The server needs muggings, but…
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There needs to be some sort of consideration involved. Now, before I get started, yes, I did just get mugged in game, but no I'm not mad at the player who mugged me. He actually didn't just flat out kill me even if the spawns on the road he left me on did, and while he did trick me oocly (I thought he was a new player wanting to test something) and my character likely shouldnt have been fooled, it was my fault for putting ooc considerations before ic. That being said, I felt like there should have been a few things done differently, so I decided to write what I consider tips for muggers. Feel free to add anything I missed if something comes to mind.
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If they are wearing road to arabel gear, you likely shouldnt be targeting them. In real life muggers target the weak, I get that. But this is coa, where we come to relax and have fun. I know personally I spent 3 hours researching this guys background, and had about the same time with him ig, maybe a bit more. Thats not really a good ratio of work to fun, and I know personally it has annoyed me enough (not the player, the situation) that I probably won't be playing CoA for some time. Pick on characters who are established. Yes, they are harder to beat, but if you are only in it to win then you are doing the whole mugger thing for the wrong reasons.
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Don't just leave people out in the wilds after mugging them completely defenseless. If you do that, you likely should have just killed them yourself. I personally died to spawns that would never have killed me had I still had some healing potions left (i left the city with about 400 golds worth, had none left after being robbed.) Again, this is something that is going to have people crying lame left and right, which isnt good for your fun, their fun, or the forums/ircs chances of avoiding streams of negativity.
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Don't take everything. As someone who has played a mugger or two before, I know that it can be expensive. Take what you need to recoup what you lost and a little more, and scale it based on what the player you are stealing from has. For example, if they have 400 gold, take 200. If they have 10 healing potions, take five of them, and so on. Leaving a character with no loot at all can be crippling to them, and kills desire to play.
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Give the player a chance, and give them some roleplay with it. While these two are important, they have been beaten to death on the forums and the player who mugged me did do these things, so I slapped them together.
Follow these simple guidlines, and your mugger will likely be a famous if shortlived (they always are) character. Don't, and chances are you will create more ooc conflict then this server needs. Anyways, thats my two cents, now im off to go play some college football on my playstation. Feel free to add to what I said, troll what I said, or say how what I said was wrong.
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@Leaders:
- Don't take everything.
This is an awesome advice. Not that the other ones aren't.
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I once had a new player try to mug my lvl 13 dwarven priest on the road to Easthaven. I contacted a DM before taking action as we were in Blue NPC territory. While the DM's were busy one did check back with me via tells to ask what had happened after the fact.
Despite my giving him several chances to reconsider, even after i summoned a 7th circle dragon(which he decided must be an illusion) he persisted in trying to hold me up. He ended up rapidly and epicly subdued by a very young Copper Dragon. He was then firmly scolded by a very cross dwarf. I made sure he was not eaten by spawns and made it safely back to the City. I hope he got as much entertainment value as i did from our encounter.
I think both party's involved in this sort of PvP/RP should make ever effort to ensure no one gets eaten by spawns.
Point one i disagree with slightly. If your a Thug type character you could still target the very weak. Robbing them blind is lame but you could simply use some good old fashioned charm and intimidation to shake them down for information, or as a way to pressure them into joining your faction or gang.
When i first started playing here there were some gangsters that were just terrifying to be around. They were not going around Pwning Noobs all the time, they just had an aura about them. If they made a "suggestion" you knew it wasn't.
Still remember the first time i saw the Yellow Text say. "Aboryn Rhaul Dislikes You." Nearly half the server promptly logged off…
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Your slight disagreement is actually not a disagreement at all. I fully endorse trying to put the fear of god into lowbies, it gets them involved with your character of ebolness right out of their gates. Thats not actually mugging them though.
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I have no problem with new characters mugging new characters. lvl 8's mugging fresh off the caravans is just silly. If I spot it, there may happen to have been a good guy ranger watching, who is lvl 17, and does the same to the attacker.
You can make muggings a part of your (and other peoples) story progression, if your doing it to just get more gold/items, then it's not anything to do with a story (unless its a specific plot item you've been hired to get of course, but thats not really a mugging)
It's pretty simple really.
Don't be a dick.
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Only time I got mugged, it was fun. Creepy guy in the slums demanding tribute from my level one character. I threw him about half of what he asked on the ground, and decided to leg it before he had time to count the gold. Too bad it didn't actually lead to any more interaction later on, but it was a good start to my character's life in Arabel.
Him: "This area has been claimed. Fifty gold is the price."
Me: "Fifty? It's a copper to set up stall in the market!"An enjoyable experience.
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I havent been mugged in quite some time touch wood. The last time was about 2 years ago and I was confronted by a teifling who spammed a wand of holding on my lvl 1 character. I miraculously made the saves and fled into the sewers, he followed and nearly got eaten by rats while chasing me if I remember right. lol
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i recently mishandled a mugging attempt on myself in game, LaF is well aware of the incident(note: LaF was NOT the mugger, merely someone who was offering proper advice), LaF also gave me really good advice as far as IC and OOC with regards to handling this type of encounter
someone robbing and asking for gold i am ok with, the ones who target and want to full loot you after leaving you defenseless tend to upset me a bit, but there is not a lot i can do about it, and screaming and yelling and pointing fingers and demanding dm's aid in the irc is hardly productive (blushes guilty)
thanks to LaF i have turned some lemons into lemonade IC, and i will in future handle things as advised to me by a very mature player (LaF)
my encounter involved someone attacking me in east arabel, but in hindsight and after LaF's advice even though it did happen mere feet from a guard the way it transpired seemed plausible after the fact, and I have used it to incorporate into a story based on recent turmoil in the city ..makes sense to me..in a twisted sort of way now
but a warning to muggers….. i have been the victim of mugging attempts on numerous times with both my characters, they handle it very differently depending upon the character i happen to be playing... and they are ready for such encounters now
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If players mug you in front of NPCs with no DM present they are breaking the rules, and it should be reported. preferably with screenshots.
If players are FDing (for little IC reason) and.or full looting you (without any OOC consideration), they are disregarding the guidelines for PVP, and this should also be reported to the DMs.
This server isn't about random players beating up, killing, or robbing anyone they can, just because they can, while its a pvp server, the pvp element should be part of the entertainment and stories of the server. Not annoying, and inconsiderate.
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Bandit players, in my mind, do the most for the server in the short term, creating an environment of fear, anxiety, and the desire to band together to fight against those who upset the status quo. Those bandits who diligently and bravely battle against the wretched individuals who mindlessly quest without adding to plot are heroes to any server and should be applauded-
Yet, there are those tasteless souls who abuse the mighty art of banditry, believing that every brew should be claimed and every shiny golden coin taken. They think that much like the capitalists of America that their quarry is a completely self-renewing resource, and you don't need to plant a oak seed every now and then to ensure the forests remain clean. It is not a matter of OOC consideration- NAY! It is a matter of making sure your victim holds enough supplies so you may once again reap the fruits of his labor in genuine and exciting PvP.
So here is my challenge to you all, the concept that I dream of doing in the future-
THE INDUSTRIALIST BANDIT
Biography: Your character is a new breed of bandit, instead of taking from the rich giving to the poor, instead of taking from anyone and keeping all the wealth, he shall take from the adventurer, keep a percentage, and release him back into the wilds, and every so often clip a few branches of his wealth so that he may grow to either join you out of desperate fear of despair, or come to bring you further victims to reap the fruits of hard-labor from. Indeed, you are an entrepreneur, a individual who will fight for wealth and remain tasteful, cordial, even supremely polite as he works to amass the wealth his dream requires.
You sir, are the industrialist bandit.
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Several have mentioned taking SOME stuff.
I'll relay two muggings I had - both with moderate level, well established, very rich characters.
a) Was going from East gate to EastWay. naked imjured halflign ran up, said he was mugged, could I help. I went with, saw halforc and human. went over towards them… got sneak attacked by the other halfling, then magic missiled by the invisible mage, then engaged by the halforc/human as the halflign archer and mage wore me down. They 'dragged" (pre-rope) me off the road to the trees, and emoted "whast this, whats that" as they went through my stuff. They took 3000 gold, and perhaps 50-odd potions, four or so commonplace wands, and some nice but normal items such as +1 ring of protection, +1 armror amulet...
They left... a thousand gold... the other dozen or so potions.. a healing wand... and all the "special" items.
As my char was "awake" when they went through the stuff... she could answer "my house's ring", "my fathers bow", "my dead husbands sword" etc etc as they asked about the "whats this, whats that".
In the end, they put a kit on me, healed me up to 20 or so hp, and "dragged" me back to the main road tile.
So this led to "looking for muggers" and road protection being a direction a PC faction then took, and while yes, these muggers got rich... I lost some comsumables and items and we had to figure out how to get the $$ to replace what was taken, since it was intended for a specific faction purpose in a week or so... All in all it was a "positive" encounter.b) Was in NorthEast Arabel. dwarf in rags approaches, says can I help, there a situation by north gate. I follow him, when we are at corner of NE Arabel, about to transition to N Arabel, he equips armor, glowy axe, shield, etc, and surprise attacks. AB in the 15-16 range, 2 attacks/round, so it's not someone "brand-new". I went down fast, FD kill. Had never heard of him, but my character was a leader of a PC faction, so I sent a tell asking something along the lines of "did I do somethin to you? or was this a assasination and I should stay dead, since my body will easily be found where it is?" he responded with it just being a random mugging.
He looted everything with a value over a hundred gold or so- which included several bags of holding full of a PC factions armory to recruit and equip new people (most had died in a recent major encounter, value was somewhere in the 150K range), including several very unique items from that faction.
I did the appropiate notification to DMs, (it was in a street, etc), I had full screenshots of entire encounter.
As it turns out, he had done this to several people recently, and ended up being banned,my char was raised by friends, some of the plottish items/personal items ended up "sold" to others in ways that would (did) lead to faction interactions... and the offer was made to replace the items.
but... the sour bitter memory was there, and I only logged in a dozen times after that, then made someone new.
Never responded to the DM who offered the item replacement, let faction die off completly.
tried playing the character a couple times over the last 2 years or so.. but each time... it's still affected by the poor ending and I will log in, walk from Loyalist arms to guildhall, then logout.I really hope potential mugger-type players can see the difference in the way a mugging is done can affect the victims, not just IC but OOC, and how the difference can have wider effect.
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If it's a random mugging, I normally take only the stereotypical valuables. Gems, Jewelry, and a chunk of gold. Not all of the gold though.
Likewise I like to leave behind some healing and an invisibility potion, if I've got it. If we're in a dangerous area.
It's reallly up to you how to handle it though. It's like Zool wisely said: Don't be a dick.
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I remember my first encounter with a were-rat in the sewers about a year ago. He came out of nowhere when we were on our way to do sewer goblins and leveled the party. He then demanded we pay a tithe to the Rat King for entering his domain without permission and took a couple gems and some gold in exchange for not murdering us then and there. It was scary, fun, and exciting and in the end he neither killed nor dry-looted anyone. It went a long way to actually making crime and lycanthrope infliction actually serious and scarry in my mind.
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@SpiffyHas:
So here is my challenge to you all, the concept that I dream of doing in the future-
THE INDUSTRIALIST BANDIT
Biography: Your character is a new breed of bandit, instead of taking from the rich giving to the poor, instead of taking from anyone and keeping all the wealth, he shall take from the adventurer, keep a percentage, and release him back into the wilds, and every so often clip a few branches of his wealth so that he may grow to either join you out of desperate fear of despair, or come to bring you further victims to reap the fruits of hard-labor from. Indeed, you are an entrepreneur, a individual who will fight for wealth and remain tasteful, cordial, even supremely polite as he works to amass the wealth his dream requires.
You sir, are the industrialist bandit.
I'm in. But only if you combine this with racketeering, extortion, soliciting bribes, predatory lending, information trade, blackmail and fraud. Threats of physical violence are seldom all that lucrative by itself.