(03-02-2015, 01:31 PM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote: You don't need to be a hero to have a grand tale. You could spin a civilian's encounter with a regular bandit into a grand adventure if you wanted to and I've done just that in the past. I suspect it may simply be a culture thing - in other MMO's that I've played the atmosphere and attitude towards role-play has been completely different.
I'm just positing that it doesn't have to be a straight physical conflict like that. What about forgetting your anniversary with your girlfriend? A whirlwind of panic and running around town at the last minute to procure a gift for her and try to avoid being stuck sleeping on the couch or worse. Wouldn't that be an adventure of its own?
Or maybe your character doesn't care. Each day is special, so this is just one more in a long line of wonderful days. However, you still have to explain that to her, so she understands that you don't need special holidays to know how important she is. Or maybe she's just a fling and you deal with the fallout and start on a new hunt for a new conquest.
Each can be thrilling and engaging, each can be an "adventure", and each can show the depths of your character - in this case, their feelings on love and relationships.
Or, to get away from romance. What about a merchant? He finds out that one of the items he sold was flawed or a fraud! Are they being scammed, or is this truly an err on his part? He might have to track down where and how this happened so the integrity of his product remains strong! Perhaps it just turns out that, in the end, one of his artisans stayed up late the night before to celebrate their kid's birthday and was woozy at work, resulting in a slip-up. A few harsh words, a promise that wouldn't happen again, and everything is better.
An event, a conflict, and resolution all without having to actually draw steel or be forced to deal with bandits/monsters/big bads. That's all I'm getting it. It just seems a lot of the examples you're providing insist that violence and such is needed, as opposed to a more... I guess you could call it "mundane" sort of conflict or adventure, loathe as I am to use such a term. That might not be your intent at all, of course, I'm just saying for the sake of debate here.
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