Roleplay in Tuluk

Started by helix, September 25, 2008, 06:34:44 AM

I think KIA made some very good points about how what it means to be subtle in Tuluk.
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

Quote from: KIA on November 25, 2008, 01:59:18 AM
Of course, magick here is the obvious 'I'm fucked' scenario, but there are many many more, and a Tuluki can live a life of silent fear through no direct fault of their own! Add the astounding reputation Tuluk has for spying on its own citizens and its citizens spying on one another, all the time, and keeping some of these deadly secrets can become a seriously pathological cultural phenomenon.

That's the Tuluk I love to see.

It's the inherent, brilliant flaw with Tuluk.  So, so much fun to get into the mindset.  So frickin' hard to let other people in on what you're doing, when you're acting as part of a seriously pathological cultural phenomenon (emphasis on pathological).

Quoted for how delightfully -and accurately - it was described.  ;D
Quote from: saquartey
Rairen, what would we do without you?

In relation to the current angle of the thread, the new guy feels the paranoia factor is definitely there.  Doing something bad will make you feel eyes everywhere.  I think this is an accurate assessment of Tuluk. 

Tuluk also seems to follow the cultural model of Romans on the principle of good/bad.  If a person who was 'good' all their life does something 'bad' (i.e. a prominent agent of house Uppitysmuchnuck turns out to be a MAGICKER!?!?!) that person was always bad, and doing good things to hide their badness.  There is no pardon for badness.  This model is cool, by the way, from a role play perspective, because modern culture often tries to use dogma to convince you otherwise. 

New guy's view in relation to the OP.

The partisan system seems to be pretty strong.  A lot of people who on meeting 1, were quite cold, by meeting 5 agreed on a 'safe' activity, and by meeting 10 are more or less willing to work on a understood basis. 

Interaction between castes is very, VERY VERY character dependent.  Some commoners have turned their nose up at me while other nobles have chatted and shared some brewsky.  But yeah, nobles are better.  Everyone knows that.  ;D


I like Tuluk. The design is beautiful to read. It is interesting to explore. The mentality of a citizen can be fascinating. The walk through the city is endless. It is... just so very boring to rp. At least for me. I think it is the subtlety and quietness that gets it for me.

For example, in any of those disappearances: (this is a very crappy example)

Bard A offends Noble B.
Noble B hires Assassin C.
Assassin C kills Bard A.
End of story.

Or the even worse case, (for me):

Bard A did something to offend Templar D.
Templar D disappears Bard A.
End of story.

No one would chat about it. No one would even ask where Bard A has gone to. In most cases, most rp pretending nothing happened and Bard A never existed. If I am Bard A's acquantaince, my questions will not be answered and there will be forever silence. If I am the bard's best friend, I will be too scared to breath a word and still there will be forever silence. It does not seem to spread much rp. The result of the disappearance strengthens the background and adds nothing to the everyday rp that I can see. (people disappearing is hardly new)

Sure there would be a lot of internal rp that make for excellent solo rp. I enjoy solo rp too, at times. But... I want to interact and share my character's moments with other interesting characters. That is why I rp on a MUD instead of writing a book by myself.

Everything has to be super nice on the outside. It would take months, if not years, to develop relationships/friendships that hold enough trust to share those horrifying moments which make for stunningly fun rp. On average, few people can actually keep characters alive for long enough to enjoy it. The same fun can be rewarded with much less effort in other areas of the game.

Tuluk has many layers, but most of the time it is very difficult to dig through all these layers and bypass the average 'fetch this' plot, 'kill that animal' plot, or Tek forbid, 'write a song/story' plot. (I am one of those who cannot stand performances of any kind. But I always try to appreciate the bard's ooc effort, so I just switch off oocly to read, turn back in a hour or two to catch the bard finishing and rp how absolutely overjoyed/moved my char is, or explain that 10 minutes inactivity is me being stunned by brilliance).

So after all that, here is my question: what is the trick for you all who enjoy Tuluk to get immersed into the plots and fun /quickly/? (Say, in a couple of weeks of rp?) How do you see pass the thin veil (or thick fog) of niceness/inactivity to find the gems?


Don't piss me off. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

Hmm, there is a lot I'd like to say to try and answer your question Melody, but it's difficult to figure out where to begin, and how best to put it into words.

To keep things simple, and try to avoid rambling; I think that the best way to quickly get involved in deeper plots and go beyond the casual "Hi how are you" bar RP ... is to create the plots yourself.

In most cases, I think that because of the high number of new characters who seem to go just as quickly as they came, the players and staff running the plots are hesitant to rope a person in and give them a vital part of a story until that person has shown that they can keep their character around for a bit without dieing/storing or just not logging in anymore.

Rather than waiting for people to notice that you have been hanging out at the sanctuary for a RL month, and obviously aren't going anywhere anytime soon, I would suggest that you come up with some goals for your own character and start using other characters to try and acheive them. Make the goals far reaching, requiring many small steps to get there. The "go kill that animal" plot you mentioned isn't such a drag if there is something to follow it up afterwards, and tie it into a larger story.

In doing this, you'll probably also notice that people will take note of your activity, and as such, start to involve you in their own stories as well. It's all a big chain reaction, the more activity you generate, the more activity you'll start to see in everything and everyone around you  :)

To be honest, I think that this applies to anyone anywhere in the game, not just Tuluk, but this is the recipie that's worked for me. Hope it helps.
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

Quote from: Melody on December 22, 2008, 08:48:32 AM
For example, in any of those disappearances: (this is a very crappy example)

Bard A offends Noble B.
Noble B hires Assassin C.
Assassin C kills Bard A.
End of story.

Or the even worse case, (for me):

Bard A did something to offend Templar D.
Templar D disappears Bard A.
End of story.

To me, this is one flaw with the role-play.  Too many PCs "disappear" and suddenly "disappear" is as flat as "kill" of 'nak.  The "mask" becomes too thin... no real layers have a chance to develop.

The truth about bards and artisans -- they can weild lots of power.

Noble A  offends  Noble B
Noble B hires Bard 1 to mock Noble A and promote Noble B

Now everyone treats Noble B well and Noble A poorly

Noble A decides to hire Bard 2 to drag down Bard 1's name and in doing so, Noble B
Just goes on and on...
"The Highlord casts a shadow because he does not want to see skin!" -- Boog

<this space for rent>

Quote from: My 2 sids on December 22, 2008, 10:55:58 AM
To me, this is one flaw with the role-play.  Too many PCs "disappear" and suddenly "disappear" is as flat as "kill" of 'nak.  The "mask" becomes too thin... no real layers have a chance to develop.

Sorry, but ... I couldn't understand what you were trying to say here  ???
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

I believe he is saying that "disappear" is suddenly synonymous with "kill", and there is no longer that layer of "Oh, well maybe they're just out on an extended hunt."

What 2sids said is correct though. Hire a bard to talk up Noble B, and degrade Noble A. If they are -good- RPers, they aren't going to hire an assassin just because a bard told a story. Otherwise, they shouldn't be nobles. Bards are the KEY to political power, and I REALLY wish people exercised it more.
Quote from: IAmJacksOpinion on May 20, 2013, 11:16:52 PM
Masks are the Armageddon equivalent of Ed Hardy shirts.

Quote from: My 2 sids on December 22, 2008, 10:55:58 AM
To me, this is one flaw with the role-play.  Too many PCs "disappear" and suddenly "disappear" is as flat as "kill" of 'nak.  The "mask" becomes too thin... no real layers have a chance to develop.

We equate a PCs absence to death OOCly... when ICly they could be in hiding, out on a trip, having sex in their partners apartment, or just hates you and doesn't want to see you.
If you are seeing disappearance as death, more that likely it is YOU and not your PC. PCs die all the time.  I have a friend who had the misfortune of going through FIVE yesterday. 

More than likely, even if PCs ARE disappearing without a trace it is more than likely storage or good old hunting deaths.
Quote from: Twilight on January 22, 2013, 08:17:47 PMGreb - To scavenge, forage, and if Whira is with you, loot the dead.
Grebber - One who grebs.

Quote from: FantasyWriter on December 22, 2008, 01:15:43 PM
Quote from: My 2 sids on December 22, 2008, 10:55:58 AM
To me, this is one flaw with the role-play.  Too many PCs "disappear" and suddenly "disappear" is as flat as "kill" of 'nak.  The "mask" becomes too thin... no real layers have a chance to develop.


If you are seeing disappearance as death, more that likely it is YOU and not your PC. PCs die all the time.  I have a friend who had the misfortune of going through FIVE yesterday. 


Wait. What? Someone went through five PCs in one day? They'd have to be dying immediately after their two hour grace period was up.

I had three in one day once... a long lived PC died, then my next one dies shortly after my respawn time was up... my third one lasted six hours.
I quit playing for a few months after the third death in one day and missed the gith invasion. :(
Quote from: Twilight on January 22, 2013, 08:17:47 PMGreb - To scavenge, forage, and if Whira is with you, loot the dead.
Grebber - One who grebs.

Quote from: musashi on December 22, 2008, 09:44:16 AM

To be honest, I think that this applies to anyone anywhere in the game, not just Tuluk, but this is the recipie that's worked for me. Hope it helps.

Although that is true, start plots, have fun, be interesting. I can have no problem with it in, say, Allanak, or even Red Storm. At week 1 I am getting to know people, at week 4 I can be in the thick of plots. But I think I need to adopt a very different style in Tuluk to have fun. I don't know what I am doing wrong with Tuluk. Maybe I just have to become nicer irl to play in Tuluk? Or does my character designs lack a certain spark that attracts Tuluki people to trust them? (trouble is my middle name, I have to tone down?)  It is just wrong when my char can be in Tuluk but all the plots my char involved in are in elseworld and I am having a long distance relationship with the plots. How do you become involved in Tuluk?

Or maybe it is just not meant to be? :(
Don't piss me off. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

I believe that as long as you can manage to keep your characters alive for a decent amount of time, and are actively engaging other characters, and involving people in some kind of activity above and beyond bar RP, things should just fall into place ...

Can you be more specific about the nature of the problem you're having? Or why the above isn't working?
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

I think the inherent problem in your situation, Melody, is that you are seeking trust in order to become fully involved in the deep seeded plots of Tuluk.

Instead, I would suggest asking people if they need help with any of their projects. Have lofty goals. Have mundane, day to day goals. Become parts of clans in the city, and spend your time obeying/disobeying orders from your superiors. Approach Nobles and ask if they need a Partisan. Approach several nobles, and watch as a behind-the-scenes bidding war occurs.

Trust is not easily given in Tuluk. Tulukis are very similar to elves in this respect. Of all the characters I had in Tuluk, even after knowing another character for maybe 30 days played, whenever they invited me over to an apartment I didn't have the key to, I consciously IRL and IG thought "There is a chance that they were hired to kill me, or hired to take me to their apartment so someone else could kill me". The fact that assassination is an 'artform' in Tuluk makes people hesitant to walk into a closed space with someone else, in my opinion. People do not want to get very close to others, because the longest lived characters in Tuluk have been around for long enough to see half of their friends die or get disappeared. It is a long road, but a rewarding one.

Tuluk is not nearly as black and white as Allanak. And to be honest, I have seen more 'subtle behind the scenes' shit happen in Allanak than Tuluk at times. Especially in the 'rinth. A lot of Tuluks plots and 'storylines' have taken years to develop, and are hard to cash in on at day one.

As musashi has put:
-Be public, and assert who your character is, whether they be a criminal, a lumberjack, a bard, or a merchant house employee.

-Create friendships, and create enemies. If someone is saying something you disagree with, try to make fun of them in a complimentary way. Start spreading rumors about them -- Blame them for things that you've done that look bad. Say someone is overforesting -- It was obviously Amos, the stupid lumberjack who brags about how much wood he brings in every day. Is it true, neccesarily? No. But it serves your own means to an end.

-Approach Nobles and Templars about potential partisanship. When you are a partisan, you can pretty much carry on with your day to day without having to adhere to a training schedule, or a quota you have to fill for say House Kadius. Instead -- You have specific plots your Noble or Templar assigns you with, a tithe to pay perhaps from any commission you do outside of your relationship, and maybe they'll even pay for your rent. Every partsian situation is different, multi-faceted, and really drives forward the political 'games' of Tuluk on a discreet level. Say Noble A notices Noble B has quite a few Partisans, and is getting quite a bit done because of all the people he/she has on their 'team'. Noble B might concentrate his efforts on turning some of those partisans against Noble A, or paying them to mess up their jobs, or mess up other fellow partisan's jobs. Noble B might, in turn, have a very popular bard as a Partisan, and instructs the bard to spend most of their time slandering Noble A's name, or choice partisans in their employ.

-Try to seek surface level friendships, instead of 'I would die for you, and guard you while you sleep' friendships. In a world of murder, corruption, and betrayal, that level trust should be -very- difficult to find, regardless of where you are from. Instead -- Find your drinking buddies, the guy you have a spice addiction with, the whore you've taken a liking to but still charges you, and the kid who looks up to you because you got a scar a long time ago from an ax-wound. If there aren't any of those characters around, play them.
"You will have useful work: the destruction of evil men. What work could be more useful? This is Beyond; you will find that your work is never done -- So therefore you may never know a life of peace."

~Jack Vance~

Reiloth put it into words much better than I could have.
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

Quote from: Reiloth on December 23, 2008, 12:43:32 AM
Staffs

Thank you for the help, everyone.

Given the subtlety in Tuluk, I find the deep seeded plots do need some measure of trust before it can be rped out. But anyway, having gone pass 4 irl months for my character, I still find myself in the shallow end of plots in Tuluk. My character has enemies, friends, acquantainces, drinking buddies, shopping buddies, whatever buddies, connections, spies, criminal links, lawful links, and everything else in between. They just don't happen in Tuluk!

I can't seem to make it work. Maybe it is just not meant to be. :( I dunno what I am doing wrong, I must be lacking something essentially Tuluki. I will go read the doc for the 100th time...
Don't piss me off. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

Make your own  ;D
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

I've noticed a LOT of people dying in Tuluk recently, thus it means plots are now taking longer, since even those little people can be important.

That being said, there's also a LOT of awesome new chars that I've seen about. So, it's kinda in a limbo land right now.
The man asks you:
     "'Bout damn time, lol.  She didn't bang you up too bad, did she?"
The man says, ooc:
     "OG did i jsut do that?"

Quote from: Shalooonsh
I love the players of this game.
That's not a random thought either.

Quote from: Melody on January 12, 2009, 05:17:18 AM
Quote from: Reiloth on December 23, 2008, 12:43:32 AM
Staffs

Thank you for the help, everyone.

Given the subtlety in Tuluk, I find the deep seeded plots do need some measure of trust before it can be rped out. But anyway, having gone pass 4 irl months for my character, I still find myself in the shallow end of plots in Tuluk. My character has enemies, friends, acquantainces, drinking buddies, shopping buddies, whatever buddies, connections, spies, criminal links, lawful links, and everything else in between. They just don't happen in Tuluk!

I can't seem to make it work. Maybe it is just not meant to be. :( I dunno what I am doing wrong, I must be lacking something essentially Tuluki. I will go read the doc for the 100th time...

How big of a goal do you have for your character, whether or not you think s/he can accomplish it, and how will you go about accomplishing it? (rhetorical question) That usually helps to get into the larger plots, if not start them.

A genuine question though. What are the deep seeded plots you are thinking about? If it's the overturning of Houses or destroying secret cults, those would naturally take quite a time. Slandering Nobles and their partisans can be done in a couple days, (again, depends on the players and their times IG). I think it would be easier to answer your question if the expectations you had were clear. And most likely, from the sounds of it, it's just that there's a lack of dedicated players in Tuluk to develop your network of relationships there.
* Naja Salaheem: Forever! Always! Until death! You mercenaries are my pawns.

I only take issue with the part at the very bottom.

There is not a lack of dedicated Tuluki characters around in my opinion. I can think of no less than 16 active players who have had their characters around for more than a couple months IRL, and are on at least every other day as far as I've been able to see. And a good chunk of those people are folks in positions of power/influence within the city, so I think that the chance for good interaction is deffienently there.
Quote from: Marauder Moe
Oh my god he's still rocking the sandwich.

There is not a lack of dedicated Tuluki players.

Make your own plots. Create the conflict you want to see. Tell that half-elf his mother was a whore, and his father was an elf. Tell that unafilliated commoner you think her titties look nice, and you would like to fondle them in broad daylight. Tell Clint he jipped you on your glass of wine, and owes you another one. Interact with vNPC family members. Interact with PC family members.

Don't sit at a table by yourself.

Don't be afraid of approaching people, unless you have reason to, or it is a character flaw that you are a reject of society (Have fun!)

To get ahead in life, in Tuluk: blame everyone else for your own faults, and claim all of the reward for their hard work.
"You will have useful work: the destruction of evil men. What work could be more useful? This is Beyond; you will find that your work is never done -- So therefore you may never know a life of peace."

~Jack Vance~

January 13, 2009, 01:10:47 AM #96 Last Edit: January 13, 2009, 01:14:08 AM by Melody
Quote from: Reiloth on January 13, 2009, 12:17:41 AM
More staff

Edit : What's the point. Never mind.
Don't piss me off. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies.

Quote from: Reiloth on January 13, 2009, 12:17:41 AM
To get ahead in life, in Tuluk: blame everyone else for your own faults, and claim all of the reward for their hard work.

I try! Really I do! But everyone else claims the rewards first!

I want them dead, but I can't afford it. Its hard to get a bounty on Muk Utep. For some reason, Tek just doesn't need 'sid I guess.
Quote from: IAmJacksOpinion on May 20, 2013, 11:16:52 PM
Masks are the Armageddon equivalent of Ed Hardy shirts.

Quote from: Clearsighted on December 22, 2008, 09:26:54 PM
Quote from: FantasyWriter on December 22, 2008, 01:15:43 PM
Quote from: My 2 sids on December 22, 2008, 10:55:58 AM
Cool Stuffz!
Stuffz!
More Stuffz!

I went through four in one day. Was amazing how quickly I kept getting approved. I got one them approved before I could log into my mail after sending it in.
Was a rather sad day... Just kept getting some lame crap happen.
"Don't take life too seriously, nobody ever makes it out alive anyway."

Bulllllllllshit.  You suicided.

I'd have to try my hardest to die even twice in one day, and I normally play like a god damned masochist on heroin.