Those are good ideas. Can't really afford a cartel (cash issues related to lack of bashing) but I could always write them in a book. Hmm. Know any trades with a wide variety of interesting opprotunities for designs at a low skill count. (I have to hold onto at least 600 lessons to reach Virt when the new guild comes out, though I plan on going Elite as soon as it does, so I will probably recoup the lessons pretty quickly. *ponder*)

People seem pretty insular, and I've always been a bit introverted, (and why I try not to be I end up heavily overcompensating or so I hear) but the making new friends thing is an option. I suppose it's kinda weird that I really enjoy having close friends, but the vulnerability that goes with it makes me really paranoid and I end up pushing them away a lot, but that's more something to hire a therapist over than ask about on a forum LP

As for schticks, I've been told that schticks just piss people off, and it seems a bit conspicuous to just manifest one suddenly. I'll have to think more about it though.

Thanks for the advice.

So... Join somebody else's cartel. Lots of people want designers!

(Forum PMs are a poor substitute for a real mail system. Use my e-mail address to talk to me! I'm always looking for fresh code ideas. )

I don't think schticks piss people off. Annoying ones would, like deciding that you're going to spearhead a project to change the traditional greeting of Gaudiguch to a kick in the shins.

And it doesn't have to be sudden! Think of your character and something quirky about him, something he might do or avoid based on his experiences. Get the drunkard ability in Dramatics and pretend all his health potions are spiked.

The two biggest gimmicks to avoid:

1. Stuttering... oh gawd that has been done to death. There was a time when every second newbie coming into Serenwilde was a stutterer. I think pretty much everyone wanted to strangle them.

2. Accents that look like you are channeling a Blacktalon during a Crow Speak spelling bee.

Lillie stuttered a lot, but that's because he was genuinely terrified of forests for a while because he was scared that Blacktalon druids would find him in Serenwilde and then make the trees and plants get 'im.

But when someone just appears and is stuttering, then, yes. It's irritating.

I once knew a furrikin farmer who grew apples. He decided that he did not like apples, because they were not pears. He chopped down all of his apple trees, and thus had no fruit, and so he went hungry.

/forum rp

Really though, your approach to things has been sort of a bull in a china shop. You charge in, expend a lot of energy, clash with a lot of things, and when the cards don't fall just the way you want them to, you get dissapointed and go full stop.

I mean, I was a guildless tracker until Templars came out. You don't need a guild to make a presence for yourself or define your existence. But you were not driven out of your guild, and I certanly heard no IC ill-will spoken of you. In fact, its very hard to figure out what you DO expect/want.

Maybe you should start there, instead of pointing your finger around at ambiguous expectations of vague topics. What are you trying to accomplish?

Character goals in a nutshell? Gaudiguch supplanting Glomdoring as the basin's superpower. Getting people involved, interested and unified. Mystic research as part of the Illuminati, the material and political success of the Illuminati, making friends, helping encourage people as a whole to keep playing as it improves the environment of the entire game (that's an OOC goal, but a goal nevertheless), and the city in particular.

Most of what I try to do is either in direct or indirect pursuit of those goals, though I admit I'm a bit clumsy about it.

While we currently rival Glomdoring in population. We are no where near supplanting them as a super power. It takes more than villages and culture scores to supplant them, and if we can't even get people to write a short essay to win credits and help our culture by helping our library how are we going to compete for villages without a serious commitment from people in Gaudiguch when it comes to fighting. Especially now when villages = raids for conquest points. Most of the people who say "I want villages" have never even lifted a finger to defend the Fire Plane when someone is randomly killing Fire Lords.

In, other words, without fighters (and that's the crux of all things IRE) we won't get far as a superpower. Even trying to consider that as a goal while saying "I don't like combat" is an automatic loss to it ever happening. Gaudiguch, has nobody as commited to combat as Glomdoring. It's hard enough trying to just get any sort of group cohesion together, which is sad because we probably have the some of the best group skills aside from Glomdoring itself.

I'd ally up with Gaudiguch for Paradigmatics

Yeah, can't beat glom's super-duper-bleeding-manaloss-from-everyone-mega-synergy mechanics wise. BUT that is entirely a moot point with no fighters. Its like saying "The 3000 lbs. Gorilla over there has a flamethrower, and all my short self has is this Koosh ball!" (which will be nerfed down to a kitchen sponge in the next envoy report, because the gorrilla got a koosh strand in its eye and didn't have the proper lines to get it out). (analogy being, it doesn't matter that the gorrilla has a flamethrower and you have a kooshball, because it's a ton-and-a-half gorilla, and you barely break 100lbs.)

There's little more frustrating to an active player who cares about their org than people who want to pick fights and launch unsupportable attacks, but lack the ability or the willingness or the time or resources to back up their positions. This is somewhat like, in the above example, throwing peanuts at the gorrilla through the cage, and then pushing your friends at the gorrilla when it breaks loose and is pissed at a little peanut-tosser.

Choke + badluck + flux/enthrall + greywhispers = holy crap.

Dump Mag and let's go for dinner, my treat.

Hey, I sent you a message offering you dinner and a whore! You ignored it!

Choke + anything = holy crap dead

Badluck + Greywhispers+ Sap would be nasty too.

Well yeah, Sap also meshes well with just about anything.

Gregori, make it happen. I want to be on the Celedoring team.

As I see it, Akraasiel, your current difficulties stem from self-enforced constraints, an unwillingness to make reasonable compromises, and a certain lack of flexibility. Gaudiguch didn't turn out the way you thought it would, and that bothers you; you can't role-play your character exactly the way you'd prefer, and that bothers you; your character's growth is on hold waiting for a yet-to-be-released guild, which restricts what you're able to accomplish mechanics-wise. You also reappeared rather suddenly in Gaudiguch, catalyzed a commotion, and continue to be a vocal critic of the city, which I'm sure has made you subject to some measure of ostracization.

None of these challenges are insurmountable, however, and the damage done by your so-called "bull in a china shop" behavior is far from irreparable. My advice is to relax, bend a little, try new things, and shake off the rigidity of many of your expectations. There is plenty of stuff to do in Lusternia — I can't swing a stick without hitting a dozen things I could (and sometimes should) be doing. If you're not finding stuff to do, you aren't looking hard enough.

If you absolutely need to wait for that new guild to be released before your character's life gets back on track, take a break. There's nothing wrong with going on sabbatical to collect your thoughts, re-arrange your priorities, and await a critical event you're looking forward to and depending on.

Have you tried simply asking someone - the CL, one of the councils, one of the ministers, etc., "Hey, what can I do to help? I've got idle hands, put em to work."

I'm sure there's plenty to do that have nothing to do with hunting or fighting - considering that the city is still really new and all. Maybe offer to proof existing org helps for typos, etc. I'm sure someone would appreciate it. Offer to become a Library Aide and go through all the books in the library and make sure that they all have proper subjects listed. I bet your Librarian would love you. Do you know anything about commodity quests? Offer to teach a class on it. Do you know anything about influencing? Again, a class. Organize a game or contest. Find someone who's written a play and offer to be an actor in it - or write one yourself and put a call out for actors.

There are SO MANY THINGS TO DO in this game that, seriously, if you're bored and have nothing to do, you're just trying to be.

But that's just how I see it.

Oh, and Gregori, that essay contest is still on right? My alt is gonna do one, I've just had limited net access this last few days.