Content Lull 2: Sneaky Saturday
Thursday, we started a discussion on filling the Content Lull. Epic Story lines appear to be a great idea for a lull; however, unless you have brilliant timing and superb organizational skills, Epic Story can turn into Epic Fail. For the Lull, a smaller, more personal solution, may be in order.
If you are feeling the lull, and don’t know what to do with your RP, you are not alone. There are probably at least two or three other people in your circle who are feeling the same drain. I recommend the following:
1) Take control of your Character’s Story.
Figure out what is going on in your toon’s brain. Are they worried about the assault on ICC? Are they worried about the Scourge? Are they dealing with the terror or ICC? Are they looking for something to fill the void of combat? Once you know where your character is (psychologically, emotionally) following the content, you can begin to address it.
2) Gather your peeps
Take your group on an RP Session to “deal with the Lull.” This can be anything from a traditional story nights and pub crawls to a guild meeting where someone loses their shi–stuff. The RP event you create needs to be focused on the consequences of the content. Take ICC for instance. This is the heart of the Lich King’s Undead kingdom. It is full of terrifying monsters. Monsters made up of former friends, relatives, comrades and enemies. Witnessing those atrocities will leave scars, so why not RP the healing process?
When all else fails, vary the RP
If you are used to forum RP, try RPing in the client. If you are used to RP in the client, try some forum or Ficcing. Sometimes the best way to fill in a lull is to change the format.
We have two examples to share:
Currently, Anna and I are working (via google Wave) on a story for our own content Lull. While it is a bit of a secret, I can share this much: Just because Arthas is gone does not mean that everyone begins to heal from what he has done to his people. There are traditional ways of dealing with loss and grief, and Bricu wants to give that method a chance. Arthas may not deserve it…but one has to pay their debts.
Secondly:
Last RP night, Bricu and Threnn learned how to can fruit. That RP Night was “domestic night.” While canning, they discussed:
The Content Lull was dealt with. Current Story lines were tied up and inspiration for new stories were planted. All in all, a perfect way to deal with the doldrums.
The Lull isn’t all bad folks. In fact, this is the time when we can dust off old RP, set up new stories and finish current plots. The Lull is more an opportunity than a pain in the ass. Since we have all “Been there, done that” we have the time to work our own stories into WoW’s plot.
Does the lull have you down? Have you conquered it? Fill us in! Tell us how you are dealing, or not dealing, with the lull.
Filed in Character Development,RP,World of Warcraft 2 Comments so far
Ringo Flinthammer on 19 Jun 2010 at 11:12 pm #
I love the domesticity idea. It’s all too easy to focus on the big damn heroics, but the point of all the heroics (for most characters) is that there’s a normal life to go back to, some day.
Mugrir on 20 Jun 2010 at 8:51 pm #
I know that something that will eternally be a source of RP for Mugrir is the psychological toll that the years and years of war he has undertaken. Its important to key that up, because he doesn’t really have a chance to be domestic, thanks to his backstory. No family, no ‘home’ that he was born in, war and fighting for others is natural and indeed, the way he was literally raised. The ‘domestic’ scene one that is mostly Mugrir pub crawling or getting laughed at by other Boomsticks (kindly, of course!), since they are in fact what he considers his family now, guarding them jealously. The problem is with having a family that is made up of independent, trigger-happy, enigmatic soldiers is that sometimes you end up going to a lot of funerals. Survivors guilt is something that is never far behind Mugs, whether its because he’s the last of his line, or he’s had to outlive so many.
There is so much RP to do in a content lull, even if its just managing to work out and really focus on what is going on in your own characters head, really getting into it. Mugrir certainly isn’t whiny and emo-tastic like he was a few years ago, he’s gotten over that, but he’s still haunted. Yet at the same time, someone still surrounded by tragedy can have bouts of humor just by really saying ‘what’s the real reason he drinks so damn much?’ Mixing the two is a lot of fun, and I’m still waiting to see if Mugrir will ever finally crack and learn how to smile more on his own.