The "I'm Bored" Conversation Thread

[Rigwyn]

I don't know. I can laugh at it easily as I keep him on the tv screen. I don't really have any problems like that with people in real life or anything. Perhaps if I did, I wouldn't find it so funny?  *shrugs*

[Illysia]

Yeah. A lot of humor hinges on novelty. I have too many dangerously selfish people around me, so such things tend to irk me a lot faster. That and I have a paladin nature as is often seen when I end up battling in a thread.

But I tend to favor characters that are witty, capable, and protect others so perhaps this is less a commentary on humor styles but rather a reflection of personal worldview or perception of the world around us. After all, people do say that we always have a bias no matter what.

[Rigwyn]

Gotta go... take care for now o/

[Illysia]

o/ see ya.

[Volki]

Rupert Giles. <3

[Illysia]

I never watched Buffy so I can't say I know anything about him as a character.

[Rigwyn]

Buffy? Him?

I don't think Buffy impales vampires quite like that. They literally use a wooden stake and hammer it into the heart

[LigH]

Eh! Vampires are prohibited in PS!

[Volki]

Lol, what were you going for there, Rigwyn?

[Rigwyn]

* Rigwyn looks totally innocent.   

[Illysia]

Ok here's a topic: Easy player quests that can be used to lure people into RPing with you.

Today I had fun RPing with a group of 7 to 9 most of whom I've never RPed with before. It started with only 3 people but as people saw the crowd more started to hang around. The way I did it was that put out an invitation on gossip for people to join me in Oja for a player quest and then it went from there.

The basic quest was Illy cooking in oja and she needed ingredients to finish cooking. She needed flour and lard and other players graciously volunteered to go get it without me having to push people into doing the questing thing. So there was crafting, hunting, and RP. Also, I wove in Illy's lagging personal story that she had recently come back from the dead and was working through the shock of it all. Bam, there was a story to backdrop the quest and it lead to good RP that actually overshadowed the questing as people tried to figure first what had happened then second what to do. *cough*and it let me finally advance her story after all this time*cough*

So, the lesson learned is that providing an NPC style quest while weaving in your character's story might be the fix for the problem of finding RP, keeping the depth, and getting a chance to advance your character's story . Now the issue is what other simple quests can be done to keep it up and to help others try it out to see if it works?

I imagine there are a few provisos here though. One, the story backdrop you focus on needs to be something not too blatant so that the players are compelled to dig into it. Two, the quest needs to be simple so that it doesn't hinder the chances of RP. Three, the quests need to be story relevant so it will probably break down in groups that go along with different RP genres (dark/romantic/suspense/ect). Four, location location location. Don't send people somewhere that it will take them 30 mins to get there and back if the whole group is not going together.


Here's what I can think of so far for really general quests and accompanying stories sketches:

Theives: I need you to get me Item X however you can, but if you buy it the cost is on you. Story - Thief with a heart of gold has to make ends meet for Loved One Y and this is the most efficient way for them.

Baddie: I need you to get me ingredient X for poison. Story - has a debt to settle with Baddie Y who is an even worse person.

A smith: I need you to help me get crafting materials so I can make a very special commission.  Story - umm... something sentimental to the smith or the person the smith is making the thing for.

Doctor: I need you to get get me Herb X so I can make some medicine. Story - herb is needed to develop a medicine that may or may not cure someone of a very bad sickness. The doctor made a promise to help and is now racing to beat time and Dakkru.

Artist: I need you to get me items X, Y, and Z. Story: They are struggling and just need one great work to give them the break they need. They will take the items and then arrange them for a still life painting, a sculpture, or something.

Warrior: I need help downing Mob X. Story - that mob killed the warrior's friend and as a last act for the friend the warrior must get revenge. perhaps they must also retrieve and item from the belly of the beast.

Mage: I need you to find item X so that I can advance my skill. Story - the mage was a student that kicked out of classes for challenging the teacher too much and now they must pulls off their idea to make their way back into class.

Lover: I need you to get me Flowers X and Y so that I can send them to my love, but I need you to take them. Story - the lover for whatever reason can't get near the object of their affections so they have to throw people off by enlisting the help of others.

Old has been: I need you to stop and listen too my tale. Story, they used to be but now there is no evidence of that and they can't get any respect and no one will even listen to them.


What ideas do you have? Also, don't forget that the idea is to use something like this as a guide then weave your character's backstory and current situation in with the story being told through the quest. Each incident should come put slightly different due to different characters being involved.

[Rigwyn]

I think the trick here is to do it as naturally as possible so that you are not perceived as a quest machine. Ie. very casually mentioning a need for something or suggesting that that it would be ideal if X, Y or Z happened.

We used to have job boards in the Outlaws guild for mercenaries(hit men), Economists(spies) and Rogues(theives). Some tasks were paid, others tit for tat, but eventually people lost interest in these. I think its a good idea as long as people are interested.

[Illysia]

In the past, I would have agreed, but now being a quest machine might be a good thing. If people expect that they can come to you for something to do you are less likely to be left hanging. You can direct the quest to flow naturally, but you want to cut down on the effort required to get started. If you'll remember in the other thread, people are burnt out, they might not have energy at first for the extra efforts we hold ourselves too.

I think there is high interest for something to do, anything RPwise, so now it's a matter of both providing and lessening the load on those providing.

[Rigwyn]

Funny, I was actually entertaining the thought of making a character who discusses his evil crimes with others regularly. What would be different is that I would not actually enact the crimes with this character.... just talk about them.. tell a story.

Its a novel idea and I'm not entirely sure I want to go with it.

[Illysia]

Well you never know if you don't try. But you could just play a red herring character that just tosses stuff out there to see who he can lead on or just to get the goodies on the wrong track from the concurrent actions of another of your characters.