Shattered Kingdoms

FWIW, it was a combination of the two. I had started and logged some RP and ideas and sent them to the patron as suggested, and then I was doing some RP when it happened to get noticed and nudged with some RP back that was impromptu.

I think you are right. We should close down more areas around exile like everclear and the colegium. Maybe the outpost as well. The outbreak seems to be more prominent in the east. More areas would likely get more response from players.

BEST GRP ever that I wasn't apart of. Glad to come back to the game and nothing is the same. It so takes it from cookie cutter training and rp to holy crap what happened and I hate these fing zombies. Love it and sucks people got butt hurt over it not beine fixed automagically

Unsure if this is sarcasm or you are just out of touch with what happened. The west was less effected because the western factions made attempts during the GRP to try to purge all the zombies. They ultimately failed. But the magic effect they created did partially purge some of the zombies from their area of concern, which is why the zombies aren't as bad there (at least until they spread again). Meanwhile the eastern faction didn't just ignore the zombies, they were actively trying to interfere in the magic being cast to stop them. Naturally that inattention led to the zombies spreading unimpeded into the east.

Dulrik keeps using the term "status quo" when referring to the zombie outbreak. This makes me feel like he doesn't understand the term. The status quo is no zombies since that is what everyone is used to seeing. The zombie outbreak is a change from the status quo. To say otherwise is to prove you don't understand the term, or to lie to people.

So right now you're saying that if we want the status quo (no zombies) then we should ignore this GRP. Was the purpose of the GRP just to harass people, then? Just to see if you can rustle some jimmies?

These last few posts from Dulrik are exactly what I was talking about. As far as communication. There is a great range of RPing players who play SK. Ive played D&D in groups with bad DMs/players where you have to go with the rail road and Ive played in groups where you can do a 180 turn and run to find interesting adventure (like stuffing a BBG into a bag of holding). The issue is that with out knowing the DM/Players well or it can be hard to know what kind of one your dealing with if things go to plan.

This GRP clearly did not go to "plan" and things happened according to how things went. This is a great GRP in design and push. However with out communication about why and how it ended up this way the players dont know if it actually went to plan or not. Also hope it is clear most players dont know the correct channels to communicate ideas via to push their ideas back to the Imms regarding such. The information that players could cook up a solution was put out there only recently, also it was mostly put out in respect to this GRP (when really its for all RP). The fact it is a player driven solution is not clear to other players so it can and does often look like an Imm telling a player the answer. Having a place that this information is shared even in a postmortem of any GRP or significant RP change would help players see how to have a greater impact in the world. Including timelines because a lot of people will start something and then lose interest because they dont know how long a building change can take.

Im thinking a part of the logs forum should be focused on run downs of RP from all perspectives and even throwing out ideas of how things could have gone different. This can be just post event or even during long events like this one or another example I recall the empires attempted take over of Teron. The time line was so large players on the attacking side lost interest and ended up feeling like the outcome was predetermined.

It is hard to see from both sides of a table when you have "all" the information. The issue I see that even though you said you only play and all knowing god ICly, the reality is you have the closest view of everything than anyone (I assume but you could be eye deep in code and someone else has a better global RP view). Remember players are seeing a tiny little window of that and each Imms see a slightly bigger but different one. I have seen on the forums quite a few times a miss understanding coming from such a situation. Case in point my recent discussion on "strange use of nearly useless materials" of high end items.

I must be out of touch then. Could you explain to me which areas were originally affected in the west, but are no longer due to the partial purge?

Seems to me like this was a GRP designed for 1 or 2 specific players.

The status quo after the end of the Algorween GRP is that the major sections of the main continent of the world of Pyrathia have been overrun by zombies. This is represented at scale by the fact that many random encounters that used to be ordinary people are now instead zombified versions of those same ordinary people. Zombies pop up on even many well-travelled roads to the detriment of all the common citizens of the land. And several well-populated and/or strategic areas have been completely overrun and have been effectively destroyed (some examples include: Crossroads Haven, the Bastion of Light, the Village of Mortoon, and Seaside). This permanent change in the previously existing state of affairs was signaled by the change to the startup screen: "Zombie Kingdoms" instead of "Shattered Kingdoms". Hence it is the current status quo.

As players, I am fairly certain that everyone is familiar with the concept of a zombie apocalypse. It's been represented in movies and TV shows for decades and across cultures, and especially so in the last few years. Just a few of which include 'The Walking Dead', 'Resident Evil', 'World War Z' and 'High School of the Dead'. So it should be very clear how the process works and why it is horrifying. Civilization in many places has been largely destroyed because the people who lived and worked there are now the undead. And if left unchecked they will continue to spread by consuming those who are still living. It is not a war but a plague.

This familiarity with how the process works is why I haven't given any credence to arguments such as: "The zombies are too weak to take seriously." Particularly when mostly the same folks are complaining about: "The zombies are too strong and are killing newbies!" Clearly a balance had to be struck between making them a serious threat and not making the game completely unplayable. Yes, individual zombies are weak and not a threat to well trained and armed forces. They never are. The danger is from the breakdown of society and from the unending horde which constantly is pressing you, so that whenever you falter or fall sleep, now you have one less ally who has instead become part of the threat.

That a zombie apocalypse was about to take place was explicitly part of the role-play during the GRP, but also strongly and publicly hinted on the note board and the log forum:
[RP] An Update on Evil Magics and the Undead Scourge

All of this is to say that, yes, I fully understand what 'status quo' means and that my use of it is supported by the definition and events that took place. The entire month of November has passed with significant portions of the civilized world being noticeably destroyed due to the zombies. It ought to be clear that this is the current status quo. And if all of the prior evidence really wasn't enough, my efforts to communicate over the last couple weeks in this forum should have been the wakeup call that you needed to understand it.

I do want to go further into the aftermath and respond more directly to Cordance's thoughts about communication, but I've run out of time. I will make a followup post later.

Also in the interests of transparency, there was a major event that took place with regard to the zombies just last night. I am hoping some logs will be posted, but regardless of that, there will be a public announcement about what exactly has changed before the end of this weekend.

How do we make the outbreak worse?

I do say this because their are characters who would love to see this perpetuated or even made more cataclysmic.