Best Of

Congrats! 

You've made your character, fleshed out a cool backstory, and have a pretty good understanding of the EMOTE command. You're a roleplayer, and you're gonna do what you're meant to do - roleplay. And you know, of course, that the best RP is admin/storyteller RP. Nothing is cooler than interacting with an NPC and changing the world. So, with great enthusiasm, you go to the nearest interesting NPC, and you say "Hey."

And you wait. There's no answer. You say "Hey" again to the NPC. Again, no answer. What the hell, right? You have a cool character, why no interaction? You think to yourself "I guess I just have to wait for an event," but you see on the forums all this interaction between the STs and players, and all this hype about RP. You raise your fist to the stars and shout, "Why doesn't Storyteller-Senpai notice me?" The stars are as silent as the NPC before you.

This is an unofficial, unsolicited, step-by-step guide to getting admin attention and getting the RP you want. While following this guide does not guarantee you RP, it does improve your chances. You are, however, guaranteed to improve the quality of your roleplaying by following this guide, or at least the spirit of it.

Step One: Submit Your Backstory (and motivations)!,
You know that super cool and original backstory we discussed in the first sentence of this guide? Make sure you submit it to the storytellers! At the very least, your org's storyteller should know it. If you're going to be doing cross-factional RP, it doesn't hurt to drop a line to the storyteller for that org. Storytellers aren't strictly limited to interactions with their own orgs, they're just focused on that org. They are also not limited to strictly organizational events. Rather, the labor is divided such that each organizational storyteller focuses also on the personal RP of that org's members.

The organizational storytellers are as follows (accurate as of Sep. 9, 2019)
Head Storyteller: Eukelade
General Storyteller: Tallulah
Scatterhome Storyteller: Soren
Song Storyteller: Ferenzi 
Celestine Storyteller: To be announced soon!
Factionless/Rogue Storyteller: Just send stuff to one or more of the above.

While the Storytellers don't respond to every message, They do read all of them. The storytellers are not mind readers. They also do not monitor your activity 24/7. The best way to discuss your backstory is to communicate it! Additionally, talk with the storytellers about what you want as a roleplayer, as well as what your character wants and why. The Storytellers are here to facilitate this, so don't leave out your super secret character flaw or evil plan. Talking about your character's motivations helps guide the RP.

On the topic of backstories: Sometimes less is more.
Giving the Storytellers something to play with in your backstory provides an opportunity for RP. If your character is a Space Ninja from Xeron Colony and your backstory is that you murdered everyone in Xeron Colony then shuttled out, there's nothing left to play with. But if you murdered the next ruler in line and jetted, now there's a whole colony of toys. Storytellers like toys.

As another example, right now I'm DMing a D&D 5E campaign. All of my players are new to D&D, and they are all teenagers. One of them wanted to be a tall halfling. Like, mutated tall, for a halfling. I agreed to allow this, with the understanding that I'd get to decide why his character is so tall. Now it's a major plot element. He doesn't know that, and doesn't know why his character is tall. But he gave me a toy. I like toys. Storytellers like toys.

Step Two: Know the kind of RP you want

Be specific, and communicate this to the Storytellers. Some RP can be specific and goal-oriented such as "I want to blow up Song City." Some can be general and more playful "I want to party on Agog with my fellow Krona." Neither of these are specific enough!

If you want to blow up Song City, a good place to start is logistics. How are you getting the explosives necessary, and how are you smuggling them into Song City? Who is supplying them? Where are you putting them? These are all things you and your character need to decide, and these can be broken into various RP sessions. For example, you might start by reaching out to an explosives expert, a legendary smuggler, or a criminal mastermind. All of these NPCs exist. They also exist as PCs. Not every plot needs to be resolved by an NPC.

As for partying on Agog, if you want to make it bigger and better, maybe start with entertainment! Food and drinks can (and should) be provided by players. But maybe you reach out to an Elgan Dance Troupe on Krell, or a PC singer. Song on the Verge was a great example of how this can be done.

The most important factor here is that you're doing most of the leg work. You're not going to the Storytellers and saying, "I wanna blow up Song City. Make it happen." You're saying "Okay, I wanna meet with an explosives expert." That's manageable and fun. The Storytellers are very busy cooking up global and faction events, as well as RPing with other players. You should be prepared to do most of the work.

It may also help to think of your RP as a TV series, rather than as a blockbuster film. Divide it into episodes. These are the individual sessions that make up a long-running story arc.

Step Three: Include Others!

One of the best ways to get noticed is to include as many other PCs as possible. Going to meet with an explosives expert? Bring some hired muscle, or a professional negotiator. Or just a friend to watch your back. Trying to find food for your party? Hire a crafter! The Storytellers' job is to tell stories to as many people as possible. Including more people makes the Storytellers' job easier, and improves the likelihood of your RP being picked up. It's also just good practice. RP is, by nature, collaborative. You don't have to announce to the whole mud "HEY, RP OVER HERE." Even secret/espionage RP needs collaborators.

On a additional note to this, include newbies whenever possible. It aids player retention and vastly increases the chances of your plot being picked up.

Step Four: Play to Play, not to Win

Roleplaying is a collaborative interaction. You are all telling a story together. Entering into the roleplay with a competitive mindset is sure to alienate others. Though your character may have goals, your goal should be to tell a story. There is no trophy for always achieving your character's goals always. Furthermore, there's no trophy for sending the most emotes, or being the star of the RP always. Letting other players shine is a great way to improve the quality of your RP. Fresh ideas make fresh RP.

To give you an example, recently my character was involved in an altercation with several other PCs, as well as a Storyteller-driven NPC. When the NPC began to pull a weapon from inside her coat, my character armed her magnotron to grab it. It ended up being an Ilrill rod, which happily flew to her magnotron. Irill is explosive. The resulting explosion should have killed my character (and I informed the storyteller I was ready to take a death, but we couldn't figure out a way to mechanically do it). Instead, I roleplayed my character being disabled for the encounter while her wetwiring healed her. Other players got to be star, and it was a great encounter. I could have very easily emoted dodging, or turning off the magnotron. But my character was focused on pulling the weapon, and not only would it have been cheesy to say "Oh no wait I turn it off I'm fine lol," it would have been bad RP. Your character isn't a god. Vulnerability makes for cool moments.

Step Five: Remember, Everyone is Human


The other players you're roleplaying with are human. The storytellers you're roleplaying with are human. Everyone involved wants to have fun. Everyone involved makes mistakes. Everyone involved gets tired, has real-life things come up, and is at a different experience level. Everyone involved has different ideas of what's fun. Here's a great example of what NOT to do:

Bob the NPC says, "And now, for my next trick, I'm going to pull a rabbit out of a hat!"
Soren reaches into his hat and pulls out a rabbit!"
You tell YourBuddy, "//LOL ADMIN SCREWED UP."

This is discouraging and unfun. Work together to tell a story. Brush over mistakes and move on. Likewise, make sure everyone involved with your roleplay has fun too. Talk to them. Talk to your fellow PCs after and ask, "Hey, did you enjoy that?" Talk to your storyteller and ask, "Did you have fun?" Checking in is a good way to make sure everyone walked away happy. This is how you win at roleplaying. With everyone having fun. If someone didn't have fun, work it out. Figure out what can be done better next time. Maybe your roleplaying companion felt they didn't have enough screen time. Make sure they get to have more next time. Maybe this particular genre of roleplaying just wasn't their jam. What else can you include them in?

I hope all this information helps. As I said, it's not a guarantee that it'll work. But it will improve your roleplay and improve your chances of getting Storyteller interaction.

Have fun out there,
- Flip