[quote]I do not have a group. I don’t see that I have any real options to break into the game other than
a. join solo and try to find a group in play
b. try to find a group online and join them
[/quote]
I wouldn’t recommend b, personally: with the best will in the world, people recruiting online can’t always give an accurate description of their group in a farce-book post. Unless you already know them OC, it’s generally better to leave it for the field.
Which is exactly what I did last event
Wandering around on the first night as an itinerant Hakima looking for a coven that would be (a) willing and (b) able to work with him created a lot of game for all concerned and gave me the best possible introduction to the nation camp - even though as a Day mage I was pretty sure where I would end up before I started (there’s only one active Day coven on the coast)
It’s not hard to find a group IC - some groups only recruit in the field, and covens are ALWAYS looking for new members with the relevant lore(s) and a mana site! Intranational PVP may kick off between groups occasionally - although attempts at character assassination are more common than actual assassination from what I have seen - but coming in as an independent you are unlikey to be a target until you actually join one of the groups involved, and it will give you the advantage that you can see what the lie of the land is before you commit yourself to one side or the other (or join a group that is deliberately staying out of it…)
I would agree with Ferrero about joining groups online. There are some groups who you can guarantee will pipe up every time there is a new player and try to recruit them; to me they seem like they just want numbers and that makes me suspicious.
Assuming you don’t know anyone either to team up with or who can recommend a group for you, my suggestion is to come up with the information that will help people to help you. I suspect there would be suitable groups in most nations, so which one(s) do you find appealing? Do you have particular parts of the game you most want to explore? Are there things you want to avoid at all costs (eg battles or magic or religion etc). Do you have an idea of the playstyle you favour? ‘Playstyle’ might be the hardest of these to define, but is very helpful in finding the right people. Some folks want to play cutthroat politics at the highest levels and will be pushing to be at the top of whatever tree they are in. Others might just want a quiet life and to soak up atmosphere. Then you have groups who think the most important thing is the interpersonal roleplay between their characters (House Novarion, I am looking at you), regardless of what their characters’ ambitions are.
It’s less about where you are and more about what you’re doing when it comes to provoking intra-national conflict.
Mostly though I think the size of your “group” plays a big part.
If you’re a big group, perhaps big enough to “Brute Force” getting a group member into a Senatorial/Synod/Conclave/Bource position etc then chances are that various political stuff will happen around your group, if not necessarily at you directly.
Individuals and small numbers will rarely immediately provoke the same sort of reaction.
Of course what you actually say and do is going to be the thing that creates the vast amount conflict.
I have a different take on group size. Group size will bring you more resources, more votes for gaining senatorship, more titles available, etc. All great things. However, roleplay determines almost everything you do.
I have a fair amount of power and influence purely from my own making; strolling around, using information, making friends, being In The Right Place, and connecting Big Powerful Important People with other Big Powerful Important People. I make use of those big groups to gain my own power. I do have a Big Powerful group too, but I work almost entirely independently of them except for when they need me to Fix something, or deal with an Eternal (including acting as a neutral party between my group and another)
Big groups give you easier access to Things, but if you really want it, you can get Things without them. With good roleplay and some quick wits, you can get a Title or Bourse Resource through dealing and cunning, or from making people love you for who you are. More importantly, plenty of Big Groups will happily “buy” you into a position, because they have so much resource to throw around, so they can pretend that they aren’t the ones holding the cards against their opponents. Being a powerful individual is a valuable resource to groups, letting you be part of many instead of one =3
Marco, of the Brass Coast, spends almost all her time drinking and being obnoxious and loud, and she’s being put forward to get their Ilium Bourse Resource. Her own Egregore got a priest to put Surprisngly Wise on her soul because she spoke out against the general consensus.
The more you put in to your character, the more everyone gets out of the game. The more you do to involve others, the more everyone gets out of the game. Don’t feel you are constrained by group size, because personality rules all.
OK, I’m broadly convinced that there’s relatively little need to worry about being actively robbed or even killed by the first person I meet when alone*. Less convinced that I’ll simply be decided as ‘not worth the time’ and ignored/dismissed, but I’ll go with it.
Despite LARPing since 2002, I’ve had a few years of hardly getting to any events and not doing other RPGs (eg D&D, Vampire - I play Skyrim and WOW but that’s different!), so my LARP confidence is not that great. What I’m really looking for is an easy ‘in’. Yes, maybe to a larger group (a couple of dozen pcs?), maybe to a smaller one.
In terms of what I can see of the game, I’m spit between military and magic. Killing all the barbarians was what got my attention from the start. The Military Council seems cool, if a bit limited to what they can actually do in uptime. Plus is has a strict player cap: 1 general + 1 adjutant per army means 4 for most nations. Which makes me think there’s very limited opportunities for newcomers in even the most militaristic nations! As for combat itself, I’m an OK melee fighter and fairly decent archer but there’s plenty that are lots better and I’m not sure how much combat opportunity there really is.
Ritual magic also caught my eye when the rituals went up. Battlefield incantations less so, but I keep jotting down half-formed ideas for ways to perform rituals, especially in Day. I know myself in ritual circles in other games well enough to know that I like having structure and people I know well to bounce ideas off.
In terms of the other houses, I’d avoid the Bourse at all costs! Economics and trade in LARP bores me so much. Some of the pastoral side of the priest role appeals a lot more than the political role of the Synod. I don’t think I’d like to be Senator, but I’ve been reading the senate motions and can see why some work and some get struck down by the magistrates. OTOH, I didn’t see Constitutional Lawyer on the Archetypes page.
This has totally happened to me at more than one LRP. Maybe I just have that kind of face.
Day Ritual (especially Eyes of The Sun And Moon) gives you a license to gate-crash the Military Council - I literally did just that last event as they had already started by the time we finished scrying one of the provinces
Remember that anyone except a Senator can attend the MC when it is in session, but you have to be invited to speak. So it’s not as hard as it sounds to get involved
In my experience, unless you’re obviously a significant liability, finding a group that suits you within a nation shouldn’t be a problem.
My group prides itself on being a welcoming face of Urizen, and we’ve absorbed a good handul of those looking for a spire, all of whom are still members and doing good. We’ve not turned anyone away - in fact, with the Urizen emphasis on education you’d have to be a screaming lunatic to have no chance of admission, if only as a project. I’d imagine that there will be similar groups in other nations the same size as Urizen or bigger. And the smaller ones (Dawn, Orcs) have cultural routes - Dawn’s questing knights and the Orcs all being about sticking together for the common good.
One route worth thinking about is not spending your 8 points and doing the ‘apprentice looking for a home’ thing - spending your xp when you have a niche you like. Having two legs and a mouth (and one handed weapons, armour and a buckler if you like) gets you a long way in Empire.
[quote=“Anwar”]Day Ritual (especially Eyes of The Sun And Moon) gives you a license to gate-crash the Military Council - I literally did just that last event as they had already started by the time we finished scrying one of the provinces
Remember that anyone except a Senator can attend the MC when it is in session, but you have to be invited to speak. So it’s not as hard as it sounds to get involved [/quote]
Anyone? I thought it was just Generals, Adjutants, the Warmage, (the Throne?) and synod priests exercising Witness that could. Or is it more they can’t be thrown out, whereas any other non-Senator citizen is permitted but can be asked to leave.
Being present is not the same as being involved, although it could be a way in. Jim suggested earlier in this thread turning up at a meeting looking obviously priestly and taking notes.
“Each general is permitted to bring an adjutant to the council with them, but only those with a vote on the council can speak unless invited to do so. In practice the rule is rarely enforced unless the tent is crowded or those present are being disruptive.”
From what I have seen, the requirement that you must be invited to speak is more likely to be enforced than the limit on 1 General + 1 Adjutant per army (although that may be - and is - invoked when they want to clear the tent…). In practise, there are runners etc. coming and going with messages for the generals all the time.
