[IC] End of Duskwood Campaign

Citizens of Stormwind, brothers and sisters under the Light, on this day I speak to you words of both joy and mourning. Although our hearts are eager for justice and our souls sing of liberation, the Chapter of Holy Anethion and our most respected allies no longer have the means to continue the inch-by-inch battle for the dark places of Duskwood. This is however an auspicious day as well for the township of Darkshire stands liberated from the cultist yoke and cleansed of the infiltrators and wrong-doers who seek to destroy it from within.

By the power ordained from above, let the Military Government of Darkshire and martial law it brought with it be abolished and power returned to the Council of Darkshire. We have complete confidence in the Night Watch to be able to protect the town from the beasts and fiends of the land and to hold onto the liberated buffer-zone around the township and the road connecting to Redridge. Forces of the Chapter will return to Redridge and Northshire and be in the state of preparedness to march back to Darkshire should our assistance be needed. We also trust in the armies of His Majesty to protect the province from the Troll imperialism. Such is Light’s will, and so may it be.

Light, may You embrace the innocent martyrs who died in Darkshire so that others may live, and may You forgive our souls and absolve our sins which we, flawed creature, have done doing Your work. Guide us with Your firm hand from darkness into radiance, from depravity to virtue, from ignorance to wisdom. Bestow Your blessings upon those who have given to Your cause, warriors of Anethion, dwarves of Ironforge and countless others whose names are unknown to us, but known to You. We pray for the souls of the fallen, we thank You that they have lived, and we beseech You to guide us, as you’ve guided them so that one day we too shall do our duty to the end; for only in death does duty truly end.

Faith Shall Overcome!

Abbot Waldemar,
Supreme Lector of the Chapter

Brother Validar,
High Inquisitor of the Anethionean Inquisition

Sister Ioánna,
Archlectress of the Chapter


OOC Section

The event has come to an end. In this thread I would like to give my own reaction¬ on how it has been, and most importantly on what we have learned from it to be implemented in the future! I will even be as arrogant as to suggest what others should’ve learned from this!

First a word of thanks

I want to thank the dedicated members of the Chapter who despite the difficulties and trouble did not abandon Darkshire and stayed till the bitter end, struggling to make the best out of this event. Same goes for the members of the DRS who frequently visited the town and contributed to the atmosphere and participated in mini-event. Big thanks goes to Tanis, Gahalla and the Wandering Company who frequented our operations and participated to the best of their abilities and without any drama or trouble. Special thanks goes to Geldar and the Disciples and the Gurubashi who added a w-pvp element and kept it more or less controlled.

It remains without saying that things would’ve been impossible without members of the Dark Sphere who did their best to keep their members organized and were always open to suggestions and generous in giving their advice.

No announcement

The event was prepared and kick-started between the Chapter and the Sphere. The rest of the community was not informed about this at all. This was a conscious choice meant to encourage spontaneity and generate spin-off RP

Overall I am glad about how it worked out, we had a nice and ‘slow’ start and great RP as various factions and people came to pledge or withdraw their support. Many small guilds and individuals did a great job and have maintained great communication with me throughout the event. Big kudos here to Theramore and the Wandering Company. Some others were a bit harder to reach and I think that in retrospect I should speak to the leaders and officers of the major guilds before, or in case of ‘unannounced’ event a few days after the date.

Pacing

The event has started with mini-events almost every day during the first week. Later on as more people joined and we were sidetracked, the pace has been lost. The Sphere and myself have agreed to talk day-to-day and not plan and script things too far ahead, involvement of the Vanguard with their interests made this communication a bit more complicated.
Again, I am quite happy with the way this spontaneity and lack of scripting turned out. One big drawback was the fact that the Sphere and myself did not properly discuss the ‘status’ of subzones and how easy/hard it should be to capture them, and indeed, if the other side is ready to lose them OOCly. We only had small agreements on status of Beggar’s Haunt and the wilds. This meant that we had to ‘negotiate’ and discuss every bit of (attempted) conquest. When the Vanguard came and put claim to some areas (to some Sphere also had a claim) the things became even more complicated. In the future we will talk to the key-parties involved and discuss the status of subzones with greater detail, figure out what all parties are ready and not ready to lose and set some ‘highlighted’ marker-events throughout the entire plot. Overall, this should improve the pace of the event.

Hub-management

Despite popular belief it was never our intention to turn Darkshire into an RP hub, we were very, very much surprised when it happened. As a result we were unprepared to handle the attention-seekers and their lot, but then nobody is prepared for them; what is worse, we were unprepared for good RPers coming to this new ‘hub’

In the future we should better anticipate for such events and beforehand appoint some officers to be responsible for keeping peace in the hub. I’ve done so in the middle of the Duskwood-event, but by then it had been too late. We also lacked clear rules on what to do with random mischief-makers. I believe that starting from the onset in an orderly and organized fashion would promote discipline and order for the whole duration of the event. In the future, IC and OOC rules and guidelines for the guards and those who participate would be made known.

Troublemakers

Quite some people disagree with the Chapter’s IC policy and voice their concerns and act on it. These internal conflicts have side-tracked us quite a bit and also caused stress and drama.

First of all, the Chapter laid claim to Darkshire – a place where nobody but the cultists ever role-play and to which nobody ever had any interest, something which Andrek would agree, speaking from his own experience. As this event went through people suddenly got interest in Darkshire and flocked there. Some were fiercely opposed to us ICly.

A group of the opposition, I think I can mention ‘rebellious’ individuals who were opposed to Chapter’s authority and conduct and rose against it. If your character doesn’t like it somewhere, why do you stay and keep coming? Alternatively, if your character wants to actively oppose the Chapter and liberate the town, then why not do so in an organized way and talk to me and others OOCly? It is stupid to say “This place sucks! You all suck! I hate it here soooooo much” while staying firmly and refusing to leave. Occasional, random clashes are fun but don’t overdo it, and do take the fall ICly for your character’s actions instead of fighting against superior odds and escaping.

w-PvP

Various guilds tried to get involved w-pvp wise, and although mostly this was organized and well done, there were issues of some concern

First of all I got ‘complains’ from the evil guys who were spying on us from the woods and got over-run and ganked to death by an entire hostile raid. Then there were few cases of a massive raid running into an event. Thankfully, closer to the end all the matters were resolved and we reached a conclusion. In the future we should contact potential ‘attackers’ before hand and discuss the details.

For the future…

What we have learned

• Even if counting on spontaneity, talk to the parties who are likely to get involved beforehand or shortly after the start.
• Prepare clear rules and guidelines, IC and OOC, for the hub beforehand.
• Speak to the parties involved about their and yours readiness to lose, status of people and places and set several plot-markers to keep the pace.
• Talk to potential attackers about their involvement w-pvp wise.
• Have a ready-made plan to involve different people and guilds should they decide to join.

What others should’ve learned

• Remember that for the smooth running of a large event, communication should be going. If you join with a large group of people (your guild?) and have own interests which conflict with the parties already involved, do talk to the organizers OOCly!
• The event is not about any single person, avoid causing regular drama and drawing attention all the time. (Spotlight once in a very long while can’t do any harm though)
• Remember that we are not claiming any place people usually care for, you didn’t RP there before, so we are NOT infringing on your rights. If you choose to come, respect the rules and consequences.
• If you come to cause conflict on professional bases, talk to the organizers and face the consequences.
• Before making a huge invasion-raid, ask first if there are any major RP-events in progress.

And to those who’ve enjoyed this event: the Chapter will take some time (few weeks) to re-organize, solidify and sort IC in-guild problems and then we start on quite similar event in a different place and with a different theme! Stay tuned.


As for the status of Darkshire

The cultists of all sorts are welcome to once more use Darkshire as a hub, although for your own fun and the fun of those around you I suggest the following. Instead of prancing about town in evil gear and yelling that you own the town, I believe you should remain careful and shady (but less so than in Stormwind) and do things subtly.

T'was fun whilst it lasted. Good job there I-man ;3


Jamerson the Doomsayer is unpleased however of being left out and will sing, say rhymes & riddles as he stares down at you in your sleep. ;D



Chop'chop

Again well done

Who are the citizens of "Storming"? ^^

thanks for pointing it out! Damnable out-spelling-corrector!

Halya is keeping that letter, by the way.

(Goggy) - Exilius wrote:T'was fun whilst it lasted. Good job there I-man ;3


Jamerson the Doomsayer is unpleased however of being left out and will sing, say rhymes & riddles as he stares down at you in your sleep. ;D



Chop'chop

Or mortally wounded. Whichever, right?

Great work. *bow*

(n_n) Thanks!

"In the future we will talk to the key-parties involved" good idea as even though VoD had so much association with Duskwood, not to mention control of Darkshire and other things attributed wrongly to TDS, we had to push our way in to get an ounce of involvement.

Credit where credit is due; the event was, on the whole, excellently planned and executed with some great ideas. Congrats to Imanuel for taking the initiative to orchestrate such a large undertaking. No doubt this will serve as an example and benchmark for future events, well done for paving the path.

I would like to remind you, Syrrah, that on the same day he posted a few angry posts in the duskwood thread, the Vanguard of Duskwood got mentioning in the storyline and even got a spot on the map

Yes, the event was planned between the Sphere and the Chapter, so you'd be required to tell us that you'd like to participate before you're included. I would never expect or require someone to come to me because they're holding an event I might be interrested in (unless the event requires me to play a part, goes without saying), I'd expect the initiative should come from my side - which I think is very fair.

This ending will be a mistake which shall be bitterly tasted by the Gilneans as the Phantasm shall roam and sway across during the Nightfall!

Hya'ahaha'aah X)

"the Vanguard of Duskwood got mentioning in the storyline and even got a spot on the map", said in a tone as if we're lucky to get even that.

Now I don't want to escalate things so I'll simply say this, think of it the other way round; imagine if the Vanguard of Duskwood and The Chapter of Holy Anethion organised an invasion of Stormwind without including the Disciples of Light, the Council and all the other 'Light' guilds that RP there and are associated greatly with the place.

Anyway' this chapter of the book has passed, It's quite late to bring up questions and frustrations now.

The Chapter announced themselves and invited and hosted a fine Hub' in Darkshire and Duskwood in general, pretty much all interaction excluding Sphere and The Chapter, was made by people whom came there by their own initiative, expressed their interests and willingness to join in on the story, the setting and the general RP.

Atleast you guise got a juicy big spot on the map, unlike some.

I don't think you can percieve my tone from what I write, Syrrah

It was not my intention to make it sound like that, I appologize. I ment that you didn't have to work all that much for it - as soon as you reported that you wanted a part in it, you were in.