Aimless Wandering

[SekoETC]

(Unless you're stuck up in Klojt mountains )

Oh no, Klojt mountains might just be the next centre of booming action! Might. Or then not. Might take a while. Ahem...

[Marian]

I just get incredibly frustrated and finally bored out of my mind when my chars travel through town after town and nobody will even talk to them. I've been tempted to have them do something crazy to see if anyone will wake up, but I remeber how much I hate it when other people do that so I don't.

Finally I just take them out on the road to starve, because there's not much incentive to live in a region where over a week goes by with no one talking out loud, and no one will bother answer your questions even when they've clearly been awake long enough to hunt.

[Agar]

... You got to be committed like Creed.

Break out the camera and call Kid Rock!



I had one former wanderer (and note thief) who was forced to settle down (four years in jail will do that to you) who now runs a town. Ok, so he doesn't wander, but it's just as aimless.

The advent of gold wires gave one of my other characters purpose, now if only I could make glass on board the boat ...

The best advice I have on aimless characters is: DON"T MAKE THEM!!! Seriously, before you hit that nice "Make new charrie" Smiley (whose icon better never change) think it out. What are your characters goals gonna be? What kind of character is it gonna be? Don't just spawn and see what's around to work with, THINK before you act. You'll make better characters and have more fun playing them. If you read the notes when you spawn, find out you're in somewhere rare and new (like that poor slob that spawned on Burgeo while we were safely docked on our boat) then maybe take some time to reconsider your characters role, but have one planned out before you make one. It'll make the game better for you and everyone else.

[herkamer]

It's funny that this has brought up, beacause I have been debating with myself lately the worth of several of my characters. "Wandering Aimlessly" However, after reading all of the great input I am of the opinion that all wandering is not necessarily aimless.
A few of the characters had premeditated motivations, similar to people in real life that somehow identified their individual happiness early on in life and pursued it. These few created the contrast. The others. Again just as in real life, sometimes it's just about being in the right place at the right time. Many of these other characters just haven't found that moment so pure that thier true nature is undeniable. Falling in love here, a job opportunity there, offers offers offers. Some subtle and others blatant. I believe they are simply waiting for self-awareness.

[wichita]

I completely believe in developing internal motivation and personality before spawning characters. I try to avoid planning specific goals because I hate the newspawns that wake up and immediately ask for iron and wood to build a boat, or start asking for claymores.

I spawn a character thinking, "this one will be meek and selfless" or "this one will have a lot of wanderlust and be an explorer" or "this one is selfish and psychotic and will try to do anything to make a fortune and screw over his neighbors".

I guess I look for internal motivations to help me decide how to react to the world around my newspawn. That helps me to keep them from being "aimless". I avoid premeditating external goals to prevent disappointment when I spawn in Drojf again.

[Wolf]

Personally, I never think a lot or plan anything when creating chars.
I basically hit the button, pick a name and gender, and based on that I work out what kind of a person that char is.
I guess that's actually already in a way working by template.
For example, let's say the name "Otto Gunther" comes up, which clearly means to me that it's gonna be a male character.
I associate certain types of names with certain ideas, which involves the forming of ethics and such.
If I came up with a char called "Chuck Wormbag", he'd be likely to try and cheat people out of whatever he wants to achieve, while "Otto Gunther" would either choose to earn it through hard labour, or to win it in honourable combat, or to achieve it through other decent ways.

Planning specific goals, I don't do that.
Don't know why I don't do it myself, but I've seen a few cases where a newspawn already had goals that made him act in unnatural ways.
One example:
A newspawn steals a load of stuff and runs.
On the road he starts begging for his life, and tels us that he didn't even know he was stealing because he is so new (yet one of the things he took was the note with laws, how ironic).
After he's been explained that he won't be hurt anymore if he turns around and returns the stuff, he decides that he'll turn around and return the stuff, but then he asks about other places near where he stole the stuff, and comes up with a story of how he has to meet a friend in one of those places so he can go work for that friend.
So, he spawned, never spoke to anyone, probably his surprise friend has never been in the place where he stole the stuff, yet while running, it turns out his goal is to go work for that friend.
Specific goal, too unnatural.

Another example, a newspawn chooses to be a scientist.
He's gathering wood to build a school or university or lab or whatever.
He hasn't travelled at all, yet he tells the older chars who have travelled a lot during resource runs that they are wrong about what they saw in other towns.
I know of two such chars actually, one tried to tell an older more experienced chars that a place with no wood did have trees, yet they were of a useless type so nobody looked at them.
This while the other place of which he spoke has a note stating that there are no trees, so they need wood from the place this scientist spawned in.

Another scientist at another time, in another place not only explained that another place had trees but also that squirrels and birds lived in trees, which made good food (according to him; two of the older chars set him straight on that stuff).

The funniest one I saw was a newspawn identifying himself as the son of a baron who governed the place of spawning - in my opinion, the local leaders were leniant in that they spent almost two days trying to explain that 1. they never heard of that baron, 2. they were the town leaders, 3. the name of the town was not "Eidorion" as this newspawn claimed, and 4. that he wasn't wearing any of the clothing or jewellery which he described in his emotes.
Another player had an easier time whispering about the "son"-issue, but undoubtedly there might be other places where a newspawn with such high ambitions would meet with the business end of a weapon.

So, in short... considering a sort of template for the basics of a char is good, but planning anything beyond a name, gender and certain characteristics can put a char in serious trouble before he even speaks, if not done right.
I guess it's up to each individual to do what they are better at, plan ahead or not...

[Mafia Salad]

I've started characters with goals and strong personalities, and I've started characters as blank slates where I let the place around them shape them. I've had good and bad experience with both, but I think my best played and favorite characters started out as blank slates or with personality characteristics only. Spending the first three or so years of their life learning what is around them and building goals off of that makes much more relevant & realistic goals then some of the hair brained things I see some newspawns trying for.

[Confutus]

The characters I started with ambition, personality, and a purpose in life have been turning into boring clods, while those I started without goals except to wander around and explore are becoming more purposeful, ambitious, and interesting to play.

[The Sociologist]

I have a full 15 characters. Sure, not all are the life and soul of the party, but most manage to reply when spoken to and perform their required tasks. For example, one keeps an eye on Lad from the inside, one's with the Tutonic Knights, several wander around the KDS region and Quillanoi, and so on. I lack any charrie at all on K Island, though.

The game needs quiet but reasonably cooperative factory staff rather badly, and in the context that this is supposed to be a society simulator, some of the above comments strike me as rather selfish. You should not create each and every single character as if he or she is predesigned to be a starring entrant in some kind of roleplay competition. Just let the environment shape them as it may.

And yes, several of my characters lack names or else have had generic names like "cook", "hunter", "monk" and so forth, for long periods of time.

[tiddy ogg]

I'll go with that. We can't all be chiefs, but we can be sociable enough to communicate, as you say. My latest char, who is at the wandering stage, may well settle down to 20 years of picking spuds, but he'll still talk to people.

[Hellzon]

Those two last post make me feel good. I have one character that is a captain, and two that are aiming to become town leaders (by settling nearly unsettled areas). The other 8 (or so) are just sociable workers.

Oh, and I don't settle anything beyond basic personality (if even that), gender and name, before I start actually playing.

/Hellzon - null personality

[deadboy]

same as me.... what really sucks though is if you have a character you really like, and then they are forced to aimlessly wander by some event out of thier control

[Marian]

I have one char in an incredibly boring town, just a handful of people and nobody ever talks, so she's never developed much of a personality. I was seriously considering just lettign her fall asleep...but, after reading this thread I think I'll just leave her there quietly working. That way if anyone ever spawns or wanders through who wants to talk someone'll be there who will actually bother to reply, and who knows, one of these years something interesting might happen. In the meantime it's not like she's taking up much of my time to take care of.

[deadboy]

one of my characters is in a town with about 20 people in it, but in the last two years people have spoken about twice, so it is impossible to have any personality, I'm thinking of letting her starve

[Phalynx]

I agree to some extent but it just depends. I had a charrie spawn in a town where my favourite character lived before, he had a vibrant exciting time, mostly harvesting potatoes but lots of chat and fun.

My latest charracter spawned there, sure he is a little less personable, but now that same town is boring with newspawns being ignored, whispers and lots of people in buildings...

So same town but things have changed and my new charrie will have to wander to acheive any kind of social contact...