Initial ideas!

Hello!
Something to finally fill out the hollow in these forums, heh.

Right, so there has been a general favour for the following structure of the guild, as discussed in game, and I think this is what we will stick to. Big thanks to Torge for coming up with it (in conjuction with the rest of us, ofc)

The guild is essentially a trade empire of mobsters. We're evil the evil corp that's there to make money.
How do we do that?
We do it by ruthlessly beating other competition via unfair marketing, covert espionage and sabotage, acquiring illegal goods (and selling those), generally being badass. Think of us of the Mafia that everyone goes to, and everyone hates.

That's it in brief.
It was suggested that the guild is split into three - one for mercs, one for villains, and one for tradesmen.

Mercs
The mercs are the travelling band of people who are probably the best-intended people of the guild. They will go from region to region to aid settlements and organisations in return for money.
However, they're not explicitly outside, they also protect assets on the 'good' side, such as escorting trade caravans, business, collecting-missions, etcetc.
Elements of this branch include interactions with the OOC world (that is, IC fighting mobs, IC responding to random events, etcetc).

Villains
Thieves, frauds, bandits, muggers, brigands - you name it. These are the people that earn profit for the guild with laundering, fencing, stealing and pillaging. They act mainly in bigger towns, where it is easier to pickpocket and rob, but also in smaller, outside lands and settlements where, perhaps, greater operations such as raids on smaller communities take place.
Elements here involve lucrative, relatively unexplored (and perhaps slightly challenging) RP in the GW universe, a counter-measure to the otherwise good-good-good RP, and so on.

Tradesmen
Artisans and merchants, unite! These are the last third, and the second legitimate source of income - buying low, selling high, auctioning off homemade goods, and even those collected by the 'villains'. They hang out in tradehubs (perhaps if we could 'claim' one, it'd be great) where they sell and build stuff for money. They also aid the mercs and villains in acquiring weapons and equipment.
However, they're not under the 'evil' bracket - most of them ought to be quite innocent, and earn profit for the collective.
Note, this also includes servicemen, if we have any - such as bartenders, streetsweepers, masseuses, so on. Maybe even prostitutes.
Elements here include heavy interaction with the RP community, solid RP lines, conventional standards, easier method of approach, and greater appeal to the community.


For a hub of RP, it's definitively settled on Lion's Arch - the central location is ideal for IC reasons as a base of operations from which we sprawl out, and most of the realm's RP happen here - at least the varied sort. Not to mention that he rules and regulations of most things are more relaxed (there's even a black market here - the Hooligan's Route).
Specifically, I'm not sure. There are some places that we could snatch, but generally I think we'll need to come up with a place where we could hang out. I also think that we need a 'stash' located outside in the surrounding Kryta.

And finally, please keep in mind that we're not IC yet - most of us are still exploring the game itself, and the knowledge on Lore is still quite unstable. I estimate that in a week or two, we'll be up and going.

And -finally- finally, just as a precautionary note, in order for this guild to work, we need to stay dedicated to the RP on the realm - we need to advertise ourselves as best as we can.

Wha'cha think?

(Names are not necessarily the final product yet, btw. If you don't like them, come up with new suggestions! Bearing in mind that changing the guild name is so far impossible. )

Doublepost, I know.

But I forgot to clarify - the three are not split apart as such, merely working in different parts to benefit one another.

For examples.

1. The mercenaries benefit the traders by providing rewarded goods and protection on their caravans, and the villains by getting close to commanding figures (thus able to lay out city weaknesses and the likes)
   
2. The villains benefit the traders by providing stolen and looted goods, and the mercenaries by identifying what foes they should keep and who they should slay, and things like that, in the covert. It could even be intelligence gathering.
   
3. The traders benefit the mercenaries by spreading the word and providing equipment, the villains by, again, providing equipment and perhaps information about high-value personnel.

This is defanantly a step up in difficulty of RP from what we've done in the past.
The Spine was so easy because it didn't require the rest of the realm to do things.
Some of our missions and/or creations were a bit far fetched but it didn't matter because it was just us.

Now we'll have to look good all the time.
This idea has quite a serious undertone with it being based on economy, gun for hire and crime.
This leaves little to no room for silly RP.

The Merc side being the easiest of all this and the most fun for those who want to keep actually playing the game for it's mechanics. Yelling out IC stuff, perhaps doing an emote or 2 during battle is enjoyable.
Hanging around after for chatting and guild promoting is good too.
Downside being that these events attract everyone and have the highest chance of ''lol u gais talk funy xDDDD''
But that's easily ignorable I think.
Another downside is that at some point you'll have seen every event a dozen times and when a bossfight lasts 10+ minutes it can get dull after a while.

Villains:
This side has the benefit of being very open to people's own wishes and doesn't require you to deal with other players outside the guild if you don't want to.
Overtime the goals can change to whichever creative idea the players come up with keeping it fresh for a long time.
But would they openly pillage towns we're supposed to be good natured with?
It's possible with a good disguise and it gives the extra RP of having to handle the goods in such a way it can't be traced back to them.
Will they steal from players?
This will require consent and will mostly be scripted RP then which is both good and bad in it's own rights.
Whilst pickpocketing can be very thrilling IRL you can only pickpocket an NPC for a few coins so often before it loses it's appeal.

Tradesmen is another wide open side of this idea.
Whilst I doubt the stockbreaking side will be a popular choice of RP the other jobs mean you can be basicly anything and still be part of the guild.
If I read it right these people are meant to be the figurehead of the guild inside of cities.
This means they have the burden of keeping up appearances.
It's the perfect section for those who want random RP with random people.


How exclusive are these sections though?
Is a Merc supposed to just do events and clean his/her weapons and armor all day?
Are villains allowed to work as a carpenter during the daylight hours?
Are tradesmen able to fend for themselves in combat?


Do the workmen know of the dark side of the company?
Or are they just hired as regular workers for a big nameless company where they barely even know their own boss?
What about the other 2 sections, how much do they know?
Will these 3 ranks have their own officers?
Is it possible to be part of 1 group and then switch after some time?
Is it possible to switch frequently even?

This is great! Fantastic to see some analytical thought here, which is definitely what we need, considering that we're still rather uncertain on what -exactly- is going to happen. Thanks, Hose.

Josephus wrote:

Now we'll have to look good all the time.
This leaves little to no room for silly RP.

Yes and no - we have to somewhat the same as when we interacted with the community of the Sha'tar. However, the difference is that here we're interacting with a much larger and much more diverse community. That doesn't necessarily mean that we can't have fun in a while. We're not necessarily in contact with the community all the time, though, so we can still mess around. And that's not to say that we only have to have 'serious' events - having something with perhaps dry and overdone humour, or even being a parody will most likely (of course, can't speak for all given situations here) strike into the community as us not being so uptight about everything.
But generally speaking, yes, our standard has to be top-notch. Which is not really an issue, as we already are... When we don't quote gay porn or jump around. Ahem.

Josephus wrote:

The Merc side being the easiest of all this and the most fun for those who want to keep actually playing the game for it's mechanics. Yelling out IC stuff, perhaps doing an emote or 2 during battle is enjoyable.
Hanging around after for chatting and guild promoting is good too.
Downside being that these events attract everyone and have the highest chance of ''lol u gais talk funy xDDDD''
But that's easily ignorable I think.
Another downside is that at some point you'll have seen every event a dozen times and when a bossfight lasts 10+ minutes it can get dull after a while.

Sums it up nicely. Even the dull part. Of course, we'll strive not to let that happen, but you know... If it happens, it happens, and that's life. I want to add to this, however, that this RP can be quite diverse in that the situation will be changing, and people will be doing 'new' stuff all the time - that is, if we look away from the fact that the character remains largely the same, and is subject to quite a bit of conformity. I think it would be wise with some sort of uniform as well - opinions?

Josephus wrote:

But would they openly pillage towns we're supposed to be good natured with?
It's possible with a good disguise and it gives the extra RP of having to handle the goods in such a way it can't be traced back to them.

I think the way that it works, is that they are identity less as pillagers - that is, they're just a marauding band of raiders, who take stuff and give most to the Steamspur, or the Black Market.
Thing with stolen goods, is that IC it can be recognised. Thankfully, we have a place for this in-game - Hooligan's Route. If you interact with the NPCs, you'll know that the Lionguard has been paid by the pirates inhabiting the place not to mention anything. The same goes for the Smuggler's Route, which is just another hangout for a fence or two. These are all in-game, which is quite helpful.

Josephus wrote:

Will they steal from players?
This will require consent and will mostly be scripted RP then which is both good and bad in it's own rights.
Whilst pickpocketing can be very thrilling IRL you can only pickpocket an NPC for a few coins so often before it loses it's appeal.

Pickpocketing is a fantastic, but perhaps overly challenging prospect to criminal RP. First, it adds a general atmosphere over a certain area, because people will hopefully remember where they lost a couple of golds. Second, it allows closer interaction with the community, because you -HAVE- to ask for consent. You are directly influencing the character of another player, so it really is required. If they disagree, you probably shouldn't even attempt. More often than not (from experience from WoW, anyway) they'll say that you can try, and they'll respond. This is good, but if this is the case, you are most likely going to fail. Sorry.

Josephus wrote:

This means they have the burden of keeping up appearances.

Yes.
The Tradesmen are our men who call themselves the Steamspur *gargle*Brigade*gargle*, and is our window into the world via legal means (in addition to the mercs, of course, but they don't speak as much), in the shape of union of trade guilds specialising in different areas - carpeting, selling, providing services such as carpenters, and so on. The important thing to know, is that these guilds hold political influence and acts as the face of the company. There may be dark intentions beneath the surface, but those are hidden well by the innocence of the Trade. They are actually legitimate. There may be frauds, but if found out, those would be disregarded by the company, to save our own face.
Plus, it may be that everyone could know our truth, but we could easily disregard that due to a lack of evidence. Said evidence would have been soaked in acid and burnt, so.[/quote]

Josephus wrote:

Is a Merc supposed to just do events and clean his/her weapons and armor all day?
Are villains allowed to work as a carpenter during the daylight hours?
Are tradesmen able to fend for themselves in combat?

I don't see a good reason to stay as rigid as this. There's nothing stopping a thief from being a fruit vendor, for example, and nothing preventing a carpet seller from taking up his sword and fighting for the mercenaries. Mercenaries don't have to employed constantly, and if they are in employment, they can do stuff around the location - casual RP is pretty much possible everywhere. Of course, it may be a bit more closed due to the lack of interaction with the community, but it definitely is there.

Josephus wrote:

Do the workmen know of the dark side of the company?
Or are they just hired as regular workers for a big nameless company where they barely even know their own boss?

This is an interesting part of the guild. I think it was brought up at one stage.
I think that it could be quite cool if the surface tradesmen didn't know about the darker intents. They could be blind, and act innocent.
The danger here is that if -one- innocent tradesman finds out, we are in trouble.
Even so, I still think that we should have levels of trust - the higher the people advance, and the more power they gain, the more we would reveal. Simply just to keep their interest, and allow them to benefit us more - opinions on this?

Josephus wrote:

Will these 3 ranks have their own officers?

I think that would be logical - one overseer (or instructor, really) to oversee that part, feeding back once in a while to the pimplord behind the curtain. Subofficers are a must, as well, to make the entire thing a wide organisation, so that it isn't brought down easily.

Josephus wrote:

Is it possible to be part of 1 group and then switch after some time?
Is it possible to switch frequently even?

Frequently, I'm not so sure.
And the problem with going from, say, thief to trader, is that tendencies tend to stick - once a criminal, always a criminal. Generally speaking.
There's no reason why we should enforce an ultimatum on every character, though. I'd definitely be in favor for allowing people to be flexible with their character. It advocates creativity, after all.



Again, thanks to Hose - feedback from everyone would be great!

Marwonaeth wrote:

I think it would be wise with some sort of uniform as well - opinions?

Strict uniforms are a bane upon the universe. However, a few of the same colours show a sense of unity. But in the case of a rabble of mercs, I think individuality will be key. So I suggest that maybe a single colour should be the same, like an armband or a shoulderguard should be orange or red.

I'm with Sinq on that, actually.


Also, I have been scouting around (together with Sinq) locations where we can hang out. I divided it into the three 'parts' of the guild. For a central place, I still need to find something... But you know, you guys could help out too, maybe? Just a thought.
For a random RP, I'd suggest Shaboozy's in LA (Lion's Shadow), as it's quite good for it. Maybe a bit crowded.
The Busted Flagon in DR is decent as well.

For the rogues:

Hooligan's Route is great, but obvious. It's probably gonna be the place where we do most of the 'business agreements'. If you catch my drift.

Smuggler's Waypoint is another great place for shady gatherings. A bit in the obvious, but it could be a great place for fences to hang out. Also for thievery, as a great deal of caravans pass through here.

For the traders:

This little gem was a bit of a miracle find. The only difficulty is that its a bit remote. Shouldn't discourage RPers. However, if it's an unsuitable location for our traders, it could still be used as a forum, or meeting place for the traders to discuss marketing strategies and what not.

What can I say? A marketsquare outside one of the melting pots of RP. There are several of these around DR. Just like this because it's within hearing distance of RP.

For the mercs:

All I could find that was noteworthy, but I definitely this is worth considering, unless someone else finds something better.


As for a place of general leadership and a stash, I'm blank. Considered the submerged part of the sewers as a hiding place for gold, in an air bubble of sorts, but I don't know if that's plausible in GW2.

So yeah. There you go.

Can't see shit captain.

EDIT: Well done, you successfully unfucked yourself