Welcome to Cove

A Guide to Roleplaying in the Underworld

As you may have noticed, there's been an increase of criminality around Cove, both from BoC members and other shady guilds/groups.  Based on a couple of experiences I thought I'd offer some Roleplaying advice as these types of scenarios may be new to some of you.  It can be trickier than normal, separating the IC and the OOC knowledge.  This applies to interactions with other guilds, not just within Cove and not limited to criminals/guardsmen. 

Why is it important?

Well, the first thing to remember is that criminal chars aren't made soley for the Guardsmen to capture and beat.  The good guys don't always win.  The opposite is also true, the Guards aren't there to stand about shaking their fist as the thief scampers off laughing.  Sometimes the good guys do win.  Those setting up these criminal escapades spend a lot of time and effort doing so.  It's therefore disheartening so say the least when someone blatantly uses OOC knowledge to foil the caper or identify the culprits.  Again, if a thief does make a mistake and gets identified, they should roleplay the consequences accordingly.  Being sprung from jail for the tenth time when it's unguarded is old.  Constantly attacking the one or two hapless guards until they die and then springing the prisoner isn't much better if it's happening all the time.  The best time for a rescue is while your en route to the jail, IF you've got allies in the immediate area.  ICQ/Guildchatting your friends to log onto allies and free you isn't the best roleplay.  If they're skulking nearby however...


For the criminals:

The guards aren't all stupid oafs.  If you engage in a caper without preparation (which may be how you roleplay your character) then be prepared for the consequences of being caught.  Disguise kits are useful.  Helms and masks also.  But bear in mind hooded robes aren't so much a disguise as a target after being used so much in criminal work.  If you get caught, don't just wander off because you're in a deathrobe.  Try and get in party with the attackers and discuss possible repercussions.  If you've nicked a couple of coins then maybe they'll let you off with a sound kicking.  If you've just attacked someone then expect to get tossed in a cell.  Be prepared for trials.  The bigger the crime the more serious the consequences.  Take the hit. 

Try and vary your activities.  Attacking the same target day after day gets old.  If you robbed them on Monday they'll still be poor on Tuesday unless they're a noble.  Only a desperate thief is going to rob the poor anyway.  It's the rich you want.

Jail breaks:  Years of overuse have made these as cliched as orcs killing your family.  If you want to do a jailbreak, organise it OOC with the captors so they can have some people on.  Think creatively.  Don't just stealth down a brightly lit corridor past the guards and unlock the cell (with what?).  A few brigands luring the guards away might let a few of you sneak in.  Don't just *pick the lock* if you've no lockpicking skill.  An explosion potion maybe but it should take a bit of time.  The prisoner should emote how exactly their secured i.e are they chained to the floor or tied etc.  It might fail and half of the rescue party ends up in the same cell with the original prisoner.  This gives an opportunity for roleplay.  Again, if you're searched assume its thorough.  Even a basic search is going to reveal a a battleaxe.  Pulling a rune and recall scroll out of who-knows-where doesn't look good either.  Be prepared to lose.    


For the Guards

In many ways you have the more difficult job.  You have to stand there whilst the disguised beggar with the big filthy beard and long hair ambles by, knowing full well OOC it's the same character who robbed you the day before.  If he's wearing the exact same clothing and has the same manner of speaking and is otherwise sloppy, then you've IC justification for holding them for further investigation.  If the disguise is near perfect, live with it.  Criminals generally don't wear badges.  You might see a guild tag, but that doesn't mean your character does. 

Being captured due to bad luck, poor planning or execution is one thing.  Being captured due to metagaming is something else.  If I've put weeks into my plots, being careful with my character, never doing anything wrong in public, then I'm not going to be best pleased that my disguise is foiled simply because another player saw a disguise kit name and my guild title.


Crime and Punishment - For everyone

You've kidnapped the guard/captured the thief.  Now what?  Consider how your character would act but remember it's another player's character you've now got power over.  Discuss this via party/ICQ with the other player(s).  Don't just start lopping off fingers, hands or indeed heads, without some form of consent.  That assassin may well have friends and if you've decided to cut their head off, be prepared to let your own character suffer perma-death when those friends ambush you.  Perma-death should be permanent.  Don't try to pressure players into it or in a months time they may decide they're not happy and bring that character back.  If you're happy to kill a character off, let them stay dead.  There are other options: In this day of most people playing alts, a month or two in the Yewish jail for a serious crime might be a better alternative than death.  Maybe have a kind of chain gang, i.e the captured character has to cut down trees or mine mountains for a month wearing 'prison rags'.  Branding can be good, it doesnt impair a character but can easily be mentioned in the profile. 

If you are beaten, tortured, your character isn't Superman.  Laughing "Hah! Is that it?" as someone brands you with a poker, or beats your face to a pulp is just irritating and won't make people eager to interact with you again.  If they're torturing you for information, sooner or later you're going to break.  You might lie but if they keep at it you'll probably be in so much pain you'll be unable to keep your lies straight. 


Some last thoughts 

Accents: Don't assume a character shares the same nationality as their guild tag.  After years of roleplay there are characters whov'e gone from Britain to Trinsic to Yew to Vesper to Cove and back to Britain again.  "you've got a Yewish accent" isn't a valid IC excuse to be suspicious of someone if that character was not only raised in Jhelom but has emoted *Puts on a Minocian accent*.  Look for stuff to be suspicious about, aye, but don't make them up if the other character is well disguised.  Even Poirot and Colombo don't identify the murderer in a single glance.

Stealth and line of sight: These can be easy to abuse.  IF your following someone through a forest stick to trees and vegetation.  If you make a break across open ground and your quarry happens to turn round and is in line of sight of you, feel free to reveal yourself with an *Is looking furtive* emote.  If it's over a distance maybe your character is keeping close to the ground.  Housing.  If it's a tiny house brightly lit room with nowhere to hide and the characters make a show of looking around, don't abuse the mechanic by remaining hidden.  Abusing Reveal hidden in houses is bad, but so is stealth abusing.  If I'm following someone I'll usually go into war mode so if I am revealed by something, it's obvious I'm being furtive. 

Treachery: Giving your character knowledge you've gained OOC by pretending "a traitor told me" fails when there is no actual traitor.  If you want involved in a plot and there's no obvious IC route, ask OOc if you can be involved somehow.  Communication is the key.

Investigation: You're either trying to foil a rival gang, or your a guardsman investigating a a smuggling ring.  How do you go about it?  It can be very tricky to sort out what your character knows.  Cultivate contacts.  If you know OOC that the gang works out of Moonglow but there's nothing IC to suggest it, your character shouldnt know it.  If a character lies to you and you know OOC it is a lie, run with it.  Your char might be suspicious but if there's no other avenue of investigation...  If you find something out that's clearly been revealed to you without a valid IC reason or is someone else metagaming, feel free to ignore it.  A large part of the fun is working it by your character's wits.  You might never find out the truth but it will be fun looking into it.

A char of mine is currently involved in this type of stuff.  That character has found out bits and pieces but is far from the whole truth.  I've even had to ignore a vital clue because it was couldnt have been known IC. 

Finally...

Have fun.  Try and help the other players have fun.  Your character isnt the hero or the villain.  He or she is but one piece of it.  You'll win some and lose more.  You'll be beaten, kidnapped, tortured, exiled, imprisoned and maybe some day you'll decide your character's time has come.  But the key is communication, communication, communication.

If anyone has questions or wishes to discuss it, my icq is on the OOC icq page.

Disclaimer: The above is purely my own thoughts and opinions, stated soley for the purpose of hopefully giving players new to the shadier side of things a few clues.

I'll give this more of a read in a little while and reply if I've anything to contribute but just for now I'll say a few things as it's probably relevant.

My name's Rich ('Smith' / Tuvia and Su-mi) and I'm pretty easy going, I'm the creator and GM of The Black Caste aka [Thf] and right now we're probably the criminal outfit giving you the most abuse!

Contrary to what people may tell you, it's always been really important for me that Thf is a friendly and approachable guild to play with, OOC, in contrast to our IC harshness.

I'm always on the look-out for an RP opportunity and I'm nearly always willing to contribute to and help organize plots, events and anything else you've got going on that will encourage a relationship between Thf and Cove.

If you've any questions, comments or even complaints then please don't hesitate to get in touch. My ICQ is 151 257 836 and as long as you don't mass-bombard me with messages right after an attack or a battle then I'm usually pretty responsive.

 :D

Aye, my shady character has had little direct contact with Thf but his efforts to learn who's behind recent events take up a lot of his time.  It's been the increased interaction between BoC, Thf, VTC and any other guilds involved that prompted me to make the above post to hopefully ensure that things remain fun and smooth OOC between all concerned. 

This kind of RP can be difficult even for experienced RPers so I wanted to give some advice to those less experienced with it.  It can be annoying to have characters know your every crime despite having been disguised either with a kit or just different clothing.  Honest mistakes will happen and can hopefully be resolved with a minimum of fuss.  If my post makes people think "Hang on, I recognise that name as the one who attacked me, but were they disguised? Do I have any reason to recognise them?" then it's succeeded. 

Also, I'm keen to foster the idea that 'losing' is part of the game and should be enjoyed OOC as much as 'winning'.  That there are consequences.  If a robber gets arrested for mugging people in an area, roughed up or jailed, then they really shouldn't come back the next day as if nothing happened in my opinion.  Ifthey get caught again, the captors would be within their rights to administer a much harsher punishment.  A robber with a broken arm isn't much of a threat.  Otherwise the danger is that they can become an nusiance if the 'victims' realise they're never going to go away regardless of what happens.

So far I've not come across any problems thus far, in case this thread gets seen in that light.  It's a precaution against stuff I've seen happen over the years in similar situations. 

Bottom line: communication is key.  ;)


Nothing annoys me more than finding out in public domains or from third parties that someone has a problem with something I'm doing or have done without them taking it up with me first. I'm a straight up type and I'm pretty approachable and my ICQ door is always open.

I think this should be [RTR] for anyone looking to create a criminal and new players.
This has a lot of good points and it's laid out nicely!

Thanks Garak for writing this up so everyone can read it. Im a pretty experienced RPer, but I still mess up on occations, we are only humans:)

Something else on this.  Do not use an Alt of yours to give or somehow gain information to/for another Alt.  Even if you play them on two computers or split screen in some way.
Remember which character learnt and knows what and keep it that way.  If you want to share information between your characters then get someone else involved to act as a third party.   

Good advice also. 

A good way to keep track of what a char knows is to take screenshots or have your journal save (if I ever figure it out).  My 'reports' detail the crucial parts of what my character knows and it's a good reference and record of past activities. 

Indeed aplauds all around! Though I felt I knew much of these points, it gives me a nice reference to look back on. oh and if any does know how to "Journal Save" I would be most apreciated! No idea how manytimes I lost important information and had to consider it completly forgoten by my character. Thats always a slight bummer, forgetting your big clue, or that peice of info thats going to make the boss pay big.

Good stuff mate.

Cheers,

- MK/ MJK

Love this article. Being a fun late night problem maker for Cove as Gregory this helps.

Gotta say, good point with the using alts to free/inform alts. I can't think of anything I hate more.

i'd like to add that in case someone's mugging you and you're outnumbered you'd normally just give them your money. if reality if you are cornered by a bunch of chavs would you actually pick a fight? in UO the muggers are very likely to be carrying weapons, and therefore should be treated as potentially lethal in respect to RP. Would you try and punch a mugger if you were unarmed and him and his three pals very probably have knives? No, you would give them your wallet if you have any common sense. So if you're cornered by a bunch of four muggers what do you do?

A) GC everyone that you're being mugged and stall.
B) Give them whatever pittance of gold your carrying, leave and find some guards.
C) You're awesomely tough and your parents were killed by orcs, so you would rather go down fighting over 13 gold.

Majority of Chav's can't fight there like a pack of Hyena' you fight back and kick one's head in they flee
Or as I find from experience!

You've obviously nae been cornered by 5 Rangers supporters and you're wearing a Celtic strip.

B? ??? ::) :P :-X

C. Me loves PVP.