"Making Waves" - How to create a little conflict?

[E'irawen]

Basically, I wanted to ask advice on this because I've never been good at orchestrating these sorts of things in any form of roleplaying I've ever taken part of.

 

I mean..I know the general rule is 'don't be a dick', but I suppose my hangup is that technically it would be centered around a character I control? Not TOTALLY but..sort of. Mostly. I think.

 

I keep feeling like that isn't okay.

 

I don't really want to create some huge all encompassing arc at all, for the record. Just...small things to get some waves going, I guess, so something interesting is going on. Some good story, y'know?

[K'nahli]

There's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned. Just finding people who want to place themselves under his/her influence will be the tricky part, particularly if they aren't friends of yours already or anything. You'd need to elaborate and describe the scenario more clearly so people can get an idea of what they're getting into.

[Olofantur]

Hello Kaoru,

 

This may seem a bit obvious, but I find simply talking about whats important to your character, much like in the real world, can bring up differences in how priorities are handled. Perhaps an example is in order, fortunately I have a bit of experience playing the devils advocate.

 

Discussion formed around the "Garlean" menace at the Coffer & Coffin between myself and a few people, we picked apart and refuted what we each felt was the key point of contention when standing up against them. Their expansionism, The people themselves, the Religious forms. This ended up including a rather heated discussion, while remaining mostly civil.

 

If politics aren't your cup of tea you could also speak about institutions or third parties known to both people. Discussing a mutual acquaintance can lead to the arguing over the disassociation between idea and reality.

 

Whenever I want to add a touch of ideological tension (and while this is of course subjective to the setting.) I often bring up Racial or Regional traits. Commenting on the barbarism of the tribal cat-folk, the lack of civilization among the common Limsan is often enough to get people to be a little more outspoken.

 

That I suppose is the crux of it for me, I enjoy both the more rigid formal tones and interactions as well as occasionally pushing buttons to make people shed the veneer of carefully crafted neutrality and speak on their opinions unburdened.

 

Hope that helps, or at least provides a little perspective on how I approach it. I'd love to discuss it more if you have the time and some major points you would like to address.

 

Thanks.

[K'dath]

The best way to go about it is being an evil mastermind in real life and having your minions make waves for you.

 

Barring that, getting a concept, expand upon it, and get it out there. There's certainly a difference between being a dick and being antagonistic!

 

Find inspiration in lore. Use your character as a catalyst. If you have one or two good friends to serve as a foundation, all the better. And just build up from there into what you want!

 

I, personally, am waiting to finish the story mode before I try to orchestrate anything too impressive.

[Faye]

This is totally okay! It's good to be cautious that some people may take things that happen IC and get offended, because that does happen--but you also need to remember not to let this hinder you, because assuming you're not godmodding or metagaming or doing anything destructive OOC, they are in the wrong, not you. To try to avoid drama, though, I would recommend stirring up conflict first with only RPers you know and trust and/or people you have discussed the matter with OOC beforehand.