A Central Meeting/Socialing Tent?

[Saiseiki]

I wish I had 'quoted' one of Shabago's replies which I cannot find now, but essentially the salient point is that they had briefly floated the idea of a centralized tent/pavilion in a high-traffic area that could be used as a social center.  I know for me, as a still relatively-new player, it's difficult sometimes to judge what is and isn't appropriate socially in terms of different social classes interacting.  As far as I'm able to tell, Red's Retreat is really the only place at which all walks of life can "appropriately" rub elbows. 

Having some king of pavilion like during the Blood Market that was known as a place where various groups can congregate would be encouraging to me.  It would have to be reasonably safe, or it just becomes another spot to avoid; thus placing it in a high-traffic area.  If it was close to the Gaj and/or Red's, to where you could make that circuit fairly easily, I doubt it would leech off too many folks who would otherwise be sitting at the bars.

Anyhow, I thought it was an interesting idea, thematic, and something that already exists codedly.  I'd use the heck out of it.  =)

Edit to add:  Making it a quit room and placing a rumor board in there would also make it more attractive as a hang-out spot.

[Brytta Léofa]

How is this specifically different from a bar?

Personally I don't think you can make anywhere where nobles hang out, including the Red's Retreat, to be safe/fun for the lower 1/3 of PCs by social standing. Anything in Luir's or during a special festival is gonna be a little more tolerant, but I don't think you can recreate that environment in general. Nobles and low-ranking commoners don't usually have any mutually-beneficial reason to interact.

[Kyviantre]

Getting rinthis, commoners, high-society commoners, GMH family, Nobility and Templars in one area?  Won't happen.  Because the rinthis will want to steal everything and not get slapped for just...loitering.  And as a regular-joe commoner, why would I -want- to be near a bunch of dumb Nobility/Templars who might abruptly decide that I'm looking at them funny when gazing into space (or haven't bowed enough - which can be disruptive when you're trying to RP as part of a crowd!), and who will then promptly have me executed?

Red's is the closest you might get, but that is generally for the mid-society commoners and up.  While the Gaj is for GMH family and down.  And the arboretum is for higher-society commoners and up again.  And the Folley/Mantis are for scummy rinthis and anyone dumb/brave enough to visit!

There are loads of social centres, but you'll never create something that has something for everyone, that is 'safe' for everyone but also 'draws in' everyone.  If it is drawing in the lower people, the upper people will think it is icky, and if you're drawing in higher people, lower people will avoid it and the risks it contains (or thieves will stake it out...or not if it is heavily crim-coded).

Allanak is supposed to have a very strict hierarchy.  This is why higher people hire lower people to go sit in the skanky areas and lure in RP.  It isn't like Red Storm where everyone is vaguely equal and scummy low-life poor folk, Morin's where people are vaguely equal with a dose of Kadius on top, or Luir's where the highest echelons are going to be GMH family members (ie still common-born).

If you want to meet people, go stand somewhere with a lot of foot traffic, and wait.  The entrance to the bazaar, somewhere on Caravan, the plaza.  Go stand somewhere, set a ldesc, and Way until someone appears in person.

Because as Brytta said...nobles and low-ranking commoners don't have any mutually-beneficial reasons to interact...because why would you willingly chit-chat to someone who is CLEARLY a smelly starving thieving peon...or to someone who could take offence to something minor and toss you into the arena for lols at a rate far more likely than they will give you work/become your bestie.  There are some serious bigotry and prejudice going on, that SHOULD be happening to split such people apart!

[Saiseiki]

Fair enough, and good points all around.  I suppose I was thinking more about playability than IC realism.  Having been on both ends of that divide, I completely get the "stay the hell away from the always-potentially-lethal-Templar/Noble/what-have-you" impulse.

It was kind of me thinking about the recent spate of "Get out and rp!" threads, and if there was some one-size-fits-all solution.  Evidently not.

[Saiseiki]

How is this specifically different from a bar?

Anyone present in the tent would have a legit, IC claim to be there (as envisioned).  As Kyviantre eloquently spelled-out, there's really not a way to do that with Allanak's strict hierarchy, at least not with this idea.

Personally I don't think you can make anywhere where nobles hang out, including the Red's Retreat, to be safe/fun for the lower 1/3 of PCs by social standing. Anything in Luir's or during a special festival is gonna be a little more tolerant, but I don't think you can recreate that environment in general. Nobles and low-ranking commoners don't usually have any mutually-beneficial reason to interact.

You may well be right.  The Blood Market was a really fun event, and I loved the ebb-and-flow that was possible there, but sustaining that even in a reduced way likely isn't possible.

[Brytta Léofa]

Anyone present in the tent would have a legit, IC claim to be there (as envisioned).  As Kyviantre eloquently spelled-out, there's really not a way to do that with Allanak's strict hierarchy, at least not with this idea.

For the record, I think the current social structure is not ideal. Most of the time the high and low have no reason to interact, so we get "y u no bow" as an attempt to interact somehow, with more avoidance as the result. Avoidance is evocative but not really a good outcome for the game.

A while ago (okay, the last time I had what felt like an unreasonable commoner/noble encounter) I started trying to write up a set of ideas for giving nobles and commoners more reason to interact without being buddies...but ran out of steam. For instance:
- Commoners could be fans of noble houses in much the same way that we support politicians or sports teams.
- Nobles could sell favors, especially if they had more specific favors to dole out.
- Nobles, rather than templars, could issue merchant tokens: perhaps different tokens from different noble houses, granting different privileges.
- What if GMHs needed a noble house charter renewed every few years to operate in Allanak? Both GMHs and noble houses would have to compete to offer/get the best deal, with a lot of different possible outcomes (and some disasters).

IDK. Probably everyone should go to Morning Devotions. Also, I've never played a noble so likely I'm missing some of the subtleties of the situation.

[Ourla]

Just chiming in briefly to point out that there is a sadly underutilized common meeting area in Allanak's Southside that isn't a bar, and doesn't have a board. But it could meet the rest of OP's needs. I never see PCs in there, ever. Make it the newest, most popular meetup among the young'uns!

[Vex]

Just chiming in briefly to point out that there is a sadly underutilized common meeting area in Allanak's Southside that isn't a bar, and doesn't have a board. But it could meet the rest of OP's needs. I never see PCs in there, ever. Make it the newest, most popular meetup among the young'uns!

Can't even imagine, what you might be referencing here, except maybe that tea and pastry place.

I'd call it by name, because its definitely not ic sensitive, but I haven't been in there for, like... literal years, and don't remember its name.

OP should just use the roasting pits, like the rest of the world. Even nobles and Templars wander in there to chew the fat, when there is nothing else going on. Everyone is cool, in the roasting pits. Could hold the fucking senate in there, and nobody would bat an eye.

[BadSkeelz]

Just chiming in briefly to point out that there is a sadly underutilized common meeting area in Allanak's Southside that isn't a bar, and doesn't have a board. But it could meet the rest of OP's needs. I never see PCs in there, ever. Make it the newest, most popular meetup among the young'uns!

Can't even imagine, what you might be referencing here, except maybe that tea and pastry place.

I assume they meant the Azure Dragon, which is even less patronized than the Desert Rose bakery. I've seen people in there in the last few years, at least.

There's also the Arboretum, which is socially (and codedly) gated.

[Kyviantre]

I'd put Azure dragon on the upper end of social hierarchy.  And the Desert Rose (still calling it the Silver Ginka in my head!) doesn't really have much in the way of good snackages - prices seemed a little high for the lower classes when I last went in (but that might be biased on what constitutes 'expensive', since my characters are usually scraping by at best!).

[Heade]

For the record, I think the current social structure is not ideal. Most of the time the high and low have no reason to interact, so we get "y u no bow" as an attempt to interact somehow, with more avoidance as the result. Avoidance is evocative but not really a good outcome for the game.

I once played an allanaki dissident that was secretly actively subversive to the templarate and Tektolnes. He was a merchant-type character that established and leveraged connections of middling power, like agents of the various GMH's, Arm Sergeants and Garrison Captains. He dealt, swindled, blackmailed, murdered and seduced his way into having a small private band of supporters, akin to an unpaid group of mercenaries. He did SO MANY things that would have justified his execution or assassination.

Then, an Allanaki Noble tried to commission him to provide goods for a festival. The agent of a rival noble saw him talking to the noble and reported it to their patron. That patron had him assassinated because they thought he was an agent of their rival.

It was disappointing to find that, for all of the things he did that warranted assassination, what ultimately culminated in said assassination was nothing more than a mistake, all due to having a single conversation with an Allanaki noble. No one would ever know just how much he did to deserve to be killed. They murdered a cake maker for being asked to bake a cake. All the while, that cake maker was a revolutionary that had secretly dedicated his life towards disrupting the establishment. Of course, no one would ever know that, or hear that story outside of those who were previously helping him, because he once had a conversation with a noble.

I suspect that stories like this one are a big part of why people avoid nobles so much.


P.S. The cake maker bit was hyperbole. It was not a literal cake.