Poll 1: How long should Maladon go on for?

As I have been watching the game grow amazingly over the past four months, I am struck by how much better, and how different the game has turned out to be to  compared to what I originally envisaged. True; it has a few problems, but I think they are all solvable. But the question is, what do we want Maladon to be in the future? I think the game belongs at least as much to all of you as it does to me, so I will be posting some polls to try and gauge what the game is to you and how you want it to progress. Please take the time to answer; it's important for the future of the game and also fascinating for me.

Poll 1: How long should Maladon go on for? Vote using whichever statements best describe your feelings as a player (voting for several is fine). The references to an endgame basically allude to when the main storyline kicks into high gear and the exploration and freeform phase of Maladon ends. The endgame could be very long, but it will represent a probable shift in playstyle to more story driven and more epic play. There will be little time for side missions or personal stuff and at that point we will only be using NPCs, monsters and allies that are already in play. 1) As long as possible; this game is too good to end quickly! XXXXXXXXXXX 2) It should end as soon as possible ; so we can see how the stories end! 3) The endgame should start at an average charcter level of 6! 4) The endgame should start at an average character level of 8! 5) The endgame should start at an average character level of 10! X 6) The endgame should start at an average character level of 12! X 7) The endgame should start at an average character level of 14! 8) The endgame should start at an average character level of 16! XXXXX 9) DO we HAVE to have an endgame; Maladon is an MMO, not a book! XXXXXXX 10) It should NEVER end! I live here......................! XXXX

I vote, 1, 8, 9, 10.

i  vote 1,8,9,10 as well i really enjoy this game its a lot of fun and it seems like we have only just scrached the surfess of the world.

same as the above

I vote 9, 1,

1,8,9,10 is accurate to me. I am just sad that in a few months I wont be able to participate in too many games unless it is on sunday >.<

I like 1 & 9 too.

I don't know tbh.  It will run quite long already when we run it til lvl 10... and there is no saying that characters would not go somewhere else afterwards...

1,9  although an end in Maladon may not be avoided. 

1, 6, 9

My vote is 1,8 I llike the idea of a more story base but I like this form to increasing the lvl to 16 would be good as 10 is only just beginner still plus there is still more to see and do in this game so a longer run would be great as I enjoy it a lot

Why not Derek?

1, though I do want a decisive ending to the campaign at some point. I'd love to see a resolution to a character that didn't involve death. I'd prefer the campaign to end naturally narrative-wise, than end because we've all reached a certain level now.

Classes start up again at the end of August. My class schedule doesn't leave time for a D&D game at all so I would only be able to fit it in on sundays, and some saturdays.

1 and 5 due to the fact that its taken 4 months and the highest level chr is what LV5(correct me if im wrong) plus the number of players, the feat system and chr death the time it would take for the average chr LV to be 16 will take god knows how long, now I'm not saying its a bad thing, Its just weren't there evil frost zombies (forgot the name of the monsters Dronger?) coming to kill all life like right now or did I miss something?     

Dromen activity seems to have fallen off of late; for reasons that no one is sure of.

I agree. If it lasts another year we will maybe be all lvl 10... just a thought :)

Even if we only maintain the current level of games we will be on session 170 in another year's time. I think that we might have people a lot higher than level 10 by then................................ And through recruiting more long term Co-GMs like Zil, I am looking to expand the number of games per week to 4 or 5 at least in the next couple of weeks.....................

Stephen Dove said: Even if we only maintain the current level of games we will be on session 170 in another year's time. I think that we might have people a lot higher than level 10 by then................................ And through recruiting more long term Co-GMs like Zil, I am looking to expand the number of games per week to 4 or 5 at least in the next couple of weeks..................... but since they are co gms it will not be along the same line as your main game stephen so if people level up more in a co gm game your main game will be unbalanced since all your in counters are planned and the main story will not happen in these co gm games 

Not a problem; the important encounters 'level up' the longer they are left, so whilst people are doing other things, the campiagn calendar will advance and those encounters will also get harder. Also, look at the poll results (the number of Xs equals the votes). The overwhelming response from most people is that the main plot is something to cap off the campaign with once the exploration and adventuring is over. Kind of like a last farewell...............

Stephen Dove said: Not a problem; the important encounters 'level up' the longer they are left, so whilst people are doing other things, the campiagn calendar will advance and those encounters will also get harder. Also, look at the poll results (the number of Xs equals the votes). The overwhelming response from most people is that the main plot is something to cap off the campaign with once the exploration and adventuring is over. Kind of like a last farewell............... sounds good glad to no i can plan to a higher level plus see more of the world and story i would also like to see like i said before more politics and intrigue would be cool even if they are just planning and rp 

Well that's another thing; If other people are handling the more action orientated type of adventure, I can focus on events in Haven. The Emperor is coming to Maladon in Havis so you can imagine that this is prime time for intrigue...................

Even still if every one is around LV16 each turn will take 10 years of faffing and checking rules, I mean we do that with level 2 spells imagine level 8 spells and Josh with that kind of power. :)      

I don't think so Thai! The way 5e works is that power increase is quite gradual. You will spend around 30 sessions trying to get up 3 levels and that's where the big power jumps come in terms of spells. If poeple can't get used to new abilities in 30 sessions, well they are idiots. 5e does not scale like 3.5; higher level games should not be too much harder to run. You'll just die quicker....................

Well fine It'll still be fun ether way so its all good

Don't worry Derek; Sunday is a prime gaming day..............we'll fit you in!

@thai just think of it that way. if we are all lvl 16 there will be a tarrasque around every corner where we go and at least 2-4 dragons in our neighbourhood so it takes stephen less turns to kill us. And 50% of the characters will just cast invisibility whenever they meet anybody and run

after the avreg level of players gets abov like 5 i think we should change the level at witch new chicters start at to about five and move it higer as we go 

stephen already has put out a ruling in this regard

Yes Ilikestuff; the system now is you get your dead character's last session in XP for your new character. That means that as your character levels up and takes on harder stuff, they will automatically start at higher levels; we had three characters die the other day and all came back as level 3s because of the XP from the trap they 'found'.............

even still at a certain point that stops being effective. i mean there is a huge gap between like a level 3 PC and a level 6 PC.

@ilikestuff yes there is, but the people who are lvl 6 (which is none right now) or to be precise lvl 5 have earned it by staying alive through a lot of predicaments. Also it was mentioned that once the average level of characters will be above 5 that new characters will come in at level 5. Due to the nature of the level system (exponential xp requirements until 7) you theoretically will be able to catch up with a lvl 6 character before he reaches lvl 7 even if you start at lvl 1.  Yes, being lower level is a pain in the ass with most classes and makes it really hard to survive but: Consider the feat issue e.g. it is much less xp you have to spend on feats in the lower levels than if you were to start level 5 and then having to buy those feats. But that is a discussion to when the average level of players is high enough. Right now it should be around level 3. (There are only 2 lvl 5 characters and lots of lvl 3, some lvl 4 and some lvl 2.)

Average level is currently 2.5 but this takes into account all inactive characters too.....will try and calculate average level of active characters.

Average character level of active characters is around 2.7