[Runes]

Hey everyone!

In this thread, I would like all players to state what they'd like to see in RH, that would improve the experience for them. Specifically, changes that will not cost any money.

My work on the Space Age idea is also still ongoing, rest assured! My hope is that next adventure I will have everything ready to be able to do it!

[Tsuris]

In-game stuff:
I'd honestly like to see more interactions between the members of the squads, that was a nice change of pace at the beginning of the latest C1 adventure, having them just drawn standing around is a little bit boring, I remember reading the preview chapters for Relic Hunter and being really excited at the prospect of seeing a character I came up with in adventures like that.

What Relic Hunters has actually become is a little bit.... disappointing
-There's an update (eventually)
-An action is put up for the squad to vote on (unless the squad leader forgets to check in)
-The squad votes on it (unless they don't check in regularly because they're so often disappointed in lack of updates)
-The Actions get locked and we wait for the next update for a week (often longer)

Don't get me wrong, I still like it more then the other stuff in Drow Tales, but it could be SO much more.... I mean, I look forward to the Relic Hunter RPs updating more then I do the actual comic because it's just doesn't hold my attention

Things I'd like to see changed outside the game:
- Being updated on the status of upcoming pages is also nice, if a page is going to be a little bit late, I'd like to know about it.
- Aside from the horrendously spotty payment issues that sometimes plague the site (there isn't much we can do about those I don't think) I'd like to see a change of squads not falling apart if the leader misses a payment

[cdog21]

I just wish that there was a way we could "page" squad members to let them know when a page is updated and you're needed for voting.

[Khora2150]

In-game stuff:
I'd honestly like to see more interactions between the members of the squads, that was a nice change of pace at the beginning of the latest C1 adventure, having them just drawn standing around is a little bit boring, I remember reading the preview chapters for Relic Hunter and being really excited at the prospect of seeing a character I came up with in adventures like that.

What Relic Hunters has actually become is a little bit.... disappointing
-There's an update (eventually)
-An action is put up for the squad to vote on (unless the squad leader forgets to check in)
-The squad votes on it (unless they don't check in regularly because they're so often disappointed in lack of updates)
-The Actions get locked and we wait for the next update for a week (often longer)

Don't get me wrong, I still like it more then the other stuff in Drow Tales, but it could be SO much more.... I mean, I look forward to the Relic Hunter RPs updating more then I do the actual comic because it's just doesn't hold my attention

Things I'd like to see changed outside the game:
- Being updated on the status of upcoming pages is also nice, if a page is going to be a little bit late, I'd like to know about it.
- Aside from the horrendously spotty payment issues that sometimes plague the site (there isn't much we can do about those I don't think) I'd like to see a change of squads not falling apart if the leader misses a payment

Heh i can agree to that, from my admittedly very limited time here in comparison to the rest of you, RH for campaign 2 seems to be consisting of an action that nearly always is depicted in a text box and a picture with 4-5 people standing around an item.

Would have liked to see a little more character interaction, as right now the only difference between characters is appearance, however i am unsure as to how personality could be portrayed with just one panel. Perhaps making the one panel setup into a collection of smaller ones per group?

I understand that there is many RL reasons on why the comic does not run like clockwork and that is fair enough, however would be nice to have an estimation on how long between pages.

[cdog21]

Heh i can agree to that, from my admittedly very limited time here in comparison to the rest of you, RH for campaign 2 seems to be consisting of an action that nearly always is depicted in a text box and a picture with 4-5 people standing around an item.

The adventure for C2 this go around isn't action heavy like it has been in the past.

[Alric]

So far I've been rather pleased with Relic Hunters. That said, there are two things that I think could improve RH;

1. Update times. I realize that this has been explained before (and the financial issues causing the lapses in updates) but it is the most common complaint. I think it would be more understandable to those upset about the slow update times if there was an occasional reply on the progress of the pages (which at times there has been as of late).

2. More interaction of characters in the comic. I think a lot of people were drawn to RH 2.0 by the character interaction in RH 1.0, only to be disappointed in the end. A friend of mine who was in RH 2.0 was upset that her character didn't get any lines until quite late. To the GM's credit, they have stated that they will input any character dialogue/monologues given in the squad actions. It's up to the players to decide what their characters will say, if anything.

[Tohya]

Weekly updates would be nice. In weeks where the page is late, perhaps you could reduce the penalty for missed votes to speed things up a bit.

As for when C1 updates, Donny does the SlaveMaster pages in Daydream as well as C1. So they usually update a few days apart.

[Gojinki]

Auto assign a new leader for a group should the current leader miss a payment or is eaten by the pay-pal monster ((am really glad for the speedy action for fang but had it happened during an important vote or something I could see there being a much larger issue))

I understand "life happens" so updates may run late... however since I have joined it has been a rare occasion that things are close to being on time... so the process has left me wondering if RH has been worth the small amount spent. If the money was available maybe a backup artist or script writer to keep things running when "life" does happen.

In general I'm a little sore but still hopeful enough to slog it out till things get better. Am very happy to see this feedback thread because is a definite step in the right direction.

[Runes]

The squads falling apart when the squad leader misses a payment problem is not such a big problem at all I check RH a dozen times a day, and I can put a squad back together in seconds. All I really need is that every squad leader assigns a second, so that I know who can reliably write an action if that is needed!

I will be happy to start inserting more dialogue between squad members again! If there are some suggestions for dialogue in the action I would appreciate it, but they aren't necessary. I can improvise! However, sometimes the situation is inappropriate for dialogue, if you are sneaking around for example

If there was to be a notification system for all squad members where there is a new page, or if a page is delayed, that would require every single RH member to give up some kind of personal information, like their email. I offered this before, and only one person actually gave me their email for a mailing list for my Campaign.

I don't know if anything can be done about the C2 updates. I could ask if the DayDream A2 artist koong might be able to do it? I'm not sure what the workload of other artists currently is.

[Aerisa]

I will try to voice my own opinion without repeating what has already been said. Seeing that I (was) in C2, most of my comments will naturally refers to it. I'm very sorry if some of this sound means, by the way, but I'm very disappointed in how some things turned out recently...


1- Voting
Originally, the system was arranged so that voting was REQUIRED, it was meant to encourage interractivity between the players. As a former squad leader, I can say that this has failed. Most players never put any opinions, never even check their squads shoutbox or even the action itself! They see an action is up, they vote, and they're done. One of my friend (who has since left the game) has lived the oposite: A leader who didn't bother to try to get his squad's opinion, putting up an action immediately and not bothering to change it if said friend wished to see some changes to it.

Since voting against such actions risk to see the person's character come to harm, and with the very tight timeline for actions, most players just vote "support" and are done with it. Unfortunately if someone is unable to vote for X reason, or just plain doesn't vote, ever (with the player shortage, the squads needs to accept these if they want to be able to play), the whole squad is penalized. Considering the aim has failed, and that many squads are being penalize with the current rules, couldn't the votes be automatically defaulted to "Abstain"? Even if many votes are missing, the action still pass, it just isn't as succesful. The more "Support" vote there are, the more sucessful the action is. On the other hand, garantee should be given that a player voting "object" will not be penalized for it in comic, unless they are trolling. This would force squad leader to consider their opinion.

2- Originallity
This is a rather recent gripe. When we got a Campaign contest in C2, I was thrilled. Greater user input and interactivity can only do wonder for RH. Most of the players, me included, put a lot of effort to create a campaign that would be original and entertaining. Instead, we got a copy of a C1 campaign.. Campaigns can and will be linked, of course. What is discovered in one campaign is what will advance us to the next one. But taking a campaign, putting a different location and (slightly) different puzzles and calling it a day? No thanks.

3- Pacing.
The pacing of the game is sometime irritating, other times downright enraging. Sometime it feels like we are wasting an entire action on something that would take 30 second. Let us take the most recent C2 campaign. A squad has overcome a challenge! The write an action to go fetch their prize... The comic show that prize is X. That's it, no further info or anything like that. What can we do aside from saying "We continue forward?". Which is often followed by them coming upon a crossroad and having to choose whether they go left or right. It's enraging. From my understanding, RH campaign are often planned in advance. When you know two small actions will follow each other, couldn't they be combined?

4- Risk and reward
This is a very touchy subject, and one that, no matter where, is very hard to deal with. But it needs to be addressed. Nobody likes to see their characters dying, and so the GM seem to have decided to avoid it as much as possible. But some risk needs to be taken; it's what makes the whole game interesting. Likewise for reward. Nobody likes to get nothing for their effort, but what is a fair reward for one's effort? How are our loots decided, is it random or based on what we've done? Some things would benefit from a few explanation, and a balance found for this.


Here you go! Sorry if some of this is jumbled, but I just came back from a night shift and desperately need some sleep xD Hope it helped =3

[Khora2150]

The adventure for C2 this go around isn't action heavy like it has been in the past.

That would be an understatement, while it does not to be an explosion fest every panel, SOME action would be nice, i think for the current C2 campaign the only somewhat interesting thing that actually happened was a trap exploding, that's it.

Not to sound snippy but it was kind of a let down.

[Runes]

1- Voting
Originally, the system was arranged so that voting was REQUIRED, it was meant to encourage interractivity between the players. As a former squad leader, I can say that this has failed. Most players never put any opinions, never even check their squads shoutbox or even the action itself! They see an action is up, they vote, and they're done. One of my friend (who has since left the game) has lived the oposite: A leader who didn't bother to try to get his squad's opinion, putting up an action immediately and not bothering to change it if said friend wished to see some changes to it.

Since voting against such actions risk to see the person's character come to harm, and with the very tight timeline for actions, most players just vote "support" and are done with it. Unfortunately if someone is unable to vote for X reason, or just plain doesn't vote, ever (with the player shortage, the squads needs to accept these if they want to be able to play), the whole squad is penalized. Considering the aim has failed, and that many squads are being penalize with the current rules, couldn't the votes be automatically defaulted to "Abstain"? Even if many votes are missing, the action still pass, it just isn't as succesful. The more "Support" vote there are, the more sucessful the action is. On the other hand, garantee should be given that a player voting "object" will not be penalized for it in comic, unless they are trolling. This would force squad leader to consider their opinion.

This is a very good suggestion. I will put it on my list of 'to consider'!

[Writer]

Lots of good points in this thread. Let me see if I can't add another one.

Rest actions, i.e. actions we spend resting due to the day/night cycle never seemed like a good use of the game's time and resources to me. It drags out the game, interrupts the pace, might as well be mandatory (because it'll apply a penalty to you for not doing it) and seems strictly there to enforce a sense of realism and passage of time that the game doesn't really require (because we're never going to end up quite level on the passage of time bit). Also, there's only so many ways which our sleeping supine forms, or our tents, can be rendered interestingly. I am personally past the point where the nighttime rest actions carry much in the way of interest to me. I do them because we have to and I have to do them because not doing them will hurt us in the long run, despite that doing them might delay us from doing anything interesting for a while.

I am aware STUFF can happen during the nighttime, but sitting around waiting for a 'maybe' is never going to be quite as good as simply making your own action as the default state.

So, instead of having nighttime rest actions heaped on top of the other kinds of rest which already exist (rest from wounds, from exhaustion and strain, from having nothing better to do, from missing votes, etc.), have you considered just discarding the concept from the action schedule altogether, Runes? We're not untiring automatons, of course, but I feel the nighttime rest actions is best relegated to off-camera space, and the rest action concept reserved for more justifiable uses. It would, plain and simple, save game time to assume we rest and sleep between actions in the same way you'd assume we eat and drink, and if we start to push ourselves above and beyond what we could recover between actions, just be heavy-handed with the hints that now might be a good time to catch a break. It used to be that way with Madea as a GM, and I really had no complaint with that approach.

[Black Rabbit]

I am coming in a little late with this, so sorry if I am raising the dead. I have been thinking about interactivity a bit and from Runes comments there are a few options for squad leaders to have a bit of fun and bring characters to life a little more. From our own discussions in C2 I understand that the actions need to be simple as the artists are limited in space and time in what they can turn around. This being said, the squad leader can contribute to the GM's "draft" by indicating dialogue or maybe even action.

So for example looking at IRRCC's last action we had basically:

"head west down the corridor" (this briefer than the suggestion)

What we might have been able to submit was:

"The IRRCC heads west down the corridor"

Tiziano Cort "Which Way?"

Wael "West to Glory!"

The GM might have then taken this into the draft and given the artist the following instructions

"Draw IRRCC walking down a corridor that suddenly drops away below their feet showing an awesome starscape. Lead character says "Onwards to Glooooo... WHOA!"

So its not the exact submission from the squad but the GM is saying ok you want to do this and when you do this happens. Whats important is that we have given the GM something to work with and let then interpret in such a way that the artist can portray it. I understand that there is potential for grief here when a squad feels they have been misinterpreted, but honestly the only way to work around this is for the players and GM to get a feel for each other.

Having said that I feel bad as currently I don't even know who my GM is, although I know my team leader does talk much wider than I do.

In regards to the actions shots, I don't feel the need for my character to be shown in every update, If it meant a better comic then I think showing two or sometimes even one (if its for something awesome) squad character in the update is perfectly fine. I think its up to the squad leader and GM to make sure that its rotated and everyone gets a crack.

[Runes]

Yes, I am always happy when squads add some situation appropriate dialogue! This gives me a much better idea of how characters would act!