I might just put up my list here. I seem to lack the time to host them (as well as the laptop). Back in my Mockingbay days
mokwar And I used to do a lot of these, and I like to believe they really sparked activity. ESPECIALLY if you manage to put a bit of a storyline in some of them.
1st Edit (I'll have to do these in parts since I am writing this on my phone.):
Personalized events:
"I feel like I'm watching a movie rather than being a part of a story."
This is a personal favorite of mine. While it's practically impossible to please everyone; it's very possible to at least try and cater to most of them. There's a variety of ways to do this. There's the private events that only allow a limited amount of people to come, there's a very general event that works somewhat for everyone but makes no one say
"Wow that rocked my boat" and there's the idea that I'm about to propose. An idea that gives characters different purposes, different problems, and a chance to make
meaningful decisions.
Meaningful, here, is the keyword. It's a word I as a teacher hate and love. Sometimes it means catering to the Fortnite ridden teenage society, and sometimes it is providing a sense of
autonomy in a setting that they can understand as useful. This sense causes
Motivation, participation and for them to pay
attention to what you have to say, the
story you are telling.
How do I propose you do this, and how did I do this in the past? Personalized events. Let me lead with an example rather than explaining everything.
We start with a very basic mini-event. A fishing tournament in which people get to roll a d20 on a results table. 0-10 is nothing and 10-20 is a fish. The weight increases the higher you roll. Simple stuff. Not very personal.
Character A wins the tournament, beating an NPC.
Hidden onsequence: NPC needed the prize money to prevent eviction. It was his final chance and character A ruined it.
A few days later, DM Elz spots Character A online and in the tavern. She decides to continue this story by sending in a young man with a folded letter. It's a threat to place the prize money in a crate on the docks. Character A can choose here. Depending on their actions, something happens.
Let's say character A is your standard Alteran and does nothing.
Hidden consequence: the NPC fisher that's behind this gathers up a bunch of his friends and plots vengeance.
A couple of days later, DM Elz spots Character A talking with Character B and decides to quickly round up some players/staff to represent the fisher and his friends. A fight ensues in which the fisher is revealed the sore loser and Character B kicks the shit out of him.
Now the event is personal for TWO characters. Maybe one of the friends has contacts in higher places and Character B is summoned to court. Maybe the fisher wants to continue to funnel his anger into character A and lures him to the woods where a pack of angry dogs is released upon them.
This sort of thing can grow and expand rather rapidly, and isn't very difficult to pull of so long the requirements remain small. It's possible to scale these events down and end certain threads as well as scale them up into a full blown side campaign. What matters here is that the choices of the characters determine the next step and that not always the same character is left with important decisions. The more people can change the direction of a story, the better.
Sometimes it's just best that the heroes give the beacon of light to the moorish enemy.
I think that the example above provides enough information to work with. So rather than explaining every step and their purpose, I'll go over the concerns I imagine people may have with this style of events.
Doesn't this promote favouritism?
Only if the DM always picks the same character to give choices. Or if the same character always ends up with the loot or boon.
If through clever action and solid RP a character manages to put herself in a position of autonomy over and over again, that's not favouritism, that's you needing to git gud.
Isn't this a lot of work?
Not really. All you need is a character that does something and you deciding a consequence for that. You make notes of some actions during or after the event, and see what sort of impromptu events you can spawn from that. The more you improvise, the better.
How exactly does this help new players stay and old players come on more?
That's the power of greed and autonomy for you. It's human nature to always crave more. If goals outside of divine or arcane favours become more common, more people will chase them like hungry puppies. Also, if region owners are okay with it, these events can just pop up anywhere. Which results in a potential reason to do... politics~ and by ignis would I love to see meaningful politics become a thing once again.
A current state of events:
I'll go over the categories of events that exist on the server, adress a couple of things and then make my point.
Event type 1:
"I want something nice for my character, better host an event."
Coincidentally these events can be enjoyable, but the goal is clearly a boon for my character rather than anything else. I'm talking sermons and other events that are a requirement of divine blessing.
While I enjoy these events, I think that they shouldn't practically be forced upon players to get anywhere with the divine. (This assessment might be wrong, and if it is I apologize).
Either way; don't force people to host events for 50% of the two mainstream end goals. While it won't stop some people from playing religious/upcoming blessed characters it might for most.
Event type 2:
"I built something cool and I'm willing to put most of my time on this server in showcasing that in an intricate story that tries to involve and inspire people. Aka. Nid Arach and the Linlea explorer's arc."
What Bart and Solus are doing is awesome. It's a lot of hard work and deserves a lot of praise. Yes, Solus is staff and the server owner but that doesn't take away from the fact that she's offering us something awesome and meaningful to explore. The same counts for Bart. I couldn't do what he's doing with the Nid Arach stuff.
These are the type of people I think you should get in contact with. They can really help create thedynamic environment the server can be. Basically: Rock on, you two.
Event type 3:
"The players like a big overarching storyline, so let's build a campaign."
Campaigns are awesome. The events are the big milestones I look forward to in my RP week (As well as previously Wednesdays, but i digress). The little random events surrounding them as well as the Rp flowing from it is very rewarding.
There's one glaring issue though: If everyone is constantly dealing with the same problem in between the events, things will die down. I don't want to RP out the effects of the heavenstones for the umpteenth time and I think I am not the only one. The campaign is fine, and shouldn't change, we just need something more inbetween. (Which is where mini events come in handy.)
My point:
Students need active didactics and roleplayers need something to RP. Yes, part of that is our own responsibility and i fully agree with that. However, I think that a dedicated team of players and staff who spend most of their time DMing small things on the server, could do wonders. Ditch the needing to plan ahead and put things on the calendar. Ditch the checking availability. Just take the people online, throw them a story prompt and run with it. If that type of DM, plus what we have now, plus what I pointed out in the first part of this post is implemented, I think I can guarantee an increase in activity and joy on the server.
But what if I just want to RP in a corner with my friends?
I get that. Not everyone always wants to be Dmed or attend events. There's even people whi actively avoid events due to the sheer amount of text or the sometimes hostile air surrounding them. Well, the solution is easy. Here's an example:
(Hey DM, I really appreciate all the good you do for the server, but I'm snogging in whisper chat and would rather not be disturbed by a three-nippled naturopath right now. Is it okay for you to DM for someone else?)
OR there could just be a Starfall-esque thread where you give consent to events. Idc, no big deal.
But what if I rather write my own story? Or play with actual characters rather than NPCs?
Good news, if the DMs manage to keep new players around and spark some energy into the old ones still wanting to play, you'll have way more people to play with!
But what if I have a region and do want mini-events but not all sorts of nonsense?
I'm sure someone is clever enough to make a form that helps with that issue. We are clever enough to make RSVPs for events afterall.
The list of events:
"But didn't you say you were going to dump /your/ list?"
Yes, this is a list of events that I attended which I really enjoyed for a variety of reasons. Some of these are ancient but I'm sure someone will remember them.
The seven sorrows.
This was awesome. Seven demons with one weakness. Staff Dming them and just running rampage. People were being killed, demons were being slain and best of all, they provided something to do that wasn't neccesarily planned. Also, combat wasn't nearly the only way to kill them. They were just a problem that was there and needed solving. Simple and awesome.
The game of crowns:
This was awesome because of all the RP it opened up. A real hierarchy came to Altera and politics became relevant. This was a bigger event to plan, but it provided so much longevity that it was absolutely worth it. (I still think the silver crown should come back.)
The passage event to this world.
Exodus stuff is always great but this one is my favorite. Who doesn't enjoy high-tension politics in a very small area while being attacked by skyrats?
Great stuff and again not a lot of forced story.
Cymic's 4th fortune run.
I think that this is one of the best player hosted events iI have ever attended, and is a perfect example of how awesome religous events can be. More of this, less speeching.
The first Starfall event
Despite getting more out of the second event, I think this one was by far the strongest. It had foreshadowing, consequences, and something to investigate and Rp with. Oh, and the setting was a joust. Something that even on its own is a fine event.
The Coronation of Leminth
Even though I wasn't and am not a fan of the way the crown was handed to her, I think the Coronation itself was awesome. Over a hundred people were online and in one building. Rp was smooth, and all that really happened was the revealing of who got the titles that could be applied for. It's just like a sense of mattering and having a chance of being rewarded really draws in people.
Why these events?
These events have one thing in common. They were rewarding in one way or another. Rewarding doesn't mean loot. I received no real loot in the events above(Except a bit of coin in the fortune run). What I did receive were opportunities and meaningful rewards for hard work and clever Rp.
So to sum up half an afternoon of typing on a phone:
Personalize events.
try to set up a team of DMs that's free to try and do all sorts.
Meaningful rewards.
Or... in didactic terms: Autonomy, Relation and Competence are key to Motivation.
