Purpose

Nicodemus is setting up a community. He is doing so with the following goals:

1. Regular dynamic RP

   This means that within this area of the MUCK, the RP will be dynamic and of consistently superlative quality.

2. Education

   Its not enough to play well, but one must also teach others to play well.

Method

Overview

The method used is called "dynamic RP." This means that people play their own characters, consistently and believably, like normal RP, but that they do so with the expectation and freedom of directly affecting others, in ways that the others may not expect.

In short, with dynamic RP, twinking is defined as "acting outside your own character's abillities" but does not include "not acting upon another."

Because this is wildly easy to abuse (and in RL, when someone abuses it, we call them bullies, or boors, or gropers, or perverts!) our community will be very careful who it allows to play. This doesn't mean its insular, but it does mean that being allowed to RP within it is a privilege.

If there's a dispute over what should happen, its not reasonable to drag staffers into this. After all, they don't necessarily know anything about the rules or context of our community. Instead, a dispute will be resolved by the decision of any member not involved in the dispute. Rank has no bearing here.

Why doesn't rank have bearing? Because if it did, the higher-ranking members would find themselves unable to RP with anyone else. Judges must be fair. Here, judges act as judge and jury. No appeals. Someone that does a bad job judging is likely to find themselves ostracized, as is someone that does a bad job playing. That's the breaks.

Specifics

Know your character

In order to do any sort of RP well, you must know your character. This means more than that he's a male squirrel that is old and grew up in the Abbey. How much more?

1. What is your characters history?
2. What does your character value? Why?
3. What does your character hate? Why?
4. What are the internal conflicts (everyone has them)?
5. What are your character's fears? Dreams?
6. What affairs are private to your character (done when alone and something he considers too intimate to discuss)? Note: this doesn't mean "dirty" or even "secret." For instance, a tough killer that loves opera would sure likely not say anything about that, and a good character who daydreams of being a captain of a ship full of pirate-hunters so he could mercilessly slay pirates isn't going to to want people to know his "dark" side either.
7. What does your character consider personal? This is things done alone, or among close friends, that he considers special and cherishes. Example might be playing a musical instrument (though not well), or a frankness about his fears that would leave him exposed to ridicule or even betrayal. When you are personal you are trusting, with all the risks and consequences.
8. Finally, what is your character like in public and with others who are not personal friends? This includes his work or profession, his willingness to support others (or not). His dress, grooming, hygeine, weapons, etc. Much of this should find its way into various descriptions and be readily apparent.

Whew! That's a lot of work! Damned right! But if you are going to RP well and reveal your character, you need to have a character to reveal. And how your character acts in public, in private, and with personal trusted others is an incredible revelation.

For example, stealing and exposing poor Nicodemus...

Nicodemus is married to Dirisha (a zombie). They have a son, Jeff (also a zombie). They adopted a daughter, Jesibel (yet another zombie...see a pattern here?). As it happens, Nic, Dirisha, and Jeff are squirrels. Jesibel is a hare. They actually don't think of this as being unsual or special because both Nic and Rish grew up in the Abbey, and Jeff of course (like any child) always considers whatever he grows up with as normal. Some do find this odd, or even sick, and Nic accepts that this is so. But he doesn't treat Jes any less over it. Jesibel, however, is hyper-sensitive to the fact that she's not only different but an interloper, even though the others don't. There is always a conflict here, and conflict leads to revelation of character, and tension, all of which lead to better RP.

Is Nic's family perfect? Oh, far far from it. However, does it have the tension and believability needed as a basis for RP? You be the judge, but I have found it eminently satisfying and well received overall.

Now, the sketch I gave above tells next to nothing about the family. It tells what you would learn if you asked a neighbor "Who is that Nic guy, anyway?" It doesn't tell personal details. For instance, one can see from the outside that Jesibel tries to stay "behind" ("in her place" as she sees it) the others in public, and one would also see them pulling her back into her place in the family without rancor and with great affection.

To get more detailed, what you might see if you were a guest trusted enough to have them lower the "public barriers" that everyone has (and which if you use in an RP with them without seeing for yourself is abusing the nature of IC RP) would be Jesibel bullying Jeff (she's MUCH larger as a hare than any squirrel, even though she's only Jeff age, she towers over even Nic and Dirisha) and Jeff taking it stoically...but being careful, even in his most angry and helpless of moments, to never touch her ears, which are always cracked and scabbed inside from an illness she had, because doing so would be very painful to her. Its also interesting to note that she takes it for granted that no matter what she does, she won't be hurt back...though she fears being rejected. Contradictory and inconsitent? Absolutely...but if you've seen two siblings in RL fight, but never actually go so far as to make one scream in true anguish (which is what would happen if Jesibel's ears were tugged), and yet see both siblings stand side by side to outsiders, you'll realize that there are huge ranges of behavior and contexts being exposed.

And that leads to very exciting RP, if you can have your character behave in such a way that the people are shocked, and then step back and say, "Oh, geeze, of course they did that!"

Mind you, Jesibel and Jeff are zombies. The only time anyone sees them RP is if I'm running them specifically to interact with other players. In short, I treat the entire family as one "character" and use various members of Nic's family to expose details and generate RP. I'm not a writer--I don't RP my zombies in private, nor do I have them as central to some story other than the MU. But, I do know "what they are doing" when nobody is RPing with them.

And that leads to another issue...

Your characters have backplot. This means that all that time you are in the real world doing things, and not logged into the MU, your characters are alive and well (or alive and suffering greatly, or whatever) in this world. And when you connect, its up to you to know wha they were doing when you were offline.

Why is this important?

Say that I've been gone a few weeks, RL (perhaps I've been beating my way up the Canadian coast, and have flown back to Bellingham to take care of some business for a few days, my boat safely tucked into an anchorage). I connect, and its utterly unreasonable to expect that everything was "as I left it" for that time. Just because I wasn't online and RPing doesn't mean that the rest of the players weren't.

So, when I "flicker to life" and go out, someone is bound to ICly interact with me, asking, "Hey, what've you been up to?" I sure can't say, "Well, it was a Force-5 storm around Victoria, and then I logged 95 miles/day for a few days!" That's RL, not IC. Instead, I'd say something like, "I had to re-build the ladder that goes up my tree. Jesibel broke a rung and then an arm on the way down."

Now, there's topics to talk about. I can drag Jesibel out of her zombie storage and update her description to show the broken arm. Jeff can be shown sticking close to her, putting up with her whining, because she can't easily do some things. Other IC characters can tell Jes she should knock off the whining, or some can tell Jeff he should be more attentive...and still others might taunt her and say, "What'cha think, a stupid hare living with squirrels? Shoulda broke your spine, teach you to mind your place." After all, not every beast is nice, right?

If I'm gone again for a few weeks, when I get back, she can be healed, or maybe it will go bad, and her arm will be unable to handle any weight ever again...or perhaps she will get infected and it would kill her. Whichever most advances the IC-ness and increases the dramatic tension and playability.

Is that nice? No, tragedy isn't nice. But, it is quite believable...and quite playable. However, tragedy and melodrama get old quick.

Lets do a flip-side of the back-plot. Same idea, Jes broke an arm, only she's cheerful, and treats it like a war-wound, cracking jokes. Jeff is still with her, and she is openly gracious and for at least a while stops taunting and tormenting him. When I come back again, the arm is healed fine, and we find that she decided that taunting someone that refuses to fight back is silly, and their dynamic changes.

No less believable, no less playable, and far nicer...

So, what goes on in private, and between family, leads to what is seen to the general characters in the community. And, of course, if some of you do become personal friends, and are invited into their home, and become trusted, you will se other levels.

The roles that the characters take are different based on the context. Jeff is the same squirrel, even though in some cases, with his father, he's an obedient son, and with his mother, he's self-conscious and careful (if you wonder why, RP with them), and with his sister in the morning, he's gentle when cleaning out those huge ears, and in the evening, he's angry when being pinned or teased. Different contexts bring out different sides, but he's still the same beast. And what happened to him most recently (which most likely wasn't "on stage" in IC play but only in my mind when I login) is going to dramatically effect how he responds to the next beast he ICly comes in contact with.

Also, a lot of the little things are utterly skipped on the MU, which is very sad. For instance, your characters usually wear clothes. Where'd they get them? Make them? Where'd they get the cloth? Thread? Buy them? From whom? Wash them? Where? River? Tub? Just brush them off?

These might seem like insignificant things, but think of what makes up your real life...its not just momentous things, like being threatened with a gun or quitting a job in a huff. Its the complete range of things. Getting up, dressing, shopping, grooming, etc. Anyone who speaks publicly, and discovered their fly was unzipped (or a strap was showing for you fems out there!) sure realizes that treating something as "minor" as dressing without care is unwise.

Also, beasts should get sick. In the IC world, being sick isn't like today, where you pop a pill or get a prescription for an anti-biotic. In the IC world, sick children often die (the books don't talk about this, as its wildly outside the scope of the storyline, but we're a medievel genre, and the infant mortality rate should be very high). Sick or injured adults can't work...and if they can't, who will feed them?

Where does your character get food, anyway? Nicodemus drops comments fairly often about having to take time from work to harvest nuts, and getting too old for hauling them around. Jeff doesn't talk about it much, because it bores him, but he also does his share. Dirisha, oddly, never harvests. She doesn't only not talk about it, she doesn't do it, and finds it sad and depressing that her husband and son do. Why? Ask her sometime.

If you don't harvest the bounty of the woods, then what do you do? Fish? If so...when? Daily? IF not daily, how do you store the fish? Salt them? Where do you get salt? Salt-lick? Seawater and evaporation?

Where do you get soap for your laundry? Trade? Make it? Do you even do laundry?

The same goes for your home. Build it? Nic built his. He's a carpenter. He gets what he can't harvest or build through trade. That's how he got his pots and pans, and his clothing. He mends the clothing though. But not his finery. That he has maintained by the tailor as well. His wife, though, traded for almost all that she owns. Her clothes and armor are all foreign, built from outside the community. So are her weapons. She's no weapon-smith, but she keeps her equipment in fine condition. Such is the burden of a soldier. And that's pretty much what she is.

If you are a fighter, someone must take care of you. Fighters train and sweat, work and drill. If they don't do these things, they become out of practice, and they will die in battle. They know this. Warriorship is a full-time job. So all that wish to be warriors, you better have someone willing to feed you. If not, you are going to have to rob (or "tax").

Dirisha is lucky...her husband does the domestics. She eats because he does what she hates. Lucky her. Tension, perhaps? You'd have to be trusted enough to be in their home with the barriers down...

So, to summarize: if you are going to RP a character, you must know your character very well indeed...so well that you would be embarassed if you were forced to tell all the contents of their minds (and so well you can imagine how helpless they would feel knowing they were pawns to your playing of them). Honesty to the characters is central...nkow your character.

Using Dynamic RP to reveal character and have good RP

To re-iterate the idea of dynamic RP: to act as suits your character, even when directly affecting others.

To describe dynamic RP, its useful to contrast it with co-operative RP, which is how most of the MUCK players RP.

Co-operative RP has as a fundamental rule that you are not allowed to directly affect another. For instance, you can swing a sword at them, but you can't hit them unless you first ask permission (via page). This means that the game becomes very much theatre, with agreement of things.

Theatre has its place. However, there are also times that one wants to risk, to struggle, and to have suprises. When Thta's the goal, when you're willing to face consequences, without the ability to do more than what your character can do, in a world occupied by those forces which can trounce you, then you will chose to do something where the risk is real.

In a full-blown RPG (such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons), there is an explicit system of conflict resultion rules, based usually on dice and equations, often supplemented with charts full of numbers and conditional modifications. There is also a Game Master (or Dungeon Master) who is responsible for having final say. This isn't a player, but is the one who makes up the challenges the players struggle against. In order to keep the system consistent and fair (well, fair is relative here...) the system has all details on characters handled with enumerated values. These are in turn used in the equations.

An RPG thus runs much like a computer game (or, to be more specific, many computer games are in fact programs performing RPG rules). For those familiar with MUDs, this is the basis that the MUD uses. So, RPGs need everything mapped out, and someone to be responsible for final decisions.

The MUCK isn't a MUD, and we don't want a computer resolving our issues. Also, the MUCK isn't an RPG, so we don't want some players who have the job of making up and controlling the world which we play in. What we really want is a way to interact with the other players, to be consistent in the roles that we see for our characters, and to still have exciting play.

Its this goal that Dynamic RP strives to accomplish.

There are no character sheets full of numbers or complex descriptions that somebody is supposed to read to decide if you should succeed at something. Its assumed that you know your character, its limits, and its strenghts.

There are no rules on combat or other conflict resolution. Its expected that all parties have the integrity and courage to face honestly the risks implicit in living ICly in a world with slavers, hordes, and such. Its also expected that people don't seek to be superlative in order to reduce risk. Yes, some characters should be excellent fighters, but as mentioned above, if they are, they better have been RPing like that and they better have arranged a means for their support, and a rationale for the rest.

Since people don't agree on everything all the time, there is a need to provide a means to resolve something the player can't just agree on directly. Such a need should be uncommon, and is met by requesting a non-involved player to act as a judge. The judge hears both sides, and decides. That solves it. In reality, sometimes things aren't decided as would seem best. So to here. Such is life.

If you aren't willing to risk, then you have no business joining in with a dynamic RP group. As a result of the implicit risk (when just walking around the woods, you could contact someone that's been waiting around for the chance to kill you) expect that most dynamic RP players will seem wildly careful, and unwilling to fight without really good cause--unlike the average RPer on the dirt road who expects to fight thirty to one, and walk away unscathed, the dynamic RPer risks permanent injury or death in any battle.

Why is battle so emphasised? Oddly, the main goal of dynaimc RP isn't to deal with fights. Think about reality. Very few adults fight on a regular basis. Those who do (aside from professional soldiers in battle) are usually living in very high-risk lifestyles. For example, the Hell's Angels motorcycle club uses fights as a way to resolve disputes. But they also carry guns at all times and move massive amounts of drugs. But, outside of these few lifestyles, most adults don't get into conflicts often. Kids do much more often, because they tend to think short-term. Adults are more likely to file lawsuits or call the police.

So, ignoring physical confrontations, what is the effect of dynamic RP?

First off, if your character enters a room with someone you haven't seen in awhile, you could walk up and clap a paw on their shoulder in greeting. Note that this is a twink in conventional RP unless you ask them. Who asks their friends, "May I greet you enthusiastically?" in reality?

This also handles accidents and errors. I should be able to spill a glass of cordial, and have it slop across the table and land in your lap. You don't like it? Why would you? But, is such a happening believable? Does it not lead to more interesting RP?

The abuse of dynamic RP is a problem that is best handled with education first, and if the other won't RP reasonably, removal. Its a privilege to be allowed to join a dynamic RP group, since the other members are, in effect, granting you license to hurt or kill their characters.

The types of characters that are sensible in dynamic RP are the range of characters one would expect in the genre. What isn't useful is the character that is superlative in everything. There's nothing wrong, for instance, with being a very good warrior. But there is no RP potential in the best warrior who ever lived. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy, but having more money than anyone in the universe is pointless. The superlatives make for cardboard characters and poor RP.

If you've never played in an RPG, its hard to believe, but there's a lot more to RPGs than fighting. Just tackling things where success is uncertain can be challenging in its own right. And the essence of all plotting is conflict, which doesn't mean just physical conflcit, but struggle and such against odds.

If you can't think of something to struggle for, then you likely haven't built your character in enough detail. I assure you, RL, that I at least am constantly pushing forward and doing new and interesting things. If you doubt that, might I remind you that it wasn't easy getting Redwall MUCK to grow in the first place? There's no lack of things to struggle for in a good character.

Membership

How does one join?

Well, one must be invited by a member. That's it.

This is not a staff position. There is no notion of special privileges or extra power or responsilbity. We are members, and we choose adittional members. If we choose poorly, though, then what?

To remove a member takes a vote. This, because there is no power or need for command ability, is a democracy. The voting program makes it easy enough to manage.

Note that a vote can turn out anyone, including Nicodemus. There's no exceptions. The vote, however, must be a majority of the group (not a majority of voters). Any amount greater than 50% results in removal. Clean, simple, and elegantly brutal.

Because the system is a tyranny of the masses (a true democracy, not a republic) nobeast in the membership can own the list. As a result, the list will be owned by a non-player character (a character that exists only to serve as an administrative privilege). The Chief Wizard will control this character, and thus be able to add/remove members (or delegate someone to add/remove members). In fact, the Chief will delegate this to someone in the list for convenience. Only if that someone flakes out will the Chief take it over and request another from the remaining members.

There will be a few rooms that are locked to group membership. The majority of play takes place in normal areas. The reason for the locked areas is to provide a place that is certain to be free of annoyances for special events.

Also, there will be a program that will enable a member to prove their membership. This is needed because a member should be able to "ignore" the effects caused by non-members (it would be silly for a member RPing on the dirt road and struck down by a non-member "Strong fox with a battleaxe" as his only description to live with those consequences, though to RP at that time with them is a good way to promote the method!).

Lastly, there will be tokens created to give to guests to enable them to access the private areas. In this way, we'll be able to expand by showing others what's involved.