Shattered Kingdoms

This seems to have been brought up in another thread, so will move the discussion here.

What would promote exploration?

While I have spent my time online over this bonanza looking for people to RP with, when the who list drops so I have no one I can Rp with normally, I start to explore and look for things. I would find it much more useful to have a way to get resurrected when the who list is shallow.

Anyone else?

This is the very reason there is an Oracle.

Experience loss doesn't promote exploration.

Don't explore when there are no priests available to fish you out.

Alright, I can take that approach. Since there is nothing else for me to do in game then for the moment, I can take the last couple hours I have to game and devote it to something else.

If you want player retention then you have to find away to address issues that will take people away from the game. The oracle is fine when it takes ten to twenty minutes to replace the EXP, when it takes an hour or more to replace it, it's not worth it.

If you want people to risk exploration to discover new areas then you could mitigate some of the risk involved.

I would say something along the lines of harder areas that require large groups to have some way to limit the amount of time needed to recover from a failed exploration.

There is no part of Pyrathia that is soft and gentle, with the possible exception of the newb schools (well, if you overlook the mass slaughter and violence of those places that is). It would be a very boring world indeed if the majority of it were like Care-a-Lot. Many of the most interesting places require teamwork and multiple people to explore. It should be that way. Solo exploration is and always should be extremely dangerous. If you die, poltergeist your corpse away from what killed you, visit the Oracle and make a note to bring help next time.

There's already exploration experience bonuses for discovering new areas. There's lewt available for the adventurous. There's history and metaplot available for those more interested in that. There's already a ton of promotion to explore the game, you just have to use your head when doing so.

Accidents happen and you die. I am not complaining that I died, I accept that, I can replace my stuff. The lesson here is not to bother exploring.

So, whatever more QQ later.

No, the lesson here is learn to work with people when you want to take the risk of going somewhere you don't know well. Do you think when people were mapping the Earth, they would wander off on their own thinking "Man, no one's ever been here and left a record, but I bet it's all safe and I should probably even leave my machete at home because there's obviously nothing here that's a risk to my life?" No, they got teams of people together, armed themselves for any eventuality, and worked as a unit in what they assumed to be dangerous territory because they didn't know it wasn't. And that's in a world that doesn't literally include [REDACTED] like DRAGONS and DEMONS and spells that will kill you instantly.

Use your head.

It is not dying that is the issue, I am aware I will die in game, the issue is I lost my gaming time because there is a lack of usable priests and at the level I am at the exp cost is quite time consuming to replace. Were there a way to gain life again I would have been able to go back about my business. As it stands I get to play on the forums for the moment.

In the future I will refrain from doing anything without a priest around.

This hasn't been a very productive thread so far. What motivation is there for a GM barbarian with a good set of enchanted armor and a good weapon to explore, given there is a high probability of dying before finding anything worthwhile? I guess for some players, exploring is the reward in and of itself, but it seems like poor IC logic for my guy to risk being prepared to fight a real enemy to explore some unknown area for an unknown (if any) reward.

Even if there is a specific known reward, if someone were to say to my guy, "There is some adamantite in area X, can you help me get it?" I would say, "Sure, do you know how to get there?" and if they say, "No, but do you mind if I kill us a few times trying to figure it out?" I might say, "Hmm, maybe we should ask someone to help us find it instead." What is the motivation to explore?