Post by 𝐊𝐀𝐓 ᴀᴋᴀ 𝓡𝓮𝓭 𝓥𝓲𝓹𝓮𝓻 on Mar 20, 2023 15:59:32 GMT -4
Quests are a part of every role playing game, and can present a unique challenge to roleplayers who use a MMOs as their medium. Modern MMOS often use 'phased' questing, which can cause NPCs to appear in different places depending on how far along a player is in a questline. This leads to a world that can be fundamentally different for a player who has completed these quests versus one who hasn't. NPCs may be in different positions, or even alive for one player and dead for another. Even whole areas may be different for one player.
So how can roleplayers reconcile these differences? This is how we do it.
In the Cheshire Cats, where we are IC at all times, our characters can't simply ignore the fact someone else is doing the same quest they just did a day later. Nor can they just ignore that a NPC that is alive in one player's world is dead in their own, or that their friend is talking to someone who for them doesn't exist.
There is a workaround to explain how such a thing may be possible, but it does require some creative thinking.
There are many things that happen in Tamriel that people don't think twice about because it is a normal part of everyday living for them. Like how bloody fast the days speed by.
It's already accepted that Adventurers/(Champions) are a unique sort of person. They have unique abilities that the average Joe does not.
Though it is never mentioned in lore, for the purposes of making sense of quest-related paradoxes we have adopted the concept that when an Adventurer is brought into the world they bring with them their own unique 'pane' of reality with them.
Some events and places in the world (important ones, and not so important ones) are fracture points around which that these panes may develop cracks. Even so innocuous an action as saving a dog from a well can cause a fracture, or 'shard' to develop, where the actions of one Adventurer do not reach the panes of the others. For whatever reason, for all other Adventurers, that dog will remain unsaved until they do it themselves.
The mismatches between such 'shards' can cause extremely unusual effects to occur, such as a person being present that only one Adventurer can see, because that character is present in their shard, but not their friend's. (Or even not being able to see each other, when they may be standing side by side). The discrepancy can usually be resolved by one Adventurer completing whatever action is required to rematch the shards.
Perhaps the Divines or an even higher power placed these hinge points where Adventurers' paths must overlap. Perhaps it is their intention that some experiences and actions, no matter how trivial, MUST be undertaken and performed by each Adventurer in turn for them to reach their destinies. Or perhaps it is merely a cosmic mischance.
This shard concept explains how sometimes two characters may not experience the same thing in the same place. 'We have mismatched shards,' is a perfectly normal and understood thing to say in character to explain problems caused by phased MMO quests for which there is generally no other plausible IC reason.
(Thank you Kieg for your help editing and ordering this!)
So how can roleplayers reconcile these differences? This is how we do it.
In the Cheshire Cats, where we are IC at all times, our characters can't simply ignore the fact someone else is doing the same quest they just did a day later. Nor can they just ignore that a NPC that is alive in one player's world is dead in their own, or that their friend is talking to someone who for them doesn't exist.
There is a workaround to explain how such a thing may be possible, but it does require some creative thinking.
There are many things that happen in Tamriel that people don't think twice about because it is a normal part of everyday living for them. Like how bloody fast the days speed by.
It's already accepted that Adventurers/(Champions) are a unique sort of person. They have unique abilities that the average Joe does not.
Though it is never mentioned in lore, for the purposes of making sense of quest-related paradoxes we have adopted the concept that when an Adventurer is brought into the world they bring with them their own unique 'pane' of reality with them.
Some events and places in the world (important ones, and not so important ones) are fracture points around which that these panes may develop cracks. Even so innocuous an action as saving a dog from a well can cause a fracture, or 'shard' to develop, where the actions of one Adventurer do not reach the panes of the others. For whatever reason, for all other Adventurers, that dog will remain unsaved until they do it themselves.
The mismatches between such 'shards' can cause extremely unusual effects to occur, such as a person being present that only one Adventurer can see, because that character is present in their shard, but not their friend's. (Or even not being able to see each other, when they may be standing side by side). The discrepancy can usually be resolved by one Adventurer completing whatever action is required to rematch the shards.
Perhaps the Divines or an even higher power placed these hinge points where Adventurers' paths must overlap. Perhaps it is their intention that some experiences and actions, no matter how trivial, MUST be undertaken and performed by each Adventurer in turn for them to reach their destinies. Or perhaps it is merely a cosmic mischance.
This shard concept explains how sometimes two characters may not experience the same thing in the same place. 'We have mismatched shards,' is a perfectly normal and understood thing to say in character to explain problems caused by phased MMO quests for which there is generally no other plausible IC reason.
(Thank you Kieg for your help editing and ordering this!)
Founded April 26, 2005