Ask
the Editors
by the Editors
by the Editors
Episode
2
Hello
and welcome to Episode 2. We appreciate you coming back for our
second attempt to show you how awesome asking us questions can be. If
you don't think it's awesome, please send all complaints about this
episode to George Lucas.
We
only have one question remaining in our question vault, which means
two things. 1 – That we are going to answer it. 2 - That people
need to ask us more questions!
This
weeks question from the notorious “Question Box” sparked a couple
of great responses from some people very knowledgeable on the topic
of guarding the Western Flank, which is apparently located in the
kitchen.
“Why
don't people NPC as much? (We keep seeing the same folks burn
out...)”
~Anonymous
Lets
get some answers shall we?
First
up, we'll get some input from legendary kitchen staffers and veterans
of more Western Flanks than we can count, Jeremy and Lani Greyson:
“Without
monsters to fight, the heroes of the Realms would have little else to
do besides eat, drink, and be merry, and, let’s be honest, we do
the last three pretty well already. However, finding people who are
willing to NPC can be a challenge, as most event holders can attest
to. We’ve both spent some time on the Western Flank, and although
we can tell you why we feel it’s important to be there, the
question of why there aren’t more people out there is a challenging
one to answer. After some discussion, we have a few ideas about why
more people don’t NPC (and a few reasons you should consider doing
it more often).
Some
people might not NPC because no one has asked them to. When we throw
our quest event series, we make it a point to reach out to people
individually and ask them to NPC for us, and many people are willing
to help out if you ask them. Most of the time people don’t think to
volunteer to NPC for an event without being solicited. This can be
cured in two ways: players should consider asking event holders if
they need help NPCing and event holders should not be shy about
asking people individually to NPC for their events. Group messages to
the Realms Facebook Page tend to have less effect than asking someone
in person or in an individual message. This works well if you are
someone who knows a lot of people in the Realms and are not shy about
asking for help. However, if the event holder is shy or newer to the
community, other members of the community should reach out and ask if
the EH could use a few more hands. This allows for more fun for
players and NPCs alike.
There
are people in the Realms who may shy away from NPCing because they
believe they will have to be a constantly respawning crunchy all day,
and they may dislike fighting or not be confident in their combat
skills. It is a misconception that NPCing always means crunchying.
Most quests need people who are non-combat helpers as well. If you
are unsure if you can be helpful as a non-com helper, again, reach
out and ask the event holder. I can’t imagine a situation in which
you will be turned down simply because you are a non-com. EH’s need
runners, costumers, and role-players in addition to big-bads to make
their event successful.
And
lastly, and perhaps the hardest to combat, is that many people come
to Realms to have fun and relax and those goals can feel undermined
if it means spending the weekend as an NPC. Most of us have a very
busy life outside of Realms and we cannot devote every weekend to
being in the game. When we do have free time, it makes sense to want
to play, rather than help out. However, helping out really can be
fun, especially if you are helping out with your friends. NPCing
allows you to meet and interact with people outside of your normal
social circle and it can be a ton of fun watching those silly PCs
struggle with something when you know how everything will come
together in the end. If you want to spend time with your friends,
convince them to NPC as well. Getting a big group together to NPC is
great for both you and the event holder. It is also more economical
to help out, as NPCing is often free (or at least greatly reduced
from the event price). This allows you to have fun and see your
friends without spending a lot of money on the weekend.
Ultimately,
the Realms needs more people to commit some time to the Western Flank
to make sure that everyone gets to play a little. We are a community
that is run entirely on volunteers, and members of the Realms who
only play and rarely NPC can be doing more to support the community.
Please make it a point to ask how you can help an Event Holder--you
won’t be sorry that you did.”
Excellent
answer! Next we'll go to another awesome helper both in the kitchen
and out (but mostly in), Jennifer DeNardis-Rosa:
“I
can't speak to any specific reasons why people don't NPC as much, but
I can offer a few general reasons that I think contribute.
1)
Intimidation.
You
don't know how many people are going to be at any given event or what
type/ caliber of fighters are going to show up. Sometimes large
numbers of varied PCs show up that seem to vastly outnumber the staff
at the event, or smaller groups of players known or perceived to be
"elite" fighters come out to attend the event. Sometimes a
combination of the two. If you play as your character normally using
mostly shorter weapons or spells, or if your character is a
fighter but you only consider yourself to be an average one, it can
seem a little daunting to NPC in the face of these types of
situations, especially as a "grunt" or "crunchy"
(general combat NPC). You may worry that you "won't be able to
do a good job," get nervous about fighting or calling your
shots, or ask yourself what the point is as you may "just get
steam-rolled anyway." The advice here is not to let these
concerns stop you. Contact the event-holder to see if there are other
roles available besides straight fighting. Offer to help with general
staffing needs. Or use the opportunity to learn from and get better.
NPCs in general usually re-spawn in some manner and wear proxy armor,
so you don't have to be worried about consuming party resources or be
hesitant to engage so you don't blow your armor. If you aren't quite
comfortable with armor, talk to the EH or head NPC about only calling
one point or no armor. Event staff are usually happy just to have
NPCs, and should be willing to work with you based on what your
comfort level is. Just do your best and have fun. As an NPC you
are not there to "win" the event, just to challenge the PCs
and help ensure that everyone has fun. You don't always have to
kill someone each time you fight, sometimes just slowing the PC group
down is enough. And remember the general rule - "when in
doubt, call dead."
2)
Group Dynamics
People
may be less inclined to NPC at an event thrown by an event-holding
team that they do not associate with as much, or are not as close to,
either in or out of character. Likewise, if a group or nation has
plans to play at an event as said group or nation, whether in force
or just a few people, then those people are less likely to NPC at
that event instead. As this is one of the main reasons for
playing the game - to play with your friends - this is not
unexpected, and is not a bad thing at all. At the next event though,
consider NPC'ing as a group instead of playing. The event staff will
be happy to have you, and you'll get to do something different but
just as fun and important to the game. NPC'ing as a group can bring
your people together and provide a team-building experience just as
much as PC'ing as a group can, and in a different way. This will also
allow your group/ nation to start establishing and building NPC'ing
relationships with others, and help provide you with a network of
people that you can then call on for help when your group is the one
throwing the event. If you are not in a group or nation, or
only a few people from your group or nation are attending the event,
consider stepping out of your comfort zone and offering to NPC for an
event staff that you wouldn't normally think to do so for. This
can lead to new/ better relationships with people in the game you
might not be as familiar with, expose to you to different
event-holding styles, and help to make you a more well-rounded
player, as well as also building your NPC network.”
Another
excellent answer! It seems that they are all in agreement that you
should not be afraid to both ask for help, and ask if you can
help, and there are all kinds of ways that you can help out the
community, from fighting, to cooking, to organizing, and beyond.
Speaking
of contributing to the community, we need more questions! Information
on how to ask can be found at the bottom of the episode. We are
currently out of questions, which means we really need your help.
This is a very easy way to help out, you don't even need to get up
from your computer.
Join
us next episode when we hopefully have a new question to answer!
Questions
can be sent to Sara “Zarine” Jessop via email (
Sarajjesop@gmail.com),
facebook messenger, or in person. The question box will also be
making the rounds at various events. Please note if you'd like your
question to remain anonymous and/or if you would like to address
specific editors.