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Found 7 results

  1. What does Magic of any kind, or its many (usually morally dubious) power sources smell like? Of course, from what I understand substances like liquid Mana/Lifeforce allow for them to be made physical and tangible, does this mean that they have a taste and or smell? What about the taint of the void? Does ice conjured by a Voidal Mage smell any different by the one wielded and imbued by the magic of a Frost Witch? What about flames? Whether it be of Malflame or Dragonfire, or the Holy Light of Paladins and or Templars. Would a flower be any different to the sense after a Druid has tampered with it? Yes, I woke up like an hour ago. Yes, I am aware of the risk I place upon myself of the consequences of such a controversial post. But nontheless, another will one day ask the same question irp and we will all look like fools when we are without answer, the truth must be revealed! On a more serious note, while an emphasis is put on 'smelling', the rest of the senses are equally interesting. Answering that for example a Demi-Djiinn's magic brings about a certain taste akin to that of the mashed potatoes that your grandparent used to make when you were young...Certainly would change one's view on the magic itself. It's also really good for writing if we are being honest, having your character's own organs be roasted by dragonfire, would be a somewhat visceral experience and I do think discussing what the other senses would pick up other than merely the pain caused by it would always be really freaking interesting. And small show of hands, this entire post is inspired by 'In Stars and Time' which I came around all the way back on December and has probably become one of my favorite stories in recent years. Within It's story whenever a certain magic took effect, a heavy smell of Burnt Sugar was noticed by the protagonist, growing all and more denser, potent and terrible as the story progressed, which I personally found really interesting and unique! Certainly made it feel more personal and memorable of an experience for me personally.. (Good game, go play it, but only after you respond to the post!!)
  2. This is very much just a place to discuss what kind of cool things you'd like to see on the server one day, not that deep so don't get angry with each other. If I mention something that already exists, then my bad. Nations A Persian/Arabic-themed Nation. (Savoy is cool, but not it.) More nations that have a different or exotic creature as their primary population. Magic Systems Pirate Magic or just nautical themed magic. Story-telling magic or a historian type magic. Less void-based magic developments, more soul-based magic developments. More protection-based magic being available to be taught rather most magic teachers only teaching offense/healing magic. Slayer magic that is about killing creatures and exploiting weaknesses that uses alchemy to create items to help with the 'hunt'. A dark magic that can be self-taught with books in old ruins. (If housemagery is the DnD prestidigitation cantrip, then a self-taught magic that does the thaumaturgy cantrip would be so cool.) More dark magic, generally. Aura lore rewrite to allow for use of auras besides just aesthetic uses. Like a magic that forms your aura into your 'shadow' and then your shadow manipulates the world around you would be so cool like Peter Pan's shadow. That's all I've been thinking about and I just wanted a place to put my thoughts. What are some things you folks want? :D
  3. Good day to everyone. I have a question of sorts. Well, it’s also intended to generally get a gauge of the server’s community and opinion, and to perhaps open a discussion. I'm mostly just speaking my mind. Please keep matters calm and civil, since some things discussed may be contentious. I also would like to apologize well in advance, for I have a very good feeling that this will be very tangential as opposed to being a well-structured essay. The subject is regarding the nature of the Techlock. See, I'm new, I'm not some community veteran or old-guard who can sway the lore team, or events or outcomes of certain civil wars… but I've hardly played, so I wouldn't really know about that. The thing is, I very much want to. But to explain the matter, I will have to share a little about myself. I love and am obsessed with bits of technology in fantasy settings. Steampunk, retrofuturism, magitech, science-fantasy worlds, these have always fascinated me since I was a kid. Movies like Atlantis, Treasure planet, and others sparked my imagination, games like the old Neverwinter Nights, Ultima, and others occasionally presented small amounts of technology in their setting, and it fascinated me. Wanting to be an engineer IRL, it really helps transport me to another world, time, and place where things only in the most distant theory are possible. Ever since the start of fantasy, there's always been room to mix these things together here and there, settings and worlds like Spelljammer, Eberron, Magic The Gathering(Just look at anything involving Urza), so many of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterful films, I could provide examples for days. The truth is, science and technology have the capacity to conjure wonders unimaginable prior into real being in our universe today, and it’s hard to imagine this not being so elsewhere. This can be the example portion of this whole post, delving further into where I’m coming from, and just simply explaining what I like and enjoy. I’ve read Jules Verne, and played games like Bioshock, Thief 2: The Metal Age, The Dishonored Series, The Bioshock Series, Divinity: Dragon Commander, Path of Exile, Myst, Iron Harvest, Morrowind(And the rest of the Scrolls games), the Vaporum series, and more. I love playing an Artificer in D&D ever campaign that I possibly can. Hell, I loved the Legend of Korra, which I know wasn't exactly popular as a continuation of ATLA. You get the idea, you get the picture, I absolutely adore this sort of thing, and seek it out in media. I’m a massive uber-nerd for this sort of thing. Technology and magic mirror each other in many ways. Of course, many world-building troubles and complications might arise from this, how do magic and technology exist? Where do they compete and where are they compatible? You have to treat technology as a sort of magic system in many respects, so some of Brandon Sanderson’s thoughts apply, generally, it has the power to greatly affect the feel and themes of a world. An industrial revolution is an incredibly transformative event, after all. In a day and age where Netflix’s Arcane tops charts, Magic The Gathering is creating planes and card blocks like the new Kamigawa and New Capenna, The Legend of Zelda features ancient Shieka magitech as a core part of its worldbuilding, and science-fantasy elements become less niche and work their way bit by bit into the spotlight and mainstream, I want to ask. Why does Lord of The Craft have to imitate Tolkien ad nauseam until the end of time(or at least the server, presumably), and even disregard the surprising technologies that actually did exist during the medieval period and throughout history (I’ve taken a History of Science and Technology class, I can debate this if you really want). Who exactly mandates that it has to be limited to one kind of RP, one kind of world, one kind of story, one kind of context, one time-period, doesn’t it ever get old? This is where the rant ends. I really just wanted to toss these ideas out there, because I've wanted to get it off my chest. Part of me is playing devil's advocate here, I want to know what people think. I’m being disingenuous. I know a bit more than I’ve let on, despite my hours on the server probably being 2 at most. The other thing about technology compared to magic, is that, while similarly arcane in its complexity and required knowledge, is that it leaves a more permanent artifact, sure spell tomes can exist, but technology(and artifacts in general) is very much a matter where, once its out, it can be difficult to put the cat back in the bag. When something is invented, the factions in power seek that power, people study, learn, teach, and perpetuate that knowledge. And even if all the skilled craftsmen and engineers who worked on these things have vanished, then their works can still be unearthed, and potentially reverse-engineered(if enough of them is left to do so with). The other relevant property, is that technology is built upon learned principles generally fundamental to reality, and methods and discoveries can be reapplied in different contexts, and improved in efficiency- realistically, the tech train doesn't easily stop moving once it has been started- someone will usually think of all sorts of uses for things which already exist, and try all sorts of wacky stuff. In truth, all fantasy worlds, regardless of tech-level, do have a certain techlock of their own- to prevent a runaway effect and maintain a particular vibe, to prevent a Kaladesh from becoming an Neon Dynasty, so to speak(I understand they are different planes obviously, they were just examples of tech style). Some, like Divinity, opt for a magical unexplained reset that just simply wipes all of the technology, and presumably all of the knowledge, tools, memories, possibly people, and drive to replicate it, or even think to replicate it. This is terrible writing, but I do understand why it’s done. Many settings relegate their technology to little pockets, advanced ancient lost and dead races and civilizations, whose incredible works simply cannot be understood, they are simply too vexing and arcane, and perhaps nobody quite bothers… for some reason, or an isolated and mysterious island of tinker gnomes. The Dwemer’s secrets lie guarded away in buried ruins, defended by magimechanical automata that pose great threat to all but the most skilled and capable, or armies and legions. Only a few characters understand their works, like Sotha Sil(and a significant amount of that understanding likely came about post-’ascension’ via the heart of Lorkhan), and sparingly few scholars, artificers, and alchemists who appear only at special occasion. Regardless, I digress yet again. This isn't about The Elder Scrolls. Now, onto how any of this at all relates to Lord of The Craft, beyond trying to turn it into something that it’s not. I’ve read about the past, about things like Smoggers and Thanium devices, the list seems to go on- devices that were once accepted, and once existed prior to the establishment of the (current?) Techlock. I won't lie, I adore the sound of that stuff. It looks to me like you guys tried it. From what I can tell, there was such significant tech-creep that the techlock became absolutely necessary to keep it in check. It simply must be discussed how technology relates to RP itself. It is obvious to me how balancing, CRP, and fun for everyone can be… potentially negatively impacted by simply letting these ideas run free and wild. It’s clearly a problem if one nation is the Fire Nation, and has such a technological advantage that its screwing over others, and forcing people to advance to compete whether they like it or not, it’s obviously a problem when the people managing sieges and battles now have to deal with one side rolling out steam-tanks or some nonsense. I suppose it's also a problem if someone's 'so unique and special of a character' that went through the bureaucratic nightmare of endless applications and back-and-forth with staff/loreteam to have throwable vials of horrible alchemical concoctions and chemical weapons, or a repeating crossbow that only requires like, 1 or 2 emotes to spam-fire, and regular soldiers and guardsmen with sword and shield have to deal with the BS of fighting that. I understand these things. I also know that tinkering and technology aren’t entirely crippled today either, it’s just very carefully and cautiously selected and limited. I know automatons and animati still exist, that special magic items and creations exist in circulation here and there, things like mechanical arms which can spray pressurized water, and that a long-forgotten, ancient buried thanium bomb might still detonate causing a massive disaster from time to time, that Urguan’s navy consists of steam-powered paddleboat ironclads. I know these things, and I’m sure there’s still a place and room for me, and things that I can explore. I’m not the kind of roleplayer who wants to invent or bring about technology for powergaming or to crush my competition with the power of “SCIENCE!!!”, and I genuinely care about the experience of others. I just personally love the flavor of fantasy tech, and writing these things. I don’t want to ruin things for anybody. But of course, this sort of thing is still what I tend towards, it’s the sort of thing that Iove and get the most enjoyment out of. And I understand you can tell me to go somewhere else, but, this is the biggest RP server in existence at the moment. I don’t know of a server more my style that exists anymore. My first character is a Dwarf, and I plan to go through the trials necessary to work my way up the ranks of Clan Irongrinder. I want to make interestingly and creatively written and flavored- and well-balanced- magic items, and sell them, introduce them to the world. But I have read a few past forum debates about this very topic, and they were not without vitriol. After this long-winded wall of text, the real question I want to ask is this: Am I welcome here? And also, to be entirely earnest, to a lesser extent, the secondary question is: Will the current state of the techlock ever change? Will there be exceptions for me to enjoy? Will things like smoggers ever exist again? Cannons at the very least? Or did I just miss out on all the cool tech before it got banned forever? Did I just arrive here too late?
  4. 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.)
  5. 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. )
  6. 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..)
  7. http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/jerry%20seinfeld.jpg After perusing a topic regarding Orcs that claims they are combat super-machines that cannot be beaten in a height contest and have a racial population that knows how to swing a big club around since exiting the womb [ https://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/116484-so-you-think-you-can-1v1-an-orc/ ], I wanted to discuss Orcs and their unruly proportions further and make my own claim that alot of the characteristics of their race are ridiculous and defy the server's basic laws of physics that are vaguely regarded in role play. Their height has grown too large to be considered realistic or fair anymore. One cannot be over 8 feet tall and properly retain ones' balance consistently enough to where you may match others in combat or other related hostile circumstances. Andre the Giant was famed for his height in his wrestling career, and while this almost inhumane height gave Andre an edge against his opponents, it brought about many physical complications in his life. One prominent example of these complications in question was the fact that blood had difficulty circulating through his person on behalf of his large bodymass. On top of circulatory disfunctions, his gigantism weight put pressure on his skeletal structure. Another example of excessively unhealthy height would be Robert Wadlow who, at over 8 feet tall, was forced to wear leg braces so he may mobilize and died at 22 because of the physical wear that his condition brought about. Now, I'm sure the excuse to match these heights and even pass them would be that this is a fantasy setting where things may be vastly different than the real world - and that is a valid point - but being this tall is going overboard. If someone has reached 8 feet of height, they have literally become a giant. Orcs are not giants, they are savage green people with tusks that stand over the normal height of the other races, but not so severely. At most, the tallest Orc (and I express "tallest" as a rare trait) should be 7 feet tall. This includes Ologs, who in their own right may lean more toward 7 feet because of their written traits. Looking at it from a lore standpoint may further express my view. When the four brothers were brought into existence, Krug was the tallest of them when he still retained his more plain, human-esque features. However, when he was corrupted by the fire of Iblees, he did not grow 2 feet taller. This absurd "balanced gigantism" was not a trait or drawback that Krug's descendants were given through blood. It is a common misconception that began since Aegis and has survived up to here. Cutting a fraction from Orcish height would make them both realistic and able to be understood more as a race. Greenskins are Orcs, not giants.
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