I was wondering, I really like playing brothers in D&D with friends of mine, is their anyway to make this stick without being bad RP in CF?

Thanks
-A_druiD-

I think that within the game, not knowing who is playing who, if this sort of thing occurs between characters, it is not only ok, but actually a good thing.

For example: Vashka posted something on the Battlefield about his closeness to Kalmah and to Xandrya. He felt that they were like the brother and sister he never had. Zekasiq and Aneriasha developed a close relationship that started out as a romance and ended up as a lesbian relationship. Sylvrin felt a real closeness to Zekasiq as they interacted together and she often referred to Zekasiq as her brother/sister depending on Zek's gender at the time (see battlefield posts for details.) "Best friends" are mentioned many many times in the Battlefield posts. That kind of close relationship can and often does develop between characters within the game. Cabals can also
encourage this sort of thing to happen.

The difficulty with what you're suggesting is that the relationship would be pre-planned OOC. This detracts from the RP sponteneity for one thing and can actually interfere with the way you want to develop your character...especially if you discuss the details of your character development outside the game. You would know who is playing your brother and could use that to your advantage in ranking and PK situations as well. I'm not saying that you necessarily would do that...only that it would be VERY TEMPTING. And anyone who saw that the two "brothers" were always together would assume that you are permagrouping and cheating in some way...even if you aren't. That could be very detrimental to you in the long run.

Oh how I miss her :-(

Nice description of how we developed, btw. :)

I've seen the brothers thing work amazingly well for party unity in D&D games, but party unity isn't quite the same thing on CF. So, largely the reasons others have given say why it's bad.

But, it brought to mind an example of two brothers from CF past. In this case it worked well, especially since they didn't know each other out of character. They were brothers because their mentor ended up adopting both of them. Although they were friends and cabal-mates, they almost never grouped, and didn't even care to stay within range to do so much of the time.

However, the part that worked especially well was the legacy that grew from there: An entire family line. I almost joined it twice, but I wasn't ready. The adoption method largely bypassed the need to have OOC contacts, and skipping a generation before playing another family member avoided needing direct knowledge of previous characters. I'm not sure the Imms would like the idea now, but it worked great then. Probably because the members tried very hard to keep it a solely IC thing.

BTW, the brothers were Darwin and Daeldron Windgust.

If we allowed this sort of thing, it'd be a constant excuse for permagrouping and the "I seem to go way out of my way for these two guys I'm always with" syndrome. That kind of cohesion is unfair to players who don't have one or more RL people watching their backs.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

But how about you don't know the guy IC, roleplay with him a lot then one day you are like 'Man, you are like a brother to me!' and you act like he was your little brother...will they be denied? Or perhaps someone walks around ask ask ''Are you my brother?'' though this one is quite...uh well not that good.

Just ideas....don't be mad at me!

Beerdude the man with the Canadian beer! Oh yeah!

The original poster was talking about pre-arranged ties with characters played by his RL friends. That's very different from what you're describing.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

But would it be ok? I may have thought about some idea...

Oh yeah!

Look at what playing brothers means:

You are probably talking about a tight knit group (even if you aren't grouped) who can rely on each other.

Unfortunately, no one else gets this without risking betrayal etc.

It's good that you asked here rather than just do it and whine if you get slapped down for it, but a general rule is that you shouldn't know who is playing who (apart from elf bards who are all played by Gorach or a clone of Gorach created specifically to increase the number of elf bards). If you don't know who is playing who, then you wouldn't know for these guys to be your brothers. Ultimately, the important thing is that knowing who plays who shouldn't affect how you interact with them. (ie pk your ooc friends just like they were anyone else.)