Depends. If it's a death without consequence it destroys the tension. If the death still holds consequence, then it will hold an appropriately equal level of tension with it based on how likely it is to occur within the parameters of the story.
For example (gaming): Death in a lot of video games holds no consequences other than having to load the game. It can be frustrating but it's hardly the end of the world, especially since most games let you choose when and where to save and load. Now take Dark Souls, a game that doesn't let you save/load and will ruthlessly slaughter you, causing you to lose experience and progress. Death suddenly has consequences attached. There is a palpable tension in Dark Souls when faced with death--especially if you have a lot of experience to lose--than in, say, Mass Effect, where you just load the game and try again with a different approach.
Or, take X-Com. Deaths suck but you can always reload unless you toggle the "Ironman" option in the latest edition, which prevents loading the game past the current turn. Suddenly all your squaddies' deaths hold impact, especially if you renamed them to RP characters or living people.
It's why nobody talks about or cares about Sheppard's dramatic death at the beginning of Mass Effect 2. It was a death that was, for all practical purposes, without consequence to the player. It had no impact on how they played the game, it limited no options, and it was entirely out of their control as a contrived way to start the story.
To summarize: The greater the consequences attached to death, even if the death is reversible or temporary, the greater the tension one will derive from it. Especially if the consequences are permanent in some manner, like you could bring someone back from the dead but they would lose all their memories, or bring someone back from the undead but only as a walking corpse, etc.
Brovo Member
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- Old Guild Username: Brovo
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- Brovo 12 yrs ago
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Most Recent Posts
Alphakoka said
If I'm making a Mcgyver, would taking the mechanist bloodline a must?
It would help but not necessarily be a "must".
In
If a tree falls over in a forest, and nobody is around to hear it...
→
12 yrs ago
Forum: Off-Topic Discussion
It fell over when a bigger tree fell on it.
Update: Added lore entries for the Amazons into the first post. More will follow over the week, and once fully updated, more surprises and convenience-tweaking will follow for players...
The list will be focused on tomorrow when I'm awake enough to deal with it, likely after I get home.
Characters
Queen Moira: Queen Moira is a of an average height, with a Hispanic heritage as most Amazons have. She has dark brown hair and light blue eyes, and is known for her unusual calm and temperance amongst the Amazon people, though she is known to get quite passionate where it concerns the ultimate preservation of her culture and people.
She has been recently accused by her daughter of being a demon in disguise.
Princess Vyl: Considered a little on the tall side (6’2”) and more lithe and seductive than her mother, this woman is no less respected by her people for her fiery passion and talent for making others see her way. With dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a Hispanic ethnicity, many would consider her a perfect example of what exotic gems lie within the Amazonian Jungles.
She has recently accused her mother of being a demon in disguise.
Cultural
Matriarchs: Where most societies are either gender neutral or male-dominated, this civilization has traditionally been ruled by women. Each tribe has a head mistress, and in turn each of these report to the royalty of the Amazons during times of conflict or desperation. Of note: Where most societies determine royalty purely by heredity means, the Amazonian Matriarchy determines it both through hereditary means and mastery of the art of passion. Passion in this case referring to any strong emotional act: War, artistry, lovemaking, and more. Thus, someone can "earn" their way into royalty through sufficient skill and emotional display.
Men in this society, whilst not entirely a secondary citizen group, tend to the more passive and submissive roles in society, such as basket-weaving and knitting, child care, and more. While warrior men are not entirely unheard of they're a definite rarity, as the Amazons tend to look down on them as being unreliable for long-term familial bonds.
Passionate People: There is nothing more important to this society than seeing passionate emotions in others. Whilst they respect power and discipline, passion is what they live and die for. Passion as defined by them is putting great emotional investment and pride into one’s works. If there is a blemish in a piece of artwork, they repair it. If there is a flaw in a fighting technique, it must be remedied. There is no such thing as “good enough” to these people, there is always room for improvement.
The more emotionally stirring the act is, the more likely it is to be labeled as a passionate act.
Names: There are no family names in this society. Just a person’s chosen profession and a first name. Examples include Queen Moira, or Hunter Lyra.
History
N/A (Nothing yet--Placeholder)
Locations
The Meeting Ground: A simple place located within the southern portions of the jungle near the blood river used for most meetings with foreigners. The Jungle here was cleared out to some extent to allow campsites to be set up. It's relatively safe from the monstrosities lying within the jungle... Relatively being the key word, as there is a near constant level of guards here, even when no meetings are taking place.
Where it is precisely is anyone's guess. It's hard enough to map the world with primitive tools, leave alone the Amazonian jungle. Often guides are sent to help foreigners even locate this place without being ambushed and killed by predators.
The list will be focused on tomorrow when I'm awake enough to deal with it, likely after I get home.
Characters
Queen Moira: Queen Moira is a of an average height, with a Hispanic heritage as most Amazons have. She has dark brown hair and light blue eyes, and is known for her unusual calm and temperance amongst the Amazon people, though she is known to get quite passionate where it concerns the ultimate preservation of her culture and people.
She has been recently accused by her daughter of being a demon in disguise.
Princess Vyl: Considered a little on the tall side (6’2”) and more lithe and seductive than her mother, this woman is no less respected by her people for her fiery passion and talent for making others see her way. With dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a Hispanic ethnicity, many would consider her a perfect example of what exotic gems lie within the Amazonian Jungles.
She has recently accused her mother of being a demon in disguise.
Cultural
Matriarchs: Where most societies are either gender neutral or male-dominated, this civilization has traditionally been ruled by women. Each tribe has a head mistress, and in turn each of these report to the royalty of the Amazons during times of conflict or desperation. Of note: Where most societies determine royalty purely by heredity means, the Amazonian Matriarchy determines it both through hereditary means and mastery of the art of passion. Passion in this case referring to any strong emotional act: War, artistry, lovemaking, and more. Thus, someone can "earn" their way into royalty through sufficient skill and emotional display.
Men in this society, whilst not entirely a secondary citizen group, tend to the more passive and submissive roles in society, such as basket-weaving and knitting, child care, and more. While warrior men are not entirely unheard of they're a definite rarity, as the Amazons tend to look down on them as being unreliable for long-term familial bonds.
Passionate People: There is nothing more important to this society than seeing passionate emotions in others. Whilst they respect power and discipline, passion is what they live and die for. Passion as defined by them is putting great emotional investment and pride into one’s works. If there is a blemish in a piece of artwork, they repair it. If there is a flaw in a fighting technique, it must be remedied. There is no such thing as “good enough” to these people, there is always room for improvement.
The more emotionally stirring the act is, the more likely it is to be labeled as a passionate act.
Names: There are no family names in this society. Just a person’s chosen profession and a first name. Examples include Queen Moira, or Hunter Lyra.
History
N/A (Nothing yet--Placeholder)
Locations
The Meeting Ground: A simple place located within the southern portions of the jungle near the blood river used for most meetings with foreigners. The Jungle here was cleared out to some extent to allow campsites to be set up. It's relatively safe from the monstrosities lying within the jungle... Relatively being the key word, as there is a near constant level of guards here, even when no meetings are taking place.
Where it is precisely is anyone's guess. It's hard enough to map the world with primitive tools, leave alone the Amazonian jungle. Often guides are sent to help foreigners even locate this place without being ambushed and killed by predators.
Turtlicious said
Oh my god Brovo, shut up about your RP. Lol.<3
Never. <3
Awson said
I'm not talking about it removing activity from the guild as a whole.The group 90% Spam. And that's where it's taking the activity from. As a non-"spammer", you really don't have an accurate perspective on this. Did she remove me from the group chat? I'm surprised I stayed in there so long. And yeah, I did just figure that out and the earlier ty was just a knee-jerk reaction.
Ha. Yes, as a non-spammer who managed to get one of the most successful RP marketing campaigns of all time done through there, I couldn't possible understand how it might work.
Not like I've been on this site since early 2008 or anything......Oh, wait... ;)
I remember when spam was the hostile invading force of trolls and twats. Yet here it is now, a permanent part of the site.
Again. It's just like DLC. If you don't want to be in Skype, you don't have to go there, it does no harm to the site either way, and I pretty much proved it hands down by starting one of the biggest role plays on site using it as a marketing tool.
Awson said
I genuinely don't understand how the adverse effects aren't obvious. It's a community where half of the members keep to themselves and don't include everyone else in their discussions. I...I give up.
Oh, you mean just like how every role playing group does on this role playing site? :p
If spam is an acceptable community on a role playing site, skype is an acceptable offshoot of the RPG community. (Yes, the community as a whole, not just spam.)
Not to mention it's not like those of us in there have stopped going on the forums. I mean I'm running Legend of Renalta 2, Jorick is part of it, Elendra is part of it, Herzi is part of it and so on and so forth. It's just an extra. Like DLC for a video game. You don't need it but it's there if you want it.
The Nexerus said
Damn. That's obscene.
Awson said
The site shit getting brought up there is one of the things that annoys me the most. POST ABOUT IT IN THE THREADS, JESUS. STOP WHISPERING OVER THERE.
Oh no! A live conversation about the site over instant messengers instead of over the spam forums instead of off-topic or member's lounge! How evil and wrong and filthy and dirty!
/sarcasm.
Awson said
It's easy to* dog it, but there were good times to be had.Yeah. Apparently people have so much fun there that they forget the forum exists. I'M FILLED WITH VINEGARThey might let you join if you keep nonchalantly mentioning it until someone is feeling nice enough to add you despite you not being in the inner circle.I think I did like TC better at the end of the day. Because TC had endings.
Well... Wait, it's a bad thing that people have tons of fun in there?
In all seriousness though, site shit gets brought up all the time. I should know I'm in there 24/7.
Oh, and I'm generally not a spammer, so that whole "inner circle" stuff is nonsense. Just ask and someone will add you so long as you're not a complete idiot that will start flame wars for no reason.
Blitzkrieg said
This is so true. It won't be long before the Skype group just ceceeds from the site.
Even though using it I was able to coordinate one of the largest marketing campaigns for one of my RP's of all time that resulted in motherfucking 37 players joining. No it won't secede* from the site, it's just a sub-community that happens to operate on IM's.
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