EiG Stuff
-
Gods, People said Mouthful there.
I happen to be the king of slumps…
and sometimes I just need to log an alt for
a day or two to get some fresh perspective.It almost always helps, and sometimes the Alt gets promoted to main.
-
I can understand a bit of the frustration, as I've felt some of it myself. I sometimes find myself looking at other characters and wondering what I'm doing wrong, or what they're doing better than I am… because I feel like a supporting character, even to intrigue or plots I've tried bringing about myself. Just as that character who floats in and out, who has no true effect on anything.
I've read the player resource forums, as Zool mentioned, and I think maybe the biggest issue I have is that I THINK I'm doing what DMs like to see. There could very well be some kind of misinterpretation on my end, or maybe it's because I don't have the time that others may… but the frustration can be very real. As gamers, we're used to being important in our games. At least important to something or someone. When you feel like you're inconsequential, why even play?
-
This strikes me as one of those things where you should just probably talk to the DMs about it in a private manner if you have goals you want to see realized. That's generally what I do for my RPG games. The DM-Player relationship is one based on the idea of both parties having fun with the game.
If a player doesn't enjoy what's going on with their plot, they should let the DM know, but also consider that it's someone who is not doing this because they are interested in volunteering time and effort, but rather because it's fun for them a well! A good DM is going to have a better time if their players are having a good time too.
I mean, my response to this sort of thing in any RP community was to just go and ask what was expected of me as a player if I wanted to achieve a certain goal. It sounds like this thread is for the most part an attempt at doing that. However, knowing that some of the events I've been on are pretty improv style (I can still tell even behind a computer screen :) ) some of these things are just going to take the right thing done for the plot at the right time.
The one big thing I can say about CoA that is both good and bad is that unlike traditional pen and paper, it's not done 'moviel-like'. There is no fast-forwarding of the time, so it can be a little boring/frustrating if many days seem to fill the gaps. As well, while playing a game is pretty easy to do, I imagine DMing is a little more difficult then normal pen and paper games, especially with scripting.
This difference is going to create a situation where if you want to get a plot off the ground, you will want to create content for other players as a player because there are far more players then there are DMs, and demonstrating the value of that plot is measured in how many people you get involved and how expansive/impacting it can be.
I also know that I am pretty blunt about my character goals because that will help them be realized. Asking 'I want X thing, and how do I get it.' isn't a taboo thing to do in my opinion. It's just communicating and figuring out expectations. Some players can feel like a goal should be earned within a week or two, or have very measurable steps towards earning that goal. However, a DM on the other hand can feel like something that is a truly ambitious goal should take months, or enough effort to make fulfilling that goal that it was considering a meaningful one with weight behind it.
I know on my current character, Cale, I have mentioned one of my goals as getting a big axe to hurt things with. Every barbarian in a good story has a neat named weapon that they just use to cleave everything apart in front of them, regardless of what it is as they slay their way through legions of whatever happened to piss them off that day. That goal of mine may take a fair amount of time, but it's worth asking the DMs what the expectations for that sort of thing should be filled so that I can reach that goal, because the DMs want to have fun too, and they'll have fun if the players are having fun.
Just my two cents I figure.
-
Do things to the point that the CoA Dungeon Masters* want your character in the server more than yourself.
*Excluding moles of various sizes. Moles are unclean heretics.
-
Everything I have EiG I have done without really knowing that is what I was wanting. one thing that helps with EiG is -other- players naming names in their own plots. Even in just casual dialogue, I try to give the names of the people most closely working with or against me. If all I talk about is me, the DMs have no idea who else is interacting with you in a meaningful way on the server.
something puffy asked of me once in a plot post… name names, who went with you? who is involved? who are your allies? who are your enemies? what help are you giving them and their ideas/plots?
if you can put that in your plot posts then the dms can see the greater picture and who is being involved, who is stirring the pot, who is being moved by what is going on. that means that any advice is tailor made for the situation rather than generic cliches.