Quick RP Questions

Antehe

People have had some sort of bond with NPCs in the past, though whether or not that is reciprocated in canon vs personal RP is another matter.

Things to consider:

• What NPC is it? Is it a generic no-name, a small-time named NPC, or a significant one (like a city tutor or quest-giver?)
  
• What sort of relationship is it? I would advise focusing more on your relationship to the NPC, rather than determining their view (outside of "generally positive" for allies, etc).
  
• Is this act outside of their usual routine or personality? With the example of reading and writing, are they already a scholar of some sort? Are they generous with their time? Or are they closed and gruff? Are they an ally of your current tether?
  
• How integral is this to your story? NPCs, and the game at large, have their own overarching story and context, which is not beholden to each individual player's story.
  

Sibatti

How do people handle situations where words/terms from other languages are spoken out in the Common tongue, and reconcile not knowing the term even if the character technically can speak the language?

This is better asked as an example, so I'll attempt to elaborate with such.

Sibatti knows Jaziri and is technically fluent.
Lin knows Jaziri and also weaves in Jaziri phrases into the Common tongue on occasion.

I don't know what those words mean, but Sibatti likely should/would.


Does anyone else struggle with this?

Fezzix

@Sibatti : Yes, all the time. It's like in WoW when you're already speaking "Orcish" but still say "Lok'tar Ogar" or something. You're speaking double orcish!

Kelliara

Sibatti said:

How do people handle situations where words/terms from other languages are spoken out in the Common tongue, and reconcile not knowing the term even if the character technically can speak the language?

This is better asked as an example, so I'll attempt to elaborate with such.

Sibatti knows Jaziri and is technically fluent.
Lin knows Jaziri and also weaves in Jaziri phrases into the Common tongue on occasion.

I don't know what those words mean, but Sibatti likely should/would.


Does anyone else struggle with this?

Start keeping a list.

I have to with some words for some languages where this exact thing happens. It's pretty much the only solution I can think of short of somehow coding a nifty little translator doodad that's all like "X = A in aetoliation" for me.

Vash

Rashar said:

I'd say to nudge the NPC in game and try to build that sort of understood history with them through that RP. If there's an admin around and willing, they might possess it and interact with you. Also, they'd have access to the mpos notes from previous interactions with that NPC for consistency, and would also be able to -add- the note for future reference.

So that way in a year if someone takes up that mob for something, they can see 'Taught Nia how to count with her toes,' or some such, and roll with it one way or the other.

Sorry for quoting something from so long ago but...the admin actually take over random NPCs here? I remember long ago when I first started playing Achaea I used to constantly interact with NPCs until multiple people told me OOCly that it was pointless to do unless I specifically had a Divine purposefully watching me. Obviously I know there are only a very few admins compared to players so it has to be rare but just the fact that it is possible is a big surprise.

This sort of ties into other comments earlier in this thread about how in Aetolia there is no real lore separation between NPCs and PCs. I find this concept completely fascinating.

I assume room emotes and the like would not be seen so I would have to speak directly to an NPC for it to have any chance of an impact?

Kelliara

Vash said:

Rashar said:

I'd say to nudge the NPC in game and try to build that sort of understood history with them through that RP. If there's an admin around and willing, they might possess it and interact with you. Also, they'd have access to the mpos notes from previous interactions with that NPC for consistency, and would also be able to -add- the note for future reference.

So that way in a year if someone takes up that mob for something, they can see 'Taught Nia how to count with her toes,' or some such, and roll with it one way or the other.

Sorry for quoting something from so long ago but...the admin actually take over random NPCs here? I remember long ago when I first started playing Achaea I used to constantly interact with NPCs until multiple people told me OOCly that it was pointless to do unless I specifically had a Divine purposefully watching me. Obviously I know there are only a very few admins compared to players so it has to be rare but just the fact that it is possible is a big surprise.

This sort of ties into other comments earlier in this thread about how in Aetolia there is no real lore separation between NPCs and PCs. I find this concept completely fascinating.

I assume room emotes and the like would not be seen so I would have to speak directly to an NPC for it to have any chance of an impact?

Yes, Admin do.

For example, as an Archivist you'll probably see Sneak chatting away on GT.

You might not always get a bite when you interact BUT it's never a bad idea to do so.

I can give you a couple of awesome example of times where just emoting at NPC's has paid of with some hilarious/awesome RP. Ask @Xenia about that one time in Dehkay, for example.

As far as whether you need to talk directly to them, I'm not sure about that one.

Kyna

We often enjoy RPing with folks through various NPC's just to add some flavor, have some fun with everyone and stretch our own RP muscles from time to time!

In regards to emoting at or talking to an NPC you may think has one of the team behind it, you can RP with them as you would another player. Including emoting with or without targets, says that are not targeted and even tells.

Obviously, we won't be on an NPC all of the time, so if you don't get a response it is safe to say we are not there or paying attention. If, however, an NPC responds to you in a manner that is outside the norm, have some fun with us! Interacting with you guys is one of the coolest things! (And one of my personal favorites!)

Tiur

@Kyna knows what She's talking about!

Personal preference, use SAY TO if you're trying to initiate something. That gives all of us a direct message, so even if we're not paying attention, we'll at least look. Then it's just up to how much free time we have! I really did not expect to have to ever animate Datlotl, but hey, why not?

Of course, standard Tiur disclaimer: We love to have fun with you guys, but mess with us too much and you might explode. Please don't chat at a mob in an attempt to force interaction. If we can, we will. If not, try again later.

Vash

Is there an accepted way to do a targeted emote when there are multiple people in a room but not all should have the same knowledge?

Examples:
I want to have person x guess how many fingers I am hiding behind my back but let person Y see as they are behind me.

I emote a handshake and I want to show the target I am squeezing hard/limp/whatever but not show the room that detail.

Kicking someone under a table.

Etc.

I only know the lame workaround of sending a tell/message with the targeted information but I never do it as it feels more immersion breaking than just giving the room the hidden info and relying on them to rp the IC/OOC knowledge gap. If there is some better way I would love to know.

Kyna

There isn't really with the EMOTE command. Usually, people utilize Illusions for this type of thing.

EXAMPLES

Vash said:

I want to have person x guess how many fingers I am hiding behind my back but let person Y see as they are behind me.

EMOTE tucks his hands behind his back and holds up a random number of fingers, waiting for $Kyna to guess how many.

CONJURE ILLUSION RAZMAEL If you were interested, you could notice that Vash is holding up three fingers behind his back.

I wrote those loosely so no-one was being GODMOTED on/their action forced or implied.

Vash said:

I emote a handshake and I want to show the target I am squeezing hard/limp/whatever but not show the room that detail.

EMOTE (With a strong grip,) grabs $Tiur's hand and shakes it vigorously.

Yeah, the other player's wouldn't really FEEL the strong grip themselves, but by the way he goes in for the handshake, it suggests his intent and allows Tiur to respond appropriately. Again, if you don't want other's to see the grip, that's where illusions come in handy.

You could apply a similar method to kicking under the table.

A few of our classes have illusions as an ability (Syssin, Sciomancers, Ascendril) however, there is also an artifact for it if you don't want or don't have any of those or you're not utilizing that class at the time.

Zaila

If you are confident that the other players whose characters wouldn't have the knowledge won't metagame said knowledge, you can always add it directly to your emote, such as: 

Emote (flashing an idle grin as her companions,) 's frame seems to tense subtly where she leans casually against the table as $tiur's shin receives a sharp jab from her her direction beneath the cover of the table.

Or:

Emote (though she goes in confidently,) $tiur alone could notice the limpness of her grip and clammy texture of her palm as she shakes $tiur_his hand. 

Vash

Have I mentioned before how absolutely amazing this community is?

As you all handled my last question so well I have another one for you.

Is it possible to use a custom emote when handing gold to someone?

I tried "give X gold to Y [does an awesome emote that results in everyone instantly expressing esteem for him as he tosses $amount of $item to $target]" and it fails miserably. Am I getting the syntax wrong or is it just not possible to do a custom give when gold is involved?

Zaila

I think it is the gold aspect that unicorns it up, yeah. There is a lot of mundanely sneakyish stuff that does work with gold, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was another. 

Kyna

There isn't! Gold vs. items are very different in the way they're coded to track gold exchanges, so gold won't work in an emote like that, unfortunately!

You could, however, put the gold in a pouch of some sort to toss at a person with that method of targeted emoting!

Aishia

gold used to be an actual item! I MISS BEING ABLE TO THROW IT AT PEOPLE.

Vash

Is there any way to make it so the room sees "their" while a target sees "your"?

emote looks across the room at $tiur with a dreamy gaze until $their eyes meet and color rises to his cheeks

Zaila

@Vash -Sadly, not that I can find

Qendyl

So, I do like to RP and stuff, but when it's the middle of the night, I'll occasionally sit around and talk to people OOCly i tells .. I'm sure I'm not the only one to do this. Is it commonplace in Aetolia for people to spy on OOC conversations and drag them IC?

"((How afk do you think Caolan is? Think I could just kill
him where he stands? lol))" you tell Person.
Person tells you, "//Why would you? That won't help."

^^This was of course the OOC conversation I was having in tells, just to start getting bitched at ICly:

Kanivara Sor'Tirivan says to you, "Really?"
Kanivara Sor'Tirivan says to you, "Leave him alone about
losing his child."
Kanivara Sor'Tirivan says to you, "That's not a pain to
goad."

I mean, first of all, I didn't even say anything in the tells about that IC stuff happening, and was just joking about killing someone for shits and giggles, but this isn't the first time this person has dragged bullshit OOC stuff like this into IC matters. If it's commonplace, it's really something that's going to keep me from taking part in any RP situations. I've already ignored the person doing it, I just wanna know if I'm gonna see this happening from others as well.

Aishia

There is some precedence for taking OOC "tells" or communication IC. Beyond private clans~ OOC isn't supposed to exist. (Even then the clan thing is more of a tacit allowance than a rule) Clearly states in the help file on OOCness there's no real protection for it even if a player chooses to make it one.

Trager

It's definitely some hardcore shenanigans in my book, though. Hate that stuff. If it's intentional, I call scummy.

Edited 4 language.

Qendyl

Trager said:

It's definitely some hardcore shenanigans in my book, though. Hate that stuff. If it's intentional, I call scummy.

Edited 4 language.

I mean, don't get me wrong .. I've seen people completely try to avoid IC consequences by instantly changing to OOC tells, just to try and get away with something. In other games ..

But this had nothing to do with any sort of in character anything. My character wasn't even moving. It was 4 in the morning, and I was having a conversation with someone.

I CALL SHENANIGANS!! GRAB YOUR TORCHES AND PITCHFORKS!

Kalak

I am not surprised, really.

That is one of the reasons I gave up on nearly all OOC avenues but forums. But I should state that out, the level of mixing OOC and IC, is far higher in Aetolia then I have seen on MKO. That is a great achievement by itself.

Better to keep OOC interactions to those whom you can trust they have the ability to separate things.

Teani

@Qendyl : For the most part, if something is clearly marked off as OOC, people will take it as OOC, though there are some out there who can't differentiate between the two. If you run into a problem like this with someone, add a comment to them that it was meant OOCly. Maybe they will learn the difference. If they continue not to, make a mental note to not use any OOC means in their presence from now on, and use a Web instead, maybe?

I know some players who never mark off their tells, not differentiating at all between IC and OOC. It's annoying, and can be very confusing, unless it is obvious with them asking about a mechanic feature or something. I've been yelled at by a person, who shifted between mostly unmarked IC tells and marked off OOC tells, making me confused about who they were yelling at: me or my character. That was a confusing experience.

So, I would like to urge people to learn to mark things clearly, and to learn to take said OOC-markings for what they are.

Aishia

Ya I mean it's not to say whether it's lame or not just that OOC talk isn't really like "protected speech" if someone caught you you typing like "CLT I'm going to steal all the gold from my guild and go to THE BAD CITY." It falls more under the "everything that happens in game is IC" and you wouldn't have a leg to stand on as far as saying "I WAS BEING OOC BRO" It's not to say there isn't some degree where it would be obviously bullshit for someone to take something from a shared clan or mutually agreed upon OOC conversation IC though. You just really have to cover your own ass in a lot of situations.

Toz

Unless I'm mistaken, overhearing tells is a p rare artifact power. So they might have been told by someone who wasn't using OOC tags as well? Seems like a piece of the puzzle isn't there.

Xavin

There's a rare arti that does it, as well as a few skills. People like to forget that angel mindread exists, so someone involved could have been using that or something like it.

Xenia

Wouldn't Telepathy work as well?

Rasani

I think Telepathy works as well, but I could be wrong. I'm not overly familiar with that set of skills, but I know they overhear think commands now, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'd hear tells.

Koda

Qendyl said:

I mean, first of all, I didn't even say anything in the tells about that IC stuff happening, and was just joking about killing someone for shits and giggles, but this isn't the first time this person has dragged unicorns OOC stuff like this into IC matters.

Relevant part here bolded (I've seen it myself too, and worse, tsk tsk). Don't let one bad apple sour the bunch. When it comes to OOC stuff, try sticking with people you can trust, if possible. Defecation birds will always continue to be defecation birds.

Phoenecia

I don't play around with Telepathy often, but Insight let's you see the Think command, but there's nothing that lets you see tells except Mind Sapience, but that requires both a mindlock AND mutual ally, and Sapience shows ALL of your target's command inputs, but doesn't show things like incoming tells.