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+--- Thread: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? (/showthread.php?tid=10855)
How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Knight Kat - 03-29-2015
Let me preface this with me saying that I am not criticizing anyone's RP preferences, and I am -well- aware that plenty of people do not primarily look for action or adventure in their RP; at least not in terms of the media genre definition of action/adventure. I also ask this question as a person who enjoys -many- forms/genres of RP.
Now, I will elaborate on what I mean. I am curious as to how much action and/or adventure (the genre definitions) everyone gets in their RP. AND, do you personally feel you get enough?
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For me, I have to admit that I don't feel I get enough. I find it hard to come by, and that can be frustrating for someone like me who really considers it a major desire in RP.
For example, if I were to compare RP to a meal, action and adventure would be my main entrees. Other forms of RP like drama, romance, comedy, slice-of-life and what ever kinds you can think of would be the sides. It would not be a meal without the needed sides, but they are not the main course I would choose.
The meal example still does not do RP proper justice, I know. For instance, a single RP scene can include action, drama and comedy. No one instance of RP is limited to one aspect, form or genre. But, I find the action and adventure aspects lacking for me.
I can't really justify my preferences. I like what I like. RP is my escape, and it is my hobby. There is nothing I can think to say that would make someone with different preferences understand, nor would I want to change the preferences of others. I am more curious as to what everyone else seems to get and prefer.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - ArmachiA - 03-29-2015
Tons.
Being the GM of my guild, I add a ton of bad guys into the mix - always giving them things to fight. Whether it be Garleans or voidsent or whatever. Currently, we're doing a voidsent storyline where they have to take down one very powerful voidsent who refuses to go away. We started it a week ago. And there's been about... 5 or 6 battles so far.
We also do a lot of Roll20 games, which has a ton of combat in it. Infiltrating Castrums, Exploring Ruins... all with baddies that need taking out.
Basically, action/adventure is our bread and butter.
BUT for me... I actually don't like too much of it. I like it just fine, don't get me wrong, but if it's like 24/7 it's starts to feel strangely unrealistic that the characters never die or anything. I like a balance of Action/Adventure and some social rp to make sure the characters wind down and get to know each other better in more quiet settings. My main character isn't Action/Adventure in the slightest and, while she's good with a bow, it does make it a little awkward when I join roll20's but I get around it since I'm usually the GM for those as well.
Basically for my guild - I like a ton of A/A because I want them to have something to do, so I always plan for it. For me - I'm somewhere in the middle.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Kellach Woods - 03-29-2015
When I get it, it's glorious, but I don't get nearly enough. Most of my adventuring is done off-screen as it were.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Magellan - 03-29-2015
I find action/adventure, and combat to be the hardest kind of rp to pull off well in an mmo, and have been subjected to enough terribad forms of it that I generally avoid it, despite thoroughly enjoying the genre when it is pulled off well.
And I do crave it it. Its just... I'm very shy about subjecting myself to it. I prefer a more realistic, Jason Bourne style action, and it can often feel like I'm surrounded by a sea of dbz fans.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Nebbs - 03-29-2015
(Note to self.. do not write war and peace)
short answer - Balance in all things and excess in none
longer answer
I try to aim for and seek out a mix that overall contains all the elements, though at any point in time may highlight specific ones.
Here are some words that I think highlight some of the colours within our RP
- Introspection
- Close personal interaction
- Social banter
- Jeopardy
- Action
- Mundane to epic
Or to borrow from zen and Jedi - Characters need to be invested in the moment, while aware of it's place in the past and mindful of the consequences for the future.
Practically I expect individuals to own their own story and some wider group (FC, GM etc..) to own the Epic arc. The action part is something that facilitates these and brings its own elements.
Example..
Party come across a wagon being attacked by bandits, they get to do the fight, then interact with survivors.Â
- Action from the fight
- Nice interaction with survivors, probably a nice backstory
- They can follow the threads that lead them along the epic plot of the caravan, why are they moving where are they going, what is is in that chest they hide from you?
- They can follow the bandits and find a larger ring of organised unrest that leads them into corrupt officials and outside influences
- .. there are any number of larger plots that could suit, you can even seed in players hooks if they need them
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Jerciex - 03-29-2015
I think Delni has enough action, because she tries to avoid any conflicts and dangerous things. There is enough action for her when she goes outside Gridania with someone escorting her.
(But I admit that sometimes I would like to experience more "action" in RP.)
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Steel Wolf - 03-29-2015
I can definitely vouch for the Blades offering up lots of action/adventure in their events, though I tend to miss an AWFUL lot of it.
It's my own fault, really--I don't make nearly as much effort to check the calendar as I ought to. Perhaps announcements on the in-game board would assuage my derp, but I'm working on it.
As a direct result of said derp, Steel does miss out on a bit of said action/adventure, though my efforts have begun to bear fruit on making sure she has plenty of faces to chop. In my headcanon, she does usual sellsword things, but they ultimately end up pretty unremarkable compared to, say, the achievements of other characters, and falling well short of the mark offered by the Warriors of Light.
In fact, Steel becoming powerful enough to become an "action hero" is sort of the crux of her story right now.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Siha - 03-29-2015
The main that I have gets her fair share I'd think, but maybe not as much as I'd like or ever really let on. It's difficult with her because she's not a 'combat' character but to be honest I'd love to see more adventure. It doesn't even necessarily have to be combat but I've done a couple of IC romps through some dungeons and it was a blast to say the least. I love the other aspects of RP but I think you're absolutely right Kiht, and the 'meal' does feel a little empty without adventure/action thrown in!
Note: My own deprivation of action/adventure is completely of my own making. My FC is wonderful about having action and adventure in their plots. My character just not so much. : x
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - FreelanceWizard - 03-29-2015
Frankly, I get less than I'd like. I'm a big fan of adventuring IC (such as the IC dungeon), but I don't get to do it as much as I'd like to lately. So, I end up talking about the adventuring L'yhta does in other RP, but the adventures themselves rarely actually get RPed out. I'm hoping the expansion can fix that!
When I run plots, I try to put some "centerpiece" battles into them, where the PCs can take out the bad guys with dramatic descriptions of derring-do. I typically just tell people what they can do OOC ("everyone gets to take out 3 of the minions -- go!") instead of making rolls, but that's because I don't have a system I like that uses /random and I don't like tabbing out to do dice rolling in another window. I've been working on some more narrativist system concepts involving tokens to get around that, but I haven't landed on anything quite yet.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Klynzahr - 03-29-2015
(03-29-2015, 09:24 AM)Magellan Wrote: And I do crave it it. Its just... I'm very shy about subjecting myself to it. I prefer a more realistic, Jason Bourne style action, and it can often feel like I'm surrounded by a sea of dbz fans.
I feel your pain Magellan.
Having said that, I do make a serious effort to seek out action RP irregardless of stylistic differences. I often find myself surprised.
If my RP were a three course meal, action scenes would be the glass of fine wine. While they are undoubtedly delicious and important, they are at their best savored in small quantities, with plenty of meaty storyline and delicate moments to go along with them.
Like ArmachiA mentioned, I have been in group situations where action came at the expense of everything else, and it grew stale for me very quickly. There was no time to recover between adventures, no time to form lasting deep fiendships, and no time to reflect morally on the adventure itself.
Since then, I have always tried to enjoy my action like a delicacy.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - MadWater - 03-29-2015
(03-29-2015, 10:34 AM)Steel Wolf Wrote: I can definitely vouch for the Blades offering up lots of action/adventure in their events, though I tend to miss an AWFUL lot of it.
It's my own fault, really--I don't make nearly as much effort to check the calendar as I ought to. Â Perhaps announcements on the in-game board would assuage my derp, but I'm working on it.
As a direct result of said derp, Steel does miss out on a bit of said action/adventure, though my efforts have begun to bear fruit on making sure she has plenty of faces to chop. Â In my headcanon, she does usual sellsword things, but they ultimately end up pretty unremarkable compared to, say, the achievements of other characters, and falling well short of the mark offered by the Warriors of Light.
In fact, Steel becoming powerful enough to become an "action hero" is sort of the crux of her story right now.
Steel missed her chance to infiltrate a castrum and murder Garleans yesterday
On topic, however, the majority of the RP events that Brave has attended in my short time RPing in FFXIV have been action events. It's really starting to wear on her. Despite being a technically capable warrior, she's a lover not a fighter at heart. Which is evidenced by the fact that the rest of her RP has been her dealing with developing a crush with almost every PC she runs into.
I really enjoy being a great big badass in games, but to my surprise I've found that what I really enjoy in RP so far the most is having my character develop relationships (friendly, romantic, hateful, all of it) with other characters. And Brave, being as outgoing as she can be, seems to be doing plenty of that in almost any scenario.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Jana - 03-29-2015
I'm kind of in a weird spot where I value the relationship-building aspect of RP very highly, but also love doing big action scenes with the same characters. They're both the meat and potatos of my RP, to continue using the meal metaphor. It's also true that a lot of Jana's "action" tends to happen off-screen, and I do wish that didn't always have to be the case.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - ChewableMorphine - 03-29-2015
Over the course of two days Flynt won a mounted duel against a warrior on a Behemoth warsteed on my Ahriman Mr. Sticky, threw a guy into a tent, and countersuplexed a pugilist while wearing nothing but a subligar.
I think I got enough action.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Erik Mynhier - 03-29-2015
The Red Wings have a weekly/bi-weekly (scheduling was off this week due to a holiday) "outings". Last week for instance:
IC: We got orders that an informant in a Garlean encampment had left for us a data crystal with important intel on it. To insure his cover he could not leave the encampment so he hid it in an out of the way place in the encampment. Are mission was to slip in and get the crystal and get out.
OOC: First we chose a suitable Garlean base that fit the level needs of all involved. We then approached it. First objective is our two ninjas were to scout the base and fine/pick 3 points where it could be. These points each had to have a few soldiers. The team moves to each spot and clears the npcs. After the third spot "Our cover is blown" and per our second objective, we had to engage two Vangaurd. Now that we are known, we spot the crystal, our final objective is to clear all enemies in the base, racing the respawn clock as a "win" requires a clear field.
It's really nice that we can have these little events as the gang is really open to leaving and seeing the outer world. This is our only scheduled event but we go out on the fly too a bit as time allows, and we all have our own things going. As for the weekly thing I'll note it helps what we do. At the end of the mission we do like a story stick and pass on the lead. The one above was mine, I ran it. When it was over we gathered for a debriefing. In "viewing the data", we found a member's name, Vanya. This in effect passes the stick to her and she will plan the next mission and set the objectives for "winning". At the end of that one she will say or do something to include another member, who will then lead the next one. Its so every one gets a say and a time to shine.
RE: How Much "Action/adventure" Do You Get? - Verad - 03-29-2015
Well considering how often my Fate events turn into "And Then All the NPCS Died," plenty.