises of a largely residential, peaceful set of sims?

COMBAT SYSTEM
During the first day, Wayfinder spent most of his time overseeing the battles, setting up basic guidelines, and working out the "end game" scenario. That was a full-time project, because the orcs and elves were going at it with a vengeance. Certain types of weapons were ruled "illegal". Other weapons were allowed. Wayfinder spoke with scripter Xolu Tardis and they got busy designing what was to become a very viable weapons/combat system. Xolu scripted, Wayfinder built and set up vendors, and by day two, the melee rules were official and established-- the melee weapons were being handed out (and they actually worked! ) and the end-game scenario was taking shape (which was absolute top-secret and known only to three people-- the basic GMs Schlitzie, Wayfinder and Forcythia). Even Chuina wasn't told what was going to happen in the end so that he could play the game under full Orc attitude.

Much to our delight, this RPG/melee was attracting the attention of Elf Clan unlike anything prior to it. People were spamming the IM channel like crazy with battle plans and questions as to what was going on. Members were IMing Wayfinder and Forcythia wondering whether this was real or just part of a massive game (Wayfinder and Forcythia were very elusive with answers. LOL).

The first days results were mixed. Solomon's account above is pretty accurate regarding the outcome of the melee's... although intentionally slanted from an "Elven Captain's" viewpoint. (The orcs have not yet responded, as they typically hate typing). In truth, in all the melees, the elven succeeded in achieving "unofficial" goals. I say unofficial, because we left the "goal" of each melee purposely open, to develop as it would. Good GMs know that the best RPG scenarios are those loosely woven and that develop a life of their own as the game progresses. A GM who holds too strict a reign on a game scenario can easily spoil the fun and spontenaity that makes such games enjoyable; we were determined to let the game develop a life of its own.

So the first day, we just let folks battle it out by ElvenGlen Castle. The Orcs managed to take the castle and proved the point by barricading the front doors with huge, unpassable Orc panels. As impromptu GM, Wayfinder declared that all "SL-based magic" was illegal (ie, having friends teleport you to battle scenes, "sitting" through walls, etc). But the Elven proved ingenous and broke into the unguarded museum above the castle and used existing castle passage devices to drop into the throne room, where the first major melee went on for a good hour, orcs battling elven. When it was done, Schlitzie announced to the GM that the Elven had re-taken the castle by sheer numbers and the orcs agreed to abandon. (We all actually appreciated the constant honor shown by all players during the entire 3 days. When one side felt the other had played well, they'd admit it).

So day 1 ended with the Elven guarding the castle-- and the orcs plotting for day two (something the elven should have been doing, but they were still recuperating from the shock of the sudden attacks. LOL). It should be noted in all this that the majority of the orc players were experienced RPG/melee campaigners whereas the majority of the elven were pretty much newbies to the concept. So the first day resulted in a lot of elven being taught the basics of battle and confrontation and guile very quickly. LOL.

DAY TWO
It seemed everyone that could do so logged on early on day two, well before noon, apparently eager to see which way the story was going to go. As GM, Wayfinder had the unique role of desiring to see the elven win-- while maintaining an impartial role in the game. To facilitate this, the day before he'd announced that the Elven King was on a "quest to find the ultimate orc weapon" and would be gone the entire game. So he got to see both sides of the plotting and planning and had fun in assisting the efforts of both elven and orc as they planned for the main melee.

SURPRISE FOR THE ORCS #1-- THE ROCK ELEMENTAL
The one thing Wayfinder did though, which was allowable by game standards, was to plan a "surprise" for the orcs on both the second and third days of the melee. I want to let you all in on how this happened. The elven were planning their attack: the orcs had taken over (by permission of the owner) Magik's Castle and barricaded themselves inside. Elven goal was to somehow infiltrate the castle. They actually succeeded in doing this early in the day before the "official" melee.. when they discovered secret passages the owner had built into the castle (and that the orcs nor elven knew anything about). Once they discovered these (from what I hear, by sheer effort of seeing what they could find)...they entered the castle and effectively battled the orcs. But the smaller daytime numbers and the orcs superior strength drove the elven back out of the castle (by mutual agreement) and the elves planned for the major attack that evening.
An old friend, Kage Seraph, one of our Prim Mage Elite (and designer of our Elite Guard armor) visited the sims to see what was going on. He happened to drop by wearing one of his favorite fantasy avatars-- a 30 ft tall rock elemental, a really neat looking av. I took one look at that avatar, and a lightbulb clicked. I asked Kage, "Hey, could you script a couple of 'push kickers' for that thing's feet that would kick orcs between 10 and 20m". I could almost see Kage grin as he said, "I can have it scripted in 10 minutes!" LOL. Since the main melee was due to start in 30 minutes, this was one of those "last minute, watch what happens" type things that make good RPG so much fun. Basically, scenario-wise, the Elven King had called on an old ally to join the elven in attacking the orc entrenchment... and I could hardly wait to see the looks on the orcs faces when Kage came tromping up the walkway.

I wasn't disappointed. I had previously built a "GM av" which was basically a rotating multi-faceted gem, and I was floating above the orc encampment when the battle horn sounded. I couldn't really hear their speech because too much was going on, but I did see orcs going nuts when that monster came stomping up the ramp, and orcs went flying wherever those feet walked. Oh, it was marvelous! (I later overheard Zekeen talking about the Rock Elemental. To paraphrase: "I just about freaked when I saw that ROCK ELEMENTAL!". LOL

To his credit, troll Zekeen Phoenix stuck his ground... and amazingly managed to push Kage off the side of the bridge! I was totally surprised, but it was a fair play! I sat down to watching the elven fight the orcs hand to hand outside the castle door. But here comes the rock elemental again! Kage had somehow managed to climb up the steep embankment of the water below and was once again lumbering up to the door. The rock elemental ignored the trolls and walked straight up to the doors-- and "pushed". To this date I do not know how that worked. Not sure anyone does. All I know is that the doors didn't open at first. Then a couple of elves came up and pushed along with Kage and slowly-- slowly-- those doors began to give. I kid you not, it was like watching it happen in real life. In a minute or so, the doors were open and the elven were through.

The elves fought the orcs and the orcs resisted, but Kage stomping back and forth across the room kept the orcs from pulling on their superior experience. It was hilarious; elves bascially stood to the side and fought with whatever random orc came flying their way. LOL.

That was when the "goal" became apparent (again, we had left such open to real-time game interpretation). The elves had to reach the 2nd floor of the castle to claim true victory. And that is where Kage set his sight. But his av was too big to make it up the spiral stairs, so he had to pull out a smaller, non-scripted av (ie, defenseless) to do so. But this is where GM discretion came in: if he was defenseless... he also could not be harmed by the orcs. He was after all, made of solid rock. So Kage took advantage of this to basically push his way up the stairs like a real creature of solid stone would do. Orcs tried to stop him.. they couldn't. Elves followed and soon they reached the second floor. GOAL ACHIEVED!

BUT... as things would have it, the sim started glitching and the second floor turned totally phantom... so they fell through the moment they reached it. I counted it to Castle-owner enchanted security and declared the fight a "draw" and asked the orcs if the elven had sufficiently regained the castle or not. The orcs said they felt they won the battle itself (because there were still orcs standing against such a major onslaught, LOL) but the elven had fought sufficiently well to regain the castle.

DAY THREE

(coming as soon as I get some sleep. LOL)

Day three is kind of a blur... the day of the RPG final melee and story resolution.

Let's see... behind the scenes.

One thing that did develop on the third day (which was a little unexpected) was some disgruntlement among some who were not PvP fighters and wanted to try and settle things peacefully (which of course, is an honorable goal). They worked hard to figure out the clues and wanted to go discuss things with the orcs and try to make peace. There were two things that worked against this:

1) Many of the elves wanted to fight. PvP was new, and there was no way they were going to give up the final grand melee.
2) They forgot they were dealing with orcs.

Interestingly enough, the Orc commander later said that, "In actuality, only one person really came to us and tried to talk, and that person got pretty far. If more had come to us, who knows what would have happened."

We do plan future RPG scenarios which will not involve PvP. But for this one... well, PvP was the whole gig. This was an orc-elven war.

It also must be considered that a melee had been scheduled and a melee was going to happen. There's only so far a GM can "bend" a scenario to accomodate folk. So we let people collect the clues (which were valuable later), created some "non-fighter-player" RPG cubes so folks could still hang around and watch how the melee turned out without actually engaging in the fight (and thanks to the elven who thought of that-- with apologies that I cannot remember who it was)-- and the melee war horn blew. It was a grand melee too.

I'd contacted Psyra the evening before and got with him the morning of Day three. The idea was to have him dive-bomb the orcs, who had no idea this was coming. It was just sort of my "Elven King in far off lands calling on an old favor" GM storyline twist-- just so the orcs wouldn't be too cocky.

Only thing is, I needed an accomplice. That accomplice was one of the orc clan.

See, although I'm an Eldar of Elf Clan, I had to play non-biased as a GM. There was an orc who was in that same situation. (a troll, actually). So I came to him with a "top secret" project.. and he wrote a script for a firebomb. I built the bomb, added his script, built and scripted a bomb dropper, and we were set to go. Poor guy had to keep it all under his hat. Although he was going to join the orcs in their seige against Magik Castle, he couldn't whisper a peep about the Phoenix. He had to go ahead and build the seige engines, knowing good and well they were going to get firebombed... and not allowed to use that knowledge in the building. To his credit he did a great job, but it must have cost him a week off his life to keep that secret. LOL

So, Psyra accepted with great glee the idea of the Phoenix coming in unexpectedly and bombing the daylights out of the orcs. To keep it fair, we set up some ground rules: he could only drop one bomb every 15 seconds. The bombs were set to reduce 1 health point for every two seconds someone remained in their 5m diameter. Pretty neat weapon, but it was tricky to use because one couldn't actually SEE where the bomb was dropping (it dropped from underneath the phoenix). The bomb had to be dropped from no lower than 20m because the scripting and bomb size required rezzing time and space.

What I did not expect was how expertly Psyra wielded those bombs. I dunno whether he practiced or what, but imagine the sight: you hear this eerie, very loud eagle-like screech, you look up, and see this incredibly large bird swooping down on you. Without even pausing, this thing launches a firebomb that drops with deadly accuracy right on top of you.

And when I say deadly accurate... Psyra dropped those bombs right on the control seats of the seige engines. Orcs were jumping off of battle equipment right and left. They were pushing the engines to a new location, then the phoenix would bomb THAT location. The orcs couldn't complain unfair, because well... they'd been lobbing bombs at elves the entire campaign, and the phoenix was entirely within the realm of game storyline. To their credit, the orcs took it like real troopers and just did their best to overcome what had developed into a really serious setback.

I just couldn't do it. I couldn't be mean. I IMed Psyra and gave him a GM-directive that he "needed to recharge his energy, so go roost on the castle". Psyra chuckled and complied, finding himself an excellent perch on the castle turret. The orcs had a breather.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened at that point... but unfortunately the sim chose that moment to crash. Dunno why, just one of those things. When everyone came back online, they were in the same locations as they were initially... but for some reason the seige engines would no longer work. We're still not sure why. They had been set to repeatedly lob health-damaging boulders at the elven, but they only got off the first round before the crash, then froze up.

Story-wise of course, that was perfect. The phoenix had obviously damaged the machines. So the orcs had to resort to hand-to-hand... and there were at least a couple-dozen elven against about 5 orcs. Add to that: the elven now weren't so green in the ways of battle. They'd experienced the fighting of the day before, had been practicing all night, and they were ready to rumble.

Which side would have won? It's hard to tell. Orcs were falling. Elven were falling. The orcs were no pushovers. But today... neither were the elves. To the credit of both sides, they stood their ground. Orcs made it to the castle with their backs to the door, but they could get no farther. The elves were still defending and of course, the phoenix was sitting right there as an ever-present menace. Just for good measure, he flew out and bombed the seige engines again, then came back and rested on his roost while the fighting continued.

The players were doing extremely well in their respective roles. As one of the GMs, I was delighted. I later heard so were a couple of the Lindens who had come by to see the end of the storyline. We were pleased they honored us so. One of them commented that this seemed like a "mini movie" as it played out. I had to agree; it was by far the most interesting online RPG/melee I had ever seen.

So the orcs and elves were fighting; ground was gained, ground was lost. The orc leader had been instructed to contact me when he felt things were somewhat at a stalemate (or alternately, if the orcs were losing badly. LOL. I dunno which he felt it was, but he gave me the signal). The storyline called for the Elven Lord to return and call a halt to the fighting... or the elven and orc might be there still swapping blows. I stepped out of GM mode, switched from my "floating gem" to "Elven Eldar" av, and appeared on the steps of the castle. The trump card of the storyline was played: the orcs proved vigorous fighters, but they just could not stand up to the threat of the rose-smell-spewing skunk (who can blame them?). Thus, with the revealing of the answer to the clues the storyline drew to a close. (and yes! the Elven had figured it out!). To honor the elven "clue-finders" who weren't fighters, at the revealing of the mystery we had the elven who'd sent in the most logical answers to clues be the one to reveal the secret about the orc death, ie, "The arrow is enchanted. The orc shot himself." Which of course, is what happened.

Was the whole RPG planned in advance? Yes and no. We didn't have the whole thing worked out when Chuina originally called the war... but as each day arrived, we had already planned what was going to happen for that day. By the end of the first day, we had a middle and end scenario rough draft, and finalized it by mid-day two-- time enough for Schlitzie to place the final clues. As with all good RPG, there was a somewhat-pre-designed beginning, middle and end, with lots of room for flexibility.

The Rock Elemental, Clues, Seige Engines and Phoenix were all thrown in during the game as the opportunities presented themselves. None of those items were initially planned. The clues were thrown in as an addition to the verbal rumors that were being scattered around by the GMs. The Elemental was a last-minute idea when Kage showed up just before a major melee in that monster av of his. The seige engines were overnight creations by some very talented orcs, and the phoenix was a "this should be fun" diabolical plan by a certain GM who just couldn't resist.

All in all, it was one of the most successful RPGs I've seen. Everyone who participated is to be commended for following storyline, coming up with innovations of your own, honoring necessary rules, showing honor in battle (both elven and to an extent--orcs), and generally making the entire campaign a fascinating and wonderful event.

We had non-players showing up just to see how things were going on. People were following the storyline in this forum thread. People were IMing us asking if the Orcs were really on the rampage and did we need any help?

It was lots of fun for everyone. Thanks to all who honored our sims with their support of this three-day RPG/melee event.

And thanks to Chuina for being insane enough to get it started.


(but as future note... RPG events do require at least a little advance notice. LOL)

those orcs.. they'll do it every time...

I've asked Forcythia to post a little about her observations in the orc/elven wars, for while I was right in the middle of the melee plans, she was involved as one of the GMs on the clues-player management side. She has a whole other side to reveal about areas of the game that I haven't been able to cover.

Hopefully, she'll free up some time soon and post the stories about the elven counsels, the search for clues, Forcy's part in GMing the game, and how the elven came to piece together the mystery. Because those clues were pretty sneakily-worded and I'm impressed the elven figured it out.

Just a post-battle, everything's fine photo.

Ok, admittedly, my account was slanted towards the bravery of the Elven cause. I found many elves whose hearts were stout in the face of danger. I would just like to add my last words on the whole affair. The orcs were tremendous foes, who fought well, and earned my respect as allies. Also, their RPGing skils were tremendously good, Chuina you were great! Zeek's skill as a builder & Scripter was clearly revealed. I commend the WAAAAGH! clan for thier honor...even though it be misplaced..sheesh, orcs.

I would also like to commend both Eldars for taking the time to create such a time-consuming event that was so well thought out. I am only know finding out elements to your plans that were never truly delved into by any searching to free the fair Lady Eldar Forcy... You two are the coolest...Solomon