The Nature Of The Beast, AKA: What constitutes roleplaying

[Aries1918]

maybe he has a drinking problem

Been there, done that (Zacho!)

[Gairun]

Actually Kang the server population has more then doubled in the past month. For better or for worse.

[nickbeat]

Must be cuz I told all my friends on the Wizards RP boards.

Anyone play PbP there? Good stuff.

[sharringtonm]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Drider-man
maybe he has a drinking problem

Been there, done that (Zacho!)

I thought the purpose of Role Playing was to escape from real life issues?

Foul Foul Drink! You follow me even here! Begone with you and I shall never more!!

[Jaeram]

Edited - and removed after rechecking the lore and having misread an event.

[Kangleton]

Actually Kang the server population has more then doubled in the past month. For better or for worse.

Fuuuuuck. Someone PLEASE buy me a good machine! I'll be your internet love slave! I'm told I type sexy!

And in response to the response of my previous response, I completely agree, responsively. There are tons of things to do with RP that do not involve conflict, and they do, in fact, enhance the atmosphere of the server beyond all else. However, conflict is the main driving factor of D&D and NWN, both. Conflict creates tension, drama, and storylines that can progress of their own accord. With conflict comes the need for alliances, friendships, and enemies - and with that, comes politics, inhouse struggle, and a sense of achievement. All of these things open up doors for, literally, millions of variating RP opportunities that carry you further than a drinking problem ever could.

In my opinion, the drinking problem enhances the character that is already part of the storyline. But people come for the storyline itself, rather than the drinking problem on it's own.

[Drider-man]

Regardless, the pioneers of the americas and the people of the wild west, and countless other trailblazers, did also have a life besides killing indians and build log cabins (which I assume is their equivalent to killing monsters and looting), I'm sure you can agree.
What we're trying to do here is portray humanoids and I would hope we're not only interested in portraying them when they're knee-deep in gore and gold.

Look at it this way: Heroes have feelings too, and personal lives. Every book or comic we read, every game we play and every movie we watch tells us this: John McClane (Of Die Hard fame, in case anyone doesn't know) has an estranged wife and two children, which is a focal point of all the Die Hard movies, despite them being about kicking terrorist ass and taking names. Wolverine (Marvel, as if I need to tell you) is in love with one of his best friends who's married. Just to name a few, off the top of my head, at 4 AM...
Heroes have interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes, quirks, flaws, dependents and dependencies.
I realise there's a strong attraction in playing the perfect person, with no flaws and no liabilities, the "Hero Of The Story" but seeing as we're all in this together, lets add some spice to the setting other than "yeah i found this really nice axe, let's go kill stuff", shall we?

And for the record, it's very much my impression that many colonists of the new world brought their families along with them, and that several craftsmen and specialists of all sorts travelled to the new world for all manner of reasons, while it was still untamed wildlands

[Kangleton]

Yeah, I completely agree with you. Those things are all vital, important, significant, and enjoyable. I think I said in my previous post that it all adds to the atmosphere. I'm only saying that, in my opinion, they take second place. Most people buy this game to be a hero, rather than a problem drinker. We can be problem drinkers elsewhere, but there arent many places we can slay dragons. However, you will never see my state that a hero who is also a problem drinker, isn't more interesting.

...The quirks, the habbits, the things that make characters believable, are definetly important, I restate for emphasis and clarification.

[Jaeram]

I have to agree with Kangleton, I think all of those things add to a characters personality, and if you look around enough you will definitely find characters with different personalities, we're not all cookie cutter (take Puck as an example, albeit a rather extreme one), and some characters may have personality traits or vices that they do not wish to display to everyone. I know you're new to the server still so you probably haven't had a whole lot of time to mesh up with other people yet, but some characters might have a fairly generic attitude towards other characters until they get to know them better. Think about a real relationship, if you're walking around your college campus and stop to talk to a guy for 5 minutes while waiting in line do you think that he's going to tell you that he's depressed, a problem drinker, and goes home every night contemplating suicide because his wife took the kids? Ok well in that case that guy's got a pretty messed up life so maybe you would, lol, but I think you get the point. I'm sure that the very first time you met some of your friends you didn't act exactly the way you do around them as you do now did you? Most people take time to warm up to others, and it may take more than a 5 minute talk around the camp fire to discern their real personality. Not to mention your own characters personality, if you role play johnny dark brooding hero with a chip on his shoulder and no room for diplomacy he probably won't mesh well with my character who is highly intelligent and favors diplomacy and compromise in interpersonal relationships. So some characters even if they are on the same side as you may not really like your personality, and although they may work with you from time to time they might want to leave it at that.

That turned out a bit longer than I had planned.

[Noraax]

I would say the dynamics of the players and the ability to RP with out any DM's are pretty good. I think if you are just getting started on the server it can seem that you are not experiencing the good RP'ers as for the first couple of levels all people want to do is go out and grind.

(at least that is how it has been for me so far, but I also didn't like sitting at level 3)

I've tested a few other character builds and now have one main one that I use, and a second one when I feel the need to have a different play style. And now that I have learned more of the mechanics of this server I have started to try and focus on my character's personal development as opposed to just the hack and slash.

When I first log on or get ready to log off, I will usually head to the Exigo grounds and sit by the fire and listen to the others talk and chime in occasionally. Usually I catch up on things that have gone on in the world when I am not there and listen to the exploits of others.

These are a few of the non DM RP things that I have seen and experienced:

I one time had a really good in depth chat with an aspiring pale master, which is quite a conversation for a cleric to have with someone.

I know Nulinus's brother Vulinus was around for awhile, not sure what happened to him, but that was an interesting RP twist, wery well done too.

I have run across a few people coming by and offering to sell items as well such as potions and scrolls. I haven't seen and weapons or armor "merchants" though, but I might also be missing those people.

Samael and I had a good ICC conversation about going fishing some day.

So I would say what you are looking for is here Drider-Man, just give it some time.

And yes I am also for the exigo funding a bar, I am tired of carrying full beer steins with me, it's hard to keep them from spilling.

[Jaeram]

Yes, I think if a bar was erected right next to the camp fire it would make a great place for people to chat. All we'd have to do is tear down that stupid tree Karthus is always tying himself to, and we can use the tree itself to build part of the tavern, it'll be like it never left, just... changed forms. Since I haven't seen him tied to it lately that must mean it's okay right?

Edit - Additional - I think what also makes the camp fire so much more appealing is it's accessibility. Not only are there merchants right near by that people often visit, but it's open, you don't have to do a bunch of zoning, and it's a pleasant area that doesn't make you feel trapped, you are free to walk up and walk away whenever you please. Striking up a conversation with someone is probably a lot easier to do around a very public camp fire, than it is to walk up to a table of dwarves who are all consumed in laughter and ale, or the guy sitting alone in the dark back corner of the bar seemingly seeking solitude, in the second case I would actually feel very intrusive trying to sit down at their table.

[Noraax]

*Idea strikes Jeremiah*

"I think I look into opening a beer stand next to the campfire, I think I could find a couple of dwarves to help brew something up"

[Sammael]

EDIT: nvm

[rustediron]

*cough* Dakhar *cough*

...I think that was uncalled for. He's the half-orc, yes? Not that bad, even if he doesn't RP that much.

And I don't think this place is the hardcore RP server that Drider-man was expecting; it's a place for all sorts to have fun, with the obvious thing being killing things.

You're right; there are more things to being a hero than just wanton ganking of mobs. But most people know that already, and RP that side out to a sufficient extent, in my opinion.

And you shouldn't forget that NWN2 is primarily a combat orientated game - it makes sense that you spend the majority of your time doing 'adventuring'.

[Peridan]

Sorry rusted, but the day I don't care about seeing a character say to someone else "I'm gonna make a run for gold through the goblins cave good place for healing kits" when the guy is level six and there are levels 3 and 4 about to go in, is the day I quit Sundren.

And by and by, he did kill everything in the caves. Looted the boss in about 3 seconds. So forgive me if I seem a bit....uncaring.