Picking your Battles

[Bowser]

Lets say in real life, you walk into this bar on your 21st birthday. You sit down and order a beer, looking around. The place isn't crowded, but it isn't empty. Over on the other side of the room, there is a group of people sitting at a table talking. One of them is wearing a crown, one is wearing a leather jacket, one is wearing snake skin boots, and the woman is wearing all feathers. Each of them has a gun holstered on their shoulder and there is a shot gun on the table. You are unarmed of course and wearing nothing worth mentioning.

You see a bowl of pretzels on the bartop infront of you and grab a handful, popping on into your mouth.

The man wearing the crown yells across the bar, "Who said you could eat my pretzels?"

Do you respond,
"Sorry, didn't know they were yours. Can I buy you a new bag"
or
"Sorry, didn't know they were yours, but you don't have to yell or be rude about it"
or
"These aren't your pretzels, its bar food, I'll eat what I want"
or
"F*&% You"

Now take this example and place it into Cantr, you will get about 60% arguing with the crowd. I guess having a few older, established, well armed characters makes me see this more than others, but I am getting tired of the number of newspawns that choose to answer more boldly.

[Frits]

No, i can't order a beer cos i have nothing *pouts* and if you feel that possessive over your pretzels why don't you sit on them? *smirks*

[zisked]

Been in a very similar situation - and they never shoot in public. No matter what you say. Plus, the bar tender usually has a bad-ass rifle behind the counter. Or at least my grandma ran her bar that way.

You have to take into account that most Cantr players are from a certain socio-economic level where we aren't living IRL danger of being beat down or killed by any yahoo with a bad attitude or a weapon. That'll effect playing.

Now, if I was behind locked doors with some dangerous looking dude with a gun, that'd be very, very different . . .

[DylPickle]

You have to take into account that most Cantr players are from a certain socio-economic level where we aren't living IRL danger of being beat down or killed by any yahoo with a bad attitude or a weapon. That'll effect playing.

It's a role playing game. The whole point it to try to change, twist, distort your rl mindset, in order to experience acting out a different mindset. If a cantr player can't do that.. Then really, they're playing the wrong game In a sense, you know?

[sanchez]

RL I thought was invincible in my twenties, too...

[km17]

or it could just be someone who belives justice will prevail no matter the odds and does not belive in violence, they tend to die quick but the overall principle is that the are over optimistic and belive that becuase they do not belive they are wrong they will be protected by karma or the sorts.

then again the vast majority are just bad roleplayers who play the charators as if they are computer generated and not real people (at least to them and the rest of Cantr)

as it is ive played some chars that would go around picking arguments for the sake of arguing. guess the point is not to always take it as bad roleplaying.

[Marian]

You see a bowl of pretzels on the bartop infront of you and grab a handful, popping on into your mouth.

The man wearing the crown yells across the bar, "Who said you could eat my pretzels?"

Do you respond,
"Sorry, didn't know they were yours. Can I buy you a new bag"
or
"Sorry, didn't know they were yours, but you don't have to yell or be rude about it"
or
"These aren't your pretzels, its bar food, I'll eat what I want"
or
"F*&% You"

Nice list but it should have expanded on the last two options, where even while being shot to pieces, bludgeoned, and sliced up with broken beer bottles you continue to argue, insisting you're right and staying indignant and self-righteous to your dying breath. Even if a gun is held to your head and you're promised that you'll be allowed to live if you just apologize and then spend an hour wiping down the counter.

[Black Canyon]

You forgot the "Pretzels....what pretzels?" option.

[Marian]

He also forgot the 'stand there and silently point at everyone in turn, then knock on all the doors and pick up any pieces of paper that happen to be lying around before strolling outside' option.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

You forgot the "Pretzels....what pretzels?" option.

[Phalynx]

I think most people realise that in that situation you're going to get a kicking either way, Being cocky will get you a heavy beating, being defferential will probably get you a few punches and getting chucked outside. You can always cry and sob, then it can go either way.... The weapons are for show and for threat value, they will only come out if you are packing too.

This is such a cultural question. Anyone carrying any weapon in a bar, where I come from is on the wrong side of the tracks. The real answer is find another bar quick before you even sit down.

The reality is in fact newspawns are probably playing it closer to reality than it first appears. Nearly everyone in cantr is tooled up so all a newspawn has no idea whether they will be used in anger. It's not like they can tell person X is a guard/sherrif/vigilante. It's actually a demonstration of just how piss poor things have got in a town when a newspawn intorduces themself and sits there for a few days and noone speaks to them. Newspawn assumes they are all sleepers doing nothing, picks up a few things and then suddenly there's activity he gets shouted at and slaughtered. Every time a guard logs in they should speak or do something that shows they are guarding. Then a newspawn can tell what's going on...

[tiddy ogg]

This is such a cultural question. Anyone carrying any weapon in a bar,
The reality is in fact newspawns are probably playing it closer to reality than it first appears. Nearly everyone in cantr is tooled up so all a newspawn has no idea whether they will be used in anger. It's not like they can tell person X is a guard/sherrif/vigilante. It's actually a demonstration of just how piss poor things have got in a town when a newspawn intorduces themself and sits there for a few days and noone speaks to them. Newspawn assumes they are all sleepers doing nothing, picks up a few things and then suddenly there's activity he gets shouted at and slaughtered. Every time a guard logs in they should speak or do something that shows they are guarding. Then a newspawn can tell what's going on...

This has always been the case, or at least in the year and half since I've been playing. Admitted, it gets a bit wearing telling newspawns the rules of survival, when most simply stand there and starve, but it needs at least one person in each town to make this effort.

[SekoETC]

I would say "Oh, sorry, I didn't know.. I thought they were there for grabs. Sorry. Please don't cut my stomach open, they're most likely digested already!" And if I were a female character then I would proceed to flirting with the guy with the crown and have him buy me a beer.

[formerly known as hf]

You forgot to mention that each gun is only carrying one round, and they take a day to reload.
And that you're so damned fast, the chances are, 2 out of the 4 shots will miss you.

And, even then, two direct hits won't kill you...

If it really was a case of 'be cocky and die instantaneously'.
Newspawns wouldn't be so cocky.
We, as players, just know that unless the four people at the table are incredibly lucky, we'll survive to flee, or hide, or beg (and get) mercy...


Unarmed people in Cantr should be very vulnerable to those wielding crossbows and claymores and the ilk.


Combat in Cantr is broken...
(Although, as a broken record deck, I'm not really in a position to make such comments)

[zisked]

You have to take into account that most Cantr players are from a certain socio-economic level where we aren't living IRL danger of being beat down or killed by any yahoo with a bad attitude or a weapon. That'll effect playing.

It's a role playing game. The whole point it to try to change, twist, distort your rl mindset, in order to experience acting out a different mindset. If a cantr player can't do that.. Then really, they're playing the wrong game In a sense, you know?

Yes, and in magical fairy land we'll all eat sugar cake. Most people, no matter how hard they try, will still end up playing characters that are influenced by their set of real life experience. Culture can be used to explain mass behavior such as the indignant newspawn.

And Phalynx also has an excellent point - there are too many towns that only enforce the laws once someone has ignorantly broken them or assumed everyone was asleep so 'what the hell?'. Now, in a bar, some armed jackass is just a jackass. In government, some armed jackass suddenly enforcing the laws as they please is corrupt as hell. And unless you're playing a complete and utter weenie, most people in the socio-economic class that has regular internet access get pissed off about government corruption. I think this carries over into play not because it's poor RP, but because we are all colored by our experiences/cutlure/call it what you will.