Seven Against Thayhttp://sevenagainstthay.enjin.com/homeShard: Mind Flayer
Channel: 7vT
Seven Against Thay (7vT) is a roleplay-focused guild for Neverwinter Online using a common enemy to bring together characters of all classes, races, and backgrounds. It has a simple organizational structure led by an elected Inner Circle of seven officers, assisted by a larger number of soldiers, priests, wizards and spies, and even NPC civilian members.
Thay, ruled by the legendary Szass Tam, is a necrotocracy in which the dead have made living beings their chattel and slaves. Although this land is far from the Sword Coast, Thayan necromancers, soldiers, Red Wizards, and undead minions have been spotted in the city and the surrounding region. The Seven are an organization which has formed for the express purpose of driving the Thayans back out of the city and thwarting their plots wherever found.
Contrary to their name, there are more than seven members in this organization. The name comes from the group's Inner Circle, which is seven in number. The Inner Circle is elected from the rest of the membership; when one retires, falls in battle, or drifts out of touch with the organization, a new one is voted in from among those candidates willing to serve. The Inner Circle makes final decisions for the organization as a whole and can create additional officer positions, titles, or duties as necessary.
Anyone willing to fight against Thay is welcomed into the organization, but members are not paid and generally serve voluntarily. The group has special need for clerics, whose connection to divine power gives them special combat tactics against the undead, and wizards, who can effectively predict and counter the infamous Red Wizards of Thay. Fighters serve as guardians and enforcers, protecting the group's assets, while scouts and rogues infiltrate Thayan safe houses, wilderness camps, and facilities, bringing back intelligence which the Seven use to organize strikes.
In addition to its fighting members, the organization uses ordinary folk as support in its war against Thay; these civilian members provide food and shelter, safe houses, information and rumors. Many of these civilian members have been victimized by Thay in the past and believe in the cause of the Seven, but they have no personal combat skill.
The Seven are also willing to make alliances with other guilds and organizations in the Neverwinter area. They will not work with loyal Thayans, but will work with refugees or traitors to Thay who now oppose the nation of their birth.
Out of Character Issues:
The Seven Against Thay (7vT) is a roleplay-focused guild. Every member roleplays. Chat channels such as "/say" or "/group" are In Character. An additional chat channel allows the guild to have both an IC and OOC guild chat. Our theme is perhaps summed up in our name: we are an Anti-Thay guild. This common enemy allows us to bring together players and characters of all backgrounds.
Finding Us: We'll be forming on the Mind Flayer shard. You can also find us by adding the 7vT channel, which works across all shards, and even across all Cryptic games!
Membership and Activity: There is no limit on the number of characters (or alts) you can have in the guild. Members of the Inner Circle are presumed to focus their playtime on their Inner Circle character. Otherwise, there are no other activity or attendance expectations for members of the guild.
Leadership: The guild is a representative democracy. The members vote for their own leaders, who form the Inner Circle. The Inner Circle then has final say on all matters, but is encouraged to solicit the opinions of the members before major decisions are made. When a member of the Inner Circle has been out of touch for a month, he loses his position and a new election is held for the open seat.
Elections are held over a one-week period using an internet polling site, such as Doodle. Each member signs his player handle to his vote, which ensures there is no cheating. Voting is always OOC, not IC.
In the event that the number of open seats in the Inner Circle equals or exceeds the number of candidates in the election, no election is actually necessary. All candidates join the Inner Circle without need for a vote.
The first election will occur during launch week. The time before launch will be spent organizing, recruiting, and preparing.
Size: We're hoping for between 50-75 active player members.
Time Zone: We have no specific time zone. Eastern - Pacific time should all be supported by a group of our target size.
Special Note on Traitors, Spies, and Evil Characters: There is a lot of roleplay opportunity to be found when spies and traitors infiltrate a guild. However, in the interest of getting the guild up and running, characters of this sort are not currently welcome in the guild. We hope to eventually relax this rule, but we want to make sure the guild is strong before we open it up to backstabbing and other anti-cooperative behavior.
FAQ:
Why are there only seven members in the guild?
There aren't. The guild is led by an elected Inner Circle of seven members, who act as the officers and leaders of the guild. But the organization as a whole is larger than this, and even includes NPC members.
Are there any class/race restrictions?
Anyone willing to put life on the line to fight Thay is welcome. This means we do not care what class or race you are, but you must be willing to fight Thayan agents for no reward beyond the loot found on their bodies.
What about alignment?
For the moment, only good and unaligned characters are welcome in the guild. Later, when we are larger and stable as a guild, we hope to relax this policy and allow some evil characters.
The name of this guild sounds familiar. Have I heard of you before?
Our guild is inspired by the legendary "Seven Against Thebes," a play written 2,500 years ago by Aeschylus. In it, an army led by seven champions attacks the city of Thebes, whose king is holding power illegally. At the end, the king is forced to duel his own brother, who is the rightful king. Both men die.
Why Thay?
In the 4E setting, Thay is an "evil nation" adversary for heroic player characters, dominated by necromancers. In Thay, the dead outnumber the living, and Thay has a very specific and well detailed force present in Neverwinter. Without spoiling any game secrets, Thay is responsible for much of the tragedy and grief that has plagued Neverwinter lately, and they have current projects still underway. They even have powerful lieutenants in the region who player characters can oppose.
In short, they're the perfect bad guys.
Do We Have to Roleplay?
Yes. 7vT is not a Casual Roleplay guild or "sometimes roleplay" or "once a week roleplay night" guild. Roleplay is our first, best, activity. We'll do everything else as well, but always RP.
How do Elections Work? Are the First Seven Members Automatically Officers?
No. All the members of the Inner Circle will be elected. As launch nears, anyone who wants to serve on the Inner Council will put their name forward. Launch day, I'll create a public poll on an open website and each member will vote for seven people, registering with his or her
@handle so we know who voted. The seven candidates with the top votes will become the Inner Circle. As Circle members drop out of the game, we'll hold new elections for them, one at a time.
No one gets a free pass, and that includes me, the guild founder.
Won't This System Create Drama/be a Popularity Contest/be Rigged?
An elected guild leadership is not without its risks, but traditional guild leadership also has risks. Most guilds fail, and that is true of guilds led in a traditional manner as well as novel ones. I chose this structure for a few specific reasons:
First, I firmly believe in the human capacity to just be cool to people, especially people you roleplay with, so I am optimistic that we will get along. Second, DnD is and always has been a cooperative game; electing leaders from within the membership is a very DnD sort of thing to do. Third, seven officers divides the power and ensures that, sure, maybe a jerk or two will get elected, but he will be outnumbered by cool people and cream rises to the top. Finally, sure, there's some politics involved -- what we used to call "popularity contests" back in high school. But, you know, if elections are just popularity contests, then our nation is founded on popularity contests, and if its good enough for Jefferson and Lincoln, its good enough for me.
Comments
I wanted to say I am very interested in your guild, the concept and voting for the seven are very neat to me. Also the fact it's all volunteers fits perfect for my planned main. A half-elf guardian fighter, (who's name I will say AFTER I have it reserved haha).
Also I can't play an MMO or be in a guild anymore unless it's RP, RP adds so much to an MMO.
EDIT: Also since my forum title hasn't updated yet I will mention I HAVE purchased a Guardian of Neverwinter Founder's Pack.
But if you are interested, well, welcome aboard. We still need at least five more people before we can really roll with this. But I am cautiously optimistic.
By the way, there are no reserved names in Cryptic games. Your name is officially "Bob@doctorcomics" and anyone else can name their character Bob. Then, account names can be turned off in chat preferences so you only see them on mouse over. All of which means you can tell us all your cool name, and no one can steal it.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
Well recently I was an RP guild leader on GW2, after some time away from the game the guild dwindled and is in a sort of hiatus period at the moment. So joining a guild (rather then making one for NW) sounds great, and this one has a good concept, I think. So I'm definitely in, hope we can find the needed people as launch approaches.
GL with the guild. : )
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
EDIT: I have Guardian as-well. My title just hasn't updated.
I don't see much voting abuse unless quite a few of the members want to be in a power position (not always as fun as it sounds). And if they used some sort of trickery or rigging of the vote, well as long as it was done for IC purposes, IC drama is what drives RP. As long as no OOC drama came of it, I can't see much problem. Plus for it to mess with anything at least 4 of the 7 would need to be of ill-mind and in cohorts in order for it to effect council decisions.
IF I understand things right, doctorcomics.
EDIT: If need be I may see myself rolling a cleric, this will likely be decided by the guardian numbers in the guild as it grows. I can see me putting Crux in the council (guardian) and perhaps making a cleric to fill the need.
EDIT2: replace every "council" with "Inner Circle"
kojan, my intent is that no one -- including me -- gets a free pass. Everyone will be elected. Frankly, I would be stunned if more than 7 people volunteered to be officers. Running a guild is a lot of work and most people just want to play. But in the first week of play, everyone who wants to be on the Inner Circle will get put on the ballot and we will all vote for 7 people.
As you suggest, we'll lose people by the end of the first month, MMOs being what they are. As people drift away, we'll ask for volunteers to replace them. But no one is forced out of the Inner Circle unless they stop playing or the rest of the Circle decides to get rid of him. Which is theoretically possible. But, honestly, I pretty much figure we can all be cool. I mean, presumably the people who get elected will be elected for a reason. And there are 7 leaders, which should keep any one person from getting too uppity.
It may not work. But it's far more likely to fail because we don't have ENOUGH people, then because we have too many.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
I'm not trying to through ideals on you or anything, Just giving some outside opinion. I like the concept and seems a good guild to help excite me for this game more then I already am lol
You're right: a website of some kind absolutely will need to happen. I will wait to make it until I see some kind of momentum here on the forums. But if it looks like we are going to roll, then I'll make a site for us, probably on Enjin. I've used several of the usual guild sites, and Enjin should do what we need pretty well.
In the meantime, I'll gladly answer questions here. I can also update the OP to include a FAQ.
Once again, thanks for speaking up and your input is very much appreciated. With the addition of dudek3, we're at 3, which is 200% growth since yesterday!
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
I wouldn't call him a racist, though he does dislike all elves equally
I'm always a healer in all the games I ever play. So at least for now a couple guardians and dps and healer, seems it's off to a good start.
Remy Rockhammer@morgontti - 30th Dwarven Cleric
Should be fun then :P I'll be rolling an Elf Trickster Rogue lol
Outstanding. Welcome aboard. We will need every tank and healer we can get, since the DPS can be relied upon to outnumber all others.
I'll be online tomorrow. Shoot me a tell or send me a pm with your @handle and I'll start getting us all together. Very exciting.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
I won't be on until after 5pm CST provided the server isn't full. But I'll look for you then.
Remy Rockhammer@morgontti - 30th Dwarven Cleric
Crux Vardelle is your noble knight type, but with strong morals. Depending how I feel about the DnD setting he'll either be slightly racist (more so an accidental, he likes all races, but always seems to lack an understanding of other races) Or he'll be very nice to all races being a half-elf and technically not belonging to a single race. He's also always very battle hardened, but I'll progress that as I progress levels in game. I always say when it comes to MMO-RP the skill/knowledge of a character should be reflected by the time invested in playing the character.
Sort of a sample-bio there. I may have an alt or two but he will be my main. Look forward to a site and putting up a more full-bio.
Perhaps start seeking antagonist guilds too...
Remy Rockhammer@morgontti - 30th Dwarven Cleric
A.I agree if he decides to roll with the guild and do this, a rival/enemy guild is always a way to keep good RP going and not get stuck in a "Guild clique" where you only are ever RPing with guild mates and not other RPers. Key thing to remember is you worst enemy IC should be your best friend OOC, or the RP will be a sloppy fail. Your characters may be enemies, but the players need to get along.
B.Looking at videos of the foundry, I can say for sure I'll be playing around with it. The foundry allows us to even make our own guild-story missions to do together and create enemy groups of NPCs. Hopefully this will easily include Thay making us able to create content in which we can not just RP, but delve into content MADE for our guild to RP during...this excites the hell out of me, lol.
I like your idea. Playing NW has always been about RP for me. As far as i have seen mmo and mmo players aren't often RP.
The forge is maybe the best hope to create an RP world and comunity so, i ll be glad to meet you in game.
Will you be there during the first beta Weekend ?
For my part, I intend to spend a lot of time in the Foundry. I've been DMing for more years than I care to say, and a lot of the fun in DnD for me is building adventures. For this weekend, however, the Foundry creator is turned off. We can play adventures that others have made -- such as alpha testers -- but we can't use it yet. But that's fine; I figure I should get to know how the games plays before I make adventures anyway.
If you're looking to use the Foundry, I'll be right there with you. It would be wonderful if we could get a core group of DMs in the guild, but even if there are only a few of us, there will be a large and active Foundry community in the game at large, and that'll be fun.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
Me too. We already know Thay is in the game because the evil lich woman in all the videos is actually Thay's chief agent in Neverwinter. We'll know more once they unlock Foundry authoring, but I'm pretty confident. I picked Thay as our antagonist because they are already the Big Bad in this game.
As to a rival guild, I am all for alliances and rivalries. I think your point about getting along OOC is a great one. Right now its just too early to know what a rival might look like. There aren't many other RP focused guilds recruiting, and it is hard to see which will launch -- including ours!
But we can all keep an eye on this and look for good allies. Perhaps by launch we will be able to partner with one or two guilds to act as allies/rivals/RP partners.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
I've had a hard time figuring out these forums -_- but hopefully by the time I can for sure say what my @handle is (I think I know, but wouldn't want to give wrong info) I'll also have figured out where/how you PM someone on these forums -_-
EDIT: Figured it out.
I think you might actually make it 6, if I'm correct. glad to see this might be worth your optimism, DoctorComics.
Welcome aboard!
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
As long as this thread stays active, we can likely have a good foundation as well as more of an actual voted 7 by the time we reach launch.
I look forward to seeing you all through the betas, and seeing everyone together come launch.
By the way do you have a website or a mumble-like adress ?
Rather than use mumble, I intend to use the voice chat in game. I've also met a couple people on Skype already. My Skype name is doctorcomics.
Im logging in at launch and playing for a couple of hours, but then taking my wife to dinner. I'll be back after that, playing some tomorrow morning and then Sunday.
Everyone, let us know your experience with the game. What do you like, or not like. We'll meet up over the weekend.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes