I haven't actually created a character yet, but I'm going to soon, and I have a question.

Is there a house out there that focuses on serious roleplay, or at least doesn't require you to have some PK ability? I don't want to be all "LOL XD SO RANDUM" and all pouncy and cuddly, but at the same time I don't want to join a house that's predominantly PKing, OOC and metagaming.

Basically, what house could I join that is better for a relaxed, casual player with some deep interests in roleplay? I've got a couple ideas for characters - a good or neutral Rajamalan Sentinel, a Human Monk of any alignment and a neutral Siren Bard - but for now I'm only looking to make one of those.

Edit: I'm pretty serious when I don't want a lot of snuggling or pouncing, too. That kind of stuff tends to be very annoying very fast. Although I'm not too interested in PKing, if I had a decent system I could get into it in the lower tiers if it's absolutely necessary to advance in a house. I can't code my way out of a wet paper bag, though.

I'm probably going to be shot for suggesting this but from what I hear, any house in Cyrene is your best bet if you can put up with the RESPECT lectures. I've always found the neutral good RP there to be ridiculously more constant than any other area. Not sure how it actually is within the Houses since I'm just going by what others tell me, but it's worth a shot.

I've also heard Mhaldor is awesome for roleplay but, then again, I haven't set foot in Mhaldor in over two years IRL so...

The whole of Achaea is supposed to be a deep roleplaying experience, not a game where some Houses roleplay and others don't. The reality of that statement honestly depends on who you choose to surround yourself with. On paper, every House has a deep and interesting history, though some have become more lax than others when it comes to seriousness and motivation. That's not something that can really be listed or cataloged, and every House has its good and bad members.

A better way to go about selecting a House is to select one that would fit with a character you want to make. Is that Rajamalan Sentinel a true 'Good' warrior fighting for justice and valour, or just a simple woodsman with a good heart? I'd recommend the Shallamese Dawnstriders for the former and the Eleusian Sentinels for the latter. Is that Human Monk a peaceful philosopher, or a living weapon, wreaking havoc across the land? I'd look into the Cyrenian Mojushai for the former and the Mhaldorian Ebon Fist for the latter. If you want to be a neutral bard, I'd look no further than the Cyrenian Ty Beirdd.

You can familiarize yourself with the many Houses on Achaea's main page and try to get a feel for which House would suit whichever character you decide to make. Also, while it's generally good to pick a path and try to stick with it, you can always leave a House and join another if it doesn't suit you, especially while you're young.

Well, yeah, key word "supposed". I've heard bad things about Achaea but wanted to try my hand at it.



More of the latter.



The human monk, in my mind, is a "living weapon", yes, but not the "wreaking havoc" kind. More of the "perfecting mind, body and soul into a single force of power".




Generally in RPGs, when I do things I stick with them. I'm not the kind to jump to different alignments/organizations on a whim, or at least without some very RP related reasons (so no "lol this class/house is better i leave you guys lol"). I do have a sense of honour and loyalty.



I can put up with that. I don't have problems with disrespect like others might have.

Ooo, I like you already. I always appreciate someone that takes the bad with the good and rolls with it all.

Welcome to Achaea, Allison!

Thanks. I have a fairly conservative approach to things I do, which causes conflict with my impatient nature (I like to get things done fast, which is kind of a bad thing). I can roll with the bad with the best of it. I probably wouldn't quit a guild or an organization just because I'm displeased.

Edit: I really wish I could draw as well as you could!

Aww, thank you!

I'm sure you'll find achaea to be a great place as long as you stay away from trollers on the forum and find the perfect House/city!

I'll admit this, though. My "impatient" (for a lack of a better word, I just work and think really fast) attitude probably stems from some sort of attention deficit. I won't say "disorder", because there is no such thing as an "ADD" or "ADHD" and all that crap is just made up by doctors to excuse bad parenting/make lots of money through placebo remedies/natural quirks in human behaviour/so on. Sure, some people find it hard to keep attention on a single subject at once, but that's just part of being a human. Humans are free-thinking, independent individuals. Just because a bunch of them exhibit a certain behaviour doesn't mean it's a "disorder". Humans -are- disorderly by nature. Ironically, the concept of "order" is a disorder.

But that's all just my opinion and should be taken with a pillar of salt.

For avoiding PK, I'd suggest sticking out of Mhaldor for a little while. They tend to focus on it more as they are a source of conflict in the world.

Human monk wanting to RP, I'd suggest Mojushai in Cyrene, but as Selerin said, you will have to stomach the endless Respect lectures.

Also, welcome to Achaea. Best of luck to you.

That is what the Black Lotus used to be about when I was active. I have no idea how they are these days, though.

Heh. I've had a few alts in Cyrene, and I've -never- heard a single lecture on respect.

That said, Cyrene CT is one of the most god-awful things, and probably the only put-off. Of course, you could just turn that off.

I had an alt there relatively recently and, in two days of playing her, I heard about one lecture on respect, three lectures on the proper way to run for someone to ressurrect them, and one lecture on defence and offense. The last one doesn't sound so bad, actually...just the fact that it was called a lecture made me want to cry.

I didn't mind CT so much, actually. Just not my personal cup of tea, but still...

I have been fairly pleased with the roleplay in Mhaldor. CT is quiet except for good reason. There's a lot to build your character around, and people are much much more helpful than anywhere else I tried to make a character.

I am not a good fighter, nor do I ever plan on becoming one, but I honestly think that a being part of conflict keeps things exciting and entertaining. You don't have to be a good combatant to be part of the most invigorating part of Achaea, just have to be willing to follow orders (and Gorlasintan!).

My best advice is to not quit Achaea just because you may have made the wrong choice at first. I almost did that when my first character started in Shallam. Balynne was made as a second chance, and she's really a delight to play.

I absolutely completely agree with what you said here. My first character was such a nasty bust that I nearly gave up within hours of trying to play Achaea...then again, my first experience included me stumbling into mudsexers....

Regardless, keep at it. You'll find your happy spot!

Cyrene CT really isn't so bad, anymore.
They're called lectures when the Mojushai do them, because the Mojushai are required to give lectures or lessons on different things (including respect, Mojushaine ideals, anti-theft, etc.) to advance.
For beginning players, these can come in handy - especially for those who are new to the roleplaying perspective, a lesson in what respect in Cyrene really means teaches them that IC Cyrenian respect =/= OOC respect.
Cyrene is a good place for someone who specifically wants to be a non-combatant, and wants to actively pursue roleplay. We need more people who are serious about making a difference.

Cyrene is a great place to get your start in Achaea. To me, once you get settled in and the "newness" starts to fade, the city is more prone to monotony and stagnancy than others (possibly except for Hashan).

Personally, I find it refreshing to find a youngster (God help me, I'm 28 and I'm already calling 18 young) that wants to play a mature character rather than a "lol lets mudsecks lol" character.

I've been diagnosed with 'ADHD' as well, heh. To me, it just means it's harder to stay focused, not impossible. I manage it quite easily now, to the point to where no one has guessed in years without me telling them. Hell, most people have told me I'm more focused than most. The easiest way I manage it is to let my mind follow multiple tracks at once, all relevant to what I'm doing.

Agreed.

Every city has a different atmosphere and various levels of cuteness and pouncing. The bottom of the scale has to be Mhaldor, where we can actually kill people for that if we feel like it. Needless to say, the atmosphere in Mhaldor is grimmer and somewhat darker than you might find in other cities. We are constantly embroiled in conflict due to our widely perceived (and accepted) role as villain. That doesn't mean that all of our citizens are decent combatants. We just try harder to make them die slower. Well, sometimes.

That said, Mhaldor may not suit you at all. Not all of our roleplay and conflict revolves around combat, but I will admit that it happens fairly often. Search around for a bit and you may find a House and city-state that suits your tastes.

My awnser to ADHD in Achaea. Watch TV/draw while playing.

I watch makeup tutorials and paint my nails while bashing. That counts, right?

Ugh. Television. I hate television.

I play Achaea, script for it, and play Aetolia, script for it, read a book, browse the Achaea forums, browse the Aetolia forums, and browse the MUSHclient forums. Of course, if I'm bashing in one, I have to cut it down to three or four of those only. If I'm bashing in both, then it's hard to do much else.

I miss college. Paying attention and participating in class while bashing in Achaea and working on assigned projects for other classes was enough to keep me busy.

What do you work as now by the way?

Allow me to emphasis what I mean by watching TV. I watch my box sets for Rome and other tv shows that I like. I'm prone to watching them over and over again. Mostly it serves as background noise while I draw/bash/RP on other games.

Hrm, Selerin. Do you work or are you studying?

I'm rather new myself and I've never really played another MUD so I'm not 100% sure how everyone else feels about this, but in my perspective, while forming RP the forums are like a poison. On the roleplay side, I'm sure my mind would have exploded if I had known that such wonderful regular people on the forums could play such wonderfully evil, or overly Pius characters in game. Though that may just be me. Anyone else think the forums affect rp?

I work one of those lovely full-time jobs in a medical office as a Triage secretary/medical assistant.

Haha, cool. Isnt it hard sitting and doing something as boring as secretarial work when you have ADHD?

ACTUALLY...since I work triage, I'm on my feet the entire day running emergancy messages all over the danged office. I brought one of those step-counters with me one day and clocked in over 8 miles over the work day. Add that to the fact that I also walk to and from work, haha. I'm very busy.

I only sit down for moments at a time, if at all. Even during lunch, I walk to the nearby mall. My last job was data entry in the insurance and benefit field....that was boring as all hell. Never again.

Never.
Ever.
Again.

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to run through the halls screaming my bloody lungs out.

Mhaldor is a very good RP city, but keep in mind that Mhaldor is also a military city-state. So the RP is good, but we focus on the combat nature of things. Though it's not all combat all the time in Mhaldor, there are some people in Mhaldor who don't really fight at all. Just making an appearance to defend during city raids is really a good start.

Welcome to Achaea, keep in mind that the Forums, and the game are two completely different things...don't let the sometime negative nature of the forums sway you away from having fun while on Achaea.

The forums account for about 5% of the playerbase and also around 5% of the knowledge of Achaea. My advice is, do something you are not used to and roleplay it through as best you can. If you are usually an evil character try being good, or vice versa. Try playing a character that is far away from your real personality. It can teach you things and it is also a lot of fun, and themain reason we should play Achaea is fun.

Also eat lots of fruit and vegetables.

and go for regular walks to stay fit.

And don't get in a drinking contest with a Dwarf.

Or Satyrs named Latus. ..you will Lose.

Also when your starting out, find a house that you can mesh with and also make a throw away character your first time, try not to make to many friends but get in and get to know the classes and houses get to know the ideas. I'll give the example of me. *I* Thought that being a thief serpent hell bent on revenge and destruction would be awesome...now playing horuce and his back story and his devotion to life and trials of the desert..it didn't fit horuce's mindset at all. So he went through a varity of changes

(oddly enough no else knows the internal conflict that a character can feel..even though they don't exist...) Anyways switched classes, went to apostate because *I* wanted to have the mad skills of evil eyes, one conversation with a cyrenese paladin revealed yea..that doesn't mesh with horuce, as Horuce is Not evil, it went against his back story and it just felt wrong to log in and def up with apotasy skills. so went rune warden ...that was nice went with horuce, but I had issues that I just had to change.

Now Horuce is Shaman, I will Stay shaman because Horuce will stay shaman. it fits with his back story it fits with how I want to play, and is a great fit all around


The TL;DR version

Don't become set in something You think will be fun, start your character, even if you have to create a back story in note pad a set of morals and ideas then start playing, keep in track with your characters mindset, make the skills and houses and everything come second to that of your character's ideas.

(Oh yea, do something besides fish )

I'm not currently, but what I do best and what my last two jobs were, is CSR or manager for such in a call center. Talking on the phone, and dealing with four different programs minimum, usually ten or more, at the same time suits me well.

This thread has so many trolling opportunities with the constant ADHD tangents, it's a shame it's here in the RP forum.

I have the ADHD thing too (See: How many classes/cities snareman has been a part of)


But, in my experience, for pure RP House, I would say the spiritwalkers. I wouldn't suggest it now because that House is full of fail in it's current situation.

Mhaldor is good, yes, but like was said, you will be involved in some combat, erm wether you like it or not or just leave. A Mhaldorian newbie is kind of hard to be, from what I can tell to be honest. Really it's up to you.

Adding to Rynn's comment. Snareman got his start in Cyrene too, was there until he was 88 years old. (Hai autoclass.)

Cyrene = Achaean nursery for RPers

Kinda like marshes for fish!

Just roll a dice. 1. Mhaldor, 2. Ashtan, 3. Hashan, 4. Eleusis, 5. Shallam, 6. Cyrene. As long as you put your heart in it you can roleplay where you want how you want.

However, if you choose Mhaldor you are best served keeping your heart and putting someone else's heart in it.

Hearts are best served in Mhaldor, mmm Necromancy.

I made my first real Cyrenien character the other day.

It's -ing ridiculous, I don't know why everyone targets Eleusis for being furries and -snugglekisshuggiggleblushmoochrompprance- when Cyrene is a thousand times worse, they do all of that plus make stupid jokes almost as annoying as the CIJ

Some of the funniest things I have ever heard in Achaea or in RL have come from CIJers...I used to laugh so hard I'd almost cry. Granted, there are dolts. But there are quite a few funny ones too. And Cyrene has always rubbed me the wrong way somehow..

Are we talking about the older members of the CIJ or the newer ones, Boz?

The funniest things I've ever heard came from Mhaldorians, honestly. I love a good amount of sarcasm and wit. It's so much more filling then sunshine. butterflies and snuggles.

RIP Kuntar.

Yeah the older ones. Most of the newer ones (Except the ones like Taelie, she's pretty awesome..) are complete dolts. A few other notable ones are Merl (dunno where he buggered off to...) and Bonko. Both very classy people. I personally miss Antras..he was absolutely hilarious with Beya...great memories from my House novicehood where they abused both their class skills and me..but that crap was funny. Nowadays the new 'uns aren't quite as lively...

I see him around now and again.