Hello Amians!

This is an idea I've been entertaining for a while now in the hopes of dealing with server conflict issues. Forgive me if it's been brought up before; my forum search-bar skills may have been lacking.

I've typed and retyped a lengthy essay on this, but it's unnecessary. I'll briefly go over a few points that tie into my conclusion.

Players attached to characters have almost complete control over what happens to their characters.

This is understandable, but this level of personal control means it's difficult for players who have a more 'anything goes' attitude towards their character's life/development to feel like they're playing on the same board. Some people want to take the cake and eat it without putting their hands in the oven, and if they get burned they get unfairly angry. Some people are more willing to accept the pain, (or enjoy it... weirdoes ) and while this is an attitude I'd really prefer to cultivate, I don't believe it's going to happen.



Reliance on DM possession and intervention in roleplay.

I remember there being a lot of discussion a while back about trying to ease this pressure on the DM team, a sort of 'player power' initiative, if you will, that encourages us to act more like faction leaders in that we give other players tasks and stories to follow that don't need DM oversight. In essence, we become mini DMs ourselves.

So tying these two together, the idea struck me that it'd be nice to have throwaway characters who can operate as the faceless mooks within a faction. Characters who, when you log into, you don't get finicky about perma-death or XP/h or gear stratting, because they're characters you deliberately made to be the supporting cast. To let the bad guy feel like the villain. To let the hero catch the thief. That kind of thing.

This might operate outside of the current faction per character rules, but I think that we, as mature adults, should be able to take this more altruistic view towards our server and people's enjoyment of it.

I'd be more than happy to roll up these kinds of characters to act as a regular Living Guardsman being ordered by the Tarkuulians to get up to something dodgy in another factions's area because if that character gets caught, imprisoned, trialed and executed, I'd love it. I know that because I washed my hands of my attachment before I'd even begun, it'd be me wholeheartedly enjoying the ride, consequences be damned.

It would be a simple method of putting plot advancement and factional conflicts above the personal sentiments that you have for a character. Of not getting hot and bothered by failure or situations you're not so happy with because your investment was relatively minimal.

I know it's an unusual and convoluted kind of solution, but I believe that if we could really take a more critical view of our character's purposes and lives and tried to fill in RP gaps ourselves as a playerbase, we could find a lot more enjoyment in things.

There are obvious problems with the idea; encouraging reckless roleplay (as in, because your character is expendable you treat them as such by being overly aggressive, foolish, etc) that could potentially damage budding storylines to the detriment of the rest of the cast, concerns about cross-faction metagaming, issues with mechanical strength vs supposed strength, that kind of thing.

But if we step back, rolled one or two Regular Johns for the sake of the server who can be called upon by DMs or players in need, I think we'd really benefit. Characters who you're more than willing to see sacrificed on the altar to the RP gods. Professional detachment is something I've really tried to cultivate over my time here, and it's something I'd like to see more of on the server in one form or another.

It's something that I've already seen to a certain extent, for example when the Drow need a sacrificial victim and somebody makes a character for that. But to clarify, I'm just trying to encourage people to provide character in supporting roles who don't need the spotlight and are OK with that, temporary throwaways who can provide a richer backdrop.

I'd see it working maybe as a request made by someone, like a director needing extras:

'Tarkuul Needs Unwilling Willing Victims for Gruesome Zombification Excercise'
'Cordor Needs Mob of Unruly Commoners to Unrest, Publically'
'Beer Tasting Competition Needs Angry Brawlers'
'Inter-Factional Conflict needs Combatants'
'Fort Wiltun needs Fatherly Janitor'

They're scenarios where your characters come in with an express purpose, but ideally allow the player enough individual liberty with regards to the direction of the event to not feel like they're just ticking along to a predetermined conclusion. The potential for developing the character beyond that initial event is still there, but the idea is to get these characters to fill in roles where serious consequences may befall them, where they may even die for the greater glory of the server story.

Ah yes, We need a Morgan Freeman janitor to help us in our nights of indecision. I approve.

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MuseReader: Aiseth Nosdivan- Master Enchantress

Unban me and I'd be happy to participate.

Regards
Monkey Business

This is a nice idea.

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Aernoud Van Brabant: Heir of the House. Proprietor of the Beer Wagon.
"Go to the Mayfields, have a pint, and wait for this to blow over."
Aurelius: Sunmaster of Amaunator. Contemplative. Aspirant to Transcendance.
"Sol Invictus"

Current atmosphere dissuades me from leveling one character that i will play full time let alone 5 for servers needs.good idea but amia doesnt care for alts

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bad man

OpenTheRift: they'd most likely be characters you wouldn't need to level up, though. Levelling = time investment with the character = more likely to become attached or irritated when said character dies. It's more like 'roll character -> get into RP area -> RP happens -> character might die/character doesn't die -> character can now retire forever should they wish, or make a few cameos should the plot require it.'

I'm still quite enthusiastic about this idea, so I'd be keen to hear more peoples' views. I feel like the best way to test it out would be to actually launch a 'casting call' thread like I suggested before, so I may soon launch one if an appropriate situation comes up for my current character.

I plan on doing something sort of similar to this with a character I'm considering. It won't be tied to any current faction, but I certainly have no intention of him living a long and lovely life.

That said, all of my characters are always available for permadeath, as long as it isn't just from random PvP or some powerhungry player wanting to dictate what happens to everyone else. Death is good, y'all, haven't you ever read Deadpool? She's hot, too!

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Profiles: DakoDako & ElWacko

Characters: Currently trying my best to stick to Beridoc Brushgale