[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Kaie]

Not gonna lie, I'm a fan of the Katar and I've considered introducing it to Kaie as her main weapon. Out of all the weapons I looked at when first considering a good fit for her character, it was definitely my personal favorite. I find it often overlooked. Maybe you'll find it works for your PC better than I think it will for mine in her current stage.

A rope dart could be a cool thing to try out as well. Then again I bet there's some cool ways you could put together something unique. Maybe find qualities from some of the weapons you like and combine them into one? Good luck!

[Caelum]

For the record, I am totally accepting skill points in Smartassery. Thanks for the grade!

[Gossamer]

That's funny Caelum, because under our current rule system you can't go over 100/100. So I couldn't give you any even if you wanted them.

[Caelum]

Oooh. Well played.

[Timshel]

Hey Goss, I saw these and thought of some bird-like dolls you posted earlier on here. Thought you might find them cool:



Source

[Gossamer]

. Making Music Very Cool. I don't care who you are, if you are not enchanted by this, you are dead inside. Ps. OMG to the previous post... soooo cute. So very cute! .

[Kreig Messer]

....I wanna ride those swings and make music D:

[Gossamer]

. High Level Well Established PC's Otherwise known as PC's that get the shaft. There has been something on my mind that has wanted to come forth in a scrap for quite some time. It’s a dicey subject, for sure, because depending on the reader the view of the issue will change dramatically. That being said, doesn’t every reader have a different view that may be dramatically different from others? One would hope that's true since we thankfully don’t all live in a world of clones. Anyhow, I have somehow managed to get off track before I even hopped on the train so let me try to get to what I wanted to say as quickly as possible. Having an older character on Mizahar isn’t easy. I don’t mean ‘agewise’ older, but I mean older in terms of being established and having been played for years. These characters have usually been there, done that, and have numerous baggage to show for it. Their thoughts and dreams are fleshed out. Their needs are well defined. They have goals and things they strive for and frankly their players have had a lot me time to think about them in terms of real fake people than the newer pcs that have just been birthed. And sometimes, equally important, their players know how to drive plot, write threads to max out whatever the purpose of the thread was, and to overall have fun. So basically when they write they get XP seemingly effortlessly. And when they plot they get things done. Amazing right? Everyone wants one of these characters. They have it all. The term ‘all’ tends to include gnosis marks, high level skills, money, power, and sometimes even rank in a city or domain where they exist. To the outsider looking in, this is a perfect world and something all newbies tend to sigh over and either say 'someday' or 'grrrrrrr lucky bum'. The reactions vary drastically. But I'm here to tell you something you might not understand about high level older characters. Life isn't easy for them. Why? Let me tell you. People often don't want to thread with a pc that could crush you with a single thought or a flick of their reimancy. They think the PC won't like them or won't be impressed by them or might not have anything in common with a less established new pc just starting out. Lots of times these older PCs have to scramble for threads, ask people to plot with them, and you know what? They rarely get invited on adventures or included in group plans unless those adventures or group plans are their ideas. This wouldn't e such a big deal except it always irritates me to no end that you have a CS there you can read for another PC, know a lot about them by just reading that CS, and make decisions for your PC based on their PC's CS. That means you shouldn't in all reality KNOW what their skillset is IC. So you shouldn't know they are powerful, wealthy, or batshit crazy... whatever the issue might be. Pure and simple, by doing this you take OOC straight IC and let fear of what might happen IC dominate OOC activity. Another thing people don't realize is that well established PCs are capped at 100/100 skill points. There's no way to go higher. So everyone that logs on and creates a pc has an opportunity to tap and shatter that glass ceiling and join the top ranks of PCs in terms of skillset at any time. They just have to put some effort into it. For instance... this season, I've written and soloed my way to competent in two new skills where my pc hasn't had any prior experience in the skills. And really, I didn't take the three months to do it. I did it in a month. So.. taking that road, in a year I can be master, sooner if I really want to push it - as fast as four months. So that means those high skilled pcs mean less than ever if there's no restriction on people joining them. And still they get the shaft.. often in big ways. Modertors don't design stories around them too often. Generic stories usually fit newbies better. People are intimidated to post or ask them for threads. Folks don't realize they often want to help get new folks started and perhaps springboard some RP for them... so with that mind I thought I'd make a little DO's and DON'TS List. DOs DON'Ts Assume they want to thread with you. Assume they'd rather not thread with you. Ask them for threads/loans/advice/knowledge. Ignore them and pretend they don't exist. Talk to them IC & OOC. Clam up and be too nervous to chat. They are just RPers like you. Approach them. Wait for them to approach you. Accept they exist. Get jealous since they've worked hard and have earned it. Respect their PCs. Be afraid they will automatically kill your PC. Plan things and approach them with a plan. Rely on them to plan everything since they are more experienced. Talk to them about your dreams. Ignore their wants and needs. Offer to help them. Odds are you can. Leach off them by taking and never giving to their plots or stories. I hope you guys think about this in the future. Goss .

[Annalisa Marin]

Yes. Holy petch, yes.

There are not many things that legitimately annoy me during my Miza experience, I love this site and enjoy sinking time into it for as long as I can get away with. My biggest peeve is when new players take one look at my PC and are like, nope, don't want to thread with her because she might annihilate me. I wanted Anna to reach the upper tiers of magic to expand the disciplines in new and creative ways, not so I could scare people away from wanting to thread with her. Let me outline the time I noticed a beginning in the shift of my experience.

When I first started Anna getting threads was the easiest thing in the world, I'd ask and then boom we were in business. Sometimes I wouldn't even need to ask, people would approach me for threads all the time. They saw a fellow newbie, someone they felt they could relate to and even though she had some offensive magic she could be relied upon for a threading opportunity. Zeltiva is pretty much up there with Syliras in terms of being newb central after all.

Then, when Anna was approved for her first mark of Chaon, folks started to get a little leery when they noticed it. When she became expert in reimancy it started to get a little worse, like I was in one of the most populated domains and finding a thread started becoming a concerted effort in the grand scheme of things. Just expert mind you, not master which I only reached this season. It was like the further along I pushed Anna the less people seemed to want to thread with me.

Fortunately, Sahova possesses players who are older than me, like Rayage, or Thomas. I haven't gotten to thread with them yet, but we've plotted about this or that in the past. Still I also noticed something else you outlined, that when it looks like you are the more experienced one those who are newer expect you to do all the work. Its really frustrating when you send a PM to someone looking for a thread, providing ideas of your own but never getting more than a 'that sounds like fun' or 'I like it'. No reciprocation, no indication of what they would like to do with you.

Anna hasn't even been around that long, not even a year, I can't even imagine the isolation even older characters like Kavala, Wrenmae, or Leo suffer from. Also master skills are simple to get really if you put in the work, if you want something badly you don't just stare at the screen and say 'someday'. No, you buckle down and go at it like its something you really want. I only started on Voiding a season ago in terms of actual training and I'm getting closer to competent with each thread. You can do it, its not an unreachable ceiling, its not some mystical realm beyond you. I've had Anna for less than a year and I plugged along to getting a mastery in reimancy. If a dunce like me can achieve that imagine what you new players can do.

I love new players, some might not stick around for long sure but how many would if they had actually decided, 'you know, I think I'll PM this veteran player for threads and plot with them.' Don't think you aren't good enough and don't be afraid just because a PC could murder you horribly. This is Mizahar, even without threading with a high level PC you could still die in horrible ways. Not threading with people simply because of stats, posts, wordcount, time or whatever is like not going outside ever because you are afraid that you will be struck by lightning.

Sorry to drop this little rant in your Scrap, Goss, but I've needed to get that out of my system for a while.

[Kalina]

I know I'm not a particularly long-standing member, but I've been around the world of RP for a while so I guess I could add my tuppence. I have to admit that, on occasion, I shy away from PCs with incredible skillsets. But I don't generally hide from the ones that have maxed out a bunch of skills. My logic being that people who have maxed out generally don't look for thread with the sole goal of gaining Skill Points, which a lot of players with very high (yet not maxed out) skill sets do. On my other characters, this isn't an issue and I like gaining SPs and Lores as much as the next person, but I don't write so that I can gain skills. I gain skills so that I can write. If that makes sense. This particular PC has trouble getting (and completing) threads because she's generally useless at offering the other player anything "worthwhile", other than a bit of fun. which I think is quite sad, really, that the threads I do get abandoned because the other player decides it's not worth their time (I'm paraphrasing here, but that's the general gist). Having said that, I've never assumed that it was because they didn't want to RP with me. Personally, I think that would be a little egotistical to assume that someone was actively trying to avoid me, for whatever reason. But the main reason why I seek out long standing players is because they have their characters fleshed out. They know what they're doing, where they're going and what they want. They're able to guide me in planning threads so that we can make the most out of what would otherwise just be a social meet-and-greet. And because of that, I'm learning how to set up more meaningful threads with people, so that they hopefully won't get bored and we have to abandon the thread. Older PCs are also invested in their characters. Which means that they're unlikely to leave at the drop of a hat, like some newer characters, who are created and then never logged into again. As a general rule, I've taken to asking those players to set up the threads (unless I approached them initially and it makes sense). Because, on this character I set up a thread which I know I'm just going to turn into a solo in a few months, due to the player leaving.My other PCs are the same... and my inbox is filled with messages of "Okay, I'll go do it in a sec!" and I check a month later to see the player has never logged back in. Which is why I love threading with the veterans of the site. In no way am I trying to shove all new characters in the same boat. Many stick around, and many are alts... so I'm willing to give them all a chance if they want a thread... it's possible that many probably do leave because older players might have the same logic I do, after it's happened to them a few times. It's not something that cannot really be helped, and it's a vicious cycle: New Player leaves because no RPs - Older Player realises s/he won't get a response - Older Player avoids New Players - New Player doesn't get RPs. That, too, is sad, because nigh on all players are welcoming to newbies, yet they might hold slight reservations at the possibility that their time and effort might be fruitless if said newbie leaves after a few posts. Same goes for characters created two years ago with only 20 posts. "What have you been doing?" often runs through my mind in such instances. It's a fine line, and I've been guilty of judging people based on longevity/stats, but I think many others have been too. What it comes down to is that there are problems with players on all levels, and it just comes down to giving it a go and seeing where it gets you. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. (Sorry for the essay also!)