Skip to main content

Staff:

Kira/Squidget - Lead Designer and Creative Director

Cuchuwyn - Head Admin/DM

Forgiver - Builder and Setting-Designer

Alanonas - Event DM and Director of Demons

Kro - Event DM and Man Down Underdark

Keen - Builder, Worldwitch, and Denmother

 

Player-Builders:

ChaoticDrow - Voice of Reason

Miggen - Weaver of Placeables

 

DM Emeritus:

Raven - Caw!

Oberon - Roooaar!

Archgrendel - Scree!

Corlupi - Awoo!

The best way to reach out to a Staff member is through our Discord.  You can see the names of all logged-in Staff members in the user list on the right.  Please only use the @Staff ping for urgent issues such as server downtime.

 

Build/setting questions can be sent to individual builders.  Questions about specific events should primarily go to the DM who ran that event.  All of us strive to be fairly approachable.

 

If a DM is logged into the game, the DM channel is a useful way to get in touch with us for quick questions, though DMs in-game may be busy running events and might not respond right away.

Very soon after arriving on Thain, heading west from the docks your character will find his/herself in the crossroads area. Within this area is a trading post and a campfire. Here you will often find other characters sitting around and roleplaying. This is a great place to start off chatting in character, and getting to know other characters. It's also a good place to find people if you want to go and explore other places in Thain.

 

North of the Crossroads, in the forest there is an area called the Bounty Hut.  This can be useful for providing you with a simple quest and adventure, which other players might want to join in on.

 

The /who command may direct you to other players, as it will list the areas they are in.  However, be careful with this, as you do not want to disrupt other people's scenes.  If approaching a group out in the wilderness with /who, it is considered good form to send a tell in case they are already in an event, as "crashing" a scene might be disruptive.

 

Asking in Discord and checking the Discord Events Calendar is often a good way to find specific people looking to meet a new player.  Open events in particular are a good way to explore your character's initial roleplay and get their personality out into the world.  This is also a good way to learn the etiquette.

See our New Player guide for more information.  Thain is a welcoming community and we want storytellers to join us.  Understand that people who are deep into RP and distracted may seem unfriendly, but often they are just busy and would be happy to play with you another time.

DMs on Thain do not traditionally provide a lot of 1-1 support for early character concepts.  This can be a very difficult expectation for us, because people are constantly making new characters and many feel that they would benefit from our limited DMing time.

 

If you do feel you have a concept that requires some manner of DM intervention, you are welcome to type up a character application and submit it to an active Staff member.  We will review it and get back to you.  However, we generally discourage any concept that requires a lot of DM interaction to work.  You are far better off evaluating what you are able to do with the substantial player tools, and how your concept might work through player-driven stories.  Thain is not a PnP game and cannot have the same level of DM-driven personalization that a PnP game would for every player.  The more of the burden of your story you are willing to shoulder on your own, the more likely your story will happen.

As your character develops, DMs do keep an eye on your RP.  It is a small world and we try to stay aware of those who's RP is interesting and actively creating fun for other players.  We are far more likely to support the efforts of someone who consistently runs great events, and we're unlikely to support someone simply going around asking NPCs for a +5 Longsword.

Given limited Staff time and that we are all here as volunteers, we encourage using the tools available to you to tell as much of your story as possible, and only relying on DMs to do the pieces they absolutely must.

Using hostile spells accidentally on a guard/commoner can turn their entire faction against you.  If this happens unintentionally, feel free to contact a DM and they will likely be able to fix your factions so you can return to town.

 

Thain is a living world, and we do not recommend attacking guards or neutral NPCs intentionally unless you are willing to face the consequences.

Yes!  Our in-game hud and crafting system allow an enormous amount of customization.  See the HUD section of our website for details.  In addition, some customization commands are below:

 

/portrait - adjusts your character's portrait.

/scale - Adjusts your character's size.  For example, /scale 105 puts you at 105% size (only allows 90-110)

/relevel - Takes half of your XP and returns it, allowing you to relevel a character from 1.

/removeXP - Removes the specified amount of XP.  For example, /removexp 1000 removes 1000 XP.

We do not currently provide the Thain module outside of our Staff.  We have had various theft/sabotage events in the past and the Thain module represents the culmination of many thousands of hours of work.

 

If you are interested in building for Thain or have specific questions about the scripting or custom content we've created, feel free to reach out to Kira or Forgiver, who may be able to provide details.

Our discord is the best place!  Many contribute builds to the module, though Kira and Forgiver are your likely target audience.

Roleplay can be a very intense hobby, and we understand how intense player conflict can become.  The first thing to do is take a breath and a step back.

Conflict on Thain is always intended to be collaborative in nature.  The goal of both players should be to do what is best for the story, not simply to beat the other player or push them around.  On Thain, we strongly discourage god-moding or trying to win every possible encounter where other players are involved, and we strongly encourage cooperation.

Consider how the conflict might be better resolved with the available in-game tools.  The /duel system described in our PvP FAQ can be a good way to resolve some conflicts.

If you feel you need arbitration between you and another player, or if you feel they've acted disrespectfully and broken the rules, please reach out to a Staff member and we will help you resolve it.  It's important to us that players feel respected, and it's equally important that everyone be able to approach in-game conflict as adults.  Conflict roleplay can be a fact of life on Thain, and we want to support players through managing it.

Individual characters on Thain can be powerful as heroes and villains - warriors or mages or champions within their faction who are able to act as a significant and powerful figures.  However, they can never be stronger than the faction or the setting.  Level 20 characters are common enough that they are unlikely to be able to muscle through every problem, and any faction can individually overpower a PC unless there is a strong extenuating circumstance.

 

PCs should use good judgment when lingering in faction areas where they are hostile, or downplaying the threat hostile factions pose to them.  Constantly lingering in a city when you are hostile to the city simply because you can mechanically avoid the guards with Invisibility/stealth is considered poor form after a while - surely the city would eventually bring you down if you were making yourself known.

 

Characters who achieve tiers of Epic levels are generally considered stronger by the setting than those who do not.  A level 23 character might be significantly more powerful within the setting than a level 20 character, even if mechanically the level 20 character is able to win a fight.  Epic is, in part, a narrative reward that often represents power and influence within the setting.

Good references for character power relative to the world are the Fellowship from LoTR, or the heroes in most classic fantasy.  Aragorn is an individually effective warrior, but he cannot take on the entire city of Gondor by himself no matter how skilled he becomes.  We encourage all players to respect the module and to play up the dangers of the world instead of playing them down.  Arguing that the setting is weak or that individual NPCs are useless may make you feel powerful, but it removes the tension of the world from everyone else who wishes for things to be dangerous.

As a roleplay-orientated server, we ask that character names be appropriate for a fantasy setting.

Do not choose a name that:

- belongs to another person with the intent of impersonating them
- incorporates vulgar language or words which are otherwise offensive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable (in any language)
- belongs to a popular cultural figure, celebrity, or media personality
- belongs to any religious figure or deity, whether in game lore or in real life
- incorporates military, monarchic or religious ranks or titles such as Lord, Sir, Queen, etc.
- no honorifics (Mr.; Miss; "the Bold"; "of Bridgeford", etc.)
- contains a single initial ("T.P. Pryor"; "Russ D. Chaines"). Just make the name without the initial.
- is otherwise silly or nonsensical and not befitting a fantasy setting.

Besides names of characters, these rules also apply to their companions, familiars, summons, items, and in some cases, account names. All names are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and some players may be asked to remake characters or, in special circumstances, have their name changed via LETO by the server host. Offensive names may result in a ban from the server.

If you want a nickname for your character, simply introduce yourself with a nickname, but keep the full name as the name of your character.

Monster Player Characters, Subraces

Thain requires application for subraces. Please see the monstrous FAQ entry for more information:

RDD (Red Dragon Disciple)

The RDD class brings a number of setting-specific changes that players must be aware of.  RDDs who take 9+ levels and grow wings will become MPCs, hostile to most factions and extremely dangerous.  It is expected that some of this monstrousness will manifest in your character too - monsters on Thain are dangerous, and no character should be able to endure the ravages of dragon blood unscathed.  As such, RDD is not recommended unless you are willing to play a monstrous character and deal with the conflicts that come from that.

Child PCs

Please apply with the Staff before playing any PC under 16 years of age.  Playing younger NPCs through the player tools is okay.

Slave RP

While slave RP can be a very important part of a character concept, the limits of it can and have been pushed. The slaves in the module are there to represent life in the time period that Thain is based in, and are almost exclusively found among overtly evil races like Drow and Duergar.

While slavery is not banned on the server as a storytelling concept, it is a grey area and players involved in it need to understand this. If done correctly it is an acceptable RP tool, but more often than not it is done poorly and tastelessly.

DM's have the right to tell you to knock it off. As with some of the rules and other grey area RP, multiple warnings can result in a serious punishment, so please if you are going to attempt slavery RP with another player - respect the following:

  • No sexual abuse, nude shaming or orders to walk around dressed skimpily.
  • No over the top derogatory comments
  • No excessive abuse.
  • No constant hitting, no overwhelming public displays of whipping, burning or any other method of torture.
  • No intentionally bringing other players into that RP. If they are uncomfortable with it, they have the right to walk away. Being persistent in trying to include somebody who is not willing to participate in this form of RP is harassment.

A piece of advice is to keep this sort of RP themed around telling stories to others, and not titillation.  If we get the sense that your character is constantly seeking to enslave/be enslaved because you are into slavery as an OOC kink, we are going to ask you to leave.  We're not the kind of server and we don't do that here.

You cannot, by default, make a monstrous character on Thain.  We provide these characters only by application.  Note that the rules for PvP involving monstrous player characters, or MPCs is different; MPCs are kill-on-sight like any other monster in the game, and are generally granted when played as antagonists.  Monsters on Thain are intended to be dangerous, and we discourage excessively Drizzt-style stories in which the humans are the villains for unfairly hunting the good-hearted monster.

Applications for MPCs (monster PCs) should be sent to an active staff member.

-When you decide to apply, PM a staff member with your application. Include, at minimum, the race you want to play, what you would need from the Staff (ie: appearances, model replacements), and a description of your character. The staff will vote as a whole, taking into consideration whether we feel the MPC as described will enhance the vision of those kinds of monsters on Thain (e.g., we are unlikely to approve an application for a demon who will want to be good-aligned, that sort of thing).

-If possible, your application should explain not only what the character is, but who they are. Why do you feel this character would be fun for others to interact with, and why the character needs an NSS slot to work. We try to avoid approving applications that only want visual fluff and attention. We're looking for characters that would contribute to the server and that need to be a monster in order to work. Telling us about your character and the kind of stories you have in mind can only help your chances of getting approved. Questions that may be useful to think about:

1. Why does this character need to be an MPC versus a non-MPC character interested in the same things (for example, what about the character makes it necessary that they be a devil rather than a human interested in the study of devils)?  Knowing that this will likely reflect on other monsters in the module, how do you feel your PC will best represent this monstrous race?

2. What are the clear differences in personality for your MPC compared to most non-MPC characters? How are they going to react to things differently than a more traditional character?

3. The life of an MPC, especially early on when they are finding their footing, is often quite lonely. Many MPCs burn out within a few months as players find it difficult to find RP without being able to use places like the Crossroads to meet other characters. How do you plan to tell stories with your MPC that don't rely on other players/DMs, especially while the character is still new and gaining a reputation?

Note that "monstrous" creatures are almost always set hostile to guard factions on creation. We generally do not grant MPCs to anyone who has not been playing on the server for at least a few months.  MPCs are challenging antagonist characters, and their roleplay is especially difficult.  Even joining a group can be disruptive, and MPCs are expected to run far more of their own events and join in on fewer events run by others unless they are specifically a good fit.  A lot of MPCs burn out early due to the difficulty of finding RP with this restriction, so make sure you know what you're getting into before you apply.

We do not provide stat changes for MPCs.

By default, characters on Thain cannot progress beyond level 20.  However, there is an exception to this, known as the Epic system.

Characters who are consistently roleplayed well, who consistently are a joy to have in scenes and are persistent and dedicated enough to feel like part of the world, may eventually be granted an epic stone.  Epic stones are tiered, so the first stone grants the ability to reach level 21, the second grants the ability to reach 23, and the third allows up to 26.

Epic stones are granted via a majority vote by the Staff.  Any character can be nominated, and the Staff as a whole votes on each PC.  Epic stones for Staff characters are granted in a similar way, with the only difference being that the vote is held in a secret channel and the Staff member being voted on is excluded from the vote.  This means the Staff, like players, are unaware if others are nominating or voting on their characters for epic.

Epic stones are a storytelling reward.  They are not merely to reward persistence or dedication, but to grant something special to those who put the most effort into building stories of Thain for others.  They are a way for the most selfless players, the ones who are constantly helping others move their stories along or bringing great lore into are world, are able to stand out from the rest and become truly epic characters within the Thain setting.

Receiving any epic stone tier generally takes at minimum 4-5 months of consistent play, and may take longer.  Note that we aren't just looking at persistence here, but also story creation, how well a character fits into our setting, and how much they add to the scenes they're in.

While roleplay is its own reward, Epic stones can be a great feeling, and we want them to always be a reason why a player might individually decide to step up their storytelling game.  Running player events and telling stories for others can be a thankless task, and the epic system is one of the ways we continue to encourage story-based collaborative play over simple farming or grinding for XP and gold.

 

Close Menu
Direct Connect: thain.no-ip.org