A couple thoughts:
How involved are the imms in driving global story lines? I've often found, in past muds, that a successful story driven mud is driven from the top down.
It might not hurt to induct some "RP" imms if none exist, give them a lesser status, angels, or whatever, but give them the power to drive plotlines in the background, and reward and penalize good/bad rp. (Look to your experienced, and paragon players who've proved they know how to RP)
Is the playerbase growing or shrinking on average? If the playerbase is shrinking, it might be time to consider shrinking the number of tribunals. Have some globably RP'd wars that result in some occupations/take overs, that sort of thing. I know that sounds outlandish, and I realize this thought may be completely out of character for the mud, so please consider it with a grain of salt, but as the world political stage is refined so too will the immersion in the politics of each kingdom. (You do not need to get rid of languages, or starting zones, etc. existing kingdoms could become provinces, for example) Reducing the number of kingdoms will increase each tribunals membership and likely overall antagonism between borders.
Couple these with good immortal story driving and you'll have the equation for fun.
Finally, and I think it's been said before. Induct good leaders for each cabal / tribunal. People who will make those trying to get into their cabal RP, and work for it. Give these leaders a small degree of support in regards to area building, a keep, a means for them to provide literature and tenants. I'm not sure if it exists, but I liked the thought of a gradient of rank in each tribunal / cabal that people can strive towards achieving, but make the criteria for earning each rank RP based.
Oh here's another idea: Allow a means for Tribunals to expand / protect their borders on the global map. (Outside of the city centers)
Anyway dumping food for thought, sorry for the unorganized splurge of text. I don't have time to go back and edit it.
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