YesGood

Yet being the key word here. Something will implode. You'll either know about it or be a part of it, but something will, inevitably, implode. Chances are it's happening it's just not happening for you yet. I know it's not happening for me on Balmung yet so I'm in Eross' boat at the moment.

I think I've found this issue arises in games when I try to lead a group -and- try to stay on top of issues with my guild members. I have a tendency to care about their real life situations and the more you know someone OOCly, the more issues can arise when you realize you're not of the same mindset. The closest thing I've experienced to drama lately was two of my members having an issue with their combat (which always arises and is one of the primary reasons people hate IC text-based fights) and it took until our second actual event for this to even happen once. Pretty proud of that. The situation was settled, so far as I knew, but was brought -back- up by someone who wasn't involved. A good point was raised which I need to bear in mind, by this person, but nevertheless, the result was losing one of the members I most cherished and enjoyed. I tend to do my best to be tactful and to let each person see the other person's side. That's what arbitrating is. It's very difficult to do when one or both people involved think that you are biased towards the other person. I talk to my members OOCly, I try to make sure none of them feel neglected, and I want them, most importantly, to communicate -with each other-. All of these things tend to help circumvent issues. So far as I know, I'm not hated. I don't know if I'm respected by any means but my LS people make me feel at least a little appreciated. The problem in RP communities is that people, even very good people, tend to separate into cliques. When your friend has a problem with someone else and they're having a negative emotional reaction, whether it's sadness at not being understood or anger or anything, people tend to want to step in and say something in that person's defense. So many people throw around that they don't want to sugar coat things or they don't want to be pretentious and the issue therein is that they're confusing 'sugar coated' and 'pretentious' for empathy and tact. When you cut right to the chase, you leave out a lot of the details that would make what you're saying sound vastly different than you intend. The issue, again with cliques is that if one person in the clique thinks you are saying something that you don't intend whatsoever, the rest of the clique uses it to fuel their proverbial flames against you. You can't know what they're saying about you or how they're taking your words, intentionally or unintentionally, and presenting them to others. Communication breaks down and you'll end up looking like the bad guy. The best thing to do is to nip those situations in the bud, dragging everyone involved into a group and cutting through the BS to get to the heart of the problem. The more you wait and watch to see if something bad will get worse, the harder it gets and the worse you look. I've seen it happen where someone has a bad opinion of someone else and they seek out others they think also have a problem with that person, feeding them junk that is unrelated to their issue out of spite to make things worse for their target. This is... I can't put it any other way... a rather bitchy high school mentality that too many people have. So, basically. 1. Cliques are the bane of RP existence because when a problem arises, it's 'you're with me or you're against me'. 2. Communication is key. Being empathetic and understanding doesn't make you weak. Being straight forward and refusing to compromise doesn't make you strong. Flexibility is far better trait than rigidity-- but there's a vast difference between being flexible and wishy-washy. 3. The better you know someone, the harder it is for you to be unbiased. A lot of people who you don't know you might judge much like you would in real life-- on what you see from them and what you can relate it to in your past. Learning from past experiences are great and all but giving someone the benefit of the doubt as their leader is a necessity, not a frivolous option. 4. Respecting people and trying to see their side of a situation instead of using your own to judge them will get you a lot farther. 5. As a leader, you do NOT need other people to validate your points to your members. Don't have conversations where everyone can see them, take the people involved or the people who will inevitably be involved and take them into a group or something to discuss whatever it is that needs discussing. Just because 90% of your friends agree with you doesn't mean they're being unbiased or objective. A lot of people, not just RPers, are way too willing to cut people loose because they tell themselves over and over 'well I'm paying for this game and I want to enjoy it so I don't need to deal with this'. That's fine, I mean it makes sense. But when you do it about everyone and you've got no desire to try to understand others, you'll eventually run out of people to talk to and if you're RPing alone, that's not really RPing. "Haters gonna hate" should be the mentality only after you've done everything in your power to prevent or remove the problems.

I'm very glad to see so much feedback. All kinds of interesting weapons and styles-- Now I feel like Sio is sorely lacking.

Klarimel Surtsthalsyn is about 32-33 years old. He's older... but not more mature nor is he wiser. I think it honestly depends on the lifespans of your characters, but honestly, Western countries where 18-20 are the expected 'young adult' age are rather few compared to the countries where people start the hard work of their lives as young adolescents. Mongolian children become, like, master horse-back riders before they're ten years old. I think they start at the age of three.

Also very interesting. I'm interested to see more spell casters and their methods-- I think I could easily accept a Pugi/Caster blend if the spells were somewhat limited or the physical attacks were. I think such a style would be very interesting.

Love it, love it, love it. First purely fisticuffs Roe I've seen thus far.

So, I'm pleased to find that there are many more people who enjoy RP combat than I originally thought. I'm also pleased to find so many people have varying approaches to weapons and classes with their characters. I realize that this might give some people some brain food- fleshing out how and why your character might take to weapons and combat. So here is yet another little skeleton for those of you who have combat-oriented characters (even if you don't actually participate in 'dueling' other people.) These are not intended, and should not be used, for meta-gaming purposes. NOTE: I implore you to refrain from debating whether or not RP combat is viable. I know many people dislike it and I'm not asking you to do it at all, but it's one of those topics in RP that, if discussed, can get really offensive really quickly to the point of views of others. Character: Primary Weapon(s): Class-equivalent: Style: Offense/Defense/Versatile: Strengths: Weaknesses: Summary: Extra: --- Character: Siobhain Surtsthalwyn Primary Weapon(s): One-handed sword + Shield Class-equivalent: Paladin/Gladiator Style: Hoplomachus-esque (sword + shield + greave - spear) Offense/Defense/Versatile: Primarily Defensive Strengths: Stamina, Strength Weaknesses: Agility, Range Summary: Siobhain spent some years learning the sword and shield from a Sultansworn and still, these are her primary choice of weapons. Though proficiently ambidextrous in terms of switching sword and shield arms, she tends to take the blade in her right hand to face combatants she perceives will spend more time attacking her. Her style varies depending on whom she is facing and is easily broken into two forms. Defensive- Her most comfortable style involves wielding her gladius in her right hand and her shield on her left. Facing her opponent with her left side, arm bent and shield in front, she lowers herself into a semi-crouched stance. Her right leg, farthest from her opponent, bears more of her weight, slightly bent at the knee, allowing her to keep her fore-foot light to avoid being unbalanced by leg-sweeps. This stance lessens her range with the sword, leaving her to strike only if her opponent moves in close, usually aiming for the chest, arm-pit, femoral artery, or even the collar bone. The crouched posture aides in lowering her center of gravity closer to the ground, increasing the difficulty of forcibly pushing her backwards or to either side. This lowered stance also allows her to quickly adjust her shield's position to guard her face, chest, or upper legs as needed; though using her left hand to wield the shield lessens the power of her shield strikes. *Used most often against Pugilists, Swordsmen, and Marauders. Offensive- Her offensive style is somewhat less comfortable and requires substantially more energy. Though her body still faces her opponent with her left side initially, that is where many of the resemblances to her defensive style end. Wielding her sword in the left hand and her shield in the right, Siobain bends her legs only slightly, keeping more weight on her front, left foot rather than her hind foot, in order to give more range to her sword attacks. Though the gladius is crafted, predominantly, for thrusts, she tends to open with arcing swings, employing far more footwork to push her close to a defensive opponent before dissolving into parries with the blade or oval guard of the sword. Her shield is used much more like a weapon itself, used to swipe away a blade and strike at the hip joints, knees, shoulders, or throats of her opponents, depending on their size. While she lacks some strength and dexterity with her blade in the left hand, her attacks with the shield are powered with the concussive force of her dominant arm. Her entire right side will often swing forward as she pivots on her left foot, bringing the shield into weapons or faces without prejudice. This style also allows her to lob her dome-shaped buckler at her enemy with impressive accuracy; a tactic often employed as a distraction in order to close the distance. If ever her shield is lost, Siobhain will take her sword in her right hand and proceed with her attacks, using her free hand to grasp at weapons or limbs as needed in order to drive the weapon home. This style is difficult, urging her to end a fight as quickly as possible, and often ends with her absorbing wounds to the body as sacrifice in order to close the distance between herself and another. All attacks in this style are aimed to be lethal or crippling as she does not have the ability to continue closing distances for long periods of time. *Used often against Lancers, Archers, and sometimes Marauders. Extra: Much of Siobhain's fighting tactics are inspired by a blend of Gladiator and Viking sword + shield techniques. Due to her height and the fact that she is female (putting her center of gravity a bit lower than Roegadyn males), crouching serves to aide her ability to maintain her balance. Over all, I realized that her fighting is somewhat reminiscent of Sophitia's from Soul Calibur, with less kicking and jumping-- in fact the characters are rather similar as well. This wasn't intentional as I've spent very little time playing Soul Calibur and honestly... Talim or Kilik all the way.

You did give me an idea! I'll be starting a thread directly. And learning unarmed is good~ Everyone should, especially White Mages, given how tiny their wrists usually are. <.< I'll hopefully be on in a couple hours and if you have the time, we'll be able to RP! *excite* Now I'll stop spamming your directory page.

It was partially her watching the fights, partially the fact that she listens more than she talks anyway, and partially my nerves. She'll probably get a bit more talkative as I get more comfortable, but she'll most likely never be the center of attention in a group conversation. I was actually thinking that I could learn RP combat while A'khenna learns IC combat, so sparring would definitely be great, but maybe having one person that she sort of learns most things from that would also be okay with helping me learn would be even better. As for the lore, I'll probably ask questions ooc in the linkshell if I'm rping and need the information right then, but otherwise I'm okay with looking it up. Unless I can't find anything, in which case I'll go ahead and ask about that too. c: I'll admit-- our events get a bit hectic now and then and it's easy to lose posts in a flood of text. It's particularly difficult for me to give anyone enough attention because of how much is usually going on for me OOCly and ICly. But most of the week is our down time so as long as you have time to spare RPing then both you and your character will have plenty of time to open up! Learning RP combat while the character learns combat is spectacular. It's part of the foundation upon which I wanted to start anything involving fights. So long as she knows what she wants to do, I feel pretty confident that she can get some tutoring in whatever area of weapons-play (or unarmed combat) that she'd like to learn. Actually, this gives me an idea... So long as you know you can ask anything anytime and anyone here or there will do what they can to help you out, I am glad.

*Updated* Due to some minor issues with our previous event, /rolls will be required in future events-- at the very least to decide the outcome of a match IF two opponents cannot reach a decision. Any questions or criticisms regarding this change can be directed to me, via PM or through Skype on jilalde.

I'm so happy to have you with us~ Your character, though quiet (I think you were trying to watch that fight), is adorable and fully geared, looks like, to hang out wif Sio. If you'd like to learn RP combat, I would be more than happy to teach you and any of the marvelous people in the Grindstone likely feel the same way if you want to try a little spar. There's a very good chance you know as much about the lore as me, if not more. And you can always ask questions if you get a little stumped so that you don't have to feel embarrassed.

I personally do not mind this at all. I am inclined to agree that perhaps starting an RP hub thread will not help everyone, but thus far, we've met a few people through it and I'm certain we will meet more. The Grindstone, however, aims to fill a niche for RPers who enjoy combat and characters seeking to slake their thirst for physical exertion. Not all LSs have such a simple background; many are far more in depth with story-arcs and plots and such. I advocate a tavern. Is there any way to start an LS of individuals who are willing to take the time to run this or do you intend to run it with volunteers without any group channel? Back in SWTOR, I was involved with a group that ICly ran 'half' of the Slipper Slopes Cantina. They were given a lot of grief for this by people who have personal vendettas against the proprietor. However, what -we- did was, whenever one of us logged on and had free time, we would act as a single bar tender in the Cantina, offering news that we'd picked up and pointing people in whatever direction they needed. We very much played the NPC role-- Perhaps if you had enough volunteers you could do that -in conjunction with- the one night a week. There will doubtlessly be new people arriving every day or so and I'm certain there are plenty of us with enough spare time to lounge around there -if- there's enough of a response. Just a suggestion.

Awesome, awesome! I look forward to seeing you there, Land! Hopefully we'll have enough people in the LS and outside it willing to go through the trials of participating. And hopefully not too many or I'll have to start getting more Overseers...

Thank you for more contributions. I am pretty sure that my OP is being edited by more than just me-- if this is the case and there's a moderator editing that post, you can feel free to take over now that this is started.

Fresh sheets of parchment can be found posted upon the market boards of Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'dah respectively. Each is thin, scribed eloquently in a bold, lilting hand. The characters appear in deep crimson ink upon its face, standing boldly out and begging to be read: The Grindstone Upon the first waning gibbous face of this Fifth Astral Moon, the Grindstone will be holding an official ranking tournament for its fighters. Any and all are invited to spectate, as the event will be free to the public. We request only that those who attend are respectful of our fighters. In order to participate in this event for prestige, please contact Siobhain Surtsthalwyn of the White Alder Forge in Limsa Lominsa or arrive no later than half-past the ninth evening bell. Up to fifteen contestants will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Any who seek to participate in our sparring matches are also welcome to find us after the twenty-first sun at the site where we will hold our competition-- Outside the city of Ul'dah in Central Thanalan, near the bridge towards Black Brush camp. An entrance fee of one hundred gil is required in order to participate-- the collective amount will be presented to the respective Champion. Time: Saturday 09.21.13 at 10 pm EST (Time Conversion) Location: Bridge north of Ul'dah in Central Thanalan. The actual tournament may be moved to Fesca's Wash, depending on the number of participants. The Bridge Events: Official sparring tournament for the Grindstone. A minimum of four participants per event are required in order to hold that event. Journeyman: Free-form -Fight proceeds until an opponent concedes, physically or verbally. Journeyman: Roll-based *reigning Champion is Klarimel Surtsthalsyn -Fight proceeds until five successful strikes have been placed on the abdomen, a ring-out, pinning, or physical/verbal surrender. Requirements: -Only leather or cloth chest pieces are allowed. -Weapons must be peacebound, padded, or wooden. -Accessory weapons such as throwing knives, garrotes, pins, etc. are not allowed. -Entrance fee of 100 gil (flexible). For more information regarding our rolling system and IC rules, please see our directory page.

Thank you guys for all the contributions thus far!

S-so... so cute.... *nosebleeds everywhere*

Due to several people posting about how they can't find RP on their server and they just don't know where to go, I hope that this can be of some help. What I implore you existing RP groups, Linkshells, and Free Companies of Balmung to do, is please post an area where you frequently meet up and might be available for walk-up RP as well as what your group does, if applicable. If there are set times that your group's activity is highest, you can add those too. Also, if you know of a place where you see roleplay regularly, feel free to add that area as well. Try to be as specific as possible. I'll update this post with all other contributions. This isn't a thread that's meant to be here for debates and arguments, it's here to help anyone who is new and looking around for RP. *If you have a really secretive group of some sort that doesn't take kindly to strangers walking up to you, please don't post your secret hide out. It's kinda... counter productive... --- Celestial Forge: West Hawker's Alley Last stall. Contact Nel Celestine, IsilmeTuruphant, Miya Sha, Rhio Aldul for RP. This is a business group. Corvus Cinis: The Bobbing Cork at Fallgourd Float. Throughout the week. *Current storyline has C.C. in Ishgard. Europa: Drowning Wench or Bismarck in Limsa Lominsa. Lately we've been moving to the circular area across from the docks. (Map Below) Also meet at the Quicksand and Gold Court in Ul'dah and Apkulla Falls in Gridania. The Grindstone: Central Thanalan outside Ul'dah on the bridge north of the city gates. Wednesdays and Saturdays after 10pm EST/7pm PST. Fighters' Coalition. Heart of Coeurl: HyrstMill in the Black Shroud (Gridania). Found more often in the Roost (Gridania), Quicksand (Ul'dah), Drowning Wench (Limsa). Hyrstmill is used more for a general meeting area for tasks, missions and the odd job. Misericorde: Most of our IC meetings have happened around Limsa Lominsa, and While we always welcome outside RP, we don't exactly partake in Happy Hour. Mysterium: The Bismarck in Limsa Lominsa. Often ad hoc meet-ups. Usually discussing elements of magic and magical training. The Salts of Rhotano:Red Rooster Stead and Wineport.The Stead is sort of a company base for now while Wineport is where we're set up for our tavern. Soliloquy Performing Arts Tavern: Wine Port (Temporarily; ICly located in Limsa Lomina) Tavern and entertainment RP. Spectrum Lounge: Bronze Lake Unaffiliated Potential RP Spots: - Wineport - Costa del Sol - Fallgourd Float - Camp Bronze Lake - Drowning Wench - Quicksand - Roost - Bismarck - Gridania's Amphitheatre - Bobbing Cork

Then what was your word? I need an adult! @_@

Hey, hey, hey, sheath those claws kitty cat. I don't think anyone here said anything about a "us vs them" scenario when it comes to Legacy and New players. And I'm pretty sure not a single person even mentioned having gear envy, or bashing of legacy players, but maybe I missed that post *shrug* I know I mentioned Legacy players in one of my posts, and the point I was trying to make was that when your the new kid on the block (people like me) it can be hard to break into established communities/guilds. I played SWG for 7 years, and when we got new players we often heard the same thing about how it was sometimes hard for them to assimilate (borg!) with an existing community. It's always hard for people to feel like they'll fit in with an existing group. I mean, you can always hope; but seeing how other people have histories and connections and then looking at your own brand new character stacks upon any already existing feelings of 'maybe I don't know enough lore' or 'maybe they won't like my character'. It's not anyone's fault-- but it remains a fact. I think what some people might need to realize is, at this point, I'm pretty sure new people outnumber Legacy players. The only real drawback I've heard is that you might not get queues as fast because level 50s are level 50s and if you're lower-- Well, I don't have much of a problem because I'm leveling a tank, so I can't really say. I hope no one said anything about anyone not liking anyone else because they've been playing longer. I'm sure it's just -not- the case amongst RPers. There's a plethora of reasons you might find yourself not liking someone else, and maybe a few of them -seem- like they occur more frequently in people who've been around longer, I don't really feel that's the case. If anyone feels that way, they're likely feeling very insecure and they should be treated gently, not defensively.

I've been having an issue similar to this as I fear my LS will keep getting bigger (which is good) but that I won't be able to give enough attention to everyone involved (which is bad). So far my LS pals are really friendly to one another, which is spectacular. I don't want there to be cliques or sub groups that make new people feel left out-- But beyond the potential of having a large group (so far, 10 is pretty big to me and bigger than that is just daunting), there's the whole event coordination situation. The LS is based on having fights, fights are great and so far everyone's been able to keep on top of all the posts despite all their attacks, their opponent's attacks, and the constantly commenting peanut gallery. I think, in order to handle this, I'm going to have to try running multiple fights at one time with multiple Overseers in separate groups and slowly chisel it down throughout the event. One match at a time is just too slow for onlookers to stay involved, though, again, my LS mates are like... super heroes or something. Will we be able to handle a group of 50 something people? There might not even be enough interest for that. But I'm dead set on letting everyone who wants to be involved be involved and making sure they're all content. So if that situation arises, I hope everyone will be willing to help me out and pitch in to make sure they and their potential new or existing friends are all having a good time. I'm not under the impression that bigger is better. Bigger is intimidating. The worst thing is -not taking the precautions to make sure that everyone who is going to come to your event is ACTUALLY going to have a good time-. No one wants to join a guild or an event just to be tallied up with the numbers for someone else to boast about. No one wants to be a background character, existing only to advance someone else's goals. That's not fun and it's not fair. Big is fine. Big can be better. So long as the big is given as much attention and effort and care as the small. What I like to see is when an event is over, people are still standing around and talking to one another, forging IC friendships and rivalries. I love to see that happen and it should be the focal point, in my opinion, for any big group thing.

Does he have something he's aiming to do or something he's looking for that could help you out with starting something? ** The person that posted right before me asked the same thing but better. I personally worry that I might be feeling too selfish so I go to the extreme opposite. Siobhain is supposed to be a proficient fighter-- the only two fights I've had, I lost both. They were free form so there wasn't rolling, I chose to lose them and da's no bueno if it keeps happening just because OOCly I have issues with making others feel like I'm too OP. As said in the 'weakness' thread, when you have too many, it's just as character stumping as having too many strengths. So, if you can find a little goal like love or a 'bromance' style friendship of sorts, then that might help too.

Oh, dearling~ *folds hands* First of all, you're not a moron. At all. Not in the slightest bit. I had an issue for a while. I wrote up Sio's wiki page and it's... it's huge. It's terribly large and overly descriptive for someone who didn't really know what direction they'd want to go because when I played 1.0 it only lasted about a month for me. I realized, as I started looking through all the new wikis that I'd kind of written up a really, -really- difficult character to play. Sio is serious, laconic, and religious and all three of those really conflict with many of the funny, fun-loving, self-serving bandit types that I might've liked to be involved with. She's also a bit scary when she's embarrassed and that happens all the time so she frightens shy people. She's masculine yet short. She's a paladin Hellsguard Roe. Despite being a paladin, she's neutral good, not lawful; she can't follow rules to the letter if it means wronging someone right in front of her. I find conflict, now that I'm RPing, because there's a lot of things that are said to her that she just kind of takes-- and I'm not sure why sometimes. It's not in her mentality to stand by and let someone talk down on the Twelve but it happens. It's not part of her personality to be idle while someone disrespects her fighters, but that happens too. I mean... she puts a stop to it but she doesn't just stop talking to people like that. Maybe you wrote yourself into a bit of a corner. From what I've seen of your character, he's extremely shy, a bit curious, and I think he's fairly suspicious of others. Do you find it difficult to find legitimate reasons to do things sometimes? Like if there's a party going on and your character walks up on it, do you say to yourself, "I guess I'd better keep walking because I don't see why my toon would stop..." Even if you kind of want to? Siobhain ended up as kind of a leader with the LS I made, though her personality might do equally well as a follower of a good leader. Maybe your character is built more as a side character who tags along for things so thinking up any plots or arcs that involve something big and maybe lore-related is difficult? Perhaps you should start one on one or in a small group and try developing his personality, letting him open up and change a bit more. I think that's helping with me right now. Originally, I wrote up so much of my character that I realized every situation would inevitably turn into "What would Sio say to this? What would Sio do if this happened?" and when I do that to myself it turns into a Q&A issue where I kind of feel like I should wait for people to come up and say something confrontational-- but how will development happen that way? I didn't like it so I'm letting her grow more attached to people who show they share the same moral guidelines she does. As she sees them interact with each other, she slowly begins to adapt to living in a social group-- as that happens I feel she'll change a lot and that makes me happy. Now she's not just a character, like an anime character I pulled out of a series and decided to put into this world to see how they'd do things based on my perception of them; she's like a living thing. Start small and don't be afraid to let things change over time, I think. Don't worry about arcs or plots yet and don't feel bad because you don't have any in mind-- tag along to events with others. Give things a chance to grow. You've got an awesome little character; I'd love Sio to met K'aworu and Aysun because as hard as it might be at first for her to adjust, inevitably, I feel they'd get along. It's hard because we both have sort of shy, introverted characters in their own way but I hope to see it happen regardless, naturally, without being forced. Those are the kinds of things I look forward to so I don't feel too bad when I sort of feel like I'm in a slump or I'm letting myself or anyone else down. Totally... Totally over-thinking this. But to summarize, my advice is to not beat yourself up over not being able to get behind anything super sparkly and fantastic yet. Just worry about your character and really try to get that RP in there, for better or for worse.

I was JUST thinking that there needed to be some like... Lady Roe clan of doom. I know this probably won't be for just Roes, but it had occurred to me. I support this idea.

Thank you so much Torn. I really whole heartedly appreciate it! And so fast too~ Do you mind if I use it? (That might be a really stupid question...) I STILL CREDIT IT TO JOO! Pwomise. And yarr you best do that Khyros. ^.^ <3