Player DM Group?

This is probably going to be a long post so just be warned.

"I would LOVE to submit an active, unified, community run Role Playing group for a Royal Warrant.... someone needs to get on that! " - FireLotus

This post made my FireLotus earlier today sparked an idea. Now the mention of a Royal Warrant implies a proactive group providing a community service. It is not enough to simply be a group of people dedicated to good RP. Said group needs to actively promote RP in-game and on a large scale.

Now my background is that of a DM for a NWN RP server for several years plus 7 years as a guild leader in UO and DAoC. As a DM I ran events ranging from on-going world stories to events surrounding an individual's RP. So naturally my mind went straight to the idea of a group of "DMs" (for lack of a better term) who would organize and conduct activities geared around on-going player based stories in-game.
The caveat of course is, this would require a group of dedicated players conspiring together with the time and energy to be reliably available over the long term. This can be a challenge for any volunteer group. Often many will commit and lose interest. In my experience any such group should expect a large turn around.

Fortunately, with the size of the overall community including RP based guilds, towns and other groups there won't be a lack of good people to work with. That said, the community itself is a great resource for organizing and running events of all kinds.

Ok so how would it all work.. (and this is open to feedback of course).

Such a group would need/want to compile a list of all known RP groups. Guilds. Towns. Everyone. It would be a good idea to bring those groups on board as willing vic.. err participants. Background data, vision, goals for each group would be recorded for reference as would those of all individuals willing (completely optional).

Each group can run its own stories. A "DM" would work with each group to coordinate activities with others and with individuals for further their stories along.

Each "story" would have 1 DM as necessary. (Not all individuals or groups necessarily need a DM). Once a DM is assigned to a 'story' it is theirs. They can request assistance or pass it on if they expect to be absent but the 1 DM limit is for consistency and to keep people from butting heads more than necessary.
DMs would be responsible for guiding lore/story consistency. This is a more of a spirit of the law thing rather than letter of the law. Lore is something that must be accepted by players or it doesn't hold much meaning but consistency with lore remains important.

DMs would be responsible for tracking and communicating relevant information. This is also important for consistency. Event summaries need to be kept along with any other pertinent information so that all DMs can be kept up to speed. This also helps facilitate cross over among stories.. always fun.
Ideally, an active DM should be making something happen at least once or twice a month for each story they're working on.. doing crossover events is perfectly acceptable.

DMs would (in most cases) work directly with group leaders.. though there may be occasions when they will want to opt out. They won't always want to know all the spoilers before things happen. That would be between them and the DMs.

This idea is mainly a service for the RP community as a whole. In fact, it might even be a good idea to have certain groups appoint a DM for themselves from among their own members if they want to keep all that in house.

There are just a few concepts DMs should strongly encourage universally. Consistency of lore. Keeping in-character and out-of-character separate and mutual respect for each other being around the top of the list.
So how does it actually work in-game?? A "DM" doesn't have any powers. They can only run events as any other player. This is where cooperative effort and imagination come in.

Imagine if you will.. I'm a DM and I want to set up a large scale storyline about a dangerous relic. Let's assume Portalarium isn't involved although I think in some scenarios they may be willing to lend a hand but we won't rely on that assumption.

Now I want to establish that this relic is dangerous in the wrong hands. So.. I write a book and make just one copy. I take that 'book' to the Scholars of Novia to have it checked against existing "known" lore. Then I write another book that references the first book.. that one I publish to the world.

I give information to specific people who might be interested who will then begin to spread rumors and I ask them to talk about the 2nd book.

I have a high level object crafted to act as the relic. At the right time I give the 1st book and "relic" to specific PCs (DM or otherwise) who are participating or otherwise allow them to "find" those items at the right time.

At some point I help organize a seemingly non-related event.. but then in the middle of said event I have one of my characters make a scene acted out either solo or with others pertaining to the relic and the danger it poses.

One thing leads to another and just a couple of people working together could effectively direct a large scale story about the search for this ancient relic.

A similar type of process can be used for individual and group stories. It's just all about manipulating the situation and RPers love to play along.

 

Thumbs up. Love the concept of player created story lines, they are usually tons of fun.
I don't want to be a DM but I'd love to help out.
My suggestion would be to have lists where people can sign up as RP committed: towns, guilds etc, then one for DM interest and one for Helpers.
If you get enough traction we could ask the lovely FireLotus for a sub fora for it.

 

That's a good idea. I had planned something similar on the sign up. I just haven't fleshed the idea out. Hadn't thought of the helper's list that's a good idea. In order for something like this to work it would almost be necessary to have willing conspirators.

 

Sounds like a lot of fun. I've run table top games but I've never run a game within a game like this. Still I'd like to try out being a Dm in Sota. I also have a crossroads village which could be of use. A lot of the details about the town type have not been decided yet but I would like it to be a role play town at least part time.

I'll keep an eye on this page. Feel free to contact me through this forum.

 

Hmm, random thoughts:

1 some pledgers will have two or three characters in their account. If we talk to people about it beforehand one could easily have an extra as a player-NPC. "Meet the mystic in the tavern" and there really is a player mystic there.
2 PoT owners could temporarily lend lots for an adventure, all you the need then is deed + prepped house from the magic movers and - presto you have a location for "an eirie ghost speaks softly and says; once every blue moon a special shop will appear on the corner of Aaaaaarrrgggh, please go there and buy my soul back" type of stuff, or if technically possible-a PvP house.
3 with the friends affinity instancing one could even have a meetup in dungeons and rescue someone in distress
4 if we have a helpers list with time zones a DM could wet ideas before trying them out
5 let's plan for something in r11? (I think r10 is too close for quality.)

 

I love the prepared house idea.

The trouble with running storylines pre-launch is it'd be very difficult to an event series if I'm doing it I'd want something I could do in parts for each release. Possibly leading up to a climax just before launch date. I'm sure I know some folks right off the top of my head who would be willing to help out though so it's certainly an idea worth pursuing.

My problem is I'm stuck on a data plan. In theory I could use a laptop somewhere with free Wi-Fi but my laptop is old with a 32-bit system and not even maxed memory so that's not really an option for me. Still.. it doesn't have to be my character pulling the strings.

What would be really fun also is if each event incorporated the new features and areas that go in for each release.

 

I like your idea very much. I was a senior guide in EQ2 and would like to help out with basic stagehand type activities.

 

Great idea about the release features. =)
But I don't think it's feasible expecting same players etc, so it would probably be new players who didn't see the previous installments.

Hmm, even with a crappy PC you could be a narrator though, maybe one of the players do a screenshare to you and you hook up to them using teamspeak or similar. I think that as a DM that would work better than having a character following them around.
At least for a first trial.

helper nr2.
=)

 

The corner of Aaaaaarrrgggh of the castle of Aaaaaarrrgggh? (I lol'd, and loved all your suggestions!)


@Bowen, I love your idea. Making players to entince community's imagination is one of the best ideas to keep people on the move, and a way to fix lack of quests right now. I'd love to participate in any activity... maybe i'll try to prepare something for R11, if the idea roots. Nonetheless i feel we could move it as players, using some characters as events' centre and meeting points.

I think once game is released it wouldn't be needed the DM figure; supposing the game comes as i expect, with many player initiated events, the DM figure could be substituted for the leadership figures... players could make other players to share their point of view, and given the rivalries between players that certainly will arise, "player quests" could be driven through the social dynamics in the same way it does in a larp or an rpg, needing little or no help from a server-mechanic. I'd love to see an underlying mechanic that will make some ficticious goal a reality if many players end pursuing it, though. Macguffings coming true!

 

I think we have many, many subgroups doing various role playing player-ran events already. Some separate (Irish Ceili get together in R10) and some combined (Welcome Quest). I am all for a unified group to help promote and help plan events.

For my player-ran town - Dara Brae, the Celtic Holdfast. I have a whole year of events planned once SotA goes live. I am writing the story lines, securing necessary props from the add-in store or my pledge, and including other gamers that are part of the Celtic Order of Druids and Bards (CODB) from UO Lake Austin for help (as we have played together for the past 3-4 years. Still much needs to be planned but it will be ready for SotA's release.

 

I think its a good Idea. Maybe the "Saturday work hours" of Winfield ( PaxLair) on IRC would be a good place to explain more or maybe to answer some questions about your plans.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/paxlair-player-town.10707/page-3

 

This will be my only post in this thread. I have no intention of derailing it. But I'd like to comment on the idea of having "an active, unified, community run Role Playing group" as FireLotus put it, because I think I have a point of view that is important to express here.

Sure, players could go about creating an organization of "roleplayers" that would follow some kind of strict set of rules where a few people are "in-charge" of creating roleplaying events, and roleplaying situations. But Shroud of the Avatar is already a Roleplaying Game. Simply by showing up, you're roleplaying even if you don't intend to be. That's the beauty of RG's game design, Avatars are us, we are Avatars, it doesn't matter what you're doing in the game - it's all roleplaying by default. So a "roleplaying" organization is redundant, it's not necessary and it suggests that if you're not part of an event you're somehow no longer roleplaying and instead doing "something else."

Now then, some of us already belong to the Shroud of the Avatar's Roleplayer's organization, and as far as I can tell the goal there is about networking, scheduling events, and generally having the ability to discuss roleplaying topics. There's probably more to it than that, but that's what I'm currently getting out of it.

So here's an alternative suggestion to the OP. Start an adventures guild. Start a guild that provides services to Avatar Adventures and those looking to hire adventures for JOBS. If done correctly, you'd have a central meeting location for all members to network (in-game). This would likely be an Inn. You'd have a way to inform your members of potential jobs. Think:

Bounty Hunting
Recovering Lost or Stolen Items
Exploration
Rare Item Acquisition
Security Escort
Etc...

You'd also want to have a management team that would handle all the logistics of running a service organization, like handling complaints, certifying new members, advertising, or finding new clients, just to name a few. The Adventure's Guild would provide services to it's members in exchange for guild dues that would be used to keep the organization functional giving clients a sense of stability.

Speaking of clients! I'm a Baron that plans to sit in his dark wizard tower studying and writing about magic most of the day. I'm not kidding, that's what I'll be doing. But on occasion, I'll have need of brave and capable adventures that don't mind going on "quests" if you must call them that, to retrieve and investigate various "events" around the world. I don't mind paying for these services, and I would prefer to have interesting conversations pre, post, and during the adventure. There's a good chance I'll even go along myself from time to time.

But the point I'm trying to make is that Roleplaying should be more than just defined, scheduled, events. And if you create something tangible that provides a service that buyers and sellers can use, then you don't have to call it "a roleplaying group". You can instead simply roleplay and it will be much MUCH more interesting and serve the community MUCH more than what the Original Post is talking about.

That's my two cents. For anyone that actually starts an adventure's guild, please feel free to contact me personally. I'd like to be your first customer.

Baron Drocis Fondorlatos
1st Chancellor of the Tower of Arcane Knowledge and Alchemy

P.S. My guild is based on a similar structure only we're based solely on Magic and Alchemy and not Adventuring. Please visit our website and look at our Guild Charter for an example of how management of a service organization might work.

 

Just because SotARP came up in the discussion: The long hiatus period was due to the sotarp community team has been busy with real life (and we all know how RL finds a way, dont we ? ) and we are recovering, planning on how to proceed. There are things we are working on and soon we will make the appropriate moves

 

@Drocis

All I'm going to say in response is.. dude.. you've missed the point. But that's ok.

It would seem there will be enough interest in the idea to move forward. I already have a few ideas on some things we can do story wise pre-launch.

 

Based on this OP interpretation of what FireLotus said: "I would LOVE to submit an active, unified, community run Role Playing group for a Royal Warrant.... someone needs to get on that!" ... and that the idea can focus on a community service to promote Role-playing, I offer some experiences from UO. My experiences tend to suggest Role-playing will be everywhere in SotA, and in many places can have high quality and consistency.

But first, I suggest that forming a single group to receive a Warrant before E1 starts might not be easy; I have not observed player RPing start in earnest yet. Issuing such a Warrant before E1 may be based on "ideas" rather than "demonstration". We did start the Explore Novia! tours in R9, which is a perfect opportunity for people to lead a group, describe places, and tell stories that can generate RPing ideas and crowd reaction during the Releases.

To test ideas in the Releases, I think someone can run small player quests. This will generate events and news in the Releases. It takes a DM or Questmaster to put together a small story, have some people to help out, gather up folks, and run it for a couple of hours. It might be some of the best entertainment in the Releases and draw out more role-players and adventurers.

On to UO ... on UO Chesapeake, we had "Questmasters" who were players and had nothing to do with Origin / EA. Some were from player towns, some were independent, and some we never knew who they were in real life.

They offered and designed Role-playing quests... some were EPIC over the course of months; others were one night for 2 hours. All of them had some story to share/live and kept us engaged wanting more. Many of the quests were also impromptu led by a particular ghostly Questmaster who could think up a quest instantly when meeting up with a few people milling around the pub. No artifacts were needed in these short quests, but the QM did provide a helping hand while travelling with the people as they got stuck or needed a few clues. Thus... everyone had a great time and did not get frustrated by insane riddles.

In SotA, I suspect some individuals will be DMs or Questmasters posing RP situations with or without public announcement and in or not part of a group. Such is the interesting spontaneity of RPing and uncertainty.

Also, many of our player towns are RP focused. As an example, PaxLair is an immersive town focused on RPing. So every day in PaxLair is role-played. It has the goal to be a fully functional town that includes back story and new stories made by the citizens. Their reasons to go adventure (mini quests) will likely happen weekly or even daily depending on the population. So many RPing groups will exist naturally within SotA too.

I also suspect many of us avatars / outlanders will have roles to play in New Britannia (I am a governor) on Day 1. So interaction with "people with roles" will be in abundance.

I agree with the OP that an RP group could certainly form to locate many of the smaller RP groups, towns, and people to help collaborate and design small and large quests. In UO, the Questmasters needed to know which "towns to hit" with dropped books to launch a quest. We will need this in SotA too. Consistency of Lore is very important, or the quests and RPing won't seem very realistic and not very newsworthy. Putting minds of similar interest together is rarely a bad thing. I can only humbly suggest a group form, see what can happen during the Releases and beyond, and perhaps they will be worthy of a Royal Warrant.

 

I like the concept, and have some ideas of how it could work, but much of it depends on the tools available.
For instance, if you had a player owned town which was flagged for PvP, you could even setup mock adventures with other players being various "NPCs" and "monsters", except far more dynamic. I was a D&D DM for a long time, and it would be neat to see how well that would translate.

 

A nice thought as it may be.. the Royal Warrant isn't the goal. At best it's an after thought. If anyone gets involved in something like this with an expectation of somehow being acknowledged or rewarded than they're in it for the wrong reasons.

 

I'm torn on this. I groan a bit at some of the ideas people have as RP specific....slightly renamed towns from old ones are trying to recreate events that happened in other universes and trying to make it canon. It seems a bit contrived and simple if you don't have the world unique from those other worlds....

That could just be me though.

 

I like the idea of having some sort of DM in game to do events. That DM will have a game tool where he can possess NPC charaters and or spawn creatures.

 

Well I'd love to have the ability to possess NPCs but there are a lot of concerns about granting special abilities. We'll just have to be creative in how we use the tools we have available. I suspect anyone acting as a DM might well make use of extra accounts to create temporary characters to drive a story forward.

I will probably get an extra account or two myself for that purpose.. assuming the idea gets off the ground. It would be nice if characters on the same account didn't have the same last name but we'll make do I'm sure.

hmm I wonder how possible it might be to have temporary powers limited to specially flagged hexes. Probably beyond EP1.