First of all, I wish to make it clear that I'm not whining about how I got pk'd and it isn't fair. Now that that's outa the way...

My sibling (who is an INCREDIBLE RPer) has gotten very interested in this mud, and like every good sibling is most likely going to drag me along. Looks like a good mud, though I must admit that the size of it seems a bit overwhelming.

Anyway, looking at the site, I seem to get the impression that I WILL get killed quite a lot. Don't have too much of a problem with that. So questions. Do you need a good IC RP reason for the pks you make? What would be considered a good reason? Bad reason? For example, could someone hack me to pieces because I was obviously weaker or that they need spare change or that they just could. Do people go lopping newbies heads off just to get some more pks under their belt? Is such a thing allowed? What should I do if, after talking to the pker, they obviously have no good reason for doing so? Etc?

Concepts that I've always seen (I'm a bit familiar with a few other muds) is that you don't need to be told why you were killed ICly, but that the pker still needs a good reason. If they do, just brush it off and continue on. After you pk someone, leave 'em alone. Don't keep killing them unless they attack you. Is this sorta like that here?

Well, I've run out of possible questions and senerios...for now at least. Anyways, Thanks for any responses. I know a lot of things might depend on the senerio, but I'd appreciate if you do your best to put up with my lengthy questions (when I drink root beer, I type a lot and unconsisely).

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

You'll get killed a lot by people you didn't see coming, people that you did see that you were *sure* had/have no reason to kill you, and it'll be uber frustrating; especially if it's in a high-population place where you'll be looted down to nothing by a consortium of lowbie characters that will almost surely never make it past level 20. Do everything to avoid dying in Galadon, my friend. Unless a Tribunal member is in the room. Well, even then, avoid it.

You'll be frustrated as hell, and you'll want to ask the #@!#@$^& why they just did that. They probably won't respond, the forum pundits will brand you a whiner and say that your enemy is roleplaying, and that just because somebody isn't roleplaying the way you'd like, doesn't mean they aren't. Perhaps you are a whiner. Perhaps this silence is pretty awesome RP, but damned if it isn't difficult to understand, frustrating as hell, and difficult to move past.

Soooo... my answer is this: good IC/RP reason to kill somebody? You'll be killed because of who you're grouped with, because your killer wants to defend the mobs/monsters/whatever that you're "ranking" on, because they're evil, etc: because they can, in many, many cases. The justifications are endless.

After pking somebody: they can kill you as many times as they can find you, once you "unghost". It's frowned upon, but it's not going to be stopped, at least, not in that session. So go out of your way to not let them find you. If they empty your corpse, beware of offers to "give you your things back". Do it only as a ghost. Or unghosted with a thief friend in their range (any other big, scary friend will do, as well).

Good luck, find and use lots of teleport and recall potions/scrolls/staves (or try to perfect them in your free time), and run away from people you don't know, unless you're good and they're good. Unless you're a mage, that is. Or WANTED. Or a paladin. Or a dwarf... (there's really no getting around it, see?)

There just might be some posts under this one calling me a whiner c'est la vie!

And along these same lines... I am confused at the point of pk on CF. It doesn't seem to give exp, it doesn't seem to give you any kind of "warlord status" etc, and if a person has uber eq, then why kill too loot others?
I may have some of this wrong, but I have been curious for a while...
thanks

Brawny

CF is a roleplaying game. In CF, RP means playing a character and doing things as your character would do. PK is part of this system. So in short, you will PK someone because that is what your character would do in that situation. PK is part of roleplay. This is why it is a good thing that PK isn't encouraged with non-RP-related rewards. A skilled killer may be acknowledged by Immortals(if he plays the role well) or feared by mortals. Fame comes like real fame, it's not hard-coded.

Yep, PK is an integral part of CF. But it is in my opinion what makes the mud so great.

Firstly, read the "newbie 1", "newbie 2", "newbie 3" helpfiles. A lot of good tips to keeping you alive in there.

Secondly, Some personal tips: Expect to die often... at first! It will actually make you a better player.

So I'm a not-so-veteran player, but have been around the block a couple times, and have found two extreme types of players. Know these.
1) The newb (like yourself!) who might just attack anyone on sight without having a reason, full loot your corpse, bring three of his buddies along to help, and taunt you afterwards. This is the guy to avoid, as another newbie. But the good news is, you'll see him coming, and in general, this guy doesn't last for very long. Or learns to become the next type... So no biggie.
Then,
2) The seasoned veteran. He'll probably kill you too. You won't see him coming, and he'll do unspeakable things to you in one or two rounds leaving you swearing he must have a cheat code or something to do something like that to you before you can even type "flee". But. This guy will probably deliver some key RP back afterwards, maybe IC hints how to avoid him, and probably will leave you with your belongings (why would he want your noob gear?!) and not attack you again for the lack of fun your futile resistance provided. In an ideal world, we'd all be more like some of these guys. They get Immortal interaction, quest skills, tattos, leadership positions, and so on. Enjoy these deaths and learn from them.

Then all sorts of in betweens. But good RP begets good RP, and if you stick to YOUR role, you'll find more positive interactions, deaths less painful, and folks wanting to help you out. Trust me. I'm just learning this.

Most people here on CF I've found want to make Thera a better place vis a vis PK interactions... I mean, think of the types of people that would play an RP/PK based mud such as CF in an age where graphic shoot em up games are sooo good.

So enjoy, you really will be rewarded with solid RP based PK, even if the occasional jerk might rear his ugly head!

This is pretty much exactly what I think as well. Word up.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

I think its a good addition to our already sticky advice!

First all, you need to pay attention to the various race and class's that are out there. An evil duergar anti-paladin might not need much motivation other than pleasure for loppin off your head. Carrion fields is very dynamic though and you can roleplay any possible reason for someone to kill you.

You could be a goodie sitting in town as a Tribunal, and an outlander elf might attack you. There are so many diferent reasons and as long as you are rollplaying a char it is acceptable. If you for example rolled up a gnome which is supposed to be a wise and balanced race...and started attacking everything in sight, you will be punished by the IMMS. Same thing if you are just attacking out of character. You will be punished harshly.

You need decide when you roll up a char, what type of char you want to play. Evil bastards get way more flexibility in whom they can attack, because welll...murder is evil.

As far as killing someone again after you have killed them...its all fair game. The game is designed so you have 15 real life minutes to go gather some more armor and get the hell away from who ever is killing you. As you said, the game is huge, so if you plan to stick around and talk to the murderer, be expected to be gutted once again when you are corporal.

Best thing is to try play a neutral type char that is usefull to good and evil. A bard would play that role. Goodies wont be out hunting you. Some evils will. Other evils might ask for your aid while gathering, exploring...

Best thing is to write up a role and stick with it.

Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man.

Okay. Thanks. So skewering some goody-goody because I'm an evil sob and I hate that person is fine. Extreme racial/align differences seems fine. But just skewering just cause I wanted to kill someone or was bored or because I am a mass murderer is bad. Is this correct? I think what I'm really concerned about is not how/why/when I should kill someone else, because I got a good idea what any of my characters would do (I'm horrible at kill-happy/evil characters), but I guess I'm worried about what I should consider okay and put up with. I'm not too familiar with the rp/pk balance here and wanna get an idea before I start. I don't want to go bothering IMMs about this stuff while I'm playing and asking if that's all right.

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

If you are evil you can go around killing people because you are bored(if the character would). Mass murderers exist in the real world, so there is no reason not to be one in the game. Its a good idea, though, to have a role why your character is a psychotic mass murderer. Really, for the most part, you just have to step back and think...what would my character do? If your character would kill for that shiny sword, then go for it. If not, well...I would not. Alignment and race is a good start. If you join a cabal(and make sure your character would), you need to consider that as well.

Dying happens(though it may or may not be a lot, though expect the worse), just keep in mind that some people like playing evil characters and will kill you(or at least try, if they have a reason, even if its just for fun).

Also, play what you want. Don't play a warrior(or another suggested race) if you really don't want to. You are likely to die either way, so play that mage if it appeals to you(or that warrior if that does it for you).

-Alenysi

If you are evil you can go around killing people because you are bored(if the character would). Mass murderers exist in the real world, so there is no reason not to be one in the game.

Yeah. I can see what you're saying. I wasn't really thinking about a well-thought-out, rped phycopath on a killing rampage, burning and terrorizing the countryside. The idea does have a potential for abuse so by mass murderer, I was thinking more towards some jerk who powerleveled, kills everyone, refuses to rp, claims that he/she is because he went insane a couple years back, kills everyone again, destroys all their stuff, and just tries to make everyone he can kill miserable(annoying even if it is a game). The character is no more than a two-dimensional killer that sticks a sharp object at anything in sight. Now I really like to hear that that kind of behavior is not tolerated and the players/imms try to stop that.

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

If there is no reason(ie role, or semblence of a role) to be a psychopath, then I am fairly sure that in the end it won't be tolerated. This is a mandatory roleplaying game. Sure you can play a character that likes to kill everyone for some sick twisted reason, but its bound to be misunderstood if there isn't a role behind it(so if you, or anyone else, are going to be a mass murderer, the best thing to do is have a well thought out role behind it). People with no semblence of roleplaying aren't welcome(the immortals do understand when someone is at least trying).

There will be instances where people will do things that can be percieved as mean-spirited. Chances are they are playing an evil and probably have a role behind it, if not the immortals will deal with it one way or another.

-Alenysi

Even your neutral character will probably slaughter a gazillion innocent mobs to get their armor, or just to see what happens. ICly there's supposedly no difference between players and mobs (but that standard kinda fluctuates depending on the situation).

Anyway, you'll probably be killed by someone for a reason unknown to you. Just avoid assuming that it means they aren't roleplaying. The question "why did you kill me?" is usually bad enough (most roles indicate badassedness), but throwing a hissy fit and going OOC because you don't get an answer or because you're not satisfied with the answer is sillytarded. It used to make me multikill people, but I've since matured.

Read up on 'duo dimension' and go make that two-dimensional killer

Thanks for the responses. It is really helping get an idea on where this mud falls on the rp/pk balance.

As far as "Why did you kill me?", is that really so bad? I mean that, when you get killed five times by the same person, you'd at least want to make sure that they're killing you for some IC reason. Now, going up to this person kicking and screaming and demanding an explanation and oh how so unfair and stupid you are is on the bad side. But maturely inquiring as to whether there really was some motive seems to be alright to me. But throwing a hissy-fit and raising everyone's blood pressure is stupid. I think some people have forgotten to have a rational, calm discussion. I personally have forgetten how to throw a hissy fit, anyway...

A new question:
Is there an in-game written up concept/role? Sorta like how you have a written description?

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

There is the role command that you can use in game to write a role. Writing roles are optional, but they do help the immortals understand your roleplaying more readily(especially if its an atypical role idea). Even if you don't have a written role, you need to stay in character.

As far as asking, you can ask if your character would do so, but don't expect answers. Be wary though, if you ask that question, it can come off as whiny(you have to be very careful on saying it). I have had a character that always wondered why anyone would harm such a beautiful creature such as he(he wasn't exactly modest). Some people mistook his simple questions as whining. Basically, you can ask, just be careful about it.

-Alenysi

>> As far as "Why did you kill me?", is that really so bad? I mean that, when you get killed five times by the same person, you'd at least want to make sure that they're killing you for some IC reason.

Almost 100% of the time it is bad. You should never expect an explanation as to why someone attacked you, I personally like a little rp to go along with my pks but I dread when they take on the tone "Why did you kill me?". I have never heard this when it did not sound like a whine. But more so, you should not be looking for your assailants IC reason for attacking/killing you, it is not your responsibility to make sure they are within their role, assume they are. The more you worry about if someone else has a IC reason for doing something to you the more you are going to get frustrated when it is not obvious.

The best advice is to have fun, keep yourself IC at all times and not worry so much about the rp of others around you, you'll have more fun I guarantee it.

First of all, I'd like to make it -realllly- clear that I am not trying to whine or am having an attitude. One of the problems of the internet is that you can't hear someone's attitude and just must assume that it is there. I have no attitude (Kinda scary really). I am merely just asking out of curiosity and am attempting to delve out the opinions of the players here. And I really like critisizm, too. Okay...

Yeah..."Why did you kill me?" That is really a horribly worded, grossly over-simplified question to ask...But when it becomes worrying, like you get killed by the same person over and over and over and you just can't be sure why, is it really that taboo to ask what's up? Sure, if you do that EVERY gosh darn time you die, you're being annoying, but what if you think this guy just might be a jerk OOCly and is killing you for no good role/IC/RP reason? If I can't ask what's up, and not be a little bit curious when someone goes on a killing rampage(logs off, logs on, kill, repeat), then it would be incredibly easy for anyone to start lopping heads off to annoy people without consenquenses. If you ignore those people and assume that it is IC, then what's keeping an otherwise fun system from being incredbly annoying and horrible abused?

I know I may be a bit too concerned about what other people are doing, but when it is directly affecting my playing experience so greatly, I wanna know whether my tenth death that day was just so a jerk could claim another notch on his pk chart.

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

>Yeah..."Why did you kill me?" That is really a horribly
>worded, grossly over-simplified question to ask...But when it
>becomes worrying, like you get killed by the same person over
>and over and over and you just can't be sure why, is it really
>that taboo to ask what's up?

If you think your character would ask, go ahead and ask in the manner that they would. Some of my characters would be curious, others might assume they knew the answer or otherwise not ask for some reason.

Equally, as asking and the manner in which you do or don't should be driven by your roleplay, so should the responses you get. I've played a lot of very straightforward characters who would come right out and tell you (in essence) I'm a Battlerager and you're a mage, or whatever. I've equally played characters that either wouldn't answer or would give a deceptive answer.