Plot/Concept Advertisement: The wonders of making a sending
-
A lot of players have been recently bringing this up on IRC and what not, so I decided it might be valuable information to put here. I think it's fair to assume that everyone would like to push their own plots or have their own cool and unique concepts noticed, because everyone has their own ideas. Sadly, many players feel as if this is something that can't be done.
Firstly, I'd just like to clear the idea of "DM attention". Players seem to think that there are a handful of players who automatically gain DM attention. While it might be true that some players are known to receive more DM attention than others, it's not for reasons of favoritism or what have you. DM's like to see ADVENTURE & INTRIGUE! This means that you are actively involving others in your concept, actively sharing plot hooks with people, actively leading adventures to search A for item B, etc, etc. Some players have become good at receiving DM attention because they make their concept fun for everyone around them and share it with others. This will ALWAYS get you more DM attention, whether they're always around to see it or not. You WILL get noticed.
Let me get to the main point of this post. SENDINGS ARE UNDERRATED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could highlight this point a million times. Whether you are making a sending for Frin's basement or to go kill Frost Giants in Thunderholme, have a little flavor! Sendings are when you get to share your plots and or concepts with EVERY SINGLE PC ONLINE. This means that EVERYONE is essentially going to read what you are saying.
Here's the average sending, which I see about 90% of PC's make: New in town, going to do some odd jobs. Come to the Spire to help. //1-4.
THIS DOES NOTHING TO GET YOU NOTICED!!!
I'm in no way intentionally bashing peoples that do this, but if you want to play a fun, interactive, involved PC, make cool sendings. Why not say something like…
My name is Braymar Bloodthirst! I have come to Arabel to earn the Bloodreaver's favour and become his chosen disciple! In order to gain his attention, I intend to create a blood shower of guts and gore of all the enemies that stand in my path! I am told there is work I can do in this very Citadel which involves the slaughter of many vermin creatures! Come to the spire to join me in this glorious bloodbath!
WOW! This PC has just laid out WHAT his concept involves, WHAT he wants to do here in Arabel, AND what type of PC he is. ALLLLLL IN ONE SENDING! AWESOME!
Maybe I'm not a level 1-4, but if I'm around the Citadel, there's a 100% higher chance I say "Hmm. This dude sounds cool. Heads for the spire to go chat with this new interesting and flavorful PC and see what he's about."
Let's not forget that one of the most important things for a story is having ALLIES and ENEMIES. Quest sendings like this help you not only build relationships but develop feuds! Keep in mind this is only one example for one concept, but you can literally do this for any concept/plot/goal you wish to achieve.
Another thing worth mentioning is that you don't ALWAYS have to be doing exploration related adventure. Say you're Undie Undeadslayer and you hate all undead. Sure, you're probably going to end up leading a few expeditions to Clar Banda's tomb to clear it of undead... BUT GUESS WHAT! You just found out there might be UNDEAD in the TYCHEAN CRYPTS! Undead in the congress of faiths?! Blasphemy!
You get your ass to the sender and say:
Dearest friends of Arabel, a scourge is upon us! The undead hath taken refuge in the crypts of Tyche and it is up to brave adventurers to stop them! As a master of undead culling, I will be taking the head of this operation to cleanse Arabel of it's undead presence! Report to the Spire at once! Make haste!
Cool! You just used a scripted quest to broadcast your character. It might not be the exact adventure and intrigue that the DMs are always looking for, but guess what? Your character IG probably perceives that undead infestation in the Tychean threat as a far bigger issue to the safety of the citizens than those at the tomb of Banda. Consider scripted quests as you would exploration where you're hoping for a DM event! Advertise them as such and it WILL draw more interest to your PC. Because... WHO KNOWS! Maybe a DM sees you doing tons of undead slaying and advertising for it and one day you're a level 8 PC who has done tons of undead slaying and doing the Slums tower quest and suddenly! A holy revenant of Clar Banda has come to smite you!
DMs like to see stories. The sender is this magical thing that allows you to broadcast stories/concepts/plot hooks to the entire server.
Use it wisely and use it well. It is one of the BEST ways to get noticed not only by DMs but by other PCs.
-
Sendings, strangely, are probably a very useful tool for DMs to see who is involving people in plots, intrigues, and ADVENTURES after all. Whereas the people who do not make sendings, often have a reputation for playing with a small clique of people (rightly or wrongly) in general.
-
I make sendings, sometimes get ignored, sometimes I don't.
I sometimes do colorful sendings ( I.E. in order to hamper the Headless things efforts, we mount an expedition to an Island filled with undead) toher times simple. ( librarian needs help finding a thief) I get an equal response usually. And yes, it is often the same people in the group, but in fairness, I'm playing a n LG pally who i just gonna rub some folks the wqrong way or vice versa. Some people I just wont work with , because of suspicions of who they are allied with.It's not that I'm not inclusive, i's more that I don't want to lose my paladin status again ;-)
-
We aren't likely to rip your paladin status away for traveling with the 'wrong people' as long as you're interacting with them and role playing out that rivalry or effort to influence redeem/corrupt the other.
Think any movie/comic where the hero and villain are forced to interact for any reason. Its always amazingly well done when done well. When done just because its convenient to the quest train, its not that impressive.
-
Yeah, I found it incredibly useful to simply lie or embellish a routine trip to destination X. Often times a DM would spice it up, or you could, you know.. use your imagination.
-
BG come back and go full Kermit with me