Role Purchase & Age
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:32 pm
Presently, in character creation, it is only possible to take the most entry-level roles in any guild; this is all well and good when guilds are running smoothly and when new characters are predominantly aged 16 to 25, but becomes a bit problematic when you're looking at characters starting off in their 40s or guilds where everybody in the guild is an apprentice and the chain of command is nonexistent.
I've heard mixed things about this, both that non-apprentice roles being locked is a bug and that it is actually the intended functionality, and I know this is probably already under review, but I would suggest that elevated roles within guilds be made available to characters in chargen as a function of their age (so long as they meet the other requirements).
This could allow, for example, Troubadours who are at least 25 years old and who meet the other requirements to enter the game as Journeymen, Troubadours who are at least 35 years old and who meet the other requirements to enter the game as Bards, and Troubadours who are at least 45 years old and who meet the other requirements to enter the game as Master Bards, and this could work as an alternative to the RP hour requirement for new characters.
This would allow newer characters to potentially fill more varied roles within the chains of command in guilds that need it, and would alleviate the weirdness of, for example, somebody making a character who is a veteran knight in their 50s and having to start as a squire with all of the teens.
I understand that 'progression' stories where somebody starts off as a teenaged pauper and gradually becomes a master of this and that, and climbs to lead their guild, and becomes a noble, and so on appeal to many people and the framework within which this system is viewed/created seems to be built around this idea of conceptual mobility and progression over time, but there are a lot of people who prefer to play more static and consistent characters, too, and the way things are set up currently can feel terribly limiting and awkward to navigate.
I've heard mixed things about this, both that non-apprentice roles being locked is a bug and that it is actually the intended functionality, and I know this is probably already under review, but I would suggest that elevated roles within guilds be made available to characters in chargen as a function of their age (so long as they meet the other requirements).
This could allow, for example, Troubadours who are at least 25 years old and who meet the other requirements to enter the game as Journeymen, Troubadours who are at least 35 years old and who meet the other requirements to enter the game as Bards, and Troubadours who are at least 45 years old and who meet the other requirements to enter the game as Master Bards, and this could work as an alternative to the RP hour requirement for new characters.
This would allow newer characters to potentially fill more varied roles within the chains of command in guilds that need it, and would alleviate the weirdness of, for example, somebody making a character who is a veteran knight in their 50s and having to start as a squire with all of the teens.
I understand that 'progression' stories where somebody starts off as a teenaged pauper and gradually becomes a master of this and that, and climbs to lead their guild, and becomes a noble, and so on appeal to many people and the framework within which this system is viewed/created seems to be built around this idea of conceptual mobility and progression over time, but there are a lot of people who prefer to play more static and consistent characters, too, and the way things are set up currently can feel terribly limiting and awkward to navigate.