Drugs are bad, mmkay?

Skye

Seeing Arditi's post made me wonder... I know a few people who do actually get on the gleam thing, but how does the drug use impact your character and their behaviour? Do you just take them to see the funny drug messages, or have you actually allowed your character to make extremely ill-advised decisions  (that you as a player know would screw your own character over) while totally coked up? If so, I'm curious to know what sort of things you've done as a result.

Sybilla

@Verily put Syb in rehab when she was off her face on Bliss (the syringe drug from Creville), and was getting in dangerous situations with @Arditi , who'd kidnap her in hopes of getting her to Mhaldor.

Then 30 years later Syb got Arditi off his face on gleam and got him to join Ashtan and Occultists. Lol.

Austere

I was fairly sure this post was about @Cain. Was disappointed.

Klendathu

I'm not going to rake over old rocks, but there was a rather unpleasant situation Klendathu had to get in the middle of due to drug use. Those involved know who they are. No winners.

Synbios

@Klendathu "Winners don't do drugs!" -PSA of nearly every 90s arcade games

Sarathai

I usually murder Kortoxian whenever I come across him. Does that count?

Atalkez

Sarathai said:

I usually murder Kortoxian whenever I come across him. Does that count?

Me too. Kill that fucker dead.

Adaele

Adaele is addicted to gleam and still occasionally wants it especially when deeply depressed.  She acts a bit more er.. free spirited when drugged up and perhaps a bit too giggly amongst other things. Has trouble walking by the doc without wanting to buy. 

Saeva

Snowblossoms... never again O.o

Arditi

Sarathai said:

I usually murder Kortoxian whenever I come across him. Does that count?

You're one of Achaea's greatest monsters.

Aegoth

Aegoth actually has a secret gleam stash in his rift. He'll periodically give them to novices (non-mhaldorian) and tell them it's to increase a random stat.. and the more they eat, the longer and stronger it'll be. Because Evil

Skye

When gleam first came out, I used to hide in the bathroom stall in Ashtan to do it cause it was banned. I figured nobody would ever find me there. >_> 

Hayte

So all that "For a good time, MSG SKYE" graffiti was you ALL ALONG?

Morro

I've had Morro try cactus weed, gleam, bliss, snowblossoms. Even a mystery substance Sothantos convinced her to take so he could "study the effects". It turned into a bad trip. She's smart enough to try new things in small doses, and prefers bliss since the withdrawals aren't all that terrible, but I always try to take into account the effects of a substance while I RP her. For the most part, she just gets a lot less tactful and is a lot more likely to be a danger to herself and others.

Xae

I had Xae eat a snow blossom in her back story as a dare, when she was a child. Ended up getting way too sick and all of her growing went to keeping her alive, and that's why she's so short (well short for a tsol'aa). Since then, she hasn't bothered with anything.

Amunet

Amu is a functional alcoholic and has been for years. She is also an occasional bliss user - it helps her not to give a fuck when she is obviously giving too much of a fuck. She has been on a bit of a binge since the Occultists fell into ruin, but all it takes is one businesslike conversation to get her sobered up and back with the program. Bliss only developed into a full-on addiction while @Mathonwy was in the House, and Fruitless Orchards basically became a giant opium den filled with bohemian elitism and melodrama. Fun times.

Basileios

Basil used to be an alcholic in his youth(ish) and was just a real happy drunk satyr monk.  As he got older he sorta got better with it and quit the alcohol.

Though, in turn he's got really into adventuring.  Like, that's kind of his drug.  He'll drop pretty much everything he's doing if he's given the option to explore somewhere new.  Heaven forbid if he actually finds the 1000th door, it's been something he's been studying and will just randomly abandon hunting parties if he sees it to just go gamble his time.  He hasn't had much luck with it, but has found a number of new places that he explores quite often.

Dortheron

Basileios said:

Heaven forbid if he actually finds the 1000th door, it's been something he's been studying and will just randomly abandon hunting parties if he sees it to just go gamble his time.  He hasn't had much luck with it, but has found a number of new places that he explores quite often.

1000th door is pretty fun...until it kills you. I got a little bit less eager to try it after a streak of three instant deaths.

Basileios

Basil has yet to die to it once.  He's been in it.. 46 times now iirc.  Maybe 47.

Dortheron

One threw me to the Wyrm Lord (I just wasn't prepared to run and got blown up. Not really an "instant" death, but it was fast enough). The other two were the Alleyway that instantly kills you.

Kyrra

When Caer was first released, Kyrra had a thing for munching on snow blossoms. The hallucinations were great fun to observe, and I still remember the very first time she ate them and then freaked out that all her feathers were falling out, and people were saying the most dreadful things about her. Good times.

Xae

Oh, Xae loves her alcohol.

Aodfionn

Aod only did drugs because the cool kids (@Amunet @Morro) were doing it at the time.

Ahmet

Dortheron said:

One threw me to the Wyrm Lord (I just wasn't prepared to run and got blown up. Not really an "instant" death, but it was fast enough). The other two were the Alleyway that instantly kills you.

Alleyway?

Tessa

Little late to this party, but given that I haven't heard mention of venoms, I feel it worth tossing Tess' experience/s up. Once she ended up addicted to Serpent's venom (the class, mind you). Her headed ended up not being in her words or her actions near so much, her behavior shifted, even had some physical problems crop up as a side effect to the constant introduction of venom. Subtle, but Family started to notice, drama, interesting times. Eventually she started edging towards heart failure so was forced to quit.

She also has an addiction to family. 'Cause yes family is a drug. :pleased:

In trying to keep with the inquiries of the OP - she was in a tough spot already so it was essentially a crutch, and because of the need of an actual Serpent, an estranged bond (mostly mental/emotional). The actual start of the addiction was an accident. Her behavior was shifted towards inattentive, more lax, and depending on the venom (though she was mostly addicted to a single one), sometimes would shift in a near bipolar manner. Basically I sat and thought on how it would logically effect her mindset. Even did some minor research into the effects of venoms, including the gradual buildup of protein venoms. So the entire experience was a mix of a random situation to start, and a bad one keeping it going down the drain.

Also have an alt (sorry, I do, long dormant and stupid old) who did everything under the sun - weed, gleam, bliss, alcohol, snowblossoms, blood, minerals after an odd experiment, an unnamed substance born of further experiments, oddly never venoms. Basically anything she could get her hands on. The LACK of these things is what effected her behavior, not the presence. She was great and 'normal' when she had them.

Hope that helps sate some of your curiosities and answer the lingering questions Skye!

Aktillum

I roleplayed Aktillum to have a gleam habit for a while. Used to randomly emote sniffle and excuse myself from Order meetings to snort a packet. I think it got old after about a week.

Tibitha

Tibitha has an addictive personality and should just stay away from addictive substances, in general apparently. :frown: 

Aktillum

I'm surprised at the number of posts in this thread that admit to running with drug RP. I personally found Aktillum's experimentation with a gleam habit to be incredibly boring, due to the lack of tangible benefits. For example, the +1 Dex after continued usage is a fairly negligible "benefit" when you consider the monetary investment of the drug habit (and Dexterity's relative "usefulness" in combat). Perhaps this adequately reflects drug habits IRL - high investment, incredibly low diminishing returns. However, I can't help but be disappointed by the lack of drug usage benefits in Achaea, and how they're only primarily an RP tool, simply from the perspective of someone who has actually tried quite a few drugs IRL (out of sheer curiosity).

I want to make it clear I'm not promoting drug habits IRL, just that IRL drug habits seem to carry more risk+reward than in Achaea. Marijuana IRL, for example, stimulates incredible creativity and conversation. Cactus weed in Achaea just spams you with smileys. Cocaine IRL was the inspirational muse of many 70s/80s musicians, it made them feel like gods and kept them up all night writing top-charting singles. Gleam in Achaea just gives you +1 Dex after continued usage, and spams you with withdrawal symptons if you don't feed the habit. Shrooms IRL makes you think you can telepathically communicate with your cats. Shrooms in Achaea transport you to a magical world full of talking animals..okay, I guess that one is pretty comparable.

I like how the Fallout series approaches drug usage for your character - immediately tangible benefits, but the downsides of addiction. You really need to consider the pros+cons of popping that Buffout pill in the Fallout series. But Fallout is a single-player game, and Achaea can't approach this style of drug usage because if you gave drugs and alcohol immediate stat benefits upon consumption, people would complain that PvP was unbalance by gleam and whiskey addicts.

I dunno, thats my two cents. If you're the type of person who can RP a drug habit simple for the sake of great character RP, more power to you. I can't help but feel a little letdown by the system in place, but there really isn't a workaround for it.

Aerek

Very dangerous line. In a game, if you make anything give substantial benefits, it kinda becomes "necessary" for demographics that compete in any arena where those benefits land. Take the rare minerals: I have not (thankfully) noticed these explode in usage, but in any fight that I consider important, (Mark contracts, tournaments, hunting competitions) if the other guy is using them, then I'm at a disadvantage and need to use them too if I want a fair fight. If I can't afford them, or can't obtain them, then I can't compete effectively. That's why they were disabled for the Y700 stuff.

Make drugs mechanically attractive, and you stray into the same territory. Not only would people start using them purely for the mechanics (no RP), but also you'll force some people to go against their RP and use them, just so they can keep up. I try to maintain a very consistent character, but I also just like combat. If my RP prevented me from taking drugs, but taking drugs afforded me a substantial combat edge, then I am pressured to sacrifice one of the two things I like to do, and that impacts my enjoyment of the game.

If you want drugs to stay an "RP" device, then you can't make them mechanically attractive. Not saying they can't have any tangible effects, but they 'd have to be on par with minor traits; things that don't really influence the game in any serious way.

Aesi

applies to nose too.

Tessa

@Aktillum "I'm surprised at the number of posts in this thread that admit to running with drug RP."
I'm curious as to why you said this. Not seeing how it's anything special given that it's just another aspect of RP, and unless others metagame (as I hope they wouldn't), inconsequential.

"Shrooms IRL makes you think you can telepathically communicate with your cats. Shrooms in Achaea transport you to a magical world full of talking animals..okay, I guess that one is pretty comparable."
Just to say, I laughed so hard at this that I should probably feel ashamed. Also there are the sentient cats in Bopalopia sooooooo yes!

@Aerek Completely agree there. I'd hate to see Achaean RP and combat reduced to that sort of confrontation.