OOC: RP writing, new guild, misc.....

[___________ebullient]

OOC:

Greetings all. I'm a sometimes pen and paper gamemaster (anyone remember Classic Traveller?) who would like to do one of two things:

1. Create a new role-playing guild called Lunatic Fringe that is Omni-sided and will run through a specific story line until such time as it becomes no longer feasible, guild members wish to take a new direction, and/or it concludes. I am looking forward to Shadowlands and the story possibilities that come along with it. I would like to form the guild now though, so it is established once the expansion comes out.

OR

2. Join an existing RP guild that would like someone to create a new story line for Shadowlands or just interesting RP events.

Also, if any existing RP event/story makers have any tips on creating things within the AO universe, post them here please! I'm curious what freedoms people take with the storyline, how they run them, etc.

Thanks for your time!

EDIT: My requests aren't necessarily limited to Shadowlands, especially since it isn't out yet :/. Also RK-1, RK-2, doesn't matter to me. I'd almost like to be involved on both.....

[Dabblez]

Thoughts...

When running a storyline in AO, I use a mix of in game events and posts on a message board ( our orgs private message board or Funcom's if appropriate). The in game events can be as simple as a meeting in which you discuss in-character the latest developments of the plot, or can be more complex, action orientated which might involve travel, fighitng or avoiding dagerous mobs, PvP (not that I ever resorted to PvP but its a possibility). The message boards posts are to cover those things that are difficult or dull to play out in game (like a huge space battle or just 36 hour stake-out). It is also very useful to write up a summary of past in game events so that those players who could not make it can still flow the story.

I take all sorts of liberties with the AO official setting, but mostly I tend to add bits where the official background does not cover rather than directly contradict anything. So, for instance in my previous guild, we decided that 'leet fighting' (sort of like dog fighting) was illegal in OT lands but that the World Leet Fighting Federation still ran clandestine fights. A few people turned around and told us the there was nothing illegal about leet fighting, but most roleplayers were willing to go play along.

One area where a lot of people play fast-and-loose with the rules is suppresssion gas and perma-death. Some people assume there are masks or drugs you can take to bypass the suppression gas, and perma-death weapons or fixers who can hack insurance have become a dime a dozen. I guess death or at least the threat of death is such a cornerstone of most traditional roleplaying scenarios, it gets very hard to do anything if you were to play this strictly by the rules. I personally think its bad form to abuse insurance; if one walks through evrey scenario with a "it doesn't matter what happens, I am insured" attitude, its not going to add a whole lot to the sense of drama. Talking about "insurance accidents" and longterm effects of repeteat ressurections can help in these occasions.

The lines between players and GM (as in a player running the story, not a FC GM) are lot more blurred. Moreover a lot of ropleplayers try to open their adventures to the roleplaying community at large. All this amounts to a more fluid sort of story than maybe you;d get in a table top rpg. All this suggests is keep your story flexible.

Finally, if you are roleplaying with strangers DO make ooc contact at some point. It may seem inelegant but it prevents so many misunderstandings.

As a very last though, check out the RP FAQ in this forum. I'll bump it for you.

[___________ebullient]

Thanks for the tips. I hadn't really considered insurance abuse. I suppose another solution besides having some sort of permanent death is to have some other form of penalty for failure. Perhaps the loss of an important npc, the lack of reward for not completing the goal, or maybe even a cred penalty or similar. This requires of course the utmost cooperation of the players or at the least some serious in character roleplaying - even in table top games I've had arguments about penalties and attempts at persuading me to either overlook the consequences or at least be lax with them.

That brings up another point, it seems hard to even have rewards unless you're high level or have some sort of 'hookup.' Also controlling variables would also be hard since you can't take care of mob motivations and similar things. Makes for an intriuging problem I would love to tackle. Something one could do I suppose is 'hire' actors to play as npc's or something... are there orgs that do that?

In any case, can anyone reccomend an org that would be interested in someone willing to help out with storylines and events? Or is anyone interested in forming a new org to build up an rp base for the expansion? The basis of this I feel should be started now so things can roll right into the release.... Or am I just wishing for the moon here?

[_______________Bliqz]

I currently belong to an org, but if I can be of any assistance, do not hesitate to ask.

[Vixentrox]

OOC

A lot of the orgs here have a lot of ongoing RP stories. Many people are willing to make "throw-away" characters to advance a plot, play a bad girl/guy, or be a victim. You can always try to form a new org but many of the established RPers are probably not going to bail on their current homes.

[___________ebullient]

Ya, that's a long shot I realize. I suppose I should put it this way, are any rp orgs interested in recruiting a dedicated rper?

[Vixentrox]

Of course! There are many good RP orgs around here. Devil Advocate, Red Tape, maybe Div 9, SPARTA, for Omni. Vitae Covente, Mercury Dragons, pretty much all of the EndGame Alliance clans (First Light, Unity of the Rose, Rubi-ka Freedom Fighters, The Mockers, Valor Eternal and my guild, Whisper's Edge). Desert Winds and Nanomage Liberation Front for neutrals. Also look at top of forums for the rooted thread listing orgs that engage in RP.

[Dabblez]

Originally posted by Vixentrox
Of course! There are many good RP orgs around here. Devil Advocate, Red Tape, maybe Div 9, SPARTA, for Omni. Vitae Covente, Mercury Dragons, pretty much all of the EndGame Alliance clans (First Light, Unity of the Rose, Rubi-ka Freedom Fighters, The Mockers, Valor Eternal and my guild, Whisper's Edge). Desert Winds and Nanomage Liberation Front for neutrals. Also look at top of forums for the rooted thread listing orgs that engage in RP.

And then there are lousy, good for nothing roleplaying orgs like RUR.

Anyway check this thread for a list of RK1 Rp orgs, or this for RK2 rp orgs.

[Vixentrox]

Heh...RUR...can't even get me a damn cataloge!

(sorry! yes RUR is pretty cool)

[___________ebullient]

Yes, I suppose many of my questions could have been answered had I done a little research (i.e. finding the rp faq and reviewing the quite clearly posted list of rp orgs) but I'm a little overwhelmed at examining them all, a little nervous about /telling someone who doesn't know me from Adam and who may or may not be a recruiter (assuming the org is recruiting), and daunted at the task of finding a niche that serves my desires. Not too mention there is the problem you mentioned earlier, many have their org that they are comfortable with and may not want a newcomer, much less one interested creating (or at least assisting) in stories since either they are not familiar with them or they are comfortable with what they have.

Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but it seems a little difficult for new rpers to get involved. Just looking around the boards I see that many people here seem to be old friends. I know, I did read the tips on how to get involved (wear your social armor, walk don't run, talk in character and approach a group, etc) but that seems to involve a little bit of luck as well in even coming upon a group of rpers. I was hoping that I could advertise my interests here and find others who could either use me in their org or are interested in joining me. On the bright side, I did get a pm in regards to my request, but I still feel like I'm lacking something....

Ick, now I sound like I'm whining. I'm apologize for the possible waste of time this thread is since much of it is redundant and humbly thank everyone for tolerating me.

[_________YumYum Crow]

I'd be interested in hearing a little more of what your Lunatic Fringe plans to do. I must admit I have been toying with a character concept that could fit into the Shadowlands story arch.
Similarly, your idea of a storyline for Shadowlands sounds really interesting.

If you want to discuss this further, contact either Fatozzie, Earthchilde (probably best at the moment), Armpitt or Minerbill. Maybe we can mash something out?

[Vixentrox]

Originally posted by ebullient
Yes, I suppose many of my questions could have been answered had I done a little research (i.e. finding the rp faq and reviewing the quite clearly posted list of rp orgs) but I'm a little overwhelmed at examining them all, a little nervous about /telling someone who doesn't know me from Adam and who may or may not be a recruiter (assuming the org is recruiting), and daunted at the task of finding a niche that serves my desires. Not too mention there is the problem you mentioned earlier, many have their org that they are comfortable with and may not want a newcomer, much less one interested creating (or at least assisting) in stories since either they are not familiar with them or they are comfortable with what they have.

Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but it seems a little difficult for new rpers to get involved. Just looking around the boards I see that many people here seem to be old friends. I know, I did read the tips on how to get involved (wear your social armor, walk don't run, talk in character and approach a group, etc) but that seems to involve a little bit of luck as well in even coming upon a group of rpers. I was hoping that I could advertise my interests here and find others who could either use me in their org or are interested in joining me. On the bright side, I did get a pm in regards to my request, but I still feel like I'm lacking something....

Ick, now I sound like I'm whining. I'm apologize for the possible waste of time this thread is since much of it is redundant and humbly thank everyone for tolerating me.

Oh...hun...what I meant was if you planned on STARTING a new org don't expect the established players flocking to your banner. Most of us are pretty nice though and would be thrilled to meet you and roleplay with you. Just send any of us a simple /tell introducing yourself and explaining you wanted to meet us for some RP and I bet the majority of us would come running to meet you!

You are doing the smart thing though. You are here contacting us. I spoke to a couple of people last night who had no idea there were roleplayers around. I was like..."what? you got to be kidding me!" I could probably easily list off 50 peope who RP to some degree with little effort.

Anyway, keep asking questions and we will be happy to help you.

[___________ebullient]

I understood, that makes perfect sense. I was merely commenting on the seemingly difficult task of getting involved, but I feel I have shamed myself somewhat by being so critical and humbly apologize. I have received numerous responses and am happily perusing them as we speak.

YumYum Crow, when is a good time to contact you? I'm glad you are interested in this idea. At the most basic, I would hope Lunatic Fringe would be an rp org based on the new Shadowlands elements in some way - I am still researching them so while I have a few ideas I don't have anything really solid yet. Perhaps we could hammer out a plausible core premise and get this thing rolling?

Actually I suppose I could set up a meeting for this and announce it in the forum and on the events calendar, couldn't I....

[Boglwe]

I would not mind being contacted in game about this idea, its a darn good one!! contact Boglwe please!! Also how do we contact you in game please!!

[___________ebullient]

The character to contact would be ebullient - if you're on RK-2. On RK-1 I'm going to roll a new character today, I'll post it when it's set up. I'm glad to see some interest in this, it's really encouraging.

EDIT: Ok, the character to contact on RK-1 would be diakonos, hopefully he'll be the originator of Lunatic Fringe.

[Votary]

If you are on RK-1, feel free to send a tell to any of my characters and I will be more than happy to RP with you

Currently Keisar is the heaviest in RP.

[_______________Bliqz]

Votary and his Org are OK, but he never pursues any of the pie recipe's I submit.

(())

[_____________Kamelot]

When I first started playing AO I got started roleplaying and me and a few others had a great idea. Here is what we did...

6 of us were the main chars (we had 1 or 2 who couldn't be there every session, so they were npcs). We all roled new chars (untwinked) and RPed them all the time. Our chars were only used du;ring the sessions to insure that levels would remain about the same- the NPCS would level more or less depending on the situation. We didn't have a GM, so most of our RPing was through talking.

This was the greatest experience I have had on RK so far. I would love to do something like this again. Anyway, give me a tell in game on RK2 if you are interested in starting anything, or if you just want me as an NPC.

*Edit* One thing we had always thought of doing was creating 2 ore more groups that would be rivals... we never got enough people to do it, but I think it was a good idea.

[_________YumYum Crow]

When it comes to timing, I can be pretty awful -I am AEST, which is currently something close to GMT +9/10, to give you an idea. The best time to catch me would be a "Friday" night, from around 10 or 11pm, which is early Saturday morning for me.

Kamelot, I think your idea is really great -and I wish I could spend more time on RK-2. Maybe a bunch of us could try and do the same on RK-1?

It is possible to run two "rival" guilds at the same time, though -just as RUR whose current foil is the neo luddite movement (most of the RUR players have an alt in the NLM). We still need to rope in other groups for the stories we run, but a combination of in-game plots and posts to this and other forums also suffice.

Just my two creds...

[Votary]

Originally posted by Bliqz
Votary and his Org are OK, but he never pursues any of the pie recipe's I submit.

(())

Bah, Bliqz. Your recipes need stuff from Omni shops How do you suppose a poor clanner like me can find the ingredients