Beyond the Mundane?

[Nom]

Picking up on some thoughts about consent, RP and the supernatural...

Starting thoughts:

The castle environment is high fantasy. There's a lot of magic around. Ghosts, cursed drinks, a Sorceress, a Wizard, Pegasi, Fae, moths that study languages and talk with their wings, ...
The castle environment is not Horror, which often involves very mundane chars trying to survive against supernatural powers. There is a player expectation that chars will be able to meaningfully interact with the fantastic elements.
The mechanisms for doing so are rather ill-defined. This is caused by lack of implementation (patience), deliberate plot secrecy (good), and long response times to SPs (problematic, but they're human too).
Many of us come from environments where we RP in small groups, and thus can have personal interaction with the GM, and cooperatively craft plots accordingly. This is obviously not nearly as practical in Marrach.


So where is the line between believable fantasy and warping the game reality? What should be quantified in mechanics (precise, but restricting), and what should be left to players (much more flexible, but hard to put guidelines on)? How do we deal with a loosely defined shared reality when every player has a different picture of reality?

It's not just the supernatural. Consider Eldarion's thread about brawling - what is reasonable? What is genuine RP, and what is hero-powering your own char at the expense of others?

Now, obviously a player who claims for their char powers that rival Serista and expects others to play along is kidding themselves. But what about a char that is super-sensitive to ghosts? Or a char who cannot see them? Is this reasonable - as players, we don't know. Without the close personal interaction with a GM, questions on reality - natural or supernatural - are very ill defined.

Let me close with two thoughts:

Expect that other players will not share your view of reality. This goes both ways. I've seen both "Sorcery is the ONLY way PCs can do magic" and "I expect you to play along with whatever I do" - neither shows a lot of respect for other players.
Expect that the SPs will not share your view of reality. They know stuff you don't. They're trying to get stuff implemented. And they may need to reality shift sometimes to keep things consistent.

[Medb]

OK, so now I am really confused. In the other thread the major players are distancing themselves from Jacicus's plot because it was not authorized.

While I understand the greater issues that surround the 'possession' plot, I am thinking it illustrates a greater problem.

No one was willing to just go along with an interesting plot, it had to be approved first. Everyone is mad now because it wasn't explicitly authorized. Is that story telling? Did Juliet say 'Well, Romeo, I'll fall in love with you if it is an authorized part of the story arch?'

I'm genuinely interested in the responses to this. I think that the anger I'm perhaps reading into the later posts on the yaoi inprisonment thread is a sign of something.

[SC Felis]

It isn't because Jacicus' plot wasn't SP authorized, it is because she told people it was and on that basis they participated.

Anyone can participate in any sort of plot. But one that claims a lot of power that is all RPed and does not sing in harmony with the rest of the castle tends to be one that people distance themselves from. Especially when a number of those involved were involved because they believed it was a part of a larger plot, all SP-sanctioned.

That's what we've got here.

[Gareth]

Originally posted by Medb
No one was willing to just go along with an interesting plot, it had to be approved first. Everyone is mad now because it wasn't explicitly authorized.

Actually, there were a lot of people who allowed this plot to go along... Then it went too far... then it kept going... Then it crashed through the barricades... and kept going.

It never stopped, and it grew all out of proportion. The plot began by one person started involving many, who then added to it, and it further spun off side-plots...

The claims the player made got more and more outrageous, intricate, and tenuous in its credibility.

This had the okay makings of a good plot... then it devolved rapidly.

:: poof! ::

-Pete.

[Ra'Dorcha]

To touch on something from the first post, Sorcery is not the ONLY magic in the castle.

Sorcery
Wizardry
Alchemy (probably more a science)
Religious Miracles (see Natura Balanus)
Whatever Hedge Magic Hetchel does (unless it's been said and I missed it that she knows sorcery)
Fae/Avalon magic

Of course, so far nobody has recalled from a past life anything practical (beyond eme which is a language). And of the above, only sorcery and any miracles of the faith currently have visible ways to learn them ...

Oh yeah, I forgot about Necromancy. Sorcery is not the only magic. But there are IC ways to gain the knowledge. I can come in and claim to be a grand illusionist or the best swordsman in all the world. The only difference would be stick a sword in my hand against someone who's been in the castle studying and you can prove I'm not the best swordsman. As long as people buy the parser abuse magics though, there is no way to prove I'm not a grand illusionist.

I would go into my personal views on why I think people do such plots and why other people play along. But best to make one point at a time.

Ra'