Inter-Realm RP

[CryptCypher]

In light of the massive debate that took place in Belluaterra's OOC Ruler/Admin channel...

Its been a humbling reminder of what BattleMaster once stood for, and the intense inter-realm RP I fell in love with over a decade ago. Something needs to be said, so here goes.

At its heart - though each player prefers a particular set of mechanics - BattleMaster has always been a sociopolitical story generator; whether written or inferred.

We inhabit these fantasy worlds; weave our fates; and watch as dynasties, nations, and entire continents are reshaped as a result of our words and actions.

This week I came back to BM because I re-found a Battlemaster timelapse video on Youtube showing the rise and fall of nations over the years. In so many ways it was humbling to consider how many human beings, some of which are no longer among the living, sacrificed countless hours and sleepless nights to shape our history.

With age the tides have shifted as continents are increasingly depopulated, nations grown insular, and communication ever more frustrating.

Many recall how Belluaterra's daemonic invasions influenced every continental power from the freshest noble to the eldest kings - reshuffling our identities  and priorities every step of the way. The truth is that it wasn't the threat of Blight, or the massive armies who accomplished this feat: it was the simple fact that we had an avenue by which to include all nobles, all realms, all facets of continental society, bringing people together and giving them fresh ways to form individual paths toward a future unknown. Now, its too much to ask that admins regularly conduct such events, if even on a minor scale. That requires time, code, and principally, effort and availability. We understand that admins can't be the omnipresent gods we so desire. Not with so little population, so few subscriptions, and actual personal lives.

With these facts and the new experimental messaging systems in mind - perhaps a proposal is in order? What would it require to implement the means for inter-realm RP as a fundamental mechanism?

Perhaps a tab on the experimental messager/reader, or a checkbox that opts-in to sending/receiving RP's conducted across the continent by others who wish to do so - thereby a sailor or foreign dignitary enjoying a tavern crawl can delight the locals with stories of a particular event that took place on the opposite end of the continent, which local nobles can then cite in their own RP's and even pass some new RP forward for everyone's enjoyment.

Perhaps one can opt-in per message, or employ a tier-specific toggle per character/guild/religion/realm that forwards RP to all who wish to partake.

After using the new experimental messaging system, it seems like this might be possible. If not, then rather than a mechanic suggestion, we could brainstorm ways to fine-tune existing communication channels to better allow for meaningful interaction between the players... The existing limitations are why I and so many others grew tired and quit BM/M&F in the first place. There is so much wasted potential - if only it weren't such a massive pain to ease the RP and general inter-organizational process beyond the limitations of a single realm or guild.

Take the current Belluaterran situation for example.

For an Obean faithful of Obia'syela to RP with Thalmarites at all, let alone include Mordokian, Daishi and non-religious nobles, and the other realms involved in the whole transcontinental conflict - thereby making things so much more fun, interesting, and inclusive by allowing everyone involved to have their moment -- every single player involved must spend an inordinate amount of time copying, pasting, and forwarding messages, faithfully and without fail... Just to have organizations with perfectly good IC reasons to have meaningful interaction beyond marching our armies across the continent, being in the same region before a big battle, and frantically typing a short RP because you might get captured in combat and they'd be gone by the time you could post again so what's the point. That or creating a whole logistics chain of people willing to forward messages to and from a dozen different realms, religions, and guilds. Its just too much to manage or ask of anyone.

If we could improve players' ability to communicate between organizational levels, we'd have more time and sanity available to actually interact.

[pcw27]

Hmm, interesting proposal. The most important thing is to prevent this channel from becoming oversaturated. Sanguis Astroism is a great example of an inter-realm channel but unfortunately it degenerated into endless bickering, usually between the same two players each accusing the other of trying to take over the church, with no one being willing to just tell them to shut the hell up because no one cares.

[CryptCypher]

SA was a different breed, to be sure.