The Harbinger of Ferocity

How can we help improve RPGuild? Community suggestions and discussion.

It has nothing to do with moderators ensuring roleplays survive and everything to do with that it is acceptable, if not a norm, here on the Guild that users disappear with minimal and or no reprimand. "Do not leave a roleplay without saying." is a more general, universal, reasonable expectation, of course, but what happens when they don't?

There is already the argument I have heard that no one, or at least a number enough to bring it up, has any idea what "Fonz cool." is and how you regulate it. That by comparison is a far more subjective system and the list I read in this same topic levels at least half its criticism at the Staff.

Is having someone program an internal system to tag and monitor users going to take more work? Yes, of course it will. But any actual changes to the Guild or its coding, this or otherwise, is nothing but work. As is for multiple accounts, I am fairly confident a system exists already to monitor and or track those, perhaps on the most basic of levels by IP Addresses.

I have nothing further to add in terms of legitimate frustrations.

How can we help improve RPGuild? Community suggestions and discussion.

A "report for inactivity" function, as I think it has been better worded, would need the Game Master to submit a reason for the flagging of that user and reference. Such as, posting in the original post the cycle expectdd from the member and that they failed to comply with it. Your average posting is seven days? Unchanged, the Game Master still has to initiate it. Your posting rate is once per day, as stated? Game Master still has to tag the user then add a comment as to why.

Could it be abused? Of course, any system can be in the right hands, but that is why it needs to be based on aggregate and a pattern of behavior, monitored by a specialized Staff member or one who believes they have good, neutral judgment - as they all should and we would hopefully expect.

Receive three notices? Are they in short from one another? How reliable is the Game Master's claim? All questions and beyond that need be asked and reviewed in each case.

The user becomes flagged, with the amount of confirmed - not pending or removed - offenses. It is still the Game Master's responsibility, to ensure they are willing to take the risk, and at that point if they do, no one is to blame but the host. The individual is held accountable. Otherwise, it is easy for them to just ignore contact.

This form of compliance is something you could not escape. You could reasonably challenge it, since you would know if you were labeled a deserter, but that burden falls on their shoulders.

Is this a system we are likely to see? No, I have no high hopes of that, but a mechanism or some sort of policing against this behavior should manifest. Every single roleplay I have been involved in here has died to inactivity, and only once have I ever bowed out of a game, by announcement to all members.

As an addition, a Game Master should not have to play detective to sort out who is or isn't a good fit for a topic by searching posting history.

Lastly, for complaints against a Game Master, a forwarded message from several users to report the instance to the Staff would suffice.

How can we help improve RPGuild? Community suggestions and discussion.

There should be a system in place to mark against users who have this habit, with a case to be reviewed by Staff so not as to abuse the process, because otherwise there is no governing the unreliable sorts who drift aimlessly from topic to topic apparently searching for something they will never find, only to say, "Something in my life happened." when pressured about it. Consider me skeptical and cynical, but whenever I hear some new tragedy a player puts forth, there's that strong presence of doubt I feel resisting it. Now, mind you, I do not pressure them about it, but it does prove irritating.

Such a blacklisting system would only be visible to the topic's owner. The sort of, "This user has a negative rating for reliability." or "This user has a high negative rating for reliability." versus the, "This user has a normal rating for reliability." It isn't impolite or wrong to tell a Game Master that sort of information. If you, not saying that you are but in a hypothetical, were someone with a highly negative rating, it would and should be your duty to convince me as a Game Master you're worth inviting. You're unreliable and prone to disappearing in such a circumstance, so make your case why this is suddenly different and that you are not outright wasting my time or that of my other players.

If people cannot accept that as reality, that they are subject to review and should be and that not everyone should have to suffer for their lack of participation, that same which strongly negatively impacts others, then perhaps they shouldn't be on the Guild.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

This all accounted for, you can expect a post from myself relating to Brannor either this morning to come or that very evening. I think I have sat myself on the sidelines long enough to see the character into something now; I did not want to interrupt that little exchange or stumble into the other duo on their way out.

How can we help improve RPGuild? Community suggestions and discussion.

With regard to comments made earlier, I would rather the Guild not migrate from an integrated chat on the site itself and exclusively on to a Discord. Two very different communities and policies in terms of general behavior and the usual visitors. I am not fond of Discord as it is, so I personally do not use it and I am still under the belief that the fact the Discord was made at all has detracted more than it has been of benefit simply because it isn't built into the Guild and is instead a separate site. The Guild by design should maintain its own activity on its chat, even if the average use is low and the larger number has moved on to it, of course barring if the entire thing was made one-for-one where but that is unlikely to be.

Moving on, the real reason I came here is because a topic about merging sections of the Nation Roleplays and Tabletop Roleplays came up. My opinion? Politely, no thank you. I am one for categorization and separation based upon the contents and overarching category they fall in. I would rather not throw a variety of often unrelated roleplaying genres, though with some overlap as they all have, into one area for the sake of them being "Other" or "Related to Advanced" rather than the traditional personalities of "Free, Casual, Advanced". It becomes a jumbled mess as people do not use tags at times, do not provide enough information in their topics and the weight of some topics in their posting rate will bog down and hide others with the current layout.

The real reason I believe these sections mind find themselves with issues goes back to the idea that most people are looking for "general" forms of roleplaying, not niches. Those niches are for the people looking for them specifically, but by that virtue alone they are not going to see as much traffic. Likewise, it makes it easier to search for them when you know exactly where they are. This does not mean they should be folded into others just for the sake of attempting to make them all more active. The issue with activity is that players are free to disappear with zero consequences or go for lengthy periods without posting, or so how I have seen it. My personal stance on that matter is, players who have that tendency should receive demerits against their account because their habit of vanishing poisons otherwise viable roleplays by helping kill activity; people are less likely to post when others become more inactive or no longer are there.

Yes, I do know some of these topics come late in the discussion but I hadn't the luxury until just now to refer to them.

Dragons Beneath the Firmament (A Wuxia/Xianxia RP)

Do let me know what your opinion is on the submission. I have always been interested in learning more about the wuxia and xianxia styles of fantasy.

Character Sheet

Name:
Hu
Now only known by his current name of Hu, he knows not his true name. When he was younger he and his village had fallen terribly ill and as one of the few youths still able to seek help, he was sent down a road said to house a temple. While he searched and searched, he slipped further away from his health and soon became too weak to press on, no matter how he struggled. When he awoke again, a master of the Divine Tiger Fist had cured him of his bodily illness, but some of that which affected his spirit could not be recovered. Knowing his name no longer, or even his mission, he sought understanding and recall from his mentor and savior. She restored it to him when she passed on her qi when her time was up, having hidden the sad truth that he had failed from him until he could better understand it.

Age:
24

Gender:
Male

Appearance:
Hu has an appearance of a man who keeps himself immaculately clean, both clean shaven and fond of the color white, which has much symbolic reflection and impact upon him. He accents himself in the colors only of black and red, such as his black sash, cuffs and shoes, of which white is worn under. Hu is well muscled and defined, having ascended from the path of a regular man to a fighting spirit as much as he is a healer who draws upon the injuries of his foes to restore others. Physically, outside of this, he bears the scarring of his days stricken by illness, many of which are jagged and worked by the wanderings he had in the wilderness, looking for aid. He is neither an unwelcome sight to look upon or all too strange for a military aged man.

Personality:
Despite his failure in a "past life", Hu is optimistic that his master saw something within him that even he did not know. He is resolved in that sense to do well by what he learned, removing illness or sickness from those that cannot help themselves - most often the lesser peoples - while fighting in the face of those that would spread sadness, fear and pestilence. Hu is vocal, to the point of even being foolhardy about voicing his opinion and courage, but he's also wise enough to know when its best to keep things to himself when outsiders are about. Hu lives as who he has become, warrior and healer, rather than who he was as a lost soul.

Stage:
Foundation Establishment (Core Foundation)
While Hu has only modest aptitude, much more of that of Foundation Establishment, the qi bestowed upon him by the act of transference has opened up elements of mastery just beyond his reach - Core Foundation. It is like an ocean that comes and goes, where at his best he might find a way to manipulate the energy within, but at his worst he is still but an adept in comparison to a master. Until he learns to harness both his masteries in and out, he cannot truly act on what gifts are within.

Abilities:
Divine Tiger Fist
The external application of qi was not wholly unknown to Hu, but when it became his practice, he realized that it was as much an internal art as well, but only time would prove him just how right he was. To cultivate himself, he needed to act on both. Before he could do so, he was graced with a gift that allowed him to see both paths as a single one; the Divine Tiger Fist. The school focuses upon mighty precision and the exploitation of one's qi to affect another's, striking from outside to affect the inside and upsetting the balances of others through careful power with blows that are like the metal element. The low stances, acrobatic kicks and heavy use of clawed palm strikes mimics the tiger, channeling elements of its immortal ideals into the mortal body by clawing, tearing, ripping and grasping. Masters of the art in time become like tigers themselves, able to see and perceive a person's qi, shrug off injury, walk unseen and unheard, react without thought and manifest deceptive strength many times their seeming ability.

Hands of Black and White
Like the master who imbued Hu with her qi, his hands are both killing and healing instruments. They act like tools of qi disruption, for both better and worse. A harmful blow made up of focused energy strikes with fierce velocity and force with a near roar, upsetting balance in body and spirit, whereas a careful, precise touch can restore this balance and mend deep injuries beyond just the flesh. However, all things in some semblance of his ability must be equalized. The wounds he inflicts upon others draws up the power to heal and cure, but without violence, there cannot be restoration; he can only take to in order to give to others or himself. No less, it is difficult to store without dedication to the art.

Spring and Autumn, Wood and Wind
As a disciple of Divine Tiger Fist, Hu has made himself like the tiger. His qi makes his body not only tough and resilient, but exceptionally swift. Like the reed or bamboo, he is well balanced, reflexive and reactive, turning with his injuries when they do land whilst moving himself between the others. When he rebounds, he lashes out more ferociously, returning the favor over by expelling the negative forces absorbed. Endurance is not his strength owing to this, so his style encompasses periods of weathering calm and unrelenting assault. As with the ideals of spring and autumn which his martial art draws on, his overwhelming energy makes him akin to the wind, moving hands and feet in a near blur of motion before rest must take place.

Teachings of the Fierce Master
That day that Hu was nursed back from near death by his master to come has stayed long in his mind. She has since became nothing more than qi herself, granting this gift to her student, but her presence was never truly gone. Through a period of intense calm and manipulation of aura and the vital essence by qi, Hu as his name implies, can become the tiger itself. Every motion and action blurs the lines between man and animal, with the rapidity to alter between them faster than the eye can perceive and become more the essence of existence rather than a defined thing. It is this talent that Hu himself has only begun to understand, to embody the actual tiger itself beyond concept. Because it requires such immense skill beyond his aptitude, it is not wholly realized more than in times of brief but absolute serenity in conflict.

Items:
Ten Thousand Breaths Vial
A bottle of potent winds distilled by time only, the vial is capable of awakening those who have descended into comas, petrification or paralysis, liberating the body to match the mind when inhaled. Its tremendous age and exceptional craftsmanship infer it has been used by many, many healers of old.

Humbled White Sash
The material of the unassuming white sash is marked only at its ends with inky black stripes. Its symbolic purity dampens the affects of the elements in relation to the bearer's own qi; the more tranquil and cultivated the wearer, the more potent its shroud. When worn, flames burn not as hot, frost stings not as sharp, storms seem to weaken against it, and the like. It was once worn by the Nameless Master.

History:
After surviving his ordeal of illness and weakness before being returned to health in body but not yet mind by his mentor, Hu practiced for years to recover entirely. He recalled in some time before he wished to understand good kung fu in the martials arts, but then he could not have understood. When the master's time came, she placed upon her student her qi to keep what she taught alive, more than he could learn or know at the time. Instructed to teach this school first by coming to know it himself, he has sought out a future showing others the way of the Divine Tiger Fist and its most mythic art, the Hands of Black and White.

Other:
Although Hu knows of his past life now, he too reconciles there is nothing to be done about what had already come to pass, not of course without having missed out on what awaited him now. He embraces, as a warrior-priest, that he must prevent such a fate from ever befalling others again; that their bodies and qi must not be tainted or made sickly by the evil forces at work. It is also worthy to note, Hu's master never revealed her name or identity, being known only to him as his mentor despite her seeming power and prestige she might have held in life.

Beginner's DnD 5e Game - Group 2

This display was getting them nowhere and worse yet, further from where it was they needed to be.

Arthera began up the steps at a pace of purpose but not aggression, enough that she knew the man and his company should not come to blows. Receiving the attention of many wary eyes, especially given her immense stature and preference to shroud herself with her earthborn hood, she could not blame them for any skepticism they held further at this point; the entire endeavor had crumbled under its own weight spectacularly as a parody of itself. It had become such a mockery that the captain was now extorting wealth from them, or at least doing his best to. She stopped upon her approach, passing a step beyond the odd duo that had formed from her own group when they tried to leverage a lie and glared at them with a sense of unmistakable irritation.

She drew back her hood and then spoke plainly.

"We have news from Fellmire, one related perhaps in part to some of the doomsayers your city harbors." The woman's unusual golden eyes narrowed slightly as she recalled that town and what had become of it, washing over each of the guardsmen she looked upon.

She continued thereafter, "Your commander, Aengus Cavanaugh, summoned us on matters private. What I say or know beyond this, I cannot tell you lest I breach his trust... but what can be said is that we were the ones asked to be here, regardless of some... unusualities."

Arthera's towering figure turned away slightly from the soldiers once more, looking over her company again and seeming to urge them with a soft motion of her head in their direction to cease making a scene. Anyone who was still here in the wake of the parade seemed to be paying some attention given the display as the captain himself noted, barring the drunkards of course who were too busy staggering to the next place of celebration and revelry. Whatever sensitive matters the general wished to speak on, especially in a city that seemed to have the enemy already rooted in it, this was among the least reasonable of things they could have done.

When she returned, presence again forward, she produced the letter of summons from inside her robe and held it. Outstretched as it was, it revealed further her hand, which was marked by the blood of the wild; they were thick, almost pawed. They were just as unusual as the rest of her, that of which was something not quite human anymore.

"You may call me Arthera, captain... and my personal intent is to do this the correct way."

Effects

Arthera will attempt to leverage her All Eyes on Me ability to distract from the other instances, while also seeing herself and the party into the general's company. She attempts to support her oddity and address with the general's letter and word of sensitive news from Fellmire that might affect Bourgund.

DnD 5e - Beginner's Game

The hospitality of the firbolgs was not for a moment in question by the great cat, or the form and identity he had again assumed. With all honesty, they were a touch of divine grace in a very tense moment and fortunately wise enough in the ways of the world to not turn on the outsiders immediately for what they witnessed. This allowed the mighty figure to rest at ease, even as his footfall laid itself in their tracks and not another word left him for the hours of the journey. It seemed the firbolgs shared even more a somber sentiment, more than the druid but nothing to come as unexpected; this blow was struck directly against their home, something that pained Lorenthar agonized them. All the beast could do was offer the young priestess a look of confirmation.

She was not wrong in her desires or questioning, just that these creatures were not ready to taste the sour vinegar of sobering reality when life was once made up of what could be said to be fine, if not wild wines.

By the time they arrived the claim was lively with activity, but that too rapidly waned. In moments the gleeful young and curious observers had disappeared, a few undoubtedly spoken to in word as they had already been in emotion. The elder, as it was, continued with them and led them to what possibly could have been his barrow or den; regardless of what it was, it was not an unexpected response and effort, but one that showed ample faith for the time being.

Lorenthar stopped only then to witness the reactions of those he had found himself traveling with, not yet reverting his savage countenance or features. As asked of him to rest, he set his hindquarters down, seating himself.

Beginner's DnD 5e Game - Group 2

It was no subtle gesture the sylvan-touched woman's advance ahead of the other company and while it wasn't directed at Arthera or either of the men present, the display was impossible to ignore. Rather, it was silently spoken to Ceria with tremendous clarity in spite of its lack of voice. The elf, in response, could not keep her sourness and had her cheek well with blush in reply, born of seeming frustration and embarrassment, which in turn only earned her more attention from the few onlookers and repeated the cycle until she saw to destroying the arrow she had so captured earlier.

As if that were not enough, Yvah - the cat-woman - had made a tremendous display of procuring several other arrows. The feats themselves were not modest works in the slightest and did require legitimate skill, the entirety of everything about going subtly into the uninitiated masses had been struck clean from the records. There was some safety in obscurity, issues their unusual gathering had to begin with between its characters, but there was no ignoring any of this. Arthera was no fool however, not scoffing at the twist of fates but rather more curious if this was, in some aspect, intentional; that this was how some of these people managed to where they were and life, navigating dangers both of the realm and its people's agendas.

Granted the primalist had kept a steady, unhastened pace in response to the woman that had beckoned her company from her side, but now she paused.

It would seem as though this theory were true, for the odd figure of Ulor Travos acted with a precision that suggested his cunning. In short, he called forth a message both slightly sickening in its disturbing manifestation and not inaccurate, or at least not enough so to suggest he was feigning. The magical ordeal was well preformed, practiced like the others but with keen respects to its own. The real question that begged was how would this expression of purpose mature here on out? The men, selected guardsmen to perform this duty, could have any number of reactions - none of which the outsider knew well which they would go with.

She knew what she would choose, but she was not them and had not been for some time.

Cara's Originally Titled OoC Hangout Thread ♥ (Still)

I might have to make my return then just to see it myself. It has been ages since I played the game. Became too tired of the endless grinding and lack of end game for my taste.