Shenanigans Aside 1: Serious Business - Special Guest Hal'desh!

Aeriyth: Heya elfs! Since Legion is going to be a very hands-on expansion for us as Storytellers, especially with the new TRP3: Extended that’s coming out for it, I thought I’d grab the officers here with me and we all talk about what’s coming up, and how we’re going to pull it off.

Aeriyth: TRP3’s Extended Version will be launching with Legion, and with it is a revolutionary new way to tell stories, and even more interactive than what we tried to accomplish with the Messageboard Quests. Here’s a screenshot from it in the development process:

Aeriyth: You can see that with the Extended Version, storytellers can set NPC names. On the left is a Mysterious Lumberjack, but talking to the guard NPC, you learn his name. Automatically, the name updates (even though it’s wrong, don’t worry it works.) Well coming up in Legion, Messageboard will no longer offer quests. Instead, High Elven NPCs around the Broken Isles can be interacted with, and that’ll just be the start of it. As our storylines progress, some interesting events and plot twists will be unlocked through interacting with NPCs that belong to various factions. Silver Covenant NPCs for example, will offer quests you can complete for a Silver Covenant Writ, which you can then turn into the Highguard Quartermaster for a mount or a pet, or what have-you. I have Dalitha here, Dal what plans do you have with this system given that the Battlemages now have their own Order Hall that looks pretty badass?

Dalitha: Well Aeriyth, with the new system for TRP3 in legion, we’re sure to have plenty of NPCs roaming around the order hall. Filling positions no one wants to RP, but it would be logical to have. Quartermaster? We now have one. An orc librarian? We’ll get one.

Aeriyth: You can’t name all the NPCs “Dal’itha’s personal servant”.

Dalitha: I can damn well try. We’ll get some “Aeriyth’s personal servant” there too.

Aeriyth: Binor suffices. Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Dalitha: I’m sure he does. I’m sure he does. However, a staffkeeper NPC named Adzain wouldn’t be amiss.

Aeriyth: That’s an old meme but it checks out. With this new TRP, the Leadership can develop interactive, in-depth storylines that were only previously told through raid warnings. This is how we were meant to tell the story of the Highguard. Does anybody have any ideas they’d like to share for a storyline involving this sort of new system?

Dalitha: NPCs for our friends that we’ve gotten from our events. The mage Murloc for one. For storylines...they need more work before they are shared. Does anyone else have any ideas? Lyyynn?

Lynn: We could have lost elven soldiers that randomly need to be found, and information about things in that area provided by them. Or even explorers who have gotten lost but stumbled on something big.

Aeriyth: Absolutely. I’m talking with the developer of TRP3: Extended and getting some more insight. So far it looks like we will be keeping use of GHI for the Beacons because of how complex GHI’s coding system is, and that TRP3:E’s item system isn’t going to be so in-depth because of the work that’s already going into the Extended edition. My next step is to get a code going for our Fel badges for Legion, so that based off of the time the player activates their Badge, it will gradually run its course automatically and update the “wearer” on how long until it should be replaced. What ideas do the rest of you have for items that add to the immersion of what we’ll be doing, and facing in Legion?

Lynnesta: Mercy has a medical satchel that every member gets as part of their uniforms. Is there any way that we can keep an inventory count on what has been used, and to be updated when they go to get new items?

Aeriyth: We can certainly make that in GHI, I can give it a go right now. What items are in the satchel?

Lynnesta: I think Elhanan, has one he just keeps forgetting to give me it, so I can start passing it out. So I think the basics are in there to handle any small emergency but a week’s worth incase of a long deployment on the field. Bandages are a good chunk, let's see, Prepped shots of painkillers, Burn ointments, a Thin blade, Anti bacterial medicines, Nothing too fancy but enough of items to handle field missions, and sudden emergencies. Gauzes and patches for changing wounding probably a week's worth in the satchel if heavy used. El can add more. A few mana crystals are included in there.

Elhanan: I do have the GHI item for the Medical Satchels. It contains more GHI items to be used with our Medical staff’s efforts. Lynn covered most of them, but it also contains Triage Markers that go with the new Triage System El introduced with the Phase Training. It is a buff item, so when used it give the target a buff that corresponds with their Triage Level according to the System.

Aeriyth: I’m actually experimenting with a bunch of new on-use items that must be tracked with that buff system. Hopefully soon we can start to implement it and get more people using GHI. Check out the testing:

Aeriyth: Once the duration (a placeholder) expires, it changes!

Aeriyth: And then, oh no!

Aeriyth: But don’t worry, equipping another Fel badge brings you back to blue status!

Aeriyth: Why am I making all these things? Spoiler alert!

Dalitha: Spoiler Alert: All the things die. SNAPE KILLS ARCHIMONDE

Aeriyth: Shhhhhhh! Here’s another sneak peek at what’s coming for Legion:

Aeriyth: Spoiler alert! Every morning we all sort through MMO-Champ and WoWHead for the latest off of the Alpha, because we’re shaping our storyline directly in tandem for the Alliance’s storyline in lore come Legion. It gives a specific type of immersion, above and beyond the usual, to feel like you’re a part of this pivotal point in the game’s lore.

Dalitha: But Aeri, what’s the timetable, and what are we doing ICly when the pre-patch hits?

Aeriyth: Oh man, the plot twists. We can’t talk about that big one yet, but I can go into the timeline a bit. So the day of the Pre-Patch is ICly for us, when shit hits the fan. Aeriyth and Lynnesta will be MIA as Quel’Danil comes under attack by the Legion. Arcadia also gets involved, and got a nice face-lift from Lynn earlier:

Aeriyth: What a pretty gun. ANYWAYS, the Highguard ships out to Quel’Danil while the Navy and Mercy Sect are in Stormwind, because………….

Aeriyth: The Harbour is getting some really hardcore changes when Pre-patch hits. Mercy Sect and the Navy will have their primary focus here, helping the troops and getting ready for us to sail out at 0 hour. This is where the Navy gets some very concerning news later on, but onward!

Aeriyth: Yep! DEMON HOLOGRAM EDUCATION. Stay tuned on that, we’ll be having some fun.

Dalitha: But what about the first day, how long is the pre-patch going to last?

Aeriyth: Hopefully we get an actual timetable from Blizzard on that, but for now all we can go off of is that, with Legion hitting August 30th, the Pre-patch could most likely be at the beginning of August and last the entire month. This is similar to how Blizzard has done this sort of thing in the past. For the duration of the pre-patch, the Highguard will be setting up at the SW Harbour with the other guilds we are allied with. We’ll be doing Holo-education on Demons with actual RPers sitting on those seats, we’ll have recruitment desks near the ones you saw above, Binor will be doing Navy combat drills and instruction, Mercy Sect will be relocating to Dalaran to aid a new Dalaran Legion faction called the First Responders, the description for the faction in-game is as follows: High in their floating home city of Dalaran, Olisarra and Angelique treat the injured, the sick and the quite nearly, fatally wounded. They also sell wares to travelers who are in need of medical supplies.

Aeriyth: Neat, huh? With the TRP3:E mentioned above, you’ll be meeting a lot of new storyline NPCs as well as some old ones that may have tugged at your heartstrings from our campaign in Draenor. The “followers” we have in the Silver Redoubt, ones rescued or that came on board through story arcs, will be recalled by Aeriyth personally for the Silver Draft. If you’re walking around Dalaran during the pre-patch, see if you recognise any of our Draenor storyline NPCs that have taken up the colours and armour of the Kirin Tor. They’ll come into play in Legion, too.

Aeriyth: I only mentioned a few divisions and tasks above because it’s a huge undertaking to do what we’re doing for Legion, and as we further develop the storyline that will take us onto the Broken Shore at the end of august, everything will be fleshed out. Speaking of storylines developing for Legion, I belieeeeeeeeve we have Hal’desh here.

Hal’desh: Yes, indeed I am right here, watching everything. I’m personally excited for all the attention my own storyline has gotten over the short time it has been revealed. I’ve heard you have some questions for me?

Aeriyth: Lot of guildies are coming back to activity in Highguard, they don’t quite know what to make of your storyline and it’s quite a mouthful to explain to everyone. I’ve seen some of the stuff you’ve created for Moon Guard over the years, but they weren’t so lucky. Can you explain Hal’desh, what he’s done and the history everyone has with him, and why he’s back?

Hal’desh: Well… The history of Hal’desh evolved as I evolved. As I grew in my roleplay experience, I found myself developing this antagonist. Hal’desh is a demon, he’s an old demon that has built his influence on Azeroth over the many years that I’ve played him. I believe I started his interactions with the Stormwind Guard. When I FIRST started Hal’desh, I did a lot of things that newbie antagonists do. I attacked people in the streets of Stormwind, was surrounded by guards, and sometimes chained, brought back to the old Command Center (before Deathwing, when it was different…) and most of the time I died, but was either brought back or simply reconstituted.

Hal’desh: But… when I learned more, I understood what people enjoyed. They enjoy a story, and I enjoy telling a story. I gathered like-minded people around me, and the Cult of Ner’zhul was born. For those who don’t know, the Cult of Ner’zhul was a scourge-based guild, a Cult of the Damned, but behind the scenes, Hal’desh was seeking the Crown of Domination that the dead Lich King had ‘lost’. He wanted to control the Scourge, to bring it back under the heel of the Legion.

Hal’desh: And so we had a lot of fun storylines, and I could NOT have done it without help. In fact, a lot of the later events were majorly run by officers, especially someone named Dalavesta, who did the Broken Doll series, and also especially by a roleplayer named Sheongaroth, who has a very long and experienced history in Moon Guard, as well as a man named Bornni, who was an officer in Plagueheart’s Cult of the Damned. (which I started my roleplay experience in, and who taught me a LOT.)

It was an incredible pooling of talent into a single effort to make great antagonist roleplay, and that’s what I aim to do again.

Hal’desh:… It’s complicated, though. Sufficed to say, Hal’desh was behind all of the antics of the Cult of Ner’zhul in one way or another, but when I was 18, I had to leave my parents’ home (bad situation) and I had to leave WoW for a while. So we set it up that Dalavesta betrayed Hal’desh, trapped him in a gem which had a pocket within the Nether, and allowed me to legitimately leave WoW for a while.

Hal’desh: But now I’m back. Hal’desh is back. Dalavesta is gone, I don’t know where she went, and so I had to improvise. I hosted a small event with a good friend of mine, Amaran, who went with some of Hal’desh’s followers into the Nether to find where the gem trapped him, and broke the chains. That was many, many months ago and he has been recovering. And now, he’s healthy enough to start!

Hal’desh: …That was a lot. There is a lot of history with Hal’desh. Much more than would fit here, I’m sure.

Aeriyth: Heh, that was a lot, but it’s a lot of good info for the newbies we have to your history. How much do you want to reveal on what Hal’desh is up to this time?

Hal’desh: My current plans are something that I have to be careful about revealing. I can say this, there is going to be a lot of shock when people understand the extent to which his cult is willing to go to scare people into submission, or inspire rage. We plan to give people experiences they will never forget. You will see very soon the depths of the depravity my team is coming up with. … Basically, what we want to start out with is introducing people to the idea that a demon cult is active, and we’d like to see them try to hunt down all the different cultists who will be doing different disturbing things. We’ll work with other guilds to try and integrate our special brand of shock into their events, but only if they want it to happen.

Aeriyth: Why so rude to the elves though? Come out of nowhere picking on my elves. Why you gotta?

Hal’desh: Honestly, it wasn’t planned. You were the first alliance guild that I saw upon my return, you looked quite put-together, and I decided that you were a good group to screw with. However, I note that in my defense, most of the things I’ve done were in my own defense. Two of the Highguard stumbled upon the Altar of Storms which I had been roleplaying at, and I simply gave them a little bit of.. A fight. They’re lucky, I leave most of my adversaries alive when I beat them. (Unless we collectively decide otherwise beforehand!)

Cyonos: Why couldn't you have beaten some common sense into them?....go damn it aeri quit grammar nazi.

Aeriyth: Bro your typing is awful are you on your lunch break or something? Anyways, @Hal’desh, I was talking about that incident in Stormwind where the squad rolled up and you were trying to take a drunk elf’s knife and comm? So rude, *so rude*.

Cyonos: I'm on my phone yes

Hal’desh: Oh. That. Well, she was looking for her friend. She wanted my help to find her. I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to keep the knife and comm to find her friend after leading the other elf astray. It didn’t really work out very well, but I at least was able to see the extent of your guild’s own potential. I was amazed how many showed up. But, it’s unlikely we’ll see anything else like that, at least for quite a while. A lot of what we plan to do is going to be very subtle, you won’t be able to tell who did it until after a little investigation.

Aeriyth: Well anything that has us mobilize, you’ll be seeing more than you saw that night. They’re all ready to punch your character in the face. A lot. Sometimes with magic, sometimes not with magic. You’ve already managed to stir up a lot of hard feelings ICly, but OOCly everyone I’ve seen talking about you in G-Chat is really hyped to be a part of this. Will you be ramping up the rate at which your events/plot points happen now that we have a Legion launch date?

Hal’desh: Well, I somewhat feel I have to. I don’t know when the pre-patch will hit, but that will be a major disruption to the ‘subtle’ aspects of this whole thing. Hal’desh knows that the Legion is coming, it is part of why he has become more active. He has to do as much as he can to disrupt the defenses of the Alliance, so that he can give the Legion a better shot at invading. … But damn the arrogance of many Legion leaders, he says, for they seem to charge right in every time! Never do they try to worm their way into the fabric of the defense and pull it apart from the inside… Needless to say, it frustrates Hal’desh quite a lot. … Short answer, yes. I feel we’ll be ramping things up, probably right after college Finals and Final Projects are done. (I myself have a few coming up, and so does my main officer who is going to be preoccupied this week.) -- As for punching Hal’desh in the face, you’ll have to be content with dispatching his cultists. His presence is going to be rare for a little while. This is intentional. We’re going to build up intensity with time.

Aeriyth: Anyone else got any questions for the demonbro?

Lynnesta: With the whole dispatching his minions, I’m sure there will be some people who will get gung ho on looking for Hal and try to intentionally start something. How would we avoid anyone saying they know where to find Hal?

Hal’desh: The beauty of the storyline we’re starting is that Hal’desh is going to be nowhere to be seen for a little while. Nobody knows quite where he is except his own minions, and only a few of them. Though… there will be a chance of metagaming. We just have to keep to the facts of what solid information is out there ICly… Anything else is conjecture. It is rumor, and we actually encourage rumors to form. It helps with the whole ‘destabilizing’ things. Lets just keep OOC information out of IC, and we’ll be fine. Someone can say “I know where Hal’desh is!” but they won’t be able to know for sure. Nobody will know for sure. But, we’ll leave clues along the way. Letters tucked into the pockets of victims, or of cultists. Marks that you’ll have to decipher what they mean, where they’re from. There’s going to be a lot of blood… Probably a lot of cultist blood.

Hal’desh: One thing I want to point out, we’re going to be using people as NPC’s for many events. Though, we’re wanting this to be convincing, so you may see the same ‘player character’ in a few things, but different ‘IC characters’. This won’t happen often, especially if we get many people willing to play as NPC’s. Victims are especially nice to have on hand. It’s such a disappointment to kill someone’s actual character, but NPC’s who appear to be actual characters should have the same effect on people, without the loss of all the hard work and history put into someone’s online persona here. So we’re looking for more people to play NPC’s.

Aeriyth: Well, Hal’desh had to go to lunch. Maybe we’ll hear more from him when he gets back, BUT I’d like to touch upon the First Responders faction. We’ve got some screenshots of the updated Dalaran in Legion, and knowing that Olisarra the Kind is leading the faction of First Responders is very helpful. Everyone remember who Olisarra is?

Vaessina: Sure, sure! Everyone remembers Olisarra. But… uh… could we get a refreshing reminder? You know… for those who might have fuzzy memories?

Aeriyth: I went to Dalaran and took a selfie with her.

Vaessina: Riiiiiight. Infirmary Elf!

Aeriyth: Yep! Anyways, let’s take a look at the new Infirmary area in the updated Dalaran!

Aeriyth: WHAT’S THAT? ENHANCE.

Aeriyth: !!!

Vaessina: EMPTY INFIRMARY BEDS FINALLY! YEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! No more having to lay next to some NPC character when the place gets packed!

Lynnesta: SWEET MOTHER JESUS! GIVE ME THAT NOW!

Aeriyth: It gets BETTER.

Aeriyth: LYNNESTA! WHAT DO YOUR ELF EYES SEE!?

Lynnesta: OMG IS THAT ORGANIZED MEDICAL SUPPLIES?! GIVE ME NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!

Cyonos: needs more severed hands from lynn's conquests. Anyway. If haldesh is still here, I got a question. Mostly about Eldritch evils/ old gods.

Lynnesta: Btw, my trophies are held in my house so.. NYahhh!!!!

Aeriyth: He left for lunch a while ago. Maybe he’ll be back, save it for then.

Cyonos: ...fuck...all right then.

Aeriyth: All rightie, now that you’ve seen the updated Infirmary that we’ll be getting, it’s time for Elhanan to explain the changes in Mercy Sect and what you can expect in RP coming up.

Elhanan: Oh right, uh. So, Aeriyth, people can expect Mercy to be completely overhauled. No more will our medical staff wander around trying to figure out exactly what needs to be done. With a new ranking system, START triage procedures, and active medical and combat training, with possible cross division cooperation. As far as RP coming up, well there might be someone targeting Mercy Sect’s members, that may just test the mettle of our medical staff. You can also expect to see weekly training sessions where new members and veterans can earn their ranks, and new cloaks, while still allowing Mercy to operate with the other divisions. ANd last but not least, immersion, getting GHI and from the looks of it TRP3, will allow Mercy members far more immersion in their RP.

Aeriyth: What GHI items do you have that will be given out to members of Mercy?

Elhanan: Well, we will have a fully functioning Medical Stachel, like the one I wear. Inside

will be tools and equipment the Medical Staff can use to fulfil Mercy’s mission. Tools like the markers for the START triage system, which they will learn how to use in the new training program. We will also have other tools that can be used in our RP to further the Mercy’s and the Highguard’s immersion.

Aeriyth: I look forward to seeing GHI used more often, maybe people will get it after reading what we have in store, hm? Dalitha!

Aeriyth: Talk to me about what you have planned for the Mages in the pre-patch.

Dalitha: Well Aeriyth, with the new varieties of demons showing up in Legion, we’ll be having much more research events, perhaps even capturing demons to test on them. As well as hopefully starting more combat preparedness RP for the newer mages. Practicing on demons! Another idea I had is that we would work closely with one of the Demon Hunters, learning more about the nature of demonic energy, better how to kill them, and such. Especially learning more about the nether in general.

Aeriyth: We haven’t done much RP or spoken much about that demon-storing blade we have. Is it ready to be used? Who’s going to be given it and what are we naming it? Memekiller.

Elhanan: Muon.

Aeriyth: wat. Well anyways, we’ve spoken enough for volume one. In volume 2 we’ll cover some other divisions! Go out and grab TRP3 so you can get used to it before the Extended version hits, otherwise you'll be missing out on many expansion-defining features and great RP. Praise Squig!