I actually don't have a good name for this yet, but what I'm thinking of is a temporary, 1-2 line RP tag that characters could use to give Immortals an idea of what they are trying to RP at the moment.

This would be something shorter and more current than the role which fills a larger framework place in the characters life and keep roles from becoming spam fests (i.e. Today I went and meditated on the existence of navels and decided they do not exist, so I'm hunting down anything that has one to make my belief a reality). It would disappear at log-off and could be changed by the PC at anytime. It could also give the Imm an idea of the PC's emotions (in despair, etc..)

I was thinking this along the lines of supporting RP that is often done while alone so the Imms don't constantly put into notes: I wish I'd see this guy doing something, anything!

Hey, it's just an idea.

put a string in your prompt.

< hp m mv MUST FIND DWARVEN ALE>

Even though I dont play anymore at this time, looking back this is a feature I would have loved on my old characters. Especially when you play roles that dont have straight forward goals with "easy to spot" RP.

From my limited knowledge in coding, I dont think it would be at all hard or timeconsuming to code for someone who is good at it.

I'd use it as a mortal and an Imm. I think it should have a shorter duration than log-off; if you do a marathon 3 hour session and forget to change it, things might look a bit odd. Maybe 24-hours in game? That seems like enough time to do whatever it is you're thinking about doing.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

While I enjoy the basic concept of the idea, I have to say that we have a problem with folks writing descriptions and roles as it is...is it reasonable to expect enough folks would use this? Would the coding/time/effort just be for a few, or would it sweep through the player ranks as the greatest invention since sliced bread?

Many players log on, look for something to kill, don't speak, kill a couple times and log off. Personally, I would love to see a Herald (I love Heralds!) write: Today I am going to never set foot out of the Inn, do lots of silly things and see if I can get some of that muddsexxor stuff!

It 'might' work and it is a decent idea, but would it be worth the effort?


eshval@carrionfields.com

A whole new day, a whole new set of possibilities. - MacGyver

Characters, for the most part, are walking through a world full of strangers. There wouldn't be much reason for them to stop and talk to random mobs, because most of the time they are on a mission. Also, as I said below, standing there talking to yourself is just kind of stupid. I realize that if we talk it helps imms see motivation, but in our world, if a person talks to themselves you avoid them. Last, a lot of cf characters tend to be loaners/morose/self involved. These are the last people that would stand around ####ting with a mob, or yelling out TAKE THAT, AND THAT!. The mud seems to mostly accomodate overt character personalities, leaving introspective to the way side.

You say that we have problems with folks writing desc/roles right now, and yes, there are some that aren't very good at all, HOWEVER: what about the good ones? What about the ones that are *trying*?

I think it would be a useful tool for imms watching for rp since they could quickly get a snappy idea of what the character is trying to do at the moment, and then quickly evaluate whether they're interested in continuing to watch. And another tool that helps make a player *THINK* about their rp is always a good thing right?

It may take a little effort, but I don't see how it can be anything but good.

I would think any with a good role wouldn't need this. While I agree it is another tool for imms and players, I also find myself wondering about the cost-benefit. Good rp folks, folks with decent roles and updates really wouldn't seem to benefit from this since its pretty easy to see what is going on.

Personally I am not against the idea, but is it needed?

Role chapters tend to be outlines or milestones or philosophical underpinnings that define the characters general outlook. At least mine usually were. If they were kept up with the changing demeanor, goals, quests, etc.., you'd end up with 20 or 30 chapters.

I guess I was thinking of this being more along the lines of giving an Imm an idea of what the PC was trying to accomplish when things might not have been obvious but were part of an RP concept.

I'm not a coder, so I do not know how difficult it would be. I just know I've had periods in a characters life that didn't really need a role update (which is permanent) but could've used something to let the Imms know (if they were interested) kind of what I was up to.

For instance, say I had a priest-class PC that wanted to make some specific sacrifices of a bunch of mob parts. So I went out, killed them, made the sacrifice, rested, repeated all in the hopes of getting noticed by whatever god I was sacrificing to. If the empowering IMM just randomly snooped for a bit, they might just see someone out ranking solo and miss the sacrificing ritual part. If the Priest prayed every time they did a ritual, the pray channel spam would be annoying to you. But with the tag, I could put in TAG: making sacrificial ritual of entrails and body parts to feed the BEARS in honor of an old ranger. You could snoop for a bit, see what they were doing and respond accordingly if you chose to. I wouldn't need a whole role chapter for it because it was just one short period in the priest's life and next time I might be carving runes on a rock or making mud totems or dancing in the blood of the fallen.

If you had a specific revenge in mind, it might give the Imm watching an understanding of why you were sacrificing all those newbie breads while leaving them with just their boots and a wooden dagger to run home with so all the girls would laugh at their nakedness :P

Anyway, that's the general idea, thanks for all the positive feedback.

Can you tell it's the end of the semester and I'm supposed to be grading final exams? :P

To be honest, there are plenty of times I'd quite like to add to my role, but simply cannot take the time out from pk/equiping/rp'ing to do so.

I've actually died before because I needed to quit, ran into town to quit, and couldn't because of my half-completed role, whereupon my enemy bashed me to death.

Some would prefer this. You aren't exactly going to write a role chapter that says, 'I'm pouting today over this and this' or 'today I feel like eating fish'.

...I also find myself wondering about the cost-benefit.

How long would something like this take to implement? I'm willing to bet less than an hour since it doesn't get saved at crashes/logouts. If something this simple takes longer than that CF is in desparate need of refactoring.

I'd imagine its like 15 lines of code. Just an additional field in the player structure and a getter/setter, then two token/command entries - one for players to set it with and another for imms to retrieve the values.

I could be wrong, just my initial impressions.

Allows imms to be omniscient without the player breaking role. You're spot on about tell self, it implies someone is watching at that very moment when you should be able to communicate your 'upcoming plans' for the immediate future without breaking role and without having to spam yourself.

.

An inner monologue that imms could snoop and see. This would be great for morose loaner characters that don't want to be seen as talking to themselves.

n/t

Truth be told, I'd imagine it wouldn't be that hard to just alias "think" to "tell self" server side.

Then at least you could taut it as an additional roleplay tool to the masses over at TMC.

Is that it would make sense that you could, for example, think while deafened.

tell self Hrrm.

You step out of the shadows.

You tell (yourself) 'Hrrm.'


Naw, I'd rather keep my stalks, RP can wait, thank you very much ;-).

I guess I didn't know you could tell to yourself. It's somewhat counter intuitive.

There's always "tell self".

This was a way to kind of give some momentary background to the Imm if they were snooping in between 'tell self'. Which even hard-core RPers would have a tough time doing continuously and originally (meaning no canned macros or triggers).

Say I was playing a silent, solo ranger type. I might be stalking or waiting on my prey for a good while and seemingly doing nothing. I could hang an appropriate tag on so the Imm, if they wished, could interact with something like an echo 'The breeze brings scent of a fresh orc kill, far to the east'.

Or something along those lines.

If caballed, I might have a tag that says something like 'waiting for the enemy to lose interest so I can surprise them with a lightning raid'
while hunting or ranking a bit. It would let the Imm know I was keeping my eyes out for the enemy and then planning a strike, rather than just ignoring them.

Enough from me, it was just an idea :P

nt

nt