Pirates

[Miri]

If life as a prisoner (or slave) is the only life you have, what would you do?

And what would you do, if you were imprisoned by the pirates and told to give them the town storage key, so they can check if you have anything they like, then kick you off their ship into the harbour just before they leave, and you'll never see them nor hear about them again...?
Sounds like a fair deal for me, you know

[SekoETC]

I have a couple of characters that I created with the thought of bringing more vulnerable people into the world, so that someone could find a victim that doesn't act like Superman. But most everybody has been kind to them. The first one is starting to get more possessions and has more to lose, but generally she's ready to share it all with anyone she considers nice, so if someone wanted to take things from her with force, they would have to be quite an ass. The other one is still without purpose in life and since she got clothing, her only pressing need is getting food. She would do anything people tell her to do, but she's never ordered to do anything.

Also I have one character who moments after spawning decided that he didn't like the society and didn't care for living long either. So he became very cocky and clear-spoken. His long term goal was to get a powerful weapon and an iron shield, but he managed to get them rather young. Possessions gave him something to lose, and that made him more careful. He wants to hurt people either because he sees it justified, or because he sees himself as superior and showing them their proper place would give him satisfaction. But he has no boat or a locked building, no way of separating a victim from the environment, and attacking someone in the open would be too risky.

Oh, then I have a character who grew bitter in young age, but happened to find a girlfriend that cheers him up. I suppose if something happened to her, he might flip and start cleaning the world of oppressors and ungrateful people. He doesn't have the muscle, though.

[Tiamo]

Miri,

why would a pirate bother asking if he can simply kill you and take the keys, instead of waiting hours for you to answer? Besides, without killing you (exposing what you carry) he would probably not even know you have those keys.

If pirates could knock a character unconscious and take the keys they probably wouldn't bother killing him (takes extra time and fatigue). And if moving resources to their ship would be limited (picking up/dropping and dragging would cost fatigue and/or time) they wouldn't bother taking everything either, unless they have unlimited time to act.

Answering your question: depending on the character i play i would bluff not having any keys, withhold some of my keys if i would have more than one, immediately give in or even try to join the pirates! Trying to escape or fight and flee unfortunately isn't an option in Cantr if you are imprisoned.
But Cantr pirates won't give you those opportunities nowadays, i guess (never seen a pirate in my life yet).

[Miri]

why would a pirate bother asking if he can simply kill you and take the keys, instead of waiting hours for you to answer? Besides, without killing you (exposing what you carry) he would probably not even know you have those keys.

Becouse they're already bored with killing? Maybe they don't really have a reason to kill other than to take the goods, and if it can be done without killing - only the better? Maybe some of them were depressed after a friend's death, and they felt like there's enough death in the world, so why add more?

Actually that offer was given, but the one it was given to disagreed and started some annoying projects inside the cabin he was locked in, and doing so actually giving the pirates the reason to kill him - and was dead the next day, if I remember right.

If pirates could knock a character unconscious and take the keys they probably wouldn't bother killing him (takes extra time and fatigue). And if moving resources to their ship would be limited (picking up/dropping and dragging would cost fatigue and/or time) they wouldn't bother taking everything either, unless they have unlimited time to act.

Agree *nods* they won't kill... unless they were really pissed of, or for RP purposses

Answering your question: depending on the character i play i would bluff not having any keys, withhold some of my keys if i would have more than one, immediately give in or even try to join the pirates! Trying to escape or fight and flee unfortunately isn't an option in Cantr if you are imprisoned.

And this is the RP, not just a no-no. The mamooths became extinct becouse of a no-no

But Cantr pirates won't give you those opportunities nowadays, i guess (never seen a pirate in my life yet).

Some would be giving, if they still were...

[Money]

I have one charrie who would let the pirates take him, but then he would try convert them.... Another one I have would be the victim because he can always get his wealth back later.

[SekoETC]

Oh, here's an idea, pirates could kidnap a couple and hold them separate and tell each that their lover is going to get hurt unless they do as they're told. That might work. People don't care about themselves but they might care about a lover. Although finding out who's with whom would require background knowledge of the targets, and if you're a known pirate, you can't hang around in a town to observe relationships.

[Tiamo]

Pirates could do a lot of things, but do they really do that, or do they just slaughter and loot?

The game isn't very helpful in creating an RP situation here, it rather drives pirates towards hit-and-run-type playing, and drives their victims towards giving it up and restart.
Wouldn't it be better if the game would make piracy (and battle) into a game of wits?

[SekoETC]

Maybe there should be a consensual region in Cantr where bad things would only happen if people have agreed in advance that it's okay? Then all the people who can't handle nasty surprises could move over there.

[marginoferror]

I think Tiamo definitely has the right idea. The current combat system is almost custom-made to make roleplaying a liability. Maybe we should try to design a system that makes roleplaying important, or at the very least makes it possible to roleplay without putting yourself in danger.

[Theon Stark]

I like the ideas of actually using those fun little bars in the charrie profile, tiredness for example, and carrying and dragging and running in and out of places tires you out a bit, once you reach a set level you have to stop or rest a bit before you can continue.

[Solfius]

Pirates could do a lot of things, but do they really do that, or do they just slaughter and loot?

The game isn't very helpful in creating an RP situation here, it rather drives pirates towards hit-and-run-type playing, and drives their victims towards giving it up and restart.
Wouldn't it be better if the game would make piracy (and battle) into a game of wits?

That kind of analysis of the gameplay is the constructive criticism Cantr needs in order to be revived.

Now we just need the solution and someone to implement it...

[DylPickle]

'Second that one.

As for solutions, I hate to drag down the tone *knee slap, knee slap*, but here's a suggestion topic for discussing crap like that. Don't know if we came up with any real brilliant ideas yet though
http://www.cantr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11502&highlight=reducing+dragbased+combat

[Arlequin]

About the finding keys issue, usually if you want to check that someone isn't hiding something you can do them the 15-kilos-of-hides test. Keys weight 10 grams each, so they won't be able to hold 15 kilos of hides (or whatever) if they are carrying any.

[Miri]

True...
What about the notes? How much they weight? During the test the prisoner would propably have to drop them as well

[Arlequin]

They don't weight. When my pirate and two of his crew were captured, they had a hard time trying to get an uncensored copy of the ship log without resorting to kill them. They made the youngest member of the crew break his oath and that finally costed the life of the captain and his best official.