What happens when role-players go hunting?

[TramelRaggs]

I'd be down to show up for this. Not as the Colonel of course.

[Nyase]

I'd show, but alas, my imperial loyalties are too strong. Come by the prison though and you might wind up as permanent guest. :P

As for Bill Paxton, nothing wrong with being state-of-the-bad-ass-art. God I love that movie, and the games were bad ass too. (I kick ass as a marine to the theme music. hehehe) I actually had "Game over man, game over!" for my retreat command for the longest.

[Ekade]

As far as Rebels and imperials are concerned. They CAN kill eachother if they want. This may turn out to be a huge mistake in the end.. but that is what roleplay is all about.

I think what Zan was originally getting at with the no Imp/Reb crossovers is not only is there an RP problem of the two sides always arguing, but a more practical tactical disadvantage, as you can't group with each other, heal each other, etc. So even something as simple as a team WayPoint becomes a pain in the ass.

From my understanding the last Reb/Imp crossover hunting party (that had a minimum of RP involved) went absolutely abysmally. Complete disaster.

This is assuming, of course, that arguing is a "problem". Arguing sometimes makes for the best roleplay.

I was not envisioning that people would show up overt. When I dreamt this up, this was not a faction based thing.

I am thinking that the players should be more concerned about survival than petty bickering. If not, they die. A shrewd leader should be able to point this out.

Think along the lines of the movie Enemy Thine. I always liked stories where characters overcame their differences for a time to come together and defeat a common foe.

[Zannon]

The problem we ran into was people weren't able to say to themselves, "OK, this is roleplay...that character may not like my character, but he's not gonna do anything in character that's gonna grief my gameplay."

We had a mixed group and the Rp turned into a bit of, I'm not going to group with you because you're an Imp and I know that. Then, when the firing started, there was a lot of accusation about kill/xp stealing and loot stealing (when in reality, the non-grouping was just for RP purposes and if anything was going to be looted, we were still gonna share it). We had a lot of new guild memebers and some non-guild people that were just coming along for the fun of it.

RPing a hunt with mixed factions can be done and fun, BUT everyone has to be on the same page out of character before you try to do it in character.

[E-bo Obi]

When are you planning to hold this event? I am going to be out of touch for most of the next two weeks. I am going to Ft Leavenworth for a training exercise and I don't know if I will have internet access, and even if I do 14 hour days are being proposed.

[Ekade]

Sounds like fun, I'd be up for it. If you want to make sure players face some mobs add a little something to your story.

Give the ship that crashes some special cargo. Something valuable, something irreplaceable. Now as you enter the atmosphere of Dath and get close the surface the pilot dumps the cargo hold so you won't crash hard enough to kill everyone. Now not only do you have to make it to an outpost but you must retrieve the pieces of this cargo on the way.

Now you just have to do some planning right before the hunt. Look around for mobs and spans and set waypoints either on them or near them. Then force the players to hit those points on the way.

Just an idea.

I am looking for an easy solution. Maybe something like a rule stating you have to engage everything within X meters of you. Or you have to walk in a straight line to the outpost and fight whatever aggros you.

The only setup for this should be:
-Have all players arrive at location X, Y.
-No buffs. No rezz
-Group and try to live.
-Roleplay as you will.
-Some rule to prevent the players from simply talking a very long and winding walk to avoid fighting mobs. (or maybe we let them avoid, I am not sure how this would play out, thoughts?)

The cargo pieces is not a bad idea, it just requires more work. I am not sure if it adds enough excitement for the trouble.

[Ekade]

We had a mixed group and the Rp turned into a bit of, I'm not going to group with you because you're an Imp and I know that.

I try to make it a point to avoid telling people how to roleplay. But it sounds like this is a problem of shallow RP. If 2 characters hate eachother for a reason, I can see them attacking eachother on sight. If a rebel sympathizer bumps into an imperial sympathizer in the street, the result is not always bloodshed. Another issue.. how do the players know the faction of the others? Does everyone have their faction tatooed across their foreheads?

Then, when the firing started, there was a lot of accusation about kill/xp stealing and loot stealing (when in reality, the non-grouping was just for RP purposes and if anything was going to be looted, we were still gonna share it). We had a lot of new guild memebers and some non-guild people that were just coming along for the fun of it.

What does kill/xp stealing have to do with survival? It does not sound like all the players were roleplaying. If there is a ravenous beast attacking near me, I am glad if someone kills it.

RPing a hunt with mixed factions can be done and fun, BUT everyone has to be on the same page out of character before you try to do it in character.

Yes, I would say this should almost always be the case when participating in any event with other roleplayers. We all play by an unofficial set of rules. We all adhere to a certain "reality". You don't see Tramel walk into Mos Eisley saying, "We got deathstar.. and it just capped Tatooine. You are all dead, delete your characters. BWAHAHAHA!"

(I know you already know that, I just thought that was a funny example. I am goofy that way.)

[Ekade]

When are you planning to hold this event? I am going to be out of touch for most of the next two weeks. I am going to Ft Leavenworth for a training exercise and I don't know if I will have internet access, and even if I do 14 hour days are being proposed.

I was going to ask the group that very question. Maybe I should make it a poll question.

This is something that can happen more than once. Part of me just wants to post this idea on the SOE forums and let people have at it. Ideally they would post their stories about it.

Personally, I would rather go with a group of roleplayers versus just anyone. I was thinking this might be cool for the people on this board to do together.

Maybe some of us can give it a test run to see if it is "too hard" or "too easy". Then we can adjust the parameters.

[Zannon]

But it sounds like this is a problem of shallow RP.

That was exactly the problem, because our core people were doing it right, but the new RPers we were with just didn't get how to act well in character.

What does kill/xp stealing have to do with survival?

That was our point, BUT there are a good deal of people out there that say they are RPers, but still are obsessed with this aspect of the game.

We all play by an unofficial set of rules.

We should brainstorm this out more and have a nice big stickied post to give new people to these boards an idea of the way RPing can be done for fun and...well, more fun.

[Ekade]

We should brainstorm this out more and have a nice big stickied post to give new people to these boards an idea of the way RPing can be done for fun and...well, more fun.

I both agree and disagree.

Disagree:
Once you have rules, then comes enforcement and policing. Then comes punishment. Do we really want to go there?

Most roleplayers operate just fine on a set of unofficial conventions. Maybe we just label this differently. Instead of "rules", call it "Suggested RP conventions", or "How to think in character, the basics of RP".

[Zannon]

I agree...I was typing that while waiting for my printer to print. I wouldn't want to see any sort of rules for RP...just some guidelines to help get everyone on the same page.

[Keer]

I like this idea, Ekade. Very thought provoking.

Stranded in the wilds of Dathomir... Group of people trying to survive... Nigthsisters ready to creep out at every turn...

"The Blair ForceWitch Project"! Awesome.

Not making fun, seriously. I like it. There's been mentions of movies in the thread so far and a couple ideas came to me:

- "What is each person's reason for travelling to Dathomir in the first place?"

- In RP terms, Dath is not a vacation spot or a place you'd go to on a whim. It should be the equivalent of a 19th century trip to "deepest darkest Africa" or some similar place of mystery and danger. You're going there for a reason. Or is it a given that all characters are on a safari?

- In stories (or movies) with this premise, the best content comes when one or more of the players has separate agendas. Aliens has been mentioned, and the "sellout character" Burke (Paul Reiser) was a nice twist to the story. In the first film, Alien, it was the android Ashe (great performance!). And sorry, but I have to pay homage to "The Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock. For any who'd like to see it, Lifeboat was the mold from which all later "group-trying-to-survive-don't-know-who-you-can-trust" films came.

- Ideas for different characters/agendas:

a. "The Law": an Imperial or Bounty Hunter travelling with a captured prisoner in his custody. The Imperial's mission is to deliver the criminal to Dathomir Prison.

b. "The Prisoner" : the alignment of this character could have various possibilites. From a Hannibal Lecter personna to a noble "Princess Leia" idealistic Rebel. Regardless, the mission of The Prisoner would be to take advantage of the shuttle crash and escape before he/she could be imprisoned. The Prisoner could even be an escapee from the prison and "knows the area like the back or his/her hand".

c. "The Target" : perhaps sabotage was the reason the shuttle crash. The intent, to make sure that "someone" on that Shuttle never made it to the destination. Evidence of this could be at least suspected and The Target would actually be afraid to make it back to civilization lest his enemies make another attempt on his life. (Of course this person's continued existence would be somehow important to the group, being a Doctor or other indispensable presence).

d. "The Conscientious Objector": aka extreme pacifist. Someone who's sacred vow is to never kill another living thing. Be it Durni or Rancor, this character would be an ironic presence and source of tension within a group forced to kill for survival.

e. "The Greedy Businessbeing/Corrupt Politician": there's one in every disaster movie (Burke, once again, from Aliens). Maybe Seret's "special cargo" could be his/her possession. The cargo is perhaps a persishable substance or the character has to meet a contact by a certain time. Failure to do so would be ruinous to this egotistical person's life. This character is willing to bribe, coerce, maim, or kill anyone in the way of making it back to civilization "on time".

Sorry, for this. I'm suggesting some very complicated stuff here. It would be infinitely easier to just have everyone loyally watching each other's back to get home. But the roleplay would be very bland.

What do you all think?

[Ekade]

Thanks for getting us back on target Keer. My mind has been everywhere today.

You ideas are outstanding.

As far as why the players are going to Dathomir in the first place? Doesn't matter. The Transports hyperdrive computer malfunctioned. The resulting miscalculation almost had them crash smack dab into Dathomir.

Or was it a malfunction? dun dun dun...

I like your thoughts on the players having seperate motivations. My thinking was that richly developed characters would already have their motivations. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with a little scripting to throw a wrench into the whole thing.

For example.. if it looks like the "party" is having too easy a time.. a few folks could start bickering and try to divide the group. (these of course would be planned ahead of tome).

Or, like you said, one person could be trying the thwart the mission.. or try to get a particular person killed. Maybe they get Monsters to aggro the group or something.

GGAAAAHH!! The possibilities are endless!!!

[Keer]

As far as why the players are going to Dathomir in the first place? Doesn't matter.

Your original premise had the shuttle destined for Dathomir, so I figured that everyone might have a reason for going that would play into what they did later.

I like your thoughts on the players having seperate motivations. My thinking was that richly developed characters would already have their motivations. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with a little scripting to throw a wrench into the whole thing.

Even if the characters already have their motivations, whoever is going to design this adventure might need an idea of the direction those motivations could take the action. For proactive or reactive story generation angles.

[Nyase]

Great ideas. However, for the imperial escorting a prisoner bit, the group would have to be all imperials/prisoners. Dathomir isn't supposed to be accessed by anyone outside the empire, and even those imperials currently there are stranded. Just do the missions for the warden at the prison. He wonders how the hell you got there and pities you because you're stuck there with him.


Oh, and I love the "Tramel doesn't" was hilarious. Sounds like something he should say when smack talking after a big battle though out of character for laughs.