Some BlackFlame guidelines from the Settings Team

[LigH]

There are simpler ways of killing permanently. Ask the executioner about it. I believe the tale of the hypnotized flying animal is rather reserved to really important convicts like Octarchs.

[Rigwyn]

This would also server as an example for those who are considering such a way of life.

[Nivm]

That would be cool, but if people had projectile runes, they wouldn't need any Megaras or Pterosaurs or even a Winch to get to the other levels in the first place.

So the arrow glyph doesn't work as a general projectile glyph in the lore? How sad. I expected that since a single glyph could lift about 0.6kg and launch it, a whole bunch of them (and a skilled mage) could launch something larger.
 I need to figure out which one the executioner is.

[Candy]

It summons the arrows - I think the weaker spell summons wooden arrows (where from, now that I think of it?) and the more powerful one summons arrows of pure Crystal energy.

[Dracaeon]

 

[Frois]

These information are quite amazing and interesting, though it's quite confusing for me. I mean all I basically get from that is that BF is concidered a myth so it's not really instructive for me. Is there a way to put the BF rules of conducts and stuff like that? in the case someone wanted to rp one (kindda like me) otherwise it'd be guess work and might go out of character.

Also as for where the arrows come from, if my memory servs me right (which it might not, they are old ones) Talad created the glyphs, if I'm right he also created the world, or something around the lines of that, it wouldn't be surprising if he could give the power to a glyph to simply create something, though this seems like a more advance spell than just throwing energy, I mean making matter's way harder!

[LigH]

I mean all I basically get from that is that BF is concidered a myth so it's not really instructive for me.

Black Flame is at most a myth - but in general unknown - to most of the "normal" people living in Yliakum.

Except for the Black Flame followers. They are an own (hidden) society among each other.

[Sillamon]

Perhaps this will help.

There are (or were) lots of players who claimed to be bad asses, and members of bad ass guilds with spooky names. They never did anything "bad" in game... Just trained..  "Yar, were tough guys ... and we'll take over Yliakum or something.."

Avoid this at all costs. Focus on doing what bad guys do, and do your best to make others think you are good. Once its discovered that you're a baddie, you really lose the ability to play the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Do the quests that lead to temple access, and pay close attention to how those npcs operate, who they work with, who they know or vice versa etc..  Do they go around screaming that they are cultists?

No, with one exception, they do the opposite. They enlist others (like yourself) to do their dirty work for them.

Try to get some other players to join also. You really need to have a group of black flamers unless you like playing by yourself.
Keep all bf stuff between yourselves, and wreak havok as covertly as possible.

Be prepared to toss your character if you are discovered and reported to the authorities. Its just part of the territory.

Have a front of some sort. Be someone in society. Be a baker and get a job at the Stonehead, or be the town Xiosia worshiper who hands out flowers and smiles at everyone.

In hindsight, its probably better for players to be unaware that you are a bf member. That's right, don't even let them know oocly. People will subconsciously treat you differently - unintentionally of course. Likewise, not letting anyone know about it oocly may make it that much more mysterious.

That's my two cents at least...

If you want some examples, look at the ingame roleplaying events section and check out the following threads:

Auctioning Victims
The Guilt of Jacula ( and sequels )
Nightmare Dust ( think that's what it was called )

There was another by Tadano Hitoshi.. I forgot the name of it.. It overlapped with "Poor Sick Dwarf" and some other events at the time.

At the time, we trusted the RP community enough to post the logs to these roleplays. Most of the players involved did the right think and isolated this ooc info from their characters.  We had a blast doing this and wanted to be able to share it with everyone else.

Good luck, and whisper bless

Oh PS, there used to be more BF activity than what you see posted in the in-game rp events section.

[Avathius]

Jacula has a guild? ^ ^ I MUST JOIN.

Guys, don't just publicly talk about the Black Flame. I think it's ok to put it in your description, but for RP purposes, saying "Where be the next Black Flame meeting be held?" is like saying "Where are we having the next KKK meet?" in RL. It's stupid to think you're cool if your character brags about the Black Flame all the time. Believe me, I've seen plenty of new players who hear about the Black Flame and next thing you know, they're parading around Yliakum saying "The Black Flame gonna be uprizin!"

[LigH]

Guilt <> Guild.

And Jacula already died, I believe.

[Ayko]

Hi, new player here.
I started playing about a month ago. When I created my character the blackflame religion seemed very interesting to role-play. But I must say I'm a bit disapointed so far. The quests were nice. But once you get to the temple that's the end of the adventure?

In my opinion keeping a secret is not roleplaying, it's just plain keeping a secret while coincedently role-playing...

If players don't even hint to their blackflame affiliation OOC, then how can you ever meet other eager little clackers in-game? Is there a blackflame guild? Why not leave a secondary character in the temple 24/7 and put a book next to him with instructions how to join the guild (whisper to the temple guard and wait for a response...). Or maybe you can organize 'shifts' between members.

I dunno, it just seems like a waste to have this aspect of the game not included in role-play.

[Rigwyn]

This is challenging both from an in character and out of character perspective. From an in character perspective, this is a secret that your character must guard with their life. Those characters who you do let know about it would be characters who your character trusts or who can be "dealt with" if they become problematic as the punishment for being a member is permanent death.

From an OOC perspective, not all players are very good with keeping ooc and ic separate. For that reason, people are not always open about this - which sucks. If you play with good players who know what they are doing, then they are not going to breach ic/ooc separation and they will understand this thoroughly.  Likewise, you need to be able to deal with players who do not know these rules in a polite, ooc fashion. This takes some practice.

Black Flame characters have secrets. They arrange for things to happen behind the scenes, they infiltrate, influence and gather intelligence, all for the eventual destruction of mankind. You do not need to let other characters know about your affiliation to do this ICly. As for how to do this, Relliom is the best example. He gives you quests and uses you as a *proxy*.

I agree with you though, in a story, the villian needs to be seen. In reality, the perfect crime is not seen or known of, but in stories, that does not show well. In stories and in role playing, we need to see the things that the villian does otherwise, he or she might as well not exist.

My solution to this thus far has been to play openly. I write about the things my character does, I'm open OOCly about him being a Black Flame member, but ICly I don't let anyone know except for possibly a pocket of similarly minded characters. I try to create the impression that he's evil, but that's about it. Some folks like to play their bad guys in a more covert fashion. For me, I prefer to play a more sloppy, in your face sort of character.

Good Luck and Whisper bless!

[Ayko]

sorry for double post, I don't see a delete button either?

[Ayko]

Hi Rigwyn, thanks for the advice. While I get the gist of what you're saying in theory, I think practice proves more difficult. Even with proxys there's not much you can do in terms of destabalizing society. You can't murder or steal and so on, since the game mechanics don't allow it. There's no big waves you can send, only small ripples. So you'd have to coordinate with other members one way or the other, I think.

Also, I'm wondering now that you said you can't confide people because the punishment is permadeath. Let's say you did confide in someone, and this person 'outs' you as Blackflame, isn't that your word against theirs? They have no proof of the matter IC. Only posibility of proof are chatlogs, but even if the topic in the logs is IC, the existance of logs themselves would still be considered OCC, right?

[Jilerel]

You can kill and steal ICly, by PMing the victim and playing the scene with it.