| There have been some significant changes to the Necromancer Guild in the wake of the successful joint effort to destroy Maelshyve. This encompasses both policy and mechanical changes.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Necromancers have been normalized as far as player vs player conduct goes and no longer labor under additional risk of conflict from players. Systems have been put in place to automate the administration and punishment of Social Outrage as a game mechanic instead of as a PvP exercise.
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The precise changes are:
AUTOMATED CHARACTER UPDATES:
Upon logging in again, the following changes will take place.
- Necromancers will again be able to select the PvP Closed stance.
- Perverse-friendly Necromancers will be reset back to default (Philosopher) attitude.
Please see the PROFILE section below for details on both.
POLICY:
There is no longer any conceptual difference between a Necromancer and any other guild as far as policy goes. There is no more additional grey area or burden of proof for harassment. Necromancers do not get a blank check for mayhem, and you may not harass or kill a PC without consent simply because they are a Necromancer.
ACCUSE:
The ACCUSE NECRO command has been removed. In its place, the system now automatically evaluates a Necromancer's location, suspicion, and Social Outrage to determine if it is appropriate for the citizenry to level an accusation against the Necromancer. Unsullied and Redeemed Necromancers of low SO will no longer accrue suspicion at all and can theoretically spend indefinite amounts of time in civilization as long as they continue to be on the low down. Forsaken Necromancers still accrue suspicion at the same rate as before.
PROFILE:
Non-Perverse are no longer prevented from choosing PvP Closed.
Perverse are locked to PvP Open for the duration they choose to be Perverse.
Perversion is now defined entirely through the affiliation system that Abasha wrote and which you must deliberately use to flag yourself, rather than via SO.
HOLY PLACES:
Forsaken Necromancers risk DO for hanging around holy spots.
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WWWWWWHY:
Because.
Well, okay, more than that. This release is a salvo in the middle of multiple changes slowly happening to DragonRealms over recent history and into the near future. There are some things we've been aiming towards.
- Less emphasis on unconsented PvP as a driving force behind the game. We do not want to remove PvP as a mechanic between parties that desire to fight, but you are seeing and will likely continue to see it becoming less acceptable as a method of conflict resolution.
- More emphasis on DragonRealms as a multiplayer game. We still have a long ways to go here, but the idea is we want players to benefit from being around other players.
- A nicer, more positive atmosphere that is conductive to healthy play. Volumes could be written here, but suffice to say it is a goal of ours.
Necromancers stood in sharp contradiction to these goals as they were designed, both as a relic of an older vision of DragonRealms and in part as a social experiment that has ran its course. Simply, there is no room in the DragonRealms we wish to create for a "bully guild" or a "bullied guild," and Necromancers as players -- as flesh and blood people who are trying to derive enjoyment from the game just as you are -- deserve both the same respect and require the same commitment from them toward a healthy environment as anyone else.
There are some lingering threads, however, that should specifically be touched on.
RETCON! RETCON!:
Not really. What has happened, both in events, policy and mechanics does not retroactively change the continunity of the game; things that happened still have happened. In story terms, this doesn't even really change the thematic direction so much (which has always intended to focus heavily on the morally squirrely Philosophers trying to balance on a humanist tightrope). The next section below goes into more detail about that.
This does change the policy and implementation of the Necromancers to fit our vision of DragonRealms better, and insofar as that goes it is certainly a dramatic change, but the story continues forward.
BUT MY CHARACTER HATES THEMS, I DOES:
I want to take this topic in two ways.
First, there is a difference between IC and OOC play, which I am sure I do not need to lecture about. We are adults, we are capable of separating ourselves from our characters, and our characters cannot be simple repeaters for our own biases and opinions. It is entirely appropriate and reasonable for a character to hate Necromancers. It is not appropriate for a player to harbor the same feelings about another player due to their guild selection.
Second, while this is a dramatic change in the player conduct arena, in IC terms there has been... not as much movement as you might initially think. Social Outrage is still a thing, Necromancers need to avoid civilization to avoid getting Hounded; as a game mechanic Necromancers are still pariahs. It's totally okay for a character to have negative feelings about Necromancers as long as you, the player, recognize it's still a game that everyone is here to enjoy.
On the flip side, we just finished an event where Necromancers and everyone else worked together to murderize a major evil in the setting. It is also entirely reasonable for characters to pick up a more nuanced view of the Philosophers vs. the Perverse, if you wish it to happen.
BUT NECROMANCERS SUCK TOO:
I'm spending a lot of energy talking about Necromancers in a passive role, but I do want to address Necromancers as aggressors too. This is also something we are not happy with and are going to curtail to within the limits of normal policy. Necromancers having the same protections and dignity as any other player means they also have the same responsibility toward making sure the game is a healthy, happy place.
WHAT ABOUT THE PERVERSE:
The Perverse function conceptually as they always have, though mechanically are significantly different now. The Perverse are understood as antagonistic Necromancers who throw caution and morality to the wind and are active threats to society.
Now, it's fair to ask, having said that, how that fits into the brave new necroworld. In effect, Perversity is now simply a dressed up version of choosing PvP Open, and no different in terms of policy or interaction than that. Perverse are required to abide by policy, including PvP policy, just as anyone else. There is still a conceptual opening for a mechanically beneficial Lichdom state in the future, which would require Perversion to maintain, but we're not there yet.
WHAT ABOUT OOOOOORBS:
We're working on that. Not part of this release but the mechanics behind the glass constructs are undergoing significant revision. More to follow.
THIS SUUUUUCKS:
We love each and every one of you and I am going to read every response to this post that is posted on the forums (I do not currently monitor Reddit or any player Discord). If the mechanics need tweaking, they'll be tweaked. As always with major releases, please give us the benefit of the doubt if something seems wonky, and ask questions before coming to conclusions.
-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino
This message was originally posted in The Necromancers, Game Master and Official Announcements. To discuss the above, follow the link below.
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