NPCing

[Nelkie]

Many PC's want to help out the game and NPC time to time. But when they NPC for an event their characters are not in play. This means they can not use their allgence points to support their guild, etc... By NPCing they help the game, but in turn they hurt the orginization they belong to. Does this make any since?
I would like to suggest if a person NPC's for an event, than their character can still support an orginization with their allgence points and count towards the minium people requirement.
Does any one have an issue with this.

[Ug]

Many PC's want to help out the game and NPC time to time. But when they NPC for an event their characters are not in play. This means they can not use their allgence points to support their guild, etc... By NPCing they help the game, but in turn they hurt the orginization they belong to. Does this make any since?
I would like to suggest if a person NPC's for an event, than their character can still support an orginization with their allgence points and count towards the minium people requirement.
Does any one have an issue with this.

I concur.

[WayneO42]

Thats a good idea

[Peace420]

For AN event or maybe 2 but that should be the max. Theres no danger to your character when you are NPCing.

[GM_Chris]

The thing is we do have the 1 event miss thing. Your org can have 0 votes for an event and spring right back so having people NPC shouldnt be an issue really

[Ug]

For AN event or maybe 2 but that should be the max. Theres no danger to your character when you are NPCing.

I think a 2 event cap on it would be handy.

[Nelkie]

The one event delay thing is nice, but in practice it doesn't work as well. One might have a guild of 8-9 people and in a session of 2 evetns of people being sick, having pesonal reasons for not showing up, and NPCing, the guild can collaspe. By letting people NPC and still use there allgenece there would be no pressure from the other players to stop the player from NPCing becuase of allgence issues. It just takes makes it easier for PC's to NPC's without harming the other players.

[Trevor Owen]

I personally have never been in favor of players NPCing for a full event and still having their character participate. NPCs for the full event learn a great deal about the overall themes for the year, long term plots, strategy, etc.

When someone is called in to help NPC for a few hours we can seperate them out from the other activities at NPC camp. When they are there for the full event, they take a great deal of knowledge back with them, intentionally or not.

Not only does this impact their play, (they are less surprised by events, have already heard of NPC characters, know upcoming plot hooks) it also prevents them from interacting with other pcs who may be acting against their interests while still providing their organization with benefits.

All in all, I would rather see PCs sign up for small time slots, or NPC for a season, rather than 1 event.

[Ug]

I would expect less assistance then. At least, that is my experience.
ESPECIALLY if they player has to give their PC up for a whole season and cannot utilize their allegence, etc.

I personally have never been in favor of players NPCing for a full event and still having their character participate. NPCs for the full event learn a great deal about the overall themes for the year, long term plots, strategy, etc.

When someone is called in to help NPC for a few hours we can seperate them out from the other activities at NPC camp. When they are there for the full event, they take a great deal of knowledge back with them, intentionally or not.

Not only does this impact their play, (they are less surprised by events, have already heard of NPC characters, know upcoming plot hooks) it also prevents them from interacting with other pcs who may be acting against their interests while still providing their organization with benefits.

All in all, I would rather see PCs sign up for small time slots, or NPC for a season, rather than 1 event.

[Onimaster]

I personally have never been in favor of players NPCing for a full event and still having their character participate. NPCs for the full event learn a great deal about the overall themes for the year, long term plots, strategy, etc.

When someone is called in to help NPC for a few hours we can seperate them out from the other activities at NPC camp. When they are there for the full event, they take a great deal of knowledge back with them, intentionally or not.

Not only does this impact their play, (they are less surprised by events, have already heard of NPC characters, know upcoming plot hooks) it also prevents them from interacting with other pcs who may be acting against their interests while still providing their organization with benefits.

All in all, I would rather see PCs sign up for small time slots, or NPC for a season, rather than 1 event.

Wow, I feel so strongly to opposite I am almost offended.

As someone who has had to bounce between playing and NPCing a lot (I dare say more than anyone else) I think that shows very little faith in players, their abilities, and mutual trust.

Most of the information that a player can glean from helping out at npc camp for an event is either moot by the end of the event, things nine times out of ten everyone already knows anyway, or may be radicly different ten minutes later when a gm gets a new idea and runs with it.

We don't have enough full time npcs to not use players, and no one is going to give up playing their charcters a whole year to help Npc. I say we thank our lucky stars we have a group of players that do help out from time to time.

[GM-Mike]

I'm not sure people read Trevor's post carefully. First of all, he didn't just say he wants NPC's for a year. He said that OR sign up for time slots. I would think people would rather sign up for slots than miss a whole event playing their character. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Secondly, he rightly said that players who NPC for an entire event could get valuable info that could effect their own enjoyment of the game. If you learn something at NPC camp (and I have trouble believing Matt that you didn't learn ANYTHING during your time as an NPC that you didn't already know), then you have to alter the way you interact with people in game potentially, change how you react to news because it's no longer a surprise and thus the reaction is fake, etc. No where in his post do I read a shot at people's trust or ability to role play

Now, our plan was to give a monetary discount to people who sign up for time slots. If people do not feel this will be effective, that is good to know and we can consider other options.

Just felt I needed to clear things up,

Mike

[dier_cire]

As a side note, I've never seen the time slot thing work very well, as in order for them to work the pc loses a lot more in playing time. In order to make it on time for npc duty, you have to not enter any plots you think may be happening during that time, as it seems dumb to be like oh, yeah sorry we're in this alternate dimension but I have to go npc, good luck guys! Then, when you come back, it takes time to get back into things to find what's going on, and where people are. I'd say if it was like signing up for a full day of npc duty, it would be the most effective, short of whole events. That way, you'd get up and everyone would know that you weren't there that day and you wouldn't have to worry about where you were come npc time.

Just my experience with npc duty in the past.

Now for large combats and such, that's a whole other area and works fine with people swaping for a bit...

[GM-Mike]

And time slots would most likely work in that way Eric. We would start the time slot at an easy access point such as game on, Saturday morning, and game break, but obviously this isn't completely decided upon yet--still a work in progress

[WayneO42]

I agree with Eric that time slots really dont work very well most of the time. How about we give four options for NPCing:

1) Sign up to NPC for the whole season. You would be considered part of the plot crew and would be invited to the weekly plot meetings (Attendance optional), you would get a full agenda prior to the event. You would gain levels for your character as normal. In addition, you would start the next season with your choice of 12 resources -OR- 6 commodities.

2) Sign up for a whole Event. You would be scheduled for roles prior to the event. Your event would be free, of course, and you would also be able to earn levels for your character as well as spend allegiance. You would also get a discount on your next event. Possible also give an in game bonus.

3) Sign up for a game segment. The game segments are Friday night, Saturday morning until game break, and Game break until Saturday night. You would get a discount on the event and possibly an in game reward like upkeep of a weapon or some armour, some resources, etc.

4) Sign up to be on the "Ready Reserve" list. If we are looking for NPCs for a specific plot/battle at the last minute and you are free, we will grab you to NPC. If you get pulled to NPC you will get an in game reward like resources or upkeep and may get a discount on the next event you attend (Based on how long you NPC)

[Onimaster]

I like it Wayne.