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Some of the key highlights of the Escape from Underdark: Archipelago Server.
| The primary means of XP gain in EfU is through cooperatively tackling any of our hundreds of unique scripted quests. Wandering through areas and mindlessly farming monsters is not an efficient way to advance or level. |
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Instead, characters can band together to cooperatively tackle challenges: anything from storming well defended fortresses and castles, delving into mysterious crypts, doing battle with hideous jungle beasts, defending a point from ravenous hordes of zombies, or rescuing hostages. Our quests are generally fully repeatable, setting-appropriate, artfully designed, and often "spiced" or adjusted by DMs on the fly.
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Considerable effort has gone towards ensuring that the setting and history of EFU/EFUA is fully developed and compelling. There are in-game stores that sell dozens of extensive books discussing histories and various theories as to some of the mysteries of the EFU/EFUA setting. |
While taking advantage of the Forgotten Realms setting, we've developed non-canon regions and details that incorporate themes and characteristics from some of our favorite works of fiction, including: Lovecraft, George R. R. Martin, Robert Howard, Tolkien, Kafka, the Wachowski brothers, Mieville, and others -- as well as some from popular Black Isles Titles such Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1 and 2 and Baldur's Gate.
DMs are not just referees and builders, but also story-tellers. Metaplots are a major part of the EFUA experience. In the past, examples of major plots include: plagues, rebellion, invasion, the acquiring of important magical relics, political crisis, vampires, gang wars, and much more.
A major part of EFU has traditionally been that of the role-played conflict that occurs between characters. Examples of this might be: a thief running from the Watch, the consuming hatred between two rival wizards, a subtle war between merchants, bloody conflict between gangs, a Kelemvorite hunting down a necromancer, a paladin dueling a blackguard, a politician scheming against an opponent, or countless other examples.
In EfU and EFUA, this conflict is resolved by characters through their RP. We do not encourage mindless PvP, but rather an environment that resembles the best of fantasy fiction and cinema. Just as with fiction, there is meaningful conflict between characters. Unlike fiction, there is no set-winner, and the victorious are separated by the defeated through what they do In-Character (sometimes this might be straight PvP, in other cases it will be who out-schemed, out-thought, out-planned, or out-tricked the other).
The DM team regularly runs DM quests and DM events. Sometimes these will be planned and advertised on our forums, sometimes they will be spur-of-the-moment or secret. DM quests could just be a simple event to kill some monsters and earn some special DM loot, or they could relate to a complicated faction rivalry or metaplot.
The EFUA DM team tries to be highly responsive to the needs of players. We work hard to make ourselves available for NPC possessions and assist with a character's goals or needs, as well as being capable and fair administrators and referees. It is worth noting that we hold ourselves as a team to a very high standard of conduct in terms of not being biased, of not punishing characters for OOC reasons, of not cheating in any way, and of not having any kind of advantage when and if we play as a normal character.
Exploration is a major part of EFUA. Characters will receive a one-time XP bonus for entering certain areas, and we've tried very hard to make a server that is fun, challenging, and rewarding to explore.
Tens of thousands of man-hours has gone into building EfU, and much of this has simply been updating the module to reflect the changes that have happened (often through the efforts of characters). Factions rise and fall, NPCs die, districts are invaded or built, buildings are burnt down, and the world is constantly evolving and changing - all of which is updated in a timely manner by the DM staff. In EFUA, this is even more prominent, as the playerbase works and builds a new settlement from the ground up, deciding much of how it develops.
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