Relationships in an RP setting

Relationships are tricky things that are fraught with pitfalls, rough spots and numerous crises, which is why cinema is so enamored of them for movies - relationships come in endless forms, from buddy pictures like the 'Lethal Weapon' series to much more intimate and romantic movies like "The Frensh Lieutenant's Woman". What I want to try and discuss (and generate a few comments from readers) is RP'ing a romantic relationship in CoX.

This kind of thing is not something I am very familiar with, and my experience is limited at the moment, but here we go. I see this as a great way to explore characters outside of the missions, it provides a very different perspective on the character and allows a different line of character growth. When RP'ed well, it can affect how situations are handled in missions, without endangering the other members of the team. This involvement also can provide others with tension and entertainment, and hopefully give them something to develop more background for their characters.

The downside, and a big one in my mind, is keeping it in perspective. The romance really does characters well, but the big pitfall is taking it personally. There has to be a level of disconnect, or things may spiral out of control and not only hurt the two involved in the in-game romance, but cause unwanted and unneeded distress in the players on the periphery of the relationship. Communication is tantamount here with all this, keep your relationship in perspective. They are, I'm finding out, a lot of fun, and they really allow some good role-play and character development, but that closeness also makes both people in it vulnerable. Make sure you both know that it is just a game and keep it that way. That doesn't mean make it shallow, what it means is have that level of disconnect so you can let it go.

Team work

Rant function on.

Something that we have all talked about at one time or another is how well a group has worked together towards a common goal. Teamwork. Teamwork is defined as: the concept of people working together cooperatively.

Aside from any required technical proficiency, a wide variety of social skills are desirable for successful teamwork, including:

• Listening - it is important to listen to other people's ideas. When people are allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas will produce other ideas.
• Questioning - it is important to ask questions, interact, and discuss the objectives of the team.
• Persuading - individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and then to ultimately rethink their ideas.
• Respecting - it is important to treat others with respect and to support their ideas.
• Helping - it is crucial to help one's coworkers, which is the general theme of teamwork.
• Sharing - it is important to share with the team to create an environment of teamwork.
• Participating - all members of the team are encouraged to participate in the team.
• Communication - For a team to work effectively it is essential team members acquire communication skills and use effective communication channels between one another e.g. using email, viral communcation, group meetings and so on. This will enable team members of the group to work together and achieve the teams purpose and goals.

Obviously as players in a game, we do not need to carry teamwork to this level of depth and complexity, but we do need, at least in my mind, to listen, respect, communicate, and participate. The biggest bit of difficulty with me and others comes in when there is an apparent disparity between the experience of some members versus others. Newer characters often have not had the experience of how to work well togther in a team, and at times this shows with rushing an enemy or enemy group, and precipitating a disaster. I have been on both sides of the equation, and profess to feeling jealous and intimidated when someone tries to impart wisdom by, "just do this." I want to know why I should "just do this", and reasoning to the effect "because it works" doesn't sit well with me. I want to know why I shuld just do a certain thing when I have the possibility of six or seven things that I might do.

This is a hard situation to be in for both sides. Trying to explain one's experience from the other side is difficult, as at times you find one style of operatino that works very well, and one may get trapped into using that in all situations as the standard attack, as an example, Keen Frost, a very good tanker in CoH in my opinion. His preferred tactic is to set a point where he will bring back all his enemies he can gather up (herd). then he will lay down an ice patch and keep them all in one place as best as possible. It works, and works very well. But my problem with it is that it is hard to feel like I'm holding up my end of the team. I have almost no input as to how the activity goes, and also no opportunity to develop supplemental tactics that might benefit the team. And in my impatience to at least try to have some effect or feeling of worth, I was one of those who leapt in without looking in hopes of showing that I could handle things and precipitated more than a few team disasters. (( Belated apologies to those I accumulated debt for ))

There may be a myriad of possibilities, but only through experimentation and talking with your team members might you uncover other methods. This can cause problems, as experimentation quite often does not work well, which reinforces the "one-way" method of handling the problem. "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." I can't argue that that style is wrong. It isn't, it works. I just believe there are more ways and I believe there is always another way to approach a problem.

A caveat here is if you're after experience fast, find that one way that works best and go for it. A solid method that you know and use often really speeds up experience accumulation. The downside is that when it doesn't work - teamwipe and debt.

Rant function off.

Rough Cut, writing origin

I broke this post into two so it would be easier to work. The previous is an origin idea that developed for a character in City of Heroes. The idea here was to be vague as there were only vague notions as to why things were happening. Too, the second reason was to give space as the character itself was still very unformed as an idea, and this 'fudging' of the origin allows for flexibility as the character personality becomes more defined. The downside is that it is nebulous and this can create problems also as the character could deviate quite a bit from any origin idea and lose itself in a confusion of only loosely tied pieces, rather than a coherent story.

But the point is that ideas do not have to be completely formed to be used. A fully formed and well-grounded idea makes the writing process much easier as the roadmap is straightforward. Vague ideas make the trip a lot harder, but it's like taking the road less traveled, no telling what might be found along the road.

Origin - rough cut 1

Btsy 'Bits' Raynes tried to scream, but only gaped like a fish as her diaphragm was sliced away. She pulled futiley against the straps that held her to the cot and all the while she felt Dreadstrike's hands inside her chest, moving she gasped as they collapsed a lung and then there was the coldest sensation and horrid feeling of loss.

I'm dying, I can feel it. Her eyes began dimming and she felt so tired. The darkness pulled her away from the pain and violation, and it was so sweet to feel the comforting blackness. She fought back up through the dark to see Dreadstrike raise his blood-soaked armored hand that held her own heart, to her eyes. She felt a light tapping on her cheek as the blood dripped from severed arteries. "Like your heart bitch?" said Dreadstrike in a lust-and-hate filled voice, "I do too, I'm going to keep it in a jar under my bed." She tried to scream in rage, but there was no power to work her body, and the darkness closed over her eyes like a curtain, and she fell back again into oblivion's embrace.

Betsy awoke with the smell of gasoline in her nostrils and voices nearby. "Hey, lookit here, Jokey, a set of spandex!" A toe nudged her hip and she focused her willpower to keep from reacting. Ordinarily she'd be up with the touch and attacking in a blind rage, but something kept her from doing so.

You will disguise yourself, your reactions, and your very personality, or the spell will unravel, and you will come back to me. Think of it as a fairy tale, and you're Rumpelstiltskin Betsy. Names have power and the mention of your name in recognition of you in your presence WILL banish you back here, and I won't like that. I have put years into your preparation, and if anything at all happens and you end up back here, I will be most displeased, and you will learn fear! And when you have learned true fear, you will learn TRUE oblivion!

She gasped as the memory flashed through her, and she knew she would do anything at this moment to avoid going back. So she waited, and once the hands started to roll over she reacted, flashing a hand up and grasping the homeless man by the throat and her other gathered darkness and blasted it into his unshaven, scraggly-bearded face. He didn't manage a scream before he fell to the pavement unmoving. There was a shudder to the body as if it was trying to lunge away from something, then it calmed to small twitches and then rolled over. The body issued a groan of purest pain and violation, and Betsy shuddered as the man's eyes opened, and the unfocused gaze centered on her. "Good job for a first try my little street raven. You use the power instinctively and I won't have to take the time to teach it to you. You've started your part, now go, and find me more."

Street Raven huh? A good name as any, and Betsy wouldn't choose one like that, she thought to herself. A predator, scavenger, and all-round opportunist, was a raven. She looked down and saw the crimson leather tha covered her body and felt the two-piece face mask. Okay, Street Raven it is. Hey, this is Galaxy City, I recognize Galaxy Girl's statue! Shock dropped her in a crouch and something light and hard dropped into her hand. A bow?! A fucking bow?! What kind of... she stopped the thought immediately. Accept and don't question. She didn't want to go back wherever she had been. Taking a deep breath she stepped out from the alleyway and into the twilight of sundown.