New War Predictions

[Draco Tanos]

Eh, I kind of appreciated Atanamir's RP. It started a war and was creative in the way it did so.

The most recent RP... Not so much.

This.  Atanamir's RP was fine.  And those loyal to his family WOULD be colored in their opinions.

Not a fan of the other RP, but what's done is done.

[Indirik]

I've only seen the one posted here in this thread. IMO, it doesn't step over any lines. He doesn't gain any game-mechanics advantage out of it. It can easily be countered by other claims that are not too difficult to make. And it's not likely to convince anyone who doesn't want to be convinced. The only people who believe will be those who are already looking for a reason for war.

[Uzamaki]

I've only seen the one posted here in this thread. IMO, it doesn't step over any lines. He doesn't gain any game-mechanics advantage out of it. It can easily be countered by other claims that are not too difficult to make. And it's not likely to convince anyone who doesn't want to be convinced. The only people who believe will be those who are already looking for a reason for war.

For the record:

Roleplay from Nigel De La Fere   (7 hours, 15 minutes ago)
Message sent to the Rulers of East Continent (8 recipients)
Nigel entered the lands of Obendorf, a border land of Nivemus, through the main road in the south-west. His first impression was good, the peasants in a small village were speaking happily and everything looked fine. Nigel wondered how come these peasants are ten times more happier than those in Perdan...

...that was his first impression. He walked down the road and hid himself in the bushes without to be seen. He monitored the people close, as something didnt feel right. There were a lot of women and children, but very few men. And the men who were there, formed a group and stood by themselves. Away from the others. But yet closely monitoring what was going on... Every once in a while the women looked at the men with hatred and disgust in their eyes.

A group of peasants walked by and talked among themselves.

"We must be quiet sister, please stop crying, they promised that if we behave that we are happy then we will see father again. They will release him and everything is fine againg..."

Then a young woman started screaming and attacked the men yelling:
"Give my husband back you pigs, I am with child and my husband needs to be with me. Give him back you bastar...." The woman was caught mid speech, she was quickly thrown into a house. Before Nigel could get close, he saw the dead body of the woman carried out of the building. She was put on a carriage and started moving away from the village.

Nigel quickly followed. Ther horse carriage went off the main road. Towards a large hole in the ground. The body was thrown in the hole. Nigel waited the carriage to leave and inspected the hole. He stopped in terror, atleast a hundred dead bodies. Some without heads, some torn into pieces, tortured...

He has seen a lot of terror on Beluaterra, but even the daimons did not dishonour the human bodies like that.

Disgusted with the situation, Nigel moved on deeper into the region. He encountered several of these holes, some freshly covered with dirt. He could only imagine what lies down there...

Soon he noticed that the villages deeper into the region are rather empty. Some houses burnt. He grabbed some locals and tried to question them but everybody was full of fear and disgust towards strangers.

As he was finding a hideout in the forest, he found about a hundred of men and women, everybody able to escape was here. At start the locals tried to attack him but as he loudly explains his origin, they calmed and greeted him happily. It turns out the armies of Nivemus went by the villages and recruited forcefully, those who opposed were killed. People tortured and houses burnt. Some of the people managed to escape though. Others were forced to work on the fields under opression.

Nigel decided to help the poor people out of the region. They decided that after nightfall Nigel turns the attention in the soldiers to himself, makes them chase him and gather in one place so there would be a possibility for the locals to escape towards Westmoor. He did not know if he will survive this, but these people deserve a chance to escape this terror.

[Indirik]

Obvious propaganda created by a warlike, empire-building fanatic who desires nothing more than a thin veil of seeming legitimacy behind which to hide his brutal plans of conquest and domination of the peaceful people of Nivemus. He's a liar, and you should immediately challenge him to a duel to the death over these vicious falsehoods.

[Uzamaki]

Obvious propaganda created by a warlike, empire-building fanatic who desires nothing more than a thin veil of seeming legitimacy behind which to hide his brutal plans of conquest and domination of the peaceful people of Nivemus. He's a liar, and you should immediately challenge him to a duel to the death over these vicious falsehoods.

Except Neji has no idea who is sending these reports. Sure, he can speculate... But the man hid himself.

[Draco Tanos]

A roleplay in and of itself is not "lying".  You can lie within it, but the actions aren't lying.  It's not like it's a letter.

That's the issue Nivemus (rightly) has with it.

And what is someone going to challenge him to a duel over?  Looking at things?  Helping people?  It's not like he walked over to a noble or guard and began calling them slavers and rapists. 

Roleplaying in and of itself is NOT propaganda.  Or shouldn't be.  A character's interpretation of events or the report he writes up after the fact can be, of course.  Yet no one has SEEN any report from him.

Which is why I smack people when their reports are simply C&Ped roleplays.  If they can't take a little effort, I really don't want to hear from them.

[Uzamaki]

A roleplay in and of itself is not "lying".  You can lie within it, but the actions aren't lying.  It's not like it's a letter.

That's the issue Nivemus (rightly) has with it.

And what is someone going to challenge him to a duel over?  Looking at things?  Helping people?  It's not like he walked over to a noble or guard and began calling them slavers and rapists. 

Roleplaying in and of itself is NOT propaganda.  Or shouldn't be.  A character's interpretation of events or the report he writes up after the fact can be, of course.  Yet no one has SEEN any report from him.

Which is why I smack people when their reports are simply C&Ped roleplays.  If they can't take a little effort, I really don't want to hear from them.

+1

[Indirik]

A roleplay in and of itself is not "lying".  You can lie within it, but the actions aren't lying.  It's not like it's a letter.

That's the issue Nivemus (rightly) has with it.

He's obviously relaying the story to other people, and spreading news of it, isn't he? He'd have to be, or no one could know that it was happening. Therefore, he is telling false stories, carefully crafted to show the situation that he wants to present to the world. The "RP" is his retelling of the story. How else would it spread to all the rulers on the entire island?

And what is someone going to challenge him to a duel over?  Looking at things?  Helping people?  It's not like he walked over to a noble or guard and began calling them slavers and rapists. 

His deceitful tales of his travels through Oberndorf.

Roleplaying in and of itself is NOT propaganda.  Or shouldn't be.  A character's interpretation of events or the report he writes up after the fact can be, of course.  Yet no one has SEEN any report from him.

So RP that your men captured some unknown foreigner that was spreading the tale, and who claims that he was hired by some "high ranking Perdan official" to spread the tale. Unfortunately the man died during "intensive questioning" before you could convince him to describe his employer. After all, it's up to you to make up how you know about the story, right? There's plenty of ways that you could spin the tale any way you want. You just have to be creative.

[Ketchum]

Roleplay is best countered with Roleplay. It has been awhile since I done RolePlay with Brock. Enjoy reading Battlemaster folks

Roleplay from Brock Ketchum   (just sent)
Message sent to the Rulers of East Continent (8 recipients)
"My lord, the Haradrim tribe of Pedrera region have something to report." Brock's scribe walks over. There is some of the Haradrim tribe folks following behind closely.

Brock still pondering over recent events and nods his head "Welcome. I am sure you are all here due to some urgent matter."

"My lord. I am Gelderin, elder leader of the Haradrim tribe. The tribe of Haradrim has been happy and cheering under your lordship in Pedrera. We are doing well and we believe my lord will help us to great prosperity.

There are some bandits at Pedrera region recently. Our people together with some militia managed to drive them off and killed a few of them. Unfortunately the surviving bandits managed to make it off with the tribe's clothes and attires. It is nothing of valuable, short of the bandits pretending to be from our Haradrim tribe.

Our militia scout reports that the bandits are heading towards Perdan palace wearing our Haradrim tribes clothes and attires. This is shocking news to us. We hope you can uphold our tribe good name" Gelderin continues.

Brock listening attentively "Elder Gelderin, do not worry. I know this well. No doubt the bandits have made their way to Perdan realm and seeking audience with their King. How hilarious that bandits can fool the King. So now the bandits have been recruited by the King as his Personal Guard. If the historian is to write the truth as it is, they will be laughing as they dry up their parchments."

[Uzamaki]

He's obviously relaying the story to other people, and spreading news of it, isn't he? He'd have to be, or no one could know that it was happening. Therefore, he is telling false stories, carefully crafted to show the situation that he wants to present to the world. The "RP" is his retelling of the story. How else would it spread to all the rulers on the entire island?
His deceitful tales of his travels through Oberndorf.
So RP that your men captured some unknown foreigner that was spreading the tale, and who claims that he was hired by some "high ranking Perdan official" to spread the tale. Unfortunately the man died during "intensive questioning" before you could convince him to describe his employer. After all, it's up to you to make up how you know about the story, right? There's plenty of ways that you could spin the tale any way you want. You just have to be creative.

While this is true, once again, I do not know who is relaying the information, I can just say whoever is telling the tale is a liar.

The thing is, is this directly contradicts game mechanics, which is in bad taste. You see, I would be fine if he saw things as they actually are and then interpreted them to mean we are oppressors, but he portrayed us as actually in the act of oppressing... In a region with full production, that apparently has burned down villages and lowered population, full morale, even though there are fake smiles to go around, and full realm loyalty and control, even though there are rebels in the forests.

[Ketchum]

Actually it would be easier if anyone who want war, just declare war with the justification "I do not like this particular Ruler on your realm throne", "I do not like your realm name" and etc. That is all fine with me

Doing so much efforts just to justify the war and somehow find Roleplay ways to say "RolePlay can trump game mechanism statistics" even when the region statistic(realm loyalty, realm control are all very high good). Burning in the Oberndorf village? What a non-existent stuff is that 

[Indirik]

By the way, Ketchum, love your RP. Perfect way to take the situation by the horns and turn it around in your favor.

[Dishman]

Actually it would be easier if anyone who want war, just declare war with the justification "I do not like this particular Ruler on your realm throne", "I do not like your realm name" and etc. That is all fine with me

I appreciate the flavor of convoluted RP's, but that's just me. I know most people want to play as honorable men with untarnished reputation, but we have to slander each other if we want rivalries, justified aggression, and for morale of our realmmates to be bolstered. It's the spice that stings at times, but it makes the soup more flavorful. 

[Uzamaki]

I appreciate the flavor of convoluted RP's, but that's just me. I know most people want to play as honorable men with untarnished reputation, but we have to slander each other if we want rivalries, justified aggression, and for morale of our realmmates to be bolstered. It's the spice that stings at times, but it makes the soup more flavorful.

Then slander through perceptions. Not through roleplaying out what we do with our peasants.

[Indirik]

That's a great point, Uzamaki. While the original RPs style was not something I would do or appreciate, it's not against the rules. Ketchum's way of handling it is great. One story back and forth is fine. If it keeps going back and forth 5 or 6 times, then yeah, it would get pretty ridiculous very fast.

I've done stuff like that with a friend while RPing adventurers. We would write that kind of stuff to challenge each other, and try to trip each other up. It can be a lot of fun. But not something I would do at the ruler/international level.