02-15-2016, 10:12 PM
Before anything, even the opening line introducing what I'm proposing, I need to make it clear that this is a voluntary thing, that is in no way meant to be an 'elitist circle-jerk', or a beneficial group of OOC 'friends'. It's a proposal brought up purely out of a desire for pain to actually mean something ICly. This was just one of the most positive, and fun ways I could think to bring attention to it. Now then..
Hardcore Characters
The Idea: Upon character creation- or maybe during an LE- you decide that this character is not a 'super badass'- maybe a more modest kind of badass, but not the sort of person who can't be killed- they're a mortal. It's easy to play off injuries, and defeats, and treat adventuring as a fun, care-free romp through the land, telling yourself you're the very best, like no one ever was, when being KO'd is an instant revival, with just a few lost items and coins being the only consequence- a consequence almost always avoided with the help of the bank, anyway. What this is is a self-imposed set of rules, that could be compared to a Nuzlocke run in Pokemon. By presenting IC consequences for defeats with actual risks, and sticking to them, you'll hopefully adapt your role-playing style to stop making light of being injured, and with every battle- every attack you take- actually carrying some IC weight, you'll have more fun. I always have more fun when there's more on the line, personally- and from a role-playing perspective, this'll hopefully serve as an interesting thought exercise, that could teach you a thing or two about adventuring, taking hits, and how serious, and dangerous an adventurer's life-style can be.
The Execution: It's not particularly complicated, if you're beaten in a dungeon, rather than just popping back into existence near an inn, and awkwardly walking away with your hands in your pockets, trying to play it off like nothing happened- roll a d20. Or flip a coin. Roll a d100, even. Do something, that determines the outcome of your 'defeat, and your attempt to escape'. My own take on it would be something like, roll a d20 on dungeon-defeats, roll a 20, escaped just fine, laugh it off, haha, what a close call that was, good thing I had my trusty spork to dig my way back out, 19 - 10, escaped, maybe a few bloody gashes, or serious bruises, but some bandages, ointments, and a drink to settle the nerves, and I'll live, 9 - 2, seriously injured, but otherwise made it back, spend the rest of the day recovering, letting my body mend before I try 'anything that dangerous' again, maybe end up losing a body-part, like an eye, or a finger- arm, even, and on a 1- I died. I didn't escape. The monster got me.
The Motives: Why would you implement the possibility of death into your character's daily life? Because for as fun as power-fantasies may be, they water everything down, kiddos. Everything. Adventuring is a 'fun game', a hobby to most folks. There's no consequences. There's no real emotional investments. There's no realism. There's no satisfaction. You'll see it all the time around the arena, folks RPing crazy things, like ripping trees from the ground to throw at eachother, and punching hard enough to end a person's life- but no matter what happens, one trip to heal-cat later, and everyone's good as new, and already looking for another fight. It's the same problem with any kind of game like this- everyone is their own main character. They want to do the crazy cool heroic things they saw in their favorite video games, movies, animes- they want to be loved, respected, and admired- shucks, some people are so into this mind-set, that it takes them quite some time to realize that no one is going to walk up to them and initiate a conversation with them, just because they 'look really cool', or 'fight really well'. I know there's at least one person out there, who hasn't realized that reaching level 60 is not super-duper-amazing-special, and that LE's do not make him a prodigy, hmhmhm.
With this decision, the decision to make your character mortal, everything counts. Every attack you take makes you anxious! Every attack you miss frightens you! You're emotionally invested- you could die! After a rough fight, that you just barely managed to win- you're not going to want to play off your low HP as no big deal just to be cool- your life is on the line, screw that, you need a minute to recover! Back to town, or to the nearest medical professional! Make camp, pass around bandages! Something, this is no time to brood, or be all mysterious and cool- your face is coated in your own blood! If you get KO'd, you have to make a roll, or do a coin-flip, and chance -dying-.
So let's say you're interested, but don't want to constantly tell people, "I don't want to go raiding dungeons with you for grinding- because I decided this character's in Hardcore Mode." Or you want to make it clear to people that you're going to respond as a mortal ought to, to their crazy, over-the-top emoted attacks during spars. Just put a little bubble, (HM), in your character description. Easy-peasy. People will only ever need the meaning of that bubble explained to them once, and it'll serve as a constant reminder to them, and to you, that you're a mortal. Maybe you guys can come up with your own variants of it, too, maybe means a character who doesn't bother with dice-rolls, or coin-flips, and just straight up dies if they're ever KO'd. Maybe [HM]III is a character with '3 chances', their own little KO-count health bar. The important thing here is that you stick to whatever you decide, whatever rules you set for your character's Hardcore Mode. To give them, their mortality, their life-choices, and their every action in a fight weight. That's not to say there's consequences of any sort for just dropping that decision at any time. It's your fun. Your priority.
- - - - - -
So why even bother proposing this weird little self-imposed rule system? Because gosh darn, everyone's so edgy! So much raw, unbridled power-fantasy everywhere. People RPing as these 'super amazing badasses that can deck just about anything and anyone with a single punch', but who have the mentality, and emotional-development of a child. How many folks were at that Lover's Day festival Chimera hosted? I thought that was the coolest thing ever- for one day, everyone was an actual person. No power-struggles, no power-fantasies, people were shy, they were confused, they nervously grappled with the idea of flirting with someone- and that was kind of cute! I'd love to believe someone, just out of sight, worked up the courage to actually approach someone of the opposite sex that day, drop a cheesy romantic line, and- at the very least- made a new friend. It was absolutely wonderful, and something I was super happy to have gotten a chance to be a part of, (I was the one over-charging for 'Lover's Fortunes' all night, so sorry, hope at least some of those came true, hmhmhm!) That event completely addicted me to the idea of 'normalcy', and 'realism' in SL2. There's so many adventurers, a massive number of whom see nothing 'wrong' with their lives. They don't seem to acknowledge how dangerous the life-style is, how painful it is, how hard they must work to overcome some of these creatures they fight daily- for what? For a chest full of butter, and onions? To be sold to Zeo- who's not going to give you more than 2 murai for that onion- and you better hope the butter doesn't melt in your pocket on the way back, 'cause he's not paying for a buttery stain in your trousers, buddy! The economy is hard to really map out, or play with, you have to get really creative to manage to carry any kind of 'honest career' out in SL2- folks have told me 'blacksmithing, cooking, carpentry, enchanting, alchemy', but adventurers can not only do those things as well for themselves- they can do them better, because they have access to dungeons. Everyone is very self-sufficient... Until they message a friend or call out over OOC for a specific kind of craftsman's help with their newest weapon.
I'm not saying anyone's wrong for enjoying a power-fantasy. This is a game at the end of the day, if it's not fun and you're still playing it- you're probably not playing it for the right reasons. If you're enjoying yourself in emoting things like shrugging off impalement, or hurling people miles away- then keep doing what you're doing, this isn't a condemnation of you, and your smile. This is me suggesting something- if it takes, awesome, adventuring, partying, and fights- it'll all mean much more to the community as a whole. If it doesn't, then I'll at least be having fun playing my own hardcore character- I've got three character slots, I'll live if one of them empties itself out every now and again. Not like I don't delete one of my characters every few days, anyway, for new ideas. This is a personal choice, and it's got all the freedom you could ever want attached to it- really, at the end of the day, all I'm proposing is that if your character is mortal, you put a bubble, or a couple weird symbols around the letters HM, to show your character's life is fleeting- and therefore, precious to you. Hopefully, that'll open up a few of the people who do genuinely enjoy the power-fantasy aspects of things, to being more sensitive to characters with more mortal levels of fortitude, and their reactions to being punched through brick walls, or kicked repeatedly in the ribs. Let's not spoil eachother's fun, guys, by stepping on one another's beliefs on how this world works, pain-wise. With these little bubbles, at least you'll have some warning of who's 'a normal person', and who is 'an adventuring badass'.
I'd love to hear what other folks in the community think of this suggestion, and it's motives- 'too tryhard'? Not tryhard enough? Needs more cowbell? Or shucks, even just new suggested Hardcore Mode rulesets. That could be fun.
Hardcore Characters
The Idea: Upon character creation- or maybe during an LE- you decide that this character is not a 'super badass'- maybe a more modest kind of badass, but not the sort of person who can't be killed- they're a mortal. It's easy to play off injuries, and defeats, and treat adventuring as a fun, care-free romp through the land, telling yourself you're the very best, like no one ever was, when being KO'd is an instant revival, with just a few lost items and coins being the only consequence- a consequence almost always avoided with the help of the bank, anyway. What this is is a self-imposed set of rules, that could be compared to a Nuzlocke run in Pokemon. By presenting IC consequences for defeats with actual risks, and sticking to them, you'll hopefully adapt your role-playing style to stop making light of being injured, and with every battle- every attack you take- actually carrying some IC weight, you'll have more fun. I always have more fun when there's more on the line, personally- and from a role-playing perspective, this'll hopefully serve as an interesting thought exercise, that could teach you a thing or two about adventuring, taking hits, and how serious, and dangerous an adventurer's life-style can be.
The Execution: It's not particularly complicated, if you're beaten in a dungeon, rather than just popping back into existence near an inn, and awkwardly walking away with your hands in your pockets, trying to play it off like nothing happened- roll a d20. Or flip a coin. Roll a d100, even. Do something, that determines the outcome of your 'defeat, and your attempt to escape'. My own take on it would be something like, roll a d20 on dungeon-defeats, roll a 20, escaped just fine, laugh it off, haha, what a close call that was, good thing I had my trusty spork to dig my way back out, 19 - 10, escaped, maybe a few bloody gashes, or serious bruises, but some bandages, ointments, and a drink to settle the nerves, and I'll live, 9 - 2, seriously injured, but otherwise made it back, spend the rest of the day recovering, letting my body mend before I try 'anything that dangerous' again, maybe end up losing a body-part, like an eye, or a finger- arm, even, and on a 1- I died. I didn't escape. The monster got me.
The Motives: Why would you implement the possibility of death into your character's daily life? Because for as fun as power-fantasies may be, they water everything down, kiddos. Everything. Adventuring is a 'fun game', a hobby to most folks. There's no consequences. There's no real emotional investments. There's no realism. There's no satisfaction. You'll see it all the time around the arena, folks RPing crazy things, like ripping trees from the ground to throw at eachother, and punching hard enough to end a person's life- but no matter what happens, one trip to heal-cat later, and everyone's good as new, and already looking for another fight. It's the same problem with any kind of game like this- everyone is their own main character. They want to do the crazy cool heroic things they saw in their favorite video games, movies, animes- they want to be loved, respected, and admired- shucks, some people are so into this mind-set, that it takes them quite some time to realize that no one is going to walk up to them and initiate a conversation with them, just because they 'look really cool', or 'fight really well'. I know there's at least one person out there, who hasn't realized that reaching level 60 is not super-duper-amazing-special, and that LE's do not make him a prodigy, hmhmhm.
With this decision, the decision to make your character mortal, everything counts. Every attack you take makes you anxious! Every attack you miss frightens you! You're emotionally invested- you could die! After a rough fight, that you just barely managed to win- you're not going to want to play off your low HP as no big deal just to be cool- your life is on the line, screw that, you need a minute to recover! Back to town, or to the nearest medical professional! Make camp, pass around bandages! Something, this is no time to brood, or be all mysterious and cool- your face is coated in your own blood! If you get KO'd, you have to make a roll, or do a coin-flip, and chance -dying-.
So let's say you're interested, but don't want to constantly tell people, "I don't want to go raiding dungeons with you for grinding- because I decided this character's in Hardcore Mode." Or you want to make it clear to people that you're going to respond as a mortal ought to, to their crazy, over-the-top emoted attacks during spars. Just put a little bubble, (HM), in your character description. Easy-peasy. People will only ever need the meaning of that bubble explained to them once, and it'll serve as a constant reminder to them, and to you, that you're a mortal. Maybe you guys can come up with your own variants of it, too, maybe means a character who doesn't bother with dice-rolls, or coin-flips, and just straight up dies if they're ever KO'd. Maybe [HM]III is a character with '3 chances', their own little KO-count health bar. The important thing here is that you stick to whatever you decide, whatever rules you set for your character's Hardcore Mode. To give them, their mortality, their life-choices, and their every action in a fight weight. That's not to say there's consequences of any sort for just dropping that decision at any time. It's your fun. Your priority.
- - - - - -
So why even bother proposing this weird little self-imposed rule system? Because gosh darn, everyone's so edgy! So much raw, unbridled power-fantasy everywhere. People RPing as these 'super amazing badasses that can deck just about anything and anyone with a single punch', but who have the mentality, and emotional-development of a child. How many folks were at that Lover's Day festival Chimera hosted? I thought that was the coolest thing ever- for one day, everyone was an actual person. No power-struggles, no power-fantasies, people were shy, they were confused, they nervously grappled with the idea of flirting with someone- and that was kind of cute! I'd love to believe someone, just out of sight, worked up the courage to actually approach someone of the opposite sex that day, drop a cheesy romantic line, and- at the very least- made a new friend. It was absolutely wonderful, and something I was super happy to have gotten a chance to be a part of, (I was the one over-charging for 'Lover's Fortunes' all night, so sorry, hope at least some of those came true, hmhmhm!) That event completely addicted me to the idea of 'normalcy', and 'realism' in SL2. There's so many adventurers, a massive number of whom see nothing 'wrong' with their lives. They don't seem to acknowledge how dangerous the life-style is, how painful it is, how hard they must work to overcome some of these creatures they fight daily- for what? For a chest full of butter, and onions? To be sold to Zeo- who's not going to give you more than 2 murai for that onion- and you better hope the butter doesn't melt in your pocket on the way back, 'cause he's not paying for a buttery stain in your trousers, buddy! The economy is hard to really map out, or play with, you have to get really creative to manage to carry any kind of 'honest career' out in SL2- folks have told me 'blacksmithing, cooking, carpentry, enchanting, alchemy', but adventurers can not only do those things as well for themselves- they can do them better, because they have access to dungeons. Everyone is very self-sufficient... Until they message a friend or call out over OOC for a specific kind of craftsman's help with their newest weapon.
I'm not saying anyone's wrong for enjoying a power-fantasy. This is a game at the end of the day, if it's not fun and you're still playing it- you're probably not playing it for the right reasons. If you're enjoying yourself in emoting things like shrugging off impalement, or hurling people miles away- then keep doing what you're doing, this isn't a condemnation of you, and your smile. This is me suggesting something- if it takes, awesome, adventuring, partying, and fights- it'll all mean much more to the community as a whole. If it doesn't, then I'll at least be having fun playing my own hardcore character- I've got three character slots, I'll live if one of them empties itself out every now and again. Not like I don't delete one of my characters every few days, anyway, for new ideas. This is a personal choice, and it's got all the freedom you could ever want attached to it- really, at the end of the day, all I'm proposing is that if your character is mortal, you put a bubble, or a couple weird symbols around the letters HM, to show your character's life is fleeting- and therefore, precious to you. Hopefully, that'll open up a few of the people who do genuinely enjoy the power-fantasy aspects of things, to being more sensitive to characters with more mortal levels of fortitude, and their reactions to being punched through brick walls, or kicked repeatedly in the ribs. Let's not spoil eachother's fun, guys, by stepping on one another's beliefs on how this world works, pain-wise. With these little bubbles, at least you'll have some warning of who's 'a normal person', and who is 'an adventuring badass'.
I'd love to hear what other folks in the community think of this suggestion, and it's motives- 'too tryhard'? Not tryhard enough? Needs more cowbell? Or shucks, even just new suggested Hardcore Mode rulesets. That could be fun.
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