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So, here are my ideas for a minimum viable product for Dungeons in PFO. My thought here is to get something in game sooner rather than later to add flavor, even if it may change later or be replaced with something better.

I understand that these may be seen as theme-parky, which PFO is not intended to be, but in my opinion Dungeons are an essential and classic part of the Pathfinder RPG (and related TT games) that need to be in PFO.

A caveat - I am not a computer programmer by any stretch, and frankly don’t know what this would really take to do, but from my laymen outlook it seems to me that very basic dungeons shouldn’t take a huge effort if GW focus’ on mechanics that already exist in the game. Maybe more work than adding better grass, but not a huge effort ;-)

And there is an Ideascale entry for Dungeons, feel free to go there and up or down vote that or add your comments.

Breaking this up into multiple posts for ease of digestion.

Given all that has been going on over the past few weeks, I have a simple question to ask. If a Goonswarm-type group (or similar) rolls into PFO on Day 1 of OE, does this community of Early Enrollees stand together or do we stand by and watch as our Settlements are gobbled up one by one?

We have all invested a lot into this game, a lot into what we want it to be, and we have developed a community over the past couple of years that has been very active and overwhelmingly positive. There have been some bumps in the road the past few weeks. I'd like to believe we can move past those bumps, and I'd like to believe as Early Enrollees that we are bound by something that separates us from those who may come after us in OE.

I can say that I would view any individual or group that has been involved with EE as an ally/friend if they were to face a Goonswarm threat, and I would act in game to do whatever I could to assist them against that threat.

An old Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life.

He said to them, "A fight is going on inside of me, it is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves.

One wolf is evil - he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego.

The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

This same fight is going on inside of you, and inside every other person, too."

The grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked,

"Grandfather, which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied: "The one you feed"

Will the ballistics of projectiles/ammunition in PFO be the same as real-world ballistics?

I really don’t know how the physics work in these games, and I plan to be play an archer-type character, so I’m asking this question. And if we don’t know how the physics in PFO will play out yet (I don’t recall anything in the blogs on this), perhaps there are analogies or insights from other similar games?

Because there are so many threads in the PFO forum now, and because they are essentially uncategorized, I thought it would be a good idea if there were some sort of consolidated list of threads that could be useful for some newer folks.

I would ask that, if you remember a PFO thread with particularly useful information that you post a link here, with a very short description (best if it can be kept to just a couple of words) of the content.

An Alternative to Capital Punishment in PFO

I was hoping to get some discussion here on the viability of a alternative method of "punishing" behavior that the PFO devs feel is "unwanted" or toxic to the game. First, I'll say that my MMO experience is somewhat limited compared to many that may post here (I have some experience with EVE, that's about it). So, I thought I'd throw this idea out to everyone to perhaps get some perspective from more experienced MMO players.

From what I can gather on the discussion boards, it seems that if the MMO devs for a particular game want to discourage a certain type of behavior in specific "low risk" areas of their game, they simply have a multitude of NPCs ("police") that enforce the laws by killing anyone who violates those laws. Capital punishment for all crimes, heinous or no. And in some games, there are reputation consequences for committing these crimes. Do something "bad" (and I'm not going to try to define "bad" here, because I think that term is at least somewhat subjective in an MMO and therefore is fluid), you suffer pain of death and some sort of "negative" reputation penalty. EVE is like this; and from what I can tell, PFO seems as if it will be like this as well. In particular, in EVE high security areas (high-sec), if you violate the law, the NPC police come in and smoke you. And of course you suffer some reputation penalty. Does that discourage some folks from breaking the laws in high-sec areas? Sure. Is it the most effective way to discourage that? I don't think so. I say this because violators just re-spawn elsewhere and can go back about their business right away, whatever that business happens to be (doing "bad" things, in this case).

So, I thought, why can't an MMO have incarceration as an option to enforce law and order? If you violate the law in an NPC area, you're thrown in the stockade, and you can't play your character for a few hours or a day or a week or a month, whatever the penalty may be. This does a couple of things: 1) it imposes a real world penalty on those engaging in actions that the devs feel is not meaningful (i.e., you can't play your incarcerated character for some period of time, and you're paying for that time with real world money), and 2) it lets the devs escalate the penalty or establish a hierarchy of crimes. If you steal a melon, its 5 minutes of playing time in the stockade. If you kill someone illegally, its 20 days playing time in the stockade. Or something along those lines.

I think you get my point; a real world implication for the actions you take in game. I think it would be more effective than the "immediate capital punishment for all crimes" approach that seems to be typical. Would it stop all "bad" behavior? Of course not. Would people figure out ways to work around this? Probably. But one thing is for sure, if the character you use to commit a crime is thrown into some dungeon and you can't play that character for 20 days while you're paying for that time, it would certainly get your attention.

Additionally, if a system like this existed, player-controlled settlements could possibly impose similar penalties (within reason, of course, the specifics of how this might work would take some thought and development).

Any and all opinions and thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my post!

LONE WOLF’S “THE DIVERGENT GAMES”
My daughters and I have created these house rules for a fast-paced, easy to learn Pathfinder RPG-based arena player vs. player (PvP) game that can be played with any number of players in a short amount of time (less than an hour with pre-generated characters and packs) and plays like a board game. This is a great way to introduce your pre-teen or teen son/daughter to the Pathfinder RPG (and RPGs in general) by taking the concepts of two popular book/movie series (Divergent and The Hunger Games) and creating some house rules for the Pathfinder RPG that capture those concepts. Because this is a quick play, and because it mainly involves a small set of the Pathfinder rules, it is something that most kids can pick up quickly and have great fun with!

First, I am assuming you and your pre-teen/teen son/daughter have some familiarity with both The Hunger Games and Divergent (either by reading the books or seeing the movies) with respect to Factions (from Divergent), Districts (from The Hunger Games), and an arena-based PvP scenario (from The Hunger Games).

Second, I am assuming you have a decent working knowledge of the Pathfinder RPG and a desire to spend some great quality time with your son/daughter and introduce them to a great RPG that they can enjoy their entire lives. There is no “GM” per se, because everyone can have a player character in this game. You will be the GM-player though, so you’ll need to be able to shepherd your child through the key rules and concepts of the Pathfinder RPG as you play.

In order to get you started more quickly, I have prepared some rules summary tables for you (I have pre-generated content but cannot include it with in this post). I hope you enjoy this as much as my daughters and I have!