Creating Families

[Sanvean]

I want to provide some Do's and Don'ts that may be of useful to people who are setting up IC families.

Do: Clear things with the staff beforehand. It's a simple courtesy to drop us a note about it, along the lines of "I'm recruiting for a couple of people to play in a concept of three cousins who've moved to Allanak" or "I'm recruiting for someone to play the niece mentioned in my background." Most people do this, and I greatly appreciate it.

Don't: Get too grandiose. Creating a family that goes back 20 generations is one thing; creating a family that saved Muk Utep's life and hence is adulated by the Northern templerate is another. Don't invent the equivalent of a noble role.

Do: Document things thoroughly and clearly. Create a family tree, and flesh it out with suitably Zalanthan names and stories. If your family has traditions, define them - don't just say they have "lots". Run your docs through a spellchecker or have them proofread before sending it into the account - if you don't take your clan seriously enough to give the docs that attention, why should we?

Don't: Assume that every member of your family is an Ubermensch. Every family has its failures, its freaks, and its black sheep, and they can be the most interesting part of it sometimes. Perhaps your family believes they are a superior race - that's fine, but it doesn't mean that's true.

Do: Keep existing documentation in mind. Your family should not be the equivalent of kank-riding elves or magick-tolerant Tulukis. The documentation is there and isn't something you can overlook because it doesn't quite fit your concept.

Don't: Get too carried away with OOC coordination. It's not something I'm real fond of, and it leads to problems. Don't use the clan as an excuse to share information about your character and its circumstances outside the game.

[creeper386]

I'd just like to say all those points can also pretty well work when creating any sort pre-arranged group(With a few words changed here and there).


Creeper who thinks it's a good Do's and Don'ts list.

[Stroker]

I think Creeper thinks too much, he should be more impulsive.

[__Torax__]

I've been pondering this for...oh about 5 minutes...But is it a Do; To have like almost 15 people in the family and whenever one dies, recruit another person and call them your cousin or something?

[Ueda]

_Torax_ Wrote : I've been pondering this for...oh about 5 minutes...But is it a Do; To have like almost 15 people in the family and whenever one dies, recruit another person and call them your cousin or something?

I think the part about the 15 people would be ok, but they would have to have a reason for having so many children, but and excuse is the easy part.
ex. They want there kids to work for them. Greedy bitchs.

If you had a cousin BEFORE it would be perfectly legit, but if you just wanna have them cause you need lots a people in your family that really bad RP, and thats what it sounds like to me.

power is not  to be abused

[Dan]

I think that would be a Don't.

She said you should make a family tree, and if one dies, they die. You would have to have someone fill another pre-defined and laid out family member position. Not a new and made up one. Marriages and such help to keep a family alive IMO, moreso offspring rather than marriage.

[Sanvean]

I've been pondering this for...oh about 5 minutes...But is it a Do; To have like almost 15 people in the family and whenever one dies, recruit another person and call them your cousin or something?

A lot depends on the concept here, but I'd have some questions under these circumstances regarding whether this is actually for RP purposes or whether it's an attempt to coordinate play in a clan-type way. If this is simply a substitution for a clan, it starts to get a little dubious - because families are held to different standards than an unofficial clan would be (imo). To me, family roles should be about a family, not an entire bloodline.

[Forest Junkie]

Any thoughts about making your do's and don'ts into an actual helpfile as part of the documentation of the game that could be accessed to help us in the future? I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated.

[Sanvean]

Yeah, I'm going to make them into a doc on the website, rather than a helpfile.

[Forest Junkie]

Thanks Sanvean. =P

[Sanvean]

Added this

http://www.armageddon.org/ic/clans/

[eyasu mulatu]

family is important because it alows people to have people in there lives that actually care for them.