Auctioned characters

Maybel · Post by **Maybel** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:44 am

I was looking through the board... cause the game is down... and i have nothing to do... and saw the auctioned characters and I was wondering if we still did the auctioned characters or not...

Mele · Post by **Mele** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:29 am

Some people still have some, but I'm not sure on what the status is for them all overall. :3

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:26 am

(Watch out for the all-caps titles please)

The status on auctioned characters is rather uncertain. We'd rather have player-made characters make up their way into position of powers rather than have auctioned characters come in with a big background.

For example, even though the current Lords of Zhentil Keep are auctioned Manshoon, Fzoul, and Sememmon (some of them rarely seen online), it is not totally impossible that evil PC replace them at some point. Major NPCs might still be used by imms for some roleplay though, but the question has been raised whether those major NPCs should be part of everyday life or not.

Feel free to post your opinion.

Larethiel · Post by **Larethiel** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:49 am

Auctioned characters work like auctioned objects? You perhaps not bid, but you sort of buy them to have and play them?

Sounds a bit strange somehow

To give my 2 cents, I would rather start my own character to develope him/her instead of getting one that already has risen to some power and is known (all) over the world and due to that provides a rather stern frame for your rp, leaving not too much room for personal developement.

Also you yourself know own characters, you know what they feel, think, like/dislike and how they react in certain situations etc.. With auctioned characters, which are if I understood it correctly more or less major and known NPCs of the realms, you have to somehow cling to the description and information given about them in sourcebooks/realmslore etc. (Due to the big background those characters already have.)

On the other hand if you have a big liking forsay, the already mentioned Zhentarim it might be great to actually play one of their leaders and a boss. Or if you like a certain race and have through the auctioned characters the chance to play one of their known NPCs/heroes/whatever.

Another point would be, for me, that everyone has different imaginations and expectations about those big heros/villains/mages/whatever so there will always be people like "No XY would never be like you played him" and so on.

With best regards

And with the major NPCsbeing part of the daily life, I think they already,
like politicans, they make their deal, people know them but don't get in touch with them. At least seldomly.

Maybel · Post by **Maybel** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:01 pm

First off... Sorry Dalvyn... it was copied and pasted and i didn't think twice about it...

Second... although I believe it to be fun to be able to play one of these characters... I believe it to be more fun and... personal in a way, to play one of my own that I built from the ground up...

It was just listed as some bonus for playing... and I have not herd of anyone playing one of these auctioned characters before and so I wanted to ask.

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:22 pm

I prefer the as NPCs.

Tavik · Post by **Tavik** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:29 pm

Agreed. I prefer NPCs as well. However, I would like to the the IMMs "commandeer" them a little more often for RP.

Jedan · Post by **Jedan** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:08 am

I like the idea of them as NPC's as well. It strikes a good balance between letting the PC's run/organize things among themselves(even if they may not have the title "Head Honcho of the Zhentarim") while remaining true to FR lore.

Caelnai · Post by **Caelnai** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:12 pm

NPCs usually work, but some need both a player behind them and the appropriate powers. The Matron Mothers come to mind. (Not sure they were auctioned or appointed though.) As RP often involves several of them at a time, it would be hard to get enough imms on to cover them.

Kelemvor · Post by **Kelemvor** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:33 pm

The term 'auctioned' character is a slight misnomer, in that they arent actually auctioned off to the highest bidder anymore. Rather, they were applied for or offered to experienced long term players who might enjoy the challenge of bringing to life a well known Realms figure.

I too, feel that such characters should be NPCs rather than players. Where an NPC can be inhabited by any Imm for a roleplay, the auctioned characters can only be accessed by the individual who was given care of them.

The Matron Mothers are a slightly different kettle fish because they also encompass a Faith Manager role in their duies in Menzo. Controlling more than one NPC at the same time is not actually a major difficulty, I think my record currently stands at 7

However, I know I wouldn't want to be four power-crazed drow females at the same time.

The issue of 'famous' NPCs, particularly those from the various FR novels is one I might look into if folk thought it would be useful. I had a vague idea about creating an area in which all of the NPCs could be 'stored' and borrowed by Imms for roleplay. (Perhaps another project through which I could harness player creativity and researching power... hmm)

Algon · Post by **Algon** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:23 pm

I would agree that it should be possible for the IMMs to take controll of the auctioned character. But I also like the idea of having other players be able to log into that character and RP some also. Kind of the best of both worlds.

Kirkus · Post by **Kirkus** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:25 am

The problem I have with that is you get inconsistency. I would almost prefer to make them npc's that way we limmit the number of people who are interpereting how to play a certain famous character.

Oghma · Post by **Oghma** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:32 am

I'm for creating npc's for all famous forgotten realms characters featured in the game instead of auctioning them. I would however like to keep the matron mothers as is, since it is a unique drow experience.

Ceara · Post by **Ceara** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:10 pm

I agree that they should be NPC's too. Though for ones that interact with characters often such as the zhentarim and perhaps harper lords, there should be either logs or notes of what went on with a certain roleplay so that if another imm has to take control of one, they know the history with characters etc...
I agree with it being NPC's because too often an auction character's player has just stopped playing the game and it takes forever if ever for their special char to be auctioned off again.
So the pc's who do play lose out.

Selveem · Post by **Selveem** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:34 pm

You know, I hear the term 'auctioned character' often in conversations over the years.

It's always annoyed me a great deal that the term is used so freely and even players who have played over 8 years (such as I have) don't even know what an 'auctioned character' is aside from one that is famous and can possibly transfer between accounts.

Others I have talked to who have played many years as well, don't know either.

Could we get an in-game help file to at least detail what an Auctioned Character is?

Caelnai · Post by **Caelnai** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:03 pm

Kelemvor wrote:The Matron Mothers are a slightly different kettle fish because they also encompass a Faith Manager role in their duies in Menzo. Controlling more than one NPC at the same time is not actually a major difficulty, I think my record currently stands at 7 However, I know I wouldn't want to be four power-crazed drow females at the same time.

To me, the Matrons are an example of auctioned characters which should be able to be taken over by imms. It's grand fun when a player-Matron shows up, but they aren't mains, and you can't expect the players to make themselves continuously available when game drow activity levels continually wax & wan. As the personalities and faith policies are pretty consistant, I do not think having an imm jump on a Matron PC to interact or faith people would be a problem, and it's very It's hard for me to imagine an RP which would require all four to be played by an imm without any of the players behind them available.

Did that make any sense?

What I mean is that for all auctioned characters it would be nice to have both...an active player behind each, but also the ability for an imm to jump on them if needed. If you can only have one of those, I would rather them be NPCs.

(In the case of the Matrons, if it is a concern, you can always move the HP duties to a couple active priestesses, which even follows canon. *shrug*)

Selveem · Post by **Selveem** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:06 pm

For instance:

What is an Auctioned Character?

What characters are Auctioned Characters?

Who is applicable for an Auctioned Character?

What is the process for receiving an Auctioned Character?

What is the expected maintenance on an Auctioned Character?

That's all that comes to mind right now..

Ah, yes, and:

What is an Auctioned Character expected to do?

What is an Auctioned Character barred from doing?

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:36 pm

The entire system of "auctioned characters" no longer exists. The term "auctioned character" has been removed from our lexicon. The NPCs do and can still be played by imms or certain members of "Staff" with imm approval as required for RP. They cannot be requested for use by players through any deed or application. Nor can they be specifically requested by players for their own RP (e.g. "Hey, my wizard REALLY wants to be Elminster's apprentice. Can that be done?").

What is an Auctioned Character? An auctioned character WAS a famous NPC placed in a player's account for that player to use.

What characters are Auctioned Characters? Examples once included Pikel, Manshoon and others from FR novels.

Who is applicable for an Auctioned Character? Moot

What is the process for receiving an Auctioned Character? Moot

What is the expected maintenance on an Auctioned Character? Moot

What is an Auctioned Character expected to do? Moot

What is an Auctioned Character barred from doing? Moot

Nysan · Post by **Nysan** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:18 pm

Short and sweet being: Auctioned characters were a part of the 'old ways'. The system no longer exists. Involved characters are now maintained by imm and staff members.

Kirkus · Post by **Kirkus** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:09 pm

I think the best way we could deal with these prominent FR characters is to systematically faze them out. Here is what I mean; Take the situation in Zhentil Keep... You have three large name characters who have big roles in the workings of the Keep. So we should audition three people to play the story to a close. Set up a loose nit framework of rp to faze these guys out of power, then simply remove them.

This way we get a singular voice for each character who is chosen by the imms/admins. And a plan for the removal of these npc icons. This is something that would require time, dedication, and a knowledge of where the character you are applying for fits into 'Our story as a mud' and a flare of imagination in terms of where you would like to take that character to his/her end.

For example Fzoul would be a very important figure to have around for the rise of Bane... I am assuming that that hasn't happened yet. In cannon FR when Bane returns Fzoul is the High Priest of Bane and High Lord of the Zhentarim, two very poachable positions. Which makes his demise... how shall I say it, eminent. Mwa Ha ha.

Presto! no more Fzoul. It just takes some rp and some planning on the parts of whom ever wants to take on that big bad.

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