A Forum Proposal: Urban Myth

[Nameless]

I'd like to, hereby, encourage players to ponder, think and create urban myths to be posted on the rumour thread on the RPG Board.
As in every world, Illarion also has its legends and myths. And since we are talking about rumours, we have some freedom to speak about them. And, also, through these myths the GMs may have some ideas for the world or quests.

Some hints:
- use locations and events you know, remembering that people from different cities speak and act different, as well as different races;
- don't be so clear: after all it's like an urban myth, a rumour; if we post it too clear, it would eventually sound true and many rumours are based on what people believe and hear, not in what they see;
- use fonts, speakers, rumour monks, give them some personality in the way they express themselves, this gives some credibility to the rumour, even though it may not be true. But it IS true to those who believe in it, yet;
- remember to give a brief description of the surroundings where the people are speaking about the rumour, maybe some clues on the myth could be there or at least to show where the rumour is being spoken. But remember: people travel, and so, does the rumours. A halfling from Greenbriar and an elf from Vanima, speaking of a rumour in Troll's Bane will create many versions of this same rumour in the city they are in and in their own cities. My advice is that you create a version for each city and maybe even on the roads to them, harbour, etc;
- and the last: try to make the people speaking sound truely. You see, the person REALLY believes in what he is pseaking about. So he must sound like this in his own way.


I hope this proposal served the purpose. I already see many players doing this, so I guess that this maybe wasn't that needed. Nevertheless, at least some hints are here.
Feel free to post your own hints around this matter here or criticize anything you disagree with.

[Falcon]

Well yes, i do like this idea just because it is what it is. For people IG playing Assassins, Ninjas, and just Bad people all around, we arn't feared. It does make me quite angry at this considering this fact.
When Assassins/ninjas/known criminals surrounded people. they were scared freaking shitless. i mean seriously, they probably pissed their pants. But these Urban myths might make us more feared.

Take my character "kiri" for example. He's a Ninja that was training three different people all at the same time with the orders of, "If you don't intend to kill me you wont get the knife" the knife having to be grabbed for the training session to be a pass instead of a fail. Many people walked by this, Kiri taking on three people with ease for five minutes. Even Athian "watches the group for a moment smiling."and yet, when he walked in town with his mask on and cloak so he looks nothing like the real person he is. people acted like they could care less. they weren't scared, infact, they didn't seem to care a masked man was just standing in the street, calmly watching the sky...Just doesn't seem right does it? People should be acting like they are afraid of him a bit. Gisella did this slightly, but i don't know if she was moving away because Kiri hits on her or if she is scared of him.

Maybe if there were urban legends out there, we will become a more feared force other than the people that-can't- take-on-the-tanks-because-they-kill-us-too-fast-to-even-stand-a-chance. just a thought.

[Keikan Hiru]

Keep in mind that these rumors are not meant to make your character appear special/superior or give him a boost in popularity or even to tell his background story.

Use them more like:
You picked up somewhere, that if you eat to many cherries in a row you are most likely to die a horrific dead all alone outside in the desert.

[Galim]

Maybe if there were urban legends out there, we will become a more feared force other than the people that-can't- take-on-the-tanks-because-they-kill-us-too-fast-to-even-stand-a-chance. just a thought.

My orc Kl'urk is wellknown to be your dead if you mess with him, and I didn't need rumours or "storys" at the rpg board, I used ingame appearance to have such a reputation.

And I hope you don't await me to roleplay fear with Kl'urk when he meets your char, lol. and don't whine when you mess with him and he smites your char easily. Thats what he is good at .

But I see a problem in that:


You make your character look like he is uber strong at the rumourboard and await that others roleplay with it and don't kill your char easily, what they can because your char has no skills. You really want that we roleplay that your char is very strong and can beat well trained chars?

Your char is NOT strong if he has no fighting skills. You can pretend to be strong, but never demand that we accept that he is strong without the fighting skills to backup it. A char with low fighting skills IS a warrior with low skills, he is NOT a welltrained and strong warrior. Accept the truth about that.

You can never say "My char is a master ninja and you have to accept that his role makes him possible to defeat your char so accept it and roleplay he defeated you" when your char has not really the skills to backup this.

See, just because you gave your own char some myth and reputation over the rpg board don't make him stronger. there are still strong fighters which have trust in their skills and won't be feared just because there is some strange guy with a mask .

So we should never forget that such rumours or urban myth don't give you the right to demand from others that they play along with you that your char is stronger than he really is.

[Misjbar]

"My char is a master ninja and you have to accept that his role makes him possible to defeat your char so accept it and roleplay he defeated you"

Where exactly did he say this?

[Moirear Sian]

On topic, no offense to Nameless, but some rumors are so absurd that only very few of my characters would ever speak of or spread such a rumor. More useful, imho, is when the "nonsense"-rumors are few and in between rumors that relate to actual events in game and "twist the truth a bit", but maybe that's just me. They're well-written though, my compliments. And maybe there's just not enough stuff going on in-game so that so many made-up tales are warranted.

That's half a cent of mine to start with.

[Llama]

You really need the RPG board to do that? I'm sure it is more passed around IG...

I mean thats what you'r supposed to roleplay right? I mean everyone knows that Kl;urk is scary, and yes some of the stories you hear about him are overexagerated... but leave that to other players to do IG...

[Moirear Sian]

You really need the RPG board to do that? I'm sure it is more passed around IG...

I mean thats what you'r supposed to roleplay right? I mean everyone knows that Kl;urk is scary, and yes some of the stories you hear about him are overexagerated... but leave that to other players to do IG...

Yes, I need the RPG board to do that since I can't be in my character's skin 24-7.

And I'm definitely not going to go wading through hundreds of posts on RPG board just to get back up to date if I was M.I.A. for an extended amount of time.

Somewhere, we all have to draw a line in between realism and gameplay.


/Edit:

I mean thats what you'r supposed to roleplay right? I mean everyone knows that Kl;urk is scary, and yes some of the stories you hear about him are overexagerated... but leave that to other players to do IG...

You see, this is a good example. I, for example, do NOT know that Kl'urk is scary. I met him only once in-game, and his roleplaying did not make him scary... granted, this was perhaps because it was while meeting Dravish again, but I could not have possibly fathomed what kind of character Kl'urk is, simply because I missed the past few months of playing. A simple rumor telling me, perhaps with twisted information, how dangerous and fearsome Kl'urk is, would have however allowed me to incorporate playing out any sort of fear or respect. The way it was, was a situation of indifference. Things like RPG board posts and rumors and what-not can help give extra dimension to a character for other players. --> Ultimatively resulting in more or better RP in-game.

Another half of a cent of mine.

/Edit2:
Slightly off-topic...

Well yes, i do like this idea just because it is what it is. For people IG playing Assassins, Ninjas, and just Bad people all around, we arn't feared. It does make me quite angry at this considering this fact.
When Assassins/ninjas/known criminals surrounded people. they were scared freaking shitless. i mean seriously, they probably pissed their pants. But these Urban myths might make us more feared.

Take my character "kiri" for example. He's a Ninja that was training three different people all at the same time with the orders of, "If you don't intend to kill me you wont get the knife" the knife having to be grabbed for the training session to be a pass instead of a fail. Many people walked by this, Kiri taking on three people with ease for five minutes. Even Athian "watches the group for a moment smiling."and yet, when he walked in town with his mask on and cloak so he looks nothing like the real person he is. people acted like they could care less. they weren't scared, infact, they didn't seem to care a masked man was just standing in the street, calmly watching the sky...Just doesn't seem right does it? People should be acting like they are afraid of him a bit. Gisella did this slightly, but i don't know if she was moving away because Kiri hits on her or if she is scared of him.

Maybe if there were urban legends out there, we will become a more feared force other than the people that-can't- take-on-the-tanks-because-they-kill-us-too-fast-to-even-stand-a-chance. just a thought.

It's been argued in the past that asian influence is not supposed to be anywhere in Illarion. Similarities to such concepts like ninja or samurai are however present in the setting. Samurai, obviously is closely in line with many concepts of "warrior" in several of the fantasy humanoid cultures. Ninja, is most likely to be attributed to the role of "assassin" and predominant in the human race; inheriting martial arts and technique teachings from a plethora of the cultures. And when we speak of martial arts, it's normally combat training received from elder masters of combat, hence older player characters who trained newer ones. I.e., Sian trained under Grunith Shuth, Zeshyrr, Aristeaus, and Konstantin. Quite a resumee to boast with for martial arts, yes?

How people react to a certain character, can't be demanded, because it would require for you to know 100% of all backgrounds of all characters to put all acting into relation. But that's a story for another day.

On topic with the same quote though, in my eyes it's a good example of how to put the rumors thread to practical use. There are NPCs, and they are rather static in the game - one could assume that rumors are exclusively heard from NPCs. Things like rumors can reflect actual in-game events and happenstances and offer things to talk about in-game without going overboard with some fairy tales that provoke nothing but the reader's smile.

/Edit3:
Please allow me to dissect the most recent post on that thread:

Two young women are speaking, sitting under the Elder Tree of Troll's Bane. They speak between giggles and blushes.

"Did he really asked you that?"
"Hihi. He did. I am so happy"
"But why does he want to enter the Eldan Monastery with you?"
"Oh, haven't you heard the stories? It is said that if two people enter the Monastery, they will be forever together"
"Oh. Hihihi"

A superficial "rumor" at best, as it has absolutely no substance to it. It serves perfectly to dictate mood and atmosphere, but nothing else.

In Varshikar, two men wearing heavy capes and hats, sweating a lot, and drinking water in abundance, are talking very tired. Their clothes are dirt with sand.

"I ain't going there again. Never again"
"Calm down, calm down. That was only our eyes, too much sun on our heads it seems"
"No. I know what I saw. That desert is famous for its stories about mirages. That wasn't only the sun, mate"
"Hear me, I saw it too and---"
"Then why don't you believe me when I say the desert itself tried to swallow us? Those people were made of sand, you saw yourself!"
"Mate, probably someone made them of sand to trick like we were tricked. The heat did the rest"
"They were moving... I saw it..."

This too, has basically no substance. There are no points of attack to handle it off in dialogue in-game; no names, no exact locations. However, it too, contributes greatly to atmosphere.

In Vanima, two well dressed elves stare blankly at the forest around the city.

"So, he did die"
"I would not call that a real death. He took another path, perhaps"
"Yes..."
"I never heard of our people deciding to be one with the Great Mother"
"I've heard this only once. That an elf can become one with Nature when he reaches a certain age... Well, we have a long way to get to know"
"Indeed. I wonder what it must feel to turn into a tree"
"Hmm, maybe we should ask him. For that is what he became now..."

Yet another without actual substance. By the end of reading the short rumor, a hint of writer's poetic irony shines through the rumor and debunks its credibility. It is a fantastic contribution to the mood of a fantasy world, but it's basically useless because most people wouldn't talk about it unless they want to make a fool of themselves or have absolutely nothing left to talk about, other than exchanging superficialties about a marriage in a monastery or some creatures from the desert.

All in all, greatly-written rumors without a doubt. They are an awesome contribution to the game. Still though, they leave an aftertaste of offering little to nothing in the actual game. Bottom line, all kinds of "rumors"-posts are good and fine in my book, but at the end of the day, their actual contribution to gameplay is marginal. It eludes me why people make such a fuss and try to dictate how the thread should be used, or rather, how people should put their imagination to good use.

End of the day: It's up to me whether I actually even give a hoot about what's written in the rumors thread, or not.

ps. This epic of a post was written in between different sessions of playing Illarion. More good food for thought.