Conflict?

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HolyKnight
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Conflict?

Post by HolyKnight »

We've had the VBU for going on four months now and generally speaking as far as PvP conflicts goes there's been very little and certainly nothing major. Now the Games certainly did a fair job of stimulating angst amongst the populous. I could see the Don really pressing buttons and I know that this will come to a head sooner or later. However, I want to pose a more open discussion about effective ways to generate conflict: be it GM or PO influenced.

With every character I have created to play a darker alignment I always run into one major problem, finding other likeminded "bad" guys. I use the term bad very loosely because we all know there are varying shades of grey and black. Soon I will introduce a character that could have potential to cause conflict, but before I do that I really want to do this creatively and collectively with a group of POs. If you are interested post here or PM me. Then we can set up an IRC chat or group IM.
Flux
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Flux »

I would personally say there is nothing more shoddy and boring than a preplanned evil.

You often end up with some stagnating "Oh, guys, we're so evil" cult, that really do nothing but cause some rift in the playerbase based around pking each other, or these 13 year old kid's fantasy characters that walk around as if they're really cool because they wear a hood and speak in a gruff voice to everyone, and are "blatantly evil". Evil happens best organically. The problem is.. before we had a good reason for evil to happen organically - conquest, but obviously scope for that has decreased with the VBU.

It has been discussed prevbu about bringing the next big villain in at some point, but it hasn't been touched on quite yet. I think perhaps war might happen before that. That depends too, because, as I said, I want it to happen organically. There is tension though between the Don and the Queen already. Some more of a push in that direction could lead to big things.

Regardless, I am really much much more a fan of a villain that blends in as a player character for a few months and makes real relationships that becomes a villain. Not one who just strides in wearing a t-shirt that says "I'm with Evil ^" and starts slaughtering the masses.

But, don't forget, you can talk to the gms about quest requests if you have a plan for your char. It's often nicer if it comes from player chars than quest chars, as I said, because some evil stranger rolling into your land is a boring concept. I'd much rather the evil comes from players, and.. again.. organically. I can already see an arc developing which could end up with a few people turning naturally without being dramatic about it and forcing it.
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Raelith
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Raelith »

Flux wrote:I would personally say there is nothing more shoddy and boring than a preplanned evil.
While I agree with this, the same could be held true for the other end of the spectrum... The inhuman humans... The ones that would rather hug you than fight you if you punched them in the face...

Also, Holyknight, I'd take heed from Fluxs words.
Don't even bother to try to advertise yourself as a bad guy as you really won't last long...

I have always had plans and ideas on paper about characters that broke from the norm - I wouldn't say bad or evil as, in my opinion, they weren't.

Just remember... The moment you do something bad/evil/immoral then the rest of the island will know about it so make sure that your char is either a) temporary or b) thick skinned
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HolyKnight
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Re: Conflict?

Post by HolyKnight »

I am not talking about preplanned evil. Just like when you go to create a character you have to setup his or her background, description, and personality I would like to do that with a group of POs. As a PO and RPer I don't want to waste my time creating a character that is tempered toward a bandit (or whatever) and waste weeks/months looking for someone to posy with IG.

I would much rather be a mature adult and just brainstorm with a few interested POs that way everyone can get a little something they want. That's no different than what we do IG as RPers, it is all give and take. In all my years IG there has been one long lasting community of anti-hippies, the Temple. I -never- wanted to play a cultist so for years none of my characters matched to adequately RP in that alignment.

If people are interested in creating something a little different I am just saying I am willing to partake.
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Achae Eanstray
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Achae Eanstray »

Possibly it is confusing what you had in mind?
I have the impression.. and correct if wrong.

1. You would like to see how many people are interested in forming a guild related to thievery/kidnapping/assassination or (fill in the blanks)
2. You don't want to set in stone what the guild will do wishing input from those that join
3. There is too much "nice" so would like to counterbalance that and want to see if others are interested.

My only thoughts at the moment are realizing the player base at present.. you get enough players to join something like that you would not have too many 'innocents" to pick on. If simply monster hunting there are already guilds for that.

The game itself discourages the formation of "outlaw groups" because a town can simply ban them therefore they are waiting around outside of town for the random "victim"

Any or all of these Ideas may not be what you had in mind however so the random thoughts are mote. :)
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HolyKnight
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Re: Conflict?

Post by HolyKnight »

The scope of what I am bringing up is not that narrow. I don't care what the POs do ig, doesn't even have to be a guild. They don't have to be thieves, assassins, or the like. They can be just a bunch of drunk rough necks that like to cause a ruckus or a band of brigands that ambush people on the roads. Or it could be some politically ambitious tyrants willing to cutthroat their way to the top. Just something edgy the possibilities are limitless.

I know there are plenty of guilds for dungeon crawling and the like but this is nothing like that. If there are some POs that want to scrap together something fun I am willing.
Semtex
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Semtex »

So if I understand this correctly, you want to create a character with the assurance that there will be others with similar attitude to your character, so that you know there may be the potential opportunity to become friends one day and enjoy doing the 'naughty' deeds as a team with common interest?

If so, I personally think that's a good idea, since we lost all of the bad guys somehow. Try and motivate each other.
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Hew Keenaxe
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Hew Keenaxe »

First of all, don't even try.
Why? Because their is little if no IG rewards for doing it. You will end up being shunned by all. Then where will you go?
Second, do it.
Why? Because it leads to more interesting RP than "DO you have apple pies for sale? "You do? How much?" "Blah blah blah"
My main is what some think of a bad guy, but I don't. He is a troublemaker. Even with his few redeeming virtues, life is still hard for him. A true bad man? Well he has no chance in the long term.
Even with our new outlaw refuge, outlaws can't prosper long if cut off by the rest of our world.
Best to bow your head and take your licks, then try to be evil on the side, undercover, or just be stupid like Hew does.
Still, in the end, you have to belong somewhere to survive. This is fitting since this is a co-operative RP game.
Damien
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Damien »

If you want to play bandits, i propose a monster-free little camp/cave area in the forest. Cultists and "evil" temples are so "sucked out" that it's boring to the point where older players start facepalming (or, even worse and less healthy, facedesking) and shout "oh no, they'll end up being the nice evil necromancers from the neighbourhood again that sacrifice people and then tell others to accept their "faith" because of religious freedom"... Well. You know what i mean. Such groups also tend to attract some wanna-be-cool-kids who end up causing a ruckus when their character is in danger of being caught because they were not careful (at all), and thus throw a bad light on the whole group. A leader of such a group must be very active and keep especially his younger fellows "in check" for it to end up a fun thing.
However, the good thing with bandits is that bandits don't necessarily need to be "evil". They can have different motivations. While some may just tend to be the general scumbag or scoundrel who don't like to work and prefer living a good life on the cost of another man's missing coin, others may have higher ideals. Some may rebel against things like cadomyr's nobility, against runewick's magocraty or against Galmairs finance-rulism.
The hemp necktie isn't a good place for a bandit base because all other town leaders do know exactly where it is and it's very easy to reach even with the actually too monstrous map.

Which brings me to the idea of using scripts for giving the badguys a goal.
One could put in a daily-ish quest for bandits to steal food from a runewickian storage house, some ressources from a galmairian safehouse and other ressources from a cadomyrian storage house. A type of "capture the flag" game-ish thing with bags of stuff... perhaps someone should propose that to the devs.
All hail the bandit king.
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S'rrt
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Re: Conflict?

Post by S'rrt »

The villains that are rare but all the more demandable are the ones who can be subtle. They have a big, scary goal but they'd work their way toward it eventually through charms, good looks and fashion, suggestion, manipulation, good ties and a bit of deceit. The kind of guys who you consider your friends before you realize you're helping them carry out some evil plan. If you ever realize it.
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pharse
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Re: Conflict?

Post by pharse »

The current setting encourages to cause trouble at other factions, not in your own faction. Mind that for your future plans. This way you will still have a place to go and maybe cause even war between factions.
Don't shit where you eat ;)
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forty
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Re: Conflict?

Post by forty »

pharse wrote:The current setting encourages to cause trouble at other factions, not in your own faction. Mind that for your future plans. This way you will still have a place to go and maybe cause even war between factions.
Don't shit where you eat ;)
Would be well and true if there wasn't a convenient button to just ban disliked individuals from towns, teleporting them away from the gate without a chance to, i don't know, fight the guards, sneak into town, cause some spying or other kind of trouble. Cause trouble in faction enough - be denied entry on an uncompromiseable level. So it becomes a war of bans.

We got that going now pretty much. Plenty of it.
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Jupiter
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Jupiter »

You don't have to be within a town to cause trouble to a faction. Be creative :P
And who knows, maybe we will sooner or later have the possibilities to sneak behind guards or to cover yourself.
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Ufedhin
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Ufedhin »

Jupiter wrote:You don't have to be within a town to cause trouble to a faction. Be creative :P
And who knows, maybe we will sooner or later have the possibilities to sneak behind guards or to cover yourself.

good idea this,talk to an alchemist about a disguse :wink: .
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Hew Keenaxe
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Re: Conflict?

Post by Hew Keenaxe »

See told you, don't even try.
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