David "Oliver" Martin
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| Photo by Jesse Gifford |
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.
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| 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*