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[lordcooper]

Can we post here about potential character concepts? I mean, even /if/ I end up playing one, its not like anyone would know they were me. And they definitely wouldn't be "as appeared", I'm just wondering about viability and potential fun factor.

I don't see a problem with that, we've had a few topics on the Armageddon forums where people asked for help find inspiration for a role.  Just try not to get too specific about a concept you're likely to use if you inevitably come back

[Girlinhat]

"I smoke weed, but I don't inhale."  Sure sure buddy.  Let's talk about this character that you're totally not going to create.  This sounds very legit to me!

I've always loved the thief aspect myself, especially Arma's possible appeals for things like scams and otherwise non-coded thievery.  Anything which may be illegal without the "steal" command sounds very fun.

Imma sell books of ancient power, sealed with powerful locks that hide maps of deep riches - all pages are blank except for a series of crude drawings that can be turned into a flipbook of a large phallus.

[GlyphGryph]

I don't quite recall, but is there sort of "assumed to be doing stuff when offline, has a day job, make money you can use when you get back" sort of mechanic going on?

Because most of the concepts I'm coming up with involve a lot of moonlighting in comparison to a fairly boring and drudging day job that lets them fund it. And while I've got routes of character growth coming out of that, I don't want to spend all my valuable RPing time focused on earning food money and around town spending for someone who is supposed to have a background of a somewhat stable if incredibly boring job.

I can't quite remember where it's assumed players /are/ when they aren't around, but I certainly wouldn't mind "at work".

I've got some concepts that avoid that problem neatly, mind you, but still.

First concept:
Youngest child of someone of minor importance, she works at and expected to take over the family business. However, this definitely isn't what she wants out of life - she sneaks out, concealing herself as a man to avoid detection and word getting back to her family. She's got a keen love for adventure, though her rather romantic understanding of it might not serve her well. And she may be burning her families money to feed her appetite, putting the entire business at risk.

(I know only certain characters are allowed to write, but what about keeping accounting ledgers?)

Second concept:
A rather simple, fairly young man, working as a clerk or a secretary or a tradesman of some sort. He has a fascination others would consider morbid, catching small animals, opening them up to study what's inside. The functioning of the body, the separating of skin from skin, it fascinates him, the little squeals of pain when you do it while they are still alive... He'd love to get a human body to explore... ah, but such predilections must be kept secret, of course. Still, he has dreams... (this character could conceivably become either a warrior or a doctor, and by doctor I mean the medieval definition of the word doctor aka nutjob, but eventually his appetites and fascinations outgrow him, and he hopefully manages to set the authorities on a merry chase before inevitably being killed - either by one of his victims, a vigilante, or the authorities).

Imma sell books of ancient power, sealed with powerful locks that hide maps of deep riches - all pages are blank except for a series of crude drawings that can be turned into a flipbook of a large phallus.

No drawings, god damn it. :/ That's still seriously one of the things I hate the most. Can't even RP it because there's no mechanics to do so, since there's not even supposed to be any OOC communication about IC stuff, and I was told doing it that way was warnable. Thus, impossible. STILL FRUSTRATING.

Would be a great and hilarious scam for the dedicated though, even though they don't know how to write, they could fill page after page with gibberish and pass it off as legitimate because the other guy wouldn't know either. (except, of course, you can't. Goddamn game, this is why most of my character concepts fail, they all end up built around being able to draw  or fake-write stuff. Damn my one track mind and RPing history)

Oddly enough, you /can/ probably manage graffiti with the command from before, which gives me ideas...

[lordcooper]

I don't quite recall, but is there sort of "assumed to be doing stuff when offline, has a day job, make money you can use when you get back" sort of mechanic going on?

Because most of the concepts I'm coming up with involve a lot of moonlighting in comparison to a fairly boring and drudging day job that lets them fund it. And while I've got routes of character growth coming out of that, I don't want to spend all my valuable RPing time focused on earning food money and around town spending for someone who is supposed to have a background of a somewhat stable if incredibly boring job.

I can't quite remember where it's assumed players /are/ when they aren't around, but I certainly wouldn't mind "at work".

Characters are assumed to be going about their business as normal while the player is away.  While that more than likely includes making a little money, it also includes spending it.  Your supplies of food and water don't diminish while you're logged out, neither does your hunger or thirst.  Unfortunately you're not going to be making any money while logged out, but that kinda fits the theme IMO.  The average commoner struggles to eke out a living, and this just serves to make those few who do become superstars that much more powerful in comparison.

First concept:
Youngest child of someone of minor importance, she works at and expected to take over the family business. However, this definitely isn't what she wants out of life - she sneaks out, concealing herself as a man to avoid detection and word getting back to her family. She's got a keen love for adventure, though her rather romantic understanding of it might not serve her well. And she may be burning her families money to feed her appetite, putting the entire business at risk.

(I know only certain characters are allowed to write, but what about keeping accounting ledgers?)

There's one main problem with that concept.  On Zalanthas both genders are equal, both physically and in the eyes of society.  There would be no reason whatsoever for a woman to have to disguise herself as a man, unless you meant that as simply being part of her disguise.  Also, any commoner caught with writing equipment is going to have some serious explaining to do if they get caught by the Templars or militia.

Second concept:
A rather simple, fairly young man, working as a clerk or a secretary or a tradesman of some sort. He has a fascination others would consider morbid, catching small animals, opening them up to study what's inside. The functioning of the body, the separating of skin from skin, it fascinates him, the little squeals of pain when you do it while they are still alive... He'd love to get a human body to explore... ah, but such predilections must be kept secret, of course. Still, he has dreams... (this character could conceivably become either a warrior or a doctor, and by doctor I mean the medieval definition of the word doctor aka nutjob, but eventually his appetites and fascinations outgrow him, and he hopefully manages to set the authorities on a merry chase before inevitably being killed - either by one of his victims, a vigilante, or the authorities).

This is very feasible, and quite frankly awesome

[thatkid]

Used to play RPIs quite a lot.

I quit Arm after one of my characters was killed by a templar with next to know RP involved. The reason? He didn't grovel low enough.
I play Atonement now.

[GlyphGryph]

There's one main problem with that concept.  On Zalanthas both genders are equal, both physically and in the eyes of society.  There would be no reason whatsoever for a woman to have to disguise herself as a man, unless you meant that as simply being part of her disguise.  Also, any commoner caught with writing equipment is going to have some serious explaining to do if they get caught by the Templars or militia.

Its mostly part of the disguise. If anyone is looking for her, they will be looking for a woman, not a man. If anyone thinks she's hiding something (she wouldn't start out as a great liar), she can "confess" to her deception, say she's always wanted to be seen as a man, and ask them to keep it a secret. But mostly, its because anyone looking for a young woman would have their eyes pass over her, rather than because there's any particular benefit to being seen as the other gender.

writing stuff, commoner stuff

The thing is, though, both characters work significantly better as member of the (albeit small) "middle class", the business class. In this case, maybe lesser nobility. But while I understand rules against writing, the rules against any sort of recordkeeping just seem incredibly strange. It would make it impossible to do business. And if that's the intent (to keep the lower class as workers by making it impossible to do business), that's fine - but it means my first character concept, at least, simply wouldn't work as a member of the lower class.

[Girlinhat]

I made my way into Allanak.  Is there perhaps a visual map of the area somewhere?  I assume the basic city layout is common knowledge and this may include specifics like where tavern or alley rooms exist.  It doesn't need to include specifics like where every 'rinth slum hovel is but a map of popular destinations would be nice.

[lordcooper]

I made my way into Allanak.  Is there perhaps a visual map of the area somewhere?  I assume the basic city layout is common knowledge and this may include specifics like where tavern or alley rooms exist.  It doesn't need to include specifics like where every 'rinth slum hovel is but a map of popular destinations would be nice.

Ask and ye shall receive.

There's one main problem with that concept.  On Zalanthas both genders are equal, both physically and in the eyes of society.  There would be no reason whatsoever for a woman to have to disguise herself as a man, unless you meant that as simply being part of her disguise.  Also, any commoner caught with writing equipment is going to have some serious explaining to do if they get caught by the Templars or militia.

Its mostly part of the disguise. If anyone is looking for her, they will be looking for a woman, not a man. If anyone thinks she's hiding something (she wouldn't start out as a great liar), she can "confess" to her deception, say she's always wanted to be seen as a man, and ask them to keep it a secret. But mostly, its because anyone looking for a young woman would have their eyes pass over her, rather than because there's any particular benefit to being seen as the other gender.

Fair enough, that part sounds fine then

writing stuff, commoner stuff

The thing is, though, both characters work significantly better as member of the (albeit small) "middle class", the business class. In this case, maybe lesser nobility. But while I understand rules against writing, the rules against any sort of recordkeeping just seem incredibly strange. It would make it impossible to do business. And if that's the intent (to keep the lower class as workers by making it impossible to do business), that's fine - but it means my first character concept, at least, simply wouldn't work as a member of the lower class.

GMH (Great Merchant House) members are permitted to write in Cavilish (a language almost solely used by the GMH), at least at the higher ranks, but the lower class/commoners aren't permitted at all.  It's just one more form of control.  It's still fully possible to use a very similar concept though.  Maybe the family business is hunting, weapon crafting or grabbing (read: foraging)?  These are all things that are possible without keeping records.

Used to play RPIs quite a lot.

I quit Arm after one of my characters was killed by a templar with next to know RP involved. The reason? He didn't grovel low enough.
I play Atonement now.

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience, maybe you'll like giving it another try one day.  I play Atonement from time to time and it's got a few really great features, but Arm will always be my home as far as MUDs go.

[thegoatgod_pan]

This intrigued me and I created an ambitious burglar, who'd much rather be a posh spy for a noble house (no trouble that I haven't bothered to learn their names--all nobles are the same, eh?). Now I am mostly wondering around. Someone pointed me to a nice pleasure house along a merchant road, where I drank tea and tried to eavesdrop on a conversation. So far so good.

How exactly do I find things to do as a criminal?  At the moment even if I could steal something (so far I can't). I don't know where I would fence it, or which marks are worth hitting, or people worth spying on.

[Muz]

This intrigued me and I created an ambitious burglar, who'd much rather be a posh spy for a noble house (no trouble that I haven't bothered to learn their names--all nobles are the same, eh?). Now I am mostly wondering around. Someone pointed me to a nice pleasure house along a merchant road, where I drank tea and tried to eavesdrop on a conversation. So far so good.

How exactly do I find things to do as a criminal?  At the moment even if I could steal something (so far I can't). I don't know where I would fence it, or which marks are worth hitting, or people worth spying on.

Tulukis highly respect the stealth trade, so if you're from Tuluk, you'd have no trouble at all trying to get a job as a spy, just drop a few not-so-subtle hints. It'd be much harder to do in the south, but possible, just that people will hate you instead of respecting you.

Burglars are awesome for beginners, they get a little of everything (kind of like bards in D&D). But they start off with decent enough skill to pull off things like thievery. They suck a bit mid-game and late-game. Personally, if I wanted to play a 'commoner', I'd play a burglar, just because they're all-rounded and good for people who don't know what to do.

Learn how sneaking works, learn to roleplay sneaking, read the thief bible. You WILL get caught as a noob, may even get killed or get a limb chopped off if you handle it wrong. Don't struggle against guards, let them drag you to jail, otherwise they'll kill you for resisting arrest.

Fencing is pretty easy, IIRC, there's no 'stolen' tag on items, sell it like anything else. As for who's worth stealing from, find out IC If you stick around long enough (like getting 3 days (60+ hours) on your char), you're bound to find a job as a sneak.

The thing is, though, both characters work significantly better as member of the (albeit small) "middle class", the business class. In this case, maybe lesser nobility. But while I understand rules against writing, the rules against any sort of recordkeeping just seem incredibly strange. It would make it impossible to do business. And if that's the intent (to keep the lower class as workers by making it impossible to do business), that's fine - but it means my first character concept, at least, simply wouldn't work as a member of the lower class.

The game is mostly about working your way from the lower class. But if you want to play middle class, try a merchant or crafter (armorsmith, weaponsmith, etc) of some sort, they're well-paid and respected. Merchant seems to fit quite perfectly as a social, comfy day job worker who slinks off at night.

Also, I highly recommend you keep character backgrounds as open-ended as possible. You'll fit in a lot better just applying to a Merchant/Noble house in game, and actually gaining your background and growth in game, rather than trying to have a background job. With a built-in morbid fascination weakness thing, you should have plenty of trouble to RP with.

Spoiler: record keeping spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rules against recordkeeping are sort of biased towards nobles. There ARE records, but only in the hands of nobles. Accountants and clerks are upper class.

[GlyphGryph]

Also, I highly recommend you keep character backgrounds as open-ended as possible.

This has always been incredibly tough for me. It breaks immersion, hard. This isn't helped by the fact that the only other RP intensive MUD I've played actually disallowed character creation as anything other than "foreigner". Most players chose an existing NPC in the world and customized them to taste, which made things pretty fun, because the advanced time scale meant some players had themselves pretty big families, and it was always interesting to have one of your kids picked up by another player. (And if you died, you could reroll as your eldest child, assuming no one else had taken them, and inherit all your stuff from before)

Playing as someone with sort of a blank background and no existing place in the world is really really tough for me, and my previous experience with game just hammers that home. I mean, I understand keeping it open-ended in details - being able to say "Oh, hey, it's you, didn't we grow up together, blah blah", but that sort of stuff is hindered by what I remember as a strict rules governing OOC discussion of IC events (it has been a while, maybe I'm remembering incorrectly).

I'll just have to do my best to get through the early game this time without getting bored out of my skull and constantly de-immersing from things someone who grew up in a given city should know but I don't.

I forget, is there actually an ability to play as some sort of foreigner or traveler? Because I'm beginning to suspect that's what would be easiest for me, personally, considering the various constrains. (Though I believe those constraints are loosened for more experienced players, so I could eventually branch out into other areas)

If not, playing as some sort of refugee may work... Maybe mr.morbid fascination could get run out of one of the cities for an incident and be taking refuge in another. Even something I could roleplay! Though, it would be hard to set up within the rules... bluh. Maybe I could talk with some staff, I think that's more allowed, and get like an NPC templar or something nosing a bit too deep... get some sort of job with something traveling to the other city.... something... Might actually work for the girl, too.

With a built-in morbid fascination weakness thing, you should have plenty of trouble to RP with.

I do not see how this could possible considered a weakness, as opposed to a strength.

EDIT: MIND YOU, THIS IS ALL HYPOTHETICAL. I STILL MIGHT NOT BE PLAYING AGAIN EVER DAMN IT.

[Muz]

IMO, for Armageddon, every weakness is a strength. It's the weaknesses that really make characters fun to play. Also why I like playing dwarves; their focuses are a major Achilles' heel, but it really keeps the plot flowing.

I don't mean making them a foreigner, which I too think is a horrible concept. I meant like having them with minimal (mostly useless) job experience. Instead of saying I have so-and-so day job, you should actually look for a similar job as to what you want. Merchant/warrior-physician is very much a coded, in-game concept, and you could go far with that.

My favorite character actually had a long, detailed background, but I left a lot of things open to be filled in by the game. You can and should put in things like hobbies, love life/love history, relationships, family, life history.

But try to keep skills, job, job experience at a minimum. Try to start with someone who has little charisma. If possible, try to not have a best friend; make your best friend an actual character in game. I mean, it's understandable if you want a vNPC best friend, but it's not quite as fun as having an actual PC best friend, and you're not using the game medium to full enjoyment.

Instead of starting a background that says Bob was caught cutting open a stranger and starts playing the game in trouble... actually go out at night, backstab, and cut open some vNPCs. Go to the 'rinth, and spread the word that you'd offer a few coins for a dead body. You'll have a lot of fun, and you'll make fun for others too. You'll get a more natural fit with the game.

Also in this game you die a lot. I've spent longer on the background of many characters than I have actually playing them. So, to save yourself frustration, open-ended. But your hypothetical concept isn't a combat-heavy one, so you probably won't face that.

[GlyphGryph]

Instead of starting a background that says Bob was caught cutting open a stranger and starts playing the game in trouble... actually go out at night, backstab, and cut open some vNPCs. Go to the 'rinth, and spread the word that you'd offer a few coins for a dead body. You'll have a lot of fun, and you'll make fun for others too. You'll get a more natural fit with the game.

That's exactly what I was proposing doing, silly, as sort of a prelude to a dramatic flight from the city. I was just saying to get it to work out, I might want to let the staff know to nudge things along in the right direction if need be.

And it's not that I want an NPC best friend, I just want a history. A family, acquaintances, a potential reason for why I'm just so gosh darn oblivious to the world I grew up in maybe.

I don't mean making them a foreigner, which I too think is a horrible concept.

Why is this such a horrible concept? I mean, someone comes to town is like one of the primary narrative hooks for a reason. There are a lot of great stories based around it! And surely the two cities aren't the only cities in the world, right?

Also in this game you die a lot. I've spent longer on the background of many characters than I have actually playing them. So, to save yourself frustration, open-ended. But your hypothetical concept isn't a combat-heavy one, so you probably won't face that.

But character creation is the most fun part.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I made my background pretty open-ended but also suggestive--something about slums, being intelligent and ambitious, and hoping to work to become an agent of some noble or merchant house. For the moment however I am finding it really difficult to survive.

To wit: to be a proper burglar I seem to need lockpicks, but can't figure out where such things can be found...

Also I have no idea how to make my skills useful to anyone.

For the moment I've been trying to pick-pocket distracted looking npcs and to sell pcs a drum I bought by accident, for an inflated price in taverns. I am pretty close to dancing for pennies (when I run out of rat kebobs, I probably will be).

[Girlinhat]

I have no idea what my skills are or how to view them.  It seems every single thing has a command and none of the commands are listed.  There's the "help" command, which brings up a list several hundred long and thus useless, and you can "help steal" to get info about stealing, but if you're not aware of the name of the command you want then you can't search for it.  There's a lot of info on the main site about the world and how to make a character, but no playing guide.