After hiatus

Started by Glowworm, November 06, 2002, 09:50:19 PM

After taking hiatus from the game, is it acceptable to bring your old character back?  I often have to take prolonged breaks from the game due to RL reasons, and it's hard to just "start over" again and again.  However, I recognize that time has gone on without me and new people are probably involved in areas my character was once involved in, and it would be odd for him to just pop up out of nowhere.  Your opinions on this subject are appreciated, as well as any comments on how to incorporate characters coming off of hiatus back into the scheme of the game.

I'm not a staff member but AFAIK, it is alright to do this, however there are some things to take into consideration.

1. Were you in a clan? If so it's you SHOULD let your clan immortal know.
2. Were you involved in any plots?
3. Did you tell anyone you were going either ICly or OOCly?

If you know your going to be leaving for prolonged times, it's good to create a character that has a reason to do this (e.g. A D-Elf that often goes back to his tribe) and not to join Clans as it can be very difficult for PCs and Immortals to know what your doing.

However AFAIK if you were an independant character that didn't have any ties with other characters then you can do this. You can even make the tales your character has to tell interesting (e.g. I was caught in a cave where a landslide caused the entrance to cover up, and have had to live on mushrooms and muddy water this entire time) just be sure to keep it realistic.

If i posted anything wrong an Immortal will correct me of course.
good luck.

If you were in a clan, I would just drop a line to the clan imm.  From my experience, it is not all that hard to make up a story about why your character vanished, and explained why he has come back.

If you were not in a clan, things are even easier for you.  Just make up a story about why you have been out of things.  Maybe you have a sister in Red Storm who got into trouble and you needed to help her.  Maybe Dad got sick and you went back to the farm to help out.  Maybe you have just been a shut in for the past few years.  Either way, coming up with a cover story is not all that hard.

At one point I stopped playing a character of mine for a few months.  I explained away that gap in time as him getting very sick and heading home, then spending more time at home to help repay the cost to his family to take care of him while he was sick.  It seemed to work out fine for me.

If your character is a noble, or templar, or some other highly important person, email the clan Immortal first, to check to make sure it's OK to start playing again.

If your character is not one of the above, I see no reason not to just start playing again.
"I agree with Halaster"  -- Riev

(This basically seconds what everyone else has said.)

If your absences from the game are foreseeable, then I'd suggest developing an IC story around it and sticking to it when you come back.

On occasion if a character is high ranking (noble, templar, clan-leader) then the ranks will change while you're away, or if you're in a clan the clan's situation may change while you're away -- that's why we ask people to contact their clan imm or MUD prior to restarting in a role like that out of the blue.  It's not that we're (all) control freaks.  Heh.

But by and large it's OK to come and go as life dictates, keeping in mind that often the first few RL weeks you're away other characters may assume you're IC'ly still around if you haven't set up some alternative story for them.  Then they'll assume you really have vanished from their lives and have either moved or have perished.  So if you weren't able to create an IC story when you left, it's good to have one when you come back.  But most of the time such a story doesn't "need" to go through a staff member.

-Savak
i]May the fleas of a thousand kanks nestle in your armpit.  -DustMight[/i]