Roleplay and adventuring

[Dezza]

I felt the need to express a few points in relation to RP on this server.

Yes this server is RP driven but this does not mean that RP has to involve players spending hours on end sitting in Port Hempstead and chatting. If you have time to do this there is no problems whatsoever with that but what my concern is that a few people have been made to feel as if they are not good RP'ers because they "dont" do that.

While this is a fantasy world the reality is that people behind these chars have wide and varied lives in the Real World. This can mean they have an hour each day to play or a few hours a week or a block every other day of a few hours to play or they can play all the time with little or no concern.

With such a mix people we need to know that if someone gets on with less time than others and simply wants to organise a group and go and 'adventure' then don't misjudge them for that.

I think strong RP'ers show their true values when they are in a group situation and are travelling the world, exploring places and eviscerating nasty beasties AND maintaining strong RP.

The Paladin that holds the enemy at bay so a wounded comrade can fall back to the cleric waiting to tend them.

The Bard singing for their comrades to fight well in battle and cursing the enemy as they roar and shriek.

The rogue who taunts their comrades urging them onto greater feats of daring then laughs at their angry or good natured retorts.

The Aeridinite and the Rofireinite who debate the use of force in bringing order to a region as they battle their way through a horde of undead.

The Katian druid and the Mistite Cleric arguing what is the greater force, nature that could cover the world given time and reclaim it or the cyclone that tears the trees from the ground and casts them away like twigs.

The party that turns glares and harsh words on the sorcerer who nearly blew them all to bits with a mistimed fireball.

RP can take place ANYWHERE while you are doing ANYTHING!

Please remember anytime you are standing somewhere having a merry old RP and someone is getting a group together to go and explore....they may not be 'just another hack n slash group'.

On the other side of the coin what I dont like to see is groups such as this go out and not engage in ANY RP at all....thats just bad form.

So..if you want to get a group together in short order, go and explore and investigate this great server we have...go ahead..and enjoy it...and RP it!!!!

And if you want to hang around a place and RP then do that too! Either way works for me!

[Acacea]

It's true there is a misconception present in several areas (even whole servers in cases outside Layo) that going out and smacking things around is not considered roleplaying, where people who sit in town doing nothing else look in disapproval at those blasphemers who like dungeon delving and adventuring. It's not so rampant in Layo, but I know the term "RP Server" makes a lot of people cringe in other places by default, imagining JUST a town with a tavern or something where no one does anything else. Or others that see levels as the only way to progress a character and can't comprehend being a force on the world without being epic.

You can sit, or you can fight...just play your character. My own isn't really the bashing type, and in general gets her butt handed to her, anyway. She used to hardly leave town at all but still progressed a good deal as a character. I still have fun going on trips with people when they come up IC, though, and there are some characters around that make whatever you do a good time.

Think of it this way...some people choose to roleplay characters who simply aren't oriented towards 'going out,' which makes mechanical progress a challenge but can enable some fun character interactions. Others don't go out either, but sit silently AFK in town not interacting with anyone, right? One is roleplaying...one is not.*

Likewise, most enjoy the adventuring and the character interactions that come up in battle, and the IC camaraderie or conflict that can really only develop through fighting/questing beside each other. ...Others click, let it auto-attack, and sit there casting, running, hitting, whatever, only speaking to say "get the mage," or "good xp." One group roleplays...one does not.

There is no RP vs Bashing - it's an RP server, and here that is defined as "Rp While You Bash or While You Sit, Whatever Works For You!"

I do encourage people of either camp to try the other now and then, though. If your character is mostly a bench-sitter that enjoys just hanging out in town and socializing, hook up with some people going through and make a trip of it sometime--don't clam up, take your RP on the road.

If you can't get on much and spend your few hours adventuring all the time, stop to hang out in town or one of the PC taverns now and then. Pause to participate in a conversation or story-telling that is going on while you're trying to gather up people to hunt, occasionally.

Someone might actually have fun doing something they're not used to doing and develop their character, who knows! If nothing else, by at least interacting, you create future opportunities for your character's brand of play. Going to adventure with that group you always ignore gives you more people to interact with when you see them passing you in town, maybe to even join them now and then. Stopping to talk to people on your way through to the next fight or hanging out through the end of a conversation when you have time may actually gain you a whole party to go with you. I can think of plenty of sessions that started out as story tellings that ended up a "that was fun, let's go hit the dungeon that it reminded me of!" type deal.

*Rambles awhile as usual...*


*I'm aware of the occasional emergency AFKs that occur, and have occasionally been caught at the campfire with an invis that wore off, myself! I speak of the trend, not the "my house is on fire"

[stragen]

Role playing is all about staying in character.  What else is a better test of character then an adventure where life and death hang in the balance.  I would also like to add that there are some players who are extremely skilled at action-roleplay on this server.  Those who emote and interact to add depth and feeling in the midst of battle.
Excellent post.

[darkstorme]

The problem is that there appears to be an extensive grey area.  I think it can be agreed that without talking, there is no real RP, even if it's just "Go!  Get help - I'll hold them off!"

The blurry line is largely where tactics fall into place.  From my own perspective, I'd say that any combat, no matter how tactically brilliant, does not in and of itself make up RP.  Any of the examples Dezza listed so well above would do nicely, but too often I see groups rushing from one kill to the next practically wordlessly save for coordinating comments.  It's heady, I'll give it that, and can be enjoyable... the feeling of rolling over enemies with scarcely a pause.  However, I don't really feel that it's truly roleplaying.  If debates go on between party members.. or arguments.. or love triangles... or jokes/gambling/banter/ire... any of these are splendid.  But if it's simply a AdventurerCuisinart (tm), chewing up every monster in their path, then running on to the next without more than "Well done!" or "Good shot!"...

I think there's a critical mass for groups beyond which RP becomes nigh-impossible... more than sixteen to twenty in a group and conversations become so jumbled it's hard to tell who is talking to whom... and if you pause to figure it out, whatever adversary you've just killed re-appears and turns on you.  It's not the fault of any one member.. it's just the point at which groups become largely unwieldy.  Very occasionally it works, but that is more the exception than the rule, and usually works by splitting the group down into subsets who RP amongst themselves.

I, personally, would love it if large groups exhibited the kind of conflict/personality Dezza describes... and if it comes to pass that all such "hunting parties" do so... I'll have no more complaints about Dregar runs. *chuckles*

Edit:  Pretty much everything I just said is now redundant, thanks to Acacea's flying fingers.  I'm leaving it anyway, 'cause it took me a long time between assignment questions to write this, but really, she covered everything I might have wanted to say w/r to Dezza's post.  So, um... good job!  *wanders back to pipelining*

[Tanman]

On the other side of the coin what I dont like to see is groups such as this go out and not engage in ANY RP at all....thats just bad form.

What I find most annoying is to see large groups going out there for a run and not doing anything remotely to do with RP but rather go and do a run.

Layonara is a Roleplay-Action server which means exactly that. Action with RP. Dezza hit it on the head. How can we roleplay while fighting? Describe things that your character does......follow how you defined your character in your character submission. Use the voice system at appropriate times. You will know when you RP when you can honestly say that you had fun from what has been described or mentioned in an encounter, while fighting or exploring.

[Interia_Discordius]

What's a good reason, in my opinion, to switch from being sit and talk in Hempstead and run around killing is because of the character development that results from both.

Out on the road, you have a chance to see the battle and its effects on a character (for example Witch_Hunter's character had started asking why we should kill the ogres while Kinai and Akki made up some excuses, which proved to be rather interesting), not to mention the fact the Soul Mother's claws can easily take off a soul strand (can't we RP that more often? I miss Hector's insane periods during reflections and Czukay's running around without his armor). Kinai herself met her first shadow out there! It's not too tough roleplaying battle, either...Although I do admit to being too lazy to do it every now and then. Anyone who's traveled with me will admit it's near impossible to shut the rogue girl up. Comments, pouting, you name it. If your character's the silent type, we all know Milt's got his down with Steel. If not words, actions. Try a different route every now and then...Heck, it might inspire the people around you to do the same.

Don't get me wrong...Sitting in Hempstead (Hlint at the time) actually helped out a lot. Stories to hear, people to meet, a deader to occasionally laugh at. I personally use Hempstead nowadays when I can't always be at my computer or to cause a little mischief with Hawk.

Either way, no matter where you are or what you do, it shouldn't be about WHAT you're doing, per se, but HOW you're doing it. Roleplaying your character to the best is the goal, not the next DING! or next place to AFK at for hours on end

[LynnJuniper]

Hey, I'm all for the Roleplaying while "dungeon crawling" (ew. That's a really bad term isn't it?) , and as a personal statement can say I really do tend to try, however, I find it hard enough personally simply targeting correctly (I'm not very well coordinated, its a wonder I got this far) , to be able to stop doing that long enough to type something. Most of my 'battle' roleplay comes in between one encounter and the next, or when I can afford to stop casting long enough to get something typed out.

On the other hand, I'm not really certain how often people would talk while battling anyway. Speaking in the condition of the mage. Most don't have silent spell. I mean, I'd imagine it somewhat hard to speak between incantations and calculations where one is trying to figure out the velocity of the fighters over the distance of the encounter (AKA: How to hit your enemies but not your friends..I don't know I'm making stuff up now.)

So while I agree with all previous posts, I'm just stating that for some (Steel, Krys/Ael for example) combat roleplay comes somewhat naturally, while for others (me!) It's a lot harder.

[gilshem ironstone]

Pen n Popper actually gave me a lot of inspiration of how to make in battle RPing possible.  Custom Text Macros.  You can set those babies up when you log on, and have three or four different responses available to be thrown out at any time in a battle.  I find they work best as emotes or battlecries.  And then if you are in deep bashing that Troll Berserker you can actually take the time to type something out.  It is still way harder than when you sit at the benches, but it can make the difference betweeen a bash 'em out XP fest or a true feeling of adventuring.

[Kirbiana]

I also have this issue as a battle-support cleric. I'm usually not fighting, so one might think I would have lots of time for RP. However, time is not the limiting factor, it's fingers. One hand is hovering over my healing-spell and potion function keys while I watch everyone's red-line go down; the other is holding my mouse over the various party member's pictures and all too often my chat box is dead empty. We magic users also have the double-whammy that our quickslots are taken up by our various spells and so I don't have any available (usually) for emotes or text macros. My conclusion is that while my PC is chatty enough in between battles, she essentially becomes an ER doctor during combat and just doesn't say much.
 
:rolleyes:

[Interia_Discordius]

Yep, I personally think it's bad form to talk DURING battle, unless you're just plain crazy Between though, I think, and before entering dungeons and caves definitely.

[MJZ]

Spellcasters being my favourite classes, I know just what you mean. Have about a quarter the amount of HP and a fraction of the AC of others, on lower levels it's a careful mix of trying not hit your friends with spells, staying far enough back so as not to die, but not so far back that you trigger the last spawn! This doesn't leave too much time for chat, which is a shame because I would love to RP spells.

So, I basically do my chatting right before a fight and begin again when I see it's dying down. During battle, I use the Bioware voicechats to shout out small things, mostly taunts at the monsters.

[Kindo]

Yeah, some talking may be out of place, but the occasional emote adds some depth, I suppose. I agree with Kirbiana, though, we don't have much space or time to text-RP during battle, as Clerics.

[Hellblazer]

Well dong battle and healing at the same time, I sometime find the time to type when my cleric is engaged and on automation. Not often though, but the RP shoudl mainly be done in between battles.

[gilshem ironstone]

During battle I will usually only use my text macros, and occasionally yell something short.  Like Gilshem sometimes says "Wall up!" If the dwarves are getting loose in their foramtion.  But yeah, my main focus is almost always on the task at hand, surviving!

[miltonyorkcastle]

Macros are the way to go in the heat of battle, for sure. But there are certainly breaks between being in the thick of it that even spellcasters have time to make comments, should they so choose. Comments or emotes. I play both a spellcaster and a warrior, and it's taken time to learn how to RP the different things they might do or say during battle, or just during a random dungeon crawl.
I think the key is to want to make something more of battle than just beating on things. The desire to make it cinematic, the desire to make each and every battle unique, and meaningful. I love adventure. I love combat and the adrenaline rush that goes with it. but even combat gets boring and old without meaning; meaning that can only be provided by character, by interesting, loving, hating, opinionated, crazy, sane, unique characters who do things with purpose. Not players who's purpose is to advance their characters (which is natural, good even, but when this is the focus, can make for lousy RP), but characters who have drive and reason all their own and utilize every opportunity to pursue their goals. And then as players to constantly show how, and why, our characters are doing what their doing. The key word is there is show. You don't need to explain your dogma to everyone you come across, but the explicit actions of your character in all the little things he/she does makes it known. I dunno, take this for what you will. Get out there and have some adventure! Ya crazies!

[AeonBlues]

It seems interesting  that this thread has gone in the direction that it has.  The fact of the matter is, I very often see characters standing or sitting around hempstead and not speaking or interacting for very long periods of the time.  While much much more often then not, players are having wonderful RP while out on a good hunt.

AeonBlues

[darkstorme]

Yep, I personally think it's bad form to talk DURING battle, unless you're just plain crazy Between though, I think, and before entering dungeons and caves definitely.

I'd disagree.  The goal is to make battle memorable, where no combat should be completely blasé.  If it IS an effortless fight, characters would just chat idly while mowing the opponents down like hay.

If it's a challenging fight, if I have someone banterable there, I tend to channel the Gimli/Legolas interaction from the Battle of Helm's Deep.  "I've got 14!"  "Seventeen!"  "Grrrrr."

Beserkers would scream out battle cries in combat.  Cocky fighters might chuckle as they cross blades with an overmatched enemy (or, alternately, when they themselves are overmatched, to throw the enemy's confidence off.)  And bards would put up a near-constant STREAM of chatter.  It's basically what they do!  Spellcasters, admittedly, would be a bit more intense, as they would be focusing on directing magical energies, but clerics could at least be expected to cry "In the name of [insert deity's pseudonym here]!" before wading into combat.

Through judicious use of quickslotted macros (even for spellcasters; you've got thirty-six of the darn things! ), combat can become an opportunity for truly memorable RP.

[Blackguy]

36 is way to little to setup macros for mages.

But I engage in the usually combat jorgon during some fights, if they last long enough for me to actually type what I want to say.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Milton: I wish I could click the "Thanks" button about a hundred more times.  Anyhow... A few quick points.  Quickslots/Macros: I have no room in my quickslots for text macros. Between potions, containers, and equipment, the thing's FULL. At least on Pyyran... With Grok, most of my slots are empty, so my **He roars, waving his axe in the air.* /o *roars* /o *waves* isn't exactly tough to fit in there. With Tyeaan, I keep his Dispel quickslotted, as he usually prepares multiples of the same spells. Ceviren, with all of his gear and numerous spells, I don't have room for, either... Lora has plenty of space, but doesn't fight.  Something good to keep in mind are the voiceset macros. V W T is the Taunt trigger, which, for Pyyran, is "Show me what you've got!" Not a bad battle cry.  Talking during battle: Okay... It's a little tough, in the thick of things, to type out what your character would probably be saying/doing. Often, I'm not too hardcore about this, myself, but I put forth a good effort when I'm in a group (usually). It's hard enough to juggle the really hard encounters without trying to type in between... That said, don't forget that you can type something, then click somewhere else, then click back in the box to continue typing.  Talking between battles: THIS IS A MUST. I mean, we're an RP-Action server. I want a Biggie-sized serving of RP with my action!

[Gulnyr]

Something good to keep in mind are the voiceset macros. V W T is the Taunt trigger, which, for Pyyran, is "Show me what you've got!" Not a bad battle cry.

Just don't go nuts with them, please.  Now and then when appropriate is cool.  At every opportunity or spamming several in a row is just annoying.