Tip of the Day
If you are in PC Tools, under Emotes, VFX Props, and you toggle one on, to unequip it, click on the VFX Props bar itself. The toggle button will come off, and your item will be gone.
Ask Arkanis
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DM Arkanis
- Posts: 825
- Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:31 am
Re: Ask Arkanis
Well here's another tip that I wish I'd known about a long time ago. Many thanks to an RP friend who helped me out.
Did you know that you can customize several aspects of your character when creating it? Yup. I didn't know. I picked my race, gender, head, body, class, stats, whichever class kit seemed appropriate "Cleric - Devout?" Sounds great! god, Name, little bio, oh yeah... mmm, ok that's it! Only to find that the domains I chose were illegal for my character and the Nexus guardians won't let me in game. Delete character and repeat... and repeat... and, er, repeat...
Then I discovered a little gem when picking that class kit. Yup, the old "Customize" button. Hold on to your hat - you get to ASSIGN your first skill points AND pick cleric domains. What a revelation. I couldn't find anything on the web about how-to's for NWN2 character creation that had anything to do with our game so luckily my friend is smarter than I am and she helped me figure it out. If any of you have a good link to help noobs like me out please post them here.
Ark
Did you know that you can customize several aspects of your character when creating it? Yup. I didn't know. I picked my race, gender, head, body, class, stats, whichever class kit seemed appropriate "Cleric - Devout?" Sounds great! god, Name, little bio, oh yeah... mmm, ok that's it! Only to find that the domains I chose were illegal for my character and the Nexus guardians won't let me in game. Delete character and repeat... and repeat... and, er, repeat...
Then I discovered a little gem when picking that class kit. Yup, the old "Customize" button. Hold on to your hat - you get to ASSIGN your first skill points AND pick cleric domains. What a revelation. I couldn't find anything on the web about how-to's for NWN2 character creation that had anything to do with our game so luckily my friend is smarter than I am and she helped me figure it out. If any of you have a good link to help noobs like me out please post them here.
Ark
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DM Arkanis
- Posts: 825
- Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:31 am
Re: Ask Arkanis
Another tip, hot off of the presses... this one from DM Soulcatcher re: Dusty Tomes
"1. (The creature is...) always an outsider of some sort, never undead. Undead cannot be brought in by any planar bindings at all.
2. If you want, you can hunt down for the diamonds. Depending on the HD of the outsider, you may or may not need them.
3. The important skills for obtaining a name from a Dusty Tome are all lore skills. History, geography, planes, nature and such. For making a deal with the planar being, you require diplomacy only.
4. Beyond the skill points, the diamonds and planar binding/gate spells, nothing else is required.
It's important to note that discovering the name of the planar creature is not a DM Request in any form.
Dusty Tomes have their own special mechanic that allow players to discover the names inside the books and appropriately bind them to a gem for your personal service. As such, you don't require us for furthering any of any role play... for discovering the name and binding the planar creature to your service."
Thanks Soulcatcher!
Ark
"1. (The creature is...) always an outsider of some sort, never undead. Undead cannot be brought in by any planar bindings at all.
2. If you want, you can hunt down for the diamonds. Depending on the HD of the outsider, you may or may not need them.
3. The important skills for obtaining a name from a Dusty Tome are all lore skills. History, geography, planes, nature and such. For making a deal with the planar being, you require diplomacy only.
4. Beyond the skill points, the diamonds and planar binding/gate spells, nothing else is required.
It's important to note that discovering the name of the planar creature is not a DM Request in any form.
Dusty Tomes have their own special mechanic that allow players to discover the names inside the books and appropriately bind them to a gem for your personal service. As such, you don't require us for furthering any of any role play... for discovering the name and binding the planar creature to your service."
Thanks Soulcatcher!
Ark
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DM Arkanis
- Posts: 825
- Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:31 am
Re: Ask Arkanis
I've been seeing a few things lately concerning RP etiquette and some general, "do's and dont's" in many conversations and thought I'd offer some tips for those of you starting out, or maybe BRANCHING out into a new character that is not something you usually/have ever RPed before.
Personally, I love dynamic RP - characters who are way-out there, either with extreme goodness or badness, over-the-top costume/armor, or even really well done speaking - I know players who use speech affectations with their toons, and write as if their character has an accent of some kind (Scottish being my favourite, but I am biased lol.)
The problem is, sometimes when we decide to play a character who has, say, no filter on their mouth, we might drift into the grey areas of what is and what is not acceptable on the server in terms of types of RP. The server is PG-13 which means that we need to keep it free of harsher RP - sexual in nature, or overly vulgar in language, specifically.
In order to RP these kinds of characters, sometimes the line between what is IC and what is OOC also blurs a little too, and while we want to be really proud of our toon and make sure everyone knows how out-there and fantastic they are, sometimes that crosses a line as well. This can be especially amplified when we end up meeting new characters/players for the first time who don't know us well, and there is a little "who the heck is this guy?" that happens as a result.
I'd like to offer a few suggestions to those of you looking to play these kinds of characters:
1. Know your audience. I do a lot of public speaking IRL, and the first thing that I have to remind myself every time I take the microphone is that I am speaking to THESE people at THIS time about THAT subject. Do I swear sometimes IRL? Sure, sometimes we all do. Do I swear in front of my grandmother? Um, no, no, not really. No, never. Should you walk your character up to a group of people and f*bomb them back to the stone-age? There is a time and a place for certain actions - read the person/people you are with and take it from there and maybe wait a little before unleashing your vast vocabulary of swear words.
2. Establish yourself a little before hitting the accelerator. There is nothing wrong with meeting other characters for the first time, and not being totally out-there with your toon. Save a little. Once there is a little player-to-player trust, then open up about your quirks and quarks.
3. There are alternatives to over-the-top vulgarity and sexual references. In my opinion, the vast majority of players I meet are not children IRL - we have an older demographic of people who play our game. None of us are impressed by gratuitous use of the "f" word. Heard it, spoke it, had gramma wash my mouth out with soap. Been there, bought the t-shirt, which gramma then used as a kitchen rag. I don't play here so I can run my characters mouth in a public place, in the presence of other characters, about any sexual nuance or innuendo or what a fantastic lover I am. You don't need to do it - not the place. We all get it - funny is funny at times for a well-placed joke, but locker-room jokes are blase... stun me with your intellect and wit and leave the rest of it behind; I am certain most players feel this way. You can use witty, and mild expletives that get your point across without having to f-bomb people every second word. "You son of a motherless goat!" "Curse you, you wart on a salamander's tongue!" type of comment is not only inventive, it also conveys what f-you does too. Play smart.
4. Understand that not everyone will want to party up with you. This is a hard one because the nature of the server is that it is one giant collaboration between the players and the staff to go out there and have fun. Not everyone is going to like you, and not everyone is going to want to party up with you. It is what it is. The DM's are not going to force anyone to hang out with you. The characters and guilds you might want to be involved with, are much more likely to accept your character if you try and build some consensus, have common goals/ends, and if you are not being a complete turkey in your RP. Or sometimes, you just need to find others to grind with. Accept it. Be your own person. You will find others.
5. Follow the server rules. More often than not when we get complaints about players, it is because they have seen another player break the server rules. There seems to have been a real disconnect lately between "I just gotta play my way-out there guy!" and failing to understand that you cannot summon a horde of undead in the BG farmlands... You can play an evil character who hangs out in the graveyard, without having to proclaim your evil-ness to the NPC guards. (it's metagaming) You can make people understand how bad you are without summoning a demon and having it follow you down the Trade Way to the FAI. You can actually have great RP by what you say, rather than joining a campfire chat and talking smack OOC the whole time. Honest! You can have fun within the established framework of "the rules" without having to resort to things which try to skirt them. I've watched outstanding RP between evil aligned players and good aligned players that didn't go straight to PvP because it was smartly played. Yeah, the evil guys are evil, and the good guys are good. We all get it. Play within the bounds of the rules.
6. Remember that we are all here to have fun. I have a friend IRL who always has to be the life of the party. His stories are better than anyone elses. If you eat three Big Macs one time, he has to eat four. (that one is for DM Dragonclaw...
) We all want to have a turn to talk, and to attack the monsters, and to RP our characters. If you want to be accepted in a group, let everyone contribute to it. Find a balance, play your character sheet, but share the spot-light too. You don't have to have everyone like you, but you should strive not to peeve everyone off either.
Just my two-cents worth on how we can all get along.
Peace
Arkanis
Personally, I love dynamic RP - characters who are way-out there, either with extreme goodness or badness, over-the-top costume/armor, or even really well done speaking - I know players who use speech affectations with their toons, and write as if their character has an accent of some kind (Scottish being my favourite, but I am biased lol.)
The problem is, sometimes when we decide to play a character who has, say, no filter on their mouth, we might drift into the grey areas of what is and what is not acceptable on the server in terms of types of RP. The server is PG-13 which means that we need to keep it free of harsher RP - sexual in nature, or overly vulgar in language, specifically.
In order to RP these kinds of characters, sometimes the line between what is IC and what is OOC also blurs a little too, and while we want to be really proud of our toon and make sure everyone knows how out-there and fantastic they are, sometimes that crosses a line as well. This can be especially amplified when we end up meeting new characters/players for the first time who don't know us well, and there is a little "who the heck is this guy?" that happens as a result.
I'd like to offer a few suggestions to those of you looking to play these kinds of characters:
1. Know your audience. I do a lot of public speaking IRL, and the first thing that I have to remind myself every time I take the microphone is that I am speaking to THESE people at THIS time about THAT subject. Do I swear sometimes IRL? Sure, sometimes we all do. Do I swear in front of my grandmother? Um, no, no, not really. No, never. Should you walk your character up to a group of people and f*bomb them back to the stone-age? There is a time and a place for certain actions - read the person/people you are with and take it from there and maybe wait a little before unleashing your vast vocabulary of swear words.
2. Establish yourself a little before hitting the accelerator. There is nothing wrong with meeting other characters for the first time, and not being totally out-there with your toon. Save a little. Once there is a little player-to-player trust, then open up about your quirks and quarks.
3. There are alternatives to over-the-top vulgarity and sexual references. In my opinion, the vast majority of players I meet are not children IRL - we have an older demographic of people who play our game. None of us are impressed by gratuitous use of the "f" word. Heard it, spoke it, had gramma wash my mouth out with soap. Been there, bought the t-shirt, which gramma then used as a kitchen rag. I don't play here so I can run my characters mouth in a public place, in the presence of other characters, about any sexual nuance or innuendo or what a fantastic lover I am. You don't need to do it - not the place. We all get it - funny is funny at times for a well-placed joke, but locker-room jokes are blase... stun me with your intellect and wit and leave the rest of it behind; I am certain most players feel this way. You can use witty, and mild expletives that get your point across without having to f-bomb people every second word. "You son of a motherless goat!" "Curse you, you wart on a salamander's tongue!" type of comment is not only inventive, it also conveys what f-you does too. Play smart.
4. Understand that not everyone will want to party up with you. This is a hard one because the nature of the server is that it is one giant collaboration between the players and the staff to go out there and have fun. Not everyone is going to like you, and not everyone is going to want to party up with you. It is what it is. The DM's are not going to force anyone to hang out with you. The characters and guilds you might want to be involved with, are much more likely to accept your character if you try and build some consensus, have common goals/ends, and if you are not being a complete turkey in your RP. Or sometimes, you just need to find others to grind with. Accept it. Be your own person. You will find others.
5. Follow the server rules. More often than not when we get complaints about players, it is because they have seen another player break the server rules. There seems to have been a real disconnect lately between "I just gotta play my way-out there guy!" and failing to understand that you cannot summon a horde of undead in the BG farmlands... You can play an evil character who hangs out in the graveyard, without having to proclaim your evil-ness to the NPC guards. (it's metagaming) You can make people understand how bad you are without summoning a demon and having it follow you down the Trade Way to the FAI. You can actually have great RP by what you say, rather than joining a campfire chat and talking smack OOC the whole time. Honest! You can have fun within the established framework of "the rules" without having to resort to things which try to skirt them. I've watched outstanding RP between evil aligned players and good aligned players that didn't go straight to PvP because it was smartly played. Yeah, the evil guys are evil, and the good guys are good. We all get it. Play within the bounds of the rules.
6. Remember that we are all here to have fun. I have a friend IRL who always has to be the life of the party. His stories are better than anyone elses. If you eat three Big Macs one time, he has to eat four. (that one is for DM Dragonclaw...
) We all want to have a turn to talk, and to attack the monsters, and to RP our characters. If you want to be accepted in a group, let everyone contribute to it. Find a balance, play your character sheet, but share the spot-light too. You don't have to have everyone like you, but you should strive not to peeve everyone off either.Just my two-cents worth on how we can all get along.
Peace
Arkanis