Herald Gossip Stones

[curisq]

I have an idea for a Herald power to create a stone (or other item) that poofs when you log out. This stone can be given to others and allows anyone with it in their inventory to gossip while they have it. This will make hosting events like scavenger hunts and trivia contests easier for Heralds and those who participate.

[Davairus]

Dont like it.

[Dorimos]

You dont like anything Dav, lol (just throwing in my two cents)

[Davairus]

Well Heralds are supposed to be historians not guys with magik powers to make radio communication across Thera. Gossip reaching other taverns is a bit far-fetched, but this is just plain cuckoo.

[RebornShadows]

well gossiping across there if your a herald or a patron, or noble or mystic is far fetched but then again so is telling someone something when they are in valour and your in tainted valley or something is to but heralds making stones to give to others so they can gossip is kinda pointless if people want to gossip buy patronship or become a herald/noble/mystic

[Stiehl26]

I agree %100 with rebornshad in this case. I am not sure how the auction channel, cabal talk, or a tell for that matter is any less far fetched than a cabal (with inherent magical powers to do or help with their specific tasks) having the power to create a magical gem, drop it in a room or whatever the hell they want to do with it, and have it rebroadcast what the Herald is saying. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Ergorion]

If you want to be able to gossip without being a noble or herald, all you have to do is go to Mocker's Tavern or the Traveler's Rest. Anyone in there can gossip.

[curisq]

The stones aught to be rotdeath, meltdrop and nodrop anyway. It was my thinking too that the idea of the stones is no more far fetched than cabal chat, gossip, tells, or even magic, dragons, portals, etc. We do play in a world of magic and the impossible. In my opinion actually, using a reagent to focus your thoughts/words across Thera makes much more sense anyway than randomly being able to send tells or cabal/gossip across Thera because you belong to an organization without any sort of reasoning behind the sudden ability to transfer your words/thoughts.

This idea wasn't meant to provide easy access to gossip though. I'll give a few examples of when gossip stones could be used (and really should only be used when running events, like addquest). A herald uses his rank 2 or 3 power to create a gossip stone for anyone who would like to participate in his scavenger hunt. Herald gossips one item per round and grants hints if the round lasts more than 2 or 3 minutes. The gossip channel would be of great use in this situation, telling the hints to everyone participating in one easy gossip rather than sending out mass tells/notes. Another use for the gossip stones is for trivia contests, during a surge when there is max player activity or just any high traffic time. Heralds would use gossip to run the event and ask the questions, so that players need not break the ranking of the surge, their exploration or other personal activities but can still participate in Herald events. Ideally in the Tavern is a superb place to run events (and wouldn’t be outshined by gossip stones), but not always feasible since most of the time you see people on they’re not sitting at north square roleplaying, and won’t find a great deal of fun sitting in Mocker’s while they could be out making use of the surge, or finishing a quest. A higher level of event participation is what I’m going for here, I guess.

[Ergorion]

With respect to higher event participation, it's all about the incentives. If you really want people to do a scavenger hunt, or a trivia contest you've got to offer them enough gold/eq/whatever for their participation to be worth the experience/gold/training that they would normally be gaining.

Personally, I think that well run Herald contests and an increased Herald presence could bring life to the roleplaying that has been lacking of late.