OOC Round Table Meeting 1 April

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Gorth
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OOC Round Table Meeting 1 April

Post by Gorth »

Gorth: "Can we get some further details on the Knight class of Viali culture? what exactly do they do? Do they have specific significance to any other culture? are there ways they are easily recognized? If so, is it seen as dishonorable or a crime to impersonate one in some form? TL:DA: How do knights differ from knights? Real knights, not fake knights. How do fake Viali knights differ from real not-Viali knights?
Rias says, "Viali knights are essentially citizens with a title of nobility given them by a Baroness, Countess, Duchess, or Queen (using the female terms as default at the moment to stick it to the patriarchy, males can also give these titles though). Falsely claiming a noble title, including that of Knight, would be considered a crime in Ivial. That the title has been boiled down by some other cultures to mean essentially "any person in heavy armor and maybe a cape or something" is likely an offensive thing to the more stuffy among the Viali. People claiming the title elsewhere are probably side-eyed because it's essentially claiming nobility and superior social status."
Gorth: "The patriarchy grumbles in response. // What do knights do? Protect the realm, defend the innocent, that sort of thing? Or do they just get lands?"
Rias: "They're generally at the very least called upon to fight for their superiors, and generally given training to make them effective at that. They also may lead or perform other administrative duties in the absence of greater nobles if given that responsibility by whoever knighted them. Essentially people for their superiors to delegate to. They're usually given some amount of land, even if extremely small, to be be in charge of as part of their title."
Rias: "Sir Fetuccini, Knight and Lord of That Muddy Field Over There."

Agelity: "I was actually really curious about the lore of Khaldeans, in particular the ordeal surrounding Tahaani and the journey she along with the others made after the Alamaar stripped her of power. A few questions really pertaining that... First, what eventually became of her and many of the original settlers of Sanammanet?"
Agelity: "Second, I was curious if any works in particular were directly attributed to her and her research, and whether there were other not-currently-listed discoveries/inventions attributed to Khaldeans, and lastly, have things changed within Nuum since those times or have they largely doubled down as Khaldea continues to forge their own path and history following Tahaani's actions?"
Rias: "As to the first, that's something I haven't gotten all hammered out yet, but I'm excited to hear you ask! Tahaani's one of my favorite historical figures in the CLOGGverse. (So is Muhsin, so I think I have some Khaldean favoritism). After writing and deleting a few times, yeah, I'm going to leave this one for now to 'sorry, wait for more details in documentation later'."
Rias: "The Khaldean culture has a big thing for astronomy thanks to Tahaani but I haven't thought of any specific discoveries or inventions or such to attribute to her. I'll keep that in mind as I consider giving more detail about her later. Nuum and Khaldea still loathe each other and still fight over Sanammanet. Nuum is pretty salty about the fact that the Khaldeans are such a big deal and so highly regarded by most of the rest of the world at this point. Khaldeans were fortunate to get some allies to prevent them from being stamped out. Plus of course the Scrappy Underdog Bonus helped them through the early times. Possibly in the form of a mysterious Immortal expert in warfare who thought it would be a fun challenge to side with the little guys."
Agelity: "Heh. As one last little side question before I move onto the next, is there somewhere where the constellations are listed or is that something we'll just have to figure out IC?"
Rias: "I don't think there is. I'll steal the old constellation info from the CLOK wiki, give it a new coat of paint, and slap it on the COGG wiki soon(tm)."

Belladana asks, "So I was wondering if we will be getting fancy writing tools any time soon?"
Belladana: "Also fancy paints for art reasons."
Rias: "Fancy writing tools would actually be a great way to add to the Mistral vibe, and would be an easy add. I'll write that down!"
Rias: "Any suggestions beyond fancy quills and uh... maybe fountain pens? I'll have to do some quick research to see if they're time, resources, and tech level appropriate."
Rias: "Paint for art stuff sounds like it'd require the creation of some kind of system, but do toss some ideas on the BBS somewhere so I can reference them if you have any."

Belladana: "Last question can I have my cake added to the bakery already?"
Rias: "I clearly need to code in downsides to Mistralites only ever eating sugary junkfood."

Blueyeti : "What's a general high level concept around some of the primalist exclusive abilities you're developing these days? Someone's got to ask the spoilery questions!"
Rias: "I have one in the works that involves brambles that act protectively in certain circumstances. Not necessarily in the form of a combat buff."
Rias:"Another one involves the creation of an object that is useful on its own as well as in further primalist rituals."
Blueyeti: "That sounds interesting! Thanks for the spoilers. I really enjoyed the most recent update and I look forward to working with people to build a logging sled of my own. I think the logging sled is a great addition to the vehicles list, but with regard to sawmill operations it's a little awkward to fiddle with timbers using just a container that holds logs alone at the sawmill since you could bring anywhere from 4 to 5 logs there, but be unable to carry those timbers back out. Geometrically, I think it's feasible to be able to stack timbers onto a logging sled, so that is my realtime suggestion!"
Rias: "Right, timbers seems like an obvious addition to allowed logging sled cargo."

Chariot: "Whenever I sit down trying to figure out new music tracks for the game, I have a habit of going through thousands of tracks, trying to keep the spirit of the music era to match the game. Sometimes it's a struggle beside something that're already in the game. Could I have a general idea of what musical period the game is based on? Are there something like orchestral stuff like clarinet or trumpet or whatever baroque/classical and later? Also Piano? Anything?"
// For understanding, Chariot is talking about music for her soundpack.
Rias: "Uh... hrm. That's a fun question but I think I'd have to think about it quite a bit and probably set up lists based on the cultures rather than the game as a whole."
Rias: "I think I actually started that a while back, actually. I'll see if I can find it sometime."

Tulpa: "Question time. Would it be acceptable, or realistic, for a character to claim membership of the Unified Holy Pantheon? Failing that, could my PC establish a company that claims to be a chapter of that society, or a successor/derivative? Is the organisation extinct/defunct or does it still exist somewhere? Related: is the scholar's name Deodhain or Deoradhain? Deodorant? The vandin wiki page, vc logs and help worship page seem to differ on it."

Rias: "Hrm. I'm pretty sure it's Deodhain, but I'll double-check sometime by grepping all my note files. The Unified Holy Pantheon is an existing thing and a Lost Lands group. They're pretty small (as most groups are in the Lost Lands still) but are still considered something of a local authority on basic information or lore regarding the Immortals. I think it would be best to set up a Company that's perhaps inspired by and maybe seeking more official affiliation, so we don't have a PC expected to have all this NPC lore/knowledge."
Rias: "Hah. I think it's actually supposed to be Deoradhain. Whoops on the Vandin page."

Deborah: "Hello there. In addition to the upgrade for soaps, you could also make higher quality soaps give a higher morale boost. Also, new flavors and different kinds of qualities may be available in the respective stores. what do you think about it?"
Rias: "I don't want to have too much variety in our stores or we might put our special GM-run soap merchant out of business! I'll see if I can convince them to show up sometime soon though and get some nicer soaps out there. I think having a limited availability outside special merchants helps retain that Lost Lands vibe where resources are limited and variety is a luxury that is often not available. That said, I'll also look over the available selection and see if any others following the similar theme and local resource availability come to mind."
Rias:"Now my brain is tangenting off into Trading-related stuff and securing deals with sailing merchants in Emberlight where you provide what they want and in turn you can request what you want them to bring (to a degree) the next time the show up and influence what less-common goods are available for the next little while or something. I'll scribble that down."
Deborah: "Oh i see. And, about edges, let's pick up again the subject that we stopped in the BBS. which are actually the plans? Like, my character has metalworking at 400. Now the keen-edge is full for everyone, even one who has it at 300 has the same effect for the same time as the one who finished to practice it."
Rias: "It could be fun to have the keen-ness of edges dependent on skill. Right now it's pretty threshold-based. Someone with more skill should be able to have the keen edge last longer than someone with less, but someone with less skill can still get the same level of bonus."
Rias: "In the current system, that is."
Rias: "I'd have to take a look at where I left things last, as I've strayed from that a bit to work on other things."
Rias:"And feel free to keep updating that BBS thread as you have ideas. I'll definitely be referencing it when I work on that system more."
Deborah: "Ok. In Shadgard for who works at the workyard there is only one place for who needs to sit, most likely if there is one more blacksmith working in there and they need to rest they need to sit on the floor. I saw in Mistral that there are seatings for more than one person. Is it possible to improve even these things iin Shadgard, rending facilities a little more comfortable= Perhaps going from a subject to another but wanna know what's planned."
Rilulth (Best GM): "It was build by a PC, yes. He emoted it all out, I made it permanent."

Firerose: "We can't forage honeysuckle, but what if we want it as a soap?"
Rias: "I don't know if we have any honeysuckle growing locally. I'll look it up and see what kind of conditions it grows in. In the meantime maybe the soap merchant will have some in stock the next time they show up."

Firerose: "Since timbers can be sawmilled into planks, can we put planks on sleds?"
Rias: "Planks might work as well, since they do come from the timbers at the same spot and we're in the same situation of having to move out what you brought in."

Firerose: "My third question is regarding dyes. Before, when wool was a single item you spun into skeins, you could dye it. Could there be a way to dye the tufts? Say, so many at a time only, per dye, so it makes sense?"
Rias: "I admit, that one still confuses me. Dyes - at least as a game mechanic - were intended to be used after the fact on a finished product. Allowing pre-dyeing batches of raw materials that can be used to produce multiple products then opens the can of "how do we limit dyes if we're allowing multiple items from a single dye now, and what about other crafts where dying batches of stuff might not make as much sense?" It gets a bit murky both in the fairness aspect and the limitation aspect."

Gorth: "Are there any particular things often mentioned in songs like real life Shanties or country songs? Southeast Louisiana, San Antonio Texas, Galway Bay, Bristal, etcetera?"
Rias: "Sure, but I haven't gotten around to naming geography much so I don't have any specifics for you there."

Gorth: "Are there any well known poets, song writers, book writers, etcetera between cultures?"
Rias: "There's the controversial playwright in Ivial I went on about a while back. In general yes, but again not something I have any specific details on at the moment, unfortunately."
Gorth: "Are there any cultures/subregions of Arad particularly known for specific preferences in music?"
Rias: "Yes."
Gorth: "Hillfolk are probably most recognizable as real life folk/bluesgrass, yeah? What else? Should we just look at the races' real life equivalents where possible? Rhuidim!"
Rias: "I think it's fine to follow the sort of aesthetic feel of a culture and look for some parallels IRL for inspiration. I'd just say don't act as an authority on the subject and that that style is the only style that culture likes. More of a "where I'm frome" or "I traveled to a particlar place..." so it leaves other options and interpretations open as well."
Rias: "On the note of stealing songs and verse and such from IRL sources, do try to put some unique spin on it so it's not just a copypaste of an IRL work that others would recognize. I've always found that a bit jarring. Recognizing a reskin of an IRL work that was changed to fit COGG is cool, but if it's a straight up "Oh, that's that one traditional folk song from Ireland" or "Hey that's Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown" that's pretty jarring. So give it a little creative twist that makes it COGG-specific."
Rias: "(And avoid contemporary works, I'd say.)."

Verel: "Are there any metalworking recipes in the works? Also, I heard that Giganti are better at masonry. Because they are made of stone or whatever, shouldn't they have like a special figurine of the Mountain Father or something only they can make?"
Rias: "Metalworking recipes currently in the works include plate armor pieces and horn mouthpieces."
Rias: "I think limiting Mountain Father carvings to just Giganti might be a bit too meta, as it'd feel weird to tell anyone else "You can't do that specific design"."

Verel: "Will there ever be sleds for people in the winter? Just an idea for the sake of entertainment."
Rias: "The applause for the logging sleds goes to the various players who suggested it! It's come up a few times. And yeah, once I added the logging sled I thought "Shoot, I should add in play sleds before the snow stops"."
Rias: "Hrrrm, now I'm thinking about those boxfound figurines of various Immortals. I need to put those back in. And some other collectible stuff."

Verel: "Do these horn mouth pieces include the horns themselves? Like I'm thinking a trumpet or something made of metal and you attach the mouthpiece to play. Now obviously weird names for these instruments would be something that's needed so it doesn't conflict with what already exists in the real world... But I just thought of holding a metal instrument and playing it with a mouthpiece since that is one of the things I do in real life and very much enjoy."
Rias: "No, I was thinking for attaching to bison and wechuge horns for a simple horn. Crafting more complex musical instruments might be a thing down the line, though I'd definitely want it to be some kind of specialty craft as part of an ability tree or something."

Verel: "Neat. Just one other question, any timelines on plate armor yet or too early to tell just now?"
Rias: "Plate armor is right on the horizon! I keep getting distracted from it but if I can stay focused it'll be Actually Soon and not Soon(tm)."
Rias: "I made a plate cuirass the other day. I think I had it in hand at the last meeting and stashed it."
Verel: "Feel free to kill me for that question but I love the idea of cold metal armor on my body. Nice and heavy."
Verel: "So you have the process for making them set? Like, I'm guessing an amount of small metal plates and rivets?"
Rias: "Oh, depending on how literal you're being, you might be disappointed then. You attach the metal pieces to either cloth or light leather armor pieces to make it."
Rias: says, "So you're not getting the sweet cool caress of metal against bare skin."
Verel: "That's fine. I still love the nearby cold feeling of metal's presence as it partially touches your body too!"

> look Rias's Cuirass
You take a closer look at Rias's copper plate cuirass ...
You see nothing particularly unusual about the copper plate cuirass.
It is comprised of the following major components:
a copper plate armor chestplate
some copper plate armor spaulders
a copper plate armor fauld
a leather cuirass
It has the following minor components:
some copper rivets (x3)
Rias: "This one is a leather cuirass with: a plate armor chestplate, plate armor spaulders, and a plate armor fauld attached. So the metalworker makes those three things, then they get attached to the light leather cuirass (not ridgeleather) or a padded cloth armor coat."
Rias: "So plate armor won't be pudding leatherworkers and tailors out of business!"
Rias: "Did I really say pudding instead of putting? I really should not have put off lunch."

Deborah: "Nosw something came to my mind. And, how about people can be able to forage erbs and the like, and do soaps with essences given by erbs and special perfumes they can find in stores?"
Rias: "Soapmaking has been requested surprisingly frequently, so I'll find a way to work it in there somewhere."
Deborah: "Yep. Cause I think there could be store selling special essences that might be applied to soaps, and... see that mortar that is used for concocting? that one can be used also to crush other ingredients for other purposes."
Rias:"I have no idea how the actual process works, so if people want to throw a simplified version of various steps on a suggestion BBS post I can reference, that would be awesome."

Rias: "We do have a few local soapmakers in my area IRL and I love buying their soaps, so I do have an appreciation for the craft."
Rias: "(Sidenote: Support local small businesses and entrepreneurs, buy local. Go to your farmer's market if you have one in your area!)."

Firerose: "Do you have any timeline in mind for when music will be implemented? Also, could tuning the instruments, or having them lose said tuning, maybe affect how someone sounds when they play? Even if just RP fluff?"
Rias: "I think tuning would be awesome! I'm pretty sure one of the items sold is a tuning fork, because I had that in mind. As for a timeline, uh... I'm not really sure how I'd have it work, honestly. I might just do it in stages and start if off simple like it was in CLOK, where it's just PLAY <INSTRUMENT> <STYLE>, it says to people in the room "Rias starts playing a <style> tune on his fiddle" and then when people look it says "Rias: (playing a <style> fiddle tune)"."
Firerose:"It'd be something, even just to give people practice in the skill, for RP purposes."
Rias: "I imagine something will be generally considered better than nothing, so that much would be an easy add to at least get things started so people feel like they're "really" playing their instrument."
Firerose: "Thank you so much! It'd help bards, or bard wannabes have something!"
Rias: "Plus then I can put in hilarious skill roll fail messages."

Moreover: "Next, when are we going to get a little broader range of melee weapons? Been waiting for a broadsword and trident especially. also war scythe and pike and greataxe are missed by at least me in game."
Rias: "I -do- want to add greataxes with the description mentioning that the real thing isn't nearly as large as the ones often described in dramatacized Viali and Faewyr fantasy literature..."
Rias: "But yeah, weapon variety has been pretty often requested. I'll poke at our weapon enthusiasts on staff. It's not as high priority since we do have a lot of great weapons already functioning well, but there has been some discussion of making them just be reskins of existing weapons at least to start."
Moreover: "For weapon reach... you have moderate, long, etc reach.... are they quantum, or could 1 weapon with a moderate reach be still a little longer in game code mechanics than another weapon with moderate reach?"
Rias: "They're all nice simple whole integers, no floats."

Moreover: "This idea just came to me, an alternative to the dye situation that's quite IC , the dye shack has vats of dyes... why not put items in the vat (instanced container) then add dye to the vat and wait 30 seconds? To limit things, a vat can hold only the weight of one coat plus a pair of gloves plus a hat... approximately 3.5 pounds, no more. if it's a larger item, like a shield, then let the current mechanic prevail for the larger item and that 1 item only gets dyed."
Moreover: "Similar to the tanning mechanic."
Rias: "We've had that kind of thing suggested, and we've discussed it a bit. I still prefer the simple one dye one item approach, but that might change at some point. At the moment an overhaul to how dying works would require enough coding effort to put it lower on the priority list in the "updating a mechanic that I don't consider broken" section, though."

Lexx: "Plate armor follow up! Can you use different kinds of metal for the different pieces, or does it have to be homogenous?"
Lexx: "I must have my Fjelebrons celestium kobaltarn cuirass yes."
Rias: "All the pieces need to be the same metal for each armor piece. So my cuirass has copper for the fauld, spaulders, and chestplate. I couldn't throw in a bronze fauld and an iron chestplate or something. Maybe someday our combat system will be so granular that it knows exactly where it's hitting and which specific armor piece it needs to consider the properties of, but it is not this day."

Deborah: "Is there anything new about the guild of Artisans?"
Rias: "Nope!"
Rias: "But there has been a lot of good contribution of ideas on the BBS for us to draw on when the time comes."

Belladana: "Now that you are adding more construction/woodworking things are we going to see wagons soon?"
Rias: "Not yet! I hesitate to increase hoarding capacity even further than we already have with handcarts."
Rilulth (Best GM): "We have talked about wagons though."
Rilulth (Best GM): "I brought up that I would like to see more Company-based functions before wagons getting implemented so we can try curb the hoarding tendencies right now."
Belladana: "I mean it would be nice if we didnt have to use farms for construction projects because at this point it is the only real place to keep large amounts of wood etc."
Rias: "But honestly, item bloat really is an issue, as well as the generally growing expectation of buiding up stockpiles. I understand it, and it's part of having an involved crafting system, but it's also something we've constantly got in mind and are trying to figure out how to best address."

Belladana: "What is the biggest bloat issue now that dye is off the list?"
Rilulth (Best GM): "These are things we've talked about. We do have some ideas, but need to look at number, like Rias said. For example, do you know just how much raw wool is stored in vaults and on farms right now?"
Belladana: "Well you can only put so much of it on the market at once unlike before."
Rias: "Scales are the new leader. Naturally, another farming-related item (the vast majority of the scales being produced by farm animals)."
Belladana: "Any plans on making other things we can use scales with? because yeah I have a tun of them and I dont even do leatherworking."
Rias: "Sure, we just need ideas, so get those BBS posts going!"
:undm_scales_key: :shagerd:
Proud owner of the ten thousandth post.
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