My Input

Hmmm well I'd have to say that George covered everything that I wanted to say. -L-

Personally I see the Warlock Order as a way to get people back into the Ship to RP. People don't RP in the Ship from what I've seen because there is no purpose anymore. Now with the Order being a tyrannical bunch of bigwig blueblooded snobby guys ordering everyone around, it gives people reason to have their characters stand up and fight. Those without backbone or the will to fight will simply move.

Of course most people forget that beating the living hell out of somebody, blowing them away with a Desert Eagle, or sucking their soul into a coke can isn't the only way to battle.

You can hack their government files every which way and back (assuming they have computers), you can incite riots and upheavals, you can become a political figure and ruin the Order. You can politically DEMOLISH the entire faction without ever fighting a single one of its militia and bring it to its knees.

For example, the Camarilla takeover on the Vampire Court, lead by Prince Mattias the Ventrue (if I recall my facts straight I think that's the guy. ~L~)

The militia that would've done this takeover would have had to take out a few key players in the Sabbat. But in order to do that they needed guns. So who do they go to? The nearest guy who could give them the stuff they needed with the money they could offer. Who was that? Kurobikari Yamamoto, CEO of Psychotech Industries, one of the largest manufacturing corporations in the world (at least in the ongoing Chronicles where he is a key player. ~L~), and widely known because he was always in the public eye.

So Mr. Yamamoto was contacted and met with a Tremere who represented the Cammarilla and Prince Mattias and informed him of why they needed his services. Well, upon mentioning the "Sabbat", gun prices to the Cammarilla "suddenly dropped", in the Tremere's favor, due to Kurobikari's desired vengeance toward the Sabbat. They wound up with more guns than they thought they could've afforded and a couple days later, the Court was taken back by the Cammarilla and the Sabbat Cardinal was put into torpor, later revived and put into seclusion.

Okay in this example, yes there was bloodshed. But did Kurobikari personally take part in it on the battlefield? No. He politically supported something which he had as a goal for a VERY LONG time, and only needed the people to get it. His goal? Get revenge on the Sabbat for sending his family, the Silvanos, to the mists. And he did, without dashing into the Court, guns ablaze, swords slashing, magick going this way and that, and conjuring everything short of a super nova. He simply sold a few supplies to people who would carry out his desired goal, and succeeded in his goal. Using a few selected pawns and their influence over even more pawns of their own, he obtained his goal without ever having to participate on the battlefield itself. Even though it can be argued that he contributed to it by even giving the necessary equipment..-L-

As far as clans and all that, playing a person who was a ruler of such a clan...let me say this:

Who would play continously play them?

My character's clan, the BTC, was 50+ members strong. After about 6-8 months, members disappeared right and left until only 5 outside Kurobikari's family were left.

And then when the last member left, and nobody wanted to join anymore, what was left to do? Disband. Can't lead a group of people that aren't there, now can ya? -L- Yes there are always NPC's and what not, which is what I've gone to with the creation of my Horizon Realm in the Downstairs. I'm happier with that actually. But playing an entire Realm is not easy. -ROTF-

As far as that letter goes Chris, just disreguard it.

I remember the days when it took me 2 hours just to get into the damn Ship and we were all yelling at Chathouse to put in more slots but they continously ignored it (at least my emails to them about it. -L-). I remember when we even had PEOPLE to play half these characters.

Now people either don't play or just can't come in to RP like that anymore.

I remember when my characters were always busy doing something or talking to someone, about 2-3 years ago. I even remember when my characters were actually considered a force to be reckoned with even when they were weaker. -L-

Nowadays I'm guesstimating that two people on the Ship can get in about 5-6 posts before one or the other leaves for another room.

Also, I'd also like to point this out:

People get sick of god characters. I don't mean the ones that are impossible to kill no matter what you throw at them, although they can be. I'm talking about the ones who are running around and wreaking havoc just because it's something for the person OOC to do, and have the power to do it and get maybe a scratch if they screw up somewhere in the process. That isn't roleplaying in my opinion.

Roleplaying a character like that, is when you have a character wreaking havoc on everyone 'cause he/she's got a score to settle with the people they're bringing misery to, be it on a personal level or any other level. Or maybe a god, goddess, or whatever he/she believes in, deems it so, and so they're going to carry out the beliefs and practices of their diety, just to name a couple examples.

Another thing I'm personally sick of:

Cardboard cutout characters. The typical stereotypes.

"Everyone knows" that Brujah are one step above anarchs, get pissed off easily, and will whomp ass on the guy who thinks their slipping in a puddle is funny. But what about the elite Brujah hacker who's got the ins on various corporation files, the guy next door to him relies too much on his credit cards, and just happened to piss off the Brujah?

And "everyone knows" that Hermetic Mages are anal retentive assholes who are bookworms and are ignorant, bias, and sometimes bigots as well. Snobs even. And they'll use the most vulgar means of ridding "nuisances" as possible just to get a point across. But what about the Hermetic who would rather be drag racing and skydiving than be stuffed up in a library 30 feet underground, reading Arcane Lore by candlelight and translating Latin texts into English for the non-Latin speaking Hermetic students?

And "everyone knows" that Cultists are irresponsible drug addicts who are hopped up on every drug ever created on the Earth. Well what about the Cultist who is the CEO of the #1 weapons manufacturing company within a couple of hemispheres, is fluent in 3 languages, and would rather be teaching business classes at Harvard on the weekend than smoking up, and goes out of his way to make everyone who is important to him, know how bad drugs and narcotics are for them? To top that off he absolutely DETESTS the use of drugs of any kind, due to his own personal experience with them back in his learning days?

For those of you who have the Verbena Tradition book, you can relate to that as well if you read the story in it about one of the Masters there who is teaching the newly Awakened students in it. Most Verbena wouldn't be caught dead with a computer. Yet one of the Masters has one and uses it to organize his classes, his notes, and his lectures.

I'd like to see more of those characters instead of various cardboard cutouts. It makes things more interesting to RP. Not every Toreador is a DaVinnci fanatic and not every Brujah is a gangbanger. Some Toreador are anarchs and have turned combat into their art. Some Brujah hack for a living. Hell some of 'em are lawyers and corporate officials!

Okay I'm done yammering. -L-

Kevin