Ninian Lune'ciel

Ah, thanks for the response. I was thinking it could be another category along with X Events" and "X Directory", which I supposed makes it a separate forum, rather than a tag. The idea to differentiate between events that the community offers regularly (and to show how frequently they occur) vs. your one-times and seasonal sorts in a way a little more cleaner than what a sticky would offer. I was hoping it would give us a better idea to the happenings of each server for not only what's going on, but when and how often. Thanks for moving this to the right place though. I wasn't too sure where to make my post a while back.

I don't like double posting, but a month later, this is still something I'd like to push for. Any possibility it can happen? Or any thoughts on the subject?

[align=center]The Sanguine Circle ____________________________________________________ The Sanguine Circle is a Duel-Styled Roleplay-Combat Game, designed for one vs. one matches. In Character, Combatants battle against one-another until one draws blood from the other. Death or injury is a risk participants of this Blood-Sport accept when walking into The Circle. Out of Character, Hp loss does necessarily mean taking receiving injuries until the final blow, and should be roleplayed through unarmed strikes, the defender struggling to guard, or other means at the discretion of the poster.[/align] [align=center][Rules] ____________________________[/align] D20 Rolls determine Attack/Defense Success and Player Order. (rolling and calculations are handled through a moderator) Combatants choose 1 Astral Aspect and 1 Umbral for permanent modifiers throughout their match. Combatants Have 3 HP. Successful Attacks Inflict 1 Damage. Tied Rolls are won by the Defender (re-rolled for initiative). Critical Hits (x3 Opponent's Defense Roll) grant an Extra Attack (cannot critically hit). Counters (x3 Opponent's Attack Roll) grant +6 Attack on the Combatant's next strike. A Combatant Retires after losing all Hp (In Character, upon drawing any amount of blood). [align=center][Posting] ____________________________ [Players Roll for Initiative] -Player A Emotes Attempted Attack. [Players Roll] -Player B Emotes Result and Attempted Attack. [Player's Roll] -Player A Emotes Result and Attempted Attack. [This Fashion Repeats Until Battles One Player Has 0 Hp][/align] [align=center][Astral Aspects] ____________________________[/align] [align=center] [The Fury] +2 Attack/-1 Defense per Hp lost. [The Scholar] Critical Hits grant +5 Defense to your next roll instead of an Extra Attack. [The Navigator] +5 on Initiative Roll. If First Strike, +6 Attack. [The Builder] +4 Attack on Extra Attacks. [The Warden] +2 Attack per Hp Opponent has lost. [The Matron] Able to preform Critical Hits on Extra Attacks.[/align] [align=center][umbral Aspects] ____________________________[/align] [align=center] [The Lover] +1 Defense when 1 Hp lost. +3 Defense when 2 Hp lost. [The Spinner] Requires 2x Opponent's Attack Roll to Counter. [The Wanderer] Requires 4x Opponent's Attack Roll to Counter, but increases Counter Bonus to +9. [The Destroyer] Reduces Opponent's Counter Bonus by 4 Attack. [The Traders] +1 Hp. [The Keeper] When Opponent misses Extra or Counter Attacks, the next attack becomes a Counter.[/align] [align=center] ________________________________________________________[/align]

I would have to support the 'Making Connections' idea as well. As many people have said, it isn't so much splitting the community or separating discussion as it is organizing specific server roleplay. It would make it easy to see what sort of roleplay is going on, outside of events and such.

I hate to double post, but reading this reply in the discussion board reminded me of why I began this thread. So please, is there anyone else who has, if not the drive to join into any sort of long-term communal roleplay, at least a word of input?

Hello, Everyone. I'm hoping this is the best place to post for suggestions to the site, because I wanted to make one for the Balmung and Gilgamesh sections on the forum. For the sake of separating what I believe are two different types of roleplay, I wanted to propose we have two types of Event threads. One type would be for one-time events, the other for regularly scheduled events (click links for examples) The idea is to be able to differentiate between these two types of roleplay and get a better idea of the common events that take place consistently. A major reason for my posting is in trying to encourage the later type of roleplay on Gilgamesh, especially after reading through some of the postings here. Would this be at all possible?

I think what you might be missing a larger point, Jomoru. Not necessarily having a strong sense of racial lore, or 'culture' as you might call it, doesn't mean Midlanders are somehow inferior. To take a real example, the United States, at least in my opinion, doesn't have the same types of strong and traditional traits you might find in European or Asian cultures. It is a result of the way the individual is seen in the lens of society that, like the Midlanders, American culture is less unified in comparison. It isn't that Midlanders do not have any culture. They just have a different structure from the other races.

Thanks for the interest, Xefjord and Pas. If it actually is something you guys might be willing to set up, there are a few things to consider. The first being that any sort of rp to this type would require some degree activity out of its members. If you're the sort of person who can wander around looking for rp for long periods of time, it might actually make that style of a play a little easier for you. If you think you can find the dedication to be a part of the start-up, then I think the idea has a good chance of succeeding. With that said, the first step to establishing a player-run organization that already exists in-game is figuring out just what kind of lore and information exists for it. The Yellow Jackets are a part of the First Squadron of the Knights of Barracuda, being the Squadron assigned to overseeing Limsa Lominsa and the La Noscea region. While these 'Squadrons' are further split into smaller groups called 'Levies' (Levy singular), it wouldn't be practical to organize Levies until there was a large and active enough following. Any other information would likely come out of speaking to Yellowjacket/Coral Tower/Limsa Lominsa npcs, relevant side-quests and the Marauder Job Quests. On that note, any information anyone might have on the organization (ranks being a large one) would be incredibly helpful to the cause. An in-character 'police' force begs controversy and abuse, so it's up to those involved to minimize those kinds of complaints. -A Yellowjacket's duty is to keep the peace, but there has to be an OOC agreement between all parties. Whether or not a Yellowjacket is in the right to stop a criminal, if the person roleplaying this criminal does not want their roleplay disturbed, they need to be left alone. This is the most important rule of all law-enforcement roleplay. -The Coral Tower is your headquarters. Make use of it in your spare time, especially when interacting with other Yellowjackets. The idea is to create a space that players will recognize as a home to this type of rp and the location will support it. -There are tons of roleplayers who are mercenaries or constantly looking for jobs. Offering some type of non-permanent or part-time work in this sort of organization will allow you to gather a following. After making the linkshell and finding out exactly what pieces of armor you need for the outfit (making sure not to simply use similar looking pieces), see if anyone else would be interested, even temporarily. -These types of organizations, if they do come about and are a large enough force, influence those criminal guilds to form. While that will be the main source of roleplay, it's inconsistent. Supplementing things like training are essential to keep the guild active and interesting, but that's a whole new topic. More importantly, is anyone interested from this point on?

Since creating this topic, there have been a lot of insightful truths into what roleplay is and what all of us are trying to create. With that said, I've been hoping to turn the focus back towards the original purpose of the thread and less on myself. I haven't been taking any of the personal comments as offensive or off base, so there is no need for all of those whom have asked me not to to worry. Despite my wishes of not taking an IC role in founding any organizations at the present moment for the sake of not breaking character (not a question of in-game experience or level, Talathar, but the fact that my character is young and has a sister to look out for), I have stated in multiple posts my intentions of being fully involved in whatever projects require planning or support of any kind. I have not only ideas, but the process in which they may be brought about. People have told me that we need more leaders and that I shouldn't be passive, but that has been the entire purpose of posting on this forum. I've been trying to keep myself in the background because I don't want to seem pushy, abrasive or as if I'm trying to dictate the direction of the community. So please, before anyone else posts anything off topic, please consider the purpose of this thread. From this point, I would like to minimize my presence in this topic as much as possible and focus on the issue. Anyone who does not, please send me a private message and we can move that discussion elsewhere. Talathar, in regards to your question, I would say I am moreso trying to emulate the structure of those Knights than the actual organization, but that type of rolepaly is very doable. With Limsa being one of the more rp-friendly spots, it could easily be done with an organization such as the Yellow Jackets (especially considering how easy it would be to reconstruct the uniform and the fact that they have an in-game headquarters in the Coral Tower) The organization would likely have be a linkshell, being simply more flexible with admissions compared to FCs. Admission would probably be towards every class type with some sort of pretext of "Open to anyone who wishes to serve and protect". From here, it comes to gathering a few people join, even part time, to take place in training, patrol, etc that would be organized ahead of time. For characters involved, it gives people something to play out, both on duty and off. Even outside of "Yellow Jacket Roleplay", the organization would become a tool usable in other's roleplays, whether planned or impromptu. There are some fine details to work out, such as how members would be expected to interact with others (largely about being open and understanding on an OOC level) but this is all just an example.

Talathar, you're absolutely right when you say everyone has their own way of adding to the community. The only way to have any sense of one is to have that sort of multitude. I'm not sure where the part about character level or inexperience was from, but I can fully agree on differing viewpoints being an essential part of the process. So let me share with you all another rp experience I've had. One that I, perhaps unfairly, try to hold all of my rp standards to. In another MMO I've played, there was a city of where every person you would see was a roleplayer. From just that, all kinds of interesting bits of roleplay were created. Their was a 'police' force of knights who would patrol the streets, a newspaper of the city's weekly happenings (incredibly run by three people), Taverns and restaurants that offered both IC and OOC services for in-game food, an academy for training mages and even a sort of religious organization that would provide sermons and medical services and a council of all of the major organizations to keep dialogue open. Even if a person wasn't apart of any of these organization, they could still be a part of your character. If you were in trouble, you could report it to the Knight's Headquarters or if you wanted to know what was happening in the world, you could find someone distributing papers or switch on the IC radio news broadcast. There was a complex criminal underworld because we had law enforcement. We had a newspaper because there was constant roleplay worth reporting on. Big events were fun like you said, Talathar, but every day was made up of small ones. Hard work went into all of these efforts, and as a mass of roleplayers, there were certain struggles, but there really was a living community. The key is in self-sustainability. It was difficult to organize the types of trials and trainings of the Knights (An example I refer to because I was involved and know it's structure well), but once it was in place, the organization ran itself. It gave player's within the organization direction while giving player's outside a service (or an enemy for all of those villainous types, but that was just all roleplay). FFXIV is a different game and some of the factors that went into the examples above wouldn't apply, but that doesn't mean we can't hold our roleplay in a higher regard than the common interactions or occasional one-time events we know. I don't need to play on Balmung to know that they have at least some of these types of events. I love our server, but I want more for it. If this isn't the type of experience people want, than I'll stop trying to encourage it. Otherwise, it only takes a few small and dedicated groups to get this sort of thing off the ground.

(Accidental Double Post)

One of my points exactly, Magellan. Or at least a part of the reason I decided to make this post. Most people who come to Balmung or Gilgamesh to roleplay do so because they were looking into FFXIV roleplay and found the Coalition. From a new player's perspective, the server with the greater population and more active community is going to have the greater appeal. Not to mention it is no secret that Balmung has more activity simply by perusing the forums. I will say.. I do sympathize with the cost of Balmung housing though, now that 2.1 is live -.- I'm really hoping people realize the kind of position this will eventually put the Gilgamesh community in. I'm worried that it's not something that will be eased much by the holidays coming or going as people have speculated. I have a limited time to play and my character isn't experienced enough from an IC standpoint to take charge of much at this point. Regardless, I want to help in any way I can to make any future projects on our server not only a success, but something that truly creates 'community'. Edit: In regards to your response, Amaare, which I hadn't been posted at the time of writing this original, I hope you don't misunderstand this topic as an attack on the community as is. Especially considering the number of events you've helped and hosted since the beginning. The purpose of my writing this topic is because we are all apart of the community as defined by this Coalition and our problems are address everyone. I am not trying to start anything alone because we have a community to discuss the issues and solutions to them, and I would certainly not hope to seem like I am 'dictating' any change. What I am suggesting is actually a selfish thing: I want to roleplay in a stronger community. Still, I hope you understand that I'm willing to work towards it.

There's no need to think you're a bad person. Everything you've said is completely true. I'm just not positive that our server is going to be picking up any time soon. Already, I know a lot of people have moved over to Balmung. Even a RP FC or two. It's even to the point where new players are either heading straight for it or trying Gilgamesh for a bit before realizing it doesn't have the same community dynamic. There will be new people certainly, but my concern is that out server is going to dwindle into nothing but the player's we have, because I don't think we're attracting many new ones. After reading through everyone's comments. I think I was a little off in saying we needed 'events' in my previous posts. I'm not sure what to call them, Balmung's biweekly Grindstone Tournaments are the sort of model I'm looking for. It's an event simple enough to only take a few people to run and easy to create a consistent schedule, open to the whole server. Twice a week, they have people there to roleplay as fighters or spectators, the rest of the week the fighter's are able to roleplay training. It's more than just a common 'event' at the point because it brings something to the community that player's don't even have to check the forums for. Simply because they've integrated that event into the regular happenings of their world. There isn't a single person obligated to run anything like this, but it only takes a few small projects like this to change the entire way we, as a community, use our server. I'm actually glad you decided to read this, Amaare. I was hoping someone from Drift would. You guys have such great potential to pioneer these exact types of projects in considering the company's recognition, size and certainly no shortage on people willing to roleplay. If even a few volunteers broke into groups and figured out an idea to fit the same criteria as the Grindstone model I was talking about, it could improve the quality of everyone's Gilgamesh. The last thing I want to seem is abrasive in any of this, but I really do believe our lack of growth since launch is something concerning for the future.

Ah, I understand people being busy and how those active seasons can affect a person's login time, but this post is about the lack of consistent events as a whole. The reason why there are so few is because there aren't many people actively trying to host things, let alone with the drive to undertake a project that might have a weekly or bi-weekly occurrence. I would like to ask some of the larger Free Companies if small groups of their members would be interested in hosting these types of things, but that line of questioning is pushy and abrasive (the poison of roleplay)

Hello, Gilgamesh. While the event threads might not be the appropriate place for the discussion I am looking to facilitate, the state of the other posts on the 'Gilgamesh Events' is my reason for writing. Gilgamesh is full of roleplayers, but recently I've been concerned with the state community. Events and happenings posted on the Coalition are by no means the only methods of roleplaying, but looking at the listed events of the site reveals only two in-character events since October. There is nothing wrong with hosting a shared story between friends and guildmates, nor remaining entirely outside of these types of roleplay all together, but I believe we our denying ourselves of a better experience. What I want to propose, or at least discuss, is what we as a server can do to strengthen the community as a whole. This thread is open to ideas, but this is mine: I believe we need elements of public and consistent roleplay. Concepts such as player run taverns/restaurants/combat arenas/city guards/ or any type of service fall into this category. They are establishments that do not need to be key elements in a character's individual roleplay, but add to the greater community. The issue with these types of roleplay typically face are the amount of player input and responsibility in not only starting, but maintaining these establishments. Fortunately, it is possible to create many of these types of roleplay with relatively small numbers of peoples who operate on a schedule. While I do not have a great deal of time to run these sorts of events with my personal life, I want to see if there are others willing to create small teams and form ideas for these types of 'public' communal roleplay.

I. Basic Info Characters: Ninian Lune'ciel Primary character: Ninian Lune'ciel Linkshells: LFRP, Driftwood Coast Primary RP linkshell: Driftwood Coast II. RP Style Amount of RP (light, medium, heavy): Always heavy, though the size of the Gilgamesh community outside of individual roleplay is sometimes difficult to find. Roleplay, in my opinion, is about meshing the styles of those involved into one cohesive scene. Views on RP combat and injuries: A huge supporter of the delicate process that is RP combat. It can be difficult to organize, especially when impromptu, but this sort of combat allows people to play there character in a way that any type of pvp simply does not. Roleplay combat should not be a contest of who "wins" or "loses", but that all parties are playing out their characters and communicating on an OOC level to make things progress smoothly. As for injuries, Final Fantasy is a combat intensive game, and it's more than likely that any character who fights, regularly or not, is going to take a hit in their time. With that said, injuries should be played appropriately and for a reasonable amount of time. Views on IC romance: Romance and relationships are a part of life and RP is supposed to emulate that. With that said, I play my character based off of the decisions she would make and there is no interest in that area at the moment for both the sake of her own personal responsibilities and the fact that no one stands out. Views on non-romantic RP (family ties, etc): Ninian has an IC sister, played by a friend, so this type of RP is a huge factor in her character. Like romance, family is an important factor in a character (Having one or not indefinitely affects who you are). I've always believed that any family a character has should either be played by another person or entirely absent from RP (Death/Unknown/etc) rather than being played through alts. The reason simply being, a player's alts can never roleplay, making it difficult to feign any relationship or ever appear together. Views on lore: It's been tough, going off of limited resources for FFXIV, but I try to respect the lore. It seems strange when two roleplayers are essentially living in different worlds, after all. Views on chat functions (/say, /linkshell, etc): I've been followed the rule of "match your style to the other person's" for the sake of being able to roleplay more smoothly with others. This mostly applies to Linkshell chats (FC too, though I've never been in one). /S and /Em are my main tools. III. Other Info Country:United States Timezone:EST Contact info:In-Game mail or /tells to Ninian Lune'ciel on Gilgamesh. [align=center][glow=blue]~Special announcements can be found in the posts below~[/glow][/align]

Please don't think I'll take criticism as a personal insult. That's exactly the reason why I wanted outside opinions. You've even given me the percentage based math of it, so you've helped me more than you know, Freelance. To address some of your issues, I was intending this to be a system free of levels. While it's always a topic for debate in MMOs, I feel like FFXIV's more fluid level system makes it difficult to really place (especially experienced) characters at any given level. While I have my IC ways of justifying those sorts of aspects of the system, primarily how I plan to stage these types of fights, I'm hoping that much to be a non-issue. For criticals, I actually have the number exactly where I want it to be, being roughly 30% of the time. Something has always urked me about the 5% chance of rolling 20s (even doubling or tripling your critical range seems blah -.-). At 30%, especially with a (rough) minimum of 7 actions per battle, it keeps them at least statistically significant. For this reason, I wanted critical effects to certainly be beneficial, though not terribly ground breaking. The biggest fix I need to make are on individual skill actions to make sure they are at least moderately balanced. Feign is one of my larger issues, as you've been able to point out, though I personally do like counter. The chances are always moderately low, but it's the only defensive ability that allows you to deal damage, making it a calculated (and stylish) risk. I'm trying to avoid a 'rock, paper, scissors' game, as that relies on the trusting the moderator not to pick a side. Using that d20 system the Grindstone uses, it eliminates all possible cheating, as moderators in this system are just to factor in the mechanics. But hm, mechanics. I've been considering replacing feign entirely, as the mechanic seems a bit too simple and easy to simply not use, though it does actually prevent your enemy from using critical fairly well, lowering that already decently small window. I don't love it, but I can't bring myself to hate it, either. Along with Evade, those moves play some role in affecting critical chance, but I want to make sure it's enough for what else they do. I'm considering making break deal damage on non-critical hits, just to add more 'offense' to my 'offensive abilities', but it seems a bit sad to change the mechanic. It would require making strike grant some other buff, but I feel like I'll be making it too complex at that point. Edit: Oh! and while I do like lingering effects, my take on a minimalistic system means not having to keep track of too much. I have abilities that bleed into the next round, but I'm trying to limit it to that.

In game options are always useful, though it presents issues for characters who may not be of level or in the right type of gear for the sake of their character's appearance. While vanity items (will) fix this issue to some extent, there are in game mechanics that still limit roleplay. In FFXIV, a Black Mage may specialize only in ice magic, which may allow them to play their character in emotes, but would ultimately ruin in the class in any battle situation. Using emotes to fight is no different than using emotes in any other type of roleplay, just that you need to think a bit more objectively about your characters movements and actions in regards to the person you're roleplaying with. Val's link has incredibly well worded explanations of everything that should be in an attacking and defending post, and it makes me happy I decided to start this discussion. On a separate note however, I wanted to know if anyone with any experience in these sorts of D20 systems has any opinions, balance-wise on what I've posted. Or even if they feel like it's too much to be played in-game and should be simplified a bit more. I'm really trying to go for simplicity, but still retaining a certain degree of player input.

Ah, the sort of "You're unique, just like everyone else" bit? Characterization has always been an important concept for me. Her values and experiences are where she derives her motivation to consciously or subconsciously make every single decision she makes, and I try to stay painfully in character for them (even if it means brushing off a walk-up whom I have OOCly agreed to rp with, solely because my character doesn't want to) It can be easy to be caught up in big plot lines and stories, but I've always loved the depth that comes with every day life on the side. I think people are defined by these kinds of things, so they're pretty intrinsic to my roleplay. But moving back on topic, I would certainly hope my character is 'human' and otherwise believable. The choices she makes, even the trivial ones, I check against her prioritized values and defensive mechanisms before coming up with the right response. It seems like a longer process than I'm making it out to be.

It seems like everyone's already come up with all of the important points to make, between being believable for who your character is meant to be and whatnot. If you're talking about what makes a good rp post, I'd say just make sure you show everything you want to show. RP is completely subjective, so make sure you're at least up to your own standards. Don't go easy on yourself, either. Your characters are people and people are hopelessly complex on tons of different levels =p

Thanks for all of the responses, everyone. Going off of what you've told me from your experiences, Siobhain, I think I really have a lot to take in now. Addressing what everyone has been saying about combat and hp, it's also as Siobhain says, being realistic combat (via emotes) that leads into the system. As far as hit points and wounds go, my system is open ended to the characters fighting, but my preference has always been failing rolls may not mean you're taking a sword to the stomach, but being pushed back or struggling to defend yourself in a way that a success would have more seamless accomplished. If I do begin any type of 'arena', it would probably be styled in the first person to take a significant hit or to draw blood from the torso is the loser, making the fight not necessarily the same contest of skill and strength a fight to the death may be, justifying your character being able to be beat.

Sheesh, you guys are really bringing up all of the points I wanted to go into. My design has been with a tabletop system in mind this entire time, as they're just simple to implement into these types of roleplay. That's exactly what I'm bringing into this MMO, but the idea is to keep the system as minimalistic, yet dynamic as possible. The idea is to provide a standardized form of combat that both sides are agreeing to through participation. It's a d20 system where two combatants choose from a small list of preset abilities, using roleplay to show their actions. The fights would need to be moderated, but I would want the system finalized (at least on paper) before anything else. On that note, I want to post it here, but I don't want people to steal my stuff -.- No offense. But meh, you guys seem alright. My hope is that people participating will only need to know the actions they need to pick (which could maybe be in-game mailed to participants), keeping their ability to participate relatively basic, while still seeming a bit more than straight emote combat. This is my first write up. Think you guys can help me?

Hehe, in a perfect world I suppose we could play like that. Though this is the point of these discussion forums, I suppose. It's easy to be a skeptic considering it's up to every player of any rp to come to some agreement (spoken or not) as to what's happening with the scene. I can relate when you say you're willing to take a beating if your character is fighting someone actually stronger. It means you're a responsible roleplayer . For characters looking to try their hand at IC fighting, it's pretty key to examine your character's strengths and weakness, but I suppose doesn't mean much unless you take your opponent's character into equal consideration, too. For cases like your strong character, I guess you could hope that your karma holds out and people responsibly play their characters as well. Again though, 'perfect world' -.- . Out of curiosity, how have you fought before with that particular character? -- But thanks, Freelance. That's the sort of input I was looking for and you hit the nail on the head when with 'OOC agreement'. I have a simple D20 sort of system tied to what I'm working with. I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can to keep it from being overbearing, but still in depth enough to have some weight to it.

Maybe, K'nahli. Personally, I've always taken in character combat as 'win or lose, it's roleplay all the same', but it can be easy for two people to think that they're character is the stronger. There's the honor system of knowing what your character can and can't do, which falls to the roleplayer to play their own character accurately, but when it comes down to it, every instance of roleplay (combat or not) is pretty subjective to the people involved. That's part of the reason why I wanted to make not just a role-based combat system, but a small strategic mini-game type of rp combat.

Hey, everyone. I've been stalking these forums for a long time now (In the creepiest fashion possible), but this is my first time posting. To keep this all short, I'm a roleplayer from Gilgamesh and I've been considering beginning a sort of arena styled combat roleplay, opening to fighters and spectators a like. With that said, there is a point or two I wanted to get a few second or third opinions on, so I thought I'd ask the community. Though I have all of my write ups complete and I'm pretty experienced in running these types of rps, I've yet to see any kind of in character combat in Final Fantasy. Therefore, I wanted to ask how everything thinks in character combat should flow? Personally, whether rolling or not for the results, I like: -Having the first person emote their attempted attack. -Having the second person emote their response to the action, followed by their own attack-attempt. -Rinse and repeat step two, going back and forth. It only really works one on one, but that's what I'm pushing for anyway. Even when rolls are involved (using an outside source for FFXIV), I still like people to moderator their own characters under success or failure. So, what do you all think? What are your methods and ideals? I have a few other concepts I'd like to go over, but I wanted to try and start a bit of a discussion on the topic to try and nail my mechanics down.