Random Acts
From FiranMUX
(from Steph's posting on General Updates, December 4, 2003)
It's hard to lack for roleplay on Firan, with so many people and so many opportunities day and night, but sometimes players find themselves in a rut even on Firan. They worry about stagnancy of their characters or that they don't have the creativity to find new direction and occasionally they ask the staff for help. I thought I'd write out my best advice.
What's best about a roleplaying game is that its an exercise of give and take--an interactive experience where you write stories together. When we worry about our characters losing direction or becoming static, it's a sure sign that we've been doing more of the taking than the giving in our own personal roleplaying equation. The almost foolproof cure to this ailment is to balance it out by giving.
Now, many of you do your giving in terms of staffing or helping other players out of character. This is a good and healthy thing. But it's not the kind of giving I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is entertainment. Use your character to entertain others, and it will come back to you a thousand-fold.
Random Acts of Chaos
Perhaps you have a bit of a trickster character, playful by nature, perhaps driven to pranks when stressed. If so, you can cause a lot of roleplaying for others by letting this express itself. Examples of this might be when Nydiam got drunk and stole a ferry, causing roleplaying for two whole clans as well as the Republic Air Force. Or perhaps Eliana and Taria, who used to forge love letters to and from their friends. Or Sabinus, who once shot off an arrow and caused a chicken riot in the forum.
Random Acts of Meddling
But perhaps your character isn't the flashy type, or all of the chaos you can think of is likely to get you killed. Maybe your character is more of a nurturer. A person who forges and tends relationships. If so, you can always use your character to meddle in the lives of others, trying to make their lives conform to what your character thinks is best. Matchmaking. Nagging. Spying. Eavesdropping. Sneaky political plays. Talking to their sponsor, their boss, their wife, their children, etc. The disruption you cause in their character's lives will enrich their roleplaying experience, and yours.
Random Acts of Violence
But perhaps your character is a brooder, without a huge sense of fun, or a bit tempermental. This gives you a great opportunity to poke a little fun at your character, and give other characters the opportunity to do the same. Take offense at something innocuous so that you cause a big scene and later have to apologize. Start a barfight, then buy drinks for everyone afterwards. Smack someone around in a drunken rage, then have your family bail you out of jail and use your connections to beat the rap. These things win you friends and enemies, and both of those things are essential to a character's continued vitality.
Random Acts of Flirtation
Love makes the world go round, but flirtation makes it shudder. Love can be serious business on Firan, causing all manner of tinyplots, so if you can manage love, go for it. But if not, flirtation can be just as good. Have a crush on someone. Make them think you have a crush on them. Perhaps just be a cad and flirt without intention. Lead someone on. It's in character for just about everyone.
Random Acts of Angst
Note how fairy tales end with 'And they lived happily ever after'. The key word there being that they END. So make trouble for yourself and others to keep your story going. Thwart your character's goals or the goals of others. If you're happily married, for the love of the gods, start a fight. Get jealous. Make your lover jealous. Have an affair to apologize for. Nothing is more boring than a truly happy character. The moment you run out of disatisfaction, you are doomed.
Random Acts of Leadership
If you're a Clan Leader or Proxy, you're in a particularly dutiful position, both in character and out. In character, you have to keep your clan together. Out of character, its your job to provide opportunities for others. Delegate so that other people have things to do. Send people on quests. Set up challenges for people that make their goals difficult. Set subjects against one another. Don't make yourself overly available. Clan Leaders who are 'buddies' with their clans not only earn contempt of their subjects, but also deprive them of all the roleplaying opportunities that come from not having an easy solution to everything in someone who can snap their fingers and command an army. Try to make every scene with your people one of those encounters that they will tell their grandchildren about, how one time, they were before the Clan Leader.
Random Acts of Clumsiness
Perhaps your character has bad luck or is a little hapless. If that's the case, have accidents. Perhaps you accidentally set someone's house on fire. Overturn a cart. Walk into a wall. Fall on the Viceroy. Leap to the wrong conclusion. Forget to water the crops. Walk out of a noble's house with an item you didn't mean to take. Send a messenger to the wrong person. These things can cause minor calamities and opportunities for you to entertain and be entertained.
Remember that in all interactive environments, fun is a give and take encounter and you'll do just fine.
