Guilds and Monsters - Friday discussion, Two problems - one solution Options

[RichardCraig]

As I plan to be drinking on Friday night I thought I'd start the Friday topic to end all topics - Guilds and Monsters a bit early!

To be honest I'm not really going to chat about monsters too much, I think we all know the problems and the various solutions that have been tried to varying degrees of success.

Guilds on the other hand - I think the current guild system isn't really working with guilds constantly fading, creating a new guild a near impossible feat let alone managing to get to a top tier and maintaining it for everybody other than the knights of the land.

I love guilds, they bring a bit of easily accessible variety and allow you to differentiate so that two characters with the same spend can still do different things.

At least thats the idea, and when there are lots of guilds thats possible.

For what ever reason we have found ourselves with an overcomplicated system for the maintenance of guilds that means that only those with 3 tiers get any love and others pop up and fade before they can get a big enough head start on their blow up date.

There are lot of ways that this could be made better, personally some of my favourites are:

- Just revamp the guild system from the bottom up with a clear idea of what you want to achieve (lots of guilds)
- Guilds always have a bottom tier once they have been created
- Have some NPC guilds like the city watch etc
- Allow normal dungeons to contribute to the upkeep of guilds.

However if there is no appetite to change the current guild system then let me suggest a possible solution which could benefit all of the club.

If a set of crew - ref, aref & 2 monsters book on to an event together and the event runs they can nominate a guild to gain the benefit of a guild special.

The benefits of this are manifold - guilds can continue or get to top tier much more easily and there will be a selection of dungeons which will be created with a full set of crew, and who wouldn't book on to one of them safe in the knowledge that you won't be scrabbling round on a Friday to get them to run.

It's an option I'd certainly use as I'd love to get the scouts guild up and running but the mix of points range and skill set makes it almost impossible.

To me this seems like a plan with no drawbacks, if people don't use it as an option then there is no loss but if they do we get a diversity of guilds and a selection of dungeons fully stocked with crew.

[JamesC]

I don't have the experience to comment the same way as most but I would like to give my perspective.

My biggest problem with guilds is the lack of choice. When I create a character the guild options don't come into it until after I have an idea of the race/class/personality that I want to play. It is only after that choice that I look at my guild options.

There are so many restrictions to be part of a guild I often find that I can join only one for each of the three types and even then I am required to behave a certain way due to that guilds ethos. I then have a choice to make, either change what I wanted to play to fit into a guild and gain the benefits or just forget it as a bad idea and try to trade in the guild slot for other benefits through a points app.

This suggests that the current guild system lacks fluidity and diversity, I don't pretend to have all the answers but something does need to change, either reduce the entry requirements or have more guilds.

Personally I think the first option would solve more issues. After all why shouldn't a warrior be able to join a church or a wizard join a combat guild, it would only make that guild stronger and give more of a player base to that guild which seems to be a reoccurring problem with organising specials. Naturally the abilities would have to be broadened to reflect this diversity so that a wizard in what is currently a warrior based guild would gain different yet equally powerful benefits. This would suggest the guild was based on a belief rather than than only being allowed in because you you have the same skill set as the rest of the members.

To expand:
Professional guilds: You have the same goals
Social Guilds: You have the same past times or beliefs
Political: You have the same views

Therefore change limitations like 'you MUST be a priest to join this church' to 'you should believe in furthering this god's sphere of influence'. Or 'you MUST be a Fae' to 'your interested should be the furtherance of Fae influence'. Same guilds but without limiting those that can get involved.