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A thought out post on the policies and aspects of Crime Roleplay, Slum Roleplay, Criminal Conduct, OOC behavior, and other things related to contra-roleplay especially with sight on criminal roleplay. I will release posts one by one as chapters in replies to this thread, and then add them to the main post when they are released. Comments are welcome, but I will mark up that this thread is mostly "from Lore Staff perspective" meaning that we consider much of this policy and rule of law, where specifically mentioned. You shouldn't take this post as an extreme absolute rule book, and adapt it where you flexibly can, but try not to argue against what we consider well founded, researched and concluded doctrine of over 7 years of experience running this place and having the input of hundreds of people and multiple groups.
Chapter One: Starting point, to crime, or not to crime.
Crime, or antagonism (lets refer to it as antagonism) is a really touchy subject of Roleplay. It has the means to create the most enticing roleplay, after all, the best moments lauded on the server are those where major organizations started repressing others and a single individual stepped forward to be the "bad guy" in a Disney sense. Yet, they are also extremely contentious. It is often said that the crime roleplay scene suffers the most passive aggression and shit-talking of all sub communities. This doesn't necessarily mean that the people there-in are toxic, it's because the very idea of roleplay antagonism gets people worked up and emotions run high. It's competition, and in some cases, competition where 5 people lose and only one persons wins, and nobody likes to lose. There are a couple of considerations to be made whether you're even suitable for crime rp, or gang lord rp. Here's a couple of them:
Chapter One: Starting point, to crime, or not to crime.
Crime, or antagonism (lets refer to it as antagonism) is a really touchy subject of Roleplay. It has the means to create the most enticing roleplay, after all, the best moments lauded on the server are those where major organizations started repressing others and a single individual stepped forward to be the "bad guy" in a Disney sense. Yet, they are also extremely contentious. It is often said that the crime roleplay scene suffers the most passive aggression and shit-talking of all sub communities. This doesn't necessarily mean that the people there-in are toxic, it's because the very idea of roleplay antagonism gets people worked up and emotions run high. It's competition, and in some cases, competition where 5 people lose and only one persons wins, and nobody likes to lose. There are a couple of considerations to be made whether you're even suitable for crime rp, or gang lord rp. Here's a couple of them:
- Do you have anger issues? It seems like a really silly point to make, but people with anger issues never fare well in the crime system. It seems uniquely unfair to bar these people from participation, so there are no rules or policies against it, but it's very obvious from an outsider's point of view that those with anger issues are the most avoided/disliked/disengaged members of the community. The danger with anger issues here, is that contentious roleplay already causes emotions to run high. These potentially volatile situations require a calm and clear approach, and anyone with anger issues is prone to fly off the rails when things don't go their way. Because crime rp is already so tense, OOC anger and name-calling and passive aggression often only aggravate the situation to the point that staff have to step in. It happens all the time, unfortunately, and the people who are subject to it may experience that their rep suffers severely because of it.
- What could you do to stop this? It's always recommended that a person who knows they have anger issues avoid being the central figure in the roleplay or movement. What this means is that such a person, if they want to avoid tense situations where their anger might get the better of them, could act as an accomplice instead of a leader, or have a guardian instead of being the master. The lore is very full of co-op roles (mind slavery, constructs etc.). These roles are not only meant for people who can roleplay well together, but also to allow roleplay to happen for some people who have trouble making decisions. It becomes a lot easier to manage anger when the actions are taken out of your hands, and you have someone else to do the talking and decision taking.
- Do you want to be feared by other players and seen as this amazing crime roleplayer? This question requires a lot of introspection on a fair level. Many roleplayers will immediately jump to the conclusion "No! I roleplay for myself's sake, not for others!". If this were true however, tavern dating sim and fan service/pandering rp wouldn't be as prevalent as it is everywhere. Everyone wants their character to be liked / thought of as "hot" / seen as powerful and wealthy / feared as dangerous etc. There may be some exceptions, but more often than not, those claiming to be exceptions are merely deluding their own intention to roleplay. When you have a clearer view of why you roleplay for whatever self gratification, it becomes easier to avoid pitfalls and make the right decisions to get what you want, instead of constantly hitting your feet into the same rocks.
- The best way to be feared, is to make it so nobody has a clue that you're doing what you are doing. Use intermediaries, use spokesmen, and never get personally implicated in the situation. Better yet, be present in the den of the enemy and pretend not to be the enemy. Imagine the difference between a Void roided Varghul assaulting the City Guard, and a Noble Lady working against her family by pulling the strings of a syndicate while she plays innocent with her alms house. You should be seen doing good things and hosting events for the benefit of others, and not seen acting to the detriment of those same people though a network.
- A Varghul Void Worshiper is not something to be feared. 15 guards will jump down its throat and it will get killed. A Varghul is a means to an end, not a plan by itself. An alms lady who can wash her hands from anything she's instructed is an amazing antag, especially because of how profoundly shocking it would be to realize that she is in fact the antag that everyone has been searching. Furthermore, the personal satisfaction from seeing others constantly guessing who the true antag is, or where the true enemy comes from, is wonderful. You get no satisfaction out of a few guards saying "oh" and then proceeding to kick down your character's face.
- Consider also the morality of your character. Evil for the sake of Evil does not lead to good or clever roleplay. A Void worshiper walking up to the Guard and screaming "The end is nigh for your Empire, Demons come!" and then slicing them isn't clever. It's neon sign evil. You might as well wear a giant Las Vegas strip sign on your head "Kill me". A disillusioned Reverend who believes they are saving the Synod by having all of its members brutally murdered in the streets by vampires however has a flexible morality. He is accepting the depraved action in martyring his fellow Reverends because he believes the Synod has become corrupt with vice. This is a morality that other citizens (non criminals) can associate with, sympathize even, even if they do not agree with the murderous mentality. You want your enemies to have a personal conflict to consider whether you're truly evil, or whether your intentions are good and you're just going about it in a twisted way. Such a conflicting character can count on a lot more flexible support than just demon sex orgies with horns and tails.
- What you should definitely avoid: Discord. It happens too often. We keep saying it all the time, but it just happens way too often. The first thing to avoid with Discord is talking while roleplaying. It helps if you're doing social roleplay for example a pool party or something similarly relaxing. Here, roleplay doesn't need to be serious, and it can be a bonding experience to laugh about it together over voice. In any other situation however, Discord voice is proven to be distracting. It causes players to behave differently, whether it be being a meme-lord and thus taking roleplay less serious, or letting the actions of the character be influenced by the ongoing conversations, or even getting bored and side tracking. The most intense roleplay is experienced while you are able to be fully immersed, and this is simply not possible while in a conversation at the same time. Furthermore, being on discord with others presents the risk of echo forming.
- Echo forming is having a bunch of your friends who are more than likely to agree with you just because you're their friend and not because you have a good point, hearing you make an off-hand comment about the roleplay in a negative way. Let's say you have a problem with how a player responds to your action and you make an off hand comment about it. This usually results in a reverberation where everyone starts sharing their personal qualms with that person, and before long, it creates a negative air about said person in the discord. This is generally what we refer to as toxicity, and the problem is that out of peer-pressure, the people in the discord also become more likely to act negatively to that person in roleplay. There is no such thing as a person who keeps IC and OOC 100% separate. Absolutely none, not even the server staff, not even the server owner. Anyone saying otherwise is pretending.
- Discord is also very much seen as clique oriented. The RP Community Discord has solved this to a degree by forcing many groups back together, but hive-mind mentality still exists on many areas. It funnels the perspective of the people who are in such a locked out discord to just the people there-in, causing a form of self isolation. With all the above in mind, this is definitely not an argument to disable or remove Discord altogether, because it has advantages. More so, it is a recommendation to mute your sound and microphone every once in a while during roleplay to see how observed silence makes your roleplay longer and more immersive. This holds up for most of the test audience, so it likely will for you too.
- Most antags are extremely boring. This was already covered in an earlier point, the set-up of the antag, but this point more-so covers what an antag actually does. Before we covered the morality of WHY they do it, this is more about WHAT they do. Most modern antags are just overpowered combat characters. Varlords, Mages, Rogue Training skills up the ass, it's always the same character trope with "power" to "stay in power". This is comically exactly what makes them bad antags, needing a crutch of power to stay in power. A muscle god ruling over 5 athletes is not a clever antag. It's just a neon-sign antag. A small emaciated woman pulling the strings of dozens of vampires however while having no combat means herself yet wielding the respect and deference of those who are her physical superiors is a far better antag. The difference here is that "cleverness" is the main difference. A character that does not need to be clever and can just cave the face in of a person they rule over, is just that, a dull antag. A person who uses a complex network of intermediaries, bribery and blackmail as well as intellect to extend their superiority over others is far more impressive, and thus also a far more entertaining antag.
- What's also important, is that antags should not be a one-shoe-fits-all evil. Let's take two practical examples of antags. Andrieu Anahera and the Evil Dragon. The Evil Dragon Rikkira was a bad antagonist because she had a one-shoe-fits-all response to everyone who opposed her. You either died or were mind controlled. It didn't matter if you were a noble or a commoner, you were the same to her either way. Andrieu Anahera however was a narrative antag who had a different approach of antagonism for each person he closely interacted with. For the Kades, he tried to destroy their family, for the Howlesters, he tried to break their honor, for the Anaheras, he tried to break their cohesion and allies, and for the state itself, he caused chaos around. He made deals with those who originally opposed him to switch sides and support him instead, and even betrayed some of his own allies when the time was right. There was a different story going on for each person who took up arms against him or formed a group against him. These were never the same from the next over. It is important that antags feel personal. If you are just playing an antagonist that wants to subject everyone with the same appeal, you are saying to everyone "I think all of you are worth about the same, which is to say, very little". You send a strong message that you don't care that say for example Mantarey or MonMarty or Carlit0o leads the resistance against you. To you, they don't matter. They are just background characters to your character's glory story. If however you create a narrative, and give each major party that strikes out against you a special sort of story that supports the overall crime goal, you send a strong message to every player involved that you enjoy roleplaying with them, and want to make sure you give them the experience you think they want/deserve so everyone involved can enjoy it.
- If you have anger issues, Crime rp may not be for you. If you still insist, rather be an antag accomplice than actually being a gang boss. It won't work out.
- Be honest about why you want to roleplay. Don't pretend to not want to do it for self glorification. It makes deciding what and where to do a lot easier.
- Play a clever antagonist by being hidden. Obvious antags are bad antags.
- Play a clever antagonist with a flexible gray morality and cause, instead of inflexible "kill everyone" moralities.
- Play a clever antag without any combat power who purely relies on clever planning and execution to run a scene. Far better than a gang lord with 20 million combat bonuses who can thot crush anyone who opposes them.
- Avoid talking in Discord while you roleplay. Do it when you're doing social RP, but when in tense scenes, turn off your microphone and sound so you can focus on immersion.
- Craft individual narratives for everyone you're opposing, instead of the one-shoe-fits-all "Everyone dead! or Everyone my slave!" Create personal stories with personal motivations based on what your enemies think is important.
- Chapter Two: Gang Structure & Gameplay
- Chapter Three: Petty Crime vs. Grand Crime vs. Capital Crime
- Chapter Four: Morality of Crime RP and Death and Kill Perms
- Chapter Five: Emotes and actions taken in Crime
- Chapter Six: The Regalian Guard & State
