While talking with another Drow today, they occasioned to ask me if I was lawful evil, simply because I tend to assist other Drow, cultivate Drow of other houses with useful skills to promote overall RP, etc. The way the Underdark is now, with relatively few Drow, to get anything done, one has to work with people outside of one's house, simply because if you don't, you'll just be RPing all by yourself. Killing others is often only done for very serious conflicts, as opposed to the sort of pre-emptive strikes Drow are used to.
There's really nothing the code can do to sort this out, so what I got to thinking was that we Drow players could come up with an optional code of conduct that we would commit our characters to that would allow us to express some of our more chaotic impulses while maintaining a level of order and harmony within the city that would allow us to come together for RP events, make long journeys together, and other such things that makes the Underdark a more fun place and hence, encourages people to play here.
My first suggestion would be that we must have some way of identifying people who commit to this. Perhaps something in the title, or a reference within this forum, that would show which Drow have opened themselves to this and what level of antagonism they're willing to open themselves up to. Anyone subscribing to this agreement would commit themselves not to kill other Drow without first referencing this list and abiding by it's committments. Some possible examples would be...
Open to all combat- The player is open to anyone of any level attacking him, most likely the choice for high level Drow
Level <X>, open to combat from anyone of <X+5> or lower level - This player would rather not be ambushed by people much higher than them, would be appropriate for a player of around level 20-30.
Do not require RP - Most Drow killings are assassinations or surprises, allowing a minimum amount of RP, striking when it's useful is something that would be most reasonable to a Drow, allowing your opponent good time to catch their breath and pick out their nicer weapon and such doesn't really lend to this style. A player who chooses this would basically agree that they can be assassinated, out in the tunnels, in the cities, wherever.
Geographical Restriction - The player would restrict themselves to being killed only in Menzoberranzan and the surrounding areas, i.e. the Eastern and Western Underdark, Illithid Caverns or even the Derro Caverns.
No Looting - The player chooses not to have any of their gear looted.
Limited Looting - The player allows a single item to be looted, this should be more for RP value than anything else, a perfect example would be a House Insignia, not their +4 sword they worked for ages to get and could never replace.
These are just a few examples of some of the voluntary things that Drow might commit themselves to. Now, as for the advantages of actually doing this... someone killed would agree that they have no recollection of who killed them or the circumstances of their death. Using magic to locate a lost object would be perfectly valid however, so anyone who decides to loot would have to do so with care. The player who kills the other would be required to see that the killed Drow is raised from the dead. Stunning someone and leaving them for dead in a cavern with aggressive mobs would be tantamount to killing in such a case.
The key is to be reasonable, the point is to have fun, and open up some aggressive Drow RP between houses, not to cripple characters you dislike or make the Underdark a place where you are constantly in fear of being pkilled. Just as one could agree to this optional code of conduct, one could remove themselves from it (though in both cases, perhaps a 24 real life hour time limit between the request and the removal from the list should be assured, to make sure that people don't just do it to remove themselves from the consequences of a killing.
Now, one wonders what the use of all this is... if you successfully manage to eliminate a rival, you'll send me a PM. I would keep a public tally to the effect of "Rumor has it that House Baenre suffered a setback when Dismabt the warrior was slain in the Underdark" If there were witnesses, other houses could be implicated in the deed. But as each house (or Bregan D'aerthe and their associated commoners, in fact houses could use commoners and Bregan D'aerthe itself as pawns or true mercenaries) managed to eliminate a rival, they'd be awarded a point. Any house which had a member eliminated would lose a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of say... a month, would get a prize, I'm sure I could afford to give up a magical item or some money, or even go with special requests, though it would be purely OOC Solaghar's giving it to you if the admins agree that this is possible. Then the points would reset and we'd start over.
This would be entirely a matter of fun and prestige for houses that would introduce some fun new RP into the Underdark, and this is only a suggestion that I am making and offering to do the majority of the work on, if the immortals find that it's a bad idea, then that's that and I have no plans to argue it. I completely welcome criticism of the idea as well as ways that it can be made more interesting and secure in terms of how it works, to ensure that it's being done for fun and not to offer people unfair advantages or gain for their characters at the expense of others.
Suddenly it would become important to eliminate your rivals to ensure your house was going to be amply rewarded. If someone kills a member of your house, it's not just too bad, that's actually benefitting them and weakening you. Commoners are not just scum to be ordered around, they can be used as pawns, to draw your enemies into your traps. Potions, spells, allies and enemies, all would become more real and more important, but we'd always keep in mind that these other Drow are here for fun just like you, not to be endlessly massacred and remembering that this is not a PKill MUD by any definition of the term, it's an RP one and RP is always of paramount importance.
This code would be completely optional, to be turned on and off at your leisure. If you don't feel like getting into combat, you could turn it off. If you want to be left alone to train, turn it off. If you never like the idea of PKilling, even as a Drow, then never ask to be added. I personally, was surprised as I thought about it, that I really wasn't playing up the chaotic aspects of my own Drow personality, that I had never really taken the chance to eliminate a rival or otherwise work towards strengthening my own house while weakening others simply because there is no mechanism to accomplish that. But there's no reason that, if the admins say it's alright and approve of it, we can't make up one of our own. I'd also like to say that the minute this seems like it's going in the wrong direction, ends up with people complaining or harassing other players or admins, it would be ended, if we're not responsible enough to agree among ourselves how to act, the admins don't need the extra work of policing our conduct.
Comments? Suggestions?[/b]
An Optional Code of Combat Conduct for Drow
Like Solaghar i find myself playing in a slightly more alturistic way than pherhaps my alignment would indicate because of the situation in the underdark, (though this is easy to IC justify in various ways ).
I think the idea of encourging more conflict between the houses is a good one, though as per standard Drow literature open warfare is frowned upon because it weakens the Drow race as a whole.
I am not sure of the mechanics suggested it would seem to encourage wide spread killing rather than small scale intensive plots (which would be more fun to RP.) for example with the suggested mechanic I would be rewarded for hunting down those weaker than myself and killing them as efficently as possible. Whereas the a more fun thing would be plotting and scheming the downfall of some major figure such as the weaponsmaster of Menzo
. This would require cooperation both within and without the house.
I do not see a problem with small scale conflicts between members of different houses, personal enmitys and such like. These are already catered for under the current RP quidelines and are a matter of personal choice and RP. I certainly have characters who dislike other Drow to the point of fighting a duel for honours sake.
I think inter house conflict should involve the matron mothers as instigators of some of these plots. It is their personal conflicts and wishs that should dicate the major plots and conflicts.
As far as moving the house positions the adjudicator of this should be Lloth since it is her choice that has placed one above another. If someone wished to raise the positon of there house it would have to be her that enacted the change. Convincing a goddess as mercurial as Lloth to do anything would be a very major RP and should require more than killing a few members of the other house (though that might help
).
I think a better way to do this might be to instigate a major RP plot involving as many Drow as possible with the final result being judged by Lloth (or the admins), the only problem with an RP this big is how to communicate the various plot elements and there success and failure i.e. if part of the plot is to neutralize (kill ) a specefic member of the other house this may be difficult to arrange due to the wide difference in playing times. Though this could encourage some creative RP and devious plots in its own right.
Phehaps one minor change that would help would be a Drow specfic or possibly even house specfic note boards to allow communication between Drow who are not logged on at the same time. This would allow broad coordination of larger plots. Or as an alternative areas on these forums for IC notes and discussions ?.
Duranamir
I think the idea of encourging more conflict between the houses is a good one, though as per standard Drow literature open warfare is frowned upon because it weakens the Drow race as a whole.
I am not sure of the mechanics suggested it would seem to encourage wide spread killing rather than small scale intensive plots (which would be more fun to RP.) for example with the suggested mechanic I would be rewarded for hunting down those weaker than myself and killing them as efficently as possible. Whereas the a more fun thing would be plotting and scheming the downfall of some major figure such as the weaponsmaster of Menzo
. This would require cooperation both within and without the house.I do not see a problem with small scale conflicts between members of different houses, personal enmitys and such like. These are already catered for under the current RP quidelines and are a matter of personal choice and RP. I certainly have characters who dislike other Drow to the point of fighting a duel for honours sake.
I think inter house conflict should involve the matron mothers as instigators of some of these plots. It is their personal conflicts and wishs that should dicate the major plots and conflicts.
As far as moving the house positions the adjudicator of this should be Lloth since it is her choice that has placed one above another. If someone wished to raise the positon of there house it would have to be her that enacted the change. Convincing a goddess as mercurial as Lloth to do anything would be a very major RP and should require more than killing a few members of the other house (though that might help
).I think a better way to do this might be to instigate a major RP plot involving as many Drow as possible with the final result being judged by Lloth (or the admins), the only problem with an RP this big is how to communicate the various plot elements and there success and failure i.e. if part of the plot is to neutralize (kill ) a specefic member of the other house this may be difficult to arrange due to the wide difference in playing times. Though this could encourage some creative RP and devious plots in its own right.
Phehaps one minor change that would help would be a Drow specfic or possibly even house specfic note boards to allow communication between Drow who are not logged on at the same time. This would allow broad coordination of larger plots. Or as an alternative areas on these forums for IC notes and discussions ?.
Duranamir
Duranamir brings up a lot of good points, but one I'd like to comment on immediately is getting message posts in Menzoberranzan and fixing the one in Skullport so that it works as well. It would really help roleplay along if we could post in an IC area things of interest as well as plans for things like trips to Skullport, Ched Nasad, meetings with surfacers, all that sort of stuff.