RolePlayerGuilt

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Opinions

@Dervish

Dude, this just made my day.

Now I have to go above the scale and give you 6/7.

What makes a great GM?

A lot of valid points have been covered, here's some extra.

I'll mostly be dealing with technical matters. For the creative component (ie. story writing), remember that open world is merely an illusion. Unless there are specific mechanics supporting contradictory posts, your RP will go down linearly.

When in doubt of your creative abilities, consult successful RPs. Skim finished games, ask reputable GMs for advice; there is no shame standing on the shoulders of giants.

■What are great ways to keep players engaged both IC and OOC?

As much as the GM gets players to engage, the players have to stay engaged themselves. If they keep writing low effort posts and not actively participating, perhaps its better they don't participate at all.

■Should the character submission be the only factor in accepting players?

Absolutely not. Being a posting member is a duty, not a right. A GM should involve personally during the application process. That is, talk to the player, see the way they interact. In addition, let the candidates mingle in OOC before launching. That way, a basic filter is applied to the good, bad and ugly.

Evaluating the players should be on a continuous basis, which means, once they're in, they'll have to prove they belong in. When someone's quality (IC and/or OOC) drops, the GM should consider dropping the said player as well.

■How do you deal with the players who have seemingly disappeared from the RP?

Safe to say, the wise users above me have provided various ideas. The better question is, would you let them back in?

■In the same vein, how do you effectively prevent the above from hindering your other players?

As a GM, the game should be robust at its design. Meaning, the progression must not be hindered by individuals. For example, a game could rely on replacements. Keeping the interest check bumped and inviting potential new players at intervals. Making player characters expendable helps as well. I know some RP depend on every character filling vital role(s). But even for those, consider that is it really necessary to have the same guys the entire time?

Whatever strategies the GM employs to deal with hindering players, they have to be prepared in the first place. People will lag, drop out and act (willingly or unwillingly) against the greater interest.

■What is the most graceful way to end your RP due to inactivity or (*gasp!*) your own loss of interest/time?

Appoint a co-GM, set a line of succession. I've seen threads abandoned by the OP resurrected later, solely on the wills of the players. Robust systems have redundancy; even if the GM never imagine quitting out, appointing the next-in-line won't hurt. True mishaps are always unexpected, and you'll never know when your co-GM catches you fall.

Edit: The dedicated GM stays loyal to his/her thread(s), and avoid biting off more than they can chew. Impatient folks start new RPs every time a light bulb goes off in their heads. This is creating fillers, the instant gratification unsustainable for the long term. Instead funneling the ideas into a new game, consider adapting them to existing ones.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Do'Karth has already made Solveig blush minutes after waking up from her mini-coma, then he goes and tries to steal her warrior-crush? This'll get pretty... Hairy.

Heh.

@Leidenschaft

Watch out, we got a comedian over here.

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Fixed up the title some more, let me know what y'all think.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Sophocles wrote about a mentally scarred Greek warrior in Ajax. That was like, 400 BC. I think the guy you're talking about is Geoffroi de Charny. Good ol' Jeff gone through some seriously rough shit, like POW'd twice and dissecting an enemy leader and hanging the remains on castle gate.

The crusades must of been pretty scary too. I remember reading something like, 1/3 of all crusaders died before reaching Jerusalem. Not to mention the other joys of expeditionary warfare; diseases, lack of provisions, uncomfortable climates etc.

One thing the knights didn't have was the Geneva Convention. Sure, there's the code of chivalry and everything related to it. But some of the stress a modern soldier faces when causing collateral damage is the social taboo brought on by treaties and conventions signed in recent times. In other words, with no governing laws telling you massacres are wrong, there's less pressure as a whole to be repulsed by it.

Comparing knights and the warfighters of today, I think we have some parallels. Sure, the knight is raised from birth to fight. But the US Army private in Vietnam receives basic training to condition his mentality. Although that's nothing compared to a martial lifestyle, the basic training builds upon the experiences of many generations and is much more condensed. Remember that much of the historical accounts have been lost to time, and for a subject not scientifically investigated until WW1, it is especially prone to be overlooked.

Anyways, we're on a hot topic and not one easy to stomach. After all, we're writing fiction about a fictional, fantasy world. Straying a bit from 100% historical accuracy is perfectly acceptable.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Thread or PM works too, if we can't get everyone on the same time. Chat just feels more game like than creative writing.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

So guys, shall we give Tamrielic mafia a go? My plan is to do it on chat, so its almost real-time and requires very little planning. It should last 20 minutes to 1 hour. We need a total of seven players, excluding the GM, to play.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

The gathering of Dawnguards widened as three nobodies interrupted their execution. None of them were expecting Sevine to just walk up and brashly throw their boss to the ground. The instance she did that, four crossbows instantly trained on her. None of them shot though, in fear of any bolts penetrating and hitting their leader. Then the Imperial. Sagax, who looked like he toured the Deadlands, dragged himself into the fiasco. Vampire hunters looked at him as if he was a stray urchin, rather than a proper threat. Finally, Rhasha the Khajiit budged in. His presence was a diplomatic one. If not for his convenient intervention, some itchy trigger finger would have slipped.

"The Khajiit has a point." A muffled voice came from the circle. Lowering the crossbow and taking off his helmet, the Dawnguard revealed a Dunmer man. "I know her, she was there since the beginning. She stormed Volkihar Keep with Isran."

"So was I." The Nord man, their de facto leader, countered. "Stay away from the meddling outsiders." He warned the Dunmer.

"You!" Turning to Sevine, he aimed the crossbow square on her chest. "Get yourself and your friends out of here. And for the record, I'll shoot you if dare to lay a finger on me again."

Something unexpected followed. The Dunmer stepped forward and took the Nord's crossbow away in one swift motion. The men stood face to face, neither of them backing down. Sensing a crisis at hand, another Dawnguard spoke up, then another. Soon, everyone was taking sides. Six sided with Dunmer, two more remained with the Nord. They formed two lines, sandwiching the meddlers and the vampire in between.

"If you must," The vampire perked up, jarring everyone back to their original question. "Take me back to the fort. Isran and the others will judge me."

"Very well." The Dunmer nodded. Moving to the vampire's side, he shot a glance at the Nord. "We've decided. She shall be in the guards' captivity until we are able to depart."

"Munoel, you'll regret this." The Nord warned. "Your sister must turning in her grave. Her sibling sympathetic for her killer." He threw up his hands in frustration, then taking back his weapon and paddled away with his followers. Before he disappeared from view, the Nord made sure to leave an antagonizing look to Sevine.

"By the three." The Dunmer, Munoel, sighed. He signaled for three men to escort the vampire away. "What a day we had."

Hanging his head for a moment and then brought his eyes back the meddlers, the trio he neglected in the heat of argument. "Thank you for diffusing the tension." Munoel acknowledge Rhasha, tone appreciating, if not outright relieved. "I never wanted anyone hurt outside of necessity, and thanks to you, no one was."

Shifting to Sevine, Munoel did not seem as impressed. "While I appreciate your opinion, Hramon obviously doesn't." Munoel pointed to the Nord Dawnguard sulking away. "Look, don't stick your no─" Words stiff and cold, he caught himself mid-sentence and sighed again. "I mean, we can handle our own. It was extremely risky to insert yourself like that."

As the vampire was being taken away, a Dawnguard delivered her crossbow to Munoel. Examining it briefly, he offered the weapon and a quiver of six bolts to Rhasha. "Take it, I saw you on the ramparts. You might appreciate the extra punch." He offered. "For saving Ana, uh, Anika, our former leader. Before she left a year ago, she and I were, well, close. I dared not to think what the vile daedra did to her, but you saw her just as I did; a human no matter her curse."

While busy with everything, Sagax became no more noticeable than a lamp post. Eventually a Dawnguard found him, more accurately, collided head-on with him. "Sorry friend, I'm afraid you have to go somewhere else." The Dawnguard apologized, only after taking a quick scan of Sagax's conditions. "Busy, I know. Don't bother with the healer by the main gate, she got her hands full with this feisty wood elf. Never seen anyone thrash around like that after losing an arm. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised; she had the gall to swing a warhammer at the Kamal's face."

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

War and peace.

Schaft and Fox

I am not a medieval military historian, so I'm not sure what soldiers back then went through. In addition, most books detailing pre-gunpowder battles tend to focus on tactics and weapons, not so much on the participants (not the grunts anyways). With that said, a lot of my inspiration came from the experience of modern soldiers. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a great reflection by a veteran. This novel really gets the struggles of a veteran trying to adjust to civilian life, and the comradery he missed.

Eugene Sledge wrote about his journey from WW2 to post-war America in his two novels, and portrayed in HBO's The Pacific. Interesting thing about Sledge was that he distanced himself from the military when he returned; this guy avoided veteran reunions until thirty years later.

As for the combat mentality, Evan Wright's Generation Kill (and the TV series) describes it pretty accurately. I also took pieces of Wright for Madura's character.

Well, plague victims tend to have a very high K/D ratio.

@Dervish

Only if you count teamkills.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Differences between characters is good, helps define their individuality. Cheery circle jerk 100% of the time gets boring.

While we're talking characters, I got an exercise borrowed from Hank's RP. What does your guy or gal think of everyone else? Make a list of opinions and update it to your sheet's relationship section. Keegan's is in his sheet.

Edit: After the latest ballots...

Execution (2), imprison (5), send her out against Kamals (3).

Voting closes on Mar 5th, 0000 PST.

Edit 2: Just checked on UESP, the proper name is "Gray Quarter", not "Grey" or "Quarters".

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

@MacabreFox The three of you is enough to turn them around. The Dawnguards were really on the fence, pretty much 50/50 either side and only went over because their boss dude was trigger happy. Putting him in his place does the job. They'll let the vampire go, for now.

I would get a response but Dervs wanted in too. So we'll a bit until he posts or backs out.