Alternatives to DeathI remember one art teacher who used to tell me not to use black - at least while learning under her. /end random thought
Introduction Ok, so we all know that killing RP can be kind of repetitive and dull after a while. Killing someone, and then letting them get revenge gets old quickly.
Its no longer cool. ( If you are a newbie, then you get one pass on this xD ) There is another problem with death in Planeshift, and that is that death is not final. Its nothing more than a timeout in the penalty box. For role players who take it more seriously, it means you have to either RP in DR or stop playing that character for a few days. Settings-wise, common death is bit more tragic but still nothing like real-life death.
Common Death does not: * Shut people the hell up
* Scare the be-jesus out of people
* End conflicts for more than 5 minutes
I would like to discuss other alternatives to death and better ways of expressing evil, resolving conflicts, and shutting people up ... and all around general bad-ass-ness in-game in hopes of stimulating new ideas for RP and perhaps for reviving some roles such as spying which seem to have become less popular.
To start, here's a few alternatives that are not used as much as they could be:
* Character Assassination And Framing Not killing, but rather destroying one's IC reputation with words alone.. perhaps with some simple actions. To do this, the target in question needs to value their reputation. Doing this might mean revealing some misdeed that the target is guilty of, or starting a rumor about them. A word of caution here, if you are proven to have lied ( or even accused of being a liar ) it will backfire on you.
* "Shut-up Money" and Favors More effective than killing someone with a loose tongue is to make regular visits to them in which you might collect a little shut-up money. It might be at the worst possible times that you show up. Now the point here is not to milk the player of tria (that's being a jerk), but rather to role play harassment and bribery... perhaps throw in a little domination and submission while you are at it.
If you are the one who has the loose lips, you can always offer to shut up in exchange for a favor. It goes both ways.
* Ending Conflicts We've all learned in school how to count to ten and walk away. Rubbish! That's not fun and has no place in a fantasy world that's filled with Q300 Weapons, Plate Armor and six ways of magic. Since death and the threat of death really doesn't work, here are some other ideas for ending conflicts:
A. Pay your enemy to leave you alone. -- Yes, I know what you are thinking.
"I have huge balls and I don't take no
crap from nobody!" Unfortunately, this attitude doesn't work well - at least OOCly.
We all need to learn to play our weaknesses, limitations, and fears - bad guys too.
B. Make a counter threat. -- Sometimes an equal threat can be quite effective in getting someone off your back.
C. Capture them and torture the hell out of them. -- This can be quite colorful if done properly and if documented by a good writer.
The Role of Spies Ok, so Jkrfttp Bkkfnt is a complete blowhole. RP-wise he stole my money, stabbed me in a dark ally, and salted my potted plants. He's not afraid of me, though he's a decent role player as far as I know. I can't pressure him because ... well.. How might I do this?
If someone came to me with this problem, I would tell them "You need a spy". Before I go on, let me point out something. I am not talking about and OOC spy, or about using an alt to spy. That will earn you instant disrespect and get you ignored. The way to handle this is to ask another character to spy for you. While anyone can spy, some folks are VERY good at doing this in an entertaining, IC way.
Bear in mind, that the risk of asking around for a spy is part of the game. One should allow their character to be somewhat vulnerable in doing so. If you ask the right people, you may find that some characters have a lot of interesting IC information - or know good people to ask. I will caution here that one has to be certain that the information that they receive is strictly IC and obtained in an IC way. I personally suggest asking ICly or OOCly about how the informant got their information. The last thing you want is to ruin someone's RP due to some rogue or new player who does not yet have RP down pat.
A good IC spy might find out stuff like:
-- Who their loved one's are.
-- In what ways they rely on their reputation
-- Which folks they trust
-- Who their enemies are.
This sort of stuff can usually be discovered by simply engaging in conversation during tavern RP. All you need is an IC friend to do some snooping for you and Ta Daaaa! You suddenly have some leverage.
In closing, I'm interested in hearing other's ideas for alternatives to death.
Whisper Bless,
Rigwyn
