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As the creator of the criter generatiors I thought I would share a bit of
info with you guys:

The critter generators have a feaure that is intended (if turned on by
the area creator) to encourage group hunting,reduce camping and reduce the
number of players in any given area.

Basically, how it works is that when it is attempting to gen a critter in
a random room, if a player is in the room, it will try to gen a critter in
another random room, if there is a player in that room too, it will continue
to try to gen a critter in a random room that doesn't have a player in it.
The number of attempts is limited by the area creator, with a maximum number
of attempts equal to the number of rooms in the particular hunting area of
the critter generator.

If the critter generator fails to find a room whitn the specified number
of tries, that gen cycle is bypassed until the generator fires again.

The generators count the number of critters in the area you are in, and
the number of players, then calculates how many critters need to be genned
in order to meet a ratio value set up by the GM who created that area.

What you can do to encourage more critters out of the system:

1) Hunt in groups.
2) Don't 'camp' in a room.
3) Don't hunt in over-crowded areas, and if you do hunt in those areas
anyhow, hunt in groups.

If your hunting solo, and no one else is around, the generators will gen
a 'mercy' critter for you.

For those of you who think that critters aren't being genned in your
hunting area, look around. If you have players camping in every room chances
are the gen cycles are being bypassed due to players in every room.

So next time someone asks to join your group, let them. You may actually
get more critters to hunt.

Not all areas use this type of critter generator, but about 90% of them
do.

Romulus

I am aware of the many problems with the current stealth mechanics, which is
part of the reason why I took on the task of revamping the system some time
ago. The new system has not yet been reviewed, and I do not expect it to be
implemented in the near term, but it does address the concerns that you have
mentioned.

The following is all in a proposed stage and has yet to receive approval:

The most significant change will be a conversion to a rank-based system,
allowing for a greater ability to differentiate between those who have
heavily trained, those who have trained consistently, and those who have
dabbled. Professional benefits will still exist, but not to the extent that
they do currently. What this means is that a rogue who chooses to single in
S&H for life will be on a par with non-rogues who double.

When the system is ready to roll in, all creature perception levels will be
altered appropriately. Creatures are currently treated as being 1x/2x/3x
trained, with some fudging being possible. The proposed system will allow us
to rate a creature on a scale of roughly 5-30+, again allowing us to better
differentiate between creature abilities. It is expected that most creatures
(more than half) will be challenging to players 1-1.5x trained. The remaining
creatures will be challenging to the better trained characters.

There are many other modifications that are a part of the revised system,
including:

1. Racial modifiers - currently only applied to some actions.
2. Terrain modifiers - ditto
3. The ability to stay in a group when ambushing/stalking.
4. Rogues will be the premier stalkers, though Rangers will have an edge
while outdoors. This does not mean that the single-trained members of these
classes will be able to hide effectively vs the more perceptive creatures.
If a player wishes to be great at stealth actions, it will be necessary to
train accordingly.

I am aware of the impact that the above changes will have on many players,
and this is why the revised system is currently on hold. Many players may
find that they are unable to hide in front of a creature, thus requiring
them to find an empty room and hide, laying in wait for the creature. There
are tentative plans for modifications to the way that ambush works to allow
for 'surprise', resulting in a reduction in a target's stance. Until such a
modification is ready to roll in, the stealth system will remain on hold.

Warden

Within the next few days the following mods will be rolled in for BCS
creatures:

Spellcasting creatures will have a prep RT of 4-6 seconds, or their natural
speed, whichever is less.

When the creatures cast, they will experience an RT of half their standard
RT, or 3 seconds, whichever is greater.

(With the above two modifications, creatures will still be a far cry short
of casting as effectively as players, but they will be somewhat more
proficient than before.)

Some creatures will no longer parry to a fully defensive stance. Animal
creatures will parry at a maximum of forward stance, while some undead and
golems may not parry at all. These mods are used to simulate either a
complete lack of concern for the creature's own existence and/or the
inability to effectively parry weapons.

Additionally, a bug that forced non-spellcaster creatures into fully
offensive stance for all attacks has been fixed. They will now parry to
whatever stance their threat assessment dictates.

Warden 

<< I understand GMs have alot to do, but how hard can it be? >>

That really depends. That isn't easily answered without knowing what it is
your trying to accomplish. You can look at a hunting area and see what would
be required. The obvious parts are the rooms, and the room descriptions, as
well as the creatures that populate it. The less obvious parts are all the
coding for the creatures as well as any special features the area may have
that may, or may not, be obvious.

Any GM could decide they want to create their own hunting area. All they
have to do is get permission and sell the decision makers on the concept.
Thats the first hurdle. Then comes the next phase, creating the rooms and
items and getting them approved. This takes a lot longer than you might
expect, depending on the area and how good you are at creating the
descriptions. Not everyone can create a dozen rooms of forest, or desert, or
caverns so they all look different and yet fit together well. It can be a
lot more difficult than you might expect when you get a lot of rooms that
aren't all that different. After all, how many different ways can you
describe a room that looks like a desert before your mind just runs out of
ideas?

The hard part would probably be getting any programming done for the area,
which includes any creatures you may want to include. This is a daunting task
if you are not a programmer, because now you have to rely on someone else to
take time out of their schedule to help you on something that could go on for
many months, if not even years for large projects. Keep in mind, something
like this is going to be worked on in your spare time unless it was assigned
to you as a project. So anyone working on it will be doing it in their spare
time in addition to any other projects they've been assigned.

Most code written for areas is fairly minor fortunately, so unless your doing
something unusual, those scripts shouldn't be to hard to get done. The
creatures on the other hand could be a nightmare. Not many GMs can create
creatures, and they take a lot of time to complete. I really couldn't say how
long something like this would take, but if you choose to use existing
creatures it wouldn't be so bad. More than likely they will want you to use
creatures that are at least a little different though. Regardless, the
creatures should fit the type of area you create.

I really couldn't say how long it would take, but it wouldn't be as simple as
it may sound. The time needed to finish probably goes up exponentially the
larger the area you want to create. This is far worse for towns by the way.

Thats all there is to it! If you have a whole lot of time to kill and don't
mind waiting on others to have time to help out, someday you might even
complete the project..., assuming you haven't moved on to other projects or
left before you finish.

GM Altiron

There's been some confusion lately regarding DS calculations against missile
weapons so I thought I'd post some info...

Within GemStone's combat system, we can utilize spell effects that can defend
against pretty much anything. So, any given spell can provide Physical(Melee)
DS, Bolt DS, Various Elemental DS [electricity, heat, etc], Generic TD,
Spirit-based TD, Elemental-based TD, Generic DS, and a host of others.

So in general, just as your Melee DS may not always equal your Bolt DS, the
Ranged DS can be yet a third number. The Illoke Shaman is actually the first
creature that uses standard missile weapon combat [the thrown rocks] in its
attack repertoire (help me out there Krakii). As a result, Warden has pointed
out to me an inconsistency with the Elemental Guard spells and how they're
described in the tomes.

Here is the text from spell 406, Elemental Defense II:
 DURATION: 1 min/level

 +10 to Physical DS

 +10 to spirit warding

 -10 vs Elemental Attacks

 NOTE:
 This spell affords some moderate protection from all attack types.

The inconsistency is that the description enumerates 3 combat attack types,
yet provides a general statement of "protection from all attack types". Which
would lead one to believe that it should include ranged weapons also.

Warden and I tend to agree that it should provide "Generic DS" at this time,
meaning that all combat attack types [melee, ranged, bolt] will get the
spell's bonus. This poses a problem however in that some creatures use the
400 list and such a change would negatively impact players who are trained as
archers. So what we intend to do in the short term is to allow for Generic DS
benefits when cast on a PLAYER, but leave the system as-is when cast on a
CREATURE until we can determine exactly how much of an impact it would be to
change it for all targets.

We'll try to get to this as soon as possible but there's a huge number of
projects being completed this week. If I can find time to sneak it in, you'll
probably see this change in a couple of days. We likely won't address the
creature side of the 400 list until after Simucon.

Banthis

       
Years and years ago when I was a lord but still learning in the ways of the
lands a very famous Lord used to take younger adventurers out hunting.

This person was very good at exp/fame/treasure formula gains. It seems he
knew all the in's and outs of exactly how to maximize learnings. This is
exactly how he used to do it.

So long as each person shares in an equal amount of the damage done to the
creature then all share in the learning. He knew exactly how many hit points
the creatures had, he knew how many players his group had. He would divide
the creatures hit points by number in the party and that was what you were
instructed to aim for +/- a fudge factor. Each of us had a damage limit. If
you in one swing do your damage you stood there while others got their shots
in. Sometimes someone would crit something. This happens and often this
person would whisper to lower/change your stance to reduce the amount you do
in one swing. He was very kind about it and took the time to instruct
everyone on how it worked.. usually in whispers.

If someone wanted to be a single kill basher the hunt would end early and
they would not be invited back on another hunt. Pure and simple. If you can't
be a team player then you were not invited back. I often did my damage with
the first swing and would actually put my weapon away until I ready to attack
the next monster. Nother little trick he taught us all. :)

The point is at no time did I ever learn faster, nor have more fun. I took
more chances than I would be allowed to alone and gained because of it. The
monsters normally did not stand much of a chance with all of us ready to kick
into action in a heartbeat to stun it, harm it, take it out. Were someone
hurt or wounded the others could protect him/her from the monsters before
they were taken out. The more players in the room the lower the chance they
will attack any single target. They do not look for the weak but rather
attack anyone at any time.

He also knew much more than anyone I ever saw about the treasure system. As a
result kills were searched with mathematical statistical averages being
figured out for each person as we hunted. Point being, we found a whole lot
of treasure including a number of GM treasure items. If you weren't good at
finding treasure you simply did not search. You allowed your best searcher to
do it. The treasure value of what we gained far exceded any other hunting I
had ever done before.

 Team hunting promotes RP
 Team hunting increases treasure
 Team hunting increases learning
 Team hunting prevents deaths
 Team hunting prevents decays
 Team hunting is funner
 Team hunting makes you more popular (yep it can. The larger your circle of
  friends the more popular you are. After you earn all the tricks you are able
  to take others out and teach them what you know. Soon you become the well
  regarded leader...much like the person who taught you.)

It wasn't until the hunts with this person that I learned how to use my
stance settings. Everyone seems to go all on or all off. We became very
excited to see who could hit the exact damage split on the nose. So instead
of "pig kills" we went for "split shots" as the target. While you might gain
an instant of recognition as the person who can take everything out in a
single hit you will find others do not like to hunt with you. In which case
you will be very alone. As I got older I had to put my crit weapon away,
then soon I had to put my et'ed weapon away since I was overkilling my hit
points.

Our group had every profession in the game at one point in time or another.
So excuses about but player X is a (insert profession) doesn't hold water.
ANYONE can group hunt with anyone else so long as they learn to work as a
team. Watch your fellow players at work sometime instead of blindly swinging.
Trust me. The game becomes more graphic and enjoyable in your mind if you
don't stare at the RT bar while you hit F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1.

GM Zulkata
 F1= attack/search