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The duo of 'Ox goblins during their combat training. ~-=-~ Children of Krug, Uruks - Enormous outraged beasts whom well known for their strength and bloodlust. However, some of the bloodlines have preferred an intellect instead of gargantuan strength. The Goblins of Krug, lanky beasts who prefer brain over brawn looked to massive war machines and complex devices to counter their lack of muscle. ~-=-~ ~-=-~ Goblins, or Gobbos, live in harmony of their grumpy being, throwing their efforts together to achieve the success. Where is the Peace, there is a War, Gobbos are not built to fight themselves but by using the Warmachines created by them, but when it comes to battle, they have to protect themselves as any living creature must. Unlike Uruks, their smaller brothers can not combat alone, they prefer to stick in small groups of three to six goblins. A phenomenon known as ‘Orcish Bloodrage’ is triggered by receiving pain, it helps warriors resist further pain and serious injury which could threaten their life, at the same time, they can not control their current blood loss, which may cause their death. However, the Goblin Bloodrage works a little differently to that, and its success depends on the number of goblin groups. The Gobbo gets triggered by pain, their eyes become red, and instead of attacking the enemy they start biting their comrades, sharing their bloodrage with others. After a few moments of hurting each other, the Swarm of bloodraged Goblins becomes an unstoppable hurricane of sharp teeth and claws, inflicting dozens of minor blows to their opponents, bringing them down with the sheer number of wounds. After they bring their enemies down, they commit the most unexpected process. The Swarm starts eating their enemy alive... ~-=-~ ~-=-~

So, you want to roleplay an insane character, but you want to do it right. None of this "I'm the Joker if his parents were Dennis Rodman and Dexter". You're not an edgy. If you're called edgy, you might as well be a digital leper, because ain't nobody gonna roleplay with your mask-wearing axe-murderer. Well, if you'll accept my help, I've made a guide to help your purposes! Joy and rapture! Nevermore will you be called an edgy! Okay, sorry. That's a lie. Rule #1: Embrace the Edge You could make your mental roleplay entirely respectful, accurate, and subtle, but someone is still going to call you and edgelord, and if you came into this thread to learn how to not be called an edgy, you might as well go to a reddit subforum and ask how you can wear a beard and not be called a hipster. You're at a disadvantage coming out of the gate, and approaching by that angle will not help you or your fellow roleplayers. So, if you're committed to roleplaying a mental dysfunction, you're going to have to accept the "edge". You're a special snowflake by definition, and letting yourself be held back by trying to balance your roleplay on a standard that doesn't universally exist is just going to cause you pain. This isn't to say "Go ahead! Make Willy Wonka's serial killer clone!", but you'll be much happier accepting the title and going on with your life and not bashing your head on the conception. Rule #2: These are Real Problems that happen to Real People A "crazy person" isn't a monster or the butt of a joke. Approach the role with some respect and empathy: there are actual people that have or have had these issues your character is going through, and some of them play on this server are or are their loved ones. I'm not telling you to not "trigger" them, but there are a lot of misconceptions about mental illness, and crude archetype caricatures predicate these misconceptions. They have a brain, a history, a personality. They have interests, likes, and dislikes. They aren't defined by their disorders, and so would be the case with your character. Even if the disorder is debilitating, they are individuals. The disorder impacts them and the people around them, but they will often try to not let it rule them, even if they may fail. Rule #3: Know the Disorder This isn't to say that you have to have the disorder in real life, be a well-read expert with a degree in Abnormal Psychology, or have a fully-mapped artist's rendering of what your character's brain would look like under an MRI. But, for goodness sake, read up a little on the thing you're roleplaying! So often I see people roleplay something that they absolutely don't understand. They mess up the observable behaviors, or they mix up the names, or they magically get the disorder for no reason, or become completely cured because friendship is magic or therapeutic FTB or something else dumb. Do some light research at least. Google the name of the thing you want to do. Read the Wikipedia articles concerning it. Maybe read a few case studies. A really great resource I'd suggest to you more scholarly types: Watch Crash Course Psychology. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6 It's well-written and produced, covers a great deal of psychology, learning, treatments, history, and even goes into detail on specific disorders, what causes them, and how they work. Consulting the production team is Dr. Ranjit Bhagwat, Ph.D., who is an actual licensed clinical psychologist in New York. So, not only could you improve your roleplay by watching these, but it could help you study for an upcoming Psych quiz. Rule #4: Your Character has Coping Mechanisms When confronted with their issue, your character isn't going to necessarily go ballistic or completely shut down from the situation. If they are a fully-adult elf that gets really bad cabin fever, they aren't going to run up and down the halls like a toddler on a tantrum. They've learned better. But they're going to sweat, they're going to *****, and they might snap with more stress and scream at someone for the heinous crime of turning the fork the wrong way. If you're afraid of groups, you'll remove yourself from them, but you'll start with the most innocuous method of doing so before you just hyperventilate yourself into a faint or scream bloody murder. If you tend to jump in real life when you jump in your dreams, you might sleep in a sleeping bag instead of a bed. If you have face blindness, you will try to learn people by their clothes, hair, or voice. And sometimes the coping is what's disrupting their lives and not the initial problem. If they are paranoid, they may attempt to hermit themselves from their loved ones or their duties. Not as dramatic as screaming "treason", but a court would notice a paranoid king's disappearance quite quickly. Rule #5: It Isn't Always Bad, and It Can Get Better As your character progresses, they might be thrown further down the rabbit hole, or they may stabilize themselves in ways you didn't predict. The problems they once had may even be entirely conquered (or perhaps just thought to be conquered and have not arisen for decades). And they aren't always on "Crazy Mode". Sometimes they're fine. Sometimes they're in a balanced or reasonable mood. Even in this crazy medieval world of war and dark magic, there are therapists, mental abilities, medications, and people your character can reach to for support. You might find a defining mental problem to your character in remission or even turned entirely around. Sometimes it's a long, slow process. Sometimes all it took was a revelation. Sometimes it's a combination of things. Let your character grow as the roleplay wills. You might be pleasantly surprised, even if you lose a trait you enjoyed playing before. Rule #6: This Roleplay is Difficult If I haven't rammed that into your head already by talking about motivations, coping, and research, roleplaying insanity is not a walk in a park. There's a reason we're impressed by actors who can get inside the head of someone with a debilitating mental issue. And it’s the same reason that, in tabletop games, some storytellers for Vampire: The Masquerade don’t allow Malkavian players, and some Dungeon Masters don’t allow anyone aligned Chaotic Neutral. It takes a lot of thinking and turning things off, and you have to come to realize that your character's mental processes might be entirely different than anything you've ever experienced. So many people seem to think "acting crazy" is "throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of Wal-Mart when I was six", because we call it the same thing colloquially, but it's not the same thing. A psychotic episode, epileptic seizure, or anxiety attack isn't a temper tantrum. There's more nuance, more fear, and control is fluid or volatile. It can be difficult--and even scary--getting that far disconnected from a normal thought process. But, despite all that, the experience can still make for a very rewarding gameplay. If you feel this guide helped you, awesome and I'm glad I could be of service. If not, soz, but at least you have a link to a good, quick, online psych course for future reference if you ever need it.

[!] You and your companion entered an old smelly tavern. Seems there is no one but a few drunkards and a scrawny stranger. He wears dusty clothes, he is sitting by the bar. Here is an old dagger stuck in bar desk, it covered in something that may be a rust or even a blood. He follows your movement and he spotted that you have a blade also, something seems familiar in both of you. He sighed and stoop up. "Oi, i heard ya folks like to make your life better with other chav’s belongings? If ya wish to continue live along with bandit lifestyle, then ya should follow such rules" He cleared his throat and went on: "First and Most important rule, no matter if ya Raidin' or just being a bandit on roads, don’t stay at the same place for too long, you’re not an idle lazy bestard or a trainin’ dummy, don’t ya? Well, your enemies don’t think so, no matters if you let them go, or they just ran away, they will come back with sum' friends. Be mobile, ya got me?" He scratched his head. "Second... I dunnae if that really matters for ya, but if ya wanna keep your identity unknown, then don’t show your damn face. Just use some rags to cover your bugger face, ya know. Don’t forget to change clothes when ya go raidin’, 'cause the disguise and decent actor skills could make your life much easier. This can save your life as well, and might keep you from being recognised in your civill casual days, mate." [!] You look at him with interest, not knowing why does he tells you such things. "Third: Don’t be greedy, ya don’t need to take damn everythin’ from your victims, they are living persons, ya know. Nah, i’m joking, just in case that ya don’t have bottomless pockets. If ya wanna stay alive, be mobile. To be mobile ya shouldn’t carry a whole granny tea service on ya." He snorts pulling dagger our from desk. "Be Mercy, if your victims are surrounded, without any fight thoughts, then don’t even think to hurt them, ya got me? It’s not like i’m telling ya to be a good guy, just a friendly hint: Don’t wanna cover your hands in blood and ruin yours and someone else’s life, then Do Not Harm. That is fourth." "By tha way. If your victims attempt to run, or they already did, don’t even try to chase them. Trust me - The Hunter may become a Prey. Don’t forget, no matter how focused you’re looking at people ya rob, they may send bird to their friends, when you don’t expect that. Don’t let them fool ya. That is Fifth... Ey, information costs moneh, ya'know?" He helded out his hand, holding a dagger in other...

Tiva Line Guidelines : How to Spriggan 101 Alright boys and girls, let’s get down to basics. This right here is grand ol’ “How ta Sprigga” and I’m gonna teach you a thing or two. You better believe it that we are some mean, lean spook fightin’ machines, but we’ve also got this rad cool thing where we can grow petal lines. That’s right, a “Do It Yourself” daisy chain (along with other nature’y things, of course). First of all, this is Trinn’s post and it is the best “How To Basic, Spriggan Style” you will find. Look at this shniz. Secondly, as it is a universal language for all Spriggans, various flowers and such will be documented here in order to help keep some order. If you have a spriggan and you need a flower with a certain meaning that isn’t present here in this doc, just send me pm and it will be added in! Easy peasy! Thirdly, there are a select few druids that can read Tiva lines, so y’all will have to ask them (at the moment I’m writing this, I know only Tevi, Artimec and Arahaelth that can read ‘em). But! Have no fear. As a Spriggan, you can talk to druids in their heads like the messed up tree huggin’ hippies that they are and tell them what flower means what! It’s elementary, my dear! So without further ado, here is your bonafide list of all kinds of flowers and nature shtuffs. Enjoy! -LadyRebecca P.S. I may have had too many glasses of wine writing this so I beggin’ yer pardon <3 The Basics (As found in Trinn’s bootiful post, this is just a little summary. But if you haven’t looked at the link above, do so! And rep that poor woman! We can’t all be like the SaltWarrior14!) Angrec: A symbol for druids/dedicants. Gladiolus: A symbol for combattants. Chrysanthemum: An individual who crafts and creates (i.e. blacksmith, artist, tinkerer, basically someone that makes stuff). Mayflower: Mostly seen on younger individuals, a sign they haven’t found a calling yet (i.e. are not being a productive member to society, boo). Freesia: An individual under the age of 20. Alcea: An individual between the ages of 20 and 50. Azalea: An individual (probably a dwarf of elf at this point) between the ages of 50 and 500. Aster: An individual over 500 (if this individual isn’t a dwarf or elf or some other immortal being, contact your local pocket LM immediately). Names Wooptido we can spell out phonetics with vines! How exciting! Well, here’s the sad part, phonetics are widespread and really are just a pain in the butt. So! As someone who can actually read Tiva (I do nothing with my life, leave me be) it’s literally as simple as emoting that various sprout emerge and curl from the main vine. Seriously. That’s all you have to do. And like I said, either the druid can have previous knowledge on how to read Tiva or, you can simply tell them what it reads. You can even go the extra mile and take some time to rp with the druid and teach them how to read each sprout (it doesn’t need to be detailed, we play a mine man game, for Pete’s sake). Additions Here comes the fun part, we are going to “unique-ify” the individual's petal line! How wonderful! This is where the comments of any ideas for a flower befitting of a trait, characteristic or anything else you think a petal line should show (i.e. let’s expose their darkest deepest secrets who the person is). Obviously, you don’t need to put every dang flower that describes the person on their petal chain. This is just an idea of what you could put on there. Daffodils (White): A teacher or guide, probably one of those edgy druids again. Dahlia: Humble Carnation: Affectionate Heather :A leader Anthurium: A mother Gardenia :A father Calla :Outspoken Orchid (cymbidium) :Charismatic Peony :Balanced Iris :Hard working Delphinium :Studious, knowledgeable Poinsettia :Wise Stephanotis :Callous Waxflower :Aloof Pear Blossom :Quiet As stated previously, if you have any more ideas or suggestions, just shoot me a pm!

A word on bows This is a guide on bows. Despite many people arguing about how powerful a bow is, how much damage it does and other annoying tidbits on what a bow does, not many people take the time to figure out how a bow actually works. It’s often believed that you train a bit by shooting a bow a few times or just slap “trained with a bow since they were little” into the backstory and suddenly your char can shoot any bow they pick up from the local dungeon ruin or whatever. Basically what this guide is about those little things which don’t effect role-play all too much but are seriously annoying when someone gets it wrong. If you want a guide on how to actually do archery in RP, Check this out then. Cool fella called Oblivionsbane made it. TL;DR I know I tend to rant on about things and this guide will end up getting very long. So here are some basic points I want to get across to all the unfortunate souls who stumble upon this product of a sleepless mind: - The majority of time taken between shots for a bow lies in nocking an arrow rather than pulling the bow back, firing, and aiming. - Wood is an organic material. Every single bow is different even if mass produced, same goes for arrows. An elf training a thousand years with a bow will still not be able to perfectly shoot some random bow and arrow they just pulled up off the ground. Unless magic, because magic. - An addition to the point above. Since wood is organic, it rots and stuff. Got to keep the bow in upkeep or else it is going to not work as well. Same of course, goes with arrows. - Bows can’t be fired without an arrow. Even the height of modern tech hasn’t been able to really get around this problem. Basically internal stresses cause the bow to go bang. - A warbow has a draw weight of around a hundred pounds or more. So you can’t really aim anything that does reasonable damage for any length of time. - Bow's for the most part, weren't strung all the time. Keeping a bow under tension would permanently bend the bow over time but most importantly it would cause the string to stretch. (Thanks to AGiantPie for reminding me of this) Section 1 - Different types of bow Section 2 : Actually making a bow Section 3 : Arrows Section 4 : Shooting a bow Section 5 : Bow maintainace Summary: God that took ages to write and I missed so many things. Actually, I probably missed a bunch of things and had terrible grammar while doing it. I just hope you can get some info about archery from this and lead to some more detailed and accurate RP. Please message me if you think something above is wrong or something should be added! ------------ Rev #5

The Guide to Lying & Emotions Lies. Even on the Lord of the Craft we need to confront them every day. The problem with this however, is that even a boy with the age of 12 can perfectly lie to you! The technique of lying, seeing through lies and being affected by them can cause so much immersion and roleplay.. That it makes both economical, political, social and violent roleplay more challenging and fun! While still remaining realistic about your emotions. The Basics of a lie. While every character has their own syndrome, weakness, fear, trauma , etc. Every single, living soul has their fair share in universal lying recognitions, with the same emotions. I see many people roleplay their emotions incorrectly, or their lying. Never forget that some basic things, are universal. Nervous behavior Even though the following may seem obvious, nearly nobody roleplays that when being actually nervous in character. When you are being interrogated, accused, or when you pretend to be something or simply need to tell a lie. Your character, unless being trained in lying, would have this. When they talk, they would touch their jewels, scratch their chin, tap their finger. So when you are about to tell a guard that, for example, that your charge of cannibalism isn't true while it is. There is no way that an untrained person would not do anything similiar to above! If a guard perhaps, recognizes such behavior, he could grow suspicion. Which adds realism and challenge to the whole roleplay. Fake smiles Diplomatic marriages, a joke from a friend you are about to stab. Whatever the occasion, fake smiles are often roleplayed as real smiles, or obviously as "Roleplayer puts up a fake smile". But that is not necessary at all! Give your friend or partner some roleplay thinking, doubt, or simply succeed in faking your happiness. Meet captain McLie, he is happy because he is just promoted to commander! But wait, is he? The obvious thing that monarchs from the dark ages used to see the honesty in their partners happiness is if there could be lines found at the outer sides of their eyes. If there are none, its definetly a fake smile. Botox isn't invented in Lord of the Craft, so there are no exceptions. This however, is a genuine smile. The lines show that it is true, something natural. Not thought out or planned by your deceiving mind of lies. How detailed you roleplay it is up to you, but the ones you interact with deserve a hint. If they have the knowledge to recognize it or not is up to their characters intelligence. Fake, or hidden fear. How much have we seen it? Fearless robots PvP defaulting you at the spot. But wait a moment, since when does your character have an immumity to fear? When you are being outnumbered, many people try to stay calm and even to intimidate them! But as for example the orc ready to kill some dark elves, you do want to feast on their fear right? Thus, people who fight often would recognize real fear. Afcourse, you may ask. "What does it matter, they are dead anyway,etc". But if you are a guard interrogating someone, you can see their real fear. That when you pick up a hammer and say that you will smash their skull in, you can see if that is the correct method to open up someone. For the one who fakes or is in fear, the picture above shows great guidelines how to express your face when you are frightened. But just like a fake smile darling, fake fear = no stripes. Sadness Yes, we all know the tricks of the mistrell in distress. The poor crying child pickpocketing you, and the people falling into such traps. But the truth is, sadness is far more complex than just tears or a frown. Depressive or traumatized characters can easily recognize fake sadness, and would be very stressed out when they see it ( How would you feel when you lost your dog and someone else fakes that they are sad about it?) But how does general sadness even look like? Crying is just your emotions overcoming you, but being actually sad about something a day or hour later looks normally like this. When someone can fully look into your eyes for more than a minute and say "I miss my friend", is most likely lying. Believe it or not, but to roleplay this into detail may be hard. Like always, to make this guide and roleplay useful is the responsibility of both roleplayers. But you can grow suspicious when someone cries for days, or when it doesn't cry at all. This is the most complex, and the only expression dependable per person. But for the Sherlock's under us, it is up to you to find out if its true. There are two more emotions that could be lied ( Like the ones above ), but seem to be wrongly roleplayed quite often. Which is importnant as the world of betrayal, or the medieval theme we are in generally, these emotions are quite common. One of them is: I sometimes even had PM's asking "Uhmm how do I rp being suprised again?". And you can be lazy by saying "Looks Suprised", but when someone gives you information in an interrogation or on the streets, and you need to pretend not to know it. You have to lie that you are suprised. And just roleplaying that you look suprise is minor powergaming, as the other has no way in recognizing that you lie or not. People who lie about being suprised often just raise their eyebrows, or only open their mouth slightly. Unless you have practiced the expression, or prepared it for an expected situation, you cannot fake it by doing both. Its the limit of life. So when a guard tells you that there was 20,000 Minas stolen from the Auction house in Abresi, you perhaps should've prepared your reaction before commiting the crime. The second one is, Disgust. I have seen times that when an Orc poops on someones face my companion opens his mouth wide open and pointing towards it, or that people open their eyes entirely. But that is incorrect behavior. You see, when you see a turd your brain , or yourself, would never even dare to think to make your mouth wide open, or your eyes to see it better. No, you wish you didn't see it when you are disgusted. There we go, narrowed eyes, slightly opened mouth. Thats disgust. You can also cover your eyes, or your mouth, or just fall unconsious. But once again, if you are in a situation that you need to look disgusted when someone eats a leg ( And you being charged with Cannibalism for the first time), the first expression people go for is to make their mouth wide open. If the guard, person, judge, would know that out of experience or study, he would know you are lying. And off with your head! But if you truly are disgusted in roleplay, use the advice from the picture above. Recognizing a lie through speech. There are several things that the people in medieval Venice discovered with their merchants. Everytime someone lied, they repeated their sentences. Abresi Guard:"Did you kill lady Amber?" Lying Civillian:"No I did not kill lady Amber!" We do it unconsiously, but sometimes when we are aware that we are going to lie OOCly, and need to roleplay it. You might do the same like your unconsious lying, and do the above! What I also often see, is that when people become nervous they speak monotone. No shouts, no yells, no raised or convincing voices. Just plain, one tone voice. But when you are lying about an answer. Everytime you deny it, your voice naturally raises to try to sound convincing. This often ends with a gulp. People who tell unecessary details, like how they enjoy the waters and hate the view in Abresi when you ask if they ever visited there. They are most likely lying, or overemotional attached to you. ------

When I first joined the server, there's some things I wish I had known. I thought I could share them with prospect/new players. This ended up as a mega-guide and info dump, sorry! It will also be updated with new info as I see fit. Most of the subjects in this guide are more relevant to human characters, but I hope that most of it is helpful to everyone. ~ Getting Started ~ Looking at the LotC site, it’s easy to get cold feet. The application process requires a lot of thought, and that can turn a lot of people away. However, that’s not what I’m here to talk about (if you need help applying, there are some wonderful guides that cover it in the forums). I’m here to tell you what to know before logging on. Know the city your character lives in Most new players have never seen the LotC map before. This can be hard, since some towns should be familiar to your character. You can compensate by knowing at least a little history about the city your character has supposedly lived in their whole life. You can find this information on the wiki. If you haven't been whitelisted yet, go fly around and get acquainted with the map. Understand that you may be awkward at first Horror story time: On my first day, I was exploring Johannesburg and got stuck in an alley. I had to message people for help (I didn’t know about /ss yet), and a guy had to come and dig me out through some poor man’s house. Yikes. While you may not have an experience like this, know that you will embarrass yourself. It’s fine, we’ve all been there. Recognize that you may not know what to do, where to go, how to act, etc. It can be good to just observe the game until you get your bearings. Having a character with a forceful personality can sometimes make this worse, so keep that in mind while creating your character. ~ Roleplaying ~ Obvious, right? You’d be surprised how hard it is. Here are some tips to help you get started. Are they talking to me? How to avoid confusion This one really frustrates me. Someone will be chatting away, and suddenly you wonder; “are they talking to me?” You may know the feeling. Someone once called for a “Vanir lad,” and it took me almost five minutes to realize they were referring to me. Using names when talking to people (if your character has been introduced), looking at people you’re speaking to, and trying to be concise when speaking can minimize this issue. When emoting (more on this later), it’s perfectly fine to use a person’s name for clarity, even if your character may not know what it is in-game. Example: John and Bob are talking. John does not know Bob’s name in RP, and they are in a crowded tavern. The person playing John could emote: John nods to Bob and asks, “What’s your name, lad?” Bob knows he’s being spoken to, and can respond accordingly. On a side note, the username of a character can be seen by moving your cursor over their name in chat. I need a job! When you first appear in LotC, chances are you will be an unemployed, homeless drifter. You will probably have no affiliation, no friends, and no one to assist you. There are several ways to remedy this (please note that this is mostly from my experience playing as a human. I don’t know how this is handles outside of Oren). 1. Join a house. This may seem difficult, but chances are you will get an offer or two. Asking around at your local tavern can point you in the right direction if you so choose. Not all houses pay their men (you will still need to earn money), but some offer food and housing. 2. Kill monsters. All you really need to do this is a sword or axe. You can make decent money from killing various mobs, just mind you don’t die. How do I get friends? I feel so darn lonely! This is an interesting undertaking, but I’ll offer some basic advice. 1. Get affiliated. Join a house, join the army, get a job, attach yourself to something. Chances are, people will want to know you because of what you do or who you work for. 2. Be a friendly, helpful person instead of a jerk for no reason. If it fits with your character, help people out. Remember not to be too trusting, though. 3. Go to places with lots of people. There doesn't seem to be a current RP hub, but Sutica is a good place to check. 4. Have an interesting character. I don’t usually recommend being loud, but having a larger than life character (the town drunk, an oblivious maid) can really attract people; or push them away. How do I get people to like me? Another interesting question. These are some tips for when out of (and in) character. 1. Don’t be pushy. Be respectful of the role players around you. Chances are, they already have a lot going on. Don’t be scared off, but don’t bug them, either. 2. Use out of character chat sparingly. It breaks immersion. 3. Be nice to people. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people are rude without reason and drive people away. 4. Be constructive. Add something to the conversation. 5. Make a point to remember people. This can be difficult, but it pays off. Things to Expect · Don’t expect to fall into a magical adventure your first day - that happens day 2 · The forums are here for a reason. You may need to stop by certain topics/threads to get info for jobs and events. Just keep this in mind. · Characters may hate you. Don’t take it personally, but don’t take people’s idiocy, either. ~ Commands and Emotes ~ LotC has a good number of plugins. It can be confusing at first, so here is a basic rundown of the commands. Chat Commands – In Character These commands are for when talking in character. /rp: this command is for when talking in character. It’s your default setting, so unless you change it, you’ll always be talking like this. Anything you say can be heard through walls, and it’s a “normal speaking voice.” I believe the hearing distance is 20 blocks. /q: this is a quiet command. Anything you say cannot be heard through walls, and only people within a 9-block radius can hear you. Handy, right? /w: this is the whisper command. Anything you say can only be heard by people within two blocks of you. Nice for private conversations. /s: this is the shout command. Picture this: your character is being eaten alive by some sort of monster. You use this command to scream for help. No one helps, but hey, now you know how to shout. Using these is easy. For example: Tom wants to say something quietly. He types in: /q Where did you hide the beef? If Tom wants to keep talking in /q and doesn’t want to input the command every time he speaks, he can do this: /q Now Tom is talking in /q until he switches back to his default setting by doing the same thing with /rp. Chat Commands – Out of Character These are for when you are out of character and need to ask/say something /ooc: a map-wide out of character chat. Once you use this, you will see everything people outside your radius say in this ooc chat. Useful during events, use sparingly. /looc: Local out of character chat. Can only be seen by people nearby. I believe it has the same radius as /rp, but I’m not entirely sure. Breaks immersion, so try not to spam. /ws: Wandering souls chat. Usually used by people who haven’t been whitelisted yet. There isn’t much reason to use this, unless you want to help/answer questions from people who aren’t on the server yet. /help: I think this is a chat as well, I haven’t ever used it though. /leave [chat name here]: If you’ve joined a chat that you want to leave (help, ws, ooc), you can use this command to make it disappear. You can rejoin at any time. I’m not sure if this works for looc and in character chats, though. /m [playername] [message]: Sends a PM (private message). These are usually referred to as “birds” in-game (I.E. “I’ll send her a bird if I find them). This is a grey area, some information you get through this could be considered meta-gaming, so play it safe and only use it for ooc reasons, unless you have permission to use the info in-game. Emotes Emotes are a way of expressing what your character is doing. It is usually used to fill in gaps with the game mechanics. This is done using an asterisk. The easiest way to explain is with examples. Let’s say your character is named Bob. Hi Bob. You want Bob to wave to John. Here’s how: * waves to John This is what would be displayed in the chat: Bob waves to John. The character name (Bob, in this case) is assumed, so the player only needs to complete “Bob [does blank].” Very nice! But let’s say Bob wants to wave and say hello on the same line. This is how he would do it: “Hello, John!” Bob said with a wave. Dialogue is put in quotations, and the plugin assumes anything outside of them is an emote. No asterisk is needed for this, and the character name is not assumed in this scenario. ** can be used for general emotes. It is less about character, and more about environment. Let's say Bob has cast a spell that summons a pig. He can emote the scenario like this: ** The spell is successful. A large pig appears before the crowd, seeming surprised to be there. This is what would be displayed in chat: [!] The spell is successful. A large pig appears before the crowd, seeming surprised to be there. Now, Bob wants to emote something along the lines of, "Bob's eyes widen in surprise." This is how the emote would be formatted: 's eyes widen in surprise. This is how it shows in chat: Bob's eyes widen in surprise. Other Useful Commands Chat commands aren’t the only one’s you’ll be needing. No sir, there’s a lot. I only know a few, so I’ll list them here. Side note: Use the "tab" key to autocomplete a player's username. /ss: Soulstone. Acts as a teleporter. It can be bound to different SS pillars (Emerald pillars) using the command.... /ss bind [Slot]: use this command to bind a ss slot to an ss pillar. To use, have your ss in hand, look at the pillar, and run the command. Careful not to overwrite important slots! /me: Opens the player menu. Access persona options, chat settings, your ender chest, etc. /status [status type]: Changes your status. Another command I know little about. The only statuses I know of are crusading, sleeping, and affectionate. This prevents friendly-fire in pvp! /money: Shows how much money you have. Very useful for planning what gear to buy. /money pay [playername] [amount]: Pays a player the specified amount. /bread: Gives you 25 “monk bread.” Has saved my life multiple times. This bread cannot be traded or dropped without disappearing, and it never rots. Beautiful! /revive [player name]: Used to save a person who has been struck down by a monster. Stand close to their body and use this command; move fast or you may be too late. /lock: Used to lock chests, doors, etc. Use the command, then follow the provided instructions. /unlock: Unlocks a chest/door! ~ The World of LotC and Game Mechanics ~ There is a lot of information new players don’t get until they’re in-game, so I’ll try to spare you some embarrassment and hassle. Useful Terms In LotC, everyone speaks differently. The style of speech is typically medieval, but you can take some creative liberties to fit with your character and their history. Remember, this is fantasy too! Anyhow, here are some good terms to use if you don’t have a grasp on the language choices. · Sir: Used to refer to a knight, or someone in a higher rank than you. I usually use this a blanket term for men I respect, but use it however you see fit. · Goodman: A more casual term of respect. Used for merchants, bar keepers, etc. A respectable man. · Goodwoman/Goodwife: A respectable woman. Used the same way as goodman. · M’lord/My Lord: Used to refer to a lord. Not so complicated, hmmm? · M’lady/My Lady: Used to refer to a noble lady, or respected lady. Useful for flattery. · Ma’am: Older women only. You don’t want to insult people. A good alternative is Miss, for younger women. · Lad/Lass: A young man or woman. Don’t call your superiors this unless you want to be demoted. · Sire: A king or other authority figure. · Exclamations: Forming unique phrases for your character to use is a good idea. I’m fond of “Pigs on a basket,” and “Sheep on a hill.” Anything legit sounding. · Insults/quips: Modern insults are fine (used sparingly), but sometimes they just don’t cut it. This is when you whip out these: “The heavenly rain drown you!” “Son of a bitter goat” “Pig-spawn” and “God’s light blind you!” Anything religious (within the lore, of course) or involving animals works. · Goodbyes: Sure, a plain old “bye” works, but you want to be fancy, right? A personal favorite is “Godspeed, and may your path be ever bright.” How lovely. Houses There are lots of houses in LOTC. The real question is this: what are houses? What do they do? · A house isn’t always noble. In fact, there’s a whole hierarchy of them. · A house typically owns a keep or some land. They may even own a town. · Houses usually serve the king of the lands they reside in. During wars, they may stay loyal or turn on the throne. · Houses typically try to expand, and may have recruiters in large cities looking for capable people. · Houses have a similar succession to the monarchy. Leadership usually stays in the family lines. Getting Items Getting items at the beginning of your journey can be rather hard. You’ll have to get enough minas to buy a sword, then you can kill monsters for coin. I’ll admit that my first sword was given to me by a friend, and it was only because of this that I could get minas at all. Money Mina is the currency in LotC. It can be deposited in banks found in towns and cities. If you die, you lose half your coin. To avoid this, deposit your money in banks regularly. Food Food is something that can be difficult to find, especially when you take into account the fact that it will rot. Always check the expiration date- otherwise you'll get some nasty status effects. This can be seen by hovering your cursor over the food item in your inventory. In case you missed it in the command section, do /bread to get some free food once a day! Roads and Travel Traveling in LotC can be confusing at first. There aren’t many signs to point you in the right direction. This, combined with dead-ends, can cause a player to retrace their steps multiple times. My advice is to take note of the direction you’re heading, bring plenty of food, and don’t travel at night. Stay in lands friendly to your race if you don’t have a guide. If you must, come well-armed, but don’t carry weapons in hand. This can cause many problems with people that may already fear/despise you. Don’t trespass in areas you don’t belong (unless you’re willing to be beat to death), don’t steal from places you pass through, and stay vigilant. Housing Finding a place to stay is a complicated task. There are several ways to go about it. Find a person/group that offers housing in exchange for work. Some houses offer this. Some cities have signs with people to contact for housing. This is you best but for finding someone to rent/buy from. Rent or buy from a city. Renting requires a constant source of minas, and buying can be very expensive. Ask to live with a friend. If your character knows someone in game (really knows them, this is not something to ask that guy you met two minutes ago.), ask if you can stay with them. Whether this is permanent or temporary is up to the friend, but make sure you have something to offer them, or you may get kicked out. Random Information and Tips Here's some random tips/info I wish I'd known when I first joined LotC. Houses/Groups in LotC are constantly scouting new players. Be aware of this. We wary of strangers on roads. It doesn't matter how close to town you are, it doesn't matter if they're injured, it doesn't matter if they seem nice. I have lost count of how many times I've been brutally murdered on the road to Johannesburg (28 times before it blew up, over the course of 2 months). On the same note, be aware that some characters are, in fact, God-awful horrors from the abyss. Be vigilant. I've walked up to people and said, "G'day, sir." only for them to reveal that they are, in fact, a grotesque monster and no God can save me now. ~ My Biggest, Most Important Piece of Advice ~ How do you become successful at this whole RPing thing? Put effort into it. Be helpful. Ask questions. Emote properly. Engage people. Trust me, people will notice. And because you’re a reliable person, in-game and out, they will be the one’s seeking you out. This is big, and something that is easy to overlook. Go the extra mile. Make a compelling character, put effort into your skin, be motivated, be excited to be here! ~ Last Thoughts ~ Congrats! You’ve done it! You reached the end of my agonizingly long guide. I’m proud of you. Hopefully now you feel prepared to take on LotC and make something of yourself! Godspeed, and may your path be ever bright. If you have any questions, or just want to talk, PM me!

Remember you’re playing Minecraft Now I know what you’re thinking; “Who even are you?” And that’s how I feel about most of you too. I’m nobody for now, but I’m sure in the future I can get acquainted with all of you better. This is the same for everyone on the server. We all have to start somewhere, and that’s why I have created this guide for the newest of the newcomers on LOTC to help them through their first few weeks of the game. Before I begin talking about the specifics of this role-play server, I would like to draw attention to the fact that you should at minimum learn the basic controls of Minecraft before you choose to divulge yourself into the RP side of it. While playing LOTC doesn’t feel at all like playing normal Minecraft, the main differences are the structured lore, nations, characters, and emote system. The game itself if almost exactly the same. When I made my first character, I found myself constantly drowning and falling off ladders. After not playing Minecraft in two years I dis-remembered a large majority of the controls. I eventually got used to it, but just try to spare yourself the embarrassment of having to ask someone how to turn off auto-jump or create a work bench. And remember Google can be your best friend. Read the lore I cannot put enough emphasis on this but I’ll try. PLEASE AT LEAST READ THE LORE FOR YOUR SPECIFIC RACE. I know it can be a lot to take in at once, but it’s good to put the extra effort into taking this important step. It doesn’t have to be memorized all at once, as you can always go back and look again.. Role-play is all about reading and writing anyways! When joining, I personally made a huge mistake of going into the server not knowing anything about my own character’s background. I ended up RPing that she has amnesia for about a week and followed a High Elven mage around like a lost puppy after physically bumping into him and breaking his golden eggs. I was very relieved when I finally searched in the forums for Wood Elven lore and began to create an actual story line for my character involving the Aspects rather than just following others around in a confused manner. It’s also a good idea to look at your appearance guide. I’ve seen plenty of pure wood elves walking around with pale white skin, but that doesn’t just naturally occur in the world of LOTC. Race for a character is often very dependent on the appearance of your skin. Mixed races tend to have more leniency in this category. If appropriate to their background they could have the coal colored skin of a Mali’ker while simultaneously having the gem colored eyes and blonde hair of a Mali’aheral. You may also want to ensure you’re properly dressed for the nation you’ll be living in. For instance, in some nations any off-the-shoulder shirts are deemed sultry and highly inappropriate. Also know that mixed races are not welcome by some, and will indefinitely lead to your character being called “impure” at least once in your RP experience. Leaving this topic on a more positive note, you will have much more to role-play about when you understand what’s happening around you. Learn the emote system One of the most difficult things for new players to grasp the concept of is the emote system. I’ve been very active on LOTC for about two months now and I still completely mess up my emotes occasionally. Normally I end up having to void the entire text and rewrite it. I will do my best to explain how it works here. Example 1 What was written- How it translated when entered- Problem: The speech and action are switched.This is a more common mistake than you would think. Solution: If you are writing an action first, place an asterisk before you begin Example 2 What was written- How it translated when entered- Problem: Repeated name. Solution: Your character’s name will already be at the beginning of whatever you type. There's no need to write it in at the beginning. Example 3 What was written- How it translated when entered- Problem: This one’s not too worrisome, but the asterisk is showing at the beginning on the action. Solution: This is an easy fix. If the action is after the speech, you don’t need an asterisk at all. Some other helpful tips on emoting- If something you’re typing doesn’t fit on a single line, you can put a dash at the end as a continuation, as long as you start the next line with another dash. If you’re going onto a new word, do a dash and then a space at the second line so that the two words don’t merge together. Line one Line two Completed sentence This is just a suggestion, but I highly recommend that you try your best not to emote thoughts. It could lead to potentially lead to meta-gaming. The other character’s shouldn’t be able to know what’s on your character’s mind. What not to do: This is okay!: One last thing I wanted to bring to attention is that there are different settings you can use to determine how close people have to be in order to read your emotes. You can either apply these before the emote for one time use, or type in the command and enter to set it to that distance until it’s manually changed. /rp Is the default setting. It can be heard through walls and 20 blocks away. /q Can’t be heard through walls. The distance is approximately 8 blocks. /w Is the whisper setting. It can only be heard up to two blocks away. /s Allows others to hear your emotes about 48 blocks from your location. Basic tips for getting into RP So this isn’t a rule at all, but something I found extremely helpful was starting my character at the beginning of a new map. Technically I joined LOTC seven months ago, but I wasn’t able become invested in it do to being the only person walking around confused and unsure of what to do or where to go. At least if you start at the release of a new map, you won’t be the only one wandering lost and alone. This is also the time the server is most active; therefore much easier to find others to RP with. Keep in mind the map resets every year! Hungry and can’t find food? Do /bread to save your life Still confused? Type /h for help chat. Interact with those around you. The best part of RP is creating story lines with other characters. If you’re inexperienced at role-playing in general, watch the way others emote their character’s feelings and movements. You may learn a thing or two. Pick up a couple skills. People will go to you for materials or favors and that creates more RP and more things to do. You might even get a few minas out of it. That’s about all I have for now, but I may update this in the future if I think of other important topics to add. I created this purely because I want to help new players on the server who have too many questions to answer at once. May this guide.. Guide you!

TheJollyPear’s Beginner RP Guide (New/Old players) Guide Contents: RP Commands Chats, RP talks, pm’s, etc. How to properly RP (not advanced) just a simple idea of how to get started. Help on emotes How to set up emotes, color, formats, etc. How to set up a perfect persona /me RP Commands: Some players old and new are not yet aware of the new update for role-play commands. I have still been finding new commands I never knew existed. Some examples of what I will be going over. /q /w /rp /m /join h (Will be showing each chat you may join.) The OOC chats (Out of character.) (Wandering soul, help. And so on.) First command /w /w or known as /whisper can only be heard by players within a two block radius. Type /w Hi there. To simply whisper. A more efficient way is to just type /w . Enabling it to always keep you in /w when you are role-playing actively, so you won't have to put /w before any message. To get out of /w simply go to /rp (stands for role play) Second Command /rp /rp or known as /roleplay can be heard within a twenty block radius. This is the main talking command you'll be using. But travels through walls. Anyone within the radius can hear. Your default setting is /rp. Third Command /q /q or knows as /quiet is personally one of my favorite talking commands. This allows players to hear you in a eight block radius. But DOES NOT travel through walls. If you role play /q Hey there. And someone is outside the walls, it will simply show *muffled*. Fourth Command /s /s or knows as /shout can be heard within a 48 block radius. Fifth Command Bunch All out of character /looc is one of many out of character chats. Looc is basically /rp but out of character. Just do not troll in this chat. And do not looc to much or RPers around you will get mad! /sooc is shout in looc. /qooc is quiet in looc. /wlooc is whisper. /join ooc is the global out of character channel. Where you can talk with anyone on the server who is in the channel. Good way to make friends! Sixth Command Bunch Help channel, WS The help channel is the channel where you can receive help. A lot of players including myself hang out in help channel when we're on so feel free to ask questions! /join help to join. WS or wandering soul is where all Unaccepted players will chat, and some accepted. /join ws. Seventh Command /m [playname] /m is used for private messaging. For example you can do /m TheJollyPear Hi. To private message. Once you have been messaging someone use /r to reply easily. (Staff can see your pm’s be warned!) Topic 2 How to properly RP & Emotes Some helpful tips on how to ‘properly’ RP. Always capitalize your first letter. By default auto punctuation is enabled. Example “Hello there.” Now to emotes. To have a sentence start with a emote put, *he nods his head, smiling at the remark. “Hi.” To end a sentence off with a emote just write without the quotations (“). Example, “Hi” he walks off. Always stay in character, but if you have questions ask the player in /looc should be glad to help! A MASSIVE tip the more you RP the better you'll be! Customizing Emotes Use /me to customize your emote color indicated by the wool block. How to set up the perfect persona Use /persona for your persona settings. To see your own persona do /persona view . To edit it apply the following commands. /persona name [new name] . /persona age [new age] . /persona time to check your personas total time played on. Choosing your skills Pick a skill you're interested in! Find them out at /sk list . Remember some races have race bonuses. You can choose a main and a secondary skill. These will not allow you to use the others though. How to select. I will be using chef and farmer for example. /sk chef select main . /sk farmer select second . Bam! That easy your skills are set and now you can grind away :) Hope this guide helps you new players! This is my first guide and would like all the feedback I can get. Anything I missed please post in the comments ill add it! Thanks for reading :)

~*~ Many people say it’s hard to get into this server and that it’s not worth the effort, but with this simple guide to making a great application anybody can do it! ~*~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now before you can apply you will need to read the server rules, DO NOT SKIP THIS if you do you will likely be banned quickly after being accepted which is not what anybody wants: http://imgur.com/MyGEJdl And yes, you do have to read all of those sections. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now that you have a decent understanding of how the server runs you can begin the application and I will walk you through it. Firstly you need to make sure to have the following tabs open: The application format: Where you will create and post your application: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will want to copy the format in the lighter brown bow labeled ‘Quote’ and then go to the second link and (make sure you are signed into the forums) find the light brown box labeled ‘Start new topic’ and click it. http://imgur.com/TnfGkdL From there you will title the application “(Your MC Name)’s Whitelist Application”. You can skip the box titled ‘’Tags’ and then go to the biggest text box and inside of it paste the application format that you have copied. Now we can begin filling it out and I will walk you through it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will paste the application format here and make little helpful notes on each question. My notes will be in this color! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out-Of-Character Information Please do your best to correct spelling and grammatical errors, this is an RP server and writing is the main form of communication! What’s your Minecraft account name?: Simple enough, just the name of your MC account. We need this so that when you are accepted you can be whitelisted so make sure to triple check this to make sure it is correct. How old are you?: This is just to gauge how mature you are, I can’t recall anybody ever being denied for their age, so be honest. Are you aware the server is PG-13 (You won’t be denied for being under 13): If you didn’t know the server was PG13 you probably didn’t read the rules and you should go back and do that. Have you read and agreed to the rules?: Again, please read the rules, it is the structure for conduct in this tightly knit community and it is essential that each member understands the rules. What’s the rule you agree with the most?: A simple question if you read the rules, which you NEED TO DO. Are there any rule(s) that confuse you or don’t make sense? (if so we can help clear it up!): No is a simple enough answer but if you are confused feel free to ask a staff member here! How did you find out about Lord of the Craft?: This is just to gauge where our marketing for the server is most effective, so please answer honestly so this community can develop! Link(s) to past Whitelist Applications (If applicable): If by chance this is NOT your first attempt at applying with the correct format then copy the link to the previous application and paste it here! Definitions This is where many people get caught and never understand these common terms used in the community. These definitions can be hard to find at first but you’re in luck because you are reading this guide which shows you where to find the answers. They can be found: On previously accepted whitelist application (remember to reword these definitions to avoid plagiarism) https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/forum/67-implemented-applications/ By asking a member of the community over minecraft, skype, teamspeak or the forums Teamspeak IP: ts.lotc.co Minecraft Server IP: mc.lotc.co Feel free to Google the answers or browse our forums, but make sure that you write the reply in your own words, not those of another website or person! Plagiarizing will result in the automatic denial of your application! What is roleplaying?: What is metagaming?: What is powergaming?: In-Character Information Now you actually make your character - be creative but stay reasonable! Make sure they make sense and that they follow lore. Try to come up with a character that you actually want to play. Just a few tips for this section, so as not to be too overbearing, because this is all about creativity: Try to avoid naming your character off of something else such as a LotR or anime character Typical story tropes with killed parents are frowned upon by the Application Team because we do not want every character to have the same generic backstory. Make sure to read some of the lore of the server and include it in your application. A good source of lore is the LotC Wiki Character’s name: (what do you want your character to be called?) Character’s sex: (male or female?) Character’s race: (you can find all the playable races here.) -Races can be Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Kharajyr or halfling and any subtype of those races. Character’s age: (upon application, your character must be 18 or older, and depending on the race, they can be over five hundred years old!) -Elves are considered mature at 50 and not 18. Halflings are considered mature at 33 and not 18. Biography (Please make it a decent two paragraphs long. Remember to add three references to the server lore.): (where does your character come from?; where have they traveled to?; what year were they born in? et cetera.) Remember to include server lore such as cities, religions, wars, realms, etc.. Personality Traits: (what are your character's quirks?; habits?; likes and dislikes?) Ambitions: (what does your character aspire to be?) Strengths/Talents: (what is your character really, really good at?) Weaknesses/Inabilities: (what is a skill that your character needs to work on?) These are essential to make your roleplay interesting and your character realistic. Appearance: (what does your character look like?; how tall are they?; hair color?; scars?) Skin: (please provide us a screenshot of your character’s skin; if you need help, see our screenshot guide here.) If you read the rules you will know that you will need a minecraft skin to match your character so when you find your skin you can simply take a screenshot on your computer and upload that image to Imgur and paste the link of the image here! Imgur link- http://imgur.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you continue to find yourself struggling to be accepted then realize that you DO NOT need to give up. The members of this community are generally friendly and willing to help and if they aren’t they should be able to direct you to an AT member who will most certainly help you to get accepted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember that if your application isn’t reviewed immediately it is because the members of the Application Team are human also but it shouldn’t take more than 24 hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember to check your application after it is posted because it may be place on [Pending] which means you will have 24 hours to go back and correct the minor mistakes pointed out by a member of the Application Team. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are denied make sure to wait 24 hours before re-applying please! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If your application is [Accepted] then be patient because a Global Moderator will still have to add you to the server whitelist. After the GM does that though, you will be all set! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Powergaming in Combat Introduction Right, this is likely a bad time to write and post this given the heated atmosphere surrounding the topic in the latest days, but I and others feel that perhaps now is the opportune time to clear up some things and aim to prevent some arising concerns from coming to mass fruition. Blame Bagley, he told me to do this now. I had planned to give it a week before making another post, but hey ho time to continue on. Seriously, blame him. He smells really bad. Anyhow, on to the topic. In this thread I will not be covering what powergaming is, as I have done that in this thread, I will, however, be covering Powergaming directly in combat, how to avoid powergaming and the best course of action to take if you are confronted with a Powergamer. It was never specified how long this will be, but to avoid super paragraphs I’ll try and be concise and to the point. How to avoid Powergaming I am going to go off the assumption that all reading this are directly aware what Powergaming is. If you do not, however, please refer to the thread linked above in the introduction. As for powergaming in combat, a simple explanation would be “being too powerful or using mechanics too overpowered to forcibly emerge victorious in a roleplay fight, even if it made no sense to do so.” So how do I avoid powergaming? It isn’t easy to spot a power gamer from a simple Minecraft skin, and it often requires you to engage in roleplay to understand the full extent of their powergaming nature. There isn’t anything you can directly do to avoid finding powergamers, however there are some things you can do to avoid being a powergamer. Here is a bullet list, for ease of reading, which can help you discern whether or not you are powergaming: Avoiding of *dodges* every incoming attack. Using emotes which assume the outcome of an attack. When attacking someone, you attempt to attack someone, you cannot assume your attack is successful. Ex. *kills him / *grabs and throws him. / *breaks his nose. | You cannot assume what result your attack will give. Using overly complicated emotes to get out of an inescapable scenario. Ex. Two men have you chained to a wall, you use your slippery skin to get out, overpower the guards and run away. Being unrealistic. One old man will not be able to beat two fully armoured men. Not giving your opponent time to react. If you string together a list of attacks, and an escape before someone can even respond, you’re doing it wrong. Like above, you cannot assume to be able to predict the defense your opponent may have. Doing stupid things like backflipping out of situations. Stalling a situation and waiting for your buddies to pop up and help you, whilst mainly a metagaming issue, is worth a mention here. Character have flaws, no one is perfect and no matter what you do, in real life and roleplay, someone will always be better than you. No one wants to lose, but losing is more beneficial (most of the time) than winning. Losing helps your character develop, gives them more purpose. If you’re better than everyone at everything, what is the point? Character Development is a subject I’ll be touching on soon in another thread, but I think it needs to be partially said here. Having an OP character isn’t fun for you, it isn’t fun for me and it isn’t fun for anyone else either. So follow this bullet list to ensure your character has room to develop, and prevents people getting irritated at any powergaming ways. Give your character an equal amount of weaknesses as you have strengths. Give your character a goal, something to accomplish. Make this goal difficult to reach, but do not make it impossible. Work for this goal, have it impact your character in various ways when you do not immediately achieve it. Shoot for a physical weakness, such as blindness in one eye to lower the depth of your field of view, or a rigid shoulder which locks up during combat. Do not forget your weaknesses in combat. If your character is blind in one eye, play to that. You won’t be an expert in sword combat if you’re unable to discern where your opponent is. Do not be afraid to lose. Now I know, I know this goes against human nature but go against this base instinct. Try to win, for sure, but always stick within the realm of reality and what makes sense for your character. Make sensible moves, be realistic. You cannot just ‘get out’ of a grip, you need to be sure. Be emotive, explain your movies. Do not over complicate everything. Remember you’re roleplaying with someone else, they need to be able to understand what you’re saying. How to deal with Powergaming Those who powergame are often regarded as ‘new players’. People new to the server, people knew to Roleplay in general generally are the most at fault for this. Powergaming is bad, and I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say that dealing with a Powergamer is no easy task. There is, however, a way that most people have taken to dealing with powergamers, and that is to powergame back. This isn’t okay, this isn’t proper and it simply perpetuates the problem. A powergamer will simply start to believe that powergaming is the norm, and there is nothing wrong with that. Handling a powergamer takes time, and it isn’t always something you want to do. So, if someone is powergaming and you don’t want to handle them or spend the time to teach them what to do, do one of the following: Refer them to this thread. Refer them to google what powergaming is, and ask them to amend this. Refer them to an Application Team member, they are responsible to watch over and assist new players. Report them to a GM. GMs will take the necessary steps after this. If, however, you do have the time and you want to teach whem what to do, do as I have instructed above. For clarification, here is a few steps: Inform the player via PM that what they are doing is known as powergaming, and is against the rules on this server. Refer them to this power, or explain to them what powergaming is. Explain to them how they were in fact powergaming, and what they should have done instead. Explain why it is against the rules, and ask them to either try again or to be more mindful of this in the future. Profit. If, and this will happen, the player refuses to listen or simply continues in his ways, screenshot the conversation and post a BR on the forums. Staff will handle it from there. Under no circumstances should you get angry and yell at them, or simply powergame in return. This is not helpful. Closing Be mindful of others and adhere to the server rules. Remember what was said and try to guide people into being better at what they do. I do acknowledge that it can become a pain to handle, and I do understand how some people simply cannot be bothered to deal with repetitive behaviour. Some people simply do not wish to listen or learn, and we all get that. Instead of getting mad, however, simply submit a modreq saying ‘X was powergaming in <location>, and refuses to listen.” and simply go on your way. Yes, modreqs sometimes go unanswered, and yes it won’t be responded to instantly. But what does that matter? You’ve given the location, for which the GMs can look into and handle outside of your involvement. You can continue on with your day. Even if it isn’t dealt with or looked at, at least you don’t need to handle it. Powergaming isn’t fun for anyone, and with the Defender Default trial, there may be an increase in powergaming. Following what was said above may be able to aid and prevent the growth of the aforementioned. Thank you for reading. -Thomas

Bonus Conduct - Out-of-Character Manipulation Introduction Welcome back again, okay okay. Forgive the shortage of these, with the War Claim and a host of other things I figured a brief break would be nice. Anyhow, this one is going to be a little short given the singular topic. There isn’t a great deal of stuff to cover, but I’ll do my best to be as concise and explain as much as I possibly can. Once again, I shall bold all the important parts so anyone reading who doesn’t want to read every last word can skim over the necessary parts. What is Manipulation? So, here we go again. Oh man. To manipulate, in this definition, is to “control or influence (a person or situation) cleverly or unscrupulously”. Manipulation is considered a negative thing to do, for good reason. To control someone or a scenario is generally seen as possessive, though it entirely depends. Manipulation can be used for good, and when it comes to roleplay, being manipulative is almost a necessity in politics. However, this can only be said for things that occur in character. Manipulating someone in character for their land, their money or their resources is entirely possible and oftentimes encouraged to provide and entertaining experience. Out-of-Character Manipulation Now let’s get to the point of the post. In-Character manipulation? That’s allowed. Manipulation Out-of-Character? That is not allowed. Manipulating a real life person for anything, not just for your own aspirations in character, is disallowed, against the rules and downright wrong. Anything in roleplay should and must stay specifically in character, and anything out of character should and must stay specifically out of character. If someone does something against you out of character, you are expected to take the necessary measures to ensure that person is punished for what they have done. By this, I mean reporting them to the appropriate member of authority. (AKA Server Staff, or in severe cases the police). It should not, however, leak into your character decisions. How about some examples: The Scenario Player A and Player B are having are not exactly the closest of friends. Player A and B are in a skype chat, and Player A isn’t particularly being the nicest of individuals. Player B calls A out on it, explaining their behaviour will not be tolerated and essentially sasses Player A out. Player A is upset with this, and because of that A starts to speak poorly about Player B in all kinds of chats. The scenario escalates so much so that Player A and Player B begin to rival one another Out-of-Character. Because of this, Player A decides that he wants to spite and attack Player B because of the scenarios occurring OOC. Player A then targets each of Player B’s characters, either wanting them killed or exiled, sent away to a location which will essentially make the character unplayable for Player B. The Problem This one is as simply as the others. Player A, despite the arguments and disputes with Player B, should not resort to leaking Out-of-Character into the In-Character world. This is not allowed, and essentially makes the entire situation and atmosphere unpleasant for everyone. Especially if Player A is of an influential position, and can cause sufficient damage to Player B. not only can this make Player B feel disinterested in playing their characters, it may also make them reluctant to create a character of the same type or even another character in general, out of fear of being targeted. This isn’t fair, for anyone involved. The Solution The solution here is simple. Do not leak anything Out-of-Character into In-Character. It is not allowed, and it isn’t fair for any parties involved. Simply put, the solution is to not let the two worlds cross. It causes problems, and not only can it lead to meta and powergaming, it causes disinterest and loss in motivation for anyone in the damage radius. If you are having problems with someone Out-of-Character, leave it out of character. If it reaches a point of problem, then report it to the appropriate people and allow them to handle it. Under no circumstances should people be afraid of role playing or creating new character out of fear of being targeted. Summary In brief? Don’t do it. It’s easy to want to punish someone or hurt someone because of Out-of-Character stuff, and no one will blame you for wanting to do that; however, it cannot actually happen. It’s not tolerated, in any means. As I have mentioned several times so far, it’s demotivating and inappropriate to target someone just for out of character means or measures. Never do this, never. You wouldn’t like it if it is done to you, so why should you do it to others? Limiting the Roleplay experience for someone simply because they’ve ticked you off Out-of-Character not only makes no sense In-Character, but it causes mass detriment to the server and roleplaying scene as a whole. But yep, all done. Cool stuff. Once again, questions, corrections. It’ll help us all. -Tahmas (Thomas) (Don’t be a nerd. Don’t be uninformed. Ask the questions. Do it.)

Roleplay Conduct - Powergaming v Camaraderie Introduction Oh boy, okay okay. Third installment. Do you know how long these take to write? Long, and I’m in the middle of watching Macbeth, the 2015 version with Michael Fassbender. It is sweeeet. ANYHOW. Time to move on and actually get to the purpose of this post. Like the first, and second post, this will cover two different topics. It will explain the specifics of each, citing examples and doing a whole lot of talking. Once agaaain, I shall bold all the important parts and summarise in the final paragraph or two. I’ll do my best to cover the topics in as much detail while trying to retain as much of your attention as possible. As I have mentioned in previous topics, once again, many people tend to perceive Roleplay Conduct and Etiquette in a decisively opinionated and varied view from what is generally expected. Because of this, I am continuing to make these to hopefully inform the masses. As an aside, I’m going to break these into two different posts tonight cause there is a lot to cover. So, what is Powergaming? Here we go again. Time to break down the meaning of Powergaming to it’s core. So what does Powergaming literally mean? Well, “Powergaming is a style of interacting with games or game-like systems, particularly video games, boardgames, and role-playing games, with the aim of maximising progress towards a specific goal, to the exclusion of other considerations such as storytelling, atmosphere and camaraderie.” To me, that’s a pretty clear and solid explanation of what Powergaming is. In case you don't understand, I'll try and expand. What this means, is that Powergaming is an action where you take every possible action to reach a certain goal. This could be winning a fight, for instance. While this seems pretty standard and okay, it’s more-so often referred to as “being too powerful and strong so it’s unfair on others”. Powergaming is often used synonymously with God-Roleplay. So what can this include? Well, for one, buffing up your character so they’re increasingly intelligent or strong, so much so that any combatant they come across can hardly lay a finger on them. Having a skilled character is fun, and of course it makes sense for some characters to be more skilled and some things than others; however, when used to extreme levels, it can cause some characters to become not only dis-interested in roleplaying with you, but unmotivated in general to roleplay given the serious overpowered nature of some characters. As one can assume, this has a very negative effect on the server, and on everyone involved. Powergaming in Combat? To start, let’s get this clear. Combat does not actually work as it does in the movies. It doesn’t, as much as it sucks to hear it. For sword fighting, take a look at these two videos, here and here, and unarmed combat here. While in movies, combat is drawn out over the span of a couple of minutes, with each opponent getting closer and closer to victory. This really isn’t how it worked. Combat is quick, and is over in a matter of seconds. Even in hand to hand combat, the fight begins and seconds later it’s over. Let’s get some examples up in here: The scenario: Player A and Player B are squaring off to fight. Player A is somewhat capable with a blade, having served in a local militaristic order and having a form of martial upbringing. Player B is more or less the same, perhaps being a member of the same belligerent order. Player A engages Player B, and a fight commences. A decides to strike with a very offensive tactic, pushing Player B back with each blow. Although it would appear Player B is being bested, B pushes back A and deflects every incoming attack, choosing to take no hits for his character during the battle and eventually he uses a systematic and complicated maneuver to best Player A and win the duel. The problem: While Player A may have gone on the offensive and exhausted efforts, Player B effortlessly deflected every incoming attack. This isn’t exactly realistic. Why? Well, as stated above, combat doesn’t work that way. I’m not going to give a long lecture about how combat actually works, but what I will say is that deflecting every incoming attack and winning a duel that easily against someone the same skill level of you is incredibly unlikely. Plus, it isn’t entirely fun now is it? No one wants a character to be too overpowered, you limit your fun and everyone around you. That, and it limits character development. The solution: I like these example formats, they’re cuuute. Once again, apologies for getting sidetracked. So we’ve identified a problem here, so what’s the solution? Firstly, the best thing to do for everyone is to look at your character. Are they flawed? If so, good. IF not, why? Where is the fun in having no flaws? Secondly, take into consideration the fun you’re having, and the fun the other people are having. Imagine yourself in their shoes, would you enjoy this? No one likes to win all the time, and you need to lose to get better. Lastly, maybe do some research? I know reading and watching videos about combat isn't’ the most entertaining of things, but it’s all that can be done I suppose. Powergaming in Politics? Ahah. Okay, I can’t believe I’m writing this but yes. Powergaming in Politics is possible. Having a character that can outsmart the entire political system of an organisation alone isn’t proper, nor is it very fun. If you want to dismantle an organisation or an entire political system, go for it. If that’s what your character would do, of course. Although, look for help. Don’t do it alone. It makes no logical sense that a single person, without help, managed to cripple an entire organisation. What is Camaraderie? I seriously this isn’t actually a question anyone is actually asking, but I’ll take it’s rhetoric and answer it anyway. So, Camaraderie, by definition, is “mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together.” Do we all spend a lot of time together? I’d say so. If you’re here reading this post, no doubt you’re actually commonly versed with the realms of minecraft and because of that, likely occupy your time with it quite often. Due to this, it’s no doubt you spend a fair amount of time with each and everyone on of us in one way or another. Simply put, we play this together and we enjoy it together, whether we all interact with one another or not. We’re all here to have fun, and it’s oftentimes, as mentioned in a previous post, that we all come here to have fun. Why is Camaraderie important to the Server, and each of us? For whatever reason we come to play, we’re all here for one underlying reason. Fun. And because of that, it’s sort of the duty of each of us to ensure that others are having fun. Would you like it if someone did something to compromise your fun on here? I’d wager that as a no, and I’m fairly certain that would be the answer of all of us. Because of this, we should take pre-emptive measures to ensure we don’t hurt other people's gameplay in the same way we’d hate it done to us. Extensive powergaming can do this, and it isn’t nice. If we’re not having fun, people leave the server. If people leave the server, the server loses player retention. If the server loses retention, it loses new traffic. If it loses traffic, it cannot draw in new players. Thus no more donations, thus no more people coming to enjoy themselves. It’s a vicious slope which would end in the Server being unable to sustain itself, and eventually needing to close down. So if you ever think that being mean to someone for no reason won’t ever come back to bite your backside, then you’re wrong. But hey, at the end of the day the choice is yours. People are banned and punished for the reason of protecting the players and keeping the server moving. Camaraderie just prevents that, and offers a more fun and enticing environment for not only new players, but yourself too. Summary Hi, what’s up, hello. Yes I wanted to keep this post ‘short’, there wasn’t much to cover and I’m going to assume that most people will understand what I’ve said. I have a lot to write up tonight so I tried to be as brief but informative as possible. If you have any questions, please please ask them, I can help and provide extra insight on things I’ve missed.. and no doubt I’ve missed things. Love you bye. -Tahmas (Thomas) (really, really. Ask questions, it’ll help you and I both, trust me, I’m a lawyerman. )

Roleplay Conduct - MetaGaming v Convenience Introduction Greetings again,. I figured I’d pump these out consecutively to ensure no interest is lost when reading through them. Hopefully this one will retain the same kind of loose and lighthearted as the first post, so I’ll get right ahead to it. For this post, I’ll be covering the specifications regarding MetaGaming and it’s difference to Roleplay Convenience. I’ll go over the definitions and provide some examples. This post will be fairly extensive, so I’ll try to add a TL;DR at the bottom of each section I type up and I’ll bold some things as I go along to ensure that nothing is missed, and those with short attention spans receive the information necessary to understand the purpose of this post. As mentioned in the previous topic, many different people tend to hold differing opinions on Roleplay Conduct and Etiquette, and those differing opinions are what I hope to solve/unite. So what exactly is MetaGaming? Much alike my breakdown of conduct, I will now explain the fundamentals of MetaGaming. As per its definition, Roleplay is “a strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.” So what exactly does this mean? This means that your character is bound by a certain set of rules in regards to information and actions that that character currently knows. This can include information found Out-of-Character, certain skills which your character could not feasibly be aware of, or simply having information In-Character about something your character couldn’t possibly know. After communication with Server Staff and a host of players, it has been determined that whilst MetaGaming is technically a break in character, there can be some allowed exceptions to this rule. This will come under the convenience section. Instead, we defined MetaGaming as taking something which you couldn’t possibly know in an In-Character scenario which provides a negative impact on the scene. Examples of this are: The scenario: Player A tends to his family farm, having known no other life than the wheat he picks from the fields. A is about 15 years old, and works for his father. His Father wasn’t too interesting, he worked the farm like his father before him, and his father before him. They never really left the farm unless they needed to travel to the local village for supplies, never visiting any major city or interacting with anyone higher than that of a simple farmhand. Player B wanders along and asks Player A what the know a war which occurred 50 years ago. Because Player A, as a real life person, was present during this war that was played out, his character suddenly replies to Player B with intricate details in regards to the storyline of the war. The problem: Do you see a problem here? I hope so, because I do too. Player A’s 15 year old character has somehow accumulated knowledge on a war half a century past due to some strange symbiotic connection they have with the person playing the character. In reality, Player A’s character would shake his head and move on, as it is entirely likely that he wouldn’t even know who was fighting who in a war so distant in which his family played no part. The correction: Player A would feasibly know next to nothing of this conflict. “But what do I say, wouldn’t that limit conversational roleplay?” I hear you ask. Well, the answer is a mixture of both. Yes, it may limit the conversation to some extent. Okay, you know nothing of the war so you are unable to inform the person you’re speaking to about the things you may know Out-of-Character; however, as an opposition to this, you can continue and return the question to the person asking. Chances are, if they are asking about it, they know a thing or two about the scenario, and to continue the conversation and propel roleplay forward, you switch the focus of instigation to yourself. Have them tell you all about it. “And what if they don’t know either?” Then revel in that fact. You both know nothing of the war, so find something new to talk about. Or talk about how your character feels about being stuck on a farm, and being unable to learn all this information. How about another example? The scenario: Player A is raiding City 1 with a group of his friends, A.1, A.2 and A.3. They reach the settlement and find a large city, with many houses and many public buildings. They are looking forward to finding people to beat down and ravage for minas or valuables which they can later sell. Player B is in his house with his wife, B.1 and his son, B.2. This house is tucked away and near no public buildings. Player A’s sees the name tags of the three and walks straight up to that house. The A’s kick down the door and loot the house, beating the family and stealing their precious items. They then leave. The problem: City 1, as stated, was rather large with many houses and public buildings. Player A, even after seeing Player B and his family’s name tags, should not have walked straight towards that house. Player A’s character cannot see through walls, and name tags are not to be taken In-Character. “But Raiders could check every house and eventually find them!” I hear you cry; and you’re right. But not in the way you think. Player B, as stated, walked straight up to the house and kicked down the door, even though his character couldn’t have realistically known anyone inside. The correction: The correction to this is simple. Don’t think that because you can see their name tag, that you can take that In-Character. What should have occurred, was Player B and his group moving through the city to the public buildings and searching them for people. Upon realising no one was nearby, they would start on the houses. They’d start on those closest to the public buildings and work their way through the city, kicking down doors until they found someone. If at this point, after searching other houses and more likely buildings, they stumble across Player A and family, that’s completely fine and correct conduct. There is nothing wrong with this, as they searched each house for people and eventually found them. However, in contrast, it is very likely that Player A and family would hear the commotion outside and could use this as a chance to escape. In contradiction to that, the A group could only vacate when the raiders are close enough to the house that the sound of bursting doors would be heard, and not the moment they see names. Alright great, you just explained MetaGaming. So what about Convenience? This is where is gets somewhat tricky. It can often be said that Roleplay Convenience can be taken as partial Metagaming. It isn’t entirely different, and it isn’t too difficult to understand, however it must be noted there is a difference. While using information you have acquired Out-of-Character for negative purposes, such as spotting where someone is hiding, is called MetaGaming, using information you have acquired Out-of-Character for positive purposes and to better the entire roleplaying scenario is seen as Convenience and is often permitted to an extent. The tricky part of this is being able to determine whether using a piece of information you have garnered Out-of-Character will affect everyone in a neutral or positive way, and unfortunately no amount of writing will be able to teach you how to do that; however, what I can add, is that a general rule of thumb to adhere to is “If this was done towards me, how would I feel?” or “Does this interrupt the Roleplay experience in any way?” or lastly, “Is there any feasible way this could actually make sense In-Character?”. Once you have determined the answer to these three questions, you’re ready to start. Examples of how ‘MetaGaming’ can be used to enhance Roleplay are as follows: The scenario: Player A is roleplaying in City 1. Player A is lonely and is looking for people to roleplay with, so A contacts his Out-of-Character friend, Player B, in Private Message, or on any platform outside of roleplay, and asks them to come to City 1 to roleplay. Player B is in City 2, and technically has no reason at all to go to City 1 other than the Out-of-Character reasoning to entertain Player A. Player B ends up wandering over to City 1 to entertain Player A. The explanation: “Isn’t this technically MetaGaming?” You’re probably asking, and you’d be correct. Yes, it’s true, Player B had no reason whatsoever to go over to City 1 and entertain Player A other than Out-of-Character motives. But what was produced from this? Roleplay. The two likely had some fun and engaging conversational roleplay, which possibly escalated into some really interesting Character Development. The bottom line here is that Roleplay was provided. Good roleplay, roleplay that didn’t resort in anything necessarily negative coming from this. Player B didn’t gain an advantage from going to City 1, he didn’t manage to assert him/herself over Player A, he/her simply managed to provide enjoyment to both parties by doing so. How would the situation need to go for it to be MetaGaming?: Say for instance, Player A and his group, A.1, A.2 and A.3 are all beating down Player B in the middle of nowhere. Player B then messages Player C Out-of-Character and asks for help. Or maybe Player B hops onto Skype or Teamspeak and asks for assistance from his friends, D, E, F and G. They suddenly and miraculously appear out of nowhere and beat Player A and his group. While similar to the scenario above, this action is interpreted as MetaGaming as it is seen as a negative impact on one or all parties involved. In-Character reasoning: Alright, alright. I get the difference. MetaGaming provides a negative response, Convenience provides a positive one. So what could I use In-Character to explain this ‘convenience’? Simply put, it’s pretty much down to you. Carrier Pigeons are a thing, as are messengers. These can be used as an explanation, or you can simply make something up. As long as it makes sense, of course. You cannot say “I telepathically figured out you were here, friendo.”. So what’s your overarching point here? I aim for everyone to understand the difference between MetaGaming and Convenience Roleplay. The difference between conveniently appearing in a certain area which you wouldn’t normally be to provide a positive response, and ‘conveniently’ appearing to jump to someone's aid and provide a negative reaction for one or all parties involved like some kind of troubled minecraft social justice warrior. Not everyone understands this difference, and I’m hoping that this post will have cleared up a few contentions (there’s that word again. Eeee.) and helps those who are currently out of the loop understand what is expected of them. Roleplay is supposed to be fun for us all, and instigating and providing roleplay as an antagonist or protagonist in certain scenarios is fun, as long as you don’t overdo it. Be wary and cautious of all involved and take that into account before deciding whether to do anything listed above. Oh! Thomas, you forgot something. What about MetaGamed skills, can they be used in Convenience too? Hrrmm, urrr. No. They can’t, unfortunately. As much as it may provide a positive outcome for you to suddenly know first-aid or get over your squeamishness in a situation simply because your friend is dying out on the ground, it provides a negative outcome to the person who inflicted that on someone, and you simply cannot come up with an In-Character reason for it. New skills aren’t acquired, they are cultivated. A young sales merchant will likely not possess the required knowledge to stop the bleeding of a crossbow bolt to the shoulder blade, let alone holding the information needed to know to cut of the arrowhead and pull the shaft out first. Logic dictates all. Can your character logically or possibly know/do this? If the answer is yes, it’s probably convenience. If no, then it’s MetaGaming. Summary? Why do I make these things so ruddy long. Anyway, that should be all of it. As a closing summary: Information or Skills acquired Out-of-Character cannot transcend into In-Character unless they have any form of logical explanation for doing so. There is a difference between Convenience and MetaGaming, one is positive, one is negative. While it’s ‘technically’ MetaGaming, it’s permitted and often encouraged. Roleplay is what keeps the server moving and without it, the server would grind and jarr until it started moving again. Providing and instigating roleplay is great, and it keeps everyone interested and engaged. To do this, sometimes some things need to be used to enhance the experience, as long as it’s used in a positive way and all parties involved agree to it. That’s the most important part. Though this has gone on too long and I am super hungry for dinner, so woop woop. I hope you had fun reading, expect the next one tomorrow or on Friday 12th, I’m not too sure how busy I’ll be tomorrow. Love you bye. -Tahmas (Thomas) (once again feel free to ask questions on the thread about the up and coming discussions, or about the topic at hand. Or anything really. Go wild, go nuts..)

Fire Evocation Basic Understandings: Evocation is one of the most basic forms of Arcane Magic one can learn, being that it is a magic that revolves around the simple concept of summoning elements from the void and pulling them into the real world for a certain amount of time. As the name implies, fire evocation is the summoning of flames from the void and unto the mortal plain, the strange action being fueled by one’s magical essence of sorts: aka, mana. Because of this fact, it should be known by all magical evokers that they are completely incapable of controlling elements outside of the ones they’ve pulled into the mortal plain from the void. Though the concept of fire evocation is one of the more simple ones in the category of magic to wrap your head around, it still requires a large amount of practice and time to use; let alone master. Before one can even begin to evoke fire from the void, they must first have a great deal of knowledge on the natural element itself. They must understand what fire is. How it feels, how it looks, how it smells, how it functions, etc. They truly have to break down the element into its core components and spend countless hours learning everything they physically can about it. Think about it like this: if one doesn’t know how something works in depth, how could they possibly manage to replicate it to such a fine degree that it seems, feels, smells and even acts in the same manner as it does in the real world? Though it may be possible to do it if you have a basic understanding, if you’re looking to master the element then you have to truly get down to the small components of it. Another good example of this on a smaller scale which is used quite often, is if you don’t know how a flame feels, how would you manage to replicate that feeling? If you have no knowledge on it, you simply can’t create it. Roleplaying Guidelines: As previously stated, before a caster attempts to use fire evocation in any way they must have a large pool of knowledge related to fire, some examples once again being things like the way it feels, how it’s created, how it looks like to the mortal eye, how it reacts to things around it, etc. Once these important factors are taken in and studied for a vast amount of time, assuming the character has knowledge of how to connect to the void, they’d be able to evoke a small, simple flame. A flame the size of a candle’s flickering ember would likely be the safest route to go, however a spark would be doable as well, assuming the caster has knowledge of that specific form just as he/she does others. Here we will examine a beginner level example of a caster who is just learning how to summon a small ember: Ruby's left arm slowly rises in front of herself, her hand rotating so that her palm is facing skyward. Her eyes lock intently on her hand, her lips parting as she lets out a sharp exhale, her opposite arm giving a few twitches as a bead of sweat quickly rolls down her forehead. An ember suddenly flickers into existence above Ruby's hand, her breathing becoming loud and unsteady as the flame wavers from side to side. As soon as Ruby's eyes begin to flutter shut with fatigue, the ember quickly fades back into nothingness, her arm dropping back to her side as she plops backward into the chair with an exasperated sigh which is then followed by a fatigued grunt. As what is likely expected, the longer the caster practices connecting to the void and evoking flames, the easier the process becomes. Connecting to the void is a difficult task, taking up a majority of a mage’s most basic training. The basic training is essentially the caster learning how to connect to the void, and then imagining the element in the certain form they want to present it in, and then using their mana to fuel the idea and drag the substance into the mortal realm. Eventually, this progression will lead to the caster being capable of summoning greater things at a quicker rate; a fire ball being a perfect example of this. However, despite the caster’s understanding of the magic and skill level of actually using this magic, there must always be some sort of physical tell that shows they are currently evoking. This tell can be projected in multiple different ways, ranging from things like the twitching of joints to the volume of breaths, etc. Now that we have discussed that, here is an example of how a fire evocationist would summon a fireball: Kuro's hands slowly rise in front of himself, his wrists giving a small twitch as his palms face one another, being about a foot away from each other. A single ember seems to flicker into existence in between Kuro's palms, his shoulders giving a small twitch as the ember begins to swell. The flames seem to stretch upward and sway in sporadic movements. Kuro exhales sharply as the flames take on the form of a crude ball, small embers flicking outward in multiple directions as its growing gradually comes to a halt. He takes a long pause for only a moment, before he juts his hands outward, the ball of flame ripping through the air as it races for its target. As it does, small embers zip outward in multiple directions, the ball continuing to whirl toward its destination. As it hits, Kuro lets out a loud huff, his breathing heightened as he slowly stumbles back and plops onto his rump, picking at the blades of grass as he watches the now burning dummy. Red Lines: Ignoring the fact that a lack of fatigue must be emoted. Even at a high skill level, one must make sure that in most cases they emote a sign of fatigue. The amount they emote depends on their skill level, however it is required else it is considered powergaming. Do not emote controlling real world elements. The casters are only able to control the elements they have drawn from the void. Molding a flame is something that shouldn’t be done until the beginning of tier three has been reached; even if it is just a crude shape. You are unable to control flames to a fine degree, unless you combine this art with the art of primordial conjuration. Otherwise, your shapes will be quite crude. Make sure you roleplay a reasonable casting time; therefore the farther away you are from your target location, the longer it will take to evoke that element. I.E. Don’t emote instantly summoning a flame underneath/atop someone. Blue flames drain a vast amount of mana in a short amount of time, so this isn’t something you should go around using each moment you get the chance to because they perhaps look better than orange flames. And white flames are practically a no no- seeing as one would die of mana exhaustion or heat exposure due to the high temperature of said flame. As per every evocation, you are not able to evoke in areas you cannot see.

Introduction Welcome and greetings new players and applicants to Lord of The Craft. Disclosed in this guide will be detailed information that will help you on your journey and integration into our diverse community. There is a lot of information in this guide and we do not expect you to read through every single word of it, but we insist that you at least glance over it and have an understanding of the general information provided. Below you will be a table of contents to assist you in navigating and pulling relevant information to you from this guide. If you have any further questions that this guide does not explain to you in regards to the community or server feel free to Private Message any member of the Application Team, they will be more than willing to answer your questions! In-Game Information BONUS: When you're whitelisted, you finally get to go and find that role-play! However, being new and all, you might have difficulty finding a group that your character's race or personality meshes well with. Fear not! For AT members are here to help you! If you do /atlist , you'll be able to see what application team members are around to help! Additionally, in game, we have a tag* that is dark green colored, so that we may be distinguished among other players. *

YOU SHOULD BE AN UGLY GIRL Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Urara! I have written a couple of guides before, such as “How to RP Romance Without Being Creepy” (http://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/70580-how-to-rp-romance-without-being-creepy/) and “How to Avoid Making a Mary Sue/Gary Stu.” (http://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/27643-how-to-avoid-making-a-mary-sue-gary-stu/) Today, I am here to talk to you about a very interesting subject. What is that subject, you ask? Well, just look above! I am about to tell you why you should play an ugly girl. WHY WOULD ANYONE – EVER – WANT TO PLAY AN UGLY GIRL? Good question, my friend. Why, when you could be anything you want to be, would you play an ugly woman? Gather up a few female characters on the server. Make them line up shoulder to shoulder. Do you notice anything weirdly…similar…about their skins? Let me show you. I searched “girl” on Planet Minecraft and here’s what I got: Can’t imagine what you could be talking about, Urara. They have entirely different hair colors! Besides…it’s only a few skins, right? ...Oh. Female skins have a problem! There are no good “ugly girl” skins! Female skins typically have large, anime style eyes, long hair, and pretty clothes. If you'll notice, they all tend to look really similar and not very interesting visually. It's kind of a shame, isn't it? Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be cute. It’s wonderful to be cute. But it’s a problem when CUTE IS THE ONLY OPTION. Seriously…if you can only tell two characters apart by their hair colors and clothes, that’s an issue. Look at the characters below. For my examples, I will be using skins that I made personally. I make “cute girl” skins as well as “ugly character” skins. Again, it is okay to want to be a cute, pretty character. There is nothing wrong with that. But you have to admit, it gets a little boring! What can you tell me by looking at these characters? What are their personalities? What is their history? Their hopes? Dreams? Goals? The thing is…you can’t really tell anything about them. They’re just another group of pretty, young girls in fancy dresses. The only difference between them is their hair color, eye color, and dresses. Now, you can tell a lot about a person with their hair and clothes, but those skins above still just feel kind of empty to me. They’re fine if you want to play a normal noblewoman, but what if you want to stand out? Play a really unique character full of fire and personality? Generic girl skins just won’t do! Now, check out these guys. WHOAH, NOW THERE’S SOME PERSONALITY! Here’s something I learned about character design. YOUR APPEARANCE IS THE QUICKEST WAY TO GET SOMEONE INTERESTED IN YOUR CHARACTER. It is also the quickest way to give someone information about your character! We call tell a lot about this group from their appearance! We have a rad orc warrior with a mohawk and some big ol’ tusks. An aging, gothy noblewoman with a big scar on her face – I wonder how she got that? And…hot damn, look at that boy. He’s got scars and crap ALL OVER HIM. But he still seems friendly. What’s his story? UNIQUE APPEARANCES INSPIRE PEOPLE TO RP WITH YOU. I love seeing characters with huge scars. Or missing eyes. Or dirt all over them. Or just really ugly appearances in general. It makes me immediately want to RP with them. “Hey, nice face, what’s your story?” Cute girls are nice, but after a while, they start to blend in with every other cute girl on the server. I’m more interested in the girl with the missing eye and giant scar, thanks. PEOPLE DO NOT EXPECT FEMALE CHARACTERS TO BE OLD OR UGLY. Being an old, ugly, malformed, or scarred woman surprises a lot of people. You don’t see a lot of them. Most girls on this server are young and pretty – or, at least, they LOOK very young and pretty. A lot of girl characters (*cough* most humans) freeze their age around 20-25 so they never have to get older. And that’s fine. I’m not telling you how to RP. I’m just saying that playing an ugly woman or an old woman is a very unique experience. It’s fine to be cute, but wouldn’t you rather be unique? Instead of being another interchangeable pretty girl, wouldn’t you want to be unforgettable? Being an unattractive person – or at least a non-standard person – gives you a lot of cool RP potential. Why do you look that way? What’s the story behind the face? How does looking “different” affect them? Are they sensitive about their looks? Proud of their looks? Would they get angry if someone pointed their ugly traits out? Ugly people have complex personalities and dreams and goals too! I have played both cute characters and ugly characters. I will warn you – if you play an ugly person, a lot of shortsighted people will make fun of you. My character Lorin – the achingly gothic old lady up there – got a LOT of flack from the people in Oren about her age. As soon as she hit forty, everyone seemed to make fun of her. It really discouraged me because I loved Lorin and I could not wait to play her as a grumpy older woman. Likewise, a lot of people made fun of Carden (the boy with the dramatic scars) because of his massive facial scarring. Another example. I once ran around for a couple of hours while wearing this skin: Not that bad. I think she’s got a peasant-y sort of charm. But a few male characters actually BEAT HER UP for being ugly! Ugly RP – especially Ugly Female RP – is sometimes cruel, sometimes unhappy, sometimes tragic. You have to be pretty badass to be ugly. Can you take the heat? Conflict is the essence of a good story, after all. If your very appearance incites people to RP with you, you won’t run out of RP, no matter where you go. I AM NOT SAYING THAT CUTE CHARACTERS CAN’T BE UNIQUE, OF COURSE! Yes, thank you, ladies. Here is my point: DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE UGLY. TAKE RISKS WITH YOUR CHARACTER’S APPEARANCE – MALE OR FEMALE. DON’T LOOK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!

Warning – this guide is image intensive (as necessary for a skinning tutorial) and may cause lag when a spoiler is opened. About a year and a half ago when I was fairly new to Lord of the Craft I decided I wanted to be able to make my own skins. This is because I hated wearing a skin I wasn’t fully happy with and I wanted to be able to create designs for myself and others. I was inspired by Randomness710 (thanks cmack ;) ) who is an excellent skinner known for her desirable skins. Instead of simply asking for one, however, I sent her a private message asking for skinning advice. She told me her methods. I tried them and some suited me, some didn’t. I spent lengths of time googling in an attempt to work out how to shade (the thing I struggled with the most), how to design and good programs to use – I found there are very few decent guides, so I decided to make one of my own. In this guide I will take you through what I have discovered works best for me (many of you may take elements of my techniques if learning to skin, everything, or nothing at all, it really depends on how you work). It’s taken me around a year and a half of practice to get to where I am with skinning today, so I encourage you all not to give up! Keep trying until you find something that works for you and continue to perfect it :) this is simply a guide for ideas. Added step #2 - the body Added beginning of step #3 - shading Added to step #3 I will be making a female noble skin for the purpose of this tutorial as I find females are often more difficult (in both hair and clothing). ~Step One – The Head~ This stage involves the basic designing of both female and male heads. ~Step two – the body~ This step explains how to design a body ~Step three – shading~ More to be added soon~ Feedback is appreciated! I'd also love to hear how you guys skin/learnt to skin :)

Electric Evocation Basic Understandings: Though evocation is one of the more basic and simple forms of magic a caster can learn, electric evocation is arguably one of the more dangerous and difficult of them all. Electric evocation is as the name implies; the summoning of electrical energy into the mortal realm from the void. As all other arcane evocations, this unnatural process is fueled by mana. Due to the fact that this is simply one evoking electrical energy, it in no way gives the caster the power to control any sort of electric energy outside of the ones that they have summoned from the void. Though this is the case, electric energy summoned from the void still acts as it would in the real world- IE: if someone were to cast electric energy near metal, it would redirect itself to said metal no matter where its intended location was. There are many reasons why electric evocation is a difficult magic to study and even more difficult to actually utilize. One must first understand their element, just as all other evocations. This could be done through multiple means, as long as in some form it helps the caster gain knowledge on said element, in this case one could perhaps watch a thunderstorm and see the way the lightning strikes the soil, have an electric evocation user give them a small jolt to see how it truly feels, or even study an electrical current provided by an electric evocationist. As expected however, the study of electric energy could easily take a turn for the worst. One could possibly get zapped in the process of closely studying the element, or in the worse cases, permanent damage or even death. Roleplaying Guidelines: As stated previously, electric evocation is a difficult magic to study and even more challenging to use compared to other subtypes of magic evocation. The reason for the difficulty in studying the element is listed above, however the difficulty in actually casting the magic is much greater. Due to the fact that electric evocation is quite literally somebody summoning forth electrical energy from the void, they have to be completely focused on their task at hand and shouldn’t toy around with this element. There are multiple forms that electric energy can be presented in, however one of the most common and one of the most powerful forms would be bolts. Bolts of electricity have the potential to be powerful, quick and accurate, however the nature of electricity is wild and unstable. The caster could easily end up shocking themselves, being one of the reasons why a novice caster would run into multiple problems at the beginning of their casting. Though this is the case, one would be able to gain better control over their element the higher they climb in skill level. The more they practice, the easier it becomes and the more they are able to do. A safe route to take when learning electric evocation is first learning about your element alongside learning how to connect to the void; which will likely take up most of the caster’s basic training. The caster will eventually get to the point where they’re able to summon small sparks, quite ineffective in combat. Once they progress forward and gain further knowledge on how their element is created within the void, the caster would eventually have the capability of summoning forth bolts of electrical energy and electrical streams- though at an incredibly vast cost of mana. The process would gradually become easier and less taxing as the caster continues his practice; yet still taxing nonetheless due to the fact that electric evocation is one of the more difficult evocations to use. Eventually, the magic user may reach the level of mastery, where they are capable of summoning something known as a call down: a spell in which lightning is summoned from what appears to be the sky and strikes downward at incredible speeds, hopefully crashing down on its targeted location. Here we will look at an example on how a beginner level electric evocationist would go about creating simple sparks: Toby’s wrists roll in a circular motion, his arms giving a quick yet noticeable twitch as his hands shift around, his palm now facing the ceiling. He inhales and exhales sharply, his eyes narrowing on his palms as he lets out a grunt of frustration. His expression turns into one of strain, his brow furrowing. A small bead of sweat races down his forehead as his hands give a small twitch, a crackling sound being heard which is followed by the sight of sparks twitching in and out of existence for only a moment. A loud wincing sound slips out from between Toby’s parted lips. Toby suddenly lets out a breath as if he’s been waiting to breathe, one arm dropping to his side as his other sluggishly rises into the air in triumph. Here we can see how taxing even just a mere spark is to beginner level electric evocationists. Now we will look at an example of an adept/proficient skilled evocationist who chooses to summon a quick bolt of lightning: Ayche’s arms whip outward, aiming directly toward the dummy completely made of hay, his hands giving a small twitch which is then followed by the soft sound of crackles. A buzzing sound becomes more apparent as small sparks begin to form inches away from his finger tips, his brow furrowing in concentration as his forehead appears to take on a glistening appearance. Ayche inhales and exhales sharply, his gaze remaining locked on the dummy as his hands suddenly seem to make a slight move forward, his teeth gritting together for only a moment as the crackles suddenly cease. As the crackling sound ceases, a bolt of electrical energy dashes through the air at incredible speeds, an obnoxiously loud buzz now being heard as it soars through the air. The loud buzzing sound is then replaced with a sound of impact, the energy meeting the hay dummy as it suddenly bursts into flames; half of it even crumbling to the ground. Ayche simply remains standing, letting out a loud huff as his arms fold in front of his chest, staring intently at the blazing dummy as his breathing heightens a great deal. Displayed here is the power of a moderate lightning bolt, but also the fatigue that even someone proficient in the art of electric evocation will have to deal with after using such a spell. Red Lines: Just as all other evocations you are not allowed to control elements outside of the ones that have been summoned from the void by your character. If there is any metal near the area of the casted evocation, you must RP the redirection of the electric energy flowing toward that metal. If not, this is considering powergaming.

The Sup-Par Guide to Role Playing By: Sagwort Forward Before I begin I would like to point out that I do not consider myself the best role player, nor an above average one. This guide is simply a product of me browsing the inter-webs using my computer processor. I came across some blogs about writing, namely novels. I have often compared role playing to writing a novel and thought: “Huh, I wonder what this is all about.” So an hour later I have fifteen different tabs open and I haven’t blinked in at least thirty minutes and I’ve been holding in a **** that could feed half of central Africa. Reading further you will find what I have managed to scavenge from the thing they call “The Writing Community” and how I think it applies to role playing. You probably won't have the patience to read through have of it, so pick and choose what you want to learn more about. Character Creation Perhaps the most amusing part of role playing is preparing for it. Creating your fresh new dark elf that you’re going to cyber with over Skype. What terrible disease will they be inflicted with? What color is one eye going to be and the other not? How heavenly attractive should they be? These are the questions that go through some of our heads as we start meandering through DeviantArt for concept pictures of our hunky hot elf sex god. I’ll say this now, this is perhaps the most crucial part of role playing. The character you decide to create will set a tone for the rest of your role playing experience. Read this section with the utmost of sincerity. Character Profile This ‘profile’ that we often create with of our characters (mostly thanks to the application system) is the pitfall for all good characters. Now I’m not saying character profiles are the anti-christ, they are good for outlining concepts for a character. Your character at ‘first glance’, if you will. However, what makes a truly spectacular character is one that you get to know...intimately. Take your character out on a steamy date, meet them in a coffee shop, arrange an accommodation to grab a pint with them on a Friday night. There is a HUGE difference between ‘knowing’ your character and ‘understanding’ your character. 'Knowing' a character is what everyone else sees, what they look like, how old they are, their backstory, their favorite food, etc... ‘Knowing’ a character is the aspect we reach when someone gives you a 100 question long profile for your character. I say, THROW IT OUT, THROW IT OUT NOW. No one cares about your character’s favorite color, no one cares about what they have in their left pocket. What people care about is how your character is going to interact with theirs. This is when ‘Understanding’ your character comes into play. To the tune of ‘Understanding’ and with the aid of a writer’s blog, I have come to the conclusion that there are Seven Pillars to a strong character: Fear, Secret, Flaw, Quirk, Desire, Strength, and Inner Conflict. Now I am sure you have immediately misinterpreted what many of those words mean so allow me to elaborate. The Fear "Fear is multi-dimensional." – Art Markman The Secret “Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” – Mark Twain The Flaw “Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.” – W. Somerset Maugham Maybe they are kind to the point of smothering. You know, the whole hug a rabbit until it suffocates and dies situation. Now comes the hard part, putting a flaw into effect. Allow your character to make mistakes. Don’t get this confused with ‘don’t god-mod’. Your character could very well be a god, but allow their flaws to trip them up. Make them choose the wrong path, trip over their own ignorance, become engulfed by their own lust for power. This is not only interesting for other people to witness and rp with, but also to rp. Sometimes its even difficult or uncomfortable to rp because you just a manly man. “The bigger the flaw, the sweeter the victory.” – Kristen Lamb How aware is your character of their flaw? Well, it’s easy to say they are, but what if they’re not? There are various reasons as to why one might not be aware of their own shortcomings. Here’s a list from one of those hipster writing blogs: Anchoring – focusing on only one of a number of pertinent pieces of information Bias Blind Spot – not believing they are biased Choice-Supportive Bias – believing past choices were better than they were Confirmation Bias – supporting preconceptions by focusing on information that fits Empathy Gap – not realizing how much something will affect someone Moral Credential Effect – feeling justified in a few wrongs because of a good track record Normalcy Bias – the denial of unusual events, causing a lack of preparation or reaction Omission Bias – seeing harmful acts as worse than equally harmful omissions Restraint Bias – underestimating temptation Semmelweis Reflex – rejecting new evidence because it doesn’t “fit” with what is “known” Final note, as with the secrets and fear: why does your character have this flaw? What caused them to be this way? Maybe it’s just in their racial credentials (greedy dwarf, ignorant elf) but those are usually cliche and uninteresting. Maybe your dwarf is an attention seeker because they were ignored as a child because their parents were always in the mines. Whatever! Get creative. We’ll go more in-depth in the backstory section. The Quirk “A quirk should never exist JUST to make the character memorable or look pretty.” – MJ Bush The Desire “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” – Kurt Vonnegut The Strength “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzeneger The Inner Conflict “There are always two forces warring against each other within us.” – Paramahansa Yogananda Backstory Perhaps the most unnecessary part of character creation. If there was one thing you wanted to skip, skip this section. The ONLY thing that backstory should really be used for is for explaining why one of the above characterization pillars are the way they are. Everything else in a backstory is just fluff. Was your dog killed by Undead? Sure, now how does that define who your character is? Does your character desire power because they lived in squalor and poverty? Physical Description UGGGG. Another pointless part of character creation. The only ‘important’ physical description is the character’s quark, and that is not even always physical. No one cares if your character has rock hard abs (unless you’re cybering) or if they’re left eye is green and their right is blue (not a viable quark). If you do insist on explaining how tall your character is, do it in rp. For instance: You do not need to put, in your description, “Dave is 6’2’’ and has brown hair.” *****, DO YOU THINK I’M BLIND. I SEE HE HAS BROWN HAIR BECAUSE THE HAIR ON YOUR ******* SKIN IS BROWN!!@!! Your skin does a great deal of physical description you don’t have to do. In fact, take advantage of the physical entities on your skin. Describe how your character scratches his stubble, or runs long fingers through dirty blonde hair. Remember, show, don’t tell. Character Consistency The only way the above characteristics will do any good is if you stay consistent with them. Don’t change your character’s fear just because it suits the situation. Don’t make them care (or not care) about things they wouldn’t otherwise care about. This is why ‘understanding’ your character is so important. Get to know them on a personal level. Don’t let role play dictate your character. Your character should be dictating role play. They should be making the decisions, the mistakes, the choices, that will progress role play. And all of these things should be done in accordance to how YOUR CHARACTER would react, not yourself. So often we react to things in role play because that is how we personally want to react. Well, think of you and your character as separate entities. Even if you don’t agree with what your character’s judgements, go on with it. Step outside your comfort zone. One point I would like to address, I know that many people on this server are role playing because it is a subconscious release from their real life (Even if they don’t realize it). I will not go into details as to why people might consider role play a release from their otherwise unappealing lives but don’t let that hold you back. People who view role play as just a second life are role playing not as what their character might do but how they want to be perceived by others. I beg you to avoid this, sure you might be deep with emotions and personal strife, but those are your emotions. You are playing with pixels, they mean nothing. Getting attached to your characters for such hysterical reasons can only lead to poor role playing. Character Development This basically contradicts everything I just said but bare with me. You might have heard that good books and movies have character development. For example: Lord of the Rings (Frodo and Sam), Harry Potter, Star Wars. All of these classics have characters which are almost entirely different people from where they started. Luke Skywalker was an enthusiastic young padawan and turned into a vengeful, angry cyborg. This didn’t come to pass over night. It occurred over time, things happened to his character which changed him (some for the better, others for the worse). He was taken from his family on that desert planet...I don’t even know the name, his mother was killed by those ISIS space men. His anger slowly consumed him and he even killed the woman he loved, and betrayed his master. Now we grow quite attached to our character’s personas when we start, but things change, and change is good. Allow your character to not only react to events but also change with them. By this, I don’t simply mean: “Wife is killed by Undead, he hates Undead now.” No, it should be deep and impassioned. His wife dies due to the Undead and he has lost faith in the Creator. He goes into alcoholism, whatever. Even subtle things like how he might look upon children with great affection because they never had children. The seven Pillars can change. In fact, this is the best way to go about producing character development. Change one of the Pillars as a result of some in-game event and see how it ripples across everything else. Scene Synthesis When I refer to a ‘scene’ I’m talking about a small blip of role play your character participates in. For instance: your character walks into a tavern and starts talking to the bar tender. Now how do we make these scenes more interesting. I’m sure you all like casual conversations about the weather but I tend to nod off as soon as someone comes to me with role play that redundant. A scene needs to have two elements: goal and conflict. A goal can be as simple as ordering a pint from the bartender or complex as slaying an Undead Mage. Conflict is what makes the scene come to life. Conflict can be defined as stakes. What will happen if my character does not achieve this goal? In return, it will make the goal something your character wishes to strive for. What could happen that your character never gets his pint? What would happen if he does not kill the mage? Now you’re probably thinking: “**** off Sagwort, I’m not going to make every single instance of role play an action drama film.” Well, chances are, you are doing it without realizing. You walk into Petrus and overhear a group of men talking about a rebellion. Interested, you join. The goal: learn about the rebellion. The stakes: never hear about the rebellion. It can be as simple as that. But a scene should never be: “Hey...weather is nice...bye.” Unless, of course, your character has a reason for doing so. Maybe they’re woefully awkward and just looking to make friends. Maybe they’re bored. Moral of the story, don’t just do things to do things. Give your character a reason for doing it. That will make role play seem more meaningful, and chances are, it’ll last longer too. Emotes If you read no other section, I BEG you to read this section. Emotes are a thing some people use too much of, and others use too little. A good rule of thumb is: “Will the emote affect the other person in any way?” If not, don’t emote it. Don’t add pointless fluff just to seem like a ‘good role player’. A good role player gets their point across in an efficient way. Similarly, I have seen people use too little emotes such as: No. That is boring, monotone, not interesting to read. When you do emote, and it is being emoted for a reason make it interesting to read. However, don’t go over the top. Don’t give me five emotes of how Paul pours Jim a pint. I got places to be. That is disgusting, a good length, but disgusting. You may think, “Oh that's good RP, did you see all those details?”. Well, it is ‘good’ RP but not fantastic. First, cut out the adverbs. We don’t need them, instead use strong active verbs. Instead of ‘slowly walks’ use a verb like ‘dawdles’ which means the same thing as ‘slowly walks’. Cutting out unnecessary adverbs we now have: Much more interesting to read. In my opinion, a better emote would be something along the lines of: Now I know sometimes adverbs just need to be used to get a point across. All I ask is that you think before you say “Quickly Runs” and instead say “Sprints” or “Races”. Also note that not every noun needs to have an adjective tied to it. Not every sword needs to be sharp, not every cloak needs to be ragged. Granted, if the defining feature of the cloak is that it is ragged, point it out. Otherwise adjectives can make a sentence seem overly choppy. I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster when I read that, up and down, up and down. Think to yourself, what is unnecessary? Can we agree that most ale is pale? And that most mugs are round? Unless there is a defining characteristic to the noun that requires an adjective, such as being a cube, don’t use it. Also, if someone has already described an object with emotes, you don’t need to redescribe it. If the bartender already noted that the mug of ale was a cube, you don’t need to restate that in your emote. On the flip side, we might want to know that Tim’s lips are dry because it shows that he has probably not had anything to drink for a while. It could use some work, but overall, it’s a smoother read. Less ‘hilly’. Finally, show, don’t tell. If your character is sad don't emote: Describe it, how does she look when she’s sad? We can insinuate that Loshanda is sad because of the way she acts. Not just because you said ‘my homegirl looks sad.’ Also note that I switched up the sentence structure. I didn’t just say: Doing emotes like this over and over again becomes choppy, and monotonous. Mix it up ya’ll. Not only did we condense two emotes into one, we also created a slightly smoother and more interesting read. Side note: PLEASE don’t emote what your character is feeling or thinking. Don’t do emotes like: NO, NO, NO. All of these things can be fixed by the show, don’t tell. Other characters cannot read minds, so don’t encourage them to by doing this. SHOW how Lisa concentrates, maybe her eyebrow creases or her palms begin to sweat. SHOW how Laquifa remembers her dead son. Perhaps her eyes go to the sky, a hand over her bosom. Dialogue Phew...emotes were a big thing. Dialogue...not so much. Some major points to hit are that your character should have a voice. They should not talk passively, imagine how your character would talk and apply it to typing. Now I realize this is quite difficult, but emotes can help with that. Also realize that your High Elf is not going to talk the same as your dwarf. Accents are a major part of Lord of the Craft races, utilize them. I see some humans do excellent jobs at this with their medieval slang and what not. Even more specific, a farmer will not talk the same as nobles. Even within accents, all characters should have a voice. This is difficult to develop. Even though Gandalf and Legolas don’t have any noticeable difference in accent they talk VERY differently. Gandalf is very casual, upfront and straightforward. Legolas is more poetic, sophisticated sounding. The rules about emotes do not apply to dialogue. Dialogue belongs to your character and should suit however your character should sound. Would they use words like ‘adore’ or ‘really like’. Would they say ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Of course’. This is something that comes with practice and the more you role play with your character the more you come to find their voice. This is one of the main things I think separates good role players from excellent role players. Their ability to adopt a voice specific to their character, and change at a moments notice. Body Language This sort of goes under Emotes but meh. It’s a major thing. Body language is the best way to convey emotion and personality through emotes. Is your character effeminate and reserved? Perhaps they cross their legs when they sit. Is your character rebellious and dark? Maybe they lean against walls with their head down. Maybe your character is feeling a little nervous so they start fidgeting, rubbing their arm. Blah! I am no psychologist, here is a reference sheet for body language I find very useful. http://writerswrite.co.za/body-language-reference-sheet Finding Role Play Oop, here we go. The biggest problem with role players, not matter how good is that “There is no rp”. Well you should just go kill yourself. You know why you can’t find rp? Because your looking for it! To role play you have to create your own. Remember what I said about conflict and goals? Of course you don’t… Any-hoo, there is no such thing as ‘finding’ role play. There is only creating role play. A sub-par role player looks. A great role player creates. Now I’m not talking about getting on the event team and having a dragon attack the most populated city. It can even be subtle. Engage people. Talk to other people, emote and see if any one reacts. Give your character a goal and conflict and see to it that they carry out those goals. One thing I noticed recently are the fools who walk up to you, shift click, and run away. Well you know what, **** THEM. If they want to know if your character is attractive enough to cyber with, have them work for it. Ask them why they are bowing, engage with them. That is the key word, engage. Don’t be passive and let roleplay just go by. Create it.

Bartending 101: The good, the bad and the drunks. Introduction So, your character is wanting to become a bartender, or perhaps has just gained a job at one of the taverns within Athera? That’s good! A job where they can meet many new people and earn plenty of minas! Great! You’re all excited and ready to go but then you suddenly realise! you’re confused, you're puzzled! You don’t know how to bartend! So, how EXACTLY do you bartend? This is a guide that I decided to make for anyone who has a character who is a bartender or if they are players, old and new, wanting to become a bartender. I realised there wasn't already a guide for bartending up so I decided to write it for all who is becoming a bartender Basically, this will be a neat little stepping stone in helping you become the best bartender you can be! This guide is mostly based on what I have learned as Elvi Terryal, a bartender at the Drunken Monk Tavern (located on the outskirts of the Cloud Temple by the stone road), and also from common knowledge. There will be a lot to cover, from how to serve a mug of ale to what you should not do as a bartender. Hopefully this guide will help with your RP as an Athera bartender! The Minecraft Bartending. Basically, from my own experiences (both LOTC and on another server), bartending on a RP server can mostly be placed into 6 steps I call, ‘The Minecraft bartending’: Customer goes to bar and orders food/drink. Bartender gets MC item representing food/drink. Bartender gives food/drink to customer. Customer gives Bartender the minas. Customer drinks and leaves. Bartender goes and serves next customers. This is alright but this seems just dull and boring, there isn’t really any interaction between the bartender and the customer. Also, there is a lack of emotes, especially when it came to serving the drinks, making it a little hard for any other customers to know what the customer is getting served or how the bartender serves their orders. So, why not spice it up with a pinch of roleplay and emotions. How do you include RPing in bartending instead of just the typical ‘Minecraft Bartending, or what do I do? I’ll show how by breaking each step down and giving tips. I’ll be using ale as an example here. Customer goes to bar and orders ale: This step mostly depends on the customers and whenever or not they want to be served. If they do, they will approach the bar. However, you can at least make a conversation here through greeting them. Example: “Hello! Welcome to the Drunken Monk tavern! How may I be of service to you, sir?” or ‘Greetings, sir! May I interest you in a mug of Blood Lotus Ale?” for customers who don’t go immediately to the bar, which just encourages them to reply back and maybe come to the bar. Through this, you’re making the customer feel welcomed and engaging in RP with you. If the person greets you back, this may lead into having a conversation with the customer (AKA: RP!). If your character notices something strange about the customer (from a large boil on their nose to the depressed look on their face, or anything strange) you can have your bartender character ask them about it (you can include this in any of the stages aside from five if they leave). Besides, it will at least make another character’s day through being greeted warmly by a kind-hearted bartender. Oh and do listen carefully to what they order, you don’t want to make the customer angry. An angry customer tends to cause trouble and may mean you may not get paid an extra tip. A happy customer is a customer you’ll want to serve. Bartender gets MC item representing the ale & Bartender gives ale to customer:The steps where you show off your emoting skills. These are the two steps where most bartenders get the MC item and hand it to the customer without an inch of RP. We all know the typical ‘grab the MC item and chuck it at the customer’ but it doesn’t seem suitable for the RP here, this is a RP server after all. So, roleplay serving the ale (or whatever your customer wants) as it will add a nice mood and atmosphere to the tavern, making it feel more like a proper tavern than a 2-3 second food and drink hand out. Basically, I will show you how I serve a drink on LOTC as an example: ‘Elvi nods and would reach up to the shelf, grabbing a mug. She carries the mug over to the keg (where the ale is stored) in a relaxed pace and the young Alchemist places the mug under the keg. She would pull the tab and a rich golden liquid, smelling of sweet apples and alcohol, pours steadily into the mug. Elvi then tilts the mug back, allowing a healthy foam to gather at the top of the mug. Once the mug is full, Elvi releases the tab and would carry the mug to the bar where -insert customer name here- is waiting.’ As you can see in what I wrote, I’m descriptive and I focus on key details (such as the colour and the smell of the ale, and what Elvi does from grabbing the mug to where she places it, etc). Being descriptive allows your customers to know what you are doing, how you are doing it, what does the ale smell and look like, and so on. Besides, you are a roleplayer, roleplaying is what you should be doing! Between the emotions, your character may have to talk to someone or quickly do something else. Lastly, everyone has their own ways on RP, from the brief to the descriptive, so don’t feel pressured on getting down every single detail, just focus on one or two small bits and RP. If there are some things you’re confused about, like what a keg is, Google it! Don’t be afraid to do a little bit of research into bartending! Customer gives Bartender the minas: With the ale served, your bartender can finally get paid! You don’t really need to go into full detail about taking the minas, just ‘-bartender name- would take the minas with a nod to the customer before placing them away in their minas pouch-’. OOC wise, I would wait till the player has given you the minas they needed to pay you before giving the drink to them. However, there will be times where a customer may not have the exact minas needed or even give you a tip (if you was quick, polite, etc). What to do/emote if the customer fails to pay the minas: I have a solution that can be used to prevent the customer running scot free with their purchase: Ask for the minas first and once they paid, give them their item. If they don’t pay, ask them why. The most common excuse would be that they need to go to the bank, let them and they should hopefully pay you. There is also the vote (or gaining sudden minas from the sky gods) where the customers can get the minas on the spot. If they still have not paid them, don’t give them their order. What to do/emote if the customer gives you a tip: Basically, a tip is basically giving the bartender more than the average price. This could because the customer is happy you served them or if they are just very kind people. In other words, more minas for you! Just have your character say thanks and take the tip with a smile. Customer drinks and leaves & Bartender goes and serves next customers: These last two steps aren’t much to focus on, but some things may happen after serving the customer the drink or food. Such as the customer wanting to have a chat about the latest gossip or information that will be somewhat useful to hear. If the customer doesn’t talk more to your character or just leaves, just relax and wait till the next customer turns up OR go to the next customer. (Personally, I would just have my character lean against the workbench, relaxing a little before going to the next customers.) Once you got a new customer, repeat the process again! Step 1: Get the order. Step 2: Prepare the order. Step 3: Get ready to give the order to the customer. Step 4: Profit. These steps also apply for foods and teas as well, although if you want to RP your character making the food, I do recommend researching some recipes (like making bread, soup, teas etc) if you’re unsure on what to emote. (Note: For anyone who is unaware of this - you can use the cauldron to cook but I mostly do the emoting first then cook the food, unless it takes roughly 3-4 minutes to make then emote when crafting the food. I also really recommend having the Chef profession. Lastly, just remember to convert the recipes into emotes that suit LOTC lore: No electric ovens, kettles or blenders!) Also, there may be a time when a customer asks you to put the price on his tab. A tab is basically the customer paying for the order later on in the week. These tabs may build up so I recommend noting down how many tabs a character has and then setting a time limit for the character to pay for his or her tab. (Don't set the limit to an hour, give the character/user time to get the minas. Mostly, I go for one-two Elven Weeks) The Dos and Don’ts of Bartending DO: emote your actions, it’ll help bring your character to life instead of just doing the basic ‘Minecraft Bartending’ over and over. Besides, it may even improve your RP and get you use to writing in detail.. DON’T: Minecraft Bartend, unless you are really unsure on how to emote something or if you’re in a rush to do something else. DO: Listen carefully to what the customer is ordering. No one enjoys receiving the wrong food or drink. DO: Be active! This is something I am sure many tavern owners would like their bartenders to be. DON’T: Forget that you’re a bartender now! I’ve seen one or two people recruited as a bartender but then I never got to see them again as they most likely forgot their character is a bartender or cannot be asked with the job. It saves the tavern owner from having to give out more keys (AKA allowing access to behind the bar and chests.) If your bartender character may be that type who: is rude to customers. may have a grudge against a particular customer. may purposely overcharge someone maybe steal from the bar. Let your character steal, overcharge, be rude, and bring personal matters into the bar if they ARE the type of person who would do that. Although there may be some consequences for your character, it’ll at least let your character be themselves rather than a goodie-two shoes bartender. Although make sure you don’t steal literally everything, the other bartenders (and yourself) will need these for orders, so don’t go too overboard with the stealing. Make it noticeable that some things have gone missing (like a mass drop in haystacks or ale), but don’t literally empty out all the chests. Lastly, do have fun bartending. It's a nice profession to start off with as a new player so I highly recommend taking it up if you are unsure or if you want to try something new! I hope this guide is useful to any new bartenders (and old) out there. - GiratinaXable.

So! Before you even get started, I must let you know this is a guide that was not written by me; it was written by a guy known as "grant," and I adapted it to LotC, and added a few things of my own mix. However, I find this guide extremely useful and necessary, mainly in this time and date, also known as complaints about the lack of role-play and some people moaning that Aegis was better - WHICH IS A WRONG STATEMENT. Why do I say this? Simple: Because people don't seem to know the difference between Aegis and Lord of the Craft during Aegis. Aegis was nothing but a map and, as we have seen twice, a map doesn't magically change things and make them better. It was the player base, the ideals, and the principles that were present during the time we role-played in a map known as Aegis, that made the difference. What happened? People forgot those things, and now we are going downhill in role-play quality, and decide to complain all over the place, as well as annoy the living hell out of the staff, and other players. So, why did I share and edit this article? So everyone reads it and learns that, if taken into account and used properly as a guide, it will help improving the quality of our role-play and make things better, hopefully bringing more players, who read this guide too, and improving things around. It is a guide meant for pen and paper RPGs. I adapted it to our situation. I highly recommend reading this guide whenever you´re feeling lost, bored, tired, or troubled by role-play. It really helps. - Jack O'Connell, aka. Minnan1. Small Warning: Contains mildly strong language to some extent; some words censored by the forums are used to mark the statements of this article. But it's nothing you've not heard before, c'mon... ======================================================================= ONE. Do stuff. Job One for you as a player is to do stuff; you should be thinking, at all times – “What are my goals? And what can I do to achieve them?” You are the stars of a very personal universe, and you are not going to get anywhere by sitting on your arse and waiting for adventure to come and knock on your door. Investigate stuff. Ask questions. Follow leads. No-one needs you to point out that this is an obvious plot thread while you do it. Mix up scenes, talk to people, get up in their grill. If you’re not playing the sort of character that would do such a thing, find something you can affect, and affect it. If you keep finding yourself pushed to the back of scenes and twiddling your thumbs – why is such a boring character hanging around with the sort of people that Get S**t Done? Be active, not passive. If you learn nothing else from this article, bloody learn this. TWO. Realize that your character does not exist outside of the things you have said. You can write as many pages of backstory as you like, mate, but they don’t factor in one bit to the game unless you show them happening. Are you a shrewd businessman? Cool. Do some business, shrewdly, in front of everyone else. Are you a hot jazz saxophonist? Play the saxophone. Are you a wild elf struggling through social interactions with civilized people? Struggle through those interactions! Don’t go off and sit under a tree, you prick! This ties back into the first point, really; you only exist through your actions. It is not the responsibility of other players to read your backstory, and their characters cannot read minds. Well. Some of them can, but you know what I mean. They shouldn’t have to. So display your talents, your traits, your weaknesses, your connections. Take every opportunity to show, and not tell, the other people in the server what your character is about. THREE. Don’t try to stop things. Negating another player’s actions is fairly useless play; it takes two possible story-changing elements and whacks them against each other so hard that neither of them works. For example, your fighter wants to punch some jerk, but your monk’s against it, so he grabs the fighter’s hand. In game terms, nothing’s happened. All you’ve done is waste time, and we don’t have infinite supplies of that. Instead, go with the flow. Build. If the fighter wants to break someone’s nose, what happens after that? Does your monk rush to help the jerk up? To admonish the fighter? To apologize to the jerk’s friends, before shite really kicks off? To save the fighter in the big brawl that ensues, even though he was going against your will? Or to throw the biggest guy in the tavern right at him, to really teach him a lesson? Those are all examples of interesting stories. Stopping him from doing anything whatsoever isn’t. Don’t negate, extrapolate. (See, that rhymes, so it’s easier to remember) FOUR. Take full control of your character. “My character wouldn’t do that” is a boring excuse, a massive NO to the game’s story on a fundamental level. It’s a point-blank refusal to participate. Instead of being bound by pre-conceived notions of what your character would and would not do, embrace complications and do it, but try to work out why. Why is your Rogue doing this mission for the church? Does he have ulterior motives? Is it out of a sense of companionship with the rest of the party? Characters in uncomfortable situations are the meat and drink of drama. (Do you remember that great story about that hobbit who told Gandalf to f*** off, and sat at home picking his hairy toes all day before his entire village was swallowed up by the armies of darkness? No. No you bloody don’t. So put on your backpack and get out there, Frodo) If you keep finding yourself having to explain your actions, or not wanting to go along with group decisions because of your character’s motives… well, sweetheart, maybe your character’s motives are wrong. They’re not written in stone. The group’s the thing, not your snowflake character, and if they’re not working, drop them off at the next village and maybe try playing someone more open to new ideas. Maybe work with the group to build a character that fits in. Your character is part of the story; this is not your character’s story. FIVE. Don’t harm other players too much, it gets annoying. Oh ho, here’s a jolly thief that nicks stuff from the other people! And their Sleight of Hand roll is so high that no-one will ever notice! Gosh, what a jape. F**** that guy. No-one likes that guy. (That guy generally plays Kender, and I am fully of the opinion that Kender should be promptly genocided out of all RPGs. I don’t think genocide is a crime if we’re talking about Kender.) If you steal from other players, you are exerting power over them in a really messy, underhanded sort of way. If they find out, what are they going to do? Are you going to force them to escalate? Is it fair if they kill you for it? Is that fun for them? Similarly, attacking other players is awful, too. I’m okay with this where systems fully support and encourage this, of course – something like Paranoia or Dogs in the Vineyard – but, Christ guys, give it a rest. I am hard-pressed to think of a way where such a thing improves the game; if the players involved are fine with it, discuss it beforehand. But keep me out of it. There are a whole load of things out there to steal from and beat up and kill that won’t get offended when you do it to them, so go bother them first. SIX. Know the system, don’t be a prick about it. (System being the server and how everything works.) If you know a system, you are easier to GM for, because you know your character’s limitations. You can calculate the rough odds of a particular action succeeding or failing, just like in real life. You can make prompt assessments of situations and act accordingly, because you understand the rules of the world. (New players, of course, get a free pass on this one. But do make an effort to learn the rules, obviously, if you’re keen on sticking around in the hobby.) But for the love of God, don’t rules-lawyer. Do not do that. It is not hard to work out, because here is a simple guide – if you are arguing over a rule for more than twenty seconds, you are a rules lawyer. You are the Health and Safety Inspector of role-playing games, and you need to stop talking, because you are sucking the fun out of the game. There are times when the rules are wrong, and that’s fine, but I’m hard-pressed to think of that time the guy remembered the rule and we all laughed and had a great time because he made the GM change it. Oh, and I almost forget: For the love of god, if you are being a rules-lawyer, do it in a PM, do not l-ooc the hell out of anyone. IT GETS ANNOYING. SEVEN. Give the game your attention. If you can’t give your full attention, step away from the computer. "Hey! What’s that you’re playing, on your phone there? Oh, is it Candy Crush Saga? That’s funny, all these dice and character sheets gave me the impression that we were playing Dungeons and F*cking Dragons, I must be terribly mistaken." - grant. It is hard to think of a way to be more dismissive of someone’s game than playing a different game during it. If you find yourself getting so bored by what’s going on you’re resorting to playing a game on your phone, or reading a book, or checking Facebook, then step away from Minecraft. You are draining the other players with your very presence. I would rather have an empty player slot than someone who wasn’t paying attention, because I don’t have to entertain an empty player slot. And of course, it’s up to everyone to offer an entertaining game. This is not one-sided. But going back to point one, act whenever you can. Give them something to work with. Unless you’re paying them money to do this, they are under no obligation to dance like a monkey for you just because they’re behind the screen. EIGHT. If you make someone uncomfortable, apologize and talk to them about it. (Warning: Mildly strong language. Contained within spoilers.) And that’s the point; in situations like the ones we find ourselves in on a weekly basis, it’s easy to make people feel uncomfortable. Maybe it’s as blatant as discussing dead babies or sexual interactions with animals; maybe it’s something much more benign, like being rude or chatting them up in-character. If you think you might have upset someone, then ask ‘em, quietly. And if you have, apologize, and stop talking about that particular thing. It’s not rocket science; that’s how existing as a functioning social human being works, and somehow because we’re pretending to be a halfling for a bit, we often forget how to do it. So, you know, be nice. Be extra nice. No-one’s going to think any less of you for it. NINE. Embrace failure. Failure can be embarrassing. I know that I get pretty het up when the odds don’t favor me – when I’ve spent ages waiting to have my turn in a large game, say, or when I’m using some special power, or when I’ve been talking a big talk for a while or described some fancy action – and I use some pretty bad language, too. And not “fun” bad language, like we all do when we’re gaming. Like threatening “is this guy okay” bad. And that’s not cool. I need to learn to treat failure as a story branch, not a block. Why did I miss? Why didn’t my intimidation role-play work? Why didn’t I pick the lock? Why was I seen? Who worked out that I’m the traitor? What other options can I explore? Some systems build this in by default and they give you the ability to somehow affect the world whenever you roll the dice, not just fail to affect someone’s Hit Points. That’s great! We need to get ourselves into that mindset by default. We need to view failures as setbacks and explain why our character didn’t achieve their goal, and we need to understand that failure is not the end of the world. TEN. Play the game. This is a game. This is not a challenge that exists solely in the head of other players, of the Event Team, of the GMs, of the Admins. This is not your character’s personal story arc. This is not your blog. This is not an excuse to chat up one of the other players. This is not a desk to sit at in silence. This is a game. We have signed up to play a game together. We are all telling a story with each other, to each other, and the story comes first. Step back from the heat of combat; step back from your character’s difficult relationship with their half-dark elf mother; step back from the way that the Paladin’s player keeps stealing your victories. This is a game. Respect the other players. Respect the story, and act in service of it. Respect that you will not always get your way, and that not getting your way can be interesting. Do what is best for the game. Do what is best for the story. Be active! Be positive! Be interesting! Change things! If you can’t walk away at the end of the night with a good memory, with something that you could talk about in the pub in years to come, then everyone in that role-play session has failed. ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://lookrobot.co.uk/2013/06/20/11-ways-to-be-a-better-roleplayer/

A Guide To Bows By oblivionsbane This is a guide I wrote to explain not just how to emote bows, but why you need to emote them a certain way and the differences between each. When I first joined LotC these guides were a lot of how I learned how to RP and became the RP'er that I am today. So I am making this not only to try and help fill the void that guides like Crossbow 101 left now that it has been taken down, but also to provide the most thorough guide on bows possible. I also advise reading ski_king's guide on how to get shot after reading through this guide. A link can be found in the Further Guides and Reference portion at the bottom of this post. Types of Bows -Short bow- Short bows are basically just small curved pieces of wood with a string. Quality varies, but generally they don't exceed 60 pound draw weight. This is what most bows on LotC are assumed to be in PvP/MC unless otherwise stated. Short to medium range -Recurve bow- A bow that is basically strung against it's natural curve. This allows for a little more power. Usually these max out around 85 pounds or so at most, normally having 60-65. Short to medium range. -Composite bow- Extremely complicated and time consuming to make. It can take six months to a year to produce just one. It is basically a recurve bow with horn and sinew made into it, giving it a lot of power for it's size. Also due to the glue that is used to hold it together, it is very sensitive to water so you need to keep it as dry as possible. It maxes out around 110 to 120 if made with absolute quality. These bows were known for their effectiveness in horse archery, especially if being used with a tool called a thumb ring. It also has the same emote order as the previous two, making it quite the weapon. Medium to long range. -Longbow- The strongest of all the conventional bows, usually standing around six feet tall, making it somewhat cumbersome. It can have an extremely high draw weight for a bow, maxing out around 200 by some claims. Because of it's draw, it requires training in certain techniques and large muscles built just for it in the arm used to draw with. It takes about four to six years to reliably and effectively learn how to use a longbow. This bow takes an extra emote to balance it's strength and attribute for it's added time to draw. Elves usually use these bows, since they are also usually taller and live long enough that they can take full advantage of the longbows extensive learning curve. Also it is worth mentioning because of their size and shape they were rarely used on horseback. In the hands of a skilled longbowman, a longbow is one of the most dangerous weapons on the battlefield. (As an added note, longbows don't exactly have a typical range/strength that other bows do. Longbows can be shot high up into the air, and gravity pulls the arrow down at fast speeds making their power and range variable upon how it is fired. Although firing in the air is more than a little inaccurate most of the time.) Medium to very long range. -Crossbow- The crossbow is a widely varied weapon utilizing internal mechanisms to fire. It's mechanisms consist of a trigger, usually a metal bar on the underside of the weapon, and a piece of metal that pops up with an audible click for the string to rest against when spanned called a nut. When the trigger is pulled the nut drops down and the string goes forward, catching the missile and propelling it. Medium to extremely long range for the most powerful ones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziq5zm4uO-Y Two things really set one crossbow apart from others, it's draw weight, and the method in which you span it. There are multiple ways to span a crossbow, which method is chosen is usually decided by the actual draw weight of the weapon. If it has a fairly low draw weight, like a eighty to a hundred pounds, it can be spanned by hand. If it is more in the league of typical crossbows, around 200-300 pounds, it is spanned by a lever that attaches to the stock and the string, pulling the lever back and placing it behind the nut. Or alternatively there is a belt where a piece hangs down that attaches to the string. You attach it then simply stand up, using the muscles in your legs to span it. Left to right: Windlass, levers(top), cranequin(bottom), and belt spanner. Then there are the big boys, the cranequin and the windlass. These bows can range widely in power, usually having over six hundred pounds of draw weight, and maxing out in some finely engineered bows at a little over a thousand. The cranequin is a crank that spans the weapon by using gear(rack and pinion), the windlass however uses pulleys. Crossbows, depending on the method used to span them, can take at the very least four and at most about six or seven emotes for the windlass and cranequin. As a final note, it is IMPOSSIBLE to carry a loaded or even spanned crossbow with you. It would more than likely go off on accident from you carrying it. Not to mention it would damage the machine if you leave so much stress on it for so long. Finally you can't carry a loaded crossbow around with you, the bolt only goes into a little notch, it can very easily fall out. If any of that doesn't faze you, the fact it is power gaming on par with catching an arrow in mid flight, should. How to Emote -Normal Bow, Recurve Bow, and Composite Bow- Take out the bow, get an arrow from your quiver, nock it while pulling the bow back, aim and then fire. -Longbow- Take the longbow out, get an arrow from your quiver, nock it and begin to pull the bow back, raise the bow, aim and fire Crossbows: -Hand spanned- Get the crossbow out, set it on the ground putting your foot into the stirrup, span the bow back and pick it up, set a bolt into the notch, aim and fire. -Lever- Get the crossbow out, set it on the ground putting your foot into the stirrup, get the lever out and attach it to the bow, span the bow before taking the lever off and picking it up, load a bolt into the notch, aim and fire. -Cranequin/Windlass- Get the crossbow out, set it on the ground putting your foot into the stirrup, get the cranequin/windlass mechanism and attach it to the bow, wind back the cranequin/windlass, unwind the device just a bit to set the string against the nut before taking the spanner off, pick the bow up and load a bolt into the notch, aim and fire. Piercing Armor This is dependent mainly on the strength and distance away the bow is fired. Here is a table on armor penetration(for typical plate.) Draw weight/Range: 0-50 Up to chain mail from ten meters. 50-100 Can pierce plate reliably out to fifteen meters. 100-150 Can pierce plate reliably out to about twenty-five meters. 150-200 Armor penetration as far out as thirty five meters. 200+ Increasing penetration at increasing ranges. Other Bows -Chu-Ko-Nu- This is basically a repeating crossbow invented by the Chinese. It works by having a magazine on top of the bow attached to a handle. When you pull the handle up and back it spans the crossbow for you and drops a bolt down into it's notch. When the handle is fully pulled back it automatically launches the bolt. These bows usually had low draw weights and were extremely inaccurate, made to not even be aimed. Now, I should say that these are BANNED on LotC to my knowledge. The reason being people power gamed them saying they were capable of high draw weights, while still keeping their relatively high rate of fire. -Yumi- This is the Japanese bow. They were varying in size, but were all large, the largest being one of if not the largest bow ever used in combat being close to and sometimes just exceeding seven feet tall. They had low to medium draw weights because higher draws were never needed on the Japanese battlefield. They were however capable of impressive range. It should also be noted these bows were made to be used on horseback along with on the ground. -Crossbow pistol- This is basically a crossbow small enough that it can be held and fired with one hand, sometimes incorporating a pistol grip. They used low draw weights of not more than 40 pounds. Again, these were power gamed and subsequently BANNED as far as I know. (Also the pistol gripped ones are more modern technology and don't fit the theme.) Equipment -Thumb ring- A ring that goes on the thumb that allows you to pull the bow string back using the more powerful thumb digit. This is primarily used in horse archery to give a cleaner and more controlled shot while galloping or at a canter. It works by basically having it so that the string rests against it rather than the flesh of your thumb. -Quiver- You probably know what this is already, but basically it is a container for arrows usually put on your back or sometimes your belt. -Bow case- Not seen being used often, it was basically a case you put a bow in while running around to help protect it from the elements and make it easier to carry. -Wrist guard- A piece of leather or equivalent that goes on the hand that holds the bow to protect from the string hitting the hand. -Bow scope- Doesn't exist... Yet. Arrows There is a wide variety of arrow designs in the world, that can do an equal variety of things, but mainly you need to know three. -Bodkin- Popularly used for piercing armor. They are short and come to a point rather quickly. -Broad head- Basically an arrow with two to four blades coming outward from the main arrow. This is what you probably think of when thinking of a typical arrow. -Blunt- These are for stunning a target or for practice shooting. They hurt a lot and can do fair damage to bones and organs if it hits in the right spot with enough power. Further Guides and Reference Longbow Video Composite Bow Video (That last one I would pay more attention to the examples rather than what they say. They say somewhere in there, or what it sounds like to me, that a composite bow could have a four thousand pound draw, which is /quite/ impossible.)

A LotC (Learning outside the Classroom) Guide General Roleplay Guid I wrote this guide in the hope that it would be informative and helpful to the reader. As Roleplay can be complicated to new players, and may be improven by more veteran. So let us start! General roleplay: From the moment you start, you will be involved and affected by the Roleplay around you. From travelling strangers to old friends, the world of LotC is full of suprises around every corner. Imagene that you are walking down the road, minding your own business. Randomly a man on the horizon, runs towards you. As he stands still, he asks you "Could you help me? I am quite lost.." As the above happens alot, especially to new players. This is one of the primary gold mines for roleplay, and future friends. I have met my now best pal Vladamire through merely asking for directions. If you use these oppertunities though. If you ask the standard question "Depends on what city you want to go to" , there might be some roleplay, and it ends. But if you are bored, wander or for example walk towards Malinor, you could ask him if he wants to come with you? Along the way you talk, you learn from eachothers characters, and many times you have one more soul who likes you after that walk. Afcourse, while you are walking you need topics to talk about! That, has an obvious solution people often tend to miss. Your surroundings. You are located in a magical world! Talk about the wheat fields covering the horizon, the undead roaming the woods or about that windmill you saw burning. There is alot to talk about, be creative and smart! Sometimes, your Roleplay could become compromised by OOC situations. When you enter for example a tavern, you would expect this: Though, you find out that your epic expectations of a medieval tavern... Was for nothing, and you find this: Aye, no ale without bartender. So how do you make the best out of such disappointment? The blessed command of /setname can! It is fairly easy to switch your name within a conversation. I had this today! But I managed to start brawls, conflict and the singing of a dwarven anthem by simply playing the bartender with emotes too. If you have the people who would coorperate, the possibilities are endless! Just as you talk, use /setname The bartender, The apprentice, The blacksmith, whatever person is missing and essential to your roleplay. You emote as them while your roleplaying partner is writing. For example: Derek: "So yah cum' here often? *The Bartender places a cup of wine in the counter, nodding as he continues doing the dishes Miriam "Nay, I just arrived here" Derek "So, what would your name be my lady?" *The Bartender chuckles as he hears the joke of the dwarves nearby Miriam "Miriam Ravenshire, yours?" The above is a great example how to put NPC emotes within your roleplay session, so there is no void nor restriction in the situation you are in. With this, you can do far more then you would imagene. Afcourse there are much better versions to be found or roleplayed, but this is an example of how to make your surroundings alive, even when you are only with two. Now next topic. the forum posting. Many take the brave steps to post their guild, FRP or just a roleplay topics on this forum. Afcourse, you do want to stand out! There is one thing you must understand when using the forums, it is seen by everybody. Some people, with their pretty stamps and signatures, may use this against you in Roleplay. Not that it is bad, but don't be suprised when you find this "The council of a superior race sends out arrest too.." "This organization is to be banished from Malinor because.." "Thou shall be executed because of Herecy" "Thou has been banished from the divine soils of oren" Now the above are prior examples of what people could post, and it would not be rule breaking when they do it, as much as you like or not. Though, you can do such too! The roleplay and guild sections are open to everything in the name of yourself and/or your organization. Make a fancy stamp and call them heretics! #Badass Either way, the forums are open for fancy powerplays, announcements and roleplay! Sometimes, roleplaying a certain situation or person can greatly be enhanced by background music. As this could change the atmosphere, it can be sometimes very importnant Though, what background music to choose? Well.. if I'm going to battle, this song pumps up the insanity of my characters! Though, there are many breathtaking ambiants, freely to be played from youtube! Check the waterfalls and trees with this song playing! Either way, composers like Adrian von Ziegler, and Beethoven. Or simply Jeremy Soule guild wars tracks, can create a certain feeling of immersion. It is definetly worth a try! Did I miss a part, or should i remove a certain part? Please give me feedback in the comments!

Usually OOC mistkes are fixed with a simple ((*mistakes But if one were to turn this grammatical error into an IC event- unique and entertaining roleplay is instantly formed. Example one- Player one: “How do ‘ye do? Me’ name is Frank.” Player two: “Howdy, would you like to purchase a cattot?” ((Here, player two obviously pressed the ‘t’ key instead of the ‘r’ key.)) Player two coughs abruptly, his voice caught in his throat. “Carrots, my good man. I’m getting old!” See here how this simple mistake spurred roleplay, it could also have created some kind of ‘inside joke’ between the two characters, possibly forming a friendship and creating more roleplay. Example two- Player one: “Mark! Get over here!” his arm flails in the air as he Mark him over. Player two: “What is it, Damen? What do you want?” Player one: “Please don’t kill.” He shakes his head. Player two’s eyes widen. “Who would I kill?” In this roleplay, player one meant to say ‘kill time’ but OOCly forgot the ‘time,’ which instantly sparks interesting roleplay. Example three- Player one: “I’ve never seen you around before, what’s your nam?” ((Player one typed ‘name’ incorrectly)) Player two: “You say the word ‘name’ in a very funny way, sir. Is it your accent? And I’m Ryar.” A conversation could instantly start here about player one’s accent, creating more roleplay. On another note, larger scale OOC events can be turned into a RP event- such as a group of people leaving the server- something that happened fairly recently. Using this as an example, in these circumstances roleplay can be created through turning the OOC situation into something IC, such as a plague or genocide. The truth to the matter is that people do mess up. People stutter, people miss words, people pronounce things incorrectly, people don’t always speak perfectly, and this is the same as roleplayers- which translates perfectly if one uses their mistakes within roleplay. Next time you make a mistake ingame, think about correcting it in roleplay, not OOC. Not only does doing this make you look professional and unique, it makes you look much better than how you would have looked if you simply fixed it OOCly.