Cross posted on http://soe4rp.wordpress.com
This is in essence a continuation of the villain thread (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2369922539) . At some point, the villain will do villainous things. In a roleplaying environment like Warcraft, this can easily result in a moment of godmodding. That’s no fun.
But to have a good villain, or at least a decent antagonist, it helps to have some tools in the arsenal to do harm. This will require some out of character communication, and for the enjoyment of everyone at least some basic understanding of where the story might go, and what is okay/not okay to implement in game.
Let’s say the villain (character A) is a hired assassin. Of course the intended target (character B) cannot die – I cannot take another individual’s character completely out of the game for good. For any reason.
But there could be a relevant storyline: character B is due for an inheritance. The problem is, character B needs to claim the inheritance in person on a certain day. If character B was out of commission (due to poisoning), he could miss out. He would not die, but he would not be the rightful heir to the fortune. Character A does not commit murder, but it’s still a pretty dastardly deed with dire consequences.
The players of characters A and B need to have the understanding that in the interest of the storyline, this poisoning attempt could be possible. But how do you make such an attempt? Character A cannot walk up to character B and “/e poisons you. You fall unconscious for 5 days.” That’s no good.
But the players can use the build-in random generator roll systems – as long as they both agree to the mechanics.
Character A walks up to character B and hands him a drink. “To your good fortune,” he says with a smile.
Player A: ((The drink is poisoned, do a /roll to see if it affects you.))
Player B: ((Oh. Thanks a lot. Jerk! Gotcha.))
Player B: /drink
Player B: /roll
Player B: 18
Player A: ((Oooh – tough luck. Non-critical failure. The poison takes effect.))
Player B: /e starts to feel dizzy and grasps the chair for extra support.
Player A: /e reveals a wicked grin.
Player B: /sleep
To pull this off, both players need to agree that this development is possible, and that the results of the random roll will be abided by. Players will also agree in advance how the roll results translate into success and failure in game.
Maybe this is an old hat to the players in this community, but if you have done rolls successfully (or unsuccessfully) during RP, I'd like to know how it went for you and what you would keep or change the next go-around.
This is in essence a continuation of the villain thread (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2369922539) . At some point, the villain will do villainous things. In a roleplaying environment like Warcraft, this can easily result in a moment of godmodding. That’s no fun.
But to have a good villain, or at least a decent antagonist, it helps to have some tools in the arsenal to do harm. This will require some out of character communication, and for the enjoyment of everyone at least some basic understanding of where the story might go, and what is okay/not okay to implement in game.
Let’s say the villain (character A) is a hired assassin. Of course the intended target (character B) cannot die – I cannot take another individual’s character completely out of the game for good. For any reason.
But there could be a relevant storyline: character B is due for an inheritance. The problem is, character B needs to claim the inheritance in person on a certain day. If character B was out of commission (due to poisoning), he could miss out. He would not die, but he would not be the rightful heir to the fortune. Character A does not commit murder, but it’s still a pretty dastardly deed with dire consequences.
The players of characters A and B need to have the understanding that in the interest of the storyline, this poisoning attempt could be possible. But how do you make such an attempt? Character A cannot walk up to character B and “/e poisons you. You fall unconscious for 5 days.” That’s no good.
But the players can use the build-in random generator roll systems – as long as they both agree to the mechanics.
Character A walks up to character B and hands him a drink. “To your good fortune,” he says with a smile.
Player A: ((The drink is poisoned, do a /roll to see if it affects you.))
Player B: ((Oh. Thanks a lot. Jerk! Gotcha.))
Player B: /drink
Player B: /roll
Player B: 18
Player A: ((Oooh – tough luck. Non-critical failure. The poison takes effect.))
Player B: /e starts to feel dizzy and grasps the chair for extra support.
Player A: /e reveals a wicked grin.
Player B: /sleep
To pull this off, both players need to agree that this development is possible, and that the results of the random roll will be abided by. Players will also agree in advance how the roll results translate into success and failure in game.
Maybe this is an old hat to the players in this community, but if you have done rolls successfully (or unsuccessfully) during RP, I'd like to know how it went for you and what you would keep or change the next go-around.
