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Okay, so, let me clear something up: swords weren't super duper expensive in Europe. You're right about swords being a status symbol, but it's not because they were super expensive.

The first thing to remember when you talk about medieval weapons of war is most of these weapons are derived from a tool used for another purpose. A warhammer is derived from the common hammer; a spear could be used for hunting, as could a bow and arrow; a battleaxe is derived from the more common woodcutting axe. Daggers and knives could be used for more than killing, as could slings, and a shield is really just a means of protecting yourself from injury.

But a sword? A sword has one purpose, and that purpose is to take life away from other humans.

Swords weren't especially expensive, as I said. A regular footsoldier or a peasant in the medieval era could get his hands on one. The real question is whether or not he could waltz around town wearing one without being eyeballed weirdly. After all, what's some jumped up peasant doing with a weapon whose sole purpose is to kill? Shouldn't that right belong to knights? To wealthy men?

Weapons in general weren't all that uncommon. Actual usable spears, axes, shields, and, yes, swords weren't far from the hands of any army. Armor was the tougher thing to get your hands on, at least in the early medieval era. Vikings wearing chainmail were much rarer than Vikings wearing little to no armor. Footsoldiers throughout a lot of medieval history would be considered fortunate to have a gambeson or some padded cloth with metal rivets underneath. You can be darned sure, though, that a proper footsoldier would probably have a spear and a dagger thrust into his hands, or maybe a shield and something to whack someone with.

While I do agree that swords weren't super expensive. There is a difference between a good sword and a cheap sword. Proper swords, made with balance and quality materials would be far more expensive then picking one up at some second hand shop. Plus unless you were planning on a military career what does buying a sword really get you in the long run. As you said these weapons are made to kill whilst a spear or hammer have plenty of other applications.

Swords like any tool can be mass produced shoddily. Grips could be loose and with many rough edges, the blade could be duller then what a combat ready sword requires. Not to mention the use of proper materials, a sword made improperly can shatter, too much carbon and it's brittle, too little and it's flimsy. All of these little things add up to a higher price tag and like modern clothing swords had name brands, well kinda. You know a Knight had his made by the Kingdoms blacksmith, while a blacksmith who primarily makes horseshoes would likely have experience with weapons smiting.

The point is, though, that solid fighting weapons were accessible to the average man, even if only when he went to go on a march to war. A stout spear, a used sword, a fighting axe, a mace, a shield - all of these are perfectly reasonable weapons to own, and it certainly isn't unheard of.

You wouldn't go to war with a woodcutting axe. A woodcutting axe isn't very effective for warfare. You'd have a specialized fighting axe which COULD be used for other purposes in a pinch. You'd have a spear designed to kill people that you COULD use to go hunting. Your bow would quite possibly be higher poundage than a hunting bow. While at the beginning of the medieval era I'm pretty sure you'd see peasant levies with seriously crap-tier weapons, the point is you'd have a real weapon in war, not an improvised one.

You are right that the wealthy would have really expensive swords as a status symbol... but that doesn't mean that decent fighting swords were too expensive for normal men to own.

One thing you said was definitely true, though:

Any high ranking soldier had access to better arms and gear, this has always been the truth. If I was paid more I'd buy lifesaving gear. Proper swords, some good armor. A shield that's not made from a table.

Especially among mercenaries, the more experienced sorts would have the best armor and weapons, and they'd do exactly what you said: spend their money on getting better armor to stay alive.

Swords might have not been expensive, but peasants didn't have a lot of pocket change. That is the big reason why the average guy didn't carry swords - it would be a ridiculous expense, and ridiculous expenses weren't something peasants had the ability to go and do most of the time. Better to use an unnatural windfall to buy your wife a dress, or save it for a daughter's dowry, and just defend yourself with whatever other sharp object you inevitably own as a working man.

There is certainly a big difference between a game I'd enjoy playing and a game I'd enjoy GM'ing. Coming from a much smaller group than this, I never realized how tough it really was to find an rp you were into or people for your rps. I get ideas for characters often, and they usually just end up as npcs that I don't enjoy as much as I would simply because I hate myself as a GM. If I was allowed to roleplay under the GMerism of a similar, alternate universe version of myself, I'd be that one dude who sits at the corner of the table and goes, "Ugh... This farking guy... You people put up with this?". And then I'd be cranky and ech. DMPCs just don't boil my bacon. To me, I am probably the most boring person I'll ever meet, because I always know exactly what I'm going to try and do next, even if it's me pretending to be someone else. It's infuriating that other people can have fun with their imaginary friends and I can't!

Predictable though I am, I have made settings before that I'm very easily excited about and could probably GM for years, but people who haven't had the idea devouring their greymatter for long periods of time usually aren't nearly as excited about them, and interest can be hard to come by on any site. I guess this is kind of where fandom rps have the advantage: Everyone in it has been exposed to the marvelous idea and everyone is excited about playing it... But alas! If a fandom had the ideas I was interested in playing with, I wouldn't be toiling away at this keyboard trying to create something new for my abysmal self to explain to other people.

TL;DR: Going to an interest check feels kind of like going to a soup kitchen and worrying about whether or not you'll be able to find chicken. Putting up an interest check can feel kind of like putting up a cardboard sign and sitting at the edge of an alleyway giving everyone hopeful looks.

How is it possible that people have the ability to write up long, extended stories and as you get half way through you think to yourself, "HOW IS THIS SO BOOOORRRRIIINNNNGGGG TO READ?!?!?!?!" I'm not asking for every post to be non stop action or in depth detail, but there is a point when there is too much, or too little, told about the events taking place.

Maybe people just need to step away from the PC for 30 minutes when they finish writing and come back to reread their work so they can realise that their post can be improved. Formatting helps as well with paragraphs dedicated for certain topics rather than repetitive 1 sentence listings, or, splitting your massive super block of text into multiple paragraphs so that it doesn't feel like you're reading an essay.

Quality! Quality is number one, always! If you can make any reader desire more of your work you are doing it Right, and the reader won't care if it's a long post or a short post. A good writer can make any person read pretty much anything!

(Sorry for the vent)

Just had another 1×1 partner drop me without saying a word. I won't name faces



But frankly, I find it a slap in the face to just walk off.

When in a RP game, the GM offers creative freedom, the ability to allow you as players to direct the story, and you have an idea, so you put it forth into motion. It's not something that will hurt the GMs story, it won't affect any other player, you simply put the idea out there in hopes that the others will back you up and add their own ideas.

And then someone tramples on it with their own idea and overshadows your own.

I get that we all wanna be the hero of our stories, but I find it really rude to use the "creative freedom" gift given to us to push your co-writer's ideas into the ground just so you could have your character(s) in the limelight. If you have your own idea for how the arc should go, I think stating so in the OOC or even via private message would be a better idea than posting in IC and letting it rest there.

This doesn't happen often, but I noticed it in a game I am playing on a different site and it just irked me.

When in a RP game, the GM offers creative freedom, the ability to allow you as players to direct the story, and you have an idea, so you put it forth into motion. It's not something that will hurt the GMs story, it won't affect any other player, you simply put the idea out there in hopes that the others will back you up and add their own ideas.

And then someone tramples on it with their own idea and overshadows your own.

I get that we all wanna be the hero of our stories, but I find it really rude to use the "creative freedom" gift given to us to push your co-writer's ideas into the ground just so you could have your character(s) in the limelight. If you have your own idea for how the arc should go, I think stating so in the OOC or even via private message would be a better idea than posting in IC and letting it rest there.

This doesn't happen often, but I noticed it in a game I am playing on a different site and it just irked me.

Had that before with another RP. This one was doomed from the start with the GM abandoning it and some random member was like, "Right, I'm now acting as GM and this is how I wanna write the story." =_=

Some people do just want to be the center of attention...

Am i allowed to bitch about my experiences on a different site? Fuck it am going to do it anyway. Okay so here the thing i joined a different RP site and the first thing i did was make introduction post where i mentioned that i could also be found on this site and with said post i learned a pretty fucked up thing. i found out that Mods could EDIT and DELETE my POSTS. Thats just fucked up

Am i allowed to bitch about my experiences on a different site? Fuck it am going to do it anyway. Okay so here the thing i joined a different RP site and the first thing i did was make introduction post where i mentioned that i could also be found on this site and with said post i learned a pretty fucked up thing. i found out that Mods could EDIT and DELETE my POSTS. Thats just fucked up

Most mods can edit and delete posts, the difference is the ethical side of doing so.

Some sites are a little to precious about what they really are and believe that talking about other sites and linking to other sites will cause people to jump ship. What keeps people at a site is the community and they often forget that we as members can choose to go wherever we please on the net. I'm guessing you might not have high praises for that site anymore? If so, they they have done the opposite to what they wanted cause they started off by flexing their muscles and showing who's boss.

That's a reason why I like the Guild Mods over many others that I have seen or worked with. The guild mods, as spoken by Roo one time, are more like caretakers and will only go when their abilities are needed. They're not going to mass delete or mod posts, but just make their presence available to show that they are watching. Ever notice people get banned? You will if you look for them as their sigs and avatars will disappear, but they never issue a banned tag to name and shame the person.

EDIT: and yes I know I'm talking a lot... Nothing is happening in any of my RPs and I'm a bit bored of waiting to post. (Plus if I wanted to, I can post more often than this in general conversations xD)

You will if you look for them as their sigs and avatars will disappear, but they never issue a banned tag to name and shame the person.

They don't? I don't know about you, but I know at least one guy that's got the word "Banned" slapped all over his profile.

i found out that Mods could EDIT and DELETE my POSTS. Thats just fucked up

They can read your private messages as well.

Am i allowed to bitch about my experiences on a different site? Fuck it am going to do it anyway. Okay so here the thing i joined a different RP site and the first thing i did was make introduction post where i mentioned that i could also be found on this site and with said post i learned a pretty fucked up thing. i found out that Mods could EDIT and DELETE my POSTS. Thats just fucked up

Oh, yeah, that's par for the course in most places I've been to. If they're doing it for petty reasons like that, though, that is really shit.

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They don't? I don't know about you, but I know at least one guy that's got the word "Banned" slapped all over his profile.

The member put that there as a joke.

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The member put that there as a joke.

If they did, I'm not sure how they managed to put outside their custom title field.

@Edgeywell that us the first I've seen that. Normally when I've seen members given a time out it's just the loss of title, avatar and sit til they return. Could be a different setting for permabans.

If they did, I'm not sure how they managed to put outside their custom title field.

In all honesty, Beta had a rather notorious reputation and had been banned on the previous iteration of the Guild prior to Guildfall. I'm sure he saw the new site as an opportunity to come back and to my understanding had not changed a bit.

I am very mad at how people basically harassed someone for a controversial rp.

I'm not agreeing with the concept of the rp, but the responses were definitely harassment if you go by several people's standards

I'm not agreeing with the concept of the rp, but the responses were definitely harassment if you go by several people's standards

Assuming we're talking about the same thing, that was hardly harrassment. Posting an extremely controversial, glorifying, and immoral idea such as that, they got what they deserved. The only way I'd consider it "harrassement" would be if they got malicious PMs, which none of us have any way of knowing if they did or not.

Ignoring ethics, it was also against the rules. So.

probably shouldn't continue conversation on the topic but hey it's vague