A thread for discussion of the Refer-a-Friend contest [Gotta recruit 'em all!!!]

[lordcooper]

* A staff-guided, personal tour through a now-unlinked area of game history (areas to be chosen by staff)

Welp, that's definitely the one I'd choose.

Anyway, I know Medivh has three bright eyed sacrifices newbies lined up already and I figured I may as well try to beat him.  RP has always been a bit of a secret passion of mine and most people don't know I'm into it.  Any of you fine people want to share a few tips for bringing the topic up in conversation?

[Cind]

ask them if they enjoy acting for a hobby?

that's my biggest reason for playing anyways.

ask them if they've read or watched the book or movie Dune.

ask them if they've ever played Thy Dungeonman on the homestarrunner website, and then ask them if they'd like to try a deeper rpg version.

[Yam]

"Hey, do you like writing?"

"Hey, do you like action writing?"

[Ktavialt]

"Excuse me, sir, but would you like to see a marked reduction in your social skills?  Would you like to waste hours upon hours on a text internet desert fantasy world instead of being productive?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, then please follow me to Zalanthas."

Could work for any MMORPG as well, of course.

[AreteX]

I've found its hard to explain MUDs to anyone who didn't grow up playing them.  Now, I have many friends who are in the "Xbox" gaming crowd and not PC gamers, thus they aren't very versed in a computer.  They look at me playing any MUD in general, not even Arm and it just boggles their mind I can "read that fast".  I even try to explain its a filter you build up over time when you know certain text from reading it and memorizing the rooms, ect.

Then, with computer gaming friends and people who are really into PC's in general its hard to convince them or make them think that anything text-based only is cool, especially when they're on the side of maxxing out their graphics on games and thats one of the important sides of any new game coming out.

So, as far as recruitment I think I am pretty screwed.  The people who might be into playing a MUD for the roleplay aspect of it all(aka tabletop gamers) don't have the time to even put into our tabletop game, let alone Armageddon.

If I was to broach the subject and attempt to recruit someone though I would definitely explain the game without mentioning its text-based at first.  I would just talk about it and how its very roleplay intense.  Perhaps even share some events/stories I have experienced.

The way I was recruited to Armageddon was at a gaming event gathering and someone who played Arm was talking about one of their past characters.  He told a very intriguing story about that character and it really drew me into the idea of playing.  Thats when I first visited Armageddon.  I played for a while, but it fell off eventually... but I returned later and now I probably won't ever leave, even if I don't play as much as I want too.

So, I think the best advice is to pull people in with the suspense and intrigue of a wonderful story you've experienced.  Don't get too technical, formal, or really explain the details of the game itself... just the backdrop of the environment/world and some truly amazing stories you may have encountered in your past.

Think of it like the back of a book cover.  Just enough to get them into it, but not enough to ruin the suspense.

[lordcooper]

Definitely some good suggestions in there AreteX

I've been playing with a (mostly) pretty great tabletop group lately and it's my turn to DM next.  Maybe setting a tabletop game in Zalanthas would be a good way to get people intrigued.

[Feco]

Definitely some good suggestions in there AreteX

I've been playing with a (mostly) pretty great tabletop group lately and it's my turn to DM next.  Maybe setting a tabletop game in Zalanthas would be a good way to get people intrigued.

My group is starting it's first campaign in Pathfinder, with a pretty basic setting.

My turn to DM is next.  I plan on them rolling Forgotten Realms characters, and then throwing them into Zalanthas by some powerful wizard after only a single level gain.

Should be fun.

Anyway.  I'm off topic.

[Cind]

"Do you like mmorpgs?"

"Would you like to play one where almost no one is a whining wimp and gruesome, horrible, bloody death is everywhere you go?"

[Erythil]

Definitely some good suggestions in there AreteX

I've been playing with a (mostly) pretty great tabletop group lately and it's my turn to DM next.  Maybe setting a tabletop game in Zalanthas would be a good way to get people intrigued.

My group is starting it's first campaign in Pathfinder, with a pretty basic setting.

My turn to DM is next.  I plan on them rolling Forgotten Realms characters, and then throwing them into Zalanthas by some powerful wizard after only a single level gain.

Should be fun.

Anyway.  I'm off topic.

They'd be huge badasses in Athas or Zalanthas with their level-1 FR gear.

[Feco]

Definitely some good suggestions in there AreteX

I've been playing with a (mostly) pretty great tabletop group lately and it's my turn to DM next.  Maybe setting a tabletop game in Zalanthas would be a good way to get people intrigued.

My group is starting it's first campaign in Pathfinder, with a pretty basic setting.

My turn to DM is next.  I plan on them rolling Forgotten Realms characters, and then throwing them into Zalanthas by some powerful wizard after only a single level gain.

Should be fun.

Anyway.  I'm off topic.

They'd be huge badasses in Athas or Zalanthas with their level-1 FR gear.

They'll be able to keep anything they can fit in a chest.

They'll find out real quick an metals they have are gonna make them a target.



On topic, too bad I already got all of my friends to play Arm... guh.

[Talia]

This is still happening! It's a great time to get your friends to play--have them hop into a new PC in Allanak and they'll get to see some sweet gladiator action over the next few weeks.

At the moment, we do have a couple of front-runner players...who are set to win...with 1 referral each It's not too late for anyone to win this thing!

Also, if you have brought friends in and haven't told us about who those new players are, yet, don't forget to drop us a line through the request tool, in a Publicity request, so we can give you credit. I see some new accounts that say "friends" brought them in--but don't state who. Get your credit!

[Yam]

Yesssss I got one.

[Kalai]

Yay, one of my friends agreed to try this (that I hadn't already convinced to play)! And he's an awesome DM too.   Look forward to him showing up and hope he gets ... slightly hooked. Don't steal him entirely.  

*Technique: Mentioned your waving history lore under our noses like a tasty juicy steak prize. As my DM he understands. May not work in normal conversation.

[ShaLeah]

Maybe we should do this on a monthly basis?
(I say that because none of the people I am trying to get on here are biting the bait as quickly as I want them to)

[Talia]

We're going to try it this month and see what kind of results we get, then evaluate whether to do it again, more often, etc.

You might tell your friends about the gladiator games coming up. It's a great event for newbies to participate in.

[Talia]

Also, remember, to get credit for bringing your friend they have to make a character AND play it for 2 hours.

[FantasyWriter]

I wish I had gaming friends.

[Cind]

I wish I had gaming friends.

Me, too. The only one who's remotely interested isn't functionally literate and kept going on about making a constantly twitching elf, who twitched even in his sleep or when dead.

[John]

My turn to DM is next.  I plan on them rolling Forgotten Realms characters, and then throwing them into Zalanthas by some powerful wizard after only a single level gain.

Should be fun.

Anyway.  I'm off topic.

I've done that in 4th ed with characters who were in fact from Forgotten Realms. One of the PCs was a halfling. They teleported to Allanak. Everyone ran around screaming about the halfling and how they were all going to die until the militia came along.

They'd be huge badasses in Athas or Zalanthas with their level-1 FR gear.

Until the friendly neighbourhood templar comes along and relieves them of their ill-gotten gains and brings them in for questioning as to where they got stole these metal weapons from. (My PCs were fortunately level 10 and so were actually bad-asses without their weapons. They were secured in the Templar's Quarter, sectioned off from the rest of Allanak society where they amazed the templars by conjuring forth kank honey years after the last kank had died. They were given as many pleasure slaves as they could want for a couple of weeks until a highly ranked Red Robe at the behest of a Black Robe came along and told them to go explore some recently discovered ruins to Steinal, leaving in the middle of the night without anyone else spotting them).

I've tried recruiting my friends.. thus far to no avail. I'll give one of them another crack.

[ShaLeah]

I keep sharing Arm stuff on my facebook page. Someone's gotta bite, right?

[Kronibas]

If this was retroactive and based on play time, I would totally win by having introduced Sephiroto and Fantasy Writer.

[Potaje]

My turn to DM is next.  I plan on them rolling Forgotten Realms characters, and then throwing them into Zalanthas by some powerful wizard after only a single level gain.

Should be fun.

Anyway.  I'm off topic.

I've done that in 4th ed with characters who were in fact from Forgotten Realms. One of the PCs was a halfling. They teleported to Allanak. Everyone ran around screaming about the halfling and how they were all going to die until the militia came along.

They'd be huge badasses in Athas or Zalanthas with their level-1 FR gear.

Until the friendly neighbourhood templar comes along and relieves them of their ill-gotten gains and brings them in for questioning as to where they got stole these metal weapons from. (My PCs were fortunately level 10 and so were actually bad-asses without their weapons. They were secured in the Templar's Quarter, sectioned off from the rest of Allanak society where they amazed the templars by conjuring forth kank honey years after the last kank had died. They were given as many pleasure slaves as they could want for a couple of weeks until a highly ranked Red Robe at the behest of a Black Robe came along and told them to go explore some recently discovered ruins to Steinal, leaving in the middle of the night without anyone else spotting them).

I've tried recruiting my friends.. thus far to no avail. I'll give one of them another crack.

Doesn't sound much like the allanak I know, did they get gem slaved at least?

[John]

Doesn't sound much like the allanak I know, did they get gem slaved at least?

They were sufficiently high level to defeat blue robes and managed to talk their way through the fight. So no.

[jstorrie]

You are too merciful!

[Down Under]

Yeah the players in my Dark Sun campaign nearly die every encounter, and break weapons usually every other.