Playing A Role

[LONOmakesWAR]

Yo Yo whats up Dasaria, your friendly neighborhood LONO here with a perspective:


Role Playing:

RP is not a contest for power or social standing, nor is it a race for acceptance of your character concept. To play a role in a campaign should be the goal of an RP player.

With this in mind, ask yourself whom is more valuable to the server?

A) A player who will accept nothing less than what they envision for their char.

or

B) A player who’s char is a true reflection and product of conflict and server events.

There is a lack of players on this server willing to RP characters that are less than heroes, and this has detracted from the amount of RP opportunities among players. There is no class struggle because not enough people are willing to be poor, there is no faction struggle because not enough people are willing to join factions that are risky or unpopular. This will KEEP them both risky and unpopular.. it is a viscous cycle.

What I propose we all consider is this:

That a player who humbles themselves and allows their character to experience life in Dasaria without reservation or “RP Mulligan’s” as I like to call them; will not only become a server asset but will have MORE fun and get MORE out of Das for their char.

And further:

That RP is more like being a character in a play. If the actors and actresses in a play decide that their char should not be arrested, or defeated, or upset by something, then the elements of the play that make it interesting will fade out and the play becomes mush.

If you are one of the people who feel that this server is missing an element of conflict or interaction… then create characters that contrast current ones, and RP them as such.

PLAY A ROLE

And thanks to excellent players currently already doing this, WE have the opportunity to expand on that. Any existing faction will benefit from an opposing one, and there are millions of reasons IC and IG why any faction will be opposed.

If your char is threatened, compromised, and labeled a heretic b/c of his/her actions… then congratulations you just RPed well.

[kikkelipoika]

If your char is threatened, compromised, and labeled a heretic b/c of his/her actions… then congratulations you just RPed well.

Almost every char i know wants to kill me, does that count?

[LONOmakesWAR]

If your char is threatened, compromised, and labeled a heretic b/c of his/her actions… then congratulations you just RPed well.

Almost every char i know wants to kill me, does that count? :lol:

ROFL yes, yes it does

[ErictheRed]

Excellent post, and something we should keep in mind more. I've always thought the analogy of play actors works quite well for roleplaying.

[Elvith]

That's actually a really good point, I'm gonna have to keep that in mind when I make new characters/play old ones.

[blackheart]

Well RP and acting aren't entirely the same, nonetheless I agree that there are some parallels to the manner in which characters interrelate with the overall story and that not everyone can be THE "hero" all the time. That would make for very boring theatre and very boring gameplay.

Extending the metaphor I think its worthwhile looking at the contributions of supporting actors in film. Not just villains, e.g. Cuba Gooding Jr. makes Jerry McGuire work, even though Tom Cruise is the "star." Luke Sykywalker is the protaganist of the first StarWars, but he's rather boring compared to the flawed anti-hero, Han Solo, who IMHO steals the show.

With CRPG I think worse than everyone trying to be THE hero all the time is everyone trying to be most uber all the time. This win-at-all-costs attitude I think leads to issues on a PW and a lot of other "evils."

[oaknott]

In general I agree with LONO's post however I would take issue with this section;

There is a lack of players on this server willing to RP characters that are less than heroes, and this has detracted from the amount of RP opportunities among players. There is no class struggle because not enough people are willing to be poor, there is no faction struggle because not enough people are willing to join factions that are risky or unpopular. This will KEEP them both risky and unpopular.. it is a viscous cycle.

it is not a lack of players who are willing it is a lack of players who are able. I will explain;

I started off building my characters for rp not for power or heroism. I would make choices on levelling according to what made the character more interesting to play, more apt for the social environment but I soon found that characters built this way were too weak to be used for anything else other than rp or play in large parties (4 or more players).

If I power-build a character I then find that the rp gets frustrating because the character doesn't have the breadth or depth to be a convincing character.

I have tried many different builds and several different types of characters but my experience is that if I don't power build on DAS2 I can't solo. The level limits on 'dungeons' mean that an rp build cant play where a power build can because by the time the rp build is strong enough to survive the mission its closed. When I commented on these forums that i couldnt get past 8th level almost all of the advice I was given was on how to power build more effectively.

There are not always opportunities to rp or party up when I can get online. The player base isn't big enough in my time zone. I am sure that many other players have a similar problem. I have only once been able to be online for a DM event and, even though that was great fun, it netted exactly zero experience points for my character.

On the few occasions I have got into a party it has generally been good fun, but what so often happens is that the next time I see those characters they have progressed a lot further than my own character and I can't party up with them any more. I have occasionally joined a party and been left with the choice of leave the party or break character. Who for examples joins up with a druid and then goes off murdering the wildlife - yes it has happened.

The limitations DAS2 has put in place to prevent power-gaming actually makes rp builds more difficult. You're not going to stop power-gamers, its in their nature to get around obstacles, all you do is make life difficult for the players who don’t get to party up very much and need to solo occasionally to stay in with the character group they want to associate with.

have a look here:
"Summarize your character/s in one sentence".
viewtopic.php?t=3192&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
read the way people describe their characters. Don't you think that a lot more than half of these descriptions suggest power built hero types?

In my experience Power builds work on DAS2, rp builds generally don't and thats why you don't see me, and I suspect many others, in game any more.

[obsoletenihilist]

I think you're leaping to conclusions if you are expecting anyone to play anything other than a hero in a D&D game where the point is to play a hero because NPC's get all the crappy classes and jobs.

It's also a bit presumptuous to judge any type of character just from a one line of text that was a thread about having fun and maybe a few laughs.

Of course if you agree with Lono than I suggest you help me with my persistent world idea called PEASANT QUEST. The only class open to players will be the "Commoner" class used by NPCs which can be unlocked via an override. All commoners will be treated as such by their big bad NPC counterparts who get all the cool classes like Fighter and Wizard!!!

Last but not least to my knowledge Das was not and is still not, unless I missed the announcement somewhere, a hardcore roleplaying server. It's not listed under the roleplay tab, it's listed under PW Story because no matter if you are great at roleplaying or not you can at least enjoy the story the DM's are trying to tell through the medium that is Dasaria 2.

Adding for the sake of Rob..

Peasant Quest! The only persistent world where the entire playerbase is covered in ****!

[Atharin]

'Ware the Trogdor.

[Volkher]

Also a powerbuild can be be rped well. There are quite some examples.

In all my arrogance, I got good marks from some players for my main char Hagen von Tronje. He is a typical powerbuild ( one of those RDD types), but out of battle I play him as a wannabe celebrity, bad actor and loudmouth playwriter and secret opposer of the church of Lochwar.

It`s not the class or combination of classes you, but HOW you play. You play an RDD? Don`t forget you have at least one level of bard. You are a cleric? Don`t act like an invincible fighting and healing machine...you are devout to a god.

Imho, you shouldn`t get too confused by your stats, but by how the char feels.

[Elvith]

To what oaknott said, I'd like to elaborate of a couple things.

I began on dasaria with Elvith as a two weapon fighting wood elf, in the nwn campaign, it's all good cause he can deal out 2d6 sonic damage with each hit and have a good ac. When I got in to dasaria, I realised that he was nearly unplayable by level 11, the reason being he dealt 1d4+5 damage with each of his 6 attacks, and had an ac of about 26. In nwn2, he would be hitting for 1d4+8+2d6 damage and have an ac of around 35. Since two weapon fighting was the most nerfed thing in both nwn and dasaria I remade with a character less able to RP but powerful enough for me to enjoy questing, who had the 50-damage per shot at level 11 and the 35 ac that makes him playable. Without realising it, I had basically killed the RP elements of that character, he now had int 18 instead of 12, and was no longer a dextrous elf. Basically the RP concept got flushed. Now I'm looking at doing a ton of RPing with a basically new personality to get him back to where I had invisioned him when I started. Of course, now that I have very little time and there are very few people online, that RPing becomes very difficult to find.

Basically, in order to make deep characters, a character needs three main elements. His personality, his Class breakdown and his gear. For example, a chaotic good human fighter can be played in many ways depending on what gear he uses, and in some cases the exact same character, say a rogue, can choose to wear chain shirts and fight with a heavy shield and longsword in order to be a melee sneak attack rogue, or can wear leather, use a rapier and focus on sneak attacks and stealth mode, two very different characters, same stats and feats and skill points and build. Basically, low magic servers tend to contain Clerics, Eldritch Knights, Frenzied Berzerkers and Sneaky Types, you rarely see most of the prestige classes, and anything without magic weapon is a gimp unless it hits for 100 damage anyways.

SO basically, since it takes the devs ALOT of work to make higher magic gear, we may as well deal with it and think outside the box. I know I personally made a mistake RP wise, but it's OK to powerbuild if you make a concept first, just to maximise it's success, which is by the way the exact opposite to what I did.

Also, totally off topic, Atharin you should get kadmiel back in to action, with the ooc talks about factions this weekend you might have good use for a powerful paladin.

[Minuvas]

I highly disagree that a good character is based off of his "Gear".

Perhaps, a good character wears appropriate "Clothing" to set the atmosphere of his persona.


There is no exact thing that makes good character.

I know what doesn't make good characters, and thats the Stats of your Gear, and the Meta-systems that NWN has.

Those are the exact OPPOSITE of what create your character. Your "roleplay" should dictate your skills, feats, and stats. Not the other way around .

[Elvith]

I was talking about how good your characters do in combat, not how good they are to roleplay. The problem is that when there is a huge power distinction between certain types of characters, the good ones will be played the most, and there builds will look similar. With enough magic to make everyone able to do well with any character, people can step out of the boundaries of making sure their character doesn't suck and step further in to the area of character creation.

For example, I have this wicked idea for a barbarian character, who comes from the south and wields a scimitar and a sickle, and who also is a divine champion. At the moment, I'd say "scratch thatm it'd suck too much to bother with" with a +5 sickle that hits with 2d6 acid damage, who cares if he gets -2 for two big weapons, or has messed up stats, his +5 mithral armor is as good as anything a cleric or a wizard can conjure up. But since that isn't the case, I may as well make a frenzied berzerker, because they don't stink.

Basically, by the "three main elements" I mean that the personality is what you RP, the classes is what style you play, and the gear is how you play that style. When you limit how styles can be played, some styles become unplayable. Your roleplay should dictate your stats, feats, classes, but right now you can bust your character pretty easily with some good roleplaying. Ever ended up with something like a fighter/ranger/weapon master/divine champion? I did, and it wasn't pretty (referring to the multitude of times his guts were plastered all over the wall.)

[blackheart]

Yeah, I'm with Min here, gear has nothing to do with roleplay.

And as to gameplay, there are as many differing views as to what is too easy and what is too hard as there are players.

I think we've gotten off-topic a bit here.

[oaknott]

I highly disagree that a good character is based off of his "Gear".
. Your "roleplay" should dictate your skills, feats, and stats. Not the other way around .

I totally agree with everything Minuvas has said, however I disagree with balckhearts interpretation;

Yeah, I'm with Min here, gear has nothing to do with roleplay.

your roleplaying should dictate what gear you use, what feats you choose, what choices you make levelling up. So gear has everything to do with roleplaying. Consider the heated debate there has been on whether druids should wear metal armour, that is purely about roleplaying and gear. A power build will of course dictate the gear you choose, and that gets so dull and predictable.

In my view the characters that are most fun to role-play, and most fun to role-play with, are the flawed characters, the ones with those odd little quirks and weaknesses.