A Land Far Away

The Question: What can we, as players in ALFA, do ourselves to generate RP opportunities, IG plots, entice other players to join and stay, or just do as groups of 2+ to enjoy the servers we have to roam on? Include anything at all, with some examples so that we might inspire each other to new heights. I will start with a list I am gathering from the Discord discussions that occurred the past few hours as well as my own thoughts. Some of these ideas may need or include a DM, but they begin with the player.

- Hold a performance:
- sing a new song or read a poem or dance a dance on a street corner, in a tavern, on a stage (costume changes optional)
- put on a full theater production at the Fochlucan or another Theater (costumes, scenes, special effects, songs, dances, door prizes, after parties)
- tell jokes, do a stand-up type routine (long ago I once did a pirate-themed stand up session)
- tell a story
- magic show
(DMs can bring in NPCs to watch, participate, provide rewards, plot hooks, or disrupt the proceedings)

- Hold a contest of some sort:
- riddle solving
- scavenger hunt with clues to find specific locations or objects (maybe screen shot to prove you found it)
- jousting or archery or subdue hand-to-hand
- spontaneous song or acting (think Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
- race (point to point, gathering certain items from locations, etc.)
(DM could offer up a prize through an NPC, maybe help monitor progress of different groups)

- Statics (obvious)

- Go exploring with friends (just go into an unknown area and look around - forest, cave, etc.) Why go alone? Satisfy that curiosity but safely.

- Generate an IC reason to go into "that cave" or search "that area"
- an NPC hired you to find something lost
- heard rumors of a hidden treasure there from a guard talking in the tavern
- escaped prisoner thought to have run in that area to hide
- lots of undead in the area, local priests want the place searched and cleared
(we don't have to wait for a DM to create the reason. Sure, the treasure or prisoner is not going to be there, but doesn't mean we cant look)

- create a business that caters to players:
- create a song or story about a PC
- create scrolls or other magical items
- create cool articles of clothes (agree to do their tailoring if they suck at the toolset)
- teach a toolset skill but through RP means, like a workshop (acting, writing, how to use macros, better tailoring skills)

- offer to create content for the server (no idea how to do this, but people discussed it being a possibility)
- locations/dungeons
- placeables/useables


Hey, those are my thoughts for now. Sure you'll all come up with many more. Let us be inspired by one another and ALL add to the enjoyment of ALFA by everyone. That's how we did it in pnp - someone brought the figures, someone was good at building mini sets, someone hosted, someone brought food/drink . . . we can do that here too.

I'll bring the drink!

Laddy

Nice initiative.

Ufortunately atm Kythorn probably isn't of a mindset to contribute much outside of the IC thread in the TSM forums and efforts to possibly scout out certain areas and/or contact dwarves, etc. - he's got one thing on his mind. I was going to try and log in tonight to see if I could pull together some folks to do such things but got sidetracked (partly unfinished work, partly discord discussions).

Having said that I can contribute/brainstorm some stuff that might be fun under normal circumstances:

Drinking contest
contests of skill
contests of wit
sparring sessions, etc.
Wizards' study sessions (which Perle/Jhessi has announced at various times)
PCs holding prayer vigils/services led by clerics
Rangers/druids trying (futilely) to teach friends how to live off the land, track, get along with animals, etc.
Rogues trying to teach friends (futilely?) how to be more agile, skillful (but mostly using it as an opportunity to try and pocket a few coins?) "Woah, you nearly fell there, good thing I caught you in the nick of time!" *swipe*
etc etc. possibilities are endless.

Certain PCs might not be above starting wild rumors (buried unguarded treasure lying there simply for the taking...) about certain locales that bear investigation.

ALFA World Tour around 3 servers: one way to do this is come up with an IC reason for getting to a remote area/city/etc in ALFA that requires traveling through another server. i.e. Caer Callydir is the destination because of reason x, but also need to stop at Gullykin because halfling brewski is best.

Traveling minstrel troupe would do the trick for visiting all servers. Gather some players to hit the road with a few songs and magics and off we go!

actors, stage hands, guards, wonder-struck groupies, there's a place in the troupe for everyone.

What can we, as players in ALFA, do ourselves to generate RP opportunities, IG plots, entice other players to join and stay...

Log in. Get logged in and stay logged in ... and group together when you do.

Density creates density.

Wizards' study sessions (which Perle/Jhessi has announced at various times)

This is a standing invitation. I don't schedule it because I don't think there is enough demand, but hopefully someone sees the post and reaches out if they are interested. This can include spell swapping or knowledge swapping! Jhessi has a very wide scholarly interest. Also offering to identify things for players, and tell them the history and provenance of an object.

Do not be shy!

Regarding being online as much as possible to attract new players, while I understand why that is a suggestion, for me personally that doesn't work due to RL demands/preferences and also the lateness some players are on.

I have found that group efforts to contribute to a thread that tracks current events and is updated with every step in plot progression is a great way to keep folks interested and feeling invited to log in and be a part of what happens next.

It might feel meta, but I think there are ways to make such threads IC and I have found the rewards in regards to inviting player engagement worth whatever the meta sin might be. A solid running thread kept and updated by different IC voices can do alot to make a server appear alive and generate excitement for folks to log in.

Ithildur wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 19, 2020 7:29 am

Ufortunately atm Kythorn probably isn't of a mindset to contribute much outside of the IC thread in the TSM forums and efforts to possibly scout out certain areas and/or contact dwarves, etc. - he's got one thing on his mind.

You dirty dog... i'll get my robe and wizard hat