Help for roleplaying!

Gimdal

I'm brand new to Achaea, and I just wanted some input on my rp intentions. I wanted to make a travelling/adventure type character. A life of drinking in taverns and meeting new people, as well as seeing the world and helping others in their quests appeals to me. I want to be reckless, rash and bold. What kind of class does this call to? City? House? I tried the Bard, but Ty Beirdd kind of sets this refined artisan mood over a swashbuckling adventuring mood I was looking for. So what do you all think?

Shirszae

You could try going against the grain and advocate for a more swashbuckling mood in the Ty Beirdd. Perhaps you might even get some converts to your point of view, so to speak. Also, welcome~ I am a bard too, though from Mhaldor. Looking forward to meeting you ic! 

Have fun~

Alynna

You could go houseless/cityless, which would solve a few of your problems, albeit at the expense of new ones, such as a lack of support or community. I think sticking to bard would work well for what you wanted. I am unsure if we have many traveling bards being RP'd in Achaea, and think such, (especially if you start creating songs or poems,) would be very interesting for all involved.

Taraus

I'd love to see more of the true wandering-rogue type bard character played, I've only ever seen it done (and done well) by one player. I want to point out that it can be pulled off by your character's personality, traits, and actions, and wouldn't necessarily be defined by your house, class or city. Being a -true- rogue in Achaea can remarkably difficult, on so many different levels, ESPECIALLY if your character isn't established yet. I tend to agree that Ty Beirdd isn't the right place for the 'swashbuckler' sort, but that's only because of outside perspective - I really have no idea what the inner mechanisms and workings would prohibit or prevent. That said, factionally aligning yourself with Cyrene is, I think, where more of the hindrance would come in - you'd immediately be ostracized by large groups, and likewise lumped IN with other large groups, at first glance - neither of which is what you're looking for. My initial thought is you may want to look to Eleusis as your starting point - while the 'Nature' side doesn't necessarily tie in immediately with what you're trying to achieve, it's certainly a closer mark (yo, I pitched a tent here in this village, gonna chill awhile while I scout the locals) than any of the other cities (I may've possibly suggested Hashan, but they're in a state of flux currently ~ then again, that too might be a drawing factor - wandering street kid decides to take advantage of a town in the midst of a whirlwind of crap). 

Ultimately, though, where you start out is just that -- the place you want to use to gain your footing -- where you *start*. You could just roll whatever, let your character develop organically, and -then- see what he wants to do. Learn the mechanics, get your bearings and an initial foundation, and then springboard to the next step.

And despite the above advice, just remember, it isn't REALLY where your character lives that will ultimately define him, it's what you elect to do with him that will.

Shirszae

Factionally aligning yourself with any city will get one 'ostracized' to some degree by other cities or groups. Likewise with the lumping. It is not something that will only happen if he/she joins Cyrene. People say bad things and generalize about the people from every city. It is up to the character to  rise above that.

Taraus

Well, of course it exists with every faction, I never said otherwise. My advice is coming from a perspective of which is the faction that will LEAST identify you - only because I know that starting out as a rogue from scratch can be goddamned difficult. If the state of the game were a little more friendly to entirely unaligned/not of an organisation chars, my advice would be different. But that isn't the case: it's almost a necessity to join at least ONE org when you're just starting out, if only for the sake of the guidance of mechanism and command.  And the preconceived notion can be minimized and controlled from the onset if you elect to saddle up to a group that's judged the -least- harshly by outsiders. And to clarify, I'm not putting down Cyrene, only pointing out that I think a Cyrenian novice is -more likely- to encounter judgement than an Eleusian novice.

Vayne

The difficulty with playing a rogue is that you do not have any structure to contribute too and be recognized for in a larger community. Your character would have to be especially charismatic and perceptive to be able to make a meaningful impact on the world stage without simply becoming annoying or intrusive into the established system.

Nakari

Taraus said:

And to clarify, I'm not putting down Cyrene, only pointing out that I think a Cyrenian novice is -more likely- to encounter judgement than an Eleusian novice.

I really don't think this is true. Eleusis as a city actually represents a faction with certain world goals and objectives, and novices are going to get lumped in with that. 

As far as Ty Beirdd is concerned, while I'd agree that the house its self doesn't carry the whole swashbuckling attitude, I think that there's probably room for that sort of thing to be both done and embraced (i haven't had a character in that house for a few years to be fair, though). But I definitely don't think there would be anything stopping you, and I think that being a member of a bardic college would hardly be a detriment to what it sounds like you're going for

Nizaris

Gimdal said:

I'm brand new to Achaea, and I just wanted some input on my rp intentions. I wanted to make a travelling/adventure type character. A life of drinking in taverns and meeting new people, as well as seeing the world and helping others in their quests appeals to me. I want to be reckless, rash and bold. What kind of class does this call to? City? House? I tried the Bard, but Ty Beirdd kind of sets this refined artisan mood over a swashbuckling adventuring mood I was looking for. So what do you all think?

This sounds odd, given the resemblance of your role play to the classical role of the bard in other games/media, but your desire is an extremely interesting one, in that it is rarely done in Achaea's current manner of organization.

I share other's recommendations: subsisting as a true newbie without a house or city, while possible, is pretty much condemning your game experience to boredom. Successful rogues are successful because they have built around them what houses and cities already provide: community and purpose. This is difficult, albeit still theoretically possible, to do on one's own.

My general recommendation is to select a house, but perhaps not a city. I would also consider becoming allied to various cities (definitely more than one, so that you aren't too rooted in any). Note well: there are some combinations of cities that are simply incompatible with one another for purposes of dual-ally status. To become an ally of these cities, you will need to demonstrate that you have something to offer to them (enhanced role play for them by your presence, services, engaging/helping newcomers). Start slow here, and build relationships. Hang out at popular gathering spaces, and strike up conversation. EDIT: Do not enter Mhaldor as a Cyrenian citizen.

I would also highly recommend joining perhaps either @Scarlatti's (The Great Bard) or @Neraeos's (God of the Sea) religious Orders. Both are very active from what I can tell as an outsider, and both have fantastic communities built up around them. It may also be possible to be a professed member of one, and lay member of the other, although I am uncertain on this point. Both realms are also very neutral, and this is useful for you as you branch out and create your identity as an affiliated-but-unaffiliated rogue. EDIT: Both support the classical tropes associated with bards and swashbucklers.

As for which house to select, I really feel that either Ty Beirdd or the CIJ would be best suited to your desired roleplay. Ty Beirdd has a very high concentration of excellent role players by reputation, and the CIJ is not directly affiliated with any player-run city. Both houses seem to support different kinds of neutrality (see above highlighted discussion). EDIT: I'm not sure on Ty Beirdd's official citizenship policies. Check with this before committing.

Although he is mostly dormant, I think that @Beya of the CIJ would be extremely helpful to you, as he is a quality role player, and manages to live the lifestyle with his character that I think you want to lead. Even if he is only able to provide you with contacts that you roleplay with later, this is valuable.

Beya

Aurrrrgggghhhh! WHO SUMMONS ME FROM MY PIT? You're lucky I have hired eyes on this forum, @Nizaris.

Alright, squirt. So you want to be a rogue and hop about town to town? Here's my advice which seldom few ever take. Firstly, you have to be your own drive and set your own goals. I've never had a city and so I was not required to follow any sort of path - which means work was up to me. I'll frequently stick my head in to the realms to find people are sitting around at the crossroads waiting for someone else or something else to start their day. No.

As a Jester, I found my niche in providing joy and entertainment to the players of the realms. This does not mean fart jokes, pretentious plays or self-oriented promotion. Ideally, you appeal to the players behind the characters. You listen to other people's backstory, you give away your gold, your time and your ideas to other people.

Pick up on what characters like. @Nizaris, for example, is one of Beya's friends and allies. His character is into the torture of Mhaldorian newbies and I attended his sermons, arrived out of the blue with drinks and paid attention to his own goals. I asked him about what drives the character and thus gave myself my own goals.

(I always feel text benefits from being broken up with images. Unrelated though.)

My other advice to you is just approach people. Ask for tours around their city. People love talking about themselves and what they know. What I'd often do is look over QW, find a name I've not seen before, farsee them and just arrive. I'll find some sort of pretext - I used to have gambling game reflexes, or I'd arrive with food. We used to have a skit called 'King of the fool', where we'd arrive with a paper crown and grovel before our new 'king' and beg him requests which we'd subtly invert.

Please note that you will be killed until you get it right. This doesn't matter. The player who killed you gets experience and they have had something to do instead of sitting idle for an hour. Do learn when to withdraw from a situation, though - persistence can be annoying unless distributed over a real life week. @Amunet and her cronies at the tavern in Ashtan used to kill me repeatedly until I understood their humour wasn't the same as mine - but now I've understood how to act around that group we are firm friends.

Another thing I used to do was send out letters with food inside them. People like getting letters and it starts a conversation.

This opening of 'turning up' allows for you to frame the rest of your gameplay for the day.

Remember: the more friendships you form, the more allies you have, the more defence you'll have against the coming storm.

TL;DR Generosity, listening and reaching out.

P.S. If you want denizen events and plays, you have to organise them yourself. Design the ideas, submit them to the HL or patron of your house and be prepared to wait.

Sec while I find some HHELP scrolls I wrote...

Beya

Some of you older characters might get a laugh from this. Please note it's been over a year since this was written so it's likely to be out of date. Perhaps not, though. This is the reference I've been playing to for the past four years. Do enjoy!

HHELP CITY HUMOUR TYPES

=======================

The cities of Sapience are wide and varied, and some are even known for 

the kind of audiences you may find there. Below is a list of traits     

popular performances have in common in the respective cities.           

Allow me to preface this scroll with the words;

None of the cities enjoy butterfly bombing. Get a new trick.

ASHTAN

------

This city is filled with occultists and combatants. They can usually be 

found at the city gates, or either road leading northwest or northeast  

from the gates. There will almost certainly be a group in the seadog    

tavern. It is generally considered suicide to perform at the seadog     

tavern.                                                                 

ENJOY;

Combat scripts, spoken humour, wordplay, performances which mock        

Ashtan's enemies.                                                       

DISLIKE;

Practical jokes, slapstick, overt silliness, games which require gold   

(majority dislike audience interaction, but worth trying).              

SHALLAM

-------

This city is filled with welcoming souls, interested in maintaining     

light at all costs. There was once a time when the Church was against   

Jesters (specifically Discord and Mischief) because of the overtones of 

Chaos, but it is more recently accepted as 'harmless fun'. Some         

oldschoolers may argue this point. The main meeting spot is fish street.

ENJOY;

Historical scripts, games (strong audience interaction), performances   

which mock Ashtan, Evil and Mhaldor.                                    

DISLIKE;

Gambling, Chaos, Practical jokes, offensive jokes towards light.

CYRENE

------

High in the mountains, the Cyrenians are far above the daily politics of

the other cities. Home to Ty Beirdd, they have an artistic look on life.

The people here are willing to stop and listen, given you give them the 

option to leave. They are busy, letter juggling types, and you must play

by their rules, or face being ejected. Their main meeting spot is Center

crossing.                                                               

ENJOY;

Detailed, artistic scripts, games (strong, curious, audience            

interaction), Historical performances.                                  

DISLIKE;

People who are cloaked, Practical jokes, improbable illusions, conflict.

[cont]

@Taraus @Nizaris @Amunet

Beya

ELEUSIS

-------

With nothing but trees and flexible women, Eleusians are almost always  

rather laid back. The combatants (all houses in Eleusis have a minimal  

level of combat training at induction) often crowd at the gatehouse.    

While a great place to pick up an audience, the gatehouse is often very 

noisy with dryads, so it's good advice to move your audience deeper into

the village to perform.                                                 

ENJOY;

Sexually suggestive skits, games (strong, trusting, audience            

interaction), skits which ridicule Mhaldor and other people who set     

forest fires. Most willing to place money on a bet.                     

DISLIKE;

Fire, Assumptions that all they do is have sex all day, People          

interrupting them having sex, damage to forests.                        

HASHAN

------

A highly busy and merchantile city placed in the northern Ithmia, Hashan

has prided itself on its neutrality for countless decades- not partly   

due to being placed right between Ashtan and Shallam. You may find      

people from all walks of life here- Mhaldorian monks, Shallamese        

soapboxers, and the average, plain Hashani. Almost everyone there has   

some kind of tie to the ruling government, so watch who you offend. The 

main meeting place is the crossroads (though people prefer no           

performances there), but you may find the kind (and rich!) merchants in 

the northernmost bar.                                                   

ENJOY;

Gambling, songs, performance of most kinds (high audience participation,

gamble at high stakes).                                                 

DISLIKE;

Not so hot on history skits, loud performances at crossroads, ANY form  

of attack (they will threaten with legal action), conflict.             

MHALDOR

-------

Isolated out on the western arm of Sapience, Mhaldor is a fortress built

upon the mountain Lord Shaitan was once imprisoned inside. The people   

there are lovely, welcoming folks, who love to wear their (enemies')    

hearts on their sleeves. Much like the Seadog tavern, performing here-  

or even standing here- is a risk to your health. It's not unheard of for

performers to disappear, get forcefully ejected, robbed, beheaded and   

enemied by Mhaldor and all her organizations (not necessarily in that   

order). The main meeting place is the Stygian crossroads. There may be  

up to five people in any given room- though you may not see them as the 

majority hide in the shadows. Novices are warned not to go there.       

Experienced performers steer clear. Talented or headstrong Jesters go   

there after writing wills.                                              

ENJOY;

Violence, Serving the Twin Lords and suffering. Willing to bet where    

they're certain to win.                                                 

DISLIKE;

Unannounced performances, the forests, the light, outsiders.

Beya

Phew! I hope that was helpful. You can find more of my scrolls in the CIJ's HHELP including HHELP PERFORMANCE which may now need some serious updating. I also have play scripts available in the house library. Your friends there will be @Sillias and @Jewyl - Sillias will be able to tell you more of the mischief we got up to back then.

(Just another cool gif to keep your attention)

Also do take the time to approach @Amunet if you're looking for critical (and deadly) feedback. Also learn to cut yourself off from people who are insane, lulzy, or a combination of the two. Do not approach people in private housing or the wilderness unless you're willing to join in.

Strata

Vayne said:

The difficulty with playing a rogue is that you do not have any structure to contribute too and be recognized for in a larger community. Your character would have to be especially charismatic and perceptive to be able to make a meaningful impact on the world stage without simply becoming annoying or intrusive into the established system.

I agree that the character would have to be especially charismatic and perceptive, but disagree about the rest - specifically the meaningful impact without simply becoming annoying or intrusive to the established system.

My character is rather free spirited in a sense that his alliances and foes seem very fluid and hard to gauge. He is not a true rogue, however.

It doesn't seem to make any difference whom your character chooses to make friends or foes with. Certain organizations will hate you anyway. I have found it very interesting RP'ing with the Hashani because some of them are like a manic depressive emo chick who loves you for a minute - and wants to murder-suicide the next. It's always exciting because one never knows what to expect from them. When Strata was Ashtani, all he got was cold shoulders. Quitting Ashtan allowed him to get rid of that ostensible stigma that he felt - where people of other cities would say "Stupid Ashtani. Is either trying to rob, kill, or otherwise do something bad to us."

A perfect example of what I mean is: Recently, Strata was hanging out in Cyrene and had a very interesting conversation with @Tesha (yes I just did that) where she tried to convince him to join the Light.

Later, that same month, Strata killed her. As an Ashtani, he likely could have missed out on that conversation entirely. Not saying that being affiliated with certain organizations hinders your RP - but appearing to be somewhat rogue opens up all sorts of exciting possibilities for RP that would otherwise be missed because --- "Stupid Ashtani cloaked in my city.... GTFO!"