Labyrinth / Militia influences and the Ripper Street series

[Bushranger]

The Labyrinth has always appeared to be painted with strong Victorian influences: Dirty, twisted alleys. Overcrowded, hungry paupers. Brutal, vicious killers. Kinky, lecherous perverts. Sneaky, thieving orphans. Conniving, crafty Fagins and kidsmen.
The militia also has similarities to the Victorian police. A harsh and uncompromising mob most of whom use their truncheons and billy clubs to preserve order at the expense of true justice. Criminals are punished instead of reformed and a confession is best obtained at the expense of a few broken bones and a couple of lost teeth.

Ripper Street (BBC One/BBC America) has all of these things and is what has me exploring these facets in Armageddon MUD now. I've watched the first two episodes and they have shown all of the above in wonderful, gory detail! Set in the Whitechapel slums of London, in the aftermath of Jack the Ripper's killing spree, it is a Victorian police procedural. It makes me want to write up a character concept or four exploring both sides of the criminal scene in Allanak but I've only ever played a few 'flavour' characters in the 'rinth and never one in the militia. Do those who favour these types (criminal or lawman) also think there are Victorian influences? How do you approach these concepts when you're fleshing them out?

Cheers,
Bushranger.

[spicemustflow]

I'm a big Dickens fan and, yeah, some NPCs and locations in the Rinth scream slums of London. If they don't remind of something even more sinister, that is. The way many PCs talk also confirms that it's a common influence.

A long time ago I played a whore who was killed by a rinthi Jack the Ripper. Awesome. My most successful character up to date.

[Scarecrow]

The mangy, lean, ratty-haired fagin says to you, in rinthi-accented sirihish:
"Wanna pick a pocket or two?"

The many, lean, ratty-haired fagin says, OOC:
Trolololol, gonna spam steal on you now kk?

[catchall]

Gangs of New York also screams rinth.

[Fathi]

Gangs of New York also screams rinth.

Yep, this.

[Delirium]

I call Bill the Butcher. Yoink.

[spicemustflow]

The one flaw of the rinth is that it makes the commoner's quarter od Allanak look decent in comparison.

[Is Friday]

Man I would love to specapp The Butcher.

[FantasyWriter]

This sieries sounds awesome. I'll have to check it out.

[HavokBlue]

The one flaw of the rinth is that it makes the commoner's quarter od Allanak look decent in comparison.

The only flaw of the Rinth is that very few people ever respect important parts of it's documentation.

[James de Monet]

A long time ago I played a whore who was killed by a rinthi Jack the Ripper. Awesome. My most successful character up to date.

Define successful in this context. I'm guessing s/he didn't feel successful getting whacked.

[Armaddict]

The one flaw of the rinth is that it makes the commoner's quarter od Allanak look decent in comparison.

The only flaw of the Rinth is that very few people ever respect important parts of it's documentation.

Such as?  If you're going to gripe about that in particular, reference the documentation.  Documented, it's shareable information, and you can get whatever's there off your chest.

[HavokBlue]

The one flaw of the rinth is that it makes the commoner's quarter od Allanak look decent in comparison.

The only flaw of the Rinth is that very few people ever respect important parts of it's documentation.

Such as?  If you're going to gripe about that in particular, reference the documentation.  Documented, it's shareable information, and you can get whatever's there off your chest.

Disclaimer: I've played more characters in the Rinth than anywhere else, but your experiences may vary from mine.


I don't want to say too much about actual Rinthi politics that folks would rather work out IC or delve into player-complaint territory but:

Rinth documentation says while westsiders and eastsiders aren't big fans of each other, they'd be more likely to trust each other than a Southsider, right? Maybe I just play in the Rinth at bad times, but my general experience in the Rinth consists of full-on warfare between east and westsiders with both sides vying for southside allies to kill the other side.

Rinth documentation says that Rinthers are generally ignorant of the world beyond the alleys. I can't get super mad at other people for ignoring this because I'm guilty of it to an extent myself, and it's something I need to improve on next time I play an alley rat. That said, my attempts to play an ignorant, superstitious, starving Rinth kid are generally met with IC confusion and ridicule.

Rinth documentation says that starvation and poverty is everywhere. I once apped a family role and got in game with my little family of cannibal kids who ate dead bodies because that was the only way they could survive. In a matter of days, the PC powers-that-be had banded together and told us that they were going to murder us if we didn't stop. How they knew we were cannibals when we hadn't even practiced non-virtual cannibalism in game at that point... I couldn't tell you.

Rinth documentation says that while random violence is commonplace, psychopath mass murderers are probably going to get taken out. Anybody who's played in the Rinth for any decent amount of time has seen the aftermath of a new assassin PC who wants to skill up his Backstab.


As a side note to the OP, militia characters, while perfectly capable in getting involved in Allanak's crime world, should definitely not be heading into the Labyrinth, barring outstanding IC circumstances.



http://www.armageddon.org/intro/rinth.html

[spicemustflow]

A long time ago I played a whore who was killed by a rinthi Jack the Ripper. Awesome. My most successful character up to date.

Define successful in this context. I'm guessing s/he didn't feel successful getting whacked.

She was success in that she had a death very fitting to the setting. A poor breed whore gutted in an abandoned building by a maniac. He closed her story pretty well.

[titansfan]

From my experience in both the Labyrinth and as a Militiaman, I have to say they are the most enjoyable aspects of this game for me. I think it has to do with the very things that Bushranger touched on in his original post. The gritty, dark, corrupt everyday flavors just call to me.

To spicemustflow: That chick was pretty cool, those were some enjoyable days in the Labyrinth. Classic.

[Maso]

The 'rinth is definitely one of my all time favourite parts of the game. I also agree that there are strong reflections of Victorian (and pre Victorian) London in there (especially for me as a Londoner and the London dungeons being my favourite outing as a kid), but I would say it was the influence - only the staffers could say - and more that it has just evolved that way. In regards to how to approach concepts for the 'rinth...I think you can make anything fit so long as you keep in line with the docs and make it realistic for the world, so if you want to take inspiration from something like that show then it would likely work. You definitely can't be squirmish if you want to play there though, and you have to be either super lucky or very tricky to stay alive....but when you do and there's a good little gang of players there - oh my gosh it can be so much fun.

[spicemustflow]

To spicemustflow: That chick was pretty cool, those were some enjoyable days in the Labyrinth. Classic.

cool, glad that somebody remembers . it's happened a bloody long time ago