Bill

Howdy everyone, Over the last month, we've been gathering and reviewing player feedback from discussions held here, here, and here. Both staff and management have taken in your input, and now we're acting on it. Despite the challenges we’ve faced, one thing remains unchanged: our commitment to this community. After nearly two years of South Tahoma, we’re still fully motivated to build a fair and exciting text-based roleplay experience. And today, we’ve got some exciting news to share: New Framework We’re excited to announce that South Tahoma will be transitioning to a new, custom-built framework: RedM Roleplay. Thanks to Skully, the original creator of this framework, STRP has been granted exclusive access to the codebase. As Skully steps away to pursue new projects, he’s entrusted South Tahoma to carry the torch and bring his vision to life. We're happy to take on this project and offer something new to our players. This new framework will overhaul nearly all of our core systems, including Characters, Inventory, Factions, Businesses, Activities and much more. Some of you may have already seen a preview of the framework in this video which highlights some of the new features in action. That said, the framework is not yet complete. There are still systems to finish, bugs to fix, and custom scripts to migrate from VORP. To keep everyone in the loop, we’ve created a roadmap to track our progress. And if you’d like to get involved, you’re welcome to join our testing team by grabbing the tester role here. Here's our roadmap. (This roadmap doesn’t include specific timelines as we want to stay flexible and prioritize quality over speed. We'll keep everyone updated and include a timeline as we make progress in each area) Map & Whitelisting Changes While assessing our whitelisting and application processes, we noticed a need for accessibility. We intend to eventually translate many of these systems to in game, but for now we've got them moved to a discord ticket bot system for added convenience. This'll help shorten the time necessary to process and review applications. Along with the changes of how we do the whitelist application, we've shifted to making the whitelist system we're anticipating to see in the framework shift, splitting them now into three categories: Traits: Whitelists involving your character's skills and knowledge. Properties: Whitelists involving owning property. This will be your conventional "Job", and where you're employed will tie to the paycheck. Faction: Dealing with groups of people with a common goal. Leadership positions that require whitelists fall into this. You may notice in the new whitelisting system several locations back east on the map. Though we realize this isn't the silver bullet for fixing server population, bringing the variety of locales and opportunities liberates more roleplay concepts. So, in 2 weeks we plan to open the remainder of the map. This gives us time to ensure script support extends to the towns of Valentine, Rhodes, and their surrounding countrysides. It also allows for players to plan for and apply for crucial whitelists in those regions. To alleviate any thinning of playerbase, we wish to highlight the use of our LFRP channel in discord as well as our /setblip feature to alert people to your whereabouts to help find and foster roleplay. We plan to have a system synced between the discord and an in game blip command by the time the map is opened, so keep your eyes peeled for that! Rule Changes In an effort to put a focus on roleplay first over game mechanics when it comes to confrontations, we've made several modifications to the rules. These changes were brought about from hearing concerns as well as possible solutions from the community, attempting to remain fair with our sights focused on fostering roleplay. They are being introduced as of this announcement: Section Change 2.0 Courtesy Added 2.6: Roleplay First You should always seek to provide thorough roleplay in any situation; robbing scenarios especially. Example of Rulebreak: You hold up a player on the trail, tie them up, and begin looking through their inventory while giving the bare minimum roleplay that basically leaves them there without any real roleplay experience. 8.0 Robbery Rules Added 8.1.2: Robbery Restrictions - It is forbidden to steal more than $50 from a player. - It is forbidden to (rob) wipe out a player's inventory with little to no roleplay, or probable cause. 10.0 Posse Limits Changes: Unofficial Illegal, Criminal & Hostile Posses - Limited to Five players. Official Illegal, Criminal & Other Faction Posses - Limited to Seven players. Law Enforcement & Military Posses - Limited to Five players. 12.0 CK Rules Reworded 12.1: Character Kills & Dead or Alive Bounties A 'Dead or Alive' bounty is issued when a character commits a crime severe enough to be listed by LEOs and bounty hunters. A character may be CK’d if: - You are the target of a DOA bounty. - You are chasing a DOA bounty on your own. - If responding to a crime they just committed: you are not liable. - If hunting them after a sighting with no recent crime: you are liable. - You are initiating lawful RP against the DOA bounty. This applies when riding in a posse with lawmen under the above circumstances. The execution must be done by the DOA bounty for a valid CK. And as a reminder from our earlier announcement, Roleplay Quality Management (RPQM) is now a shared responsibility across the entire Staff Team, rather than a dedicated subteam. Our focus is shifting toward a more "Hollywood Western" approach, prioritizing stylized storytelling over strict historical accuracy. Players come here to portray bold, compelling characters in a romanticized version of the wild frontier, and we want to support, not limit that creativity. That said, if you come across something that feels immersion-breaking or out of place, please use the ⁠following discord channel in ⁠South Tahoma Roleplay⁠ discord to submit a ticket about RP quality concerns. We’re also considering retiring the RPQM forum section in favor of handling all such matters through tickets. As long as RPQM remains a supportive process, not an overbearing one, we’re confident this system will serve everyone better. F.A.Q Will the new framework mean we will lose our characters? No. You wont lose your characters progress once we move over to the new framework. How can I help test out the new framework? Make sure you grab the tester role from the STRP discord, we will notify you when testing is available. Do you have an estimated date when the new framework will be ready? We will update the roadmap with a timeline/date soon.

Accepted.

Will create a community poll to vote on this.

Accepted.

MANAGEMENT CHANGES As we step into the next chapter of South Tahoma, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to @Bailey and @Karner for the immense dedication and hard work they've put into building this community from the ground up. Both vital in shaping South Tahoma into the thriving, dynamic roleplay environment we all enjoy today. They’ve truly gone above and beyond, and we are beyond thankful for everything they’ve done. Their legacy will continue to inspire us as we grow. With that said, we're thrilled to announce two well-deserved promotions within our management team. @MEATLOAF and @MiaMika have both been promoted to Community Managers. Their experience, passion and dedication to fostering a positive and better environment within South Tahoma have been nothing short of incredible. In addition, @Blueice is stepping into the role of Lead Developer. In terms of development, progress will continue as planned, with both @Blueice and myself focused on fixing bugs and creating new systems and features for the server. Thanks to the strong foundation that @Karner built and everything he's taught us, the development process has become much more streamlined and efficient. Karner’s work on organizing the project on GitHub and implementing a forking system has made it easier for us to collaborate, track changes, and manage updates. This structure has greatly improved our workflow, allowing us to move forward with development more effectively than ever before. We’re excited about the improvements we’re working on and look forward to rolling out new features for the community. MOVING FORWARD As we move forward, we want to introduce some new changes to the community. One of our key focuses is making player-created events a more central and impactful part of our story. This is something we’ve discussed in the past before the hard reset, and now we’re ready to implement it. From now on, major events hosted by players will have a stronger influence on the server lore. These events will shape the world around you in meaningful ways, creating a more immersive experience for everyone involved. Additionally, we’re making changes to player-owned businesses. Many of you have asked for more interaction and impact with businesses in the community, and we’re happy to share that we’ve begun developing a business notification system. This system will alert players in-game when a business is opening, but we’re still discussing whether these notifications should be localized to specific areas or be sent globally across the server (Yes, there will be a command to toggle them from appearing). We’re also considering expanding this system to include notifications for other types of events, including /setblip actions, allowing for more flexibility in how these events are communicated through in-game chat. We’re also introducing a feature that will allow player-owned businesses to create custom items from existing in-game items. This means that businesses will be able to give unique names and descriptions to items they sell. Imagine a saloon crafting custom brews, a general store selling handmade goods, or a gunsmith creating specialized firearms. This will give businesses the opportunity to offer unique products, adding more depth to the economy and roleplay opportunities within the server. We're also planning on adding some new perks to our donation packages, such as custom mask ID's, custom /blockpm messages, and more... These changes are just the beginning, and we will have some very exciting news in the upcoming month regarding development. CIVILITY REMINDER I want to take a moment to address why we’ve decided to remove the #general channel in Discord. As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, we’re committed to ensuring South Tahoma remains a respectful and welcoming space for everyone. With another rise in behaviors such as dogpiling, targeted harassment, and excessive shitposting in our Discord channels. This kind of conduct is detrimental to the atmosphere and discourages both new and existing players from engaging with the community. There’s a significant difference between friendly, playful banter and actions that push people away or make them feel unwelcome. Given these concerns, #general will remain closed for the time being as we work to cultivate a more positive, respectful environment. Going forward, we’ll be enforcing stricter moderation measures, including more frequent timeouts, mutes, and harsher penalties for repeated offenses of this kind of behaviour. And remember, if you have any issues with staff members then we encourage you to post a staff report. Remember only management has access to viewing these reports to ensure confidentiality.

Many valid points made in this thread. Balancing outlaw RP and passive RP is definitely a difficult challenge, but it’s crucial for the overall health of the server. Both sides need to coexist and complement each other—one can’t thrive at the expense of the other. I agree that the toxic side of elitism on either side is harmful to the community, and it’s something we’ve all been guilty of at times, especially with so many players coming from different styles of roleplay such as SA-MP, Conan, GTA-W, World of Warcraft, etc. As you said, it's all about finding that balance. We try and maintain a system where everyone—whether they're in a gang or running a ranch—feels like they can contribute to the overall story. We can’t have the whole server dominated by one side, but we also can’t stifle creativity or RP by punishing one group too harshly. The solution lies in fostering a community where respect and collaboration are key, and people come together rather than tear each other apart at the slightest disagreement. This is a problem we've ran into before with a large group of players not getting the desired outcome, and instead of moving on and continuing their characters, they begin spreading toxicity and creating an unwelcoming environment to both existing and new players. (One of the main reasons #general has been removed). This is a challenge that isn’t just for the staff to handle—it’s something we all need to come together and work on as a community. I'll be posting a newsletter this weekend answering many of the questions made here and the direction we're going in.

Accepted.

Welcome!

Currently working on this, players will be able to open/close business and it will notify all players in a radius around them (To avoid it being a global notification).

I love Kirby

Howdy, South Tahomies. Well, it's been 83 days since our last Newsletter - so somebody must be slacking (it's definitely not me). The truth of the matter is that South Tahoma RP has been on quite the rollercoaster since our previous newsletter, and there's some exciting things on the horizon. We've completed the initial stages of our development turnaround, allowing for our lovely developer team to have a proper workflow and organised workspace; all headed by freshly minted Lead Developer @Karner, who has been absolutely instrumental in this process. We'll go into some more thorough detail about the chages this later on. Additionally, we've seen New Austin garner some support and interest, the Carcano Rifle & Rolling Block Rifle removal, the introduction of a new railway script, and an absolute plethora of bug fixes that have been plaguing the server for quite some time. As well as all that lovely stuff, it just happens to be our Anniversary real soon... So without any further adu, let's get into this. Well, folks - we made it! Later this month, specifically June 16th, South Tahoma Roleplay will be celebrating it's one year anniversary. Since our launch, we've had over 5,800 Whitelists to the project, we've seen an abundance of staff and players come and go, we've seen immense progress on the development side of things as the project finds its footing, and of course - we've seen some incredible roleplay from you guys. It's been quite the journey over the course of the last year, and of course - not without it's difficulties. Way back when, Bill & Co. were taking a huge gamble by developing a text roleplay project while the space was already preoccupied; but through determination, a metric tonne of dedicated hours and manpower, and a team of likeminded individuals who saw a passion project and wanted to forge it into the premier space for Red Dead Redemption text roleplay, here we are now. We've had some bumps in the road in about every arena you can image - rules, staff, management, decisions, changes, development - you name it, we've probably tackled it; but ultimately, we're immensley proud of the project and how far we've come since last year. We'll continue at it, working at everything we can, and striving to maintain our place as the top spot for text roleplay in this space. While we can't promise you perfection, we'll ensure we're doing our best to achieve a friendly, fun & safe roleplaying space for y'all! Cheers to South Tahoma! 40% OFF TRAILBLAZER PACKAGES, USE CODE "ANNIVERSARY" As a thank you to our lovely community, we're offering 40% Off our Trailblazer package, which you can grab on our shiny new Tebex page, listed just below. This donation package allows you to grab the Trailblazer & Contributor Discord role, some second chance gold if you want to make some last minute adjustments, access to exclusive pets - the entire range, including birds, dogs and critters, access to the various hot air baloons around the map, and a custom P.O. box for your incoming and outgoing telegraphs! GRAB A TRAILBLAZERPACKAGE HERE Please note that all donation packages attract a Tebex Tax, and are on amonthly subscription basis. Need help cancelling? Open a ticket! BUG FIXES It's only right that we open up this newsletter with the bug fixes that @Karner & company have been working tirelessly towards over the course of the last few weeks. We've even managed to tackle some long-standing bugs that have been a pain in our backside for months on end. You can find a full list of everything we've tackled in our server changelog, if you wish. Karner has asked us to publish a little something-something from the Development corner of the project to the community, too, so do have a read of this as well! We're very thankful to the manpower that Karner has taken and put into South Tahoma Roleplay, and we look forward to what the future holds! "Hey guys, I want to throw a big thank you for everyone for submitting bug tickets and being patient with the development team. Between config and balance changes from @Bailey and @MEATLOAF; furniture and mapping additions from @Dark_Knight; and UI improvements from @Bill and general bug fixing and development input from the team we've managed to form quite a good team cohesion which will hopefully bear more fruit in the near future. I want to be transparent about the near future. We are working on what's called a hardening period. This is where we focus on bug fixes and improving existing code to be a stronger foundation for future features. New features will come but we are going to be a bit more careful with their implementation. This may be through a stricter versioning system or through testing scripts with a small dedicated testing team." - KARNER Fixed: Issue with teeth not appearing as they should be. Fixed: a multitude of typos on the titles and descriptions menu's across the server. Fixed: Bandages. They are now functional. Fixed: Issue where players could intermittently use the gunslinger duel wield permissions. Fixed: Issue where horses would not flee correctly when entering & existing interiors. Fixed: Issue where the wheel repair minigame images were not loading correctly. Fixed: Issue where the horseshoe fixing minigame images were not loading correctly. Fixed: Issue where players could inject HTML into the chatbox. Fixed: /cme, /cmelong, & /my now populate the masked name as intended. Fixed: Doctor's can now access the Doctor's wagon. Fixed: Fence's being able to craft smoke bombs. Fixed: Various cameras for Tailors, Makeup & Second Chance across the map. Fixed: Pinboards now populate from the latest post, rather than the oldest. Fixed: Mining & Lumber wagons now are fix for purpose, and are better-for-purpose than a normal wagon via storage. Fixed: Minor issues with the emote wheel & clothing options in the F6 menu. Fixed: /myhours now populates hours, not minutes. Fixed: Issue where if you logged out within a specific timeframe without logging back in your character's spawn position would be that of the character selection screen. Fixed: Issue where you couldn't refill a weapon slot after logging out. You can also check out the server github webhook, for a full list of changes since our last newsletter! GOODBYE, CARCANO RIFLE & ROLLING BLOCK RIFLE In what we are sure will be a controversial move, the Senior Administration of STRP have made the decision to remove the Carcano Rifle and Rolling Block Rifle from our server entirely. For months, we have attempted to balance these weapons; but the unfortunate reality is that RedM only allows us to control certain aspects of a weapon's performance - and the traits of the CR/RBR that we wanted to tackle, we simply could not. As a result, as of 31st May 2024, the weapons have been removed. You can refund your CR/RBR at ingame blips called Weapon Disposal Point for a refund - please note this will only refund the stock price, and will not refund any customisation elements. The weapon is now unequippable, and just incase anybody slides past that; it also does 0.01% of the damage it used to do! At long last, we've finally updated our Rail script. With this, players have the potential to buy and resell trainers, a bespoke announcement system for the railway company is here; and members of the railway faction can upgrade, assign, manage coal & water, maintain, and travel with much more user accessibility. You can now control the speed and direction of your train, utilising cruise control; and even switch direction if you intend to travel eastbound or westbound. Most of all, this new script comes with missions, in the form of deliveries; the maintanance of the tracks and transporting NPC's from point A to B. Finally, in what is perhaps the most important element, trains are now fully optimized, and networked; meaning there should be a lot less latency and sync issues for all those involved! We've completely revamped the way food & drink works in South Tahoma roleplay, with the addition of the cook book. This new crafting book contains over 50+ recipes, and we've coupled it along with redesigning some of the values that your character will receive upon consuming these scrumptious goods. You'll now find that more complex recipes are more beneficial to your wellbeing, and may come with more 'charges', meaning you can chomp on them more than once. We've added a list of just some of the items we've added below! Drinks: Moonshine, Orange Juice, Wine, Brandy, Cognac, Mead, Cider & more! Food: Caramel Bar, Canitas, Chowder, Corned Beef & Cabbage, Pancakes, Fish Fillet, Doughnuts, Hamburger & more! Get yourself in game, and go find the rest! HORSE METABOLISM + NEW HORSE COATS Once again, thanks to @MEATLOAF, another 18 horse coats join the frey, along with a huge overhaul of the horse metabolism system; which is new to South Tahoma Roleplay. Have you ever wondered why your horse can make it from New Austin to Annesburg, and not really care much about the journey? Well, it's because we've been too nice to you - that's why! Horses will now get hungry and thirsty, and it's your job to keep them tended to - or you'll have to suffer the consequences of your horse either falling ill, or quite literally falling from underneath you. Keep an eye on your horse's wellbeing meters using the above interface! OUTFITS We've introduced two new outfit packs, courtesy of SireVLC, an external RedM developer & modder; which have added over 1,600 outfits for those who need some help with their 1900's fashion. You can access these outfit packs by using /outfitsmale and /outfitsfemale respectively. Remember, there's an abundance of other outfit packs too, including: /outfitsArmy, /outfitsDoctor, /outfitsGuarma, /outfitsSuits, /outfitsDresses, /outfitsPonchos, /outfitsMining, /outfitsLaw, /outfitsMexicans, /outfitsMob, /outfitsNative MLO's It's been a while! We've introduced some new MLO's in roleplay hotspots that allow players to interact with the world a little more. For those who don't know, an MLO is essentially a modded file that opens up a building that was previously just a doorway that your character would shamelessly faceplant. The following MLO's have since been added: Saint Denis Courthouse Tumbleweed STAFF UPDATE & PROMOTIONS As of this writing, the South Tahoma Staff Team have powered their way through 1,378 Whitelisted Job Applications and over 3,852 Discord Tickets. For a small team, we're excruciatingly proud of our staff for the willpower and sometimes sheer grit it requires to get through the day of ticket upon ticket upon ticket. Of course, that's not even counting care packages, in-game reports, heists & schemes, appeals and everything else too. A firm shoutout goes to the entire staff team for continuing to help run the show and commiting hours of tireless manpower to our little project. It's often said that Administration in an online video game is one of the most thankless roles, so we want to ensure that y'all receive a "thank you" from Management, at the very least. With that, let's crack on. Welcoming the following members to the Support Team: @kingmaker @Nadler @sheesh Be advised that Staff Applications are OPEN, if you're looking to be part of the team! See HERE! Congratulations to the following Staff members on their promotions: @Fowler promoted from General Administrator to Senior Administrator Fowler has been a member of South Tahoma Roleplay since day one, and since then, has worked tirelessly to balance an extremely demanding IRL work schedule with our project. Since returning to his staff duties full time, he has dedicated a surplus of his little free time to involving himself in reports, tickets and discussions, often without being asked to do so. His vigilant effort into the historics of 1900 and attitude towards nailing tickets in a timely manner has not gone unnoticed, and as such; we thank him for his efforts, and wish him well in this new role. @Bobocrunch promoted from Support Team to Junior Administrator @Koko promoted from Support Team to Junior Administrator @BebopMonk promoted from Junior Administrator to General Administrator @Vulcenus promoted from Junior Administrator to General Administrator @ToyYoda promoted from Junior Administrator to General Administrator MISCELLANEOUS ADDITIONS EVERYBODY DANCE NOW We've introduced a brand new script which actually lets you dance with another player, instead of both of the players in question trying to coordinace their dance emotes. You can initiate this dance by highlighting a player, and inviting them to dance with you. /CHANGECHAR Long awaited, you can now /changechar to bring yourself back to the character selection screen instead of having to quit out of the entirety of RedM, only to log back in to select a new character. This is an experimental feature; so please do report any bug you come across and we'll be sure to tackle them when we can. ANIMATIONS Thanks to @Dark_Knight, a tonne of animations have been added to the server. You'll have to brave the server changelog for a full list of changes, but here are two of the most recent ones! MINIGAMES You can now use /rps to play rock, paper, scissors - as well as using /rolldice [1-4] to roll some D6's! We've taken the liberty of showing you the results of your throw, too! OTHER Developer Applications Those rare diamonds that are able and willing to have a hand in the development of the South Tahoma Roleplay project now have the availability to do so. If you fancy your hand at LUA or JAVA, you can apply for our development team - we'd be happy to have you. Staff Applications We're on the hunt for dedicated individuals who can work in a team, and have a passion to take South Tahoma Roleplay to the next level. Bring your ideas out of the yapping headquarters of #general and into #staff-chat and apply for our staff team. SCREENSHOT SHOWCASE Warm regards, Community Management

Welcome!

Welcome boludo!

Welcome!

Jinshe and I are currently working on the Criminal Update in our roadmap, this will also introduce more features for criminal roleplayers such as Bank Heists, Burglaries in player homes, Wagon/Horse stealing and selling. We're working on the new bounty hunter script that will include a bigger variety of PVE bounty hunter missions and player-made bounties that can be posted by sheriffs, some harder than others that will offer a larger reward, we also have gang outposts that will come after the bounty hunting update, gang outposts will be accessible by all players and the objective is to clear the group of criminals that are occupying the area, once cleared out you can loot it.