PiwacketLet me warn you, the following is going to be of a very limited appeal… for I’m going to rant on a bit about the role-playing for my Clan Lord™ characters. Now, if you don’t know what Clan Lord™ is… it’s a role-playing, on-line, interactive computer game – the most addictive game I’ve ever encountered in my over 20 years of playing computer games.
The first computer game I ever played was tic-tac-toe on the Brown University’s mainframe… I was in a summer, academic potential project for high school kids and I played that game on a TTY terminal. You loaded your programs with streaming paper-tape or punch cards and let me tell you, it was fun but the computers of the day were not all that interesting!
A lot of years passed and Apple, Tandy and others arrived with computers that actually started to get interesting. I remember playing a ported version of Colossal Caves… not sure if I was using DOS or CP/M at the time for my OS -- that was long ago!
The next big thing was Zork! (much like Colossal Caves but it seemed to have a bit of polish!!) Both Colossal Caves and Zork were pure text adventure games! Wonderful to experience, but the pictures were still only in your head – although some were trying to enhance the game by providing maps created out of letters of the characters you seen on your keyboard.
An example for you youngsters, this is a wall +---------+ (yawn!)
Then something great happened: I remember a little 3-D graphic adventure game on an Apple IIc that finally, didn’t use text to create maps! After that, I don’t recall too much really cool stuff in home computers until the Macintosh showed up and blew me away!
I also seem to remember everyone making fun of the early Macs because they all said it was only a game machine… now the shoe would seem to be on the other foot and most of the games are for Windows’ machines. It’s a Weird World!!
Anyway… enough on the history of computer games according to CrajElf! On to my Clan Lord characters!
Piwacket
The first and dearest to my heart… and, the name seemed to force this character into become a healer, for the quest to become a healer requires the acquisition of a bell, a book and a candle. (The Piwacket name is from an old movie: “Bell, Book and Candle” -- if you haven’t seen it, rent it!) Also, my real life cat’s name is Piwacket and my Clan Lord character is a Fen’ niko… a cat person!! What better meld for role-playing then a blend of my cat and myself!!!
Piwacket’s key word for Role Playing is: enthusiasm! He’s eager to do try and do new things, explore new areas, to jump into the fray, and to heal the wounded! I try to play this as a youthful enthusiasm… not always tempered with a lot of the judgment that age might bring… but then, cats are only cautious up to a point, when they commit it’s a full commitment. Part of why the poor things really do need 9 lives and so does Piwacket – he’s the master of the fall. He doesn’t know when to back off the fight and the same frequently hold true when he’s healing… the silly boy will heal others up to being in real danger of falling himself!
Piwacket is loyal to a fault! Friends are forever and he’ll defend them with his life… he has a very strong sense of community – part of his real need to belong to a clan, and in his case: Rising Claw Clan! In real life I’d love to have Piwacket as a real friend… I would trust him with my life.
You know… creating fictional characters is a very interesting undertaking. You start to create and at some point the character comes alive and starts to tell you how they need to be! Quit a magical moment in writing and the same holds true for role-playing a character!
I don’t think Piwacket will/can ever be the best healer, nor will he ever become the best fighter… although he’d like to be both! I do like to think that he will have many long and loyal relationship with other characters in the game and that they will come to love him in spite of all his little faults! (and mine in playing him!)
Nohurt
One of the next two characters I created was Nohurt -- a male, Thoom Healer. He has some odd goals for this game environment – he a pacifist! The character has never taken a life and his first action was to throw his startup weapon (a club) onto the trash heap… his second action was to become a healer!
I see Nohurt as a zealot healer and holy person; A lot of St. Francis – concerned with the well being of the animals in Clan Lord, no matter how hostile, blended with a touch of Professor Abraham van Helsing – obsessed with the termination of the Undine* (*undead. Although, I have no idea how to proceed with this as I know of no weapon that will only kill the Undine in the game. I’ve talked to game designers but who knows on this one.) And, a few other odd points I’ve covered in the “Doctrine of Nohurt” his scroll.
At first I though playing this character would be easy… it wasn’t! In a game based on killing for advancement (ranks and coins)… pacifists are really at a loss! If it wasn’t for other characters sharing with healers, the occasional luck of finding hops, wheat, yeast and barley to sell, and the ability to advance through donations of building supplies and the Library -- it might be impossible!
As an example, I suggest to you CL Healers to just try healing a fallen ringed in by rats and vermin without using a weapon… impossible with only a moonstone (the beginners healing tool.) Or, if Nohurt get cornered… it is impossible to gain egress without fighting your way out… so, Nohurt falls!
In the beginning I played Nohurt as much more of a religious zealot… but that has changed as I found I couldn’t personally deal with the rejection levels of the other players for this character – he has soften much over time to become a more accepted character who just follows a bit of a different path.
Speaking of Paths… Nohurt is on his way to becoming a full Path Finder. This just seemed to happen and it does fit in with his desire to stroll about the landscape… his little walkabouts. Frequently, damn dangerous… but in character – I originally was thinking there might be a way for ‘the game lord’ (read Joe) to give Nohurt a bit of an edge and perhaps allow this all to evolve into a religious sect in the game. I’ve been told there are others who play pacifist characters!!!! Only time will tell…
One last note on Nohurt… I was thinking he might need to join ThoomCare™ and I’m going to have him speak to Paramedic about this. At least this way he could make a larger contribution to the game and advance his cause by gaining lots of experience through healing.
Zeitgeist
Ah… my attempt to create a mystic. One look at his scroll will have you thinking he’s evil… but, not to disappoint you… he isn’t! I see him more as the Goth step-child! Just a bit out of sync… wants to rebel a bit against authority… would like dress in black… at some point he have crazy coloured hair and skin… do outlandish things… Oh, I think you get the main idea… the spirit of the times… the times are youthful rebellion!
Zeitgeist hasn’t has a lot of play time and he has yet to tell me who he is -- I’m just playing him as far as I can until he springs to life! I kind of think this may not happen until he reveals his race. So far I think he’s going to be Sylvan… but who knows, he may turn out to be human?!
Hunk
My latest creation… a Zo fighter! The relaxation of not having to heal everyone or ponder the mystic’s quests while also trying to be a rather poor fighter to survive. Just think, a future of being able to go out and harvest the landscape and become wealthy!! Quite appealing, although I think Hunk is going to be a big contributor to buildings, the arts, new characters (especially healers and mystics) and giving gift to favorite female characters!
Another player (Veer) told me how refreshing it was to have a fighter in the stable… how right he was!
I’m really beginning to really like Hunk… he’s a charmer! He has quite the eye for the ladies and is a bit of a flirt. He seems to be very fit, tone, tan, blond… well, he’s quite a hunk!
The idea really started early in my experience within Clan Lord… that small germ of a thought that occurred as I watched female characters respond to some of the Zo characters… perhaps it’s the body shape that triggers something? Anyway… they respond differently to male Zo’s! Pi tends to get cute, mothering responses… Nohurt only seems to have appeal to others Thooms… and Zeit, well who knows… but Hunk – ah Hunk!
This is also why I’m not sticking to the book of Zo behavour… Hunk is playing on his visible strengths… good looks and charm.
I’m sort of viewing Hunk as a Tom Sellick/Mel Gibson kind of a guy… nice to look at… good sense of humor… a personality that has a very strong appeal for both men and women. The kind of guy men want to have as their best friend and women want to come tapping at their windows late at night. (I think I’ll keep some of the other comments I’ve hear women make about men, when they think we’re not paying attention, in reserve… tehehe!)
Anyway… Hunk is fleshing out nicely and is running a close second to Piwacket as my favorite!
Addenda
Ya’ know… I really think you could do a masters thesis in psychology, anthropology or even sociology on how people respond to images and role-playing within the Clan Lord game. All quit fascinating… at least to me.