Role of Staff

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sliper
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Temple: Fate

Role of Staff

Post by sliper »

Just looking to start a conversation here - Do we still need Heroes?

What is the point of a Hero? They are staff, but without an RP sphere of influence. In the past when the realm was more populated, these were necessary - to help foster RP, to work with the guilds and temples to which they were assigned. But today, it seems unnecessary. There are few mortals per guild. There are not enough staffers to have a different patron of each guild. No temple is so large that a second staff member is truly necessary to be assigned to it.


Would we not be better served simply by having Immortals and Legends? If any new staff were to be hired, they could learn the ropes as a Legend (or various Legend roles). The current heroes could be made Immortal.
Sliper, Charter Member
Silk
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Re: Role of Staff

Post by Silk »

So I can answer this I think.

Heroes and Immortal are separate in rank only for Roleplay purposes in-game. Behind the scenes there is no difference, so from a roleplay perspective we "should" have them. When we look at staffing and the continuance of roleplay we aren't just looking at what we have and where we are....but what we want and where we want to be.

Heroes are and will always be an empowered mortal that has been given that power by a specific Immortal so that they can control parts of their sphere. How much of that power they can control is up to the Immortal.

I understand your thoughts about not needing a different Patron per guild...and in many cases we don't (Vespers is 2 guilds, Caerwyn is 3 guilds, Zir is 2 guilds, Silk was 3 guilds). Temples don't "need" two people, however it is better in my opinion if they have both a Hero and an Immortal. In the case of Silk (when he was around), he did not want to always be "with" the mortals visibly. He wanted his Heroes to be the go-between for the mortals to the Immortal. In my opinion, the Immortals were at their best when they weren't always with the mortals, but instead let the Heroes be the main focal.

Immortals run temples, we will not open more than a small set of temples again (those days are over). The core temples will remain open and if a few of those now open close, it is possible they will remain closed. Heroes will continue to exist in the hope that we can figure out a way to get where we want to go. Legends serve their purpose, but they are not associated to an Immortal from a power perspective. If they are in a temple (ie Galos) then they are just there as "helpers" and have no additional powers. If you ask those that work with Galos in War you will see he actually is far weaker than the Blades and most mortals...he just has the OOC powers to assist other people and is visible on "who" to help people as needed.

Silk
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mireilla
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Re: Role of Staff

Post by mireilla »

"In my opinion, the Immortals were at their best when they weren't always with the mortals, but instead let the Heroes be the main focal."

I share a very different opinion of this. I found that the temples that I loved and felt the most enriched by had an active Immortal presence.

As far as RP goes, I don't feel you need any additional powers nor securities in order to run a successful campaign. The reason that this is often so hard is due to old ideas about how things "should be done."

In that our organizations are small -- it is up to the mortals within them to set the tone. There is a real opportunity here to set yourselves apart -- look how little opposition you have to your ideas.
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Vespers
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Re: Role of Staff

Post by Vespers »

I feel a little compelled to chime in here.

Yes, heroes still have things to do that are theirs to do. While the Immortals we know and love all have personalities and ideas and goals, they're essentially living on a different level than the rest of the world, and being the embodiment of a giant facet of the world has to have an effect on a person's perspective.

Heroes are granted some power by their Immortal, but at their core they're still operating on the same level they have been. Their concerns and perspective are still mortal, as are generally their reactions. An Immortal IS power, while a Hero holds it.

Legends are their own very cool (in my opinion) thing, extraordinary people who influence the world in their way, without being beholden to an Immortal, or tied to any one path of action.

The story for each is very different, and the feeling is different, and we do tend to like twisty, complicated things so why would we cut out the variety?

Mireilla, I agree without about the RP part of what you said. We can all make brilliant things happen. I'd agree with Silk that I feel the presence of Immortals a lot more strongly, story-wise, then they're a rare and looming sort of thing. I like being left a little in awe, rather than the guy I'll sit and have a drink with. It may be a matter of personal taste though.
venis
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Re: Role of Staff

Post by venis »

Going off topic a bit here...

Regarding frequency of Immortal appearances: Each response had good points.

I agree with Mireilla that a more active presence of Immortals helps enrich and engage players. An Immortal's frequent presence and interaction helps unify the people in the temple and encourage activity. I'll also add the Immortal doesn't always have to be visible for this to happen.

At the same time, I also agree with Silk and Vespers that it does create some looming sense of "Oh wow" when the Immortal appears and isn't frequently about. It makes that particular appearance special.

On a comment Vespers made... I think it should be noted that I do like having drinks with Silk.

My two cents,

V's OOC.

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