MJ’s Guide for RP Combat

((The RP XP with MJ #41))

 

I recently lost a duel in-game. There’s no surprise there, and even less of a surprise when I tell you that it was my Level 32 Sith going up against a rival Level 44 Sith. Unless my PvP skills are top notch (they’re not), I’m statistically a loser in this match-up.

 

My opponent asked me before we began, “Do you want to do this as a duel or RP?” He pointed out that he figured our two Sith were probably equally matched story-wise, and he was right. I felt my Sith Lord carries the weight of one of the Dark Council’s favored (read: ‘favoured’ with an Imperial accent), and he fancies his near-Darth as a domineering, independent bad-ass.

 

So how would we fight? The answer: a RolePlay duel. There are a couple of ways to go about dueling (or really any form of combat between RPers) that don’t leave the results to the game’s computations for deciding the victor. If you have a pre-determined result in mind—for example, it’s important to your story that your smuggler learn humility by losing the blaster duel with the rival trooper—you simply “act out” each trade of hot glowing bolts through exposition and dialogue (the odd shout of, “Ugh!” a good indicator of a scored “hit.”) If you want some form of “randomness” to determine the outcome of the duel, there’s a very easy way to orchestrate a round of combat using the “/roll” command.

 

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR USING “/ROLL” IN RP COMBAT

 

Our opponents are a Level 18 Jedi Guardian (played as “Nergalon,” a Jedi Master), and a Level 55 Jedi Sentinel (played as “Plynk,” a Jedi Padawan. While Plynk grossly out-levels Nergalon, these two RolePlay a Master/Padawan relationship outside their levels.

 

In their story, Master Nergalon is training Padawan Plynk in the fine art of lightsaber combat. Plynk just constructed his first lightsaber and Nergalon is showing him the ropes.

 

It just so happens that Plynk is on a rapid drop into the Dark Side and it’s not too long before his fury and unleashed anger turn this sparring match into an all-out battle to the death. Let’s take a look at how this would play out in the chat box using the /roll command laced throughout their RP:

 

THE STAGE IS SET

 

The two players group so they can use Group Chat to iron out rules as they go. This also helps because the default Group Chat color (purple) matches the random die roll color, so all the “statistics” play out separate from the dialog and exposition.

 

[Group][Plynk]: ((So, how we gonna do this? Want to use /roll?))

[Group][Nergalon]: (Yeah. Sounds good. We’ll use the rules we used in the “Attack on Cave 151” episode we did with the guild last week.)

[Group][Plynk]: (Coolio. How do you feel about Plynk falling to the dark side during our spar???)

[Group][Nergalon]: (Yeah… but how would that end? I mean… Nerg would kill him.)

[Group][Plynk]: What if we play it out using the guild rules

[Group][Nergalon]: You don’t want to Permadeath, do you? Dude! Nerg would totally kill you if you fell do the DS!!!

[Group][Plynk]: How about this – If I win, Plynk takes pity on his former master and just knocks him out cold and leaves, right – if Nerg wins, he can totally chop him up and leave him for dead, not realizing hes really still alive. Then +

[Group][Plynk]: we can play it so Plynky returns in the future all tricked out with cybernetics and stuff.

[Group][Nergalon]: So totally like an Anakin/Obi thing, right?

[Group][Plynk]: Totally.

[Group][Nergalon]: Let’s do this. I’ll start.

[Group][Plynk]: Coolio

[Nergalon] says: “Are you prepared to spar, young one?”

Plynk nods and readies his lightsaber. “Yes, Master.”

Nergalon ignites his blade and smirks. “Then let us begin.”

 

Notice in the set-up how our two players start with the OOC chat convention of the double parentheses (()), but quickly drop to one, then none? If you establish that the Group Chat, for example, is your OOC channel, you can drop the conventions. The double parens are best used as OOC interjection in the IC channel.

 

So, it looks like our two players have decided on the outcome no matter who wins, but they’ve left it to chance to decide how their story will unfold. Now for the rules….

 

GUILD RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

 

Here are the rules Nergalon and Plynk’s guild came up with for duels:

 

1. We’ll use the standard /roll 1-100 for the base standard of all combatants.
2. /roll generates a random number between 1-100. You can specify other rolls like so: /roll 1-80.
3. You can decide pluses or minuses based on equipment, skill level, etc. before combat begins.
4. Each strike reduces the chance by 10.
5. To speed up a round, you can increase successful hit dice by 20.
6. Following a first strike, the responder replies with a defensive move AND a counter strike.
7. The roll of the defender counts for both the defense AND counter attack.
8. Example loss: P1 rolls 90 on attack. P2 rolls 23 on defend/counter. P1 strikes P2.
9. Example win: P1 rolls 90 on attack. P2 rolls 95 on defend/counter. P1 misses P2, P2 strikes P1.

 

In the case of Nergalon and Plynk, the players have decided that Plynk (playing the less skilled of the two) will play with a -10 deficit. The reason it isn’t a wider margin is because Nergalon has agreed that his Padawan-Turned-Sith has rage and anger on his side.

 

BEGIN!

 

The two characters face off in the area where they’re going to duel. They choose the shore of the Toxic Lake on Taris. Each character stands apart and ignites their lightsabers…

 

[Group][Plynk]: Good luck, dude!

[Nergalon] says: “Begin by establishing your guard.” He swings toward Plynk’s mid-section in a purposeful slow arc.

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-100): 26

Plynk would see the blow coming since it’s a practice swing and he would respond with a block followed by a savage flury toward Nerg’s shoulder.

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-90): 37

Nergalon attempts to duck the sudden attack but is hit across the shoulder armor. Surprised, he staggers back.

[Group][Nergalon]: I’ll let you have another attack, dude. Nerg’s pretty shocked. Don’t forget, you won so add 20.

[Group][Plynk]: kewl

Plynk surges forward, swinging wildly at his master!

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-110): 64

Nergalon quickly parries and strikes back with a Force Push.

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-90): 82

Plynk stumbles as the Force Push catches him off guard, but he quickly spins and charges at his master, swinging for his head.

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-100): 32

Nergalon steadies himself, sensing the dark twist in his Padawan and strikes back accordingly.

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-110): 90

Plynk feels the hot sting of his master’s blade across his back and arm. He unleashes a tunnel of dark energy as blue Force Lightning shoots from his fingers.

[Plynk] says: “I always hated you, you smug Jedi bastard!!!”

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-90): 74

Nergalon attempts to catch the force lightning in his blade and cast it back as a cone of energy.

[Nergalon] says: “Plynk, no! Don’t give in to hate! Whatever I did to make this happen, please–!”

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-130): 116

[Group][Plynk]: Ahhhhh, that sux!

Plynk is hit full force with the energy and with a last concentration of Force power, throws his lightsaber at Nerg ((And he’ll start to sizzle cuz theres no way he can beat that. LOL))

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-80): 23

[Nergalon] says: “Plynk, give up. You’re no match for me.”

Nergalon dives toward Plynk, thrashing his saber in an attempt to cut off his Padawan’s arm.

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-150): 6

[Group][Nergalon]: WHAAAT????

[Group][Plynk]: ROFL

Plynk catches his saber on the return arc and holds it up at Nerg, thrusting forward as a surge of energy charges him up.

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-100): 54

Nergalon grunts in pain as he’s stabbed almost all the way through his armor. He tries to bash away Plynk’s blade and strike for his legs!

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-140): 133

Plynk reels in pain after the slash cuts through the thigh on his leading leg. Though he’s now limping, he strikes back at nerg’s neck.

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-90): 88

Nergalon would deflect the blow, spin, and combo Force-Leap and strike down from behind Plynk.

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-160): 94

Plynk feels pretty beaten at this point and begins to lose his footing and his breath. “I’ll… kill… you…” He tries one more jab!

[Random]: Plynk rolls (1-80): 14

[Nergalon] says: “I have no choice, Plynk… I’m sorry.” He raises his saber over his head and strikes down!

[Random]: Nergalon rolls (1-180): 123

[Group][Plynk]: Yeah, I pretty much yield at this point. I gotta log in about 10 anyway.

[Group][Nergalon]: KK. How you wanna end it?

[Group][Plynk]: Um…. let’s say Nerg actually chopped off both my legs on that last one, then the final strike knocked me into the toxic lake.

[Group][Nergalon]: That works… Then you’ll come back all Vader-like next time?

[Group][Plynk]: Yeah. I can wear my new PvP gear as cybernetics – just say it’s mechanical legs.

[Group][Nergalon]: Works. Ok, I’ll catch you later. Good RP!

[Group][Plynk]: yup yup! L8Rs!

Plynk has logged out.

 

And there you have it. The Level 55 bested in a duel by a Level 18. Isn’t RP amazing?

 

THINGS TO NOTE:

The expositional descriptions in orange are done with the /e command. Using that command introduces a sentence leading with your character’s name. During the “combat,” characters can move about. This is great if you want it to appear as though they’re fighting over obstacles or through the interior of a ship. Stand on tables and describe kicking over cups and plates, say you’re using the Force to topple obstacles or taking cover behind them if you’re having a blaster fight.

Of course this is only one example. I like it because changing the die roll depending on damage received makes the combat more realistic. They could just has easily decided to do a “best out of five” and just went with the straight /roll (1-100) command. In the event of a tie, use the OOC chat to decide a victor or agree on an exposition that describes a stalemate.

If you have a system for dice rolling (for example, a way to make Pazaak or Sabaak work in-game using the /roll command, let me hear it.) I’ll post it on the RP XP with credit to you.

 

Do you have a cool idea for SWTOR RP to share with MJ? send it to him directly at swtorliferp(at)gmail.com, reply here, or follow him on Twitter @MJswtor. ((The RP XP with MJ)) appears right here on swtor-life.com exclusively every Friday.

Tags: /roll, combat, dueling, roll command, RP, RP XP with MJ

((RP XP with MJ – I answer your questions))

 

It’s time for another round of YOUR RP QUESTIONS! (Insert John Williamsesque fanfare here).

 

 

For those of you keeping track at home, or building a reference library of RP how-tos, here are the links to the previous Q&As here on swtor-life.

 

 

#3

#2

#1

 

 

Every 10th RP XP I’ll take a moment to answer your burning RP questions. Now I haven’t been back all that long, so I really had to scrape. At least one of these is from an earlier batch I never got to. So, if you’ve been holding back because you didn’t think I’d get to you, /yell PLEASE don’t be shy. Send your questions to me A) Here, in the form of a reply to any of my columns, 2) By writing to me directly at swtorliferp(at)gmail.com, or C) Hitting me up through Twitter (I’m @MJswtor).

 

 

Now on with this week’s questions….

 

 

 

I tried RP, got pulled into ERP. How do I get out?

 

 

Ooh. That’ll happen. Let me guess. You had a nice lead-in to RP at a local cantina (see my guide to BARPing in the last two RP XPs) and were excited to find yourself invited back to his/her ship to continue chatting “in private.” Maybe you were lured with the promise of continued RP. Maybe your new chit-chat buddy dropped character for a moment to complain that the chat box was getting too crowded. Whatever the case, you found yourself getting groped (In-Character, that is).

 

 

Before I can really answer, I’d need to know what you did. It sounds like you “went with it” regardless of how uncomfortable it made you feel, or maybe you simply logged out and now you’re afraid to go back. Depending on your solution to the matter before you brought your question to me, I have good news and bad.

 

 

The good news is if you logged out in a panic, the other person should get the clue. If they hit you up again, just tell them politely, “((Sorry. I don’t do ERP.))” It’s that simple. Even in a virtual world, “No” means “No.” Though I’d warn you now that you will encounter the odd (and I do mean ODD) ERP “rapist” who likes to act out violent sexual fantasies or fetishes. Don’t let that deter you from living your character, though. Those people are few and far between. Just remember, you can always log out, and if you feel you’re being harassed, you can report the offending character/player to BioWare. Be wary of anyone who doesn’t begin an ERP with an Out Of Character dialogue to set boundaries (or who doesn’t respond when you try to set the boundaries).

 

 

The bad news is just going to require a little work on your end–and this is only if you went along with it even though you were uncomfortable. Chances are the other person may hit you up again for RP. If that’s the case, you’re just going to have to come clean and tell them you don’t want to do it again. Send the character an in-game mail message if you want to avoid a live confrontation. Chances are they’ll be embarrassed that they lured you in to something you weren’t comfortable with and you won’t hear from them again. And there’s always “/ignore” if that’s not the case.

 

 

Be aware of your surroundings and what’s going on in your RolePlay. If you begin to grow uncomfortable with something in the other person(s) RP, break character and ask for clarification, or tell them you’re not into that particular thing.

 

 

 

When creating a story for a plotted event, how do I know how long to make it?

 

 

A TV or film script is generally one minute per page. That’s great if you’re shooting your own internet video. That’s not the case in RP, however, because you’re going to have a lot of breaks in the action to explain things OOCly, you’re going to have pauses while you wait for players who had to AFK (Away From Keyboard) in the midst of the story, or you’ll have to hand-hold slow typists and endure pauses that are typically much longer in RP conversation than in the real world.

 

 

What works for me is to keep to the Three Act Rule and keep your notes extremely short. If your story is dialog heavy, be sure to include a lot of exposition or carry the dialog to different locations in order to keep the play interesting. If your story includes a lot of dueling or in-game combat, keep in mind that people’s play styles will now ebb into the flow of the story as they have to switch gears to beat the Heroic you threw them into as part of your story.

 

 

Here’s an example of what I mean by “short”:

 

 

ACT 1 – Establish contact on Tatooine (My character informs the others that a vital piece of Republic intel was taken by the Imps. I’ve traced it to Voss).

ACT 2 – Travel to Voss (We are attacked on the way. Each person will pretend to either fly the ship or man a turret. [Here is where you can establish rules for the “/roll” command (more on that below)]).

ACT 3 – The group fights their way to the stolen intel and recovers it. (Using the Cyber Mercenaries HEROIC+4).

 

 

Doesn’t seem like much, but keep in mind that any time you switch locations, move the story, or something new happens, you’re changing acts. Generally, even a fast-moving RP can run from 20 minutes to an hour per act. That’s an hour minimum for the story outlined above, and that’s not including any internal conflict. Say for example one of the people in the party plays an undercover Imp. Naturally, they’ll try to sabotage the intel rescue mission. That will add some great drama to the story, but it will also add time.

 

 

 

I hate that we can’t sit in chairs. When will that happen, and what do we do in the meantime?

 

 

You’re preaching to the choir. I would much rather see a sit-in-chair animation than chat bubbles at this point. While pondering your question, I searched the Web for anything on SWTOR and chair-sitting. No surprise: I was lured to a forum post under the heading of “Chair Sitting: The Final Post on the Topic.” I never read the forums. I can’t stand flaming and name-calling and BioWare bashing. It’s just a lot of ignorance.

 

 

But, every once in a while you come across a gem of wisdom you hope the Devs will pick up on.

 

 

Here’s a Dev quote someone found and regurgitated: “We’re always looking to add things that enhance and support roleplaying, but we have to weight the impact some of these new features might have on performance or other quality-of-life improvements. There may be room for us to create specific social spaces with sittable furniture, for example, but converting all furniture in the game would be a monumental task.”

 

 

The poster went on to (no surprise) rail against BioWare for being so “helpful,” but not without a good point: Why worry about creating sittable furniture when you could simply create a “sit-in-chair” emote? It worked for Star Trek Online, among others. You simply hop up on a chair, turn around, and type “/sitchair.” Viola–chair sitting ANYWHERE! I don’t blame BioWare for wanting to concentrate on other improvements (though they should really leave PvP alone. From what I hear they spend a lot of time fixing things that PvPers complain don’t need fixing). Other quality-of-life and performance enhancements should always be top of list, right before “New Content.” But this poster makes a good point. Don’t waste time on furniture, BioWare… Just create a new emote.

 

 

As for what to do in the meantime, I suggest “Expositional Standing.” Meaning: Walk up to a chair, stand in front of it, and type, “/e sits down and crosses his legs ((pretend I’m sitting)).”

 

 

Lame, I know. But that’s as good as it gets unless you want to do the “/sit” command… which, admittedly, looks very awkward in a chair.

 

 

I’ve never seen anyone use the dice roll command. Isn’t that an RP thing? What would you use it for?

By typing “/random” or “/roll” you can generate a random number from 1 to 100. This command is useful for people who RP D&D style and affect using multi-sided dice to generate results. For example, say two adversaries are facing off and want to duel. The problem is that both are supposed to be equal (say they’re both Sith Lords), but one is Level 18 and the other is Level 53. By facing off and having each person “roll” to determine a successful hit, you can level the playing field. Granted, it’s not as dynamic and cool-looking as an actual duel, but it does the job.

 

 

The great thing about the “/roll” command is you can use it to generate any random number in virtually any random span. Let’s use the example of two Jedi Padawans sparring. We’ll call them Myx and Jevv.

 

 

Myx: /roll 1-100 (generates a random roll from 1-100) = 23

Jevv: /roll 1-100 (generates a random roll from 1-100) = 50 (Jevv’s strike wounds Myx)

 

 

So, next round:

Myx: /roll 1-50 (generates a random roll from 1-50) = 13

Jevv: /roll 1-100 (generates a random roll from 1-100) = 72 (Jevv’s strike wounds Myx a second time)

 

 

So, final round:

Myx: /roll 1-25 (random from 1-25) = 24

Jevv: /roll 1-100 (random from 1-100) = 13

 

 

So, Myx got in a lucky jab when Jevv wasn’t expecting it. The duel can go on like this, each wound costing the opponent half of their points (or however you choose to cut it) per round, diminishing their chances of maintaining strength or footing in the duel without ruling out the chance of a comeback.

 

 

 

Do you have a question for MJ? send it to him directly at swtorliferp(at)gmail.com, reply here, or follow him on Twitter @MJswtor. ((The RP XP with MJ)) appears right here on swtor-life.com exclusively every Friday.

 

Tags: questions, RP, RP XP with MJ

((The RP XP with MJ #39))

In the last RP XP  I introduced the concept of BARPing (Bar RP) and introduced some of the personality types you’re liable to run into as you stroll the decks of either faction’s fleet hub, and I introduced a few ways you can strike up an In-Character conversation without resorting to tired old pick-up lines (that only work in a virtual world).

 

Now let’s take a look at ways to extend and expand your BARPing so it doesn’t become as boring and droll as running Dailies.

 

EXCUSE ME. MAY I…?

 

So, you wander into the cantina area and the first thing you notice is that the opportunity for RolePlay appears boundless. Even the droidless bars are teeming with activity. Characters of all sorts are standing two-deep, blending into NPCs, and even occupying every piece of furniture in every darkened corner. There are even conversations going on between couples at the railing and in the V.I.P. area. The chat box is a blur.

 

You hurry to your cargo bay and pull on your best robe and boots. You don your Smuggler’s toothpick and saunter up to an opening and throw out your best…

 

/e glances around at the patrons and smirks, then he orders a tall Corellian Ale. “And a shot,” he adds.

 

Two robed figures next to you, a male and female, are engaged in their own chatter…

 

Tarik [says]: “So why don’t you just leave him?”

Veetha [says]: “I cannot leave him. He is my master.”

Tarik [says]: “But you must follow your heart.”

Veetha blushes deeply. “I must follow my Code.”

 

Oh boy.

 

Oh! No matter. There’s a rather attractive rifle-toting woman with long red hair standing by herself next to you. So, you give it a shot…

 

/smile

 

Nothing…

 

/e smiles to the woman next to him.

 

Nothing…

 

/e smiles to the redheaded woman next to him in the Imperial uniform.

 

Nothing…

 

/e smiles to the redheaded woman TO HIS LEFT in the Imperial uniform and says, “Hello, officer. May I interest you in a drink?”

 

Nothing… Then a moment later she walks away and begins a conversation with the character she was waiting for. You’re not daunted. There’s a lot going on. You have something to offer! Someone WILL talk to you!

 

But, as the night wears on and more and more people exit for PvP pops, guild opps or private RP in their respective ships, the possibilities seemingly dwindle away. You notice a few conversations going on, some of them “openly private,” some of them “loud,” and others relatively conversational but obviously nothing to do with you.

 

Is there a way you can interrupt an RP in progress? Isn’t that rude? Can you just walk up to a couple or a group of people and invite yourself in to the conversation?

 

Sure! What you have to realize is that BARPing is supposed to emulate a real life “bar scene.” If you overhear someone badmouthing your favorite team to a friend of theirs, you have a right to go up and throw your two cents around. If you see two pretty girls chatting and you’re interested in the one on the left, you can politely edge your way over and introduce yourself. If you see a group of guys hovering around a table with the only bowl of pretzels (or ashtray), you can politely excuse your way into the group and take your fair share.

 

Granted, it’s not always that easy, and BARPing has as many pitfalls as real life. Your two cents can get you a black eye. The two pretty girls can turn on you and start cutting down what you’re wearing or point out that you have something sticking out of your nose, laugh, then leave. The guys hogging the pretzel bowl can bodily kick you out to the curb. Don’t be discouraged. Reactions are fifty-fifty. You could just as easily end up winning the argument, getting the girl or kicking back to enjoy your own bowl of pretzels.

 

Granted, the conversations you “overhear” aren’t going to be as mundane as what you’ll hear in a bar. Let’s look at an example and how you can pry your way in…

 

Remember these two?

 

Tarik [says]: “So why don’t you just leave him?”

Veetha [says]: “I cannot leave him. He is my master.”

Tarik [says]: “But you must follow your heart.”

Veetha blushes deeply. “I must follow my Code.”

 

Here are three possibilities for entering this chat, hopefully without becoming the third wheel:

OPTION 1: “Pardon me for intruding, but I’ve heard the Jedi are pretty lax on that whole ‘Code thing’ these days… I’m Lord Tagious. Tag to my friends.” (The personal introduction sets you up as an authority and why their conversation interests you. The “to my friends” is typical BARP code for “I’d like to be friends”).

OPTION 2: “Sorry for interrupting… Code?” (Sure, you know what the Jedi – or Sith – Code is, but maybe your character doesn’t. Playing dumb to draw interest makes the other player feel important and gives them the chance to “educate” from the personal perspective of their character’s character).

OPTION 3: “The guy in the robe is right. Why don’tcha leave the bum? …I’m Tag, by the way.” (Pick a side. Be loose and conversational. But end with a grin.)

 

Keep in mind that you may not always be welcome. Some people don’t get the fact that if you’re conversing or emoting “loud enough” to be overheard, someone may interrupt at some point. If you’re enjoying a good natured BARP, but don’t want to be interrupted, invite your conversation partner to move somewhere else, use a personal custom channel, speak using /whisper, or form a Group and chat that way (it also makes it easier to follow which conversation is yours if you’re in a color-coded channel).

 

USING THE LEGACY SYSTEM IN A WHOLE NEW WAY

 

Let’s say your character is a Sith Lord. Let’s say he’s got a chip on his shoulder, a short fuse, and isn’t much for “chit-chat.” He has a blue/black lightsaber blade because you thought it was cool and offset his personality curiously. Let’s say you also have a Sith Marauder who behaves timidly around other Sith. She’s shy around people in robes or armor, but she’s talkative when you get her to open up. Let’s also say you’ve decided to relate these characters as MASTER (Named Darth Zhak) and APPRENTICE (Named Apprentice Felina)…

 

Tarik [says]: “So why don’t you just leave him?”

Veetha [says]: “I cannot leave him. He is my master.”

Tarik [says]: “But you must follow your heart.”

Veetha blushes deeply. “I must follow my Code.”

Felina bumps into the woman and gasps. “I-I’m sorry. D-did I spill your drink?”

 

For the sake of argument, let’s say Tarik and Veetha are good RPers and they play along.

 

Veetha brushes at her robe. “I think I’m ok, hon.” She eyes the pale woman who bumped into her.

Tarik looks at Felina.

Felina keeps her head low and speaks in a low, fear-filled tone. “D-Did you happen to see a large Sith Pureblood come through here?”

Tarik [says]: “There’s lots of those.”

Veetha [says]: “You ok? You look pretty shaken up.”

Tarik moves his robe and rests a hand on his own saber hilt. “What did this so-called Pureblood do to you?”

Felina almost whimpers as she confesses, “I m-made a lightsaber, but my stone was blue… I-I like blue. He never said it had to be red. H-He beat me and took it f-from me.”

Tarik [says]: “That scum!”

Veetha [says]: “You can stay with us, hon. We’ll keep you safe. Here… Let me get you a drink.”

 

You’re in! That was easy. But say you want to expand the story. Say you want to build intrigue. Say you have an idea for a personal story that these two may be interested in playing in. Excuse yourself at an appropriate time, log out, then come back as Darth Zhak (and remember… he has a blue lightsaber).

 

Tarik [says]: “I hope she’ll be ok.”

Veetha looks to where the young Sith girl disappeared. “She’ll be fine… I hope.”

Zhak ignites his lightsaber, gives it a flourishing twirl, then hooks it back on his belt. He steps up to the bar. “Black Ale, droid – Now!”

 

In the silence that follows, Tarik and Veetha may be chatting on their own channel or in whispers, not wanting their RP to be interrupted by the annoying loud-mouthed Sith with the blue… wait a minute….

 

Tarik looks at Zhak.

Zhak leans against the bar, toasting to the robed couple next to him. “Nice night for punishing ignorant apprentices, isn’t it?”

Veetha gasps, her jaw dropping as she glares at the Pureblood next to her.

Tarik [says]: “We don’t want any trouble, Sith.” He turns to Veetha. “Maybe we should go.”

Zhak [says]: “If you happen to see a pathetic human whelp whining about her lost blue blade, send her to me.” He grits his teeth. “She needs another lesson.”

Tarik stands a little taller. “This human you speak of. What’s her name?”

Zhak glares at the man. “Felina. Why?”

Tarik [says]: “We saw her here just a little bit ago. She was scared to death because of you! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, you weak excuse for a Sith!”

Zhak threatens Tarik

Veetha elbows Tarik in the ribs ((about the time he gets to ‘saw her here’ – OK if we wind back to that?))

Zhak [says]: ((LOL. Yeah, sure!))

Tarik [says]: ((Sure. Re-posting))

Tarik [says]: “We saw her—Oof!” He grunts as Veetha’s pointy elbow pokes him in the ribs.

Veetha crosses her arms. “We haven’t seen her.”

 

Kudos to Veetha and Tarik for making the little interruption interplay there. Remember, you can always break character to clarify things or to set-up instances like that. And, no, Tarik shouldn’t have made the assumption that Veetha would elbow him without checking with her first (maybe via Tell). Maybe she wouldn’t want to interrupt him. Maybe she’s spoilin’ for a fight too?

 

Depending on the scenario you’re trying to set up, you may want to break character to clarify something. In this case, if Zhak is threatening violence (or hinting at some very dark RP others may find offensive), feel free to clarify with a simple line:

 

Zhak [says]: ((FYI, Felina’s my alt)).

 

WARNING, DARTH ROBINSON!

 

Be careful with this kind of interrupting RP. Don’t let your story overpower the Personal RolePlay that was already going on before you even got there. I’ve been in situations before where something like this starts out as something cool, but before I knew it, I was being introduced to alts who played family members, rivals, enemies, even random characters who knew something about someone else. It gets hard to follow, it’s confusing, and—let’s face it—if it doesn’t include YOUR story, it will only be exciting for so long.

 

If you played Zhak and Felina in the example above, what would be your next step to keep from being the “annoying third wheel” to Veetha and Tarik?

 

((The RP XP with MJ)) appears exclusively here on swtor-life.com. You can contact MJ directly at swtorliferp(at)gmail.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @MJswtor. MJ answers your questions in the next issue, and every 10 columns after that, so write or tweet early and often!

Tags: BARPing, role playing, Roleplay, RP, RP XP with MJ

((The RP XP with MJ #38))

BARPing, otherwise known as “bar RP” has been a staple of MMOs since bars, inns and cantinas were first placed in the gaming space. It’s a simple and well-known precept that characters will congregate around hub areas similar to communal spaces you’d find in the real world. And, ever since the first hairy-chested guy with a gold chain asked, “What’s your sign?” bars have become the stereotypical meeting place for nearly every walk of life.

 

They’re the place to go to meet new people, hook-up for that one night stand, celebrate a team’s victory (or loss), drown your sorrows, or let your hair down after a stressful day. The bar is where you go to hang out with friends when you don’t know what else to do, host an impromptu class reunion, play games or watch the Big Game, even face off against a rival for bragging rights.

 

There has been a lot of criticism about the casual nature of RP around a bar, particularly because “cantina chat” is stereotypically the same old song and dance. As I mentioned in the last RP XP, it’s usually the slave girl, the smug smuggler, the anti-Jedi, or the trooper drowning himself in Corellian ale as a way to fight off post-traumatic stress, that populate the local virtual “bar scene.” I’m one of the not-so-outspoken opponents of BARPing because it thins character by reducing interaction to the here and now. Remember that back story you gave your Sith Marauder, about how she turned to the Dark Side by accident because she stole a starship? That’s an interesting story, but will it come up in casual bar chat when all the Bounty Hunter next to you wants to know is if you’d like to take your drinks to his ship so you can be alone? Doubtful.

 

That said, there are ways you can turn BARPing into a more well-rounded experience that invites deeper levels of RolePlay—yes, like the kinds you hope for in the open world but never find.

 

KNOWING YOUR MARKS
(How to Recognize Different Kinds of BARPers)

 

Only interested in ERP—I’m sure you realize that the scantily-clad women gyrating on tables aren’t there because they’re looking for a new apprentice, or that female characters with names like “Ima Slavehoney” or “Gimmieluvin” were born from a long lineage of former Tatooine Moisture Farmers. Most (but not all) of the time, a conversation with these buxom beauties will fall down the rabbit hole of “personal interaction” and a desire to “please you, master.” Likewise, the Smugglers, Agents or “Fallen Jedi” who keep pushing drinks toward female characters with a side chat hinting at “alone time” are generally looking for hook-ups. If all you’re looking for is a “good time,” by all means, enjoy. Just don’t complain when you finally get to be alone with one of these types and they’re not too keen to listen to your story about the time you fell into a nest of gundarks… Unless they think that’s “code” for something else.

 

Troll Strollers—These folks will make you dizzy. How many times can the same person walk around the same four cantina bars without stopping for a drink? Oh, sure, they’ll vary it a little by riding the elevators up to the VIP level and back down again, even roam around the outer ring. They never say anything, never do anything, but they are on the hunt for RP. Some time ago I talked about the “walkers” (That was before I heard someone in General Chat use the term “Troll Stroller” and I about spit blue milk through my nose at the clever turn of phrase), and the fact that “walking,” like personal emoting, is a sign that someone is acting with their character in a more realistic way—and therefore are likely to respond if approached in a realistic way. It’s easy enough to engage a Troll Stroller in RP. Typically, all you have to do is highlight their character and type /nod, /look, or /smile and you’re sure to get the same back, if not the start of a full-fledged conversation. The hard-to-get Troll Strollers aren’t worth your time if you’re serious about sitting down to some deep RolePlay. If you throw them a “/look” and they shoot back with a “/nod,” and move on without another word, they’re either just spinning their wheels or waiting for the PvP queue to pop—or, they want you to do all the work.

 

Fishers—These characters are a lot like the Troll Strollers except they stand still. They usually find a spot at the bar where no one is around, or stand at an empty bar. Sometimes they sit (in that strange not-really-sitting-way) in chairs overlooking the bars. Sometimes they stand at the railings on the outer ring of the cantina area. Most of the time, Fishers are quiet. They’re just waiting for that “in,” the moment when they overhear a snippet of RP that holds an interest for their character, or they’re scouting out other Fishers or Troll Strollers for potential chat.

 

PRPers—Personal RolePlayers can be any of the above, but they attract RP to themselves by giving you something to respond to, typically in emoted behavior or exposition, but sometimes by spoken mumbles of monologue. Examples include: The Twi’lek who acts like they’re being choked or shocked by an unseen assailant, the Bounty Hunter who sharpens his war blade, the Jedi who meditates or practices levitation, the Imperial Agent who “spies” on everyone, the Smuggler who makes racist comments in order to pick a fight, or the person who roams around checking the time as if they’re waiting for something (or someone). These people are good to watch, sometimes very entertaining to listen to, and can offer up some great RP, especially if their PRP line matches up with your own (Like you hate Zabraks as much as the racist Smuggler).

 

Griefers—These are the guys who make you wonder why they’re on an RP server, and I only mention them here because some actually make periodic (if not horrible) attempts to RP. Griefers fire AOE weapons into crowds, they park their full sized speeders on top of the bars, they dance on the bar (unlike “dancing girls,” they’re typically shirtless guys with some sort of pet following them around), they use foul non-canon language, they speak OOCly and typically with abbreviated “TXT speech,” and they generally make asses of themselves in order to bust up RP moments. My advice is to add these people to your friends list, then use the COMMENT option to notate, “GRIEFER.” Why? Because you may want to pass three days later when the same person steps up next to your character at the bar and engages you in conversation (sometimes Griefers try to blend in with RolePlay only to execute their own form of “knock-knock” jokes by shouting an obscenity or running off mid-sentence after wasting an hour of your time. This is not typical, but I’ve seen it done. You are warned).

 

INTRODUCTIONS AND TAKING IT BEYOND THE BARP

 

“Can I buy you a drink?” may illicit an eye roll from the player across the country, staring at their monitor as your character steps up to RP, but it’s not an invalid question AT A BAR.

 

Here are some other perfectly adequate opening lines:

“Are you waiting for somebody?”

/e notices the lightsaber on your belt and asks, “Are you a Jedi/Sith?”

/smile

/wink (keeping in mind that this introduction may be taken as well as it is in real life. Unless you want your character to be branded as some kind of creep, avoid the wink until you’ve made proper introductions).

“Hi. What’s your name?” or, even better, “Hi, I’m (YOUR NAME HERE). What’s your name?”

 

These are all fairly simple, easy to manage and easy to execute even if you’re relatively shy about RP. Try taking your opening lines up a notch by incorporating your surroundings. Some of these are good opening lines, others are good follow-up to introductions:

 

“Have you noticed how slow the service is around here? I think these droids need maintenance.”

“Excuse me, do you happen to know when the next shuttle leaves for Sullust?”

“Do you know where I can get a droid’s memory erased around here?”

“The air smells funny. Do you think maybe the atmosphere processors are on the blink?”

“Do you think what I’m wearing is ok for Tatooine? I hear it’s hot there.”

“Excuse me, but I’m bound for Taris in a few days. I heard there’s a problem with rakghouls there. Do you know anything about that?”

“I desperately need to get to Nar Shaddaa. I’m meeting someone about some money I’m owed. Do you know if there are any transports leaving in the next few minutes?”

“Do you happen to know if a model R-29 Aerodust speeder will fit the cargo bay of a Corellian freighter?”

 

These kinds of openings add extra levels to the conversation right from the start, and they can also give you the opportunity to bring in some of your own characterization. The line about the air smelling funny can be part of a character trait you don’t just “say;” in this case that your character has heightened senses, or at least a really good sense of smell. The active tip here is to USE YOUR SURROUNDINGS. Remember, that you are on a huge space station peopled with aliens, droids and all sorts of personalities among the NPCs.

 

You may wonder why there are questions about shuttle departure times. Why would your character need a shuttle when they have a ship of their own? Well, maybe you RP that your character doesn’t have their own ship; or maybe they do, but they’re trying to stay under cover. Asking about transportation also gives you the possibility that the character you’re talking to will offer you a ride where you want to go. This opens up time alone aboard their ship where you can exchange background information, forge friendships, or… yes… get lucky, if that’s your thing.

 

In the next RP XP with MJ I’ll talk about creating involved stories in the BARP atmosphere without interrupting other people’s RP. I’ll also show you ways you can use your legacy to spice up the BARP, and how to lure quality RolePlayers into the open world and away from the bar.

 

((The RP XP with MJ)) appears exclusively here on swtor-life.com. You can contact MJ directly at swtorliferp(at)gmail.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @MJswtor. MJ answers YOUR QUESTIONS coming up in #40, so send ’em in!

Tags: BARPing, cantina, RP, RP XP with MJ

((The RP XP with MJ #37))

 

 

No, it’s not the next expansion, and I seriously doubt we’ll see “playable droids” in our SWTORian future, but who says you can’t make your own rules in an MMO?

 

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

 

Here’s a run-down on your typical cantina RP:

~ A Jedi Knight who has become disillusioned with The Code and seeks peace through passion. (Could also be a Sith who has become disillusioned with the Empire and seeks power through peace).

~ A Twi’lek slave/dancing girl looking for a master (or temporary master, or any form of ERP).

~ A Mandalorian who drinks Corellian whiskey through his helmet while spouting phrases in Mando’a.

~ A Smuggler who drinks hard, flirts with the ladies, and swears (sometimes using actual canon swears like “kriff” or “kriffing”)

~ A Soldier fresh off the front lines looking to drown his sorrows (until the next PvP queue pops).

 

Sound familiar? The pain behind your eyes from rolling them so much is almost enough to send you into PvP–not that there’s anything wrong with a stereotype now and again (that’s how they become stereotypical), but you’d like to see something new. Once in a great while you find a RolePlayer who breaks the mold, who creates a character so rich with background, so unique with characterization, so specifically animated, it renews your RP spirit and gives you hope that there’s more beyond the “bar scene.”

 

I was lucky enough to bump into one of these characters while trolling around Vaiken Spacedock looking for a random RP encounter. When my character was “scanned” (Cyborg species emote) by a heavily armored individual who then walked away without a word, my curiosity was piqued. I ran him down and immediately went into a stream of IC incredulity, throwing out my best “Hey! What’s the deal!?” exposition. To my delight, the response was instantly intriguing: “That information is restricted to personnel without authorization.” No matter how I pressed, I was flatly denied and told repeatedly that I was “not authorized to access the unit.”

 

The lack of emoting, the painstaking enunciation of every word… By the moons of Corellia, I’m talking to a droid! Sure enough, this character (whose floaty name identified him (it) as “Sentient” from the guild “Execution”) was a flawless portrayal of an assassin droid, even down to the look—which reminded me of the poor victims Lord Grathan’s cyberneticist on Dromund Kaas. **SPOILERS (for anyone who just picked up the game yesterday)** Remember Captain “Duchess” Sarnova’s quest just outside Grathan’s estate? The one where she asks you to find her missing troops, and you eventually find that the poor slobs are being turned into droids to do the Empire’s bidding? Sentient even had that “look,” though somewhat sharper and more fear-inducing.

 

IMAGE: Left – One of Captain Sarnova’s (inset) men converted into an assassin droid. Right – The real deal, “Sentient.”

 

After our brief RP, which was even more inspiring because Sentient refused to be baited into a drawn-out chit-chat (he is an assassin droid, after all, and has programming to follow—no time for idle BARPing), I caught up with him and asked if he’d mind being interviewed for the RP XP.

 

AN INTERVIEW WITH AN ASSASSIN DROID

 

How long have you been RPing?

 

“I must have been about fourteen or so when I first started RolePlaying, though it might be even further back than that. One of the first places I RolePlayed was in an infamous Korean MMO called Ragnarok Online. I don’t RolePlay on any other MMOs at the moment, though I had a brief stint on World of Warcraft.”

 

How did you come up with the concept for Sentient?

 

“When I initially joined SWTOR, I recognized a lot of similarities between the different characters I observed. I always like to do something that would provide me with an interesting challenge. I’d always been fascinated by the concept of artificial intelligence and non-organic characters in video games, for example, Legion in Mass Effect… They can often end up coming across as more human than the human characters—and subsequently acting as social commentary on our own species and its shortcomings. I was not someone who wanted to see a droid class at first, but I believed it would be a welcome addition to the game and one that I personally would love to see. In addition, I’ve always been something of an in-universe droid sympathizer, seeing as most characters view them as nothing more than slaves and tools for a decadent organic culture.”

 

Well said.

 

Do you keep notes on how you believe a droid would behave? How do you keep consistency in the portrayal of Sentient?

 

“Interestingly enough, I’ve never kept any notes, but I make sure to keep the character acting in a subservient role. [I do, however] take regular screen shots of conversations with other characters to form a literal ‘record’ of dialogue and information so I can refer back to it at a later date and pull up that information much like a droid would when accessing memory logs within its internal databanks.”

 

What is Sentient’s background?

 

“Sentient’s creation is one that is marked with a number of underlying agendas, many of which I can’t go into detail about as they’re relevant to an upcoming storyline within the guild. I can provide you with some basic information, however. Sentient was created as part of a secret black project called the ‘Sentient Heuristics Initiative’. The objective of which was to develop an operative that would be infallible and utterly loyal to Imperial Intelligence, and more importantly the Dark Council. No danger of being reprogrammed or brainwashed, and incapable of going rogue as a number of organic agents had no doubt done so in the past. Holowan Laboratories, a well known canon staple, were employed as external contractors to build the actual unit itself. However, just as the project was nearing completion and the unit was just about ready for launch, the entire initiative was scrapped and shut down. All records were destroyed, all personnel involved in its development were quietly taken care of and the unit itself was scheduled to be consigned to the scrap heap…”

 

Now that’s a lot of detail. While it’s not typically necessary to go that deep into your character’s background, the more you have stored up as backstory, the easier it will be to “act” when RolePlaying in the open world. Sentient’s “role” becomes easier for the player to articulate because he knows what the character has been through.

 

What advice would you give to other RPers out there looking to improve their RP, or enhance their RolePlay?

 

“Don’t be afraid to experiement. Don’t settle for something that’s within the realm of familiarity. I also suggest observing other characters and seeing what others have done, and noticing what kinds of characters seem to be more popular. …At the end of the day, RolePlaying is about having fun!”

 

Absolutely!

 

If you’d like to know more about Sentient’s portrayal, his guild, or the possibility to crack his programming in RP, feel free to send him a PM or in-game message. You’ll find him on the Ebon Hawk server.

 

BUILD-A-DROID WORKSHOP

Sentient allowed me to break protocol (pun intended) and share with you his recipe for crafting the appearance of an “assassin droid” based on what I glimpsed from “Inspect Character.” Note, these are only suggestions, and most of the medium and heavy gear (particularly on the Sithy or BH side) look fairly “mechanized.” There is a lot out there to pick up, craft or buy that can be mixed and matched (and now “dyed”) to fit any droid portrayal you want to create. If it looks “droidy,” go for it. Here’s some of Sentient’s recipe:

Head – Polished Marauder Headgear / Ablative Turadium Headgear

Chest – Ablative Turadium Vest

Belt – Black Hole Mender’s MK-2 Belt

I do believe you can craft the head and chest pieces at Synthweaving Level 54.

 

If you come up with your own droid character, let me hear about it! My smuggler is in need of a new protocol droid to replace C2-N2. If you have a special twist on characterization, motivation or appearance, let me know. If you have any RP ideas or “spins” unique to the art and you want to be featured in a future column, drop me a line!

 

((The RP XP with MJ)) appears exclusively here on swtor-life.com. You can contact MJ directly at swtorliferp(at)gmail.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @MJswtor.

Tags: Droids, roleplaying, RP, RP XP with MJ

((The RP XP with MJ #36))

 

I’m introducing a new segment to the RPXP inspired by the great living atmosphere of SWTOR’s set design and NPC placement.

 

Have you ever stopped to smell the roses? There are a lot of awesome little mini “scenes of drama” (or comedy) playing out throughout the SWTOR universe. Around every corner or thoroughfare there are NPCs going about their daily lives, arguing, laughing, crying, throwing up into fountains. There are even Easter eggs and inside jokes for Star Wars diehards (have you found the “Darth Vader bounty hunter briefing” aboard the Imperial fleet’s Ziost Shadow as a nod to the scene in EpV, or the wookiee who pulled the droid’s arms out of its sockets per Han Solo’s warning in EpIV?)

 

Did you ever wonder what the BioWare designers had in mind when they set these scenes up? That has to be one of the most fun things about working on an MMO like SWTOR, the little inside jokes or captured moments they don’t expect you to actually “see” unless—like me—you stop to smell the roses.

 

So, I thought it would be fun to take a tour through BioWare’s Old Republic and make up stories for those captured moments found throughout the galaxy.

 

 

CAPTURED MOMENT #1:

WHAT IT IS:

A young dark haired male human apparently upset about something near a seated blond female human.

WHERE TO FIND IT:

(-946, 1441) “Garden of Justice”, SenatePlaza, Coruscant

 

 

Let’s call them Arlon and Jurie. That’s not what BioWare calls them, as far as I know, but let’s extend the RP beyond ourselves for a moment and see what we can come up with for these two.

 

Arlon and Jurie live in one of the sky-scraping behemoths that line the horizon of Coruscant. He’s a loadlift operator at the nearby spaceport, and she works the diner on sublevel 141 at the Senate Plaza.

 

One day Arlon comes home to a hastily tapped note on a datapad that reads, “My Dearest Arlon. I’m sorry to tell you this, but I’ve decided that I love Wokum more than you. I can’t go on living this lie and I have to follow my heart. The times we shared together walking in the Garden of Justice were memorable, but I need something more. Love always, Jurie. PS – Please don’t be weird about this just because Wokum is Trandoshan.”

 

So, what does Arlon do? He tracks down his lady friend at their favorite walking path and finds her sitting wistfully staring out into space, happy about her decision and waiting for her the taxi that will take her to Dosha. As for Arlon? He’s obviously at a loss for words.

 

Of course the scene could be more serious than what I’ve depicted here, or it could even be more lighthearted. How would you paint this picture?

 

 

If you have a favorite “captured moment” scene, screenshot it and send it to me (swtorliferp(at)gmail.com). If you’ve got a story to go along with it, let’s hear it; or if you want to see what I can make up, we can do that too. ((The RP XP with MJ)) appears exclusively on swtor-life.com. You can contact MJ directly by writing to swtorliferp(at)gmail, leave a comment, or follow him on Twitter @MJswtor.

Tags: Captured Moments, game design, Roleplay, RP, RP XP with MJ

((The RP XP with MJ #35))

I recently received an email from a fellow RPer who expressed—at length—the same concerns about RolePlaying in SWTOR that I share. They’re not just SWTOR concerns, either. I’ve seen and felt the same rumblings in other MMOs where RP is par for the course. There were a lot of good points in the email, some of which I’m sure I’ll hit at a later date, but for now let’s talk guild events, and the question… Do guild events kill RP?

 

The reader had several good points about how organized events in an MMO kind of suck the life out of quality RolePlay. Guilds, particularly large RP guilds, tend to schedule “events” and encourage attendance ICly. The problem with these large-scale forays is that they either A) Focus on one character’s story or plot (Even if the story is all-encompassing, it had to have started somewhere, and that person is typically played by the GM guiding the story—It’s their character’s story); or B) Are relegated to “mix and mingle” “dance parties” where ERP hook-ups become the norm. Now I’m not saying that all guilds are like that, but so far I’m batting a thousand on my own personal experiences. If you do things differently—and it works for you—by all means, please share! I’d like to hear a success story or two.

 

“You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done.” — Owen Lars

 

To most casual RP guilds, the “dance parties” are a cool way to meet other guildies, recruit new ones, and have casual fun in character before going back out into the grind. Don’t get me wrong. I “get it.” I also think there’s a time and a place for it, especially in casual or part-time RP guilds.

 

So how is it kill RP?

 

To answer that question, we need to look at RolePlaying as an art form within an art form. As I’ve extolled upon previously, RP involves character writing, plot formation, background building, interaction and progression. Now, I don’t want to be the guy who points a finger and says, “You’re not doing it right.” The IC mix-and-mingles are a perfectly fine way to maintain guild unity and grow membership, but consider the “reality” of an in-character dance party. If you’ve created a Sith Lord who is plotting the demise of his master while grinding his teeth over the failings of his apprentice still stuck on Korriban, who spends his days hunting Jedi for sport, is he really going to belly up to a bar and say to the Twi’lek slave girl next to him, “So, sweetie… You live around here much?”

 

I’d say no. If you create a character who was born on Galactic Standard Date 20138, lost their parents in a horrific freighter accident, picked and scraped through the back streets of a long forgotten city on Horuz to earn enough money to make it to the next system, met and fell in love with a young Kiffar woman who was later killed by an Imperial soldier at a checkpoint… you probably don’t want to spend your nights sending Jawagrams, lighting fireworks or emoting belches. I’m not saying your character wouldn’t visit a cantina now and again. Hell, a story like that would lead anyone to drink. But I wouldn’t be far off the mark if I suggested you’re looking for something different, something more. And you’re not going to find it at your guild’s “Dance Event.”

 

So, am I rallying against the Mix-And-Mingle RP? Not at all. It’s perfectly fine for more casual guilds or guilds that keep RP around as “flavor” between flash points and ops. But if you’re in a guild that takes RP to deeper levels, you’d do much better hosting OOC (Out Of Character) events, or box them into a theme that makes sense to your guild’s charter. If you’re a Jedi guild, for example, you might want to package your mix-and-mingle as a “Council Meeting,” or call it a “Republic Planning Committee Session.” Just keep in mind that such meetings aren’t nightly occurrences.

 

“Didn’t we just leave this party?” — Han Solo

 

In larger guilds, the problem of diluted quality RP becomes tangible if you’re creating a story. Having 25 guildies coming to the rescue of a downed smuggler friend’s ship on Tatooine is overkill (How did so many people become involved in a story that works best with 3-5?). If you don’t think the story’s diluted at that point, put yourself in the shoes of Guild Member 24. There’s a good chance Guild Members 1 through 5 (at least) are close. They’ve been together the longest, they write good stories together, they do a lot of PRP (Personal RP) together, their characterizations come out clearly. But Guild Member 24 can’t keep up. Lack of chat bubbles aside, how do your newer members stay focused, stay in the loop, and participate in something so massive?

 

Scenarios like that can lead to Guild Elitism. Through no fault of your own, your guild becomes “elite” because newer members too shy to be open in chat, members who can’t keep up with your stories, and—worst of all—members who never get the chance to host their own stories, end up leaving… bitterly. That can be a problem if your intention is to be all inclusive to fellow RPers who share your passion for the art.

 

The bigger problem is that guild story events don’t make sense with that many people, unless of course your story involves a full-scale military assault on an enemy base.

 

So, how do you have guild story events that include everyone—and make sense—without it degrading into a pointless strain on the chat box? The first answer will hurt: You don’t. The core issue is the quality of the RP. Too many people all vying to get their character’s personalities out in the open will rapidly dilute the story and destroy immersion. Most crafted stories will only need the participation of a handful of people. Take the original Star Wars trilogy for example. The Episode IV “guild” was comprised of Luke, Ben, Leia, Han, Chewie, C-3PO and R2. Their story of rescuing a princess from an evil Empire allowed everyone’s personality to shine through easily, and even they broke into sub-groups from time to time.

 

“I have a bad feeling about this.” — Everybody.

 

If you have a huge RP guild and want to give everyone a chance to shine, there are a few ways you can be accommodating. First, create a system that allows for one guild leader per every five to seven members. There’s no rule that says a guild can’t be built from cells of smaller groups. Each leader can then “GM” story events, or members can rotate the Game Master role. To make sure the precepts of your guild are maintained, the guildmaster can call monthly (or whatever period works best for you) OOC meetings to see that everything is running smoothly.

 

Another option is to make RP in your mammoth group more “viral” by planting seeds and making PRP introductions. Do the Henry V thing; walk amongst your guildies and listen. Pick up on their stories and deliver them to others. Encourage your membership to mingle WITHOUT the party.

 

In a future column I’ll take a look at BARPing (Bar RP) and talk about how it’s a million times worse for RP than the “Dance Party.” Oooh, did I just get your ire up? Good. Let’s chat.

 

((The RP XP with MJ)) appears exclusively on swtor-life.com. You can contact MJ directly by writing to swtorliferp(at)gmail, leave a comment, or follow him on Twitter @MJswtor.

Tags: guild events, RP, RP XP with MJ

((The RP XP with MJ #34)) SPECIAL EDITION

The thousands of workers at Rendili Hyperworks had no idea the hand they played in fate as they watched their labors rumble to life. Moorings shook and fuel vents shuddered as the enormous ion engine flutes of the Hammerhead-class cruiser illuminated her berth like four caged suns.

 

And so launched the Endar Spire, the ship of lies.

 

The conspiracy hidden within the corroded and overgrown shipwreck on the surface of Taris begins with questions about her sinking more than 300 years ago. We know that Jedi Knight Bastila Shan was given command of the Endar Spire’s last mission. We know that Revan was aboard, disguised as a common Republic soldier. We know of Revan’s importance to the Jedi Council at the time—the former supreme leader of the Sith, brain-wiped and under the care of Bastila. We know that Bastila’s gift of Battle Meditation made her extremely valuable to the Jedi Order and a prime target of Darth Malak.

 

So why would the Council allow Bastila and Revan to head out alone aboard the Endar Spire to Taris, a world occupied by the Sith and protected by a blockade overseen by Malak himself, especially considering Revan’s defenseless condition at the time?

 

I recently paid a visit to the broken spine of the Endar Spire at the behest of the Galactic Republic, on cryptic orders from a Captain Childress whose detachment of soldiers had not reported back from the wreck. I was curious to see for myself how well the ship’s grave held up, swallowed by the local fauna, a breeding ground for rakghouls, pirates and armed settlers. I had to ask why the Republic would even bother sending a team to an old shipwreck?

 

Exactly. There’s too much going on with the Taris Reconstruction Project to waste manpower on a centuries-old downed cruiser. Or, that’s what I thought until I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and realized the Republic wasn’t doing enough to secure the Endar Spire, considering my suspicions.

 

 

So, fully armed and geared up with my trusty sidekick, a smuggler I call “Mr. Funny” because of his penchant for naming inanimate objects (and if I hear one more time about his beloved “Torchy” I’m gonna blast him myself), I set out for the crash site. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was immediately stunned as we crested a ridge of upper city wreckage and saw her, the Endar Spire, surprisingly intact and still maintaining the familiar profile of a Hammerhead-class cruiser.

 

I suppose the first mystery of the Endar Spire is its surprisingly good condition. Not only had the ship apparently survived total vaporization in orbit—contrary to popular belief until this time—it also survived Malak’s savage bombardment of the planet’s surface. The Endar Spire was reported lost days before the Sith glassed Taris, yet here she lay, relatively pristine despite the attack and three centuries of natural and man-made abuse.

 

 

The pirates camped near the wreck weren’t much trouble, and we made our way inside in no time, aiding a small band of research scientists protected by the faltering remnants of a Republic military detachment. Astonished is too weak a word to describe my surprise at finding some of the ship’s functions still operable. After making a mental note to have future upgrades to my own ship done at Rendili Hyperworks, we concluded our short escort mission and returned the research team’s materials to the Republic base camp nearby.

 

 

And that’s when I realized a full-blown conspiracy was in the works, a web of secrets and lies between the Jedi Council and the Republic military dated centuries ago and maintained to this day.

 

According to the officer I spoke to back at base camp, the Republic was only interested in the surveillance footage captured by the Endar Spire during her last moments of life, surveillance of Sith warships that were in service 300 years ago! I knew that had to be a mistake. There had to be something more, and this was just a line the military was giving to civilians stupid enough to serve as volunteers.

 

That’s when I took note of a quarantined field hospital filled with groaning soldiers and workers diminished to pathetic shadows of their former selves, the wraiths of Taris, the rakghoul victims. Did the Endar Spire’s secret mission to Taris have something to do with the rakghoul curse? After all, the slavering beasts had been around since well before the sinking of the Endar Spire, a curse born out of the twisted mind of Karness Muur thousands of years earlier, a curse that seemingly would never die.

 

The ancient Sith mastermind of the rakghoul plague “left the oven on,” so to speak. It was only a matter of time before someone tapped the ghastly abominations haunting the lowest levels of Taris and released them on an unsuspecting galaxy to spread like an unstoppable virus. I believe the Endar Spire’s last mission was to lure the Sith attack, to sacrifice the city planet in an effort to prevent Malak’s Sith from using the rakghouls to their fullest potential.

 

Which begs the question: had the Endar Spire not taunted Malak into the bombardment of Taris, would the rakghoul plague have raged out of control centuries earlier?

 

And why send such an important Jedi Knight to a Sith-controlled world along with the Jedi Council’s most enigmatic prisoner? Taris has always been just out of reach of the Republic. The resources and manpower required to launch an assault on the distant world would attract too much attention; in particular the attention of Malak who was seemingly ignorant of the deadly viral weapon in the deepest gutters of Taris.

 

The solution? Use Bastila to lure Malak’s wrath. She was the only carrot the Jedi Council could dangle in front of the Sith; the Endar Spire the only cruiser capable of getting her as far as Taris. As for Revan, I personally believe he was an expendable asset, unless Bastila was totally unaware the role the Council wanted her to play in the destruction of the rakghoul curse. Revan was given an alias and listed as a soldier aboard the Endar Spire. Is it possible Bastila was completely ignorant of his presence? Is it possible the Jedi Council knew Revan would regain his strengths and somehow rescue Bastila from the very attack they were planning?
That seems far fetched, and unfortunately, many of these questions remain a mystery. All we know of the facts are that Bastila abandoned ship during the Endar Spire ambush leaving Revan to die. Considering her responsibility to him we have to wonder why. We also need to consider the miracle of the Endar Spire’s survival and the Republic Military Machine’s interest in a 300-year-old corroded hulk.

 

Is it possible the Endar Spire’s final resting place holds more than old surveillance images? Could the clue to the Endar Spire’s last mission still be locked within her aging memory banks? Or does she hold something more? Does she hold the clue to Karness Muur’s curse and the secret to preventing a rakghoul pandemic like the one that recently made its way across the Outer Rim to Tatooine? Who is brave enough to find out?

 

((I hope you enjoyed this little “side step.” I present this article to you as an example of TGI (Total Game Immersion). At the very heart of RP is the desire to breathe life into the story first written by the game developer. In this case, I bridged the gap between BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars The Old Republic by stepping into the mind of one of my more curious characters. I hope you enjoyed it. Now… What’s your story?)) 

Tags: Endar Spire, roleplaying, RP, RP XP with MJ, storytelling

((The RP XP with MJ #33))

 

Hey! I’m back! Miss me?

 

Ok, enough pretention. Let’s talk about why I disappeared, and more importantly, why I’m back.

 

My last column appeared here in March of last year. There were a lot of personal things going on in my life, most actually related to business, and I needed some time away from my writing here to concentrate on my writing elsewhere. I like to think I’ve grown, even improved a little, and SO MUCH has happened in our beloved SWTOR that I just HAD to come back.

 

So what was it that brought me out of the gloom and shadows to carry the torch of ((The RP XP with MJ)) once more? Hello!? Appearance editor!? I woke like a startled Krayt Dragon when I saw the notes for Patch 2.1. As BioWare continues to struggle with making PVPers happy, I was delighted to see a respite from that particular grind and some love shown to the RP community.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I love the fact that BioWare has continuously strived to make every play style available to every player, but let’s face it: SWTOR is a PVE/RPer’s game. The stories are so rich, the characters so well acted, the set pieces so spectacular, I don’t mind spending time at PVE away from the comparatively mundane RP that floats around the cantina.

 

So, what are my plans for the RP XP?

 

Well, I’m coming back with a vengeance! In addition to the usual Tips n’ Tricks for RPers, I’m going to throw in more commentary about the game from an RPer’s perspective, reviews of story elements from the game (no spoilers – promise!), special segments that cover the art and writing of the game, and maybe some commentary about Star Wars in general with a slant toward how SWTOR connects with The Canon of the Future (with all due respect to the House the Mouse Built, of course /bowrespect). Oh, and I definitely want to hear more from you! I’m hoping future installments of ((The RP XP with MJ)) will include interviews, links and snippets from your RP worlds!

 

It’s so good to be back. I’ve never been more excited about RolePlay in SWTOR, storycrafting, character building and interacting with all of my fellow SWTOR-RP fans and friends.

 

See you again soon!

 

~ MJ

 

PS – My very special thanks to Serge for keeping swtor-life and swtor-spy alive and well! There’s so much content at swtor-spy it’s crazy. I’ve been going there since launch for all my PVE and SWTOR survival needs!

 

((I know it’s been awhile, but the doors are open for your input, ideas and questions. Write me at swtorliferp(at)gmail! Until next time… AFK BRB))

Tags: RP, RP XP with MJ

SWTOR Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion increases level cap, and introduces new planet along with new quests, datacrons and much more. For this new adventure, our sister site Swtor Spy has a bunch of surprises for you, which will guide you through the new content.

• SWTOR Talent Calculator 2.0
  Skill calculator with the updated skills for all classes so you can check out all the changes to your skill tree. All Class Skill Trees have been adjusted significantly, and all player Skill Points have been refunded.
• Makeb Datacron +10 Presence Guide
  Head to the south-west part of Makeb, in Perekta Mesa (X:-1720, Y:4343). This datacron is can be collected in a few minutes.
• Makeb Datacron +10 Endurance Guide
  The starting location for +10 Endurance datacron is in Frinn Mesa, while the datacron itself is located in the Cartel Mining Mesa. There are several tricky jumps during this adventure, thus, be patient!
• New SWTOR 2.0 Makeb Codex
• SWTOR Legacy Achievements Database
  We released for you online version of the in-game Legacy Achievements system with full functionality. The Legacy System has expanded to include Legacy Achievements, which recognize important accomplishments and milestones across all characters in your Legacy.

Tags: legacy achievements 2.0, Makeb, makeb codex, makeb datacrons, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, swtor talent calculator 2.0