Ultima Online Third Legion Essays

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Essays are contributed by members of the Third Legion and others. If you would like to contribute your essay, please contact Max and inform him of your interest, as well as the topic you would like to write about.


Kolian’s Four Principles of Role-Play

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by Kolian

Kolian’s Four Principles of Role-Play

• Conventions
• Context
• Plot/Setting/Characters
• Player-Player Dynamic

Conventions

Conventionsare fairly straightforward. It is preferable for one to type in complete sentences, with decent grammar and punctuation (unless some attribute bars this from happening, such as an accent, the lack of a tongue, a style of speech, etc.). This serves several purposes.

First off, it gives the entire situation a more ‘novelistic’ feel: One compares it to the standard form of chat-speak on the Internet, and this creates atmosphere.

Secondly, grammar was invented for a reason. It’s easier to read a paragraph that’s been written properly, or even just a sentence. Capital letters, periods, commas, etc. indicate the way in which one is supposed to read the passage, and it’s simply illogical not to use them.

This brings up another interesting point about speech. Punctuation is a valuable tool for expressing the way your character talks. For example, a contemporary pirate is more likely to say "Thar’ be plunder underfoot, me boys!" than "There is most likely treasure within the vicinity!" This is particularly important within UO, where the primary method of communication is through the dialogue/emote system (as opposed to an objective narrative that you might find on role-playing forums).

Emotes in an environment like UO are done in third person present tense, where the subject is assumed. In English, this means that when you type out an emote, you use proper grammar (omitting the period at the end) assuming that your character’s name comes at the beginning of the sentence (but is invisible), and you do it in present tense, as if you were writing about the actions of someone else (i.e.: Don’t say ‘you’; say ‘he’ or ‘she’). For example:

Proper Emote: *scratches his chin*

This is like saying *Kolian scratches his chin*, except one doesn’t put ‘Kolian’ in the sentence: It’s assumed.

Further examples:

*laughs*
*splutters inaudibly*



Context

Context is basically another word for ‘realism’. Of course, this realism is based on the world around the character, not necessarily modern-day Earth. This is the reason why I hate seeing elves in UO (it should be noted here that there is, sadly, an argument for the existence of elves, dwarves, and ‘bobbits’ in Britannia, as a couple of the first Ultima games did allow the player to pick a race: However, Richard Gariott himself stated that this was a mistake on their part, and it was duly corrected in the later games).

One’s character should conform to the standard of what I like to call ‘context’. If you’re creating a character for Middle Earth Online, don’t give them the Bat-Mobile. If you’re creating a character for Ultima Online, don’t make this character a ‘Watcher of the Morning Lord’ (See: Forgotten Realms).

Does this mean that your character has to be completely dull? Of course it doesn’t. It does mean, however, that you should try to come up with something that fits into the setting. When you do this, it helps create an atmosphere of being there, whereas if everyone were from everywhere, one wouldn’t get the same sort of vibe.

If everyone works together to tell a story about one world, then it will feel like a story about one world. If everyone’s from everywhere else, it will be like those god-awful ‘Alien vs. Predator’ franchises.

Recommendations for In-Context Characters for Sosaria:

• Orcs are always nice, as they’re relevant to Britannia and fairly well developed culture-wise.
• Gargoyles are a bit tougher to do, as characters can’t have wings, but some involvement in Gargish culture might work well (note that in the Shattered Legacy storyline, which is the UO storyline, the Gargoyles are still hostile, while in the later Ultimas they co-exist with humans).
• Ties to the virtues are an EXCELLENT idea. Learn your virtues and your principles, people.
• Links to the pirate’s guild could be a good plan, if one brushes up on one’s ‘ethical hedonism’.

There are many, many more. You can even go outside the box and have a character that’s traveled to Britannia through a serpent medallion or the ethereal void/black gate or whatever, as long as you don’t overplay it.



Plot/Setting/Characters

Plot/Setting/Characters is the basic guiding concept for all fiction. Since role-playing is, at its core, storytelling, it’s important to have a basic grasp of these.

The plot consists of any events that occur within the story. A plot is perhaps best defined as a ‘conflict’. This conflict might be Person vs. Person (i.e.: The Stranger vs. Mondain), Person vs. Self (i.e.: The Quest of the Avatar), or Person vs. Environment (i.e.: The Avatar vs. The World of Pagan). If you don’t follow those references, you might do well to look them up.

A conflict is behind all plots. If there were no conflict, it would be much like twenty-minute long rave music: Stupid and pointless. Suppose Jim the Bard wants to go to Moonglow. So, he goes to Moonglow through the moongate, and arrives without incident. What the hell kind of story is that? Perhaps Jim had to vanquish a horde of mongbats, or deal with his own growing insanity, or hack through the vicious jungles outside of Trinsic to get to the moongate?

The setting is the environment around the characters. The setting is best defined as the foundation in which the characters propel the plot. It is almost directly responsible for the ‘atmosphere’ of a story. Luckily for us, Ultima Online already has the setting laid out in stone. It is very important for us as role-players to learn this setting well. While our characters may not know much about the world, we should know almost everything, so that we might best create an atmosphere.

Characters interact and propel the plot within the context of the setting. You’re responsible for your own character. There are some who assert that a background is absolutely necessary when building a character, however I would recommend stressing personality as opposed to past. Only the best role-players can effectively augment a character’s personality using background, and at that point it’s only indulgence, anyway.



Player-Player Dynamic

Player-Player Dynamic is often described as ‘godmoding’. It is slightly more complex. The player-player dynamic is the way that you form a story in conjunction with the other players around you. It is a very difficult thing to master, because one almost needs to know what the other players are going to do before they do it.

First off, let’s define godmoding. Godmoding is exerting force over another player. Note that I said ‘player’ and not ‘character’. One is not allowed to dictate the actions of another player’s character. One is allowed to, for example, attempt to hit another player’s character in the face, but one is never allowed to guarantee that that blow will strike true, or that it will do any damage. The other player is responsible for his or her own player.

This is why the player-player dynamic is such a difficult thing to master. How does one keep things running along smoothly without violating the domain of another player? Attempting to hit someone followed by a confirmation or rejection of the hit is going to start to feel like AD&D pretty fast. You need to know to a certain point how the other player is going to react, so that you can keep things moving at a good pace while allowing them their own liberties.

It’s often a good idea to form a general agreement at the beginning of something like combat on what the outcome is going to be. The best role-players already know from the offset without asking. Other role-players might talk to them out of character in ICQ or in party chat about it, although that will often ruin the atmosphere. Some prefer to avoid those touchy situations altogether by initiating in harmless contests with no real outcomes. It’s very, very tricky.



These principles have been dubbed ‘Kolian’s’ for a reason. Number one, it is not because I’m an egotistical bastard (although I certainly am an egotistical bastard). It’s because these principles are by no means widely accepted anywhere. They are my own personal thoughts on good role-playing, and might not be suitable for certain other people, or indeed any other people. Bear in mind, also, that some of the concepts discussed here are fairly advanced, and unnecessary for the casual role-player. Don’t feel overwhelmed by the four pages of information here: Start slowly and deliberately.



Thanks to Kolian for contributing this essay.