[Balmung] A bard walks into a bar...

[Telluride]

... and bumps his knees into it, because otherwise, we'll be here forever with the bad jokes. I take no responsibility for the bad jokes that anyone else puts here.

 

As for the bard's player, I go by Tom in meatspace, and I'm the impetus behind Nathan Telluride, a guy who's just going to keep on living the Itinerant Skald Life until he finds a real reason to stop.

 

Hey, a checklist... ok, so I go all conformist with it, or turn this into a performance piece? Eh, in the words of Jack Burton, what the hell.

 

I've been an RPer across tabletops for one heck of a long time (hint - I didn't buy my old 1st and 2nd edition AD&D books second hand...), having dabbled with a heck of a lot of genres and systems, from D&D to Star Frontiers, with frequent stops in old Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, several universes of GURPS stuff, and some very successful stints in the old White Wolf universe and Wh40k campaigns.

 

This is all good and well, but it becomes a bit more relevant to this little enclave that I have been RPing in MMOs since 2008, following a few multigame guilds as I went, starting in LOTRO, and blazing through Age of Conan, Fallen Earth, Rift, SWTOR, Star Trek Online, Wildstar and now FFXIV, the latter to which I was called by a couple of previous guildies who'd found a good home here. I've been a victim of altitis in most of them, and have RPed families, relationships, and the occasional smarmy bastard and opportunist here and there. In FFXIV, which I've been playing in Balmung for two months, I've made a return to Fantasy RP (for which I was jonesing) and getting a fresh start after my Wildstar RP guild was disbanded due to the upcoming dissolving of the Evindra RP server.

 

Here, I am currently without a guild, but am weighing in on a few options. In the meantime, I am RPing with a couple of friends and finding new and interesting people as I go, and a search for FFXIV RP brought me to these forums.

 

Nathan is my main, and he's got himself a bio and a nice little story working, though I have two alts in the wings, both of which are mostly simply getting a level or three here and there as I go. Even in a game where one toon can do everything, I like options, and ask me about my Roe and Midlander sometime if you need a little security for wayward working women or know of a rare book awaiting a collector.

 

As far as activity, I am an RPer first, and prefer Medium to Heavy groups, though I do really enjoy the gameplay of FFXIV and want to keep my characters progressing at a reasonable (well, for an RPer...) pace; while I'm interested in trying some endgame as I go, and am collecting Atma for my Relic bow, it's not my chief priority. My policy is that I'd rather Raid with RPers than try to RP with Raiders.

 

As for me myself, and this RL thing, I've been both an English Teacher and an IT guy in what has been a split career, which I've been told explains a lot about me, for what it's worth. And yes, I am old enough to remember the 80's.

[Melkire]

*points at the opening post*

 

This. You see this, RPC? This is how you deliver an introduction. Kudos. :thumbsup:

 

AND WELCOME TO BALMUNG. The server's got a lot to offer in the way of RP, so have a good look around! I am also so totally with you on the "raid with RPers, don't RP with raiders" approach, hot damn.

[Warren Castille]

*points at the opening post*

 

This. You see this, RPC? This is how you deliver an introduction. Kudos. :thumbsup:

 

AND WELCOME TO BALMUNG. The server's got a lot to offer in the way of RP, so have a good look around! I am also so totally with you on the "raid with RPers, don't RP with raiders" approach, hot damn.

 

Hey now. Guy's clearly like, a level 30 Wordomancer at the very least. That's an unfair advantage over a lot of the forumites.

 

Welcome aboard! I'm sure you'll find a happy home on Balmung. We all seem to like it here pretty okay.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Awesome intro post. Welcome to the RPC! I hope you'll enjoy your time here.

 

It looks like you've got your info down pretty well, but in the event you're trying to find a particular resource, or are trying to navigate the forums for something, feel free to poke me anytime.

[Delilah Scythewood]

Welcome!

[Aya]

Horaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[Ciel]

I think I saw you a few nights ago in Mist. Sorry for not saying hello at the time. ^^

[Telluride]

I'm already meeting quite a few of you, it seems, and I'm just getting started.

 

For one thing, I already learned what happens to people who try to pickpocket Lilithium. (wasn't me...)

[Jancis]

Wanted to bump the welcome and thank you for coming to the event.

 

Did you play a bard of sorts on LotRO? Their music system is so fantastic and I still peek on there every so often to watch the bands. Plus to pay upkeep on my house.

 

Jancis loves books, particularly fictional ones, so at some point I'll have to make some kind of quest for a special book as an excuse to meet up.

[Telluride]

Wanted to bump the welcome and thank you for coming to the event.

 

Did you play a bard of sorts on LotRO? Their music system is so fantastic and I still peek on there every so often to watch the bands. Plus to pay upkeep on my house.

 

Jancis loves books, particularly fictional ones, so at some point I'll have to make some kind of quest for a special book as an excuse to meet up.

 

I did, in fact, have a Hobbit Minstrel for my main in LOTRO, and made extensive use of the Music system and converted midis; I was the band leader for my guild for a number of months. On the Landroval server, we put on/participated in about eight or nine shows in my time there, with choreographed sets of 5-8 songs in each show. There are ever a few uploads at the old FatLute website under my old toon's name (Nedwyrd). I even got to play a few jams with the most excellent Hobbiton Philharmonic, of which I was not an official member, but was friendly with several of their key players for some time.

 

If we had this in FFXIV, I'd have already dragged out my .abc collection.

[Coatleque]

I was the band leader for my guild for a number of months. On the Landroval server, we put on/participated in about eight or nine shows in my time there...

 

I played on Landroval! Though I never got to max level, and didn't really get a chance to break into the RP there. Were you in the Lonely Mountain Band?

[Telluride]

I was the band leader for my guild for a number of months. On the Landroval server, we put on/participated in about eight or nine shows in my time there...

 

I played on Landroval! Though I never got to max level, and didn't really get a chance to break into the RP there. Were you in the Lonely Mountain Band?

 

No, but I remember them at a couple of events from back in... 2007, 2008? There was a MASSIVE Musical gathering called "Weatherstock" that I got to play at (I did a fantasy re-arrangement of Monster Magnet's "Space Lord" which actually sounds really good in the game), and I think I saw the Lonely Mountain people there. My guild in LOTRO Landroval was Shadow Company, whom I have not been with since I parted ways about five years ago.

 

Landroval RP, at the time, was highly localized, but the Prancing Pony was always good for a quick fix, and many I night I would set up with a friend or two just outside the place to practice our synched music and shoot the breeze with passerby.

[Roen]

I have to agree with the rest. Awesome intro.

 

I could have just quoted Osric and said "What he said" but that would inflate his ego so we can't do that.

 

Welcome to Balmung and to RPC!

 

(also I am a little partial to your sig pic () )

[DreamedReality]

I have a question for you, sir.

 

Did you choose Telluride as a (sur)name as homage to Telluride, CO and their fantastic bluegrass festival they have every year?

[Kyatai]

Hello and welcome to Balmung, Telluride!

 

I look forward to encountering you sometime!

[Telluride]

I have a question for you, sir.

 

Did you choose Telluride as a (sur)name as homage to Telluride, CO and their fantastic bluegrass festival they have every year?

 

I didn't know about the bluegrass festival, but I'll add that into the mix - and yes, the city was the original inspiration.

 

The name was originally used by my old character in Fallen Earth, and would have been used in The Secret World if I'd ended up playing that. It was meant to evoke the character of Colorado in those personas - a little off the beaten path, independent minded, and with a touch of chill, in every sense of the word.

 

It had been meant for The Secret Wolrd to be an Americanization of a Germano-Slavic sounding name, "Tehlreit", when I was designing a family of rare book collectors and hunters of the paranormal, who had immigrated to North America a few generations past.

 

So, it connects to the city, and to my own RP roots and stories. I wear it proudly.

[DreamedReality]

Very nice! I like the connection with the ol' germano-slavic bit. That would have been an interesting char. Just couldn't get into TSW?

[Telluride]

I had started preparing my characters and their backstories, and had already started doing TSW-based forum RP, about a year before the game was due to release. Later, several friends got into the beta (I didn't), but everything they said about the game itself was summed up by "meh." I was disappointed, but didn't want to be the only person I knew playing it, so I went to Rift instead.

 

It was a shame, yes, because I had one hell of a backstory and dozens of plot arcs that could have been put to use.

[Mosly]

I think i may have seen you rping with some of my FC mates a few nights back in the quicksand.  Do the names Oswain and Nathanial sound familiar to you? If so, the i was the Seeker Miqo standing at the railing, pretending not to be interested when in truth her was. 

 

Welcome to Blamung.

 

I also need to introduce myself sometime soon.

[Telluride]

I think i may have seen you rping with some of my FC mates a few nights back in the quicksand.  Do the names Oswain and Nathanial sound familiar to you? If so, the i was the Seeker Miqo standing at the railing, pretending not to be interested when in truth her was. 

 

Welcome to Blamung.

 

I also need to introduce myself sometime soon.

 

I do indeed remember the names. Besides, it's pretty easy to spot someone only -pretending- to be disinterested. They tend to try too hard, but that's the point, isn't it? 8-)

[Mosly]

That is entirely the point.  I was hopping someone would call him out on it, but it never got to that point cause everyone had to go.  =/  maybe some other times if another 'story time' happens in the Quicksand. 

[Telluride]

I've been resolving to make a bigger point of looking for RPers who drop those cues, i.e. "So-and-so does this in an obviously wistful way, waiting for the next awesome RPer to take notice" and invite them over to a table or go harass them. Over the years, I've met some incredibly fun people doing so.

 

That said, I also find that simply biting the bullet and presenting oneself works pretty darned well. I don't think anyone who -doesn't- want to RP lingers in the Quicksand long enough to drop hints.

[Mosly]

I'm always lingering in the quicksand on one toon or another.  I also make emotes to try and intice rp, but very few seem to notice or approach.  =/

[Telluride]

I'm always lingering in the quicksand on one toon or another.  I also make emotes to try and intice rp, but very few seem to notice or approach.  =/

 

In other words, you're waiting around instead of doing... the very thing you want others to do!

 

I find it also helps to watch actively for ways to enter a conversation by having a character's opinion on it ready to voice. We can't burst into every conversation, but remember that, except for the most self-assured folks, most of the people in an open RP area want the same thing - someone to approach.

 

Consider it this way - anyone who goes to The Quicksand for a conversation, and would take offense at others listening in or finding a way to join in somehow, lacks sufficient common sense and awareness to deserve their feeling of offense. The only other reason people go to open RP areas is to "advertise" their characters, and such folks have no right to complain when others actually respond to their "advertising." Those who really want a private conversation will leave the place once they have it!

[Gaspard]

I tend to take a far more IC-view on it. Bars draw the most diverse people. Some just want a drink, others want shelter, others want to party hard through the night with their friends. Whatever the case may be, I find nothing more..bothersome when you have people in there just..existing, not really knowing why their character is there or why they are there beyond 'I wanna rp'. 

 

The moment you add specific reason to your visit to a bar, you already create the circumstance for you to be able to create rp in that scenario. 

 

For example;

 

If my characters goes to the bar depressed, trying to drink some pain away, he'll obviously be the sulking dude in the corner, sipping solemnly and in need for someone to listen perhaps. Just make a few emotes out of that, and you might have your first approach.

 

A different example;

 

My character just came from a long journey throughout Thanalan and is positively exhausted, looking for some drink, food and shelter. He might stick around for an entire eve, coming into the place with bags and all other things he carried throughout his travel. Again, emote those details, and you might get people pay attention to it.

 

 

I guess the main part is to never just 'RP'. Your character is supposed to be a living,breathing rendition of an actual being, with goals, ambitions, and reasons for his actions. Even if it is as simple as Thirsty > Drink, if you always keep a tab on that, you have enough to work with, and never run into the corner of 'what do I do now?'