Guidelines To Starting A Character In Teutonia
The below has been created to provide some guidelines to individuals and groups who are intending to start a new character within the faction.
Please read the below and if you are in any doubt please contact one of the command team for further guidance.
We would hate for anyone to spend time and effort on a character to then have to ask that person to change it.
“And so, my fellow Teutonians ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”
At future events group leaders will be expected to meet with the faction command and discuss what they are actively doing to promote Teutonia in the world.
Those that do well will be rewarded, those groups that sit on their loral’s and expect the world to come to them will not.
It will not be sufficient to just do Alchemy, Crafting, Rituals or guarding, these are the minimum requirements.
In addition we/you will be expect to actively go out into the factions and negotiate trade agreements, gather information, and make contacts and business deals.
WE WILL SELL TEUTONIA to the world, no longer can we expect the world to come to us.
We will make Teutonian the most useful nation in the world.
We will become the world’s diplomats, traders, and sources of enthusiasm and knowledge.
The Specifics
We have almost every character concept you can think of within the faction. But the one thing that is common is that we all work for each other. Backs to the wall it’s Teutonia against the world.
So, What’s My Motivation Here?
" Some useful thoughts and ideas from some seasoned roleplayers for new roleplayers - Newbies"Your Character Doesn’t Exist In A Vacuum.
When you turn up at an event with your newly created character he only exists as an idea. He only becomes “real” when you talk to people and bring him alive by doing stuff.
When I say “stuff” I mean just that. Do something, anything, but just get out there and do it. Only then will people know who your character is and how he differs from your OOC personality.
Why You Need Motivating
The complaint I hear most often from newbies is that there’s nothing going on. “It’s boring,” they complain. “Everyone else is doing Stuff and we haven’t got any Stuff to do.” When there’s a perception that there’s nothing going on people will obviously get bored and in an effort to entertain themselves they generally end up dropping out of character, have a chat with their mates about the telly or football and get pissed. Now, if you take a moment to consider the amount of money you’ve paid to cover the ticket price, get new costume, get yourself to the site etc. - then if nothing else, this seems like a waste of money that could be better spent on, say, more beer.
Firstly let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons this happens. Most people who are new to LRP will base their expectations on table top roleplaying games and fantasy movies. Movies are a passive experience – you sit there and simply absorb (or, if it’s a film by M.Night Shayamalamalamalamalan, fall asleep). Table top games are more proactive, in that you have to decide what to do, but at the same time you’ve got a GM there to spoon-feed you and keep the plot moving.
Warning: Pretentious Diatribe Alert!
LRP games are a whole different beast for the simple reason that if you do nothing then nothing happens. From time to time you may hear people talk about something called the “meta-game”. A part of this is the idea that nothing in the game world exists until someone says it does. So, if you do nothing and say nothing then there is nothing. Man, that was deep.
[Sidebar]The Meta-Game Trust me, a lot more people use this phrase in conversation than know what it actually means, so don’t get too worried about it. The meta-game is, if you like, the game behind the rules. It’s how you go about getting things done and the rules are simply a mechanic for expressing this.[/sidebar]
OK, now I’ve confused the crap out of you with my home-brew game theory, let’s look at what this really means to you.
Once you’ve been to a few games you will start getting the hang of doing Stuff. Now, this isn’t quite as easy as it sounds and for almost everyone this is an acquired skill. This is because you will need to spend the first few hours of any game doing a headless chicken routine by running around talking to people with no particular agenda in mind – this is very different to how most people work in day-to-day life. It’s only when you’ve then found out what the situation is that you can begin planning ahead.
To start with then, you need a bit more structure and focus to get you going. So, give yourself some goals.
Goooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!
Roleplaying is driven by conflict. Conflict occurs when two or more people are acting at cross purposes. People only have a purpose when they are working towards a goal. So, the more goals you set yourself the better the roleplaying and the better everyone’s game is! To make it even easier on yourself, break it down like this:
[Sidebar]Your goals can be entirely selfish. No one’s keeping score here, you don’t get rewarded for being nice and punished for being nasty. So, even though your end goal might be completely selfish, the fact that you have to talk to other people and get their help means that you’re still being a good sport and improving people’s experience of the game. Aren’t you nice?[/sidebar]
Long Term Goals
Think big here. The bigger the better. This could even be something your character cannot achieve, that way if nothing else you can always have something to strive towards.
Example: Become a king. Become a god. Create the ultimate mingy item of Ultimate Doooom! Unite all people of different nations under your banner of truth, justice and the orcish way.
Medium Term Goals
At this point we start being a bit more realistic in terms of what you can practically achieve within the game. However, this should be something that will take you a couple of years to accomplish. Yes, I said years. While there’s every chance the character won’t live that long, it’s entirely worth planning ahead in case you do somehow survive in order to prevent yourself getting bored.
Example: Become a knight. Become advisor to the king. Become arch-bishop of the Blood God Gnnrrutt. Make the magic Sword of Vampire Splattering.
Short Term Goals
This is the here and now. Decide what you want to do at this event. If possible come to the event having already decided on three things you want to achieve.
Example: 1. Buy / steal a mastercrafted sword. 2. Talk to the high priest and persuade him to ordain you. 3. Get invited to the High-Poobar’s birthday party.
To make it even easier we've put together a brief table of Random Tasks. If all else fails just pick a couple from here.
Generic tasks
i. Make a list of all the groups in your faction together with the names of the group leaders and introduce yourself to all of them.
ii. Write a story about something that happens at the event and perform it by the campfire.
iii. Go to a faction camp you've never been to before and score some food and booze for free.
iv. Pick a player meeting, e.g. Alchemists, Rangers, Shamanism magic users etc and go to it, irrelevant of whether or not you have any required skills etc. Make this meeting productive and effective. Contribute, even if you’re not sure what you’re saying is right. At least you’re doing Stuff.
v. Pick a player meeting, e.g. Alchemists, Rangers, Shamanism magic users etc and go to it, irrelevant of whether or not you have any required skills etc. Disrupt this meeting without getting busted for it and kicked out.
vi. Write a list of things your character wants (NOTE: not necessarily magic weapons!). Find people who have these items and make a note of all their names.
vii. Pick one of your allied factions. Create a list of their notable people e.g. Faction command, main group leaders, personalities, and find out about all of them.
Fighter characters tasks
i. Find an excuse NOT to do gate guard duty.
ii. Organise an In Character weapons practice session for your whole group. Ensure that they are all there.
iii. Convene a meeting of representatives of all other groups in your faction to discuss battle tactics.
Trade character tasks
i. Compile a price list of potions and alchemy ingredients.
ii. Sell something that does not exist.
iii. Find a craftsman and convince them to only sell their goods to you.
iv. Bribe a gate guard.
v. Send a gift to a Lord General.
vi. Make a display of conspicuous consumption. Destroy a lammied item for no benefit other than to show how rich you are.
vii. Pay someone else to speak for you.
Magic user tasks
i. Compile a list of the laws of each faction.
ii. Meet the head mage and chief ritualist of your allied factions.
iii. Talk to your faction's war-leader and find out who is in charge of co-ordinating mages on the battle-field.
iv. Name 3 foes your faction is facing and prepare a brief report to your group leader on each of them.
Ritualists tasks
i. Go see the rituals of at least one group from each faction.
ii. Do at least one ritual per day. This need not be in a ritual circle – it can be a purely roleplaying ritual for no in game benefit.
iii. Do a ritual with another ritual group.
iv. Arrange with another ritualist to score each other's rituals and give pointers.
So That’s It, Right?
Not quite. In addition to your own personal goals other goals will undoubtedly crop up during the course of the game as prompted by the plot.
Believe it or not, the second most common complaint from newbies is the fact that there is too much going on. Often this comment is made by the same people who moaned that they were bored at previous events. Go figure.
[Sidebar] Ref rant I’m going to let you into a little secret here: refs hate players. Don’t worry, this isn’t personal, they don’t hate you as an individual, just players as a demographic. Until you get to the point where you are running events yourself you won’t quite appreciate why, suffice to say that no matter what the game organisers do it’s never enough. Make your plot subtle and involved and the players will ignore it. Make it obvious, sweeping and epic and they will say that it’s clichéd. Send in waves of monsters for them to carve through in an heroic manner and it’s apparently too easy. Use intelligent monsters and tactics and the battles are too hard.
By and large, the only time the refs receive any kind of feedback is when players don't like a bit of plot. When things are going well then people generally just shrug their shoulders and get on with it. [/sidebar]
Let’s do a case study here: your carefully laid plans to have yourself annointed as the next Godwalker are coming to a head – you just need one last ritual and you will be the hardest thing outside of your own pants. Suddenly your Lord General says that in order to stop the Unspeakable Evil From Beyond Time forcing their way into this world then you must drop everything and do a warding ritual right-fucking-now. What do you do, hotshot, what do you do?
This, my friends, is a top-notch roleplaying opportunity. While, ideally, you’d probably like to do both things, they are conflicting goals because they’re both competing for a limited and valuable resource: your time. So, what are the possible outcomes?
1. You will be tempted, sorely tempted, to drop everything and do the warding ritual. Before you do so, ask yourself why you’re doing it – what is your motivation? Are you doing it because in character you believe in the preservation of all sentient life and will fight against the bad guys? Or are you doing it because your Lord General, who’s all important and stuff, yeah, has told you to? Or are you doing it because you know that, out of character, this is the climax to the event and if you don’t do it then the good guys lose?
Take a moment to think about what your character, not you, would really do. If someone wants you to do something in character they should provide an in-character reason.
2. You stick the proverbial two fingers up to your Lord General and announce your intention to go ahead with your own ritual as planned. At this point you will come under various in character and out of character pressure to do what you’re told. Ignore the OOC pressure, roleplay reacting to the IC pressure.
3. You do something entirely unexpected that no-one sees coming. Something like doing the ritual to ming you up disguised as the requested warding ritual / do a ritual to help the Unspeakable Evil From Beyond Time out of spite / any one of a number of other things.
Whatever you do, you will be making a choice. Which choice you make will be informed by your character’s goals and motivations. Those choices will then have consequences; dealing with the consequences of your actions provides the conflict which is of course in turn exactly what roleplaying is all about!
Useful Links/Ideas
Heroic Combat15 Rules
