Shattered Kingdoms

I actually learned a lot, if not most there is about SK and its history through RP, incessant questioning of any character I could find with knowledge of history, and in some rare occasions, relentlessly pestering certain GMs until they possessed relevant NPC's to certain pieces of history and tell me and my group the lore.

I suggest anyone who's really interested in pursuing SK's abundantly rich lore to follow the same steps. It's a lot more rewarding than to have an NPC just tell you the stories and then everybody knowing.

There's even factions in this game that focus more on this sort of thing so, if you really want to find stuff out, the options are there and I don't really see what the merit is in making this any easier. The only reason lore has such high value in SK is because of its mystery, in my opinion.

Dwindling Playerbase. Fewer vets that have the knowledge.
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Sure you can get to many places by asking around. But this just leads to hand holding and players don't explore the way they did in sk's hay-day.
I just want a wiseman to tell me how to find the enterance to the temple of murder and what key's I'll need.
I'll explore from there.

There have been far too many times where I've had to go Ooc and ask people how to get somewhere. I'd much rather get that info IC.
If we want to step away from ooc mediums, then this is a good start:

I have no problem with providing more useful adventuring knowledge in game, whether that be via the Adventurer's Guild or inn-based loremasters or books or what have you. It's just a matter of builder inspiration, I suppose.

I do want to add one more possibility here, though, since Galthryn alluded to it: Ask a staffer to give you some hints.

Here are a couple examples of how I've personally let this play out:

1) I overhear char #1 asking char #2 about some piece of kit he's located. Char #2 has no clue. So I drop in with a heavy hint in the guise of a demon, who happens to guard said kit, taunting char #1 with visions and creepy tells.

2) A representative of a player group contacts me on the forums regarding some piece of lost lore. I (eventually) arrange a seance in which I inhabit the spirit of a former char and directly offer a pile of hints, steeped in history (as I recall it) to said player group via RP.

RP your quest for knowledge and stay IC, and I bet a lot of us would be happy to facilitate. It's the kind of thing I like to do, anyway. And if I don't personally know anything about X, I can ask other folks who know, or may have even built X. I'm doing that right now, in fact, for one of the religions I patronize -- unbeknownst to them.

I'm not suggesting this is a substitute for the Wisemen idea at all. But it's another option. We're sympathetic to your plight.

I really like that idea and it's something I'll consider soon.
I have been worried about the amount of influence an Imm can have in these regards.
I guess hints aren't the same as an Imm one's hand.

This will be a good way to get by until we get some sort of wiseman implemented.
Thank you for your input.

I want to bump this thread again.
Tonight, I lead my first trip to the Temple of Murder and it was an amazing time. Took quite a while, but we did it. I'm a little proud of myself for this one.

It started when a PC was helping Azoreth try to work through a puzzle-like quest.
We gave up for the night, after making a bit of headway.
The player said to Azoreth: "so do you want me to tell you how to get out to the Temple of Murder?" And he proceeded to give me step by step instructions including the key to get to the plane of ice, told me of the dial puzzle in the plane of ice, the general direction to head once getting to the plane of Air, and the location of the items needed to make the key.

This information is was exactly what I sought from the wiseman NPC. He didn't tell me "west, west, northeast, north, etc.." But gave me general instructions.
He probably gave me more information than the wiseman would/should. But it gave me, someone who had absolutely no idea how to get there, proper instructions. The group and I still had to work through the puzzles and find these locations.


I had a lot of fun tonight and the only thing that I am dissapointed in is the fact that it took me so long to be given clear instructions on how to get there. I would like to revitalize this thread and get this implemented into the game.

Seeing how the temple of murder required going to multiple locations/planes? I think that the instructions could easily be stacked.

Example:
You say "I'm wondering how to get to the *Temple of Murder*."
A wiseman says "Ah. The temple of murder? That is in the plane of air. You have to find the three objects to make the key."
You say "the *plane of air*? How do I get there?"
A wiseman says "To get to the plane of Air, you'll have to pass through the Plane of Ice. Be cautious of that NPC and their instadeath. Oh, and that dial puzzle can be a real doozy."
You say "the *Plane of Ice?"
A wiseman says "Aye, the Plane of Ice you seek? To get there you have to get this key from this location. On this beast. That's in the Plane of Fire."
You say "the plane of fire?"
A wiseman says "aye. You have to go to The Island of Noob and go through the yellow portal at the top."
You say "The Island of Noob?"
A wiseman says "There are many islands in Pyrathia. Give this book a read. The coordinates are xxx and yyy. Give the ol' Sextant a try."
A wiseman gives you a book titled "islands and such."

And there you have it. A conversation web that helps you get to new area to explore. The instructions could be used in other directions, so each keyword said would only give a paragraph or two.

Does any Imm out there want to make SK a better place for the PVE'rs out there? Because this is how you do it.
Discuss... Again.

I feel like the Adventurer's guild library was created to effectively fulfill what you're looking for here, but that gives much more control/responsibility to the players as opposed to the same amount of invested time in a script from IMMs. I recently learned a good bit about some existing areas in the game by reading the few books that are there, although so far I think there aren't as many books that describe how to get to a target as opposed to those that describe the gear in a specific place.

There's other books scattered throughout the game describing places, like a book that describes part of the necropolis entry quest in the top of the Torrum Arcana, but I think that the place to go for adding IC descriptions for IC areas/quests is actually already in place. You should recommend to the other player that he consider writing a book for the Adventurer's library, or perhaps you could do so yourself!

Honestly I like the idea of having a book that index other books in a central location like the adventures guild. As in a bread crumb quest book the size of the pilgrimage hinting which libraries to go look at. There are far to many empty bookshelves in the world. There are a lot more books pointing towards adventuring places than ever before but we can do better.

or u know people could use the old sk00l method - just go out and explore, like all those mean spirited info hoarding vets did, instead of sitting around inside an hq or some deserted island doing "rp" that is likely to attract the attention of chris hansen

just sayin'

Sure, i'd be down to just explore it out. But to even get a nudge in the right direction would be beneficial.