Old characters vs. Young/New characters
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:31 am
To me it seems as if usually younger characters are a lot less afraid to "risk" something than old characters. So in a way, often young characters are more fun to interact with because they aren't so heavily entrenched into certain things yet.
Well, it is understandable on many levels that older characters are more afraid to risk something, I think:
- Breaking the law could restrict in what you can do with your character (or at least it requires of you to have enough gold coins to pay, but even if you pay, the same deterrent will be back in place again, and you'd be less likely to break it if you can not afford it). The scribes guild is a good example because it seems very difficult to have an evil scribe. Or being an outlaw in Arborea for instance. (I have no idea if the scribes guild in Arborea would *want* to have evil scribes at all, or probably ban them anyway, it just seems insanely difficult to have an really evil scribe and stick to it. Just an example.)
- Characters don't really want to change too much. Those who are the hero of today don't really want to be the villain of tomorrow. It would be a bit psychopathic to have a friendly character trying to be .... friends with mostly everyone today, and then tomorrow you try to kill all these friends (even if there are IC reasons for this strange behaviour). Who *really* goes and tries this deliberately? There seem to be so many factors to consider ... losing access to areas is one big deterrent.
I also sometimes wonder if those that like marketplaces would want to lose access from marketplaces/pubs in these areas by becoming extremely evil suddenly ... probably not. But it would be quite a significant change.
How many Sathonys clerics abandoned their ways (no idea if it is even possible, but I couldn't give any example either)? How many Taniel clerics became Sathonys clerics? How many crusaders switched to become servants/slaves of the evil gods?
Granted, these examples are extremely dedicated character concepts and "changing" it would/will have repercussions. But that's just an example ... having character "personalities" and trying to change these would be difficult as well.
If your character is extremely stubborn why would he suddenly stop being stubborn? Perhaps with a proper reason or some event influencing that character ... but this all seems to be a lot harder the longer the background story a character already has. Different events or situations helped form that character.
- Newbies sometimes make "mistakes" which can lead to difficult situations. A good example was a newbie character who went on to say he'd want to worship all deities. Pretty crazy idea for any established/old character or? I mean... how can you worship Taniel and Evren AND Lilith and Sathonys all at the same time
... that's like curing wounds, giving coins to a beggar, cheating him, luring him away... for use in a ritual to turn him into something else. Perhaps the net result would be that all gods hate him, even Lilith if that char would suddenly kill only Lilith creatures ...
It's however a quite cool idea as well (worshipping more deities) because I haven't heard it before to this extent. I doubt any old character would have this idea and talk about it ... Older characters may perhaps sometimes do deliberate mistakes (respect to these players) but normally I think they will heavily try to cut back on doing mistakes in general.
I am not entirely sure if I am getting somewhere with this here, but I think taking risks in general by older characters should be more awarded ... somehow.
Now, I have absolutely no real idea how or whether that would be good or bad.
It just strikes me as partially strange that only (or mostly) new or young characters do "different" things. At least compared to the older ones.
Because everyone else seems mostly content with "sticking" to how things are rather than stepping up and trying to change something (even if that fails).
Well, it is understandable on many levels that older characters are more afraid to risk something, I think:
- Breaking the law could restrict in what you can do with your character (or at least it requires of you to have enough gold coins to pay, but even if you pay, the same deterrent will be back in place again, and you'd be less likely to break it if you can not afford it). The scribes guild is a good example because it seems very difficult to have an evil scribe. Or being an outlaw in Arborea for instance. (I have no idea if the scribes guild in Arborea would *want* to have evil scribes at all, or probably ban them anyway, it just seems insanely difficult to have an really evil scribe and stick to it. Just an example.)
- Characters don't really want to change too much. Those who are the hero of today don't really want to be the villain of tomorrow. It would be a bit psychopathic to have a friendly character trying to be .... friends with mostly everyone today, and then tomorrow you try to kill all these friends (even if there are IC reasons for this strange behaviour). Who *really* goes and tries this deliberately? There seem to be so many factors to consider ... losing access to areas is one big deterrent.
I also sometimes wonder if those that like marketplaces would want to lose access from marketplaces/pubs in these areas by becoming extremely evil suddenly ... probably not. But it would be quite a significant change.
How many Sathonys clerics abandoned their ways (no idea if it is even possible, but I couldn't give any example either)? How many Taniel clerics became Sathonys clerics? How many crusaders switched to become servants/slaves of the evil gods?
Granted, these examples are extremely dedicated character concepts and "changing" it would/will have repercussions. But that's just an example ... having character "personalities" and trying to change these would be difficult as well.
If your character is extremely stubborn why would he suddenly stop being stubborn? Perhaps with a proper reason or some event influencing that character ... but this all seems to be a lot harder the longer the background story a character already has. Different events or situations helped form that character.
- Newbies sometimes make "mistakes" which can lead to difficult situations. A good example was a newbie character who went on to say he'd want to worship all deities. Pretty crazy idea for any established/old character or? I mean... how can you worship Taniel and Evren AND Lilith and Sathonys all at the same time
... that's like curing wounds, giving coins to a beggar, cheating him, luring him away... for use in a ritual to turn him into something else. Perhaps the net result would be that all gods hate him, even Lilith if that char would suddenly kill only Lilith creatures ...
It's however a quite cool idea as well (worshipping more deities) because I haven't heard it before to this extent. I doubt any old character would have this idea and talk about it ... Older characters may perhaps sometimes do deliberate mistakes (respect to these players) but normally I think they will heavily try to cut back on doing mistakes in general.
I am not entirely sure if I am getting somewhere with this here, but I think taking risks in general by older characters should be more awarded ... somehow.
Now, I have absolutely no real idea how or whether that would be good or bad.
It just strikes me as partially strange that only (or mostly) new or young characters do "different" things. At least compared to the older ones.
Because everyone else seems mostly content with "sticking" to how things are rather than stepping up and trying to change something (even if that fails).