Conflict: A Thug's Life

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What is conflict?

Way back in the day, people didn't used to shy away from playing conflict oriented characters. However, over the past decade there's been a sharp decrease in playing these kinds of characters. It's been for a variety of reasons, be it not wanting to do jail time IC, the IC conflict bleeding into OOC drama, the roadblocks they run into after they do 'bad' things, just an influx of people who are too shy to engage in mischief, whatever the reasons I believe that it hurts the game overall. Castle Marrach is a social roleplaying game, which centers around the stories told by characters first and foremost.

If you were to open a book called Castle Marrach, you would find it to be a book centered around individual point of view chapters that tie together to create a story within a magical castle background. Not all the characters are going to be good guys, nor will they all be bad guys. You'll have a mix of good, bad and neutral guys, but what you should be able to find in every character's story arch are multiple points of conflict. Sometimes it ends well, sometimes it doesn't. This is what makes a story, though.

There aren't any good movies, books or tv shows that start out idyllic and then go straight to 'and they lived happily ever after!'. That's not a story, that's a yawn fest. Every single character should encounter conflict, and some of the main sources of conflict aren't "he loves me, he loves me not, he loves a lot of others, too, oh noes."

They should be more moral choices, encountering characters that make our own question their resolve, engaging in scenes where if you are a good guy, you're trying to engage with a bad guy in a way that tells a story on both sides, because you're each point of view characters, telling a story, and even if that chapter only covers one scene it's been building up by every action the characters involved have taken.

The Little Mermaid - A classic tale of a girl going the distance for love. It includes:

• A shipwreck, where people definitely died and a prince almost did - Tragic
• A controlling parent, just looking out for his kid - Conflict within immediate social circle
• An evil sea witch with a idea - Moral conflicts for LM, ambition move for SW (but how did Sea Witch get this way? What's her PoV? story?)
• Littler Mermaid takes the deal! A choice, a decision - she gets her legs, but it's like walking on glass, and the prince?
• The prince gets saved, finds him a cutie patootie that is NOT her - Good on him, but...
• The mermaid find this out, oh no, what will she do? - Emotional conflict for her; she loves him, but he loves another!
• Her sisters show up, with an idea! - The siblings of the Little Mermaid give her a dagger, if she kills the prince, she can rejoin them in the sea. CONFLICT YET AGAIN
• She opts not to kill him, because she loves him. - Aww...
• But then she turns into seafoam. The End.

That's just a fairy tale with the various points of conflict pointed out, but a beloved fairy tale either way.

This isn't counting epic tales like Lord of the Rings or Wheel of Time, where the characters are constantly encountering conflict at every tavern or river bend.

A good story isn't good without conflict and conflict requires characters willing to 1. create the conflict 2. push the conflict 3. engage in the conflict.

So, it's important when we go into this workshop to fully understand that without conflict, which is generated by other characters and events, that there is no REAL, meaningful story. So while we discuss thugs, villains and mischief makers, these aren't 'bad guys' from an OOC perspective, they are necessary for telling satisfying tales - even if the story doesn't always go the way anyone plans.

We are going to discuss the OOC side of Conflict first, as it's important to have a solid foundation and base on how see these characters and engage in these kinds of things from an OOC perspective as story tellers.

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Handling Conflict from an OOC Perspective

The most critical thing to remember in any conflict situation is that we are all humans. We come to this game to escape and tell stories together. We won't all like each other OOC, and that's fine, but you're not here to high five everyone and be everyone's best friends or take out your RL anger on others in the disguise of a character. You're here to tell a story, because you found this game, liked the setting and thought, "I've got a great character idea I'd like to live here and share their story and see what develops."

These characters are not you. The characters you come into conflict with are not the players behind them.

So forgetting to take a breath from the story and lashing out at another PLAYER due to In Character conflict is going to ruin it for everyone. Like ripping out a chapter in a book. You've lost potential character growth and story, not just of your character, but every single character in that scene.

This is what happens every time IC conflict spills into the OOC world. It entirely influences the flow of a scene and future scenes. In some cases, the OOC side of things gets to the point where the IC story suffers irreversible effects and makes people reluctant to involve their characters with the ones who take the conflict OOC.

I'm pretty sure not a single person reading this thinks they're guilty of taking out OOC frustrations on people IC, but I've been staffing on this game since 2009 and playing since 2002. I've seen most of y'all's shit and I can see through a lot of other behaviours. This stuff happens, we're humans, but it's important to catch yourself when IC conflict starts bothering you OOC or your OOC moods starts influencing your character's IC actions and take a step back.

My advice in these situations is to take a step back, draw in a deep breath, and detach your emotions from your character and remind yourself that this is a co-op story telling game and refocus on WHAT WOULD MY CHARACTER DO? Not WHAT WOULD I DO?

Sometimes I get super mad and be like, "I WOULD KNOCK THAT CHICK'S TEETH INNNNN", but like the character I'm on would definitely not do that.

I think of it as my characters are precious, and if I behave ICly based on my OOC mood, I could ruin them, taint them and paint them in a way that was not my intention all because I was OOCly upset. That's not fair to the character or to the people who are used to interacting with my characters when they're themselves, not when they're me being upset OOC.

1. Detach yourself from your character - You control the character, not the other way around.
2. Remember this applies to the other characters on the screen - They're your co-writers, not your enemies.
3. If you need to, take a minute and take a breath, recalibrate yourself and your character - No shame in sometimes blurring the lines, but check it quick; if you've not been in a scene where you cried over the tragedy of it or felt pride at the way it resolved, are you even telling/reading stories?
4. This should be a place of fun and story telling, if you're not having fun, take a break and then hit the ground running.

Jeff's player asked: "If things get too much, and let's say I catch myself having a moment and I realize that I need a moment. Is it appropriate for me to say 'Hey, OOCly I need to pause for a moment because I am needing to collect myself so this doesn't turn into something more than a story for both of us' or is that bad form because it can kill the flow and rhythm of the scene?"

This is 100% fine to do! In fact, I think most people in the scene would be relieved if this is the case. Sometimes people can feel the tension on an OOC level or feel that it's not exactly all IC, and by taking this step for yourself and the others in the scene, it can let you and everyone else take a second and recalibrate your brain space. Taking a few minutes on all fronts lets not just you, but others take a minute as well. Then everyone can come back to the scene after a water, smoke, or pee and really throw themselves into it from a story telling perspective.

It's never a bad idea to pause a scene that's emotionally intense. I know many CMers have anxiety issues and sometimes if just one person is like 'Hold up, I need a sec." they 1. realize you're not mad at THEM and 2. realize they're not the only one invested in their character and 3. also be able to take a minute to collect themselves.

What I don't want people to do is stop the scene, and retcon it. A scene is going to happen, this is 100% fine, even if it needs to pause a minute, that's better than going 'Oh, scrap this whole scene, I was in a mood."

I think a lot of the time when we're in an intense scene it's super easy to forget yourself and just run off with the character brain space, IC and OOC, and sometimes just popping that OOC bubble with "I need a second!" or even something dumb like, "Sorry, my dog just fell on her face, brb." as an excuse to step away for a moment can help break that tension and reset the OOC mood without wrecking the IC one.

So, here's an example of how a scene like that might go and what's cool:

Another okay example:

What's NOT good?

Don't change YOUR character's motivations, ambitions, reactions based on the OOC feelings of someone else.

We are each responsible for our own IC and OOC actions.

Keeping it vague removes the 'Omg, I am so sorry!' on another players behalf, but being honest about the intensity of a scene isn't necessarily bad.

So, I'll just reiterate this bit: Don't change YOUR character's motivations, ambitions, reactions based on the OOC feelings of someone else.

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Co-operatively Telling Conflict Stories

Maireath's Player asked: "Is it cheating somehow to talk to someone OOC about what you're trying to do? I think ideally you'd be a good enough writer to let things happen entirely IC, but what if you don't want the other char's player to be confused by what you're doing? Would that be bad manners to talk to another player OOC?"

No, it's definitely not cheating to do this! I don't know if this happens often, but it's not discouraged for people to discuss potential conflicts or set up conflicts OOC first.

However, my only concern on these types of co-op discussions is that it is almost impossible for players to keep this OOC discussion from coloring their IC actions. I'm not saying this to demean anyone, but if you know Maireath is going to jump out at you and stab your eye out with his magic focus scissors, you're going to think about it and maybe exchange ideas, and maybe by the time it gets there you're like, "Why would Maireath's character be able to get the jump on mine and take their eye out?"

This is kind of one of those grey areas where I think discussing potential conflict can be good, but you really have to trust the other player you're working with to tell the story with pre-emptive knowledge. It boils down to everyone wants to come out on top, and that's totally normal, but it's not always the case with every character and this is something we need to understand as players and be willing to not only accept, but engage/interact with from a story perspective.

So, in summary, while it's not cheating, time and data suggests that it's probably not the most ideal way to do a conflict scene. It risks losing the organic flow of the story if it's relayed OOCly to the other party. While our hearts want to reassure our fellow player and involve them OOCly, even if it's just to spit ball ideas, it's probably better if they get to react to it naturally without any risk of crossover.

If you super duper trust the other player, then go for it. Some advice though, if you pre-plan an OOC crime, do your best to make it look believable. I've seen some pre-planned crimes that essentially made the victim look incompetent. They didn't RP their character as dumb at all, but they very purposefully made a dumb choice, against known advice, in order to say, get kidnapped or murdered, and honestly it made the law characters go, "Ooooookay."

And they lost credibility IC.

So say, Maireath decides he wants to kidnap Lady Sinvy to go kill her, and mummify her to be a mannequin for his magical fashion clothes They discuss it OOC, she's game, he's game.

THE LADY OF THE QUEEN'S HOUSE WALTZES OUT TO THE OB UNARMED FOR NO REASON AND GETS KIDNAPPED.

Sinvy is suddenly, ICly, a complete fookin' moron and rightly so. Ideally, Maireath would work with other criminals who could slink IB, take her unawares, and whisk her away to Maireath's Murder Room. That's much more believable, a better story, a conspiracy against a noble, etc.

Otherwise it's: Dumb Noble Wanders to the OB and Gets Kidnapped at 11.

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OOC Conflict Give & Take

This is a super important topic for those wanting to play a criminal OR a good guy.

Because this is a co-operative story telling game, it's important to co-operate with your other storytellers. When I say this, I don't mean pre-plan every exchange ever in the history of exchanges. What I do mean is playing fair.

Everyone wants to win, but not everyone can all the time.

However, sometimes the bad guys do win, and sometimes the good guys do lose, and vice versa, and this is something that people need to keep in mind and be willing to engage in. A satisfactory give and take between good and bad. This is a place where some OOC discussion can be good, but could also lead to some OOC conflict.

If the bad guys always win, the good guys get tired of their shit, and crack down even harder, which then results in the good guys always winning, and the no one wants to play criminals anymore. This was the back and forth for several years during the rebellion. However, the give and take needs to make sense, too.

I played Eeva during the initial rebellions, and I can tell you I have never been more annoyed in my life. Not because I wasn't fine with give and take, but because it felt like there was all give, no take. You had the Queen releasing criminals, who would run to areas you couldn't get to as the law, then they would run up and commit crimes, and then you'd have the Chancellor yelling at you for not catching them, and then if you did by pure luck, the Queen would be like, "Okay, byyyye." or something like that. The Chancery began upping the stakes, which began a spiral of ridiculous laws that kept people from really interacting and it became stressful across the board for everyone involved.

What I learned from this was that if you're going to give and take, it needs to make sense. Why would the Queen be releasing the rebels? Girl, stop. It made sense for the Chancellor to be mad they weren't caught, but it's yo wife lettin' em go.

I also learned that if you're playing a straight-laced law guy, it's fine to get your ass handed to you sometimes, but as a Player and a Plotter I felt that the bad guys should have been more willing to get caught on occasion, too. Esp. if the Queen was just going to yeet them back to the UB.

These exchanges are imperative to a continual stream of game play between 'good' and 'bad'. This give and take exchange, because it keeps both sides from feeling like they can't ever get a leg up. If you're constantly losing (be you baddie or goodie two shoes) you're not having fun OOC either. I say to split yourself from your character, but I lose at mario kart 100 times, I'm throwing a controller.

It's important in give and take not to make either side look 1. complicit or 2. incompetent either. This goes into being a good story smith. Say you do have a criminal and a law guy, and the law guy OOC decides to let the criminal get a win this time, and run away. Cool, cool!

However, this criminal better hit that law guy in the head or break a bone, or the law guy better have a good IC story to tell, otherwise they're going to risk looking complicit or incompetent, and that'll effect them IC long term, especially if it happens more often than not.

That being said, the stakes are higher for a criminal to let a law guy win.

If a criminal lets themselves get caught, they're dedicating themselves to time in the gaol and a sentencing. This is something that the PLAYER of the criminal needs to be OOCly prepared for.

THAT being said? It is then the obligation of the Law Player to interact with the criminal character while they're in the gaol. The whole purpose of the Visitor's Cell, the Winter Watch, etc is to maintain interaction between characters incarcerated and the outside world so they don't lose out on RP.

I'll cover this on IC Thuggery talks, too, but it's important for Army, Watch and Inquisition to be able and oocly willing to facilitate that roleplay. Criminals can receive counsel from the Faith, they can get RP from the Chancery, they can get RP through food / water deliveries from the gaol, if the Leaders of the Watch/Army are generous they can even get personal visitors, depending on how long they're in the gaol for.

This is the expected give and take of criminal vs. law guys. These systems are in place OOCly especially to encourage and facilitate RP for criminal/baddie characters and it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that the law side of things sees this through, because otherwise the player of the criminal character just signed away a couple weeks of their sub for your law character to 'win'. Which is wildly unfair.

The Capitulary covers the various laws of the Castle and ALSO the punishments. Most of your small time criminals should be able to get out within 3-5 days MAX and that's if they don't just get lashed and released. So, before you jump into a crime, be OOCly aware of the potential punishments your character can endure and how long it might take to get out of the pickle you're about to jump into, but the Law guys should be able to facilitate RP regardless and have the means to do so.

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Crime and Comfort Levels

Everyone is going to have different OOC comfort levels in their RP when it comes to crime and graphic scenes. There are some topics that the Staff of Castle Marrach absolutely does NOT condone on a public scale.

1. Sexual Assault
2. Domestic Violence (as opposed to generalized violence)

It was decided that these two topics are not for public consumption in a gaming environment, even though they do feature in stories. We want Castle Marrach to be as much of an emotionally safe place to play as possible and these two topics are extremely delicate and so it is better overall if they're just not done in a way that people have to deal with them.

I say this, because we obviously can't control what your characters do in private between two consenting adults, but it is required that it stays between those two consenting adults and does not spill out into the game world.

By this, I mean, if you're into smacking your significant other around, and they're fine roleplaying that? It stays in that guest room. Character X can't bruise up Character Y, then Character Y run out into the game world and throw themselves at the healers and claiming they fell down the stairs, etc. This puts the healers, the law guys, and everyone else who didn't agree to your roleplay in the middle of your roleplay. Players are not stupid and are going to understand what you're RPing, and while they won't want to get involved, they may feel the need to, and then it cascades from there.

So do what you want behind closed doors in that instance, but the moment it so much as breathes into the IC world or through OOC back channel gossip, an SG will be having a serious discussion with you and it may even result in a suspension.

Murder, kidnapping, mugging, theft, etc are all fine and have been done since the game started, but if you want to graphically dissect someone and turn them into a human centipede or keep them kidnapped for days and days, you need to make sure OOCly they're fine with the exchange and if they're not, you need to be willing to @fadetoblack or bluebook it.

A question about systems for criminal activities came up, and I want to put this here, because it kind of falls into comfort levels and give and take both:

We do NOT have functional systems for criminal stuff (outside of dueling), so it would all be co-op playing, exchanging of actions in a scene, you can use the @roll if you would like to determine fisticuff exchanges, etc. But say you knock out a character, and they go with it, don't like steal everything on their person. That's just kind of rude. They've given to your thug, by letting you mug them, so give back to them by not wiping them clean of everything they have on their person. No one wants to lose all their stuff for being a good player.

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Alternative Characters: Why Not Both?

I had an anonymous question come through that I wanted to touch OOC wise before we move to the more IC aspects of thuggery: "I was wondering how doable it is to play both a law character and a bad boy alt. Obviously your law PC can't get directly involved in things, but you also don't want them to look incompetent and probably don't want to just state outright "yeah lol, can't do nothing, that's me." In your experience, does it work out okay for players to play some of both and just sort of delegate tasks on their law character so that they're not really involved?"

When I made Eeva, I had a criminal alt, and was told by other players I could not have both and if I did I wouldn't get anywhere with them, but then the StoryHost was like, "You totally can, you just have to be responsible."

What'd he mean? Well, he meant just that. Use common sense. You are entirely allowed to have both a criminal/rebel and a lawful type of character.

It's important when you do have both of these that they don't overlap.

1. If you're going to be doing dodgy criminal things that day? Don't bring on your law guy.
2. If your criminal guy is being investigated, don't use your access to the Law Twiki and Law RP to evade arrest or traps etc. (IE: Don't take Info you learn on X Alt and use it on Y Alt).
3. You can keep your law character from crossing paths with the criminal character, just say you've got another case or you have some other things to do and let another officer/law guy handle it. IF they push the topic, you can tell them it's your alt, but they really shouldn't. Can just say you're not comfortable handling this case, because maybe you know some OOC info on it.
4. Mostly don't have them on simultaneously, which should help clear up most crossover you might run into.

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Types of Thuggery

I want to open this section by addressing the fact that I LOVE the bad guys. The misunderstood. The morally compromised. My car is a poster-vehicle for the Galactic Empire. I enjoy the nuances of what make them tick and who they are and why they do things and how they got there. I whole-heartedly believe that bad guys are made, not born (discounting like, mental psychosis). I wouldn't even be using terms like 'bad guy' or 'evil' or 'villain', except for the fact that this makes it easier for people to categorize actions. We like to categorize things, it's in our nature, but under no circumstances do I want people to look at it in a negative light.

I hold 'villains' in CM to be very much an "us vs. them" type of thing. All good, fleshed out characters start with some kind of benign idea, that then gets formed by experiences they have (either in CM itself or in the past life concocted by the player), but something got them to where they are, where they clash with societal norms and standards, and that's really all it is. Do the rebels think they're the villains? No way. They're liberators. Idealists.

They've seen things others haven't and want to make a difference in the Castle for the good of those in it. That sounds pretty much like the 'good guys' side, yeah? So, to this end, I don't want people thinking that being 'bad' is well, bad or negative in a story or a game. But I do want to help you tell stories of characters who might not fit the 'white knight' stereotype.

That is not to say you can't or shouldn't make a character who just likes to cause trouble, this is also very valid, but people in the story are going to want to understand, so having reasons fleshed out is always good.

With all that said, let's start with our basic types, when you go out to create a character who goes against the grain or a 'villain' if that is your goal, I want you to consider how much you're willing to put into this character, how much you're willing to lose, and what KIND of trouble you want to get into.

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Understand Stakes and Consequences

It's important when choosing any of these paths to have a good understanding of what it'll take to create these characters, advance them (socially or even just skill wise, item wise, etc) and understand that in a Castle full of do-gooders, you'll have to be on your toes more often than not, and that there's a really high chance that you could encounter set backs. The worse the crime, the worse the punishment, and so before you go about committing them (even if you think your character won't get caught), it's imperative to have an understanding and acceptance of what COULD happen.

In many cases, characters who fall are given chances, but it's not an easy path once you've stumbled and been caught. This is ALSO something to be aware of. In cases of repeat offenders, be it outright crimes or schemes uncovered, there's only so much that can be expected of other characters towards yours.

We discussed give and take, but at some point any character be they criminal or not has to go, "Soo, I trusted you like 4 times before... and every time you say you'll do better, but like you always go back to smashing faces in the wall...sooo I think it's best if we don't hang out."

No one in their right mind is expected to continually give hand outs and chances to repeat offenders. Even in a co-operative storytelling game. That quickly becomes a frustration, because people do want to tell stories, but soon their story becomes 'Gullible Knight Trusted Thug Not to Be a Thug, Yet Again" or "Overly Charitable Queen Let Two-Time Rebel Out on Good Behaviour, Shocked When They Rebelled Again".

No one wants to be part of that story. Though, how do you handle repeat criminals without them totally having to scrap their characters after awhile because they can't actually play?

This is a question I'm still asking myself, because I desperately want to encourage and help 'criminals', but I also have to take into account when it's realistic to stop forcing people to support them against all reason. Does this make sense?

If you get caught a lot, the consequences increase. While give and take in law vs. crime is important in a story setting, at some point it does begin to stretch into having to wildly suspend your disbelief and what results is criminal characters getting ostracized. Not to punish the players, but because the other characters just have exactly zero reason to trust them.

People overestimate their ability to be clever and slick with their actions. If you think you're being clever, there's a 99% chance someone sees straight through you, usually more than one someone. So it's best to always prepare for this.

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Tools of the Trade

This can be pretty much anything, but it's almost certainly going to relate to what you're wanting to do as a criminal.

• Allies
  Your most IMPORTANT tool of the trade however, is going to be allies. It might seem hard to find allies if you're a criminal-type, but I promise it's probably easier than you're thinking. These are made by socializing with people, finding characters of like-mind or ones who don't mind if your character is rough and tumble or likes the idea of smashing a face or two or just plain doesn't know you're a baddie. Some of the most successful criminals are charismatic and have friends. This can also play back into having a mask to disguise criminal tendencies if that's what you want.
• Rated E for Everyone
  Your hands. As a thug these will be your most prominent tools of the trade. However, that being said, a good criminal can make use of whatever is ON hand. Getting into a bar fight? Use that flagon. Got some random dirt in your pouch? Lint? 500 piles of ley dust? Throw it in their faces. Chair? HULK SMASH!
• Blades 'n things
  These things are available from allies, from sliding under the radar and getting rank, sometimes you can just steal them, sometimes you even just buy them and stash them for later use in dirty deeds. (Not done with sheep though, because that does fall under the Capitulary as illegal, and while I encourage all kinds of criminal behaviour in this workshop, plz don't harm the animals)
• Poisons
  I know people be jonesin' for the sweet, sweet poison. This one 1000% requires Staff support. There have been dozens of characters who want to learn to poison, but until we can get the OOC clashing of PLAYERS down, we don't really want to have poisons readily available for people to poison the characters of people they don't like OOC.
  
  That doesn't mean they're not available though. This does require a very well-connected ally with an IC source. If you are a Gardener and have a plant that is poisonous (most of these are kept under lock and key IC) and decide you want to poison someone, you can @assist to Staff and a Plotter can sit down with you and see if you have the ability and items needed to create said poison and facilitate it through an item (drink or what have you).
  
  In these kinds of instance, I personally require the individual to have actively played a Gardener, rather than "I woke up with extensive knowledge of poisons!", since it does play back into a In Game system.
  
  Now, not all criminals are going to go about smashing and killing, sometimes villains simply utilize their power to block others from things.
• Disfavor
  Say someone you're feuding with decides to get up in your business and try to take your position or that of one of your underlings, but you've cultivated allies of your own and power base of your own. Your character is well within their rights to lay down the social smack down.
  
  THAT BEING SAID, this one can be a bit touch and go, and dips right back to give and take.
  
  You do not, absolutely do not, want to crush another character so thoroughly they can't ever get a leg up. This requires that character to also understand give and take and be able to take initiative. I've run into many cases where Character A does the hammer of Disfavor, and Character B crumbles and mopes about and laments and plays hardcore victim - which is also valid, but doesn't often get you places.
  
  Why not try to ingratiate your character to Character A? Get close to them and then stick the knife in? Why not start a smear campaign? Which I suppose the victim card could help with, but mostly in my experience it makes your character annoying if you don't do it in the right groups and the right way (which is vague, because you have to read the room you're playing this role in, and if you do it too often, you lose credibility).
  
  If you are the wielder of the hammer of disfavor, it's important not to go full throttle, but to hit one thing, and let them respond. If you go overboard it's no fun for anyone, but your character should 100% use what means they have within reason.
• Favor
  We touched on DISFAVOR, but if your character is one with weight behind their words and has allies, you can also use FAVOR to thwart your enemy. You know Character B is going to be aiming for a prestigious position, and Character A is not for that - Character A can try to get someone else installed or themselves using their own pool of favor. This is less of a direct assault (blacklists, character assassination, petition slamming) and kind of a side swipe. I do want to backtrack a bit to this part:
  
  "You do not, absolutely do not, want to crush another character so thoroughly they can't ever get a leg up. This requires that character to also understand give and take and be able to take initiative. I've run into many cases where Character A does the hammer of Disfavor, and Character B crumbles and mopes about and laments and plays hardcore victim - which is also valid, but doesn't often get you places.
  
  I have run into characters who have repeatedly found themselves in positions of disfavor, ignored all advice, took no responsibility for their actions, and just found themselves in increasingly hot water. It is equally up to the player of the disfavored/victim/thug to get themselves out of the boiling pot as well. If given a chance at redemption, they can take it or not.
  
  Jeffery's Player made a good observation: "Speaking of the whole disfavor/favor thing and how to bounce back specifically. There's always ways to drop bread crumbs. People are inherently curious about the how's and why's of someone's fall. That being said, you dropping a tid bit of something that sounds interesting...like it might be a 'oh this is deeper than I thought' can spread the RP beyond just those immediately involved. Adding to this The benefit of this, is not only creating a larger story that more people can enjoy, but you never know where a new ally can come from. Perhaps you spill a bit of this dirt to someone who thinks Character A isn't 100% on the up and up...so when Character B drops this bread crumb, they NOW have more of a chance to really choose to dig or form a more solid opinion on Character A"
  
  Drop those breadcrumbs! This is a story after all. If you don't drop breadcrumbs or if you don't pry and be nosy, you won't get to read or skim these other Point of View Chapters.
  
  Kaori's P had a question: "Say you are young dumb nobody and you are angry at other young dumb nobody. You aren't playing a brawler though so you want to convince a brawler to go punch them in the nose or whatever. What tools as the "get someone to do my dirty work type person" does the young dumb nobody have?"
  
  This is definitely falling back on ALLIES. If you're not a brawler, it's good to have some brawler pals. Also, Jeffery's Player mentioned coin!
• Bribery
  Bribery is 100% legit in getting people to help you out in a pinch. This can be paying them to rough someone up, steal something, spread some gossip, retrieve information (HINT: The Inquisition has a coin purse specifically for information givers), etc.
• Duel
  Likewise, there is always the option of a flat out DUEL. Duels are entirely valid means of engaging in conflict. While they aren't exactly 'thuggish' (Winter Knight might deem otherwise..) they are a means to deal with and handle conflict. If you ARE NOT a brawler, and get insulted, you can seek a CHAMPION to go smash the other guy for you in a duel. This again falls back to ALLIES at core. Aleysia's Player mentioned SUB ROSA DUELS - These are ON THE SPOT duels done without sanction and are entirely valid. They CAN incur disfavor, but you don't have to go through the hoops and are more 'thug-like' than a whole process. These are your duels that take place when both parties are SUPER heated and want to just cut a ho right then and there, usually. These are AWESOME for story telling and bar fights.

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Secret Keeping

Some 'types' of baddies don't need to keep secrets. They can punch someone in the face and brag about it. They can waltz around with stolen items on them and flash them about (this obviously has consequences), but it's entirely valid RP. However, if you're wanting to build a secret organization or be PART of a secret organization, it is going to absolutely, without a doubt, no exceptions, require the players involved to keep their mouths shut. BOTH IC and OOC.

Nothing is more annoying than someone suddenly knowing someone else is doing shady stuff because it hit the OOC gossip back channel ring. Castle Marrach has several criminal/villain organizations that are effectively dormant because there aren't players who can play a bad guy or a morally grey guy and want to be the super heroes, exposing the criminal organization or are just incapable of keeping their mouths shut.

Personally, I'm down for playing a baddie and taking consequences, but nothing is more of a turn off than losing potential YEARS of work because someone couldn't keep their mouths shut OOC. If they open their yaps IC, that's one thing, but people can tell when someone suddenly has information they didn't have before out of nowhere. We're not a stupid player base, and it's time we stopped assuming everyone was.

Secrets are important in building up organizations. If you, as the player, can't keep a secret, then the organization gets exactly nowhere and by that merit there's no RP to be had, because you've quashed the intrigue before it could begin.

If you do want to play the hero and infiltrate a group, my suggestion from an OOC perspective is to do it slow. Earn their trust, actually infiltrate it, send info to an Inquisitor on the down low, but make it obvious you want to see 'how deep it goes', etc. Make it a STORY. Not just "HEY, SO AND SO IS IN AN ORGANIZATION DOING SHADY THINGS. EVERYONE, EVERYONE GATHER ROUND!!!!"

Castle Marrach is billed as an intrigue game. Some blabber mouth exposing secrets willy nilly isn't intriguing at all and almost surely gets you blacklisted not only from that group, but any others wanting to do shady stuff.

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Building a Base of Operations

A 'base' of operations is used loosely here. Anyone can have one of these, be they thug or villain. A base of operations can be as open as the bar or as shady as a hidden room in a cellar or a long dead criminals hideout you got. These things also require ALLIES and CRONIES. You need people to enforce the ideal, reputation and rules of the group, if you want to be formidable, your character is going to need like-minded friends. The more formidable you get, the m ore attention you catch (for good or ill!) and the more likely you are to get a VP who goes 'Hmmmm...' and wants to employ your merry band of criminals or just your character.

The Merry Band of Thugs is easiest and most open to do. I mean, technically, the Duelists and Watch could even count as thug groups. A group of like-minded people who can be bullies and get into fights.

A Villainous base of operations tend to be structured a little differently. Consider a higher, more intrigue based criminal organization to have layers.

• The Boss
• The Boss' Right/Left Hand(s)
• The Middle Men
• Their Cronies

This is layers on layers of protection for a more deeply imbedded crime organization. (Not too different than a guild, but much more secret if done right).

There are also LITERAL bases of operations which currently exist, but ALSO if Staff sees that players are going the extra mile to make a group, we are 100% willing to help that group get into a pre-existing one, by introducing VP allies or help them get a new one. There is a GAMBLING HALL 'hidden' in the bowels of the Castle that was 100% player organized with the help of staff. Unfortunately, the amount of players willing to help with it dwindled, but it's still there to be filled with shady types, and has an active VC.

In summary, building an organization is time consuming and requires players getting involved to be willing to put in effort, keep their mouths shut or not open their mouths immediately. This is like building a house together with friends, if someone is knocking the supports out as you go or you're building on swamp land the whole thing is going to collapse before it gets anywhere and then you lose that area to act out scenes with.

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Conflicting, but not

Ilatai's P asked: "I also have a question of how to keep things going even when ICly your character might ignore it from a political/social standpoint. Like say you have the rank/position to ignore a provocation that might lead to a duel, but also don't want to like completely shut down conflict completely."

This is a great question.

Not all characters are going to react to provocation, nor do they have to. They don't have to leave a scene, but they can be very clear on their stance. Ignoring doesn't necessarily mean being silent and raising an eyebrow, it can be interactive. For instance, if Jeffery decided to antagonize Eeva, she isn't really the type to respond to antagonizing, but she would make it clear she didn't appreciate it, and then probably try to get to the route of the antagonizing. "Why are you in a mood today?"

If it persisted, after she made it clear she wasn't impressed or interested, she might leave. If Jeffery continued to escalate it, she could have him whipped (which isn't an option for everyone), but at some point antagonizing should merit a response (unless your character removes themselves from the situation). An antagonist should only be able to get away with so much before getting a solid response.

That being said, your character can make their stance clear - which could escalate or de-escalate the situation - and then remove themselves from the situation. This has an exchange of RP, and then the antagonistic character has potentially incurred DISFAVOR from Ilatai's own toolset.

You should always give some kind of response, but it doesn't need to be an aggressive response. It can be as simple as stating your stance on a topic, and not letting Character B antagonize you, and then going into social warfare. You're still engaging in conflict, but not exactly on the level they've presented the conflict.

Politically speaking, social conflict is the name of the game. Not every character enters into conflict with the same weapons on hand, and characters need to know how to recognize the weapons of their opponents.

For instance, coming at Ilatai or Aratan is typically a bad idea socially. Why? They're direct servants of the Prince. If they're going to respond? It's 100% going to be political. That being said, if someone goes after Blodwen, who works for no one specifically, she's more liable to mete out emotional damage or physical damage, rather than social damage.

Always respond in SOME way, it doesn't have to be aggressive, but should be in a way that creates an RP'd exchange. Know your enemy! Who are you picking a fight with? What is in their arsenal? This helps you expect repercussions and plan accordingly. Half of being a thug/villain/political player is damage control.

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Rebel Scum

So, being a rebel is pretty much the same as being a 'villain' insofar as the tools you need.

A Rebel is a person who goes against established societal norms, usually on a larger political scale, insofar as Marrach is concerned.

CURRENTLY, being a REBEL is going against the idea of the Winter Court. Both the Summer Rebels and the Winter Court are covered in this workshop, as both are considered villains to each other. :fingerguns:

Now, as a Plotter and Player both a good rebel is one with a cause beyond 'down with snow'.

If you intend to play a rebel-minded character, you need to understand what you're rebelling against on an OOC level as well as an IC level. If you don't your character looks like a noob who is following a throng of miscreants who don't know jack about shit or shit about jack. Deciding to go against the established societal norms because your friends are doing it is a weak excuse, but a valid one if you want to go that way, but learning about the opposition is half the interesting part of a conflict.

To me, nothing is more obnoxious than conflict that has no purpose or occurs 'just because'. I can't stand that, personally, but it exists.

If any of my characters, Rebel or Court Villain, hear someone go, "Boreas bad. Mmkay!" and they go, "Why do you think that?" and they go, "My friend said he did X, Y and Z and I believe them without any evidence to back it up!" both of those characters are going to eyeroll. This marks a reckless character, who can't be bothered to do more than bare minimum and they're no good to convert to the Court-side and they're no good to recruit to the Rebel side.

You have to know what your fighting for and what you're fighting against. Now, this doesn't mean you have to know every nitty gritty detail, I know plenty of characters who rebelled under X assumptions, and learned more as time went on and they delved into Castle secrets. Rebels rely on ALLIES and SECRET KEEPING first and foremost.

You have to have people to back you up and support your ideas, but you also have to have people who can keep their mouths shut, because if you talk to the wrong person (by being reckless on accident) the stakes can be very high.

Much like our discussion on organizations, 'rebels' are an organization in themselves. You have to have layers, you have to have allies, and you have to exercise discretion. Your characters need to learn how to read other characters, how to ferret out information to find allies, as well as mark potential 'enemies' or people who not to confide in.

Now, if your sympathies do get out, that's also fine, because it then enables another 'villain' group to respond: The Inquisition, the Winter Watch.

However, like in organization building you do want to get some kind of group together and not lose all your footing in one go due to loose lips.

There are different kinds of Rebels, which are much the same as different kinds of villains.

You've got your blatant rebels, the ones who openly speak out about things they disapprove of, the ones who openly ask questions, and antagonize the Court's standards.

These individuals are clearly marked as 'trouble makers' to the other side and are 100% watched.

Presently, the CONCLAVERS are the most open rebel types.

You've got your middle-ground ones, people open with their sympathies, but who don't particularly rock the boat. These people might even have positions of power, which make them great allies if rebellion is your thing.

These individuals are almost certainly marked as 'trouble makers', but have managed to gain some modicum of favor that protects them. They're def. still on the Inquisition 'watch' list, but they're more difficult to round up.

Presently, the members of the FAITH and GARDEN SOCIETY fit this profile the most.

Then you've got your infiltrators and your hidden allies. These individuals are not apparently rebels, nor do they seem to harbor rebel sympathies. They may be more neutral parties, individuals who seem more open to looking at both sides of an argument, your overall more level-headed people. These individuals can be of any rank, but make very good allies if you can figure out which side they're on or sway them to your side. These characters are the ones who are going to be able to help move things along on higher levels if you've opted to be one of the blatantly open rebel types.

I can't give you good examples of these without telling, but I know some VCs and PCs who fit this category.

I believe in order to play a good rebel, you should try to learn everything you can about the opposition and figure out potential allies, starting typically with the most obvious parties and then working your way to less obvious parties. For instance, you want to get in on the rebel train? Maybe talk to Trenna or Cordon or Atmos first, then they might be able to slip your name to someone else, etc. You also can't just go, "I want to be a rebel!" and hope to get into the trust of individual, established rebels. There's no group more secretive than these guys who have been working in these conditions for years on end. The ones who haven't been caught, haven't been caught for reasons, and they're not about to jeopardize them because some fresh blood comes in enthusiastically.

It's important to understand and consider the consequences of being a rebel.

When going this route, you're not just going to get some gaol time or a demotion. Usually, once a rebel is uncovered they're socially decimated and expelled, either to the Outer Bailey or to the Under Bailey. These individuals may not get back into the Inner Bailey (or into it at all) if they're caught. At least until they succeed at their goal of changing the Court - IF they succeed. You have to remember, there's an entire other side to this conflict and they could also win.

So if you choose to go this route, understand that your character could be confined to the OB or UB for an indeterminate amount of time, so long as you opt to rebel and don't play a double-agent type of role.

It's also important to understand that BOTH Winter and Summer (and Spring and Autumn) have SOCIAL RULES. You're not going to overthrow Winter and immediately find that Summer is amenable to your whims. This is something to also take into account. However, that's going to be based on your character's, well, character. Their actions. How they play their cards. Many people seem to be under the impression that the other Court is a free for all with wine, women and song - and it might be, but there's still social rules in place, because it IS still a Court.

Jeffery's Player mentioned this, which I think is very good to keep in mind: "Also touching on this topic -- Knowing the stakes for the organization you are trying to support/join. These are different for each group, but there's always stakes. Be it losing a charter, being disbanded, being invaded and persecuted....there are stakes for every group/guild/organization in the castle. Being ignorant to these and trying to jump into them does a disservice to the other players and the story."

Any questions on how to be a rebel and what it entails? Lumina's P asked: "How do you go about transitioning from one side to another if the char development goes there?"

This 100% happens. I've seen it go both ways, a staunch Court supporter leaning more and more to a Rebel sympathizer, and a hardcore Rebel leaning more and more Court side. This is character development and it is glorious!

I find it's easiest for the transition to be subtle and done over time. No one on either side is going to buy someone waking up and having a revelation that X side or Y side isn't right for them anymore. People seldom buy 'turning over a new leaf' without seeing a consistent and gradual change of behaviours and demeanor. This proves to whichever side (or suggests to whichever side) that the change is genuine and keeps your character from getting shanked in an alley. Maybe. Possibly.

Some people are exceptionally paranoid and might shank your character in a dark corridor just in case.

Then reprogram your character upon waking.

Not that that's happened a few times or anything. :shakyeyes:

While general thuggery and villainy can have high stakes, rebellion is an over arcing high stakes game. In most cases, committing crimes is going to get you the capitulary slapped on you, but if it hits Treason? You've got the weight of the Crown against you - for now.

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Staff Support

If players come to staff with good stories, and consistently play their criminal characters, we are more than willing to help out here with things, but when approaching staff for things, understand we do have other projects so it's best to come to us with a fleshed out (but flexible) idea of what you'd like your criminal to do.

Often times we have people send in, "I would like to do something criminaly, what can I do?" this is like ridiculously vague. Like what do you want to do and what are you asking for? Most of us are super busy, so you've got a better chance of getting quicker support if you're thorough. This means outlining what you want to do, how you plan to do it, what resources you've accumulated IG, etc. That said, we're more than happy to help within reason. We can't give you things that make you a God character, ofc, because we still have an entire other side of this conflict to support.

Jeffery's P asked last week: "Conflict is similar to regular character goals whereas a person has to make smaller goals to build up to their overall main goal. That being said - what are some good ways for a player to handle the back and forth between conflict character and non-conflict characters such as law, army, goody good civilians, where things may seem immeasurably difficult to get going?

So mostly, what I mean is let's say Jeff decides he's going to start being the bad guy. Archetype isn't important because this is just broad stroke, but he sets his goals small. I need to find a couple people that will help me out when necessary, either colluding with me or covering my tale if things get spicy. Second, get a weapon. So on and so forth.

As we've discussed, sometimes the Law jumps because they're itchy to be law characters instead of just wearing the badge, or characters ignore the conflict all together because they don't want to involve themselves, whatever the case may be he finds it's unnaturally hard to accomplish his small set of goals before he even gets into doing any bad guy shenanigans. I know we talked about give and take, but sometimes it's not so easy."

My advice, as lame as it sounds, is to keep on trying to accomplish the small goals, that being said if one seems overly difficult, switch to another one. Sometimes we have a handful of small goals, but one or two don't seem to be bearing fruit, however, if we switch to another goal, that others might fall into place.

I think a lot of making this successful too is discretion. If Jeff gets a weapon, don't keep it on his person when he goes out, definitely don't tell people he only kind of trusts he has it. Maybe even compartmentalize these goals, so they don't seem linked together, except that your character is involved.

I know people have characters that don't want to do conflict, but honestly, I believe you can't really have a functional game without conflict, and by default I assume everyone is down for it. They've essentially consented to conflict by playing certain types of characters, etc. If you opt for a martial path, you're opting in for conflict. If you take a political route? You're opting in for conflict.

I feel if you run into a character who absolutely refuses to engage in a conflict scene, you could always file an assist to seek Story Staff intervention. Mostly to engage the other player and see where their hang up is with the conflict. Some people have a habit of only wanting to do the things, but not be on the receiving end of things.

Likewise, if you have a specific goal you keep running into trouble with, you can always @assist to an SP's attention and get some advice on the precise problem at hand. Sometimes we can help direct you in a way that can help with your goal.

Jeff's P also asked: "Can we please cover the copious amounts of tools we have to create and draw out conflict as pcs? I often feel like people get into a habit of relying on VP or Staff ran characters for conflict and if a PC attempts to bring conflict out in a story, they are either immediately shot down or ignored/disengaged to the point that trying to play conflict becomes pointless."

Jeff mentioned this, that while I answered the majority of this in Tools of the Trade he had an observation:

"I would like to point out that just because it seems like a little bitty PC run plot, those can be just as fun if not more fulfilling. I am BIG on stories from all angles, be it Staff or PC run. But I also know Staff tends to be very busy and plot stuff takes a lot of time and attention. So really it's more about not being afraid to jump into the plots you see. We all love the Staff stuff, but without the day to day PC stuff we're just sitting around waiting for something to happen. If that makes sense?"

This is absolutely, 100% where the primary day-to-day story telling of Marrach should come from. PLAYER RUN PLOTS. The tools are available, and Staff is available to answer questions and occasionally help with props, but there are so many things in game to help you with your stuff, and a lot of high end VCs who are on and at the disposal of PCs if they contact them through the right medium. The Player Plots and Character Stories are the meat and potatoes of this game, it's heart and soul. At some point, it became very reliant on Staff run plots, to the point that when there aren't any Staff Plots? No one logs in much. This is so sad to me.

Staff Run Plots are kind of like a scene or an environment you all get put into. It's lore for you to tell stories around and build stories with, but these plots are just interactive props to help the Players add chapters and depth to their already ongoing stories. They're not the stories themselves and the NPCs/VCs aren't the main characters. YOUR characters are.

One of my favorite characters that I play is Eeva. She does things I enjoy, but what has developed her over the years wasn't the Wyvern Wars or Rebellions, but the interactions with her guys in the Watch and Army. The stupid conversations at 3 am, or the deep, introspective ones around the idea of rebellion and seasons, the loves and losses, the story of persevering through these things, and helping others meet their potential. THAT is the heart of that character. Not whether or not she engaged X monster during Y staff plot. That's something she did, but the other things help shape who she is and tell her story.

Jeff's question was a two parter, so here is the other half: "Conflict is nothing without involvement. Be it subtle things that you do in the dark corners where nobody looks, or blatant things that draw the ire of the law. How can we as players create a more welcoming environment for conflict driven characters and also pull people into the story without making them feel as if they are losing?"

We kind of touched on this off and on throughout the workshop, especially in the OOC segment at the beginning, but it's a good thing to reiterate.

• Keep it IC
  The moment a conflict scene goes OOC it makes it unwelcoming/a negative experience for the most part. Don't assume someone is coming at you IC due to OOC. If you DO suspect it, you can file an assist, but don't stop the scene of conflict going 'I FILED AN ASSIST!', step away, take a breath, come back and keep on with the scene. If it's determined to be an OOC vendetta being pursued IC, the Staff will 100% step in in some manner.
• Give and Take
  If we all collectively agree to give and take when we roleplay conflicts with each other, we can keep the environment from feeling like a losing battle. Again, if you feel like you're running into roadblocks and losing a lot, you can always @assist to Story Staff and rant or talk about frustrations or seek some help in finding a good path to follow along the right lines of your goals. Sometimes winning in a scenario is a matter of consistency and perseverance.
• Think of CM as a LARP or a School Play
  Don't go in and get so into the brain space of your character you forget you're actually playing a game with (potential) friends. We're all players behind these characters and if we keep that in mind, and recognize that someone just like you with good days and bad days is behind a character, we can enter into scenes without taking everything personally, I hope.

Varick's P mentioned the following (being familiar with gaol time having played a rebel in the prime of the last big rebellion): "Someone should touch on the gaol-time not being that bad. I believe a few of us can speak from experience with villains/rebel type characters that sometimes being caught -is- just good story. Even for the shady type sitting in a hole. Some of the best character development RP I have had with Cordon had been punishment based. Be that a year in the Oubliette with Eeva coming to visit and having a weird sort of frenemies thing going on or time in the Mirror of Horn and Ivory (jeffy can relate here I am certain) all adds to the story. Getting caught, punished and rebuilding or adapting is all great story telling. A villain character isn't trash because they got caught. Just.. changing."

This is so important to remember, too. If you create a criminal character, and they get caught, it is ONLY the end of the story if you delete this character or stop playing them.

Prison time is just as character building as running free if you let it be. This is a time to reflect and plan. Do you change your ways? Do you seek revenge? Do you double down on your lifestyle out of spite? What does experience DO to your character's mindset and goals? It's always important to understand this is a consequence of getting caught, but it's absolutely not the end.

Also, this can also have an effect on the law characters, too. Even though your PC is in prison, that chapter also includes other characters. Do they sympathize? Do they double down on Law and Justice? Does your criminal plant seeds of doubt in the Law man's mind about justice?

You have to take every scenario and look at it as potential to tell more story. Even if you look at it from other character's Point of Views.