Lords and Ladies Game

[3543thrh67]

Okay. I prefer to play a lords and ladies style game. I have no clue where to look, anymore, to find them. I am not specific on any sort of time period. Any suggestions?

[EMDA]

You've probably seen the advertisements for these since they've all been talked about here, but only three options for MUSHes come to mind right now: Kushiel's Debut, Arx, and Five Kingdoms. I can't give any recommendations personally, but I do have a good friend who's a big fan of Arx. I was turned off by some of the mechanics, but I found the staff extremely helpful and the lore they've worked out is interesting.

You might also want to take a look at The Inquisition: Legacy or Burning Post II. I can't give recommendations for either of these either, but from what I've heard one or the other might fit the bill.

[TimmyZ]

@EMDA Five Kingdoms - Fifth Kingdom (a Fifth is an Irish province with a High King) would be glad to have you if you're interested. While more popular during US Day/Euro Evening, we'll be looking to expand on this soon into US evenings. We're HIgh Arthurian in focus; high gothic theme in 6th Century setting, works such as Mallory the cannon versus any actual historical time points. Best viewed as an alternate history, but if you like ~15th century Arthurian tales, that's the canon.

It takes place after the fall of Camelot when the Isle of Britain returns to chaos and numerous Kings. In this chaos, Ronain, a son of Tristan and Isolde has returned to Ireland to reclaim the birthright of Isolde, Princess and daughter of Morholt (was to marry King Marc but fell in love with Tristan, Morholt and Tristan pretty much off each other like most of the love stories of high Arthurian tales).

With some knights of Camelot he's restored the Fifth of Meath, which is now the Fifth of Kidare (taken from Talesins's Kadeir Teyrnon - welsh for Chair of the Prince, Kadeir duel meaning chair or stone base (mountain)). The group mostly plays members of the court of Ronain, but we're expanding to build up the houses now which may lead into house politics. Of the other primary Fifths, Connact and Leinster have agreed to at least some form of truce to let Kidare establish itself, but Kidare is embroiled in raids and border skirmishes with Ulster at present. Munster had been relatively silent, but embassy both ways shows interest in some form of pact to allow Kidare to focus on Ulster, but the players are discovering their may be more to this as the plot unfolds.

We're finishing up a tourney now that has involved some revelations, mystery knights, and meetings between Brehons of Munster and Ulster (brehon is a bard/poet that keeps the laws - Ireland follows oral traditions, bards are integral to society).

I can vouch Kushiels is fun as well, I just like Athurian Legend and Arx seems pretty popular right now. I don't know the other two referenced by @emda, alas.

[kitteh]

Another wannabe L&L player here, so happy to see some options. Am doing Arx and Fifth Kingdom right now (both have their pros and cons, Fifth definitely needs more players), and I've tried Kushiel's in the past but always had problems getting in touch with staff while apping.

@EMDA I'd not heard of the last two (I guess I'd never looked at MUDs)... but they seem to be versions of the same game? Is there some drama behind this? I don't want to play on someone's angry protest game, really!

[Pandora]

I've played all of these except for Five Kingdoms, Arx is far and away the trendiest of the lot currently, it's very active and easy to get involved, you'll never be lacking for RP, especially with the types of characters you tend to play. Kushiel has the benefit of very stable lore, being grounded in a series of novels. Players can get a little snappy on the public channel, easy enough to ignore. The Inquisition: Legacy & BurP2 are both based on the same setting with King Dav and burning the mages, etc. A little more code-heavy than a MUSH, which is a plus in my book, but it's not particularly invasive.

[3543thrh67]

@Pandora I find Arx harder to feel part of things on Arx. Probably because I am more inclined to let people decide if they want to RP with me or not.

[Cupcake]

The thing I like about Arx is that you can do as little or as much as you want. There are lots of external stimuli on Arx that can inspire rp, but like any game, there is a certain degree of "make your own fun". If you don't come up with ideas and implement them, you're going to have to hitch your star onto someone's wagon. But there's a thriving event calendar, multiple societies to join, and plenty of niches that don't feel like they've been overdone.

[Kanye Qwest]

@icanbeyourmuse Wait, are there games in which people aren't allowed to decide whether or not they want to RP with other people?

[3543thrh67]

@Kanye-Qwest I've seen questionable things done by players and staff. Especially in the Lords and Ladies genre. Also, for me, I have epic concerns about people feeling 'obligated' to RP with someone that poses at them.

[Kanye Qwest]

@icanbeyourmuse Still not really sure what that has to do with letting people decide to rp with you making it hard to get involved in Arx, but ok!

[3543thrh67]

@Kanye-Qwest You've said yourself that people need to push their way into RP. I am far too lazy to look up your posts. I merely stated /my/ difficulty is probably due to how /I/ am. I didn't say anything about it difficult for anyone else. I've expressed multiple tiems on how I am.

[Roz]

I've never encountered a game that didn't require proactivity.

[3543thrh67]

@Roz I'm out and about.. well.. I keep to more quiet corners. I've expressed multiple times that what I do is little things like 'waves' or 'smiles' and not force engagement on people. Except people I spend time with regularly. I already know they don't mind my engaging them and that they like my company. If I don't know them, I stick to just trying to allow them to have an opening to join the scene.

[Catsmeow]

@icanbeyourmuse

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on tv, but maybe it's a bit of social anxiety? I understand the need to not feel like you are an obligation. It's a mindset reset. If you are in public place and people enter the room after you are there - then they came to RP with you. They are choosing you. Remember that. However, people also need a bit to engage them to RP off of you too. I know it can be hard to engage 'strangers' that you haven't RPed with, but use an NPC wait staff if in that sort of establishment? I'm not watching the RP, so I'm not sure the issue.

I know that when I played Arx, people were always down for a scene. Of course, it helped that I would message and ask them for tea. I had a goal to meet every character on game. You laugh. I came close. Staff was great about saying that yeah I could know new people were around (mainly because my char at the time was social like that). So if you are struggling for something to engage in, maybe you could come up with a social theory IC and have to poll people about it? They have the chance to say "Nah, but thanks bro." -- which you don't have to take personally. Some people like to RP in their groups too. It also sets up something for you to be able to approach (like those mall people) and be like, "Might I have a moment of your time?" It could create a beautiful IC friendship or rivalry that will get you RP and expand your RP circle. This is just a suggestion though.

[Cupcake]

@icanbeyourmuse said in Lords and Ladies Game:

I've expressed multiple times that what I do is little things like 'waves' or 'smiles' and not force engagement on people.

I think a lot of people these days look for something a little more meaty than just a simple wave or smile. Even if that's all your character is doing, a more thorough acknowledgement of the other person's presence indicates one is welcome. I know how hard it is to get past anxiety, but if someone doesn't want to rp with you, its their responsibility to extricate themselves from your approach, not yours to worry about it.

(In other words, fuck 'em.)

[3543thrh67]

@Cupcake I do try to aknowledge people when they arrive in a scene in some form. Like 'X waves at Y in greeting' or 'X glances at Y to note their presence.' etc. I specifically include their name. Unless it is a LARGE scene (Since, to me, there is no way you can talk/acknowledge every single person that arrives. It doesn't make sense to notice and talk to 50 million people!). Then I only nudge at a person if they seem like they are disengaged (provided I don't miss their poses in screen spam).

[Thenomain]

@icanbeyourmuse

My proactivity is to throw hooks into scene sets. The intent is to say, "Are you interested in this?" I personally love it when someone else offers to set a new scene because I am absolutely horrible at it, but I try to thank them by diving right into whatever they've offered.

And that's a lot of what this hobby is about. You don't just pick and choose who you will and won't interact with, but you are there to start a communication about what that means, though poses and scene sets if you'd like, or through OOC pages and forum discussions. Hell, even the game you log into says a lot of what you're looking for.

If you're having trouble getting involved, saying it's you is fine, by the way. Even saying it's the game is fine, because most of us are adults and understand what you mean. You can reach out and let others decide whether or not they are going to help you specifically get involved, or work with you to find the hooks that you are looking for.

Nobody has a system that absolutely works. It takes all of us to make a good game culture.

[Hella]

@Thenomain said in Lords and Ladies Game:

@icanbeyourmuse

My proactivity is to throw hooks into scene sets. The intent is to say, "Are you interested in this?" I personally love it when someone else offers to set a new scene because I am absolutely horrible at it, but I try to thank them by diving right into whatever they've offered.

This is a lie! You don't RP. Everyone knows you don't RP!!!!

p.s. I like Arx right now. It's been a good place, and active.

[Thenomain]

@VulgarKitten

I would RP with you there but I've been tacitly banned from Arx, sssssssoooooooo...

[kitteh]

@icanbeyourmuse

Fwiw, that's generally all that's required for me to pick someone out in a scene and pose at or engage them. Just seeing my name in someone else's pose is a basic flag for 'RP maybeeeee?'

There are... plenty of times and scenarios where it can be hard to get even that. Especially on a bigger game like Arx. So I'm not going to be picky about how someone signals interest. As long as they display 'hey I am RPing here and I see you RPing and acknowledge your character's existence' that's... probably enough?

At least to pose back. At a point, the RP itself requires more significant engagement, but that's not usually hard if the person isn't a potato.