Non-Combat options

[PenguinX]

I dunno if anyone agrees with me but I think Planeshift needs plenty of non-combat gameplay/features to attract roleplayers more than crazy powergamer levelers. Such as: (And sorry if I took an idea from someone, I\'m just thinking stuff atop of my head)

*-Minigames
*-Housing
*-Ingame Events/Holidays
*-Books(With tidbits of PS\' history)
*-Tradeskills(Planeshift already has \'em)
*-LOTS of emotes =D
*-Interesting transportation(Flying, etc.)
*-Anything else? Post \'em..

-PenguinX

[DepthBlade]

Most of what you have mentioned, has been discussed in depth (Grins) Just look through the threads you will find out what you already have put down

[The Limpid School]

What about a judicial system that randomly selects citizens to sit for jury duty? Then it would be realistic AND boring!

[Monketh]

Originally posted by The Limpid School
What about a judicial system that randomly selects citizens to sit for jury duty? Then it would be realistic AND boring!

Ah, but teenagers don\'t make good jurors.  

[dfryer]

I think there should also be non-combat options to combat itself - is the only way to defeat an enemy killing them?  Can we slip away from dangerous situations, or peacefully resolve dispute?  Some tactics (such as negotiation) are unsuitable for some enemies, but it would make an interesting addition to the game.  I think these are all important questions from the perspective of building a game mechanic that permits and encourages roleplay.

[Kiva]

I don\'t know how well you could negotiate with a growling monster of death with sharp knives and such, but if you wish to negotiate with your enemy guild, then it\'s just about how you roleplay. As for humanoid NPC\'s, well... If they attack you, it\'s usually hard to get to negotiation, and if they don\'t, they\'re often \"friendly\", just with a very negative attitude. And you can\'t really call that fighting.

As for the jury system - It has already been implemented in CB in some way, however it is only if your account gets punished in some way or another by a GM. Then you can request a petition, but if you\'re without proof that you did nothing wrong, don\'t bother doing it. It\'s a waste of both your and the GM\'s time.

Anyway, to get back on topic. Encouraging people to roleplay by means of making alternatives to fighting is a good idea, but if people can\'t roleplay without these alternatives, what are the chances they will with them? Are tradeskills really a good way of telling people to roleplay, or will it just let people powerplay in diffrent ways than by killing monsters?

If you really want people to roleplay, remove everything that doesn\'t have to do with your character, such as stats, item info (AC, +/- things, etc.). Let the characters only know what the characters know, so if a character borrows a book from the library about herblaw, YOU will get to know how to mix some plants and get the desired effect, not because it\'s shown as a button you can click. However, should you forget what the book said, your character has forgotten as well. And that\'s your loss. Then you simply have to re-borrow the book and read it again. That is what roleplaying is all about.

[SaintNuclear]

Originally posted by Gronomist
so if a character borrows a book from the library about herblaw, YOU will get to know how to mix some plants and get the desired effect, not because it\'s shown as a button you can click. However, should you forget what the book said, your character has forgotten as well. And that\'s your loss. Then you simply have to re-borrow the book and read it again. That is what roleplaying is all about.

The problem with this is that people could borrow the book, write the content they read on a page, upload it to the internet, and then no one have to borrow the book anymore - all they need to do is go to that site and read it.

[karakth]

Yes and besides, that\'s not playing a role; That\'s playing yourself placed in a different situation (i.e. a Medieval setting).

In RP you should be allowed to have your character do certain things which you cannot do. For example, if you roleplay an athlete, but in RL you sit in front of your computer all day (wink, nudge) it doesn\'t mean your character will be no good at sports, because you are roleplaying him differently. Same thing applies to knowledge.

[Kiva]

The problem with this is that people could borrow the book, write the content they read on a page, upload it to the internet, and then no one have to borrow the book anymore - all they need to do is go to that site and read it.

Such a site isn\'t worth doing as it would take a simple mail telling the provider that the site is breaking the PlaneShift license (which such a site does), and it would be cancelled, or the company would be sued for hosting an illegal site.

Yes and besides, that\'s not playing a role; That\'s playing yourself placed in a different situation (i.e. a Medieval setting)

How do you define roleplaying then, if you\'re not a part of your own role?

Do you suggest that a game where you play \"Teh Supar Heewo\" is a roleplaying game? Mind you, that would mean FPS games like Counter-Strike or Unreal Tournament are RPG\'s as well, simply because you play the role of someone who kills everyone in sight. I must tell you that you\'re wrong there.

In roleplaying, you are a part of your character. I\'m not saying you\'re supposed to be an athlete or grow wings, but if there is no way for you to relate to your character, what is the point of calling it a RolePlaying Game? If you have absolutely no clue of how to make money in a game, does your character know? No. If someone teaches YOU how to make money (off-game), does your character know? Not if you roleplay properly, however if you meet someone ingame that tells you how to make money, do you know? Yes! What happens if YOU forget it? Well then your character forgets it as well.

Having an automated game full of fancy buttons to press, where you can mix potions by pushing a button and clicking on a random herb isn\'t a roleplaying game. If you learn something about what you\'re doing, and actually do something to make you and your character earn knowledge about what you\'re doing, then you can start calling it a roleplaying game.

In roleplaying games you\'re supposed to play a diffrent role, but if you can\'t play that role... if you can\'t imagine how it is supposed to be played, then you are not suited for that role! If you can not imagine yourself as a deadly assassin with poisonous weapons, then why in the name of [insert-random-god] would you play such a character? So don\'t come here and talk to me like you know what roleplaying is about, because obviously you have greatly misunderstood an important part of it.

Now, before you press reply to tell me I\'m a fat geeky dork, read my post one more time, just to make sure you have perfectly understood what it is I have written. I\'m not forcing you to understand what roleplaying is about, I\'m simply telling you that what you are trying to convince me about is -WRONG-.

[snow_RAveN]

Imagine if cabal keeps getting jury duty THE innocent sahall be jailed not a good idea :D

any ways i like the mini gmes part we could have like tertris or bowling and we can hold the ps anual bowling compertions or football !

[karakth]

Roleplaying is not playing the part of your own role. Sure, playing your own role falls under RPing, but I can choose to play someone who I am not in real life.

When roleplaying using paper and pen (and this is where the RPG genre has its roots), you can answer riddles which YOU do not know the answer to, but your character probably does. You do this by roling a wisdom/intelligence check and saying, \"My character answers the riddle.\" Just because you do not know the answer, doesn\'t mean your character can\'t.

Playing a character which is totally alien to you is, IMHO, the highest level of skill a roleplayer can achieve. Playing the part of yourself is simple, you do it everyday. Relating to your character is not a requirement to play him or her, at least not for me. Understanding the character is, but it takes certain skill and time (to think about your character).

The biggest challenge in RPing is just that, to play someone you\'re not. If you\'re playing a witty character and you are not witty yourself, it is hard to RP that character. However, you can agree with your fellow RPers to \"fill in\" gaps which you leave out. So if you are playing a witty bard, for example, you can emote a witty comeback by typing \"/me replies wittily.\" In fact, I think there should be a \"wit\" skill which is basically a button which lets you reply wittily

As for this idea; I agree with having readable books, but to add depth and richness to the world of Planeshift, not to allow powergaming by OOC knowledge.

And besides, this would only apply to \"academic\" skills such as alchemy or herbology. What if you read a book on swordfighting? It\'s not like the fighting is done using VR suits (although that would be cool ) ).

[Draklar]

pfft... remembering stuff... you know, the great thing about roleplaying is that you can be whoever you want. That means you don\'t have to be very intelligent to roleplay a powerful mage. RPG would be complete waste if power of a character depended on how is player irl. And making game not fun for some players... sorry, bad idea.
As for rp itself, what is better:
Lemon, the mighty barbarian found secret code needed to enter some secret organisation. Player behind Lemon decided to write it down on a scrap of paper so he won\'t forget it and moved on to the club. After a day journey he got to the place. Lemon knocks, someone inside asks him for code. The player checks the paper and reads the code
should GM:
a) find it ok that a barbarian remembers complicated code after hard one-day journey.
b) make a roll for Lemon\'s intelligence and announce that he forgot the code if he failed the roll

[Xalthar]

I\'d kinda find that cheating, if an intelligence roll wasn\'t made.. The barbarian character should have written the code down ingame.

But that\'s a complicated question, and I guess it depends on the seriousness of the game, and GM

[PenguinX]

Wow lot\'s of arguing back and forth

But anyway, here\'s my humble opinion.

In roleplay, YOU have nothing to do with the character. In roleplaying, you assume the identity of ANOTHER character. Meaning, the characters can do some things YOU can\'t, and the YOU can do some things the character CAN\'T. So on riddles/questions/blah, it really depends on what the CHARACTER knows, not YOU because you are ROLEPLAYING. When you roleplay, your own identity does not exist. But, if we just do intelligence rolls and such, it will attract swing-happy killers(medivel equivalent to trigger happy ). So maybe there could be another way for your character to \"earn knowledge\".

-PenguinX

[karakth]

Indeed, although I would find it quite ironic to have a hacky-slashy dUd3 playing a character with a high intelligence score