There's a lot of potential in what you propose, but as people have mentioned, a lot of considerations need to be taken into account. One thing I have noticed that hasn't really been addressed before is what I'll call "genre". When we speak about RP in general, it's about interactive storytelling. We want to tell our stories and get immersed in our characters, live their lives, and meet awesome new people. The degree to which these stories connect to the lore of the game we're in varies based upon individual desire. The tone of the storytelling itself varies. Some people want a very dark and vengeful story. Others want their characters to escape drama and trouble and live a happy life cooking and smithing. We want different genres of RP the same way we watch different genres on Netflix.
When you spearhead this effort to build the RP City-State, this all needs to be considered. How do you bring such disparate tastes together to work towards one goal? It's not impossible, but the person who leads the charge on this needs to be capable of sharing their vision in such a way that every person involved can not only picture their place within it, but desire their place within it.
Really, the lack of a leader with the vision to do what you want is the issue. When I create communities, I do it because what I want doesn't exist yet. To achieve this vision you want, you either need to be the leader and capably communicate it to all these different types of storytellers, or find a leader you can support who can do those things.
Posts by Aeveryn (KnightSky)
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Hello everyone!
I am KnightSky, an officer, recruiter, and the RP lead for <The Oathbound> a clan that began as a WoW guild's offshoot foray into Pax Dei and is rapidly evolving to be so much its own thing that it would be fair to call it a brand new clan formed for Pax Dei.
What I Did Before
By way of further introduction, I was known from 2003-2008 as the omnimoderator on Gaia Online known as A.L._Eileen, where I designed the original policy for moderator/player interaction, helped establish the School for Dedicated RolePlayers (SDRP), consulted with the original creator of The Anti-Munch Project, and focused my moderation efforts within the RP communities of Gaia. On World of Warcraft, I was known as Shannondryl, and became guild leader of the RP guild <Four Winds> for over a decade and a half. I helped form RP councils on our server, taught RP tutorial nights, and developed a second RP gathering night at Saltheril's Haven. I'm currently a co-leader and founder of a RP supergroup on City of Heroes Homecoming named <Prevail> where I am mostly known as Aquarica, and have begun setting up a community on Star Citizen for exploration roleplay named <Extrasolar> (Spectrum: XSLR) under the name Kal Nightsky. Before even Gaia Online I was an active officer and creator in text based MMOs called MUSHes and MUDs.
My Goals
Looking back at all my time trying to help build RP communities, I can say my goals have been and continue to be to help grow and establish our hobby, to help roleplayers of all experience levels to realize that our brand of storytelling is cooperative rather than competitive. The motto members of <Four Winds> developed over the years was FIRM: Family, Intelligence, Respect, and Maturity. For Extrasolar, I refined this concept to Fellowship, Critical Thought, Respect, and Maturity - it doesn't acronym as well, alas.
Pax Dei drew me through its beauty, its promise to center around clan-based activity, the presence of this RP community even during pre-Alpha, the attentiveness of its developers, and its unique capability to deliver a peaceful experience when you want it, yet still deliver a brutally real experience when facing down bears and boars.
The Oathbound
<The Oathbound> wasn't originally an RP clan, and so when I pitched to the leadership team the concept of adding RP as an additional activity we support, I pitched it as an optional endeavor. Considering how in-depth and time-intensive the game itself already is, I'm playing with the concept of keeping the clan's overall activities at a general level of Light RP. Medium and Heavy RP is welcome however. It's an experiment at this moment to see what sticks and what's best for everyone.
What drew me to <The Oathbound> was its tolerance and inclusivity, as well as the fellowship-and-family vibe I got from not only the members that were there when I joined, but also the connection I immediately felt towards these others. I'm really happy to say we're a good group. I lucked into a clan filled with respectfulness, thoughtfulness, and maturity. You can find us on Discord here: https://discord.gg/XBq9f25RyQ - Feel free to drop in even/especially if you're representing another clan! We are open to meaningful alliances, IC and OOC. Just let us know your interest so we can give you the proper tag.