Suggestion: A new Kara-Tur'an(?) themed zone.

[Snarfy]

Allow me to preface this suggestion by saying that some of what I'm about to say might sound rude, but... I will try to be as diplomatic as humanly possible. Ahem.

Due to some of the head pieces recently added, not to mention the growing prevalence of a particular 'variety'(for lack of a better term) of RP that is growing in popularity, it occurs to me that perhaps some players who enjoy this style of RP should be given their own area to congregate in.

Say whatever you will about Kara-Tur/far east RP(in your head preferably, otherwise this might get messy), but I am personally noticing, from an in-game perspective, that some(not all) of it is skewing off in a direction that is either decidedly very 'Anime' in flavor, or involves the use of real world languages... neither of which are necessarily compatible with the FR setting, or everyone else's immersion(I have had to, on two recent occasions now, concoct an RP reason to escape the Hai's and bunny masks, and eject my character from any RP I was already involved in).

Now, while one could easily suggest that these players endeavor to refrain from using real world languages in their RP, and stick to the rules(please do this as well), I imagne this kind of thing is a bit of a pandoras box to manage, so I think it might be healthier if the players who enjoy this style of RP were given their own space to, you know, "do their thing". Needless to say, this style of RP is not my cup of tea, but I do understand that it might be someone else's. And while I'm not a fan of segregating the populace, or telling people how they should RP, I do not have a better idea as to how to accommodate a style that has such an apparent tendency to veer away from the setting. Or, maybe that's just me(... it's not).

Hence, a poll! And please, keep it civil (if I can manage it, so can you).

[Trinket]

I agree that real world language and influence shouldn't have a place in the current setting, especially of the anime kind. I believe there is currently a language that can be selected at character creation that is spoken in Kara-tur and I think that should be use for a dialogue instead.

I don't want to discourage anyone from RPing a Kara-tur themed character, and an area where that fantasy can be played out wouldn't hurt - but I also think people need to consider that using strong anime influences in their RP might not fit the game world. Anime has a very larger than life feeling to it with exceptional feats of strength, and a culture all of its own, but I personally do not think it should be forced so heavily into the Sword Coast.

On another note the helms definitely fill a fantasy I don't resonate with, but I think it should also be mentioned that with wearing these masks in and around Baldur's Gate it is against the current laws, and a guard would remind your character of that, even if they can't mechanically react to it through a script.

Wearing these masks, or any full covering helmet, in civilized areas would often mean that an NPC react to it, and using their lack of a reaction as proof that its allowed is a little silly. It's like walking into Baldur's Gate as a dragon and saying it's fine, because the guards didn't attack you on sight.

[Rad-Icarus]

Here's the main problem with that:

The scope and range of the server is already massive stretching out over a whole geographical region and it's accompanying underdark already.

I see several people playing Kara-Turan characters and I have one myself, but Kara-Tur is also massive and diverse and can't be shoehorned into a few areas. Think about what a Kara-Turan area would entail? Random pieces of Shou Lung? A village from Kozakura? A random chunk of the hordelands?

I don't believe we could really do it justice without expanding things beyond reason.
I'd rather see us flesh out the region we cover instead of adding bits of regions halfway across the fantasy world.

[Druchii]

Here's the main problem with that:

The scope and range of the server is already massive stretching out over a whole geographical region and it's accompanying underdark already.

I see several people playing Kara-Turan characters and I have one myself, but Kara-Tur is also massive and diverse and can't be shoehorned into a few areas. Think about what a Kara-Turan area would entail? Random pieces of Shou Lung? A village from Kozakura? A random chunk of the hordelands?

I don't believe we could really do it justice without expanding things beyond reason.
I'd rather see us flesh out the region we cover instead of adding bits of regions halfway across the fantasy world.

+1

[Nyssis]

I'm personally more partial to areas related to the Sword Coast, but I also wouldn't necessarily be opposed to something like Telflamm's Shou Town district springing up within the City of Baldur's Gate for the people that want it.

[Rhifox]

The most Kara-Tur thing I could see being added is an area with hobgoblins, because they happen to wear asian-style armors.

[KOPOJIbPAKOB]

Say whatever you will about Kara-Tur/far east RP(in your head preferably, otherwise this might get messy)

A hard "No" from me, then. As requested, I won't get deep into why I don't want to see any Kara-Tur lore on the server.

[Snarfy]

Here's the main problem with that:

The scope and range of the server is already massive stretching out over a whole geographical region and it's accompanying underdark already.

I see several people playing Kara-Turan characters and I have one myself, but Kara-Tur is also massive and diverse and can't be shoehorned into a few areas. Think about what a Kara-Turan area would entail? Random pieces of Shou Lung? A village from Kozakura? A random chunk of the hordelands?

I don't believe we could really do it justice without expanding things beyond reason.
I'd rather see us flesh out the region we cover instead of adding bits of regions halfway across the fantasy world.

Honestly, my experience with this type of thing in the original Baldurs' Gate games was Yoshimo, who I enjoyed as a character. What I'm seeing server-side? Not so much. And that's about it, I'm ignorant about the rest... although I'm betting heavily that bunny masks, Anime-speak, and using words from the Japanese language for greeting(especially when they're the wrong word entirely) are not part of any of the Kara-Tur culture.

What about an interior somewhere that could always be dressed up for flavor, or something? I don't know, whatever gives those players a spot to go to hang out in.

Say whatever you will about Kara-Tur/far east RP(in your head preferably, otherwise this might get messy)

A hard "No" from me, then. As requested, I won't get deep into why I don't want to see any Kara-Tur lore on the server.

Fair enough. I think I get it. I mean, I don't necessarily NOT want to see it, as Kara-Tur flavored characters are probably very interesting when played responsibly and according to the lore, but... and I'll be blunt, those who are insistent on delving into their Anime fetishes on BG, well... no thanks, I really don't want to see it, at all. But it's going to happen, hence the reason I voted yes

I agree that real world language and influence shouldn't have a place in the current setting, especially of the anime kind. I believe there is currently a language that can be selected at character creation that is spoken in Kara-tur and I think that should be use for a dialogue instead.

I don't want to discourage anyone from RPing a Kara-tur themed character, and an area where that fantasy can be played out wouldn't hurt - but I also think people need to consider that using strong anime influences in their RP might not fit the game world. Anime has a very larger than life feeling to it with exceptional feats of strength, and a culture all of its own, but I personally do not think it should be forced so heavily into the Sword Coast.

On another note the helms definitely fill a fantasy I don't resonate with, but I think it should also be mentioned that with wearing these masks in and around Baldur's Gate it is against the current laws, and a guard would remind your character of that, even if they can't mechanically react to it through a script.

Wearing these masks, or any full covering helmet, in civilized areas would often mean that an NPC react to it, and using their lack of a reaction as proof that its allowed is a little silly. It's like walking into Baldur's Gate as a dragon and saying it's fine, because the guards didn't attack you on sight.

Pretty much all of this, and as for the masks, so far I haven't seen them worn in Cities, only in the Farmlands and FAI. Unfortunately, the very sight of characters arriving in these masks only inspires me to break-character, drop whatever RP I'm involved in, and head for the hills.

[Maecius]

I'm with Nyssis on this one. I don't think the devs should specifically develop something for this on their own initiative in response to an out of character request ...

But if the players organize themselves and work to get a "Shou Town" built in Baldur's Gate through their roleplay? That fits my worldview in the sense that the server should be reactive to player initiatives.

It'd essentially be like how the Thayans got an enclave in the city, though perhaps less politically independent in this case (since the PCs probably won't have the political backing of Kara-Tur's varied political entities).

[chad878262]

This whole conversation makes me sad. What *should* happen (IMHO of course) is that there should *NOT* be lore inappropriate masks, weapons (such as stupidly large swords a-la Final Fantasy style), armors, etc. introduced or those that exist should be removed. In addition, lore inappropriate speech should not be allowed any more than lore inappropriate cursing. It is a medium RP server and if folks are anime-RP'ing contrary to the lore of Forgotten Realms that is (again, IMO) no different than players that want to create a PC that somehow got magically warped from Earth to FR. It ain't lore appropriate and thus is not an acceptable back story or RP. Medium RP does not mean do anything you want, it means have some patience with folks and do your best.

Purposely RP'ing non-FR accurate archetypes is decidedly *not* doing your best by anyone's standards. It falls in to the 'do whatever you want' which is already against the rules.

No change is really needed, other than simply holding players accountable to already existing rules/expectations for players on the server. That should be the approach because I agree with Snarfy that having lore inappropriate RP occurring is unfair to those who try to maintain IC roleplay appropriate to forgotten realms.

[Snarfy]

~snip~

tl;dr can be chad's comment:

No change is really needed, other than simply holding players accountable to already existing rules/expectations for players on the server. That should be the approach because I agree with Snarfy that having lore inappropriate RP occurring is unfair to those who try to maintain IC roleplay appropriate to forgotten realms.

Fair enough, on all aspects. Although, my screenshot button is getting a bit worn out lately already( ). I've already sent a tell to one of the players engaging in this questionable style of using Japanese language in RP(I would post a screenshot, but I'll spare you the trauma) to kindly use the voice-entry bubble instead, for the sake of the rules and immersion, but received no response(I even managed not to curse at them, go me!). TBH, I'm just going to continue to walk away from it, as my threshold for watered down RP masquerading as Kara-Tur'an seems to be abysmally low, my personal immersion be damned. Everything else, including screenshots and tells, and reporting and so forth, is simply not worth the hassle.

[cosmic ray]

I'm with Nyssis on this one. I don't think the devs should specifically develop something for this on their own initiative in response to an out of character request ...

But if the players organize themselves and work to get a "Shou Town" built in Baldur's Gate through their roleplay? That fits my worldview in the sense that the server should be reactive to player initiatives.

It'd essentially be like how the Thayans got an enclave in the city, though perhaps less politically independent in this case (since the PCs probably won't have the political backing of Kara-Tur's varied political entities).

+1

I have no problem whatsoever with far-eastern characters coming to the Sword Coast, as long as they are proper far-eastern Forgotten Realms characters and not real-world anime memes on two legs.

[Rain]

At the end of all this I think the basic rule of thumb is that. "If you don't enjoy the RP being performed then don't consume it." Everyone has their own RP style some enjoy it some do not, not everyone is entitled to the way they need to play a character unless they are breaking ->Character Sheet<- rules. Instead of trying to segregate more RP then there already is... (Because there is already alot of segregation and cliques) take the approach to just politely ignore the RP you feel is breaking immersion or breaking character. Passive aggressive post like this don't help those people who play that kind of RP find a better alternative it just brings more attention to the problem and more -passive- toxicity. Not everyone will RP everything the same nor have the same understanding of certain races, cultures and dogma. Everyone (even you) want to be unique in some way while at the same time finding a RP style that you feel comfortable with. I personally see those who RP speaking in poetry to be immersion breaking but at the end of the day all that's needs to be done is continuing on with my day not -politely- calling them out with polls like this.

[Rain]

To add, I think if something is being RP'ed incorrectly based on FR lore or general RP rules that needs to be addressed to the Dev team PRIVATELY to allow them to handle the problem on a 1 : 1 basis with said person or said group. Ive spoken to one of the people in question who do this kind of RP and to me it seems they are more understanding then the majority of the server lets on. But instead are being secretly harassed instead of guided and helped to understand a better approach or a better alternative to their RP angle / style. I personally feel for them because I can relate but all in all making players who you don't like or agree with, pressured or uncomfortable is not the answer even if it is correct.