Old Udos Droxun

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TimeAdept
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by TimeAdept » Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:52 pm

yellowcateyes wrote:
Cortex wrote:All I remember is when I tried playing a drow, every other drow played spoke some form of common-xanalress dialect(before xanalress was added as a language) and I couldn't understand anything.
Xas, shows dossta heart is still that of a kivvil. Dos are naut ready to join a qu'ellar. Llolth tu malla, aluve' jaluk.
oh my god i want to strangle you right now.

Nitro
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Nitro » Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:58 pm

I can't express how happy I am that the usage of drowish words in common text is finally almost completely dead. Making a new character in Udos back then with no prior experience of Drow RP was like walking into a room of people speaking a mix of spanish and english while you only know the english bits.

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Ebonstar
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Ebonstar » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:06 pm

I first came to Arelith because of the working UD and the drow playable. Was instantly caught up in the House mix, and loved it.
Quickly learned to never pick mark of destiny again, as those 10 deaths in the UD dont take long.

went to cordor for a bit but it just didnt feel what I wanted at the time, so went back to the UD after about a month or so. This was all right when the Pit Town era began.

even if the UD forum was highly toxic from what im told, and was even told some of my posts were borderline all those years back, I just let it roll and loved the UD for what it was.

Grunf and I got into tons of trouble, and Nives is still the closest example to a book Drow Priestess imo, that one emote and you have to just change your chair cause you knew she was coming after you for something.
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Norfildor
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Norfildor » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:10 pm

I'm fairly certain that the drow wordplay was not so bad as many of you make it out to be. IMO the greatest challenge for a new player was making sense out of the elaborate system of ranks and social statuses that stretched throughout the city (there was like 14 different ranks a character could have).

But then again, the words "Udos Dro'xun" mean "we survive" in Xanalress. Adaptation to extreme and alien environment was a part of the experience.

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Cortex
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Cortex » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:11 pm

Yes it was that bad.
:)

Gods_Kill_People
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Gods_Kill_People » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:15 pm

As someone that has had someone walk up to me, using those words without the language set by the system, trying to learn their words and understand it and be expected to respond to it as if you always knew it as a drow, Ust will go see the Ulath'taller now and xas, dosst will do so now.

Yeah...I had no idea who the heck I was gonna be speaking to. Or what a Ulath'taller actually was. Yes the players are willing to explain it, but if it was like that 24/7 in the past, I wouldn't wanna have to learn a whole new language just to play.

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flower
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by flower » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:25 pm

A common player is able to grasp up on these few words after several hours playing.

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Norfildor
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Norfildor » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:41 pm

It really was not that bad, it's just the handful of players who had an awkward experience because of a few drow words have been particularly vocal about it (even after six years!).

The words "Balor", "Erinyes" or "Yugoloth" are not exactly english either. What is the issue with adding "Ulath'tallar" to the list of setting specific terms?

TBH, I was able to pick up all of the essential and frequently used words during the first gameplay session. Good players were able to phrase the sentences so that the context would hint upon the meaning regardless of whether you knew that exact word or not.
Personally, I have much harder time understanding characters portrayed to have a lisp or some other speech impairment.

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flower
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by flower » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:57 pm

Well everywhere else it was common and I have never seen anyone to complain. Out of all games and servers, only on Arelith some people make it a big drama...

Pit Town was a disaster. You made a new character and within two weeks all people around told you that DM team ignores Ud, to not hold any hopes and so on. People were leaving en masse. No city to play with, no storylinie either, when someone began to act and do something for others, half people refused to join calling it lost case...once per time was soemthing added...bridges...town hall..people immedietly jumped into play eager to play to find out it was all for many months to come, and quit again.

Well it is past now, lets not dwell on it :D

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Hunter548
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Hunter548 » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:06 pm

Norfildor wrote:I'm fairly certain that the drow wordplay was not so bad as many of you make it out to be. IMO the greatest challenge for a new player was making sense out of the elaborate system of ranks and social statuses that stretched throughout the city (there was like 14 different ranks a character could have).

But then again, the words "Udos Dro'xun" mean "we survive" in Xanalress. Adaptation to extreme and alien environment was a part of the experience.
My first day on the server I got bashed by a pair of priestesses for now bowing and not responding after they addressed me in a full paragraph of Xanalress.

Yes, it absolutely was that bad.
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You're right. Participating in the forums was a mistake. Won't do this again.
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Norfildor
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Norfildor » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:16 pm

My first day on the server my character got bashed and robbed by a pair of ruffians in Cordorian Sewers. Should I claim that Cordor is "that bad" as its RP revolves around giving your character's hard earned gold to strangers just because they happen to be holding a crossbow?
Last edited by Norfildor on Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Cortex
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Cortex » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:26 pm

The word "balor" brings more awkward memories than they should when regarding Udos.
:)

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Hunter548
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Hunter548 » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:27 pm

One's an IC action that you have the option to play around. The other's predicated on OOC knowledge and was generally vastly more widely accepted by the community at the time. These two weren't the only ones running around spouting full sentences or paragraphs of Xanalress, expecting everyone else to understand them.
UilliamNebel wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:24 pm
You're right. Participating in the forums was a mistake. Won't do this again.
Anime Sword Fighter wrote: I have seen far too many miniskirt anime slave girls.

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Norfildor
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Norfildor » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:31 pm

Anyway, this thread seems to be derailing at this point. Udos existed for almost 6 years (?). Over the course of this time hundreds of players made and played their characters there. Because of its polarizing nature, some of them had positive and others negative experiences.
People in general are more likely to complain and nitpick than express positive feedback, so as expected this thread is at the risk of becoming a salt magnet. One way or another, this will hardly answer the OPs questions.

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LichBait
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by LichBait » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:33 pm

I don't miss drow-nglish at all.

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Nitro
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Nitro » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:36 pm

Even years after getting Xanalress in the language system there were still a lot of drow running around sprinkling xanalress words in common like candy. Even today, despite the fact that we have full language support I still see "Xas Bwael" popping up now and then.

I think Udos stood out a lot from the rest of the server back in the day because you had to have an OOC grasp on drow society before making a character there. Anyone could roll up a character in Cordor with minimal knowledge of humans in Faerun, hardly the end of the world if you didn't know who Cyric was, some helpful soul would explain. In Udos though, it was like entering a shark tank if you weren't already acquainted, a pretend language to learn, social structures where you could outright get killed for failing to do a bowing emote to the appropriate people and the expectation to know a number of drowish ranks for the temple, melee magthere and Sorcere.

It may have stood as the height of Drow RP once upon a time, but it was extremely unapproachable.

CoastalSurf
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by CoastalSurf » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:47 pm

can we lock this? its irrelevant

Grunf
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Grunf » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:52 pm

To return to the main question UD was never easy place to RP, everyone who involves into such RP should know that in one moment you can have everything but in another you can lose everything! My toon lost his entire house and as witness of burtal murder of his Matron went to exile, lived for RL 3-4 months in Stinger Caves before turning to Pit, but damn was it epic, also to meet all those "Elder" characters who were only part of legends of "the old Udos", everything about them was so epic, knowledge and lore, you could really feel the underdark. Its something that might need more time in order for Andunor to have.

Udos also had politics as Andunor has now but there was more to it, more cunning play, from the outside did look boring but within was very scary. I think that "feeling" is what people miss the most, not the Udos, players simply pulled the best out of each other.

I actually enjoyed this thread, got me to check some toons i have. :roll:

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Xanos950
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Xanos950 » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:05 pm

Up to the mods i guess.. but don't think it needs a locking just yet. It's interesting to see all these old accounts surfacing and to read various opinions and tales. Probably also a nostalgia magnet for some.

Also now know why some people still to this day write in bits and pieces of drow-nglish.

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Norfildor
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Norfildor » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:33 pm

TBH, my greatest beef with Udos was the way how priestesses of Lolth had been automatically given power over other drow characters as early as upon the character creation.

Unfamiliarity with the OOC drow trivia would not have been such an issue for many players if cheesballers had not been able to simply roll up a [drow+female+cleric] and proceed to amuse themselves at the expense of everyone else (very often without having an much knowledge of the drow trivia themselves either!).


That part was admittedly unfortunate, but I still insist on Udos being ultimately a fun place, especially if you enjoyed interactions between characters who were constantly plotting to kill and humiliate each other in the most convoluted and elaborate way imaginable.

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Dalek Caan
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Dalek Caan » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:52 pm

It was... messy. I played a drow quite actively 5 or 6 years ago. Activity was good enough, the factions (Melee Magthere, Sorcere and the temple folk) had a solid base and a fair deal of conflict. Drow, in my experience, were much more subtle back then.

Before that drow worked a lot with the abyssals, who I happened to be a part of for more years than I like to admit. Good stuff.

Sab1
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Sab1 » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:15 pm

Anyone who complains about being murdered in Udos early on clearly doesn't remember the Cordor hellball days or the someone dragging a super powerful monsters into wharftown days. Plenty of jerks on the surface and UD. My first experience on the surface I was murdered and bashed while doing the speedy errands, no rp nothing, just a tell saying my guy doesn't leave witnesses alive. I honestly never mined someone tossing in a drow word here or there. The biggest issue I ever saw was people who didn't understand drow and thought basicly they would be playing an evil elf. Udos came a as a big shock to them.

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Tyrantos
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Tyrantos » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:22 pm

Made a drow back in the day, when Udos was a thing. Got killed for not knowing the lingo or bowing for a female. (I was a very slow typer back then.)

But then again. First thing that happened when I made a charather on Cordor was that I was approched by a mage that tried to get my attention, and when I ignored him he threw a greater ruin at me. So there's that.

But my general feeling of the underdark way back (And still) Is that its filled with alot of toxicity. Hidden or not, I belive its still there.

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Durvayas
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by Durvayas » Thu Oct 12, 2017 10:19 pm

The server has plenty of people who exhibit toxic behavior in general. Its only slightly more noticeable in the UD because its one settlement and the population density is higher. Per capita, its no different than the rest of the server, the problem people just arent spread out over five or six settlements as they are on the surface.

But on the OP's topic, the udos magthere was far and away the best academy RP ive ever had. Its sad that we can't replicate that in Andunor due to there being no suitable venue for it. We could probably revive it easily if we had a designated magthere building in the table or elsewhere in the city, like above the rothe caves.

I also share the sentiment that drow used to be more subtle. Perhaps if we went back to lynching people who fight publicly in the streets, we could bring that back.
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gilescorey
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Re: Old Udos Droxun

Post by gilescorey » Thu Oct 12, 2017 11:01 pm

There's the Warrior's Hall in the Colosseum

But honestly I don't think changing the name of the area from "Warrior's Hall" to "Melee-Magthere" is going to suddenly cause an influx of people who want to do melee-magthere RP.

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