The mighty Escaflowne/Drew of Vesper [-V-] was kind enough to let us interview him

Our users submitted their questions and he sent the interview back earlier today

Here's the interview..

1.) Can I PLEASE buy your (Blessed) Longpants?

My double blessed long pants aren’t for sale I’m afraid

2.) How long ago was the Vesper [-V-] guild established?

-V- has been around for approximately 7 years

3.) Approximately how many chars/players does the guild average?

Well the guild roster now consists of only 38 players, some of them being alternate characters of others, its a big drop compared to the 85 odd characters we had last summer. But this winter just gone which i call the 'dead winter' effected alot of the RP guilds on Europa, and the RP playerbase generally took a big hit with alot of players leaving. Here is a screenshot of an event we had last summer:


4.) What is your average play day like?

On average now we get about 5-10 players turning up for regular events, but as you know everyone has RL to consider so it can vary greatly sometimes. The other week we had 12 people turn up for an event, here is a screenshot:


5.) And do you actually get to play versus managing the guild?

Yes i get to play basically all of the time, playing is a big part of managing the guild, i have to be active, get everyone else active, host and lead events reguarly, take screenshots and make reports and so forth

6.) Why is the Gnome cute in Vesper?

Because he’s just so small you can pick him up a squeeze him and he purrs like only a gnome can purr!

7.) Also why can he be so annoying?

Because he left us to go play Lord of the Rings Online!!!

8.) Why can’t anyone beat him?

Because he’s not here to beat anymore

9.) If someone was new to UO and wanting to get into role playing what advice would you give a newbie so to speak?

Well i would give them alot of advice, if they joined Vesper we would take them 'under our wing' teach them how to roleplay, what to and not to do etc. Even if they wasn't in Vesper i would still give them advice: I won't list it all as it would be too long, if you want to contact me for further information my ICQ is 136-016-357. Some peices of advice would include:
Every character should have a Background and personality which will link in with their skills/template and why they are that template and so forth. They will play their characters and act like they would if they had this personality and background in real life.
You should never use abbreviations or smiley faces like: , , WTF, OMG, LOL. You should speak plain or old english (Unless its a guild with a different nationality). You should use the emote command to smile and grin etc, but you shouldn't power emote, you should give the characters chance to react. So an example of what not to do would be: *Punches him in the face and slams him to the ground* Instead it should be *Aims a/trys to punch him in the face and throw him to the floor* so by doing this it gives others a chance to react with something like *dodges* or *Gets punched in the face*.
You can't see through walls.
Don't use magic armor or weapons.
You don't know someones name until you are told it or what guild they belong to unless you find out in game. (So no reading tags and automaticly knowing someones name and guild.)
If someone is in a disguise you don't know its them unless its a really crap disguise and you've seen them before etc.
Thats just a basic guide.

10.) What should they look for in a role playing guide?

Im not sure wether you meant to say guild or you mean a guide. In a guide a roleplayer should look for basically how to roleplay and tips to improve roleplay. What should a roleplayer look for in a guild? Well of course basic things would be activity, fun and friendly people. But beyond that as much as i'd love to convince you to join Vesper, it depends on what YOU want and what type of character you want to roleplay and what theme of guild you want to join. So if you want to roleplay a criminal, a guild that role plays criminals would probaly be best suited like Brigands of the Fort and Vesper Trading Company. If you wanted to roleplay a pirate then the Bucs den guild that roleplays pirates would probaly be best suited. If you want to roleplay a knight then the Duchy of Trinsic may be best suited for you as that is a 'knightly' city. I hope you can see where i was going there. Also different guilds have different guild restrictions/rules. So if you want to Role play a mage then the Guardsmen Militia of Yew don't really accept mages where as Vesper loves its mages. Vesper doesn't allow necromancy because role play wise its an evil magic as dark magic and evil races are banned from Vesper. Ah yes that also brings me around to role playing different races which sort of refers back to your first question as well. You may wish to roleplay a different race such as Drow, Undead or Orcs. When doing this you should roleplay them as they would act if they were real say, so speak their language such. You should really gather background information on the races as a whole to get the idea. Also by playing these races you limit the guilds you can join as alot of guilds don't accept evil races, but there are guilds dedicated to Drow such as F^L (I forget how you spell it), and guilds dedicated to orcs and undead like the Shadow Alliance.

11.) What type of chars should one make?

The type of character you make is completely up to you. What type of character you want to roleplay,its background and which themed guild you want to join with this character greatly impacts on the skills you will choose. Also there is the Rules of Engagment that alot of the RP guilds abide by when fighting eachother can have an impact on the skills you choose as there are restrictions to abilities you can use. Here is a link: http://www.uoforums.com/f1411/new-ru...agement-23045/
Here is Escaflowne's (My main Vesper Character) background as an example:

Escaflowne was born and bred in his hometown of Delucia located in the foreign lost lands. When he was very young his mother Synthiaflowne from the northern savage tribe was slain from an assault launched by the city of dead. For many years the defenders of Delucia and the savage tribe have fought side by side against this undead threat from the north, for both of their survival; even paladins have rallied to the cause and settled in Delucia.
Esca grew up only knowing his father Clarcaflowne who is the owner of the stables at Delucia and a grand beastmaster at that!
Escaflowne followed in his father's footsteps to become a beastmaster and as the eldest child received the family hierloom bearmask which Esca wears to this day and never removes!
Escaflownes first task from many to come to be a great beastmaster was to travel into the caverns of the Delucian volcano and tame a beast! But he did not tame a beast, he tamed two and returned to his father with a pair of hellcats, Battlecat & Panthor; his two most loyal companions which he travels with even today.
When Escaflowne turned 16 he left Delucia behind as he set off on his final test to become a beastmaster. He travelled far and wide through ancient and foreign lands until his journy came to an end on Ice Island. He approached an icy cavern where from within a great white wyrm emerged in all her glory, Aryn the Frostweaver! After what seemed an endless struggle, stretching on for days, Esca finnaly managed to tame the mighty beast and his path of becomming a legendary beastmaster was now over....
Escaflowne was now 18 years of age, wanting to prove his potetial and put his skills to use. He had heard of the fight for freedom occuring in Vesper, and with Delucia being free from the king's grasp; Esca was born free. So his destination was set and the journy taken where he arrived in Vesper to join the might that is the Vesper militia. For many years now has Escaflowne served the militia, heading into his late thirties soon he will be. He has worked his way up the ranks and finnaly he is reaping the reward of being the captain of the Vesper militia.
The name Escaflowne is a foreign name as he reigns from Delucia. But it is really two names in one; Esca Flowne, Flowne is the family name.

As you can gather from this background my character is a tamer, my other character Archaflowne who i play and whom is Escaflowne's brother role play wise joined the paladins stationed at Delucia and trained under them. So from his background his skills are a Chiv macer. Hopefully you can see the link between background and skills.

12.) How do you put up with Gnomes in the guild?

Well we only used to put up with Geronimo until he left for LOTRO, Vesper being a freeport has many races enter the city and sometimes stay such as Elves, Gnomes and dwarves. They are not nescessarily evil races and are accepted although they may be frowned on by the human population within Vesper. But thats the fun of Role Play

13.) What gets guild members kicked out of the guild?

Well a number of things can get someone kicked out of the guild depending on the severity of the problem they have caused. I usually always give my guildmembers at least one warning unless its something very severe. I also try to help them through small problems so that they don't commit them again, as i also received help from the ex GM of Vesper when i caused problems.
Problems can include:
Speaking non role play wise like and going Out of Character in game: Wtf, lol, etc.
Wearing magical equipment around RP areas and in battle. In battle it could be severe depending on the situation, so if someone went to Trinsic in full arties and killed everyone on purpose, straight kick from the guild. Where as if it was just one peice of magical equipment someone had left on by accident it would be a warning.
Running around killing people on sight and on purpose, would probaly result in a straight kick if not a final warning depending on how aware the person was of the rules. (Obviously bandits and such can go around robbing people but they have to give them the choice to fight, pay up or run, so no attacking on sight. Where as Vesper (-V-) is a guardforce mainly, no one should be running around on their own basically PK'ing warred guilds.)
Breaking the Rules of Engagment.
Harrasment and racism etc of an Out of Character level, so like in guildchat towards other members.
There are many different situations that are hard to catergorize, some will result in a straight kick, others will mean for a few warnings to be given and if the problems kept occuring then it would be a kick. Every situation is different and none are ever easy. Each problem requires you to give a firm look and investigation into it to get to the truth. As people will lie to get themselves out of trouble and you don't really know some people until you really know them if yer get what i mean. Its like your job as GM has just gone out the window and now your sherlock holmes, alot of problems require you to take statements from various people and so forth. Every situation is very delicate, it requires alot of attention as you need to make the right decision, you need to look at all the facts and study the case carefully. Its especially hard when your dealing with friends, people you have known for years, it makes decisions very tough. You don't only have to deal with problems within your own guild, but interguild problems involved memebers from two seperate guilds. The way you deal with this can seriously damage relationship status with that guild and relationships between you and their GM, and can also do damage to your image as a GM. A example of a recent serious problem i had to deal with was between two long standing guild members and both very good friends to me, and one was even a member of Vesper Command. I won't give names so lets call them A and B. Basically A lent B 9mil gold when no one else would, after 6-7 months B still hadn't payed the gold back after A asking him plenty of times. So it took me 4 days to investigate and make a decision on the matter. I found out that B had the gold to pay A back on a number of occasions over that period of time and even had the gold to pay him when i was looking into it. After having long chats with both people and even other people, i had a long hard think and came to my decision. I had to kick B out of the guild for what was basically Scamming as he showed no intention of repaying the gold to A. The person i booted had been a friend of mine and a member of Vesper for 3-4 years.
GM'ing an RP guild is sometimes very rewarding but is very hard, and ask any other RP guild GM, it can be very depressing.....

14.) What's the hardest part to setting up a guild event?

Hrmmmm the hardest part to setting up a guild event, tough question alot of parts are hard. I guess the hardest part of it is actually thinking up the idea for the event. I've sat for 2 hours before trying to think up ideas for events. Also other hard parts to setting up guild events is making sure people turn up (Involves alot of spamming on ICQ by me and posts on the forums days before the event). Making sure the event runs smoothly can also be hard sometimes. But yes the hardest part i would think would be thinking up the ideas, as for everything else it can be easier if you are prepared. By prepared i mean giving people plenty of notice and reminders for it, getting any materials for the event in advance and planning what you are going to do . Also its good to have the other RP guilds GM's ICQ's so its easy to contact them to set up interguild events and remain in contact with them to discuss further details etc.
15.) Do all guild events require a background story? (RP)
Most guild events require an RP story background yes, but alot of the time one event with a freshly created background will have lots of other events link/branch off from it following on from that background. Some events don't really need an RP story background such as Training, its just a regular occurance to keep guardsmen in shape. Others could be archery competition, just an event where people from all over can come to compete to win prizes (Thats if its open to anyone). Recently Vesper's current Baron Van Cocidious hosted the first Sosarian Olympic Games, hosted at Vesper and invited everyone from across the land to compete just for a break from all the wars, a nice peaceful event that covered a whole week with games every night of the 7 days. It was a big success and very fun/good event. With 6 teams participating, Vesper won of course *Grins* Heres a link to that thread if you wish to read about the Olympics: Olympic News! - Forums4Games

Right i hope that this will answer all of your questions, if it hasn't than feel free to carrying on asking and i'll try my best to enlighten you further *Smiles*

Heres some pictures of various events we have had in the past:



















One of me proposing



This one is very big as its various screenshots stuck together:
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8598/drag1is7.jpg

Good interview Escaflowne/Drew. Nice to see a RP guild interviewed. Loved the screen captures too.

News item - UOF Interviews Escaflowne.

Great interview Escaflowne,and my characters still miss Vesper

Great screenies and interview

And no mention of me.. pfft

Nice interview.. .and Vesper the guild been around since day 2 of Europa .. which makes it.. hmm 9 years old? (was called FVM (free vesper militia) first).

Twothumb! You old dog you , Twothumb is the Ex GM of Vesper for those that didn't know

That was a awesome interview! I loved the pics too!

Good to see a interview on Vesper!

nice