Volunteering to play short-lived character

[Lerl]

If any immortal is looking for a short-lived character to complicate a dramatic story line of theirs, I volunteer to play one.  I'm looking for an immortal who wants me to play a character for the period of time needed and by appointment only (and then retire him).  Ok, maybe this is asking too much, but I want drama.  Writing a quite interesting background of my own and weaving my character into other PCs lives with no real end result or major immortal interaction just doesn't interest me at the moment anymore.
Rick
mud@designpsycho.com

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Not to sound asinine, but I have discovered that dramatic life is very easy to achieve, without Immortal interaction or anything else. I have discovered that my characters are almost impossible to kill, as long as they are played realistically, and that one can create astounding amounts of drama without even attempting to.

Once again, I just want to make sure that you understand that I am not trying to talk shit, or down you in any way whatsoever. But I want to encourage you to play a normal character as well. In and with the correct mentality, one discovers astounding depths to the game, and many are not even coded.

This is, in a way, a note to any and all players who may be bored with a character. I constantly am tempted to down-in-five and create my next, awesome, uber concept. But I constantly find new reasons to not die. The game is so deep, and the code is only the beginning.

[Anonymous]

Brief segue here...since you posted this in the General Disc board and didn't send it to the mud.

Define major immortal interaction.

Either way, I'd rather have major PC interaction.  Interaction with the staff always has a strange feel for me.  Just this last week I had to come up with a story to convince a powerful NPC of something that wasn't true.  Since that is played by an Imm suddenly the rules change.  The imm knows my story in advance, because I emailed them, and they also know the truth.

So, it's just not the same as convincing a PC.  That PC may have secret means of knowing the truth, or may just be feeling suspicious and say no.  Or they may be gullible and say yes.  But with the omniscience of the staff, it's totally different.  If that NPC says yes you hope they weren't going easy on you.  If that NPC says no it's only human to wonder if they were being too hard on you.  I'm not saying that the staff doesn't do as good as a job as humanly possible, but without the investment put into a character that a player puts into a PC on the line, interactions with NPCs have always been hollow for me.  That's no reflection on the staff, it's just the dynamic that will always be in place when dealing with an NPC.  There's just a feeling that you've earned it when dealing with PCs.

I don't know you, who or what you've played, but by far the most immortal interaction I've ever received is when playing in a clan and dealing with plotlines that affect more people than just myself.  I say this even though my favorite PCs are clanless loners, without fail.  I despise structure in this game, there's enough of that in my real life.

Lastly, not to be a jerk here, but whether it's intentional or not there is a sense of entitlement to some of what you said.  It could be just me misreading you, but I think you are wrong if you believe that having a long-lived PC means you are due some attention from on high.  As a limited time, volunteer force I think it only makes sense that well-tenured clans (coded or not) receive the largest portion of immortal interaction.

[Anonymous]

I played once a character that was created with one goal in mind: to get from point A to point B, providing colour to the lives of those he met on the way. It was agreed that he would cease to exist upon reaching the target city.

His life lasted only about four RL days, but it was a blast all the way. I had just lost a very loved character (by me), and couldn't deal with spinning a new life. After this brief interlude, I was ready to move on and made my next character, one I played for 9 months.

This happened on another MUD, but I don't see why it could not be done on Arm too. The only thing I wonder about the original poster's request is: "immortal is looking for a short-lived character to complicate a dramatic story line". Perhaps it was not meant as in to make things more difficult?

[Lerl]

I didn't mean to convey that I am entitled to anything special.  All I ment to say is if there's another guy out there who -wants- me playing with them in their sandbox with their toys for an afternoon that'd be cool with me.  Honestly I don't expect anything to come of my request, but I figured it doesn't hurt to ask?

Oh yeah.. and complicate was probably the wrong word.  "Make more interesting/add depth to/etc" is what I ment.
Rick

[Petra]

I actually like the idea of intentionally created short-lived characters.  I'm not talking "suicide" characters who play in a reckless, prepubescent mentality by running around without any real purpose or attempt at roleplay, mind you.  I spoke with a Legend once you said he made characters like this frequently, calling them "Plot characters", characters created for the purpose of stirring things amuck and building events which center around his/her own demise.

What if I made a character whose background said "She suffers from an illness and has only one month to live?"  What if the character somehow knows this too?  How might she act if she knew she had such short time to live, and more importantly, how many characters will be involved in her quest for ... whatever?  Or what if you made a dwarf whose focus is to find the fabled village Cenyr and become a glass blower?  Once his goal is achieved there's not much fun in playing in Cenyr evermore (without anyone else to interact with), playing out the virtual skills of being a glassblower.  Maybe the player just wants to see how many people he can manipulate and help steer him toward his goal ... and just let the chips fall where they may between point A and point B.  Then, after he's achieved his goal, he retires.  You don't have to make a character with the intention of existing as long as you possibly can.  Thankfully Arm exists on a healthy balance of short-lived and long-lived characters -- without a bit of both, the other will suffer, I think.

[Carnage]

Edit: Nm.

[Xygax]

Just a caveat:  The "stirring things up" character is just about as interesting as the homicidal maniac (discussed in another thread, at length) to me.  If you're not "stirring things up" with a purpose, or you're -planning- to die or retires as an end-game to the plot you envision, then I challenge you to consider that perhaps finding an end-game in which you live (and perhaps face the consequences of your actions in a realistic way, imposed by other players, and maybe even STILL live) is VASTLY more interesting.

The best scams, for example, are the ones where the scammer gets away with it and no one is the wiser.

-- X

I challenge you to consider that perhaps finding an end-game in which you live (and perhaps face the consequences of your actions in a realistic way, imposed by other players, and maybe even STILL live) is VASTLY more interesting.

Consequences usally mean DEATH, so you won't have to linger long anyway.

[Anonymous]

Good point Xygax.  It is agreed that complicate, i.e. "stirring things up", was/is very poor choice of words and uninteresting.

I was thinking more along the lines of if a Borsail immortal wanted someone to play a slave to be auctioned to then be put to work at something mundane by the buyer.  The immortal probably won't have the time to put the hours switched into the slave for all the details of the auction and initial interactions with the buyer before it becomes an NPC.  But I would have the time.

Rick

[COGATO]

Well I have to disagree on this one. I have ran into an intentionally short lived character before, and I have to say, that the character being so "homicidal" as you say, made the experience better and more realistic. The problem here is most people who want to play thier characters as homicidal maniacs do not because it takes such a long time to weave into the world with a new character and its not worth losing your life to role play the maniac. So intentionally short lived characters being created for specific rps adds to the game world in a way your normal pc would not be able to. Or atleast in the one scenario I have seen it, it made the experience much better.

[Carnage]

I don't see anything wrong with it. If I was in a leadership position, I'd take him up on it. Organize something with the clan imm where the group has to track down and kill a deserter, he could be a PC-played gith or something for a day or two that Borsail might track down as part of a raid to get more gladiators for the Arena, etc. It's not a bad idea and can make things more fun. I don't think he meant stirring up trouble like just joining a house and screwing relations between the two or anything.

[spawnloser]

It is odd...I'm starting to agree with Carnage as of late.

Yeah, 'stirring things up' doesn't have to be 'causing trouble' or other such terms with emotional attachements to them.  If I had anything I could think of, I'd offer a position to him.

[Rindan]

I personally don't like 'stir things up' characters.  The problem is that generally things don't stay stirred once dead.  All of the characters I remember are long lived ones that I also lived a long time with.  That is not to say that these people were wimps by any stretch of the imagination, just that they were not overtly suicidal.  In fact, the absolute best characters in my mind are the ones willing to 'stir things up' but who fight tooth and nail for life, and live.  

All of my greatest memories come from characters that ran long lives parallel with my own.  Some times these people were friends, other times they were enemies, and still other times they were just people who I happened to cross paths with.  The history behind these characters is what makes them special and memorable.  Short lived characters do little for me.  They come, they die, and they are quickly forgotten.  It is like hearing about how some person died on the news.  You reflect for a few seconds and forget about it a few seconds later.