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In Flaming Revelry Journey They had lost their way, that was clear to Sir Octavian. Once such lands would’ve been littered with villages and barons eager to make their mark upon the world; now, only the occasional roadman was waiting to prey upon the half-famished farmers on their way to pay tax to the petty prince and his assembly of bureaucrats, too heavy to even make it beyond the walls of Providence. The Imperial State Army would not be here to save these men, for they were not an army but a guard force of noblemen sent there by their fathers in the name of political advancement. Reflection This was not the Empire that Sir Octavian remembered, nor the Empire that he had helped build. He frowned some then as he dismounted from his jet-black steed, plated boots clunking into the rough gravel roads of New-Esbec. He walked the streets, once full of hope and joy. Now, the town was abandoned abandoned for all but a few of the most heinous souls, set only for a parade of ghosts. The tavern's sign hung halfway off, creaking eerily in the wind. He entered, sat at the dust-covered bar, wrote a letter to a sister far away, and sent it off. Then, he waited. The Arrival - Days Later The air in New Esbec seemed abnormally warm that morning. Even for the summer, the mountain air normally seemed crisp and uncomfortably biting at the cold-blooded Dragonkin’s skin. Arthonath made his way to the gates then, a smile forming on his face as he saw the faces of his brothers and sisters climbing the mountain path before him. "Helinathe." he smiled toothily, greeting her with a brotherly hug, extending the same to Antonius then, before greeting the Heralds with a nod of his head. "Let this be a message then, to those within the Empire and those beyond, that our Father’s reach extends further than they might ever know." His sister responded, “Not only a message to the Empire, but a celebration for the arrival of Antonius who has come back to us, brother.” She clutched his arm then, determined perhaps that her newly-returned sibling not leave once more. Flames The Banner of Azdromoth was raised within New Esbec that afternoon. His worshipers made their way throughout the city, burning it to the ground, some in glee, others in solemn reluctance. Sir Octavian passed a torch onwards to the former architect of the city, "Finish now what you started." And with that, a final torch was thrown, setting the ever towering manor aflame. And thus, as the sun fell beyond the reaches of the mountains, the city stood out as a beacon for all within those accursed mountains to witness. Reverence And thus, even as the sun’s warm gaze fell beyond the reaches of the mountains, the flaming city stood out as a beacon, a flaming pillar of The Arch-Drakaar’s own image towering into the skies above for all to witness, a bonfire in celebration of sibling’s reunion made merrier by the herald’s pledge.

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/