>Wow interesting as i have to see that post. As stated after a good six seven plus years in invasions from the 3 cities i been at the GMs would say sorry wasnt intentional and after it was over help recover anything missing. This was witnessed first hand.

I don't discount your account. Please don't discount mine. I don't have to participate if I don't feel it's worth losing my staves.

>> Then why would they cast paladin group spells that are just going to drop off almost immediately once the group is disbanded? That doesn't make sense.

I'm pretty sure that if the spell is already cast on you and you join a group then leave the group you get the same effect, no?

-- Robert

Liia announces, "Funnel cakes will now be delivered door to door in your neighborhood!"

>> All told... if you can't simply enjoy the conversation, roleplay, and character development that comes from hanging out with others and talking about the storyline, then I think you're deffo kinda missing the point. Story arcs of any sort aren't really about individuals making huge and impacting choices, or about who did what to who at what time... they're every bit as much about how those circumstances affect our characters and their various relationships on a personal level, and that's something you can always choose to portray. And I think a lot of the time, becoming more intimately or directly involved is a direct result of someone (or someones) noticing and appreciating a constant level of commitment without the expectation of external gratification.

This. The night of the 'exchange' I was on an alt and she didn't really have a reason to participate directly. What DID happen, instead, was a sense of uneasiness to anyone in the landing that evening which led to those of us in the East Tower to 'gossip' about Rodnay. The conversation revealed a lot about our characters that likely many of us hadn't considered, as we either 1) expressed our concerns about the most powerful adventurers being weary of the powers of a child or 2) laughed at our town's greatest defenders being scared of a child.

In real life, I spoke to my husband about what was happening and my absolute fascination with the quality of RP events that exist now.

My main point is: without being directly involved in the story - the GM and the playerbase have managed to create the context of the story and upheld it enough that random role play off to the side could occur. We were able to be impacted by the events without being involved. That takes a certain kind of presence or chutzpah to pull off and I was very impressed with it. Alternatively, without this, one of us might have tried to talk about the event and the rest would have given them a blank stare. I owe a huge debt to Newsby and TownCrier staff as well as all the players who talk about events on the amunet for keeping this player 'in-the-know' so that my characters can respond to current events about the world they live in.

Great thoughts, folks!

>>For some players, the "event" of the storyline (IOW, when the GM(s) is/are present), isn't necessarily where all of the roleplay happens. Those events are where the information is dispersed that can then be used in roleplay later when the stage isn't lit. The storylines give people something to talk about, an excuse to interact beyond spellups and bounties, and a reason to unite (or oppose!).

Absolutely, couldn't agree more -- storylines are a terrific reason to roleplay, not just during but also tangentially. I've had tons of meetings/convos with people about plot-adjacent stuff as Mayor, and a lot of those were quite entertaining as well... I just wish I had more hours in the day, heh.

>>Crux: Could you possibly reposition a few things from that awesome post and stash it at the wiki for reference? Because it was good stuff.

Hah, thanks! One day when I have more free time I'd love to write up a more comprehensive primer on the Wiki for Roleplay, Storylines, and other such related things. I'll deffo expound upon that at such time, I'm sure.

---

-- Wheels & Skulls Department

You see Blood Mayor Cruxophim the Blood Reaver.
“Blood for the Blood Mayor! Skulls for the Skull Office!”

[ Storyline: https://goo.gl/VQkXAZ ]
[ Order of the Shadow: https://goo.gl/88Ojff ]

<>And hell, its not even always a GMs fault! A lot of GMs (like a good DM should in Tabletop) will go with what the players are going with...and the players have a goddam annoying tendency to be 'OH! This one verbal cue reminds me of a GM event 5 years ago. IT MUST BE THE SAME THING OR RELATED!' and the GM is like 'meh, I'll run with that.'>

Bwahahahah. Can we be mean and name names? Can we!? Can we!?

The GMs are usually fluid (most of them). I personally am overwhelmed recently by the speed with which player decisions in RP have had an effect in ways neither myself and more importantly, nor my character, would be okay with. However, I'm not going to show up and do a bunch of crazy stuff that makes no sense at this point. There's nothing wrong with the storylines in general and there's more going on than I have the time and energy to grasp it seems. I'll pick one thread I have interest in but it comes with this tangled mess of 'other' things that just like myself in RL, my character could care less about. So, I sit back and stay out of it until it makes sense for my character to be involved in something again. I've been recently critical OOC because that's the place (IMO) for such things - as they relate to IG storylines and thought processes. I've also noticed there are players and GMs alike who do a good job of trying to to translate different perspectives into the RP, which is nice.

To me there's two kinds of 'regulars' at events...well, three kinds, but the third you shouldn't assume. There are those who put CRAZY time and effort into being involved. These players earn their attention. I can tell you right now there is NO WAY I am keeping up with all of this, posting logs, and then doing all kinds of behind the scene rp in my spare time. So there's certainly some respect due there. That should go without saying for the GMs but we'll say it too and make sure. The second kind is the 'regularly annoying'. From MY perspective (and lets be clear that's all this is) they are the people who are all over Elanthia at every event and seem like they are reading a different book than anyone else where they are always the main character. I generally want to just kill them IG. I usually don't - at least not in a way that looks intentional. Sometimes I've tried to get involved and felt like 'THAT GUY' because of character reactions even when I meant well, so seriously, I try not to be critical IG. As I mentioned above, I feel like that's more of an ooc thing. The third kind of 'regulars' I said should not be assumed. This is because they are everyone else and we don't read their minds. They could be there for a possible fight. They could be RP chasing half-ghosts, which is honestly fine to me because they tend to wake up and fight when needed and I like meat shields to shove in front of incoming attacks anyway. They could also be watching and waiting for an rp chance that makes sense to their character and not in need of being involved in every last second of every event. Either way I prefer the third kind over the second. They don't really harm the event.

In conclusion, we don't always know the reasons and we don't need to. Sometimes less is more. Relax and do what makes sense for your character while resisting the urge to mass kill the room (that I know a lot of us always have -don't lie!) because, if nothing else, let's not to ruin it for everyone, right? RIGHT!?