The 5 People PlaneShift CB Needs Most

[buddha]

This is an offshoot of the thread \"Thoughts on Coexistence\".

There is a growing problem of role-players (rps) vs. power-levelers (pl).  Being of the opinion that rp is more fun, I have some thoughts on how to create the proper tone.  I think this can be done if the rp\'s control the economy.  I know, conspiracy theory, but hear me out.

To increase the level of rp going on, we need powerful people who will stick to character.  Then the pl\'s who come in will see that their environment is being dictated by character and not xp.  So how does one become powerful in a world where you can\'t kill someone you don\'t like?  Answer: money.  If we had the following 4 people in Hydlaa, the whole game would have an rp tone and probably be fun for everyone.

If we all decide to play the lone, brooding hero in the corner we get nothing.  Don\'t expect me to randomly walk up to you and ask your life story, I don\'t do that IRL.  We have to take it upon ourselves to create some modicum of society and not wait for others to do it for us.

I offer these suggestions in the hopes that someone will expand on them and really take off.   Of course, when you do, remember my name (Mulla Nasudin)

1. Don King
 Want to make $$ in the current economy?  Organise a tournament.  Give it a snazzy name like the Hydlaa Ultimate Fighting Championship 1.  Require a 10 tria buy in, offer a 100 tria prize and get 11 fighters from the plaza where they\'re killing each other for no reason.  Now you\'ve made 10 tria BEFORE the side bets.

Don\'t forget to hold it in the arena so people can come and watch.

2. Edward Doheny
Newbies are nice people with no money.  Why not RENT out a pick by the day?  Most will give it back, if not, perhaps the GMs will have some sort of law.

3. William Randolph Hearst
Here\'s my favourite idea.  Please. someone pick up on this.  Convince the devs to give you one of these forums over which you have sole editorial power.  Now, play the game a LOT.  Whenever something happens, post it in your forum as The Daily Hydlaa or something.  Mention the people by name so that they will come read your newspaper.  Now, when Don King goes to do his next HUFC, he may give you tria to advertise.  Also, budding young fighers may pay to advertise for sponsors to get into Don King\'s HUFC.

Sponsor a poetry competition or an open mic at the tavern.

Now go hire some reporters to cover things when you\'re not on line.

4. Muhammed Ali
Really, we need one person that everyone knows.  We need local heroes.  This person  would be created by King and Hearst and could pull the community together.  You could love him, you could hate him, but everyone will know his name.

5. Don Corleone
You\'d have to start as \"Young Vito\" because you can\'t kill people yet.  However, you can establish and intimidating presence in the square just to get your name out.  Then you can start loaning people money and finding some way of making them pay you back.


It is my hypothesis that with these four people in place, the whole tone of the game will become more rp oriented. The pl\'s may start reading the paper to see if their amazing exploits are in place.  People could get menial jobs taking bets for Don King or chasing down cheats from Ed Doheny.

All of these characters are possible TODAY.  If we want an rp environment, we have to create it.

Once again, this has been Mulla Nasrudin with thought-provoking ideas.

[TheRedMonk]

I\'m definetely the Muhammed Ali guy

[Draklar]

Originally posted by TheRedMonk
I\'m definetely the Muhammed Ali guy

Who are you?

because you can\'t kill people yet

What do you mean you can\'t kill people yet?

[Gilibran]

Not wanting to start another topic on the RPs vs PL I hope you will forgive me for putting this here for a little inspiration for both sides.

I found this on the net a longtime ago. It tells what good rp-ing should be like in my opinion. And what we all want eventually to be possible in PS I think:

Hot night

It was when a PC party found themselves in a village, at the same time when a
vicious red Dragon was razing it down My idea was to
run that scene as a introduction to a \'Even More Sinister Plot Than It Was In
the Previous Course of the Campaign\', with the PC`s as a mere witnesses to the
unveiling horror. As it usually happens - I was wrong.

Party:
3 humans, 1 Elf, 1 Dwarf
estimated party strength - moderate
measured party intelligence - depends (usually poor)
dominant factor - greed

They found themselves in some small town somewhere in the eastern part of the
Empire, and rented a common room in local inn.
In the middle of the warm summer night, the sounds of explosion, and the shaking
of building\'s walls suddenly awakened them. Three humans took a look through the
window and when they saw a dragon head rising above the buildings, some 30
meters away, breathing fire, and laying rampage to the surrounding houses (you
know, like in the Godzilla movies), they ran screaming straight to the cellar,
and locked themselves in, determined to spend couple of weeks there, to make
sure that mister D is gone - \'After all, we have plenty of food and drink here,
right?\'

Dwarf & Elf? Well, they had some other ideas on their minds.
Dwarf grabbed his axe, shouted \'Let`s kick some Dragon ass!\' (Lunatic) and ran
outside. The elf (with a \'Heroic Idiocy\' disorder - suited him well) decided to
climb on the roof \'To take a look around, and decide about the best strategy to
be deployed.\' (Smartass).
Dwarf spent some time catching screaming (and burning) villagers that were
running around, asking them - \'Where is that overgrown lizard?\' (Or something
like that). With the deep -sigh- I (The GM) pointed out that the Dragon is
razing the house nearby, with his head rising several feet above the rooftops,
and that there is no way he could miss it. So the dwarf curved behind the
corner, and faced mister D himself.
Now, Dragon was HUGE, and was just tearing the rooftop of the house next to him.
Dwarf stopped for a moment (rolled & passed terror test), muttered \'-Gulp-
prepare to die...\', in not-so-convincing voice, and charged towards the beast.

Before continuing to the sad outcome of this scene, let me digress a little.
- First, the dwarf. He was STRONG & TOUGH - S6 T6 (As a Dragon himself).
- Second, the Dragon. Seemingly equally strong as a dwarf (S6 T6), BUT smarter
(int 41), and I applied some common sense in strength & toughness problem. A
Dragon is big & strong enough to pull a tree out of its roots. His strength of 6
here only applies to inflicting damage with the \'Claw\' attack in a melee combat.
A dwarf CAN NOT pull a tree out, no matter how hard he tried (I know, the dwarf
tried it once).

To resume. The cunning beast stepped aside, and knocked the running dwarf with
the tail-lash in the back, smashing him half the way through the house wall
(dwarf failed Initiative test, like all dwarves do). Then it grabbed the still
stunned warrior and tossed him some 8 yards in the air, watching him fall with
the loud sound (Too much armour, and he rolled 1, ouch that
hurts). All these events left the dwarf with 1 Wound, and he suddenly began to
think, realizing he`s dead meat, and briliantly decided he`ll play dead (\'Like
those scribe, when grizzly bear attacked him\' - he forgot that grizzly ate the
poor fellow anyway). Dragon took the dwarf once more, lifted him up to his head,
suspiciously looked at him from the point blank range, sniffed him (Dwarf passed
Wp - the Dragon had really bad breath), and shook him strongly couple of times
(Dwarf bit his lip, trying to remain silent, and dead-looking, Dragon failed
Int, and took the dwarf for dead). After that, Dragon ripped dwarf\'s armour off,
inspect his weapon thorougly, and muttered in a disappointed manner - \'damn, no
magic axe, stupid dwarf\', and threw the dwarf over his shoulder, turning back to
the house-razing. Unfortunately for the dwarf, he fell down hard, and he failed
Wp test, so one \'ouch\' left his lips.
You can guess the rest: The Dragon turned abruptly, looked at the \'dead\' dwarf
and raised his big leg above the dwarf. Dwarf looked up - \'Mummy!\', leg came
down - (\'Jurassic Park\' anyone?). Fate point - 1.

Now, the Elf. He was watching all this, and after some consideration he decided
that the best way to deal with this, is from the long range, with his mighty bow
& arrows (\'well, it worked with the skavens\'). After several hits at the
protruding Dragons back, mister D finally got annoyed, lifted his head up, and
spot the elf on the roof across (Licking his lips - \'Mmmmm, Elf! Yummmie\') .
When the elf saw that Dragon started to climb the house that stood between the
two of them, he decided it was time for good old \'roof chase\', and started to
run and jump between the roofs. Nice touch, unfortunately Dragons can... FLY
(Muahahahahaha). So, at the time elf turned back to look what`s happening,
Dragon already caught with him from the air, and with one cool looking fire-
breathing, shot the elf down on the street. Elf stood up as fast as he could
(still smoking), looked for the sword he dropped, find it and took it, and at
the moment he looked up, the dragon landed just in front of him, with the mighty
\'WHOOOM!\', and the impact that shook the ground. At this crucial moment, PC
decided it is time for some advanced role-play, and having in mind his \'Heroic
Idiocy\' disorder, he lifted his sword and shouted fearlessly: \'Prepare to meet
thy maker, creep!\' while engaging the surprised Dragon.
Now that was a fight to remember! (And I mean really). That elven SOB was smart
(like all elves are), and he didn`t run at the Dragon blindly, like his dumb
dwarven colleague. PC informed me that he wants to make use of his high
Initiative, Int and M score, as well as a fact that the Dragon is too big to be
able to quickly react on the ground, and he demanded from me to precisely
describe the Dragon`s actions.
And so it went: The elf tried to run behind the Dragons back, Dragon swung
towards him, and missed, piercing a new window in the nearby house. PC than
decided to take a quick turn, and to run BENEATH (!?) the Dragon, evading the
snap of Dragons jaw by an inch, and cutting his soft belly with his sword.
Dragon tried to squish him, by lying down, but elf managed to jump away just in
time, and then to run behind the Dragons back, jumping over the Dragons tail
that lashed in his direction (Dodge Blow). The Dragon first tried to turn around
in one direction, waving with its tail ferociously, but his tail-lashes missed,
and elf followed his movement trying to cut his tail off at the same time, and
keeping his position behind the Dragon. Now the Dragon began to turn in the
other direction, with the same outcome. Realizing that things are not going good
for him, the Dragon then tried to crush his opponent against the nearby
building, but the elf noticed his intentions, and tried to use the opportunity
to jump on Dragons back (!!?). Unfortunately for the elf, he failed (finally),
and landed at the ground beside the Dragon, but managed to roll away as Dragons
leg buried deep in the soil at the place he was a second before. He didn`t
manage to act quick enough to avoid being pinned down by the Dragon`s tail, tho.
So, it was all over it seemed: mister D pushed the elf by the hot ground, and
said with the venomous voice - \'It`s been a while since I tasted elf\', opening
his jaws wide.
\'No, wait!\' - screamed the elf desperately.
\'Why?\' - Asked Dragon slowly, still holding him down firmly.
\'I... I... ummm, I know a place where great treasure is hidden!!\' (lying
bastard).
\'I don`t believe you\' exclaimed the Dragon, but stopped for a moment to think
about it. At that moment elf desperately reached for the knife that was tucked
at his belt, and buried it deep into the Dragons leg. The Dragon screamed in
pain and lost his grip over the elf, who used the opportunity to jump away, and
stand up.

(It was impossible: the elf passed I-40 to reach the knife, WS-40 to hit Dragon,
-2 damage, rolled 6, again WS-40 passed, roll 5 for 14 damage, and Dragon failed
I+20 to catch him again! ).

At this point the Dragon finally decides it was about time to stop playing
around, and began to wave his wings and to lift up, preparing to shoot another
flaming attack (1 turn passed) and end this battle. PC also realized it was
about time to switch from \'role-playing\' mode to \'save-your-skin\' mode, and ran
as fast as he could between the burning buildings, successfully covering his
tracks.
Anyway, the party hid away for the rest of the night, leaving the Dragon alone
to take care of his business, and they crawled out from their hiding places 24
hours AFTER he was gone...

Well the elf told this story numerous times - \'I fought the Dragon single-
handed, and I almost killed him!!\'. It`s a shame he had \'Pathological Lying\'
disorder as well, so no one ever believed him...

[Gilibran]

here\'s some more inspiration:

I was Emperor!

Once upon a time I tried to become Emperor (Those were the days!!!).
Here is the story about that cunning plan of mine:

It was in campaign we started some three years ago. I started as an Initiate of
Morr, with the big plans for myself (I didn`t share them with anyone else - GM
or PC`s). After two years (in real-time) of hard work, and numerous perils, I
finally managed to become L3 Cleric, and to learn \'Life in Death\' spell (IIRC, I
never remember the names of the spells).
After years of preparing and investigating, at the session that appeared to be
the last in that campaign, my plans finally began to come to life! The long
awaited parade, conducted by the Emperor Himself, was about to take place in
Altdorf, and I managed to persuade other members of my group to go and watch it.
(The GM was a bit suspicious about me asking about parade so much, but he
thought I`m going to try to assassinate the Emperor - little did he knew!). I
hired a house looking at the street through which the parade should pass, and
convinced fellow PC mage to come up there and watch the parade with me - \"It`s a
one-in-a-lifetime chance! You must not miss it!!\". It was the same mage I
managed to persuade to learn the \'Cause Panic\' spell (It took a year in real-
time of begging, threatening and bribing).

Are you beginning to understand what I was planning? Hehehe, my GM didn`t

Anyway, parade finally appeared, and at the forehead there he was riding the
griffin - The Emperor!!! At that point I pulled my poisonous dagger out, grabbed
the poor mage from behind and made him cast Cause Panic at the Emperor (spending
all of his MP to enhance the spell). After that was done, I killed the mage,
ripped his heart out (spell ingredient for Life in Death, the PC mage was a bit
upset with this action, after all he had no fate points left) and casted Life in
death on myself. While the Emperor rode on his griffin on the street below, I
climbed on the window, shouted \'Death to the Emperor!\' and jumped down! Needless
to say, Knight Panthers cut me in neat little slices in the matter of seconds,
but my spirit lives on! In ethereal form I floated towards Emperor, entered his
body, and drove his soul (weekend by the Cause panic) out! It worked!! I was
Emperor!!!
Actually I possessed the Emperor, but it makes no difference.

Well it lasted for 48 hours... In that time I managed to get all other
party members arrested and burned at stake as traitors (I had to cover up my
tracks, you know). Finally my plot was uncovered (It had something to do with
the Wrath of Gods, and those damned Grand Theogonist of Sigmar), and my soul was
exorcised from good old Karl Franz, and banished directly to hell, never to
return. At least that`s what they thought. (It was performed by professionals,
don`t try that at your home!).

As you can guess it was the end of that campaign, having all the party
members died in more or less unpleasant way...
They didn`t like me much at that moment, but on the next session we started a
new campaign with a new characters, and it was all forgotten.


After all it is only a game\'


\"It`s better to be an Emperor for a day, than a beggar for a lifetime!\"

[Cyperoh]

I would definately be Don Corneole...i just would need a chigarette to my mouth and thats it.....and of course free hands on everything.....like: killing, selling stuff and some other \"products\"(thou my thugs should be able to kill without the other peoples permission.......) and this woyuld reguire a huge amount of money to put on and hold on....

[Draklar]

The best Don Corleone I can think of is Kwartz

[Zan]

One comment on the initial \"Don King\" idea .. how does this improve roleplaying and discourage levelling?

A tournament will reward the strongest warrior and that will be the one with the most xp. So wouldn\'t that idea create more levellers?

[buddha]

I\'m delighted to see people respond in any fashion.

Here is the self-proclaimed brilliance of the Don King idea.  Let\'s say you\'re a leveler.  Once you buy into the whole Tournament idea, you become a basic Arena Figher.  Yes, you are always pursuing greater physical power, but now it\'s also in a role-playing context.  If we can get a Hearst sort to publish results of the fights, you are now (because you\'re really only interested in bashing everyone else and letting them know you can bash them) concerned about how much press you get.

Now you are a leveler turned role-player. We can ignore your \"Dude I got a +1 sword\" comments.  The brutes will be the brutes, but if they are being brutes for our amusement, we have contextualised their, well, brutishness.

By \"can\'t kill anyone\" I mean, as far as I know, you cannot just murder another player in the street without challenging them to a duel first. THerefore you have a perfect strategy for not being murdered by another player: don\'t accept challenges.  Therefore criminals can avoid being \"hung\" or even incarcerated at this point.

Last, I don\'t want to get caught up in a \"People\'s Front of Judea\" conversation.  I\'m hoping that some readers will actually incorporate ideas similar to mine.  (I can\'t--Mac user, we\'re dead right now)

[KwartzTheKran]

Originally posted by Draklar
The best Don Corleone I can think of is Kwartz

xD =P
http://upl.silentwhisper.net/uplfolders/upload0/kb-banner.jpg

http://the_darkempire.tripod.com/MEMBERS.HTML   <- can\'t figure out how to link from the image on there, tis a good example =)

[JanetReno]

to have more RPers make it so that quests are more rewarding than monster slaying

[XpYtZ]

I like the ideas and the \'fab five\' are great.

I was of the oppinion that we just needed more events and people that played IC all the time. That\'s how all the MUDs that I used to be on did it...that and a few GMs that brought the wrath of the gods down squarly on your head when you stepped violently out of character.
--------------------------------
GrimaC3 shouts: now selling Super +1Great sword of Might and Magic@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
GM-Thor
GM-Thor thunders: Please refrain from using profanity, this is your only warning.
GM-Thor
-some time later-
Grim\'ace shouts: F@^%*ng Thor! F-off it not like you cn ban me!
::System -Grim\'ace has been removed from the system by GM-Thor::
::Global Warning -Refrain from being either out of character or the use of slader while OOC. Thank you::

My fatorite log.

[buddha]

I love that log!

To encourage more rp, we could use a social structure.  I\'ve mentioned several ways we could do it, even within the confines of the current distribution.  As I said before, even something as simple as a parade through town already gives people the sense \"this is a place\".

I look forward to getting back in the game.  If you meet me (Mulla) you\'ll notice that I\'m sort of a clown.  This is not being disrespectful to the game, but part of who I am playing--the semi-historical Sufi hero Mulla Nasrudin.

[Damian Cosmas]

Originally posted by buddha
Last, I don\'t want to get caught up in a \"People\'s Front of Judea\" conversation.  I\'m hoping that some readers will actually incorporate ideas similar to mine.  (I can\'t--Mac user, we\'re dead right now)

Don\'t you mean \"Judean People\'s Front\"?

[buddha]

No, I mean \"The People\'s Front of Judea\".

Whatever happened to the Popular Front?