Guilds: Roleplaying Ability

Guilds: Roleplaying Ability

Original Post: One question I would be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on changing the backstory to fit your dreams for your character or guild.

Is it ok if you want your shade to have been born before the turning? Is the unification of all races under one guild a farse? Should my warrior be half centaur/ half aracoix? The topic usually brought up when this is discussed is the object of "fun". Most say,"If that is fun for you, then that is what you should do." I agree. However, I do not think these people should say they are role playing, because they are not. When you play a role is should coincide with the strictures of said "world" and not be drastically different. In shadowbane there are no Ireki that love Elves, you don't go against generations of beliefs for absolutely no reason. (and most reasons people give in their backstories are REALLY weak) I do not think it is right in a world such as this to go against the backhistory, or change it to suite our needs. Sure we all want to be individuals, but all of us can't be "the exception", or it destroys the history itself. I have come to admire Elyot for his ravings, because I know (or atleast hope) that he doesn't really feel this way in real life. However, he has taken his role and ran with it...that of a fanatical follower of the Temple. This is just my opinion, as I have stated. I would love to hear many peoples view points on this. Also keep this discussion /ooc please.

Answer: Hello, everybody! Yes, this is the real Meridian here, finally taking up our long-winded host on his gracious invitation. This is exactly the kind of discussion I love to see about Shadowbane - and you guys are exactly on target in your suppositions. Our goal is to leave lots and lots of gray areas in the histories and legends so that players and guilds can wed themselves to the backstory and become part of the World. I've heard the continual assurances that nobody will ever actually roleplay in this game (or at most maybe 20% will), but we're hoping that once people get more acquainted with the stories (and see the potential benefits from doing so) that we can prove some of the nay sayers wrong. Oh yes - also bear in mind that the histories as we release them may not always be absolutely objectively correct: the role of Malorn in the Turning is only the first major inconsistency to pop up and get analyzed by the fans. More will follow.

Does this mean that you can just disregard the backstories altogether and do whatever you want? I guess... your Shade character can claim that they were born before the Turning, I suppose, but in the end, that's all they'll be able to do - claim it. I could claim that I'm actually the last lineal descendent of Genghis Khan and, incidentally, the true God King of the Nile. Does that mean that the sovreign government of Egypt should yield control of their nation to me? I'm far more likely to either end up as the head of a nutty new age cult or in some institution somewhere... This is perfectly viable in Shadowbane - I can already think of one guild out there who is blatantly defying the Temple of the Cleansing Flame's backstory to fit the guild they've already built. Fine... Just don't be surprised when Saint Malorn launches an inquisition against you. About racial hatreds and guild inclusiveness: in the end, the story will likely suffer for the sake of players getting to play whatever they want with whoever they want. Racial attitudes are not, of course, absolutley universal: I can imagine an Elvish infant being taken in by humble Human foster parents and raised differently, or even an Irekei exiled from his people for displaying too much conscience. Also, bear in mind that the Turning was VERY traumatic, and may have forced some bitter enemies to work together for the sake of their mutual survival...

A little later: Reading over the thread, it seems I may have offended - I didn't mean to rumple any feathers by my post. I've haven't been at this SB thing for nearly as long as some of the Guilds out there. Just stating my opinion and theorizing about some things people can do to resolve their fiction with our fiction. And I'd like to state up front: I did not (and do not) intend to publically mock anybody (not even almost!). Perhaps "defy" was too loaded of a word. It was VERY early in the AM my time. Please substitute "contradict." An individual e-mailed me and asked if the conflicts between their guild concept and the stuff WP has since released made their Guild somehow "invalid," or if the game itself (i.e. the mechanincs) would punish them for what they'd done. They also asked if they should alter their guild concept. I told them no, you don't have to. Just be aware that others (potential FCs included) will be adhering to the fiction more, shall we say, religiously. I gave them an option that would bring their concept into accord with the SB historical stuff, and then I told them how "the World" might size up and react to their extant guild concept and history. They thanked me for the discussion and went their way. There was no mocking involved, and if my prior post on this thread implied criticism, none was intended. Okay, now that that's said: For guilds or groups who find their developed stories in conflict with SBs game history, it's hard to predict what the in-game consequences will be. At this stage, to go back to this guild we're already talking about (I think several News Sites reported the story if you want to know who they are) I don't know for sure if St. Malorn will even be a feature character, and even if his is, I have no idea at this early stage how much real power he'd have in game. If he can rouse the wrath of LOTS of Temple guilds, so be it. Conflict will ensue (the guild didn't seem at all upset by the notion). If Malorn continually rants about that "heathen guild," to no great effect, that's a good story too. Recall that for about a year in the Middle Ages there were no less than three Popes running around Europe, each calling the others Anti-Popes and accusing the others of being the Anti-Christ. It'll certainly make for interesting headlines... There are ways to fit anything into the growing framework of the SB game world if you work hard enough. The Turning was a REAL BAD thing: for a LONG time each world fragment was totally cut off, believing that the World had basically ended. That kind of situation usually makes some people incredibly superstitious and conservative, while others figure that there simply are no rules anymore, and throw their old social values out the window.
Who knows what kind of wierd relationships could have developed between different races and factions? As for the specific example of the Amazons following an Emperor - remember that the Amazons were cut off from home at the time of the Turning (and home is still missing). They may not like having to follow a male's orders, but Amazons certainly don't kill men on sight. Perhaps they signed on as mercenaries with a roving commission (they had to pick some side, right?) and got used to the arrangement. I can imagine that any Emperor would make nice concessions to an elite group of trained Huntresses and Furies, for both their talents and their exotic reputations. Elf and Irekei Rangers grouping together?" That's a lot tougher. Still, an overwhelmingly scary enemy can make for all sorts of bizarre alliances. I mean, the good old US of A spent the better part of a decade supplying, helping, and fighting side by side with Josef Stalin, arguably the most evil man who ever lived! In Constantinople, the Byzantine emperors paid exorbitant sums of money to feed, clothe, and keep drunk an entire company of Wotanic Vikings (the infamous Varangian Guard). Why? Because the mere sight of them scared the Hell out of the Turks. Whoo! And you thought Gradishar was long winded... Bottom line - we're not going to change our "official" world hoistory to accomodate pre-exisitng guild concepts or histories (I mean really, we're going to get guilds from other games entirely! I'd have to go add a Silver Serpent and somebody named Blackthorn), but you don't have to change your guilds just to suit our history either. There will doubtless be many guilds that form without any knowledge of SB's backstory at all. I think any contradictions can be resolved with a little creativity, and who knows? If we can create a game where the story actually matters, then *everyone* could end up role playing, or at least finding the niche that best suits them. A worthy goal, worth striving for. Of course, there'll be lots of combat, too...