O RP Guilds, Where Art Thou?

[Artemisia]

The Armsman Arena in the Noble District used to support some RP back in the day when I was primarily an RPer. It's not always the best place due to questing level 40s, but it has a decent enough Atmosphere to handle a decent amount of RP.


The tavern in Conarch gets old fast, and the last time I met an RPer there my experience was quickly ruined with PvPers taking it upon themselves to be azzhats.


If you were to make an event, why not host it in your guild city, or a guild city with a renown high enough to get some of the city perks such as an arena/cultural retreat and the Arbiter npc? The RP getting to the city can be amazing.


Another place would be the tavern in Tesso, wild lands.





That being said, RP is something I don't consider to be my main focus these days, but I still try to dabble in it now and then. Attending an event would be nice, but it would be dependant upon time.

[CimmerianHoX]

Illwariel, I know what you're talking about, it's happened to me before. And even for I, who sometimes dabbles in that sort of thing, it can be uncomfortable. However, this is definitely not how the SHI is all the time. Just yesterday I had a great time meeting up with some old friends and some new people (yay, finally RP'd with Clan Dorak!) and no ERP was involved. We eventually wandered off into the Fields of the Dead for some open-world exploring. So don't rule out SHI because of one black swan event. There's more to it than that. But because of its place as the breeding ground for all RP, pretty much ANYTHING can happen. I've been assaulted by an angry Stygian priest with a mace before, who smacked my drink right out of my hands.

Artemisia, I don't like guild cities for two reasons. For one, they are a pain to get to imo. I hate trekking across all of Poitain, Lacheish, or PLS to get to someone's guild city located in the far corner. And two, while they're certainly nice to see inside of, I see them as lending too much prestige to one guild in particular, which is not so great when you want to host neutral guild talks. I am certain Invicta would have had much less success with their weekly gatherings if it were hosted in their own lovely guild city, rather than neutral Tesso.

Speaking of Tesso, it is a very nice location, and it isn't terribly hard to set it in an epic instance where no questers would go. But personally I consider it to be somewhat sacred territory that I don't want to infringe upon until later. And the major downside to Tesso tavern is that it's still set in a larger instance as Conarch's tavern is, and thus is laggy for me. Besides, I have my own location in my mind that is less used but no less of a good place to meet.

But let's get a timetable set up. Using GMT, this Saturday or the one next if I can't get this one down, what times are you available for an RP gathering that is estimated to last at least an hour? Location will start off in the east garden of the Tarantia Noble District (Just south and to the east of the first rez pad in that little garden with the statues) but we will move to Armsman Tavern from there. If we want to avoid questers, we can set it in the epic instance. I am certain it would be a simple matter to clear the way for the lowbies.

I am open to hosting the event at almost any time of the day, as I'll probably be available next Saturday from GMT 4 pm to 8 am.

[Illwariel]

Illwariel, I know what you're talking about, it's happened to me before. And even for I, who sometimes dabbles in that sort of thing, it can be uncomfortable. However, this is definitely not how the SHI is all the time. Just yesterday I had a great time meeting up with some old friends and some new people (yay, finally RP'd with Clan Dorak!) and no ERP was involved. We eventually wandered off into the Fields of the Dead for some open-world exploring. So don't rule out SHI because of one black swan event. There's more to it than that. But because of its place as the breeding ground for all RP, pretty much ANYTHING can happen. I've been assaulted by an angry Stygian priest with a mace before, who smacked my drink right out of my hands.

Then you had more luck than I usually have. Ok, I was naive and unaware of the nature of this place the first time I went there. But even when I decided to give it another try, it ended up the same way, even when it was clear that there is no interest in intimate contacts. They even didn't notice the route the play was going and I would not be surprised if there was more involved than just the toons on the screen ...
I had better results by just walking around in Khemi, this way I made some nice RP contacts.
So, I don't feel the urge to go to a place my character and myself find disgusting, just for a tiny chance that there might be some normal RP. Maybe it is better at US times, I don't know.

But let's get a timetable set up. Using GMT, this Saturday or the one next if I can't get this one down, what times are you available for an RP gathering that is estimated to last at least an hour? Location will start off in the east garden of the Tarantia Noble District (Just south and to the east of the first rez pad in that little garden with the statues) but we will move to Armsman Tavern from there. If we want to avoid questers, we can set it in the epic instance. I am certain it would be a simple matter to clear the way for the lowbies.

I am open to hosting the event at almost any time of the day, as I'll probably be available next Saturday from GMT 4 pm to 8 am.

I really would like to attend such an event, but it must be a really lucky saturday when I find the time to do so, certainly not the next weeks. So I am out.

[Shealeigh]

Hi, I need to say that Mingsiu isn't able to play much anymore. Suffice to say, bad things happened either in and outside game, and she lost interest. But she just need a break, and didn't decide anything definitive yet. I proposed to help her guildies, but after reading this post I think accepting new members in Cabal, for the time being, isn't a wise idea. I know I'm a capable helper, but my leadership skills are rusty, so if anyone could suggest anything or lend us a hand I would be very grateful. Mingsiu is a great person and I don't want to lose one more friend from the game, but at the same time, I don't want to keep her at it when she obviously shouldn't be.

Changing subjects: Artemisia said almost it all; I would like to add that in RP guilds there is too much theme-centric and most time incompatile policy. For example: (its a hypothesis, not a fact!) even if I have a cimmerian toon, I think I wouldn't be accepted in Clan Dorak because I'm not a "I'm a barbarian, rawr!" if I dress in, say, black dragon armor. This is not actually a bad thing, it is very immersive in fact, but it also make things a lot harder, because most RPers I met search very specific stuff and the only way to get that is creating various 2-3 men guilds that eventually disbands because of inactivity and integration. But I believe all of this can be fixed if guilds could communicate better with each other.

[CimmerianHoX]

Illwariel, things are MUCH better US times, around the wee hours of 12 am to 6 am GMT are usually filled with reasonable folk, and the few hours before that are usually alright in my experience. However, I should probably visit the SHI around the times you did to see what's going on. Around what time did you actually visit the SHI? The people you seem to run into sound more like trolls than actual RPers :/ Like some PvPer trying to ape us to poke fun at what we do.

And it seems some people I've contacted have not been open on Saturdays, I'm starting to think I should change the date. What is a better day people are free on? Is Sunday a better day?

Shealeigh, I'm sorry to hear that. I was hoping to meet her in-game. I'd be willing to help out with the Cabal in what ways I can, just message me in-game (Jiahuo) with what help you might need. I know what you mean when you say certain guilds can be too specific. When I came back to the game, I did not feel I could join almost ANY of the existing RP guilds - Amazons only accept women now, Clan Dorak and Barbaric Warriors are Cimmerian themed and not to my character's taste at all, Serpents Ascendant I hardly ever saw, and so on. I was lucky to join the guild I did join, but we had three active members then. Now I think we have like, four or five. Recruiting in an RP guild can be very difficult.

Anyways, I've managed to get a few positive responses to my idea for an RP gathering, so it looks like we may have an event. The time and date is still up in the air however, and I really want to hear from some people on what times are best for them.

[Artemisia]

Mingsiu got hit with r/l hard and doesnt have much time to play due to real life. I am sure when things simmer down with her that she will want to play again. As it sets though, Cabal is pretty much dead, with not many actives (my level 80 DT I had in there for a good couple months but took out due to being very few actives with little in ways of RP and little in ways of grouping and just put a baby demo in there a couple days ago.) I think in the least, opening the doors of a welcome community they can frequent will help remaining actives in there to stay active until Mingsiu's r/l schedule simmers down.

[Illwariel]

Illwariel, things are MUCH better US times, around the wee hours of 12 am to 6 am GMT are usually filled with reasonable folk, and the few hours before that are usually alright in my experience. However, I should probably visit the SHI around the times you did to see what's going on. Around what time did you actually visit the SHI? The people you seem to run into sound more like trolls than actual RPers :/ Like some PvPer trying to ape us to poke fun at what we do.

I am online around between 18.00 and 22.00 usually, that's 20-24 MEST.
Maybe I always get the bad ones. To be honest, one time I had a rather positive experience and we had a good conversation when it was clear that ERP wasn't on my mind. But even this experience was spoiled this evening when these players left and the next troll walked in, and he was in a known RP-Guild I expected to do better.

[Artemisia]

I am online around between 18.00 and 22.00 usually, that's 20-24 MEST.
Maybe I always get the bad ones. To be honest, one time I had a rather positive experience and we had a good conversation when it was clear that ERP wasn't on my mind. But even this experience was spoiled this evening when these players left and the next troll walked in, and he was in a known RP-Guild I expected to do better.

I know your pain, as that is often my experience, and I log in and play at various times throughout the day.. however every 1 in 3 times I go into a tavern, the RP is actually quite good... just a luck of the draw.

[Coryan]

I visit the SHI quite regularly... and sometimes you can even find RPers worth spending time with. Joking aside, no matter how often you check out other locations, like the taverns in Tarantia and Conarch, plus other possible gathering spots, you usually end up quite lonely, thus heading back to the Serpent's Head because at least sometimes you'll find RP there.

Lately I also had the idea of using other locations for RP gatherings. There are some places that are really great but utterly underused. Sometimes that comes from level restrictions - for example, the inn/whorehouse in the Northern Grasslands close to Chosain is a sweet place. And yesterday, when I scouted the fascinating design of the Palace of Cetriss (T5 location), I also thought it would be a fine RP spot - though probably mainly exclusive for Lvl 80 players as lowies might have trouble getting there. And there are many, many more locations. Think about them what you want, but Funcom sure knows how to build interesting places.

About one year ago, I tried to revive a bit of German RP with an event surrounding a mysterious group named the "Hyborian Freedom Front", rallying against slavery and inequity. There were a few events, like a demonstration in the Noble District Park/Garden, and the crashing of a slave auction in Khemi. I had some more ideas but lacked the time (too much to do at work) and, as is often the case, the few people attending didn't really match the whole effort I put into it (I even had YouTube teaser videos...). Plus, as many of you who have organized an RP event might very well know, real and honest feedback is rarely given, so you can hardly judge if it was a success, if others liked it or not.

But enough of that. Nowadays, I am roaming Khemi mostly with my preferrred RP characters Stinja and Josephyn (who both have experienced strange kinds of RP already, but mostly met nice people always worth getting back to), as long as I don't lead them into battle all over Hyboria. I'll also try to make it to the Saturday event in the Armsman's tavern... provided I don't forget about it.

[Illwariel]

I visit the SHI quite regularly... and sometimes you can even find RPers worth spending time with. Joking aside, no matter how often you check out other locations, like the taverns in Tarantia and Conarch, plus other possible gathering spots, you usually end up quite lonely, thus heading back to the Serpent's Head because at least sometimes you'll find RP there.

That's the problem. There are too much other places around, so people miss each other. SHI is an established and known spot, so people go there and more people means more chance for contact. Unless there can be established another well known and frequented meeting location (and there can be only one, Highlander, no matter how much nice locations there are Hyboria) people will continue to end up in SHI. But I doubt there will be another place, not without much promotion.

Situation is the same as in Lord of the Rings Online. The Prancing Pony in Bree is the SHI equivalent there in terms of notorius RP, but there are always lots of people to meet around there, so people will come. At least they don't stalk you with ERP there if you don't want to.