Guild Idea - Comments please...

[Siofra]

Once a street rat, always a street rat

I wanted to run an idea for a guild past everyone and get some feedback...

In all major cities, there live the unseen. I am not talking the thieves or the organised crime syndicates, I am talking about the unwashed - the beggars, the homeless, the runaways, the down and out, the outcasts and destitute. Every day, those walking the great cities see these people and yet try not to. I thought it would be interesting to create a 'Guild' (for want of a better term in the game) of such unfortunates.

These people are not necessarily evil, or unlawful. They can be those such as the school teacher with an alcohol problem who lost their family and job, the priest addicted to gambling whose parish has abandoned them, the street urchin unwanted by parents and cast out, or the businessman whose bouts of schizophrenia lost him his livelihood. They would live on the streets, bonded only to each other by their situation and camaraderie. Existence could be funded by begging, selling of 'found' items, running messages for those who wish to remain anonymous (yay for Street Urchin Couriers (tm)), acting as spies for those requiring information (who pays attention to the small pile of rags sitting near the warm forge at Harnquists?).

The difficulties in creating such a Guild in game would be:

1.   Finding people willing to be in the guild
2.   Having member willing to do the good RP required in game for it – could be quite hard playing the muttering madman all day.
3.   The RP required by others in the game to realise who these people are, and try to ignore them IC (tis hard to spy on a conversation when everyone clams up when you arrive). It would be made easier if conversations were mostly help in normal chat rather than /tell or group otherwise, listening in is a tad impossible (unless those people supply logs on request with a good reason)
4.   Keeping the Guild in ‘business’ so to speak. There would have to be a demand for their services.
5.   Other stuff..

Anyway, like I said, it is just an idea put out there for some comments.

[LARAGORN]

Interesting concept.

I think it is a good idea. The RP possibilities are many.
If I wernt already involved in something, I would jump right in.

Good luck, i hope this works for you

[Torik]

the only problem i see would be with the beggars. Unless people new they were RPing there could be some problems. eventually players would get just as mad at the beggars as they do the new player beggars.

[LigH]

Please read a few last posts from Nilrem - he already mentioned some "letters from the beggars guild"... so you will have at least one other member I guess.

There are different ways to beg. Begging can be an art. Especially ensuring that the begging will be taken as roleplay. "give $$$ plz" is definitely the wrong way. Adding several emotives (/me + /my) and using well chosen words, or even telling a story, could make it clearer.

[Siofra]

the only problem i see would be with the beggars. Unless people new they were RPing there could be some problems. eventually players would get just as mad at the beggars as they do the new player beggars.

Yes, true, but that is where  selecting the right guild members would come into play.. the begging would be less

"Can any 1 give me a sord?"

and more

* Siofra holds out a rusty mug "'Ello guv, spare a few tria for an 'ungry soul?"

I would not see this as a guild for brand new player (unless they had a good RP background). It could be fun as a guild for ALT characters for more experienced players.

However, I am still curious if there are any guild leaders out there who think they might make use of a guild such as this?

Oh, and many thanks to Unar for helping with discussions on the 'listening in on converstions' part of the first post. Good to hear how other people are doing it.

[edit: was writing as LigH posted.. I just want to take the focus away from this being a beggars guild. It is not, they would only be a very small aspect of it.]

[Baldur]

Very good diea. I might even attend.

[miadon]

I don't mind beggers if they beg in a RP way.

[LigH]

Even if not a guild, only a loose group - I guess we got the intention right.

[Phinehas]

Definitely stick with a loose group concept. Frankly, I don't think a guild is necessary for this type of thing. A loose group would be good, because that would encourage others to join the whole beggar thing, but a guild?

Also, if Phinehas ever decided to pay a beggar to do something, it would be a beggar the he knew well, not someone from a "beggar's guild". Just another reason not to bother.

Thought: perhaps a beggar's network would be better? That would be looser. You wouldn't actually make an in-game guild for it, it'd just be beggars trading tips on where's a good spot, or what bartender can be hit up for a free meal, etc...

[Thrud Grudthruster]

 . . . and instead of begging, what about busking?

Given that there's often crowds of folk hanging around Harnquist's shed these days, especially when the old bugger is gone and folk are needing something to do, a good roleplayer could use storytelling IC to effectively 'busk' for loose tria and the likes.  I dunno, some story . . . about the saga of Talad and Laanx maybe, or about the exploits of a famous character . . . something done well enough to have people want to stop and listen, and then be appreciative enough to want to donate.  You could even run 'how to's' in a way, like, giving people a run-down on crafting, and/or blacksmithing.

And work as a team.  Have the storyteller standing on a barrel, talking . . . maybe ring-in a group of people to be an audience, so as to grab people's initial attention . . . and have another member asking for donations from the audience, and actually doing the trading/exchanging, so that the storyteller doesn't have to interupt their diatribe to do so . . .

 . . . you could even make like a 'Hydlaa Plaza Theatre Troupe', that act out a famous battle . . . or even enact a scene from Shakespeare in-character.  /shout or /auction to announce the performance, wait for a sizeable crowd, then the small group of you act out your parts.  If such a spectacle was good enough, I'd be willing to donate something for the privilege of being involved . . .

[Siofra]

It seems the focus is going back to this being a "beggar's guild". This is not the intention at all (if you read the first post). Yes, begging may play a small part, but I think the other aspects would be much more fun from a RP perspective. As mentioned by Thrud, busking could play a part, although he seems to be describing a travelling theatre troupe rather than a busker  . I would expect something more along the lines of:

*Peacer the schizophrenic Elf busts out another wicked drum solo, his crazy eyes stare about *daring* people to give him some money for his art. (no offence Peacer!)

*The manic Preacher stands on his barrel shrieking about the end of the world.. "The Crystal! Can't you SEE? It is going to FALL!! AIEEEE! You are all BLIND!".

I agree that a loose structure would be ideal (hence montioning Guild only as an approximate in game term). Not having a guild tag would make the 'members' less visible which would be good from a spying perspective among other things. BUT having no clear membership makes the issues such as trust come to the fore. As Phinehas said, he would not trust just any beggar from a "beggar's guild". I think one would trust LESS someone not in a guild. The guild structure would come into play in order to create an aura of trust (which would have to be earned of course) where people would know that, as the person was a member of the street rats, then they *can* be trusted to carry their special packages, or watch a member of another guild and not stab them in the back.

The Guild format would really only be used as a vetting process for who could be considered appropriate for the role. They would be identifiable as a Guild member and not an imposter there to steal your own guild secrets.

As I said in the first post, this would not be an evil guild/group/network etc. Whilst the members may be down and out, outcast from normal society, they are still honorable and try to make a living as such. Of course, there can always be a few bad eggs 

[Robinmagus]

I like it ! I wanna be a mad man...

And a bad egg!

Sign me up, and if it ever gets started, PM me!

EDIT: I rp a blind, simple guy, not exactly a begger, but very qualified.

[Imshi]

Great idea. Majority want to be central characters in the heroic fantasy tradition, but how much more interesting to be average at best. Plagued by problems others have not imagined. Opportunities for those that like to help, to try, and those that don't, to despise or torment [RP, of course]. Good luck.

[Siofra]

Ok, so there might be enough interest for at least a small guild (probably appropriate for the size of the population). If I can get my enthusiasm up I wight try and getting this running in a few weeks... or so... maybe. Meh.

[Phinehas]

Just remember, there's nothing worse than a poorly thought-out guild. Better to just let the idea float and let people be beggars or whatever on their own than start something pathetic.