Thinslayer

The Faraway Land

@Thinslayer

I'm not sure what mixed messages you are receiving nor do I understand what you mean by "more structure means less freedom".

What it sounds like to me is you want everyone to pitch in and write the world with you, which is a completely different kind of RP entirely and one in which requires immense dedication. Since you are the GM, the responsibility falls on you to create a world that feels alive. Currently, it feels empty mainly because a lot of things are left up in the wind. Not talking about every minute detail needs to be accounted for, but generalities like kingdoms, culture, influence of magic and aristocracy, beastiary, lay of the land, temperature, etc. etc.

These things create a world worth exploring.

@XenoCyanide

I suck at landscaping. Nations I can do, politics I can manage, territories I can draw, but ask me to make a landscape, and it'll bore you to death.

Now, I agree that some more worldbuilding should be in order. Most stories handle that in the story itself. When I established this RP, I thought I made it fairly obvious that this was your typical medieval fantasy setting. You have peasants, lords, aristocrats, knights, and kings. The main difference is the presence of a world government, namely by the high elves. You have your world, for the most part; you're just not doing anything with it.

Regarding your statement that writing the world with me is a completely different RP, I totally disagree. I believe it is the very essence of freeform RP. When Tiberius picked up the Heart Ring from the chest, he did something that hadn't happened before. When Xen'Desh ordered the party to assemble the next morning, he said something nobody said before. His tone of voice, mannerisms, and personality implicitly added culture to my world where it previously had none. You've been worldbuilding all along, adding to an in-game history I didn't write.

The difference is not in whether or not you're pitching in to help write my world with me. You do that already, just by signing up with a character sheet. The difference is in degree. You already add to the culture and history of our world; why not some of its land and its people? I give you boundaries to play in, and you get to create the rest.

That's how stories are built, after all. Whether it's a character you want to play, a setting you want to be in, or a world you'd like to see, the story begins with a bounded idea, and then you fill in the blanks to make it happen. You want more boundaries? I'll make you more boundaries. But we're all responsible for worldbuilding.

Take the worldbuilding away, and this may as well be a dice game or something, or better yet, I should just write the whole darn thing myself and ditch the RP gig.

The Faraway Land

None of this information was presented from the original concept and I'm sure many of us kind of took it in stride, as you say, "ease of access". So now we're all scrambling to try and fit concepts into an ever-narrowing world. Normally this would not be a bad thing, given that certain information be brought forth outright, so that everyone has a clear understanding of the mechanics of the world.

No where in your posts, @Darkwatck01, was there mention of any strain or debilitating effect casting this spell would have on the warlock. As it reads now, he is some omnipotent being with unlimited power. I'm going to be honest with you all. Perhaps it is better to scrap the current RP and allow both of you guys to collaborate on the world and truly hammer in the details. Once a foundation is built you can start addressing the details, and in turn, allow a much more cohesive RP environment.

As it stands now, I'm just not having fun with it.

@XenoCyanide

Do you want more structure or less? If I develop all the lore and settings, there's less room for the players to create their own, and the RP falls apart from boredom. If I don't develop all the lore and settings, the RP falls apart from inconsistencies.

I'm only the GM here, guys. I can give you tools to write your story, but you have to write the story. And if I'm to provide the tools, I need to know what will help you best. I can't work on mixed messages.

The Faraway Land

Magic is fairly simple business, theoretically. Conceptually, magic is conversion of mana to energy. Mana is the "energy" that binds your soul to your body. Your soul, in turn, is basically your mind. So to cast magic, you must "think" in a way that moves mana from the spiritual plane to the physical. The energy will be manipulated in the manner you will.

There are a few difficulties with this. First off, you must dictate the spell precisely, like a programmer, because raw energy has no interpretive power. Secondly, our thoughts are all over the place, and attempting to cast a spell without focus yields unpredictable results.

There are a few ways to handle these issues. Speaking forces you to focus, so most mages chant their spells until they get good at focusing. The precision problem is rectified by soliciting the aid of an intermediary interpreter, usually a spirit of some sort. Soliciting spiritual help carries its own risks, though, so modern mages have devised a better solution - tomes. With a tome, you can simply look up the spell you want and read it. While the tomes themselves have no power of their own, the knowledge they carry is painstakingly researched and often proprietary, so they are closely guarded.

But there is another level of magecraft that deals only in mana and never touches energy conversion. It is purely spiritual, and deals in things like curses. Some go even further and cast their spirit around. Any non-converted mana manipulation is labelled "dark magic," mainly because it is generally unresearched and rarely has any positive/beneficial uses.

The spell that the enemy cast on the party is primarily dark magic, since it only locks down mana production and verbalized thought within a specified area.

The Faraway Land

I'm currently deciding whether any action is worth pursuing at this point. The players were not made aware of how the spell works, only that it weakened them and interrupted their magic. So while they're technically violating the laws of magic, I can't blame them for not knowing, and it seems to serve the story to let them alone. Yet I enforced it on rush99999, thinking he would be alone in pushing the boundaries and that the other players would take notice (which they didn't).

So the question I have to wrangle with is, do I consistently enforce the rule, or do I let it slide for the sake of the story? I reeeally don't want to start any fights that I don't have to. I already feel like a jerkwad as it is, challenging ineffable and rush99999.

The Faraway Land

So Semi-Freeform Posting Order we'll do.

@ineffable, @XenoCyanide, I think it's your guys' turn to post.

The Faraway Land

I don't mind in the slightest, as long as there is a plan on how the story progresses from this point.
I mean, we could just get party-wiped. It would certainly be the first time I've seen it, ever, in forum roleplay.

jokes jokes jokes.

@Hawlin

Okay, we've worked out a plan: Keep doing what you're doing. Use your Rings and attack the Warlock with everything you've got. It's important that you show him your strength for this to work and stay alive.

The Faraway Land

<Snipped quote by Thinslayer>

You mean Ivan, Tiberius hasn't actually asked for anything yet.

@Lord Zee

Yup, you're right, it was Ivan. Thanks. :P

The Faraway Land

I don't mind in the slightest, as long as there is a plan on how the story progresses from this point.
I mean, we could just get party-wiped. It would certainly be the first time I've seen it, ever, in forum roleplay.

@Hawlin

I'm currently working on that with Darkwatck as we speak. xD

The Faraway Land

I'm getting the distinct impression that players are unhappy with how I'm handling the Warlock, especially with the decision to hand over control of the character to another non-GM player. Is that what's happening here? I'll definitely consider any objections raised, and I think Darkwatck would have no problem going along with a related decision on that point.

The Faraway Land

((Accidentally posted on the wrong thread. I will put a story post here shortly; keep your eyes peeled.))