The Shofangi talk reminded me of another thing that is kinda bad and is potentially related to lore.
DON'T FOCUS EVERYTHING DOWN THE LINES OF "COMBAT", "WRITING", "SOCIAL STUFF"
I've done it, others have done it, I'd bet nearly every guild probably has some level of it somewhere. And you'll probably find that if you look for a "aspect of combat" or the like you'll probably easily find it somewhere in far too many places.
*breathes*
Mkay, so the reason that I feel this is poor rp is that ultimately the aspects that we assign to these roles are assigned such to try and tie together nice advancement systems.
The Hartstone have had a few of these, when I first joined I think they had just changed to the "new system" whereby all newbies were on the "Fawn" path and they went to either the "Buck" (combat), "Stag" (scholarly), or "Doe" (commune / influencing) paths.
That went on for a while, and then there was a big push to changing things which eventually resulted in another set of paths... but they kinda came back to the same things effectively.
And when I rejoined the Hartstone like a few years later they'd watered them back down to three paths.
My issue here is that... well for example, the broken stone is "the stone of combat" it's something that had carried on for a while last I played, it's convenient to form tasks around and try to tie things in but ultimately... the broken stone is (like everything in the Hartstone) far more philosophical than that.
What it was, what it represents, that it shattered when the taint struck (If people still insist that Crow turned up and smashed it... you're just wrong). It combines to show an aspect of who the Hartstone are culturally, there is mourning there, there is loss there, there is pain, the vision shows what our enemies think of our pain.
It is a stone that shows the Hartstone WHY they fight, but ultimately... so does every stone, every stone in that grove represents something that the Hartstone would seek to protect and preserve with their lives.
Similarly, I can definitely see Doe being an aspect one could identify with as a defender. but she gets kinda relegated to being the influencer... because we need an influencer aspect.
Ultimately, I think this annoys me because it kinda results in the dilution of these aspects of your lore.
Sure, it lets some elder go up to a youngin' and be all wise, telling them how their fighting marks them as fit for the path of the spirit of swording.
But I guess it kinda also makes things feel really similar when the ideal behind this is to tie your lore to an advancement system.
I guess my suggestion is that you should tie your lore to your advancements by making an advancement system that makes sense for your guild even if that doesn't necessarily mean you have neat cookie cutter paths that are forcibly tied to concepts in the guild lore unless it makes super sense for it.
As an example, I think there are definitely a few guilds that could "ditch" the whole combat line.
You could definitely have a full and robust combat training and advancement thing laid out, but like... I'd expect the Institute would probably focus more on your degrees and research projects in a lore sense while combat is like an extracurricular activity.
With an exasperated sigh, you say, "One moment please, I'm threatening a muffin in a box!"
0
EveriineWise Old Swordsbird / BrontaurIndianapolis, IN, USA
This is why the Serenguard don't have a vastly complicated Advancement system--we try to avoid all of the problems you just talked about. There are tasks for COL, GNT, and GR1. Once you hit GR2, you make your own way in the world. There are optional systems you can follow, and if we're following the general rule of "three", they are to get appointed to leadership posts, earn Stripes, and the Spiritual Paths. But they aren't exclusive at all, and only one (the Stripes) are task based. We like the KISS way of doing things, whereas I think the more complicated and complex the system is, the more likely it is to cause trouble. Do good things for tribe and people, you get rewarded.
Everiine is a man, and is very manly. This MAN before you is so manly you might as well just gender bend right now, cause he's the manliest man that you ever did see. His manly shape has spurned many women and girlyer men to boughs of fainting. He stands before you in a manly manerific typical man-like outfit which is covered in his manly motto: "I am a man!"
Daraius said: You gotta risk it for the biscuit.
Pony power all the way, yo. The more Brontaurs the better.
That ultimately may be the best way, as the majority of players tend to stop bothering with advancement the minute guild rank stops mattering (GR 3-5). From a purely leadership perspective, it's a lot of work to pour into something no one will use anyways.
A 'confirmation' based system would be cool too, especially for more regimented/mystical guilds. Once you've reached some plateau and generated enough 'house points', you can undergo another novice-advancement-esque trial and be 'confirmed' at some new prestige rank. For instance, the HS novice advancement narrative is preparing for Inception into the blooded Circle of Druids, as represented in the big ending ritual. Some sort of system in which every 5 GR levels you can undertake a new set of trials to receive some further investment would be a nice melding of the two, especially if there are 'ancillary honors' set up, like the stripes.
Comments
Nothing to see here, move along