What really is the point of played a gemmed these days?

[Salt Merchant]

What really is the point of played a gemmed these days?

Some people like to say part of the reason that it's a restricted role is precisely because of the baggage carried.

What I'm asking is, with the baggage, why does anyone play them at all? If it's being a social pariah one is after, it's just as easy to create a half-elf or elf. The opportunities to use magick to real purpose aren't all that plentiful.

The only reason I can think of is to satisfy their curiousity about the magick system, which is a transient goal.

Why pick an elementalist class and have him/her gemmed, instead of playing a mundane? Maybe some could share their success stories concerning the gem here.

[jstorrie]

Because it's easier to win.

[Gimfalisette]

I've played around gemmed mages much more than I've played gemmed mages, but I think I've seen enough over my 3 years playing in Allanak that I can give some perspective of the role of the gemmed mage and how it can possibly be played.

In short: The point of playing a gemmed mage is anything you want it to be. While a gemmer has the same restrictions as other commoners (you're never going to become a noble), and some that other commoners don't (you probably can't get a job as an aide), other than those things the role is wide-open for interpretation.

Gemmed mage types I've seen:

-- Patriotic mages who live for HIS SHADOW and would do anything for the templarate
-- Bloodthirsty battle mages
-- Politically-savvy mages who know how to work the system
-- Politically unsavvy mages who are nevertheless used to political ends
-- Employed mages who are highly valued by their bosses
-- Grebber mages who act and live like Bynners, and never aspire to more
-- Mages who have friendly relationships with mundanes
-- Mages who are hated by everyone, including all the other mages
-- Spy mages
-- Crafter mages
-- Assassin mages
-- Gritty mages
-- Silky mages
-- Mages who start plots
-- Mages who participate in plots
-- Mages who participate in world-changing plots
-- Mages who don't participate in anything but romances
-- Mages who learn whatever there is to know about magick
-- Mages who don't study magick at all

The role is really what the player makes of it. Gemmed mages can be as involved in plots in Allanak as they want to be; and for the most part, they are uninvolved because they choose to be, or don't know how to get involved. (That is a common thing with all PCs, not just gemmed; most players aren't very good at creating action or getting involved in it.)

[EldritchOrigins]

I don't play many gemmed, but I'd say that when I do, it is for the varriety.

I agree with you on the point that making a first magicker as a gemmer is a great way to learn the mechanics of the guild in sheltered enviroment.  Allanak is also the only city where elementalists can be citizens and live a somewhat normal life, with regular job and a house and a family.  They don't have to live in fear that someone will discover their secret.  They don't have to live in secrecy.

To me, the baggage is part of the role.  Every role has baggage (at least I think they should).  It is like the self-conciousness that comes with playing a half-elf, the search for purpose that comes with a mul.  A dwarven focus.  The only difference is that instead of originating from the player, the baggage is provided by the surrounding world.  The only difference is that the player is in control of the others.

Dealing with the social ostracism of being a gemmed is just part of the deal.  In exchange for god like powers and a protected community to live that makes avaiable the basic needs of life, having people hate you isn't a bad trade off.

[jhunter]

I don't typically prefer gemmed to ungemmed mages. I have found myself in the situation where my ungemmed mage wasn't powerful enough to survive on their own, had no shelter and was in danger of death for being what they were after having been discovered. They ended up having to suck it up and take the gem to stay alive. I prefer it this way actually. I no longer create gemmed mages out of the box. I think it's much more fun to try and survive (with everyone else in the world wanting you dead if they get a safe chance) and only taking on the gem if necessary to their survival.

Our magick system is one of the best I've ever experienced and I think it's alot of fun to play with.

The other reason I play mages in particular is because interaction is rather low and if I don't have alot of time to devote to this game, it allows me to play a pc where not being so involved in things fits true to the character. If I had alot more time to play Arm, I'd likely go back to city-based mundanes so I could have more interaction. As someone stated elsewhere, mages are perfect for players that do not have alot of time to play the game since you aren't going to be in the thick of things generally anyway.

[janeshephard]

It's not a transient role. There are gemmers doing things. I knew one who was off in their own little world, adventuring and impacting things far from Allanak.

The gem isn't a slave collar. You can wear you gem and go anywhere. You'll likely get a lot more hate for being so open but other than that it's not a transient role at all.

[spawnloser]

Because it's easier to win.

This is, honestly, about the most unhelpful response you could have given.  Not only that, it points a very ugly finger at anyone that plays a mage.  Shame on you.

[X-D]

I won't play any more gemmed mages, I can say that.

I prefer ten years ago and beyond when gemmed were actually able to get jobs, When people actually played to the docs at the time. A viv could work for most any house in the south, Sure, if you played one you were mostly just the in house water vender, but it was something. Tor used to take on Krathi and Elkros...sometimes a ruk as battle mages. Sure, if you were gemmed you were still feared and hated, but at least you had a place in sociaty. Today you do not. I know many of the changes came about IG, but that does not make me like them or agree with them, these changes have made it so that mage players actually, for the most part prefer to go ungemmed or as some have stated above, consider gemmed as the newb mage training school. Which is just too bad.

[Ampere]

Because it's easier to win.

This is, honestly, about the most unhelpful response you could have given.  Not only that, it points a very ugly finger at anyone that plays a mage.  Shame on you.

No, it was a satirical response to an obvious troll.  Jstorrie: kudos.

PS. I actually prefer psi/magick to the mundane.  If I wanted to be a soldier, I would join the army.  If I wanted to be a thief, I would steal. I would be hardpressed to summon a demon however. That isn't to say I don't enjoy those roles, just that I prefer magick.

[spawnloser]

I'm not saying it is or that it isn't satirical, but just the fact that he said it may get some newbies thinking that it is true, since he didn't elaborate/explain besides making a trollish comment on his own.  Again, jstorrie, shame on you.

I agree, overall, with X-D, though I think there it isn't all IG changes that changed things.

[mansa]

You can replace gemmers with _anything_, be that nobles, bynners, elves.

Basically, there's no point to play anything if you don't value your time and energy inside it.

You got to find your own fun.

[Niamh]

You can replace gemmers with _anything_, be that nobles, bynners, elves.

Basically, there's no point to play anything if you don't value your time and energy inside it.

You got to find your own fun.

I can't express enough how true this is.  If you sit around waiting for things to happen to you, or you expect other people to make things happen, you're going to be disappointed and unhappy with a role.

[Medena]

What really is the point of played a gemmed these days?
...
What I'm asking is, with the baggage, why does anyone play them at all? ...

My top reasons for playing a gemmed:

1)  I like playing in cities.
2)  I like political roleplay. It's interesting enough to me that just being around it is fun even if I am not exactly a part of it.
3)  I like the strictly defined, brutally hierarchical nature of 'naki society.
4)  I like how I get all of the above -and- get to explore the magick system and roleplaying a mage.

[Jenred]

I have never had my playing of a gemmed character be defined for me.
Other than that I had a gem.

All rules can be bent.
All existing mindsets can (and will) change.
Positions of authority rotate.
What is happening today is not true of tomorrow.

If you don't enjoy the role don't play it.
But don't try to make it seem like an unjustifiable and asinine thing for other people to play, and enjoy, just because you don't understand "the poiint of doing it".

Mansa did hit it best. If someone posted "What's the point of playing a clanned warrior these days?" the post would be locked or deleted or moderated. Because just the title implies a feeling of incredulousness with other people's play choices derived out of personal ignorance.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Some reasons pcs of mine have gotten gemmed:
1. A place for said pc to sleep/store things.
2. A misinformed attempt to 'help' (too recent to expound).
3. A place to learn from other more experienced mages.
4. Loss of family/forced to take it to survive.
5. Paranoia.

Reasons I've played Gemmed:

1. First time playing a guild.
2. Special application.
3. Desire to join House Oash.
4. Place for my pc to sleep/store things.
5. Ability to learn my way around the basics of a guild in relative safety/ease.

I sure wish I'd been able to see this golden age of gemmed or whatnot.

I'm somewhat torn on the gemmed vs ungemmed part. Gemmed have a place in society. It's not, apparently, what it once was, but they do indeed have it. Playing a gemmed mage can be a wonderful, fun, awesome role, but it's not for everyone, of course. Sometimes it's difficult for me, myself, to do, since I enjoy playing social roles so much. But at the same time, mages in general are difficult in that manner. I think more than just with skills, but with the niche limitations of each guild taken into account, you should ask yourself 'what' you want to play before creating a character. There's a reason you don't "generally" play ninja spies with a warrior or a merchant. Sure you can kill efficiently with a warrior/gather information with a merchant, but beyond that, each guild does have its own distinct niche. "I want to play someone powerful with a strong drive for advancing socially"... completely ignores any particular skills, but it would of course be ridiculously difficult/near impossible with a gemmed where it would be entirely possible with others, just like playing your master artisan  who's anything other than a merchant's going to be the same way. I don't know, I'm rambling. But there are really a lot of factors with any role that need to be taken into account. Playstyle, playtimes, the limitations your niche role has, your pcs aspirations, and so on and so forth. I think a better question would be to ask: "What's the point of playing anything these days?". The answer is, the point is what you make it. Really. The role is just as boring or fun as you make it. And while I think it's wonderful that so many players dedicate so much time to making leader pcs who give out tasks and keep people entertained and so on and so forth, I think it's a bit sad that someone deemed as being trustworthy/knowledgeable enough to make their own fun by staff can't find 'something' to do in a role where the world has a predefined reaction to you (vaguely). Lately, I've actually had to kind of force myself to play mundanes because I've been on a magicker kick. I really and truly enjoy the magick of the game. Not so much the coded part, I've barely once managed to branch anything on any magicker, even 10-12 d played ones. More the different things it adds to your possibilities for roleplay.

[Akaramu]

For me, the point always was that I am so severely off peak that it doesn't matter if I play a gemmed or a mundane - I struggle for interaction either way. There's not all that much difference between sitting in a temple for hours, and sitting in an empty tavern. Some of my gemmed actually had more interaction than some of my mundanes. At least with a magicker character I feel I can progress a little without needing to rely on other PCs to log in during my weird hours.

Of course, when I see my IC friends once a real life week, skill progress doesn't help in cheering me up all that much, either.

[Salt Merchant]

<bunch of misassumptions and rude accusations deleted>

If you read my post, I was asking other people for their experiences and what they found in the role. Not making a statement.

Also, I suppose I should point out that being gemmed is generally a voluntary state within the game, made by choice. Not an actual character class.

I think it's a bit sad that someone deemed as being trustworthy/knowledgeable enough to make their own fun by staff can't find 'something' to do in a role where the world has a predefined reaction to you (vaguely).

I guess people are determined to make this about me. 

[AmandaGreathouse]

I think it's a bit sad that someone deemed as being trustworthy/knowledgeable enough to make their own fun by staff can't find 'something' to do in a role where the world has a predefined reaction to you (vaguely).

I guess people are determined to make this about me.  

I didn't mean this about you, as in singling you out. I meant this in a generalized way. I've almost never been bored with a gemmed unless I was in a circumstance when they were trapped in their temple and couldn't find anyone's mind and had, literally, nothing else to do but wait.

Edit to add:

While you may feel that I was applying it to only/directly you, I wasn't. I've been doing my best not to make pointless/overtly negative posts, and I'm doing my best to continue in that vein. If you did feel singled out, it wasn't my intent.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

You can replace gemmers with _anything_, be that nobles, bynners, elves.

Basically, there's no point to play anything if you don't value your time and energy inside it.

You got to find your own fun.

This is the correct answer.

Gemmed vs un-gemmed is just another decision that shapes your character's story.

No offense, but think about what you asked OP. I don't mean to insinuate, but the question, to me, sounds like: "How are you gonna wyn wearing that thing??"

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Also, I agree with X-D. I wish it was a little more like the docs.

[Salt Merchant]

How do you define winning anyhow? Do you win after killing x characters? By amassing a certain number of coins? By becoming famous enough that people still discuss your character years later on the GDB?

For me, it's about finding some fun in the game. As a explorer/achiever sort, I've enjoyed making discoveries about the magick system. And visiting parts of the world to find that, after ten years RL, there have been significant changes and new things to discover. (One of my early characters actually made maps of nearly entire the Known World and had them bound into a book, which promptly became contradictory after reading and writing were made into skills possessed only by a few, but I digress).

I've launched plots at various times, but (1) that can be done with any sort of character, (2) people are a very frustrating, inconsistent and unreliable medium to try to work with anyhow, and (3) the world is almost impossible to budge these days. Concerning the last point, I found some sad irony in the fact that the one thing someone did manage to get built in Allanak in recent memory promptly was destroyed.

I've played a wide range of mundanes over the years and mostly they've lost their interest for me. Magickers still hold a strange fascination, although I wish that the system was more elaborate. Nevertheless, I'm at the point of letting go and leaving the game. Posts like this one are just attempts to find some new interest and reason to stay.

So maybe, in a sense, this was about me after all.

[Malken]

Eh, I find that playing a gemmer is far from being a restricted role, in fact, I think one of the few restrictions is that you can't really travel to Tuluk.. Otherwise? I'm not sure there's many restrictions....

A long living gemmer will have more friends/lovers than many mundane characters..

Gemmers have a tendency to be able to get wealthy, quickly.

Gemmers can travel pretty much anywhere they want to and that they are allowed to. (And most of the time, they are allowed to travel anywhere.. I have yet to meet a Templar or an Oashi noble who told me not to go somewhere.. They usually trust your common sense..)

I have seen gemmers in Luir's and gemmers in Red Storm..

Hmm, what else... I can't really think of many restrictions.. You can't go up socially, but I think we all know that. You can go up socially depending on who hire you, and usually that clan is always one of the most active clan around, so you can be socially hire than a bunch of other gemmers, I guess.

Another perk is that one of the House that actually hires gemmers is always full of great roleplayers.

[Jdr]

I have only ever played one Gemmer, and I chose to take the Gem for IC background reasons.

OOCly, though, the gem is a GREAT crutch for your 'first time' with magick.

[Saellyn]

Making heads explode is always a good reason to play a Gemmed, provided Mister Fancypants says you're allowed to. Of course, you can explode NPC heads. As long as they're raiders. And not inside the city. And don't happen to be PAYNG Mister Fancypants.

[Boggis]

When it comes to magickers I usually play gemmers as:

1. I'll easily find other magickers around to interact with. Suits me especially being an off-peaker.
2. I can get a job if I want with Oash or the Templarate.
3. It gives me a somewhat defined structure that keeps me on the straight and narrow. I do better when I have boundaries in place to help me keep playing my character more realistically. When I have the option to go anywhere and do anything I tend to do that and it seldom ends well. It's probably no coincidence that my gemmed roles are usually my most long-lived ones though this probably ties in with #1 as relationships can help to stave off the moments of lunacy that kill many a character.

[evil_erdlu]

Why play gemmed?

- You have a place to store your stuff. You can actually start several simultaneous hobbies that require a safe storage place like crafting, cooking actually using utensils, personal care - bucket+scrap of cloth+soap or razor+mirror+soap+brush+beard or scissors+haircuts - and games.
- You have a place to safely 'cast'. To tell the truth, I had played an ungemmed in Red Storm and I was worried. Second story windows should be easily seen from the road when that road is wide enough to allow wagons' passage. With some characters you'd like to dedicate your time to other stuff and practise quickly when you feel like that, without fear.
- Templerate is capable of several plots. It feels good to be actually able to tell a templar "I can preserve food, cool down your water, shoot down ocular lasers and polymorph into a cockroach for spying, Lord Templar." and get used in plots for those abilities.
- You can actually be in the Reich mentality, doing your best for the templerate. You can be a horrendeously patriotic person and my personal opinion is that that kind of brainwashing should be common in Magicker's Quarters if you were gemmed when you were a child.
- There are a lot of invisible spell effects that protect the caster, also there are a lot of save-or-die or save-or-suck spells. With the dull black dangling about your throat, you're telling the world "I may and may not know the spell 'petrify'. There may be a 'shield of fart' rendering my body immune to mundane weapons with your skill. You feel lucky, punk?!"
- Sometimes gritty's good. Last time I played a gemmer, the mundane population consisted of very good players whom offered me the feeling "we may smile at your face but we hate you". It is sometimes nice to have 'hate' as a starting point for character development.
- I have no IG evidence but logic dictates ungemmed mages should end up serving someone in the end, sooner or later, if they don't die before. Why not get quick with the 'adopting a master' phase and start licking some templar boots?

Note: I don't know if those spell I described above actually exist. I just made them up. Don't be hopeful for the 'ocular laser' spell just because I typed it above and I seem to be a guy that plays a lot of mages.