Creating A strong RP Player base

[Trace Nightwind]

Please Take the poll and then Answer these questions.  It will help me solidify a strong RP foundation for Layo.  Add poll options if you think they should be here.  
Here is the question for the poll: What would create more Roleplaying in Layonara?
  Vote for all the answers you think would work best.  The first five questions are written by me, please add any suggestions to the poll then answer the following questions.  The more people that answer them, the better roleplaying world we can create.

Please answer these questions:

1. What would make the world a better RP (roleplaying) place to be?  
2. What experiences have you had in Layonara that have made you want to stay in layo forever?
3. What was your favorite Roleplaying Moment in Layo? (if different from question 2)

[Zhofe]

Layonara does have an incredibly strong player base of good roleplayers. I was one of them. I believe that this is NOT the problem here. I have seen very few people who completly ignore their RP, who don't care about their RP, and who don't take suggestions when they are given.

I think what scares alot of people away is the lack of progress. It is very hard to actually GET anywhere in this game, and though that is not necessarily bad (infact, I was glad for it) it can make things VERY frustrating.

[Trace Nightwind]

I agree that Layonara has a phenomenal Roleplaying base of players.  I simply want it to be even better.  More RP equals a more immersive world, which makes more fun play! :-) If you believe there is another topic to be discussed besides roleplaying, please post a separate topic so we can address it.  i would like this thread to address RP'ing specifically.  Thank you everyone!

[Leanthar]

I want to make everybody aware that Trace is not asking as a player (perse) but rather as the newly appointed PR person for Layonara.
  Yes, we do have a great RP community.  He is just trying to find out how to make it better and to continue to make it better.  As well as finding more ways to keep the RP players here.

[Vyris]

I think it would be great for RP if there were milestones in PC's lives that were recognised with XP rewards or items specific to that particular character. I would like to see something that incorperates the character submission bio. Each player when they submit a character picks immediate goals (level 1-7) these goals would be something such as "become adept at tinkering, explore the area and RP some friendships" then at level 7 the PC would resubmit thier bio and state what goals they had accomplished. then short term goals (levels 8-12) and life long goals (Levels 12+ CDQ events) when a player resubmits thier bio to update accomplished goals they could be awarded XP, or other otions that probably belong in a different post.

My favorite time with the RP here was once when I was in the red light caves with a couple other players and the guard came looking for a wanted PC, we RP'd a little standoff with the DM who was running the guards and we all had a great time.

My most memorable RP moment was an hour long soul revelaing with another character as we sat and tried not to freeze on Barbarian isles *grins* ahhh... good times.

Vyris

[GhostWhoWalks]

Gonna Sticky this for now, for ya Trace.

Welcome to the Team.

[Trace Nightwind]

1. What would make the world a better RP (roleplaying) place to be?

    -To me...this comes down to one thing...older players reaching out to new players.  When more established players offer aid to new players, or even engage them in conversation...they immediately feel involved in the world.  From there, they will do the same for others.  OZY did this for me and I credit him almost completely with helping me feel involved in the world. *claps and cheers wildly for Ozy* Because of this, newer players seek out older players and talk about them amongst themselves.  Legends are born, that endure forever.  

2. What experiences have you had in Layonara that have made you want to stay in layo forever?

   -When I saw the world in Version 2 I nearly fainted.  It was incredibly beautiful.  After I saw the first sunset and full moon in V2, I knew i would stay there forever.

3. What was your favorite Roleplaying Moment in Layo? (if different from question 2)
   -One of my first characters was walking with a friend from Fort Llast when night fell.  It was during the time when shadows were attacking after nightfall.  My friend and I saw a beautiful lady standing at the edge of the road to Hlint.  She looked very vulnerable and alone.  She also radiated an aura of power yet kindness.  She asked if we would escort her to the town.  As we walked toward Hlint, shadows attacked.  Shadow Knights and worse came after the Lady, and my friend and I fought nearly to death.  We eventually made it through the gates, bringing her to safety.  She thanked us and left, and it was only then, we realized we had just saved Queen Alurial!  That was an amazing experience!

I appreciate your comments.  I love this world and all of you who are a part of it!

[Trace Nightwind]

V-O-T-E...You know you want to...hehehehehe

[trillex]

I added the "complimenting each other" choice because I, when it happens, get a really huge kick (even better than the xp reward I got once or twice) when someone just sends me a tell saying "That was huge, man. Thanks" or something like that. Just a nice clap on the shoulder for complimenting what you are doing is usually what keeps you going. You know it from work, class etc. Motivation!

[orth]

Good thinking trillex, I agree this goes a really long way.

[Trace Nightwind]

I loved that!  Thank you for adding that option.  I agree that the times I have received compliments have been some of the most fullfilling moments for me.  Thank you for the input.  I am looking forward to more!  -Trace

[FlameStrike]

I agree with trillex, receiving compliments lets us know we are in the right way, aswell as if we did good. Motivation is something really good and makes us do wonderful things.

I put in the originality poll.

The reason? Layo is original. It's not the same dried up thing that you can log onto gamespy and see a dozen of like nordok or lotr or anaphillia or dragonlance. It's original. The plot is original, the characters are original and diverse, the landscaping and haks are used in originality (yes there are rips and credits and cep things in there but they're used in different fasions than what you see)

To me, it's the players being original that are the biggest kick. All of the older players here already know they're hero's, the mid-levels like myself know we're becomming the hero's or already are the hero's, and both of those groups know that the new players and low levels are the next generation of hero's to come.

The other degree of originality I'm trying to poke at is how the characters are played. Dwarfs are your original dwarfs, clerics are your original clerics, your paladins are your original paladins, you've got your stupid orcs, you've got your drunk dwarfs, your annoying gnomes, your mischevious halflings, your snobby elves, and your up-tight humans. You don't have everyone clamoring towards becomming an epic monk palemaster wizard that can let fly with issacs walk around owning the place and flashing his dire mace because it has a cool evil glow.

The way people put so much effort and time into developing their characters even without a cdq is phenominal and should be encouraged. Back when I played Toman alot, I made him into a leader for the friends I made. Someone they could look up to who was good for a laugh, who was the kind of guy who got along with nearly everyone be it a priestess of corath to a paladin champion of toran and sit them both down for an ale and have them walk out patting backs.

Romance, dispair, hope, courage, bravery.. all of that exists here. It's the fundamental part of what needs to be nutured more than anything. Keep that originality here and special to layo.

I know one of the defining moments for my character was when I announced to my friends I was going to try become a shadowdancer with Toman. I started leaning him towards mr mysterious, still keeping the care free pranks going with scaring people, all the way down to straight out invulnerability mode and threatening someone for something. I got comments ranging from "wow, amazing" to "I hate you so much" Yet I kept kicking at it, and I turned those comments around to my friends. Tactics, hey man do this, the accent, heh, Toman sounds so much like an aussie/scottish cross and reminds you of a crazy irishman it's not even funny.

Keep that originality flowing, not everyone needs to be the "perfect" person and not everyone plays it. The fact that people are willing to build characters with faults, willing to build them with strengths, and mash both of that together in their own styles is what makes the rp shine here and what needs to be nurtured more than anything.

Keep that aura about yourselves, people like Ender Sai make me wonder just what he's going to do next, he's so quiet, so rougish, yet when you get him to talk it's like he's just a normal guy. Someone like Chanda ms evil, holding that aura of command, someone like lueanne with her carefree halfling way, down to triba telling people they're goofups and about her epic ox rags, even to a lowly new player like Mhoram playing a guy who has no clue about anything, willing to learn, eager to try anything, and very susceptable should the right words be said.

Heck even the things that 8-bit did when I first met his cleric char, the stuttering, I didn't know if I should cast to help, stay as far away or try become friends, then switching to key, man what a style change, it blew my socks off and made me take a look at both my characters and see something in them that I could emulate.

Encourage the emulation as well, take bits and pieces of how several people play their characters and make it your own.

I was shocked when I saw brisbane kill a dire boar, my idea of a druid was to try my best to avoid killing animals, then she explaind it was dire, not natural, ect, a completly new way I saw to emulate into a druid of my own style should I ever make one.

Nurture the originality, encourage it, throw the comments at people complimenting them for their originality for their style, their flare, and for their dreams. Don't quash it under rules and regulations, if you see someone doing something they shouldn't, rather than nail em with a tell, hit them with it in char and see how they rp it back at you. Then compliment them in the tell for handling it and explain why you did it. Model it that way and you'll see a lot less frustration and I can almost guarentee you that they'll pass it on in a similar fashion. Sugar over salt, keep the originality.

My 2gp and thanks for reading the long post. Sorry for the essay.

[Etinfall]

1. This is the toughest question of the three. I can't think of anything better than what you all are doing as it is. When something comes to mind I will let you know.
Edit: remembered something- Sometmes on larger quests (with a lot of players) I feel lost. Like it didn't matter if I was there. Usually when there were more than one type one personalities taking charge. This is a tough thing to, do but more smaller quests suited for a smaller number of players would be nice. On the large world changing events the little guys are a  little left out, maybe rightly so.  (remember I am really diving deep to find something wrong with Layo)

2. I must say the rp. This is my first RP experience and I never knew what I was missing. When I finish a quest and feel I made a difference it feels good. When it feels like I was just tagging along it isn't as satisfying.

3. Once I was helping some folk get to the bottom of the cyrpts in Hlint we noticed some more difficult creatures were comming at us. I wasn't at a stage where I culd easily stroll to the bottom and we wern't sure if this was a gm or what. It eventually ended up being a gm spot quest and we faced a Lich. I died and the Lich proposed a deal to the other players to raise me for one of their souls. It was fuun sitting there dead watching what they were gonna do. Good rp. (thanks Rhiz)


Hope this helps you out, now I am late for work so I am not going to spell check. Sorry

Etinfall

[Locust]

Trace, some good options there. Thumbs up on this poll! It obvious what option I have chosen as my third one .

Looking at the discussions from past week and this poll it seems like I’m not the only one with things on my mind. So let me put down my thoughts although it may be misplaced in this thread, if so accept my appology. Also I’m not very good with words and my English is not supperb so please forgive me if some things appear a bid harsh or you feel that this turns into a rant.

The reason why I joined this world was because of the planned DM events. It allows me to fit my private schedule to the game. My playtime being from 7 GMT – 10 GMT and on average spread across 1 or 2 evenings a week. Because of these limitations my characters have little IG friends who happen to be online at the same time/evening I do, also I don’t want to harrass them with tells when they are on. Therefore I spend a lot of time in the areas around Hlint in order to find other characters/IG friends. Some evenings though I’m unsuccesfull and going out on my own becomes frustrating fast since none of my characters are capable to last long. To be honest people spread out across various serves isn’t helping either. And I’m not interested to spend several hours in CNR on my own, playing offline will probably be more satisfying and less frustrating if I was left with only that option (which is often not the case here).

What I want to say with this is that what you can do as a player is very limited since you cannot influence the real life restrictions of timezones, when players are on and when not, etc. and you can not influence the world around you.

It’s from this experiences/thought that I voted for more cooperation from the player base focussing on RP and more spontaneuos GM quest from GM assigned to do these type of events.

One solution to solve this dilemma in my view is to create a/multiple GM position whom’s goal it is to provide real mini (30 – 45 mins) events to emerse a wider playerbase into Layonara, probably running events seperate from the plotlines. Héck, if such a position is offered I’m sure I will apply although I have no experience with D&D and the DM client and therefore I assume changes are very slim it will happen for me. Also I have very limited knowledge of the plotlines but then again that can be a plus. To be blunt I think it would even give me more satisfaction while playing this game and I hope this will be visible for the other players in my limited online time.

Better place?

Trace mentions the older players guiding the new. I would like to say that any player guiding another would be a better option. For instance by concentrating all the low level quests in, for instance, a place called ‘New adventurers inn’ or something pretty obvious. And make the ‘inn’ quests in such a way that you first have to solve one quest before going to the next one offered in the inn. Even keeping the XP/gold reward very low because the quests there are used to get to know the world around you a little better and that should be worth something.

If you feel like guiding someone around you just wait for the first person to step out of the inn and ask him if he needs any help. It will probably not last long before you find yourself a partner for the evening, introduce him to some other character, the area around Hlint, the major roads out of town, etc.

One of the moments I remember very well was when I received the XP for joining, but leaving early due to sickness, one of Sakura’s quests. He/she rewarded me the XP 4 weeks after this event while I had forgotten about it already. The problem however is how to keep these players involved in RP in this world.

My favorite moments are many. Every evening were I RP with a new character or learn something new from my IG friends I go to bed with a smile on my face. But also the moments I could join the ‘twin sisters’ series and when I found out that several IG friends where hit by the soul venom eventhouhg I couldn't be part of it myself because of these timezones, still it made my characters feel part of this world.

[Dezza]

First of all Congrats Trace!

Now...
1. GM improvisations!  I know I am fairly new at this GM thing but it amazes me the difference it makes to a party or even individual PC's if suddenly something changes for them from the regular spawns and npc's on layo. I have lost track now how many times I have done something small with a party and suddenly it spawns this great tirade centered around this small event. I spent 45 mins with a pc the other day in the high forest because they killed a bear for its pelt. I created the bears mate who was angered by death of its mate but also saddened by it as well. The PC in questions RP was excellent and in line with the characters motivations which was enjoyable for them and also for myself.

2. WHich one do I list? There are so many and they happen again and again every day. A big one is people being interested in your character and where they are from. A lot of poeple are going for the dark mysterious,almost evilly type characters. Thats fine but what they dont realise is that RP for these is hard and to actually develop RP you limit yourself in this way to who is going to talk to you. The 'good' PC's are a lot less likely to RP or travel with you in these instances and thats going to limit your development chances at some point. People also forget their PC's background sometimes as well when RP'ing. The other day I saw a Paladin travelling with a Drow rogue who was not all that friendly. Why? XP not RP. On the whole most people however WILL RP their character exceptionally well and I love that about Layo!

3. There have been many but I think the best was my first CDQ with Tarradon....the whole thing! It was awesome..Too much happened to write it all here but trust me it was awesome! Oh and one more was praying to Rofirein in his temple in Point Harbour ages ago after a nasty event had just occured, being told by a GM to make a check and rolling a '20' Yippee! and having an avatar of Rofirein appear.. now that was pretty special and a good RP session.

[LoganGrimnar]

1. What would make the world a better RP (roleplaying) place to be?
    ...i thank there is everything here you could need to RP, only thing lacking would be some of the other players... a polite reminder from GM to player or players to players would be to make shure to use words... i have noticed a few the say np or ty instead of no problem, of thank you, when i notice these i try to RP throuh them . Also, the people at the inn's or whereever else that say "welcome Taur'ohtar Tel' Daeie", they souldent say the chars name... that should be replaced with something like "Welcome mama/sir" ...but really i dont have much problem with the RP on this server.

2. What experiences have you had in Layonara that have made you want to stay in layo forever?
    What i like about Layo is the many different subclasses that are presented to us... that is really cool. I also love the different PrC's laid out before us as options. Another thing would also be the size of Layo, i have not even explored all of Mistone yet, as long as i have new places to explore ill be happy.

3. What was your favorite Roleplaying Moment in Layo? (if different from question 2)
    I thank one of my favorit RP moments was when my Dwarf Grom got into a slugging match with a dwarf named Bruenor Wildbeard, we had a disagrement so to simulate the fight we made str checks and con checks to see if we fell over... i would hit him... he would hit me... then after a few minuets we both haply skipped off to the nearby inn and drank ourselves stuped. I also loved the arm wrestling i would challenge people to commenly, like i challenged a half giant once... i thank i lost but is shure was fun...

[tomas]

This is my first role playing experience and i have to say that it has been very enjoyable.  Layo is just a great world to be in, the gms are great..well at the least the ones that i've met. I hope to know them all in the future. On to the questions:

1) well i have to agree with etinfall about not being involved if there is a big party quest, but then again it can't really be helped.  I think keep layo spontaneous..and a little unpredictable and i will keep on coming back.

2) The quests are just awesome.  i've only been on a few but so far they have been very good.  the quests alone would probably keep me coming back because again, you never know what will happen.  the only time i didn't enjoy a quest was because i didn't feel like i was contributing since my level was too low, i didn't know it at the time until i went on the quest so maybe a warning if the quests are going to be in difficult areas.
   Another thing i like about layo is the crafting.  It is so satisfying to make something after all the time and effort you've put into it to acquire the skill to make the item. I like how there is so many crafts that you can choose from.  It gives me something to do when i do not feel like fighting, since i need a break sometime from all the running around to get coins or gain xp.
   I also like the fact that layo is a low magic type world and that gaining level is very difficult.  i think the more time i spend to gain levels the more i can appreciate it when i actually get it.  Also, it will help me to learn more about my character or maybe help me to decide where i want my character to go since i will not be thinking about getting to that next level all the time.    

3) i have two experiences and both involved gms, each time i was going through an area that i knew fairly well about, the giants near fort hope and the broken forest.  I loved it when the gms came and made me fear for my life because when your character has a chance to die, then you realized that their life is worth living and very precious.  I mean life and death moments shouldn't happen every day, but once in awhile...lets just say it keeps it interesting.  That fire giant and that mummy really scared me!
   But my most memorable RP moment so far has been when i received some xp for good rping.  the xp amount was trivial but the fact that i even received it made me feel good since it sort of made me realize that rping isn't that hard.  it has made me strive really hard to stay in character more often and watch my speech patterns and really think now how my character would react in certain situations.

Well that's my experiences so far in layo, i've only been a player here for about 6 weeks and i hope to have many more memorable ones in the future! Keep up the good work!

[Cattery]

First of all, for those who have blasted me for "leaving" Layonara, I will come back someday.  After all, I still occasionally haunt these forums, don't I?  ;-b

Secondly, I would agree with what Zhofe has said.  Though I understand that a lot has been done to rectify the levelling problems since I disappeared (the death system in particular) it wasn't a lot of fun to be only able to log on for a small amount of time and feel like you weren't getting anywhere.  That would scare people off, as levelling AND RP makes a game fun.  Which I why I know I'll be back in the end, because while it's very easy to level on the game I'm playing now *coughworldofwarcraftcough* the sheer number of idiots that don't have any clue what "Arpee" is makes me want to scream.  They have a tendancy of coming to the RP realms to peeve those of us who try to RP, I'm sure.

And if "Astroboy" runs past me again...

[FlameStrike]

I wonder, are you allowed to PK in WoW? That would be nice, to have a mob of RolePlayers armed with pitchforks and torches, kicking those idiots back where they belong. ^_^