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Friday, July 11, 2014

10 Questions - David "Oliver" Martin

David "Oliver" Martin

Photo by Jesse Gifford
How long have you been playing?
Almost 17 years.

And while I’ve always found this cartoon that was in the printed view one time when I started showing the pictorial evolution of a player from “newbie” to “one year wonder” to “veteran” to “oldbie”…this past weekend gave me new appreciation for the final picture showing the oldbie standing there asking “what’s going on”.  I need to thank Jeremy/Drake (sp?) for helping bring me up to speed on the drive down.

How has the game changed since you've been playing?
Solving  a quest/plot now seems to require divinatory magic.  This is partially due to players being lazy and thinking “this spell will get me the answer” and partially due to EHing style evolving to include more information that needs such magics to get it…or to direct the quest.

Also, I feel the game has segregated out a lot.  There was always a divide between “fighters” and “spell casters”, but I feel this has grown to the point where fighters mostly just show up to tournaments and wars, while the spell casters (and fighters bring spell caster alts) go questing.  I keep hearing about this quest or that quest where “we had 2 fighters…and 30 dagger jocks”  (see “what I’d like to see changed” below)

Who have you learned the most from?
Kathy Horn…now Kathy Fae.  No matter how much I might try and contribute, help, or whatever…no matter how frustrated or intense I might get…all I have to do is look over at her and this GAME all comes back in to focus.  She has always shown me how to have fun, how to not sweat even the big stuff, and has forever been my roll model to aspire to in just about all things Realms related.  Kathy, you are awesome!

What was your best moment IC?
The final Rights of War (RoW) event, where I as Owen/Cuchulain led the gathered forces of the Realms to throw down the usurper Oberon from the Fae thrown.  The event series had many high and low points for me.  It was a huge emotional rollercoaster, but it ended on the highest point of my career.  After all was done and the smoke was clearing it was seen the Nymbus (she who would be Queen) had been struck down in the fight, giving her last breath denying Sloan Harkon.

It left all in shock and Cuchulain broken.  To have come so far, to succeed, and yet have failed.  I sat with her cradled in my arms crying in grief while those closest to Cuchulain kept people back like the police might at a disaster scene.  Without calling it a “court”, I held an impromptu court as king, speaking with individuals about what needed doing while trying to figure out what I myself would do.  Eventually Cuchulain, now king in full again, was able to pull from all the Fae lands around him the life needed to restor Nymbus.  We then sat for long minutes in the dark and quiet, stunned as to all that had been done, while people would occasionally be lead up to speak with us together.  It was the closes I’ve ever come to truly living in the moment, the world, of our game.

Afterwords, I got so many compliments on my roleplaying.  How convincing I was and how much I drew others into the moment.  Everything had been like the ending of a movie, and they thanked me for making it so.  I will truly never forget that night. 

What was your best moment as a NPC/EH/Player?
Two different points, both knightings:

1. My single proudest moment was at the end of the Fae Plot, when all was said and done, and the last thank yous given out.  I called my squire Tara Harkon forward and took the moment to tell all present of the deeds I’d seen her down, how she had grown over time, and the person I’d been privleaged to watch her grown into.  I had taken a step back from her training recently to see how she’d do on her own.  Would she stand tall, stumble, or fall.  There were some stumbles but she picked herself up and became all the better for it.  As Cuchulain, she is my greatest pride.  I knighted her and charged her with the safe keepings of the lands of Fae now that I was moving on.

2. However, I think the single best knighting I have ever been to or done was the knighting of Sir BrightHammer.  It was when Cuchulain was still a PC “Owen” and I was leading a Realms wide war effort to re-take Fae from the “false King” Oberon.

BrightHammer had always been a great asset and friend to Owen in this and I had named him one of my lieutenants; however, he had decided to throw his lot in with Robin the Duke of Monstrosity who was leader of a third faction in the war.  I called him out on this in the middle of court at a Feast of Chimeron and took back the badge I’d given him as a lieutenant.  Bud (who played BrightHammer) was so dumbstruck with shock/anger/frustration he couldn’t say anything….which was good in that it prevented him from interrupting when I then pulled out a knightly belt of our order and offered it to him in replacement. 

Meanwhile, as this happened, the other Knights who of course knew what was going on had quietly come up from behind to be ready to welcome him into the Order.  To see the look on his face as his emotions did a complete 180…transitioned from shock of anger…all the way to stunned with joy…priceless.

Photo by Robyn C Nielsen


What would you like to see changed or developed more in game?
Quest events better encouraging/embracing fighter types.  Simply having a bunch of fights the players have to push through is not “content for fighters”, at least not for all of them.  I can do that at fight practice and have more doing so.  Me personally at an event I find a lot of those to be draining and unfulfilling.  The term becomes “herding cats”.  A certain amount of resentment builds because other people are all figuring out “stuff” while we have to hold off or push through seemingly endless waves of bad guys.

I don’t have a good solution for this.  If I did, I’d try to preach it.  While event holding we’ve tried a variety of things to correct this.  Trying to give better meaning and objectives to fights, doing more fights with limited numbers of NPCs so you could feel like progress is being made, varying up what sorts of fights you create, but this still is just “got hit stuff”.  So we also tried out different ways of solving puzzles that anyone could do, try to gear some challenges towards those of a marshal/athletic bent, and also pulling back on the need for defending the party while people work on something.

What advice would you give new players?
Pack an extra pair of socks (and shoes) and leave them in the car when going to outdoor events, especially over night events.  If it rains, or the EHs decided to have you go tromping through lake, the drive home afterwards will be so much nicer if you have dry feet.

What do you love most about the game?
The ability to just show up to an event or practice and just play.
You don’t need a lot of customized gear to be safe or event just participate.  Chances are that someone will be able to loan you a weapon or have a spare tunic when you get there.  And in general the people of our game are helpful with this sort of thing that even if THEY don’t have X or Y, they’ll help you find someone who does.

Who would you like to see the next interview be with?
Both Angela Wood (Monique) and Pat Bobell (Saka) are graduating this May.  On one hand some might say it’s only been 4 years; however, I’d love to hear what their take on how the game is reaching the new leaders now graduating, what thoughts they have, and what they’d like to see.  I’ve seen them each grow during their time at WPI.

Aside from that, get Katy Fae (her interview can be read here) or Jarrod Marshal talking….

Anything else you'd like to take the opportunity to put into print?
Firstly, thank YOU for doing this...

*pulls soap box out*
This game runs and exists on the service of others not just the $$ you pay for admission.  If you enjoy this game, make the time to give back to it.  While a good start is offering a friend who is throwing an event a hand.  That is only the start.  We are a community; others who you know less also need that sort of help.  I met several more people I now call “friend” by offering to help at their event, or tagging along with someone else I knew to go NPC for a quest that was short staffed.  It is through this sort of service to the game that I connected with the realms as a whole.  And in the end, when I asked for help…they came to me.

Lastly, finally time for crotchety old man to rear his head…
I’d love to have a year where come EHC time people as a whole to decide that we don’t need to put a thousand updates or “improvements” into the spell system.  Yes, clearly you are smart and found a problem that “needs” fixing or a “better” way to do things….but on this one year stop and think for a moment.  Did the Realms function last year?  Would this tweak actually fix a reoccurring problem, or would it just make a nuance cleaner, or you to feel empowered?  More and more I feel that people write proposals for the Omnibus, so they can be the one to have “fixed” something.  But to me, the reality is that the daunting number of proposals that get filed each year cause us to spend less and less time weighing each one.

*steps down from box*