Commoner Family Member Sought: Allanaki Human

[jriley]

Note:  Yay!  Finally got approval!  Please disregard below posts! 

OK Guys!  I have received permission to recruit on the GDB for a PC Allanaki Human family.

Two spots left!  PM me for details if interested.

I'll probably hold off on my application for about 72 hours following timestamp of this post.

I will accept only people who are confirmed AWESOME!  Awesome people only.  Awesome people are especially encouraged to apply.  Laid-back, fun chill players only.

[Niamh]

You need to make sure to contact staff about this before you put up an announcement to recruit, as per the guidelines posted here:

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,36773.0.html

Otherwise you risk everyone involved's PC (including yours) being stored.

[jriley]

Wow, didn't know, sorry.  This is considerably more complex than the last time that I've attempted something like this.

[jriley]

Oops, sorry that this wasn't clear but I won't be able to play a commoner family member.  I just can't keep up with the paper work, sorry.

[brytta.leofa]

My initial reaction was the same.  The Family Guidelines post needs to be restructured a little bit; it kind of overwhelms people. 

It's not actually a huge deal to comply.  You just have to tell staff what you plan to do and, once you get players, who's going to play what.

[jriley]

My initial reaction was the same.  The Family Guidelines post needs to be restructured a little bit; it kind of overwhelms people. 

It's not actually a huge deal to comply.  You just have to tell staff what you plan to do and, once you get players, who's going to play what.

Maybe you could help me a bit?  Here is the problem I run into:

With noobs
Trying to start a game family with noobs is fun.  There are a lot of noobs.  They are very enthusiastic, and they often take direction well.  But the problem is that they don't last long.  If I have a PC commoner family member who is being played by someone with one year of game experience or less, then statistically I bump into them once in game. 

With veterans
Veterans on the surface are oh so much more rewarding, but obtrusively difficult to get your hands on.  First of all, most of the veteran players have trouble getting excited about the average game role.  They've done it before.  I end up being less of a friend to them than a life coach. "Hey you're a beautiful person, and you're doing a terrific job playing Amos the mercenary.  You really bring life to the role."  Heh.  It gets draining.  But actually starting with them is tough.  Okay, for the sake of argument, let's say that a veteran player's character lasts four real life months on average.  That's probably about right for me, anyways.  That means that when two veteran players want to play arm together, one of them has to wait approximately two real life months for the other guy to finish his character. 

What if more than two people are involved in the family?  I'm no ace with statistics, but I would guess that for every other veteran player that you're adding, it adds about a month to the wait time.  So for a family with five PCs in it, that's a five month wait to get everybody on board. 

That's assuming that I can get staff approval for the family.

That's also assuming that I'm still interested in the original concept after waiting for five months.

That's also assuming that every one who needs to retire a PC in order to participate in this is allowed by the staff to do so.

That's also assuming that I'm not right in the middle of a really awesome role that I just can't give up by the end of the five month wait.

That's assuming that real life hasn't taken over. 

That's assuming that none of the other players have quit or been banned during the five months.

To me, it seems a daunting task, but you say it's achievable. 

What am I doing wrong?  I'd love to make something like this work.  And I don't mind waiting for a real-life week for the paperwork to line up.  But my attention span is too short to wait for more than that. 

It's why I can't, as an adult, participate in table-top role-playing games any more.  It requires a lot of effort to set up, but then you're lucky to get more than one or two sessions squeezed in before somebody gets married or moves to Baltimore.  It's far too difficult to get five busy adults into a room at the same time.

That's why I Arm in the first place.  Arm represents instant gratification.  Arm represents continual uptime. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Talia]

You do not have to recruit all the players for your family before you put the request through about it. You don't have to recruit any players for your family; it can just be you, to start with.

There is a four family member PC maximum for any family group. This means four PCs total, ever, not just four alive at one time...If you take up a family role, you must include mention of your PC family members in your background, as family. We understand that sometimes new family comes on board after you have already applied, but include all those you know about at the time of application.

Emphasis added.

The process basically is: Put the concept in through the request tool, get the OK, THEN recruit for your family, THEN update staff and keep in touch about what is happening. If you and another player(s) already want to play family at the time you submit the request, make sure to note that, of course.

[spawnloser]

jriley, remember that not all family members need to enter the game at the same time.  I think that's the biggest thing you need to think on to reduce your frustration with this idea.

[brytta.leofa]

What we want to see specifically is, before ANY character starts play, a highly defined family with no more than four members total.  By highly defined, we want detailed histories, goals, backgrounds, things like that.

The way I understand it is, you first must ask for permission to make a family, detailing the members (or being somewhat vague, if you want to be surprised).  After you gain permission, you can begin advertising for the roles.  After finding players for the roles, let us know who they will be.  We will give another final approval, and you all can trickle in.

I'm kind of starting to get more confused again.  And I feel like I've already been enough of a thorn in staff's side about this.

[Talia]

Quoting again from those in auth-o-ri-teeeeee:

Please note that if you intend to have pc family members show up for your character at some point this should be mentioned before you create the character, not something decided on after months of play.

I interpret "show up for your character at some point" as meaning after you start playing. You have to decide it before you start playing, but it's OK for it to happen after you start playing.

[jriley]

I interpret "show up for your character at some point" as meaning after you start playing. You have to decide it before you start playing, but it's OK for it to happen after you start playing.

Thanks Talia.  This does help. 

I feel like I'm going to have a lot more questions.  I'll stay on top of this.  I have every expectation that a year from now I'll be perfectly happy in a PC Commoner family role somewhere.  Brytta and I are a bit lost on some of the details, but much like filling out the 40EZ* form once you're through it a couple of times it makes total sense.

[Aaron Goulet]

I'm not sure if I would be classified as a veteran, but I'm always down for commoner roles (if I find the concept interesting).  If you reconsider, let me know.

[jriley]

Note:  Yay!  Finally got approval!  Please disregard above posts!

OK Guys!  I have received permission to recruit on the GDB for a PC Allanaki Human family.

Two spots left!  PM me for details if interested.

I'll probably hold off on my application for about 72 hours following timestamp of this post.

I will accept only people who are confirmed AWESOME!  Awesome people only.  Awesome people are especially encouraged to apply.  Laid-back, fun chill players only.

*BUMP*

[Malifaxis]

I'd jump for the chance to play with you if I didn't have a role I loved.

Good luck!

[jriley]

I'd jump for the chance to play with you if I didn't have a role I loved.

Good luck!

Thank you.