Looking for Fun at the End of the World: A How-To

[Gimfalisette]

This is a follow-on to some stuff I said here: http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,37156.msg495011.html#msg495011 in response to what seems like some malaise and dissatisfaction players feel about "big" stuff that may be happening in game. I have been there and done that with that feeling, and I know it can really suck the fun out of things. So here are my suggestions for how to get past it. Further suggestions and discussion are welcome.

Stop telling yourself that "This would be more fun if I was only playing <guild/role>." All guilds are potentially equally fun for End of World involvement, provided you the player enjoy playing that guild. Having played both mundanes and non-mundanes, sponsored and non-sponsored, with End of World involvement, I can firmly say that the more fun and extensive involvement came with the PC I enjoyed playing more, NOT the PC who had the higher-karma guild or who was in a sponsored role. Mundanes and non-mundanes are good at different stuff, so play what you like, with enthusiasm and joy; and stop worrying about whether a Whiran or Drovian or Krathi or warrior or ranger or mindbender or a templar or a noble could do your job "better."

If you like grit, please, play grit. Your nasty Bynner, conniving elf, sniveling breed, Undertuluki scum...these roles are all still necessary and of high value. I know from experience that The Plot does not reveal itself only to silky nobles and templars, nor are they the only important PCs. For one thing, they all require plenty of minions to get stuff done--yes, for want of Amos the Bynner, the war was lost.

If you like playing in clans, join the right clan with the right leader. By "right leader" I simply mean a PC who will give your PC Stuff To Do, and pass on Sekret Information. This does not have to be the smartest-playing, best-emoting, awesomest-scheming person...it just has to be someone that will get you involved in plots, by which I mean both The Plot and other plots.

Get involved with PCs. This can be done either through joining a clan, or by meeting PCs outside a clan, or both. But get involved, and make relationships happen: Friendships, romances, alliances, enemies, buyers, merchants, bosses, minions. Plots in ARM flow through relationships. If staff sees that you have many relationships and are interacting with other PCs a lot and sharing information in whatever form, then it is my (somewhat informed) guess that they will throw fun stuff at you.

Communicate with your clan staff--or with the unclanned staff, if you are unclanned. If they see you being active and engaged in game, and in your emails, then it is highly likely that they will respond to you ICly in game, or OOCly in emails. They may throw you a plot bone by NPC interaction, or environmental effect, or something else.

Pursue plots that have nothing to do with the end of the world. These could be at any of the four levels of plot: personal/relational, clan/organization, inter-organization/city, or world. The End of the World is just a backdrop to your PC's story anyways, so please do pursue stuff beyond it. Stuff needs to be happening at all those levels, for the game to be really fun and engaging.

Give your PC activities to do and stuff to think about that has nothing to do with the end of the world. Get drunk, get spiced, get laid, start a barfight, buy new bling, insult an aide, whatever. Conduct your PC's daily life as if it were really daily life, truly important to your PC. In the 1980s we were convinced that all-out nuclear war with the USSR was an imminent, inevitable event, and yet we still found time to wear ridiculous shoulder pads and belted sweaters. Your PC should live similarly, only with hopefully more awesome fashion choices.

Trust the staff. They're not trying to ruin your game, and even if you get snatched by an unbeatable sorceror NPC and put in a crazy situation, it's very possible you will survive it and go on to tell an awesome tale. (How do I know this? Because it's happened to me more than once!) They love ARM and they want you to have fun.

Realize that you can't win, and the truth is, you never could. The big plots (eg: gith invasion) are often unstoppable and unchangeable to large degree, although players can effect corrections and deviations. Maybe you can't save the world, but you can save some little part of it; maybe you can't overthrow the templarate, but you can off a templar; maybe you can't establish a competing merchant house, but you can sell out Kadius to Salarr. There has always been a lot going on in the largely-virtual world of Zalanthas that no PC could affect, and this is OK. The real story is what happens to your PC, how your PC reacts to it, and what happens next. Play the real story, enjoy the real story. You will not win; no one will. Everyone dies, but the players remember.

If you are playing a leader, please, get your minions (and other people's minions) involved to the greatest extent possible, and please do share Sekrets. Having played both minion and leader at varying times, I can say with surety that Sekrets are the real currency of the game. Everyone has less fun when you keep everything to yourself and trust no one. You cannot "win" ARM by never telling anyone anything, or never trusting anyone.

[Cutthroat]

<seal of approval>

I wish I could think of something to add to this, but I can't. It seems pretty thorough.

[Akoto]

Most of all, stop worrying about the end of the world. There's still plenty of other stuff going on, and that particular event may still be a long, long time away. No way of knowing, so just enjoy things as they are!