Briefing the community

[Aleric]

It’s about time I brief the community on what I have been working on since I was accepted as a minister for the Stormwind Council. My ambition during my time as a councillor will be to act as an RP coordinator between guilds and individuals by keeping track of events, developments, interests and intents. The first step on that agenda is to address a recently voiced complaint regarding the roleplay in Stormwind and that is what I’ve been occupying myself with. I’m going to give you a short summarisation followed by an announcement.

I’ve been talking with the various guilds that operate in and around SW. My intent has been to invite them into a closer, more organised cooperation which will help us communicate and coordinate our efforts for the benefit of us all. It is my hope that it’ll make it feel more natural to come to each other with ideas and concepts.

E.g.: Guild A has an idea for a heist. It approaches guilds B and C which are guard guilds. Together they work on how to best achieve their collective goals, compromising where necessary. They keep a constant open line of communication between them and play with open cards so to speak. This will lessen the possibility of OOC drama as someone feels like they’ve been cheated, ignored, metagamed or otherwise snubbed by any party involved.

First step is an OOC meeting where we’ll all “sit down” and brainstorm up ideas for stories and concepts that are centred in and around SW. By pooling our creativity and have easy access to others interested in the SW RP scene, I hope that we’ll gain several stories and ideas from that meeting which we’ll be able to start working on.

Second step is to –try- to establish a consensus among the involved guilds when it comes to what people think is metagaming, what their views on RP are, can you win in RP, etc. This is much easier said than done and it will take time and mature discussion. Compromises will be necessary in order to make this work. In my opinion however, the benefits of pooled resources far outweigh the negative ones.

I would like to ask guilds that consider themselves part of the SW scene to keep me updated on what their guilds are up to, where their interests lie at the moment and if they have any ideas so that I may function as a sort of coordinator and help people find each other.


I mentioned an OOC meeting further up, a brainstorming session. I hope to have this meeting next week, week 27 (between 6th and 12th July). I have contacted the following guilds through the named individuals below. If you feel you should be on this list, please do not think I have snubbed you. It’s merely an honest mistake and if you post or PM me, I will add you to the list.

Invited guilds in no specific order

Disciples of Light (spoke with Jeanpierre)

The Dieudonne Seal (spoke with Tarvik)

Stormwind Regiment (spoke with Marijn and Partridge)

The Forlorn Cartel (spoke with Ezlbag and Zinkle)

Blade For Hire (spoke with Karlak)

The Lordaeron Alliance (spoke with Chadel)

Chapter of Holy Anethion (spoke with Osmand)

House Mistmantle (Braiden)

Although technically not a guild, the Stormwind Council plays a large part in the Stormwind scene and will thus have at least one representative present.

I would like to see this meeting go down in an orderly, mature and efficient fashion. If you wish to help with this have your guild brainstorm ideas and discuss how you view RP beforehand so you arrive at the meeting prepared.

Last I’d like to remind everyone that it is summer and activity is reduced. It’s an ambitious undertaking and it will not be done easily or swiftly. It will have to take it’s time and that is fine in my opinion. In the end, it will be worth it.

If you have any questions please post below or PM me.

[Geneviève]

Tarv and I are both away next month. Spreading Western values, freedom, and democracy in different parts of the world.

But one of the officers we leave behind guarding the Big Red Button will hopefully be able to attend.

[Braiden]

House Mistmantle is very much a part of the SW scene even tough we are smaller then most guilds. You can list me as contact person. Weekends are entirely out of the question to me tough.

[Aleric]

Note: Voting will close on Sunday at 23:59.

[Braiden]

There's quite a bit more votes then there is representatives tough

[Jeanpierre]

The system counts every single entry as a vote, whereas one person can vote on multiple answers. I voted on 4 days out of 7, for example.

[Aleric]

Date for the meeting set. Saturday 9th at 20:00. We'll meet on top of the Keeps towers.

Calendar invites have gone out. If you find that you cannot attend, I would appreciate if you could appoint someone to speak for you and the guild.

[Rmuffn]

Will you post the outcome for unguilded people whom still like to be around Stormwind to find out?

[Aleric]

Of course, Trave. A summary and further discussion will be available after the meeting. This is an ongoing process after all.

[Aleric]

There is now a forum available to all who are involved in the Stormwind scene. If you wish access to it, please PM me.

[Aleric]

Agenda for Brainstorming Session - Sat 9th 20:00

• Meeting is opened
  
  
• Participants get to introduce their guild and their creative agenda (what they want from it)
  
  
• Participants get to tell what they are currently working on as a guild
  
  
• The chat is open for sharing ideas.
  -Everyone gets to present an idea. They elaborate on it as much as they want.
  -People take turns commenting on the ideas.
  -Discussion continues until it is determined nothing more can be gained at this juncture.
  -If possible it is determined who/which guilds will be involved in this and if there are any other resources available to us.
  
  
• Pair guilds together using d100 roll. Paired guilds are to find a new reason to involve themselves with each other. This can be done during the meeting or after, depending on if they want feedback from the others gathered.
  
  
• People get to advertise their events, character arcs and developments and other things they have going on. It’s a good opportunity to ask if anyone is interested in participating or if they require help with something.
  
  
• Information about the Stormwind Society forum and next meeting.
  
  
• Meeting is adjourned.

[Lexgrad]

Like

[Quin]

Agenda for Brainstorming Session - Sat 9th 20:00
Pair guilds together using d100 roll. Paired guilds are to find a new reason to involve themselves with each other. This can be done during the meeting or after, depending on if they want feedback from the others gathered.

Win! Love it.

[Melnerag]

Sir, you are brilliant. It is the best initiative I've seen in years.

[Gogol]

Welcome back Aisling.
I'll hope you do good.
When you play the game of thrones, you either win or die.

[Aleric]

When you play the game of thrones, you either win or die.

That's a cheerful thought.

[Ralegh]

Since the cafe im currently at has not uptdated its World Of Warcraft since WoTLK it seems i wont be there.
I will wait for the recap off what happened later instead.

[Zinkle Figgins]

Sorry my internet connection didn't allow me to follow the whole meeting. I'll ask this evening to who was there for a quick summary.

Welcome back Aisling.
I'll hope you do good.
When you play the game of thrones, you either win or die.

Addicted to ASOIAF like me, eh?

[Partridge]

Cool beans.

Meeting was a great initiative and I believe lots of good will come from it for sure and from the on-going communication.

Sadly, Zinkles connection must have sneezed on mine, as I started DC'ing every 30 seconds towards the end of the meeting, (think there was problems with Blizzard servers infact as lots of people had same problem) but I think it was nearly over at that point. Still, if I missed anything important could some helpful fellow kindly fill me in xD I left just after the talk on taxes FYI

Thanks for Aleric and whoever else was behind this initiative Really good stuff.

[Aleric]

Attendants:

Osmand - Chapter of Holy Anethion
Aadaria - Chapter of Holy Anethion
Caledazar - The Lordaeron Alliance
Chadel - The Lordaeron Alliance
Swindle - The Forlorn Cartel
Zinkle - The Forlorn Cartel
Sophyra - The Dieudonne Seal (very briefly)
Tarvik - The Dieudonne Seal (very briefly)
Cendia - Blades For Hire
Odrade - Vanguard of Duskwood
Jarric - DefiasRP
Raeden - Chapter of Holy Anethion
Partridge - Stormwind Regiment
Aleric - Stormwind Council

Introductions

The meeting started with reps from the attending guilds getting to make a brief presentation of their guild, if they have any storylines going on at the moment, what their concept is and what they wish to get out that concept (aka creative agenda). The presentations are quoted from the chat log but have been spellchecked.

Chapter of Holy Anethion

Osmand: Well The Chapter of Holy Anethion, a guild of Light fanatics and the Holy Inquisition. We are a holy order, mostly working out of Northshire Abbey. We provide a different version of Light RP than most of the other Light guilds, with darker content.

At the moment we have no major storylines going, other than the normal hunting of cultists etc that the inquisition does.
The other half of the guild I am sure you will see preaching or saying mass around Stormwind, we’re not hard to find.
We are looking for more antagonists in our plots as we are finding it tougher to find major enemies and so on.
And I suppose that would be basically it. Unless Adaria has anything to add?

Aadaria: No at the time being. The main work is training, researching, stalking and infiltrating and there are a few things that could be said but which most around here should not even OOC hear yet.

The Lordaeron Alliance

Chadel: Even though we're still called Lordaeron Alliance at the moment orginally we call ourselfs The Crimson Flame as we used to be. The Crimson Flame is a Scarlet based order which follows one guideline. The end justifies the means. I try to give the a lawfull and sort of badass look, while all they are is basically a bunch of traumatized civilians and soldiers of Lordaeron who just want to see their city back in human hands.

One thing has to be real clear here, we're not compleet Scarlets as most of them are dead or insane. And there have been complaints but ever since I've been in the lead. That number has decreased slowly but steady. But it's not always easy trying to RP as we do.
We've been planning some events in the north. Of undead versus our guild, and I've been looking for ways to involve other guilds into it. But seeing we're at less the friendly terms with most guilds. ICly that is. This is W-PvP events by the way.
And that's about it really.

DefiasRP

Jarric: DefiasRP as a guild is slightly different to others, it has not got one main storyline. It is a collection of people who share that they are born in the alliance. ICly we have all manner of RPers. The guild has a purpose OOC, which is to find new RPers and help them into our community.

In regards to story arcs, I am happy to help any guilds with cannon fodder RPers or rend a crowd jobs.
One thing I will say that there (sorry for the ad) is just me at the moment. With help this guild can improve your RP by supplying the guilds with new RPers.

So please help the guild to help the server.
Thank you.

Vanguard of Duskwood

Odrade: VoD is a loose organisation concerning itself with Duskwood, Deadwind Pass and the wishes of the Cleric, also known as Andrek or Zerafias. We’ve only recently resurfaced again as a group and as such we’re still in the progress of rebuilding. One of our main goals is bringing life to Darkshire and surrounding areas, we're also quite fond of plotting and intrigue.

We have a few branches, like the Night Watch, the Administrative branch (running the town, the tavern, thigns like that), we have a little magic coven going, things like that.

Oh, we tend to view ourselves as "neutral" and are a bit wary of intruders.
I think that sums it up.
Me and Crojwin seem to be the easiest to find [if you want to get in contact with VoD –Aleric edit].

Stormwind Regiment

Partridge: Right ok, well... Our guild concept is very straight forward I guess most of you know what we do. We are a military and guard guild, we're mainly a random RP kinda guild, we do patrols around the city and sometimes around the kingdom too, we arrest people.

For breaking the law obviously xD. We also dish out punishments for minor crimes or when the person agrees and doesn’t want a trial as sometimes they can take a while... We also have the military side, where we do combat training and general military... Stuff like survival skills camping out etc. as well as take part in WPVP events with the alliance.

As for story lines... Right now we have a few going on, currently we are being mediators between the two factions of the crimsons trying to get peace between them and also we have a meeting on Monday between the Blades and chapter for similar reasons....
Also we have a sort of story line going on with an escapee whose supposedly hiding in Duskwood, we received a letter he sent to his ex-girlfriend stating he was staying there in Darkshire.

We also have an issue of cultists and people being "possessed" that we would require help with from the Chapter, i.e. we would like to hand them to the Chapter for exorcism or whatever it is....Or not just the Chapter but any holy guilds who have expertise.
I would like our guild to involve itself more with other guilds in our RP....like the Chapter helping us with that issue etc. Maybe someone we could send prisoners who have been sentenced to community service or hard labour... Currently punishments are a bit of an issue... I would like other guilds to be involved more in this process. Currently we are doing things like sending them to the mines in Elwynn to mine copper that we use to make our swords (they really do mine it and hand it over and we really do make swords), but I would like more varied punishments.

Osmand: We can help with that if you want.

Partridge: cool

Osmand: Punishing people that is.

Cendia: You could drop by our bar Partridge, we have plenty of work to be done, lots of people who are good at keeping firm discipline.

Raedan: *fanatical grin*

Partridge: And yeah...i think thats about it xD sorry for the length xD. I probably missed stuff but yeah done.

Blades For Hire

Cendia: We are as the name suggests for Hire. We are mercenaries who takes on -almost- any job offered depending on the coins we get.

We also have ongoing tournaments events, racing events and the like, which we also spam very hard on the RP forums, which so far have involved anyone wanting to come and participate.

At the time being we have divided ourselves into small fractions within the guild, for the purpose of training the teams up in various tactics, to make us more fit for war, more coordinated during work events and the like.

We are more or less always represented inside the Pig & Whistle bar. But we do not always tend the bar. Beyond that I think we have something to do with most RP guilds around on a daily basis.

I do not think there is much else I should say or can say about us.

Disciples of Light

Jeanpierre: If you would ask that question to Valestrion, then certainly the answer would be "What we always have done"... which is nothing in particular except following some great code of conduct and see where it brings us.

I believe DoL has 2 other sides however... One is an attempt to be more actively involved in war campaigns. To that end, DoL is slowly trying to emphasize itself as a paladin, fighting order of the Light. I know it probably sounds cliché but that's where we're heading. In the end DoL is still a classic themed guild.

The other aspect of DoL is more RP oriented... more focused on supporting events from a Lighty point of view. I could say things like wedding ceremonies and funerals would be part of that.

Whether it's being "the counterweight" of the evil dudes or being the goodie two shoes that are almost a requirement on some events, DoL seems interested in taking up that role.

For the random RP scenery... this doesn't bring much to the table except our healing division. And more bodies. I can honestly say... however... that I'm quite fine with that. My personal intention is to get DoL more in touch with orders like Mistmantle, Dieudonne and the Blades, so we can support them ICly when there's need for it.

Over the past weeks I've been RP'ing a bit around on alts and from my own experience I feel that the current top guilds in the random RP scene are not only "there"... but they are doing a hell of a good job.

I'd just like to commend the incredible work and position some of these guilds have accomplished. Rather than fight to earn our own spot, I'd rather see the chemistry between these orders encouraged and supported. We keep some flexibility... or guest role if you wish... but I think DoL's fine with that. Done.

The Forlorn Cartel

Swindle and Zinkle had connection problems all night and didn’t get the chance to introduce The Forlorn Cartel. This is their guild post on the Registry forum. I’m sure they’d like to elaborate on anything about their guild there if asked nicely.

How the guilds are working together already and have in the past

Following the presentations the conversation naturally flowed into how the guilds already have worked together before and are.

Chadel: I've RPed a lot with the Blades, and they've shown a great interest towards creating events that involve the whole server. Karlak has certainly had great success with this.

Celadazar: Arenas and the race for examples.

Chadel: We had a short alliance between the blades and the Stormwind guards But which both ended... shortly

Cendia: JP held a medic course for the Blades. Not only did it help our healers and medics, but it did give the "normal" members a more serious RP around their injuries and they have upheld that seriousness of it even now. Those who do not have a medic in their guild could hire the Disciples of Light perhaps?

Ideas for interactions in the future

Not surprisingly the gathered turned their attention to the future and what they’d like to see happen.

Aadaria: I would love to *cough* have more interactions with DoL like we had in the past. We trained a bit together, we talked more. And I do believe despite our zealot ways, that a more solid foundation, -not an alliance-, between the guilds would be good for both sides. We could send those not zealot enough your way, you could send the too zealotty our way?

Jeanpierre: I would agree except that a third of our members had bad experiences with Anethion at some point. JP's not among them because I keep him as naive as they come. As for the sending of members... you confuse me a little.
I think it's good we help people OOCly to find the right guild. But ICly we won't be so eager to send people away.

Aadaria: We tend to get a lot of new members all the time. Those who does not pass as Faithful enough to be a Chapterian we tend to advice to seek out DoL's or Crimsons too.

Osmand: If there is bad experiences then perhaps a sit down of the two guilds ICly to work on issues of co-operation.

Jeanpierre: When I mean bad experience. I mean ICly alone. OOCly Anethion enjoys a rather good reputation, if not excellent.

Osmand: I mean ICly aswell.

Aadaria: I do belive though Osmand that ICly they have… every right to be a bit... mad at us But it would be worth a try Though if we all get along… We will eventually not be happy either. We need some tension in Stormwind too.
Chadel: Reputations mean nothing to me. I look at how the guild is NOW. not how it once was. That's because… we all know crimsons had a lot of incidents.

Osmand: Well I understand them being mad... however Osmand would love to sit all of Chapter down with all of DoL to work on issues

Jarric: Peace talk RP is in vogue atm.

Osmand: I was thinking more a guild meeting, not just me and JP having a chat...we are just rosey together.

Jeanpierre: Allow me to be more specific then. OOCly every encounter with Anethion is generally welcome with expressions of amusement in guild-chat. ICly however, there is a barrier. OOC cooperation will not pose a problem. IC is different. The sole reason why I haven't contact Anethion to fix that IC situation is because the very chemistry of this love-hate relation seems to be enjoyed so much on our side.

Osmand: Perhaps I am being unclear, I am looking at it ICly if Osmand thought members of DoL were unhappy with the Chapter he would wish to sit those people down and sort it out. As DoL chapter relations are something he values.

Jeanpierre: And so does JP.

Jeanpierre: So let's have them chat about it Osmand. Deal?

Osmand: I am sure it will be fun.

Where has all the random RP gone?

I had personally asked myself this and I know many others who have done so as well. The answer is, in my opinion, humbling simple. It hasn’t gone anywhere. There is no lack of RP. JP insists that random RP can be found in most districts of Stormwind, even the Dwarven District which has become bit of a second Trade District with the bank and auction house. Jarric stated that there never goes a night when he does not encounter random RP. It is a matter of knowing where to look.

Cendia brought up a point well worth to consider regarding this: “The RP have not been dead at all, the problem have been people have grown tired of the game instead of making RP, they seek it... Or sit down expecting it to crawl into their laps.”

Now, how to solve this? More use of the forums as a way to advertise and brief the community in general about what is going on. Flag your interests clearly. There is a lot of information on the forums, thus it is important that it is easy to find and keep yourself updated. Join the channel /RPhub.

Jeanpierre is working on a guildiographical map over the Kingdom of Stormwind that will give a visual representation of what is going on and who.


Cathedral Square

One of the districts of Stormwind were discussed in detail, namely that of Cathedral District. It was mentioned that it has been given somewhat of a poor reputation. Likely reason for this being the amount of new RPers that gather there and simply need guidance. JP noted that a clear majority of the OOC contact he’s had with these RPers have been positive and they are indeed eager to RP. Jarric who has a lot of interaction with new people agreed with this.

Ways to improve this are both simple and yet complex, demanding a bit of effort. To quote Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see.” And it starts small, with one or two of the regular RPers RPing there. Eventually it will snowball.

More specifically, it was called for more priests to do preaching on the street. It was agreed that this might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it was recommended that guilds should encourage and assist their guild members in finding specific tasks that they are personally responsible and still bring that RP into a public space, thus creating more RP as well.

Guild Pairings

Guilds were paired together to find new reasons to associate with each other. Each guild rolled a d100 and the two with the closest numbers, highest to lowest, got paired together. Ideas were already bubbling before the meeting was closed. It will be interesting to see what they will come up with.

Stormwind Regiment
Blades For Hire

Vanguard of Duskwood
Disciples of Light

The Lordaeron Alliance
DefiasRP

The Forlorn Cartel
Chapter of Holy Anethion

A few final notices:

Jarric brought up an idea for tax collectors which he will make public when he feels ready.

Andrek/Zerafias holds mass on Friday 15th.

By this time the meeting had taken 2.5 hours so further brainstorming was tabled until next meeting.

Meeting was adjourned.

[Vittore]

Goddamnit! If only I saw this earlier..

[Kittrina]

Many thanks for posting the minutes, will be considering/coming up with ideas as and when real life permits in terms of the pairing and so forth

[Lexgrad]

And i You vittore, second best ladiesman on the server XD

[Vittore]

Behind whom, may I ask?

Oh...Okay..."Master"

[Karlak]

Really appreciate the posting of the minutes!

I have been a bit inactive this week due to work and RL commitments. But should be around again this evening onwards to organise some RP with the guards. Already have some stuff in mind, so fun times.

Thanks to Cendia for stepping in on short (read: no) notice to attend this on the Blades behalf.

Thanks to Chadel and Cela for "bigging me up"

As always everyone, watch the events forums, the Blades never sleep
(which normally means Humphry never sleeps)

[Sponsored content]