Empire RP Diversity

[Damukag]

So I'm rolling my first character on an RP server pretty soon and I was just curious what the diversity of RP looks like on the empire. I'm really loving the Imperial Agent background lore and concept but I'm just worried that most of the Empire RP might be concerned with Sith, leaving little room for the more mundane Imperial Intelligence stuff.

 

Anyone able to weigh in here? Thanks for the input.

[Sacredless]

You are essentially right. Some guilds favoritize Sith and focus on the Sith alone. The Sith code speaks of passions and so forth and they strive for perfection by striving for strength, power, victory and freedom. Others focus on the military, which focuses on the loss of individualism a lot of the time, quite the opposite of what the Sith offer. Agents are in the middle of that. They don't -have- an identity; that -is- their identity. That's hard to fit into the Sith and Military guilds.

 

However, if you are willing, you can be a standalone agent. My own character is a hireling for that sort of thing and she has contracts with a couple dozen of guilds. So far, I have not found a guild that focuses on agents. Perhaps it's time someone creates one.

[DuchessOfKvetch]

I have so far seen plenty of non-force sensitives running around, as well as guilds dedicated to militaristic or mercenary groups. Might depend on the server though.

 

Classically as an IA you work for Imperial Intelligence anyway- and while both the Sith and II work for the Emperor, II is often at odds with various Sith (who are always at odds with each other) - and you want to AVOID getting too much attention from those bastards. On the other hand, they are probably your best source of income.

 

Heck, my main is in a rock-band / secret mercenary-spy outfit, because I didn't want to roll with the traditional SW RP tropes.

Edited January 10, 2012 by DuchessOfKvetch

[Damukag]

You are essentially right. Some guilds favoritize Sith and focus on the Sith alone. The Sith code speaks of passions and so forth and they strive for perfection by striving for strength, power, victory and freedom. Others focus on the military, which focuses on the loss of individualism a lot of the time, quite the opposite of what the Sith offer. Agents are in the middle of that. They don't -have- an identity; that -is- their identity. That's hard to fit into the Sith and Military guilds.

 

However, if you are willing, you can be a standalone agent. My own character is a hireling for that sort of thing and she has contracts with a couple dozen of guilds. So far, I have not found a guild that focuses on agents. Perhaps it's time someone creates one.

 

While an awesome concept, I think the nature of the agent prevents them from organizing together on a larger scale. Which is unfortunate. How it seems to me so far is that very few Imperial Agents know the whereabouts or missions of other Imperial Agents, even ones they do cross paths with during missions. Still, it would be interesting to try to find a way. Perhaps a guild that's essentially a division of Imperial Intelligence dedicated to larger scale, multi operative missions (if that's not too much lore bending). That way there's a built in reason for the Agents to interact with/get to 'know' each other (insofar as one can 'know' an imperial agent).

[Sacredless]

I think I have a better idea. Stage a guild as a civillian guild. Allow only agents as citizens and the occasional bounty hunters to serve as peacekeepers. Then, appoint certain citizens covertly that serve as agents. To keep their identity protected. The guild is otherwise built up as your regular citizen guild, but with a high focus on the hierarchy of the Empire (Slaves, Subjugates, Citizens, High-Class). Agents can be of any class, including slaves and subjugates, even though slaves are naturally kept leashed. Edited January 10, 2012 by Sacredless

[MsChevious]

Which RP server are you joining? If it is Vrook Lamar I suggest stopping by our community site and starting up a thread about the type of RP / RP guilds to be found on the Empire side. Our guild recruitment section has some guilds to, and some members are in the process of creating a Bounty Hunter guild, maybe that would work well with the IA if you got in on the discussion

[Damukag]

Which RP server are you joining? If it is Vrook Lamar I suggest stopping by our community site and starting up a thread about the type of RP / RP guilds to be found on the Empire side. Our guild recruitment section has some guilds to, and some members are in the process of creating a Bounty Hunter guild, maybe that would work well with the IA if you got in on the discussion

 

Actually I was considering Vrook Lamar. I'll stop by the site and look around some. Could you give some insight into the empire community in the meantime?

[Ulnaris]

Maybe try Lord Adraas. I was shocked at how many RPers were playing. The RP channel

had RPers ICing like a flooded river. One RPer came all the way to Korriban to RP with me after letting them know a little of my back ground story. If you want, we can IC level together?

 

I'm level 3 on empire side right now. I will PM you my Google account for google talk.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Ulnaris

[Zhauric]

I have yet to honestly try the Empire so can't speak much about it on any server as I have spread myself a bit trying various classes/servers. I know from going through some guild ads on swtor-rp.com that Lord Adraas has a few of them centered around mercenary, military and even a couple on intelligence gathering. So might want to poke around there and see what those guild leaders/players say as well. I intend on making one myself this week or weekend so hopefully I will get a better feel for the Empire side of things. I wish you luck in your search and look forward to hearing what you discover out there as well.

[Kolbenito]

So I'm rolling my first character on an RP server pretty soon and I was just curious what the diversity of RP looks like on the empire. I'm really loving the Imperial Agent background lore and concept but I'm just worried that most of the Empire RP might be concerned with Sith, leaving little room for the more mundane Imperial Intelligence stuff.

 

Anyone able to weigh in here? Thanks for the input.

 

For something like an Imperial Agent you can RP any tie-in to black ops, covert ops, double agent, cloak and dagger stuff. Anything even close to that could be really fun to RP. I'm picturing secret identity, only top brass know your real name/age/legal residence, and it's all fake. Maybe there is a story there about some fueding moffs or a rogue Sith Lord in there. How did you make the cut with the attrition rate being almost 90% for IA recruits? The Empire being the sort they are, everything you know could even be planted memories and you are not what and who you think you are anyway.

 

Bounty Hunters could be anything you want them to be, have any backstory, any motivation, any darkside/lightside tendency you wanted them to have. Maybe you don't even like the Empire but they pay the best and the job is too risky to get paid poorly. Are there people hunting you now because of your past jobs?

 

Either of these has a huge number of ways you can go with it. Honestly I find the Sith have fewer really interesting ways to RP by comparison, but still fun.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Kolbenito

[MsChevious]

Actually I was considering Vrook Lamar. I'll stop by the site and look around some. Could you give some insight into the empire community in the meantime?

 

I have been playing on the Republic side so I can only provide information about the community on there - which is great The RP channel is pretty active and for the most part everyone is very friendly and helpful.

 

We have a fair amount of Imperial side players signed up on our community website, and some have mentioned RP is a little harder to find but there seems to be a decent amount of RPers and guilds over there - just a matter of getting everyone networking and talking to one another.

[Syylara]

Just a reminder that the class name and Bioware's leveling story don't have to constrain you to a given portrayal.

 

An Agent sniper might be an Imperial sharpshooter, the operative a unit medic, BH ACs grunts (or again, medic).

 

A Smuggler or Trooper might be a bounty hunter or member of one of the resistance groups on conquered worlds.

 

There's a whole slew of non-Jedi/non-Sith organizations which have some orthodoxy or set of mystical/superstitious beliefs they operate under.

 

You don't even have to be combat-focused if that isn't your thing. Anyone could choose to focus on their crafting, purporting to be a tinkerer, mechanic, design engineer, archeologist, researcher, etc. You might just be a pilot, legitimate or otherwise. Maybe you want to be a politician or ambassador.

 

Feel free to be creative and flexible! :9

Edited January 12, 2012 by Syylara

[nhemanda]

It seems many people on the Empire side has some sort of Power-complex which they carry with them to their characters. They are over-zealous and self-righteous and I've had very few good experiences, mostly with my own guild of established people I know.

 

Anyone with the title of "Darth" thinks they are somehow above everyone else, which sort of ruins it for others. Also the amount of power-roleplaying is astounding.

[DuchessOfKvetch]

Here's the thing; eventually EVERYONE playing one of the Sith classes becomes a Darth, just per game titles. But it gets awfully boring if everyone decides to play top dog.

[nhemanda]

Here's the thing; eventually EVERYONE playing one of the Sith classes becomes a Darth, just per game titles. But it gets awfully boring if everyone decides to play top dog.

 

 

Which everyone seems to do, very few people play something else. Which I try to do.

 

My character was to be "executed" today because Im a "false council member" My displaying my "Darth" title When my character wasnt even one

Guess 'twas my mistake.

[kaoticdrake]

Actually I was considering Vrook Lamar. I'll stop by the site and look around some. Could you give some insight into the empire community in the meantime?

 

From what I've experienced thus far on Vrook Lamar there are actually more Imperial Agents and Bounty Hunters who are RPing then there are Sith. I joined the RP channel as soon as my Sith Warrior started, from then on I have been outnumbered (which is how it should be in my opinion) and actually Bounty Hunters are constantly challenging my authority as well as my combat ability and my resolve. It's kinda fun to me because my character hates when people just bend to his will so easily, he likes breaking them and taking his time to do it.

 

Anyways, Vrook Lamar has a great RP community, I've met a ton of people, the first time I ever did Black Talon all I did was ask, "Where are the other members meant to board Black Talon? We are scheduled to depart soon and I cannot afford to be late landing on Dromund Kaas." Within a minute of saying that I had three new party members and we went through the whole mission RPing the whole way, which included a Bounty Hunter taunting me left and right, we settled things when we landed on Dromund Kaas and my character found that just because he had the force does not mean that all his enemies will break before him. It was the first time he'd ever lost in combat and she spared his life, saying he had potential he needed to fill into.

 

Sorry, I'm just using personal anecdote to try to help you understand what's offered and what can be found, usually pretty easily.

[kaoticdrake]

It seems many people on the Empire side has some sort of Power-complex which they carry with them to their characters. They are over-zealous and self-righteous and I've had very few good experiences, mostly with my own guild of established people I know.

 

Anyone with the title of "Darth" thinks they are somehow above everyone else, which sort of ruins it for others. Also the amount of power-roleplaying is astounding.

 

How funny, that's exactly how my character started, with a power complex. He was humbled by a Bounty Hunter and it went away. He has power and he knows it, but he knows that his power is not the greatest in the galaxy. He works for the strength of the Empire and is slowly... well I won't tell you what he's planning...

 

He's a Revanite though to some degree, but he still believes that power will lead to victory and he began as a pure Sith because that was what he knew and was raised to be, since he's a pure blood. In any case, I think you're right, people need to try to break out of the mold.

 

I feel like playing a Sith Warrior can make that very hard because the story itself pushes power on you, constantly making you feel powerful, whereas the Inquisitor story constantly makes you feel like you don't have any power. At least in my experience, I've played through both to about level 20. Nobody respects you in one, and everyone respects you in the other. So even if you started the character without a complex, you as a player, and surely your character, would surely start to grow one when you have so many people fawning over your power.

 

If you don't want to play a Sith I feel like it's a whole lot easier to go wherever you want with your character's story. Being a Sith is a constant power struggle, and if you don't compete you'll probably be destroyed if you even come close to another Sith vying for power. I just wish there was more in character fights, "duels" that humble or destroy characters. That would be a way that you could build an army as a player character. You've chosen to let those you have defeated live and you've bent them to your will, they could resent you for it or see your power and choose to actively follow your ways and your power. Doing their best to grow on their own to stay useful to you. That could be the basis for a whole guild! Whew! I just got an awesome idea that could be really fun, depending on how it's done.

 

I think I'm done ranting now...

[nhemanda]

How funny, that's exactly how my character started, with a power complex. He was humbled by a Bounty Hunter and it went away. He has power and he knows it, but he knows that his power is not the greatest in the galaxy. He works for the strength of the Empire and is slowly... well I won't tell you what he's planning...

 

He's a Revanite though to some degree, but he still believes that power will lead to victory and he began as a pure Sith because that was what he knew and was raised to be, since he's a pure blood. In any case, I think you're right, people need to try to break out of the mold.

 

I feel like playing a Sith Warrior can make that very hard because the story itself pushes power on you, constantly making you feel powerful, whereas the Inquisitor story constantly makes you feel like you don't have any power. At least in my experience, I've played through both to about level 20. Nobody respects you in one, and everyone respects you in the other. So even if you started the character without a complex, you as a player, and surely your character, would surely start to grow one when you have so many people fawning over your power.

 

If you don't want to play a Sith I feel like it's a whole lot easier to go wherever you want with your character's story. Being a Sith is a constant power struggle, and if you don't compete you'll probably be destroyed if you even come close to another Sith vying for power. I just wish there was more in character fights, "duels" that humble or destroy characters. That would be a way that you could build an army as a player character. You've chosen to let those you have defeated live and you've bent them to your will, they could resent you for it or see your power and choose to actively follow your ways and your power. Doing their best to grow on their own to stay useful to you. That could be the basis for a whole guild! Whew! I just got an awesome idea that could be really fun, depending on how it's done.

 

I think I'm done ranting now...

 

 

Quite interesting. Ive only played the Jedi Consular and Sith Sorcerer storyline. This Sith Marauder decided she/he had the power to exile my chracter from the "Sith" and the sith academy since my char. Works there. "With the authority of being the emperors right hand blah blah" ?? Do people really think its fun that they could execute /.exile character that hs been thought about for weeks and carefully crafted ... And this in their opinion isnt "god modding" or "power-rp" what else could it be other than big egos IRL living out their fantasies in the game.

[DuchessOfKvetch]

There is almost NEVER a dearth of "powerful" characters in an MMO setting.

 

If you want to stick out - play against type. The irony is that you will generally gain MORE respect for playing underpowered characters.

[ManOSteal]

see I'm one of the few playing a Sith that actually holds the IA's and BH's in a higher regard than most Sith because well he only became a Sith because the Jedi told him he couldn't train. Other than an unnatural hatred for his Jedi brother (my alt) he is a pretty chill guy. He has even gone so far as to tell people he feels he can trust to leave off the whole lord thing in private. In public they still gotta do it so other Sith don't see it as a weakness of some sort and try to take him out but in the end most Sith just annoy him while others outright disgust him. he'd rather hang out in a bar with a bunch of bounty hunters than be in a temple with other Sith. They were a means to an end and that is all. While he will at some point have the Darth title it will basically mean nothing to him. although personally I think its awesome.