[OOC] Halfling Feedback Thread (Towards a NEW Halfling Race)

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

~Halfling farm RP amenities, the threshing floor!~

The halfling roleplay niche & style was made organically in starting in 2011. It is currently 2022, and it's very obvious that never once did anybody make a full culture write-up for halflings with specific traditions and practices. This is why "proper" halflings are determined mostly by what they DON'T do rather than what they DO do (no minas, no locks, no shoes, no swords, etc.), and due to many changes over the years, a lot of these cultural taboos aren't even followed anymore (Hayhollow has minas shops and many burrows have locked chests)! While great strides have been made in recent years to create and record halfling cultural elements (such as the halfling religion, which went from a total meme into an actual fleshed out set of beliefs thanks to @TakeMeT0TheFae), much remains to be done and many interesting bits of halfling culture have either been lost to time over leadership & village transitions or were never expanded upon in the first place.

 

Furthermore, the old halfling roleplay niche of "Small, quaint, chill community that doesn't do wars and raids" isn't very unique anymore, what with LOTC as a whole going through dry spells with barely any warfare or significant player conflict. Back in 2018 there would always be massive influxes of new halflings whenever huge wars started up & players made halflings to ride out the storm. This simply isn't the case anymore.

 

This is why I hope to finish the project I started in the summer of 2021 and redefine halflings as something BETTER! We don't have a huge population, but there are events & roleplay niches that work best in smaller settings, and I believe that is what we ought to focus on. My current idea is to focus halflings around farming RP much more than usual and run several farm-focused events every week (planting, harvesting, threshing & milling grain, work with animals, etc.) and lean into the productive & work-RP side of halflings. On top of more cultural lore posts, this should (hopefully) make halflings far more interesting!

I'd like to see your thoughts on the matter!

 

This feedback thread is geared towards both halflings and non-halflings alike.

[_RoyalCrafter_ 3201]

Hello forest dwarf here! So I like halflings and I interact with them a lot. I think it would be best for halflings to follow artisanal niches that are rarely explored on the server, like cheese and wine making that was suggested above. I don't recommend blacksmith RP since its pretty generic and will promote the creations of RP items that aren't that special. The Auction house used to be spammed with those kinds of items. But Maybe halflings can come with like special tool making like shovels and hoes? I already feel blacksmith RP is pretty widespread, and if its taken up by halflings it might also bring them closer to dwarves (which I assume you don't want).

 

As for other forms of RP events, I picture halflings as a sort of small communal village so things that are present in those should be also present in the halfling community. Like weekly farmers market or a contest to see who can grow the largest pumpkin, or breed the fluffiest sheep. Things of that nature, since I feel something like that would be very halfing.

In general I don't believe in enforcing a cultural standard. This may be due to me being a dwarf so every clan has a unique culture. Maybe you could have something set up for different cultures amongst different families? It would encourage more unique families. Its also good to have cultural taboos, but things like not locking chests is extremely bad do to out of context reasons. Cultural taboos have to make sense in roleplay but also not forbid anyone from having fun, which is a difficult task I know.

 

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[RyuTheCoolest 176]

Halflings are amongst my favorite groups to RP with, I like their artisanry and their focus on farming RP. If you wanted to keep the roleplay and advance it of seasonal rping and farming and all that, I highly promote it. 

 

In vailor there was a time when food spoiled and plants grew real slow. I thought it was very healthy for server economy imo, and if you could plant at the start of a season and harvest at the end it would be super cool for stories. If there was a way to get expiring food halfling RP would be supreme 

[NotEvilAtAll 9926]

5 minutes ago, VerminHunter said:

Hello forest dwarf here! So I like halflings and I interact with them a lot. I think it would be best for halflings to follow artisanal niches that are rarely explored on the server, like cheese and wine making that was suggested above. I don't recommend blacksmith RP since its pretty generic and will promote the creations of RP items that aren't that special. The Auction house used to be spammed with those kinds of items. But Maybe halflings can come with like special tool making like shovels and hoes? I already feel blacksmith RP is pretty widespread, and if its taken up by halflings it might also bring them closer to dwarves (which I assume you don't want).

 

As for other forms of RP events, I picture halflings as a sort of small communal village so things that are present in those should be also present in the halfling community. Like weekly farmers market or a contest to see who can grow the largest pumpkin, or breed the fluffiest sheep. Things of that nature, since I feel something like that would be very halfing.

In general I don't believe in enforcing a cultural standard. This may be due to me being a dwarf so every clan has a unique culture. Maybe you could have something set up for different cultures amongst different families? It would encourage more unique families. Its also good to have cultural taboos, but things like not locking chests is extremely bad do to out of context reasons. Cultural taboos have to make sense in roleplay but also not forbid anyone from having fun, which is a difficult task I know.

 

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

I'd like to know your opinion on the Halfling Slice-of-Life Hour events I used to run, where I'd pick a time for halflings to log online and simulate a day in the life of their character, waking up, eating breakfast, heading out and working on something, etc. That's how I expanded upon halfling farm & artisan RP back in the day before it faded out due to a lack of interest. Perhaps I should bring that back, or maybe people prefer more structured formats instead of free-form "simulate a day of your character's life!" sort of things, idk.

[Mannamannaa 1626]

I wholeheartedly approve of expansions to a player community's culture and efforts to make the group give a more unique experience to the Server. Thank you.

[Danjahb29 247]

Farming is definitely your strength. Perhaps halflings can grow and rais their herds faster. They can suply leather and wool in large quantities. Meat and other foods could be bought for a good price by those planning parties. 
 

Developing a reputation for premium and expensive boutique food items that royalty and nobility would buy for themselves and guests would also strengthen their unique value in LOTC. The wealthy love to flaunt their wealth and enjoy the finer things in life. 

[_RoyalCrafter_ 3201]

12 hours ago, NotEvilAtAll said:

I'd like to know your opinion on the Halfling Slice-of-Life Hour events I used to run, where I'd pick a time for halflings to log online and simulate a day in the life of their character, waking up, eating breakfast, heading out and working on something, etc. That's how I expanded upon halfling farm & artisan RP back in the day before it faded out due to a lack of interest. Perhaps I should bring that back, or maybe people prefer more structured formats instead of free-form "simulate a day of your character's life!" sort of things, idk.

 

That's sounds like pretty hard core roleplay. Unfortunately I haven't experienced such, nor would I be particularly interested honestly. To me it sounds a bit like a chore and a grind. But again my experiences are very much out of the norm since I normally get on to the server to manage / run stuff. Plus I don't think there are enough people in Urguan at all times to be able to accomplish something cohesive like that. 

 

Perhaps it is more feasible in the halfling community, due to it being on a smaller / more personal scale? I'd recommend you try them occassionally. If no one shows up then not a big deal, if only a few people come then that's at least some you can RP with. 

[Somersetting 304]

On 12/4/2022 at 12:16 PM, RyuTheCoolest said:

In vailor there was a time when food spoiled and plants grew real slow. I thought it was very healthy for server economy imo, and if you could plant at the start of a season and harvest at the end it would be super cool for stories. If there was a way to get expiring food halfling RP would be supreme

People got so mad about it but that was unironically the period the server had some of the best RP, right at the very start of that map, and then later during the plague. It was a total shitshow and it was beautiful.

[Somersetting 304]

I think there is significant value in trying to pick a couple days in the week and then consistently have some kind of RP we do on those days. If its consistent I think people will turn up in much higher numbers. The ideal is to try and cultivate activity to the point where thats less needed and people can confidently log on at peak to find people, but for now I think scheduling it for specific days could be a good move. Doesn't have to be the same thing every day/week, I just think the consistency is important.

 

I also think people are crapping on taverns a bit, "tavern rp" is more about a venue than it is an actual activity, and its very approachable for people, especially newer players. I'm also not too convinced people really will want to go through the specifics of winnowing grain, but I could be wrong.