[✓] [CA Race Lore] Musin, the mousemen of Almaris

[Notic 941]

Love the lore, totally didn't proofread it.

 

Seriously tho, builds on an old concept while bringing new and fun elements to the table without being powergamey.

 

+1

[__Clocky 762]

11 minutes ago, ScreamingDingo said:

wonk syndrome

How do you delete someone else's forum post

[ScreamingDingo 16792]

13 minutes ago, Slorbin said:

What do you mean?

 

I'm not quite familiar with this term, so if you have a comment or criticism, please let me know.

 

It's a very cute piece of lore but I really see it not being feasible with how discarded most beast-race CA's have been on LotC, specifically how wonks were memed immediately and then dissolved.

I genuinely believe Halflings already provide this niche for this cute, small nimble race and that you would be competing with an already ingrained playerbase to try and get this launched from the initial release.

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

2 minutes ago, ScreamingDingo said:

you would be competing with an already ingrained playerbase to try and get this launched from the initial release.

sir this is a roleplaying server not a battle royale.

 

you know that niches can grow, right?

[__Clocky 762]

1 minute ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

sir this is a roleplaying server not a battle royale.

 

you know that niches can grow, right?

I thought this was a free for all kit pvp server

[ScreamingDingo 16792]

3 minutes ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

sir this is a roleplaying server not a battle royale.

 

you know that niches can grow, right?

As I'm sure you know and can do from the naysaying as usual, the playerbase isn't growing at a rapid enough rate to actually accomodate multiple niches of the same thing while having them be impactful on the world beyond a few sporadic interactions which could be done by placing this as an 'event' race. We want things that are substantial and provide some sort of substance to the world by existing and being utilised by the players. I try to think of what actual impacts these creatures would have and I see them being barely populated and having a small build that will eventually fall into obscurity.

I want these sorts of creatures and open CAs to have the ability to contribute to LotC, which is something many seem to think is an absolutely insane idea to want lore that actually contributes to things when its in the hands of the players. It's almost bad that I don't want these accepted and then doomed for failure as the Wonks were.
 

[Slorbin 1771]

12 minutes ago, ScreamingDingo said:

 

It's a very cute piece of lore but I really see it not being feasible with how discarded most beast-race CA's have been on LotC, specifically how wonks were memed immediately and then dissolved.

I genuinely believe Halflings already provide this niche for this cute, small nimble race and that you would be competing with an already ingrained playerbase to try and get this launched from the initial release.

I disagree, and the halflings disagree as well- I've been working with them on this post for a week or two now to make it as seperate as possible. I think this can provide a different enough playstyle from Halflings in a number of ways:

 

1. Musin are not protected like halflings. Halflings are quite literally a war crime to kill. They look like small neotenous baby-men. No one's messed with the halflings in years, and they provide barely any conflict. Which is fine! That's what being a halfling is all about, sitting around and doing nothing.

 

Musin are the descendents of the Ratiki, an antagonist two maps ago, and still bear that curse of prejudice. Playing a Musin is much more dangerous, more likely to get you listed as a vermin and slaughtered. Hell, even the halfling players I talked to believe they would be considered vermin to them.

 

2. They're more active than halflings. Halflings aren't adventurous in the slightest- that's part of the plot of Lord of the Rings. Halflings are quite content to stay at home for their entire life, and aren't quite keen on leaving. Respectable hobbits don't go on adventures.

For Musin, it's quite different. From The Giant, they've learned the tales of old, the glories of what Humans have done. The adventure, the camrederie- really, everything good about it. They're all for adventure, yet have never experienced much conflict. They're not one for fighting, but they're one for exploring the mythos, usually at their own peril.

In regards to meme-ability, I believe Musin will not suffer the same meme-able fate as Wonks. Wonks were accepted and created SOLELY to be memed into existence, through shitty pepe jokes. If I wished to have Musin be a meme, I would have made them skavenous ratfolk who talk in riddles and rhyme.

 

Not everything is going to be Wonks. Wonks were doomed from the start, the second they were posted, when they had no motivations or true intent to their character other than funny froggy. This has something going for it- a story, a plotline.

 

And why can't there be multiple cute races? People like cute things.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Slorbin

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

1 minute ago, ScreamingDingo said:

I want these sorts of creatures and open CAs to have the ability to contribute to LotC, which is something many seem to think is an absolutely insane idea to want lore that actually contributes to things when its in the hands of the players. It's almost bad that I don't want these accepted and then doomed for failure as the Wonks were.

Even if a CA race doesn't have a huge impact on the average LOTCers roleplay, why should that matter if the people playing the CA race are having fun with it? We play games to have fun, and as much as LOTC tries to be something greater, we are ultimately still a game.

[Notic 941]

4 minutes ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

Even if a CA race doesn't have a huge impact on the average LOTCers roleplay, why should that matter if the people playing the CA race are having fun with it? We play games to have fun, and as much as LOTC tries to be something greater, we are ultimately still a game.

gotta agree with this ngl

[Moochael 730]

1 hour ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

Even if a CA race doesn't have a huge impact on the average LOTCers roleplay, why should that matter if the people playing the CA race are having fun with it? We play games to have fun, and as much as LOTC tries to be something greater, we are ultimately still a game.

I genuinely think that if halflings weren't an already solidified race in DnD or LOTR they wouldn't exist in LOTC. There's a lot of us, but average proper wee-folk barely provide any substance to the overarching LOTC world. Also, Halflings have had periods of inactivity and activity, yet in our worst periods of inactivity with only 1-3 people rping in the village a week we were never axed off as a playable race. Logic used for denying these CA races genuinely makes me believe that if halflings didn't have the reputation they had outside of the LOTC world we wouldn't exist. I agree with @NotEvilAtAllto just critique the lore itself and not look at the effect of the race on the LOTC playerbase.

[Xx_BloodStalk_xX 2120]

The lore is certainly cute and extensive, allowing for the community to have a lot to talk about when rping amongst themselves - and I do enjoy the thought of little mouse people. However, for the server, I don't think it'll work (at least for your intended amount of time). If this lore does get accepted I feel like it'll be popular for the first few months then slowly trickle its way into inactivity as the amount of players that actually do make a CA for this will become cultural parasites for nations rather than making a group of their own to rp amongst themselves. This is in no way a bad thing, I simply do not think that the playerbase will last more than a few months.

That being said, while I very well know that this is not your intent - people will powergame with this CA due to the loose guidelines on their natural abilities. This is not something that can be easily fixed either. It gives them room to dodge however many times they want as long as it barely scratches the surface of powergaming due to their agile forms. On top of this, their ability to learn magic doesn't make a lot of sense when taking account their small bodies and lesser souls. But it is pretty funny how you can just make a ratatouille mouse with this with housemagery LOL. 

All in all I like the idea of it, but there are some pros and cons I want to point out in summary:

Pros:
-Fun idea that allow for fun rp
-Offers a more diverse species to choose from other than the main races
-interesting backstory and pieces of their culture
Cons:
-A high chance for it to be a 'flavor of the month' CA, with its communities only serving to be the passerby spectacle in an Oren tavern until its finally shelved (take Wonks for example).
-High chance of powergaming even if it is not the intent of the creators of this lore.
-Some things don't make a lot of sense such as their capability for learning magic

I hope you don't take my criticism personally since I do like the funny lore, but it's a -1 for me. If it does get accepted however, I call dibs on making a mouse-man housemage.

[Slorbin 1771]

2 minutes ago, Xx_BloodStalk_xX said:

The lore is certainly cute and extensive, allowing for the community to have a lot to talk about when rping amongst themselves - and I do enjoy the thought of little mouse people. However, for the server, I don't think it'll work (at least for your intended amount of time). If this lore does get accepted I feel like it'll be popular for the first few months then slowly trickle its way into inactivity as the amount of players that actually do make a CA for this will become cultural parasites for nations rather than making a group of their own to rp amongst themselves. This is in no way a bad thing, I simply do not think that the playerbase will last more than a few months.

That being said, while I very well know that this is not your intent - people will powergame with this CA due to the loose guidelines on their natural abilities. This is not something that can be easily fixed either. It gives them room to dodge however many times they want as long as it barely scratches the surface of powergaming due to their agile forms. On top of this, their ability to learn magic doesn't make a lot of sense when taking account their small bodies and lesser souls. But it is pretty funny how you can just make a ratatouille mouse with this with housemagery LOL. 

All in all I like the idea of it, but there are some pros and cons I want to point out in summary:

Pros:
-Fun idea that allow for fun rp
-Offers a more diverse species to choose from other than the main races
-interesting backstory and pieces of their culture
Cons:
-A high chance for it to be a 'flavor of the month' CA, with its communities only serving to be the passerby spectacle in an Oren tavern until its finally shelved (take Wonks for example).
-High chance of powergaming even if it is not the intent of the creators of this lore.
-Some things don't make a lot of sense such as their capability for learning magic

I hope you don't take my criticism personally since I do like the funny lore, but it's a -1 for me. If it does get accepted however, I call dibs on making a mouse-man housemage.

Thank you so much for your feedback and criticism! I actually do wanna get some of this stuff fixed up.

I assumed that, since I gave them superior souls through The Giant, they could learn magic. Is that not how this works? The lore makes it a bit uncertain, I was going off of the immortal heir document.

How do you think I could balance the dodge mechanic? I admit, I am very unfamiliar with combat roleplay using this system. Do you think a set amount of dodges could be implemented instead, like, say, 2-3 per combat encounter before one is worn out?

I will admit, I'm not certain on how to not make it a 'flavor of the month' CA. I am quite fond of intermingling with a diverse group of individuals instead of people all of my own race, and I did envision this race to be a bit more loose and scattered instead of tightly-knit, more interested on those around them then themselves. The one thing I actually did like about wonks is that aspect, something odd trying to adapt another culture as their own. I came into this with the idea that it would generate more interesting roleplay if they seeked out new cultures instead of squabbling together in a little hovel of their own.

I feel like the interest in Musin is high enough that I want to give it a shot, given what I've heard in OOC, and want to work with the playerbase and story team on improving it to acceptable levels. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

[antiopa 131]

as much as i have always wanted ratfolk/skaven as a playable CA and as much as i love cutesy little.. humblewood animal **** its a -1 from me.. its just going to be another wonk situation where the race dies off in 8 months

[exanimated 1360]

+1 for Rukio rat queen

[Slorbin 1771]

I've decided to edit the post significantly, to include community feedback. Thank you Calzium for speaking with me in DMs about this. I see why people say he's such a gamer.

I have updated the size redlines to include something more definite to ward off powergamers. Every hit should be considered a level above it's own severity, as given by the severity chart in Conflict Rules - Rolling. AKA, Minor wounds are now wounds/disarm, wounds/disarm are now severe wounds, severe wounds are now crit, et cetera. You can only dodge twice consecutively before being worn out- I believe this is fair. I'm used to using the honor system, but something concrete is needed on a larger server like this. If you have suggestions, let me know.

 

I have updated the redlines to remove magic, and the lore to remove superior souls. I was unaware that Hou-zi and wonks had lesser souls and no magic. It wouldn't make sense for such a small animal to have a superior soul. Lesser souls it is. Sorry, housemage ratatouille.

I have updated the cultural differences to include more information on their thieving, adventuring, and idolizing nature. I believe this may set them a bit more apart playstyle-wise from the halflings, who I worked with to edit the cultural differences. They believe a thieving yet noncombative role is no longer fulfilled by any race on the server, as they haven't done a heist since 2018, and believe this to be an unfulfilled niche. The same with adventuring.

Finally, I have added information on the settlement of Crumlin Keep. I was wary to add a settlement at first, but people who are interested in playing this race seemed to support the idea of a town. Calzium also believes it may hold off against Wonkification if a more definite sense of community is added, and upon hearing thoughts from those interested in the lore, I agree. I searched out for a place that was unoccupied by any buildings or nation and found that place. Let me know if some claims overlap.

Thank you all for your feedback. It's been a pleasure writing for you and improving my skills while providing for the community.