Shattered Kingdoms

I still think the idea is a good one, at least in theory. The implementation definitely came off as a first try, but maybe one that was overwhelmed by typical GRP problems. (Perhaps predictably, given that it was the first time and it was heavily organized by one player group facing off against a bunch of total newbs in another player group).

I was open to really delving into this weeks ago when the private forum was initially opened - I'm a little burnt out on thinking about it right now. I'll put up constructive criticism when I get around to it.

Thanks all for the feedback.

This event was an experiment first and foremost. I saw an opportunity to test some ideas, so I jumped on it. As an experiment to test some theories, I consider it a success, even if it did not meet various player expectations. Designers have to start with rough drafts and design exercises. That’s ultimately what this was.


Understood. The scope was intentionally narrow. In order to test some ideas, I had to keep it localized enough to measure multiple things. A truly global RP/event would've been nice, but would have been too large for a first round. To judge this as a true GRP is like judging an apple by the expectations of an orange; but understanding your expectations is still helpful in itself.

Plus, after everything the Ayamao went through last year, I was making an effort to allow space for non-participation for any player who might not want to be involved with me or this event.


This is reasonable criticism. There are problems that exist with 'real time events', including my limited time to be online to observe/assist and imbalances in available play times for players. The game generally favors those who can play most often. I wanted this event to be accessible for players with low play-hours and high play-hours alike.

It surprised and disappointed me to find out that some players chose to avoid logging in during the week so they could be pimped out on Saturday. That was an outcome that I never anticipated. I'm interested how to equalize competition in a 'timed' event without encouraging that kind of avoidance (bad sportsmanship) in-between.


This is also reasonable criticism. As stated, I needed to keep this limited in scope. Grahme's diplomacy existed between the Ayamao and the Empire. You could reasonably conclude that Taslamar/etc overshadowed the Empire, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Ayamao was strong enough to keep Grahme by force, which is what the real goal of the conflict was about IC. You have certainly kicked in the Empire's teeth over the past month & a half, but that's really a different diplomatic front, a different war. Though the Empire may be suffering tragic losses in the aftermath of Grahme's war, they still effectively achieved the goals that were necessary for Grahme to establish its independence along with 2/3 of the land they had claimed.

Sometimes achievable goals need to be set and scored. That doesn't mean they're necessarily going to cover all goals of all people. But it doesn't mean they aren't dealing with the goals they were designed to meet.

This aspect of the design was intentional, which many players knew before getting more heavily involved. I know that all the fights between Saturday and Saturday were heavily skewed against the Empire, but I made a conscious choice to eliminate these extraneous PK for scoring purposes. For the purposes of this event, I could not prevent an endless PK-fest throughout the days and hours when I couldn't be around to moderate; SK has enough wars started/maintained by players that reach no conclusive end, I didn't need to try to manage another. I also couldn't figure out how to implement a scoring methodology to cover those 'in-between' hours. If you have suggestions for how to fairly cover those in-between hours, I'm looking for ideas.


Do you really believe that? (1) Did you feel that way while you were actively involved with Rolf before going inactive? Or (2) have you come to that conclusion as a result of any OOC PR campaigns waged since March?

If the first, do you believe that based upon the limitations of a specific implementer (myself in this specific instance), or based upon the limitations of SK’s coded environment, or based upon the limitations of the players involved in the game?

If the second, is that something that the staff even has the ability to change and/or should that be something that causes us to not try?


While not necessarily disagreeing, when we started to kick this off, the Empire wasn't necessarily stacked with solid veterans. As we started into it, in fact, the Legions were smaller in number than the Guardians and didn't necessarily have the muscle they had by the end. If not for some oddities that occurred (the Fist’s alliance with the Empire, whatever happened w/the MC relic, the decision of some Ayamaoans to quit instead of try something new, etc), they could have put up a more competitive score than they did. They turned out to rally a more competitive PvP than I had expected, in large part thanks to their allies. I believe weak/new leaders should have a chance to get their faces stomped in from time to time, or get a chance to fail miserably in-game. Loss is just as much a part of roleplay as success, IMO, but I know that’s often a point of contention from the players’ view.

But with that said, I understand your meaning and agree with the value in the statement.


Hope you do, would be nice to hear your thoughts. Sorry for the delay. Real life has kept me busy away-from-game. Needed some personal distance as well.

Back to the War thread...

I think the most entertaining part for me was when people (who I don't recall) exclaimed foul play on the layout of Grahme. Specifically the existence of the anti-magic room, and that it obviously favored one side. I found this amusing in part because the anti-magic room has been there for a long time and wasn't placed there for the event.
This really tickled me especially considering the Empire kept getting owned by magic and 1-shot I-win spells. So they decided to use the one room where this couldn't be done to them, a smart move in my opinion. The jabs of favoritism continued to echo, when from my perspective, a group of people decided to shore up their one greatest weakness with a strategic decision. Don't get me wrong, it involved some camping and wasn't that exciting but it seemed effective, so I couldn't really hate.

The kicker for this was when the Guardians turned it right back around on them, and when the final fight came, the Empire was forced to march through the anti-magic zone, engage with zero buffs (and fatigue), and duke it out with the fully buffed Guardian formation.

About the war not reflecting other faction warfare, there is no denying that. The Hammer and Keepers were consistently beating the Empire. Basically the Empire was fighting on multiple fronts, and dedicated all of their resources to a single front, one which they won on, whilst getting whipped on the other. To me that just sounds like war.

I was particularly confused about the lack of support the Guardians had from their allies - during several of the pvp events there were Keeper/Hammer on, but they rarely/never joined. Some claim it was the lack of coordination and communication on the Knight Marshal's part. My tin foil hat and readings on the Site That Must Not Be Named make me think it was the sheer dislike that some of the players had for Dabi and the organized event, and it was those OOC grudges/reasons keeping the players from participating in something IC.

The nice part about the organized pvp was the obvious slew of non-skilled pvpers pvping. The constant mistakes on both sides made it really entertaining.

My one suggestion is a little far reaching but...
I wish Shattered Kingdoms had its own log site. One where common knowledge events could be posted. Surely a great war going on everyone would hear about, they'd read about it and hear about the battles going on and who is fighting. I feel like occasions should be widely broadcasted, are therefore considered IC knowledge, so there is no fear of leaking info that shouldn't be otherwise.
This way you could have Dabi's fun descriptions of an event, and then the link to the fight from an IMM perspective.